A Day in the Life #45: In which Elizabeth has NEWS

Linking up with The Sunday Post

SO. News. I have it!
First off, most importantly, and most excited..ly?:


I AM GOING TO BE A LONG TERM SUBSTITUTE TEACHER!!!!





It's been in the works for months, but I haven't wanted to say anything in case something happened and it fell through.  To be honest, I'm still really scared about saying this.  I haven't signed anything definitive, but my fingerprint/background check/orientation/application have all been processed, and they specifically requested me so EVERYTHING SHOULD BE FINE. IT IS TOTALLY FINE I AM NOT FREAKING OUT.

This is particularly exciting though, because I decided about 6 months ago that I wanted to teach...but I haven't taught outside of private lessons in 5 years, and that really doesn't look good on a resume.  Besides that I am STILL trying to get in touch with the Department of Education about my certification...which should have been processed in May.  (I have been slacking off - May is also when I started doing the paperwork for this substitute job, and I've been dealing with the DMV too and damn it there is only so much bureaucracy a girl can deal with at one time!)  Basically I've been daydreaming about getting some sort of interim teaching where I student taught my middle school portion.  This would get me on my feet again as far as getting me used to teaching and it would look good on my resume.  Add to it that working with the teachers I did back then is a huge part of the reason I ended up loving teaching (AND now one of my friends is teaching there too) and it would just be such a huge benefit having coworkers I already know I work well with and would be such great resources for me to use.



And then it happened.  LITERALLY THAT HAPPENED I HAVE MY DREAM SHORT TERM JOB!!!!!!

One of the teachers is going on pregnancy leave, so they reached out to me! I seriously can not even express how much like a dream that is - this is literally the perfect next step for me and I am so excited (and so nervous. But good nervous) and I'm going to get to teach again and it's all going to be SO MUCH FUN.  (And so much stress but shhhh.  Besides, I play the oboe, we pretty much thrive on stress).

On the sad side of things, it means I'm going to have to quit my nanny job which has been probably my favourite thing about moving back to Baltimore.  I'll also have to quit the cafe job (sort of) which means no more free food *sobs*.  I'm actually going to have to cook I mean what even is that??  I'll be keeping my weekend shift, because as much as that might exhaust me, come December when I'm out of a steady job I am going to be reallyyyyyyy happy about having even one day of guaranteed income.  And in the meantime, hopefully my teaching certificate will come through and I'll be able to land a teaching job for the next school year!

So some of this is why I haven't been posting much these past few months, and why I've been in a huge reading slump for at least the path month (maybe even longer).  Some of it is time and energy, and I think a good portion of it is nerves. Especially right now - it's beginning to feel real and it's jolting me out of stories haha!  Buuuut there's another reason I've been in a reading slump: Otakon.

For those of you not in the know, Otakon is a four day event that celebrates Japanese culture (but focuses primarily on anime).  There's cosplay photo shoots, concerts, anime premieres, and lots and lots of panels.  Over the weekend I participated in a shinto cleansing ceremony, saw some amazing cosplay, went to a panel discussion led by a friend of mine on women working in anime, bought a Princess Mononoke print that looks like an oil painting, bought Sejoon a One Piece flag wall scroll, and saw the musicians from Persona 4 (Lotus Juice and Shihoko Hirata) and Diana Garnet live in concert.  Soooooo basically it was amazing?  And that wasn't even one of the best parts!

One of the first things my friends and I did was watch the pilot episode of a show called Under the Dog.  And it was FLAWLESS.  Like seriously, I may never have seen a pilot so perfect.  (The only other one I can think of is the Veronica Mars pilot.  Yeah. It was THAT GOOD.)  It kept the tension up almost to the point where I couldn't handle it anymore - it was so close to that line.  And it Never. Dropped.  The animation and drawing was gorgeous, the story was intense, and it gave the perfect mix of just enough information without giving too much (which is a hard thing to do, shown by the lack of other good pilots out there).  There's a fair amount of violence and some brief nudity, but they managed to frame it really...well perfectly.  It's not gratuitous at all, and what they show is very much because of what is going on - it's not fan service, and I don't think I realized how little I see that (in shows of any type) because their treatment of it really stands out when compared to other shows.  So my respect for the creators, which was already pretty damn high has basically reached like...almost unattainable heights.  Unfortunately, the kickstarter only launched enough for one episode....but as soon as I get extra money, I will be sending it their way.  I NEED MORE. (But this episode is so, SO worth watching if you ever get the chance!)

