We have to stay in town for Hurrican Katrina because Mark has to work. That's what happens when you work for "THE News, Talk, and Sports Leader!" of radio.
They're putting us up at the Hyatt, which is next to the building where he works....but we have to rotate the room. They get half as many rooms as there will be people. So for like 12 hours, it'll be ours, while the other people are working. Ugh. We can bring blankets and pillows for if he's working overnight or something.
This looks like it will be the big one. The one that could wash us away. We have to leave the kitties here. We're closing them up in the computer room, because there's stuff they can climb on to escape any flood waters. It's breaking my heart, but that would be the safest room for them, should anything fly through our windows. We can't bring them with us. And my parents have two cats, so they can't take them. They're waiting until morning to decide whether or not they are evacuating. To me, that's too late. But Mayor Nagin is making the final call for mandatory evacuations at daybreak tomorrow.
The thing about this storm is that it snuck up on us. With my work and school schedule, I haven't had time for the newspaper or for TV. So I was vaguely aware of Katrina, just by listening to the radio to and from work and school. But they were expecting her to hit Florida and travel the coast of Florida. Until today, apparently. I mean, Mark works for, as I said, "THE News, Talk, and Sports Leader" of N.O., and when he got off work at 5 yesterday, there was no reason to worry. The principal of my school came around again after work to tell us all to have a nice weekend, asked if we had anything planned. Didn't say anything about paying attention to the local news media to see if we would have school. But today, they announced that the Archdiocesan schools are closed Monday. UNO's website says that they are closed through Tuesday. We went out to dinner with friends last night, then hung out with more people afterwards. No one said anything like, "Hey, are you evacuating?"
We slept in today, and went to the mall around 1:30 to get lunch and kill time. I noticed some buildings were boarding up, and that's nothing unusual. A bar we passed had this sign, "Due to Hurricane Katrina, we will be OPEN on Tuesday!" (Down here, people have hurricane parties...you evacuate from a lower-lying area of town to your friends' or relatives' house in a higher area, and you get food and candles and batteries and booze, and you party because there's nothing else to do. But when the threat is so bad, like it is now, that kinda dies down.) Anyway, we pull up, and there's a bunch of cars, but not many. We pull in the parking garage at Penney's, because that's the only garage and it's so flippin' hot, and walk to the store. An employee was sitting outside on a smoke break, we thought. She stopped us and said, "Store and mall are closed. Sorry." So I guess the cars there were all employees, and I'm guessing the mall had been open.
So now, we're feeling really dumb and very twilight-zoney. We stopped at Burger King and got lunch (yuck), then came home. Mark noticed two voice mails come through, both from his boss. Boss tells him that if he isn't evacuating, they need him to work. He doesn't have to, but that the main bosslady said something to him about, "This is where we separate the men from the boys, especially where pending promotions are concerned." So in other words, if Mark wants this promotion/raise he's been trying to get, he has to work.
So we're stuck here to ride it out. I'm bringing my textbooks with me, along with some stuff for school. But this monster is headed straight for us. She's a Category 3 right now, but they expect her to go to 4 before landfall. That's because she's moving too slowly, and she's building speed and strength.
I'm not religious by any means, but there's a theory that Our Lady of Prompt Succor (quick help in Latin) once saved the city of N.O. when the Ursuline nuns prayed to stop a raging fire that destroyed much of the city. The fire stopped before it reached their convent. OLPH is considered our protector. So when hurricanes come through, the city starts praying to her. The first words out of my mom's mouth were that she was already praying. The craziest part about it is that I'm almost inclined to believe it. The last few big ones headed towards us turned at the last minute. One, I think Lilli, slowed down speeds when it hit the friction of the coast, and we were spared. I'm not a praying person, but I'm hoping that if this is a real thing, that it pulls through. And, I figure my mom is praying enough for me, and maybe about 1,000 other people.
I'll let you know how we fare.
Saturday, August 27, 2005
Thursday, August 25, 2005
Oh yeahhh...
Modern, Cool Nerd 73 % Nerd, 65% Geek, 43% Dork |
For The Record: A Nerd is someone who is passionate about learning/being smart/academia. A Geek is someone who is passionate about some particular area or subject, often an obscure or difficult one. A Dork is someone who has difficulty with common social expectations/interactions. You scored better than half in Nerd and Geek, earning you the title of: Modern, Cool Nerd. Nerds didn't use to be cool, but in the 90's that all changed. It used to be that, if you were a computer expert, you had to wear plaid or a pocket protector or suspenders or something that announced to the world that you couldn't quite fit in. Not anymore. Now, the intelligent and geeky have eked out for themselves a modicum of respect at the very least, and "geek is chic." The Modern, Cool Nerd is intelligent, knowledgable and always the person to call in a crisis (needing computer advice/an arcane bit of trivia knowledge). They are the one you want as your lifeline in Who Wants to Be a Millionaire (or the one up there, winning the million bucks)! Congratulations! |
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My test tracked 3 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender:
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| Link: The Nerd? Geek? or Dork? Test written by donathos on Ok Cupid |
Saturday, August 20, 2005
After the first week...
I think I like it. I still have no clue as to what is going on. But it's working.
As I was telling the group at Chevy's, and I apologize if you're hearing this again, but it's my blog and a lot of people weren't there, so NYAH, but I feel that my years as a camp counselor were leading up to this job. There's the two teachers in the room. We do a lot of hands-on and art activities. They talk pretty much constantly. They get up and wander. Some of them can't help it. We're working on raising your hand to speak, and we're making progress, but a couple of them get up to tell you whatever it is they want to say after they raise their hands. But at least they raise them now.
Some are so frigging SMART. They get everything immediately. My math class has 6 kids. They work hard. Three of them, one of whom is autistic, know the answers to EVERYTHING. We played a game called "mystery number" yesterday. In this game, I told them I was thinking of a number where the number in the tens column was X, and the number in the ones column was Y, and they had to use a chart to guess it. Sometimes, the question was that I was thinking of a number that was X less than Y, and they had to use to chart to find it. If they got it on the first try, they got a point. If they missed it, I got a point. And if they won, they would get stickers. They only missed two. They understood the lesson.
Now, I'm not that creative. That was in the script. We use the Saxon program, and it has a script for the teacher's guide. Can't take credit.
We have one kid who hasn't shown up yet. Apparently, this is typical. We've also been told that we shouldn't expect to ever see the parents, because they don't return phone calls and they ignore conferences. That's so sad. They must care a little that they send their son to our school, but evidently, they don't care enough.
And it is SOOOOOOO nice to have a boss who acknowledges your presence. The principal and the president both smile and ask how you're doing when they see you in the hall. On Friday, the principal came around to tell us to have a nice weekend before he left. In two weeks, I've had more acknolwedgement than I had in 10 years with the Dub.
The one thing I'm not happy about is the fact that they are sooo religious. Yes, it's a Catholic school, so I should expect morning prayers and Mass on Friday. But in addition to the Our Father in the morning, there is the Pledge to the Cross (didn't know that even EXISTED) and the Pledge of Allegiance (which is normal and not religious, except when the objectionable line is said). Then there's the blessing before meals. Also not unusual, and I really wanted to say the Hamotzi the first few times, especially since both start with the letter B in the first word. Sigh. BUT...we go to lunch at 11:45. At noon, the church bells ring. They ring the Angellus. We have to stop eating and pray the Angellus, which includes the Hail Mary about four times. Gah. It takes forever. Not to pleased with the sheer amount of Catholicism. I know...what did I expect...but I didn't know how MUCH was going to be shoved on me. But it's the price I'm paying to avoid getting shot in the N.O. public schools.
As I was telling the group at Chevy's, and I apologize if you're hearing this again, but it's my blog and a lot of people weren't there, so NYAH, but I feel that my years as a camp counselor were leading up to this job. There's the two teachers in the room. We do a lot of hands-on and art activities. They talk pretty much constantly. They get up and wander. Some of them can't help it. We're working on raising your hand to speak, and we're making progress, but a couple of them get up to tell you whatever it is they want to say after they raise their hands. But at least they raise them now.
Some are so frigging SMART. They get everything immediately. My math class has 6 kids. They work hard. Three of them, one of whom is autistic, know the answers to EVERYTHING. We played a game called "mystery number" yesterday. In this game, I told them I was thinking of a number where the number in the tens column was X, and the number in the ones column was Y, and they had to use a chart to guess it. Sometimes, the question was that I was thinking of a number that was X less than Y, and they had to use to chart to find it. If they got it on the first try, they got a point. If they missed it, I got a point. And if they won, they would get stickers. They only missed two. They understood the lesson.
Now, I'm not that creative. That was in the script. We use the Saxon program, and it has a script for the teacher's guide. Can't take credit.
We have one kid who hasn't shown up yet. Apparently, this is typical. We've also been told that we shouldn't expect to ever see the parents, because they don't return phone calls and they ignore conferences. That's so sad. They must care a little that they send their son to our school, but evidently, they don't care enough.
And it is SOOOOOOO nice to have a boss who acknowledges your presence. The principal and the president both smile and ask how you're doing when they see you in the hall. On Friday, the principal came around to tell us to have a nice weekend before he left. In two weeks, I've had more acknolwedgement than I had in 10 years with the Dub.
The one thing I'm not happy about is the fact that they are sooo religious. Yes, it's a Catholic school, so I should expect morning prayers and Mass on Friday. But in addition to the Our Father in the morning, there is the Pledge to the Cross (didn't know that even EXISTED) and the Pledge of Allegiance (which is normal and not religious, except when the objectionable line is said). Then there's the blessing before meals. Also not unusual, and I really wanted to say the Hamotzi the first few times, especially since both start with the letter B in the first word. Sigh. BUT...we go to lunch at 11:45. At noon, the church bells ring. They ring the Angellus. We have to stop eating and pray the Angellus, which includes the Hail Mary about four times. Gah. It takes forever. Not to pleased with the sheer amount of Catholicism. I know...what did I expect...but I didn't know how MUCH was going to be shoved on me. But it's the price I'm paying to avoid getting shot in the N.O. public schools.
Tuesday, August 16, 2005
First day of school.
Well, I lived.
Let's list the points. They aren't necessarily highs, they aren't necessarily lows....just points.
-- Made it to work on time.
-- Forgot to buy lunch stuff, so I grabbed some TGI Friday's steak quesadillas out of the freezer. Pathetisad.
-- Our autistic boy threw a fit before school, but did fine. He wanted to go home about halfway through the day, so he kept telling us he didn't feel well. But each time, the pain was in a different spot: back, stomach, head, eye. So he had obviously just had enough and was ready to leave.
-- Another kid, who is overly affectionate, kept trying to sit in our laps. He ran up to me in the middle of spelling and kissed my hand. He spent most of the day crying. I said the word "math, " and he burst into tears. Then, a kid said the word "homework, " and he lsot it.
-- The kids wander a lot. Some can't help it. Others do it because they see everyone else doing it. It's hard to tell which ones are which. The ones who have to, we let. The others have to sit.
-- The room is noisy. It's kind of the nature of the beast, though. We have a "Yacker Tracker, " which is a traffic light that reacts to decibels. If it gets too loud, a siren goes off and the red light lights up. It works, in a way. But they're fascinated by it. They like to try to make it go off. So what we do is, we make them sit in silence for 5 minutes, and we set a timer. If they talk during that time, the time starts over. That's how I did time-outs at the JCC. Setting off the lights will get old after a while, though.
-- The library isn't finished its makeover yet, so the librarian had to come to us. But the kids were good.
-- Our girl from Thibodaux isn't coming any more. They were buying a house here, but the deal fell through. This was going to leave us with one girl. Another class only had one girl, too, so they moved her to ours. And, we had a little girl touring the classes today who will be in our class. Which makes the statistic correct: the ratio of girls to boys with learning disabilities is 1:3. We'll have 17 total, which is a big class.
-- To little boys fought over who I was going to sit by at lunch.
-- No one had to go to the Cool Down room or the Time Out room. So, YAY!!!
-- One of the other teachers brought us motivational cards with quotes from Maya Angelou on them and some Dove Promises. She's great.
-- You should SEE the supplies they had to bring. We spent most of the day switching off on who had to teach and who had to unpack. It was CRAZY. We ALMOST finished.
-- Stayed at school until 5:30.
So, in all, it was a fabulous first day. It'll take some time getting into it, but I think I'll be okay.
Let's list the points. They aren't necessarily highs, they aren't necessarily lows....just points.
-- Made it to work on time.
-- Forgot to buy lunch stuff, so I grabbed some TGI Friday's steak quesadillas out of the freezer. Pathetisad.
-- Our autistic boy threw a fit before school, but did fine. He wanted to go home about halfway through the day, so he kept telling us he didn't feel well. But each time, the pain was in a different spot: back, stomach, head, eye. So he had obviously just had enough and was ready to leave.
-- Another kid, who is overly affectionate, kept trying to sit in our laps. He ran up to me in the middle of spelling and kissed my hand. He spent most of the day crying. I said the word "math, " and he burst into tears. Then, a kid said the word "homework, " and he lsot it.
-- The kids wander a lot. Some can't help it. Others do it because they see everyone else doing it. It's hard to tell which ones are which. The ones who have to, we let. The others have to sit.
-- The room is noisy. It's kind of the nature of the beast, though. We have a "Yacker Tracker, " which is a traffic light that reacts to decibels. If it gets too loud, a siren goes off and the red light lights up. It works, in a way. But they're fascinated by it. They like to try to make it go off. So what we do is, we make them sit in silence for 5 minutes, and we set a timer. If they talk during that time, the time starts over. That's how I did time-outs at the JCC. Setting off the lights will get old after a while, though.
-- The library isn't finished its makeover yet, so the librarian had to come to us. But the kids were good.
-- Our girl from Thibodaux isn't coming any more. They were buying a house here, but the deal fell through. This was going to leave us with one girl. Another class only had one girl, too, so they moved her to ours. And, we had a little girl touring the classes today who will be in our class. Which makes the statistic correct: the ratio of girls to boys with learning disabilities is 1:3. We'll have 17 total, which is a big class.
-- To little boys fought over who I was going to sit by at lunch.
-- No one had to go to the Cool Down room or the Time Out room. So, YAY!!!
-- One of the other teachers brought us motivational cards with quotes from Maya Angelou on them and some Dove Promises. She's great.
-- You should SEE the supplies they had to bring. We spent most of the day switching off on who had to teach and who had to unpack. It was CRAZY. We ALMOST finished.
-- Stayed at school until 5:30.
So, in all, it was a fabulous first day. It'll take some time getting into it, but I think I'll be okay.
Wednesday, August 10, 2005
Oy vey...
Talk about small worlds and reprogramming....
So we had a guest speaker at teacher inservices today...the father of one of the families I've known through the J over the last 10 years....four kids....had all of them...one IMs me to this day... Apparently, he speaks to us once a month. Random!
Also, a mom who used to bring her cute little boy to babysitting is the accountant for HRA.
In addition, a family with three boys, one of whom got lost in WDW last year and almost lost his $40 cowboy hat out west this year, attends the school.
But on to reprogramming...so, after working with children only in a Jewish environment, I need to retrain my brain to work in a Catholic setting. For instance, I have been joking around that when Halloween and Valentine's Day roll around, I'll have to remember that not only can I talk about these holidays, but I can decorate, celebrate, and teach them. But that was a joke, mostly.
Yesterday, I was helping my co-teacher go through boxes of supplies, and I found a jar filled with colored stones. It looked like candy until I picked it up, and I was thinking that we could give it to the kids for rewards. Then I picked up the jar, not to unpack it, but to see if the candy was kosher. D'oh!
Then, they were talking about how we can use the kitchen for instructional methods if we want, and I was ready to take a tour of it and learn where the dairy and meat sides were, and then I felt excited when I realized that I no longer need approval for items brought in!!! And best of all, no Rabbi Schfiftyfive lording over the kitchen! Woo-woooo!
So we had a guest speaker at teacher inservices today...the father of one of the families I've known through the J over the last 10 years....four kids....had all of them...one IMs me to this day... Apparently, he speaks to us once a month. Random!
Also, a mom who used to bring her cute little boy to babysitting is the accountant for HRA.
In addition, a family with three boys, one of whom got lost in WDW last year and almost lost his $40 cowboy hat out west this year, attends the school.
But on to reprogramming...so, after working with children only in a Jewish environment, I need to retrain my brain to work in a Catholic setting. For instance, I have been joking around that when Halloween and Valentine's Day roll around, I'll have to remember that not only can I talk about these holidays, but I can decorate, celebrate, and teach them. But that was a joke, mostly.
Yesterday, I was helping my co-teacher go through boxes of supplies, and I found a jar filled with colored stones. It looked like candy until I picked it up, and I was thinking that we could give it to the kids for rewards. Then I picked up the jar, not to unpack it, but to see if the candy was kosher. D'oh!
Then, they were talking about how we can use the kitchen for instructional methods if we want, and I was ready to take a tour of it and learn where the dairy and meat sides were, and then I felt excited when I realized that I no longer need approval for items brought in!!! And best of all, no Rabbi Schfiftyfive lording over the kitchen! Woo-woooo!
Monday, August 01, 2005
ARRRRRRRG all around!
So we spent the weekend in Grand Isle. And on Sunday, I woke up sweating like crazy. Which is unusual for Grand Isle, as I am always frozen from the little window units. I felt like crap, too. Then I froze. Then the sweating. Uh-oh. That can mean only one thing: fever. Then I realized how bad my stomach was feeling. And I spent a lot of time in the bathroom, worshipping the porcelain gods, while the family was at the church I refuse to go to.
Unfortunately, Mark had to be to work for 6, so after one more good heave, we hit the road. And I made it back okay. But around nine, all of the water I'd been drinking came back to say hello. I realized that I was just starving. I'd gotten rid of the four bites of toast I'd had earlier. Mark was working 'til midnight. We didn't have any bread or crackers or bland stuff, so I called my parents, who brought over soup, saltines, Gatorade, Sprite, and emetrol. (Which I ended up not having to take.)
So I'm home today, instead of working mini-camp. Not necessarily a bad thing, simply because I really haven't stopped in two weeks, what with trip camp and all. Mom calls to check on me. Ten minutes later, the phone rings.
It's the principal at my high school alma mater, wanting to know if I had a job right now because they had a last minute personnel change. WAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That's the only job I wanted!!!!!!!!! But a week before school starts, I can't turn them down. So I asked to PLEASE be kept in mind for next year, and she said she'd put a note on my file. I AM HEARTBROKEN BEYOND WORDS.
