It seems that JR and I have come to loath writing on this blog just as much as we do cleaning up dog poo. So, in order to convince myself that writing a blog about my dear little family could be somewhat enjoyable, I've completely overhauled it with bright colors and flashy pictures or gadgets. This, dears, is mainly to assuage/satisfy my raging ADD.
So now that our Adriane Mac & JR Munson blog is up to my standards of flash and glamour, I feel adequately prepared to update you on the lives of your favorite couple to date.
Since our (my) last blog post on the 24th of May, more than one year ago, a great many things have changed, blew up in our face and blossomed into beautiful bouquets of figurative flowers. Let's see if I can remember everything, shall we?
2. Adri was also a part time Children's Acting & Improv. teacher at the local community center. It was a job she had fallen into after working at the Center as a Camp Councilor. That job thoroughly sucked, but she became professional friends with the Performing Arts Manager. When the Center needed a new Acting Teacher, she came to Adriane. Their schedules conflicted for a semester or two, but in January of 2008, Ade was hired.
Adriane loved teaching those classes and the kids she taught, but felt horribly inadequate. "I wasn't a professional actress! Sure, I'd studied it in school, but books do not a fabulous actor make. I knew one thing: how to have theatrical fun! So I just accepted that, if I wasn't the most experienced or professional Acting Coach, I could help the kids fall in love with Theatre and Acting as much as I had.
I only taught 1-4 times a week, but as the months and years went on, I felt the need to expand my professional resume (in and outside the Theatre). Unfortunately, there was not an opportunity to do so at the Center. So, after about a year and a half, I had to resign. You see, by April of 2010, I had obtained a somewhat full time job (which I will explain later about) that prevented me from being able to teach when they needed me to. It was a sad choice, but a necessary one."
3. Adriane spent most of her time from May to October 2009 (actually, from June 2008 on) looking and applying for full time jobs. Oh, she applied nearly everywhere (within reason)! And she got a great deal of interviews, but the response was always the same: "Oh dang! All the funding we had to hire you is gone! What with the RECESSION and all..." , "You're qualified, but we found someone with a Masters who is willing to work for less than you. Sorry!" , "You're TOO QUALIFIED!" or simply...no response at all (despite having a good interview).
Everyone blamed this on the Recession. I'm sure that's a great deal of it, but a lot of it was, employers were using job seeker's desperation for employment & blatantly exploiting them. If I had control over this existence, I would line up all of the Bureaucratic bigwigs, and punch them square in the face!
4. Finally, in October of 2009, Adriane got a lucky break! An old boss of her's (from an after-school care company she worked for in 2003-2006) called her up and told her that there was a Substitute Lead position available, and she wanted Adriane to apply! What a deal! So, I went in and interviewed with all my old bosses. This was much more stressful than
I had expected. I was in the running for the Substitute position and a full time position with an Elementary site. I was very much hopeful for the latter....especially since the Sub position was at a Jr. High!
Nevertheless, a few days later, I was offered the SUB position at the JR. HIGH. It was an indefinite period of time, which is great, but that also means I could stay a sub for as long as they wanted.
But I began the job at one of the more well off schools in the county. I thought that meant the kids would be better behaved. No! This just means the problem children were richer and more spoiled!
But it was the only full time job I had, so I gave it everything I had. Which was what the program needed. I came into a program that was going to hell in a hand basket! The former Lead had been on maternity leave for a few months only to come back and be transfered. She was also a very laid back personality, so most of the rules were not being enforced...and the kids were running a muck!
Then there was the staff. For a site of 50-100 hormonal teenagers, I had 2 laid-back (aka: lazy) staff and an Assistant who hated children (and eventually hated me)!
October to June of 2009/2010 was by far, the hardest professional period of my life! I had to completely revamp the rules of the site, enforce them with no support of my staff, babysit the kids & the staff and deal with misbehaving students/staff and parents. But I forced myself to take one day at a time and make it a point to notice the good kids and the positive aspects of my job or site. Along with that coping mechanism, I heavily relied on the support of my supervisor, Nicolle. At times, she was the only reason I did not quit on the spot! She was the best boss I ever had the luck to work with and we really became good friends (at least in my opinion)!
As the school year went on, I learned to ignore my staff's negativity and tried to appreciate every kid in the program. Even the trouble makers. By May, I loved my job and the kids that made my day worth while. The only thing I still hated about my job was that I was STILL technically a "Substitute" Lead. I did everything a full time Lead would do (including putting in hours upon hours of overtime that I did NOT get paid for). I also worked my kiester off to make that program as fun for the kids as possible. I seriously put my heart and soul into it (as cheesy as that sounds). But I was not getting paid the benefits and status I so earnestly deserved. The supervisors supported me becoming full time, but the issue was (as always is in a school system): budget. They simply didn't have enough $ to hire me full time. But I kept asking for it.
