Monday, February 27, 2006

gasping for air

Midterm tomorrow.

Presentation Thursday.

Loads of work that needs to be in done in my classroom.

Laundry that needs to be done.

Bills that need to be paid.

Can't. Keep. Head. Above. Water.

Tuesday, February 21, 2006

bygones

Not feeling fabulous about myself today. It's been a rough day. I don't like starting my work week on a Tuesday, because I only have 4 days to cram in 5 days of teaching (and keep in mind that last week was also a 4 day week, so I'm still playing catch-up). The kids were all riled from having a long weekend. One boy in particular (who I firmly believe was put on this Earth to give me gray hairs) gave me an especially difficult time. I wasn't prepared with the copies I needed, and I didn't have everything planned out as well as I would have liked. Bygones. I'm not dwelling on it, but just understand that I left work feeling drained and not very accomplished.

On to class... I truly enjoy this class, so it wasn't any great hardship to sit through a 2 hour lecture. At the end of class, I got a project back. I spent a Very Long Time working on this project, and when I got it back I discovered that I made a very stupid and careless mistake. (I used the wrong score to calculate 4 other scores, so I wound up getting those 4 scores wrong.) I got an 8.5 out of 10 possible points. I know that 8.5 is nowhere near failing, but it really bummed me out. It was something that could have been avoided, and for some reason, I overlooked it. Despite the fact that I checked my numbers 3 times before I handed it in.

So, I'm just not feeling so great about myself.

Bygones. I guess.

Sunday, February 19, 2006

Classy Cleavage!!!

The Plan: Girl's Night Out. A night of booze, boobs and bad drunken dancing. We'd begin with a session of pre-drinking and snacky foods, and thus fortified, we'd head to one or more semi-local clubs. When said clubs closed, we'd head home. Fun would be had by all.

And here's what really happened: Well, we did enjoy a rather fun pre-drinking party at my house. We gathered a random assortment of booze leftover from previous events, and I dug some cheese, crackers and carrot sticks out of my fridge for hors d'oeuvres. We ate, drank, gossiped, drank, talked, drank, laughed, drank, drank and drank some more. Then we piled into Heather's car (God bless her sweet little heart for agreeing to be our DD) and headed to Shampoo, blasting Steven Lynch all the way. Upon arrival, we learned that there was some sort of freak show going on (something Goth-like... I forget what it was) and it would cost $30 to get in.

No biggie. We got back in the car and headed for Polyesters (which might be spelled wrong, sorry). When we got there, we discovered that it is no longer Polyesters. It's now called the Spice Club, and it's apparently not opened.

Seeing as how most of us were not wearing our coats (it didn't seem like a bad idea at the time), we were desperate for someplace warm (preferably with restroom facilities). We stumbled upon a tiny little bar called Liquid Charm and decided to give it a try. There were maybe 5 people in there, not including us. But hey, they had alcohol, heat and bathrooms... and that was good enough for us. We had a few drinks, chatted with the Japanese bartenders (who mistakenly thought I spoke Japanese), and made plans to relocate to a more fun bar.

We ran back to the car and headed for the Northern Liberties section of town. The idea of Finnegans was discussed and dismissed, so we walked to Tiki Bobs (this time wearing coats). The asshole bouncers deemed Erin too drunk to enter (because she dropped her ID... probably because her hands were frozen), and said she had to wait 20 minutes before she could go in. I waited with her, since the rest of our party had been admitted ahead of us. They came back out immediately, and we decided to go elsewhere.

Which brings us to... McFaddens! When all 5 of us had successfully entered the bar and found a booth, I figured all would be well. However, our night came to an early end about half an hour later. I guess the weather and the bar-hopping and the constant changing of plans had taken its toll on everyone. Some of us were too drunk, and some of us were perhaps too sober. After an adventurous journey downstairs to the bathroom (and seriously, who decided that it was a good idea to make the drunk people use stairs?), we knew it was time to leave.

Diner plans were talked about briefly, but the general consensus was that it was best to just go home. I was very, very drunk when I got home, but I somehow managed to post a blog (which I forgot about until I saw it on here today) and then talk to Doug, who came home about 20 minutes after me.

Amazingly, I did not have a hangover this morning. I am awesome.

Girl's Night Out. It was well-intentioned and well-planned. It just didn't work out. And it wasn't a total loss. We had some fun. But next time, it will be more fun.

blah

I am So Ridiculously Drunk. I actually had to think about how to spell "ridiculously." I'm still not sure if it's right.

Oh well. I'll figure it out tomorrow. 'Night!

Saturday, February 18, 2006

it's the weekend!

Why is it snowing? Seriously. Doesn't it know better? It snowed LAST weekend. And if it needs to snow, it can do it on Monday night, thus extending my already long weekend. I wouldn't complain.

Last night I went out to some tiny little bar to meet my friend and her boyfriend (who's visiting from Chicago) and her friends. The bar was incredibly loud and crowded and smoky. I was tired from work and school and being up early, so I know I wasn't very good company. I felt bad, but it's difficult to pretend you're having a good time when you'd rather be asleep.

Today, on the other hand, is Saturday. I slept in, didn't have to work or go to class or anything equally draining. I'm re-charged and ready to go. And good thing, because tonight is Girl's Night Out! Woo-hoo! A night of drinking and dancing and drinking and... hell, who am I kidding, more drinking. Good times.

Hey, look... the snow stopped. Sweet. I'm gonna go find something to wear.

Sunday, February 12, 2006

snow day? please??

