...that despite the incredible lack of imagination in my department and my boss who never gets around to ordering computers, I still love my job. This is because jr. high/middle schoolers are a heckuva lotta fun.

I went to Wal-Mart where I met one past student (older sis of current student) and four current students. I wracked up two hugs and had the following entertaining conversation:

Me: *walks into the electronics section and beelines it for the PS3 games* *a group of noisy adolescents are in the way playing with the sample games*

My Kid: Hey, Ms. A. *to other kids* She's my English teacher

Me: Hey, um, you *could not think of kid's name, and didn't think he'd like being called, "Kid who sits across from Steven"* Excuse me. *elbows way to the games*

My Kid's Little Bro, Though Close In Age: *mouth falls open* *STAAAARE* Are you a TEACHER?

My Kid: I SAID she's my English teacher! *big bro eye roll*

Me: Yep, I am

Kid's Little Bro: I've never seen a teacher who BOUGHT VIDEO GAMES before! *in awe* *eyes HUGE, mouth hanging open*

Me: We teachers do all sorts of things. Oooo a new Wolfenstein. *is distracted* Sweet. *far away look as I remember Wolfenstein 3D on the PC as my first 1st person shooter ever*

Kid's Little Bro: *becomes suspicious* Are you buying for YOU or is it just for your kids or something?

Me: Kid, if I HAD children, they'd have to save up and buy their own games, because they're not allowed at my gaming budget.

Kid's Little Bro: *WOW EYES* Cooool!

...at which I was neither then killer NOR the victim! Woohoo! I was, however, blackmailing three people, and will lose my source on income. Which stinks. And I must say that "stoic fortuneteller" is something of an odd combination!

I won a huge $15 in a contest writing a pet story for the local paper! Woohoo! In junior high I won some writing contests (which all died in high school, because English doesn't matter), but they weren't for money.

I would SO take the lottery if somebody offered!!

In terms of stress without enough return, I think that working with social services would be a HARD job. I knew a woman who said she reached a point where she was afraid she was going to KILL one of those parents! I can't imagine the frustration of having kids you care about and want to help being continuously returned to parents who don't deserve them.

Doctor Who Operated on Kanye's Mom Loses License (E! Online)

This led to me thinking, "I don't know much about Dr. Who, but I'm pretty sure none of the actors who played him were really doctors."

Then I reread it, which led to an, "Oh. Duh."

MY BRAIN WILL STOP WORKING!!!

Ugh.

That mood icon of Rimmer? Yeah? About how I look these days during hours of state testing.

Soooo twice a year, Pomzilla (Alfred, in the icon), and Yorkiepoo Hiei go to the groomer and get shaved down. Then they fluff back out again. Well, Bob the Beautiful Pomeranian:



has never been more than slightly trimmed. BUT he gets SO hot, and his super soft booty hair kept getting snarled. So. Um....

Alien sausage, anyone?





Butt shot!



The cat is fascinated by his weirdness. Won't stop staring at him.

DANGIT! Got over the stomach bug and woke up this morning with a SMEGGING RASH all over my FACE!

Egads!

It looks awful!

>_<

So I took Benadryl this morning, which makes me sleepy (except at night, when I use it to try to sleep), so every time I'd close my eyes for two seconds at work today it was almost snoretime. Soooo I was fighting sleepiness, which for some reason made me extremely dizzy and I couldn't focus. In the middle of second period, one of my kids said, "Ms. A? Your eyes are rolling back in your head."

Heh.

...is extremely suspicious that I am going to steal his bone from him and eat it.

Well, at least he looks cute about it.

"Obama breaks from Bush, avoids divisive stands" (AP)

Because using my federal taxes to support world-wide abortion isn't the least bit divisive. Us pro-lifers won't have any problem with that, like the thousands who met in Washington for a rally just a few days ago.

Right?

Right.

Way to continue your incredibly misleading reporting, AP!

Making some progress despite the bad family news. Good!

AHHH!

cassiopeia13 is the coolest friend EVAH!

She found the Superboy and the Legion of Superheroes Collectors' Edition with the wedding of Saturn Girl and Lightning Lad and it is frickin' HUGE and AWESOME and I've been looking for it since I was THIRTEEN YEARS OLD (which is a long time ago, yo) and I loooove it it's magnificent and and and and!

*gribble!*

However, it is now her fault that Dichotomy 2:20 won't be done on the 26th.

