Be Afraid...Be Very Afraid

I've been on this scary movie kick recently. It all started off when I went to see "Hostel." Then, I found myself intrigued by the idea of Eli Roth's film, "Cabin Fever." Now there's another movie out about some woman being terrorized by harassing phone calls that turn out to be coming from inside the house. Spooky.

Anyway, after a pretty harrowing day of a long boring meeting followed by a long exhausting workout, I went to the video store with the intention of renting a good scary movie to bring home.

Hollywood Express runs a two-for-Tuesday special, where you can get two films for the price of one on Tuesdays.

I looked around the store, but nothing stood out as particularly interesting. I was a bit disappointed until I remembered that the ultimate terror flick of the year will be broadcast tonight for free on all the major cable networks...

President Bush's State of the Union Address.

I can't wait to be scared out of my mind. However, this could turn out to be like a lot of self-proclaimed horror films in that it is so bad it turns out to actually be funny. Either way, I can warm up to the idea of a good horror or comedy tonight!

On that note, Here is Georgie's quote of the day for January 31. Very timely considering the Hamas elections...

"My administration has been calling upon all the leaders in the---Middle East to do everything they can to stop the violence, to tell the different parties involved that peace will never happen."

Mean Teachers Suck!

Let me start by saying that I have been teaching for 11 years, and I can count the number of times I've actually really YELLED at kids on one hand. I'm just not a yeller. I definitely discipline kids, but I do not yell. I hold kids accountable, make them live up to the rather rigorous academic and behavioral expectations I set forth for them, and I expect them to demonstrate kindness and respect to me and each other, but I rarely meet those ends through raising my voice.

Now I can start the actual story.

I have a student who is quite immature and babyish. He is a nice enough kid, and I like him, but he definitely is not what you'd think of as a typical 7th grade boy. Believe me, I am always delighted to have a sweet kid who still seems to want to be a kid and not try to jump right head to adulthood while still in 7th grade. But this kid is just kind of, well, babyish.

He is constantly asking me to go to the nurse. He wants to go for things like headaches, or to get ice for a stubbed toe..minor things. Very infrequently do I deny a child the permission to go to the nurse; I am no medical professional and I do not want to be held accountable for a kid getting really sick or hurt because I refused to let them seek medical attention.

Out of concern for the kid and his frequent trips to the nurse, I decided to touch the base with the school nurse to find out if everything was generally OK with this kid. The nurse told me that he suspects that sometimes the kid is up there because he has forgotten homework or is just trying to get out of class for a few minutes. The nurse encouraged me to try to have the kid wait out his initial requests and see if he can go to see the nurse later. The nurse assured me that, more often than not, if a kid is just asked to wait a little while, they'll forget about the request to see the enurse all together.

I need to drop this nurse line for just a second while I backtrack and provide a little more information and background.

This kid is constantly forgetting his homework, or leaving my homeroom unprepared for his next lessons. This means he'll eventually turn up at my door while I'm in the middle of a lesson, interrupt me, dig around for his books in his desk (which means he has to push aside the kid who is sitting at his desk for that period), and hold up the teacher of the lesson he is supposed to be in.

He does this literally on a daily basis.

He forgets homework for my class 3 out of 5 days a week...at a minimum. His quarterly essay was 3 weeks late.

You get my point.

Last Wednesday, I was showing the kids a National Geographic video on cities of Europe and I saw this kid goofing off over in his corner of the room. When I walked over there, he and another classmate were writing really degrading notes to each other about another classmate, and complaining that the film was boring. I put them both outside of the room and asked them to write letters of apology to me.

On Thursday, the kid forgot my homework and interrupted three of my lessons for forgotten books later in the day.

On Friday, he asked me if he could see the nurse. He asked at the end of the 25 minute morning homeroom period, just as we were getting ready to switch for first period. Keep in mind, he got off the bus at 7:30, and was shooting baskets in the gym with his friends from 7:30-8:00. I asked him why he needed to see the nurse. He said he hit his arm on the bus and needed ice for it. I VERY NICELY asked him to hold off until morning recess and I would send him up then.

