Last of the Summer Sniffles

I have the unfortunate luck to be getting an attack of the summer sniffles. This is only mildly tolerable due to the fact that I am barely finished with two of the three courses I had for summer quarter, and therefore have a lighter workload.  It isn’t really all that tolerable at all, as I hate being sick (really sick) with a passion. Especially colds because they start the same and then end up as pneumonia or bronchitis or laryngitis which all sound like pretty things to say, but their realities are not nearly as fun as saying them.

I just finished a book– a real one, not a non-fiction account of what it is like to teach, as a white person, in an all minority inner city school where you are not being lauded as the great white hope but instead laughed at for thinking you can be something as silly as the great white hope. Reading it was refreshing. Unfortunately, the writer had a style of writing that was extremely verbose and kind of crawled around in my brain and nestled there so I am going to stop writing now, less I start to make sure that everything is “exquisitely annotated, and, where possible, provide staggering visual aids” (Pessl 11). And in MLA format, no less.

The book, Special Topics in Calamity Physics, was a very entertaining read. However, to whoever claimed that it was part travelogue– have you ever read a travelogue? A casual mentioning of “Rhoda Harris, Galways, Indianna” followed by “Nondescript Redhead, Our Town, USA” is not, nor will it ever be a travelogue.  Sadly, yes this was why I picked the book up– also because the amazon blurb said something about being packed to the gills with pop-culture and literary references. I give it a smile, nod, and my patented “I liked it, it was good” pin.

–all I am working on is the knitted converse shoes and trying to figure out which yarn I will use for Giselle.

10 on Tuesday: Ten Favorite Movie Characters

ooooooh this is a toughie

1. Terri McKay from “An Affair to Remember” God I loved the dresses she wore and her singing voice.
2. David Lightman from “War Games” yeah– I had the hots for nerdy computer boys that far back!!
3. Elliot from “ET” because he called his brother ‘Penis Breath’ on TV and as a kid that got me giggling sooo hard.
4. Bruce Wayne from “Batman”
5. Daniel Larusso from “Karate Kid”
6. Buffy Sommers from “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”
7. Han Solo from “Star Wars”
8. Riddick from “Pitch Black”
9. Ellie De Witt from “Feds”
10. JC Wiatt from “Baby Boom”

Summertime?

I haven’t posted since the day I got my driver’s license back. Mostly because I have been crazy-mad busy.

On June 19th I celebrated my 9th wedding anniversary. In order to celebrate like a nearly-wed for a decade couple we are, I moved Heaven and Earth, worked myself to near-exhaustion, and in the end it was worth it. Mostly I just liked spending 5 days with my husband joined to my hip. Oh, and visiting the Atomic Bomb testing museum. And seeing quasi-sex shows.

We stayed at the Stratosphere and I got to ride on all of the rides, which was awesome, in a “why the hell am I going on rides 100 stories up in the air?!” kind of way. My favorite was the X-scream because it was just a sliding teeter totter but it sure did elicit a scream from me! Least favorite was the swing one Insanity– I don’t mix well with swing rides. Also located at the Stratosphere was a shop called Alpaca Pete’s. It had loads of Alpaca stuff and one creepy/pushy/annoying guy who had a recorded spiel in his head and couldn’t really answer any informed questions about his merchandise. Specifically, I wanted to know if any of his stuff was made with fiber from Suri Alpacas because they have longer, silkier locks than the unpronounceable kind (Hyuacaya?)(also unspellable) which is soft and wooly in comparison. My answer, when I explained the difference was “Of course different animals are going to have slight variations in their pelts– this is what makes the stuff we carry here so special!”

Barry bought me a sweater and a stuffed alpaca anyways. The alpaca cost more than the sweater– go figure.

Once we were home from Vegas school started back up for me and I had a job interview that went so terribly I smarted over it for days. I think that asking a question “From the standpoint of a parent as well as an educator” was a bad idea, but I also think that the school was looking for way more than the district advertised and I’d love to know if this is common. How often do they advertise for a teacher’s assistant and then having said assistant be in charge (basically) of the entire IT department (teaching the students how to use the programs, running the computer lab, maintenance on the computers, requisitioning new programs and computers, and maintaining the school’s network)? all for $10.50 an hour, 30 hours a week!!!!!!!!

