impressed you say?

While you may have been impressed (or even skeptical) about my supposed reading list below I present for you this month's reading.
hmmm.
nothing.
wait some magazines --
O-thanks to Amy
Some free copies of Body & Soul
some random articles in
Electronic Musician, ReMix, Mix
and the ever classy Hollywood Life also free
as well as the ubiquitous...blogs.
Yeah, I am so smart S-M-R-T. But it is okay because Michael loves me. He went to the school library today to try to get a copy of In Cold Blood (misshelved, no luck) and The Jungle (both misshelved, no luck) (and yes, I read those two also), and while he was there he picked up books for me. Little Women and My Enemy, My Love:Women, Masculinity and the Dilemmas of Gender. This selection is very perfectly me. A nice reread and a smart person piece of non-fiction. However it also paints me as a very confused girl who will once again be crying over Beth's death scene while pondering the "Dilemmas of Gender".
And Michael got Uncle Tom's Cabin because he's apparently spurred onward by the reading bug and catching up on classics.

books meme

I found this here and I am just lazy enough to continue using memes for posts instead of anything original.

Anyway here are Krissa's instructions.
Look at the list of books below. Bold the ones you’ve read, italicize the ones you want to read, cross out the ones you won’t touch with a 10 foot pole (I've got books I've READ that I wish I had used a 10 foot pole to avoid, thus they are both BOLD and STRICKEN, -KC), put a cross (+) in front of the ones on your book shelf, and asterisk (*) the ones you’ve never heard of.

I am adding that this list seems very random to me. Keep in mind that I read most of the books I will deem smart people books when I was forced to for smart people English class in high school before they decided I was not smart enough and no longer ivy leauguey enough for their ranks (do you think it was the use of the rogue -y to make things descriptive? I wish I did that in my papers then) Many times I reread the good ones for actual enjoyment because I am strange that way. Also I don't really own any books. This seems strange when I think of how my tall bookshelf overflows. However, it is full of textbooks, art books, and Michael's scores. Also, I am a library girl at heart but when I do buy books I enjoy I pass them on because I want everyone I know to read it too. Also my ten foot pole rule gets broken if I am stuck in a house with no other reading material. Then I would read anything printed.


