Applications Galore

I've begun 15 online applications for school districts all up and down the north shore, as well as into the northwest suburbs. Jesus Christ.

 

I've got to go back into each of them and answer all the short-essay questions. This is gonna take HOURS.

 

Fuck me, Grayslake has about a DOZEN short answer-essay questions! It's not even, IMO, that fabulous of a school district!!

Pet sitting

I really wish this dog would STOP LICKING ME.

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.

Apply Now!

Well, I just applied to the long term sub position my friend told me about at Uber North Shore High School District XX.

 

We'll see what happens!

Doctor Who

TIMELORD, BITCHES!

 

*screams and runs about*

 

Oh, please, Holy You Tube, bring forth out of your virgin manger a pirate copy of Voyage of the Damned....AAaaaaAAAaaaamen!!!

I found a new blog

And yummy! I was googling for a suitable ginger cookie recipe and found this place.

Extremely Ginger

Brit tv/cinema

Dude, British tv/cinema cracks me up. You see all these actors and actresses popping up in shows you like.

 

For instance, the guy who plays Owen (?) in Torchwood was just on an episode of Inspector Lynley Mysteries I just watched....along with the guy who plays evil Sir Guy in Robin Hood. HA HA HA HA HA HAAAA!

 

And how I have - FUCKING SWEET - sorry, I just got distracted by stuff Rodney Yee is doing. Yes, I have a new yoga intermediate video of Rodney Yee's. SWEET. Doing inversions and crap.

 

I am SO GLAD to be done with student teaching so I can finally get my fat(ter) ass back into the gym and yoga. Oh god, how I have missed yoga.

WHOOOOOO!!! ROSE!!!!

Three episodes this coming season will have ROSE BACK!!

Not to ruin anybody's opinion...

But I did get my tattoo. I don't think I mentioned it around here yet.

 

Got it this past Tuesday. Took freaking FOUR hours. I was ready to hit somebody by the end of it.

 

It's still in the process of healing. Some flaking of the skin will be going on.

Comments

Just wanted to say "sorry" about my horrid lack of approving comments of late! I kept meaning to, but have been running about like crazy.

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!

Reso-wha?

This article cracks me up.

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

Boy, I can tell what is going to bust my chops as a teacher. When kids (AND their parents) make a big fuss about setting up a time to meet with you to get extra help because they - wah wah wah have ADHD - and then don't fucking show up.

 

This may be completely un-PC of me, but I think a lot of this ADD and ADHD is made up - just people looking for an excuse for Susie or Timmy to get special treatment when they're just fuck-all LAZY.

 

So, this kid was supposed to come in this morning for help reviewing for the final. I had confirmed with him TWICE last week. Does he show up? No. I ask him where he was during class, he's like "Oh, no, it was this afternoon, not the morning." Ok, whatever.

 

So I wait this afternoon for twenty minutes. He doesn't show. Idiot. You flunk my final and I am NOT going to feel sorry for you. In fact, I sort of hope you fail it. Punk.

 

I know of at least two kids who are going to bomb the final for sure, though. In the morning class, it's the kid who has been excessively absent (and his parents yank him out for vacation, too - smart move) and hasn't handed in jack shit. In the afternoon honors class, there's one kid who's just fucked around and been generally obnoxious in class, asking off-topic questions all the time. His mom is a headcase, too. She thinks her darling boy shouldn't have to take the final until he can get his test scores up.

 

Uhhhhh....what?

 

Yeah.

 

Same kid is not doing well in Honors Biology either. It sounds like both science and English teachers would be relieved to put the kibosh on him continuing with honors next year. Honestly, the kid just doesn't have the requisite study skills or attitude.

You'd better lay your money dooooown...

I went to the store and actually bought a Vogue magazine.

 

Normally - NO. Never. I mean, how the fuck does a magazine full of stick-thin glassy-eyed heroin-sheik twits appeal to me? Answer: it doesn't.

 

That said: it had Penelope Cruz on the cover. I DIG Penelope Cruz. Dude, if I were a lesbian, she'd totally be it. PC is the shiznit. I love the Almovodar movies she's in. She hasn't gotten anything but shit in American cinema (Captain Corelli's Mandolin? Puh-lease.)

 

AND...well, they totally went Espana in the photoshoots of her. They had MATADORS. *drools* Okay, fucking HOT matadors - like real ones - with tight asses in those ridiculously tight matador pants. (Wait a minute, is this where we got "gaucho pants" from, too...?) Holy crap. Rowr. I held one page up and just stared at this guy's butt for a minute. It was that good.

 

Hysterical, too. One of the quotes they pulled out on the page is this:

 

"Spanish bullfighter heartthrob Cayetano Rivera Ordonez, who has a cameo in Manolete, says his sole role in the forthcoming film was 'to flirt with Penelope. And, well, that doesn't require much acting.'"

 

MMmmMMMMmmmmMMMMMmmmmm Ordonez

FIN (almost)

I

 

IS

 

GRADUATED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Still have two more days of the Great Cathol School, however.

Holee fuck

I have been baking cookies since the minute I got in the door from school. And I STILL HAVE TO WRITE UP THE FINAL EXAM BY TOMORROW MORNING. FUCKITY FUCK FUCK FUCK.

 

Bonus: I  HAD MY EXIT MEETING WITH MY CTs and SUPERVISOR THIS MORNING. I AM IN THE CLEAR, BEYOTCHES!

Three More Days

Just that much more.

 

And then I won't have to look at these crazy religious banner filled hallways.

Food!

I made a batch of peanut brittle tonight. I should go see if it's fully set. I used the recipe right on the back of the raw peanuts package. Mmmeh. I like Alton Brown's recipe better. It's a little tricker - seriously, you have to slam that shit out of the pot and onto a silpat mat QUICK or you are going to have rock hard shit in that pan - but it sets better.

 

Peanut Brittle. It is SO easy to make, people. Try it and you will never get the shit from the store. I never even liked the shit until I made it. Yum-ee. Put a teaspon or so of cayenne pepper in it too, makes the mouth HAPPY.

School's out!

It's an ICE DAY (not a snow day). I was able to fitfully sleep a little more today. I kinda feel hungover right now, although there was seriously no alcohol involved. I just sleep crappy.

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).

Yoga

I went to the yoga studio tonight. First time I've been back there since August. I'd gone a couple weeks ago to the community center where Wendy is now. Woo, yoga! Happy thought for day is yoga.

 

Oh god, why am I up so late writing a fucking test? Gah. SO TIRED. Still have to find a fucking paper.

 

Is it bad that I hope we have a late start tomorrow possibly because of bad weather? I could do with an extra hour of sleep, damn it.

