This guy looks how I feel

Ok Im going to sing the grad student dirge..."Im so tired" wah wah wah..."My husband/boyfriend doesn't understand me"....wah wah wah..."I ve got four papers to write by yesterday "wah wah wah...I handed in my thesis proposal...na na na na na na!
I'm effin pooped!
Fi

What's the world coming to?

This is why people should keep clear of homeowner's associations: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061127/ap_on_re_us/anti_peace_sign.

OOHH SO!

Oh my god So! Your tattoo looks really cool in person, I give you lots of credit for going through the process! Especially after seeing your pics on the arcade. The links you have are really interesting. I knew there was this whole subculture related to tattooing, (I watch National Geographic channel and they have a program on tattoos and culture) but I've never gone looking at any of the sites. I have been interested in the tattoos of the Pacific Islanders, and the relationship to the culture. Have you done any research on the current popularity of tattooing and our modern culture? What does it mean to put these symbols on one's skin in today's culture?

Well, after talking with you chicklets (thanks for that on Fi!) I feel much better. Not that I felt bad, but the suddenness of these events just threw me for a loop. Your quote So (we make plans and god laughs), really put everything in a different light. My husband was telling one of his fellows at work about our week, and this guy said, "Did your son tell you he had cancer? Did you get a phone call from the hospital saying your daughter was in an accident?" (His son was in a car accident a few weeks ago) Of course he was just helping Vinnie put it all in perspective.

Well, one more week or so left of class. I really am going to end here and work on my Arcade. When is our last blog report due??? Chicklet Do off for now.

YIKES SO!

ok...that picture of you biting down on a piece of leather has put me off getting a tattoo for ever. What I really really have always wanted tho, is to get my nose pierced...but I am too afraid of the pain. If I could get an anathestic, I would do it. But I haven't yet met a piercing person who will shoot up my nose with a bunch of lidocaine.

So the monster in law was over for Thanksgiving (Im not married but it is sort of an apt description) and she caught sight of Russ' tat which he has in the small of his back. Oh my gawd...All hell broke loose. (she is very old fashioned...She walked to school uphill both ways with cardboard in her shoes to stop the "little rocks" getting in through her holy soles). We had to create a diversion quickly. It came in the form of her granddaughter...6 months sober (sigh) and thrilled about it. Grandma gave her the lecture about "addiction" being an excuse for lack of discipline...Needless to say I wanted to crawl under a rock just to get away from the family drama.

The hardest thing I have ever had to do is have a relationship (which I might add has been extremely touch and go of late) with someone who has kids. You have to get used to the fact that you will always (no matter what they say) play second fiddle. And if the kids are an absolute nightmare-which they have been in the past...Well one of them continues to be-it is even harder to have any empathy for them. It takes many many deep breathes and taking off for a "drive" to gather the patience to deal with someone else's kids...Especially if they act like horrid spoilt brats. If this all sounds kinda harsh...Sorry. But , if I ever do this relationship thing again, I will be extremely wary of dating someone with children. Or perhaps I will just be better prepared. Or perhaps other children are just nicer...I dunno. When you have made a decision not to have them, you get kinda selfish. Don't get me wrong, I know plenty of kids that are wonderful...How do their parents do it? What I see about these kids is that they have been spoilt rotten...To make up for the divorce situation I suspect.

Anyway, perhaps I will continue this rant another time. It makes me tired just to think about
'Til next time
Fi

Okay...I finally created the time...

...and sacrificed time for other things, like projects for classes -- sort of.

So, I said I was going to photograph the process of getting a tattoo for part of my arcades project, and I decided that today was the day to do that. I had to go out anyway, so I dragged Mary out of the house and made her tag along and be my photographer (I bought her dinner to make up for it).

After about 30-45 minutes of excruciating pain (it really didn't hurt that bad this time) as Aly stabbed my sensitive skin, inserting the ink for my new tat: the Chinese symbol for wisdom (at least that what all the research I did said it was). My name -- Sonya -- means wisdom, wise, or sagacious. I found this symbol by accident after I put aside looking for something inspiring to get inked. I thought about centering it on my neck or upper back, but essentially decided that my wisdom isn't really centered, but slightly off-center, so I got the tat to the right of center for a couple of reasons: 1. I'm considered a right-brained person (though I often feel both left- and right-brained at times) and 2. I'm right-handed and so the wisdom I put on the page flows down the right side (if that makes any sense).


And our oldest flew in today, and his new wife follows in a week (she didn't have enough leave on the books to fly out with him). I'm still trying to get used to having one child a married man and another child preparing for motherhood. They're both still so young, and I'm still young; it's just weird for me. The day after my new daughter-in-law gets here, we're supposed to go to Disneyland, which means I need to get cracking on these projects for my classes. I just can't seem to get into them, as much as I find tattooing so intriguing.

I'm still hung up on the background for the arcades project, and my research question for 609 is probably going to change to reflect feminism, but I'm still not sure how to approach it. I've thought about it since Wednesday, and I can't get the question phrased the way I want it. But, I shouldn't be surprised; nothing has been easy for me this quarter.

Internal note

Hi ladies, I wrote a blog entry, but chose not to post it. I left it as a draft for your eyes only. Hope you had a Happy Turkey Day! Do

Happy Turkey Day

Gobble, gobble!