Unfortunately, Mark had to be to work for 6, so after one more good heave, we hit the road. And I made it back okay. But around nine, all of the water I'd been drinking came back to say hello. I realized that I was just starving. I'd gotten rid of the four bites of toast I'd had earlier. Mark was working 'til midnight. We didn't have any bread or crackers or bland stuff, so I called my parents, who brought over soup, saltines, Gatorade, Sprite, and emetrol. (Which I ended up not having to take.)
So I'm home today, instead of working mini-camp. Not necessarily a bad thing, simply because I really haven't stopped in two weeks, what with trip camp and all. Mom calls to check on me. Ten minutes later, the phone rings.
It's the principal at my high school alma mater, wanting to know if I had a job right now because they had a last minute personnel change. WAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That's the only job I wanted!!!!!!!!! But a week before school starts, I can't turn them down. So I asked to PLEASE be kept in mind for next year, and she said she'd put a note on my file. I AM HEARTBROKEN BEYOND WORDS.
Monday, July 25, 2005
This one time, at band camp....
Western Adventure...
Camp Director was supposed to pick me up at 5:30 a.m. to get to the airport before 6:15, when the kids were supposed to get there. 6 a.m., I hadn't seen or heard from her, and she wasn't answering her phone. So I got Mark to bring me to the airport. At 6:45, she called me frantically. She'd set her alarm wrong. We had to be checked in by 7:30 for our 8 a.m. flight. She made it at 7:20.
Flight was okay, for a flight. It's a well-documented fact that I hate to fly.
We landed in Phoenix, and it was scorching. Went to Baja Fresh, met Mary and Tim there. Yay! Delivered, by hand, the wedding magazine female Blake works for. Saw her ring. Pretty! Went to Cracker Jax, a Celebration Station-type place. Drove go-karts and bumper boats. It was so hot that we practically dried instantly. Walked through Old Town Scottsdale. Drove down to Prescott, AZ, to Camp Charles Pearlstein, our home for two nights. Food was better than at Camp Barney Medintz, especially the cinnamon rolls. On the first night, I got stung twice by a wasp. I've never been stung before, and I was so afraid of anaphylactic shock. I convinced myself that I was going to die. My chest was hurting. My mouth went dry....apparently, I was just freaked out, because I survived.
Next day, we went to Sedona and took a Jeep Tour of the red rocks. We saw the world's only McDonald's with teal arches. Only one other Mickey D's has non-golden arches...it's in Australia, and those are white.
After that, we went to Slide Rock State Park, a natural water park. Basically, it's pretty gross. It's a bunch of slippery rocks and each step brings you closer to broken bones as you slip your way through the water. Some kids jumped off a 20-foot cliff into water. Some went to a 60-foot one. Or so they said. There was a natural slide, too. I ripped my shorts on a rock and skinned my arse in the process, but it was tons of fun. The water was icy. VERY icy. Odd, considering it was over 100 degrees. But a welcome change. I'm guessing Anne is formulating all sorts of reasons why A. that happens and B. it's a disgusting thing to do, and that she'll reply, heehee. Anyhoo...
Went back to CCP. Got up at 5:30 again to go to Las Vegas. Yes, Las Vegas with children. Stopped at the Grand Canyon. Saw the IMAX about it first. Then we moved on to the actual thing. It was very hazy, unfortunately. But cool. And way huger than I ever imagined. On the way, apparently, our bus started having technical difficulties. Our driver, Ralph, who looked like Tweedle-dee and talked like Dan Ackroyd and Louie Anderson's love child, is a psycho hose beast. I wanted to buy him a mansierre. A bro, if you will. Geez. Anyway, we had to get the bus fixed, so we randomly ended up at Bedrock Park, a replica of the town from The Flintstones, while that happened. It could not have been any lamer. We tried to make the best of it. But there's only so much fun you can have there. It would probably be fun if you were 3 years old and it was November, but for our middle-schoolers in July, not so much. I almost bought a Jackelope, but there was no guarantee that it wasn't a taxidermied bunny. I couldn't tell.
Bus fixed. So we thought. We ended up driving 20 miles an hour on the freeway to Vegas with an increasingly surly bus driver who kept yelling at the kids, even though they were better behaved than they've ever been. EVER.
We got to Vegas late. Checked into the Excalibur hotel. Cool enough. Had dinner and took a walking tour of our hotel, the Luxor, and Mandalay Bay. (They're all connected.) Went outside and did a quick tour of the strip in our immediate area. Had some pimps try to give us cards. Awesome. Gotta love legalized prostitution. Got back, showered, went to bed. Boss' daughter, who was in my room, spewed. I don't handle that. Had she had explosive diarrhea, no problem. Wet the bed? Fine. Bled everywhere? Okay. Puke? Call for backup. She may be lactose intolerant, and she'd had ice cream after dinner. Immediately after, another girl in my room had a nightmare. Not a restful night.
Next morning, both were fine. Spent the morning at the hotel pool. Went to the huge, delicious buffet in the hotel. Rode in bus with apologetic bus driver to Circus Circus to go to Adventure Dome, the indoor Amusement Park, and to watch circus acts. Started a 5 mile walk back towards our hotel. Saw the Bellagio Fountains, the gondolas at the Venetian, and everythign else along the way. Went to Gameworks, an arcade, for a "birthday party," where we had one-hour game cards, pizza, unlimited softdrinks, and cake. That was followed by a trip to M&M World. Mmmm....
Got up at 5:30 again to drive to California. Got a new bus, but not a new driver. New bus: broken VCR and NO BATHROOM, same surly driver. But we could do the speed limit!
Arrived in California. Went to the Farmer's Market for lunch. Saw Donald Faison of Clueless and, apparently, Scrubs fame. Shopped in the Grove. Drove through little Israel. Went to Grauman's Chinese Theatre and the Walk of Fame. Went to the Hollywood Wax Museum, then drove through Beverly Hills and Rodeo Drive. Had dinner at In N Out Burger...mmmm...followed that with dessert at Diddy Riese. They make cookies and ice cream. For one dollar, you can get a sandwich made with 2 cookies of your choice and the ice cream of your choice. So I got chocolate chip cookies and mint chocolate chip ice cream. And....I fell in love with it.
Then we drove out to Malibu, to Camp JCA Shalom, our home for the next two nights. Only...
We were driving along Pacific Coast Highway (PCH), and we were driving for a very long time. It was beautiful, as we watched the sun set. I used that time to make my nightly call to Mark. After an hour or so of driving, friggin' Ralph announces that he has no idea where we'e going. So Pam convinces him to pull in at a gas station, but no one can tell us how to get to Mulholland HWY, as all of the people are tourists. So, we look at a map, think we figure out how to get there, and backtrack about half an hour. We go up Topanga Canyon, which is a long, steep, winding 2-lane mountain road with no shoulder. We finally hear back from the JCA people, who tell us we're waaaayyy off in the wrong direction. At this point, Ralph decides to try to turn around.
Bear in mind that this is a two-lane, long, winding, steep mountain road with no shoulder and that it is midnight. And that he decides to turn around right by a curve in the road.
And so, as we're yelling at him to keep going to find a better place, a car whips around the corner and slams on its brakes. It stops about a foot from the car. Pam and I screamed our heads off as impending doom and bright headlights approach, bringing certain death with them. Then as we're breathing again, a second car whips around the corner and almost slams into the first. They manage to move on. We breathe again. Then car number three whips around at a slower speed than the first two and the cycle repeats. I have never been so close to or so afraid of death in my life. We drove forward after that, and we found an intersection. So we backed into it and turned around safely. JCA Shalom staff came in three cars to meet us at the bottom of the mountain. We waited a while for them, since they were almost 45 minutes away, and we peed outside of the bus under blankets. Such bonding. The staff picked us up and brought us up another loooooong and winding rooooooaaad. We were all so bus sick from the roads. No one vomited, but we were all very ill. It was so late, we were trying to decide whether or not to bathe. They brought us to our tent. As we're putting our stuff (the girls, that is) away, one of the girls says, "Oh, look...a bird came in here!" I looked and saw something frantically flying around the top of the tent. "Wait...that's not a bird, is it?" I asked the staff person helping us.
Her eyes got wide, and we all crouched to the floor in unison. Apparently, the camp had never had a bat before. GREAT! So they moved us to the small side of the conference center. Showering was no longer an option. Then, I lost a contact. We passed out almost immediately.
The next day, we took a scary bus ride back down the mountain, and we went to Universal Studios. We did a few rides, then began our oh-so-scary trip back up the mountain to camp. We made it back before Sundown. We had a Shabbat dinner of chicken, chicken soup, potatoes, salad with Italian dressing, chocolate cake-like brownies, and something else, but I can't remember what. Then we all moved to the big side of the conference center. It had a big garage door, which we left up. We slept with it open. But before that, we all showered, then got together for a Texas Hold 'Em tournament with Wallace's new poker chips from Vegas. We took a night hike, then snacked on Snickers bars and Coke. While Pam was off somewhere doing something, Wallace wandered into the conference center kitchen. Empty, of course. Empty, except for one thing.
He came up to me with a weird look on his face, leaned over, and whispered, "We have a potential situation in the kitchen which I think we need to deal with immediately." So I followed him to the kitchen and saw...the biggest, blackest, hairiest thing I've ever seen in my life:
A TARANTULA! A HUGE FUCKING TARANTULA! AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I fear tiny spiders. Imagine how I felt upon seeing Quentin Tarantulatino two feet away from me. We eventually found some staff, who threw him on the mountain. I took a picture. If you want to see it, or any other pictures, let me know and I'll e-mail the Kodak Gallery link to you. So during poker, a SECOND tarantula wandered into the conference center. This one, the kids saw. Much screaming ensued. From them, me, Pam, and maybe even Wallace. The assistant camp director was there, and he caught it in a cup and threw it on the hill.
Despite this, though, the camp was beautiful. And the neighborhood! We passed Cher's house on PCH. We learned that Pamela Anderson was our neighbor. We learned that Martin Sheen was also our neighbor. We learned later on that night on our night hike that he has a huge honking TV, which you can see beaming out across the mountains. We learned that the huge satellites near the camp were featured in Austin Powers 2. And...best of all....we learned that Camp JCA Shalom's boys' side is....BAND CAMP from American Pie 2!!! How fitting is that? People used to say I look like band camp girl, and most of my stories begin with, "This one time, at camp...." and someone once said that I should say, "This one time, at Jew camp..." and it's so funny, because apparently, band camp really WAS Jew camp! Random tangent over.
On Saturday, we woke up early and packed. We went to the zip line, which was HUGE and tons of fun. The worst part was climbing the tree to get to the platform. I have no upper body strength. The guy had to help me. But I loved it all the same. We had a Shabbat lunch of sandwiches, then loaded the bus. we loaded up on fruit, granola, Snickers, and water, lathered on sunscreen, and covered our heads. Then, led by an Israeli named Maayaan who looked like Henry Rollins, we started on a 7 mile hike down the mountains to the Malibu beach. It took four hours. We lost one camper to a possible first-ever asthma attack. We sent her on the pickup truck that brought us water about a third of the way through the hike. That was the end of the most difficult part, but we didn't want to take chances with her. It was a difficult trail. I've never felt dirtier, more exhausted, more sore, or more accomplishment in my life. We got scratched up, a tick was on my shirt, but a guide caught it before it could move to my skin, Wallace had one they had to remove. But it was such a once-in-a-lifetime event. I wouldn't have passed it up for anything. To make it up the difficult, steep, hot, brambly, loose-rocked trail, to stand on a peak, to take in the surroundings, to see the Pacific Ocean finally appear, to make it to the bottom, to look stand and look at where we'd just been and marvel over making it finally, to running down to the beach in Malibu....that's just something I can never forget. I'm still in pain from it, but what are you gonna do? It reminds me that I DID IT. That I made it to tell the tale.
We played in the Ocean for a while, then rinsed off and changed on the bus in shifts. We went to Buca di Beppo's, a family-style Italian restaurant and had a mini-Havdallah at the Pope's Table. It's a huge round table with a massive lazy Susan in the middle. You order tons of food (smalls are large, larges are phenomenal) and spin it around to share. We fit all 15 of us. The food was most excellent, the company was good, and we all left happy. After that, we went to the Santa Monica Pier and rode the rides. At 12:30, when the Pier closed, we went to a HOJO in Los Angeles. We checked in, ditched Ralph in favor of the airport shuttle, and had the lights go out momentarily. At first, I was afraid it was an earthquake. I mean, how much more horrible stuff could possible happen? But it was just a quick blackout. It was fixed within a minute, and we went ot our rooms. We showered (we got a suite, while the other rooms had roll-aways and were cramped... Pam called it a thank-you-for-the-summer) and passed out.
Got up at 8:30, loaded the shuttle, went to LAX. Hung out for a while, got on the plane, and left the beautiful California weather. We hit turbulance on the approach to New Orleans, and after we landed and we were waiting for our baggage, they got on the speakers and announced that the ramps were closed due to lightning. But we were HOME. No more travelling! Well, we're going to Grand Isle this weekend, but I don't consider it travelling, per se.
One week left of camp, then a possible week off/mild labor week at the J, then I start the new job with 6 days of in-services!!!! YAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!
Adam, Liz, and I are all leaving around the same time, so we're planning a big bash at some point to celebrate our freedom. Parrrtayyyyy...and how improper for a school-marm!
Camp Director was supposed to pick me up at 5:30 a.m. to get to the airport before 6:15, when the kids were supposed to get there. 6 a.m., I hadn't seen or heard from her, and she wasn't answering her phone. So I got Mark to bring me to the airport. At 6:45, she called me frantically. She'd set her alarm wrong. We had to be checked in by 7:30 for our 8 a.m. flight. She made it at 7:20.
Flight was okay, for a flight. It's a well-documented fact that I hate to fly.
We landed in Phoenix, and it was scorching. Went to Baja Fresh, met Mary and Tim there. Yay! Delivered, by hand, the wedding magazine female Blake works for. Saw her ring. Pretty! Went to Cracker Jax, a Celebration Station-type place. Drove go-karts and bumper boats. It was so hot that we practically dried instantly. Walked through Old Town Scottsdale. Drove down to Prescott, AZ, to Camp Charles Pearlstein, our home for two nights. Food was better than at Camp Barney Medintz, especially the cinnamon rolls. On the first night, I got stung twice by a wasp. I've never been stung before, and I was so afraid of anaphylactic shock. I convinced myself that I was going to die. My chest was hurting. My mouth went dry....apparently, I was just freaked out, because I survived.
Next day, we went to Sedona and took a Jeep Tour of the red rocks. We saw the world's only McDonald's with teal arches. Only one other Mickey D's has non-golden arches...it's in Australia, and those are white.
After that, we went to Slide Rock State Park, a natural water park. Basically, it's pretty gross. It's a bunch of slippery rocks and each step brings you closer to broken bones as you slip your way through the water. Some kids jumped off a 20-foot cliff into water. Some went to a 60-foot one. Or so they said. There was a natural slide, too. I ripped my shorts on a rock and skinned my arse in the process, but it was tons of fun. The water was icy. VERY icy. Odd, considering it was over 100 degrees. But a welcome change. I'm guessing Anne is formulating all sorts of reasons why A. that happens and B. it's a disgusting thing to do, and that she'll reply, heehee. Anyhoo...
Went back to CCP. Got up at 5:30 again to go to Las Vegas. Yes, Las Vegas with children. Stopped at the Grand Canyon. Saw the IMAX about it first. Then we moved on to the actual thing. It was very hazy, unfortunately. But cool. And way huger than I ever imagined. On the way, apparently, our bus started having technical difficulties. Our driver, Ralph, who looked like Tweedle-dee and talked like Dan Ackroyd and Louie Anderson's love child, is a psycho hose beast. I wanted to buy him a mansierre. A bro, if you will. Geez. Anyway, we had to get the bus fixed, so we randomly ended up at Bedrock Park, a replica of the town from The Flintstones, while that happened. It could not have been any lamer. We tried to make the best of it. But there's only so much fun you can have there. It would probably be fun if you were 3 years old and it was November, but for our middle-schoolers in July, not so much. I almost bought a Jackelope, but there was no guarantee that it wasn't a taxidermied bunny. I couldn't tell.
Bus fixed. So we thought. We ended up driving 20 miles an hour on the freeway to Vegas with an increasingly surly bus driver who kept yelling at the kids, even though they were better behaved than they've ever been. EVER.
We got to Vegas late. Checked into the Excalibur hotel. Cool enough. Had dinner and took a walking tour of our hotel, the Luxor, and Mandalay Bay. (They're all connected.) Went outside and did a quick tour of the strip in our immediate area. Had some pimps try to give us cards. Awesome. Gotta love legalized prostitution. Got back, showered, went to bed. Boss' daughter, who was in my room, spewed. I don't handle that. Had she had explosive diarrhea, no problem. Wet the bed? Fine. Bled everywhere? Okay. Puke? Call for backup. She may be lactose intolerant, and she'd had ice cream after dinner. Immediately after, another girl in my room had a nightmare. Not a restful night.
Next morning, both were fine. Spent the morning at the hotel pool. Went to the huge, delicious buffet in the hotel. Rode in bus with apologetic bus driver to Circus Circus to go to Adventure Dome, the indoor Amusement Park, and to watch circus acts. Started a 5 mile walk back towards our hotel. Saw the Bellagio Fountains, the gondolas at the Venetian, and everythign else along the way. Went to Gameworks, an arcade, for a "birthday party," where we had one-hour game cards, pizza, unlimited softdrinks, and cake. That was followed by a trip to M&M World. Mmmm....
Got up at 5:30 again to drive to California. Got a new bus, but not a new driver. New bus: broken VCR and NO BATHROOM, same surly driver. But we could do the speed limit!
Arrived in California. Went to the Farmer's Market for lunch. Saw Donald Faison of Clueless and, apparently, Scrubs fame. Shopped in the Grove. Drove through little Israel. Went to Grauman's Chinese Theatre and the Walk of Fame. Went to the Hollywood Wax Museum, then drove through Beverly Hills and Rodeo Drive. Had dinner at In N Out Burger...mmmm...followed that with dessert at Diddy Riese. They make cookies and ice cream. For one dollar, you can get a sandwich made with 2 cookies of your choice and the ice cream of your choice. So I got chocolate chip cookies and mint chocolate chip ice cream. And....I fell in love with it.
Then we drove out to Malibu, to Camp JCA Shalom, our home for the next two nights. Only...