 

P.S. TATTOO!

Cookies

Made a whole bunch of cookie dough today. It's in the freezer, ready to be pulled out and baked when the need arises. I'm going to bring cookies to school for my classes on Friday.

 

Oh, and Golden Compass? HA HA HA HA HA! Oh, you stupid little religious nutjobs. It always cracks me up; you give such great free publicity to the things you want people to ignore by creating a ruckus and making loud protestations.

 

It's a fucking book, and now it's a fucking movie. If you don't like it, THEN DON'T FUCKING READ IT OR WATCH IT. Oh, but that's too easy, you want everyone else to lockstep with you. FACE IT, not everyone drinks your purple kool-aid!

 

And now...need to go off and find a goddamn ginger cookie recipe. I can't remember where I put the ones I had found.

Charlie - Life

DUDE. My Charlie had better win this out. I am watching "Life" and ..... Jeeeezus! Come on, Charlie. I'm sitting cross-legged glaring at the tv.

OMG

MY FEET ARE SO FUCKING COLD THEY ARE BLOCKS OF ICE!!

 

I HATE WINTER!!!

hiding

I'm hiding out in the telephone room/closet. Ahhh, blissful non-Mass silence. I've gotten some grading done. This is fabulous.

Evading...

Trying to evade the last stupid Mass here. Do I feel like spending an hour and a half in a freaking Advent Mass? I THINK NOT.

 

I could spend my time better: like grading papers, which I've got a ton of!

Stuff

I have 41 hours of vacation time left for work. I need to double-check which days I took off for the rest of the year. I have TEN!!! class days left. Well, 12 if you include the two pre-final exam review days. Which I'm not, because those will be cake.

 

Schweet.

 

God, I still have so much shit to do.

 

Hey, did I mention I got my hair cut yesterday? Pretty short. I left my front and sides about the same length, but the back angles up. A bob, basically. Kathy said the salon had been doing those a lot recently. It looks pretty sassy, although I'm still getting used to it. She really cut it in at the back so that you get the full effect. She also razored it, so I have some pricklies at the nape of my neck.

Is there any more proof needed...

that religion turns people's brains to fucking diseased mush?

 

First: Sudanese Muslims call for teacher to be executed (aka the "teddy bear" incident)

 

Second: Jehovah's Witness 8 y.o. boy refuses blood transfusion (because it would make him "unclean") and therefore dies. Boy's aunt was his legal guardian - she's a wackjob JW, but the actual parents are not.

 

Oh, I also love the new religious banners made by students here that say "Thinking is not as important as love" according to St. Therese something-or-other. Yes, love is important, but THINKING IS IMPORTANT AS WELL!

Blokes

Is it just me, or is Damian Lewis just the hottest thing? Deee-amn. I love him in "Life". And holy shit, did not know he's British.....

Ow

Oh my god. I went to yoga yesterday morning. I've really missed it, but there is a price to be paid for not going for THREE MONTHS. Jesus. My arm and upper body strength is SHOT. It hurts to raise my arms now, too. Gawd.

 

I won't be neglecting yoga like that again!

Travel

I took a look at the Trek cycling tours website. Ooooh boy, that was a mistake. A bicycling tour in Provence? Divine!

 

If the lack of money isn't laughable enough, the fact that I would have to bike like a goddamn maniac from now until June when it goes would be. I am in NO shape for a biking tour of between 10-50 miles a day. Maybe my legs are, but I know my...delicates are not. Not after last summer's fiasco in Milwaukee. Of course, most of that pain was due to the fact I was stupidly on a mountain bike instead of a road bike...

Do this

I made Red Wine Poached Pears with Marscapone Filling for dinner yesterday and finally got around to eating one of them. SOFUCKINGGOOD.

 

Make them. I didn't even make them *correctly*. You're supposed to core them and stuff them with the marscapone filling, but I couldn't figure out how the hell to stuff them, so I just served the marscapone on the side.

 

6 firm Bartlett pears (DO NOT USE soft-ripe ones, they'll fall apart)

1 bottle red wine

1 vanilla bean, whole

2 cinnamon sticks

2 bay leaves

2 cups sugar

2 (8 oz) containers marscapone cheese, softened

1/2 cup heavy cream

pinch cinnamon

1/2 cup powdered sugar

2 tablespoons butter

 

Peel pears, leave stem intact. In a large saucepan, bring wine and an equal amount of cold water to a simmer. Split vanilla bean lengthwise and add to wine and water mixture. Add cinnamon sticks, bay leaves and sugar, to taste. Add pears to liquid and simmer for about 20 minutes or until tender. Cool pears in liquid to room temp. You can refrigerate them in the poaching liquid until ready to fill.

 

Remove stems from pears and set them aside. Core pears with an apple corer, leaving pear whole.

 

Whisk together marscapone cheese, heavy cream, pinch cinnamon and powdered sugar until smooth. Transfer to a pastry bag, or if you do not have one, use wax paper tightly wrapped into a cone with the corner snipped off. Pipe filling into cored pears and finish by putting the stems gently into the marscapone filling on top of the pears.

 

Bring sauce up to a simmer and reduce by half. Add butter to reduced sauce and stir until combined. Spoon generously over pears. Cool to room temperature before serving.

A Thanksgiving, of sorts

So, spent yesterday evening baking pies and prepping other things for today. Got up early today and kept on going. Turkey took FOREVER to finish. We finally ate about 6:30 or 7pm. No pie yet. We're over at my dad's.

 

My grandma is really, really bad. It would be a blessing for her to pass today, as the hospice thinks she will. She hasn't been able to eat or drink (if she tries, she throws it back up) for at least the past two days. Since yesterday, pretty much, she's just been on hourly doses of morphine to keep the pain managed and to keep her unconscious. It was pretty hard on Tuesday to be here and hear her say she was hungry, but being unable to feed her because we all (and she did, too) that it just wouldn't stay down.

 

She can't even swallow now. She's just making gurgling sounds.

 

This is a cruel way to go. Cancer really really sucks.

 

My dad is is none too good shape, either. I guess he started crying today when the hospice worker told him it would probably be today and to just keep her doped up. I'm telling you people, in my 30 years of living, I have only seen my dad cry ONCE. That's probably going to be the part that freaks me out the most.

 

And my brother is in the fucking room praying the goddamn rosary. Fuck me, that's freaking me out, too. When the fuck did HE go all holy-roller?

 

If you ask me, god pretty much sucks for allowing people to die in this much undignified pain.

Tired

So EXHAUSTED today.

 

My B class should be known as "B" for "Busted/Broken". What a useless class.

