- Move the hell out if I can. Preferably around May, but definitely no later than August. I need, for my own mental health at this point, to get back out on my own and away from my family. I need to work like crazy to get the cash to do it (seeing as how all the "extra" money I had just got wiped out by the damn car). I would love to live in Evanston, I think.
- Find a good school job - preferably somewhere that would be a nice short commute if I live in Evanston..!
- Get a better iPod. Seeing as how people are still gabbing on the phones like jackdaws on their personal phone calls at work!!!
Thursday, January 03, 2008
New day thaaaaaank goodness
Wednesday, January 02, 2008
I hope this is good
Just when you think
Tuesday, January 01, 2008
Happy Freaking New Year
Happy New Year
Sunday, December 30, 2007
Applications Galore
Saturday, December 29, 2007
Pet sitting
God, if ever there was a cure for the temporary insanity had about possibly wanting a small dog, this is it. Dog wanted to take his biscuit and eat it outside. Okay, fine, freeze your ass off, crazy.
Boof. I'm tired and feel lazy. Need to go to the gym this afternoon after I meet with my friend.
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
Apply Now!
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
Doctor Who
Sunday, December 23, 2007
I found a new blog
Extremely Ginger
Saturday, December 22, 2007
Brit tv/cinema
Friday, December 21, 2007
Not to ruin anybody's opinion...
Comments
Ay ay ay!
Will be so glad to just sit down and get some REST this coming week (I hope). I have my xmas shopping done for the most part.
Still need to finish baking cookies and crocheting a freaking huge afghan for my mother.
ACK!
Monday, December 17, 2007
Reso-wha?
Be it resolved: More sex in 2008
Sex & Relationships | Remove factors from your life that contribute to diminished drive, such as bad nutrition habits, lack of sleep and stress
So, sex is healthy (assuming you're not fucking someone whose genitalia are about to drop off from some gross disease) and we should have more of it?
GREAT! Sign me up!
Oh, that's right: I think most guys are childish idiots.
Is it just me, or would legalized prostitution really be a god-send? Come on, the government is always wanting tax money. They could tax the bejesus out of this, and no one would complain. Set up a nice little place, keep it clean, make sure everyone's got their rabies shots in order - dude, what's not to love?
And think about it: we could really have sex-ed classes! No more learning from cheesey pornos or grainy amateur videos! Take Sex Positions 101 Class once a week for two hours for 16 weeks. Tuition only $2,000! No partner? No problem! Select a stud from the house stables! (Please note, I want full equality here: we ladies should have a fine assortment to select from as well!)
You may think I'm being a little Swiftian here, but actually, I don't see why we don't legalize the oldest profession in the world. Morals schmorals. Give people a safe and professional standardized outlet for some of these urges, I say. It's not going to increase cheating - - that stuff happens already regardless.
I could use some SexEd 101. It's been...a while. *ponders* Feb 1....2004? I think? Maybe? Oh hell, I can barely remember. Every time I try to imagine myself engaging in that activity, I practically start laughing. I look ridiculous in my own mind. This does not bode well for ending my trip through the love-desert.
That and the fact that I've seen far too many fucked up relationships. Who needs it! (Ah, but see, those legalized institutions would clear all that up in a jiffy! No muss, no fuss. No relationships! Just a matter of business!)
Lost Causes
Sunday, December 16, 2007
You'd better lay your money dooooown...
FIN (almost)
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Holee fuck
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Three More Days
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Food!
School's out!
Have a stack of fucking shit to grade. Must start now.
Fucking A. This means I have to cram SO MUCH shit into one less day at school. Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!
OH, and my tattoo appointment got canceled as well, damnit, because of the ice. Sandy called me this morning to let me know the shop is closed today. Fuck again. I just hope we can get an appointment scheduled before the end of the year. It is hugely important to me that I get this tattoo done before the end of 2007.
You see, 2007 is my "Strength" year. Numerology thing. Take your birth month, day and current year - add those numbers up. That tattoo is based off the tarot card for "Strength".