1. The Da Vinci Code (Dan Brown)
2. Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen)
3. +To Kill A Mockingbird (Harper Lee)
4. Gone With The Wind (Margaret Mitchell)
5. The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (Tolkien)
6. The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (Tolkien)
7. The Lord of the Rings: Two Towers (Tolkien)
8. Anne of Green Gables (L.M. Montgomery)
9. *Outlander (Diana Gabaldon)
10. *A Fine Balance (Rohinton Mistry)
11. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Rowling)
12. Angels and Demons (Dan Brown)
13. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Rowling)
14. A Prayer for Owen Meany (John Irving)
15. Memoirs of a Geisha (Arthur Golden)
16. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (Rowling) read it with the U.S. title Sorcerer's Stone
17. Fall on Your Knees(Ann-Marie MacDonald)
18. The Stand (Stephen King)
19. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban(Rowling)
20. Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte)
21. The Hobbit (Tolkien)
22. The Catcher in the Rye (J.D. Salinger)
23. Little Women (Louisa May Alcott)
24. The Lovely Bones (Alice Sebold)
25. Life of Pi (Yann Martel)
26. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams)
27. Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte)
28. The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe (C. S. Lewis)
29. East of Eden (John Steinbeck)
30. Tuesdays with Morrie(Mitch Albom) I think I read the abridged version of this that Michael got as a gift. That was more than enough.
31. Dune (Frank Herbert)
32. The Notebook (Nicholas Sparks)
33. Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand)
34. 1984 (Orwell)
35. The Mists of Avalon (Marion Zimmer Bradley)
36. The Pillars of the Earth (Ken Follett)
37. *The Power of One (Bryce Courtenay)
38. I Know This Much is True(Wally Lamb)
39. The Red Tent (Anita Diamant)
40. The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho)
41. The Clan of the Cave Bear (Jean M. Auel)
42. The Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseini)
43. Confessions of a Shopaholic (Sophie Kinsella)
44. The Five People You Meet In Heaven (Mitch Albom)
45. Bible
46. Anna Karenina (Tolstoy)
47. The Count of Monte Cristo (Alexandre Dumas)
48. Angela’s Ashes (Frank McCourt)
49. The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck)
50. She’s Come Undone (Wally Lamb)
51. The Poisonwood Bible (Barbara Kingsolver)
52. A Tale of Two Cities (Dickens)
53. Ender’s Game (Orson Scott Card)
54. Great Expectations (Dickens)
55. The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald)
56. The Stone Angel (Margaret Laurence)
57. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Rowling)
58. The Thorn Birds (Colleen McCullough)
59. The Handmaid’s Tale (Margaret Atwood)
60. +The Time Traveller’s Wife (Audrew Niffenegger)
61. Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoyevsky)
62. The Fountainhead (Ayn Rand)
63. War and Peace (Tolstoy)
64. Interview With The Vampire (Anne Rice)
65. *Fifth Business (Robertson Davis)
66. One Hundred Years Of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)
67. The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants (Ann Brashares)
68. Catch-22 (Joseph Heller) tried once never finished, gave up
69. Les Miserables (Hugo)
70. The Little Prince (Antoine de Saint-Exupery)
71. Bridget Jones’ Diary (Fielding)
72. Love in the Time of Cholera (Marquez)
73. Shogun (James Clavell)
74. The English Patient (Michael Ondaatje)
75. +The Secret Garden (Frances Hodgson Burnett)
76. *The Summer Tree (Guy Gavriel Kay)
77. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Betty Smith)
78. The World According To Garp (John Irving) this is everyone's favorite book except me
79. The Diviners (Margaret Laurence)
80. Charlotte’s Web (E.B. White)
81. *Not Wanted On The Voyage (Timothy Findley)
82. Of Mice And Men (Steinbeck)
83. Rebecca (Daphne DuMaurier)
84. Wizard’s First Rule (Terry Goodkind)
85. Emma (Jane Austen)
86. Watership Down(Richard Adams)
87. +Brave New World (Aldous Huxley)
88. *The Stone Diaries (Carol Shields)
89. *Blindness (Jose Saramago)
90. *Kane and Abel (Jeffrey Archer)
91. *In The Skin Of A Lion (Ondaatje)
92. Lord of the Flies (Golding)
93. The Good Earth(Pearl S. Buck)
94. The Secret Life of Bees (Sue Monk Kidd)
95. The Bourne Identity (Robert Ludlum)
96. The Outsiders (S.E. Hinton)
97. White Oleander (Janet Fitch)
98. A Woman of Substance (Barbara Taylor Bradford)
99. The Celestine Prophecy (James Redfield)
100. Ulysses (James Joyce)

My siblings started another one of those erase my answers and send this to everyone email that I thought died in the late 90's. Well I was wrong and here's another one. (oh and I am sure they are all over stupid myspace, but I try not to pay attention to that tripe.)

thanks to matt and then kate

Welcome to the new 2007 version of getting to know your friends. Who writes this crap? What you

are supposed to do is copy, (not forward) this entire e-mail and paste it

onto a new e-mail that you'll send. Change all the answers so they apply to

you, and then send it to a bunch of people including the person who sent it

to you. The theory is that you will learn a lot of little things about your

friends, that you may not already know about them. Because you obviously don't have time to actually call or send a real email you are too busy answering forwarded surveys. Inquiring minds want to know what is your favorite color, ice cream, puppy? It definitely reminds me of conversations had with Kindergartners. Except with Matt there is more cursing (not more than some of my student's but a little more). In several instances I am lazy and just decided to agree with Kate.

1. What time did you get up this morning? alarm 5:30am reset for 6:30 I think but instead I reset the time. wake up at 6:30am and see the clock says 7:30am fling off the covers, leap out of bed, turn on the light blinding Michaela and curse about being late. Notice it is very dark. Run down the hall and into the kitchen...it is 6:35. sleep in until 6:45am

I am nothing if not lengthy.

>2. Diamonds or Pearls? Neither

>3. What was the last film you saw at the Cinema? Children of Men

>4. What is your favorite TV show? nothing in particular, I like HGTV and food shows. I am watching L word through Netflix.

>5. What did you have for breakfast? an apple and tea (in the car)

>6. What is your middle name? Marie

>7. What is your favorite cuisine? sandwich I agree sandwiches

>8. What foods do you dislike? weird texture things, oatmeal, mashed potatoes, cottage cheese, cream of wheat, grits etc.

