Who Are You Again?

Seems this summer has not been a fruitful one for blogging. And it's not just me. Some of my standard reads have been a little sparse as of late as well. A couple of them have new babies, so that's totally understandable, but even those who don't have been a little scarce. Makes me wonder if the charm has worn off for many of us. But enough editorializing...

I was really busy this summer, right up until my party. Then I think I lost all my motivation to get anything done. You'd think that the end of the summer would be enough of a deadline for me to launch into high speed, but not yet anyway. I still have about five weeks left. Some years that's half the summer, but this year it's well past the halfway point as the kids don't return until September 8.

So, what have I been doing with my summer? Well...

• I took part in a garage sale with some girls from work and got rid of a bit of stuff, which started me on a purging kick, but I've somehow stalled. I've sorted out bags of clothes for Goodwill from the dressers and my bedroom closet, but haven't yet gotten to the cabinet where I keep my sweaters and sweatshirts in the spare room, the closet in that room, or the coat closet. I also have the two boxes of items left from the garage sale that will be going still sitting in my living room. Honestly, it would probably take me about two more hours and I'd have everything sorted and a list made (for tax deduction purposes) so it could get out of here.
• I still haven't gotten a new backdoor put up, but maybe in the next couple of weeks Mom and Dad will make it up here and that will get done.
• My super-secret summer project has, so far, been unsuccessful and is now being put on hold temporarily. I could explain the reasons, but then it would be obvious what the project is.
• I attended a gathering of my high school band friends a week ago. We've had these in the past and they are always a lot of fun, but this year's was not very well attended. I did get to see G. and W. and I was able to talk very kindly with them. W. even asked how to make the pudding shots that I brought to the party and I graciously wrote out the recipe for her.
• Another friend from high school was home on leave from the military at the same time. Luke wrote to me in mid-June to see if I'd like to get together, so he came to visit two weeks ago. We had a great time reminiscing and getting caught up on each other's lives. He stayed over (on the couch) and we had lunch together the next day. I saw him again at the band reunion and we've started a regular correspondence. I'm going to visit him over winter vacation (he's in Germany), and we are going to spend New Year's in Paris! I finally get to use my new passport! Is there potential...? Perhaps. Technically he is an ex-boyfriend as we were "going together" for about a month when I was a sophomore and he was a freshman... you know... those relationships where you're too young to actually go on dates so instead it's just a lot of hand holding and kissing when no adults are around. He's always been a very sweet guy, but I can't say I was all that attracted to him back in school. Now, however... damn. The years have been good to him and he is a fine looking man. The main issue is the distance. He's in Germany until February, then will be going to Turkey for fifteen months before he will be back in the U.S. That's nearly two years, and even then he won't be anywhere terribly close. But I suppose that, if things have developed between us at that point, minus the physical contact, we'll have a better idea if it's worthwhile for me to go where he is. At that point he'll only have about three years left before he can retire.
• I rejoined Weight Watchers last week. After I saw a picture from the band reunion I decided it was time. I've gained back all the weight I lost four years ago and then some over the last couple of years. I had to buy new shorts this summer because I couldn't get into any of my old ones. What's funny is that people tell me all the time how I don't need to lose weight. I know I don't look as heavy as I am, but it bothers me that I can't wear the cute little tops I was wearing two years ago. I guess I should be grateful that I carry my weight fairly well, but I'm also concerned for health reasons. My BMI is only one point from being considered obese! How is that possible? At any rate, I'm down two pounds already, so I'm off to a good start. I'd really like to be down twenty-five for my trip in December (twenty-two weeks away) and it's definitely possible. Just got to stay focused!

That's it in a nutshell, I guess. Time to get some exercise in for the day.

So Much to Say

Okay, I admit it. I've been a bad blogger. I have excuses, mostly lame, some not. Mainly I've just been lazy. I've also not wanted to talk about some of the things occupying my thoughts. Which didn't really leave me with much interesting stuff to talk about.

