O’Hai!
This diary is an update on my life, including my ongoing adventures in substitute teaching, earning my teaching credential, life with my critters, Covid-19 precautions, AND a request for financial assistance.
This month’s goal is to raise funds for my living expenses for November and my first Spring 21 payment: $3000.00.
If you do not like such diaries, please move along, thank you.
HOW TO HELP:
No-Cost Ways to Support: REC, TIP, COMMENT, SHARE This Post
ONE TIME SUPPORT
• GoFundMe • Ko-Fi •
• PayPal (James at JamesThomasGreen.com) •
ONGOING MONTHLY SUPPORT
• Patreon •
Sending me Pet Supplies and other gifts mean I don’t have to expend my scarce funds
Amazon Wishlists: Pet Supplies • Clothing • TEACHING SUPPLIES •
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There are ways to help that do not cost money, i.e. REC, TIP, COMMENT, and SHARE this post.
Thanks to your generous support, I made the almost-unbelievable goal of raising enough to pay off my Fall Tuition for my teaching credential and my living expenses. It was not my first choice to go this route to fund my education and I was warned by several that I would fail, but you came through for me, so far anyway.
It would have been very hard to continue my studies while living in my car using McDonald’s parking lot wifi to do my coursework.
You have come through for me every time I’ve needed help since Dad died after me being his caregiver for 15 years, and I hope you continue to do so. Each month I have to raise enough to pay my living expenses. In a few months, I will again have to rise Spring Tuition funds as well.
It will only take one time that I miss my goal and can’t make a rent payment or a tuition payment to cause everything to come to a crashing end. I anticipate needing to do these fundraisers each month until next October when I will be getting my first paycheck as a teacher.
If you are short of funds yourself, please do not put yourself at risk to help me.
UPDATES
Teaching Credential update:
I have been placed in a third-grade class in a school about a mile away from my house in an UNPAID student-teaching position with an experienced credentialed co-teacher. I have been going to the school and classroom where I have been using Google Meet to be with my class. My co-teacher sits on the other side of the classroom so we are socially distant. I am increasing the number of lessons I teach in what is called “gradual release of responsibility”. I am teaching many math classes and I will be teaching the science classes in the spring.
I may or may not be moved to a different class/school in spring. Normally a student-teacher is placed in a class for one semester, either a K-3 class or a 4-6 class, and then in the next semester placed in the other category. However, with COVID this may not happen. I hope to stay at my current school/class assignment as I enjoy this class, have a good working relationship with my co-teacher, and the school is less than a mile away. If I were to switch I could wind up in a school far away, even in another county.
There are some items I could use to help me do remote teaching better which I list in my TEACHING SUPPLIES Amazon Wishlist, including a backpack that would help me.
COVID-19
The area in which I live and in which my assigned school is located has the highest rates of COVID19 infection in Monterey County. As such I am very worried whenever I have to go out.
My school had to shut down its food distribution program for several weeks because a staff member got COVID19.
One of my students has had his entire family come down with COVID19, and I encountered him last week when he came to campus. I was helping pass out Halloween goodie bags. I am going to get tested as soon as I can out of precaution.
I have been going to the school and classroom where I have access to the classroom materials, but the news that Trump has COVID has brought home that going out is not safe. I will be going to school less than I have. I had been going into the school in part because it is so close. I had been there as a sub many times over the past few years and many of my current students had me as a sub in previous years. I also have a philosophy of “90% of life is showing up” and by going into the school, other teachers and administrators will get to see me and know me and that might help next year when I am seeking an actual paying job.
It also helps to get out of the house and be able to walk about in the empty schoolyard to get some much-needed exercise.
CRITTERS
My critters continue to be healthy and happy and warm and cuddly. They have been the love that has kept me going in this time of physical and social isolation. I have enough dry dog and cat food for at least another month, but the fleas are bad and I can always use wet canned dog/cat food from my AMAZON PET WISHLIST.
The big news is that I have a new addition to the JTG Critters crew, Khonsu Maukat, who is named for the Egyptian god of the moon. He/she came to me on Halloween night when a neighbor found it in the street in front of my house and brought it to me. I can use kitten food from my AMAZON PET WISHLIST.
The puppers and the kitties have gotten used to me being home all the time, and thus now when I leave to go to the school or doctor they go nuts and I come home to find they have become forces of entropy and knock things over and make a mess. It’s a good thing they are cute..
MY HEART AND OTHER HEALTH ISSUES
As some of you may recall, I had a heart attack and a stent inserted into my heart a few months ago. It was a close call as I had a 90% blockage that if it had blocked all the way likely would have killed me. My heart doctor told me that with this particular blockade location, the first sign that anything is wrong is someone dies, so I was very lucky.
I had been having chest pains for over a year, but since I had little money and could not take time off I did not get it checked out. In fact, if the schools had not shut down and thus no more work as a substitute teacher was available, I might not have gotten checked out and I might now be dead. Sobering thoughts.
The long time of the blockage, likely years, had weakened my heart so that even now I get fatigued easily. My heart is slowly rebuilding now that the blood supply has been restored, but it is a slow process.
I was in cardiac rehabilitation for a few months, but I have had to drop out because the available session times conflicted with both my elementary school placement times as well as my online teaching credential course times. I have been trying to make up for my lack of exercise, but it is quite difficult as there is pretty much nowhere I can go beyond walking up and down the sidewalk.
In addition to the blockage, my heart doctor told me that I have a condition in my aortic heart valve that will require surgery in three to five years or I will die. There is no diet or exercise nor drugs that can put that off. However, that is for future-me to deal with.
POLL WORKER JTG
I worked as a poll worker on election day. I arrived at about 6 am at a local Catholic Church, where my former Boy Scout Troop used to meet, and I was there until about 9 pm. It was a very long day.
It was not very busy as in our area most people had mail-in ballots. Mostly we were collecting mail-in ballots from voters who had not yet sent in their ballots. Most of my time was spent sitting by a box outside and pointing to the box when people came up to drop off their ballots.
There were, thankfully, no Trumpist protestors.
My car was hit in the parking lot while parked. A woman backed into the parking spot next to mine and hit my car instead. I got her insurance and they claim they will pay to fix the bumper, which has been caved in. The care is drivable and it has not shown any signs of more than cosmetic damage in the past few days.
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Please feel free to ask questions or make comments or post pictures of your favorite memes or critters in the comments. Do not forget to LIKE, REC, TIP, and SHARE this diary.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR CONTINUED SUPPORT!