Weekends and Christmas approaching...

I enjoy this fun chart. As a student, and as a teacher, it is the truth. LOL.



It's been a nice weekend, staying warm inside with the hubby today and going on a shopping day with a wonderful best friend tomorrow (BluntDaisy). It will be great to start looking for Christmas presents! This year is going to be a small budget year as we are paying off debts and looking to save some money. Christmas is hard for me to not spend everything, so it will be a challenge to find that perfect gift at an affordable price. But it will be so much fun! At least I get to listen to Christmas carols at the stores all day.

Bring it on!

I'm also still psyched up for our trip south. It's going to be our present to each other. Transportation plans were finalized today and it looks like it will be a go ahead! We are driving down to Florida, which is a nice 23-24 hour drive. Yes it sounds crazy, but its actually a lot of fun to push through and drive it straight. I do the day shift, hubby drives the night shift. We keep each other awake and listen to music and audio books and last year had some movies on the DVD player going (for passenger to watch and driver to listen to). I love road trips with the Hubby!

Fire alarms... and all that jazz...

So today we had the fire alarm go off. Not a pre planned, the office lets me know a day ahead kind of fire alarm drill. No, this was the someone decided it would be fun to light something in order to set off the school sprinkler systems in a back stairwell kind of Fire alarm.
So when we evacuate the building near that stairwell, a wave of water comes flooding down the stairs and scares the crap out of a few students who have no idea whats going on. So I spent over half an hour outside in the cold, below freezing temps and now I have a very sore lower back from standing with my back to the cold wind for so long with no coat on. So I'm sitting with a heating pad on my back.

In other news, I went to dinner with some friends tonight and started planning a trip to the sunny south for the week after Christmas... MMM Sounds wonderful. I hope it all works out and I can spend a few days sitting on the beach! Theres something wonderful about the Ocean and me. It calls to me. Its the one thing in nature that really makes me feel at home and makes me long to be near it. Water in general has that effect on me, but the ocean is the strongest force. theres something primal in it.

Maybe its because I'm a Pisces? Its like going home for me.

I'm really excited to feel the wind in my hair and on my face, taste the salt, feel the water around my feet, and long to walk in and keep going forever and ever. Sometimes I really could, and not in a morbid death wish kind of way, but in a purely primal "returning to the ocean" kind of way.




"Absorb thyself in this Great Sea of the waters of life. Dive deep in it until thou has lost thyself. And having lost thyself, then thou shall find thyself again. Even as it is written, she had her dwelling in the Great Sea, and was a fish therein."

Engrish

This speaks for itself. I love Engrish.

Hubby found this on the weekend and I liked it because its true.

Then and Now: School in 1958 and School in 2008.

Scenario:
Jack goes quail hunting before school,
pulls into school parking lot with shotgun in gun rack.

• 1958- Vice Principal comes over, looks at Jack’s shotgun,goes to his car and gets his shotgun to show Jack.
• 2008 - School goes into lock down, FBI called, Jack hauled off to jail and never sees his truck or gun again. Counselors called in for traumatized students and teachers

Scenario:
Johnny and Mark get into a fistfight after school.

• 1958 - Crowd gathers. Mark wins. Johnny and Mark shake hands and end up buddies.
• 2008 - Police called, SWAT team arrives, arrests Johnny and Mark. Charge them with assault, both expelled even though Johnny started it.

Scenario:
Jeffrey won’t be still in class, disrupts other students.

• 1958 - Jeffrey sent to office and given a good paddling by the Principal. Returns to class, sits still and does not disrupt class again.
• 2008 - Jeffrey given huge doses of Ritalin. Becomes a zombie. Tested for ADD. School gets extra money from state because Jeffrey has a disability.

Scenario:
Billy breaks a window in his neighbor’s car
and his Dad gives him a whipping with his belt.

• 1958 - Billy is more careful next time, grows up normal, goes to college, and becomes a successful businessman.
• 2008 - Billy’s dad is arrested for child abuse. Billy removed to foster care and joins a gang. State psychologist tells Billy’s sister that she remembers being abused herself and their dad goes to prison. Billy’s mom has affair with psychologist.

Scenario:
Mark gets a headache and takes some aspirin to school.

• 1958 - Mark shares aspirin with Principal out on the smoking dock.
• 2008 - Police called, Mark expelled from school for drug violations. Car searched for drugs and weapons.

Scenario:
Pedro fails high school English.

• 1958 - Pedro goes to summer school, passes English and goes to college.
• 2008 - Pedro’s cause is taken up by state. Newspaper articles appear nationally explaining that knowing English as a requirement for graduation is racist. ACLU files class action lawsuit against state school system and Pedro’s English teacher. English banned from core curriculum. Pedro given diploma anyway but ends up mowing lawns for a living because he cannot speak English.

Scenario:
Johnny takes apart leftover firecrackers from 4th of July,
puts them in a model airplane paint bottle, blows up a red ant bed.