M.'s death last month hit me hard. As hard as it hit me, I can't even imagine what it's been like for his family and close friends. I've been in closer contact with some people we had in common and I plan to stop and visit with his mom and dad when I am home for Easter in a couple of weeks. His death has also caused me to do some evaluation of my life. One of those "life is too short" realizations has spurred me to move ahead with a decision that I've been putting off for years.

And that decision is the one that I'm not going to discuss with the blogosphere just yet. The people who are closest to me in my real life know what it is and have been overwhelmingly supportive. Hopefully I will be in a position someday soon to talk about that decision here, but for now it needs to remain private.

Work has been tumultuous. Our district offered an early retirement incentive as a cost-cutting measure which was accepted by eight teachers. So everyday is about conjecture as we discuss what positions will be be replaced and who might potentially be moving into those positions. I've also had some inside information (that I'm not supposed to know about) that my media position might not be secure, so that has also caused some stress. Thanks to seniority, I'm not in danger of not having a job or anything, but there's a chance I will be back in a classroom next year. That doesn't bother me as much as thinking about what that change will do to the media program. I know I've only been in charge of it for two years, but I already feel such ownership over it and hate to think of what will likely happen to it without support.

I'm working on streamlining my life, particularly my home. I have way too much "stuff" that I simply don't need, or at least I don't need it on a daily basis. So I'm in the process of making some decisions about what needs to go into a garage sale or to charity and what could potentially end up in a storage facility. If I only had a basement...

I'm also trying to get back into working out and watching what I'm eating. I was doing pretty well with exercise until I went to New Orleans back in January and lost my momentum. I've also been hovering about the same weight for the last couple of months after taking off about five pounds right after the holidays. I still need to take off about twenty more to get back to where I was in the fall of '07, which was my lowest weight. I made it to the gym both yesterday and today, which is a start, but I'm usually so tired after work during the week that I never want to go. Hopefully I will have established the beginnings of a habit this weekend that will continue into the week. I know I won't make it on Thursday because we have conferences, but maybe that can be my goal... if I go Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, I know I get to take Thursday off!

Well, it's a start.

Loss

Someone very dear to me passed away last week. I hadn't talked to M. for many years... I'm not even sure how many. Perhaps fifteen or so. His health problems had started already before the last time I saw him and steadily deteriorated in the years since.

M. was my first love, my first kiss. We dated twenty years ago when I was a freshman and he was a sophomore. We were together for seven months before we just kind of drifted apart. The only person I've been with for longer than that was my ex-fiance. Even after we broke up we were good friends throughout high school, but lost touch after that. I knew that he got married. He was no longer married when he died, although his wife was at the funeral. My assumption is that his health put too much strain on the marriage.

I knew that M.'s health was bad and he's been on my mind a lot lately. I'm friends with his brother and sister-in-law on Facebook and had sent a note to J. (his brother) a couple months ago asking that he let M. know that he was in my thoughts. Other than that I never contacted him. I wanted to, but I wasn't sure what his condition was and only found out recently that he was no longer married... I didn't want to step on any toes.

M.'s sister-in-law sent me a message Friday night telling me he had passed away and that his funeral was Saturday. Luckily I got it early enough that I was able to make the two-hour drive back to my hometown so I could attend. I couldn't not be there.

And now I'm overcome by the memories and the feeling of loss. I keep laughing over the happy memories and funny stories that friends have been sharing and those that I am keeping to myself. And I find myself tearing up repeatedly when I think of how he is gone. I keep kicking myself for not sending him a letter or calling when he was still alive. I know that he now knows that he was in my thoughts, but it doesn't make it any easier.

And I can't help feeling that I shouldn't be feeling such loss. M. hasn't been an active part of my life for seventeen years. But the attack of memories are making it feel like yesterday. And I know I'm romanticizing my time with him because, let's face it, ultimately we DID break up. But for some reason I am feeling grief for the loss of M. like I have for no one else. I'm just feeling a little lost right now and that's about all I can focus on.

Petty?