Next year's, get this: the Hermit. Think less about being alone and focus on the Hermit's purpose: he lights the lamp of knowledge and leads others to it.
Don't ever say there wasn't a purpose or some guiding force in life (even if sometimes said force acts like a fucking diva).
Monday, December 10, 2007
Yoga
Saturday, December 08, 2007
Cookies
Wednesday, December 05, 2007
Charlie - Life
Tuesday, December 04, 2007
hiding
Evading...
Sunday, December 02, 2007
Stuff
Friday, November 30, 2007
Is there any more proof needed...
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Blokes
Sunday, November 25, 2007
Ow
Saturday, November 24, 2007
Travel
Do this
Thursday, November 22, 2007
A Thanksgiving, of sorts
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Tired
Monday, November 19, 2007
Hello to the Netlands
SECOND, my international minded peeps, check out: HUBWEAR . The "one way" questions kills me. I know I'd love mine to be one way! Guess which codes I used? Yeah, tough question, right?
Sunday, November 18, 2007
HOLY JEEBUS
Friday, November 16, 2007
London
Sunday, November 11, 2007
Thursday, November 08, 2007
Ratatouille
Damn anthropomorphizing.
Wednesday, November 07, 2007
If you want crap, but it from China!
More Evangelicals Concluding God is Green (WTF?)
HATE
Monday, November 05, 2007
Calendar Time
Saturday, November 03, 2007
Did I mention...
HA HAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA *draws breath*
OH my gawd. I can't believe I passed it, but I did. There were maybe five genuine poli sci questions on it, I swear. I got something like 30 more points than needed, which I think is pretty good.
I will be able to pull the trifecta people: English, history AND government. Right-wingers everywhere, lock up your kids! Because I's a gonna edumacate your chillen!
On a complete aside, the sheer number of parents who don't - you know - actually PARENT astounds me. Every week I hear of something stupid a parent does. The parent that claims education, values, whatever is important. Trust me, folks, your kids aren't going to know or appreciate the value of hard-work, dedication, integrity, accountability, etc., if all they have to look at is your pitiful example. I've got parents pulling kids out of classes for a week or more to go on some fancy pants cruise, vacation or attend a wedding. Better yet, a parent whose real concern in DEMANDING a make up exam well past the deadline is not because the are concerned about the child's education. No, no, no. It's because if little Joe or Mary doesn't get that good G.P.A., the car insurance (for the brand new car mummy and daddy bought their darling) will be higher.
YOU PEOPLE ARE PATHETIC.
Also: still hate sitting through 90 minute masses. Please send booze. I'm telling you, halfway through I wanted nachos, a beer and several chasers.
I did nothing today. That was bad. Because now I have waaay too much grading to get done tomorrow. Egads. I just needed a day OFF though.
Saturday, October 27, 2007
The Ginger People - Stem Ginger Gingerbread
Hey, does anyone have a kickass ginger cookie recipe? Preferably one that used THREE types of ginger?
Friday, October 26, 2007
Pets
Thursday, October 25, 2007
And the lights are on...
In other news. Very fucking tired.
Have been having a horrible time sleeping this week and I don't know why. I sleep really lightly, and keep tossing and turning. Today, it's finally caught up to me, and I was so tired at times, that my eyes were unfocused and I was dizzy. NOT GOOD.
I picked up some Advil Nighttime and just took a couple. Hopefully that will help keep me knocked out.
And now? Bed. And hopefully sleepy sleep.
Loud and Annoying
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Bionic
Not a fantastic start...
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Monday, October 22, 2007
Tired, so tired
I am eyes nearly rolling in my head tired. I could not fall into a restful sleep last night. Certainly didn't help my teaching today. It seemed like *everyone* was sluggish today. My afternoon C.T. and I were looking at eachother with a dumb expression on our face, clutching the desks. The kids were comatose, too. Yeesh.
