No retreat, baby, no surrender

So Friday I get a call at 2:40, can I meet with the principal right after school? Yep. Uh oh. About 8 of us got the word that due to budget issues the district has implemented a reduction in force and we were the ones cut from our school. All of us first year teachers, although several are actually veteran teachers who have been in the district only one year. So as of right now, I do not have a job after May 22nd.

What about the Dual Language program, does this mean it's going away? We don't know, it hasn't been discussed yet, but if it stays, you may have a job. MAY HAVE.

When will we know for sure? There is no specific time frame, we just don't know.

Should I look for a job now or hang on and wait? Do what you feel you need to do.

Uh. Yeah. I HATE LIMBO!

I'm not even going to mention how it went with H&R Block yesterday. Suffice it to say that today I'm looking for receipts, adding up totals, sacrificing chickens, and getting my resume together to submit to other districts (not that they haven't also been letting people go). I will also be looking for jobs in the business sector and submitting my resume to just about any job that I may be able to do. Maybe even some that I have no clue whether or not I can do.

Are you going to keep teaching? I am not ruling out anything.

Are you moving back to Virginia? I'm not ruling out anything.

Are you going to try to go back to your old job at FM? I'm not ruling out anything.

As we waited for The Boss to take the stage Friday night, Barista turned to me and asked what I thought he'd open the show with. Without hesitation I said "Badlands." I called it, it was fitting after the Friday I had, and boy is it fitting right now baby...

Lights out tonight, trouble in the heartland.
Got a head-on collision, smashin in my guts man.
I'm caught in a crossfire that I don't understand.

But there's one thing I know for sure girl:
I don't give a damn for the same old played out scenes
I don't give a damn for just the in-betweens.
Honey I want the heart, I want the soul, I want control right now.

You better listen to me baby:
Talk about a dream; try to make it real.
You wake up in the night with a fear so real.
You spend your life waiting for a moment that just don't come.
Well don't waste your time waiting!

Badlands... you gotta live it every day
Let the broken hearts stand as the price you've gotta pay
We'll keep pushin 'til it's understood
And these badlands start treating us good.

Workin in the field 'til you get your back burned
Workin 'neath the wheels 'til you get your facts learned.
Baby I got my facts learned real good right now.

You better get it straight darling:
Poor men wanna be rich, rich men wanna be kings,
And a king ain't satisfied 'til he rules everything.
I wanna go out tonight, I wanna find out what I got.

Now I believe in the love that you gave me.
I believe in the faith that could save me.
I believe in the hope and I pray that some day it will raise me above
these Badlands...

You gotta live it every day
Let the broken hearts stand as the price
you've gotta pay
We'll keep pushin 'til it's understood
And these badlands
start treating us good.

For the ones who had a notion, a notion deep inside
That it ain't no sin to be glad you're alive.
I wanna find one face that ain't looking through me
I wanna find one place, I wanna spit in the face of these
Badlands...

You gotta live it every day
Let the broken hearts stand as the price you've gotta pay
We'll keep pushin 'til it's understood
And these badlands start treating us good.