attn: women

Did you know that your body is like a lollipop and if you have sex you're just a "poorly wrapped, saliva-fouled sucker." Please, click the link for some more LOLz like how HIV/AIDS is contracted through skin contact (that one's for you, mom) and condoms cause cancer. Good luck, everybody, you're all gonna die. It was nice knowing you.

In other news, I'm freaking cold. Today was crazy windy and the coldest temps we've had so far. Also, I'm counting down the hours until Friday at 2:05. As the week goes on, sugar levels and anxious jumping up and down in the seats increases, meaning this week is going to be the best EVER. I already had some fun students that pushed my buttons today. One was jacked up on all sorts of sugar and caffeine and one tugged on my shirt like a 5 year old for a good 5 minutes before I told her to leave me alone.
But, next time you see me, give me a high five because I finished grading the first wave of research papers before break. WTG, me!

stupid buttons

If you got a random email from me about StumbleUpon, ignore it. I thought I hit the "do not send to friends" button, but apparently, the choices weren't "do not send" and "do send", but instead "send!" and "SEND!!". I don't know how it happened, but it did. Ridiculous.

two more weeks.

Yes, only two more weeks of school, then I get my break. It's only a week and a day, but I'm looking forward to it and will try to enjoy every second of it.
I'm trying very hard to not let it get in the way of my teaching, though. That's easy to do. The kids are thinking of it, we're thinking of it... it's easy to get lazy. I'm not going to get lazy, though. Mostly because I don't want to clean up the mess after lazy teaching and I don't want to be left with a lot to do during vacation and after. I think we have to submit grades before the break anyway, which will help motivate me.
This past Friday after school, Tye and I went out browsing in one of the Norfolk malls, contributed to Toys for Tots "Stuff the Bus" (upped our good karma!), went out to dinner and went to see Granby's production of "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown". It was so good! The kids did great, of course. The set was fantastic, it was hilarious and I didn't have one negative thing to say (besides something they couldn't control: how incredibly tired I was). I had a great time with Tye and I think we agreed we should do it again. Now I understand why so many teachers go out on Fridays--it's definitely better than going home and thinking about how tired you are and everything that could've gone better during the week!
I think getting closer to going back to Michigan has brought up a lot of things I don't want to think about. We're still transitioning between these two worlds of our past and our present, and going back brings up all this... stuff (yes, I know- very articulate, but there's really no other way of categorizing it). I find myself slightly nervous and anxious about going back, and that bleeds over when I think of everything here compared to there. Ugh. It's hard to explain. I think maybe it's a feeling that my nostalgia will always leave me feeling disappointed when I go back. Things will never be the same when I'm there and part of me won't accept that, which leads to a small spot of sadness and disappointment. Most of it is way too silly, over-dramatic and personal to bring up on this blog. It'll pass once the holiday season is over.
One thing I do like about this holiday season is that we're driving and not flying. Driving is cheaper, more environmentally friendly (surprisingly), and a whole lot less stressful! Plus, I've already gotten a lot of holiday shopping done. I have to just wait for it to show up on my doorstep, wrap it and/or put everything together. I keep thinking I have to do all that now, now, now! because I'm so used to doing everything closer to Christmas. This year, there's really no rush! Amazing. Why didn't I do this before?

he's that... thing.

A: "He's not the smartest crayon in the box."
D: "Don't you mean... sharpest crayon?"
A: "No, it's supposed to be brightest."

Drrrrr. Yes, this actually happened. We laughed like mad after we realized how incredibly silly it all was. With David's brain fried from school and mine fried from the A day (the day where I get 4 classes!), not only was it a ridiculous exchange, but also made it even more funny than normal.


BTW, it's cold. It was in the 30s this morning when I went to school. I know that near the end of summer I really wanted to be able to wear long sleeves and fall clothes. Now, I've been so used to being comfortable without having to put on a scarf and a jacket. I don't mind the cold too much, but I really hate the same thing I've always hated about winter: getting up in the morning (I don't want to leave the warm bed!), having to change clothes (but it's cold and these clothes are already warm!), and having to get out of the shower (it's freezing! and my wet hair will make me even colder!!).


Today, my 11th graders picked their independent novel. A lot of them jumped at the chance to read 1984 after I described the storyline, called it one of the few books I really enjoyed reading in high school, and one of the kids that's well respected in the class said "I'm reading it right now and it's AWESOME". Hopefully they enjoy it as much as I did.

gigantic snowflakes are the new black

We went to our first holiday party last night. The theme was ugly/tacky holiday sweaters. I found this gem:

I know, I know. Please try to hold back your feelings of jealousy and envy.
That thing was about 5 extra pounds of stretched out fabric and shoulder pads.
The get together was lots of fun. We exchanged white elephant gifts, feasted on delicious cookies and other treats, and enjoyed cranberry slush and hot apple cider. We managed to give away our "For Him Only" and "For Her Only" books. Hopefully Danielle and Geoff can find another couple to pass along those brilliant books to help save their marriage from the crazy, insecure women that always ruin relationships. Thank goodness for getting rid of those two books. We ended up getting a Christmas tree coat hanger? Stocking hanger? Whatever it is, I think we accidentally left it at the Kaufman's.

Today I finished up reading some research paper rough drafts, graded letters to the editor, put in grades, and had a brilliant idea of what to do with my 11th graders to help them finish off their sources and body paragraphs. It was very productive.
Then, I turned on some Christmas/Holiday music and dragged out all our Christmas decorations. Here is our mini-tree, filled to the brim with ornaments.

I also put up a garland across the entrance to the kitchen and some lights (the only strand left that works! How did that happen?) across the sliding door. Way to go, me! I am patting myself on the back as I type this.

Of course, once the tree is out, the cats have to investigate. Jackie was hiding behind the tree trying to act like she wasn't going to attack an ornament once my back was turned.

She was laying in the back, eyeing that moose. She never attacked it, but she did attack many of the smaller, rounder, easier to remove ornaments.

Silly kitty.

a different holiday season

I've always wanted to do something like this for my loved ones during the holidays. I hate going to malls and big stores looking through the generic gifts for something special and unique and ending up frustrated and settling for something that'll just work.
This year, I've decided to give gifts that fall into one or more of these categories: made by me, handmade by someone else or portions/all of the profit go to a charity.
I've tried to find a good bunch of websites to help me accomplish this goal.

These websites use your money to buy supplies for other people. Each offers gift cards that you can give others so they can choose what they would like to buy/fund for someone else.
Donorschoose.org. This website is simply amazing. Teachers post projects, equipment, books, etc. that they need for their classroom and you can help fund their projects. What a brilliant idea!
Oxfam America Unwrapped. Buying items and supplies for people around the world. This could include school uniforms, hygiene kits, school desks/chairs, livestock, books for kids, etc.
Habitat for Humanity. They tell you what the amount of money you donate will buy: nails, doors, sinks, floors, etc.
Heifer International. You help buy livestock and kits that teach people around the world learn skills to help pull them out of poverty.http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif
Kiva.org. Your money helps fund loans for businesses starting out around the world.
Women for Women International. You sponsor a woman in war-torn regions with emotional and financial support, small business or job training, and education.

These websites have lots of wonderful stuff you can buy (most of it's not overpriced, either) and part or all of their profit goes to helping others or to various charities.
Crafters for Critters. Handmade stuff, money goes to "help critters". They have some really cute, handmade stuff, too!
Global Exchange Store. Heavy focus on Free Trade products, but sells items from small crafters from all over the world.
World of Good. Fair trade products, a little more expensive than other websites on this list.
...There are a ton of others, but way out of our budget, so I left 'em off the list.