I was shocked when this kid literally burst into violent sobs right there in the middle of my homeroom. I naturally took him into the hall and asked him what was wrong. No joke, it took him at least 5 or 6 minutes to compose himself enough to be able to speak. His face was all contorted and he was choking over his sobs. I had no clue what the hell was wrong.

Eventually, the kid said, "You're mean to me."

I asked him to talk to me about it and tell me what he meant. He said I was always "yelling" at him. See my opening comments.

He said, "You give me attitude every day just because I forget my homework all the time and just because I always forget my books for class. And then you gave me attitude because I was writing notes during the movie."

Yes, this is what he said to me.

This child is very indulged by his mother. I love the fact that I am seen as "giving attitude" because I expect the kids to be responsible.

I calmed the kid down, but assured him that I would continue to keep on him about preparedness for class, homework, and acceptable behavior in school.

I thought that was enough for the week.

Today, on the way out, another student called her mother on her cell phone to accuse another of my colleagues of "pushing" her. The teacher claims she was out of control in the class and that he simply asked her to leave. When she refused, but was standing close to the door, he approached her, put his hand on her shoulder and told her to leave the room.

This guy is so gentle and kind and I could never even imagine any pushing on his behalf.

Freakin' ridiculous.

The worst thing is that this kid has launched phony allegations before, and her mother is a complete loon, so she backs up everything she says. What a nightmare.

I have a meeting tomorrow and will be out of school. I will miss all the dramatic follow-up tomorrow, but I'm sure I'll be filled in on Wednesday.

Oh, and one more thing....

I was doing a lesson plan today while my kids were in gym. A colleague came down to see me to ask me about a book one of my students was reading for "free choice" reading in her class. This student is not even in my homeroom, so my responsibility over her is the same as this colleague's. The woman told me she found the content of the book to be objectionable. I encouraged her to take action since she had actually seen the book and I had not. Jesus Christ, why would she expect me to exercise jurisdiction about discipline issues over something that took place in her class? If she was so shocked about the book, why did she not go directly to the principle?

So, not only am I a horrible, mean, rotten teacher, but I also should be the bad guy for another colleague who is afraid to stand up and take disciplinary action on her own.

Another Weekend Over

Friday...

Allie's 3rd Birthday party was Friday night. It was a lovely event, and lots of fun was had by all, especially Allie, who was showered with gifts! I gave her a pass to the Children's Museum and some little dollies. Allie loves Barbie dolls, and Barbie apparently has a little sister named Kelly. This little package I gave Allie had 5 little dollies, Kelly and 4 little "friends", all decked out to go to school. Allie was delighted with them and has taken to calling them "the little girls with the pack-packs." John, Allie's dad, went out and bought Allie's favorite meal of all times, PIZZA! The pizza proved, however, to be not what Allie had in mind. It was rather well done and it had "bubbles" on the surface, so Allie would not touch it! She is a very particular eater. She started dropping hints as to what she wanted by saying, over and over, "I Looooove Olives!" Luckily we had some olives on the premises, so Allie was quickly placated and the birthday meal proceeded without further incident.

Allie is so cute. She loved her party!



On Saturday night, Stephen and I decided to get a movie and relax. I was so disgusted by that "Hostel" movie, but found myself oddly intrigued by the idea of Eli Roth's prior film, "Cabin Fever." It is about these college kids who rent this cabin for a week, only to fall sick with a flesh-eating virus. The film was pretty gross, but funny. I could actually keep my eyes open for the entire duration. "hosel" was an entirely different story. I was so glad to have my winter scarf on hand during that one; I kept my face buried in it the entire time.

I remember leaving that film and asking my friend, Gene, "Hey, what was going on when I heard that chainsaw and heard the guy screaming his lungs out?"

Gene looked at me in disbelief. "First of all," he said, "you were sitting right there so you could have seen it for yourself. Secondly, what the hell do you THINK was happening when you heard a chainsaw and a kid screaming his lungs out?"

Very good points.

Anyway, Cabin Fever was much funnier and less horrific. I recommend it.



Today, I have to do some end-of-term grading. I'm not necessarily looking forward to computing the students' final averages. It probably won't be pretty!

Anyway, I'd better get working!

Peace out, Y'all!

Bushisms of the Day..Getting Caught up!

I've missed a few......Sorry!

