Thursday, March 27, 2008

This has been a brutally dull work week, made worse by the fact that the woman whose desk is next to mine has been acting extra crazy. She's clipping her nails, coddling her college-age children (after high school, no one should be making your doctor appointments but you), and telling me what moles she's getting removed. I'm trying hard not to seem completely uninterested, but it's hard. At least I have these blogs to keep me entertained. I cannot tell you how happy I am to have found them...it's like musically walking through my formative years. Prior to metal, all I listened to was early 90's hip hop and R&B. I also wore purple jeans and Starter Jackets, but I'm not going to get into that. My renewed interest also comes from something Russ and I did last week. We went out on Tuesday for some drinks, and since he played a few 90's hits on the jukebox, we made a list of all the 90's alternative bands we could think of...at bar close, it was at 60+ bands, and I continued to pump many dollars into their ripoff of an itnernet jukebox to hear more three minute songs. But it was really fun to remember them with someone who had the same experience you did. He also pointed out how beautful and simple the subject matter was...all Reality Bites-type stuff about love and coffee and whatnot. I'll have to take a photo of our list and share it. But I've found a few of my favorite 90's songs from the Z. Cavarici days..

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, !!!

These make me so happy.Anyway...the weekend was nice. I was when I woke up on Friday looking forward to a productive day off and found my car (and everything else) completely snowed in. I tried to move it for about 10 minutes with no luck and went back inside defeated. I didn't leave the house again until Saturday morning when I was scheduled to take the Praxis I test. All certified teachers in the state of Wisconsin take need to take Praxis I and II, and if you don't pass, you don't continue in the program, so I was a little nervous. I think it was mostly due to the uber intense test environment...they make you show ID, sign all these forms swearing not to distribute test information, lock all your possessions in a tiny locker, make you show your ID again in the pre-test wrangle area, give you earplugs, and sit you down in a room full of others freaking out in tiny cubicles. Once I got rolling though, it was fun. For some reason, I've always liked taking tests...I think that's why I did so much better in college than I did in high school. And I scored high, so I was happy. Saturday night we had our annual family egg dying party, and dyed 8 dozen eggs! After that we did normal Saturday night stuff...played bar trivia and drank.

We watched Dan In Real Life a few nights ago, and while not much like real life, it was sweet enough to be enjoyable. Any movie that includes Steve Carell dancing is one worth seeing. :) Also watched No Country For Old Men again over the weekend, and the more I see that movie, the more I'm amazed at it. I was reminded of Kundera's writing style...a parable-ish story mixed with thoughts on the bigger picture and how people deal with it. And NCFOM's themes have been on my mind for a long while.

Recent Purchases:
I Like You by Amy Sedaris
Is There No Place On Earth For Me? by Susan Sheehan (on the recommendation of Ms. Sedaris) In The Woods - Omino
Ulver - Shadows of the Sun (so heartbreaking I can barely listen to it)
Soilwork - Stabbing The Drama (total guilty pleasure)
Primordial - The Gathering Wilderness
Edge of Sanity - Crimson (re-buy after I lost this...how did I go so long without it?!!)

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Education is a tough field to work in. I spent the morning hand delivering a letter of termination to a teacher at the high school. It was semi-justified, but a parent pretty much forced the administration's hand. Occasionally something like this happens and I find myself second guessing my choices, but I just need to push through and realize that if I'm a good teacher, the insanity will be minimal. But levels of scrutiny and accountability are high, especially in special education, but I've seen good teachers get reamed by parents. I'm worried that it will affect me emotionally, since I don't deal with conflict well. But since I currently work in the administration office, I only see the problems, and I need to keep some perspective and realize that 95% of families are not completely unstable. Hopefully they'll fall somewhere between neglect and this. Sometimes I think I should just take off and spend my life frosting cakes somewhere, though.

Is it weird that I really don't care about Eliot Spitzer's infidelity? Sure, if I were his wife I'd be devastated, but I've never really been surprised or outraged when I find out that people of influence are boning on the side. It won't affect my life, and it probably wouldn't have affected his ability to do his job. I never understood why religion and sex are such huge issues when it comes to politics. Beyond the fact that he broke the law, I think it's something that's completely between him and his wife. Poor woman.

I just got an email from Frommer's saying "Explore Delaware, Inside and Out". All I can think is this. :)