 

I can't wait for noon tomorrow when it is officially HOLIDAY time. I am getting a manicure/pedicure and then I am going to DRINK LIKE A FISH while I prep food.

Hello to the Netlands

First, why have I not been receiving some notices to approve comments? Yeeesh.

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?

HOLY JEEBUS

I have my oral exam tomorrow. I don't know if I'm nervous or not. I mean, part of me wants to freak out. The other part is going "FUCK IT". I am allowed to bring in five index cards with me regarding the questions (see below). I've slapped some shit down, but I think I'm going to mainly be relying on my ability to Blarney. Full half of these questions are stupid - I HANDED IN MY PORTFOLIO FOR YOU TO READ. What do you want me to tell you about five of them for AGAIN? I'm just going to tell you the same shit I wrote down!!

 

One more damn hoop. I am so ready to be DONE. I have nothing planned for my morning classes tomorrow. Oops. Nothing really planned for this week. I know what I have to cover, but I have no activities planned. Again, oops. Ah well, it's a short "week" - Mon, Tues and noon dismissal (25 minute classes) on Wed. I can bullshit for that much, right. After the break is when I need to kick my ass into high gear though. That's my last major book - Fahrenheit 451. Oh dear. Just get me through these next three days...PLEASE.

 

I could have invited one of my other profs to the board for my oral. I was just thinking. The one I really would have invited would have been Jack Pinnix. Dude was awesome and the best teacher I could have had when I first started the program. I wish he hadn't killed himself. God damn. He was seriously the best, and I hope he realizes that now wherever he's at. He was never a faker, and had so much great insight. Peace out, Jack.

 

1. Describe how literacy/language arts education has changed over the last two decades with respect to theory and pedagogy.

 

2. Provide an overview of your cumulative portfolio. Select five of the College of Education's performance outcomes/goals and describe the ways in which you have achieved these outcomes. Include a reflection on the influence of specific program coursework in your achievement of the specific outcome.

 

3. Summarize the content of your major research paper. Indicate how this knowledge will impact your teaching.

 

4. Provide of an overview of a major curriculum unit you have prepared.

London

I shouldn't have checked.

 

There are $500ish tickets to London from Chicago. In February, but WHO CARES?

Iron Chef!

YAY! Symon won! I totally wanted the bad ass from Cleveland to win!

Ratatouille

Oh my god. The Ratatouille movie is KILLING me. I am feeling fuzzy thoughts for...RATS.

Damn anthropomorphizing.

If you want crap, but it from China!

Okay, seriously. Our government is, surprise-surprise, failing us yet again. WHY are we still doing business with China? They suck for any number of reasons, but all this toy bullshit is just beyond ridiculous.

 

Now they're recalling toys BECAUSE IF INGESTED, THEY GET METABOLISED AS GH-FUCKING-B?!

 

If I had a kid, you can be damn sure that I wouldn't be buying any "made in China" toys. Hell no. That kid would just have to make do without.

 

And then the added gall of a Chinese town or county thinking they will sue Mattel for "defamation"? (Did anyone else hear about this yesterday?) That town or whatever can go fuck itself.

 

DEAR CHINA,

 

THANKS FOR THE STIR-FRY, TEA AND CONFUCIUS, BUT YOUR MANUFACTURED PRODUCTS ARE POISONOUS SHIT. Ban me from ever visiting, I don't care. Don't wanna go there ever.

 

 

More Evangelicals Concluding God is Green (WTF?)

Anyone catch this headline on the online news vendors? Yeah, morons, welcome to the real world. You idiotic FREAKS.

HATE

I FUCKING HATE PEOPLE WHO WHISTLE IN THE DAMN TEACHER'S LOUNGE. YOU'RE NOT A BIRD! PEOPLE ARE TRYING TO WORK!

 

I HATE THE STUPID SCREECHING HENS IN HERE, TOO. SHUT UP! PEOPLE ARE TRYING TO WORK! OH MY GOD!

Calendar Time

Can you believe it's already November 5th? CRIMINY.

 

It also means it's calendar buyin' time. I love calendars. Especially ones of Britain and Ireland. Speaking of which: SHOP!

Did I mention...

I PASSED that god-awful social sciences: political science test from early October?

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.

Cojones!

http://dailyherald.com/story/?id=69606

Gotta love the cats

http://video.yahoo.com/video/play?vid=1322921#

The Ginger People - Stem Ginger Gingerbread

The Ginger People - Stem Ginger Gingerbread

Hey, does anyone have a kickass ginger cookie recipe? Preferably one that used THREE types of ginger?

Pets

Wow. I just read this article on slate about questionable veterinary practices. Looks like with everything else, vets are also trying to get the most income on unnecessary tests as well!

 

http://www.slate.com/id/2176521/pagenum/all/#page_start

 

What really bugs me are the claims on yearly vaccinations. I never even thought of it that way, and I totally have to agree. If you build up a life-long immunity with ONE, why the hell are we required to spend all that money over and over again on yearly shots?!

 

Pfft. Forget that, I'm not going to feel bad for not taking my cats in for shots. Never again, not unless there is something seriously wrong.

And the lights are on...

I finally get the "taco" thing. Taco Hell is doing their stupid promotion thing. Jesus. They can keep my taco. That shit is toxic!

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

The teachers lounge is filled in the morning with yelling, gossiping hens. ANNOYING. Jesus, don't you people ever SHUT UP?

Bionic

I'm diggin the Bionic Woman show. Diggin' the cute CIA agent boy more they got to play in tonight's ep.

Not a fantastic start...

Talk about staying one step ahead here, and flying by the seat of your pants.

 

Today, I did the briefest of brief cruises about Expository writing. I know what it is (duh), but teaching it is another matter. I was re-reading my info over it last night.

 

So I was already feeling shakey about that, and then I could NOT sleep. I kept flailing in my sleep. Then, around 2am, I got a horrific case of cramps. Damn it all. I managed to swallow down some advil and then I just squirmed in pain for about an hour until I was finally able to fall asleep.

 

Unsure of material, crampy, sleepless and cranky. What a fantastic way to attempt to teach. I was SO CLOSE to throwing in the towel and calling in sick. Kept having to give myself a pep talk this morning: fake it till you make it.

 

And then, the mother of one of my students emailed questioning her daughter's score on the essay. Good student, really, but she handed it in LATE. Per my C.T.'s already long established procedures, late material is only worth 1/2 the possible points. So, thankfully, my C.T. was able to quickly and effectively counter the parent on that, but it still sucks. These parents would be better off telling their kids to do their work ON TIME. Believe me, when you get to college, your professors are going to laugh in your face.

Lovely

I have wine.

This is a good. Check that. Great.

Tired, so tired

People, I can't tell you how tired I am.

