BarryCF
Let's Buy DVC!!
- Joined
- Apr 23, 2002
- Messages
- 208
Hi everyone 
It's story time with Uncle Barry. Our story begins in 1993. My DW Stef P has just graduated from college with a music education degree and lands a job as a middle school Choir Director at the largest school district in our area. The one year she was there was NOT a good experience. One of the lovely children brought a gun to class and sat it down on his desk like he was Jeremy from the Pearl Jam video. Stef P picked up the gun and the kid and carried them both to the principal's office. The gun didn't care much. The kid wasn't happy at all. The scary part is the kids behaved better than some of the adults.
Her classroom was the MS auditorium. One day in late February 1994 the MS Band director and the MS Drama teacher got into a fist fight on the auditorium stage that devolved into them throwing chairs at each other because they both thought it was their turn to use the MS auditorium stage for practice/rehearsal. Turns out neither of them had booked the stage that day for practice/rehearsal. The district decided to punish them by doing nothing. Did I mention that school year wasn't a good experience? Stef P walked away from teaching all together and wouldn't even consider trying again, not that I or anyone else could blame her.
About 10 years ago Stef P's sister Marsha convinced/dragged her to Church to play piano in the contemporary service praise band. A few weeks later I went to watch band practice and Marsha handed me a microphone. We never left. Eventually Stef P was hired by the Church to be the Praise Team leader and later Music Director. I was just happy that she was using her talent again. Last year we went to WDW Labor Day week for the Experience Worship Conference and Nights of Joy. We had one day at MK, which as we all know isn't nearly enough. We decided to go to the conference again this year, take one day at AK for Pandora, and to go back in early December for a 5 day WDW trip. We haven't been to WDW on a family trip since 2011. We've been as chaperones for for our DD's High School Band and Choir since then, and we've been to Universal several times.
So we're all set. The conference trip is 4 weeks away and we're about 120 days from our December trip. Before praise band rehearsal 2 Thursdays ago, Stef P pulls me to side and says she needs to talk to me. Oh good...that's what I want to hear.
It turns out it wasn't something I did wrong. Yay!!
She had gotten a call from one of the ladies at our Church. She is the MS counselor in the next town over. One of the 2 MS art teachers has retired and the MS principal and Superintendent has decided to start a Choir program. Up to now, they had a K-4 music class and nothing else until HS choir, which was taught by the Band Director. To quote the MS principal, she had interviewed "5 bozo's who couldn't even read music".
She was ready to give up, since school starts on Aug 28th. Karen, the MS counselor, overheard her, called our Pastor, got Stef P's number, and made the phone call that started this ball rolling. I didn't think there was any way she would take the job, even if they offered it to her. I considered the fact that she was going to the interview a victory, and the fact that she was considering the job an even bigger victory. Last Monday Stef P sat in the parking lot of the Admin Bldg for over an hour debating whether or not to take it. After talking to her on the phone I still wasn't sure what she would do. She took a leap of faith and accepted the job!! Thus started our crazy week. She has a lifetime teaching certificate but it wasn't active because she had never had a background check and finger prints for the Texas Education Agency. In four days she got that done, got her college transcript and started the process of getting her paper work from the one year she taught. For the record, that School District has gotten worse in the last 25 years, not better. New teacher orientation was Friday and her school year has started. Stef P says her last excuse to not take the job was that we are going to the conference the 2nd week of school. The principal said no problem. But being on a public school schedule means no early December Disney trip.
So what do we do? We cancel the December trip, and plan a full blown September Disney trip with 21 days to go, buy 4 day park hoppers and MNSSHP tickets for 9/7.
The plan looks something like this:
· 9/1 – Fri – Leave at 5a (Maybe 4a )/Drive to Coronado Springs Resort – 3 nights
· 9/2 – Sat – Epcot
· 9/3 – Sun – AK/Tusker House 9:20a
· 9/4 – Mon – MK/Grand Floridian - 4 nights/O’hana 9:40p (Group)
· 9/5 – Tue – HS/Experience Worship Conference (EWC) 3p - 8p/Epcot Evening EMH
· 9/6 – Wed – Kona Café 7:35a (Group)/EWC
· 9/7 – Thu – EWC/MNSSHP 4p – 12a
· 9/8 – Fri – EWC dismiss at 12:30p
The conference portion including the stay at GF was already planned. We added the 3 nights at Coronado Springs on the Magical Escape promotion last Thursday, made dining reservations and Fast Passes over the course of this weekend and now we're counting down the days. The only thing we haven't been able to get so far is a lunch res for BOG or a FP for SDMT, but I'll keep checking.
