I'm not even close to being ready to go to London in about ten days--I'm a loser--BUT, I did dust off my London blog and post something, so the pre-trip festivities can begin. It's over at Kim in London. I guess I could move that to my own server. Maybe after I take a nap. Spring Break has officially started and I think I need to take a little rest.
SPRING BREAK MAKES ME VERY, VERY, VERY HAPPY!
Friday, March 30, 2007
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Slacker Kimmah
I've gotten rather lax on the blogging thing lately. Not exactly sure why--I just can't seem to focus long enough to type something out that makes sense. Probably because things in real life are rather hectic. My list:
1. School--spring break is upon us and that means that kids are in antsy mode. It's always fun to try and pound sentence structure and comma splices into the heads of vacation-minded 15-year-old boys.
2. School pt. 2--it has suddenly turned into summer, despite the impending SPRING break and we've been treated to high temps ranging from 82-88 this week. Sounds great? Well, it might if we were in an air conditioned building during the day. As we are not, it is like some form of torture. There has been no discernible breeze, no relief of any kind from my ancient fan, and no hint of artifical coolant. My room is on the west side of the building with 6-foot windows to let in loads and loads of blistering heat just in time for my class of 35 juniors and seniors. Sweltering doesn't even come close to describing it--actually, if we could just swelter, we'd be happy.
3. School pt. 3--because it's the end of the year and I teach seniors, it's also field trip time. Normally this happens in April-May, but we've started early this year. The new quarter started March 9. Since that day, I have not yet had all of my students in my 4th block Theatre Arts class (the one with 35 kids) at school and in class at the same time. Not one day. My attendance book looks like some sort of weird modern heiroglyphics with all the absents, tardies, field trips, doctor's notes and other sundry markings. It's a nightmare. Today was our last day of class because we have an assembly tomorrow. On the day before Spring Break. Good thing I don't give grades on written work in there or I'd never get the make-ups done.
4. School pt. 4--I'm on the retirement-party-planning committees for TWO different teachers this spring. I've also agreed to plan a little something for another teacher's 50th birthday on Friday. I also have to sort out three days' worth of lesson plans before I leave on Friday. I also have to clean off my desk. I also have to turn in my grade verifications. I also have to stay at school until seven again tomorrow night for inservice and then spend all day Friday in meetings that are stupid and boring and useless to anything that I do for a living.
5. Vacation--I leave for London on April 9. Wooohooo! That's a good thing. I'll be back on April 19.
6. Vacation pt. 2--Before I leave I have to pack up clothes for the kids to take to my parents' house for a week. I also need to clean my house because it is gross.
7. Vacation pt. 3--I haven't even thought about starting to pack for myself yet and I don't have any decent walking shoes. Oh, and London is insane expensive and I have not saved one penny toward spending money. Not one red cent.
8. Life in general--all I seem to have time for is wake up, work, home to eat, Y, home to put kids to bed, read online for an hour, go to bed. Something has to give.
9. Stupid things--oh, I also have time to go to the tanning bed. Skin cancer is a terrible thing and some day I'm going to really be pissed off at myself; however, I have no plans to quit going until I am suitably browned. I usually don't mind being fashionably pale, but for some reason this year, it has bugged me. Maybe because summer started in March.
10. Pets--we have a chick named Austin. Sam brought it home from school--they kept eggs in an incubator. If Austin survives chickhood, it will be a miracle. A bloody miracle. Sam has picked him up two dozen times a day, he's carried him around the house and he's taken him out to play in the front yard. Poor Austin has been a trooper through it al. I'll be most relieved when he goes to live at the farm--which shouldn't be much longer because he's got an incredible vertical jump and he's going to leap out of his box any minute. He bangs his head on the books we have covering him for every so often.
I think that's it for now. I'm going to attempt to catch up on blog reading. I don't have much faith that I will get far, though.
1. School--spring break is upon us and that means that kids are in antsy mode. It's always fun to try and pound sentence structure and comma splices into the heads of vacation-minded 15-year-old boys.
2. School pt. 2--it has suddenly turned into summer, despite the impending SPRING break and we've been treated to high temps ranging from 82-88 this week. Sounds great? Well, it might if we were in an air conditioned building during the day. As we are not, it is like some form of torture. There has been no discernible breeze, no relief of any kind from my ancient fan, and no hint of artifical coolant. My room is on the west side of the building with 6-foot windows to let in loads and loads of blistering heat just in time for my class of 35 juniors and seniors. Sweltering doesn't even come close to describing it--actually, if we could just swelter, we'd be happy.
