When It Rains...

I'm sitting in the computer lab doing some research on the Internet, waiting to see if any of my guys are going to come by for tutoring today. But then the smell of rain assaults my nose (it's a pleasant scent, but it was most certainly an assault with aggressive vigor) and I look up and I can't see through the stain glass windows. But I know that it's raining. I can't hear it over the fan. But I know that it's raining.

This is only important because it means that it is far less likely that people will show up at all-- for tutoring, or for art class at 6:00. I should be really disappointed about this, but I find myself half-hoping that no one comes so that I can go home.

Three hours to quitting time means that I have only worked 31 hours in the past three days, and not yet the 34 total that I'm pushing. When it rains, it pours, or so they say. I've had a fairly lazy schedule the past couple of weeks, and I knew it wouldn't last, so I took advantage of it. I volunteered to stay home when the repairpersons visited our house, and I did a little paperwork with John downtown, and I did A LOT of research for theatre stuffs for the year. But all that ended Monday morning when I had to wake up early and head in for a HOPE Program presentation, and man, you know, I love every minute of it, but I am tired.

Also, in my own defense, I know that not many people are going to show up for art anyway. Two tops. Maybe only one. When I went to call everyone to tell them we were starting up again, I found that the people who had signed up were not actually the people who wound up joining. So I didn't have anyone's number. I saw two people, and they said they'd come, but you know how that is. This just means that it will take about two weeks for word to get around that art has started back up again. Then they'll be beating down my door.

I've now been trained in ESL and Adult Literacy. Allen Frantzen, the director of the Literacy Center at Loyola University uptown has been so incredibly helpful that I don't even know what to do. He's loaned me books and given me advice and said to call or come by if I had any more questions or needs. And he started being that helpful when I was just email text in his inbox months ago. He's just that passionate about his work.

I talked with Sr. Angie today about what I'm going to be doing this year, and she was very helpful with what we should do to get started with ESL and AL. There are four people I need to meet with in the next week, but I"m not going to do that tomorrow. I'm going to stay home.

Probably, anyway.

Anyway, we also talked about Art and Theatre and RCIA, and I am so thrilled with what's going to happen this year. Theatre is especially looking to be an amazing feat of epic proportions, and I'm only exaggerating slightly. The group is so jazzed up and ready to go. They started suggesting fundraisers to do even before I got around to telling them we didn't have funds. They anticipated it, and found solutions. They're bursting with ideas and they want to invite millions of people along for the ride. It's bloody brilliant.

My next goal is to force myself to speak Spanish to my guys (and by the way, I use the gender-neutral form of the word "guys"), even though they understand my English. Because some of them would understand Spanish better, and it's easier for me to speak Spanish than for all of them to speak English. Theoretically, at least. I can speak okay to one person, and not so bad to very small groups, but Theatre is already about 20, and oh my... shuddering, shuddering, shuddering. But no, this is a good opportunity for me. Be strong, Kati. Be bold. Be daring.

Off the subject completely, I just checked my guestbook and found that I have acquired readers from among my fanfiction readers. So I figured I should say hey and update a bit on that account. I am working very hard on the next chapter. In fact, I've finished a draft, but it's kind of choppy and needs to be re-worked. Ideally, I'll have it done within a week, and sent off to the betas who will have it back to me in another week. Oh my, that's sounds like such a terrible long time. I'll do my best to expedite that.

give my love to the kids,
Kati