Romantic comedies

I watched "Hitch" with the sound off last nite and after the show there was one of those interview with the cast type things. I turned the sound up for a mo...just in time to the voluptuous Eve Mendez (or whatever her name is) say "ooooh, I love to watch romantic comedies because you can always identify with the girl, you can always say 'I know just what she's going through'" EXCUSE ME?????? I'm sorry, but I don't think Eve Mendez is living on the same planet as the rest of us....I wish my life was a romantic comedy!!!!! I have never been in a romantic comedy, have never met anyone whose life is like a romantic comedy and even if I were in one, I want to know what happens to the cutsey little romance after the credits roll. Hrumphhhh.

Right now, "So I married an Axe Murderer" is playing in the back ground...now that's more like my life...not the axe murdering bit but the crazy scottish family. I think James, Abe, and I need to do sound bites from that film. "HEED! ...Its got its own weather system!...If yer want mah body AND yer think Im sexi" (sing along in a fake scottish accent to Rod Stewart song, then fall about laughing)
It seems the only way I can concentrate is by having the telly on mute while I write...cept, I'll turn the sound up for the Rod Stewart bit. I love this film!

oh here's my fave bit..."eve-el like the fru-its of the dev-eel"

Better go so I can talk along with the film
Oh yeah and happy bloody turkey day.
Kiss noises
Fi

Why plan anything?

One would think that I would learn by now that I really can't plan anything; someone or something always manages to throw a monkey wrench into my plans. I wanted to get inked again over the weekend, but I got caught up in packing for our long journey to Memphis, and then bogged down in homework and other people's laziness. I hope that sometime this week or over the weekend, I can get that new tat and have someone accompany me to take photos of the process so I can put them on my arcade. I'm thinking of interviewing one 0f the tattooists, but I haven't decided yet.

I also wanted to take pics of the Farmer's Market to use as a background for my arcade, but I don't know if that's going to work out. We'll see. I have a hideous purple background right now that I need to change.

So, I didn’t get a new tat, but I did re-dye my hair. I didn’t actually do it, Mary did. My 8-year-old son came into the bathroom, and, seeing her putting “purple goo” in my hair, was convinced momma was going to have purple hair. 10 minutes into the timer, Mary and I heard him announce, “10 more minutes and mommy’s hair will be purple!” After all was said and done, he stopped dead in his tracks, his face melted, and he said, “It’s not purple; it’s red!” Poor little man. He so wanted it to be purple.

Our Turkey Day will not include pizza or two of the kids. One already came and went, and the other doesn't arrive until Saturday, just missing all the good food. After serious contemplation, we’re skipping the pizza and have since decided to go with the traditional meal, though we're foregoing the yams. Michael refused to give up the cranberry sauce (gross). I’m not a pie person, so I’m baking a spice cake with cream cheese frosting; Michael will probably pick up a couple of pies anyway because that’s how he is. Part of me is not looking forward to cooking; part of me sees it as a break from the monotony of other stuff.

Speaking of food…it’s almost my lunch break…

Sunday work

Tonight I'm tired. With my children coming home this week there are way too many things to do (like realizing I need to buy more towels, buy and put up new curtains, clean up the patio, plant the six packs of violas I bought 2 weeks ago). And on top of that (as I write at 11:24pm) I have a 7am appointment with my dentist to add more metal to my mouth. How are your arcade projects going? I have just finished the basic layout of the pages. Because we have no school this week, I will need to take pictures, video, do short interviews with the other teachers, perhaps write up a brief survey for those of us involved with the EETC grant.

At least, when we go back to school next week, we only have 3 weeks before Christmas break. It can be a rough time though. Kids who are in difficult home situations get depressed or start acting out in class. For me and my husband Christmas is going to be hard because our daughter will not be here for the first time in 28 years (her bf's family is visiting them in Boston for the holiday and she feels obligated to be there). I told her we will just have to use our iSights when we celebrate. That's the closest we'll get to having her here - realtime video and audio over the Internet. Well, now it's really late and I'm really tired. Til next time,

Ciao!
Do

Friday night Holiday WOOHOO

School's out for Thanksgiving!!! This has been one horrific week. Between helping my m-i-l get around (caretaking/nurse), wound care for my h. (repacking and bandaging his incision -nurse), class, teaching (the end of the trimester, grades turned in today), I'm physically and mentally exhausted. It should have been 20 minutes and maybe 1 stitch to remove a cyst from Vinnie's back turned into 11/2 hours, a 2"incision, a cyst 2 1/2"deep near his spine, all closed up with 6 stitches. This type of incision has to heal from the inside out, so now that the stitches are gone, it has to be packed with gauze and covered until it heals. Oh well, what was that I promised?? something about "in sickness and in health"??

Now that it has been getting dark early, by the time I get home it's too dark to go out in the yard looking for Weasley. He did enjoy coming to class, didn't you Weasley? I think it was Freddie's attention that he really loved. Here's the link.

As I was leaving I stopped in the restroom. When I came out, Weasley was nowhere to be found! I turned the corner back towards UH041 and this is what I saw! I asked him what he was doing and he said, "I want to see if Sonya and Freddie want to stop at the nearest pub for a pint, they're such lovely girls!" What can I say, I scooped him up and whisked him out the door. It's hell traveling with a gnome. (sigh)

If this entry isn't evidence enough that my brain is fried, I don't know what is! lol Now I get to spend the next four days getting ready for the kiddies (aka adult children Christina and Michael) to come home for the holiday. I'll be back tomorrow night,
Ciao
Do

On the move...

I'm going to try to transfer my program to Memphis. I need to check to make sure 100% that they require the GRE. If they do, I'll need to get that out of the way first. By the time that's done, I should have residency and won't have non-resident tuition costs. I've told our "Captain" that if things don't pan out, I'll come back to this hell-hole and finish my program at CSUSB after all. There's always the MFA option at U of M as well.