3. School pt. 3--because it's the end of the year and I teach seniors, it's also field trip time. Normally this happens in April-May, but we've started early this year. The new quarter started March 9. Since that day, I have not yet had all of my students in my 4th block Theatre Arts class (the one with 35 kids) at school and in class at the same time. Not one day. My attendance book looks like some sort of weird modern heiroglyphics with all the absents, tardies, field trips, doctor's notes and other sundry markings. It's a nightmare. Today was our last day of class because we have an assembly tomorrow. On the day before Spring Break. Good thing I don't give grades on written work in there or I'd never get the make-ups done.
4. School pt. 4--I'm on the retirement-party-planning committees for TWO different teachers this spring. I've also agreed to plan a little something for another teacher's 50th birthday on Friday. I also have to sort out three days' worth of lesson plans before I leave on Friday. I also have to clean off my desk. I also have to turn in my grade verifications. I also have to stay at school until seven again tomorrow night for inservice and then spend all day Friday in meetings that are stupid and boring and useless to anything that I do for a living.
5. Vacation--I leave for London on April 9. Wooohooo! That's a good thing. I'll be back on April 19.
6. Vacation pt. 2--Before I leave I have to pack up clothes for the kids to take to my parents' house for a week. I also need to clean my house because it is gross.
7. Vacation pt. 3--I haven't even thought about starting to pack for myself yet and I don't have any decent walking shoes. Oh, and London is insane expensive and I have not saved one penny toward spending money. Not one red cent.
8. Life in general--all I seem to have time for is wake up, work, home to eat, Y, home to put kids to bed, read online for an hour, go to bed. Something has to give.
9. Stupid things--oh, I also have time to go to the tanning bed. Skin cancer is a terrible thing and some day I'm going to really be pissed off at myself; however, I have no plans to quit going until I am suitably browned. I usually don't mind being fashionably pale, but for some reason this year, it has bugged me. Maybe because summer started in March.
10. Pets--we have a chick named Austin. Sam brought it home from school--they kept eggs in an incubator. If Austin survives chickhood, it will be a miracle. A bloody miracle. Sam has picked him up two dozen times a day, he's carried him around the house and he's taken him out to play in the front yard. Poor Austin has been a trooper through it al. I'll be most relieved when he goes to live at the farm--which shouldn't be much longer because he's got an incredible vertical jump and he's going to leap out of his box any minute. He bangs his head on the books we have covering him for every so often.
I think that's it for now. I'm going to attempt to catch up on blog reading. I don't have much faith that I will get far, though.
Sunday, March 18, 2007
You Should Know
I've spent my Sunday watching E!. This includes, but it not limited to True Hollywood Story: Mean Girls (I've never seen this movie), Hip Hop Wives, Talk Soup and now, Rock Star Daughters. I think I can feel my brain solidifying even as I type.
What I should be doing is cleaning my house and sorting out winter vs. summer clothes. Naturally, I am not. Well, I am a little bit, but not very much. My goal is to have all the clean clothes put away by bedtime. Anything over that will be domestic gravy.
What I should be doing is cleaning my house and sorting out winter vs. summer clothes. Naturally, I am not. Well, I am a little bit, but not very much. My goal is to have all the clean clothes put away by bedtime. Anything over that will be domestic gravy.
Thursday, March 15, 2007
You Know It's a Bad Day
I don't think I am overstating things one iota when I say that when an 8th-grade boy with some special ed tendancies comes up to you and says, "Hey, Mrs. W., how are you? Your hair looks really bad today. It's sort of sticking up all over the sides", that you are, in fact, having a really bad hair day.
Soon after, I called and made my hair appointment for Saturday.
Soon after, I called and made my hair appointment for Saturday.
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
Ack! Chlorine!!
My eyes are suddenly a chlorinated mess. Been doing pool stuff since January and tonight it feels as if I bathed in acid. Waaaaaahhhhhh!
Monday, March 12, 2007
Why Do Stupid People Always Become Teachers?
They just HAVE to go and make the rest of us look bad and I'm getting tired of it...
Teacher Causes Furor With Sex Ed Lessons
Basically, this guy was teaching MIDDLE SCHOOL and thought it was a good idea to have the STUDENTS read graphic details about oral sex and masturbation. In class. With girls. And then he tried to claim it was part of the human sexuality curriculum. Nice try, moron.
I'm all for sex ed--honestly? I like the idea of a neutral third party giving my boys the basics because then I don't have to--I'm a a pretty typical parent in that regard. But I think we can all agree that there is a fine, fine line in teaching that subject matter and while one would expect the teacher to address all forms of sex and inform students of the basics, I don't think anyone in their right mind would think it was a good idea to have 13-year-old girls read aloud about such matters with a male teacher in class in public school. *boggle*
Yet another looney teacher that brings more unwanted attention to the profession. Wonder if he's too old for Pamela Rogers Turner? Maybe they could hook up and open up a charter school together somewhere.