And, finally, the eBay of handmade goods: Etsy. There is a TON! of stuff on this site. From what I've seen, you can find something for anyone and most of it is a price that we can all agree with. They have gift guides for every person you know and many different ways to help you go through the thousands and thousands of items to find the best and brightest.

If you need any other ideas for a different kind of holiday giving season, try out this website: Buy Nothing Christmas: Alternatives. It's a huuuuge list of things that you can made/put together instead of buying something.

one call to action

I've seen this in a few blogs I read and felt that since today is the biggest retail day of the year, maybe I can convince a few of you, my lovelies, to use your money for some good that doesn't involve giving your money to giant corporations.
I'll have more sites where you can use your money to buy your loved ones positive gifts that help good causes. Remember: this is the season for hope, charity, good will, peace and giving.

In 2004, Jackie Brown Otter founded Pretty Bird Woman House, a women's shelter at the Standing Rock Reservation in South Dakota. The shelter is named after Brown Otter's sister, who was kidnapped, raped and beaten to death in 2001.

According to Amnesty Intn'l report,

High levels of sexual violence on the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation take place in a context of high rates of poverty and crime... The unemployment rate on the Reservation is 71 per cent. Crime rates on the Reservation often exceed those of its surrounding areas. According to FBI figures, in 2005 South Dakota had the fourth highest rate of "forcible rapes" of women of any US state.

As a special bonus to the Lakota Sioux Reservation, there are sufficient desensitization to crime and confusion over Tribal/Non-Tribal jurisdiction at Standing Rock to create rape tourism. Says Andrea Smith, an Assistant Professor of Native Studies at the University of Michigan,

[N]on-Native perpetrators often seek out a reservation place because they know they can inflict violence without much happening to them.

Against these odds, Pretty Bird Woman House is staffed by three people-- a nurse, a volunteer, and a part-time employee-- and from January to October of this year, they managed to:

* answer 397 crisis calls

* give emergency shelter to 188 women and 132 children

* help 23 women obtain restraining orders, 10 get divorces, and 16 get medical assistance

* provide court advocacy support for 28 women

* conduct community education programs for 360 women

A few weeks ago, PBWH's phone lines were cut, the office was ransacked, and the building was burnt down.

Everyone was away from the house at the time, but all possessions were lost, and - because PBWH's grant from the South Dakota Coalition Against Domestic Violence is predicated on its ability to shelter women - its funding is also lost. Now everybody's trying to pick up the pieces.

Click here for the full story.

How you can help:

1.

Donate what you can for a new house.

Pretty Bird Woman House already has two potential replacement houses in mind. Both offer significantly more space than the previous building... full basements, storage room and would house more than double the families and women than their previous building. Both buildings have yards which means possible playgrounds for children.

One house has a major advantage in location - a police station across the street.

Because of difficulties obtaining loans (banks are allergic to both Native Americans and poverty) the best solution lies in purchasing the house outright. The Tribal Council could hold the mortgage but coming up with the mortgage payments every month creates an ongoing problem. Since both houses are on the market, they could be gone anytime. Depressed property values on Standing Rock mean that $60,000 gets the house. An additional $10,000 is required to make them secure, with proper fencing, video cameras, reinforced doors and other measures.

Since 10/25, the drive for donations for PBWH has garnered 17% of the $70,000 goal; the drive ends January 2008-- so consider donating in someone's name as a Christmas present. Donations can be made here.

2.

Donate material goods-- clothing, toiletries, non-perishables, etc.

USPS to:
Pretty Bird Woman House
P.O. Box 596
McLaughlin, SD 57642

or FedEx, UPS, DHL ship to:
Pretty Bird Woman House
302 Sale Barn Rd.
McLaughlin SD 57642

3. Spread this meme.

thanksgiving brings lists

Thanksgiving always brings the question: What are you grateful for? So, here is my list.

I'm grateful for...
-My parents
-Megan and getting to spend the whole summer with her
-David
-David's parents & Glenn
-Grandma Pushie
-Natalie
-Amanda and that amazing laugh
-Katy
-Cherie and Chris and how they always teach me something new, give me great ideas/things to try and make me laugh very, very hard.
-Jen and her brilliant teaching skills
-Kate
-Erin M and her ability to make me laugh and to find humor in the face of hardships. (I'm wishing you lots of good luck and sending good ~~vibes~~ your way, lady)
-Joey and his Scrabble skills
-Petro and his.... petroness.
-Ryan and his music/book/movie suggestions and his motivation to change the wrongs in the world (very inspiring!).
-Julia and her wonderful writing and keeping in touch skills.
-My Williamsburg Ladies. I am so glad we got to know each other. And I agree with Abigail: it may seem like we are all so very different, but we all bring something unique, useful, and interesting to the table. You deserve more than just a bullet point, because I could say something wonderful about each of you, but that's another post all together.
-My school "family": "sister" Tye, "mom" Chandra and my many "grandmas". Also, my dept. chair, Rebecca, my co-teacher, Portia, Laura, Hunt, Susan, Eddie, Roe, Joann, Jerilyn, Rachel (x2), the list goes on... just about everyone I see on a daily basis at school is brilliant, intelligent and hilarious.
-My curious, crazy, creative and enthusiastic 11th graders.
-My kind, motivated, and cheerful 10th graders
-Being a second year teacher! Yes!!!

I might add on to this later because I probably forgot some people and some tings I'm grateful for.
What are you grateful for?

last night's ladies night

We had a "spa night" where we made different face masks and

We made oatmeal and banana masks to open up the pores. We smelled like breakfast.

Megan did the best job of getting it on her face. We were dripping the concoction all over Shannon's kitchen.
After the banana and oat mask, we did a cornmeal and warm water to exfoliate. We didn't take any pictures of that because we were too busy to eat the super delicious dessert Megan made.

We then made a cucumber and plain yogurt cooling/soothing mask. Shannon and Abigail decided they really wanted to dunk their whole faces into the bowl with the mask goo.

Shannon before.

Abigail before.

Shannon getting a face full.

Abigail in the bowl.

Shannon after. She had it in her eyelashes and everything!

Abigail after.

I don't think I've laughed that long and hard in a while. It was really fun! But things are always fun with these ladies. Living in Williamsburg has definitely improved since I've gotten to know them better. I thought I would be really sad about not being able to afford to go home for Thanksgiving and Dan & Emily's wedding, but it's not so bad. I know I'll enjoy being here as much as if I were there. I mean, of course I'm disappointed I don't get to see my family, but we'll see each other in December. I'm not half as homesick as I was last year, for many different reasons (one of the biggest being that no one close to us died around this time this year, that makes it a lot easier). I am definitely looking forward to being home for Christmas, though. I'm hoping to see a lot of people before they move from Michigan, seeing both of our families, and enjoying a little of Michigan's winter weather (I reallllllly hope it snows while we're there). On the way home last night, David and I talked about how I feel like we're no longer strangers here. I like it here. I like the people, the attitude, the weather, etc. I love Michigan, I'll always love Michigan, but I don't hate it here. I like this area and I like Virginia.

time for pictures

I finally uploaded pictures from my camera. Some were there since September!
Gabriel's favorite blanket. We bought this last month for $10 at Target, it's soo incredibly soft and warm and Gabriel loves it. Everytime it's on the love seat, he's on it, fast asleep.

Jackie's been sleeping out in the open more recently. She's enjoyed the top of the fridge.

And she even cuddled up with David when both of us were in the same room. She usually will only allow herself to be cuddly and be pet when one of us is there.

The rest of these pictures are from Ladies Night last month.
There was a lot of attention given to the newest lady to join us, Lydia:

(arrg! my computer won't let me rotate it for some reason. sorry about it being sideways! haha)
Megan and Lydia

Danielle and Kristie with Lydia

Abigail and Shannon


and that's all I got! I should start taking more pictures.

trying to laugh as much as possible

I've been trying to find more things funny, like in the beginning of the year. More laughter equals less stress.