So much for trying to by the ex-crack house down the street from my folks. The For Sale sign is gone. My dad's not sure if someone bought it, or if the bank repo’d it. He's thinking the latter because now you have go through "some special place" (my mother's words) to even look at it.

Hopefully our house sells faster after it's empty. So, my teenager and I will be shacking up with my friend Mary (and her fiancé, Blue) for two weeks. Yay! Four people, one bathroom! Ahhh…it doesn’t get any better than that. Well, at least her and I will get to hang before I make that move, and it things keep going the way they are for her, she might just pack up and make that drive to Memphis with us. I should be so lucky!

I have big plans this weekend: cleaning out the storage unit; packing up some stuff; getting rid of some stuff; possibly getting a new tat; and if there’s time left, arcades project, annotated bib., and reading. Did I mention that I have to find homes for my “babies.” Suki needs a nice person who will tolerate her whining and constant need to be scratched. Puck needs someone with a doggy door, lots of food, and tolerance for shedding – he chases strange animals off the property, including rather large dogs. Or, they’ll have to go to a no-kill place (I won’t accept any less because they both deserve good homes).

Well, I’m off to try to kill the chances of that teenager of mine going on her first “date.”

Sonya dear heart...

So, if you're leaving forever, what about your MA? Are you going to finish it in Memphis? A mohawk huh?... I want to get my nose pierced but i'm too chicken. (I hate pain.) I think it looks so cool but all my friends think it would be a dumb move. Their first question is always "what happens when you get a cold?"

Hmmmm....I'm not doing anything exciting this weekend except working on my arcade and thesis prop...oh and my annotated bib.

My horses came in from Montana about a month ago. They got a bit of a holiday and now they have to go back to work. They are so fat that people are making disparaging remarks. I just say, "if I hadnt spent so much time working all you bastards horses I could have got mine going earlier...so there."

I have a love hate relationship with polo these days. I grew up with it. Not that my family had anything to do with it, but our house was next to a polo club and I used to stare longingly at the horses from my bedroom window. Then I worked as a groom, trainer, polowife (ugh..the dark ages) for years. Now, I keep my horses at the Ritz carlton of ranches and ride everyday in exchange for their board. However, like any equine discipline I suppose, some polo players are real bastards. I am forever on the look out for abuse, both on the field and off....but polo on the whole retains such a colonial attitude... towards women, foreigners, and horses.
Where is Weasley these days? Is he offended that I looked up his dress? I'm sorry Weasley...I'll buy you a drink next time we meet.
That's it for me...for now at least.
Have a t'riffic weekend
Fi

Ever have one of those weird moments when you’re thinking of someone, the phone rings, and it’s the very person you were just thinking of? I really hate talking on the phone, but this almost always happens with me and one of my best friends (her name is Lynn and she lives in…drum roll please…Memphis) – but not on the phone. Most people email these days, and we do too, but we’ve also sort of made a pact to write letters to each other because they’re more memorable and real. Yes, I’m talking about hand-written letters on pretty stationary. We buy each other stationary for birthdays and Christmas; we buy ourselves stationary just to have because it’s pretty, and just in case one of us needs to jot off a letter to the other one. These days we’re both so busy. Me with family, work, and school – okay and gaming too; her being a newly divorced single mom and working (she just got a cool promotion). So, once in a while we lose track of how long it’s been since we’ve talked. And when that happens, it never fails that one of us will receive a letter from the other just as we’re sitting down to write our own letter to the other one.

Lately, I’m not home to check mail, so Mary (one of my other best friends (I have a few of these) – the one jealous of Freddie) tosses my mail on my desk. Yesterday I brushed off the catalog begging me to buy something I don’t need and went to bed. This morning, I stopped at Target for Starbucks and bought some stationary in case I got a moment or two to scribble a quick I-miss-you-and-get-in-touch-soon note to her. I didn’t get that moment or two, but I got home, was looking for something on my desk – oh yes! Mail! – and wouldn’t you know it? There’s a letter from Lynn. Knowing I probably wouldn’t have time to write back to her before those December dates, especially with all the other writing (and reading) I’m doing, I swallowed my – what would you call it? – loathing ridicule of the impersonal quality of the telephone and called her.

Yes, I have more than one best friend – I’m not allowed only one (and I was told this by another “best friend” years ago). Most of them are friends I went to high school with and we are all still in touch in one way or another. Lynn is one of them. She is originally from Memphis; her dad was stationed in SD and we met sophomore year on her first day of school…in biology. In our senior year of high school we went to Reno with my folks for the weekend and had a huge fight. My mother found us just as she was pushing me away and I was ready to hit her. A few years back, I met up with her in Reno again (she was there for a scrapbooking convention), and we made amends with the stinky city (we’d made amends with each other two weeks after the fight). Ahhh…the drama of high school. Lynn is like a sister and it’ll be great to be able to hang out with her almost all the time again.

And it’s not that I won’t talk on the phone, but I have to be really familiar with someone – my husband, my mom, my sister (the one I like), Lynn, Mary – hmmm…that’s about it. But ask me to call that guy back about the job or to order pizza or whatever else, and it’s like pulling eye teeth– fergit it! (I don’t understand that – is it really harder to pull eye teeth than other teeth? Things that make you go hmmmm… [that was a song in the nineties])

Anyone know when the next blog assessment is due? Maybe I’ll write that along with my annual holiday letter this weekend – yes, I’m one of those people who send out an annual letter with Christmas cards to let people know what’s been happening because getting me to talk on the telephone is like keeping my husband’s cat off of my side of the bed.

I’m mulling over getting a Mohawk; whaddya think?