>9. Your favorite potato chip? Herr's... clearly no Herr's near me, Now I eat Lay's or Pringles

>10. Favorite CD you've listened to lately? a mix of KCRW stuff made by a friend very cool...ask me for a copy

>11. What kind of car do you drive? 98 honda civic

>12. Favorite sandwich? avocado

>13. What characteristics do you despise? extreme social awkwardness even after many get to know you type meetings. but I can't really say I despise this it just irritates me

>14. What are your favorite clothes? comfy jeans and long sleeve t-shirts (w/ fashion sneakers that have velcro, and offer no actual support like my rocket dogs)

>15. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation where WOULDN'T you go? Antartica

>16. Favorite brand of clothing? things that fit (even after the washer and dryer)

>17. Where would you want to retire? beach house

>18. Favorite time of day? 3pm the kids go home

>19. Where were you born? havertown

>20. What is your favorite sport to watch? meh, competitive cooking shows? Iron Chef anyone?

>21. Who do you think will not send this back? this is a blog, maybe someone desperately bored will answer in the comments.

>22. Person you expect to send it back first? nobody

>23. Pepsi or Coke? Coke

>24. Beaver or Ducks? Duck, Goose... i don't get it (I'm with Kate here, and I'll add that I did play a stellar round of duck duck goose today)

>25. Are you a morning person or night owl? neither...can I be an afternoon person. I never want to get up at 6am but I do for work, then I fall asleep on the couch when I try to watch a movie that goes past 9:30pm

>26. Pedicure or Manicure? both

>27. Any new & exciting news you'd like to share? I think I am full of new and exciting from last year. Now I am ready for regular.

>28. What did you want to be when you were little? a doctor, or an artist (but secretly a teacher, I just thought it was lame cause that was the only profession you saw everyday)

>29. What is your best childhood memory? dancing in the basement to Billy Joel thanks to Dave... thinking i was the coolest 6 year old around to Kate--you were the coolest 6 year old around. I will add Jumping up and down on the beds, the above ground pool in all its 4.5ft water glory, jumping of the platform, big waves in the ocean with boogie boards, all the music...

>30. Piercing? ears, nose

>31. Ever been to Africa ? No

>32. Ever been out toilet papering? No (when I read this on Matt's I thought it said Ever been out of toilet paper and I think that is a no too)

>33. Been in a car accident? one, if you don't count when I scrape the side of my car against the house or fence trying to get it out of my very very narrow driveway

>34. Favorite Restaurants? I love restaurants. No favorite here yet, but there are so many we just keep trying new places.

>35. Favorite Flowers? blue hydrangeas

>36. Favorite Ice Cream? I like sorbets

>37. Favorite Fast Food Restaurant? Chipotle

>38. How many times did you fail your drivers test? None

>39. From whom did you get your last e-mail? Kate

>40. What store would you choose to max out your credit card? credit cards make me nervous. also I hate shopping at just one store how about Amazon I think they have everything

>41. Mountains or Ocean? Ocean but the beauty of California is that you can be at both

>42. Who are you most curious about their response to this? most curious for someone else to continue on with this thing

>43. Last person you went to dinner with? Michael, Jake & Ryland

> 44. How many tattoos do you have? none

>45. How many people are you sending this to? sending it to family, narcissistically posting on my blog for lack of actual content

>46. What time did you finish this e-mail? 6:47pm

>47. Favorite magazine? I love magazines. No current favorite but have started receiving all sorts for free Body + Soul (some sort of Martha Stewart thing), Spin (I don't know any new bands, it is boring to read about music you haven't heard, Hollywood Life (this is the most ridiculous magazine ever. it is like a magazine version of E!) also lots of ridiculous michael magazines like electronic musician etc.

>48. If you could meet any famous person, who would it be? Maya Angelou, I like this choice Kate, thanks

>49 If you could choose another first name, what would it be? I think the two I have are enough

>50. If you could change your profession right now, what would you be

doing? I'd like to choose independently wealthy. or maybe I could organize and decorate other people's houses...or be an artist that can actually sell art in order to support myself and my family and have health insurance...

Lexus parallel parking

I always wondered about about the new Lexus that self parallel parks. Having lived for three years in a city apartment with no off street parking I perfected the skill of parallel parking in a spot only inches larger than my four door Honda Civic. I thought it was a sham so when I read the NY Times article by Calvin Trillin I was redeemed.