One thing that made me laugh today:
Johnathan: Mrs. P, can I come in your 7th bell today?
Me: No. Go next door, where you're supposed to be.
Johnathan: Isn't this English 10? I can't stay in here? It's the same thing!
Me: No, it's actually a "We Hate Johnathan" club masquarading as a class. We sit around and talk about how much we hate you.
Johnathan: (turns to student walking into the door) Do you hate me?
Me: (loudly whispering) Say yes! Say yes!
Student: What? No? I don't... know... you..?
Johnathan: Aha! See? (asks next student in 7th bell) Do you hate me?
Me: Say yes! Say yes!
Student: Uhh, yes?

It went on like that for 4 minutes, basically. He polled every student that walked in. Some were confused, some were friends of his and some got the joke. Either way, it made us both laugh and I ended up bonding with Johnathan, who I've had a little trouble bonding with so far this year.


At some point in time, I'll write more and post pictures that have been on my camera for forever and a day, but I would rather take a nap and read some more of my book right now.

halloween week & pure exhaustion

Glad this week is over. Halloween = sugar madness & lots of wrappers on my floor. Plus, the kids are in a phase of testing the limits and figuring out that the freshmen downstairs hog the security that we don't have enough of.
I had my first "That's it! I'm quitting!" moment of the year this week. It always happens around this time: You start to get tired & irritated & stressed, etc. You question if you're actually meant to do this. You look around your room, at your students, and see a room full of kids that just. don't. care. Nothing excites them, teachers annoy them, everything goes in one ear and out the other, they make a big deal out of you asking them to do what you see as a simple task... the list goes on. You ask the question: What would posess a sane grown person to put themselves in the position to be told off, ignored and criticized by teenagers? It all seems worthless, useless and a waste of your time.
And then the moment passed. It comes, I let it in, hold on through it and try to not let it affect my teaching that much. I figure that's better than denying it or trying to ignore it. I'm pretty sure it happens to every teacher at some point in time during every year. It was probably caused by a little laziness in my planning, being behind in grading and feeling incredibly exhausted.

But it was Halloween! We didn't really do much, since no treat-or-treaters come to our apartment, extreme exhaustion (seriously, I never woke up! I was the walking dead) and the height of my debating whether or not to continue on being a teacher (ohhh, woeee is meeee!), we watched movies!
Here are some good ones we watched:
Fido: Set in the 1950s, about the world after the "Zombie Wars". Involves zombies, but I would say most people would enjoy this even if they don't like zombie movies. It's supposed to be a "boy and his dog" movie, but with zombies instead of dogs. I thought it was very clever and I got a few good laughs out of it.
Wait Until Dark: Audrey Hepburn plays a blind woman who's terrorized by three guys trying to find a doll with drugs stashed in it. It's a slower moving movie, but pretty awesome.
Hellraiser: It's supposed to be scary, but it's hiiiiilarious. Soo much that was supposed to be scary was just absolutely ridiculous and made me giggle a whole lot.
30 Days of Night: This we went to see in the theater on Sunday. I wasn't expecting much, it looked pretty cheesy from the previews. It ended up being pretty interesting and worth the time and money. You could definitely see the influence of the graphic novel, which was great.
If you are looking for a good horror/psychological thriller/suspense movie, try A Tale of Two Sisters. It's amazing and actually had me on the edge of my seat.

two posts in one day, what?!

Thought I would share this with anyone looking to waste a little time:

What does your name mean?

Here's what I got
What your first name means:
Teutonic: (Male) Of holy fame.
Teutonic: (Female) Divine fame.
Scottish: (Female) Scottish form of Louise: battle famous. Variant of Alice.
Irish: (Female) Honest.
German: (Female) Sweet.
French: (Female) A 13th century variant of Alice meaning nobility. Now particularly popular in Scotland.
English: (Male) Son of All.
English: (Female) Variant of Alice: Of the nobility. From the German Adalheidis meaning nobility, and the French Adeliz which is a form of Adelaide.

Your number is: 5

The characteristics of #5 are: Expansiveness, visionary, adventure, the constructive use of freedom.

The expression or destiny for #5:
The number 5 Expression endows with the wonderful characteristic of multi-talents and versatility. You can do so many things well. The tone of the number 5 is constructive freedom, and in your drive to attain this freedom, you will likely be the master of adaptability and change. You are good at presenting ideas and knowing how to approach people to get what you want. Naturally, this gives you an edge in any sort of selling game and spells easy success when it comes to working with people in most jobs. Your popularity may lead you toward some form of entertainment or amusement. Whatever you do, you are clever, analytical, and a very quick thinker.

If there is too much of the 5 energy in your makeup, you may express some the negative attitudes of the number. Your restless and impatient attitude may keep you from staying with any project for too long. Sometimes you can be rather erratic and scatter yourself and your energies. You have a hard time keeping regular office hours and maintaining any sort of a routine. You tend to react strongly if you sense that your freedom of speech or action is being impaired or restricted in any way. As clever as you are, you may have a tendency to make the same mistakes over and over again because much of your response is glib reaction rather that thoughtful application. You are in a continuous state of flux brought by constantly changing interests.

Your Soul Urge number is: 7

A Soul Urge number of 7 means:
With a number 7 Soul Urge you are very fond of reading, and retreating to periods of being alone and away from the disruptions of the outer world. You like to dream and develop you idealistic understandings, to study and analyze, to gain knowledge and wisdom. You may be too laid back and withdrawn to really succeed in the business world, and you will be much more comfortable in circumstances that are tolerant of your reserve, your analytical approach, and your desire to use your mind rather than your physical being.

You are very timid around people that you don't know very well, so much so at times that casual conversation and social situations can be strained. You tend to repress your emotions to the extend that some people have a good bit of difficult understanding you. You tend to be very selective with friends and you don't easily adapt to new environments or to new people very quickly.

The negative traits of the 7 include becoming too much the introvert and isolated from others.

Your Inner Dream number is: 7

An Inner Dream number of 7 means:
You dream of having the opportunity to read, study, and shut yourself off from worldly distractions. You can see yourself as a teacher, mystic, or ecclesiastic, spending your life in the pursuit of knowledge and learning.

Mine ended up being pretty on. What about yours?
They also had one for your birthday. I'm 8,899 days old.

those new glasses

There they are. They're kinda bronze-y colored and pretty snazzy.

Yesterday, my department chair basically kicked me out and demanded I go home. I was super dizzy, sick to my stomach, all sorts of confused and really wanting to cry my eyes out (not quite sure why, maybe all the stress of the school year so far? i was pretty freaked out at the time, feeling like that and needing to lead students is not a great feeling). I told her it would pass , but she said I needed some rest, since it'd been happening on and off all week. I guess I didn't miss much but kids being kids and the 3rd day with no A/C. That may not sound too terrible in October, but at this point in time, we need the A/C just to keep the rooms from getting stuffy. The rooms with computer labs got up in the 90s. Mine stay around 80-82 degrees, but with only one window for air and 20-30 bodies in a smallish room, it gets stuffy. The kids weren't happy and neither were the teachers.