Recently there's been an explosion of Facebook usage by people who went to my high school. I hesitate to say my friends from high school, as quite a few of the people I've recently received friend requests from are people I don't even remember from high school. Some of them graduated two or three years after me, which explains things, but others claim to have been in my class and yet... nothin'. No memory whatsoever. I don't get it. I didn't go to that big of a school.

At any rate, one night a couple of weeks ago, I logged in and a newly added friend had a status update complaining about the class of '93's lack of a 15-year reunion this year. It also asked if anyone had seen G. As in my ex-fiance. Well, I couldn't help myself. I commented simply that, while I hadn't talked to him myself in quite some time, I knew of his whereabouts and vital statistics through his sister.

But I couldn't leave it at that. I decided to do a search for G. and see if, by any chance, he was also a Facebook user. Turns out he is. I sent him a friend request with a brief message about how the previously mentioned friend (who had been quite close to G. in high school) had been inquiring about him.

A few days later, G. replied to my message. He thanked me for putting him in touch with our friend and that that he'd also found our former band director (also on my friend list). But he didn't respond to my friend request. Yet he added both the friend who was looking for him and our former band director. When I looked again a couple days ago, I saw that he had also added another friend from high school (who I'm sure requested G., not the other way around), yet he has still not responded to my request. And we've sent a couple of brief messages to one another since then as well, so it's not that he's totally ignoring me.

I'm sure that G. has nothing against being "friends" with me on Facebook. He knows there are no bad feelings between us. But I'm sure that W. would never allow it. I don't get it, though. If anyone should be bitter in this situation, it would be me, not her. She won for God's sake! She's the one who married him and gave birth to his children. Not me. I just don't understand. I even requested her as a friend as well, just so that she knew I was not trying to do anything underhanded by contacting her husband without her knowledge. She outright denied my request. The one I sent to G. is simply still pending.

I don't understand how, nearly twelve years later (and they've been married for seven) she can still be so threatened by the connection I once had with G.

I've been known to be pretty bitter about some things that have happened in my life. But not one of them is a situation in which I was the winner. And nothing that happened over a decade ago even still makes the radar. I hope to God that I never develop that level of bitterness.

Running Out of August

So many things I could have posted about this month, but I've really lacked ambition. So let's recap. Since I last posted:

• Kitchen remodeling continued with a vengeance. My parents ended up spending one more night after I last wrote because I got an outrageous quote ($479) on tearing out my kitchen floor. They decided they would just stay one more day and we would do it ourselves. Does that mean I owe my parents that money? At any rate, this left me with only one day to paint (and it needed three coats to cover... I always thought of my kitchen as light blue... until I wanted to cover it) before the cabinets went in. Then I had a couple more days to get the laundry room painted before the flooring went in. The new appliances arrived a couple days later. Now there's been a bit of a lull for the past couple of weeks while I wait for the counter top and sink to arrive. That is scheduled for the day after tomorrow, when Mom and Dad will also return to install the dishwasher, hook up the sink, garbage disposal, and water line to the refrigerator.
• I attended my very first major league baseball game, but I can't say that I watched very much of it!
• Eddie, while still a very sweet little boy, has revealed his very deep naughty streak. If I leave him uncrated when I'm not home, I typically come home to trash strewn throughout the house, and my shoes tend to go for walks on their own (he doesn't seem to chew them, though, thank goodness). The baby gates that easily keep Copper contained mean nothing to Eddie and he happily travels from room to room hopping over them. I also have yet to find a place to put Coal's food dish where Eddie cannot reach it. Perhaps once the counter top is in... So now Eddie is crated whenever I leave the house. He didn't mind going in the first few times, but once I started being gone for more than a couple of hours, he stopped going in willingly. I try to praise him as I put him in, but it is still a somewhat forceful situation.
• The Def Leppard/REO Speedwagon/Styx concert we were supposed to attend in April was finally held on Saturday... a great time was had by all. But I couldn't help thinking about how sad it was that groups with as big of names as REO and Styx have been relegated to being "just" an opening act. I was actually more excited about seeing those two groups than the main event.
• Today was the big day... our first day back to school. Well, kind of. The kids don't come until a week from today, but it's still hard to face the fact that my summer vacation is over and it will be nine and a half months before it comes again. So what was the final theme? Well, I think it remains to be seen what will be the dominant memory for me, but I know of two contenders for the title. It might be all about the kitchen, but it might also be simply the summer of fun. I attended three concerts (and have one more next month) and a Tiger game, read book after book just for fun, watched lots of movies, and just generally enjoyed myself. It was great!