I got most of my shit in order for tomorrow. Time to tuck off to bed. *yawn*
One more thing:
I AM SICK ALREADY OF CHRISTMAS! There is Christmas shit overtaking Target already. It's not even Halloween for Chrissake! It's like everyone completely fucking forgets Thanksgiving, too.
That said, I made the mistake of looking at the Harrods website (yes, that Harrods, Harrods of London). OH, I weeep! I'm not a major fan, but I do love the tins they package cookies in. I have a cookie tin up on a shelf in my room that is just cute. Has a drawing of a postman pulling letters from the big red letterbox. I was thinking of possibly buying a cute tin of something that pictures something super-Britishy for Christmas. Or a Harrods tree ornament? Exchange rates and shipping rates, however, may bar that from happening. Did I hear this right - the Canadian dollar is worth MORE than the U.S. now? *disgusted* THANK YOU FUCKING ASSHOLE BUSH. Yah, bastard wants another $46 mil for his illegal fucking war while the rest of us slave away for peanuts?! FUCK YOU!
Saturday, October 20, 2007
Sad and Pathetic
semester of STUDENT TEACHING (as in, not fully
fledged) I am already dreading and procrastinating at
grading these damn paragraphs of my students.
I know, I know. I don't mark them down over what I
haven't taught them. But the writing is ATROCIOUS. I
think I could run out of ink in my red pen.
No. Not going to run out of ink. Will resist. Will
only mark up one or two examples of things they did
wrong on their respective paragraphs, then tell them
to be on the lookout.
If they're ever to write well, they need to WRITE AND
WRITE AND WRITE MORE.
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Cathol
Does anyone have any idea how hard it is for me to not
run screaming in my placement every time I hear some
crazy ass "Right to Life" march thing at school?
Why not "RIGHT TO MIND YOUR OWN FUCKING BUSINESS AND
YOUR OWN GODDAMNED BODY"?
Bitch, please. If you really respected ALL life, then
how about ensuring that those babies get cared for
after they're born - including the little darkies most
of you whitebread city folk don't give a rat's ass
about. How about ending a senseless and falsely run
war for profit in the middle east? How 'bout? How 'bout?
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Monday, October 15, 2007
Schadenfreude
Sunday, October 14, 2007
London Calling
Oh my God, I'm just having a Brit craving right now. :( I miss it! I miss you, Mum!
I'm hoping something will miraculously happen wherein I can travel within the next six months. Our profit sharing check from work comes out the first week of December. I'll probably have to use most of that to recover from the financial depredations of not having worked full-time for four months, though. Tax filing time will happen early February and hopefully I'll get something from that.
The most oddball thing is that I qualified as an entrant in this local radio station thing. It's the XLC treasure chest. Basically, the entrants all get a key. Whoever has the key that opens the treasure chest, wins it. There are some other prizes as well, like gift cards and such. But I think the chest has $5K. That, in my opinion, would be swell. I THINK I AM THE MOST DESERVING PERSON!
Saturday, October 13, 2007
Monday, October 08, 2007
Dasvedanya
mob movie with Viggo Mortensen.
THAT was some nasty violence. Up close and real personal.
Friday, October 05, 2007
Don't wanna be here
Thursday, October 04, 2007
Wednesday, October 03, 2007
Of course
Tuesday, October 02, 2007
DeRosa Blog Update
Monday, October 01, 2007
Bad Day for a Quiz
For the students, really, but I don't feel so hot either! So, I administered my first quiz today. It was on the first half of our parts of the sentence schtick. It's a darn good thing my C.T. told me to make it worth a lot less. If not, these kids would all be failing.I guess now I get to tell these kids that this is what happens when you don't take notes like you're supposed to. They were all "lah de dah" half the time. And they were like "you're not going to have the diagram models up on the wall????!!!!" Uh, no. The point is for you to KNOW this stuff, Einsteins.
