Saturday, February 26, 2011

The playlist

I'm not a big fan of musicals, actually.
When I watch Glee I often fast forward through the songs. I never liked "Rent" or "Moulin Rouge." I think "Cats" is the absolute worst play I've ever seen.

So I was pretty shocked that not only did I know plenty of musicals to share with the girls, but watching videos like "Matchmaker" and "Hard Knock Life" actually made me emotional.

Somewhere, in the darkest parts of my brain, is a space that loves, loves, loves (certain) musicals. And re-watching some of these songs has strangely brightened up our bedtime routine.




Sunday, February 20, 2011

Deep analysis: Glee

One night during bath time, I randomly sang "I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Out of My Hair" as I was shampooing the girls' hair.

They looked at me, then looked at each other with an expression that said, "so this is what crazy must be." It got much worse when I tried to explain that there wasn't an actual man in their hair, and even if you did wash a man out of your hair, he'd be totally unharmed in the process.

The questions wouldn't stop, so to clear things up, I decided to show them a YouTube clip from "South Pacific." It basically blew their minds. Movies with singing! And choreographed dancing! And adults are doing it, not just kids!

OK, so, they like musicals, I thought, I guess I should show them a clip from Glee. I found the Riahnna "Umbrella"/"Singin' in the Rain" mash-up because the girls are familiar with the "Umbrella" song. (Perhaps because it mentions Ella's name a million times.)

So they're watching the Glee kids do their thing all quietly and then this happened -

Marina: Is this a movie?
Me: No, it's a new TV show. South Pacific is more like a classic movie.
Marina: Which girl is Riahnna? I don't see her.
Me: No, she's not in this. This is just a show where they take people's songs and sing them themselves.
Ella: Hey! That's not fair, that's called stealing.

Friday, February 18, 2011

And finally, door number three

Actually Urban Discovery didn't hold its lottery on Thursday.

Maybe because they had an overwhelming number of applicants or because they like to torture parents, whatever the reason, Urban Discovery postponed the lottery until March.

And I'm fairly certain my name won't be in the mix. That's right. I'm thinking of taking our name out of the running.

What's the point, really? I don't like it better than La Jolla and I don't want this SD Co-Op type stress about what I'd do if Marina got in.

That leaves one more charter school lottery left - Explorer Elementary. A mythical school that all of San Diego loves even though hardly anyone gets in and no one's even toured yet.

Thankfully that one doesn't happen until April.

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Now door number two . . .

For today's Museum School lottery, I decided to show up in person.

It was being held soon after the girls got out of school, so I bribed them with warm vanilla milks from Starbucks and a mini scone each. Then we talked about how great the Museum School is with their sewing classes and art studio and all that to get them jazzed for the "adventure."

The lottery was held in the kindergarten classroom and about 15 parents showed up. There were 12 spots open for incoming kindergartners and the glass bowl was stuffed with names. I was riding high on my Co-Op luck, so I was feeling pretty confident.

The principal and the head of San Diego charter schools, along with two official recorders, handled the process. The principal held the bowl and the head of charter put her hand in and read the names.

They called the first name and it belonged to one of the parents in the room, so that was exciting. Kind of like a movie where she screamed in surprise and we all clapped for her.
Then two more names. After that they called a twin, so that immediately ate up an extra spot. Then, another parent who was in the room was called, which apparently is pretty rare. The claps weren't as loud this time. And before long, the 12 spots were taken.

Still, they continued to reach in the bowl and call every single name for the waiting list. I lost count at exactly where we were placed. Maybe 100? Maybe 120?

It's disappointing for sure. But it's also proving that the decisions we're making just may be the right ones.

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Behind door number one . . .

It looks like we got picked in our first lottery!
Someone who went to the Co-Op this morning told me Marina got spot number 8 of 18. What!

Of course we got picked. The minute you declare that you're happy by yourself, you find a boyfriend. Isn't that how it works?

My initial reaction was to turn it down, but after talking to a friend who sends his daughter to that school, I'm not so sure. The odds were so low we'd get picked and we did. Does that mean something? Does it mean nothing?

I do know that I'll be riding our lucky wave over to the Museum School lottery tomorrow.

Friday, February 11, 2011

Anti-climactic lottery week

This is the week three of the four schools I applied for are doing their lotteries: SD Co-Op on Tuesday, Museum on Wednesday and Urban Discovery on Thursday.

When I'd think about this week, my stomach would get all knotted up. Even when I watched that movie "The Lottery," the actual lottery scene had me feeling so uncomfortable, I seriously hunched over with dread when they weren't calling out the names I wanted to hear.

But now that we're moving, I'm kind of feeling like those people on "Let's Make a Deal," remember that game show? They'd offer a contestant something fabulous and then they'd say stuff like "Yes, $100 is nice, but wouldn't you like to see if there's something better behind door number two?"

I feel like I've already taken the $100 and this week I'm about to see what's behind the curtain.

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

A place by the sea

This is the story of how I said goodbye to my (relatively) roomy suburban house in favor of a two-bedroom condo by the sea.

Something I do pretty often is check Craigslist for rentals. At first, when I thought I wanted to go to Hearst, I'd look for places in Del Cerro. Then Benchley/Weinberger had me browsing through San Carlos. Sometimes, for fun, I search through neighborhoods that are way out of my league.

Except this one time, two days after I turned in my Choice application, a listing popped up. Two bedrooms, two bathrooms, two parking spaces in La Jolla. And not, like, UCSD La Jolla, but right downtown, blocks away from the cliffs. It was only $100 more than what we pay and would definitely put us in the La Jolla Elementary boundary.

So I called. And when I got there, it was more ideal than on paper. Small, yes. But so close to the school, you can see it from the balcony. Close to cafes and restaurants and groceries, all within easy walking distance. Then Matt went over to see it even though he was sick, cranky and really not into it. And he loved it.

Before we knew it, we were signing a lease and putting money down. We did this one week before the charter lotteries, which I still am a bit nervous about. But it's official, we're moving. I've been in San Diego all my life and I've never lived by the ocean. It's exciting and scary and crazy and impulsive all at the same time.

It also means we've basically locked in the school. There are still some things I have to figure out regarding private school, or the one-off chance we get into Explorer or Museum.

But really. I am done worrying. Now it's time to concentrate on enjoying our new journey as a beach family.

Monday, February 7, 2011

Plan B

Apparently I'm not so good at waiting.

There's some crazy plans in the works . . . stay tuned!

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

The Choice list

After many hours of discussion last night, we've decided to only put three schools on our Choice list.

Here they are in order of preference:

1. Benchley/Weinberger
2. Sunset View
3. Hearst

Speaking in terms of traditional public schools, I truly feel that, aside from La Jolla, only those three offer something better than my neighborhood option.

We've also turned in our financial aid forms at private school and re-registered for a spot there next year.

Now my job is to wait.