One year ago...

I was in Ireland and Britain.

*sniff*

SEND ME BACK!!!!

Saturday is the new Monday

I got up early today and went in to work to meet with
my boss. This will be the new routine until I finish
student teaching. (Except for next weekend, which will
be Labor Day weekend.)

That was from about 8:45a until 10a. I went to yoga
after that. Came home, cleaned up, and then trucked
out again to the Panera about 2pm for a late lunch. I
stayed at Panera, doing work on my business laptop
until 7pm. Ay, ay ay...

Now I am sitting at Summit on my personal laptop doing
various things. I need to do some reading for school.
I met with my supervisor. She seems alright, but a
little talkative (as in off the topic). I've noticed
that's something that really bugs me. I hate when
people get off topic during some thing that's supposed
to be organized (like a business meeting or class).
Don't waste my valuable time!

Anyhoo, there's only six of us in the graduate MAT-2nd
English program. We'll be a pretty tight group with
the exception of The Hick (TM). I think she's going to
rival Potatoes (for those of you who remember HER) for
sheer stupidity. This chick should have been kicked
out of the program. She's a bigot, for one, and is so
down on students (she's been a substitute for a
while). I know if she were MY teacher, I'd fucking go
crazy. Should be interesting, especially considering
my bud Anne said that our advisor (whom she had last
Spring) doesn't take shit. Anne thinks the super will
eat The Hick alive.

Good, I say.

The Doctor is in!

Oh sweet Baby Jesus with velvet britches. I am watching Doctor Who on the SciFi channel. *giggles*

I have wine. Sangria to be exact.

OH DEAR GOD I AM WATCHING DOCTOR WHO ON TEEEEEVEEEE!!
*screams*

People, Friday is going to be shining happy place this semester once I FINALLY GET MOTHERFUCKING PLACED.

Oooh. Scary. The "possessed" boy (for lack of a better term), is fucking creepy.

*is it just me, or is Flash Gordon just the campiest horrible looking thing EVER? the commercials I see of this while watching SciFi are just tawdry.

Day three of workshops

STILL NOT PLACED AT A SCHOOL.

 

To say I am getting antsy, aggravated and a host of other expletive laden descriptors is...obvious.

 

We are required to apply for student teaching ONE YEAR IN ADVANCE. This should be ample time to place someone, one would think. I am also highly annoyed because I have heard of more than one city student getting stuck with driving to the 'burbs for their placement! What the hell? Do people not pay attention to our addresses? (IN fact, someone - an undergrad - got placed at Warren Township up here in Gurnee. Dude, they had better not be English, is all I'm saying, because as a graduate student *I* should get priority.)

 

*places face in hands*

 

I JUST want to get placed and get started. This not knowing is killing me. How am I supposed to plan?

 

Please, please, send some vibes towards my office and schools in my area. I need to get a good placement QUICKLY.  

One more time

I have signed up to spend more money on ridiculous tests. I signed up for the Social Sciences: Political Science test on October 6. There goes another $86 just so I can prove I should be allowed to teach something. I swear this shit should be a tax writeoff. GOD. Teachers spend so much money trying to keep up their accreditations, it's ridiculous.

 

BUT, imagine: I could be eligible to teach not only English, but history and political science (government). Rock da house.

 

Second day of workshops today. It was actually pretty fun. There's about four of us MAT-2nd LA people and I think we're going to be a tight group this semester, which is nice. Built in support group!

 

Still not placed in a school yet. *grimaces* I REALLY HOPE THIS GETS RESOLVED TOMORROW.

Let your fingers do the walkin'

I'm glad I called up the bookstore before driving an
hour to Chicago in the crappy rain. My seminar still
does not have booklist. Hey, that's fine with me if I
ultimately don't have to spend the cash on it.

What else is on the schedule today:

haircut @ 2:30 in Mt. Prospect (I might get a color,
I'm feeling bored with my hair right now, and I may go
pretty short)

knitting store - ran out of yarn on my niece's
legwarmers, and need help adding on that new yarn
because I haven't done that before

Should finish my goddamn portfolio for school

Yoga at 7:30 tonight maybe, depends on how much work
my co-worker sends my way. Last night I worked about
3.5 hours which is pretty good. More than, actually.
I'm sure once I start student teaching, I won't want
to work more than two hours a night. My main work
hours will have to be on the weekend.