Disney World here we come!!!!!
It's story time with Uncle Barry. Our story begins in 1993. My DW Stef P has just graduated from college with a music education degree and lands a job as a middle school Choir Director at the largest school district in our area. The one year she was there was NOT a good experience. One of the lovely children brought a gun to class and sat it down on his desk like he was Jeremy from the Pearl Jam video. Stef P picked up the gun and the kid and carried them both to the principal's office. The gun didn't care much. The kid wasn't happy at all. The scary part is the kids behaved better than some of the adults.
Her classroom was the MS auditorium. One day in late February 1994 the MS Band director and the MS Drama teacher got into a fist fight on the auditorium stage that devolved into them throwing chairs at each other because they both thought it was their turn to use the MS auditorium stage for practice/rehearsal. Turns out neither of them had booked the stage that day for practice/rehearsal. The district decided to punish them by doing nothing. Did I mention that school year wasn't a good experience? Stef P walked away from teaching all together and wouldn't even consider trying again, not that I or anyone else could blame her.
About 10 years ago Stef P's sister Marsha convinced/dragged her to Church to play piano in the contemporary service praise band. A few weeks later I went to watch band practice and Marsha handed me a microphone. We never left. Eventually Stef P was hired by the Church to be the Praise Team leader and later Music Director. I was just happy that she was using her talent again. Last year we went to WDW Labor Day week for the Experience Worship Conference and Nights of Joy. We had one day at MK, which as we all know isn't nearly enough. We decided to go to the conference again this year, take one day at AK for Pandora, and to go back in early December for a 5 day WDW trip. We haven't been to WDW on a family trip since 2011. We've been as chaperones for for our DD's High School Band and Choir since then, and we've been to Universal several times.
So we're all set. The conference trip is 4 weeks away and we're about 120 days from our December trip. Before praise band rehearsal 2 Thursdays ago, Stef P pulls me to side and says she needs to talk to me. Oh good...that's what I want to hear.
It turns out it wasn't something I did wrong. Yay!! She had gotten a call from one of the ladies at our Church. She is the MS counselor in the next town over. One of the 2 MS art teachers has retired and the MS principal and Superintendent has decided to start a Choir program. Up to now, they had a K-4 music class and nothing else until HS choir, which was taught by the Band Director. To quote the MS principal, she had interviewed "5 bozo's who couldn't even read music".
She was ready to give up, since school starts on Aug 28th. Karen, the MS counselor, overheard her, called our Pastor, got Stef P's number, and made the phone call that started this ball rolling. I didn't think there was any way she would take the job, even if they offered it to her. I considered the fact that she was going to the interview a victory, and the fact that she was considering the job an even bigger victory. Last Monday Stef P sat in the parking lot of the Admin Bldg for over an hour debating whether or not to take it. After talking to her on the phone I still wasn't sure what she would do. She took a leap of faith and accepted the job!! Thus started our crazy week. She has a lifetime teaching certificate but it wasn't active because she had never had a background check and finger prints for the Texas Education Agency. In four days she got that done, got her college transcript and started the process of getting her paper work from the one year she taught. For the record, that School District has gotten worse in the last 25 years, not better. New teacher orientation was Friday and her school year has started. Stef P says her last excuse to not take the job was that we are going to the conference the 2nd week of school. The principal said no problem. But being on a public school schedule means no early December Disney trip.So what do we do? We cancel the December trip, and plan a full blown September Disney trip with 21 days to go, buy 4 day park hoppers and MNSSHP tickets for 9/7.
The plan looks something like this:· 9/1 – Fri – Leave at 5a (Maybe 4a )/Drive to Coronado Springs Resort – 3 nights
· 9/2 – Sat – Epcot
· 9/3 – Sun – AK/Tusker House 9:20a
· 9/4 – Mon – MK/Grand Floridian - 4 nights/O’hana 9:40p (Group)
· 9/5 – Tue – HS/Experience Worship Conference (EWC) 3p - 8p/Epcot Evening EMH
· 9/6 – Wed – Kona Café 7:35a (Group)/EWC
· 9/7 – Thu – EWC/MNSSHP 4p – 12a
· 9/8 – Fri – EWC dismiss at 12:30p
The conference portion including the stay at GF was already planned. We added the 3 nights at Coronado Springs on the Magical Escape promotion last Thursday, made dining reservations and Fast Passes over the course of this weekend and now we're counting down the days. The only thing we haven't been able to get so far is a lunch res for BOG or a FP for SDMT, but I'll keep checking.
Disney World here we come!!!!!