I don't know how many times I've told them, you will NEVER EVER EVER infinity find your subject in a prepositional phrase. So, I put in what I thought was a "gimmee" question on the quiz. "True or False: You can find a subject in a prepositional phrase. " The second class all go it right, but my first class? It's like I never even taught them. Half the time they're not awake anyway.
A lot of the diagrams were atrocious, too. I'm going to have to inundate them with diagramming homework for the next four days. I know diagramming is the ass-end of exciting, but come on. When did I ever show you diagram models with crooked lines? YES, it DOES matter if your line for an adjective or adverb is straight or if you make it "L" shaped because the L shape means something completely different! Like: indirect object!
My C.T. was astounded when I showed her some of the quizzes. I told her I felt so bad and was wondering was it me? She told me to go over the stuff again, assign more diagramming, but that she thought I gave them every opportunity to ask questions and they were the ones not taking notes. Hell, I practically begged them to ask me questions.
Today, I told them that if I wrote it up on the board, then they'd better be taking notes. They grudgingly took out their notebooks. (Don't even get me started on this one kid who habitually doesn't bring a freaking pencil or pen to class. Seriously, I'm going to start keeping tabs on how often he does this in the next week. If it gets insane, I will forbid him from asking someone else for a pen, and then I'll tell him he's got a choice. He will either serve a detention for habitually coming to class unprepared, or he can take a detention and either get a pen from someone or from his locker.) Tomorrow, when they get their quizzes back, especially the first class, I am going to tell them again: 1) TAKE NOTES and 2)ASK QUESTIONS.
Saturday, September 29, 2007
Things that make you go hmmm
me....well, a little bit horny?
Stick a Pacifier in It!!
Cubs
SunTimes to make sure it wasn't all a dream.
THE CUBS CLINCHED THE DIVISION LAST NIGHT!
FINALLY back in the playoffs!
Thursday, September 27, 2007
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Today is the Day
about my plans either having too little or too much
time. You just can't tell how fast the students are
going to go through this until...you start!
Well, I should know how good or how bad by 11:34
today!
Monday, September 24, 2007
You knooooow...
treasure chest, I am so getting that tattoo early.
And then I'm buying a plane ticket straight to London,
bitches. And I'm staying at the Caesar off Hyde Park.
Honest to God!
Friday, September 21, 2007
the DOCTOR
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
I am an English Geek (and proud of it)
Monday, September 17, 2007
Frustration
morning classes. And I will be teaching grammar. The
parts of the sentence. As diagramming and all that.
Ew. I completely understand the necessity of grammar,
but the way I sort of have to do it is completely out
of context. That's the way they have already started
it (they're doing parts of speech now); it's
completely unrelated to any meaningful text or
situations.
I mean, crap, do the kids already KNOW any of this? Is
there part of this they could skip? Parts they need
MORE help in? Rote memorization of grammar skills and
concepts is just NOT the best practice and yet people
persist in doing it.
I'll do my best to bring in literature, authentic
texts, or even write short paragraphs of their own,
but this sucks.
Saturday, September 15, 2007
Today is a Lazy Day
school work. I got up and met my boss this morning to
do our weekly update.
Came back home and did some cleaning.
Went out to the store and did some grocery shopping. I
picked up the last items I needed to make my FUCKING
FANTASTIC beef bourguinon (recipe from Tyler
Florence). Beefy-culinary-sex-in-your-mouth, that's
how good it is, bitches.
I also made an apple pie, which is cooling. Really
disappointed in about 3/4 of the apples (granny smith)
that I bought - brown on the INSIDE. WTF? Thankfully,
I also bought golden delicious and pink ladies, so I
still had plenty. I put in some fresh grated ginger as
well. Oh YES, that just perked it up unbelieveably! (I
tasted an apple slice after I made the filling.) I
can't wait to have a small slice.
MMM. Weather is really autumnal today - perfect for
the beef bourguinon and apple pie. I love it. Gorgeous
day. Crisp of air and blue of sky. Is there anything
better than autumn?
