one more miracle

So, wacky story: eating lunch at work yesterday, I glanced at my keys and noticed to my GREAT surprise that my car key had been bent dramatically! Like, the strong steel rod had been bent at least 30 degrees. ????!? I still have exactly zero idea how that happened. It is a mystery for the ages.

Needless to say, I couldn't drive my car, so I sent an email to the whole building (high school) asking a kind soul for a ride (I live half an hour away) that evening and the next morning so I could get my spare key. An older woman showed up at my classroom and said she could give me a ride as she lives out past me. I had never met her before (my building is HUGE) but I was so grateful and took her up on it. This lovely guardian angel was named Patty.

We were talking about teaching in the car, mostly, until I happened to glance in the back seat and see that Patty had a MARAUDER'S MAP IPAD CASE!!!! And a HOBBIT TOTE BAG!!!! I freaked out a little bit and we immediately launched into nerd code - you know, the conversation you can only have with a fellow Confirmed Nerd. :D We shared our biggest fandoms - she's old school, into Star Trek and Wars, LOTR, HP, etc. We bonded over both being the girl in middle school who read LOTR once a year (at least). We even have the shared experience of getting really deep into Wheel of Time but never actually finishing. It was magical! And she's just an absolutely lovely woman all around.

As the cherry on top, she also plays SOCCER every week in an indoor league! WHAT! At that point I was freaking out a little, because I'm PRETTY SURE she's me in 20 years. I even want to move to the same area she lives in, and she's been teaching at this same school for 19 years. Could that be my future?! I don't know, but she seems to be doing pretty fabulously, and I wouldn't hate it!

In any case, I LOVE everything about this - random nerd encounters, but especially making a new delightful friend at work. Yay!!

(Happy Epilogue: The welding shop at my school was able to fix my key for free! It's got a slight crack in the metal so now it's just my spare key, but I am SO grateful. I love my colleagues!!!!)

I won't complain about work today, because - it wasn't a good day. I mean, it was, in some parts. But whatever!

Instead let's talk fannish things!! Here is the list of shows I'm watching this season, or currently that aren't airing for some months. Tell me what you love! Let's flail!

• Vampire Diaries


• Walking Dead


• The 100


• Brooklyn 99


• Haven


• Nashville


• The Voice


• Castle (maybe, though I am very displeased with the season so far)


• Agents of SHIELD


• Agent Carter


• Sense8


• Orange is the New Black


• Orphan Black


• Uhhhh I think that's it? I'm probably forgetting something.


• Not Supernatural (until I get weak because Dean Winchester, argh)

So yes! I'd love to know particularly if anyone 1) is still watching Vampire Diaries and is in love with Caroline like me, 2) watches Walking Dead and loves Carol and Daryl <333, or 3) watches The 100 which is like BSG with teenagers, it's incredible.

I need me some new icons...

Wincon was a bit inconveniently timed for one reason - the card marking for my high school kids ended on Friday, and my grades need to be in tomorrow at 1! Whee. You may have seen me hunched over a pile of papers at Wincon panels - grading algebra 2 exams. Yeah my life is so exciting. I still listened and participated in the panels but got a whole lot of grading done, so yay! I just finished those up and now I get to enter the grades, as well as try to figure out if I've missed anything for any kids. Teaching is at least 50% preparing for the next day or doing paperwork, 50% actually teaching. Yet we only get paid (also lol, "paid") for the teaching hours. Go figure.

I think my kids did well though, much better than last year, so that's reward in itself. :)

To update my current life situation, I earned my masters in teaching in 2013, and now I'm in my second year of teaching in Michigan. I teach algebra 2 and chemistry, which is pretty challenging (I wish I was only teaching one!) but I enjoy both. I have amazing colleagues and a great administration and awesome kids, so I am very very lucky. I will be talking about it a lot I'm sure since my brain is teaching 24/7... sorry about that in advance.

Fandom-wise, I caught up with Nashville while I was grading. That show is like SOAP OPERA TO THE MAX these days. Seriously, what HAVEN'T these characters gone through?! All at once right now the storylines include a mother dying (after she gave part of her liver to her brother who was dying of cancer), daughters forgiving their imprisoned father, a spiraling drug addiction and estranged couple, a gay country star, and wow so much more I can't even summarize. It's a hot hot mess. But I keep watching. Everyone needs some trashy melodrama in their life right? Come yell at me if you happen to watch this mess too, haha.

HI LJ LOOK I POSTED TWO DAYS IN A ROW LOOK LOOK! :D

Not dead! I promise! Living quite a lot, really.

April 30, 2013 - Defended my doctoral dissertation successfully. I now have my PhD in Chemical Biology! :)

June 17, 2013 - Started a Masters of Arts in Educational Studies program at the University of Michigan, focusing on secondary education with certification in chemistry and math.

I spent most of the time between those two dates on vacation in California and roaming all over the west. It's been a wild and wacky year, no doubt about it. Now a week into my masters, I know the rest is certainly not going to be boring. I'm excited for the new challenges that await!

Anyone still out there? :)

SO.

I just found out that I'm moving to San Francisco!

I'M MOVING TO SAN FRANCISCO.

Whaaat? *flail* My boss took a job at UCSF and the lab is moving there. I am definitely going to go, and probably most of the lab is too. He just dropped the bomb on us out of the blue today, then took us all out for lunch (and beer) as a sort of - apology? Heh. Some people are taking it much worse than others. I personally am getting to a quite okay place with it, mostly because I'm already far along in my PhD and will only be in SF for 1.5 years, and I was planning on making a big move from Ann Arbor after grad school anyway, so this just accelerates the timeline.

Still, it's a pretty big shock. The worst part is that I'll be moving away from my dad, and it's been so wonderful being in the same city with him again. I never got a chance to tell him today and I'm kind of dreading it. But I think he'll be excited for me too, because it really is a special opportunity.

SO. FLIST. Whoever is still out there. Who knows anything about San Francisco or California? General advice on moving out there? Thoughts, warnings, anything? I know I haven't been around at all but I still consider you a great source of advice and comfort.

I'M MOVING TO SAN FRANCISCO HOLY SHIT!