And it gets even better.  I was so, so lucky I went with veteran Otakon people (one of them has gone all but two of the years which is well over two decades!) which was helpful for basically all things ever.  (Not getting lost, what was worth seeing or skipping, etc.) Without them, I would have skipped the AMVs (anime music videos), which they said was basically the highlight of the entire con.  They weren't wrong.  They were hilarious and heart wrenching and fun and gripping. IT WAS LIKE A BILLION MINI MOVIES.  Plus you got to vote on your favourites, and I am such a sucker for voting on things.  But seriously...it has spawned an addiction in me.  I'm not going to lie, last Sunday I stayed up til midnight just rewatching AMVs over and over and over.  Plus it's made me want to watch all the shows they are based on.

This one is my favourite - it's based on an anime called Death Parade. I actually just finished it a couple days ago (and I never would have discovered it if I hadn't gone to the AMVs!) and it was one of the most thought provoking shows I've watched.  I definitely recommend it, and while I don't think it was popular enough in Japan for a second season, the first season gives enough closure to leave it where it is. (Although I would super love a second season).  It also has one of the best anime openings I've seen. Music + animation = on point.  But I am so in love with these AMVs that I've watched the first four on this playlist literally every day this week.  MY LOVE IS TRUE. (and intense).  Basically you should watch at least the first four of these because they are amazing and you need them in your life.  Sooooo if any of you have favourite AMVs send them my way. Or if you want to get me to watch a show ASAP, give me a good AMV and I will be sold.  (I have two episodes left of the fourth AMV on this list - Prince of Stride - and am planning on watching the anime for the second AMV, The Boy and The Beast as soon as I finish that. Which I would be doing right now if I were not typing up this super long blog post YOU GUYS NEED TO APPRECIATE THE SACRIFICE I AM MAKING RIGHT NOW).  In other news, I went rock climbing (in a gym) for the first time this past week and now basically all I want in life right now is rock climbing and AMVs.  (Too bad rock climbing isn't exactly a solo sport and somewhat expensive). But hey at least I've got the AMV half of things covered haha!


As you can see I've been busy!!  Usually when I'm this busy I still keep up with people's blogs but...some of you will have noticed I haven't popped by much this summer (sorry!)  So if there's anything on your blog or elsewhere that you think I'd like feel free to drop a link below!  And let me know all the things that have been going on in your summers!  I leave you with the links for the week :D



BOOKISH LINKS

Authors

Kate Elliot talks about writing women into epic fantasy without quotas.
Intisar Khanani gives a brief history of her love of water and recent bans on swim suits (aka burkinis)
Ambelin Kwaymullina and Rebecca Lim discuss intersectionality in Oz YA.

If you don't follow Ursula Vernon/T. Kingfisher's tumblr already, you totally should.  For reasons like this one.

Katherine Langrish talks about Dreams and Ghosts, and the art of telling ghost stories.

Bloggers

Stubby shares a scratch-off poster that tells how many classic books you’ve read.

Hamilton's Squad created a Harry Potter/Hamilton mashup.
Kat is recapping the Shadowhunter's TV Show so it's hilarious and you should read them, obvs.
Gillian recommends literary web series (aka apparently there's more out there than The Lizzie Bennett series...which I still need to watch).
Natalie reviewed The Lost Girl by Sangu Mandanna (which was one of my favourite reads of last year, but unfortunately didn't review.  I don't think I did? So go check out her review to see why you should totally read this book!)
A Woman Fell In Love With a Bookstore's Twitter Account and It All Worked Out, or cutest irl love story ever!Molly fangirls over Tamora Pierce's upcoming NEW NUMAIR TRILOGY (which I share here because we all know I WILL ALWAYS POST TAMORA PIERCE NEWS. FOREVER. THE END.)


NONBOOKISH

Leah has thoughts on Ryan Lochte and white privilege.
Maddy talks about why casting Alia Shawkat & Aubrey Plaza as Hamilton & Burr in Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Drunk History Episode is basically perfect.The Every Girl gives 10 reasons to head to Baltimore.
Kia talks about subverting gender tropes in Stranger Things.
Zack talks about fiction (tv episodes) that helped him process grief.