Teacher Causes Furor With Sex Ed Lessons
Basically, this guy was teaching MIDDLE SCHOOL and thought it was a good idea to have the STUDENTS read graphic details about oral sex and masturbation. In class. With girls. And then he tried to claim it was part of the human sexuality curriculum. Nice try, moron.
I'm all for sex ed--honestly? I like the idea of a neutral third party giving my boys the basics because then I don't have to--I'm a a pretty typical parent in that regard. But I think we can all agree that there is a fine, fine line in teaching that subject matter and while one would expect the teacher to address all forms of sex and inform students of the basics, I don't think anyone in their right mind would think it was a good idea to have 13-year-old girls read aloud about such matters with a male teacher in class in public school. *boggle*
Yet another looney teacher that brings more unwanted attention to the profession. Wonder if he's too old for Pamela Rogers Turner? Maybe they could hook up and open up a charter school together somewhere.
Saturday, March 10, 2007
Apropos
I think we can all think of at least a dozen folks online that this definition can be applied to. Some of us can find most of a message board filled with them.
Old Friends, Good Times...
I spent more than three hours at Chilis today and had the best time I've had in a long, long time Met up with four friends from elementary/high school for the first time in years. They all live in or around our hometown, so they see each other from time to time, but as a group, we've not hung out in at least 15 years, maybe more
It was like time had stood still in so many ways--we still make each other laugh over the dumbest things imaginable--goofy nicknames, silly stories, faces, whatever--and are able to laugh at ourselves in the process.
Not living anywhere near the people whom I grew up with, I forget the good times (and the bad, for that matter) from the past. It was so nice to be able to flashback for a little while and just hang out with those who knew me when I had a mad crush on Kevin from Spanish or who remember going to birthday parties at the skating rink or wearing horrible jeans or being threated by the scary lunch girls.
Ah, the memories.
It was like time had stood still in so many ways--we still make each other laugh over the dumbest things imaginable--goofy nicknames, silly stories, faces, whatever--and are able to laugh at ourselves in the process.
Not living anywhere near the people whom I grew up with, I forget the good times (and the bad, for that matter) from the past. It was so nice to be able to flashback for a little while and just hang out with those who knew me when I had a mad crush on Kevin from Spanish or who remember going to birthday parties at the skating rink or wearing horrible jeans or being threated by the scary lunch girls.
Ah, the memories.
Friday, March 09, 2007
Stolen from Arkie
a random list-what do the following words make me think of:
Nude :: lipstick
Support :: underwire
Rachel:: nothing whatsoever
Crane :: Frasier
Candy bar :: Chocolate
Material :: Girl
Mind games :: Shall We Play A Game?
Eviction :: Money
Produce :: Market
Joke :: GWB
Nude :: lipstick
Support :: underwire
Rachel:: nothing whatsoever
Crane :: Frasier
Candy bar :: Chocolate
Material :: Girl
Mind games :: Shall We Play A Game?
Eviction :: Money
Produce :: Market
Joke :: GWB
Thursday, March 08, 2007
Happy Birthday to Me...
It's been a strange day, this, my 38th birthday. Good God, that looks really old. Anyway, my morning started off fairly well--got up on time, was ready for work early, no rush. Nice. Then I get to school and the first thing up is an exam for my British Lit class. One of the students happend to come up to me just before the class started and ask me a question about a worksheet that she had. At first I answered her without really thinking, then it dawned on me--the sheet she was showing me was an old copy of the exam. WHAT THE HELL? After a couple of questions, I quickly discovered that no student foul-play had occurred. What HAD occurred?
Tuesday, my sub gave the students my old copy of the exam as a freaking study sheet.
Yes, they had the first FIFTY questions from the exam to look at for two damn days and memorize--it was all matching. I could have spit nails. This meant that I had to create a new fifty questions for them super-fast. Lovely. I frantically did it while they were in the library and managed to cobble together something that they could use. Naturally there were some mistakes and I ended up kicking out one page of it mid-test. Eventually, I deduced that I had left the papers with the study sheets and she somehow thought that I hadn't gotten copies made for them. Whatever. It worked out.
The restof the day was okay---I had a dozen chatty freshmen girls at the end of the day and they nearly drove me to pull my hair out, but other than that, it was okay.
Until I realized that I'd lost my cell phone. Fuck.
Off to Wal Mart to see if I could get a new phone. They only had two models--one of which was the sucktastic one I have--and both were over $200. Uh, no fricking way. I'll keep looking and deal with the crappy phone for that kind of money.