I can tell you that the minute I walked through the door I was nervous as hell and questioning even wanting to be a teacher if I had to go through an interview like that. It was scary at first but some of the questions were really stupid, and frankly if you are asking a question– I think you should know the answer or at least how to effectively evaluate it. As in, if someone asks for clarification– tell them what you mean. Because “Describe the yearly maintenance for a computer ” is a bizarre question. Yearly? as in once a year? Are they serious?

But then school started in earnest and holy crap– I didn’t know that teachers could arbitrarily remove 5 weeks from a quarter just because they felt like it. I thought that had to be approved by the college! So I’ve been lost in assignments.

Yet I have also been lost in pleasurable things: re-reading the entire Dark Hunter series to prepare for the next book, helping barry make me some shoes (www.craftzine.com) rewriting the knitted converse pattern so I can use Kureyon and because I hate sewing etc, and making stitch markers for lotus knits. I’ve also been indulging in my new guilty pleasure:

edublogs and books. I can’t get enough of them. Although, it does depress me when I hear about the fantastic things these teachers have done– it’s a pretty high standard. It also depresses me because they all pretty much deal with drastically underprivileged or inner city (usually these are hand in hand) schools. What about other schools?

In a year I start my training for teacher’s credentials. This fall I am not only taking the 3 prerequisite courses to get into the teaching credentialing program I am also applying for that program as well as for the Master’s program. It’s scary. I want to teach– I like the idea of the stability of the job and the chance at bettering myself, constantly learning, and effecting the lives of others. I care deeply about education. BUT

Next month I will celebrate being a chatline operator, phone ho, whatever for 10 years. I still get a kick out of my job. Teaching will only be a marginal step up financially, and that is if I deduct tips, amazon gift cards, paypal booty, kpixie giftcards, and stuff from my amazon wishlist from the count. Also, I really really love talking on the phone and hearing all the stories from my clients, as well as not having a set work schedule. I don’t care for slow days, and ocassionally clients get on my nerves, but that’s typical in any field. Will I be as satisfied as a teacher?

Part of me thinks yes. The things that make me love being a chatline operator are the same pluses of being a teacher: a need for creativity, no chance of getting stagnant, dealing with people that change on a regular-ish basis but not like on the scale of say a retail job, building up friendships with clients, etc. Does that make any sense?

I just hope that I will be able to carve out enough time to take calls– or that I will get a job at all.

—

expect pics of the shoes soon.

Zombies…or government workers? You decide.

I had an unavoidable appointment- zombie invasion be damned, the dmv waits for no stinking zombie uprising. So machete in hand, wishing I could shadowwalk IRL I grabbed my car keys and headed into the fray. The searing Southern California desert sunlight seemed incongruous with the body parts littering the concrete by ways of my manufactured community. Nozombies were in sight, which only creeped me out further. I drove without care for the posted speed limit, swerving wildly toavoid bodies and hit the undead that shuffled across the roadway before me. Finally I arrived at my local superior court. Only to be greeted by shawn of the dead-esque municipal workers with cold, flat eyes. They were barely human and my hand reached for my machete, ready to defend my life. My body ws tensed, ready for danger at any moment. I looked around….

Zombies…or government workers? You decide.

I had an unavoidable appointment- zombie invasion be damned, the dmv waits for no stinking zombie uprising. So machete in hand, wishing I could shadowwalk IRL I grabbed my car keys and headed into the fray. The searing Southern California desert sunlight seemed incongruous with the body parts littering the concrete by ways of my manufactured community. Nozombies were in sight, which only creeped me out further. I drove without care for the posted speed limit, swerving wildly toavoid bodies and hit the undead that shuffled across the roadway before me. Finally I arrived at my local superior court. Only to be greeted by shawn of the dead-esque municipal workers with cold, flat eyes. They were barely human and my hand reached for my machete, ready to defend my life. My body ws tensed, ready for danger at any moment. I looked around….

hellish night

At about four am the damn zombies got my neighbors.

I was in the kitchen with the lights off and heard my neighbor– the deaf one– screaming as the tore him off of his porch. I had gone over there to warn him when the first news reports came on, but apparently I can only sign in Cantonese.

My dog took out three of the sumbitches while they were on top of my neighbor, which cheered me immensely. Do you know how hard it is to find quiet neighbors?

2008: The Year of the Zombies

Reports of zombie sightings are sweeping the nation, panic is widespread and the government is warning that if you are in a safe place to stay there until help can arrive.