My head is killing me today, probably due to the rain, so I'm not gonna get much done. Ugh.

ugh

I finally went to the eye doctor. I'm trying out new contacts, which are amazing so far and I ordered new glasses that are really amazing looking. It was hard to choose! The woman that helped me and I picked out about 20 pairs that were similar, but had different colors, slightly different shapes, etc. We narrowed it down to two different pairs and it was so hard to choose! I noticed one pair was by Vera Wang, which prompted me to ask "Does every designer have eyeglasses now?". The anwer is: Of course. Duhh.
I ended up with a pair by Furla, they look similar to this, but a darker color:


I think these are the ones I almost got (or at least, this is the closest picture I could find):


There are two downsides to finally going to see the optomitrist, getting new contacts (yay), and glasses (yay), all in the correct perscription (yay).
1. He dialated my eyes. I don't know if I've ever had this done. It was creepy, though. Are you supposed to be able to see the veins in your eyeballs when they shine a light into them? And why is my right eye still dialated?


2. My Flex Medical spending account is totally screwed. I thought I had $75 left in it from last year- jk! Apparently, when they said "Claim it by 11/31/07", they meant "Spend it by 8/31/07". As we all know, it's no longer August. Thankfully, I had $150 in it, so that paid for the exam and this new patient contact package. My insurance actually covers a lot when it comes to getting glasses, it knocked about 100 bucks off, but due to the mix up with the flex account, we basically only get $50 covered by that. Blaaahhh. I should read the statements closer.

upcoming, up & coming, coming up...

I've been making a mental list of things to write about, all that deal with school. I may put some of the belief essays I wrote along with my 11th graders up, just to break up all the teaching-related stuff. What can I say? My life doesn't consist of much else right now.

Here are a few:
Support System = Success (I would say 'parents', but a lot of my students don't live with a parent, which is a whole other topic)
Student Parents
Teachers who are also Hypocrites
Should I Really Be Doing This? (The question every [esp new] teacher asks at least once a week, I swear!)

I would start this now, but I am super tired & sore. I went to my new dance class last night and it kicked my ass. I worked it hard and now my hips, butt and upper thigh mucles are hurting.

I'll leave you with this moment that gave me my laugh for the day yesterday:
(Lawrence is a boy in one of my 10th grade who is very helpful and is always cheerful. I love having him in class.)
Lawrence: Mrs. P, I can't find that PSAT practice workbook you said was in here.
Me: Like I said, you have to shake the workbook.
Lawrence: [shakes it] Seeee?
Me: [takes book and shakes it] Hmm...
Lawrence: [picks up PSAT workbook FROM THE FLOOR and grins] Heehee. I made you shake it.

That cracked me up! But it's probably more of a 'you had to be there' moment.

what a week.

Six parents. That's how many I saw at P/T Conferences. 10:30-6:30: Six parents. Six! Last year, I at least got close to ten. But, six?! Oh well. I got a lot done, like planning and finishing Slaughterhouse Five. Yep.
Wednesday was the first meeting of COMP (the workshop for 2nd year teachers). LONGEST DAY OF MY LIFE. It was a repeat of BEST (1st year teacher workshop last year) and alllll of my ed college courses. Plus, the woman treated us like children! Seriously, she lectured us and gave grown people "teacher looks" (similar to a "parent look"). The Granby table of teachers were the worst behaved-- we totally got split up. hah! We were passing notes, being very critical, giggling, etc. Bad, bad teachers. Oh well. We were trying not to fall asleep or scream in agony. Our biggest complaint, beyond what I already mentioned of it being a repeat of everything we already know, was that the first speaker wasn't following what she was telling us to do with our own students. Gotta love it, right?
Thursday morning, I got stuck in traffic for an hour. A whole hour! I didn't get to school until 7:35 (the tardy bell rings at 7:25). There was a multi-car crash in the tunnel, and I was stuck right near it for 30+ minutes. It took another 30 minutes to get through the tunnel and to Granby. ugh! Thank goodness I don't have a 2nd bell!
Friday was actually pretty good. The kids were a little wound up because it was the end of Spirit Week, and there was a Pep Rally for Homecoming at the end of the day. I was a little irritated with my 7th bell when they whined about me making them do their journal.

I'm glad this week's over. Now, I take a walk.

Conference day!

Today was Parent/Teacher conference day.
Plus: I got to "sleep in", as it didn't start until 10:30.
Minus: It goes until 6:30

There's more (and more that goes beyond this day), but I'm tired and it's time for Heroes (and Megan and I to discuss Heroes while we watch).

For now, take a guess as to how many parents/guardians I saw between 10:30 and 6:30 (with an hour break for lunch!). I'll give you a hint: it's more than I saw at the Open House this year, but less than I saw on P/T conference day last year.

O SNAP

I had a completely new and exhilirating experience in teaching today:
Being electrocuted/shocked by the mobile laptop lab.

I was plugging a charger back in and got that wonderful tingling and aching feeling traveling quickly up my arm from my knuckle to my elbow. My arm felt strange the rest of the block. I made students who are more daring and don't care for a shock to plug in the others. I hate the mobile lab. It's not enough that the laptops are cheap Dells that are probably from the late 1990s/early 2000s, it also has to shock me.
One of my students said, "I really want to laugh, but I know it's gonna happen to me some day." I told him to go ahead and laugh, then plug in a few of the chargers. Most of them asked me if I was okay or were so into typing their personal essays that they didn't really notice. Thankfully, it happened so quickly and didn't hurt that much (I was more shocked that it happened, it'd never happened before!), I didn't say anything inappropriate, ha! That would have been interesting.

P.S. The title of this post is totally a real license plate I saw on the way to work one morning. This was the day after seeing FOSAMA. I love personalized license plates.

adventurous day off

Our internet was connected, but not actually working, so I took a little walk to Panera. They have all their fall seasonal treats going on right now and I treated myself to a pumpkin spice latte (the girl that made it asked me if i wanted whipped cream on it! blasphemy! haha). I sit down, submit all my grades, but that's not all. No, no--I was treated to a very "The Hills"/"Laguna Beach"/whatever other reality show involving uptight parents and rich kids you can think of episode next to my table. A mother and daughter sit down, daughter cries, there's a lot of "shshshhhh Mom, mom, mom, listen!" and the mother saying several things through tight lips. Wow. Take it somewhere else, really. This kind of conversation is not appropriate for Panera. I seriously almost looked around for the cameras, it was so ridiculously over-dramatic and inappropriate for a public place. Who goes somewhere to have a fight with your mother/daughter? There wasn't even any talking pre-bickering, they pretty much dived right into this whole... whatever they were doing.
But they finally left and I ended up chatting with a guy sitting at the next booth. I mean, we talked about a lot of different topics ranging from politics to education to kid's TV to feminism to Norfolk to the MPAA and other "gatekeepers" to...who knows, I can't even remember. Either way, he ended up giving me him & his wife's e-mail address (not in a creepy way) and told me he was interested in having me look at some of his writing. He also was interested to talk to David and had some blogs to recommend.
Aaaanyway, I got my grades in, walked home, heard a "Hey Pretty! Need a ride?" as I crossed the street into our complex and seriously resisted the urge to flip the jackass off. I planned, printed and dropped off the rent and dance tuition checks. David came home, we talked about his day and then we headed to.... the dentist.
One thing I really hate about going to the dentist is that I have had many different hygenists, none of which know me (there was a time where my hygenists knew me). I swear that their thought process goes something like this: Never seen this girl before = She's never been to the dentist before and knows nothing about her own teeth. The hygenist today and I got off on the wrong foot when the first thing she asked me after "How are you today?" was "Are you interesting in whitening your teeth?" Actually, it went something more like, "Are you interested in whitenin--" "No." "Oookay, I was just asking because we're having a special." "Nope, not interested." My teeth have never been white, since I can remember, and they probably never will be. And guess what? I'm okay with it. The hygenist then gives me the most painful cleaning I have ever had. I mean, I almost had a few tears spill out. She was stabbing and prodding my gums with those sharp little tools, complained about how I don't floss every second and that my teeth are so close together, and made parts of my gums bleed that have never bled before! It was simply amazing. And she even went, "Wow, your gums bleed a lot." What?! Of course! Look at my facial expression! My face must have been in a constant look of terror. My back was tense the whole time. Oh! Oh! And then! She used a toothpaste that was some sort of pink, fruity, sickly-sweet smelling crap. I usually just go for the mint. No cinnamon, no pina colada, no cherry--no. Mint and mint only. Uggggh. Honestly. I really dislike when hygenists act as if I've never been to a dentist before and assume I know nothing about my teeth or how to care for them. Yes, they're no longer straight and I have fillings and they're not white--that does not mean I don't know what's wrong with them, why they're like that, and what to do to take care of them. At the end of the appointment, when I thought I was finally done, she asked me how much sugary stuff I drink in a day. I was so irritated with the whole thing that I almost said, "Listen. My teeth aren't like this because of soda. I barely drink the stuff." Instead, I was polite and told her that I drink mostly water and rarely drink soda. If I do, it's a can-sized portion. I can't take much more than that, to be honest, it's way too sugary and sweet. Then she told me to be sure to floss every night and make sure to buy some mouthwash and toothpaste that had teeth whitening properties. Wow. Thanks.