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!

Sad and Pathetic

It's terribly pathetic that mid-way through my
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.

Cathol

can go boink itself!

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?

So tired

Too damn tired to do a fucking thing.

How Does it Feel?

Hey, Diamondbacks,

YOU SUCK TOO! HA HA HA HA HAHAHHAAAAA

Schadenfreude

Let's face it: it's gotta suck to be a Diamondbacks "fan" right now.

 

HA HA HA HA HA HA! SUCK IT!

 

 

London Calling

London (or Britain in general), it would appear, is intruding upon my thoughts again. The weather is gray and rainy. Nigella Lawson is on the food network and they showed some London streets. Dear Lord, Nigella has such unhealthy eating habits, though. (Oh, and Ina Garten's show did fish n' chips.) Bridget Jones's Diary is simultaneously on A&E. And Kilroy is hosting a carnival about cities: London, specifically.

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!

It's "Habanero"

One mutha bright sweater

Steve Carell

I totally need to see Dan in Real Life. Heh.

Dasvedanya

Shiiiiiit. I just saw "Eastern Promises", the Russian
mob movie with Viggo Mortensen.

THAT was some nasty violence. Up close and real personal.

Don't wanna be here

I am in no way, shape or form prepared to be at school today. I don't want to deal with anywith. It's Homecoming week here, too. Really, is now a good time for sports? NO.

 

I still want to watch the game on Saturday. But more for the sick fascination of watching something die, slowly and painfully. I don't know that I want to be in Wrigley surrounded by thousands of angry drunks. WELL THEY SHOULD BE ANGRY. Seriously, if someone ran on to the field and bitchslapped Soriano, I would cheer. What a waste.

 

I feel like my sports heart has been ripped out.

Reason Eleventy Million Why I Hate Catholicism

Voice post to come soon.

The strain is unbearable...

I WANT TO WATCH THE GAME NOW. I AM FREAKING OUT.

Of course

Of course Fox sports is picking us to lose. But, much like everything else, Fox sucks.

 

I am going to spontaneously combust - this game is driving me nuts already and it hasn't even been played.

 

Zambrano, you need to be a man tonight. Dempster: you drive me and everyone else in Chicago nuts, but you need to prove all the doubters wrong and make everyone play whiffle ball when you go to close.

DeRosa Blog Update

Yeah, for those of you who are psycho like me: HE UPDATED AND HE USED HIS SEXY PIC!!!

Cubs

Seriously, I think I'm going to burst with this madness. Game. Tomorrow. OMMFG. *flails*

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.

Things that make you go hmmm

What is it about a Cubs championship that makes
me....well, a little bit horny?

Stick a Pacifier in It!!

Here's a tip people who breed:

 

When, in a public place, such as a Borders Cafe, I can STILL hear your squalling brat even when I'm blasting my ears with music, YOU SHOULD SHUT YOUR FUCKING KID UP. BEFORE I DO.

 

THANK YOU

Cubs

THe first thing I did this morning was check the
SunTimes to make sure it wasn't all a dream.

THE CUBS CLINCHED THE DIVISION LAST NIGHT!

FINALLY back in the playoffs!

eh?

I SO think a former history teacher of mine (from last spring) hit on me over email.

 

Weird.

Today is the Day

I take over my first two classes. Nervous. I worry
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!

You knooooow...

If for some unbelieveably lucky reason, I do get that
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!

I had the WEIRDEST FREAKING PHONE CALL and I almost didn't pick it up. It was the local radio station. They're doing their "treasure chest" thing. You qualify, get a key, and if your key opens up the chest, you get the money ($5K).

 

I was a complete idiot. But like I knew it was these guys. The DJ says "Who is this?" And I'm like "Uh, who is THIS?"

 

"Check your caller ID." I check and thank god I know the number! I was like "XLC?"

 

I still don't know why *I* got called. He says I texted in for their qualifying thing on the 17th of September. I COMPLETELY DO NOT RECALL DOING SO. What the hell, though. It's an opportunity for $5,000! As they say, do not kick a gift horse in the mouth.

 

But wait...the greeks also infiltrated the Trojans with a horse.

 

Do I trust the horse? Do I not? I listened to the radio and I was on it. Sounding like a dork. So it is legit.

 

STILL HAVE NO IDEA WHY THEY CALLED ME.

the DOCTOR

ROFL!

 

Dude, captain JACK and the DOCTOR ARE BAAAACK, BITCHES.

 

And DEREK FUCKING JACOBI!!!

I am an English Geek (and proud of it)

Okay, I'm not so hot or confident about the sentence diagramming I'm going to have to do, but then....then I found this website: http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/diagrams/diagrams.htm

 

It is majesty. It is awesome. Check out the diagram of the freaking Preamble to the Constitution. I think I may tell the freshmen that it's their homework for the night, wait for them to freak out, and then go "JUST KIDDING!!"

 

Ha!

 

This is also majesty: http://www.visualthesaurus.com/ SO FREAKING COOL. Except you have to pay (I think) for full access. Not so cool.

 

Also, I am hanging around the French and Spanish teachers and it is hysterical. The printer ran out of paper and I went "Profesora! Yo necessito papel y yo no se donde esta."

 

Yes. Things are cool.

 

Just ask me if that's still the case after I start teaching next week. I already know which classes are going to be the hard ones. Period B (those kids are still zombies at that hour) and Period H (last period, no one wants to be there).

Frustration

So it's settled: next week I will take over the two
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.

Today is a Lazy Day

Well, not quite. I just didn't do any "work" as in
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 the FIRST

It's just after 6am. I'm UP. I slept well. Time to do
an asana or two to get the blood flowing.

Time to get ready.

FIRST DAY!

Training

I just came back from three hours' worth of the most
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*

Still laughing

It's probably not a GOOD thing that I've been singing
"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

No pun intended...I may yet wind up at a local Catholic high school.

 

*laughs*

 

For those of you who know me, this is the ultimate irony....*proceeds to laugh self sick*

Dismal Day

After such a dismal Chicago sports day, I am watching Doctor Who.

 

Seeing David Tennant in a tux does weird things to me. Rrrawr.

Graham Norton

OH JESUS, I am DYYYYYYYING.

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)

Oh, dude, that was SUCH a rip-off of the Witchblade.
*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.

A favorite author...

Madeleine L'Engle died today, aged 88. I loved her
books.

Family of Blood

Holy fucking wow.

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

Woke up today wondering what to do. I should have gone to the gym. Actually, I could still do that, and I think I will as soon as I'm done here. Just have to be home by 7pm to watch DOCTOR WHO *happy screams*.