January 26, 2006

"They've seen me make decisions, they've seen me under trying times, they've seen me weep, they've seen me laugh, they've seen me hug. And they know who I am, and I believe they're comfortable with the fact that they know I'm not going to shift principles or shift positions based upon polls and focus groups."


January 27, 2006

"The budget caps were busted, mightily so. And we are reviewing with people like Judd Gregg from New Hampshire and others some budgetary reform measures that will reinstate--you know, possibly reinstate budgetary discipline. But the caps no longer--the caps, I guess they're there. But they didn't mean much.

January 28/29, 2006

"I'm gonna talk abou tthe idea world, Chris. I've read--I understand reality. If you're asking me as the President, would I understand reality, I do."

Happy Birthday Allie!

Allie through the Ages!



Here's Allie at 9 months. I have lots of pictures of her at age one, but none of them were digital or on CD. But this is her on her way to being a year old!




This is Al at age 2. She was visiting "Auntie's House" and having a marveousl time on tha papasan chair.



Here is Al on Christmas Eve 2005. Technically she's still two, but her third birthday was just a month away when this was taken.

Allie is three years old today! Where does the time go?

Allie shares her birthday with Mozart. I always knew this was a day of Genius!

And The Truth is Revealed...A Million Little Lies

Like many of you, I read James Frey's "memoire", A MILLION LITTLE PIECES. Like many of you, I was completely blown away by this man's story.

I found myself having a great deal of sympathy for James and for anybody battling a drug or alcohol addiction. I went into an Au Bon Pain Cafe one night, just after having finished the book. There were these three absolutely wasted people in there using the restrooms. Actually, the reason I went in was to use the restroom, myself. Well, these people took up residence in both of the restrooms, regardless of the prescribed gender noted on the door, and their sojourns in the bathroom lasted at least 15 minutes. After having read Frey's "memoire", I could only IMAGINE what was going on in there. Were they shooting up? Turning sexual tricks in exchange for drugs or booze? Worse?

Now, here's the thing...under normal circumstances, before having read A Million Little Pieces, I probably would have been rather disgusted by these people and dismissed them as totally annoying screw-ups. However, after reading the book, I found a greater sympathy for them. I felt sorry for their wasted lives and for the pain they must be experiencing. I felt like I understood what they were going through because Frey had so eloquantly and brutally honestly described this horrific lifestyle in his book.

And then we all heard the smoking gun report that much of Frey's book was fabricated. What the....????

Yesterday, I went to the gym at 4 specifically to walk on the treadmill while watching Oprah, because she was having Frey on the show. She was pissed! She told him that she was embarrassed and that he had her completely fooled. She quite clearly resented having been duped. She even held off on her next book club title announcement in order to let Frey bask in the Oprah spotlight a little longer and benefit financially from all that her book club nod implies. She was really fit to be tied.

She asked him about "the dentist scene." I remember reading that scene at a Brugger's Bagel shop one Saturday after the gym and almost losing my breakfast. I think, at one point, I was on the verge of tears. Let me explain...I have a MASSIVE FEAR freak out factor when it comes to the dentist. I have to have valium before hand and enough novocane to make my entire face go numb. Last time I was there, the guy warned me that if he gave me another shot, it would literally take hours to wear off and my eyeballs would be numb. I told him BRING IT! It was gross. Even with all that anesthetic, I still end up tensing up every muscle in my body and have even been known to shed a tear or two during treatment.

I digress..

In the "memoire", Frey claims to have undergone extensive dental reconstruction, including two root canals, WITHOUT NOVOCANE! It is so hard to read this section of the book! I should have skipped over it, and almost did. It took me a while to get through it. It was horrendous. My definition of torture.

Anyway, Oprah asked him about this. She said that in the book, this was kind of a red flag for her. She believed most everything else, but had some trouble with the dentist part, particularly when her own dentist told her that NO DENTIST would ever do something like that. Even then, she still wanted to believe what Frey had written. She kept talking about this powerful theme of redemption and she really wanted to buy into it.

Anyway, as she asked him about the dentist scene, he hemmed and hawed and eventually admitted that he wasn't sure whether he had novocane or not. Oprah, my girl, was all over that! She demanded to know how you could "forget something like novocane and two root canals!?"

