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Monday, June 26, 2006

Mon, 26 Jun 2006 22:55:55 GMT

It's possible I'm the worst blogger of all time. I can manage 6 months with nothing exciting happening in my life. Very impressive.

Just moved. Now living with my sister Sandy and good friend Sarah in house (Hurray for leaving apartment life behind). The only current drawback of my living situation is the lack of bed. My boxspring does not fit up the stairs to my room so I need to go out and get a platform style bed and assemble it upstairs. Yay fun.

Been watching lots of World Cup Soccer. Unfortunatly, most of my teams are now out of contention. The US was screwed over by some really bad officiating, the Netherlands choked against Portugal (also with some bad officiating), Mexico was knocked out by one of the favorites (Argentina) and I'm left wondering who to support. Guess I'll have to wait and see who else makes it to the Quarterfinals.

Started up indoor soccer again after taking 6 months off. Tough to come back but we've got a stong group this time around. Hopefully something good will come of it.

Okay, as always, some things I've been pondering...

If a referee is banned from working in the 2002 world cup, why would they ever let him ref in the 2006 world cup? what could he have possibly done to improve his situation?

If you have no money wouldn't you be inspired to get a job? At least apply for jobs? Not if you're my sister.

I hate it when independent women get involved with a guy and disappear. Since when do you need to spend every single minute with this guy?

In high school summer felt long...two months of no school....heck yes! So, why as a teacher is it so short? Stupid trainings....I want my summer break!

Until next time, friends.

Saturday, January 07, 2006

Sat, 07 Jan 2006 22:08:59 GMT

So another Friday, another messed up plan. Last night some friends and I planned to go see a movie. We also made an executive descion to invite the boys we like. One friend called a guy she just started dating, I called a guy that I've recently developed a crush on, and Nicole decided to force her husband Kyle to come along for moral support.

After playing a bit of phone tag, the two of us waiting to see if our boys would come went to get some grub at our favorite Chinese joint. At 6:32 my guy called and confirmed he could come. At 6:34, my friend's interest also confirmed. We celebrated at dinner and starting eating. At 6:37, my guy called to cancel. Apparently high school basketball is more fun than hanging out with us. At 6:41 my friend's date also cancelled. He was tired and wanted to sit around doing nothing. Needless to say, we were both a bit confused and disappointed. A date night turned into a threesome of girls enjoy a movie. We saw The Family Stone which was funny, sad, and a bit strange, but overall it was good.

After the movie we went to get some dessert in a final attempt to get the boys out. My guy came :). Kyle came :). My other friend's date just fell asleep. Unfortunatly, the guy I like enjoys flirting with my friend more than me. Oh, well. Nothing new there. I guess we'll just have to see where things go from here.

Things I've been pondering...

Living alone sucks. Cooking is huge chore. You have to dirty all those dishes just for yourself. What a pain.

I tried to reach someone who is at home more than 95% of every day. I couldn't reach him....strange.

I learned today that youth suicide (ages 10-24) happens twice a week on average in Washington...that is a sad fact....doubly sad....sad that so many young people are committing suicide, sad that I'm still clumped in with 10 year olds.

Why do I ponder so many stupid things. Aren't you bored with them yet?

Until next time, friends.

Monday, January 02, 2006

Mon, 02 Jan 2006 02:51:06 GMT

Okay, I've been really worthless about updating this blog and most of you have probably lost some faith in me. Just to set the record straight, here's what was going on.

1. I was lazy during November...I just can't lie to you.
2. Just after Thanksgiving my cat chewed through my laptop power cord so I had no connection to the internet..not my fault
3. I was out of town from Dec. 19th to Dec. 30th visiting my family down in California...you have to forgive that :)

So, now I'm back in Tacoma, it's a new year, I have a new power cord and it's time to start blogging once again.

Don't be sad that you didn't hear from me the last two months. Nothing particularly exciting happened to me since I last wrote.

