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Monday, May 31, 2004

Another day, another break, or Which Personality Disorder Do You Have? 

Grade a paper, take a break. Grade another paper, take another break.

HASH(0x8a1ade0)
obsessive compulsive


Which Personality Disorder Do You Have?
brought to you by Quizilla

Little surprise, but I am not a "pesky clean freak."

Saturday, May 29, 2004

Taking a break 

This is the 134th break I've taken today from grading papers. I don't even want to write about what I should be doing, why I'm not doing "it," or anything else related to "it."

What I am going to write about is what I'm going to be doing in less than two weeks. In 11 days. After the last 6 days of students. After the last 7 days of the 2003-04 school year. Starting on the 12th day from now, Thursday, June 10th.

I'm going to:

~blog much more regularly, perhaps every day;

~change my blog template;

~start a new blog, likely one devoted entirely to the aspects of teaching middle-schoolers--such great material;

~read other blogs more regularly;

~write the long-overdue piece for Expository Magazine;

~learn DreamWeaver so that I can start to pull my weight as a member of EM's design team;

~edit my assigned pieces for EM;

~take a week-long course for credit at the end of June, putting me in a higher wage bracket and earning half the credits needed for my next certification in four years;

~take several half-day and full-day technology workshops through the district throughout the summer and earn stipends for each (woo-hoo!);

~participate in a two-day team-building workshop with stipend, too;

~train in a five-day, 40-hour program (with big stipend!) to become a "master teacher in technology";

~visit with sisters, brothers-in-law, nieces and nephew and their SOs, along with B, K and K, L and R, and A and C for a weekend at the campgrounds, we hope;

~cook;

~eat healthy;

~exercise;

~lose weight;

~feel better;

~work in the yard;

~drink margaritas;

~read (so many books on my list!);

~see movies--in the theaters and on DVD and start to get my money's worth out of Netflix;

~travel to Seneca Falls with K, L, and A and to Nova Scotia with B, neither of which is looking promising with all that I've committed to;

~spend guilt-free time on the internet;

and

~organize and clean, just like I plan to do every summer!

I probably left something out.

I should remember to evaluate this list in mid-August!

Wednesday, May 19, 2004

Leave a voicemail, or leave me alone! 

Over the last two days, we've received about eight phone calls from a name and number I don't recognize. With no daughters living at home anymore, we don't get that many calls, so when the caller id showed an unfamiliar name with a local phone number, I know I don't know the caller. So I didn't answer any of the calls. I didn't want to be bothered. It's my prerogative, after all. That's why I have caller id. If the caller wants to contact me badly enough, he/she will leave a message. All but two times the caller hung up before the call went to voicemail, and the only "message" left was the sound of the phone hanging up--twice. So I start thinking someone is harrassing me/us.

This evening I decide to see what I can find out about this chronic caller. I looked in the phone book. While there are several listings of this last name, there is none with the initials G. H. I didn't think to skim the listing of numbers. I go online and off the top of my head try whitepages.com and have no luck. Seems like I'd have to pay for the address of the person whose name and number I have. As I sit pondering what to try next, the phone rings. I'd already decided to take the next call from this caller.

So I answer it, and all my questions are answered within moments.

Me: Hello?

She: Is this Mrs. S?

Me: Yes.

She: This is G R, your neighbor behind you. [Actually, behind me and over one house.] That's your big cat in your backyard, isn't it? [She makes this assumption because I have had cats in the past, but they were indoor cats who, at one time or another, would escape to the outdoors. She probably would have heard us calling for escaped cats in the past.]

Me: No, I have no cats. [I've not had cats for a few years now.]

She: Well, that cat's been using my garden for its bathroom and is digging it up. [Hello?! I don't care. The cat is not mine.]

Me: It's not my cat.

She: Do you know whose it is?

Me: What color is it?

She: It's gray and white.

Me: That's the neighbors' cat across the street from me.

She: Do you know their name?

Me: No.

She: You don't know their name?

Me: No, I don't. [I was not about to give this uppity backyard neighbor the satisfaction of learning what I do know about the owners of the cat: Three generations live in the house. I do know one woman's first name, and we greet one another and sometimes talk when we're outside. I know her eight-year-old daughter's name, and we talk, but I don't know the woman's mother's name although we greet and talk as well.]

She, indignant: Well, then, okay. Bye.

Me, somewhat victorious: Bye.

Victorious because I had been harrassed by her repeated calling. She did not have the decency to leave a message. When I answered the phone this time and discovered who the mysterious caller was (I wouldn't know her if I saw her), I realized she had been calling me when she knew I was home! And that really pissed me off. She can call, can harrass me with her calls knowing that I was home, but she couldn't leave a damn message!

Sunday, May 16, 2004

Cicada Seasons' Greetings! 

Argh! This is me:


Take the Cicada Test!


Tell me what you are!

For all you cicada freaks, check out Cicada Mania. Send postcards to your friends, too!

Saturday, May 08, 2004

Random thoughts because I can't make myself write here regularly 

So many thoughts. So little time. Baloney! I have time. I just don't use it productively because I am the Queen of Procrastination. For example, I've spent considerable, yet creative, time at Mr. Picassohead.

The Note
A few months ago--January? February?-- a student left a note of apology on my desk. This note is too precious to let go, so I decided to comment on the note here. However, the contents on that piece of paper inspired me to consider the many facets of this individual. I have come to appreciate his myriad idiosynchrasies since receiving The Note. So, if/when I do devote time to writing about The Note and him, I want the piece to be comprehensive in scope. (Is "comprehensive in scope" redundant?)

Just in case I never get around to doing this comprehensive entry, I want to make note of a compliment this student gave me the other day. I had just finished reading to my eighth-grade students an essay I wrote years ago in college. I use this essay in May every year as a model of descriptive and reflective writing before they write the same. He said, "You write like Stephen King. I loved listening to your essay!" *blush*

A Conundrum
I mentioned to two classes that I have a blog. I was surprised that most of them don't know about blogging because I know that vast numbers of teens blog. I told students that I might give them the link to my blog on the very last day of school. But then I unintentionally mentioned to the second class that I had wanted to write about the student I refer to above. Of course, they wanted to know who it is. Of course, I won't tell them. Now I have a conundrum: share my blog with students? risk revealing the identity of the student who should remain anonymous, assuming I will write that entry? risk revealing more about me than I want students to know?

Pastimes
I'm listening to Air America Radio. A Chicago station carried it for a few weeks, so I could listen to it in the car, but no more. It was taken off. Now I listen to it online.

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Air America Radio has an EZBoard Online Community. In my role of Queen of Procrastination, I have discovered other interesting ezboard communities: All That's Left, Democrats, DIY Politics.

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I've added a few blog links to my list. One that really impresses me--not that many others don't--is feministe. I've figured out how to put links in my text--not difficult, just needed to take the time to do it. I've noticed the blogging trend of linking to websites, so I want to be cool, too. I'm such a follower.

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A website I always have up: Dictionary.com.

Family
K finished her masters program last week and will have her graduation next Thursday. With honors, too! The last three years have been very demanding for her as she continued to work full-time. I'm so proud of her! She and her friend are running in "the nation's largest" Mini-Marathon in Indy right now.

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B and I went to a cousin's wedding in Ohio last week. Seeing all my relatives is always so much fun. Not all of them were there, though. We met H's new boy(man)friend. He's an impressive individual. She's so happy, so I am, too!

Finale
I am quite satisfied with myself right now for having updated my blog before another month passed without an entry! I must now face the piles of papers needing to be graded. Only 21 days of school left!

Now to post and publish to see if the links work.

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