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.