So there it is in a nutshell. Off for another fun-filled school year.

"Once Upon a Time, Not So Long Ago..."

Monday night I joined a couple of my co-workers for an evening with Jon Bon Jovi and friends. Damn... that man is ageless... and hot. We actually just went to a Bon Jovi concert in February, but the show was so awesome that, when we learned that they were coming back to the Palace in July, we shelled out for even better seats than last time.

I'm no reviewer, so I'll simply say this: a fantastic night with great friends, rocking with one of the best in the business.

Excuses, Excuses

Why must I make excuses for who I am and what I enjoy doing?

I had dinner last night with Drew and his girlfriend. It was fantastic to spend time with them and get caught up on each others' lives. After dinner we went to see a movie and then for yummy smoothies. The vast majority of our dinner conversation was a lot of fun. But then there was that hint of judgement.

Drew asked me what I was planning to do with my summer.

"A whole lot of nothing," I replied.

"I know that's what you're doing right now, but it's only the beginning of summer. What are you going to do with the rest of it?"

"Umm... more of the same."

"Really? Nothing?"

"Well... of course I have a few little things I want to accomplish around the house, but for the most part, I fully intend to just read a lot and watch movies."

Drew let it drop after that, but his point was made. Apparently, I am supposed to accomplish something with my summer. And if I don't I'm some kind of failure.

Why isn't it okay for me to just be this summer? In the past I've taken classes, moved, done house projects, trained a puppy, and traveled. While I would like to have some fun this summer (and get a few of those house projects done), I don't see what's wrong with being allowed these weeks to do what I don't have time to do during the school year. Yes, I know I just wrote a post doing a little minor griping about my need to define this summer, but my main priorities are to read as many books as possible and trim my Blockbuster queue down to a little more reasonable length.

I hope that's okay with everyone.

I'll Take Random for 500, Alex

Seeing as it's been nearly four weeks since I wrote a post of any substance, I thought it might be time. The days have been packed, so there's lots to report on.

• My movie viewing has dried up since Spring Break got over and the new shows have begun again. In fact, I think that all I've watched since I made my last list are the three titles I had sitting here at that time. I have three more waiting for me now (Elizabeth, The Sixth Sense, and The Bourne Supremacy), but haven't gotten around to watching them.
• I'm a really lousy friend. Drew has been in Iraq since December, and I've only sent him a couple of care packages. I've been promising to send more cookies since late March, but still haven't gotten to it. You'd think, with all the sacrifices that men and women like him are doing, I could find an hour to bake some cookies.
• The stressful television situation at work finally worked out. A huge thanks goes out to Ryan at Best Buy for Business for his patience and coordinating pickup at five Best Buy stores. I had to do a lot of driving, but I was able to borrow a truck from a co-worker, use school time to do it, and I was paid mileage... very important with gas prices as high as they are!
• I'm back to counting points for Weight Watchers again. I've put on nearly 20 pounds this school year. I need to lose at least 10 of them just to comfortably wear my summer clothes again, so I figured I better start now.
• Next year's master schedule is all but finalized and I am scheduled for the media center full-time. I am so excited about this prospect that I'm still not allowing myself to fully believe it. No more papers to grade... Ten more hours a week to do the full-time job I am currently trying to do in only 20 hours. While I'm sure I'll still bring work home on occasion, it should be the exception, not the rule.
• I took Copper to the dog park yesterday for the first visit of the year. She gets very excited with we first pull in the parking area and get out of the car, but as soon as we are in the actual park, she gets very intimidated by the other dogs. She's usually the smallest dog there, so I think that she thinks they are ganging up on her. She prefers to hang around the people. Not necessarily me... she does socialize, it's just with people, not dogs!
• Coal's birthday was two days ago. I can't believe he's 10 years old. He's been with me for the majority of my adult life and it's hard to believe all the things that have changed (and not changed) in that time.
• I paid my Jeep off two months ago with my income tax refund. Now that money is going toward credit card debt. I should be debt free (except for student loans and mortgage) in under a year.
• A personal project that I've been planning for may be underway soon. That's all I'm revealing at this point.
• Friday will be the two year anniversary of the MySpace incident. I'm not quite as frazzled as I was last year at this time. It's rather ironic that on Friday I will be attending an information session with district bigwigs because they want my input on a new technology related system for the district.
• In August, I'll also be done paying for the days without pay that I agreed to as a result of the incident. That will free up another chunk of money to put toward the debt payoff. I'm hoping that, at that point, the board will be willing to remove certain paperwork from my file that could make it difficult for me to ever get a job in another district.
• I mowed the lawn for the first time of the year this week. Spring is finally here.
• Only six weeks until summer vacation. Enough said.