"Triumphal Progress"

I'm quite familiar with Barely Breathing; we’ve met on a number of occasions...even my horrid horoscope reminded me to breathe yesterday. Maybe there's hope for progress after all. Freddie seems to be triumphing over her thesis proposal draft (she should reward herself by printing up a Tigger coloring page and coloring it); I got some much-needed research started, some reading done, and part of the next 609 project partially done (I'll reward myself and go kill something in WoW). How about you Donna...are you making any progress? What's Weasley been up to, still on a treasure hunt for liquor? I feel like joining him.

On the home front, we've set dates for our road trips to Memphis. So, either Fi or Do asked how long I would be in Memphis. The answer is, for now, indefinitely. I have family there who need me as much as I need them now. Yes, we're packing up and getting the hell out of the high desert -- finally. I may already have a job lined up, but I don't have all the details yet. The director of the facility did reply back with a message for me to get in touch with him when I "have boots on the ground here in the Memphis area!" A job is good, a house would be awesome, but it’s a buyer’s market right now and we’re having trouble unloading our house. Argh!

We've been talking about moving to Memphis for years, threatening, planning, and now we're making some progress. The hubby and babies (they're not really -- 8 & 10) plan to be on the road by December 5th. The teenager (who often acts like a baby) and I plan to be on the road by the 17th. I'll miss many of the really awesome people I've met, my current job, and the smell of the creosote when it rains...that's about it. Omigod...I'll miss San Diego!!! I wish I had a suitcase big enough to pack them and take them with me. Anyhoo, if you ever find yourselves "walking in Memphis," email me, get in touch, or look me up.

Every Thursday there is a Farmer's Market near VVC. I think I'll take some time and some snapshots of the market as it looks much like an arcade. I may use it for my background. We’ll see. Then, I’ll get some Kettle Korn and go to work. Hopefully, I have time to get the picture. I don't know if they'll set up on Thanksgiving. I'm also thinking about dragging my husband out this weekend to take pictures of me getting inked. I haven't decided yet. I thought that I could use pictures of the process for my arcades project as well. I don't know how I will incorporate it yet (or even if I'll get around to going to a shop to get a new tat). How are your arcades projects coming along?
Still trying to catch up on sleep...fear that won't happen till I get to Memphis. --Til Tomorrow then.

My Thesis proposal

Our fearless leader, Dr Rhodes, has that cool online journal which looks for articles about the living breathing bodies who write. When I last looked, I am a living (barely) breathing body that writes and this is my process: Get up 6:30, go exercise a few nags at the polo track, stress about thesis proposal, go home and wash horse poo from under fingernails, stress about proposal, check out zits from stressing about proposal, eat chocolate for comfort from stressing about proposal, get more zits from chocolate, drive to work or school, stress about proposal, sit in writing center with students who are stressing about their proposals (ok essays), drive home and get stuck in traffic jam cos dude got shot, stress about proposal and not dude who got shot, get home at midnite and write proposal. Drink coffee, get more zits, but happy because midnite endeavours have paid off and proposal is looking like a first draft .
Thanks, I feel much better now...
Fi

Humdrum and humble

It's one of those days. It's kind of slow in the WC right now (I'm sure it's slow in the water closet too). I'm tired...sleepy really. My eyes are burning (I should consider putting those reading glasses to use once in a while). Every time I try to read for class, I feel like I need to pull out the kindergarten mat and take a nap. I keep trying to get our facilitator to stock up on those mats, but so far I've been unsuccessful. I'm also pushing for a microwave and mini-fridge. Again...no success. There may be a break room in the writing center's future though, but I won't be here to enjoy it.

So, in about a month, I'll be on the road to Memphis (isn't that a song? -- or is it Walking in Memphis?) Millington, to be precise. Who's coming to visit? -- We'll drive three hours and visit Nashville's replica of The Parthenon. I guess we can go to Graceland too (it's really not all it's cracked up to be). Part of me can't wait to get out of the stinkin' desert and back with my peeps. The other part of me is sad to leave the fabulous people I've met here. (If it were up to me, I'd go back to San Diego.)

So, my daughter and her fiancé left yesterday. They weren't supposed to leave until today, but he wanted to get back to see about two job offers. Flying standby made it easier to leave early. It was so good to see her, and I really hope that she's doing all right. I guess I'll find out soon. Her fiancé seems really nice, did I mention? Too nice. I hope it's because he was raised by his grandma.

Okay...have a tutee...'Til Wednesday...TTFN!

Hello chicklets

We'll Ive recovered from my night with The Who...recovered but still in awe. I mean really. I am an avid concert goer...when I can I do...even if it means scrabbling around the back of the sofa for pennies that might add up to the price of a ticket...anyway, my point is that I have ben to many many concerts and that was by far the best. If you can go to a show and be completely transported, I mean, when nothing else matters or exists except for the music...well, that's an almost spiritual experience...oh listen to me getting all sentimental

Today was good. I went to the barn around 7.30 (gawd I cant wait to sleep in at the end of the quarter) and then Russ and I went to his daughter's "alumni" brunch at ... the Betty Ford center. Sigh...oh yes girls it been a stellar year (i know what youre thinking...it was how much? We got a big discount) Fortunately, all is well now...shes safe and sober and eating brunch at Betty Ford with Keith Urban. sigh.

How is your quarter going gals. Are you crispy yet? I am fried to a deep golden brown. I still havent got my thesis propsal completely written although I have drafts of it EVERYWHERE. Today however, I feel as tho I made a breakthrough...we'll see if it presents itself in my propsal.