My winter trip home was great. I spent two days at my brother's playing all the new games he's picked up. I think I may have learned over 10 games in those two days. After that I headed up to my Aunt and Uncle's place in the east bay for the big Christmas celebration. We planned a great secret Santa exchange to work with suffering incomes and ever-growing family size. I think everyone was very pleased with the results...as were our bank accounts :). Following the family time in the bay my siblings, my mom, my cousin and his girlfriend, along with my brother's dog and my sister's dog travelled up to the foothills of the Sierra Nevadas where we hoped to enjoy the snow. There was snow on the ground upon our arrivial, but nothing new fell during our stay unless you count the rain. Several of the group enjoyed walks with the dogs and a snowball fight, but once again, games are what we used to fill our time. We ate good food and enjoyed great company for 3 days.

I made it back to Tacoma on the 30th and stayed up late talking to my friend Sarah about everything and nothing...mostly boys.

On Saturday, Sarah and I went to see the Ringer with our friend Dan who is awesome. Unfotunately, the movie was not. In fact it was a real let down. Sorry if that ruins any plans you may have had.

Saturday night I went out to eat with Sarah to celebrate the new year and then headed up to Seattle for some more celebrating. The group I was with opted to go to Seattle Center for the festivities which isn't really my idea of fun. Large crowds don't really do it for me. I headed back to Tacoma to ring in the year with Sarah who was sick and had already spent Christmas alone in Tacoma. We talked late into the night again and then I headed home.

That's all you get for updates, but as usual here are some things I've been pondering....

Why is it that some of the strongest, coolest, smartest people in my life don't see how great they are and sell themselves short?

Why does everything seem to fly by the minute you're not working?

Where did the tradition of kissing someone on New Year's come from? Is it another couple conspiracy like Valentine's Day?

Why are all the men in my life married, gay, or asexual?

Until next time, friends.

Tuesday, November 08, 2005

Tue, 08 Nov 2005 00:37:17 GMT

Okay, so this was not my favorite weekend. After driving back to Tacoma on Friday afternoon, I decided to stop by the pet store and pick up some food for Domino. When I went to turn on the car after buying the food, nothing happened. My car was totally dead. With help from my good friend Nicole, I tried to jump the car. Soon, the guy from the pet store was outside trying to help us. He decided it sounded like a problem with the starter. Having replaced my starter only a month ago, I was firm in my decision to take my car back to where it was previous fixed. I called a tow truck and sat in Starbucks with Nicole for almost 2 hours while we waited for him. He got there, said it was the battery and then proceded to try to jump my car about 5 times. It finally started. I paid the man and decided to take my car to the auto place anyways to see if they'd take blame for fucking up my battery connection. After driving nearly 20 blocks, my car died in the middle of the road. Luckily Nicole was behind me and a very nice, smart guy in a truck pulled over to help me out. We decided to leave the car in a grocery store lot over night and then stop by Les Schwab (which was really close by) to see if I couldn't get the battery fixed. All of you who know stuff about cars are probably shaking your head thinking, "there's something wrong with your alternator!" Well, you're right. Les Schwab, on Saturday morning checked it out and confirmed that my alternator was fucked up. They sent me just down the street to Precision Automotive to get it fixed. Lucky for me, they were closed. I surrendered my key to their drop box and went the rest of the weekend carless. My amazing friend Sarah Strom woke up at 6am (and she works at 2pm) to take me to work. I got a few calls from the auto place to give the go ahead while they charged me up the ass for the repairs. I am never putting more money into my car ever again. If something needs a'fixin, I will be getting a new car.

Things I've been pondering...

Remember how I mentioned that whenever I save money something bad happens that makes me spend it. I told you so! (see above for details)

Why is it that after daylight savings after 5pm it feels like it's midnight all the time? I mean, yeah, it's dark, but why do I always feel as tired as I would seven hours later?

How exactly do you go about asking someone if they're single without sounding too interested? Is there a sly way about doing so, or are you just screwed?

Until next time, friends.