Two Things

One: Why is it that wipers that worked perfectly fine this morning are, for the most part, no longer making contact with the surface of the windshield? There is no visible caked-on ice or snow. And even more perplexing, why is the driver's side always worse than the passenger side? My guess is that all will be well again tomorrow.

Two: Is it weird that I just received a birth announcement in the mail today for a child that was born in October? True, I haven't been as "in touch" with these particular friends as I once was, but they live only 20 minutes away and the baby's dad was one of my best friends back in high school. I'm appreciative... I just think it's odd. And now that I think about it, I even talked to him in August and he made no mention of the impending arrival. Again... weird.

Thankful

I'm thankful for:

• The cuddly kitty-cat currently nestled up in the chair behind me.
• The world's cutest beagle dog who went back to bed after going outdoors.
• The first accumulating snow of the winter... it's so pretty out!
• The health of my family... I know many people who aren't so lucky.
• The love of my friends... I have more offers of things to do while I'm home tonight than I can do!
• A friend who is willing to go way above and beyond if I ask him to.
• Being able to see Drew again last night before he leaves for Iraq.
• Having my own home where I can do whatever I want.
• Rejuvenating old friendships with people I had grown apart from.
• The possibility of something more developing from one of those old friendships.
• Finally being in a job that I truly love.
• The support of colleagues in that job.
• The freedom to live as I wish (and all the men and women who are fighting to keep it that way).

I guess I have things pretty good. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy

Amber and I met up at 5:00 Saturday evening and headed to Grand Rapids. Our destination was the B.O.B. (Big Old Building), which, in the words of the comic we saw that night, is "a four story, alcoholic Disneyland." Imagine our surprise when we arrived to find... cowboy hats? In downtown Grand Rapids? We started to get a little scared when, during dinner, people started line dancing in the next room.

Soon our questions were answered when the owner of a local country music station came over to chat. Turned out that there was a Brad Paisley concert going on that night right next door at the Van Andel Arena. Now, neither Amber nor I are country music fans, but even we knew who he was. The radio station guy was very apologetic because he said he wanted to give us tickets, but he had already given away his last ones. It would have been cool to get free concert tickets, but, honestly, I probably would have found the concert to be painful. I do like his song "Online," though. Because I'm so much cooler online, too.

Anyway, after dinner, we headed up to the comedy club on the third floor to see Greg Giraldo. I didn't think I knew who he was, but once he came out, he seemed familiar, so I think I have seen him on Comedy Central or something. After the show it was back downstairs where we mixed with some interesting young men. And I do mean young. It's a good thing we don't look our age. They thought we were younger than them, but they were mistaken.

And then the cowboys came back!! It was quite exciting. And thank goodness Amber takes her camera everywhere with her because the night was heavily documented.

Finally it was 2 a.m. (much later than I thought we would be out) and time to head for home. But the night wouldn't be complete without a drunk dial, so I did the honors. Unfortunately (or fortunately, I guess), my recipient's phone was turned off, so I only got to leave a silly voicemail. Still haven't heard back from him. The bastard.