 

I popped in to the office for a little bit today. NOTHING going on there, which is quite strange. I made several phone calls beseeching help for my placement. A former boss of mine whose wife is/was a teacher around here. Left a voicemail. My current boss actually called me after I left the office (she wasn't there when I stopped in), and once I told her the situation I was in, she said she'd call a few people as she used to work in the offices for a school district up here.

 

Called my friend, Kathy, just to talk and she has clients who work in districts (albeit in McHenry). Don't care at this point! JUST WANT A SCHOOL!! She made a phone call and got back to me with someone who said to have NEIU send in my file. YAY - some headway at least! I called the placement office and left a VM saying pretty please to do that asap.

 

MHS called me back today and said they had my file and were trying to see if anyone would be interested. Their policy is to team up STs with TWO teachers, not just one. Another thing that ticked me off though: MHS guy was surprised that I was trying to get placed for THIS semester. You could tell. So again, NEIU is the school known in the area for dropping the ball: all the other schools have had their student teachers placed ages ago!!

 

God. Please let something happen and SOON.

 

 

 

Really Need Help

Seriously, people, if you could send all positive vibes my way for getting a student teaching placement, I would greatly appreciate it.

 

I AM SERIOUSLY FREAKING OUT.

 

It is TWO weeks in and still nothing. Okay, when the placement guy shuts the door and tells me (even though it's not standard practice) to start calling any contacts *I* have, that's a BIG RED FLAG.

 

He's talking of placing me in a middle school. NO. ABSOLUTELY NOT. I need a HIGH SCHOOL experience.

 

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE send good vibes. Needing them, and badly!

Luciano

I never really listened to opera, but wow, that was a man. I'm watching the news and they showed clips of him.

 

Amazing that sounds like that can come from a human body. I hope his funeral has plenty of music. It would be a good way to celebrate his life.

Cheese-tastic!

I just watched SUCH a cheesey movie, but I loved it.
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...

All I'm managing to do is lay about and get lazy. I
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.

I am the Tech Support in my family

I have received more than one call to assist my niece
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

It is upon us.

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.

Men are like Parking Spaces/ Rules of Un-Engagement

"All the good ones are taken.

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.

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.

 

 

 

 

Annoyances

Tuna Sandwich? I just got back from Einstein Bros. Bagels. I ordered a tuna salad sandwich to go. WHAT A JOKE. Seriously, there was about a tablespoon's worth of tuna hidden in between these huge slabs of bread! I have about a whole head of onion rings in there, and plenty of tomato and lettuce, but WTF WITH THE TUNA?

 

God, I was pissed. That place is NOT cheap for being a sandwich place. Catch me ever going back there again!

 

Telephone at Work. I am sick unto death of one of my co-workers being on the phone ALL THE DAMN TIME EVERY DAY ON PERSONAL PHONE CALLS. Jesus Christ! I don't want to hear about your life. Doesn't anybody who calls you fucking WORK? Don't YOU? It's like fucking Potatoes all over again (for those of you who remember "Potatoes", a former and unmissed co-worker of mine from another department). I just do NOT understand why my boss doesn't tell her to cut this shit out.

 

I mean, yeah, I'm on the internet, BUT 1) it's quiet and 2) I GET MORE WORK DONE BECAUSE I AM FUCKING BRILLIANT, I AM.

 

 

And something I forgot to post earlier: I went into Starbucks this morning by my house. All of a sudden, there was someone RIGHT BEHIND ME and BREATHING on me. Seriously, I could smell his breath (not good). The cashier, whom I know, was like "do you KNOW this guy?" I knew who it was before even turning around. It was the husband of one of my cousins. Jim. He's a big annoying fucking twit. Never liked him all that much. I don't know what the fuck my cousin saw in him to make her go and get married. And no, she wasn't knocked up. He's...creepy. Something about him just strikes me as "off" and not in a cute eccentric way.

Who the fuck comes right up behind you, completely invading your personal space, and breathes on you? I saw him at a christening party this weekend, too, and he came up and SNIFFED MY HAIR. And the shit he says. It's not outright sexual or anything, but...creepy. *shudders*

Fat, slobby, (former?) stoner. Gag.Me.

One day, he's going to come up behind me and annoy me for the very last time, because I will wind up and smash his face in. Don't think I'm joking. I was about five seconds away from doing it today.

A word to the wise

Dear Old Navy Clothing Store:

 

It might behoove you to actually have merchandise worth buying in your store when you send out your advert for the "stuff n' save" 20% promo. I was all prepared to drop some $$$ because I need new fall clothes for student teaching. I get there...and nothing. I spent $19.16.

 

Crap. Utter crap.

Things

You know I have some ideas about teaching. One of which is a CHECKLIST. You don't grade students on things you haven't taught them. So teach, teach, teach. Then, once they're familiar with a concept, you can assess.

Things like common punctuation or grammar errors (my pet peeves: mixing up "your" and "you're", fragments, "its" and "it's") can be put on a checklist.

My checklist is going to be like:

Did I check for "its" vs. "it's"?
Did I check for sentence fragments?

And if they check "yes", well then, there should be NO problem right? It's about reviewing and editing your own work!

Why the rambling? Because I'm sick of people at work doing the same stupid errors on their reports even after I tell them over and over not to do certain things. Just want to scream.

The Chocolate War

The Chocolate War

Now, I don't know about you, but I do not want inferior cheap vegetable oil infused "chocolate". Fake chocolate. Facolate!

Good chocolate is a luxury. Don't fuck with my chocolate!

Excuse me while I squee

I popped in the sixth disc of Dr. Who - the ones with
Tennant's video diaries. THIS is AWESOME.

It's hysterical - there was already a shot of Anthony
Stewart Head. And DT speaking in his native Glaswegian
accent, sometimes slipping into his English "Doctor"
accent...and then CARDIFF and the Gower Peninsula.
It's like the UK in micro. WHEEEEE!!

Random

Caprese: I made awesome caprese salad again last night. I went on to the back patio and lo - there were many many tomatos that needed picking (and consequently, eating). I picked a couple bitty onions and basil. YUM!! So deleeecious.

 

BBC America: Damn you, damn you all. I really want BBC America. It's there on Comcast Digital. I just can't spend the money on it right now. Maybe after student teaching.

 

 

Talk about the weather

Holy hell, people. For most of the summer, we've been
dreadfully scarce on rain. Lately it's started to rain
which is good.

EXCEPT FOR WHEN IT COMES ON LIKE A FREAKING FIREHOSE.

I woke up I don't know when because it sounded like
the skies were breaking apart right above me. You know
how as a kid (or maybe still) you would count the
seconds between the lightning and the thunder? Here,
it was "big light show"-BOOOM!!!BOOOM!!!!BOOOM!!!
Jesus!

