Saturday, January 28, 2006

Join the club

In an attempt to better myself and broaden my horizons, I have become a member of a book club and a movie club.

Joining a book club is something I've wanted to do for awhile, so I'm glad the opportunity presented itself. The book club's last pick was "Memoirs of a Geisha." Easy read, interesting story = enjoyable book. I'm looking forward to reading the next one. I just have to go get it... and then find the time to read it.

The movie club isn't so much a club - it's just me & Doug watching movies. Doug has compiled a list of movies that he thinks I need to see. (Apparently, I haven't seen enough good movies.) "Rushmore" was the first on his list, so we watched that tonight. I liked it. It was quirky and funny. Good stuff.

So now I'm on the road to becoming well-read (more so than I already am, that is) and ... what do you call someone who's seen a lot of good movies? Well anyway, I'll get to see good movies. Not too shabby.

Friday, January 20, 2006

random bits o'goodness from a teacher on break

~ I was driving to work today and I was jonesin' for a decent breakfast. I eat breakfast either in the car or at work. Breakfast is usually oatmeal (low fat, low sugar, low taste!) or an Egg Beater sandwich that I make the night before and microwave in the faculty room. Today I drove past an IHOP (two IHOPs, actually), and I wanted a Rooty Tooty Fresh and Fruity in the WORST possible way.

~ I miss Up Fall and In Theory. Finish your damn demos and book a show, already!

~ I feel icky. I'm hoarse, I have a scratchy throat, and I'm congested. I thought it was allergies, but now I think it's pre-cold symptoms. I've also got a tiny headache, but I think it's more from the kids than from the cold.

~ I have plans for tonight to go out somewhere in the city with my friend Heather. I want to bail. I want to curl up in my pajamas and fall asleep in front of the TV. But I haven't seen Heather since September, and she's driving out from Lancaster to hang out. I'll have to suck it up, I guess.

~ A half hour break goes by way too fast. Especially on a Friday, when it's your only break. Is it 3 o'clock yet?

Tuesday, January 17, 2006

Back to School

Spring semester has officially started. I'm taking two classes this semester: Remediation of Reading Difficulties, and Seminar in Reading Research. Both of them are very work-intensive and require in-depth projects such as case studies, research papers (12-20 pages... yikes), and presentations. I usually only take one course per semester while I'm teaching, but I decided to double up this time around. If I take two classes this semester, one in Summer I, and two in Summer II, then I should be able to do my Reading Clinic in the Fall and then I will graduate in December. Yay me!

Grad school is a hassle sometimes, but I really do enjoy learning. (I'm a big old geek that way.) And I like grad school classes much more than undergrad, only because the people in my classes actually want to be there. In undergrad, we all showed up because we had to... if we even bothered to showed up, that is. It's nice to be around people with the same interests as you.

And speaking of which... the people in my classes are very nice, but all female. Not a single solitary man to be found anywhere. I even have all female professors. That's the problem with being an education major, especially elementary education. All the guys want to teach high school, and very few of them are interested in becoming Reading Specialists. Oh well. I should be used to that by now.

But sheesh... where's a girl supposed to go to meet people anymore? (And before anybody comments and tells me to "join a club" or "get involved in an activity outside of school/work" - PLEASE save your energy. I don't have time. I can email you my syllabi and work calendar if you don't believe me.)

Okay, I'm done ranting.

Shoot, it's already after 8 PM. "American Idol" is on, and I still have to write my lesson plans. Choices, choices...

Sunday, January 8, 2006

karaoke adventures

Alcohol + music = fun.

I'm no mathematician, but that equation is proven fact. So it stands to reason that combining a bunch of drunk people with a microphone and a binder of songs also adds up to a damn good time. Such was the case last night at Casmirri's, dive bar extraordinaire of the Bensalem area. A rather large and unruly group of us went there last night for some karaoke. It wouldn't make sense to tell you the details of the evening... you really had to be there to fully appreciate it. But most of us got to sing, and we were damn good (or at the very least, damn amusing). Erin & I did a few drunken duets, which were met with wild applause (most likely due to Erin's dancing, and not our singing).

Allow me a small digression... what is it about karaoke night that attracts certain types of people? For example - there is always a "regular" who does the same song every week (and it's usually Patsy Cline's "Crazy"). Then there's the "country western star," just waiting to be discovered. This girl sings like a pro, but no one knows the song she's singing, because, let's face it, who listens to country music? Next we have The Mullet. The Mullet prefers to regale the crowd with an "oldie," most likely a 70's or 80's easy listening tune. There's the crowd of drunk girls, who sing together, and usually wind up alternately screaming the lyrics and laughing uproariously. And finally, we have the comedian. This guy gets up because his buddies dared him to do it. He can't sing for shit, and he covers that fact by goofing off and making up new, often raunchy lyrics to the song.

But it all makes for a fun time. Gotta love karaoke.

Saturday, January 7, 2006

the couch sessions

Woke up with the mother of all sinus headaches. It felt like a hangover, without the booze. (What a waste.) I took some drugs (aka, Sudafed) and slept on the couch for about 2 hours. Feeling a little better now, but I'm kinda pissed off because I had plans for today, but I was in no shape to get off the couch and change outta my pj's, let alone drive to New Jersey and sit in a house full of cats (which, as most of you know, make me all wheezy and sneezy)... even if it was to visit my best friend, who I haven't seen since my birthday. So phooey on my sinuses. And phooey on a wasted Saturday.

Blech.

Hopefully I'll feel up to par in a few hours and I'll actually get to go out and do something.

Monday, January 2, 2006

NYE, and the resolution story

Ah, New Year's Eve. I know, I bitched about it in my last blog. I said it's "not fun anymore." It's just that the pressure to do something fabulous is sky-high, and it gets hard to live up to such great expectations.

But this year was a blast. A friend and I drove to NY to visit our friends in the Bronx. A limo picked us (and 3 other people) up at 6:30 and took us upstate a bit to Mt. Fuji, a hibachi restaurant. We had an AMAZING meal (complete with cooking entertainment): fried rice, noodles, shrimp, veggies, filet mignon, chicken. Out of this world. After dinner, we went to the adjoining bar/lounge for drinks and dancing until the midnight countdown. There were the requisite hats and horns, and of course, a champagne toast... and about 2 hundred drunk people trying to sing "Auld Lang Syne" (a song I can't even spell, let alone sing). Good times were had by all. A truly fun, memorable, drama-free New Year's Eve.

An apology to several people - I tried to send Happy New Year texts to you, but the lines were completely jammed and nothing was going through. It took me half an hour just to get a phone call through to Doug. So Happy New Year to all of you!
Now, about the resolutions. Here's my opinion on the whole situation. I used to make resolutions in January, but I never kept them. I finally figured out why - it's too overwhelming. You make a list of 5 or 6 things that you want to start doing for the new year. You try to do them all at once, but it gets to be too much, so you stop. And then you wind up breaking all of your resolutions at once.

So here is my ONE resolution for the year 2006: If I think of something I need to do, or a goal that I'd like to make, I resolve to do something about it right then and there. It's March, and I think, "Wow, I wish I had money to go on vacation." Why, I'll take a percentage of my paycheck and open a vacation fund, right then and there. Say it's August, and I think to myself - "Man, I haven't been taking my vitamins as regularly as I should be." Instead of waiting until January to begin that routine, I'll do it right away.
I resolve to DO SOMETHING WHEN IT OCCURS TO ME. That's my resolution. To carpe my diem, if you will.

Wish me luck.