*disappears behind GIGANTIC KILLER comic book*

HA! I can kinda sorta blame Cassandra for my need to use the Brainy icon.

*loves her Brainy icon*







That was pointless. I'm apparently a very purple person. Hmm.

Lessee how I do for Christmas this year.

Dear Santa... Dear Santa, This year I've been busy! In July I committed genocide... Sorry about that, cassiopeia13 (-5000 points). In June I gave charisstoma a wet willie, then I took it back (-5 points). In August elena_c and I robbed a bank (-50 points). In November I ate my brussel sprouts (1 points). Last Thursday madamblue and I donated clothes to the needy (11 points). Overall, I've been naughty (-5043 points). For Christmas I deserve a spanking! Sincerely, ryui

Write your letter to Santa! Enter your LJ username:

Blue leads me on a path to goodness!

1. Listen to your TMI about your surgery yesterday.
2. Entertain you with Lyle/Brainy while you lie about being sore and babyish despite the fact that she hasn't ready forty years worth of comics like your nerdy self.
3. Don't bother you about not being able to write while being in pain for months and suffering from Extreme Job Frustration.
4. Send you PRETTY FLOWERS that are EXACTLY the kind you like best (and which you are trying to save from rampaging, flower eating calico cats).
5. Buy a miniseries of comic books for you that you can't get locally yourself and mails them from across the country.
6. Listen to you gush about "recanonizing the pre-Crisis Legion into the main DC universe blah blah blah" without ever complaining.
7. Plan to look ridiculous with you in a Red Dwarf fashion at Dragon*Con 2009.

Wee!

Now that the pain SHOULD be going away, and I'll only be dealing with the fact that I'm not happy with my job, maybe I'll find time and energy to write. But I'm not putting pressure on myself; so much of my writing time has been dedicated to writing lesson plans I really don't believe in...leading to depression...blah.

Stupid school, doing things in the English department the same way its been done for thirty years! Messing with my creative mojo, they are.

I DON'T HAVE CANCER!

Although...I do have to have surgery. But it's outpatient, so that's okay.

(Yes, this has been SUCH a fun month. I'm completely swamped at work, I have no time to write, I've been in the doc's office more days than not, I was sent to a three day conference...I don't think my students remember what I look like.)

BUT

I don't have cancer! YAY for benign biopsies!!

So it's a good day.

Ugh. Tired of moving. Don't want to anymore.

*dies*

Link: The General Geek Knowledge Test written by mister_ibis on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the The Dating Persona Test View My Profile(mister_ibis)

AP Headline:

Clinton, Obama complain about complaining (AP)

Ah. You nutty campaigners. Politicians are such whiny babies, no matter the country or the party.

An on-line college e-mailed me to encourage me to "Bring Change to the Lives of Children - Become a Teacher!" Which is amusing, all on its own because, well, I am a teacher, yo. However, it's doubly so when they listed "competitive salary" and "respected profession" as incentives!

*rolls on floor laughing*

'Cause, ya know, Florida is planning to strike so much money off the education budget that teachers in small districts will probably lose their raises this year and take a pay cut in 2009-2010.

Ha. Ha.

Competitive salary. Respect. HA!

I've been working on Dichotomy, but not in a way many people would appreciate (Cassandra, of course, not counting as "many people"). Revisions and rewrites mostly, pretty much destroying and rewriting the prologue and first three chapters of the first book, which is totally necessary.

Oh, and writing the whole mythology, but I took that down 'cause...who'd care other than us?

Unfortunately, I keep having to stop and go back to shorten over flowery sentences because I've been reading Conan Doyle again. Ah, the Victorian mancrush of Watson and Holmes, and all that magnificently florid prose. It keeps making me write as fancily as I'm reading, and I have to change it!

Course, I've been depressed again, too, which is why I'm so far behind. Which makes me feel bad for being behind...which makes me more depressed...which makes me not get anything written...

Ah, drama.

Dear Santa... Dear Santa, This year I've been busy! In September I ruled Duluth, Minnesota as a kind and benevolent dictator (700 points). In January I bought porn for mmmbento (10 points). In April I put money in lidi's expired parking meter (14 points). In October I ate my brussel sprouts (1 points). Last month I helped cassiopeia13 see the light (8 points). Overall, I've been nice (733 points). For Christmas I deserve a Sony Playstation 3! Sincerely, ryui

Write your letter to Santa! Enter your LJ username:

I had to run out of a meeting to be sick today. BLAH! Such fun, yo!