Monday, October 31, 2005

Mon, 31 Oct 2005 23:34:15 GMT

Halloween is an interesting holiday. Some people really come out of their shells if they get to dress up, others really dislike dressing up and dealing with the whole candy thing. I know I can't wait for my students to be either asleep or sugar high all day tomorrow. Nothing is more exciting.

My school district is one that does NOT ban costumes at school. Our only big rule is that you can't wear masks because we need to be able to identify any mischief-makers should anything bad occur during the day. Apparently we should have a few more rules. One student at my school dressed up as a tampon..no lie..I'm pretty sure they got sent home pretty quickly. That is just so wrong. Naturally, the spencer's Penis costume was not far behind. What makes students think that this is appropriate. No matter how funny it is, you have to at least consider the fact that you're gonna get in big trouble for wearing it to school.

I've been sick since last Thursday, hitting my lowest low on Saturday when I didn't get out of my bed for more than 5 minutes at any given point of the day. My throat hurt, my nose was stuffed, my ear was aching...not more could make me feel worse than I did.

On Sunday my sickness was wearing off and I had a double header for indoor soccer. Since we had to play 2 games I knew I would have to show up. It was around noon, about 6 hours prior to game 1, that shit started to hit the fan. First one of our 5 girls bailed. Then Nicole was out of commission due to health problems. While we managed to pick up another girl to fill in the ranks, having to play a double header when you're really sick is pretty tough when you have limited sub capabilities. Overall the evening was alright. We were schooled in our first game but we came back to crush our second opponent and finish the season with a win. I managed to get a goal, but unfortunately, to add a bit more pain to my life, a girl on the other team crushed my foot. I've been limping all day.

Things I've been pondering...

Why do you think it is that my cat can find the most annoying object in my room to play with just when I turn out the lights to go to sleep?

I've been complaining about not knowing enough guys. I learned yesterday that I actually know quite a few. In fact, we had too many guys show up to sub for our team yesterday and not close to enough girls. So why haven't I hooked up with any of these guys???

Did you know that one of my students likes his sausage brown? That's what another student told me today...yeah, I have to deal with this every day!

I've been thinking of bringing a flask to school and taking a sip whenever I get frustrated. My students are too slow to notice. I could write all the answers to a quiz on the board and they wouldn't notice. They're too busy talking instead.

Until next time, friends.

Thursday, October 27, 2005

Thu, 27 Oct 2005 04:57:36 GMT

Wow, a whole week since I last updated this thing. You all must be dying to know what's going on in my crazy world.

So, to continue with tradition in my life, my high school was killed at the homecoming football game. I'm honestly not sure if one of my teams has ever won a game. I must give off bad vibes.

Here's an awesome new tradition at our school. The homecoming king and queen are not crowned from the senior class automatically. Instead, each class elects a prince and princess and whichever class earns the most spirit points for the week has their prince and princess crowned as king and queen. My school is so lame that this year we had a king and queen who are sophomores. It was the first time in history, so naturally, the seniors whined and complained all night long. I can't help but agree with them that this is the LAMEST tradition ever started.

After all the hype about the staff prince/princess, there was never any voting and no one was crowned...all I'll say is that my therapist and I are making real progress working through the devastation.

Tonight was parent conferences at my school. All the teachers have a booth in the gym where parents come around and get a "five minute" conference. Why is it that the only parents that show up to these things are the ones whose kid has an A-? What can your kid do to get an A?....Finish the semester! Sheesh, why do they expect that perfection after a month. Give your kid a chance! Why can't I get the parents whose kid has an F that sits with his/her thumb up their ass instead of learning? Now those conferences are fun. "Your kid's an idiot. Might I suggest some birth control for you and your child." Let's stop this problem at the source!

Things I've been pondering...

When you have a rule in class like "No cd players, mp3 players, headphones, cellphones, or other electronic devices", you'd think that kids would understand that Gameboys are included on that list. You'd be wrong.

