the star represents antioch. i dunno what CBA stands for.
can you find redwood city? ah yes, connect the dots.
i swear i have an excuse for being so busy --
it's called antioch. for the past 6 (or is it 7 now?) weeks, i've spent every wednesday and thursday (and a friday once as well) in antioch, ca. it's a little dinky town (divided into 2 sections: ghetto or suburban sprawl) located waaaaay northeast of the peninsula. it's about 80 miles away from redwood city, so i wake up every wednesday morning at 5:30am and drive 1.5 hours through the stranger parts of the bay area to get to antioch. and every thursday evening, i drive 1.5-to-2 hours back southwest to my lovely yellow house.
why antioch? in january and february, the marine science institute boat is docked up there for the "delta" program. usually, the boat programs occur in the san francisco bay, but the antioch program differs in a multitude of ways:
1. we're in the delta instead of the bay: different animals, different water (fresh vs. salty-ish)
2. the programs are sponsored by the water districts up there instead of the schools/students, so the curriculum differs slightly: more talk about water conservation, household hazardous waste, mercury poisoning, blah blah.
3. the students are all 5th graders (not the possible 4th through college-age kids), and believe me, 5th graders are pretty punk-ish by the ripe old age of 10. i can't imagine what they're gonna be like by the time they hit middle school. good god.
4. the students are.. um... academically challenged. or maybe, the school districts up there just sorta suck a lot more.
5. instead of having 30 kids on the boat at a time, there are 70. that makes things a bit harder.
6. it rains often.
so life is a bit more challenging. we stay overnight at the comfort suites hotel.. which is actually pretty nice but a little bizarre. i mean, i really like my own bed at home. plus, one of my co-workers, with whom i share a room (but thankfully not a bed), snores like a hurricane. no kidding -- hurricane robynn. and alice, my other co-worker, likes to go to bed by 9:30pm. to say the least, it's sorta amusing how our schedules work out. but alas, antioch will be finished by the beginning of march, so maybe i'll have more time soon.
who am i kidding.
i'm also tutoring like hella mad crazy wicked. poor kids and their SAT tests. and their calculus classes. and their bad chemistry teachers. did i ever mention how much i dislike chemistry? i've recently rediscovered my unhappiness with that subject. oh, and i climb. and find random projects to keep myself even busier. and went snowboarding at lake tahoe this past weekend!!
my butt is sore.
the end :)
