I decided to take the first teaching job offered to me, which would in Las Vegas, Nevada at Cram Middle School.
Perhaps I should have seen the signs, when my head gasket blew up on the way to Vegas leading to my car dying, that this was not going to go well. What made things worse was that my emotional support, my girlfriend at the time, when called, did not pick up. Nor did she call me back later, citing that she was “in class” when I called. Still, she didn’t check in on me and I had to reach out to her for support, which in hindsight shows that the relationship was doomed to failed. Still, I tried to salvage the relationship was much as possible, seeing that I was in Vegas, lonely with no friends. Still, she never wanted to talk on the phone or video chat, and we opted to text during the entire relationship. She kept saying she was “busy” with school, but then I would see her hanging out with people on social media. By December I was very much over it, and had to end the relationship. I was not happy. I think she wanted me to, but didn’t want to be the “villain”. In a way, she was gaslighting me to think I was the problem, when she in reality was. I’m proud of myself for finally ending it, despite me still being very much lonely in Vegas.
It was a very transient city, so it took me a long time to make friends. Eventually I did through a meetup group where we bonded over our recent breakups.
One highlight of the year was seeing Taylor Swift’s 1989 world tour in Las Vegas at the only American Rock N Rio Festival ever. She was fantastic.
My naivety and foolishness in teaching continued this year, with of course my belief that being “nice” to the kids and building relationships with them would be enough to get them to cooperate and follow directions. I quickly learned that I was not strict enough, and my management style was failing me. But I mostly blamed the kids. Especially when my flash drive was stolen from my desk, leading me to do bookwork to threaten the kids to get it back to me. Eventually it did. And so was the birth of bookwork.
But in teaching 2 Honors classes this year, I truly cherished some of the wonderful students I met, whom were amazing people.
I did write all students mini-notes at the end of the year. They would eventually evolve into full-fledged letters within a few years, but that was yet to come.
I felt I was a bad teacher overall. And I continued to feel a feeling a loneliness in Las Vegas, and so when the opportunity to move back to California came, I seized upon it.
Coming back was Fairmont Summer camp to greet me with a much happier experience and a great transition back into life in California.