It's 7:15 PM. The KYW website said they would start reporting school closings at 7 PM. I just checked, and right now there is no listing for Philadelphia Public and Parochial Schools. Damnit. I can't stand the waiting. My dad says I'm worse now than when I was in grade school. I beg to differ. I just want to know, is all. I want to find out if I should work on my lesson plans and weekly homework sheet now, or if I'll have all day tomorrow to worry about it.

I'm going to assume that we have school, despite the foot of snow on the ground. I cleaned the snow off of my car today, just in case. Of course I have to park on the street, because my parents have dibs on the driveway. (Just one of the many, many reasons I need to move out...) The curb next to the passenger side of my car was the dumping ground for the driveway snow. The driver's side of my car got plowed in. So I'm parked between two walls of snow. Lovely. If you're awake tomorrow morning at around 6:45 AM and need a good laugh, please feel free to check out my one woman show. I will attempt a feat of daring acrobatics by climbing over the wall of snow (balancing my totebag, purse, coffee and car keys), opening the car door, dumping all of my stuff inside (without spilling the coffee), getting myself in the car, body first, so as not to get snow on the pedals. I will then kick my snow-encrusted boots against the side of the car, thus removing any remaining winter precipitation from my person. Finally, I will start the car, back it up clear of the snow fortress, and angle myself into oncoming traffic. Ta-daaaa!

A snow day would be just fabulous.

I didn't sleep well last night. I watched TV in bed until about 1:30 AM, and then I decided to get some sleep. I woke up at 3 because some asshole kids were riding their ATVs around the block for about half an hour. Then I woke up again at 4, coughing. I didn't have any cough drops upstairs, so I had to go downstairs to fetch them. All that movement woke me up, and it took me awhile to fall back asleep. At around 6, I heard thunder, swore I was dreaming, started to fall back asleep, and then heard it again. Thunder and lightning during a blizzard? WTF? Woke up again at 7:30, fell back asleep and woke up for good at 8:30. Not a good night's sleep by any stretch of the imagination.

I think I'll go work on my lesson plans, just in case. Best to err on the side of caution.

howdy

It was supposed to be a pretty crazy weekend, but it turned out to be kinda tame. Last night was fun. A bunch of us went to South Street to watch Erin get tattooed. Then we went to the Blarney for a few drinks. Good times.

I had plans to go to Grape Street tonight to see Ike and Fooling April, but I wussed out and bailed because of the snow. It turned out that Grape was closed due to the weather, so I don't feel as much like a wuss anymore. :)

Tomorrow I have to meet my research partner at the library to work on our paper and presentation for class. We might have to reschedule, though. I'm kinda thinking (hoping) that the library will be closed. I should probably look through the pile of articles that I promised to have read by tomorrow. I am in no way motivated to do that.

It's still snowing. I've been hearing the weather reports all day... 10 inches... 12 inches... 14 inches. It doesn't look like it's snowing hard enough to ever get there. I wish it would snow on a school night so we could get a snow day. I'm not looking forward to shoveling my car out tomorrow and driving to work on Monday in whatever's left on the streets.

I guess that's all I've got. Just felt like wasting some time on here since I had nothing better to do tonight. That's the beauty of blogging. I type, you read. Or not. Whatever. It's all good.

And before I go... Word on the street is that UpFall is working on some top secret undercover Mexican project. I'll have to do some sleuthing to find out the dirt. More on that as it develops.

Tuesday, February 7, 2006

recap

Today...
... I got to work too late to get a "good" spot in the parking lot.
... I worked straight through my break.
... I yelled at one of my students.
(... I felt bad about it afterwards.)
... I finished a project after school that was due in class an hour later.


Tonight...
... I went to class.
... I had to buy coffee to keep me awake in class.
... I baked low-fat apple cinnamon bran muffins (only 2 points!)
... I coughed a lot.
... I sent a card to a friend "just because."
... I wasted an hour on the internet.
... I read three emails (and answered two.)
... I wondered why it wasn't Thursday already.

Dude. It's been a long day.

Saturday, February 4, 2006

Stuff about things

It's one of those days when you just wanna stay in your pajamas and curl up on the couch with a warm blanket and a book and not do anything. I worked my ass off all week, and I decided I was entitled to such a day. With the exception of eating meals and doing laundry, I've done naught but read and flip idly through magazines and catalogs. It's bliss.

I had plans for tonight. A friend called me last week, wanted to hang out this weekend. We planned on dinner and shopping. She called me early this morning to bail. Damnit. I thought about trying to rustle up some back-up plans, but seeing as how it's already 5 PM on a Saturday, I'm assuming that most people have previous engagements lined up. Plus it's raining. (I don't know why that factors in, but it does.)

So, tomorrow's the big game, eh? Yeah. I'm not really into the whole football thing. I don't know who's playing, or where the game is, or what time it starts. My friend's birthday is tomorrow, and she invited me over to hang out. I don't know if we'll be watching the game (I'm going to assume that her husband is, though), but there will most likely be game-related snackie foods, such as chips, dip and pizza. That sounds promising. Oooh! Flyers are on right now! Yay! So, anyway, I never really understood football (and don't leave comments explaining the game... I don't need to understand it) or the hype behind it. And I'm not a fan of commercials. So tomorrow is just Sunday for me. Incidentally, Superbowl Sunday is the day when the most cases of domestic abuse are reported in the United States. Just something to think about.

Hey, have you checked out UpFall's myspace page yet? I'm too lazy to find a link and post it in here, but they're in my Top 8 on the Friend's List. They added some new songs, including a new recording of "Trio," my personal favorite. Go give them a listen, and then give those boys some business! Have a party, book a band! And then invite me, so I can hear them play again. I'll bring a case of something good.