It was rattling my windows for a good thirty minutes
straight. Woke me the hell up, that's for sure. I
tried to stuff my face into a pillow, but it still
didn't help. Buddha and I were looking at each other
like WTF is going on?

Flash flooding in the area, too, of course. I'm
watching weather channel. Rockford out west has had
near six inches since yesterday. It's going to be bad
here right around the Des Plaines River flood plain. I
gotta get going to work - I need to avoid the traffic.
I'm up, I might as well get out before the next round
starts.

Thinking far in advance

I put through a request for the last of my vacation
days (6). Christmas through New Years. I'm definitely
going to need the time off after student teaching.

And I shall let it be known now that I plan on making
one hell of a ginger cookie during the Xmas 2007
cookie madness. I love ginger. I love The Ginger
People company's products. Oh yes, I will buy up their
gingery goodness and turn out an awesome cookie.

I've got to re-locate my molasses cookie recipe too.
Damn messy things to make (STICKY dough), but very
tasty.

Tracking Packages

YAYAYAYAYAYYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAY!

 

My Dr. Who DVDs arrived at home! David Tennant-y Dr. Who goodness is mine for the viewing!!

 

BTW, anyone know when series 3 DVDs are to be released?

Email

Dear Spammer Nola Dickson:

No, I do NOT feel insecure about my penis size. You
see, I DON'T HATE ONE. I HAVE GIRL PARTS.

Please go away and die.

KTHXBYE

That's funny shit, that is

Gemini (May 21 - Jun 20)

Your imagination is rich today with vivid fantasies,
as the Moon in your 12th House makes it challenging to
maintain focus on the outer world. You could become a
bit single-minded as you mull the same image over and
over again within your active daydream. Don't fret;
your current obsession won't last and soon you'll be
more playful again.

NO? Really? Because I didn't think the whole
Urlacher-yoga thing was vivid enough?

Saturday

Today I woke up at the ungodly hour of 4am. Why? To go to a 5am Kundalini Yoga Class. I won't be doing that again. Quite frankly, Kundalini is not my cup of tea. It involved a lot of being on my knees and sitting in hero pose, which just KILLS me. I would rather be in a bind or do messed up headstands resulting in face plants than be on my knees in hero pose. Just OW.

 

I wanted to go because there was meditation involved, but I just couldn't get into it because of the pain I was experiencing in my knees. And then the particular chants they were using kind of bored the hell out of me. I'm all for chanting the occasional "Om", but whatever they were doing...bleh.

 

I'll stick to my regular yoga, thanks. I went to a normal class immediately following, but didn't do so well because of my knees and I was dehydrated. I thought I was going to pass out. What a shitty morning. Up at 4, yoga from 5-9:30 am.

 

Went to breakfast with my mom afterwards. Then I dragged her to the tattoo shop. She likes fat baby cherubs *rolls eyes*.

 

After breakfast, I crawled back into my bed (eyes burning) and crashed for a couple hours* and got up around the third inning of the Cubs game. Thank you Maine (pitcher-Mets), we appreciate you walking in all our runs! It's nice to see some OTHER team have a pitcher totally fuck the hell up.

 

* Further proof that Kundalini is bizarre for me: I had some f'ed up dreams during my nap. It involved partner yoga and somehow I was paired up with Brian Urlacher. Ooookay. As if that wasn't strange enough, it then turned into...well, take a wild guess. It was a little too technicolor and I woke up looking around to make sure there wasn't some random man in my bed. Hello, overactive and undersexed imagination. Surreal dream-sexlife aside, if I were to ever find myself in a yoga class with Mr. Urlacher that went points south, I think I would have to refuse. Yeah, he's hot in that <cue Cartman-voice> BEEFCAAAAKE! sort of way, but the guy has some really exceptionally poor taste in who he's slept with (see 1)mother of child and nasty legal case ongoing and 2) PARIS HILTON). I would refuse on principal because of 2 alone. I may not have seen the working end of a penis in living color for a long time, but I've got my standards.

 

Shit, man, I need to go to sleep. I've been at a cafe for the past four hours testing my work-laptop, doing work, and now this. I've got a baby christening to half-way go to tomorrow. My cousin called to make sure I was going and I said yes. It was funny. She was like "you don't have to go to the church - we'll be home by 2!" Yes, indeed, I appreciate that the extended family knows better than to expect me to show up in a Catholic church anymore!

Friday Lunch Break

Well, I am cracking into the (poorly maintained, I must admit!) Roth IRA I have. I am using the principal amount to pay in advance most of four month's worth of utilities/bills while I am student teaching. I figure if there was ever a vaild reason, that's it. It'll really help manage the finances, thank god. What I DO make working part-time will go mainly towards the monthly condominium association bill and my credit card bill (as well as any school-related stuff).

As I drove back into work, I started thinking about how things fall into place. A couple years ago, I was half-way into the program and really struggling emotionally. I didn't know if I could put up with the bureaucratic bullshit at the school; I didn't know if I could afford to not work during student teaching. Was I even meant for this teaching gig? I dated and then got dumped by a peer. Basically, shit sucked and I was having a major "what to do with my life" crisis.

Well, now I'm almost done. I'm still scared of student teaching to an extent, but I'm *ready*. I want to be done. I've farted around enough with the theoretical, let me at those damn kids. If I fuck up, I fuck up, but let's do it. I've managed to get enough merit tuition waivers to soften the blow, financially. I've got most of the bills under control by cracking into the Roth IRA. I have good friends, both peers and advisors, in the program who have kept my bouyed up when I needed it. I've got a decent job (even if it bores me and annoys the shit out of me on occasion) and I'm good enough at it so that my bosses have been willing to work around my schooling and give me the option of working part-time so I CAN afford to student teach. I've discovered yoga. Yoga good. Yoga makes the mind happy.

Basically: life is good. I am thankful. Universe, keep it up. Believe me, it is appreciated.

Also during lunch: I stopped back at the tattoo parlour in L'ville. I've been thinking non-stop about that tattoo I want (8-10" tattoo of the "Strength" card from the Tarot of Prague deck). I went in and talked to Sandy again. I put down a $15 deposit for her to draw it up. She's going to hold it for me until I can get the money together. I'm thinking this will be my graduation/Christmas present to myself this year. Interestingly enough, numerologically speaking, this year is the "Strength" year for me as well. I definitely want to get it before 2008 hits (which I think is a "Hermit" year, also very apropo - Hermit is not being alone, it's about lighting the path for others, i.e., teaching. Go take a look at a Hermit card in a tarot deck and you'll see what I mean.) .

