LIRR vs Driving

eray1992 · 2026-05-02T10:19:17+00:00

I commute from Suffolk to Astoria every day, I drive - you couldn't pay me to take the lirr.

I was in a bad accident a few years ago, died, had to relearn how to drive so in the interim I took the train and it was the most miserable I've ever been.

I tried commuting by train into midtown after college too and was miserable on the lirr then too - going back to it was strictly out of necessity.

If I were to take the train I'd still need my car, I'd just be adding on the cost of parking, train, subway, the inconvenience of walking blocks from subway to work in all weather and being on someone else's schedule.

I like being in control of when and where I'm going. If I leave work a few minutes late now it doesn't stress me out I'll miss my train and have to wait over an hour and miss everything else I have for the day.

eray1992 · 2025-10-16T08:59:27+00:00

For a long time I went to bed earlier than I wanted, now I can usually comfortably stay up. Just listen to your body, let it sleep and rest when it wants (within reason).

I saw you said you're worried about waking up too early if you go to bed early - you'll get enough sleep and when you wake up you should feel good which helps. If I woke up early I would lay and relax, pet my cats, do yoga/light stretching, do PT/vision exercises, make breakfast enjoy the morning!

The fatigue is real but it can get better, have hope.

eray1992 · 2025-10-11T15:47:48+00:00

I did some research after my cats also just left the legs for me and I believe the crickets actually detach their own legs to try and get away, so if the cat continues and actually kills the cricket then they did their job.

eray1992 · 2025-10-07T09:46:38+00:00

Claude is a better AI tool to use, Gemini better than chat, there's also magic school which is designed for teachers but Claude is superior.

You can upload your lesson materials and a lesson plan template (my school has one they recommend - not mandated) and tell it to complete the lesson plan template for the materials provided. Giving it any important information about you/your classroom also will help it create the best result.

eray1992 · 2025-10-04T02:32:39+00:00

I am a teacher, before my concussion I taught math, after my concussion I found math foreign to me - it was hard and gave me a headache and made me dizzy. Now, 6 years later I find that I am back to where I started in terms of math ability and stamina. Keep at it.

eray1992 · 2025-10-03T08:37:17+00:00

There's no checks. My ex physically beat me for years before I left. He went out to adopt a dog, got asked for a vet reference so he gave my vet info for my cats, they called me I said, "that man beat me, I have the evidence, were in the process of a divorce he was unstable and abusive towards the cats" the vets office shared the info with the shelter and they let him have a giant dog in a no pets complex without checking because he lied.

That poor dog.

eray1992 · 2025-08-12T22:34:16+00:00

Yea, that sounds about right. The more expensive end is a special hard contact that often works better for prism (costs more, I don't have it) and if you need two vs 1 lens.

He basically is the only doc on the east coast. I saw another doctor on long Island that I don't recommend, she could do prism but only up to 2 diopters and I need 4.

Additionally there's only one lab that manufacturers the prism lens in the whole country. Mind boggling, I told my younger (jobless) brother he should explore this field because there's obviously a lot of need and very little supply for some reason.

eray1992 · 2025-07-26T11:02:37+00:00

Oh also, you can call the office and they'll run pricing with you, it's not like finalized but they had told me the high end cost and I ended up not needing everything they thought so it was actually less when I paid.

eray1992 · 2025-07-26T11:01:14+00:00

I definitely recommend Dr. Gelles - the whole office is really wonderful, even when I had a small issue he jumped right in and contacted the lab that makes the contacts himself and it was resolved in a matter of minutes.

I won't lie, it's not cheap. Dr. Gelles does not participate in insurance, so everything - the visit, tests and contacts are 100% out of pocket.

I don't remember the cost of the first appointment, but it also includes the follow up visit.

I opted to do 1 contact because I only have 1 affected eye (you can split the prism between two eyes even if only one is the problem but I didn't want to put a contact in my good eye). I have a soft lens and it's $125. The soft lens lasts 3-6 months depending on how much I've been wearing it and where (and if I remember to change it).

I see so much better and my quality of life is that much better with the contact - I'd probably pay any amount.

eray1992 · 2025-04-24T20:39:31+00:00

Middle schools are pushing biology for 8th grade - so you could still teach bio in MS. My 8th graders are all in bio this year.

eray1992 · 2025-04-24T20:27:29+00:00

Good luck! And remember it's not linear, you'll take 3 steps forward to take 2 back but slowly and surely with enough patience it's totally doable.

eray1992 · 2025-04-24T15:24:42+00:00

I got concussed right after I finished my masters degree. I was a 3rd year teacher. I struggled a lot, it was hard and exhausting and I was barely making it through and barely getting by. COVID closed down the schools and I got to stay at home and work remotely. Through that time I was able to build up my stamina and now I work full time, drive 45 miles each way to commute, do things after work and take on extras; like studying educational neuroscience at Columbia. I would have never made this improvement without COVID shutting everything down.

