On plans that seem really awesome and doable but don't actually turn out to be

I am now in my second week of student teaching at Freshwater School. It's amazing. I have the best mentor ever. The kids are super nice and there's tons of creative freedom.

The only problem with it is that it's located 8 miles away from my house. I can't walk there. I have to drive.

Here are the alternatives to driving somewhere daily:

1. Take the bus. Except no buses go there.
2. Carpool. I wish. I tried. My mentor also lives in Arcata but she has kids that are stressful to get ready in the morning so I can't ride with her. The other student teacher at that school lives in Samoa, on the opposite side of the school, so that's out.
3. Bike there. Hmm. There's a possibility. Putting aside time to exercise as it gets me to a place I need to be? Count me in! And I'd be so hardcore, biking to work! I probably wouldn't go the whole way. I would probably park in Sunny Brae, after the big giant hills, and proceed up and down the moderate hills to Freshwater. Okay, I thought. This could work.

Or so I thought. Because I don't actually have a bike. I used to. But I didn't use it. So I kind of (stupidly) left it in a place where it could easily be stolen because I figured it wouldn't be such a loss. (I'd gotten it for free from my first roommate.)

But wait, said my smart brain. Maybe I can rent a bike!

My friend said, "Yeah, try the bike library!" I said, "Didn't that close like three years ago?" He said, "I don't think it did!" I said, "Well, I'll try to go there then."

It sure didn't look open to me. It looked like a rusty shed with bike wheels everywhere. Then I went to the bike shop. I said, "Do you guys rent bikes?" The guy said, "Not this time of the year. And we only rent bikes out for tours. Nobody around here rents bikes." And then he decided to condescendingly state that the bikes at that shop run upwards of $390. Thanks for rubbing it in that I shouldn't be there, friend.

That was highly disappointing because I'd spent about two hours walking around, combing the blocks of Arcata trying to find the bike library. (At least that, plus running in the frost at 6am this morning for 15 minutes, means I got the exercise I wanted today?) And just to find that there's no place I can deposit $30 for the use of a bike for 6 months.

Oh wait, I can just buy a bike. Oh wait, no I can't. The whole purpose of not driving was to save on gas. And save the air. But it looks like I lose and am trapped in the cycle of environmental irresponsibility, no pun intended.

Maybe if I'm really lucky I'll find a friend of a friend with a decent bike they're not using. But I'm not getting my hopes up. What a disappointing day indeed.

As much as I don't want to start 2011 with a blog of hate, I just want to say that I hate the loneliness of breaks. Every day this week I've been waking up, eating breakfast, going somewhere with Internet, eating lunch, texting five or six friends to see if they're in town yet and if they want to hang out, and only getting responses from people who aren't in town yet. Am I really that boring? I've been getting a lot of exercise, though, walking probably at least 3 miles every day for the past few days.

I spent New Years with people in the credential program. I had no idea everyone was so close-knit. I don't know how they found the time and energy to get that way. It was pretty fun, though. I got a free beer at Humbrews just for having a trumpet with me, that was cool. And we danced for about two hours.

I just wish people would call me back when I leave a message asking if they're free to make dinner tonight! I feel like I'm texting and talking to nobody. I only have two days left of my break and I want to see people before I'm forced to only see children every day for 18 weeks.

Wah, grumpy, wah. I think I'll go put that Greek yogurt in the fridge now.

Stephy