weekend update

This weekend, it actually felt like fall. The temps have cooled down, the trees are starting to change, and I am super excited. Autumn in Virginia is simply amazing, equal to a Michigan autumn (which is probably why I like it). Virginia has Michigan beat during springtime, though. That's due to VA having beautiful, fragrant flowering trees and bushes, and Michigan does not.
But VA kinda has Michigan beat this fall, seeing as how VA's state government isn't shutting down on Monday. David told me about it last night and I hope that everyone we know and love in MI comes through this okay. As much as it has the possibly to seriously suck, maybe it's exactly what Michigan needs? A wake up call, rock bottom, etc. etc. Where else can you go, you know? That's only a guess; my wishful thinking. Anyway, like I said, I hope everyone comes through it okay and it doesn't go to the point of many, many people losing jobs (like MI needs any more of that). What a crappy situation.

But, anyway, due to the beautiful weather and having extra time and energy, we headed downtown. We even went early enough to catch some of the famer's market! I love walking through the downtown/CW area in fall. We found some nice gummy candy, as well as some lambic, a Shakespeare stout (pretty delish) and a sparkling sake that knocked our socks off. We watched some movies, did the laundry, lazed around--all the good stuff weekends have.

Tomorrow I'm taking the day off from school. I've felt really rushed and disorganized and used our dentist appointment tomorrow afternoon to take the whole day off, rather than a half day. Our first grades our due by mid-day Tuesday, so tomorrow will give me a lot of time to plan both of the next units and get those grades it. I'm a little worried though: it's the first time my students will have a sub. Hopefully, they do a good job.

I'm sad I missed this epsiode live last night, cause I missed this.

Oh, Kanye. I love your music, your big mouth (that always gets you into trouble), and your great sense of humor about it all. Way to show them how to be a celebrity.

i curse you, full moon!

Ugh. Today was more tiring than the usual A day. The kids were more whiny and childish than usual, especially my 11th graders. My 10th graders did pretty good, besides having a more-than-usual surly attitude not caused by the First Test of the Year. I'm glad it's over.
I'm taking Monday off due to a dentist appointment. It's my four class day (well, 3 classes and a Study Hall) and I've felt behind and exhausted. Well, I take that back. This week, I've felt like I'm finally catching up. My first bell did so good today during their test that I finally finished up the first batch of essays from all three 10th grade classes. Yesss! I love having only three 10th grade classes, it makes the essay grading so much easier. Tomorrow should help out in the whole organizing the filing cabinet (I have soooo much paper piled up there, whewww!). Monday will help in getting my head together about what to do next. It seemed like I had an endless to do list and everything that could happen to interrupt finishing things did happen. I hate that.

I had my third dance class this week, but Megan (Senior, haha) joined me! When I registered, I got a "buddy pass" (or whatever cutesy name they called it) that I could give to a friend for a free class. I gave it to Megan, because she said she always wanted to try a dance class. I told her that there was another girl who had no dance class experience in my class, so I invited her along. She did really well and everyone in the class and the teacher told her she should come back! I'm really enjoying having a class again, even if it's not quite as challenging as I expected. This will be useful so I can get my strength, endurance and technique back. Plus, the teacher modifies things for me so I can kinda do my own thing while those without experience learn something easier for them.

this is why i don't teach 9th grade

At my school, the morning annoucement routine starts in the beginning of 3rd/4th bell (when we take daily attendance). This is a change from last year, but a nice change, seeing as how we start off with a moment of silence. It's hard to make 25+ kids be silent when half of them are straggling in from a late bus or late parent/caregiver dropping them off. Third and fourth bell are much more put together and I usually only have one student straggle in late (and 85% of the time with a pass).
But this morning was different. Before I get to how this morning was different, I need to explain something:
This year, our school is trying out a new system. All of the first time 9th graders are downstairs. Anyone 10-12th grade stay upstairs for all classes. Even those repeating 9th grade classes don't take classes with first time 9th graders. The only time you see a 9th grader upstairs is if they are in a high-level science class or they have a foreign language class. The freshmen even have their own lunch period. The first one. The point behind giving them lunch first is not just because those youngsters get cranky when they haven't eaten, but so they can see a perfectly clean cafeteria and then re-create it at the end of lunch. The amazing thing about this is that upstairs is quiet. Silent, at times. Everytime I was in the hallway up until Friday and today, I couldn't quite put my finger on what was different. Now I know what it is: a lot less freshmen wandering around the hallways and being jackasses.
In the past week, there were not one, but two food fights during the freshmen lunch period. The week before that, there was another one. Not only that, but someone has been pulling the fire alarm four out of the five days in the week at the end of the day. This has been going on for the past two weeks.
This morning, Mr. D (the principal himself, ooooh!) gets on the mic after the bell for the first class of the day rings. He addresses the freshmen and freshmen teachers. I have no first class on "B" days, so I was in the workroom with other teachers. Mr. D starts off thanking the 95% of the freshmen who are doing good and trying to adjust to high school. Then he points out that he needs to speak with the other 5%. He comments on their behavior and their extreme lack of respect. Then he mentions to teachers that we all need to be watching the fire alarms for the culprit that keeps pulling them at the end of the day. He mentions that the law has been brought in to bring an end to it.
When he's finished, the other teachers discuss it. It's been mentioned recently that people are thinking we should go back to the older system of Elementary being K-6, Junior High being 7-9 and Senior High being 10-12. I definitely agree that 6th graders don't belong in middle/junior high. The 9th grade problem is one I'm not sure on. They're kind of in between both schools. Plus, it's only the beginning of the year. Other teachers didn't really point that out, but it was pointed out many times that these freshmen are still very much in the mentality of "middle school".
As some of you know, there are two grade levels I would never want to teach: 6th and 9th. Sixth grade is so... ugh. The attitude of teenagers, the uberenergy of children. No, no, no. I hated subbing 6th grade. The only 6th graders I liked were the ones in the after-school program, and that took a looong time for me to be able to handle them. Ninth grade... ugh. Now that I have tenth and eleventh, I'm used to kids that are already used to high school. I don't think I could enjoy teaching kids who need to be told again and again that they're in HS and need to act like it. I don't want to train them, I want them to already be trained.
Oh, and the best thing about all of this? The fire alarm goes off at the end of the day. Now, whoever's doing it is just rubbing it in our face, all "Oh yeah? You're watching, huh? Well, take that!". I think it'd be really funny if no one has been pulling it, but the system's just gone haywire. Especially now that there's been a special announcement all about it. Ha! That'd be just perfect, wouldn't it?