I ws going to write about the arcade project but my eyes are droooping and Im melting, melting, melting. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Huh? oh yeah, see yas tomorow
Nite,
Fi

Holy S%$##%^^^%$##Y

Ok Guys, I just went to the effin best concert. Look, so what if they are 100 and only two of them are still alive. Roger Daltery is still the sexiest bastard around, 2nd only to DB, and whats more he can still sing like nobodys business. So, they have a new rock opera out called "Wire and Glass" please buy it...it's classic Who. Pete Townsend was so funny..he was like "so bear with us while we do our new stuff" and then after he said "ok we think you'll be able to sing along now" When they did "Feel me" (this is so lame) but I felt like crying...I get very emotional at concerts. My throat is sore from yelling and smoking malboroughs ...I know I know only occasionally. Anyway it was spectacular...for a couple of old farts they really still have it. Amazing, I feel like Im on a mega high...kinda like So must feel when TFF does "Everybody wants to rule the world". That song really takes me back to highschool and what a time it was, huh?

Feling a bit verklempt this week. The BF and I had a horrid summer, he dumped me and then came back, but it's hard y'know? Feeling resentful and like all the fun and romance went out of life. And of course all I do is work, and work, and work...except for tonite of course...nooooo, tonite was for Roger and Pete and not even Jurgen Habermas and Foucault could keep me away from those too. I wish I could be a rock star. sigh.

Im sorry I havent posted since the hedgehog poo. I got a curt letter from my editor at the Sun Valley Mag saying if I didnt have my latest story to her by 9am on wednesday, I was toast. Consequently, Tuesday nite I was up til 4 and then again on Thursday nite for a project I promised...oh I dont know who. Needless to say I have been very cranky the past few days...sleeplessness and too much chocolate is not good for one.

Right, well that's all for now...perhaps if you are very good I'll do my Pinball Wizard for you on Monday. I wonder if Weasley is into Rock 'n' Roll or perhaps he prefers a good yodel instead.

Cheers
Fred

What happened today?

Well I thought this was SoCal! Today was more like a fall day in New Jersey! I did some regular stuff (like grocery shopping), and went to the nursery. I've been on this gardening thing on weekends, really just like meditation in a way. I start digging and trimming, planting and moving, raking and sweeping, and I don't think of anything else. I did take my digital camera outside with me. I got some interesting pictures of a hummingbird that visits regularly. It was all puffed out because it was COLD out this late afternoon. I have to laugh, in New Jersey cold started when the temperature got down into the 40's during the day. Tomorrow I have to finish my grading and lesson plans for the week. I just found out that Google now has a video forum (not unlike YouTube). I can upload a video, make it public or private, and link to it from anywhere. Now I have more stuff I can do on my website. I still haven't figured out how to add audio to this blog.

Have you seen the new Weird Al White and Nerdy? I don't know the song he's parodying, but his is hysterical!

Oh there's Weasley again! What's that you said Weasley? You haven't found anything to drink yet and sitting on the air conditioner is the next best thing? What does that mean? Oh you get a rush when the fan goes on and and spins around, vibrating ?! Weasley, you are incorrigible!
I'm off to add to my OOO. A domani, Do

It feels like Sunday

Having Friday off made it feel as though the weekend should be over. It's felt like Sunday all day. On that same note, having Friday off has allowed me to relax a little -- not much, but a little.

I've done very little reading for class, and I can't really blame WoW for that; I haven't played any more than I normally do on the weekend. My daughter and her fiancé are in town (they leave tomorrow), so I've been spending some time with them, trying to assess the future son-in-law. I suppose he's an okay guy; he's really nice -- a little too nice, like he's hiding something. I could be wrong; I hope I'm wrong.

I took Jenifer shopping so we could talk and spend some private time together. Ya know mother/daughter stuff. I bought her some maternity clothes that will grow with her. One of the blouses is really cute. Why couldn't they have made such cute maternity clothes when I was pregnant? Then, we all went out to dinner at a really good Chinese restaurant (of course, I only go for the tea). Then we made a pit-stop at Starbucks on the way home -- Yummy. Well, all of us except my 14-yr-old -- she went to Knott’s with a friend and her friend's grandparents today and still isn't back yet, but they’re on their way.

Anyhoo...Jenifer leaves tomorrow. I'm sad, but I know she has to get back to Nashville for work. She's actually not leaving till Tuesday (wasn't that an 80s band?), but they're staying with her airline friend for a couple of days. The fiancé wants to see more of LA. I had to ask why; does he like to chew his air before he breathes it? Ahhh, LA...“where the ground moves faster than the traffic.” (Who said that? I can’t remember).

You know, I keep thinking of things I could have added to my OOO too. My use of a cell phone even though phones aren’t a big deal; I hate to talk on the phone unless it’s my husband or my mom. There was something else that came up earlier, but now I can’t remember. I think of these things when it’s completely inconvenient to write them down, like when I’m in the shower. By the time I get out, I’ve already forgot.

I watched Click today. Okay, I watched part of it. It was funny. Of course, when “Everybody Wants to Rule the World started to play during the movie, everyone turned and looked at me. Why? What were they expecting me to do, a trick? This is my family who I see everyday, yet they still seem to expect me to react in some outrageous fashion when there’s a TFF song in a movie. The best one though was the end of “Who Killed Tangerine?” in Fever Pitch when Drew Barrymore runs across the field to What’s-his-name.

I’m babbling now. I feel like I’m getting sick again and it sucks. I can’t afford to get sick again. Last time, which was only a few weeks ago, I had ear and sinus infections + bronchitis. It was pretty bad.