If you played college level soccer, what kind of satisfaction do you get from joining a low-level co-ed soccer team? Is it really fun to run in circles around beginning soccer players? Does that make your penis feel a little bigger? Does it?

My friend sucessfully wrote down about 10 porn sites from memory while we were sitting at E9. He also gave a nice walkthough of which sites have different features. Can all guys do that, or is he just a diamond in the rough?

If you had parents who weren't psycho when you were in high school, call them and thank them. I never realized how many crazy parents there are. A big THANKS go out to mis padres for keeping a level head and trusting me to make good decisions. I was damn lucky.

Until next time, friends.

Wednesday, October 19, 2005

Wed, 19 Oct 2005 22:43:22 GMT

This week is homecoming at the high school where I work. I believe i've dropped hints to that along the way. Here were our themes for dress up days:
Monday: Comfy Clothes - what the fuck is this? Why not just say pajama day or something? How much more generic can you get than "comfy clothes"?
Tuesday: Hillbilly Day - I figured out why we never had this one in Willits. It would be dressing up normal for a good third of the students.
Wednesday: 80's Day - Tell me something: When will it be cool to have a 90's day? I mean, we had 80's day 10 years ago when I was in high school. Isn't there another decade that is worthy of a dress up day?
Thursday: Vegas Theme (Frosh-Circus Circus, Soph-Aladdin, Junior-Bellagio, Senior-New York, New York) - Explain to me how one might dress up for Bellagio. Isn't that just the name of a hotel. What kind of clothes are these kids going to wear? I am confused. I think the frosh and sophomores lucked out. At least their themes seem doable.
Friday: Spirt Day (aka Green, White and Gold)- Finally a day I can really understand. This used to be my favorite. I still remember when a group of my friends came tardy to physics senior year because they were doing their green and gold make-up...ahh the good ol' days.

So, people are still pursuing the whole staff prince/princess thing. I'm getting all sorts of comments, etc. I found out that students nominated us. My students feel very strongly that I should win. Am I a bad person for agreeing??

Things i've been pondering....

Why is it that whenever you feel like you've saved up some money something happens that forces you to spend it. I save some money and my car brakes down. What a shitty deal.

My cat is psychotic. He'll be sitting somewhere peacefully and suddenly, he will leap up from his position and go flying across the room only to slam into the glass door on the opposite side. That is funny stuff.

Monday night I was going to go to bed early. Somehow I got dragged into a Laguna Beach marathon. Now that is bad reality television....so why am I so drawn to it? Oh, it must be the really hot high school boys....wait, I teach high school boys....now I'm all confused.

Until next time, friends.

Sunday, October 16, 2005

Sun, 16 Oct 2005 05:25:11 GMT

Here's how planning a weekend activity with my friends works:
(1) Everyone talks for 2 weeks about how much we want to go out in Seattle. We talk about our favorite restaurant (The Sterling Cafe) and the possibilities of meeting up with Dan, our Seattle friend.
(2) The Thursday prior to the day of choosing we will invite others to join us on some sort of evening in Seattle.
(3) On that Saturday, the day of the event, we call Dan and confirm our plans to head up to Seattle.
(4) Call other friends and learn that they have made alternate plans to stay in Tacoma, eat in, and go to a new piano bar (without informing us of the plans).
(5) Group of 8 has now become group of 3 (including Seattle friend).
(6) Dinner and hanging out becomes long dinner and a drive home.

My friends really disappointed tonight. We seriously talked for 2 weeks about this and then at the last minute they were doing something else. Oh well, I got to go to Sterling and it was delicious. It is one of three certified organic restaurants in the nation. Mmm, mmmm, good.

Things I've been pondering:

If you've ever wondered what happens in the football coach booth during a game I can tell you: They cuss a lot, throw things and yell at the coaches on the other end of their headsets about how stupid their players are being.

I learned today that there is a Hasidic Jewish Reggae artist who gets airtime on an alternative rock station. What's up with that?