We were driving along Pacific Coast Highway (PCH), and we were driving for a very long time. It was beautiful, as we watched the sun set. I used that time to make my nightly call to Mark. After an hour or so of driving, friggin' Ralph announces that he has no idea where we'e going. So Pam convinces him to pull in at a gas station, but no one can tell us how to get to Mulholland HWY, as all of the people are tourists. So, we look at a map, think we figure out how to get there, and backtrack about half an hour. We go up Topanga Canyon, which is a long, steep, winding 2-lane mountain road with no shoulder. We finally hear back from the JCA people, who tell us we're waaaayyy off in the wrong direction. At this point, Ralph decides to try to turn around.
Bear in mind that this is a two-lane, long, winding, steep mountain road with no shoulder and that it is midnight. And that he decides to turn around right by a curve in the road.
And so, as we're yelling at him to keep going to find a better place, a car whips around the corner and slams on its brakes. It stops about a foot from the car. Pam and I screamed our heads off as impending doom and bright headlights approach, bringing certain death with them. Then as we're breathing again, a second car whips around the corner and almost slams into the first. They manage to move on. We breathe again. Then car number three whips around at a slower speed than the first two and the cycle repeats. I have never been so close to or so afraid of death in my life. We drove forward after that, and we found an intersection. So we backed into it and turned around safely. JCA Shalom staff came in three cars to meet us at the bottom of the mountain. We waited a while for them, since they were almost 45 minutes away, and we peed outside of the bus under blankets. Such bonding. The staff picked us up and brought us up another loooooong and winding rooooooaaad. We were all so bus sick from the roads. No one vomited, but we were all very ill. It was so late, we were trying to decide whether or not to bathe. They brought us to our tent. As we're putting our stuff (the girls, that is) away, one of the girls says, "Oh, look...a bird came in here!" I looked and saw something frantically flying around the top of the tent. "Wait...that's not a bird, is it?" I asked the staff person helping us.
Her eyes got wide, and we all crouched to the floor in unison. Apparently, the camp had never had a bat before. GREAT! So they moved us to the small side of the conference center. Showering was no longer an option. Then, I lost a contact. We passed out almost immediately.
The next day, we took a scary bus ride back down the mountain, and we went to Universal Studios. We did a few rides, then began our oh-so-scary trip back up the mountain to camp. We made it back before Sundown. We had a Shabbat dinner of chicken, chicken soup, potatoes, salad with Italian dressing, chocolate cake-like brownies, and something else, but I can't remember what. Then we all moved to the big side of the conference center. It had a big garage door, which we left up. We slept with it open. But before that, we all showered, then got together for a Texas Hold 'Em tournament with Wallace's new poker chips from Vegas. We took a night hike, then snacked on Snickers bars and Coke. While Pam was off somewhere doing something, Wallace wandered into the conference center kitchen. Empty, of course. Empty, except for one thing.
He came up to me with a weird look on his face, leaned over, and whispered, "We have a potential situation in the kitchen which I think we need to deal with immediately." So I followed him to the kitchen and saw...the biggest, blackest, hairiest thing I've ever seen in my life:
A TARANTULA! A HUGE FUCKING TARANTULA! AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I fear tiny spiders. Imagine how I felt upon seeing Quentin Tarantulatino two feet away from me. We eventually found some staff, who threw him on the mountain. I took a picture. If you want to see it, or any other pictures, let me know and I'll e-mail the Kodak Gallery link to you. So during poker, a SECOND tarantula wandered into the conference center. This one, the kids saw. Much screaming ensued. From them, me, Pam, and maybe even Wallace. The assistant camp director was there, and he caught it in a cup and threw it on the hill.
Despite this, though, the camp was beautiful. And the neighborhood! We passed Cher's house on PCH. We learned that Pamela Anderson was our neighbor. We learned that Martin Sheen was also our neighbor. We learned later on that night on our night hike that he has a huge honking TV, which you can see beaming out across the mountains. We learned that the huge satellites near the camp were featured in Austin Powers 2. And...best of all....we learned that Camp JCA Shalom's boys' side is....BAND CAMP from American Pie 2!!! How fitting is that? People used to say I look like band camp girl, and most of my stories begin with, "This one time, at camp...." and someone once said that I should say, "This one time, at Jew camp..." and it's so funny, because apparently, band camp really WAS Jew camp! Random tangent over.
On Saturday, we woke up early and packed. We went to the zip line, which was HUGE and tons of fun. The worst part was climbing the tree to get to the platform. I have no upper body strength. The guy had to help me. But I loved it all the same. We had a Shabbat lunch of sandwiches, then loaded the bus. we loaded up on fruit, granola, Snickers, and water, lathered on sunscreen, and covered our heads. Then, led by an Israeli named Maayaan who looked like Henry Rollins, we started on a 7 mile hike down the mountains to the Malibu beach. It took four hours. We lost one camper to a possible first-ever asthma attack. We sent her on the pickup truck that brought us water about a third of the way through the hike. That was the end of the most difficult part, but we didn't want to take chances with her. It was a difficult trail. I've never felt dirtier, more exhausted, more sore, or more accomplishment in my life. We got scratched up, a tick was on my shirt, but a guide caught it before it could move to my skin, Wallace had one they had to remove. But it was such a once-in-a-lifetime event. I wouldn't have passed it up for anything. To make it up the difficult, steep, hot, brambly, loose-rocked trail, to stand on a peak, to take in the surroundings, to see the Pacific Ocean finally appear, to make it to the bottom, to look stand and look at where we'd just been and marvel over making it finally, to running down to the beach in Malibu....that's just something I can never forget. I'm still in pain from it, but what are you gonna do? It reminds me that I DID IT. That I made it to tell the tale.
We played in the Ocean for a while, then rinsed off and changed on the bus in shifts. We went to Buca di Beppo's, a family-style Italian restaurant and had a mini-Havdallah at the Pope's Table. It's a huge round table with a massive lazy Susan in the middle. You order tons of food (smalls are large, larges are phenomenal) and spin it around to share. We fit all 15 of us. The food was most excellent, the company was good, and we all left happy. After that, we went to the Santa Monica Pier and rode the rides. At 12:30, when the Pier closed, we went to a HOJO in Los Angeles. We checked in, ditched Ralph in favor of the airport shuttle, and had the lights go out momentarily. At first, I was afraid it was an earthquake. I mean, how much more horrible stuff could possible happen? But it was just a quick blackout. It was fixed within a minute, and we went ot our rooms. We showered (we got a suite, while the other rooms had roll-aways and were cramped... Pam called it a thank-you-for-the-summer) and passed out.
Got up at 8:30, loaded the shuttle, went to LAX. Hung out for a while, got on the plane, and left the beautiful California weather. We hit turbulance on the approach to New Orleans, and after we landed and we were waiting for our baggage, they got on the speakers and announced that the ramps were closed due to lightning. But we were HOME. No more travelling! Well, we're going to Grand Isle this weekend, but I don't consider it travelling, per se.
One week left of camp, then a possible week off/mild labor week at the J, then I start the new job with 6 days of in-services!!!! YAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!
Adam, Liz, and I are all leaving around the same time, so we're planning a big bash at some point to celebrate our freedom. Parrrtayyyyy...and how improper for a school-marm!
Sunday, July 10, 2005
Tennessee you later
I slept in my own bed last night!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Last weekend, we spent Friday night 'til Sunday afternoon in Grand Isle. We may or may not have gotten out of the Gulf due to a shark. It may or may not have been a dolphin or porpoise. But in light of recent attacks, we felt it better to get out of the cesspool that is the beach at Grand Isle.
Although, the infinitely wise grandmother-in-law said we wouldn't have to worry about sharks coming to Grand Isle because "we have warm water here, and sharks don't like it where it's warm. They go where it's cooler." Yeah. That explains why there are so many sharks in Antarctica instead of Florida.
Spent Monday with my parents while Mark worked. Packed. Watched "Team America." The funny thing about that movie is that it's political to you. It caters to your beliefs. To me, it blasts the war, calling it dumb, and blasts America for being so self-righteous. To Kurt, it exists totally to show movie stars how dumb they are for protesting the war. To Matt, it was a terrific send-up spoof of action films. So, bravo, you comedic geniuses. But, next time, take out the vomit and add more puppet sex. And panthers.
Sex panthers?
Anyway, moving right along...
Went to Tennessee on Tuesday. Stayed in Memphis overnight. Saw Graceland, that paeon to all that is wrong with American pop culture, and went to a mall to play blacklight mini-golf, blacklight bowling, and to get an aqua massage, which is heaven on Earth. This year, they even made the water heated. Oh yeah...pardon me while I revel in that memory for a moment...
Moved on to Nashville Wednesday. Went to the COuntry Music Hall of Fame. LAAAAAME. Went to Nashville Shores Water Park. Didn't have many slides. We got bored of it quickly. Moved on to a mall. Ate a good salad. It had eggplant and feta in it. Need I say more? Went to the Nashville JCC. We had six kids and three adults: me, new guy, and an Israeli guy who was fun. Reminded me of Alex. Just darker complected. And not a stoner. Annnnyyyyywaaaayyy...the J was HUGE. The bathroom/locker room area was divided into under 17 and over 18. We could use the adult locker rooms, but the kids couldn't. As the only female counselor, I felt like royalty, plunging into the hot tub, having total control of the room, and complete and utter privacy.
Decided that my problems with camp this year come from the two girls who were on the trip. Big surprise, it's my Ritalin kids. I'm giving them to Pam on the Western Adventure. Sorry, but I'll be with Ritalin kids all year long...I'll need a major break.
Like the other campers. Have lost all tolerance with these two girls.
And back to the stories.
New guy didn't have a chance for major eff ups this time around. Not enough kids, and too many adults. As well as not enough chances to lead a group around. Almost had fun with him.
On Thursday, we drove three hours to Whitwell, TN. It's in the Appalachains, and it's about as far-removed from society as possible. The guy we spoke with there said some people still don't have running water and use rain barrels to bathe. Some do not have electricity yet. I didn't know areas like this still existed.
So why Whitwell?
Whitwell is home to Whitwell Middle School, subject of the Miramax documentary "Paperclips." It is a town of 1,500. WMS had four black students and one hispanic. All the rest are white Protestants. Most never leave the valley. But they started a project to study the Holocaust. They wanted to collect 6 million paperclips to represent the 6 million exterminated Jews. The project started in 1998. At the end of the first year, they had not collected even 1 million. They projected that it would take 10 years to reach the goal at the current rate.
Then, two German correspondants to the White House heard about the project from a 95-year-old survivor, who found it on the Internet. They got the Washington Post involved, as well as Tom Brokaw. And suddenly, the project took off. Stephen Spielberg sent in 1 million clips. People sent them clips on pieces of paper that simply said "Paper Clip 1: So-and-so." "Paper Clip 2: Such and Such." Each stood for someone they knew or lost. They received outpourings of support from famous people, from regular people, from 6 continents, from survivors, from survivors families, from the families of the dead. They recieved hate mail, including one from a man who signed his letter, "Seig Heil, Tommy." The letter accused the school of teaching the kids propaganda about a made-up phenomenon. Attached to the letter was a straightened out paper clip, and the message was, "This is what I think of your project." Another letter had clips bent into swastikas. They also received a suitcase, which belonged to a victim and was found in a camp, from Germany. It had pieces of paper in it attached to oversized clips. Each was a letter of apology to Anne Frank from German school children.
WMS has saved everything. They have autographed photos from Jim Carrey, from The Shrub, from Henry Winkler, and from Spock. They have support letters and hate mail in binder after binder. They have artwork from visitors. They have everything saved in their tiny library, which, before the project, had one book on the Holocaust that hadn't been checked out in 30 years. Now, they have cases of videos and literature on the subject.
We spent two hours reading these letters. Or trying to, as many were in foreign languages. I had to pull the kids away from it to move on to the boxcar.
The boxcar is a railroad car that was used during WW2 to transport people to the camps. It had to be disinfected before it could be brought to America. The floors of such cars were covered in lime, and as people died or went to the bathroom, the lime was used to cover the odors. Immediately following the war, the car was used to transport grain. Then, it was retired, and was used in "Enemy at the Gates." Its sibling cars were destroyed during filming. It was also in bad shape and needed to be restored. (See above thoughts on my take on "Team America" to get an idea of how I felt upon hearing that.) It was rescued by the diplomats (the Schroeders), purceased for $6,000, and reached America September 9, 2001. It was en route to WMS on September 11, 2001. There's bitter irony in that. It made it to WMS a few days later.
The car was placed on the WMS campus. The whole town turned out in committee form to prepare the area. Tracks were laid down. The car was restored and braced to hold the weight of its new cargo. A rock garden and regular garden were set all around it. A monument containing 11 million paper clips (one for each victim, no matter what the reason of the Holocaust.) 18 butterflies, symbolizing freedom, children, new life, and, of course, chai, were painted (later mosaics, because the paint wore off) or sculpted around the car. And, another 11 million clips were placed, with the suitcase of apology letters, inside the car. In all, over 32 million clips have been collected.
To walk up to the car, to hold those letters, to sift through the paper clips, and to stand inside the car are all very sobering experiences. We signed a guestbook. We met the man behind the project. We stood in silence and reflected. We dragged the kids away. We cried during the documentary. The juxtaposition of a memorial to something so horrible in a setting so beautiful.....
We brought 9 people. Half chai. Even though the project is over, we are sending in two paper clips each. Chai. They told us that at least two boxes a week still roll in. The extras are added to the car anyway. We will each put our clips in. One for each of us for our visit, one each for a person we want to honor.
The most beautiful thing of all:
One child, and what does THIS say for Orleans Parish Public Schools, did not know what the Holocaust was. She had NEVER heard of it. We had to teach her about it. When it was time to move to the boxcar, I had to drag the kids away from the books. And the last child, the one I had to coax the most, was the one who had never heard of what she was reading about. I think our jobs were done. I almost cry just thinking about it.
We were supposed to go to the Jack Daniels Distillery, but since we were so far away, we didn't make it in time for a tour. So we went to Grand Old Golf and Games. We did two rounds of mini-golf apiece. It was hard-core. We had to jump the balls across rivers and stuff. Then we played in the arcade, where I found...get this....an X-FILES PINBALL MACHINE! I played it. And did well. And took pictures of it. We had a pizza party, played poker (for chips and giggles only), and went to bed at 3. We got up at 5, loaded the bus, and were on the road by 6. I was asleep before 7.
Got home, showered, dressed, drove to Thibodaux. Went to a wedding. Found out someone we always thougth was gay is actually gay and has a boyfriend. Had to prevent to groom from beating him up after he gave the bride a lapdance. Mark had to escort him out early. Bride's brother threatened him. Bride and Groom got in a fight at the reception. No alcohol was served. But the groomsmen all had bottles of beer. The guests whore shorts, stretch pants, slippers, you name it. We were so overdressed. The reception was in the NSU ballroom. Bride works there and got a great deal on it. Spent the night in Mark's old apartment, now Phil's apartment. Went to La Casa for lunch with the in-laws, then to C and M Music in Houma for a sale so Phil could buy stuff. Walked out with Mark's Christmas present to me. Yup...a Guitar. It was on sale as a package deal: amp, guitar, gig bag, picks, strap, tuner....it's an off brand, but it's pretty and will be something great to learn on. Come on, December!! Hung out at the apartment like old times, went to dinner with Amanda and Mike at Ground Pat'i (damn, but Thibodaux is booming!!!!) and got a Blizzard at DQ. Drove home, unloaded car, picked up daiquiris, went to the A5 palace. Came home, slept in my own bed. Nothing sweeter than that.
Last weekend, we spent Friday night 'til Sunday afternoon in Grand Isle. We may or may not have gotten out of the Gulf due to a shark. It may or may not have been a dolphin or porpoise. But in light of recent attacks, we felt it better to get out of the cesspool that is the beach at Grand Isle.
Although, the infinitely wise grandmother-in-law said we wouldn't have to worry about sharks coming to Grand Isle because "we have warm water here, and sharks don't like it where it's warm. They go where it's cooler." Yeah. That explains why there are so many sharks in Antarctica instead of Florida.
Spent Monday with my parents while Mark worked. Packed. Watched "Team America." The funny thing about that movie is that it's political to you. It caters to your beliefs. To me, it blasts the war, calling it dumb, and blasts America for being so self-righteous. To Kurt, it exists totally to show movie stars how dumb they are for protesting the war. To Matt, it was a terrific send-up spoof of action films. So, bravo, you comedic geniuses. But, next time, take out the vomit and add more puppet sex. And panthers.
Sex panthers?
Anyway, moving right along...
Went to Tennessee on Tuesday. Stayed in Memphis overnight. Saw Graceland, that paeon to all that is wrong with American pop culture, and went to a mall to play blacklight mini-golf, blacklight bowling, and to get an aqua massage, which is heaven on Earth. This year, they even made the water heated. Oh yeah...pardon me while I revel in that memory for a moment...
Moved on to Nashville Wednesday. Went to the COuntry Music Hall of Fame. LAAAAAME. Went to Nashville Shores Water Park. Didn't have many slides. We got bored of it quickly. Moved on to a mall. Ate a good salad. It had eggplant and feta in it. Need I say more? Went to the Nashville JCC. We had six kids and three adults: me, new guy, and an Israeli guy who was fun. Reminded me of Alex. Just darker complected. And not a stoner. Annnnyyyyywaaaayyy...the J was HUGE. The bathroom/locker room area was divided into under 17 and over 18. We could use the adult locker rooms, but the kids couldn't. As the only female counselor, I felt like royalty, plunging into the hot tub, having total control of the room, and complete and utter privacy.
Decided that my problems with camp this year come from the two girls who were on the trip. Big surprise, it's my Ritalin kids. I'm giving them to Pam on the Western Adventure. Sorry, but I'll be with Ritalin kids all year long...I'll need a major break.
Like the other campers. Have lost all tolerance with these two girls.
And back to the stories.
New guy didn't have a chance for major eff ups this time around. Not enough kids, and too many adults. As well as not enough chances to lead a group around. Almost had fun with him.
On Thursday, we drove three hours to Whitwell, TN. It's in the Appalachains, and it's about as far-removed from society as possible. The guy we spoke with there said some people still don't have running water and use rain barrels to bathe. Some do not have electricity yet. I didn't know areas like this still existed.
So why Whitwell?