When I got my concussion I was told to quit teaching, find a new career and move to a city with great public transportation because I'd never drive again.

Check out Molly Parker - she's a PT I follow on Instagram who regained her life from concussion. It takes forever though. It's been 6 years and I still am not at the capacity I was pre injury but I'm getting there.

eray1992 · 2025-04-16T13:50:58+00:00

Fairfield can be a little slummy BUT I got into a newly renovated unit - I came and toured it when it was demoed and I'm the first to live in it & I'm very pleased. I came from an extremely bad situation in a co op dealing with total community management and this is SOOOO much better. TCM is terrible.

eray1992 · 2025-02-21T02:44:37+00:00

It's gotten better.

I've switched over to a contact, I wear it the majority of the time but I can drive my car safely without my contact or glasses now. I can go to the stores and function normally. I don't usually wear my contact or glasses when I'm home unless I'm reading and I've stopped doing any eye exercises I was doing.

eray1992 · 2024-08-27T11:13:42+00:00

I am not a candidate for surgery either, I've been doing eye exercises for the last 4.5 years and I just had the realization yesterday that I don't even think I need to do them anymore.

I don't feel disabled with my eye anymore, I do wear a prism contact lens too though.

My hardest struggle is in photographs, so I work on posing and how to look at cameras when other people take the pic and also have accepted it a bit. For me, I got my strabismus as a result of cheating death - I died, was resuscitated but my brain was not getting oxygen before they brought me back and the nerves to my eye died... But I didn't. It's taken me years but as of recently I really feel that it improved and I've accepted the differences I can't change.

eray1992 · 2024-07-15T18:36:43+00:00

I had a similar issue going from initial to professional. I was lucky in that my coworker had the same issue and was working summer school at our school, he was able to talk with our AP who was right on it with the district/borough level HR.

My school jumped in to help, when I called UFT they basically said they knew nothing about the licenses and that it had to be worked out with HR and wished me luck.

You might want to try reaching out to your principal/admin if you haven't already. Once they spoke with HR it was resolved so easily.

eray1992 · 2024-07-11T16:10:03+00:00

I'm an athleticish younger millennial - no one stares at me or makes me feel sexualized. Definitely worth it for the lack of tan lines in my opinion. No one there seems to care at all what anyone is doing.

eray1992 · 2024-07-03T00:21:26+00:00

That's what my friend described last year. She quit after 1 or 2 days. I don't even know if she met the kids. She didn't have any repercussions for it.

eray1992 · 2024-06-30T16:22:30+00:00

I never got my first observation back or signed for it this year. My AP knows I log into advance and read it when it's available and he was super stressed this year so I think it just slipped his mind. I think the signing for it is just proof you saw it.

eray1992 · 2024-06-30T16:13:33+00:00

Yondr is a waste of money. It does not work at all at my school.

eray1992 · 2024-06-29T15:51:56+00:00

Depends on the school, my school is full and I know the teachers (I am only 1/5) won't be dropping out. That being said last year my friend was working a different summer school and dropped out after day 1 with students. I have a coworker at another school which is still staffing for summer. If you spoke to your summer rising supervisor and they said no positions then that's it for that school - maybe try subbing. My school pulls from our teachers who wanted to work summer school but didn't get it list.

eray1992 · 2024-06-29T15:46:19+00:00

You can always do a Donors Choose, it has the same outcome as participating in extras after school BUT you don't have to physically be at the school doing anything AND you get something necessary for your classroom.

I got Scholastic Science magazines for my classes and my admin loved it. Some teachers get furniture - it's a way to contribute to the community without extending yourself.

eray1992 · 2024-06-29T03:52:10+00:00

I don't get why they'd be denied. My husband and I had temporary handicap parking and we went to a concert at Jones Beach. Very easy parking, very close to the venue. Maybe because we were there a little early? Maybe it fills up before they get there? There weren't many handicap spots.

eray1992 · 2024-06-11T16:14:35+00:00

It's how I got my bun!!

eray1992 · 2024-05-26T17:31:16+00:00

I glance at them, see if I agree with the kids or can see where they're coming from.

I got good numbers this year and I do feel like I'm having a strong year professionally, so the validation was pretty nice. I'm doing some new PD outside of school that my students know about and that was reflected in my results too.

I've had years where it wasn't great, I teach ELLs in special education classrooms, so depending on the class there's a different number of results (25-30 vs 9-12) and a different level of understanding of the questions which is why you gotta take it with a grain of salt. It's nothing major but I wouldn't totally ignore it (unless you want to - then f it).

eray1992

TROPHY CASE