I haven't had that much fun in way too long. Now I'm really looking forward to our New Year's Chicago trip. It should be a blast!

Game ON!

Just got done chatting with Amber about our upcoming trip to Chicago. We've had to change our dates on several occasions, but I think we are finally set for spending New Years in the Windy City! She's on the case for a hotel room and my job is to get theater tickets. I'm so excited that I get to see Wicked again! Amber hasn't seen it yet, so it was an easy sell. I'm also pretty geeked to actually have some plans for New Year's Eve. That hasn't happened in about five years!

Random Recap

Yeah, yeah, I know I should just write about one tidbit per day during NaBloPoMo, but I've got all these thoughts in my head and, man, it's getting crowded in there!

Parent-teacher conferences were Wednesday and Thursday last week. I didn't have very many, which didn't surprise me now that I'm only in the classroom two hours per day, and one of those hours is only a marking period class. But I was still busy beyond all comprehension because this is when our book fair went on. We do it then so that we can get the parent traffic in, and did it ever pay off. Things were pretty slow earlier in the week, but we took in nearly $1500 on that last day of conferences. All told, we made enough to slide nicely into the 30% profit bracket, taking some in books and some in cash. Now I have to decide what to spend it on!

After conferences, we headed out for a night on the town, but the sheer quantity of drama took me back to summer nights on Midland Street. I finally couldn't take it anymore and ended up leaving early to watch one of my friends sing karaoke at a bar that was a lot closer to my house. Before the night was over, though, I drank more than I have since my class reunion (two shots?!?) and had quite the headache when I woke up Friday morning. A glass of water and two Tylenol later and I was back to bed for two more hours so that I could feel human again.

Friday was an errand day... oil change, hair cut, picking up a few things at the store. That pretty much did it. Saturday I've already reported on and Sunday was just a tad bit more productive.

Today was unseasonably warm when I left work, so I decided to finally make an attempt at cutting my grass. I only got the front yard done before it got too dark to go on, but it looks a lot better. I'll have to do it again when the rest of the leaves fall from my maple tree, but it will be just leaves now... the grass won't grow much more. I still need to do the backyard, but tomorrow is supposed to be an even better day. I'll get to it then.

The unsettling thing was how I actually had energy when I was done with the lawn! That's so unlike me! So I went for a run. I only did a mile, and I had to stop and catch my breath every quarter-mile, but I ran the entire mile, so I'm pretty proud. Not bad for not having done anything even remotely physical in over two weeks.

There are other thoughts, but I should save something for tomorrow!

Cop-Out Post

Sorry folks... I'm hoping this will be the only one, but it must be done. I have parent teacher conferences all day, then I have to pack up the book fair, and then I finally get to go out and play with my friends. I have no intention of being home before midnight and there's no way in Hell I would attempt to post from work after the Great Internet Witch Hunt of '06.

On the plus side, with the massive amounts of alcohol that I expect will be consumed tonight by me and my friends, there's bound to be an interesting post brewing for tomorrow.

All Warm and Fuzzy

I got a good news update that I thought I would share (plus, I was scrambling for a post topic).

Back in September I wrote about my co-worker friend who had just given birth to her twin boys at just under 30 weeks gestation. Well, I realized that I hadn't passed on any of the news that has been shared with me over the past two months. Obviously, I want to respect my friend's privacy, so I don't want to share too many details, but in a nutshell, things are going well. Baby A came home about a week and a half ago and is nearly six pounds. Baby B is still in the NICU, and gave his parents a real scare about a month ago when he developed the MRSA infection. But he is testing negative for the infection now and is continuing to grow. He is nearly two pounds over his birth weight of 1 lb. 13 oz. and the neonatologist expects that he should be home with the rest of the family by Thanksgiving.

In the words of his mother, "Now, that's something to be thankful for."

In Case You Were Hoping for Something Profound... Look Elsewhere

Honestly... I just got home a bit ago and was checking MySpace (damn MySpace... bane of my existence) when I remembered that I needed to post again today... crap!!!