catching up

It's the end of the third week, and it's been a long one.
Monday was the Open House. Every school has one. Last year, I had a lot more parents. This year, I stay in town, buy dinner, come back to school, see 4 parents and then get home at 9. I don't usually say or think this about school-related things, but this was definitely a waste of my time.
This week, the honeymoon has ended. Two students skipped, so I wrote my first referral. I had to have a chat with a child I removed from the classroom into the hallway, as well. Ahh well. The school year has truly started.
Today was our first Early Release day. It was pretty awesome, but only because it was a "B" day, which means I only had 1 of my 2 classes since the last class of the day was removed. After the kids went home, we had our first meeting in our small groups for the professional development that will be going on year-round. It went well, we laughed so hard we almost cried, but didn't get much else done, hah! Oh well. No one has any clue what we're supposed to be doing, exactly.
I used two different strategies in the past two weeks to get students into pairs and groups. Both worked wonderfully! I had notecards with famous pairs on them and cut them in two. Each student gets one and must find their other half. That one worked great. I used the postcards (and thank you to everyone who sent some so far!!) to get my 11th graders into groups and that also worked wonderfully! It was so awesome to see. So, again, thanks to those of you who sent along postcards. They helped a lot!
My 10th graders essays are due tomorrow and Monday, which means no more talking about essays for a while! Yayyyy! My 11th graders have listened to two different parts of This American Life episodes and I'm using a curriculum built around This I Believe essays to help them learn how to write personal essays and they seem to be enjoying both! I was surprised how many kids actually liked the TAL episodes! It was very exciting.
This weekend is the first Ladies Night. I'm looking forward to it! That and sleeping in, reading my own book, getting ahead a little bit (the open house night totally ruined my routine! Plus, it made me really tired for Tuesday, uggh).
Some of you know already, but I've started going to a dance class again. It's a very small class, the other ladies don't have as much experience, but I am very out of shape. It's slow enough for me to really focus on getting my technique back as well as strength and endurance. So far, after two classes, I've enjoyed it. It's a nice addition to my week, it feels fantastic (and almost... comforting?) to be dancing again.
I'm going to try and get more in the habit of writing and blogging more. The last few weeks, I've been getting back in the habit of school: getting up early, getting things done quickly, following more of a routine, etc. But, at least I finally found pants that fit! I sucked it up and tried on about 14 different pairs of pants. Some of them were huge! Have I shrunk?! What happened? I guess that's better than the flipside...? Still, I hate trying on that many clothes and not finding anything.
One of the new people in our complex plays harmonica on their porch. Every now and then we'll hear harmonica floating along in the air. Right now it's "Home on the Range". It's pretty awesome.

the face of a 12 year old, snot-nosed angel

While we were in the frozen section of Food-Lion-soon-to-be-yuppy-looking-store-called-Bloom, a woman told me I had the "Face of an angel! A 12 year old angel!". I could only giggle and shuffle off to sneeze some more because today is the start of the downswing of what was the First Weekend of Allergies/Sinus Crap. Hurray! Fall (and cooler weather) must be coming if I spent a weekend with snot machine for a nose, a horribly dry throat and ears that pop and plug (arrrrg! I hate that part the most!).
Yesterday was definitely the worst, today was much better except I couldn't hear anything, sneezed in twos and threes and sounded funny at times (you know: my bnosth ith stuffed up. bleerrggghh). Oh! And I was wonderfullly together and ready and early heading to school--I even stopped to get gas and coffee in good time!-- only to be stopped for 30 minutes at the HRBT. Oh, Hampton Roads, I love you, but for Christ's sake, I hope I am never the "disabled vehicle" in the tunnel. I always curse the jerk whose car breaks down in the tunnel, but I try to stop myself early, because one day: that will be me. Thankfully, I have no 2nd bell, so I didn't have to worry. The down side was that there were no spaces in the lot I usually park in, so I parked on the street. I opened my car door, pulled out a plastic tub (to be used for... stuff.) that had shapes in it for an activity today. The lid was secured tight when I put it in there, but the lid popped off and a few triangles and squares went everywhere! Way to go, coordinated teacherlady! I pulled it together, had a pretty good, but uncoordinated, day and realized the up side to being late and having to park on the street: My car was in shade! It wasn't half as hot as it usually is, sitting on the asphalt! Why didn't I think of this before?!

Oh yeah, and this weekend we got: a laptop (for me), another iPod nano (for David), and a Jeep. This means we own 2 cars (because this weekend I also paid off my car!! Yayyyy!), 2 iPod nanos, and 2 laptops. Yes, we are finally up to date and even a little more "adult" than before.
OH! AND DID ANY OF YOU SEE BRITTANY SPEARS LOOK LIKE ONE SAD LITTLE LIP SYNCER LAST NIGHT ON MTV?! HOLY CRAP!

whew, glad that's over.

Can I just say that I don't really like the first day of classes? Or, in my case, the two first day of classes I have? I just don't. It's so awkward feeling at times, so I'm glad it's over. This "first day" thing went much better than last year's first day(s). And now we're going on to actual work.
My classes are overall pretty awesome. So far. My first bell (10th grade) is really, really into uncomfortable silence. Like, seriously. It's... strange. I've never had such a silent class. The other classes are pretty great. Can I just state right here and now that I love 11th graders? I do. It's a great age. I hope they continue to be fantastic.
I'm glad the first week is over. I look forward to getting back into the swing of things and the classes getting into their daily routine. I did get an amazing amount of hugs, one was even from a kid who I struggled with at least once a week! This week he's stopped by to say hi more than once (this rarely happened last year). A few students (Billy, for example, for those of you who I've told about Billy) ran down the hall, yelling, "Mrs. Pushie! Mrs. Pushie!" I feel very successful. I missed them, and it feels great knowing that a few of them missed me. Hurraaaay
Now, I will relax, watch a movie, play some games, read a book of my choosing and probably take a nap. Or two.

what i did with pre-service week:

Desk area complete with ink-leaking printer (it'll be replaced in the next week, there were many other computer problems and many other available printers, so it's pretty low priority)

I get a podium! Yesssss! It can't go higher than that-- the screw doesn't stick. That's okay, though, I don't need it much higher up than that.

Quotes by the door. It's a beginning of the year activity I'm doing, where they pick two quotes and tell me why they like them (it ties in with the essay we're doing in 10th grade).

Bulletin Board. Not quite done because one part has to be filled out by the kids, mostly. I'm having them put their names & titles of books they're reading (and they can put a small summary on it, if they want) on one part. The calender actually is somewhat filled now, mostly with 10th grade due dates. I'll put the 11th grade stuff up there on Tuesday or Wednesday

Front of the room.

Back of the room. The bookshelf in the corner of the counter is now filled with workbooks that are actually good enough to use! (Well, one of them is SOL prep books... I figured I should teach them some of the tricks of that tricky, slippery test in 10th AND 11th grade) The notebooks in the crates were bought by my amaaaazing co-teacher, Portia, for the two classes we teach together. I'm so glad I'm with her again this year (but I'll miss working with Sue, too!), we work together well and I like having her in the classroom.

Close up of what's on the wall between the counter and the shelves. It's a bunch of book suggestions! I have "If you liked Harry Potter, try...", "If you like nature, hiking, adventure or you watch 'Man vs. Wild', check these out...", "If you like 'Law & Order', 'CSI', etc, take a stab (har har) at..." and a few others, plus a general list of good books that didn't fit in. I'll be posting more that have novels, plays and stories we read throughout the year and suggestions for those that enjoyed them.