She pretty much lambasted Frey and his publisher. She also had numerous guests on from various reputable literary periodicals and they joined in on Frying Frey!

It was disappointing to lear that the dentist story was fabricated, that the circumstances surrounding the death of Lily were false, that he never really had any altercations with his guards at the treatment facility, and that he never spent more than 30 minutes in jail when he claims to have spent months at a time in prison. In fact, I remember he said he'd beatedn a cop. The police department issued a statement saying that indeed they responded to a scene where he was present, but that he sat in the car the entire time and was utterly polite and cooperative.

Whatever. As Oprah said, he could have just published a novel and been done with it.

I was on the bus last night and bunch of drugged up and drunk women piled in and were screaming and laughing, reeking of booze and smoke. I had very little sympathy. I just got up and moved my seat and increased the volume on my iPod.

If James Frey can lie about drug addiction, I can be disgusted by it!

Nobody's a saint here.

I caved...I finally watched American Idol. I Have Not Been Missing Much

I'm a little freaked out about something I don't really feel ready to blog about at the minute. I just got some news that I need a little time to digest.

When I left the house today, I had the entire day's worth of crap in my backpack...the school work, the lunch, the gym clothes, the iPod, the shoes (I was wearing boots), and everything else I seem to carry with me every bleedin' place I go.

I ended up blowing off the gym and was, for the first time in ages, home before 8:00 PM. I ended up having a nice salad for dinner and, when that was finished, I decided to blow off my housework in order to vegetate in front of the TV. My vegging out is not typical by most people's definition. My vegging out does not involve mindlessly flipping through 699 cable stations for hours on end. Since I have about three stations and no remote, I pretty much sit back and kind of zone out to whatever happens to be on the screen until I get sick of it. At that point, I get up, turn off the TV, and go to bed to read a bit.

Anyway, there was some "Access Hollywood" show on at 7. Again, I am virtually never home at 7, so this show was unknown to me. It is apparently some pathetic 30 minute celebrity gossip show. And apparently, they are still under the impression that Jennifer and Brad just broke up three seconds ago. The entire show was about these people. And following that show, there was nother half-hour gossip show on where they spent the entire time talking about Angelina Jolie's pregnancy. Jesus, didn't she just find out she was pregnant about a week ago? If the press keeps covering this woman's pregnancy with the same frequency as it is now, this woman's gestation period is going to seem endless. Talk about elephants!

Anyway, they mentioned something about American Idol. As of this evening, I had never seen the show. I didn't even know what station it was on, what day of the week it was on, etc. I only know that it seems to be on for several hours a night for several nights a week.

Anyway, they said it was on tonight, so I decided to flip through the dial, an exceptional effort considering I had to get my ass off the couch to do so, and found the show.

My God...these people are TERRIBLE!!!!

I don't know who's worse, the contestants of the judges.

Let me give an overview of my first impressions of the show...

Simon: This guy is kind of funny, but I can see where everybody calls him a total jerk. He seems hell bent on being as mean as he can to people. And from what I understand, he is normally much, much worse than what I'm seeing tonight.

Paula: Is she just accepting everybody who shows up? Could I go up and try out and get a "yes" from her? She seems like a total pushover. Reesie mentioned something about Abdul's painkiller addiction on her blog. Now that I see these fools she is subjected to on a regular basis, I can entirely understand her chemical dependancy.

Other Guy: If I built a drinking game with a rule of, "Drink every time this guy calls somebody 'DAWG'", I'd be getting my stomach pumped at present.

All of the contestants: They all try to sing these power R&B ballads by people like Mariah, Alicia Keys and Toni Braxton. Why does everybody have to be a black woman with a huge set of lungs? Even the dorky white dudes are trying to be black women with big massive voices! I am at a loss. Isn't it ok to just sing? Apparently not because they are all up there screaming at the top of their lungs. So, so, so, so bad.

Do all the people who win sound like that? Do they even need to bother having this contest over and over again? Aren't these people all trying to be the same thing?

I now know what I'm missing. I will NEVER tune in to this nonsense again.

Bushisms for January 24 and 25.

January 24..

"The public education system in America is one of the most important foundations of our democracy. After all, it is where children from all over America learn to be responsible citizens, and learn to have the skills necessary to take advantage of our fantastic opportunistic society."