Alright... today. Well, Fridays are the days I try to get stuff done in the library, but it usually doesn't happen because my aide leaves at noon. It was also another book fair day, so I had things to do for that, plus I had to draw and announce the winners for the MSU v. U-M reading contest. It's very strange to hear your own voice over the building PA system. I'm not at all like my predecessor, who could talk and talk until the PA finally cut her off, then she'd come back on just to say goodbye. But I think that's one of the things the staff likes about me.

And then it was off to choir practice, and it was a long one. It was so long I had to call my neighbor to let Copper out. I don't like to do that very often, but I think It's been a month or so since I have.

Tomorrow is the Michigan/Michigan State game. I think I'm going to watch it at a friend's house so that I have an excuse to drink during it. I love my Spartans, but man, can they ever stink it up on the football field.

GO GREEN! GO WHITE! GO STATE!!

Start With a Bang

I thought about it on the drive home from work today, but promptly forgot. Then I spent an hour and a half on the computer paying bills and budgeting for the next month and just remembered again... it's the start of NaBloPoMo. Crap!

So I know that today's post is incredibly lame, but at least it's here, right?

Oh, during that hour and a half I also chatted with Drew for a while. He's currently in New Mexico training for his deployment and will be there for quite some time still. He's incredibly tired, but at least I know he's not in danger yet. He's supposed to be home for a couple days over Thanksgiving, so I'm hoping I'll get to see him then. I can't believe he's been gone for a month and a half already.

Okay, I'm going to eat dinner. Hopefully I'll be more entertaining tomorrow, or else it's going to be a long month!

The Best Laid Plans

Four weeks after school began and I finally came home without any work that needed to be done tonight. I spent a little time updating my MySpace page and had every intention of writing a nice long post here to update my life.

And then my laptop froze up. Again. It's been doing that lately.

Now, if there's a silver lining to this, at the time my laptop froze up I was chatting with my friend "Ryan." Once it froze, I ran out and logged into Messenger on my desktop to continue the conversation. I told him what happened and, as it happens, Ryan has some expertise with computers, so he ended up coming over and working on it.

He didn't solve all of its problems, or at least we don't think he did, but some of its more minor issues seem to have gone away. That makes me happy. And he promised to continue thinking on the problem and see what else he could come up with.

Plus, he's really cute and I like to look at him when he's sitting on my couch. Tonight he was all scruffy because he hasn't shaved his beard off. I got to touch it. Damn he's hot.

In other news...

My new job is going well. I love it. I just wish I could do it full time instead of still having those two classes each day. I've had some minor victories in the past few weeks where I've solved some problems for some people and figured out how to do some things on my own. I have fewer and fewer questions for my predecessor, and, in fact, I'm finding that I prefer to figure things out on my own over having her show me things. She's a wonderful lady and I owe so much to her, but I find that she's, on occasion, getting in my way. Today she was in subbing for my parapro and she got a bunch of stuff done that I simply hadn't had time to do yet. However, she was also on my office computer all day. And, at the end of the day, rather than asking me if I wanted her to, she went ahead and ran the system back-up (which I need practice doing) then shut down the computers. Too bad I wasn't done with them. She really is a fantastic person and there is so much more I can learn from her, but I also know there are things that I am already doing better than she ever did.

For the most part, I'm getting along fine with B. He does get obnoxious on occasion, but that's just his personality. It has nothing to do with our history. The worst part is not his fault. Tomorrow our Volunteer will be in and she is one of B.'s neighbors. She just goes on and on about how nice his girlfriend is and how she hopes things work out for them. I just have to stand there and grit my teeth. I usually try to pretend I am engrossed in something so I can keep from looking at her when she keeps talking about how happy and in love they are. It's not Volunteer's fault. She has no idea that B. and I once were in love. She has no idea that he used to tell me how much he wanted to marry me. Or that he broke my heart when he changed his mind about all that and neglected to fill me in.