These three questions are what my 11th graders will try to answer throughout the year while we read and examine the literature and writing and whatnot. There is now blue bulletin board paper in the big space between the questions. Hopefully, this idea works out...

I looked through another English 11 teacher's class lists and I told her I was so jealous of the kids she got! She has some of my crazy (in a good way), creative, hilarious, sarcastic, good hearted kids and she's doing an amazing curriculum with them this year. I'm excited for her to have them and for them to have her. There were a few kids where I told her if she ever had problems with them, tell me and I'd try to talk some sense into 'em. Her and I are going to use some of the same materials--some of which are from This American Life and This I Believe (I had a feeling she was the other Ira Glass, David Sedaris, Public Radio fan... and I was soo right). Hopefully she has a great time with the kids of mine she has this year, otherwise I will be very disappointed in them. I, unfortunately, didn't get a lot of good, gushing comments about my incoming 10th graders, but I've mostly forgotten who they pointed out and what they said. It's good to know so that I don't have any wonderful surprises, but, at the same time, kids change quite a bit over the summer... hopefully. :)
My first day of school is pretty easy. It's an even day, which means I only have 4th and 8th bell. 4th is 11th grade, with quite a few kids I had last year. One of them, SP, is one that came into my class last year swearing she hated English with all her heart and that thinking about writing an essay made her sick to her stomach. She made a complete about-face throughout the year and I'm going to make sure to tell her once I see her how excited and happy I am that she's in my class again. In that class, I also have a lot of my 5th bell kids, so I'm excited to see them again. Let's hope it all goes smoothly...

praise jesus and launch the missles early!

I am incredibly excited.
First off, the past two nights have actually been fun! There was laughter! New people I've heard about and finally met! Exciting plans for the future! Pool, beer & wine, spoons, poker, nannies, lightbulbs, Star Wars naked jokes, the list goes on...
Okay, let me start making sense. Thursday night was supper club, the last one of the summer, but it was much larger than the summer ones. I finally met Leanne and Diana, who David told me I would like (and he was right!), I got to sit in a very comfortable papasan chair and play Loaded Questions with a huge group of people. There were lots of inside jokes created and brought up again.
Last night was the meet and greet they had for the first years. We went last year and it was awkward, but useful. This year was much better seeing as we actually knew people. I enjoyed staying in the corner, playing (really badly) pool with Megan and chatting. David invited people over for poker afterwards, which I didn't automatically groan at since I would actually have other people to talk with! Hurray! Actually, the ladies decided to go see The Nanny Diaries instead, since we were right around the corner from the movie theater. I read the book last summer and it wasn't horrible and neither was the movie. We almost took up a whole row, which was awesome. When we got back to the apartment, the guys were playing poker and chess in the dining/living room, so the ladies ended up in our computer room, playing Spoons (which I haven't played since 10th? 11th? grade? So it was tooootally fun!).
Basically, it was a great way to end the summer. Two nights of fun, meeting new, awesome people, making Facebook friends, making plans and ending up with a Ladies Night with some gorgeous, intelligent, hilarious women every 3rd Friday of the month.

I'm also excited because Monday starts all the school hullabaloo again. As much as I love sleeping in, not having to rush to finish my to do list and be incredibly tired at times, I also miss being a teacher. I miss my ladies at work, I miss my students, I miss exposing them to new & exciting literature-and-writing-related things. And the classroom! Oh, to have a classroom of my own! I can only imagine how that will change things. I will be able to find things and be better organized! And be able to set up things early instead of having to do it in 5 minutes! Oh, and the laughter. The belly-aching, teary-eyed laughter that comes with the school year. It's one of the best parts and it's what keeps us all sane. Hopefully, this year will be better (or at least on the same level as last year) and not really horrible.

Oh, and I'm going back to dance class. :)

amazing in a not-so-awesome way.

So, the Bush administration is planning on putting limits on the Children's Heath Insurance Program. Wow.

special request

Friends and family! Y'all live all over, so I need everyone's help.

SEND ME BLANK POSTCARDS. If possible, please put them in an envelope and send them to me, so they have no writing on them, especially not my address. I need them for one of the ways I plan on grouping students together. If you only send one from where you live, I will probably laminate it, cut it up and have the students find the other students holding the pieces to their postcard. If I have more than one from one place/state/city/landscape/attraction (doesn't have to be identical), they'll find each other with that info. I really, really like this idea, but I don't have enough postcards, especially not post cards from many different places!

If you want to help me out with this, I will be most grateful. If you don't have my address, e-mail me at alikay@gmail.com and I'll send it to you!
Thank you, thank you, thank you!

the internet is creepy, it's just a fact

I don't have much to say or do right now. Yesterday, I dropped off Megan in D.C. to fly back to Michigan, tomorrow I pick up David in Norfolk, flying back into Michigan. It's strange to be here all alone and not have work or any real obligations...

I found this video on feministing, and felt I should share it. There are many great women slam poets out there (if you look at my myspace page, I have a few videos up), but this one almost moved me to tears. It's amazing.
"What We Deserve" by Sonya "The Drama" Boom Renee
What We Deserve

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Also, I was reading some of the feminist blogs I check on and one (feministe) was talking about this group Anonymous and attacks to take down feminist blogs. It's kinda crazy. No, not kinda. Really crazy. This has been a topic that has been gaining more and more attention because commenters are making violent threats towards bloggers. It's crazy and incredibly creepy. The sad thing is, there seems to be a lot of grey legal area in dealing with internet harassment. I almost feel like a lot of people are afraid to contact police or any authority that could help because they don't know if they can (or will) do anything about it. I don't know if I'm alone in making this connection, but doesn't that feel like when a woman is raped, assaulted, etc., and they're afraid of reporting it because they think they won't be taken seriously or they'll be blamed for it? I think it's very, very similar line of thinking. If they report it, will anyone take them seriously? Will they be blamed for it? etc. etc.
It's incredibly sad that the internet empowers people to feel like they can make comments/threats about anyone involved in putting themselves and their thoughts on the internet. This crosses all lines, it seems-- whether you're non-white, gay, female, etc, but, sadly, it seems to be a lot more personal and threatening when it comes to women, especially feminists. It seems a lot more personal and vicious. They joke about raping, mutilating and killing these women. All for what? Because they expressed their opinion?! That is... wow. Even though it's only on the internet, I still think these women are incredibly brave for putting up with these comments and harrassment and not stopping what they're doing. I mean, think about if you had someone (or more than one person) constantly telling you some pretty messed up stuff about what a horrible person you are or how they want to torture or kill you. What would you do?

Anyway, here's an interesting video on harassment of youtube vloggers.


And this is the post I was reading yesterday: What Do We Do About Online Harassment?