Why is it that at Karaoke bars the really tone deaf skanky girls always think its a good idea to get up on stage for EVERY song that is being sung?

I mentioned I was asked to the homecoming dance. Did I mention I was also nominated for Princess. Things keep looking brighter.

Why is it that when I buy a new shirt I immediatly drop some kind of hard to wash sauce on it?

Until next time, friends.

Wednesday, October 12, 2005

Wed, 12 Oct 2005 22:45:52 GMT

Life hasn't been too exciting since Monday. I was really tired on Tuesday morning after staying in Portland hours later than I had originally planned. I was in a semi-zombie state. I was so tired, my 1st period class managed to convince me to postpone their quiz until next time. I'm so easily manipulated .

I followed up first period with my most difficult class: a support class for kids who struggle with the lowest high school math class. For some reason they sucked more than usual. I got to lecture them for 20 minutes and finally got them working again. At the end of the period I decided to reward them by doing a 20 questions type of puzzle. I told them a story "A man was found dead next to a puddle and a stick. How did the man die?" Their goal is to ask defining questions and figure out what happened. Questions quickly became, "How big was the man's stick", "Was the stick made of wood", "Was the man holding his wood". If the questions had been said with straight faces I might have let them slide as remarks that may or may not have been made with sexual innuendo. However, there were several snickers and a lot of giggling. That'll teach me to do anything involving a man and a stick with high school freshmen ever again.

My favorite event the past 2 days has been the encounter I had with a girl in the student bathrooms. My friend Pratz, another math teacher, had let a student out to "go to the bathroom". The girl was taking forever so he asked me to go in and see if she had just ducked out on his class. Sure enough, the girl was in the restroom. Was she using the facilities? No, she was doing her make-up. I asked her if she was supposed to be doing her make-up and the reply was, "I'm not supposed to be doing anything." I followed up with the old standby that she ought to be in class and she quickly put me in my place, "Well, that's my business and not yours." This girl knew I was a teacher and still reacted to me like that. When I delivered the news to Pratz he was not pleased. Needless to say, she got what was coming to her.

Some things I've been thinking about...

Did you notice that when a group of girls get together for a meeting where you're supposed to conduct business that nothing ever happens? It's true. I went to a dinner meeting last night and we spent 2.5 hours talking about a lot of things but not actually getting anything done. That just really pisses me off. Especially when there's that one person (thanks Nicole) who tries to stay on the agenda and no one respects her. If I have to sit through another meeting like that I may go crazy.

I've been asked to a homecoming dance by a 14 year old boy. If only this had happened 10 years ago.

I sat at lunch today listening to a group of men talk about their wives (if I haven't mentioned it, I am the only woman amongst a department of married, older men). I think I will be able to see through a lot of fabricated excuses and rehearsed speeches once I get married. My future husband doesn't know what he's getting himself into.

Okay, done ranting. Until next time, friends.

Monday, October 10, 2005

Mon, 10 Oct 2005 23:42:58 GMT

With inspiration from a few friends, I decided that I'm not pleased with my ability to communicate. With that said, I have created this blog to keep both old friends and new up to date with all the incredible and exciting things happening in my life.

For those of you who have been out of touch, here is a brief synopsis of my life right now:

I currently live alone in Tacoma with my cat Domino. I am working full time as a math teacher. I teach first, second and third year math. Some things I do in my spare time are play indoor soccer, bowl, spend time at a local bar called E-9, and hang out with friends.

Key players in this blog will be:
Friends - Nicole, Kyle, Matt, Erick, Sarah, Pam, Brian, Dan
Coworkers - Pat, Pratz, Weymiller, Joel, Kerry
Family - Mom, Dad, Ben and Juni, Judith and Greg, Sandy

I'm in Portland right now finishing up a short vacation, getting ready to head back up to Tacoma and start up with work again. I love holidays. How many professions give you a day off for Columbus Day? Not many. Teaching has it's perks. There should be some great stories about my students popping up on this blog. Get excited. Teenagers say and do the funniest shit.