Whitwell is home to Whitwell Middle School, subject of the Miramax documentary "Paperclips." It is a town of 1,500. WMS had four black students and one hispanic. All the rest are white Protestants. Most never leave the valley. But they started a project to study the Holocaust. They wanted to collect 6 million paperclips to represent the 6 million exterminated Jews. The project started in 1998. At the end of the first year, they had not collected even 1 million. They projected that it would take 10 years to reach the goal at the current rate.
Then, two German correspondants to the White House heard about the project from a 95-year-old survivor, who found it on the Internet. They got the Washington Post involved, as well as Tom Brokaw. And suddenly, the project took off. Stephen Spielberg sent in 1 million clips. People sent them clips on pieces of paper that simply said "Paper Clip 1: So-and-so." "Paper Clip 2: Such and Such." Each stood for someone they knew or lost. They received outpourings of support from famous people, from regular people, from 6 continents, from survivors, from survivors families, from the families of the dead. They recieved hate mail, including one from a man who signed his letter, "Seig Heil, Tommy." The letter accused the school of teaching the kids propaganda about a made-up phenomenon. Attached to the letter was a straightened out paper clip, and the message was, "This is what I think of your project." Another letter had clips bent into swastikas. They also received a suitcase, which belonged to a victim and was found in a camp, from Germany. It had pieces of paper in it attached to oversized clips. Each was a letter of apology to Anne Frank from German school children.
WMS has saved everything. They have autographed photos from Jim Carrey, from The Shrub, from Henry Winkler, and from Spock. They have support letters and hate mail in binder after binder. They have artwork from visitors. They have everything saved in their tiny library, which, before the project, had one book on the Holocaust that hadn't been checked out in 30 years. Now, they have cases of videos and literature on the subject.
We spent two hours reading these letters. Or trying to, as many were in foreign languages. I had to pull the kids away from it to move on to the boxcar.
The boxcar is a railroad car that was used during WW2 to transport people to the camps. It had to be disinfected before it could be brought to America. The floors of such cars were covered in lime, and as people died or went to the bathroom, the lime was used to cover the odors. Immediately following the war, the car was used to transport grain. Then, it was retired, and was used in "Enemy at the Gates." Its sibling cars were destroyed during filming. It was also in bad shape and needed to be restored. (See above thoughts on my take on "Team America" to get an idea of how I felt upon hearing that.) It was rescued by the diplomats (the Schroeders), purceased for $6,000, and reached America September 9, 2001. It was en route to WMS on September 11, 2001. There's bitter irony in that. It made it to WMS a few days later.
The car was placed on the WMS campus. The whole town turned out in committee form to prepare the area. Tracks were laid down. The car was restored and braced to hold the weight of its new cargo. A rock garden and regular garden were set all around it. A monument containing 11 million paper clips (one for each victim, no matter what the reason of the Holocaust.) 18 butterflies, symbolizing freedom, children, new life, and, of course, chai, were painted (later mosaics, because the paint wore off) or sculpted around the car. And, another 11 million clips were placed, with the suitcase of apology letters, inside the car. In all, over 32 million clips have been collected.
To walk up to the car, to hold those letters, to sift through the paper clips, and to stand inside the car are all very sobering experiences. We signed a guestbook. We met the man behind the project. We stood in silence and reflected. We dragged the kids away. We cried during the documentary. The juxtaposition of a memorial to something so horrible in a setting so beautiful.....
We brought 9 people. Half chai. Even though the project is over, we are sending in two paper clips each. Chai. They told us that at least two boxes a week still roll in. The extras are added to the car anyway. We will each put our clips in. One for each of us for our visit, one each for a person we want to honor.
The most beautiful thing of all:
One child, and what does THIS say for Orleans Parish Public Schools, did not know what the Holocaust was. She had NEVER heard of it. We had to teach her about it. When it was time to move to the boxcar, I had to drag the kids away from the books. And the last child, the one I had to coax the most, was the one who had never heard of what she was reading about. I think our jobs were done. I almost cry just thinking about it.
We were supposed to go to the Jack Daniels Distillery, but since we were so far away, we didn't make it in time for a tour. So we went to Grand Old Golf and Games. We did two rounds of mini-golf apiece. It was hard-core. We had to jump the balls across rivers and stuff. Then we played in the arcade, where I found...get this....an X-FILES PINBALL MACHINE! I played it. And did well. And took pictures of it. We had a pizza party, played poker (for chips and giggles only), and went to bed at 3. We got up at 5, loaded the bus, and were on the road by 6. I was asleep before 7.
Got home, showered, dressed, drove to Thibodaux. Went to a wedding. Found out someone we always thougth was gay is actually gay and has a boyfriend. Had to prevent to groom from beating him up after he gave the bride a lapdance. Mark had to escort him out early. Bride's brother threatened him. Bride and Groom got in a fight at the reception. No alcohol was served. But the groomsmen all had bottles of beer. The guests whore shorts, stretch pants, slippers, you name it. We were so overdressed. The reception was in the NSU ballroom. Bride works there and got a great deal on it. Spent the night in Mark's old apartment, now Phil's apartment. Went to La Casa for lunch with the in-laws, then to C and M Music in Houma for a sale so Phil could buy stuff. Walked out with Mark's Christmas present to me. Yup...a Guitar. It was on sale as a package deal: amp, guitar, gig bag, picks, strap, tuner....it's an off brand, but it's pretty and will be something great to learn on. Come on, December!! Hung out at the apartment like old times, went to dinner with Amanda and Mike at Ground Pat'i (damn, but Thibodaux is booming!!!!) and got a Blizzard at DQ. Drove home, unloaded car, picked up daiquiris, went to the A5 palace. Came home, slept in my own bed. Nothing sweeter than that.
Monday, June 27, 2005
Orlando, or how I'm one of the few people to not enjoy WDW.
Yeah.
Orlando had its ups and downs. And I'm not talkign about roller coasters here.
DOWN: had to be to work for 6:30. UP: Roman really was going!
DOWN: Bus ride was 13 hours. UP: Watched Forrest Gump, Breakfast Club, and slept!
DOWN: Got in really late and ate dinner late. UP: Dinner was at the Rainforest Café!
DOWN: Overheard our bus driver on the phone with someone, telling the person, "When I get finished, some souls are going to be delivered!" UP: Dude turned out to be awesome...he's my age, he's married, he's studying to be a preacher (presumably, the thing he was finishing), he was genuinely interested in the kids and what they had to say, he hung out with us, he is in most of our pictures, had awesome dreds, and bought every picture on every ride.
DOWN: It rained every day. UP: I remembered my pancho.
DOWN: My pancho made me look like I had a huge arse. UP: This prompted one of my most random moments in Epcot: singing "Baby Got Back" while backing that thing up, to the thunderous roar of laughter from my campers.
DOWN: Pam didn't make it out to help. UP: they sent Sarit, the cool Israeli chick, instead.
DOWN: Didn't get to see Indiana Jones this year because David lost his wallet. UP: David found his wallet.
DOWN: I lost my voice screaming like a baby on Aerosmith. UP: I survived the ride and bought a magnet of them with their kickin' mullets.
DOWN: Didn't get to do Splash Mountain. UP: Did Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Carribbean, where I bought Baby Ben a Winnie the Pooh beanie baby thing dressed like Captain Hook.
DOWN: Had two ritalin kids and two loud mouths in my room. UP: Ummm...there are none for that.
DOWN: New guy is too nice and doesn't pull his weight. UP: I can win the award for most useless staff member.
DOWN: The kids find me mean and hateful because I'm the disciplinarian. UP: "The only kid who matters" LOOOOOOOVES new guy because he doesn't discipline.
DOWN:Thunder Mountain is different now. It sucks. UP: I finally tried Space Mountain. Though I yelled like a bitch, it was kinda fun and made up for the suckiness that is now TM.
DOWN: I hated my roommates. Still do. Brats. Kept me up until I had 4 hours of sleep because they were rotten. Next night, let me get one extra hour for a total of 9 hours of sleep over two nights. Hate three of them, like one, but she got sucked into the crappiness. UP: The other campers were cool.
DOWN: Kids crank called a city councilman's daughter and scared the shit out of her. Her mom got on it and went to investigate the matter. UP: We discovered it and solved the problem before any major action could be taken.
DOWN: NEW GUY FORGOT THE DAMNED TICKETS AND DIDN'T TELL ME HE'D DONE SO UNTIL WE WERE AT THE PARK! He came up to me and said, "Ummm...those tickets we had yesterday..we get new ones everyday, right?" NO! THREE-DAY PARK HOPPERS! He at least offered to pay for the 10 he'd discarded. UP: We went to guest services, they figured out which cards were missing, voided them, and reissued us some cards. At no cost.
DOWN: New guy let his boys watch "Girl Next Door" on HBO at midnight because he'd never heard of it and thought it was a chick flick. UP: No parents have called to yell at us.
DOWN: Girls were horrible on the last night. Had to call Pam for backup. UP: She straightened them out.
DOWN: I've never had to do that before and I'm horrified by the fact that I did. UP: Because I did it, those girls are in danger of not going on trips if they don't shape up, and Pam is being more accessible to me.
DOWN: We got in late due to a faulty agenda that wasn't my fault. UP: We got back in time for Shabbos, and no one was in trouble.
DOWN: Roman was only doing that one trip, and he doesn't get to do this second week of in-town stuff. UP: He kept me sane. I'd be in jail for murder right now had he not talked me down and made me take a walk.
DOWN: Stuck with new guy still. UP: Only 4.5 weeks to go.
DOWN: well, this is a funny story...it's only an up with no down counterpart. UP: Because he's inept, Roman got locked out of his hotel room, while waiting for me to go running, but I was in the bathroom getting ready to run, and I didn't hear my phone ring or him knock, so he went to early breakfast, and I thought David was Roman, but it was just David rolling onto Roman's pillow, so I called him, found out where he was, and met him for breakfast. On the way back, this old guy at the information desk called out, "Good morning, kids!" We told him good morning. He said, "I hope he's treating you all right, ma'am. He'd better treat you right! I don't want to hear he's not treating you right!" So I replied, "Oh, he treats me well!" And the old guy said, "Good, good!" Then I walked back downstairs with new guy. But old dude didn't see us. Then back upstairs. Then we all came down, and I was on my phone, but Roman said the guy looked at us, then at the kids with us, and said, "There sure are a lot of you!" Had I heard, I would have said, "Yeah, we've been busy." What a wasted joke. Ah well.
Oh, and David spooned with Roman one night. HA!
Orlando had its ups and downs. And I'm not talkign about roller coasters here.
DOWN: had to be to work for 6:30. UP: Roman really was going!
DOWN: Bus ride was 13 hours. UP: Watched Forrest Gump, Breakfast Club, and slept!
DOWN: Got in really late and ate dinner late. UP: Dinner was at the Rainforest Café!
DOWN: Overheard our bus driver on the phone with someone, telling the person, "When I get finished, some souls are going to be delivered!" UP: Dude turned out to be awesome...he's my age, he's married, he's studying to be a preacher (presumably, the thing he was finishing), he was genuinely interested in the kids and what they had to say, he hung out with us, he is in most of our pictures, had awesome dreds, and bought every picture on every ride.
DOWN: It rained every day. UP: I remembered my pancho.
DOWN: My pancho made me look like I had a huge arse. UP: This prompted one of my most random moments in Epcot: singing "Baby Got Back" while backing that thing up, to the thunderous roar of laughter from my campers.
DOWN: Pam didn't make it out to help. UP: they sent Sarit, the cool Israeli chick, instead.
DOWN: Didn't get to see Indiana Jones this year because David lost his wallet. UP: David found his wallet.
DOWN: I lost my voice screaming like a baby on Aerosmith. UP: I survived the ride and bought a magnet of them with their kickin' mullets.
DOWN: Didn't get to do Splash Mountain. UP: Did Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Carribbean, where I bought Baby Ben a Winnie the Pooh beanie baby thing dressed like Captain Hook.
DOWN: Had two ritalin kids and two loud mouths in my room. UP: Ummm...there are none for that.
DOWN: New guy is too nice and doesn't pull his weight. UP: I can win the award for most useless staff member.
DOWN: The kids find me mean and hateful because I'm the disciplinarian. UP: "The only kid who matters" LOOOOOOOVES new guy because he doesn't discipline.
DOWN:Thunder Mountain is different now. It sucks. UP: I finally tried Space Mountain. Though I yelled like a bitch, it was kinda fun and made up for the suckiness that is now TM.
DOWN: I hated my roommates. Still do. Brats. Kept me up until I had 4 hours of sleep because they were rotten. Next night, let me get one extra hour for a total of 9 hours of sleep over two nights. Hate three of them, like one, but she got sucked into the crappiness. UP: The other campers were cool.
DOWN: Kids crank called a city councilman's daughter and scared the shit out of her. Her mom got on it and went to investigate the matter. UP: We discovered it and solved the problem before any major action could be taken.
DOWN: NEW GUY FORGOT THE DAMNED TICKETS AND DIDN'T TELL ME HE'D DONE SO UNTIL WE WERE AT THE PARK! He came up to me and said, "Ummm...those tickets we had yesterday..we get new ones everyday, right?" NO! THREE-DAY PARK HOPPERS! He at least offered to pay for the 10 he'd discarded. UP: We went to guest services, they figured out which cards were missing, voided them, and reissued us some cards. At no cost.
DOWN: New guy let his boys watch "Girl Next Door" on HBO at midnight because he'd never heard of it and thought it was a chick flick. UP: No parents have called to yell at us.
DOWN: Girls were horrible on the last night. Had to call Pam for backup. UP: She straightened them out.
DOWN: I've never had to do that before and I'm horrified by the fact that I did. UP: Because I did it, those girls are in danger of not going on trips if they don't shape up, and Pam is being more accessible to me.
DOWN: We got in late due to a faulty agenda that wasn't my fault. UP: We got back in time for Shabbos, and no one was in trouble.
DOWN: Roman was only doing that one trip, and he doesn't get to do this second week of in-town stuff. UP: He kept me sane. I'd be in jail for murder right now had he not talked me down and made me take a walk.
DOWN: Stuck with new guy still. UP: Only 4.5 weeks to go.
DOWN: well, this is a funny story...it's only an up with no down counterpart. UP: Because he's inept, Roman got locked out of his hotel room, while waiting for me to go running, but I was in the bathroom getting ready to run, and I didn't hear my phone ring or him knock, so he went to early breakfast, and I thought David was Roman, but it was just David rolling onto Roman's pillow, so I called him, found out where he was, and met him for breakfast. On the way back, this old guy at the information desk called out, "Good morning, kids!" We told him good morning. He said, "I hope he's treating you all right, ma'am. He'd better treat you right! I don't want to hear he's not treating you right!" So I replied, "Oh, he treats me well!" And the old guy said, "Good, good!" Then I walked back downstairs with new guy. But old dude didn't see us. Then back upstairs. Then we all came down, and I was on my phone, but Roman said the guy looked at us, then at the kids with us, and said, "There sure are a lot of you!" Had I heard, I would have said, "Yeah, we've been busy." What a wasted joke. Ah well.
Oh, and David spooned with Roman one night. HA!
Sunday, June 19, 2005
Best day ever!
Borrowed a trap from my grandmother's friend. Caught my Lily this evening!!!!!!!!!! She looks okay, but Mark will have to take her to the vet in the morning. She's curled up in my lap purring as I type this!! I'll be in Disney World for camp all week, but I'll come back with an update once I get home and all.
Wednesday, June 15, 2005
Great phone call I just had
My best friend in the world, who will be 3 in August, apparently realllllly misses me.
I got a phone call from his mom, Heidi, tonight asking when I would be available to babysit him, because he keeps talking about me. He's in summer camp five days a week at his pre-school, and Nijel told me that he "knows" when he's supposed to come to me and always asks on those days if he is going to see me that day.
Well, today, he saw Heidi get her workout stuff together to go work out with Nijel, and his eyes welled up and his lip started quivering, and he wanted to know why he couldn't go with her so he could, "See Aimée and draw pirate ships with her today."
Heidi said "You're almost like an extra mom to him!"
That's my sweetheart!!
I'll be babysitting him on the 25th.
We'll be in Orlando next week, so I think that when I get to the Pirates of the Carribbean, I'll have to get him a souvenier. I miss my little buddy.
I got a phone call from his mom, Heidi, tonight asking when I would be available to babysit him, because he keeps talking about me. He's in summer camp five days a week at his pre-school, and Nijel told me that he "knows" when he's supposed to come to me and always asks on those days if he is going to see me that day.
Well, today, he saw Heidi get her workout stuff together to go work out with Nijel, and his eyes welled up and his lip started quivering, and he wanted to know why he couldn't go with her so he could, "See Aimée and draw pirate ships with her today."
Heidi said "You're almost like an extra mom to him!"
That's my sweetheart!!
I'll be babysitting him on the 25th.
We'll be in Orlando next week, so I think that when I get to the Pirates of the Carribbean, I'll have to get him a souvenier. I miss my little buddy.
Sunday, June 12, 2005
Hotlanta, my birthday, and a Lily update
Really, though, Hotlanta is a misnomer. Yeah, it was warm, but I didn't sweat like I do here. I wasn't oppressed by the heat. I didn't feel like dying to escape the heat. Although, since I'm probably going to hell anyway, I guess that would only make matters worse.
But what if we have it wrong? What if we've been told that hell is hot and steamy just so we won't want to go there? What if it's cosmic reverse psychology and hell is really this happenin' place made of ice cream where they don't want too many people to go there? Like, a po-boy place that looks shitty on the outside is generally the home of the best po-boy ever. Don't let the outside fool you. Could be a cool in-joke, you know, hell being crappy.
Anyway, kids were fine, new guy is okay, trip didn't suck too much. Went to the Braves game the first night. They lost. Their catcher got reallllly hurt...taken out in an ambulance, as I later discovered, because he had a concussion and whiplash from getting slammed in the face mask by an Angel. (Which seems to support the above theory...) It rained a little, but sometimes, sitting in the cheap seats is okay, just because we were so high up with our $5 seats that we were under an overhang when the rain started. Girls in my room kept me awake until 3:30. Mostly by quoting "Napoleon Dynamite."
Next day we spent the whole day at Six Flags. Rain held off until 6, which was fine, as we were leaving at 7. So we killed an hour in the stores. By this point, most of the kids were out of money. We waited half an hour for our bus driver to show up. When I called him, he said he was in traffic about 20 minutes away. This, apparently, became his excuse for everything, as he was ALWAYS 20 minutes away. Tried to go to the Hard Rock, but it had been rented out for the night. Walked down the block to a restaurant that had a piano on wires above the bar. It was in a glass case. Anyone who wants to can get on a step ladder on the bar and play. That was kind of neat. We thought the piano was for decoration, but we were wrong. Girls had a pre-teen friendship meltdown that kept me up until 1:30. Skanaky, sweaty, and dirty from Six Flags, and couldn't shower until crisis was solved at 1. I am SO glad I don't have to relive my teen years. Yuch.
