Monthly Archives: April 2010

Lucy the Volkswagon = ALL BETTER!

So I got in a car accident three weeks ago. Wait no, almost a month ago now. Dayum.

Yes, it was my fault. Not on purpose of course. They don’t call it a car purpose. It’s a car accident because that’s what it is. AN ACCIDENT. No, I wasn’t on my phone. No, Oprah, I wasn’t texting while driving. It was 5 o’clock on a Tuesday during rush hour and the guy in front of me stopped too fast for me to stop. No, we weren’t at a stop sign. No, we weren’t a stop light.

It all happened in less than 30 seconds. I tried to swerve to miss him, but unfortunately, I did not.

I’ve never been in a car accident. It freaked me out so much. I got a little whiplash and had a pretty good bruise from the seat belt for a couple days, but other than that I was fine.

But I remember getting out of my car, making sure the guy was okay, and then seeing my car and I immediately started crying. For a couple reasons, one because I was shaken up, two because my pretty car was no longer pretty, and three, I thought “HOW IN THE HECK AM I GOING TO PAY FOR THIS? WHAT AM I GOING TO DRIVE WHILE THIS IS GETTING FIXED? WHO IS GOING TO TELL ME THIS IS GOING TO BE OKAY?” etc. etc. etc.

And of course, I’m totally lucky. It’s a good thing I WAS paying attention. I hear horror stories of these car accidents on the interstate and I am thankful I was not one of those. So, of course, hooray for it being okay.

Sure, I have car insurance. But there are those things like rental car deposits, tickets, and deductibles we forget about.

SIDE NOTE: The rental car I got for the last 25 days was a 2010 Dodge Avenger. AKA: It looks like a manly muscle car. BUT it did have Satellite radio. I used to have Sirius satellite radio a long time ago – I forgot how much I missed it. I was really sad to say goodbye to Cosmo radio. MAN that is a good station.

Oh well, 25 days after my accident, I finally have my car back. And she’s good as new and pretty again. The guys at Elite Auto Body in Carrboro did an AMAZING job.

(They sure as heck better have for having it be a $4,000 repair job…)

Well, here she is, in all her glory:

Lucy before.

Lucy AFTER! Isn't she cute?

Moral of the story? People get in car accidents. Sure, it sucks, but it happens to everyone. I just need to make the benjamins now so I can pay it off…

And I think the two-second following rule should be a five-second following rule.

Just sayin’.

Tell me: Have you ever gotten in a car accident or fender bender? Did it totally suck? If it did, I’m sorry. Share your wisdom and experience in the comments.

Word.

Updates and Motivation

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I’m going to try and keep this post as short and concise as possible, because there is a lot of information to update you on. But, because I enjoy writing, am long-winded, and digress excessively, that may not happen. Oh well. I do what I want, yo.

colette and i after the race with our medals!

oh wow. I ran the TarHeel 10 Miler.

And I finished it. And I didn’t come in last place! This wasn’t just a big deal for me, in the immortal words of our beloved Vice President of the United States, “It was a big f*****g deal.”

I went from being a horrible runner who would pass out after trying to run a half a mile to finishing and SPRINTING THE FINISH LINE of a 10-mile race. My first race, no less. It was hard. Definitely. I ran with one of my best friends (and FEMMEBOIS comedy partner) Colette, and I don’t think I could have done it without her. We really motivated each other, and when mile 8 on the Laurel Hill challenge came, she kept yelling, “KEEP RUNNING, MOLLY! You can do it!” All while my leg muscles were burning hotter than Justin Timberlake’s dance moves.

The two best parts of the race? Seeing the amazing DSI Comedy people cheer us on at the 6.5 and 9 mile water stops and sprinting the finish line in Kenan Stadium. Sprinting that last 1/4 mile stretch around the track in Kenan was so exhilarating. When we finally crossed the finish line, my adrenaline was pumping so hard that I just started to cry. I couldn’t believe it.

Regardless, in 8 days, I will run my first half-marathon, and only my (now) second race ever. I’m working with a bit of a knee and foot injury, but I know I can do it. 8 days. 8 days. 8 days.

In Memory Day

Some of you saw that I tweeted about having the opportunity to speak at the Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial Foundation event In Memory Day in Washington D.C. Well, I spoke. I was (surprisingly) able to get off work for the weekend and take Monday off. I drove up to Herndon, Va (the town where I was born and raised) and spent Saturday with my best friend, Bec, before she left Sunday for Colorado. Spent some much needed quality time with my Dad, my friend Katie, and even got to see a friend and sorority sister of mine, Caroline. And yes, we ate at the Tortilla Factory in case you weren’t wondering.