"Then I got behind the wheel and we set out to find a beautiful spot. Well, not exactly a beautiful spot. A spot that is worthy of that name — a truly satisfying spot, a spot good enough to spin yarns about in bars where parkers gather — requires some skill to get into. The Advanced Parking Guidance System works only if the spot is six and a half feet longer than the car — the sort of spot, in other words, that the average Manhattan parker comes upon about once every 14 or 15 years. The only parker who might need help from a guidance system to get into such a spot is a parker who is driving himself home from rotator cuff surgery. For Lexus to offer a self-parking system for a spot that size is the equivalent of some high-end kitchen-equipment manufacturer offering a self-carving system that only works on meatloaf."

via kottke

Now I am in L.A. and I am so happy I have a place to park my car. Though the lot is so small I spent the first 3 months scraping the side of my car against the house trying to manuever out of the driveway. Its 2007, still no flying cars.

internet special sauce

Well my daily affirmations must be working (thanks! Stuart Smalley) because I feel special in a very dorky internet sort of way. I got a little mention from a blog I read (one of so many because my life is so very short on actual books and heavy on internet musings). So, just in case one of my readers (Hi Mom!) is interested here is the link.
IKEA HACKERS
This is a very cool blog that explains how people (very cool creative people) screw around with their Ikea furniture or furniture components to make them less factory and more personal.


Other life news:
School generally still sucks even though kindergartners are unbearably cute. I am invariable short staffed 4 out of 5 school days. Today, I held a bucket so one of my cuties could throw up in it while he uncontrollably cried and his face blazed red with fever. I want to say something here about all the other snot and children pilfering my desk and beating up on other kids but I can't keep thinking about it at night. I just have to do what I can do and watch enough bad t.v. to numb my brain. I can't wait to get back to thinking about actual lessons and teaching and away from the damage control and cross fingers to hope no one goes home injured kind of school day.
Other life is good and relaxing. Last night Michael got me Thai Food and we watched Street Car Named Desire. Tonight I have prepared homemade Big Mac's (thanks to Ryland and Jake).
So Yummy! and not sick making yucky fast food...but they still taste good. Thanks Secret Sauce a.k.a. Thousand Island Dressing.

the why didn't I think of this years ago
Homemade Big Macs
ingredients:
Ground Turkey
Romaine Letuce
Sesame Seed Buns
Butter (low fat if you are Jake and Ryland, the real stuff for me)
Thousand Island Dressing
almost minced onions
Tomato and Pickle (if you so desire)

Make ground turkey patties and cook in a skillet. Chop onion super super tiny like they have at McD's. Slice Romaine lettuce into thin shreds. Thinly slice tomato and pickle (you can chop extra pickles super fine for the dressing if you want). Spread melted butter on inside of Sesame seed buns and toast in skillet.
Put burger together with liberal amounts of special sauce.
yum.

monthly posts?

Yeah, typical of me, I never post here. I think about it, but mostly what I want to post these days is shut down by job confidentiality or my own conscience.
So instead here is some insipid tripe.

• I am watching 13 going on 30 tonight and feeling very cranky
• Work is really hard and I have had a cold for a month. (ew)
• I like stupid teen movies. Especially if they include choreographed dance scenes. In fact, all stupid teen movies should include choreographed dance scenes.
• I am a grown up (30 in fact). Case in point, tonight I wanted to just drink wine and eat chips, but instead I made broccoli and pasta in a basil garlic butter sauce and garlic bread. (howdy dragon, breath) then I had wine with my yummy dinner. I may go have some chips now though.
• I am exercising (walking with a friend from work), multiple days a week. Just because it is healthy.

still a child?

• When I watch stupid movies like this or Sex and the City I want to drink colored drinks from martini glasses. In real life I should really not drink even water from a martini glass because I usually slop it all over myself.
• I realized yesterday that I should always buy name brand Ibuprofen because it is bright orange and easy to find a tiny pill on the bathroom floor after (in typical fashion) I drop one trying to get the lid back on the bottle.

last questions:

• Could I be any more incoherent?
• When will summer be here?
• Is it possible for me to write a narrative/journal type entry here without resorting to using bullet points?
  

the end (for tonight...or until next month)

-if you want to see my craptastic taste in movies you can be my Netflix friend just email me.

the unholiday spirit (alternate title: its a gift card kind of Christmas)

I haven't mixed a single cookie in my fancy stand mixer.
I haven't sent a single Christmas card (in fact I still have delinquent thank you cards from the wedding)
there is not a single decoration in my apartment (actually the apartment still looks pretty much like it did when we moved in in July
everyone that I need to buy a gift for is getting some form of a gift card
in honor of my non-holiday spirit here is a picture me and my sister and my niece at the beach

america's next top elbow in my ribs

I am a thin (skinny) looking girl. Yet nothing looks more awkward to me that watching 3 future models in a group hug on television. Ouch. elbows, ribs, no squishiness. Someone was bound to get an eye poked.

herding instinct

I have heard that some dogs have a herding instinct that still exists in the home and they continue to try to move family members into the same room. I think I am sort of the same. Michael is out tonight and when he is out I miss him. Even though I know that if he was here my night would look the same, as we worked (meaning he works and I veg out) in separate rooms. There is just something about having that person in the other room that makes me feel good.