Next day, we went to the World of Coke. You can drink Coke products from around the world. Some good, like lemon from Israel, some nasty, like lychee nut from China. And "Beverly" from Italy had an aftertaste even after you washed it down with tons of real American Coke. Hwarf. Then we went to Underground Atlanta. I scheduled it simply to get an aqua massage. Damn thing was GONE! ARRRRRRRGGGG. After the night before, I needed it. Driver was late picking us up, again, and when I called him after 30 minutes, he was, once again, "20 minutes away." This made us late to Andretti Speed Lab, which we had booked as a party. I called the people, and they said it was okay if we were late.
Andretti has top-speed go-karts that look like race cars. They make you wear suits and helmets like real racers. Gloves are optional. I came in second in my race! Anyway, the party was my unofficial birthday party. We got Fuddrucker's kid's meals, an ice cream cake, one race, and $10 token cards for the arcade. I won an orange and yellow stuffed monkey. It rules. The experience ruled, too. I like go-karts.
From there, we went to Camp Barney Medintz in Cleveland, GA. It's about 2 hours north of Atlanta. It was in the mountains and was GORGEOUS! My legs are sore from all of the up- and downhill hiking we had to do over the next few days. We had kosher burgers and chips for dinner, then got a tour of the camp. The cabins are unairconditioned, but the mountain air was cool enough that the fans and screens worked. I'm tired of bugs, though, and grateful for central air now that I'm home. We went out to the Iceberg, which is an inflatable rock climbing wall in the shape of an iceberg. You climb up one side, then slide down the other side into the lake. I am unable to climb rock climbing walls, so I did not do it. After that, we went to milk line, where we got fresh baked chocolate chip cookies and whatever milk or juice we wanted. Mmmm....
On Thursday, we had French toast for breakfast, then we went to arts and crafts. We made cool friendship bracelets with a weird name, something like "Kumi-ha-imo" or something like that. Then we went to something called "Group Initiative." We did some stupid bonding stuff, like human knot. We're such a dysfunctional group, though, that we almost didn't get the knot undone. Finally, though, we did it. Then we did this dumb-ass logic puzzle called "The Magic Shoes," where we had to get everyone across the lava lake, and you could only cross it if you were wearing the shoes, and then you could only wear the shoes once, blah blah blah...and the way it fell, I had to carry a tall, thin girl in my arms and a short girl who probably weighs more than i do now that I'm at my heaviest weight ever, on my back, and I almost made it across when she shifted her weight and I fell forward, jamming my left shoulder, hurting my left ankle and knee, and skinning my right knee. I was in considerable pain. I thought I was badly injured, but my shoulder had popped back in, and really, when DON'T my knee and ankle hurt? But my skinned knee (my first in probably 15 years) is pretty nasty. And boy, did I get muddy. Red mud.
Then we went fishing. A couple people caught small-mouthed bass. I caught nothing. We had kosher chicken nuggets and corn for lunch. Then we had rest period, followed by basketball and dodgeball. We moved on to the volleyball court, the batting cage, and the tetherball. I kick ass in tetherball. "Wanna play me?" I think I won because every time I'd hit the ball, I'd say, "yesss" like Napoleon, and it would crack the kids up, and they couldn't return my hits. Dirty? Yeah. Fun? You bet. We were supposed to have free swim in the pool, but that was closed for undisclosed reasons. Probably Baby Ruths in the pool. Anyway...then we had linguini in garlic cream sauce, garlic bread, and peas and carrots for dinner. We went to the Blob after that. It's an inflatable pillow....huge....and you jump off a platform onto it. Then, you crawl across it and sit on the edge. The next person jumps on it, and it launches you into the air, landing in the lake. It was cool, but I didn't get to go. Line was too long. New guy had his bathing suit on backwards. That was awesome. Kriss Kross to make you, jump, jump! Too bad none of the kids will get that joke....and probably he won't either, since he's only 19. Then we went to the low ropes, where a cute Israeli guy instructed us. We had to hike through a lot of forest to get there, and we had to cross a creek by sliding across a metal rope while holding a metal rope above it. Scary, but awesome. Only half of the kids did the course, due to time constraints. After that was milk line, then an early bedtime. We also had to pack most of our stuff, then load it on a truck to take it the half mile (minimum) trek to the front office of the camp.
Woke up at 6 a.m. EST on Friday, my 26th birthday. Got the kids together, then went down the hill with what we'd needed overnight. Long and hard hike that early. Ugh. Especially on your birthday. Slept on the bus most of the way. Had to eat Burger King for lunch. Hate BK now, after they changed their fries. Kids pooled money and bought me a little cheesecake for my birthday. Made the BK Lounge experience a little better. Watched the first two Austin Powers films on the bus on the way home. Hit T.S. Arlene evacuation traffic in Mississippi. Didn't get home until 6:30 p.m. CST. Relaxed a little. Opened Mark's gifts. He gave me "The Best of INXS," the first and second seasons of "Danger Mouse" (DM was one of my first boyfriends. The other was Montgomery Moose of "The Get-Along Gang." Nevermind that he was basically a big frat guy...), and the first season of "Soap," one of TV's all-time best shows. Got Cane's for dinner, then went to Dunkin' Robbins, where I got a mint-chocolate chip and chocolate cake ice cream cake, plus the free dozen donuts you get for buying a cake there.
Went to Geoff and Gootee's house. Blake gave me a Neighborhoodies.com gift certificate, Caroline gave me Rufus from "Family Guy," Alicia and Kurt gave me a gift card for New York and Company, and Geoff and Calie gave me a gift card to Best Buy. Oh, and Kevin went to Sav-A-Center and bought me some cupcakes that said "#1 Dad" on them. How special is that? Liz came over and brought me a "Fantasy," which is only one of the best daiquiris in the world. She brought Halley with her. Roman showed up for a while with two of his friends, too. It was a great night. Got home at 4, woke at 1:45.
On Saturday, my parents took us out to eat at Acme. Then we went to their house for a blackout cake from Maurice's. They gave me my new contacts and a skirt, and my mom apparently is waiting for another gift to come in. Also, I got a mix CD from Devon, featuring midwestern bands, most of which I've never heard of, and many which I've just never heard, and it's great! I love finding new stuff to listen to! And I got a card in the mail from Annie, my pen pal. Good day overall!
Sunday was my first Sunday where I didn't have to work. Woo-woooooo! Went to Ground Pat'i with Alicia, Geoff, Calie, and Kevin while Mark worked. Hung out with them, plus Kurt, after.
Lily: Saw her Friday night, we thought, under my car. Could have sworn I heard her, too. But we didn't get her. Then, on Saturday, Mark went to do laundry, and he saw her by the neighbor's house. We couldn't get to her, and she went under the house. But that means she wasn't hurt by the glass. On Sunday, the neighbors came home, and they let Mark in their backyard. Couldn't see her. On Wednesday night, he got home from basketball, and she was under the carport, eating the food we leave out for her. But he couldn't get out the car fast enough. The lady under whose house she is living is trying to help. She has cat carriers by her doors just in case. She also saw her the other day, but was on the toilet, and by the time she got out there, Lil was gone. Nice lady, even with the TMI. Haven't seen my baby since then, though.
But what if we have it wrong? What if we've been told that hell is hot and steamy just so we won't want to go there? What if it's cosmic reverse psychology and hell is really this happenin' place made of ice cream where they don't want too many people to go there? Like, a po-boy place that looks shitty on the outside is generally the home of the best po-boy ever. Don't let the outside fool you. Could be a cool in-joke, you know, hell being crappy.
Anyway, kids were fine, new guy is okay, trip didn't suck too much. Went to the Braves game the first night. They lost. Their catcher got reallllly hurt...taken out in an ambulance, as I later discovered, because he had a concussion and whiplash from getting slammed in the face mask by an Angel. (Which seems to support the above theory...) It rained a little, but sometimes, sitting in the cheap seats is okay, just because we were so high up with our $5 seats that we were under an overhang when the rain started. Girls in my room kept me awake until 3:30. Mostly by quoting "Napoleon Dynamite."
Next day we spent the whole day at Six Flags. Rain held off until 6, which was fine, as we were leaving at 7. So we killed an hour in the stores. By this point, most of the kids were out of money. We waited half an hour for our bus driver to show up. When I called him, he said he was in traffic about 20 minutes away. This, apparently, became his excuse for everything, as he was ALWAYS 20 minutes away. Tried to go to the Hard Rock, but it had been rented out for the night. Walked down the block to a restaurant that had a piano on wires above the bar. It was in a glass case. Anyone who wants to can get on a step ladder on the bar and play. That was kind of neat. We thought the piano was for decoration, but we were wrong. Girls had a pre-teen friendship meltdown that kept me up until 1:30. Skanaky, sweaty, and dirty from Six Flags, and couldn't shower until crisis was solved at 1. I am SO glad I don't have to relive my teen years. Yuch.
Next day, we went to the World of Coke. You can drink Coke products from around the world. Some good, like lemon from Israel, some nasty, like lychee nut from China. And "Beverly" from Italy had an aftertaste even after you washed it down with tons of real American Coke. Hwarf. Then we went to Underground Atlanta. I scheduled it simply to get an aqua massage. Damn thing was GONE! ARRRRRRRGGGG. After the night before, I needed it. Driver was late picking us up, again, and when I called him after 30 minutes, he was, once again, "20 minutes away." This made us late to Andretti Speed Lab, which we had booked as a party. I called the people, and they said it was okay if we were late.
Andretti has top-speed go-karts that look like race cars. They make you wear suits and helmets like real racers. Gloves are optional. I came in second in my race! Anyway, the party was my unofficial birthday party. We got Fuddrucker's kid's meals, an ice cream cake, one race, and $10 token cards for the arcade. I won an orange and yellow stuffed monkey. It rules. The experience ruled, too. I like go-karts.
From there, we went to Camp Barney Medintz in Cleveland, GA. It's about 2 hours north of Atlanta. It was in the mountains and was GORGEOUS! My legs are sore from all of the up- and downhill hiking we had to do over the next few days. We had kosher burgers and chips for dinner, then got a tour of the camp. The cabins are unairconditioned, but the mountain air was cool enough that the fans and screens worked. I'm tired of bugs, though, and grateful for central air now that I'm home. We went out to the Iceberg, which is an inflatable rock climbing wall in the shape of an iceberg. You climb up one side, then slide down the other side into the lake. I am unable to climb rock climbing walls, so I did not do it. After that, we went to milk line, where we got fresh baked chocolate chip cookies and whatever milk or juice we wanted. Mmmm....
On Thursday, we had French toast for breakfast, then we went to arts and crafts. We made cool friendship bracelets with a weird name, something like "Kumi-ha-imo" or something like that. Then we went to something called "Group Initiative." We did some stupid bonding stuff, like human knot. We're such a dysfunctional group, though, that we almost didn't get the knot undone. Finally, though, we did it. Then we did this dumb-ass logic puzzle called "The Magic Shoes," where we had to get everyone across the lava lake, and you could only cross it if you were wearing the shoes, and then you could only wear the shoes once, blah blah blah...and the way it fell, I had to carry a tall, thin girl in my arms and a short girl who probably weighs more than i do now that I'm at my heaviest weight ever, on my back, and I almost made it across when she shifted her weight and I fell forward, jamming my left shoulder, hurting my left ankle and knee, and skinning my right knee. I was in considerable pain. I thought I was badly injured, but my shoulder had popped back in, and really, when DON'T my knee and ankle hurt? But my skinned knee (my first in probably 15 years) is pretty nasty. And boy, did I get muddy. Red mud.
Then we went fishing. A couple people caught small-mouthed bass. I caught nothing. We had kosher chicken nuggets and corn for lunch. Then we had rest period, followed by basketball and dodgeball. We moved on to the volleyball court, the batting cage, and the tetherball. I kick ass in tetherball. "Wanna play me?" I think I won because every time I'd hit the ball, I'd say, "yesss" like Napoleon, and it would crack the kids up, and they couldn't return my hits. Dirty? Yeah. Fun? You bet. We were supposed to have free swim in the pool, but that was closed for undisclosed reasons. Probably Baby Ruths in the pool. Anyway...then we had linguini in garlic cream sauce, garlic bread, and peas and carrots for dinner. We went to the Blob after that. It's an inflatable pillow....huge....and you jump off a platform onto it. Then, you crawl across it and sit on the edge. The next person jumps on it, and it launches you into the air, landing in the lake. It was cool, but I didn't get to go. Line was too long. New guy had his bathing suit on backwards. That was awesome. Kriss Kross to make you, jump, jump! Too bad none of the kids will get that joke....and probably he won't either, since he's only 19. Then we went to the low ropes, where a cute Israeli guy instructed us. We had to hike through a lot of forest to get there, and we had to cross a creek by sliding across a metal rope while holding a metal rope above it. Scary, but awesome. Only half of the kids did the course, due to time constraints. After that was milk line, then an early bedtime. We also had to pack most of our stuff, then load it on a truck to take it the half mile (minimum) trek to the front office of the camp.
Woke up at 6 a.m. EST on Friday, my 26th birthday. Got the kids together, then went down the hill with what we'd needed overnight. Long and hard hike that early. Ugh. Especially on your birthday. Slept on the bus most of the way. Had to eat Burger King for lunch. Hate BK now, after they changed their fries. Kids pooled money and bought me a little cheesecake for my birthday. Made the BK Lounge experience a little better. Watched the first two Austin Powers films on the bus on the way home. Hit T.S. Arlene evacuation traffic in Mississippi. Didn't get home until 6:30 p.m. CST. Relaxed a little. Opened Mark's gifts. He gave me "The Best of INXS," the first and second seasons of "Danger Mouse" (DM was one of my first boyfriends. The other was Montgomery Moose of "The Get-Along Gang." Nevermind that he was basically a big frat guy...), and the first season of "Soap," one of TV's all-time best shows. Got Cane's for dinner, then went to Dunkin' Robbins, where I got a mint-chocolate chip and chocolate cake ice cream cake, plus the free dozen donuts you get for buying a cake there.
Went to Geoff and Gootee's house. Blake gave me a Neighborhoodies.com gift certificate, Caroline gave me Rufus from "Family Guy," Alicia and Kurt gave me a gift card for New York and Company, and Geoff and Calie gave me a gift card to Best Buy. Oh, and Kevin went to Sav-A-Center and bought me some cupcakes that said "#1 Dad" on them. How special is that? Liz came over and brought me a "Fantasy," which is only one of the best daiquiris in the world. She brought Halley with her. Roman showed up for a while with two of his friends, too. It was a great night. Got home at 4, woke at 1:45.
On Saturday, my parents took us out to eat at Acme. Then we went to their house for a blackout cake from Maurice's. They gave me my new contacts and a skirt, and my mom apparently is waiting for another gift to come in. Also, I got a mix CD from Devon, featuring midwestern bands, most of which I've never heard of, and many which I've just never heard, and it's great! I love finding new stuff to listen to! And I got a card in the mail from Annie, my pen pal. Good day overall!
Sunday was my first Sunday where I didn't have to work. Woo-woooooo! Went to Ground Pat'i with Alicia, Geoff, Calie, and Kevin while Mark worked. Hung out with them, plus Kurt, after.
Lily: Saw her Friday night, we thought, under my car. Could have sworn I heard her, too. But we didn't get her. Then, on Saturday, Mark went to do laundry, and he saw her by the neighbor's house. We couldn't get to her, and she went under the house. But that means she wasn't hurt by the glass. On Sunday, the neighbors came home, and they let Mark in their backyard. Couldn't see her. On Wednesday night, he got home from basketball, and she was under the carport, eating the food we leave out for her. But he couldn't get out the car fast enough. The lady under whose house she is living is trying to help. She has cat carriers by her doors just in case. She also saw her the other day, but was on the toilet, and by the time she got out there, Lil was gone. Nice lady, even with the TMI. Haven't seen my baby since then, though.
Friday, June 03, 2005
The saddest thing in the whole wide world happened yesterday...
But last night, Shazzy scared Lily. She jumped up to get on the windowsill facing a street, and she jumped so hard and so fast that she broke the window and disappeared through it. By the time we got around to the side of the house, she was down the block. This woman was jogging past. I yelled, "Lily!" and Lily stopped right in front of a hole between the driveway and the house next to ours. The woman saw her and tried to help, but you know how Lily is afraid of strangers. She squoze out of the woman's hands and under the house. I sat by the hole for 3 hours, but she never came out. I finally had to leave because the bugs were eating me a live and it was 9:40. We have no idea if she's hurt or even alive, and we haven't seen her since.
We spoke to most of the neighbors today, and I drove all over the neighborhood. We put water and food under our carport, but there are so many cats in our neighborhood that those probably won't last. We made fliers and put them up near the house. Tomorrow, we're going down to the SPCA and we're going to file a missing cat report. You have to do it in person and bring them a picture. She wears a collar but no tags...hopefully she still has her collar on and hopefully if someone finds her they'll figure out that she's someone's pet. We're also going to put an ad in the Times-Picayune's classifieds section, as well as read it.
I'm just absolutely heartbroken. That's my baby girl cat.
We spoke to most of the neighbors today, and I drove all over the neighborhood. We put water and food under our carport, but there are so many cats in our neighborhood that those probably won't last. We made fliers and put them up near the house. Tomorrow, we're going down to the SPCA and we're going to file a missing cat report. You have to do it in person and bring them a picture. She wears a collar but no tags...hopefully she still has her collar on and hopefully if someone finds her they'll figure out that she's someone's pet. We're also going to put an ad in the Times-Picayune's classifieds section, as well as read it.
I'm just absolutely heartbroken. That's my baby girl cat.
Monday, May 23, 2005
Employment ROCKS!
Yup...got an interview last week. Got the call today. I'm going to teach fourth grade at a Catholic elementary school!
Wednesday, May 11, 2005
How Newman of Newman...
Sent out 18 résumés to local private and parochial schools. No real hits, but some sent me applications.
Anyway, the best rejection letter ever came to me today, courtesy of Newman. I have altered only the salutation.
