OLLIE gigs and Dental complaints

I'm just finishing up week one (week two for some schools) for the Winter session of OLLIE. The groups we are working with this time already seem to be an infinite improvement over some of the groups from last session. I'm not going to put all of the blame on the schools and students though. I was so burnt out by the end of the Fall session, that I probably wasn't very fun to work with either. From now on, I am going to make sure that I have a couple weeks between sessions where I can regroup and de-stress. That doesn't necessarily mean a vacation. In my case, it just means doing something else that doesn't involve kids.

In other news, I am extremely frustrated with my dental situation. I've been avoiding the dentist because I can barely afford a cleaning, not to mention whatever fillings might be required. Turns out this was a bad idea. But now I REALLY can't afford to go to the dentist because I know something is (expensively) wrong, but not wrong enough to warrant immediate relief-of-pain surgery which is the only type of coverage I have. So what can I do? Wait until it gets worse and painful, I guess.

Would it really cost that much for the government to throw in a little basic dental care for us? It seems to me that it would save them money on costly emergency dental procedures. Maybe I'll just swap my teeth out for some dentures. Then I won't have to worry about it.

gariet cowin's Recent Field Reports

Things're Good

I don't have a lot to report. We're about halfway through the school term. I'm involved with a lot of projects, and most of them look like they are going to be great. I'll post some links when the videos are finished and online.

I love books.

This isn't really VISTA related, but I just wanted to give a shout-out to the Portland Public Library system, which is super-great. Due to lack of funds, VISTA's often have to find free entertainment, and for me, that means the library. The Portland library system allows me to check out 150 items at once. …read more

OLLIE gigs and Dental complaints

I'm just finishing up week one (week two for some schools) for the Winter session of OLLIE. The groups we are working with this time already seem to be an infinite improvement over some of the groups from last session. I'm not going to put all of the blame on the schools and students though. …read more

Gearing Up For a New Term

This week at OLLIE, we are all getting ready for a new school term. That means new classes, new students, and new projects. All I can say about that is "hooray!". The Fall term was really hard on me. I just couldn't seem to connect with any of the students that I was working with, and sometimes the kids were so rude that I wanted to walk out on the job. …read more