25th Birthday!

It's crazy to think that 10 years ago, I was 15, starting out in breaking, and still having a few girl problems. BWAHAHAHA.

I don't have girl problems anymore. Girls have Tom problems.

Anyway, this year's birthday was different from any other I've had in the past, namely because it is my first one away from all my friends and family.

Last year I was able to have a whole week's worth of events (dinners, sessions, outings, etc.) and see a lot of my good friends in different settings. In a way, I'm glad I did that, not knowing that I would be thousands of miles removed the next year.

The day went super swimmingly though, despite having only 3-4 hours of sleep. I got that energy secret. Being a Friday, I was giving out a quiz in all my classes. However, when I arrived at school, there was a power outage for half the building! So nothing started until 7:45am, which is 25 minutes later than usual. And even then, Homeroom period went on until 9am, so I ended up not teaching my first period at all. (a relief for me, cuz I was preparing the quizzes still). Meanwhile, my Homeroom students were hungry and wanted to buy snacks. They couldn't find any, so I sold them my candy! Made my money back!

Also, some students stopped by my classroom in the morning, and gave me a birthday balloon to carry around all day. It was very sweet.  (thanks Loan!). Pink balloon ftw. I kept it on during my Algebra 2 class, cuz that's a good class with well-behaved and awesome students... did a warm-up, quiz review, then took that quiz. Some said the the material this week was difficult, but they felt confident in the test. I need to grade them this weekend. And being Friday, I have a "Feedback Friday" thing where they give me feedback on the week. The reviews of the recent class changes have been good! Success!

Highlight of my day:
So then I had a prep period before lunch, which basically became an extended lunch period, time for me to run errands, make copies, etc... I filled out a Lunch-time announcement request form for the Hip Hop Sessions club, announcing that there would be battles after-school! Got the principal to announce "Freestyle Fridays" and at the end of the message she said "Each one, Teach one." My proudest moment.

After lunch, and after teaching/quizzing another class, we had an after-school session. After about an hour of practice, in a very impromptu manner, we set up the battles! Had a 2yr+ bracket and an Internewbie bracket. Had some pretty good showdowns in the 2yr+! Lots of sign-ups! And the Internewbies were very brave, some had JUST started coming to sessions THIS WEEK. All of them started THIS SCHOOL YEAR, so less than 2 months experience! Very impressive!

We had a winner for Internewbies, Ty, a winner for the freeze contest, and we had 4 winners for the 2yr+ bracket, cuz we didn't finish the battles. Everyone's a winner!

For the rest of the day, I relaxed, listened to good music, responded to FB birthday comments, and watched the pre-orders for my book stack up!!! That is so excited and fun (claim your free copy now!). At night I went to the gym (2nd session of the day), met some guys who saw me practicing and I invited them to the session/workshop today. Good stuff.

Also spent some time talking to my Mom and girlfriend on the phone. Didn't go out, slept at a reasonable time, and woke up at 8am. 25 years old, and I still feel young. I got a text yesterday that said "There are turtles 12x my age, languages 1200x my age, and trees 2000x my age. So I'm a young'n. I feel like I'm just getting started!!!