Here is a random lame meme from Deborah about Christmas time. I am a Christmas loser. I don't decorate at all and even coming up with holiday craft projects for my Kindergartners is tough. This would surprise people like my sister, who know I make a billion kinds of cookies and my own wrapping paper etc. But I can't get motivated when I know I will be spending the holiday out of state, and when I know that I will be working until the 23rd. Kid's make me tired. Anyway what was I saying? ridiculous Christmas meme here you go:

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? hot chocolate (but whose kidding how about some mulled wine or just some red wine)
2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sits them under the tree? Wraps
3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? white (unless they are those big fatty colored lights outside)

4. Do you hang mistletoe? at my parents house I hang an ancient plastic mistletoe with an elf on top

5. When do you put your decorations up? never, I don't have any (but the parents got it (more than) covered)
6. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)? shrimp appetizer

7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child? lots of them, mostly trips with my parents. downtown philadelphia light show at Wanamakers or the light show and christmas music at longwood gardens, singing songs with Kate at the piano

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? Don't know but I don't remember a big reveal, just seemed to get it thanks to the older siblings I'm sure

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? pajamas (that way we look cute in the Christmas pictures)

10. How do you decorate your Christmas Tree? I still don't get one, but the parents do a ton of old ornaments some of our dorky homeade ones and lots and lots of white lights and gold and red shiny balls. I did the cool art one in Bloom one year with the art people and a flight theme it was huge and cool and full of colored lights, paper airplanes, paper cranes, puffy clouds, and alien spaceships.

11. Snow! Love it or Dread it? love it when I don't have to travel

12. Can you ice skate? very poorly but its fun, makes my feet sore
13. Do you remember your favorite gift? nope

14. What's the most important thing about the Holidays for you?
lots of family, fantastic food, people opening the presents I get them and liking them
15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert? not a big dessert girl, so I like cookies or fruit pies.
16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? driving around to see the lights, watching a weeks worth of christmas movies

17. What tops your tree? A star (if I did one)
18. Which do you prefer giving or receiving? Giving (now that I am all big and mature and able to buy things I want when I want them ha ha)

19. What is your favorite Christmas Song? unsure, but it is weird liking christmas music and not being a jesus person. At school today I was humming oh come oh come emmanuel...strange. also there is so much music that I have done and enjoyed with different choirs over the years I can never pick.
20. Favorite Christmas movie?no favorite but here is the countdown of movies up Elf, Mixed Nuts, Nightmare before Christmas, Miracle on 34th St. the non colorized version, A Christmas Story, Christmas National Lampoon Christmas Vacation, Its a wonderful life and I feel like I am missing one good one so please comment
22. When do you take Christmas decorations down?never put any up to begin with woohoo