I think I’ll have a Ghirardelli Dark Chocolate with White Mint Square, a cup of hot green tea (or more), watch The New World, and go to bed. I’ll try to read tomorrow after the house-hunters leave and my husband takes Jenifer and her man to LA.

Till Monday then. I’m outty. Peace, y’all! (I’m practicing for when I move the Memphis).

Aries the Ram

Yep that's me. I don't usually subscribe to astrological beliefs, but I possess many of the characteristics ascribed to those born under this Fire sign. Now what is your sign Freddie? Do either of you know more about astrology? I only know what I know from reading the paper (horoscopes) and my mother in law (every year she gets a copy of Sidney Omar). It was nice having today off, we slept in- that means 7:45am! I didn't get as much done as I expected to, but that's ok.

I have been thinking a lot about my OOO since I wrote up my reflection. I keep thinking of other things to add, but I also am having second thoughts about what I'm putting out there for the online community to view. Tomorrow I will do the reading on the arcade, as well as the billion other things I have to do (like grade papers, report card grades need to be turned in by this Friday, plan lessons for the week, work in the yard, etc.) I'd also like to get some writing done. Last Saturday we had our first follow up meeting of the IAWP Summer Institute and I have a number of pieces I started there, but haven't worked on since. Have either of you taken any creative writing classes or done any? I hadn't until last spring when I took the class with Prof. Brown and then the workshop in July. It really has made a difference in my teaching. What middle school student doesn't have something to write?! They really are enjoying it. This next trimester, i'm going to require a specific number of finished pieces (as well as forms) for a portfolio, maybe we'll put together an anthology. Well, it is almost one am. I'd better get to bed.

Ciao,
Do

To Virgin Podcasts

Bravo Freddie!!! Let's put a short podcast together on Monday. Maybe interview that Weasley gnome.
Do

Tired deux

I'm still up (1:26am). Last night it was 2:30am and tomorrow it's 75 middle school kids. Thank god Friday is a holiday- 3 day weekend yeahhhhh!!!! It took me an hour and a half to get home (usually 25 minutes). The 215 was shut down around Mill st. for "police activity". I am just finishing up my self-assessment. Hope tomorrow goes quickly. We are having a student-staff hockey game (no, I'm not playing!), so it's a one lunch schedule. This is not the best, the kids get all wound up when we change the schedule, as well as it being the last day this week. Come hell or high water, I'm sleeping in this weekend! later,
Do

I'm an air sign (Gemini) who has to be reminded to breath...

I'm surprised that I never held my breath during a temper-tantrum as a child. I've always been more apt to fill my lungs with air and let it fly. But, when I'm stressed, I often catch myself holding my breath. Not in the form of a tantrum, just not breathing regularly (no wonder I suck at Yoga).

Inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale, inha...*cough, cough, cough.

My daughter and her fiance arrived today. He seems nice...too nice. It was so good to see her though. I have a few days to assess him and how he treats her (I heard a rumor that he's "mean to her" -- secondhand information from a 14 yr old who's the biggest drama queen I know, and I ought to know; she's mine too). And I'd like to say that I'm not holding my breath, but I am.

Inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale, inha...*cough, cough, cough.

I'm exhausted, can't sleep (thanks to stress), going on 3 hours sleep, have to work in the morning. Tomorrow's Thursday so I know I'll be seeing particular tutees who always come in on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The good thing is that they've had their tutoring session, it's documented in their files, and they'll be doing mostly independent study, but I know two of these students because they almost always want to work with me, and I know that they'll have questions and they'll be chatty, as usual. ("Do I need to separate the two of you?")

It's a stressful time and I'm tired. I'm breaking out (I'm 34 and I still break out like I'm 17). I'm sleepy, my eyes are burning, but Fried Green Tomatoes is on Encore, and I really like Jessica Tandy, Kathy Bates (wasn't she wonderful in Misery?), and Cicily Tyson(sp?). The book (Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg) of course is way better, but it's as misplaced as The Ice Queen.

My 14 yr old has been mad at me for 2 days (like I said, drama queen); she's trying to ditch school again tomorrow so she can "spend time with Jenifer while she's here because I never get to see her." OH! And I made one of her friends cry because of some stuff she had on her MySpace that I thought was inappropriate for a 14 year old. I'm on a roll...

Movie's over...rant is over...I'm going to sleep. Peace...I'm outty.

Let's link our OOOs!

Missed Freddie in class last night. I didn't get to see either of your OOOs. I think we should put the links to each of our OOOs on the sidebar with the other links. Who cares of they're a work in progress?! I don't think mine will ever be finished. I'll go first.

:-P

I don't know where the picture came from...some website that has all kinds of them...but I thought this one especially hilarious.

A How-to for UH at CSUSB?

I was checking MyYahoo and on my Wiki-How-to, there was a How to Waterproof a basement article.

Things that make you go hmmmm...

My latest obsession

Is this the cutest or what? I happened to be fartin' around on google and decided I needed to learn everything I could about hedgehogs. They are my new obsession...I want one. Trouble is, no hedgehogs allowed in CA...bastards.

Here is a little info on hedgehog poo:

Disadvantage #4: Hedgehogs do not go to the bathroom outside or use a litter box.

In reality, while some hedgehog owners are fortunate enough to have a hedgehog that uses a specific area of the cage, and are able to put a litter box there, most are not. In fact, most hedgehogs seem to prefer to use the restroom while running on their wheel (leading to messy feet and possibly a messy hedgie) or as soon as you wake them up to take them out of their cage (leading to a messy human). The later disaster can be almost completely averted by waking your hedgehog up, holding it for just a minute or two, then putting it back into its cage for a couple of minutes to do it's business before you pick it up again. This is not a guarantee of a poop free encounter though. Hedgehogs quite simply seem to like to poop on their people occasionally. If the thought of this, even on a rare basis, makes you want to go take a shower, then a hedgehog is probably not the pet for you.