I’ve written about my mom a lot more lately. A lot more than I ever have or used to, so I won’t go into the details of her story, her life, etc. Basically, In Memory Day is a ceremony that takes place at the wall in honor of those who served in the Vietnam War and died because of their service but do not qualify to have their names inscribed on the wall.

My mom was honored in 2004 and 2009. My dad spoke in my place in 2004 because I was in college. This year, I was given the opportunity to speak. I did it because it was important for me to spend that time with my dad, be able to talk about my mom, and hopefully keep her story going – because it’s one that should no soon be forgotten.

Well, footage of my speech is available online. You can see the ceremony in it’s entirety here with my speech beginning at approximately 26:45.

Senator Lisa Murkowski and I at In Memory Day

I was honored to be able to be a part of such an important day.

And last but certainly not least, the girl with 4 jobs, as of Monday, April 26th, will now have ONE.

You read it right. As of Monday, April 26th, I will be a full time employee of 1360 WCHL. A lot has happened in the last few months, and I’ve worked really, really, REALLY hard. Also, I’m really, really, REALLY burnt out. I sort of had a breaking point a couple weeks ago and realized I couldn’t keep working at the pace I’m currently working. No days off. 13, 14, sometimes 16 hour work days. No free time.

It seemed like so many things kept happening and finally I broke. It happens to everyone. Conveniently, at the time I figured out I couldn’t work this many jobs anymore, my part-time job at the radio station offered me a full-time position. Over the last four months at the station, I took the part-time position I was given, and treated it like a full-time position – giving it exactly what it deserves, going above and beyond my job description, and showing the station why I am an asset to the team. And finally, it paid off. And I couldn’t be more excited.

I will continue in my role as Sales and Marketing Coordinator, but I will also be expanding my role into commercial writing, editing, and production along with station promotions and initiatives. I’m taking the things I love to do, write, edit, create, and market, and I’m applying them to my job. I’m pumped.

Money is still tight, really tight, and I’ll have some serious budget re-working to do, but I’m excited to get somewhat of a life back and love going to work every day.

++++

I’ve learned a lot over the last few months and I know I have a lot more to learn. There’s some big stuff coming my way. I know it. I can feel it.

In the end, it’s all going to be okay.

I want to know, what have YOU learned so far this year?

Word.

ps: see? told you I couldn’t keep this ish short.

What Teaching, Taught Me

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me (far right) with one of my English classes

Some of you know and some of you don’t know, that I was a high school English teacher for two years in Richmond, Virginia.

I didn’t go to college to be a teacher, it just sort of, well, happened. I stumbled upon it. (The explanation of how I really got the job is another story for another day).

Regardless, it was by far the most liberating, challenging, rewarding, fun, [insert other adjective here], experiences of my short life. Although I’m not teaching, nor am I living in Richmond anymore, the students that I taught for those two years had such a great impact on me – so much so that I still keep in contact with many of them.

When you spend as many hours a week with these students as I did, you learn so much about them and their lives. You learn who’s popular, what sports they like, favorite songs, boyfriend and girlfriend drama, who’s taking whom to prom, what their goals are, etc. For many of my students, in addition to being their teacher, I became a mentor and a sounding board.

There were countless students that I didn’t even have on my official roster that would come into my classroom on a daily basis and talk to me or just want to say hey.

Well, in the last month and a half, tragedy has struck the Hermitage HS community twice. Two students, both of whom made an impact on my life in addition to the lives of so many other students, passed away at two separate times. Knowing what death and loss feels like, I grieve along with the Hermitage community. Young lives gone too soon. To the friends and families of Jackson and Drew, know that I’m thinking about you. You will get through this.

In addition to teaching English, I was the photojournalism/yearbook teacher. At the end of the year last year, I wrote a “Farewell from the Adviser” note and published it in one of the back pages of the yearbook. I pulled my copy of 2009 Panthian out today, read it and I just cried. I needed that.

And so, I thought it would be fitting to share it with you, for no other reason than I felt it needed to be shared.

A FAREWELL FROM THE ADVISER… (Dated June 2009)

It’s hard to explain to someone on the outside, exactly what it is like to be a yearbook adviser. It’s hard enough explaining what it’s like to be a high school teacher, who looks like a high school student. My two years at Hermitage have been short, but I have learned more in the past 670+ days than I think I have in my entire 23 & 3/4 years of life. On the day of my interview for my job at Hermitage, Mrs. Saunders and Mrs. Montgomery said to me, “How would you feel about also becoming the yearbook adviser?” I had told them that I was on yearbook staff when I was younger and that I would definitely be interested in the position. Well, when I came into work on my first day, smack dab in the middle of my schedule I noticed that I had photojournalism 5th block. I was naive, idealistic, and frankly, had no idea what was in store for me.