"Dear Ms. Peon,
Thank you so much for your inquiry regarding the elementary position at Newman School. While it is hard to write a letter with a less than favorable outcome, I wanted to inform you that we will not be interviewing you for that position at this time. I say this now so that you will be able to continue your job search unencumbered by false expectations.
I appreciate your taking the time to write Newman and wish you well during your job search."
I'd like to point out some missing commas and the fact that it should read "less-than-favorable." Reputation isn't everything, apparently. And man, who bought her a thesaurus? Because that was evidently the best gift ever. This woman must get a lot of use out of it.
I'm not mad at them, just amused that they sent me this letter. With huge words. And bad punctuation. How Newman of them.
Anyway, the best rejection letter ever came to me today, courtesy of Newman. I have altered only the salutation.
"Dear Ms. Peon,
Thank you so much for your inquiry regarding the elementary position at Newman School. While it is hard to write a letter with a less than favorable outcome, I wanted to inform you that we will not be interviewing you for that position at this time. I say this now so that you will be able to continue your job search unencumbered by false expectations.
I appreciate your taking the time to write Newman and wish you well during your job search."
I'd like to point out some missing commas and the fact that it should read "less-than-favorable." Reputation isn't everything, apparently. And man, who bought her a thesaurus? Because that was evidently the best gift ever. This woman must get a lot of use out of it.
I'm not mad at them, just amused that they sent me this letter. With huge words. And bad punctuation. How Newman of them.
Tuesday, May 03, 2005
Geek Stink Breath
Your Geek Profile: |
Academic Geekiness: Highest |
Music Geekiness: Highest |
SciFi Geekiness: High |
Fashion Geekiness: Moderate |
Gamer Geekiness: Moderate | Geekiness in Love: Low | General Geekiness: Low | Internet Geekiness: Low | Movie Geekiness: Low |
Also, I have changed things now so that anyone can comment. You don't need an account to call your own any more. Have fun.
Deepest gratitude...
Dear Current News Items,
Thank you so much for taking me back to a simpler time. A happier time. A time when news wasn't serious and was a hobby, not an obsession, of the media. Speaking as a former member of the Fourth Estate, I can say that your presence almost makes me wish I hadn't given up on my first love. You recent news items have returned us to the Clinton-era of wacky hijinks and morons, as opposed to the current "He's gonna get us blowed up!!!" news of the Bush "administration" (Administration, Fraternity Rush Party, Corral, what have ye...).
Runaway Bride, thank you for giving us a dimension of lunacy not seen since the days of the Oral Office. Not since Slick Willie shoved a Cuban where (hopefully!) the sun don't shine has this country had a pathetisad man obsessed with a woman to laugh at. She ran out on her $100,000+ wedding, faked a kidnapping, changed her hair, and ran off to Vegas (Note: WITHOUT YOU) to escape your impending nuptials. Yet, you still "Want her back, because we all make mistakes."
Thank you, Michael Jackson, for your penchant for all things tiny. From wee Macaulay Culkin to your eroding nose, you're a gnome's worst nightmare. Without you, what would Access Hollywood DO???
Thank you, Tiger Woods, for marrying a supermodel/incubus who sucks your playing mastery so that someone else can have the limelight. But thanks again for restoring humanity's faith in you (except in the South, where they don't take kindly to your lifestyle choice and heritage, present company excluded), because with baseball's steroids and the Blanco/Benson Brawl, the kids don't have much to look up to these days.
Which reminds me, thank you, Gov. Blanco and Saints owner Tom Benson. Your petty squabbles on keeping a worthless franchise (my opinion) in town by creating mini-tax hikes in order to raise the money to refurbish the Dome which "aren't enough" really take the heat off of our failing public schools and the fact that our teachers were not all paid a few pay periods ago. Not since Zsa Zsa slapped that cop have we had such a trivial battle in the news. And while we're at it....why not use that hypothetical budget to fix the streets in my neighborhood, since you don't care enough about the students and teachers. My front end will appreciate that when I don't have to turn my steering wheel to the 3:00 position to drive in a 12:00 direction.
So, thanks for keeping the news off that dumbass who thinks 51% of the voting population is a mandate. It's nice to forget that those weapons don't exist, that young kids and family members are dying, and that we still haven't caught the guy responsible for September 11, 2001. 2001, Shrub!!
Sincerely,
A Blue Heart from the only Blue city in a Red State.
("Not BLUE Blue. TOILET BOWL BLUE.")
Thank you so much for taking me back to a simpler time. A happier time. A time when news wasn't serious and was a hobby, not an obsession, of the media. Speaking as a former member of the Fourth Estate, I can say that your presence almost makes me wish I hadn't given up on my first love. You recent news items have returned us to the Clinton-era of wacky hijinks and morons, as opposed to the current "He's gonna get us blowed up!!!" news of the Bush "administration" (Administration, Fraternity Rush Party, Corral, what have ye...).
Runaway Bride, thank you for giving us a dimension of lunacy not seen since the days of the Oral Office. Not since Slick Willie shoved a Cuban where (hopefully!) the sun don't shine has this country had a pathetisad man obsessed with a woman to laugh at. She ran out on her $100,000+ wedding, faked a kidnapping, changed her hair, and ran off to Vegas (Note: WITHOUT YOU) to escape your impending nuptials. Yet, you still "Want her back, because we all make mistakes."
Thank you, Michael Jackson, for your penchant for all things tiny. From wee Macaulay Culkin to your eroding nose, you're a gnome's worst nightmare. Without you, what would Access Hollywood DO???
Thank you, Tiger Woods, for marrying a supermodel/incubus who sucks your playing mastery so that someone else can have the limelight. But thanks again for restoring humanity's faith in you (except in the South, where they don't take kindly to your lifestyle choice and heritage, present company excluded), because with baseball's steroids and the Blanco/Benson Brawl, the kids don't have much to look up to these days.
Which reminds me, thank you, Gov. Blanco and Saints owner Tom Benson. Your petty squabbles on keeping a worthless franchise (my opinion) in town by creating mini-tax hikes in order to raise the money to refurbish the Dome which "aren't enough" really take the heat off of our failing public schools and the fact that our teachers were not all paid a few pay periods ago. Not since Zsa Zsa slapped that cop have we had such a trivial battle in the news. And while we're at it....why not use that hypothetical budget to fix the streets in my neighborhood, since you don't care enough about the students and teachers. My front end will appreciate that when I don't have to turn my steering wheel to the 3:00 position to drive in a 12:00 direction.
So, thanks for keeping the news off that dumbass who thinks 51% of the voting population is a mandate. It's nice to forget that those weapons don't exist, that young kids and family members are dying, and that we still haven't caught the guy responsible for September 11, 2001. 2001, Shrub!!
Sincerely,
A Blue Heart from the only Blue city in a Red State.
("Not BLUE Blue. TOILET BOWL BLUE.")
Sunday, April 24, 2005
Music makes the world go 'round and gets me through the day.
Your Taste in Music: |
| 80's Alternative: Highest Influence |
| 90's Alternative: Highest Influence |
| Adult Alternative: Highest Influence |
| Alternative Rock: Highest Influence |
| Ska: Highest Influence |
| 80's Pop: High Influence |
| 90's Pop: High Influence |
| Classic Rock: High Influence |
| Old School Hip Hop: High Influence |
| Punk: High Influence |
| 80's R&B: Medium Influence |
| 80's Rock: Medium Influence |
| 90's Rock: Medium Influence |
| Dance: Medium Influence |
| 90's Hip Hop: Low Influence |
| 90's R&B: Low Influence |
| Hair Bands: Low Influence |
| Progressive Rock: Low Influence |
| R&B: Low Influence |
Sunday, April 17, 2005
No home training...
Ok. Please do the world a favor when you have children.
Teach them to clean up after themselves. And how to help people. And that "The Clean Up Song" isn't just a cute, catchy song.
Don't demonstrate how not to act by walking into a messy day care room that was immaculate when you dropped off your 15-month-old and your almost-3-year-old and saying, "Wow, this looks like our house!"
'Cause it's NOT your house. And yes, it's my job to watch your kids. But if they have no home training, then my job is more difficult. And yes, it's the maintenance staff's job to clean what I can't get to because you left your kids with me for two hours, after arriving late, and I don't get paid to stay late and clean up after your kids because the mess is so huge that I can't possibly do it all on my own by noon, and they make me leave.
I never thought I'd see the day when I threw out perfectly good play-dough. But I did. I'm digging it out of my nails and my shoes and the fabric of my shirt.
No home training. I swear.
Teach them to clean up after themselves. And how to help people. And that "The Clean Up Song" isn't just a cute, catchy song.
Don't demonstrate how not to act by walking into a messy day care room that was immaculate when you dropped off your 15-month-old and your almost-3-year-old and saying, "Wow, this looks like our house!"
'Cause it's NOT your house. And yes, it's my job to watch your kids. But if they have no home training, then my job is more difficult. And yes, it's the maintenance staff's job to clean what I can't get to because you left your kids with me for two hours, after arriving late, and I don't get paid to stay late and clean up after your kids because the mess is so huge that I can't possibly do it all on my own by noon, and they make me leave.
I never thought I'd see the day when I threw out perfectly good play-dough. But I did. I'm digging it out of my nails and my shoes and the fabric of my shirt.
No home training. I swear.
Friday, April 01, 2005
A lot of deaths...real and metaphorical
The Sunday before Easter, Mary's mom died. She made it back in time to say goodbye, but it was very very sad. But a guilty pleasure to see my hard-core old-school friends and parents and siblings at the funeral. Does this make me a bad person?
Last Friday, there was that terrible motorcycle accident. Yeah...the woman on the bike? One of my mom's friends, who we've affcectionately dubbed, "The Crazy Women/Ladies." I didn't know her, but she had a daughter at SPN who was a grade behind me. I didn't really know her either, but I remember her.
Last week, Geoff and Plan C became officially over, and Geoff was reincarnated with Plan A. Huzzah! (Well, to the reincarnation bit. He's my baby brother. I worry about him.)
Then, alas and alack, my second-favorite comedian of all time, Mitch Hedberg, died. I'm very distraught over this. I mean, I can't eat a baked potato without chuckling. Or watch an oscilating fan. Or see a broken escalator. (In case you are wondering, 1 is Dane Cook, 2 is Mitch, and 3 is Nick Swardson.) Sadder? His death is overshadowed by the following:
Terry Schiavo died, and this can't really be a bad thing.
The Pope is knock knock knockin' on heaven's door. He may be in there now, I dunno. You know those crazy Vatican peeps. Always playin'. Anyway, this also can't be a bad thing. He's like 800 years old, he's been ill for a while, and...well...a changing of teh guards in the Catholic Church can't hurt. I can't wait until someone from my generation can be Pope. I bet we'll have women priests, and less scandals, and maybe even more tolerance of other faiths and LIFESTYLES. Yeah, I know, keep dreaming. But maybe then, I will resuscitate beign Catholic. I can't in good conscience subscribe to them. That's another death that I pretty much finalized last week I realized that I only stay away from meat on Lenten Fridays and do NOTHING else Churchy, except giggle at Dane Cook's routine, so next Lent, FIRE IN THE GRILL, BAYBEEEE.
Last Friday, there was that terrible motorcycle accident. Yeah...the woman on the bike? One of my mom's friends, who we've affcectionately dubbed, "The Crazy Women/Ladies." I didn't know her, but she had a daughter at SPN who was a grade behind me. I didn't really know her either, but I remember her.
Last week, Geoff and Plan C became officially over, and Geoff was reincarnated with Plan A. Huzzah! (Well, to the reincarnation bit. He's my baby brother. I worry about him.)
Then, alas and alack, my second-favorite comedian of all time, Mitch Hedberg, died. I'm very distraught over this. I mean, I can't eat a baked potato without chuckling. Or watch an oscilating fan. Or see a broken escalator. (In case you are wondering, 1 is Dane Cook, 2 is Mitch, and 3 is Nick Swardson.) Sadder? His death is overshadowed by the following:
Terry Schiavo died, and this can't really be a bad thing.
The Pope is knock knock knockin' on heaven's door. He may be in there now, I dunno. You know those crazy Vatican peeps. Always playin'. Anyway, this also can't be a bad thing. He's like 800 years old, he's been ill for a while, and...well...a changing of teh guards in the Catholic Church can't hurt. I can't wait until someone from my generation can be Pope. I bet we'll have women priests, and less scandals, and maybe even more tolerance of other faiths and LIFESTYLES. Yeah, I know, keep dreaming. But maybe then, I will resuscitate beign Catholic. I can't in good conscience subscribe to them. That's another death that I pretty much finalized last week I realized that I only stay away from meat on Lenten Fridays and do NOTHING else Churchy, except giggle at Dane Cook's routine, so next Lent, FIRE IN THE GRILL, BAYBEEEE.
Sunday, March 27, 2005
Very interesting...
| You scored as Hedonism. Your life is guided by the principles of Hedonism: You believe that pleasure is a great, or the greatest, good; and you try to enjoy life’s pleasures as much as you can. “Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die!” More info at Arocoun's Wikipedia User Page...
What philosophy do you follow? (v1.02) created with QuizFarm.com |
Sunday, March 20, 2005
Friday, March 18, 2005
The most bizarre stuff happens to us...
Scene:
12:30 a.m., St. Patrick's Day night, March 18 early a.m.
The 'Nards are ready for Freddy. (Ask my parents if you don't understand that last half of the sentence).
The doorbell rings. A shiver of terror runs through the house. Or maybe that was frightened kittens. Whatever.
Mark (wearing pajama pants): What th-? Hand me a shirt!
Me (wearing a giant T-shirt and P.E. shorts) (SEXY!): I'll stay back here by the phone. The last time my doorbell rang late at night, the house behind my parents' was on fire!
Mark (dodging speeding balls of frantic fur): Ok. (Answers door)
Woman, possibbly drunk from St. Patrick's Day festivities: Oh. I'm so sorry. My friend Matt told me you lived here.
Mark, befuddled: Excuse me? I don't understand. What do you want?
Woman: I said, my friend Matt told me he lived here, on the corner of these two streets. I'm so sorry to bother you. I just guessed that this was it.
12:30 a.m., St. Patrick's Day night, March 18 early a.m.
The 'Nards are ready for Freddy. (Ask my parents if you don't understand that last half of the sentence).
The doorbell rings. A shiver of terror runs through the house. Or maybe that was frightened kittens. Whatever.
Mark (wearing pajama pants): What th-? Hand me a shirt!
Me (wearing a giant T-shirt and P.E. shorts) (SEXY!): I'll stay back here by the phone. The last time my doorbell rang late at night, the house behind my parents' was on fire!
Mark (dodging speeding balls of frantic fur): Ok. (Answers door)
Woman, possibbly drunk from St. Patrick's Day festivities: Oh. I'm so sorry. My friend Matt told me you lived here.
Mark, befuddled: Excuse me? I don't understand. What do you want?
Woman: I said, my friend Matt told me he lived here, on the corner of these two streets. I'm so sorry to bother you. I just guessed that this was it.
Thursday, March 17, 2005
I stop traffic!!!!
Yeah, so here are some funny instances that I keep forgetting to post.
(Oooh...my enter/paragraph breaks are working again. Huzzah!)
Numero Uno: I was going to Barnes and Noble, and I was stuck waiting for old ladies in a hoopty to pull out of the Applebees Curbside Pick-Up spots. I was half on Vets. There were cars stuck behind me. Their car (it was as big as a WHALE!) (But took forever to set SAILL!!) took its sweet time to back out. They had tons of room, as I was stopping traffic on Vets. They started honking the horn and motioning for me to back up. Alas, I could not. So they handled it the way any sweet little old ladies would:
THEY FLIPPED ME OFF! My mouth hung open in shock. They were like 90. It was as if Sophia Petrillo was driving and Rose Nylund was riding shotgun.
Number 2: I was on the service road on my way to the UNO Jeff Center. I was almost to Bonnabel, and this old guy started COMING INTO MY LANNE! He was coming into my LANNNNNE. So I said what any American would: "Ummmm, hello!" and honked. He turned around and shook his fist at me. HE cut ME off as I was pulling to a stop at a safe speed and distance at the red light. Never mind that there was plenty of room behind me, had he only slowed down. So, I leaned on my horn and he shook his fist again.
Normally, I like spunky old people, but dang.
And C: I was walking from the parking lot to class in the education building in the crosswalk with a bunch of other people. I was almost across when I heard a bang. I looked up. One SUV stopped before the crosswalk. And smaller, older car stopped short behind him, but with enough time. Then a truck plowed into the trunk of the smaller vehicle. The driver of the truck got out, surveyed the damage, and went, "DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMMMMMMMMMN! What the FUCK?!??!!?" and proceeded to berate the car's driver. It was so Dane Cook: "Why'd you let me hit you doing 80 when you're stopped at a crosswalk?!?!?!"
(Oooh...my enter/paragraph breaks are working again. Huzzah!)
Numero Uno: I was going to Barnes and Noble, and I was stuck waiting for old ladies in a hoopty to pull out of the Applebees Curbside Pick-Up spots. I was half on Vets. There were cars stuck behind me. Their car (it was as big as a WHALE!) (But took forever to set SAILL!!) took its sweet time to back out. They had tons of room, as I was stopping traffic on Vets. They started honking the horn and motioning for me to back up. Alas, I could not. So they handled it the way any sweet little old ladies would:
THEY FLIPPED ME OFF! My mouth hung open in shock. They were like 90. It was as if Sophia Petrillo was driving and Rose Nylund was riding shotgun.
Number 2: I was on the service road on my way to the UNO Jeff Center. I was almost to Bonnabel, and this old guy started COMING INTO MY LANNE! He was coming into my LANNNNNE. So I said what any American would: "Ummmm, hello!" and honked. He turned around and shook his fist at me. HE cut ME off as I was pulling to a stop at a safe speed and distance at the red light. Never mind that there was plenty of room behind me, had he only slowed down. So, I leaned on my horn and he shook his fist again.
Normally, I like spunky old people, but dang.
And C: I was walking from the parking lot to class in the education building in the crosswalk with a bunch of other people. I was almost across when I heard a bang. I looked up. One SUV stopped before the crosswalk. And smaller, older car stopped short behind him, but with enough time. Then a truck plowed into the trunk of the smaller vehicle. The driver of the truck got out, surveyed the damage, and went, "DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMMMMMMMMMN! What the FUCK?!??!!?" and proceeded to berate the car's driver. It was so Dane Cook: "Why'd you let me hit you doing 80 when you're stopped at a crosswalk?!?!?!"