23. Snowboard or Ski? neither (but sledding if I had one and lived where it was snowy)

24. Ever kissed your love under the mistletoe? sure

25. Snow Man or Snow Tunnels? both, or an igloo where you get so hot you have to take your coat off. also snow angels.

The Thanksgiving Post

Today my husband (ha, isn't that a funny word? I am still working on using it in daily conversation, anyway) Today, Michael and I are driving down to San Diego to have fancy Thanksgiving dinner with my cousin Amy and her husband (the chef/very important government lawyer guy), my pseudo Uncle John (actually 1st cousin once removed/also some sort of fancy rights protecting lawyer guy) and his wife Karen (who I can't write anything real in parenthesis about because I don't really know her yet).
I, unfortunately, am up at 7am so the drive and the turkey tryptophan effect (if that is true) combined with my love for the vino, should have me passing out in the guest bedroom shortly after dinner. Oh, and in this family we do dinner at a reasonable hour. None of that middle of the afternoon nonsense. If you do that, how do you fit in appetizers and cocktails? Also, as much as I love wine, the idea of cracking open a bottle to have dinner at 11:30am is even a little much for me.
Amy has reported that she has been banned from the kitchen today, which would be funnier if the kitchen was larger and could feasibly fit two cooks with the oven door open. This cozy group of 6 will be a welcome change from my last Thanksgivings, one at my parent's house with 23 of my closest relatives and 3 toddlers, and one at our apartment in Cincinnati where Michael and tried to starve everyone and didn't serve dinner until around 7pm because I was so excited about cooking my first turkey that I continually opened the oven door to baste the turkey, thereby bring the oven temperature down substantially and making the turkey cook in twice the expected time. Whew, how's that for a run on.
The almost-Thankful Part
In my crappy Monday staff meeting, I obligatorily told the staff that I was thankful for having all of my assistants in my class. I repeated this when we did what I am thankful for with the kiddos so they would have some examples (ooohh modeling remember it is Kindergarten), and then I prompted each of my kid's to raise their hand to come up front and say they were thankful for their Mommies.
Yesterday I found out that the school is replacing my assistants with other people. I don't think the people in charge understand that having to train staff is almost like having extra little kids around for a month. Now I am just hoping the replacement is quick and painless.
But really, I am thankful I have a wonderful husband. (there's that word again and ugh that sentence makes me want to gag, but seriously he kicks ass; does the laundry, cooks yummy food, brings me fizzy drinks, and wakes me up to go to bed when I fall asleep on the couch)
I am thankful that I have such a wonderful family on both coasts, who I can visit with and eat lots of food with over the holidays. And most of all I am thankful that I can be stressed about the trivial things in life from my own comfortable home. I do not have to worry about my own daily living conditions. I can feel sorrow over the tragedy and unfair conditions in my community and my world in the awareness that I am healthy and safe in my place in the world. And as much as my little snotty monsters make me crazy, I see them learning (some very slowly, but learning) and I am thankful for the small changes, I can make with my little guys everyday. (Whoa, preachy anyone? Now I have to go find some light Thanksgiving humor writing to read)
Well here is something amusing from last year, I am not sure anyone drinking can report back this early in the morning even on the east coast.

the exciting weekend recap

When I am not stressing out about things I cannot humanly take care of with school and my little guys; I am hanging out at home and watching bad cable, and sometimes actually going out and doing interesting things. This Saturday I went to a shmancy restaurant in Hollywood called Geisha House. I stuffed myself with expensive sushi and hung out with Michael's classmates, while surreptitiously looking around to see who in fact could afford this food and if maybe they were famous (no I didn't really do that, it was the type of restaurant where I should have. Hip and fancy with a DJ and an expensive wine and drink list). Then we went dancing at a club that had 3 DJ's in 3 rooms; 80's, hip-hop and what I was calling the 90's room that was in fact the inde rock room. I was leaning towards hanging out in the large inde room with all of the young gothy crowd and the depressing music but my crowd leaned hip-hop and so I found myself shaking my ass to the likes of Britney and Paris along with some random Madonna, Prince and I like big butts. A totally strange night but it is definitely fantastic to have found friends that like to dance as much as Michael does. This is something we occasionally talked about but never did in Cincinnati (besides the rare Salsa night). We wandered later through 90's/inde or what I thought of as my first two years of college and into 80's. 80's was small and also full of strange hipster gothy kids but unfortunately also full of the smoke from the outside smokers cage (I mean lounge), not nearly as bad as a bar in Philadelphia but the idea of having to wash my hair 16 times to get the smoke smell out made me ready to leave. This was the first time I went out in Hollywood and it was odd. We took the train 3 stops too far on our way there (reminder to self, mapquest directions even when Michael seems to know what he is doing) and then when we actually got to where we needed to be it was like being on another planet. Clots of people with cameras filled the star lined sidewalks and street performers and street preachers were everywhere, along with the scary attack asian lady that was selling flowers in a sort of yelly aggressive ready to walk right into me sort of way. The sidewalk outside of one theater was closed (making me irritable about security scams and being made to feel like a peon to walk a block out of the way and across the street so that the "famous" Tara Reid could avoid the masses (Of course that is just me being me because Jerome was all poetic about how he loved living in a city that has movie premieres). My memorable nice and human part of the night was talking to the asian convenience store old guy. I chose to forsake the silly girly high heels since the last time I went dancing my feet hurt for three days. Unfortunately, my comfy black flats don't actually fit. Old guy said, "Blister?" When I got to the counter, in a prophetic I worked here forever sort of way. Then said something about the people who come here think Hollywood is a little place where they need to look fancy and won’t actually have to walk anywhere. I showed him my comfy (yet blister forming) shoes, and he agreed that they did look comfy.
Tonight I return to school stress, and tomorrow to little snotty ones and what I hope will be successful meetings.

travel 2

I just found this post when I was adding labels to old posts (while half assedly watching the moving Munich ahh Spielbert (this was a typo that I am leaving in now because it cracks me up--the movie was scratched and unwatchable in the end). Anyway, I realized that I have been in a lot more states this summer, so here is my new map.