• 1958 - Ants die.
• 2008- BATF, Homeland Security, FBI called. Johnny charged with domestic terrorism, FBI investigates parents, siblings removed from home, computers confiscated, Johnny’s Dad goes on a terror watch list and is never allowed to fly again.

Scenario:
Johnny falls while running during recess and scrapes his knee.
He is found crying by his teacher, Mary. Mary hugs him to comfort him.

• 1958 - In a short time, Johnny feels better and goes on playing.
• 2008 - Mary is accused of being a sexual predator and loses her job. She faces 3 years in State Prison. Johnny undergoes 5 years of therapy.

It is amazing how much can change in the span of just 50 years. For better or for worse the world is drastically different.


(from http://www.bloggled.com/blog/2008/11/13/how-times-have-changedschool-1958-vs-2008/)

Tv shows & Mondays

I'm pretty picky at times with TV shows. I hate those stupid brainless series where you need no brain to watch and the valley girls always giggle .. ie: Friends.

Anyway, I've started to get into some darker TV shows lately and I am really enjoying them! Dexter season 3 is well underway and I'm enjoying this season as much as ever! I can't wait for it to get juicier, as it always does farther into the season.

My Mother In Law also introduced me to a series called True Blood. Its a vampire series, and although I was never one for vampire movies, I like this series. Its not just vampires, but shape shifters and werewolves and other faerie types. Its also very sexualized and tantalizing and sexy too. Which adds to the appeal. Hubby and I are currently in Episode # 3 and enjoying it.

Report card season is done at work. It's partly to blame the last week for my lack of posting... I had lots of marking and then lots of time entering marks and writing comments. I don't exactly do 100% personalized comments - thats too time consuming with close to 100 students. Sad but true. Maybe it makes me a worse teacher, but I need time to myself too. I spent 3 nights last week at school until 930, 1030 and 11.

On that note, going back to school today was difficult. It seemed like a long day.
In my senior class this afternoon, a student and I figured out that there is only 6 weeks left of teaching time until Exams. WOW... That was kind of scary... Then add 2 weeks for Exams and Review days, and add in the Christmas Holidays and the semester seems so short. The year goes so fast when you are a teacher! Then again, some weeks seem to drag on for Months...

So, here are my thoughts for the rest of Monday... You said it Kitteh...

Hallowe'en

For Hallowe'en this year I chose to dress up.
At work they like it when the staff dress up, last year it was semi "demanded" and this year its more optional, but I actually put more effort into it this year than I did last year!

Hallowe'en is the one time of the year you can dress however you want, and not have anyone take a second look at you. On the other hand, the long green wart covered finger gloves I wore last year got a LOT of reactions from my kids, and that was fun too. This year I'm going for a more classy look, as a southern belle.

I haven't exactly gotten the accent down, but maybe if I don't talk too much it won't matter! ;)

I loved Hallowe'en as a kid - it always meant spending a few hours with dad the day or 2 before Halloween carving the pumpkin. Getting your hands good and dirty and slimy, pulling out gobs of pumpkin guts with your hands and poking out the face once they were carved... and then sorting out the seeds and eating roasted pumpkin seeds. Mmmm those are great salted. Today a coworker had some and was sharing them around in the staff room. I haven't had roasted pumpkin seeds in years and damn they were good. Me thinks I need to get a pumpkin just to roast the seeds... Too bad kids don't trick or treat in the apartment. (then again, maybe thats a GOOD Thing).


Trick or Treat!!!

Happy Hallowe'en

Where did the month go?

Wow, here it is, almost a full month later. What a month it has been. I haven't been posting as there has been a lot going on in my life - several family members in hospital and teaching and parents night and thanksgiving holidays and traveling here and there. Thankfully most of it worked out for the better, and everyone is doing better.


I hear this song a lot on the radio station I listen to lately and it seems to speak to me. So this is my thoughts on life sometimes when life gets really hard as it has been lately...






The broken clock is a comfort, it helps me sleep tonight
Maybe it can stop tomorrow from stealing all my time
I am here still waiting though I still have my doubts
I am damaged at best, like you've already figured out

I'm falling apart, I'm barely breathing
With a broken heart that's still beating
In the pain there is healing
In your name I find meaning
So I'm holdin' on, I'm holdin' on, I'm holdin' on
I'm barely holdin' on to you

The broken locks were a warning you got inside my head
I tried my best to be guarded, I'm an open book instead
I still see your reflection inside of my eyes
That are looking for a purpose, they're still looking for life

I'm falling apart, I'm barely breathing
with a broken heart that's still beating
In the pain is there is healing
In your name I find meaning
So I'm holdin' on, I'm holdin' on, I'm holdin' on
I'm barely holdin' on to you

I'm hangin' on another day
Just to see what you will throw my way
And I'm hangin' on to the words you say
You said that I will be ok

The broken lights on the freeway left me here alone
I may have lost my way now, haven't forgotten my way home