Sunday, February 27, 2005
More classic Mae...
Here's an oldie but a goodie from my days as editor in college...
So what if I want to change my name?
A view on maiden names, feminism and Dr. Seuss rhyming games
Published: Thursday, April 19, 2001
I'm getting married next April. Of course, ever since I got engaged in December, people have been bombarding me with questions.
Some people shyly ask, "So, who's going to be your bridesmaids?" You just know they're waiting to hear their names.
Others ask for specifics, like our story, or the date, or where we'll live or what city the wedding will be in.
But the question I hear the most is, "Are you going to keep your name?"And whenever I answer, "No," many people are shocked. Sometimes even appalled.
I guess most of this shock stems from my feminist nature. I hate people who pose for girlie magazines, I refuse to wear pink or makeup, I hate the idea of being a stay-at-home-mom, I have a heavy emphasis on having a career and God help my future husband if he decides that I'm responsible for all of the menial housework.
Three years ago, I wrote a column about how pathetic it was that the University didn't celebrate Women's History Month. I even took English V: Women in the Humanities my senior year of high school.
So when I say what, to some, is an anti-feminist answer, people are shocked.
I don't know why this is so. I've always had problems with my name. My parents thought it would be nice to give me a French first name to go with my French last name.They didn't take into account the fact that it would make me sound like a Dr. Seuss character.
(Say it with me: A-May *******. Yeah, that's right, it's NOT "Amy." Thought you were so smart, huh?)
It's been my dream to not have a rhyming name, one that sends friends spiraling into contests to see who can make up the most phrases of rhymes with my name.
One friend, who now lives in Minnesota, would frequently speak in a hick accent when doing so."Haah. Ah'm Aimée *******. How are you today? I'm in a play. Don't use butter, use Parkay. What do you say? Horses eat hay. I wear Mary Kay and sell Amway. I drive a coupé. Going my way? My kids are Jorgé, Jay and Renée. "'
You get the point.
I feel some guilt at my hostility towards my name. My parents gave it to me. It's the one thing I'll always have from them. I should honor it.
But it's so difficult when you have to tell people, "No, it's Aimée. Like the first letter of the alphabet and the fifth month of the year." And when you've spent your whole life defending yourself or politely smiling when people laugh at the rhyme factor.
Do I see this as an anti-feminist move? Not really. Many people have suggested hyphenating my name. But that's such a hassle, and if I ever have kids, it will confuse them. And, no offense to those who do so, I find hyphenated names to be a bit pretentious.
Yes, it will be a huge hassle to change it. I'm prepared for that.
But on the plus side, I'll get a new driver's license picture, which sounds like a small price to pay. And I'll get to have fun presenting myself as a new person.
True, it will take some getting used to. I'm sure I will waste many checks when I sign the wrong name. But this is my decision.
And people should respect that.
After all, the heart of feminism lies in earning respect.
So what if I want to change my name?
A view on maiden names, feminism and Dr. Seuss rhyming games
Published: Thursday, April 19, 2001
I'm getting married next April. Of course, ever since I got engaged in December, people have been bombarding me with questions.
Some people shyly ask, "So, who's going to be your bridesmaids?" You just know they're waiting to hear their names.
Others ask for specifics, like our story, or the date, or where we'll live or what city the wedding will be in.
But the question I hear the most is, "Are you going to keep your name?"And whenever I answer, "No," many people are shocked. Sometimes even appalled.
I guess most of this shock stems from my feminist nature. I hate people who pose for girlie magazines, I refuse to wear pink or makeup, I hate the idea of being a stay-at-home-mom, I have a heavy emphasis on having a career and God help my future husband if he decides that I'm responsible for all of the menial housework.
Three years ago, I wrote a column about how pathetic it was that the University didn't celebrate Women's History Month. I even took English V: Women in the Humanities my senior year of high school.
So when I say what, to some, is an anti-feminist answer, people are shocked.
I don't know why this is so. I've always had problems with my name. My parents thought it would be nice to give me a French first name to go with my French last name.They didn't take into account the fact that it would make me sound like a Dr. Seuss character.
(Say it with me: A-May *******. Yeah, that's right, it's NOT "Amy." Thought you were so smart, huh?)
It's been my dream to not have a rhyming name, one that sends friends spiraling into contests to see who can make up the most phrases of rhymes with my name.
One friend, who now lives in Minnesota, would frequently speak in a hick accent when doing so."Haah. Ah'm Aimée *******. How are you today? I'm in a play. Don't use butter, use Parkay. What do you say? Horses eat hay. I wear Mary Kay and sell Amway. I drive a coupé. Going my way? My kids are Jorgé, Jay and Renée. "'
You get the point.
I feel some guilt at my hostility towards my name. My parents gave it to me. It's the one thing I'll always have from them. I should honor it.
But it's so difficult when you have to tell people, "No, it's Aimée. Like the first letter of the alphabet and the fifth month of the year." And when you've spent your whole life defending yourself or politely smiling when people laugh at the rhyme factor.
Do I see this as an anti-feminist move? Not really. Many people have suggested hyphenating my name. But that's such a hassle, and if I ever have kids, it will confuse them. And, no offense to those who do so, I find hyphenated names to be a bit pretentious.
Yes, it will be a huge hassle to change it. I'm prepared for that.
But on the plus side, I'll get a new driver's license picture, which sounds like a small price to pay. And I'll get to have fun presenting myself as a new person.
True, it will take some getting used to. I'm sure I will waste many checks when I sign the wrong name. But this is my decision.
And people should respect that.
After all, the heart of feminism lies in earning respect.
Saturday, February 19, 2005
Geoff in syndication...
Geoff has a blog. Sometimes, it's funny. The other day is one instance of that. So I asked him if I could post it on my blog because it's the funniest shtuff I've read in a while.
I had this discussion with Chad at work today. I thought it was entertaining enough to post here.I decided to take it upon myself to clean up the webstore office, as neither Robby nor myself had been up there in a few weeks since we've been filling in shifts in the retail stores. I had a few free moments this evening, so I wanted to straighten it up.While I was up there, I found some really sweet rare games, like Mega Man X3 for the SNES and Smurfs for the Atari 2600. Cool gaming paraphenalia aside, I was making signifcant progress in my mission. There was a cardboard box filled with packing peanuts and some Sega Saturn games that were sent from our store in Biloxi. Now, keep in mind that this box has been up there for a few weeks filled with packing peanuts, in a warm, dark room.I picked up a stack of about five or six Saturn games when a small, brown, multi-legged beast crawled from the underside of Daytona USA and made its way to the top of Panzer Dragoon, nearly touching my hand. I dropped the stack of games, posthaste, damaging a jewel cases. But nevermind the jewel cases, a small roach nearly devoured my right hand! I searched and searched for my nemesis, but to no avail. It was as if he had dissapeared. Perhaps he was absorbed into the carpet where he'll emerge in the night to seek revenge on Panazer Dragoon.This prompted me to head downstairs and share my traumatic story with Chad. This brought up some interesting questions about roaches. First, we must go over some facts regarding these evil beasts of Satan.*Roaches can live for weeks without a head*Some roaches can fly*It has been said that roaches can survive a nuclear holocaust*Roaches can eat anything, including plasticWhat creature needs to possess all of these powers? Especially a creature that does NOTHING for our ecosystem. Worms turn soil, spiders eat mosquitos that carry diseases, but roaches do nothing beneficial! I see two that would be very beneficial to humans, should we acquire these powers: flying and surviving a nuclear holocaust, both of which have obvious reasons for kicking ass.But why can these roaches survive a nuclear holocaust? What is that purpose? Moreso, HOW can they? Is the only thing that can kill them, their kryptonite if you will, a can of Raid? If this is true, then surely Raid is the greatest advancement in modern chemical technology if it can kill creatures that can survive a nuclear holocaust.Being able to eat plastic could be quite convenient. For instance, you head to the store and purchase a liter of Coke. As you drink your liter of Coke, you begin to devour the bottle in which it resides, creating the perfect $1.87 meal. But what purpose does this serve? Obviously, roaches get all the crumbs and left-out food they can manage, so, why add plastic into the mix? It just doesn't add up.But perhaps more frightening is the fact that a roach can live for weeks without a head. Now, losing your head is not something one can foresee, so having a second chance to enjoy the activities you missed out on in life during the next two weeks could be very beneficial. But what would a roach do during this two week period? Typically, when someone knows they have a short time to live, they make ammends with colleagues. They'll also tend to do outrageous things they wouldn't normally do, like bungee jump, jet ski, or sleep with a hooker. But how many roaches have you met that have done that, with or without a head.I simply cannot understand why these malicious beasts are given these magnificent powers, and I can't even fly. It hardly seems fair.
I had this discussion with Chad at work today. I thought it was entertaining enough to post here.I decided to take it upon myself to clean up the webstore office, as neither Robby nor myself had been up there in a few weeks since we've been filling in shifts in the retail stores. I had a few free moments this evening, so I wanted to straighten it up.While I was up there, I found some really sweet rare games, like Mega Man X3 for the SNES and Smurfs for the Atari 2600. Cool gaming paraphenalia aside, I was making signifcant progress in my mission. There was a cardboard box filled with packing peanuts and some Sega Saturn games that were sent from our store in Biloxi. Now, keep in mind that this box has been up there for a few weeks filled with packing peanuts, in a warm, dark room.I picked up a stack of about five or six Saturn games when a small, brown, multi-legged beast crawled from the underside of Daytona USA and made its way to the top of Panzer Dragoon, nearly touching my hand. I dropped the stack of games, posthaste, damaging a jewel cases. But nevermind the jewel cases, a small roach nearly devoured my right hand! I searched and searched for my nemesis, but to no avail. It was as if he had dissapeared. Perhaps he was absorbed into the carpet where he'll emerge in the night to seek revenge on Panazer Dragoon.This prompted me to head downstairs and share my traumatic story with Chad. This brought up some interesting questions about roaches. First, we must go over some facts regarding these evil beasts of Satan.*Roaches can live for weeks without a head*Some roaches can fly*It has been said that roaches can survive a nuclear holocaust*Roaches can eat anything, including plasticWhat creature needs to possess all of these powers? Especially a creature that does NOTHING for our ecosystem. Worms turn soil, spiders eat mosquitos that carry diseases, but roaches do nothing beneficial! I see two that would be very beneficial to humans, should we acquire these powers: flying and surviving a nuclear holocaust, both of which have obvious reasons for kicking ass.But why can these roaches survive a nuclear holocaust? What is that purpose? Moreso, HOW can they? Is the only thing that can kill them, their kryptonite if you will, a can of Raid? If this is true, then surely Raid is the greatest advancement in modern chemical technology if it can kill creatures that can survive a nuclear holocaust.Being able to eat plastic could be quite convenient. For instance, you head to the store and purchase a liter of Coke. As you drink your liter of Coke, you begin to devour the bottle in which it resides, creating the perfect $1.87 meal. But what purpose does this serve? Obviously, roaches get all the crumbs and left-out food they can manage, so, why add plastic into the mix? It just doesn't add up.But perhaps more frightening is the fact that a roach can live for weeks without a head. Now, losing your head is not something one can foresee, so having a second chance to enjoy the activities you missed out on in life during the next two weeks could be very beneficial. But what would a roach do during this two week period? Typically, when someone knows they have a short time to live, they make ammends with colleagues. They'll also tend to do outrageous things they wouldn't normally do, like bungee jump, jet ski, or sleep with a hooker. But how many roaches have you met that have done that, with or without a head.I simply cannot understand why these malicious beasts are given these magnificent powers, and I can't even fly. It hardly seems fair.
Wednesday, February 16, 2005
I sniffed a red candle.
We lit a candle in the kitchen last night. Shazzy is a bit of a pyro (takes after his Uncle Geoff) and loves to sniff real close to candles. We have to keep an eye on him.
Mark was washing his hands when Shazzy jumped up on the counter and sniffed the candle. Then, he was hit with the smell of burnt hair.
Shazzy freaked and ran and hid where we couldn't get him. We finally were able to gt a good look at him. It wasn't his fur that burned; he had singed his whiskers. He has one gimpy, curly one, some missing ones, and some that are fine. He wasn't hurt...just freaked out.
Bet he won't sniff candles again.
Mark was washing his hands when Shazzy jumped up on the counter and sniffed the candle. Then, he was hit with the smell of burnt hair.
Shazzy freaked and ran and hid where we couldn't get him. We finally were able to gt a good look at him. It wasn't his fur that burned; he had singed his whiskers. He has one gimpy, curly one, some missing ones, and some that are fine. He wasn't hurt...just freaked out.
Bet he won't sniff candles again.
Sunday, February 13, 2005
You're my boy, Blue!
You're my boy....
We have a cable modem now!!! Huzzah!! Watch your mail, as we will be dropping AOL soon.
So, Ilana and I spent a total of 23.5 hours painting a mural, plus time sketching, plus time planning, plus $100 + on supplies in the Game Room during Mardi Gras, and THOSE FRIGGING KIDS DON'T LIKE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I am not going to go out of my way for that place any more. Eph them.
They were even trying to SCRATCH at it. Ash hoooooooooooooooooooooles.
And it RULES. So eph all of them.
We have a cable modem now!!! Huzzah!! Watch your mail, as we will be dropping AOL soon.
So, Ilana and I spent a total of 23.5 hours painting a mural, plus time sketching, plus time planning, plus $100 + on supplies in the Game Room during Mardi Gras, and THOSE FRIGGING KIDS DON'T LIKE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I am not going to go out of my way for that place any more. Eph them.
They were even trying to SCRATCH at it. Ash hoooooooooooooooooooooles.
And it RULES. So eph all of them.
Tuesday, February 08, 2005
So sorry
I think I hurt the old computer's feelings. It kinda died like that day. Geoff has taken it home to look at it. I hope he can do something. Now I feel all guilty.
Friday, January 28, 2005
I love technology
But not as much as I love you.
But I still love technology.
Always and forever.
My Dell Dimension 3000 with the optical mouse and the petite flat screen moniter is one sexy beast. I am madly in love with it. I finally have Word. And I can play around with Powerpoint and make stupid slideshows with which I may entertain myself and everyone around me for hours on end. And, one of the best things ever: I now have a copy of Spider Solitaire to call my own! I don't have to rely on the Internet to play it now!!
Even better, as soon as I move my fire wire, I can install my real iPod software. No more ephPod. Eph ephpod. No, I don't mean that. It has been berra berra good to me.
But wait! There's more! Now I have installed the software for our sassy little digital camera! So now I can e-mail Caroline the picture of her and Kate kissing at midnight!
Well, once we get our cable modem.
Oh yeah, you read that right. We're moving into the 21st Century.
Anyway, the computer's name is "Darkness," but it's pronounced "Dahkness." I think I may nickname it "Charlie Murphy."
And when I went to class, they had the coolest overhead projector EVER. It has a camera on it. All you have to do is put any object: a book, a baseball cap, a wilted burrito, even, on it, and it projects it on the wall. No need for smudging your notes all across the transparencies, rendering them useless.
I love technology.
But I still love technology.
Always and forever.
My Dell Dimension 3000 with the optical mouse and the petite flat screen moniter is one sexy beast. I am madly in love with it. I finally have Word. And I can play around with Powerpoint and make stupid slideshows with which I may entertain myself and everyone around me for hours on end. And, one of the best things ever: I now have a copy of Spider Solitaire to call my own! I don't have to rely on the Internet to play it now!!
Even better, as soon as I move my fire wire, I can install my real iPod software. No more ephPod. Eph ephpod. No, I don't mean that. It has been berra berra good to me.
But wait! There's more! Now I have installed the software for our sassy little digital camera! So now I can e-mail Caroline the picture of her and Kate kissing at midnight!
Well, once we get our cable modem.
Oh yeah, you read that right. We're moving into the 21st Century.
Anyway, the computer's name is "Darkness," but it's pronounced "Dahkness." I think I may nickname it "Charlie Murphy."
And when I went to class, they had the coolest overhead projector EVER. It has a camera on it. All you have to do is put any object: a book, a baseball cap, a wilted burrito, even, on it, and it projects it on the wall. No need for smudging your notes all across the transparencies, rendering them useless.
I love technology.
Tuesday, January 25, 2005
Luckyyyyyyyyyy...
Our computer arrived today!! YAYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!
Geoff brought over his copy of "Garden State" last night and we watched it and ate cheesecake. It was a fabulous evening! It was such a good movie, and the cheesescake is the only decent thing my MIL can make. Happiness all around!
School is cool. Looks like a heavy workload. But that's okay. I'll survive.
Best thing about school, part 1: no textbooks!
Best thing about school, part 2: One of my professors is named Sassy.
Geoff brought over his copy of "Garden State" last night and we watched it and ate cheesecake. It was a fabulous evening! It was such a good movie, and the cheesescake is the only decent thing my MIL can make. Happiness all around!
School is cool. Looks like a heavy workload. But that's okay. I'll survive.
Best thing about school, part 1: no textbooks!
Best thing about school, part 2: One of my professors is named Sassy.
Friday, January 21, 2005
Dude....
We're getting a Dell! My parents and Geoff rock! Our little computer, though fairly decent, is not updated enough to handle my scholastic demands, as I mentioned last time. And so I freaked out about it and called my parents, and my dad told me to make a list of everything I need. This morning, he called me and said that he and Geoff looked it over, did some research, and decided that we would be better off with a new system. It ships on Wednesday, and I cannot WAIT! There will also be a cable modem switch over soon. It'll feel so good to be in the 21st century with most of Western society...
I just tried a nasty Lean Cuisine. Don't get the penne pasta with tomato basil and sundried tomato. I saw the regular old nasty tomatoes, and I saw basil, and I saw penne, but I tasted crap. Bland crap.
I just tried a nasty Lean Cuisine. Don't get the penne pasta with tomato basil and sundried tomato. I saw the regular old nasty tomatoes, and I saw basil, and I saw penne, but I tasted crap. Bland crap.
Thursday, January 20, 2005
Y'all sure is diffrint in the city....
Either college has drastically changed in the three years since I graduated, or Nicholls was WAAAAYYYY behind everyone else in the world. I'm leaning towards that second choice. Everything is so computer and Internet oriented. Sheesh. I need serious upgrades/a new computer (not that I'm complaining...)just to take classes. Everything is submitted via Blackboard, so far. At Nicholls, we'd just gotten it right before I graduated, and only one class used it. But here, apparently, almost every class uses it. Again, sheesh.
Oh, and I thought correctly: LOTS of nontraditionals making lots of annoyance in class.