On a non-work-related topic, I'm tentatively planning a weekend trip to Chicago this fall with my friend, "Amber" (I could have sworn I'd assigned her a name before, but I'll be darned if I can find it!). Amber and I have been friends since elementary school and always have a great time when we get together, so I'm really looking forward to this trip. It will be so nice to get away, plus, I've never experienced Chicago except on school trips, so it will be nice to take a more "grown-up" trip. I'm hoping we'll get to go see Wicked while we are there. Amber hasn't seen it yet and I am dying to see it again.

Time for The Bachelor... Hey, I'm taking advantage of this free evening!

So Tired... Must Use Bullets

• Yesterday was the first day of school for the kids. I've stayed at school until five o'clock the last two days. Yesterday I was trying to finish some work and today I had to wait around for a TV repairman. Everyone keeps asking me how things are going and I'm not sure how to answer. I tell them they are going well, but it's a little surreal to be at school all day sitting in my office (I have an office!) working on the computer while everyone else has a classroom full of kids. I know that is not the reality of the job though and it will be a little more normal next week when the classes start coming down.
• B. made a point to talk to me on Wednesday last week (work related) and I almost laughed because it was like he was trying so hard to keep the conversation going even though he already knew what I had to say. Then he was the one to come find me the next day when the fifth grade teachers needed me in their meeting. And then later in the day we were both working (alone) in a back room off the library when he mentioned how he had seen my new tattoo in some of my Hawaii pictures that I had posted on MySpace (via his girlfriend's daughter). Ever since then it's been like old times with him... like way back when we were friends before there was ever a hint of something more. It's been kind of nice to have my friend back.
• A teacher at the high school, who I used to be practically best friends with, delivered her twin boys today. A happy occasion, yes, but not as happy as it would have been in another month to six weeks. She was not quite at 30 weeks, but one baby's cord flow was bad and he was not getting what he needed. They have known for a month that the flow could deteriorate to the point that they would have to be delivered at any time. So the boys have arrived, weighing in at 3 lbs. 4 oz. and 1 lb. 13 oz. Please, anyone who is out there reading, please pray for these little guys and their parents, and if you don't believe in prayer, at least send them some positive thoughts.
• Tomorrow I have dinner plans with Drew, who is leaving in five days with his Army Reserve unit. In another month he will be deployed. I refuse to believe anything other than that he will be coming home. Again... more prayers and positive thoughts, please.
• On a brighter note, I finally got an e-mail yesterday saying that my laptop had been shipped back to me. I expected it to arrive today, but it didn't, so I'm hoping for tomorrow. I never realized how much I love that thing until I've had to go the last month without it!

Oh Yeah... The Party

The party (last Saturday) was a lot of fun. A couple people we were expecting didn't show, but it was okay because they weren't people from work and almost everyone who was there was from work. They probably would have felt a little lost anyway. The one person who wasn't from work that did come didn't stay very long. She swore up and down that she was just tired, and I'm sure she was, but I also know that, if she'd been having a good time, she would have stayed longer than an hour. I feel kind of bad about that.

But overall, it was a great time. There was booze, there were snacks, and there was a whole bunch of gossiping over work politics. This allowed us to laugh a lot!

I was concerned that Copper was going to end up in her crate (where she would cry and howl) due to bad behavior, but she actually was pretty well behaved. There were a few who nearly lost the food on their plates because they put it a little too close to the beagle, but I don't think she actually got anything. And, as I had hoped (but didn't actually expect) she only barked at the first couple people to arrive. After that, I think she decided there were too many people to figure out who had been there awhile and who had just arrived. Even Coal ended up coming out of hiding and became social after a while. This surprised me greatly as he is not a fan of crowds. He's a weird enough cat in that, if one or two people are over, he is all over them wanting to be petted, but I didn't imagine him coming out from under the bed the whole night!

Lots of pictures were taken, but, being the paranoid one that I must be, I cannot post them here. It would be kind of a dead giveaway seeing as, not only am I in them, but lots of others from work as well! But those of you who are my MySpace friends can check out the group photo on there if you want.