Being yearbook adviser has easily been the most challenging thing I have ever experienced in my life. [Students: you have no idea how hard it is to create this thing you're looking at. Cherish it. Love it. Don't throw it away, please.] Hundreds of hours are spending designing pages, taking and choosing pictures, writing stories, editing captions, editing captions again, getting quotes, placing quotes, finalizing spreads, getting proofs, fixing the spreads again, and maybe having to fix the same spread a 7th time. The details involved in putting together a yearbook are innumerable. And that’s the easy part. There is also this “other” part of being a yearbook adviser that no one tells you about. The part where you have to train, motivate, educate, organize, and empower 24-30 TEENAGERS into making the actual thing. Nope, no one tells you about that.

Well, on a sunny day in September of 2007, I walked into photojournalism on the FIRST day of school, (also my first day teaching, ever) and I had no idea that already, every single kid in that room hated me. The yearbook had gone through a lot of turnover with advisers and I was predisposed to be Enemy #1. As I read my syllabus to the class, I could hear the grumbling and I could feel 25 sets of eyes rolling. As I continued to read, the class became more and more agitated and I had no idea why. Suddenly, two students walked out of the room. I looked up, and if looks could kill, I would have been about eight feet under by that point. I knew right away that what I was facing would be a challenge. I also knew that it couldn’t get worse… right? [BTW: of course they eventually grew to love me, or tolerate me. I'm not 100% sure which.]

I don’t want to ramble and rehash old details of yearbooks-past, but I do want to tell you what I’ve learned. I learned about people and how to cope with differing personalities. I learned how to take every moment in stride. I learned how to instill a sense of leadership in those who had no clue as to what being a leader meant. I learned how to take the bad and roll with the good. I learned how to accept me for ME. I’m young, I look young, and I love to laugh and make people laugh. I had accepted that and I wouldn’t want to be any other way. However, I also learned how to stand up when I know I’m right and accept it when I know I’m wrong.

To the faculty, staff, and administrators: thank you for supporting me. Thank you for letting me vent when I needed to vent. Thank you for making me laugh when I needed a laugh. Thank you for all the advice, mentoring, friendships, doughnuts, popcorn on Fridays, stepping, and lunches. You are all incredible educators and the students at Hermitage are blessed to have you in their lives.

To my students: thank you for teaching me. I hope that I have taught you a little something. Whether it’s what you should order from Chipotle [and that Chipotle is WAY better than Qdoba or Moe's], whether it’s how to navigate the subways of New York City, or how to “blend in” when creeping on people for a picture. In the end, it is my hope that I have taught you to never settle. Accept yourself for who you are and embrace every part of it. Don’t change for something else because you think you have to. All of you are incredible young adults: bright, funny, smart, and confident. Don’t ever forget that, because I will never forget you.

In the school of improv comedy [yes, I do comedy] we are taught the philosophy of “Yes, and…” – meaning to accept every offer by saying, “YES!” and then to build upon that offer with something new and wonderful. My time here at Hermitage has been one big moment of “Yes, and…,” and I will continue to “Yes, and…” every moment from here on out.

Go Panthers!

-Ms. Molly Buckley

Well, and that brings us to present day. Dear Hermitage, I miss you.

QUESTION: What event/job/experience in your life taught YOU the most?

Word.

When “It” Hurts, Keep Running

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Sometimes “It” hurts.

“It” can be anything. Life, work, relationships, school, writing, walking, talking, and even running. It doesn’t matter how long or how hard you’ve trained. Or how much you’ve prepared yourself for “It.” Sometimes, “It” just hurts.

I’ve been training since November for these races. I ran 8.2 miles on Saturday. Today, I tried go out and run 4, and could only run 2. My feet and my knees were killing me. Like, to the point where all I could focus on was the pain each time a foot hit the pavement. I kept trying to run through it, but it just hurt worse.

So, much to my dismay, I turned around, and I ran back home. I even had to walk part of the way. And I felt this deep sense of personal shame. This is what I said to myself:

“WTF, Molly? You ran 8 miles on Saturday and you can’t even do this? How are you, in 4 days, going to run TEN MILES?”

Then the other part of me said:

“Hey, sh*t happens, and tomorrow I’m going to wake up early. I hate waking up early, but I’m going to wake up early, I’m going to pop a couple of Aleve, and run. And then rest. And then go to work with a smile on my face. And work and do bits all day. Then, on Saturday, I’m going to get up at 5:30 in the morning, I’m going to put on my shoes, and I’m going to run 10 miles. My knees, my feet, my confidence, they’ll be fine.”

Because sometimes when “It” hurts [whatever "it" is] you just have to push through “it” and keep “running.” Because there is no better feeling in the world than crossing the finish line when you know how hard you’ve worked to get there.

Am I right?

Word.