Also, feministe had a lot on AutoAdmit (a forum that seems to be dominated by dudebros, who are supposed to be lawyers of some kind), which is a different kind of harassment than what I was talking about earlier (as in not directed towards bloggers and their blogs, but women they know in gereal--colleagues of theirs. fantastic!), but it's still about sexalized, violent comments towards women. Here's one post that I like that talks about AutoAdmit, internet harassment and why it makes femnism still necessary, but there are many others about AutoAdmit.
They mention Kathy Sierra in the post I directly link to. It seems to be one of the most publicized cases, because she ended up cancelling a public appearance due to the threats. Here's the wikipedia page for her, an interview with her, and another article about the attack on her

Again, what would you do if this was happening to you? Or to someone you cared about? Would you quit? Would you report it? Would you keep blogging and ignore it? I'm very interested, let me know.

good gracious

Yes, sir. It is definitely hot. Williamsburg has been hit with a heat wave (what?! in August?! nooo!). Both today and yesterday, there were heat advisories. 95+ degrees, heat index of 110-115. Woooooeeee!
So. Usually I would not venture out on any long, extended walks in the sun & humid, stifling air, but car troubles arise at the most conveinient times, don't they? Last night, Megan and I went to New Town. Since we left at 4, the sun was still out and humidity and heat going full force (as well as the heat advisory), so we drove over there to save us a few minutes in the heat. We park the car, run in and see Hot Rod. It was funny, very random, involved a moped (woo!) and, most important, was air conditioned to the point of freezing. I think it was actually the first time I was in the a/c in the movies and didn't feel like it was too cold. After we got out of the movie, it was still incredibly humid, but not as hot. We got some dinner, walked around, went into a few stores, tra la la. I actually ended up finding an amazing lesson plan/record book all in one! AND it has pockets AND reference charts that I want AND a whole parent contact log. Simply amazing. Thank you, B&N. I also found this awesome little book put out by SparkNotes that has all these discussion topics and writing prompts. They had a ton of them, involving most subjects. I picked up the "Good Books" one, because it involves 50% of the novels/plays we read in class as well as novels/plays for other grade levels. I think every book but one was on the required reading list for 9-12th English. Amazing! I love them! Originally I loved SparkNotes because they actually did a good job on their website, then the whole "No Fear Shakespeare" thing, now this! Wow.
Okay, anyway, back to the car. I start the car up, put it in reverse and there is this loud beep. Then I notice a little icon I've never seen before flashing. As we're driving, Megan looks it up in the Owner's Manual. It is the coolant/antifreeze/thermostat icon. Sweet. She reads from the manual and it's all: "This means your coolant/antifreeze is either too hot or too cold. Pull over and turn off engine. Sit for a while. Then try and start it up again." Yeah, okay, no. We're already halfway home. But then I notice the temperature gauge is moving up there pretty quick. I start to flip out and hightail it into the parking lot. I call David and ask him if he thinks I should walk up to Target or Food Lion to buy some coolant. Bo thinks it's the thermostat. Around 8:30, I try the car again. No beeping and flashing, but the temp rises really quickly again. An hour later, I open the hood and check the coolant. Yep. That's it. The coolant is almost 2" below the min. line. Grrrrrrrreat. At least it wasn't a part gone bad, but still. So, this morning, I got to take a nice, long, 20-25 minute walk to Target. I have never sweat so much in my life. Thank god I put on sunscreen. My face looked sunburned already, because I was so hot. Now, my car is fine and I can stop kicking myself for not getting an oil change yesterday like I said I was going to.
Also, Jackie has a tapeworm. Or tapeworms? I don't know. We found them on her and near where she sleeps (dead, shriveled, don't worry. They die very quickly outside the body because it's not the actually worm, but parts of it, or some crazy stuff like that. Google it. It's crazy) and near where she sits. The reason why we haven't noticed before is because this is the only type of worm that cats get that (thank god) doesn't give them the runs, weight loss, death, etc. Gooood. It's also the only one that made sense for them to have: they usually get it because they ingested a flea (which, if you know our cats, they've had twice in the past 2 years. ugggh) that has a tapeworm or tapeworm eggs. Yummy. She now has an appointment with the vet down the street tomorrow to get her some meds and get it out of her.

Last night was full of bad news, but hey-- it gave me quite a purpose-filled day, made me enjoy the heat (hah) & sweat out everything, and now everything is back to normal, or going to be starting tomorrow. Whew!

already august?

It's almost that time of year again. I've already had a few nightmares that are my version of showing up to school in your undies: showing up to face a huge, overcrowded classroom of new students and not remembering that it was the first day of school. Nothing is ready! oh noes! Tragedy! I don't enjoy these dreams, but they are definitely motivating me more. I've already finished one presentation, have notes/outlines (very rough) for 4-5 units, a list of things I need to buy and things I've already bought (thank you, Target, for having folders for 10 cents and packaged in groups of 10. So much easier.)
The first of August came and brought humidity. July is over, but it was fun. Megan and I recently got over a bag buying addiction, but ended up with some cute, pretty cheap stuff. We also now have a list of things to do before she leaves the "colonial triangle" and goes back to the land of Vernors, Meijer and the mothereffing Root Beer Stand (and you best believe I enjoyed some of that while I was in Michigan!)
So, I made the transition to Virginian: I have a license with a decent picture, a registered car in VA (after many issues and mail and faxes and $77 spent on installing the front plate. Who knew a small piece of plastic could cost $50!?), a taste/constant craving for sweet tea, and I made my first mint juleps! Also, I finally bought some pear vodka, but I have no idea what to do with it, I mostly just like to smell it because it smells delicious. I did look on Absolut's site and they had a few good suggestions. Next time, I want to buy some of the other crazy flavors they have at the VABC store.
There's been lots of talk of improvement in finances, attitude, eating habits and activity. Hopefully it's not all talk and ends up being action, as well. David saw the light on budgeting, planning meals, etc., so that will lead to more financial responsibility on both our parts. We are buying in on the trend (haha) and starting a debt blog. It's only going to be one we can see and, at least for me, mostly a wake up call as to how much we owe right now. It's not a lot, it could be worse. My student loan debt makes up slight more than half of it. Another part of the debt blog we're going to make is keeping track of how much we consume, which is something I don't think a lot of people think about. How much money do you spend in a week? How much was necessary and how much was a "want"?
Now that a lot of new people are moving in, I realized it's been almost a year since we've been here. I do love it down here because of the weather, the seasons, the people, the landscape, etc. etc. It's getting better on the whole "woe is me! I have no friends!" part. Someone told me before we moved that the first year is the worst/loneliest, after that it gets better. Let's hope that's true.

can i just say...

how much of a pain in the ass registering my car in Virginia has been? Good golly.

Also, tomorrow starts Project: Get My Act Together, where I try to use the time in month of August to plan out at least 75% of my 10th and 11th grade classes. I have even more motivation now that I have six classes instead of five.

Alsoalso (kind of like P.P.S.), David quits smoking on August 12th/13th. Wish him (us?) luck and also tell him you're proud of him.

pictures galore!

We went to a Harry Potter party at B&N

Meg got a tattoo. It has Harry's face in it.

We both got sorted into Ravenclaw. Helllllzzzz yeaaaah!

When David showed up, we convinced him to be sorted, too. He was Hufflepuff, poor boy. Haha.

There were sooo many people.
The 7th book was good, except the epilogue was... um, strange. Too perfect? I don't know. Let's pretend it never happened.

Then we went to Busch Gardens.

This is the Griffon's first drop. 205 ft up. 90 degree drop straight down. Freaking. Crazy.

They dangle the people at the top, leaning over the edge for almost 10 seconds (I think, I didn't count it. It has to be between 5 and 10 seconds that they're stuck in this position, though). Uhh.. yeah.

Megan went on her first rollercoaster. It was incredibly fast, but very fun. We got soaked on a ride calld Roman Rapids. I jinxed us by saying "I really don't want to get caught under the waterfalls". We hit all three of them! haha. I had fun watching people come around the corner for the first drop on the Griffon and be waving their hands, all excited and then they clutch on for dear life once it releases. Next time, I'm going to ride the Alpengeist. I couldn't quite convince Meg to get on that ride. It's a really nice park, though, I was really impressed.

I went to College Park/D.C. area with Kristie yesterday, to pack up Maurice's stuff and see David. We walked around Georgetown between rain drops. I dropped into an Urban Outfitters for the first time since we moved down here and found these cute little things:

We'd been looking for a coat rack or something similar for a while, these were perfect.
David surprised me with this:

He picked it out allllll by himself. Well done, boy! (it's a fake/imitation, btw. haha. I love it.)

Here's a cute cat to cheer up your day:


And, finally, something for you to read.