While at Wal Mart, though, I found some cute t-shirts, so I treated myself, and I also stopped by the hair place to get a travel sized TIGI Maxxed Out hairspray. I'd seen it the other day, so I decided to get it. The problem was, there wasn't a price on it. I asked about it and he clerk said that it must have been part of a gift set. Then she noticed that the nozzle was missing, too. This was actually in my favor because she realized that they couldn't sell it, so she gave it to me. For free. Wooohoooo!
Then I went back to school to try and find my phone and I'll be damned if my alarm code didn't work. Fanfuckingtastic. I hauled ass out of the building and went home to call our school resource officer and let him know that I might have set it off. He informed me that our codes had all been modified. Well, it would have been nice if someone had told me.
So, as of right now, I sit here with highlights on my hair, watching Survivor on DVR while everyone else is asleep. No phone, but I do have free hairspray, so I suppose all is well in my world.
Wednesday, March 07, 2007
Random Nonscientifc Internet Quiz, Etc.
Courtesy of Sasha:
Yeah, I don't even really know what this means--I think I need sleep. Speaking of things I don't really grasp, I will confess here and now that I had absolutely no frigging clue that guiddity was a word. Furthermore, I would have thought that it was one of those fake, made-up, Harry Potteresque kind of words. Who knew? The most insipidly easy Word of the Day generator actually taught me something. I guess that speaks volumes about me, doesn't it?
| What kind of extremist are you? Your Result: Rational Person You consider these questions obvious straw men, designed to distract people from a meaningful investigation of facts and a serious discussion of relevant political issues. How boring. | |
| Left-Wing Extremist | |
| Moderate Extremist | |
| Right-Wing Extremist | |
| What kind of extremist are you? Make a Quiz | |
Yeah, I don't even really know what this means--I think I need sleep. Speaking of things I don't really grasp, I will confess here and now that I had absolutely no frigging clue that guiddity was a word. Furthermore, I would have thought that it was one of those fake, made-up, Harry Potteresque kind of words. Who knew? The most insipidly easy Word of the Day generator actually taught me something. I guess that speaks volumes about me, doesn't it?
Y, Y, Y!
Why do people not control their wild-ass children in the pool at the Y?
Why do people let their children roam free around said Y pool?
Why do people let their children scream incessantly in the same pool?
Why did a young, unattended child feel the need to sit on the edge of the hot tub and talk to me non-stop for five minutes?
Why did a man choose a swimsuit that looks like boxershorts minus the fly?
Why did the previously mentioned man kneel on the bench in the hot tub suspiciously close to one of the jets and remain there for several minutes?
Why can I not manage to put my hair up in a manner that will keep it from getting soaked in overly-chlorinated water?
Why did I think it was a good idea to try to run with my knees coming up out of 3.5 foot water for several minutes?
Why can't the yucky arm-flappy stuff under arms disappear when one diets?
Why am I freakishly obsessed with water aerobics all of a sudden?
WH
Why do people let their children roam free around said Y pool?
Why do people let their children scream incessantly in the same pool?
Why did a young, unattended child feel the need to sit on the edge of the hot tub and talk to me non-stop for five minutes?
Why did a man choose a swimsuit that looks like boxershorts minus the fly?
Why did the previously mentioned man kneel on the bench in the hot tub suspiciously close to one of the jets and remain there for several minutes?
Why can I not manage to put my hair up in a manner that will keep it from getting soaked in overly-chlorinated water?
Why did I think it was a good idea to try to run with my knees coming up out of 3.5 foot water for several minutes?
Why can't the yucky arm-flappy stuff under arms disappear when one diets?
Why am I freakishly obsessed with water aerobics all of a sudden?
WH
Saturday, March 03, 2007
Virago
That's the word of the day according the world's most insipid Word of the Day generator on the right over there. Seriously, the first three or four words that it generated were just insanely easy--germane, potentate, effusive and hoary come to mind--but I'm too lazy to remove it, plus I thought there might eventually be a good word or two, so I left it.
And today's word entertains me (I should have read my own blog before I posted the other thing below, eh?).
How appropriate, nay, I'll say GERMANE to this blog that virago means:
A large, strong, courageous or aggressive woman.
I need to incorporate that into my blog description, don't you think? Maybe edit it a bit and leave out the large part because, well, that's not so flattering really, no matter how true.
And today's word entertains me (I should have read my own blog before I posted the other thing below, eh?).
How appropriate, nay, I'll say GERMANE to this blog that virago means:
A large, strong, courageous or aggressive woman.
I need to incorporate that into my blog description, don't you think? Maybe edit it a bit and leave out the large part because, well, that's not so flattering really, no matter how true.
Yaaawwwwwwnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn
I bore me today. Is there anything interesting that I should be watching or reading or doing right now?
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