Finally in April, after jumping through all the hoops they asked me too, I was re-interviewed for my job. Come end of April, I was OFFERED MY JOB FULL TIME!!
5. I was ready to accept the position, and did....for a day. Then JR was called and offered a full time job with the Government! (See JR's section). You can see why we went with JR's job offer over mine, right? (I'm not always sure I can either! JK!)
2. They were both rewarded for their months of hard work with job offers...on nearly the same day...in 4 different cities.
3. Due to the fact that JR got several job offers from the FBI, we chose to take the McAllen, Texas position, assigned to start May of 2010.
4. Adri worked her tail off to prepare her after school site for a new Lead or substitute, before they moved. They only had 4 weeks to move cross country, so expectedly, JR and Adriane did not sleep very much during that time.
5. The move was somewhat traumatic as it took 5 hours, one hotel and several calls to the new ward (who had offered to help us move in) more than we expected, to get from San Diego to McAllen.
6. After that hellish drive (luckily meeting JR's Mom on the way) we finally got to McAllen....only to discover that our more than incompetent Landlords had not cleaned or de-cockroached the apartment. Their excuse? "We were going to do that when you turned on the power and water" (which, because we had moved to a po-dunk town, we could only do IN PERSON, when we got there). But even though the Landlords had rented this place out for many years, they still did not know that. It's called: negligence and stupidity. But that's what we've come to know from the people of McAllen.
7. Since then, we have continuously fought with the Landlords to get a fair deal on our somewhat shadey living situation. But after a month or so of settling in, I think we've begun to accept and even like the place.
8. Our occasional happiness and contentment with our new home is largely due to the new addition we have brought into our family...namely Miss Bea Arthur (aka: Bea Bea). We adopted an 8 week old Welch Corgi, Beagle, Chihuahua mix of a dog, and we're quite pleased with our decision! (But that story deserves a blog entry of it's own!)
So that's what's happened with us in a nut shell. Our situation & lives have completely changed, but I guess we plan on making the best of it. If not, we at least plan on documenting our fine tuned frustration on this newly improved bloggity-blog.
Ciao for now, bellitas!
-The Munsons-
So now that our Adriane Mac & JR Munson blog is up to my standards of flash and glamour, I feel adequately prepared to update you on the lives of your favorite couple to date.
Since our (my) last blog post on the 24th of May, more than one year ago, a great many things have changed, blew up in our face and blossomed into beautiful bouquets of figurative flowers. Let's see if I can remember everything, shall we?
* ADRIANE:
1. During the summer of 2009, I was still stuck in a slump of temping occasionally for random companies in San Diego. I was under the employment of 4 Temp companies, but only worked (here and there) with one. For a College Graduate and go-getter, it was infuriating and horribly depressing! But I did like my case manager at the Temp firm. She was pretty nice.2. Adri was also a part time Children's Acting & Improv. teacher at the local community center. It was a job she had fallen into after working at the Center as a Camp Councilor. That job thoroughly sucked, but she became professional friends with the Performing Arts Manager. When the Center needed a new Acting Teacher, she came to Adriane. Their schedules conflicted for a semester or two, but in January of 2008, Ade was hired.
Adriane loved teaching those classes and the kids she taught, but felt horribly inadequate. "I wasn't a professional actress! Sure, I'd studied it in school, but books do not a fabulous actor make. I knew one thing: how to have theatrical fun! So I just accepted that, if I wasn't the most experienced or professional Acting Coach, I could help the kids fall in love with Theatre and Acting as much as I had.
I only taught 1-4 times a week, but as the months and years went on, I felt the need to expand my professional resume (in and outside the Theatre). Unfortunately, there was not an opportunity to do so at the Center. So, after about a year and a half, I had to resign. You see, by April of 2010, I had obtained a somewhat full time job (which I will explain later about) that prevented me from being able to teach when they needed me to. It was a sad choice, but a necessary one."
3. Adriane spent most of her time from May to October 2009 (actually, from June 2008 on) looking and applying for full time jobs. Oh, she applied nearly everywhere (within reason)! And she got a great deal of interviews, but the response was always the same: "Oh dang! All the funding we had to hire you is gone! What with the RECESSION and all..." , "You're qualified, but we found someone with a Masters who is willing to work for less than you. Sorry!" , "You're TOO QUALIFIED!" or simply...no response at all (despite having a good interview).
Everyone blamed this on the Recession. I'm sure that's a great deal of it, but a lot of it was, employers were using job seeker's desperation for employment & blatantly exploiting them. If I had control over this existence, I would line up all of the Bureaucratic bigwigs, and punch them square in the face!