The first time I did it I forgot Missouri and the states didn't connect. I had to ask Michael what state I missed. Now it is fixed. He said "Missouri, remember St. Louis."and I said "Oh yeah, the arch."

the more I don't post

The bigger the task of posting becomes...so then I can't do it because my life feels like a novel, too long for this format.
So here is the bullet point update to get things rolling again.
October/early-November bullet synopsis

• I got married (it was rainy and fun)
• It was on the east coast and full of family and drinks and beach and rain and coastal flood warnings
• teaching is hard
  
• and as much as I hate the whiney teacher mantra about not getting paid enough etc. This is the hardest most stressful job, I've ever had.)--that being said
• I still like small children (They are cute and huggy --though often snotty--that is runny nosed not stuck up)
• I went to a week long literacy training and actually missed my kids
• I turned 30
• this involved 2 yummy dinners, a yummy breakfast,
  
• a visit from Amy
  
• and a pseudo surprise party with Michael's friends/classmates and significant others who were fantastic stand in friends
  

ta da, now I posted. All comment based questions shall be answered forthwith.
I don't actually know what forthwith means but it sounds official.

thoughts on L.A.2

So on the way home tonight I was stopped at a red light and there was a guy (next to the usual fruit guys) and he was selling stories for a dollar. There was a handmade cardboard sign tied around his neck that said so. And there were the stories themselves. I didn't have a dollar (seriously not even in change because I bought a Coke at work). So you can't see one. But they had colored pencil drawings of planes and things. hmm.


Also,
I am getting married on Saturday. in new jersey.

posted

Yes, um sorry if you are still checking in.
I haven't posted in about a month, because I am busy teaching and tired and often to lazy or too concerned with confidentiality issues to say things I want to say.
So things are going fairly well. No major problems. If learning is measured in dirt my kids from class are awfully smart. The Kindergarten playground has sand. Everyone goes home like they have been rolling around in the dirt. (some of them have been). My head has not yet exploded.
I'm getting married next week. Also next week there is back-to-school night preceded by a pedicure. Because I need pretty wedding toes.

wow informative, boring.

also here is an interesting article that I will so eloquently sum up by saying, ivy league sucks.

um yeah new crazy stuff

I haven't posted in a while, because my sheer exhaustion after a whole school day with developmentally delayed kindergarteners makes me useless. But I am still here. The wedding approaches. And I am just taking it all one day at a time. I only plan enough schoolwork to get through one more day (semi) successfully. We have sung songs, danced, read many stories, worked on puzzles, and created silly kindergarten art projects. We are working on walking in a line, finalizing a daily schedule, inside voices, raising hands, not eating inedible puzzle pieces, sitting for 5-10 minutes at a time without wandering away. The school system will be one I am awkwardly navigating for sometime. The bureaucracy between the school and the special education offices will be one I will struggle forever, or until I leave. Everyone is fantastic and helpful, but within the administration if it is special ed. I should talk to someone else because it is not their job, and if I call SPED it is the schools' job. This makes all the tantrums, biting, hair pulling, wet pants and disobedience seem like nothing. I am tired. But I am enjoying the smiles, the smartypants, the hugs, the burgeoning language, the helpful kindergarten teachers, and above all QUIET TIME my saving grace.

the deal

What is the deal with L.A. and helicopters? Sure, on the beach you know people are being shuttled from a shwanky house in Malibu to their private jet at the airport. And standing on a friends deck in Silverlake you can see the helicopter downtown with its shining beam of light, cops, police car chases? But when I am trying to watch a movie in my living room and a helicopter continues to circle over my house, I really have no idea what is going on. More police? I know better than to try to find out through the media. Living in Cincinnati there was a night where armed gunmen robbed a bank and were roaming the neighborhood, streets were blocked for hours and a friend (and another friend of a friend) said there were tanks driving up the street. The news? nothing. Continually check through the rest of the week...nothing. (--by the way as I type the helicopter continues to circle, seriously it has been about an 1/2 hour)*. Cincinnati's only reporting was on the bank robbery that occurred around 10am, however a friend driving home from my apartment around midnight was stopped by the police and reprimanded for being out, when armed gunmen were about....news....nada...she had to return to my place because the streets were barricaded leading the 4 blocks to her place. That helps you sleep at night doesn't it? Ah the ghetto, will I ever miss it?