Time to finish my cuppa tea, brush my teeth, and get
out of here...

Jekyll

Dude, that is one fucked up show.

Tea and Scones, Bangers and Mash for Everyone!

Oh, I caved. I got Comcast Digital.

It has been installed.

I have already been watching BBC America and Hotel Babylon. (Interesting, that.) Dr. Who is on at 6pm, but it's S1. SciFi channel shows S3 on Friday nights. Human Nature ep is next Friday.

I weep with joy.

(Oh, and the little blurbs in between shows about using closed captioning if you can't get the accent - hysterical. I especially loved the "well, if you hadn't thrown our tea into Boston harbor..!")

Paying the Bills

How sad. I just scheduled a lot of my recurring bills through my bank. It's aaaaaaaall tracked out. At least I know how much and where my money has to go, but...oh, money, why do you have to go so?

 

I pre-paid my telephone and mobile through December. (Took an earlier disbursement from my Roth IRA to do so.) I have a big chunk of the cable bill scheduled to go out today. That should be paid through October or November, I think. I'll finish paying off my digital camera (finally) next month (have to get that paid by Jan 08 when the promotional no interest period ends). I have the rest of my tuition scheduled to be done by end of September as well. Thank god I got that mega tuition waiver, that's all I'm saying. 

What Bullshit

My school is run by retards. Look at this email I
received from the placement office. They're all
chuffed as hell with themselves ("we can release
information in advance for the first time")...and then
they promptly tell me that I'm still not placed.

Well, patting yourself on the back is a little
premature, isn't it, fuckers?

Son of a bitch. They had BETTER have me placed by the
time next week's workshops come around. I'm not having
any of this bullshit like I heard happened last
semester. That time, some students weren't placed
until THREE WEEKS in, through no fault of their own,
and this idiot director made them go longer, past
graduation. Ass. I am NOT going past the first week of
December...

Congratulations!

I am pleased to announce that for the first time, the
CEST Office is able to release placement information
in advance of the start of the semester for those
whose files are complete and up-to-date.

While your file IS up-to-date and complete, I regret
to inform you that your placement cannot be announced
because it is not yet finalized. As only a few
student teachers have not yet been confirmed into
placement sites, you should not be concerned.

You will be notified of your placement during the
Professional Days.

Sincerely,

Director

Attire

I should have worn a different cami top under my shrug. I think I got a bit more cleavage going on than necessary today.

 

I have to sit up completely straight. There will be no bending forward over anything (documents, picking stuff up, etc.) with males around...

Eurotrash

Ha ha....for some reason I decided to cruise the HMV website and look at the "NOW that's what I call music" CD compilations. I bought a few of them back when I was studying in the UK. Since then, they've started releasing them in the U.S., modified, of course, to what is topping the pop charts here.

 

They're up to the 60s now. Mine are high 30s and low 40s. I looked at what was on #67 and lo and behold - Manic Street Preachers. Holy cow. I haven't heard of them in a while. I have their CD "This is my truth, tell me yours" (another one I'd picked up in 1998). TEN FRIGGIN YEARS. Jesus. Oh my little Welshies. MSP...Catatonia...

 

I'm going to have to see if the iTunes U.S. store has the new MSP album. If not..hmmmm.....!

Dark Horse Comics > Profile > Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8: #8 No Future for You

Dark Horse Comics > Profile > Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8: #8 No Future for You

Excuse me while I have a geek-fan squeefest in my chair at work.

OH. MY. GOD. Joanne Chen rules.

news flash:

If you want lead poisoning, buy products made in China!

 

God. If ever there was a case to just NOT buy stuff, there you go.

Actors named David

What is it with actors named David?

Yowsa.

In my world, first there was:

David Boreanaz (of Buffy and Angel fame)

Say hello to David "Doctor" Tennant

And suddenly David Duchovny is back on the scene? Of
course he was smoking hot as Fox Mulder, but now he's
back in this Showtime series "Californication"? I
won't watch it, because I don't care to pay for
Showtime, but hell yeah, I might be watching the DVDs
when they come out.

Absences makes the heart...

I updated the tracks on my iShuffle last night. (Far later than was reasonable, considering how tired I am today).

 

I threw on some songs I haven't listened to in a while.