It took me years to decide on my first tattoo (a small black outline of a bull). It's taken me years to decide on the second; but I already have in mind my third, thus proving true the adage about tattoos. Just like Lay's potato chips, you can never have just one. When or if I get a third, I want a Buddha. A nice, serene Buddha meditating (not the fat type of Buddha that you rub the belly for luck).

Most fucked up movie

I think I have just seen THE most FUCKED UP movie.
Ever. Period.

Holy shit.

Perfume (The Story of a Murderer)

It's got Dustin Hoffman and Alan Rickman in it. I
can't even begin to tell you. Trust me, you will just
have to watch it.

Just plain fucked up six ways to Sunday. Visceral,
erotic (even), but disturbing. About the only thing I
could think being more fucked up is the book Germinal
by Emile Zola. Anyone read that book? Remember how the
guy gets his penis yanked off by the angry mob?
Totally visceral. Totally "life is nasty, brutal, and
short." That's about the best equivalent I can get to
this movie.

FUCKED UP!

And very glad that I wasn't around in the streets of
pre-Revolutionary France....

The clock is ticking...

Final semester of my grad program, thank god.

I skeeved off work early yesterday (well, I *was*
sick, I just decided I had better go to the university
to get some paperwork, sickness be damned).

I got my application for graduation and managed to
duck into my advisor's office and get it filled out
that very afternoon. Excellent. So that paperwork is
in. Now I just gotta pass the damn student teaching.

While I was in with my advisor, another program
teacher was in there. They're both excellent. My
advisor was like "So, what are you doing during
student teaching." I said, "Uh, working part-time..."

She asked me where and I told her. She had been
considering me for the graduate assistant position for
her. That would have been very cool, and I'm chuffed
that she had me as a top candidated, but I can't do it
because I need to keep my benefits at my current job.
(She was completely understanding of that.)

Got my loaner laptop from work today which I will use
while I work part-time. Did a test drive of it, and of
course the key program I use does NOT work correctly.
So gotta get that fixed tomorrow, then test again.

Went to Target and got a planner thingy. If I'm going
to survive this semester, I am going to have to have
every moment planned. No fucking about. (Oh, the
possibility of THAT actually going to plan...)

OTHER FUN NEWS: am eagerly awaiting latest Amazon
purches of Dr. Who Season Two. I totally caved. Had to
do it.

Bridge "structurally deficient"

http://www.news24.com/News24/World/News/0,,2-10-1462_2158002,00.html

 

Oh dude. Mega-lawsuits. Heads are going to roll...and rightfully so, if this is true.

Minneapolis

Jesus. The footage of that bridge collapse is just horrific. Someone actually captured the thing going down on video.

 

Un-fucking-real.

 

God, how horrible for the families. How the hell could a massive and complete structural failure like that happen with no warning? There are some people who are gonna get the pants sued off of them, that's for sure...

Sweet baby Jeebus! Is Ripper (BtVS spin off) finally a go?

Is there any truth to this??!! (Sullivan, I'm looking at you for the scoop.) This is from yesterday...

Joss Whedon Confirms Buffy Spin-off Happening

Better sharpen those stakes.

In a surprise Comic-Con announcement, Joss Whedon has confirmed that the long gestating Buffy the Vampire Slayer spin-off, entitled Ripper, finally looks like it's going forward.

Whedon says that he's thisclose to signing a deal with the BBC to finance a 90-minute telepic that will star Buffy's Anthony Stewart Head as former Watcher Rupert Giles combatting the things that go bump in the night sans Slayer.

The deal hasn't been signed yet, so anything can happen. Whedon was quick to say that no U.S. distribution has been decided, meaning that it's still a bit soon to circle a launch date on your calendar or break open the bubbly.

Meanwhile, Whedon has launched a non-Buffy-related online comic called Sugar Shock with Dark Horse (the publishers of the Buffy Season Eight comic). It's free, it's online, and it might just tide you over until Ripper... or the next issue of the Buffy comic.

Speaking of things "Buffy": I somehow wound up watching the new Holly Hunter show on TNT called "Saving Grace". It's a little too hick accenty and bubba trucky (AND religious) for me, but I cracked up watching it: Bailey (of the Initiative) is one of the main characters and last night's villainous guest was none other than James Marsters. A James Marsters speaking in his regular (albeit hick for the show) American accent AND sporting brown hair. It was interesting to see those two things to say the least!

EDIT EDIT: Sullivan you SUCK if you don't write up about this panel. There was a PANEL for Joss at the Con? Come on! Spill more info! And I doubt I'll go to WWC, so any chances of seeing that preview electronically, eh?

New week, S.O.S. (same old shit)

I finally got around to watching the last episode on disc 2 for season 2 of Dr. Who. I think I just found my new favorite episode: The Girl in the Fireplace. OMG. If you haven't seen it, I won't spoil you, but DAMN. That just about broke my heart in the end. And the score music went well with it. Usually score music just annoys the hell out of me; half the time the writers are trying to sell you on the "very special moment" with uber-cheesey music, when they should have spent more time developing the scene and dialogue. Oh no, this score music is on my iShuffle (yes, yes, go download Dr. Who soundtrack). My favorites are the theme for the Doctor and Madame de Pompadour.

 

I am almost finished with knitting ONE (god, I still have to do the other one!) leg warmer. Yes, bitches, you heard me right. The 80s, they are like a bad rash coming back on the ass of humanity. Pink, oh so pink, legwarmers. I'm giving them to my niece. She's in competitive cheerleading and I figure she can pull the look off. (God knows they wear those skirts which really don't cover anything and they're cold!) Her uniform is black and pink w/ silver accent, hence the pink legwarmers.

 

I knitted a lot yesterday.(Speaking of which, I think I may have a cramp in my right index finger. That, or I'm developing rheumatoid arthritis! Jesus.) I was over at my dad's for a while. Apparently my grandma is declining. She's not wanting to eat much and she sleeps all the time. I don't know. Hell, the doctors were like "you've only got a few months left" and that was like TWO YEARS ago. I won't believe it until she's not breathing. (And before I get too many condolencey type messages, please don't. I'm not exactly close to this grandma. She's a little kooky. And bigoted.)

 

Mmmm. Charlie Tuna for lunch. Who wants to smell my breath?

Well.

After watching something as fantastically horrible as
this game (Cubs v Cards), I need to watch something
hot.

Maybe some David Tennant Dr. Who?

Or maybe...my bottle of whiskey underneath the sink?
Would that make me an alchy?

Thank you to the Universe

I was looking at a pretty dire week, financially. My confirmation payment for fall student teaching was due today. That would be at least $340. I called up to check on my account, hoping that I had received a Merit Tuition Waiver.