*Michael's helicopter comment "It's kind of weird, cause its right above our house”.


p.s. Kate wants me to tell the story about the time I Bruce Lee kicked down the door to our bedroom. I think she could tell it better as the more rational sibling in the situation. You should ask her to guest post it here.

Closing the Gap (a serious post for a change)

My friend Vanessa just started a blog called Closing the Gap for Individuals with Disabilities that I see kind of as a post M.ed. collaboration tool. She puts it best when she says

My hope for this blog is to facilitate conversations with and between other special educators, caregivers, and anyone working with individuals with special needs. I believe in collaborating with others to provide my students with effective and appropriate services.


Anyway, Vanessa is supremely cool and I hope that her site can serve as a nice forum for people with special needs, their friends, families and service providers. (Wow! I am sounding all grown up here, more like a grad paper than my usual rambling blog fodder)

A colleague/professor of ours piloted an exercise program, called Jumping Jacks & Jills, for kids with ASD in Cincinnati. Vanessa has successfully expanded this program in her new neighborhood in NJ. I love the program and it is something I would like to see nationwide. I have already started talking to people I met at a school curriculum training last week about starting one near here in the spring. (I am not quite as quick as Vanessa at getting these things together, but really, I typed it out now so I am accountable for making it happen.)

Finally, Vanessa is so crazy motivated that she is also doing a Walk for Autism Research on September 30th, and raising money as a team for the Jumping Jacks & Jills. So, if you are just sitting there with all that money you meant to earmark for charitable donation burning a hole in your bank account go visit her Walk site to make a donation.

Hurrah!

I am credentialed (is that a verb? It is now.) to teach in California. At least that is what my HR lady told me this morning. I can't wait to get a paper or an email for the proof. But still, this is fantastic and now you can be happy that you don't have to read (or skim, or ignore) any more posts about my credentialing nightmare. (just crazy posts about my actual teaching nightmares).

What does this say about me?

Michael and I spent most of Saturday afternoon rearranging furniture again. When you live in a shoebox, there is always the misconception that if the couch were just on the other side of the room things would be so much more spacious. Our misguided spatial abilities lead us to an entire afternoon of shifting and rearranging. I need to see it to believe it. Things are still bizarre and we are still sleeping on a mattress on the floor, but the living room...it looks so spacious.
The point?, you may be asking (please this is a blog post, do they ever have points, well maybe in a vague narcissistic sort of way. I'm getting there.

Last month, Michael noticed that when we moved from Cincinnati I swapped sides of the bed. (Do you know how couples are about their sides? I think it gets bad enough that it carries over to hotel rooms, and if you are ever forced to sleep with a sibling or friend in a hotel bed you might get into a fist fight if you are both right siders.) Me, not so much. Michael believes I need to sleep nearest to the door. This is very mobster of me, no? Kind of like the favorite seat in restaurants (in the corner so you can see the room of course, and no one can sneak up behind you with a weapon --or more salad dressing). In my family, we sometimes end up doing a little restaurant dance where we shuffle around one another trying to get the premium seating when the table is wedged in a corner. But, back to bed sidedness, I never noticed my switches or proximity to the door but Michael's theory of it cracks me up. Do I need to escape to somewhere? I am not a get up in the middle of the night bathroom person. I could get all psychoanalytic about this, but I am not so much concerned as amused. We swapped the side of the room the bed was on yesterday and when I looked at the bed the first thing I said was "You know I'm going to have to sleep on the other side now."

Wow, an entire post of drivel about bed sidedness. Do you have a side? How about the seat on the bus? Last week in my training, I sat at the "Kindergarten table" (sounds super cool right?). We sat in the same seats everyday. You know how when you go to class and someone is in "your" seat it screws you up for the entire class. (And how this is especially bad if you have to sit way closer and you can feel the rest of the class behind you, or you have to continually wrench your neck around to catch site of the person asking a question or making a comment.) Apparently, this does not affect me in bed, and if I was alone, I'd just sprawl anyway.