I
made it!  I am soooo glad this day is over.  The jump from
Back to School Night talk to a discussion of Earl the transvestite and
the “tranny train”  was not an easy one for my brain to make, but
somehow I managed.



A
big group of my former students came to visit.  It was so fun to
see them, but boy, did it make me feel old.  Some of them are
taller than me now, and when I said we should plan some kind of reunion
activity, their response was, “Yeah, we’ll have to get together and
party.”   Say what?  I’m not sure I’m ready to party with a bunch of seventh graders. 



Pursuant
to yesterday’s post, it was not a bad hair day, but my ear got attacked
by the straightening iron so I had to hold blue ice on it while I drove
to school tonight. Felt like a dork until I realized it just looked
like I was talking on the cell phone like everyone else.    Hair was a little flat, but I’ll give it another go tomorrow for picture day.  Say “cheese”!

Good night, all!  (or good morning as the case may be …)

Quote of the Day:

“Wait!  Hold still!  Just one more!” — my beloved grandpa (and probably a few people you know as well )

Okay
— so I deduce that we are not too interested in what’s going on in
the lives of my goldfish.  Who would have guessed? 

Hmmm … let’s see what I can share today …



I am dead tired, it’s HOT,
my students are being bozos, my room is nowhere near ready for Back to
School Night, I have a stack of papers to grade, and I have to read
pages and pages about Carl Jung tonight.  The good news is that
Lost is on tonight, so I have something to motivate me out of this
funk.  If I get enough work done, that will be my reward. 
Yes,  my life is indeed a thrill a minute!



My sister cut my hair
yesterday.  I had her do it in the dining room of my parents’
house instead of at the salon … that way it’s cheaper for me but she
makes more because she doesn’t have to go 50/50 with the salon owners
… plus, then she doesn’t have to style it because I just go home and
take a shower anyway. (Methinks Miss G. just wrote a humongous run-on
sentence!)



Anyway,
this was the quickest haircut yet, and I’m not sure whether or not
that’s a good thing.  Either she’s getting better, or I got a
crummy haircut.  I’ll know tomorrow when I straighten my hair so I
look more polished, less schoolmarm for Back to School Night. 
Plus, the district PR person is coming to take my picture since I am my
school’s teacher of the year, so I am killing two birds with one
straightening job.  My hair is currently falling out by the
handfull so no color this time.  I’m not sure what’s up with that; I just hope it stops before I look like Mr. Magoo.

Quote of the Day:

We must free ourselves of the hope that the sea will ever rest.  We must learn to sail in high winds. — Hanmer Parsons Grant

Off to do some sailing …

    She was the captain of her maiden flights

    When times were better

    Skywriting with the smoke of life

    When times were better

    And now she wishes she could beat her wings

    And sail back on a innocent breeze

    Bring back the freedom of believing

    In the decency of anything

    She’s not afraid of sticks and stones


    She’s not afraid of thunderstorms


    She’s not afraid of smartbombs blowing


    The world in little pieces


    But she’s afraid of a life alone


    She is afraid of an empty home


    She is afraid that her faith has flown


    Afraid of losing memories
              
        — Mark Heard, “She’s Not Afraid”

Sometimes you’re rolling along just fine and suddenly out of nowhere
comes a speedbump … breaks your stride a bit, but then you pick
yourself up and keep on rollin’.  I’ve lived with it for more than
ten years, and I’ll live with it for decades more if I have to. 
It was worth it.  Anyway, thank you for breaking the fall a
bit. 

So now they are in side-by-side bowls so they can still visit but
without Orange Guy becoming a snack.  They miss each other …
just keep swimming directly opposite each other.  Orange Guy is
probably missing his buddy (codependent perhaps?) and Brown Guy is
probably missing his midnight snack, but I secretly like to think
better of him.  Maybe Orange Guy’s fins just shrank on their own
… you know, the dreaded fin-shrinking disease. 

I’m feeling so much better now that my cold is gone … ahhhh … full use of my nose again and no more fever!