 

I forgot how much I liked Third Eye Blind's "The Background" and Tori Amos' "A Sort of Fairytale"

It's killin me!

Lord above, Doctor Who is KILLING me.

Freaking "Impossible Planet". It is so, so painfully
obvious that those two are with the big fluffy "L" for
one another and just deny, DENY, DENY.

WHY? WHHHHHHHY? Oh, I hate you for not admitting it to
each other until far far too late!

Okay. And the big disembodied face is getting FREAKY.
Oh, Jesus, TOBY TURN THE HELL AROUND, you big wanker.

Bad Packaging

Quite possibly the most tongue in asscheek advertising EVER.





Discuss amongst yourselves.

10 Things You Probably Don't Care to Know, but May, Alas, Read.

I blame Mr. Fez, who tagged me. To whit: ...and now I've been tagged with the ten things which you may or may not know. Is one supposed to be false? Perhaps. But maybe they will all be spectacularly unbelievable, yet true.

1. My first trip outside the U.S. was to Egypt when I was 13. I was in my Indiana Jones phase where I thought I'd grow up to be an archeologist. The real Egypt rather rudely disabused me of that notion (as did the wicked case of Tut's Revenge I got - neon yellow puke is not fun). Did I mention I was also almost kidnapped on a camel by the pyramids?

2. One of my favorite books: Jane Eyre, probably due to the sheer number of times I've had to read it. But a recent recommend to anyone listening: The $64 Tomato. Or try the comic Fables: Legends in Exile.

3. Newest favorite show: Doctor Who, and it is freaking my shit out right about now. I'm watching Impossible Planet. I'm pretty much a sucker for many things British.

4. I learned to do a headstand in yoga this summer.

5. First boyfriend is a Catholic priest. I was the only girlfriend he ever had. Weird? Yes, definitely.

6. I had the best Halloween Buffy party ever. I was into the Buffy CCG and the company, Score, sponsored game parties for Halloween. Some evil comrades (Sullivan, Aly, Baumann) and I organized a big event and got shitloads of swag from Score. We must have gotten at least a $1000 worth of product, if not more.

7. I used to hijack pizza delivery cars in undergraduate. Pizza man comes, gets out of car, I would sneak in, perhaps move the car a little, or hide in the backseat until the guy came back and then proceed to scare the shit out of him.

8. Once moved out of an apartment (in Minnesota) within the space of 12 hours on a Frigid January day because my cunt of a roomate and I had a massive fight, which resulted in the authorities being called. She also arranged to have me fired from my job, short story. I still hate the bitch.

9. Said bitch also liked to leave her big pink dildo lying about the bathroom. Gross.

10. It's been a drought. Three years, six months, 11 days and counting since...

Tagalicious: Kilroy, Tickersoid, Lippy, Gentleman, and anyone else who cares to!

Always Leave Them Wanting More

Yes, I know I'm bad. I went ahead and watched "Doomsday" of Dr. Who instead of proceeding chronologically.

 

That fucking wrecked me. I was a blubbering mess. Tip to self: do not stay up late watching shows that will make you cry because the next day at work will be miserable.

 

But isn't that they way of the world in micro? We spend all this time denying, denying, denying and chasing after something. If we get it, we don't want it anymore. Classic case: Cheers. Once Sam got Diane, viewers stopped watching. No one watches "happy ever after". No, we're sick morons who like watching people who belong together being kept apart. That, and come on - how many real world relationships wind up being that saccharine HEA bullshit, with choirs of angels singing every time they boink? *listens to the crickets chirping* Yeah, that's what I thought. It's pain and suffering and getting left out in the cold.

 

Buffy and Angel. Check.

Angel and Cordelia (well, I wasn't much into that idea, but ... ) Check

And others I'm sure...

 

All of which is why I'm starting to think more and more that I should never bother dating again. Frankly, I don't want to deal with the lies and the bullshit and the bad sex or the not having sex because someone is living at home with their mom and their five year old kid might catch us doing stuff that will cause them to go through even more therapy. But that's another story. I don't want to feel like I've got an empty pit in my heart when someone calls it off.

 

I'm fucking sane and happy on my own and it took me quite a while to get there. No muss, no fuss. I know way too many married couples my own age who *aren't* happy together and who tell me DON'T get married. Wow, that's great PR for the married state.

 

Right now, I can only think of two good marriages of my own age group.