AND PUMPKINS. I love pumpkins. Pumpkins must be the
cheeriest vegetable (?) ever. So round! So orange! You
can roll them! You can make a pie! Scones! Beer! Lots
of things! AND JACK O'LANTERNS!
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Thursday the FIRST
an asana or two to get the blood flowing.
Time to get ready.
FIRST DAY!
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Training
inane "training" on abuse prevention in the Catholic
diocese. Seriously.
I'm not exactly the most unbiased person, either, when
it comes to the heirarchy. I had to bite my tongue
during parts of the training video where the church
official was like "to tell the truth, we have made
mistakes in the past..."
NO. REALLY? That's your stellar day-late-dollar-short
remark. I'm sure that makes abuse victims feel better,
especially considering there are still ongoing cases
of things being covered up.
Still, it was one of those things to just go to, get
through, and just file. *rolls eyes*
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Still laughing
"Good Golly Miss Molly/Devil With the Blue Dress"
nonstop since finding out I have to interview at the
Catholic School. Is it?
I suppose I should be glad Sister Joan the Principal
can't meet with me today and it's just with the
common-folk teachers I'm meeting.
Oh my GAWD
Sunday, September 09, 2007
Dismal Day
Saturday, September 08, 2007
Graham Norton
Just dying. I haven't laughed this hard in a while. This guy they've got in the "tardis" is completely a MORON.
Torchwood Premiere (well, late for the US at any rate)
*snort* Amusing, but still a rip-off. AND I THOUGHT I
KNEW WHERE woman-who-takes-her-job-too-seriously WAS
FROM!! Thank you, IMDB!
And thank christ, Cubs got their heads out of their asses.
Friday, September 07, 2007
Family of Blood
That was amazing. I've got to say, the Doctor comes off so cold and callous as compared to "John Smith". I'm sure that was intentional, and hell it really added a neat twist.
Glad there was something good on. Because the Cubs are fucking killing me.
What's really killing me: the ads for Doctor Who S3 DVDs. I wants it NOW!
Another Day of Freaking Out
Thursday, September 06, 2007
Really Need Help
Luciano
Wednesday, September 05, 2007
Cheese-tastic!
LOL
"The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill but Came Down a
Mountain"
I mean, young Hugh Grant, how can it NOT be
cheesetastic?
Oh, the Welsh.
I knew I loved the movie like five minutes in.
With no school...
mean, I TRY, but I stayed up late ONE night and now I
can't get back into waking up at a decent hour (by
that I mean six or seven am).
Really. I just flop in bed, trying to wake up, but
unable to emerge from my "waaah planet am I on?" state
until 10 or, now, 11.
Monday, September 03, 2007
I am the Tech Support in my family
with her computer related problems.
I am not "Geek Squad" smart, but I do know the basics.
1 - I know my brother should have bought a damn MAC
instead of a fucking PC. That's probably the most
important thing.
2 - Helped my niece install iTunes and get her iPod
set up last Christmas.
Late last night I got a call because her laptop
crashed and she was wondering if she lost her music.
Winds up yes, because they had to wipe the drive and
reinstall the factory settings in order to get the
computer up again. All her music was on her iPod,
thankfully, so I told her she could get it back onto
the computer.
HOWEVER, trying to explain how to do that over the
phone was proving exasperating. My brother was taking
her to the mall out by me today, so she dropped off
her computer and iPod so I could be Computer Doc.
I AM the Master. Yes, I am. I did a little research,
and found freeware that reverse loads (iPod to
Computer, instead of the other way around) for
situations just like these. However, in the course of
reloading her music back on to the computer, I made a
gruesome discovery...
MY NIECE HAD THAT FUCKING PARIS HILTON SONG "STARS ARE
BLIND" ON HER IPOD. AS IN, SHE ACTUALLY FUCKING PAID
FOR THAT CRAP.
I felt...DIRTY. I felt foul. Oh, I was deeply shamed.