 

SCORE. I DID, but the exciting part? I got it for 6 credit hours, not just the 3 I was hoping for! So for a bill that was originally about $1200, I only have an outstanding balance of $246! The chick on the phone was like "do you want to confirm?" Well, DUH.

 

And this is when the school (and its generally stupid employees) reverted back to stupid form. The chick was saying that I didn't HAVE to make a payment because the waiver counts towards that confirmation. So fine, yes, I am confirming I am still planning to attend. "Well, I can't do that over the phone if you aren't going to make a payment."

 

"BUT YOU JUST TOLD ME I COULD CONFIRM!" WTF!

 

So, basically, because I'm not making a payment (that I don't even in this case HAVE to make), I would have to DRIVE DOWN TO SCHOOL (AN HOUR, MIND YOU), just to say to someone's face "I confirm my attendance"! STUPID! STUPID! STUPID! You would think it would be in the reverse that my presence would be demanded.

 

Fucking stOOpid.

Oscar the cat predicts patients' deaths - Yahoo! News

Oscar the cat predicts patients' deaths - Yahoo! News

Very. Weird.

Oh noes!

Bear (of Man vs. Wild) is being accused of faking the
situations!

Boo!

Well, he can't fake being hot at least. But STILL.
Faking the situations seriously detracts from his sexy
manliness.

*frowns*

Weird Things That I Want

Should the blessed day ever EVER again come that I will have my own abode, I look forward to cleaning out a BUNCH of my shit. I have too much crap. Moving will provide a much needed impetus to actually purge. Once I am done with this graduate school stuff and (fingers crossed, knock on wood) get a job in a school, I am going to put my corporate SRP to use and FUCKING MOVE! I would like to live in the city, but let's face it, I can't count on that. If I get a teaching job in the suburbs, it would be pretty stupid to live in the city. I'd have another hellish commute. And living AND working in the city is tricky, because that drops me right in the lovely ol' Chicago Public Schools system. Can you hear my sarcasm? Better be damn careful in that event, because a bad CPS will fuck you up.

But I really want a rocking chair. Blame my recent crochet, and new knitting, activities. Seriously, there is nothing quite like a rocking chair for it. In fact, I saw a nifty little rattan one at IKEA...oh, my precious, we wantsss it.

Chickens. Don't ask me why, but I would like to raise chickens some day. Just a few. But that requires a house and land. I blame my garden activities and my reading activities ("The $64 Dollar Tomato" and "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle".)

But you know: for anyone reading who feels pity on my impending financial crisis (can only work part-time at a real job while I student teach for NO MONEY): feel free to DONATE$$$

Right now

I think I detest my job today. Some person comes in here asking about something I (supposedly) sent "a while ago" and if I remember it.

 

Well, gee, how long ago is "a while ago"? They say, a few weeks.

 

Ok, in the course of a day, how many emails do you think I send out? The answer is probably HUNDREDS. SO, NO, I DON'T THINK I'M GOING TO RECALL ONE PIDDLING INSIGNIFICANT EMAIL YOU CAN'T GIVE ME ANY DETAILS ABOUT FROM A FEW WEEKS AGO.

 

JESUS. People are stupid.

 

Add to that the fact that one of my co-workers just annoys the goddamn bejesus out of me with her warbly fucking music. It's like the worst light station you can image: Michael Bolton and tons of Celine Dion screeching their way about tortured love. I have to blast out my eardrums with my iPod so I don't have to hear that shit. *shudders*

 

And she also spends half the morning coughing because she has nasal drip or something.

 

I need out of this place. I am SO GLAD I will be student teaching in a month. I mean, I'm not relishing the huge drop in my (non-existant) paycheck, but working part-time means I WILL NOT HAVE TO PUT UP WITH WARBLY MUSIC, POST-NASAL DRIP NOISES or STUPID QUESTIONS FOR A WHOLE BLESSED THREE 1/2 MONTHS! Yay for evening/weekend hours!

 

And with THAT rage, I am going to leave to get some fresh air before I spontaneously combust.

Tea to the Tree!

OH, this shit is beyond awesome.

So, so, so, soooooo

in love with Dr. Who. Be it Ninth or Tenth Doctor, I
looooooove it.

Oh, why have I not watched you before this? Dr. Who
Merchandise, I must find you.

In other news: I did a face plant in the grass while
doing a headstand. Very stupid of me. I think I still
have grass in my left eye. I was doing a regular head
stand and then tried to get all fancy, pushing up with
my hands, lifting my head, and moving into something
like scorpion pose.

Whooooop....slid down on the left and that grass is
quite exfoliating, you know?

Well, that was interesting :Harry Potter

*gazes bleary eyed at world*

It took me a bloody hour to get the book last night at B&N. An hour in which it was very hot, because the mall turns down the power on the A/C to conserve energry. Bleh!

I told myself I was only going to read a chapter or two, then go to bed. Ha. I wound up crawling into bed and reading the whole damn thing (nearly 800 pages) from 1:30 to 7:30am. People, there is a reason I don't pull all nighters: it's because it's goddamn fucking wrong seeing sunset in complete reverse (utter darkness, to birds screaming their heads off and the sun up).

It was a good book, I have to say. I was preparing myself to be disappointed. Reading a muchly hyped book like this: well, damn, it's hard to live up the hype. I mean, yes, there were some points I was reading thinking "OH COME ON! TOO TRANSPARENT!", but then Rowling pulled a quick one or two that left me reeling.

Good stuff. I went to bed after finishing. Woke up in time to watch the Cubs lose, damn it all. I think I'm going to go to the gym.

Royal Mail releases Harry Potter stamps - Yahoo! News

Royal Mail releases Harry Potter stamps - Yahoo! News

MUUUUUUM! Will you get me a set? Pweeeease?

Where have I been?

I know I'm late to the game, but DAMN. David Tenant? Verrrry attractive. Yeow. I'm trying to get caught up on the Dr. Who stuff.

Things

Gemini (May 21 - Jun 20)

You may wish that you didn't have so many things to do, but your life could settle down a bit after tomorrow's New Moon. Don't wait until you've hit the wall, for if you don't pull back soon, you could crash from sheer exhaustion. Start applying the brakes gently by getting some much-needed rest and relaxation.

No shit. Somehow I wound up with a really, really bad headache yesterday evening while coming home from Borders. It was so bad, I was crying in the car and I wanted to throw up. It felt like someone was taking a sledghammer to the top left of my skull.

I was supposed to go to Kundalini Yoga and another regular yoga class this morning, but just couldn't. My body was saying "hell, no, you are staying in bed."

Sucky.