Is there an advantage?:

If you can live with the occasional "oops" on your clothes this is one pet you don't have to take for walks in the rain. And to be honest, with all the hedgehog handling we do around here, we don't get pooped on all that often. If you shop well for your cage, weekly cleanup is quick and simple, and a hedgehog that has a regularly cleaned cage has almost no odor at all.

Doncha just want one????
Fi

OH NOOOO!!!

I was all set to write about my last few days when I read about the Garden Gnome Liberation Front! I thought immediately about Weasley, but then I realized that he was in my yard, not on my front lawn, and he does a great job of disappearing! In fact I had a hard time finding him, but there he was, hiding in the plumeria.

Yesterday I went to an all day district workshop for the remedial reading program I'm teaching (called Language!) It was really a good workshop, since we shared practical strategies for teaching these middle school below grade level (at least 2 years) students how to read. Many of them just missed qualifying for special ed, others missed too much time at school when reading was being taught, or went to several different elementary schools so there was no continuity in what they were learning. They've developed a variety of coping skills, none of which work in my class, since there are only a few (15 and 19) students in the room and all we are working on is reading. This in turn causes some of them to act out in very negative behavior. It's been a real challenge needless to say. But the workshop gave me some really good ideas and it's always encouraging to talk with other teachers who are dealing with the same issues.

Yesterday (it was today when I actually started this post) I went to the first follow up meeting from the Inland Area Writing Project Summer Institute I attended this summer at UCR. It was great to meet with the other fellows, catch up, and find out that I wasn't the only one who hadn't been writing very much. All of the fellows are teachers, elementary, middle, and high school and the beginning of the year has been busier than usual for everyone. I really do need to work on a few pieces I started. I am putting a few of them on my webpage (one or the other)

How about Meatloaf?! and the new iPod commercial!

I realize that this is a rather long entry. I actually started this last evening, but my dear h. insisted I shut the computer around midnight. Today I have been working on my site (the .mac site) and that is another story. Twenty minutes alone on trying to get a link to load correctly! Ah well, I just saw Russell Crowe's interview on CBS as I'm typing this. Oh yeah...

There's nothing else to say right now (of course there is, but for some reason I seem to be distracted)..............Do

She couldn't make it easy...

So I've known our writing center facilitator, my boss, for a few years now, having formerly been one of my professors, then suckering me into tutoring. In the years that I've known her, I've only ever heard her mention when her birthday is once, and it was quite a few months after the fact, so I quickly forgot about it. This is a woman who generally keeps her birthday low key.

After finding out when her birthday is, one of my co-workers, who's been a tutor a little longer than me, thought it would be fun to surprise our boss on her birthday. We decided, since her birthday is on the day we observe Veteran's Day, and since we have a weekly tutor meeting every Friday anyway, that we would throw this little surprise shindig today (a week before her actual birthday) during the meeting. She's pretty diligent about keeping up on our weekly meetings, so we knew she wouldn't cancel the week before a holiday prevented a meeting.

We knew we had to keep it a secret so she wouldn't try to talk us out of it. We were doing pretty good too, and we owed kudos to our ring-leader for pulling it off -- taking up a collection to get a small gift, card and cake -- even though she got sick at the beginning of the week.

Now, I work in the Basic Skills lab on Friday mornings just before the meetings and since we're always slow in there on Fridays, I planned to leave half an hour early to help set up for the surprise party. But an hour before, the party ring-leader came in and I knew that our dear facilitator cancelled the meeting. Time to start freaking out...

She talked to the head of the English department, who talked to our boss and convinced her it was absolutely imperative that she be there anyway to help her out with something. It was a good thing too that she succeeded because we were coming up with all kinds of over-the-top stories to tell her just to get her in. Things like, "So-and-so is dancing naked on the tables, and such-and-such is freaking out and on the rampage, and our Instructional Assistant is locked up in the office smoking, and someone broke out the liquor. It's a freak show and we need help. Of course that never would have worked; she would have seen right through it. But, there was always, "We have a situation that needs your immediate attention." Whew!

No matter, the head of the department got her in, and we pulled it off. She never suspected a thing and was super surprised. Woohoo!

Party, party, party!

I certainly hope Weasley is staying out of trouble.

My poor husband has to get up bright and early in the morning and take our 14-yr-old and two of her teammates to a soccer game at the Blast Complex in the morning. Then she wants me to take her to have her nails done. I confess, I need a fill, and it might be a nice break. I wonder if they'll change the color of my glitter for me.

Okay...now I'm babbling. Thank goodness tomorrow is her last soccer game of the season. And thank goodness she is done with The Odyssey! Maybe now I can get a little more of my own work done. Hmmm...but probably not.

ARGHHHH

ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT, I FED THE DAMN FISH !!!!!
FI

Tequila anyone?