I
can’t believe the weekend is over already!  I spent all night Friday
doing my emotionally-charged homework (7 single-spaced pages dredging
through family history/issues) for my class on Saturday … until 2
a.m.!  I had class all day on Saturday and was exhausted when I
got home, so today was my weekend.   It was spent doing laundry,
chores, and errands.  I still haven’t finished my planning for
work this week so tonight may be a late night.



This promises to be another busy week.   
We have Back to School Night on Thursday from 6 to 7:30 and then I have
to race over to my class which lasts until 10.  Now that’s a long
day!  The beginning of the week will be spent cracking the whip at
school to try to get some work done to put up on the walls.  Our
parents tend to confuse Back to School Night with Open House  and
expect to see the usual showcase; I will try to distract them with
cookies and punch! 

oh — and there’s a protected post …  if you’re on my subscriber list, you’re also on my protected list.

The combination of work and school is kicking my ass this week.   
And it just dawned on me that I’m paying $40,000 for the education
necessary to change to a career that pays less than half of what I’m
getting paid now.    ‘Nuff said.

I feel completely blech.  
I have a yucky cold and have not been able to breathe through my nose
for the past couple days … amazing how much we take our noses for
granted! 

It
didn’t help that we had a freak storm today … thunder and lightning
ALL DAY LONG!  Rain is not a teacher’s best friend, let me tell
you … 21 banshees cooped up inside all day means that by the
afternoon I am practically peeling them off the ceiling.  Add to
that the fact that it was HOT and thanks to the mugginess my naturally
curly hair was having a real party … and you get one grouchy
Kelly. 

In case you were wondering, I avoided the freeway this afternoon. 
There’s nothing worse than California drivers in the rain, and I didn’t
want to take my chances on a repeat of yesterday’s adventure.

Quote of the Day:

“The sun’ll come out tomorrow!” — Annie
Sheesh, let’s hope so.

Okay … so Little House went over like a ton of bricks … I’m back in the closet.  Moving on …

Quote of the day:
Ninny Threadgoode: I wouldn’t be afraid of dying if I was you. I’d be more afraid of driving in rush hour traffic.

Today
as I was driving home there was a huge accident on the freeway. 
Traffic was horrendous, so I decided to exit the freeway and take
surface streets home.  A half mile before the next exit I began
trying to get into the right hand lane.  Blinker on, waiting for
an opening.  I was next to a huge truck so I slowed to try to move
behind him, but the woman behind him in her SUV kept tailgating him
purposely so I couldn’t get in.  Finally, with the exit now
approaching, I tried to slowly move in hoping that she would get the
point and back off a bit, but NOOOO, she almost ran me over and started
shouting at me.  The man behind her decided that he would be
decent and let me in, but that’s when the devil took over.

I
stayed in my own lane and pulled up beside scary SUV lady. 
Apparently possessed by some unknown evil, I rolled down my
window.  I’m sure I was meaning to say, “Excuse me, Miss, but
would you mind allowing me to exit the freeway?”  However, what
came out was more like, “You bitch!  How am I supposed to get off
the damn freeway?”  Her reply was, “Why should I let you in when
I’ve been in this lane for 20 minutes?  You should go back there
(pointing at the row of cars behind her) and wait like I did.” 



Hello? 
First of all, how am I supposed to “go back there”?  Secondly,
it’s not like my lane was moving zippety quick and I decided to speed
on by until the exit and then cut someone off.  My lane was every
bit as slow as her lane … I had actually been next to her for much of
those 20 minutes.  No devious plot here … just trying to get off
the freeway.  Anyway, there’s nothing like people not being nice
to really piss me off.  Ironic, I know.  So, before I knew
it, I was telling her to f#$% off.  And in all honesty, if I could
have slapped her, I would have.  In fact, I was somewhat tempted
to follow her home and give her a little speech about courtesy. 
Yes, also ironic. 