And, funnily enough, I have one class with Sam. How random is that? Off to the next one!
Oh, and I thought correctly: LOTS of nontraditionals making lots of annoyance in class.
And, funnily enough, I have one class with Sam. How random is that? Off to the next one!
Wednesday, January 19, 2005
Yyyyyyyyyaaaaayyyyyyy edumacation!
On tap for tonight:
Back to school...back to school....to prove to dad that I'm not a fool.....
Back to school...back to school....to prove to dad that I'm not a fool.....
Tuesday, January 18, 2005
Let me tell you 'bout my beeeeest friend...
My bestest friend in the whole wide world is 2 1/2 years old. Yes, Baby Ben, also known by Russian Phil as "Baby Stewie" for his head size, is truly my best friend. We spend two mornings a week together and have done so for 2 years. He is adorable beyond words, and though he has yet to actually say it, he loves me unconditionally. He gives me hugs and he grins at me and he takes me by the hand and sits in my lap to get read to, and he's starting to speak in sentences. Today, Sam came in and picked up Ben's guitar (he has a little acoustic one that he plays Shabbat songs on) and strummed it. Ben turned around and said, "No no no no no no, Sam." in a sing-songy voice. SO Sam tried a different tactic. He asked Ben's permission to play it. Ben answered, "No, just me." And then he was trying to get my attention today and said, "MOMMY! Um...I mean, Aimée !!" and it was really funny. He looked embarrassed.
But, today, his mom told me some bad news: in the fall, he has to start going to school five days a week. So I most DEFINITELY have to be out of the J by then. But, this makes me happy, because then he won't get attached to someone new after I'm gone. It makes the pain of leaving him that much easier, haha.
SCHOOL STARTS TOMORROW FOR ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Devon asked if I was going to have Mark take my picture and pack me a lunch in a cool new lunch box. Ha, ha, ha, ha. Silly Devon..I have night classes. No need for a lunch box.
BUUUUT.....with the start of school comes the time to BUY SCHOOL SUPPLIES!!! I am a dork, I am a dork, I am a dork....
But, today, his mom told me some bad news: in the fall, he has to start going to school five days a week. So I most DEFINITELY have to be out of the J by then. But, this makes me happy, because then he won't get attached to someone new after I'm gone. It makes the pain of leaving him that much easier, haha.
SCHOOL STARTS TOMORROW FOR ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Devon asked if I was going to have Mark take my picture and pack me a lunch in a cool new lunch box. Ha, ha, ha, ha. Silly Devon..I have night classes. No need for a lunch box.
BUUUUT.....with the start of school comes the time to BUY SCHOOL SUPPLIES!!! I am a dork, I am a dork, I am a dork....
Thursday, January 13, 2005
The cirrrrcle of liiiiiiife....
Last week, I learned about an end of a life and the beginning of a life on the same day. After celebrating Geoff's birthday with my parents, we headed home about 1 a.m. Mark's phone rang, and it was his boss, calling to say he had to come in immediately, because Buddy D, local talk legend, died earlier that evening.
Now, I've always hated him. My most vivid memories growing up involve my father, the Saints, and Buddy D. A strong college memory: Not having my own car, I would go home every other weekend via my parents. We wouldn't go back to school until after the Saints game was over. Which meant that I would then be subjected to being trapped in the Durango, forced to listen to his aftershow with no escape. But, it's sad. It's like the end of an era.
Earlier that day, I discovered that Emi had her baby!! And they're both healthy, even though he was a month early. Yayyyyyyyyyyy.......he's cute, too.
Less than one week until I start classes. At that point, I will find out what my internship entails, and I will reevaluate my job availability status, after which I will pound the pavement. Can't wait. Eff the dub.
Now, I've always hated him. My most vivid memories growing up involve my father, the Saints, and Buddy D. A strong college memory: Not having my own car, I would go home every other weekend via my parents. We wouldn't go back to school until after the Saints game was over. Which meant that I would then be subjected to being trapped in the Durango, forced to listen to his aftershow with no escape. But, it's sad. It's like the end of an era.
Earlier that day, I discovered that Emi had her baby!! And they're both healthy, even though he was a month early. Yayyyyyyyyyyy.......he's cute, too.
Less than one week until I start classes. At that point, I will find out what my internship entails, and I will reevaluate my job availability status, after which I will pound the pavement. Can't wait. Eff the dub.
Friday, January 07, 2005
When keepin' it real goes wrong....
So I'm going to be vague on this because I don't want this person (who won't know this is here) to know I said it, but I have to get it off my chest because I got really embarrassed and I feel bad.
So this person I know thought that he/she...I'll call this person "Pat..." had been exposed to a disease that can be kinda deadly and was feeling bad, so I looked up on the Internet the causes, etc. (Don't worry....it was a false alarm because the original sick person apparently doesn't have this deadly diease.) So I'm reading along, and one thing the site says is that other viruses in a person can cause it to happen. Including herpes. So, I say, "Uh-oh, Pat.....better quit sleeping around!" And Pat says. "I have herpes!!!" And I say, "Shut up." And Pat says, "No, seriously. I got it from my ex, Jordan. (I love gender-neutral names....) Jordan was my third, I was Jordan's 300th, practically."
Pardon me while I scream like Howard Dean.
How do you get out of something like that? As I told Kate, no more bringing circle jokes into the unsuspecting public. Sheesh. I'm mortified. And I am willing to bet Pat was, too.
In other karmic news, though, yesterday, a kid I will refer to as "Surfer chick" and I were building a popsicle house at work. She said, "Hey, I'm going to give you horns, okay?" I'm thinking in terms of bunny ears.
Oh, how wrong I was.
SHE GLUED A FLIPPIN' POPSICLE STICK TO MY HAIR!!!!!
Yes, to my hair. With so much glue, it soaked all the way through to my scalp. So I went to wash it out, but it was too far back for me to see. So I went to Jean's office, where i found Nijel, too. I said, "You know, there are days when I love my job, and days that make me want to quit. Today is one of those days." I turned around and showed them my hair. "Know any ways other than getting in a shower and actually washing my hair to get glue out of it?" They didn't, of course.
So I just had to let it dry. Then, I obsessed over picking the glue out as it dried. I looked like I needed 42 bottles of Selsun Blue. It was all flaking on my chocolate colored shirt and everything. Surfer chick and one of the Rachels helped. Ok...attempted to help. All they did was remove chunks of my hair. It hurt so bad.
Then, I get home. And I am in the kitchen, talking to Mark, when I knock over the stack of Christmas cards on the counter. He's holding Lily. As I bend over to pick up the cards, she gets wiggly, jumps onto the china cabinet, misses/bounces off, and LANDS ON MY HEAD!!!
A FLIPPIN' CAT FELL ON MY HEAD!!!
It's rainin' cats...hallelujah it's rainin' cats, meow meow!
On her way down, she clawed my right arm, and I have a puncture wound now.
Then, we were taking down our Christmas stuff, and I got behind the tree to get the rear ornaments. I leaned over to unplug the lights, and I smacked my head on the corner of the windowsill. It left a red mark. Today, it feels bruised, but you can't really see it. However, I never realized how often one touches one's forehead throughout the day. Everytime I push my hair out of my face....every time I rest my head on my hands....Torture.
So, I think I've paid my dues for the herpes joke attempt.
Incidentally, Pat is okay with it. Surfer chick was banished to the Game Room yesterday until she drew me a card with Cartman on it. It was hilarious. Cartman was saying, "I uh, I uh, screw you guys, I'm going home." Under that, it said, "If he won't say sorry, then I will. I'm sorry!" On the inside was a drawing of the back of my head with a popsicle stick stuck to it. Under that, it said, "It wasn't funny" and had an insert arrow pointing to the word, "That," which was written above wasn't and funny. It said on the next page, You're cooler than chocolate and black nail polish, and those are pretty cool. I love you, Aunt Mae." All was forgiven, It's hanging on my fridge. Lily is fine. And my head still hurts. And Mark? Mark's still laughing at that series of unfortunate events. Bum.
So this person I know thought that he/she...I'll call this person "Pat..." had been exposed to a disease that can be kinda deadly and was feeling bad, so I looked up on the Internet the causes, etc. (Don't worry....it was a false alarm because the original sick person apparently doesn't have this deadly diease.) So I'm reading along, and one thing the site says is that other viruses in a person can cause it to happen. Including herpes. So, I say, "Uh-oh, Pat.....better quit sleeping around!" And Pat says. "I have herpes!!!" And I say, "Shut up." And Pat says, "No, seriously. I got it from my ex, Jordan. (I love gender-neutral names....) Jordan was my third, I was Jordan's 300th, practically."
Pardon me while I scream like Howard Dean.
How do you get out of something like that? As I told Kate, no more bringing circle jokes into the unsuspecting public. Sheesh. I'm mortified. And I am willing to bet Pat was, too.
In other karmic news, though, yesterday, a kid I will refer to as "Surfer chick" and I were building a popsicle house at work. She said, "Hey, I'm going to give you horns, okay?" I'm thinking in terms of bunny ears.
Oh, how wrong I was.
SHE GLUED A FLIPPIN' POPSICLE STICK TO MY HAIR!!!!!
Yes, to my hair. With so much glue, it soaked all the way through to my scalp. So I went to wash it out, but it was too far back for me to see. So I went to Jean's office, where i found Nijel, too. I said, "You know, there are days when I love my job, and days that make me want to quit. Today is one of those days." I turned around and showed them my hair. "Know any ways other than getting in a shower and actually washing my hair to get glue out of it?" They didn't, of course.
So I just had to let it dry. Then, I obsessed over picking the glue out as it dried. I looked like I needed 42 bottles of Selsun Blue. It was all flaking on my chocolate colored shirt and everything. Surfer chick and one of the Rachels helped. Ok...attempted to help. All they did was remove chunks of my hair. It hurt so bad.
Then, I get home. And I am in the kitchen, talking to Mark, when I knock over the stack of Christmas cards on the counter. He's holding Lily. As I bend over to pick up the cards, she gets wiggly, jumps onto the china cabinet, misses/bounces off, and LANDS ON MY HEAD!!!
A FLIPPIN' CAT FELL ON MY HEAD!!!
It's rainin' cats...hallelujah it's rainin' cats, meow meow!
On her way down, she clawed my right arm, and I have a puncture wound now.
Then, we were taking down our Christmas stuff, and I got behind the tree to get the rear ornaments. I leaned over to unplug the lights, and I smacked my head on the corner of the windowsill. It left a red mark. Today, it feels bruised, but you can't really see it. However, I never realized how often one touches one's forehead throughout the day. Everytime I push my hair out of my face....every time I rest my head on my hands....Torture.
So, I think I've paid my dues for the herpes joke attempt.
Incidentally, Pat is okay with it. Surfer chick was banished to the Game Room yesterday until she drew me a card with Cartman on it. It was hilarious. Cartman was saying, "I uh, I uh, screw you guys, I'm going home." Under that, it said, "If he won't say sorry, then I will. I'm sorry!" On the inside was a drawing of the back of my head with a popsicle stick stuck to it. Under that, it said, "It wasn't funny" and had an insert arrow pointing to the word, "That," which was written above wasn't and funny. It said on the next page, You're cooler than chocolate and black nail polish, and those are pretty cool. I love you, Aunt Mae." All was forgiven, It's hanging on my fridge. Lily is fine. And my head still hurts. And Mark? Mark's still laughing at that series of unfortunate events. Bum.
Thursday, January 06, 2005
Dove Promises are the DEVIL!
The devil, I tell you!
I bought some to put in candy bowls for our Christmas get-together which got cancelled because we got snowed in in the M.C., and since Mark isn't into them, I'm left to do battle with them on my own. Ugh. Hello, cellulite!
SO, here's Over's feedback on the previous post:
"lol..you make me sound like such the picky asshole! :)
"see, the intrinsic problem with renaming under to over is that overusage of the name. you'll say over21 jeff, and some people will think you mean me, and some will think you mean under. and no matter how much you try to make them update their mindset, it will never truly be solved that way.
"my proposal? wait til i'm 30, and then change the names. then we can still be over and under, with ages, except then it'll be over30jeff and under30geoff. no confusion, and accurate readings.
"but you're the creative one. all i ask is that i dont have the word Fart in my title."
So e-mail me and let me know what you think.
Remind me to tell you one of the most foot-in-mouth stories ever later on...
I bought some to put in candy bowls for our Christmas get-together which got cancelled because we got snowed in in the M.C., and since Mark isn't into them, I'm left to do battle with them on my own. Ugh. Hello, cellulite!
SO, here's Over's feedback on the previous post:
"lol..you make me sound like such the picky asshole! :)
"see, the intrinsic problem with renaming under to over is that overusage of the name. you'll say over21 jeff, and some people will think you mean me, and some will think you mean under. and no matter how much you try to make them update their mindset, it will never truly be solved that way.
"my proposal? wait til i'm 30, and then change the names. then we can still be over and under, with ages, except then it'll be over30jeff and under30geoff. no confusion, and accurate readings.
"but you're the creative one. all i ask is that i dont have the word Fart in my title."
So e-mail me and let me know what you think.
Remind me to tell you one of the most foot-in-mouth stories ever later on...
Tuesday, January 04, 2005
I thought I was the coolest person in the world...
But apparently, I'm not. I thought this because I'm listening to Duran Duran's greatest hits album in my car this week, and there ain't nuthin' cooler than that. But then, Caroline was singing "Notorious" last night, and I decided to show how I'm the coolest person in the world, and apparently, that crackwhore is listening to it in her car, too. So I have to share the title. Thanks. Thanks a lot.
Left off my lists:
Songs I shouldn't love but do:
Black Eyed Peas, "Let's Get it Started/Retarded"
Gwen Stefani
OutKast, "Hey Ya."
Stuff I unabashedly love:
Duran Duran
I need to take a poll. See, I have this friend, and his name is Over-21 Jeff. He was named this at a legendary party where he was the only person of legal purchasing age, and my brother was around, and to distinguish between which Geoff/Jeff was out, we called them "Over-21 Jeff" and "Under-21 Geoff." Yes, they spell their names differently, but they're pronounced the same, so you DO need the distunguishing titles.
Well, today, Under has moved up to Over. Yes, today is Geoff's 21st birthday. So we have two Over-21 Geoffs/Jeffs. That can't work. It's been like 6 years. It'll be hard to stop thinking of him as "Under."
But we need to rename them. The obvious choice is to make them "Over-21 Geoff" and "Almost -30 Jeff." But Over doesn't like those implications. So, for this year, They could be "Over-21 Jeff and "21 Geoff," but that is lame. Then I tried "Old Fart Jeff" and Young Fart Geoff," but Over didn't like that either. So I suggested, "Old Fart Geoff" and "Older Fart Jeff." Over really hated that.
I suppose we could just stick to calling them Over and Under, with no ages listed, but I think new names every few years is funnier.
Left off my lists:
Songs I shouldn't love but do:
Black Eyed Peas, "Let's Get it Started/Retarded"
Gwen Stefani
OutKast, "Hey Ya."
Stuff I unabashedly love:
Duran Duran
I need to take a poll. See, I have this friend, and his name is Over-21 Jeff. He was named this at a legendary party where he was the only person of legal purchasing age, and my brother was around, and to distinguish between which Geoff/Jeff was out, we called them "Over-21 Jeff" and "Under-21 Geoff." Yes, they spell their names differently, but they're pronounced the same, so you DO need the distunguishing titles.
Well, today, Under has moved up to Over. Yes, today is Geoff's 21st birthday. So we have two Over-21 Geoffs/Jeffs. That can't work. It's been like 6 years. It'll be hard to stop thinking of him as "Under."
But we need to rename them. The obvious choice is to make them "Over-21 Geoff" and "Almost -30 Jeff." But Over doesn't like those implications. So, for this year, They could be "Over-21 Jeff and "21 Geoff," but that is lame. Then I tried "Old Fart Jeff" and Young Fart Geoff," but Over didn't like that either. So I suggested, "Old Fart Geoff" and "Older Fart Jeff." Over really hated that.
I suppose we could just stick to calling them Over and Under, with no ages listed, but I think new names every few years is funnier.
Sunday, January 02, 2005
The best parts of a crappy year....
This year was frought with turmoil: hurricanes, a divided nation, Bush's reelection, work, and the tsumani terror. All in all, pretty cruddy. But, there were some good things. Here's my stream of consciousness stuff, organized as best as possible. (Yeah, I know, that makes no sense. Deal with it.)
Songs I loved but shouldn't have:- "Toxic" by Britney Spears
- "My Band" D12
- "Drop it Like it's Haaaaawwwwt" Snoop Dogg and Pharrell
- "The Way You Move" OutKast
- "Yeah" Usher
- "Love Song" 311
- "Growing on Me" and "I Believe in a Thing Called Love" The Darkness
- "Somewhere Only We Know" Keane
- "Word Up" Korn
- "Lady" Lenny Kravitz
- "We're All to Blame" Sum41
Songs/albums I love without shame:
- "Songs About Jane" Maroon5
- "Hot Fuss" The Killers
- "Big Brat" Phantom Planet
- "Good News For People Who Love Bad News" Modest Mouse
- "To the Five Boroughs" Beastie Boys
- "No Phone" Cake
- "Fall Behind Me" The Donnas
- Franz Ferdinand
- "American Idiot" (album) Green Day
- "Walk Idiot Walk" Hives
- "Megalomaniac" Incubus
- "Get Born" Jet
- "Hysteria" and "Time is Running Out" Muse (actually, the whole "Absolution" album is cool)
- Snow Patrol
- The Strokes
- "C'mon C'mon" The Von Bondies
- Velvet Revolver
- "Maps" Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Movies, current and video, that are to die for:
- Anchorman
- Napoleon Dynamite
- Dodgeball
- Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
- Elf
- Mean Girls
- The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou
- Lemony Snickett's A Series of Unfortunate Events
- The Incredibles
Cool stuff that happened with no real category to define it:
- Got an iPod
- Voodoo Fest
- SNOW ON CHRISTMAS
- Passing the second part of the Praxis
- Becoming an actual grad student and getting to register for classes
- Mark's surprise party
- Nijel giving me training sessions for Christmas
- Seeing that door slowly start to open....
- Got a nugget cell phone
- Downloadable ring tones
- Shazzy
- The chair
- Being Alicia's matron of honor
- Tsofim Travel Adventure
Best concerts
- Better Than Ezra
- GreenDay
- Beastie Boys
- Velvet Revolver
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