So, I think you are right about the picture...I do look like I've been at weasely's tequila. Is this the kind of image I want to present to the world? Hmmm. As for you two...So looks like she has a big fat secret which she is very ahppy about and Do...well, Do looks a little crazy. Drunk, enigmatic, and nuts...that's us.
Talking of Margaritas, I went for a drink with a fellow writing center tutor last night and we had a bucket of perfect margaritas. They were yummy. You know we have been having the same situation in our writing center in palm desert...usually we are so busy I dont even have time for a wee, yet this week Ive been sitting arond twiddling my thumbs. What's going on? We are desperately trying to expand our WC and have been very smug of late because of heavy traffic...looks good in the log book for future funding efforts. So I get a little freaked out when its quiet...
Oh So, I hate the IRS too, so much so that I havent talked to them in a year or two. I know I don't owe them any money, infact they probably owe me some...but I have a talking-to-my-accountant phobia. I need to get a new one because the guy I used last time was about a hundered with dyed red hair and a lecherous demeanour. Don't even ask me to do them myself...that would be worse than encountering a black widow. I HATE FILLING OUT FORMS...it is the most hateful exercise in the world. Anyway, when anyone mentions the IRS I get a litle nervous.
Well that's all for now.
Did you guys like the french gnome story...Weasley needs to stop being so naughty.
Fi
ps the fish is still looking good

Weasely better watch his step...this could be him

Homeless gnomes gather dust in France

PARIS, France (Reuters) -- A French police station has been stuck with a room of homeless garden gnomes, victims of a wave of gnome abductions, after a new bid to trace their owners failed.

Only a trickle of people showed up for Monday's "gnome return day" at the police station in Saint-Die-des-Vosges, near the eastern city of Strasbourg, and only one person was reunited with a stolen gnome, police said.

About 75 kidnapped gnomes were recovered in 2001 after a group called the Garden Gnome Liberation Front released them, leaving them on the steps of the Saint-Die-des-Vosges cathedral.

Police have yet to reunite 43 of the gnomes with their owners.

"In wanting to set them free, the Liberation Front has virtually imprisoned them," policeman Sylvain Brucker told Reuters, adding the local prosecutor could decide to sell the kitsch garden ornaments in a police auction.

"Perhaps there are people with gardens who would like to adopt them," he said.

Does this count for tomorrow's post?

In trying to avoid the Annotated Bibliography for 609 and my OOO, I've been thinking about the discussion Do and I had last night about our blog photo. The more I look at it, the more I'm convinced Fi has been into the Tequila that Weasley was looking for.

I'm reminded of Harry Nilsson's "Coconut." Maybe I'll add the song to my OOO (I'm such a rebel).

I think I'll curl up with a Scooby Snack and watch Practical Magic when I get home (if I can locate it in one of the four boxes we've packed the DVDs in). Though the book is better (it always is), I can't get over Sandra Bullock knocking the hell out of Nicole Kidman.

And speaking of Alice Hoffman, I bought The Ice Queen just after it was released, never got to read it, and now I can't find it after packing it up for the installation of new flooring and repainting the livingroom/diningroom. I've cleaned out my boxes and book shelves umpteen thousand times looking for it, yet my husband (he really does try to help) insists that I'm overlooking it. Not likely. I'm convinced it grew legs and feet and ran away for lack of attention and care. Books tend to do this at my house. I've seen their blurs as they round the corner down the street. Though I wouldn't be surprised if I didn't find it in my friend's possession or somewhere in one of the kids' rooms. My girls do like to "borrow" mommy's pretties.

Sometimes I wish our regulars would do their assignments and not chit chat with the tutors so much. Maybe then I could get some of my own work done when we're quiet -- like now.

Another day, another dollar, right?

I hate the stinkin' IRS. Grrrrr...

I did my taxes online and now they want me to fill out some form and send it back to them. What? It's already been almost a year. Why not make that sucker available online when we do our taxes? And, it's not enough that they take our hard-earned money, but they want me to provide the stamp to send the form back to them, rather than providing a SASE. That would be the least they could do, considering, right?

My daughter (the pregnant one) phoned on Hallowe'en, but no one answered the phone :-(. Her message said she had good news. I gulped when I heard that, and gulped more when I made my mother tell me that my daughter's boyfriend (the rat-bastard) proposed and she accepted. Now, this might seem like good news to some, but I know some things about that boy (because he most certainly is not a man) that make me want to...well...those are illegalities that I probably shouldn't mention in a public forum. I'm probably in enough trouble just admitting that I HATE THE IRS!!!

It was quiet in the writing center a little while ago, but now students are starting to trickle in. Although normally we're busting at the seems by 10 a.m. Hmmm...perhaps we've frightened them off (it is the week of Hallowe'en). Afterall, "NO, we absolutely, positively will NOT proofread or edit your papers!" .

So I take my daughter (the one in high school) to school this morning, as I do every morning (but we skipped Starbucks). As I'm driving along in the direction of the rising sun, even with my sunglasses on, it starts to get a little too bright for my pale eyes to handle. We stop for the red light, I reach up for the visor to pull it down, and out of the corner of my eye (more the top portion really), I glimpse a black spot on the ceiling just above me. For about a half second, I think, "Oh! A black spot on the ceil....," then out of my mouth comes, "Holy sh*t!" My daughter, slightly confused, asks more calmly than I'd like (why can't she freak out with me?), "What's wrong?" I practically scream, "There's a f***ing black widow above my head!" As soon as the light turns green, I speed into the closest parking lot, ease my way out of the car, grab for napkins in the door pocket (I'm a mom; I almost always have napkins in the car), and hear "CRUNCH!" Yes, I killed her (the spider) and buried her in a Hefty Handy Sak (which I also keep in the car).

Of course my husband, bless him, just can't fathom how that little lady got into the car when all the windows and doors were shut tight. As I said, "Bless him." I wonder how Weasley would have handled such a situation?

Off to check the online tutor and earn some much needed "play" money (ROFL).

Remember not to feed the fish...

da da da daaaahhhhh...
let's not feed the fish for a few days and see if he dies!
A Halloween experiment
(ha ha ha ha)