Guilty Pleasures

other than imming people and prying into their extremely private lives…

My newest guilty pleasure is reading masses of stuff on education. I cannot even begin to explain how bad of a fire got started underneath me when I took my very first teaching class. It was awesome and now more than ever I feel sure I am on the right path.

Megan and I have been enjoying our summer vacation. She keeps waking me up at 7 in the morning, which is WAY. TOO. EARLY. Especially now that I am keeping summer hours @ work. So tonight I wrote her a letter for her cereal and a poem:

MEGAN

 

There was a girl with a smile so bright

          That even in the dark, she always had light!

She’d grin and she’d cheer, every one in the room

          And her smile would chase away even the toughest gloom.

 

The sweet girl of such cheery fame,

          Had a very sweet and very pretty name.

Her name was Megan, meaning full of great might

          And her middle name was Aurora, for bright shining light.

 

She was picky at the dinner table, never ate her peas,

          But she was very polite, and always said please.

People she met would always be charmed by her smile,

          Even if they puzzled over her choice of fashion—her style.

 

Every day she made her mom and dad so very proud,

          Whether she was doing homework, chores, or singing quite loud!

Her parents were very busy, and sometimes she had to shove

          But it was okay because all she did was shower them with her love.

 

Her favorite things were puppies, drawing and giving great big hugs,

          But she wasn’t too fond of chores, boredom, or bugs.

She was very smart and very pretty too

          And if you ever meet her, you’ll probably love her—cuz I do!

10 Things That (Annoy) HATE You About Work

I kind of didn’t do this because I seriously seriously LOVE MY JOB

However, there’s one or two things mostly with what I will refer to as the administration:

1. I hate having to pay for visibility on the site– and I hate the fact that if I make a poor judgment call in reference to this, the number of calls I get plummets dramatically.
2. I hate clients who fall in love with me and assume that now that they love me they shouldn’t have to pay.
3. I hate people who hang up when I say, “Hi this is…” Who were they expecting?

10 Ways the World Has Changed Since You’ve Been in School

We’ll go with High School

1. I am no longer the only person in my class with internet access. (However, I am the only one who is famous on the internet *mad giggle* oh yes.)
2. Gas prices have gone up about 400% and they are still climbing, which is ridiculous.
3. People are more concerned with the environment and their *carbon footprints* ***see whine below***
4. Television has gotten progressively more vulgar and puerile while simultaneously getting more interesting in some areas…
5. walkman? try ipod baby. I am in love with my ipod.
6. techno gadgetry has changed the world & my life.
7. I’d laugh at my mom if she gave me a beeper– now everyone including 8 year olds has a damn cell phone.
8. YARN is way more easier to access.
9. news comes in feeds globally and instantly
10. I am still damn sexy??

***rant***

So I was listening to npr the other day and this guy was going on about the carbon thing and why he was a supporter of the carbon tax.

He had this huge math thing that was really surprising: the amount of gas  used to transport his family from Boston to Hawaii was similar to the same amount of gas he would use driving 12,000 miles in a year. Only he did it in a matter of hours on a one way trip.

But did he?

When people are calculating the carbon footprint of things, it seems to me that they are forgetting something very important: almost no carbon footprint is solely owned by one thing. The banana that traveled 1,400 miles from Nicaragua to get purchased BY me at Walmart in Lancaster, California was NOT the only banana on the truck and chances are the bananas weren’t the only thing on the plane…

So really, the eco-friendly math whizzes are leaving out a very IMPORTANT factor: the footprint is shared.

If it a 250 mile trip costs me 10 gallons of gas, and I am the ONLY person in the car my carbon footprint in 10 gallons of gas. However, if I have a child, husband, a friend, some mail to deliver to my mother, and other goods to deliver, that footprint becomes shared by all of us, lowering my carbon footprint. I am not that big on math, but I realize that my footprint is not equally shared with the mail I would be delivering or the other goods, but it would be awfully darn close to that of my family (unless we went on a by pound basis).  My point being, even if it were just my family, our ‘personal’ carbon footprint per person would only be 3.33 gallons of gas.

No, pretend that there were 2000 bananas in the truck. The truck consumed (magically) the same amount of gas per mile as my car: .04 gallons, or 56 gallons of gas for 1400 miles. So, would the banana I am eating have a carbon footprint of 56 gallons of gas? or a shared carbon footprint of 0.028 gallons of gas?

I don’t bring this up because I disagree with the resurgence of people’s interest in the environment. Rather, I bring it up because the numbers seriously bother me.