The
point is, I have never in my life cussed out a stranger. 
Boyfriends once or twice in an extremely heated moment, but never a
stranger.  In fact, my coworkers make fun of me because I’m so
straightlaced and nicey-nice.  Won’t they be so proud?  I am
known for my patience and my “aura of calmness”.  Hey, one blog
ago I was waxing poetic about Little House on the Prairie.  What
the heck happened? 

Perhaps this should be next on my reading list … “Honku: the Zen Antidote to Road Rage.” 

Quote of the Day:
I am beginning to learn that it is the sweet, simple things of life which are the real ones after all. – Laura Ingalls Wilder


Since
I elicited positive comments about Little House with my last post, I
now feel this is a safe environment for my coming out.  Yes, I am
a Little House junkie. 



Little
House is one of the few things Toshi and I actually have in
common.  We own all the seasons on DVD, except for the final
season which comes out in October.  When each season came out, we
tried to pace ourselves to make the shows last until the next release
date, but we’ve never made it yet. 

There’s
something about that show … just hearing the music brings
comfort.  During the time the show was popular, my mom was raising
me by herself and struggling with depression and epilepsy. 
Because of the epilepsy, she was unable to drive so she had to take a
number of buses just to get me to school and herself to work.  As
young as three I had to know how to call the operator and get help if
my mom had a seizure.  I remember one particular occasion when the
fire department had to knock down our door because I was too small to
unlock it.  After calling the operator, I had to call someone to
come pick me up from a list my mom had made for me.  As you could
probably guess, all of this led to a lot of insecurity and worry, not
to mention a heavy feeling of responsibility.  When that Little
House music came on, it signaled the beginning of an hour of escape
into an idyllic world.   It’s funny how  almost 30 years
later it still has the same effect on me.

Of
course I loved the books too.  I read the whole series every
summer growing up.  I also read The Chronicles of Narnia and the
Anne of Green Gables series every summer as well.  (Hence my
desire to pick up and move to Prince Edward Island.  My friend has
just agreed to go with me to be my Diana Barry. )  
The characters in all of these stories were my dear friends, and I
immediately missed them once a book was finished.  These days I
still go back to visit, and I bring along my students to introduce them
to all these wonderful friends who have always been there for me. 

We
went to the LA County Fair last night.  Even though I was dead
tired from work, I thought it would be better than braving weekend
crowds. 



I
love the fair … especially the fair food.  We ate our way
through the place, starting with the best BBQ beef sandwiches I’ve ever
had, then freshly made chips, then funnel cake, then lemonade, and
finally clam chowder.  Unfortunately, it was too cold for ice
cream, or we would have had that too. 
We abstained from the deep fried Twinkies, but I have to say that the
deep fried avocado and deep fried corn on the cob sounded
intriguing.  I don’t feel too guilty about chowing down because we
were walking for about seven hours. 



Have I mentioned that I love the fair?  
We went to see the animals first and were lucky to see two baby goats
being born.  Amazing!  That was their eighth birth of the day
so babies were everywhere … so, so cute.



Then
we ventured over to the shopping pavilions … all that crazy stuff you
see advertised on infomercials all in one place!  Didn’t buy
anything, but it was fun to see all the gadgets. 

This
morning one of my students, Raquel, showed up with a cute new
haircut.  I told her I loved it, and this was her very
matter-of-fact reply.  “You know what’s weird, Miss G.?  I
got my hair cut and suddenly I looked just like Malibu Barbie.” 
Ummm, no.  I would say Raquel is quite a few cup sizes away from
being any kind of Barbie … not to mention the fact that she’s
brunette and shows no sign of being permanently on tiptoe.

Room
10 was meltdown city today.  Sampson, my possibly mildly autistic,
perfectionistic boy, threw an all-out fit when he wasn’t first to
finish his timed test.  Grunting, chewing on his shirt, kicking
the desk, crying … the whole bit.  Keep in mind that there is no
need to be the first one finished on a timed test; it’s a race against
the clock, not a race against one’s classmates.  Of course, there
was no convincing Sampson of this. 

Quote of the Day:

“They say that nobody is perfect. Then they tell you practice makes perfect. I wish they’d make up their minds.”  – Winston Churchill