Next, she's going to tell me she's a fucking
Republican. *shudders*
I quickly shot off an email enquiring if I had to send
her to musical rehab. Lord. WHAT.THE.FUCK.
Paris Hilton. Completely without street cred.
My niece has a lot of "untz-untz" or Eurotrash pop
music. She's in competitive cheerleading, so it makes
sense. It's not the most intelligent of music, but it
does have good beats to do their cheer routines. I dug
out my "NOW (that's what I call Music)" compilation
CDs. No, not the American ones, I got the bona fide UK
discs, people. Oh, so much more pop-esque! Ha ha. I
threw a bunch of songs onto her iTunes. Should be
cheerleading routine worthy.
Still. Paris Hilton.
When she, my brother and my SIL came inside to pick up
the goods, I gave her a look.
"I am deeply shamed."
"Why?"
"You had that stupid blonde...princess!"
And then of course my brother and SIL start
complaining about all the other music to begin with
(and yes, she does have some nasty bump n grind music
on there and she is BARELY 13, for chrissake).
My niece "oh...Paris Hilton song?"
Me: "YES. Anything but Paris Hilton for the love of
God!"
Autumn
Is it wrong of me that many of my favorite Autumn
things are food and beverage associated?
Beef bourguinon (however the hell it is spelled, I
make a bitchin' one)
soup: potato or beef vegetable
Honeycrisp apples (oh, SO delicious)
apple cider
hot toddies
Drambuie whiskey
Granted, I also like new sweaters. And the smell of
forests. Crisp air.
Saturday, September 01, 2007
Men are like Parking Spaces/ Rules of Un-Engagement
The rest are handicapped."
Seriously.
Oh well, even if being "taken" weren't the case in the
example I've most recently observed, it would conflict
with my Rule (#1) of never dating a
colleague/co-worker.
I made that mistake once, and once only. There is no
amount of great, even tolerable, kissy-kissy-bang-bang
that is worth the inevitable problems caused once the
break up happens. I don't want to be in the same
fucking AREA CODE, let alone an office or classroom
once it's over.
I don't even know how I made it through that semester
after I got dumped by that jackass
ex-Mormon-wannabe-Pagan (EMWP). Sitting in the same
room was torture. I would drive home on the Edens
absolutely fucking losing my mind, crying hysterically
and screaming myself hoarse after class. (And in case
you're wondering, NO, I don't take break-ups well.)
Rule #2: Avoid dating someone who's got spawn to care
for. Not that this doesn't work out on occasion (my
brother is a working example; my SIL had a son - my
nephew - before she met my brother), but let's be
realistic. Jackass EMWP I broke Rule #1 with had
spawn. One year younger than me, had a kid by 19 and
already divorced. His ex tried to kill him two times.
Damn shame she missed both times, I say. I mean,
really, what else can you say besides, he's fucked up,
she's fucked up and their kid is gonna BE fucked up?
AND USE A GODDAMN FUCKING CONDOM, you fertile myrtles.
Oh, good story of Cuckoo spawn not working? My idiot
cousin knocked a girl up (he could've been charged
with statutory, the IDIOT). She had his spawn.
Eventually the whole thing went bust, but they knocked
boots on occasion. She got pregnant again. Said it was
his. Treats it like his own. Few years later -
surprise! That second one wasn't his! She was fucking
around with another guy. Except she tells me cousin if
he doesn't continue to pay for the Cuckoo, he's not
going to see his own kid. Okay, that girl is a
flat-out gang-banging ho. But you see my point.
Can I just pose a general question? WHY THE HELL DON'T
PEOPLE USE CONDOMS?! Don't give me that "dulls the
sensation" crap either. That's what you have toys and
lube for.
Rule #3: Never call after the end. Never. Lose the
number, delete the emails, burn all remembrances.
Learned that the hard way, too, after the Cheesehead.
Put it to use with the EWMP. Cold Turkey is best.