4. Finally, in October of 2009, Adriane got a lucky break! An old boss of her's (from an after-school care company she worked for in 2003-2006) called her up and told her that there was a Substitute Lead position available, and she wanted Adriane to apply! What a deal! So, I went in and interviewed with all my old bosses. This was much more stressful than
I had expected. I was in the running for the Substitute position and a full time position with an Elementary site. I was very much hopeful for the latter....especially since the Sub position was at a Jr. High!
Nevertheless, a few days later, I was offered the SUB position at the JR. HIGH. It was an indefinite period of time, which is great, but that also means I could stay a sub for as long as they wanted.
But I began the job at one of the more well off schools in the county. I thought that meant the kids would be better behaved. No! This just means the problem children were richer and more spoiled!
But it was the only full time job I had, so I gave it everything I had. Which was what the program needed. I came into a program that was going to hell in a hand basket! The former Lead had been on maternity leave for a few months only to come back and be transfered. She was also a very laid back personality, so most of the rules were not being enforced...and the kids were running a muck!
Then there was the staff. For a site of 50-100 hormonal teenagers, I had 2 laid-back (aka: lazy) staff and an Assistant who hated children (and eventually hated me)!
October to June of 2009/2010 was by far, the hardest professional period of my life! I had to completely revamp the rules of the site, enforce them with no support of my staff, babysit the kids & the staff and deal with misbehaving students/staff and parents. But I forced myself to take one day at a time and make it a point to notice the good kids and the positive aspects of my job or site. Along with that coping mechanism, I heavily relied on the support of my supervisor, Nicolle. At times, she was the only reason I did not quit on the spot! She was the best boss I ever had the luck to work with and we really became good friends (at least in my opinion)!
As the school year went on, I learned to ignore my staff's negativity and tried to appreciate every kid in the program. Even the trouble makers. By May, I loved my job and the kids that made my day worth while. The only thing I still hated about my job was that I was STILL technically a "Substitute" Lead. I did everything a full time Lead would do (including putting in hours upon hours of overtime that I did NOT get paid for). I also worked my kiester off to make that program as fun for the kids as possible. I seriously put my heart and soul into it (as cheesy as that sounds). But I was not getting paid the benefits and status I so earnestly deserved. The supervisors supported me becoming full time, but the issue was (as always is in a school system): budget. They simply didn't have enough $ to hire me full time. But I kept asking for it.
Finally in April, after jumping through all the hoops they asked me too, I was re-interviewed for my job. Come end of April, I was OFFERED MY JOB FULL TIME!!
5. I was ready to accept the position, and did....for a day. Then JR was called and offered a full time job with the Government! (See JR's section). You can see why we went with JR's job offer over mine, right? (I'm not always sure I can either! JK!)
*The Mac-Munson Unit (as a whole):
1. JR & Adriane both worked hard on getting full time jobs upon receiving their Bachelor's degrees from SDSU.2. They were both rewarded for their months of hard work with job offers...on nearly the same day...in 4 different cities.
3. Due to the fact that JR got several job offers from the FBI, we chose to take the McAllen, Texas position, assigned to start May of 2010.
4. Adri worked her tail off to prepare her after school site for a new Lead or substitute, before they moved. They only had 4 weeks to move cross country, so expectedly, JR and Adriane did not sleep very much during that time.
5. The move was somewhat traumatic as it took 5 hours, one hotel and several calls to the new ward (who had offered to help us move in) more than we expected, to get from San Diego to McAllen.
6. After that hellish drive (luckily meeting JR's Mom on the way) we finally got to McAllen....only to discover that our more than incompetent Landlords had not cleaned or de-cockroached the apartment. Their excuse? "We were going to do that when you turned on the power and water" (which, because we had moved to a po-dunk town, we could only do IN PERSON, when we got there). But even though the Landlords had rented this place out for many years, they still did not know that. It's called: negligence and stupidity. But that's what we've come to know from the people of McAllen.
7. Since then, we have continuously fought with the Landlords to get a fair deal on our somewhat shadey living situation. But after a month or so of settling in, I think we've begun to accept and even like the place.
8. Our occasional happiness and contentment with our new home is largely due to the new addition we have brought into our family...namely Miss Bea Arthur (aka: Bea Bea). We adopted an 8 week old Welch Corgi, Beagle, Chihuahua mix of a dog, and we're quite pleased with our decision! (But that story deserves a blog entry of it's own!)
So that's what's happened with us in a nut shell. Our situation & lives have completely changed, but I guess we plan on making the best of it. If not, we at least plan on documenting our fine tuned frustration on this newly improved bloggity-blog.
Ciao for now, bellitas!
-The Munsons-
1 comment:
I seem to have read this before ;) Love this blogs design too!
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