January 25...

"I'm confident we can work with Congress to come up with an economic stimulus package that will send a clear signal to the risk-takers and capital formators of our country."

The Bachelor in Paris...A Pathetic Addiction

Ok, so you have to admit it...and so do I; this guy is gorgeous! I mean, he's the epitome of the word "hunk." The chiseled face. The towering height. The sandy blond wavy hair. The deep blue eyes. The toothpaste poster child smile. Who wouldn't go ga-ga over this guy?

Did I mention that he's also a doctor? An emergency room surgeon, no less.

Obviously, every mother of every single woman in America would fall to her knees and rejoice if her daughter were to bring this Adonis home.

Small wonder this vision of beauty is the star of ABC's new season of the reality show, "The Bachelor." To up the ante, ABC is filming the show in Paris, and each week, there are back-to-back episodes. So, you get two hours of Bachelor for the price of one. Sadly, however, you lose double the time and about four times the brain cells watching both hours. And for some reason, I find myself oddly compelled to stay tuned for both hours.

I have to say, it is kind of an interesting set-up. The first hour of the show is really just a "behind the scenes" look at some of what happened in the "new" episode from the week before. In other words, we, the viewing audience, already know which women will get rejected, yet we see some of the hidden events leading to the ultimate rose ceremony. Then, the second hour of the show concentrates on new dates, new in-house drama, and further rejections at a rose ceremony.

This season has been particularly painful to watch. Although the bachelor himself is gorgeous and seems rather genuine, the women are beautiful only in that "if-I-did-not-have-six-pounds-of-make-up-on-my-face-and-a-professional-hair-stylist-following-me-around-at-all-times-I'd-be-disgusting" kind of way. The women are also really incredibly phony and fake. Either that, or they're really goofy and stupid.

One of the women, Kristen, pained us all when she fashioned a set of redneck teeth from an orange peel and stuck them in her mouth ON HER FIRST DATE. Needless to say, the guy didn't know what the hell to make of it. Later, they adjourned to the hot tub, and even the sight of this woman in her size 32AA bikini top (with her clearly-no-smaller-than 36DD breasts) wasn't enough to rouse the bachelor from his coma of boredom. It was really painful.

This other woman, "Sarah from Canada" speaks in this very contrived raspy voice. There is nothing legitimate about the raspy quality of her voice. It is totally put-on and utterly annoying. Add to that the fact that she extends every word by an additional twelve syllables and you have a general picture of what this girl is about.

In a two-on-one date last night, the bachelor had to decide whether to send "fake-rasp" of this other very nice woman from Boston home. Not surprisingly, he chose to chuck the girl who actually seemed to have some semblance of gray matter between her ears in order to keep "extra-syllables" around.

I guess you can have all the book smarts in the world, as the bachelor clearly does, and not have a hint about people. Either that or he figured the fake-rasp woman was an easier shag. I guess the fact that she was whining about wanting to be the first woman to kiss him and begging him to kiss her clued him in to the fact that she was a sure thing.




In the first week of the show, the woman shown above, an oncologist named Allie, was sent home. Had I been the bachelor, I would have sent her packing, as well. She was obviously an excessively jealous person. But, the ultimate kicker was when she told the bachelor that she was at a stage in her life where she was ready to reproduce. Yes, she used those exact words. Let me employ some helpful and indicative quotation marks to drive the point home. "I am at a point in my life where I'm ready to reproduce."

When he dissed and dismissed her, she actually came in and confronted him and accused him of dumping her because she was too short or didn't have enough boobs.

Maybe he dismissed her because she made Norman Bates look like a freakin' Girls Scout in the middle of cookie drive!



This woman was dumped last night and she dissolved in tears upon receiving the news that she was out of there.

I just don't get how these women can fall head over heels in love with these guys in about five minutes.

Also, a few of the women are teachers. When did they have the time to do this show? Did they take a school year off to do it? What will their students think? What will the parents of their students think? What will the patients of the oncologist quietly ask to be transferred to the care of a slightly, how shall I say it? Stable doctor?

Hello people, can we say pathetic?

Or, in the spirit of the Bachelor Paris, "disons, Pathetique!"

Oh Christ....Not AGAIN!!

So, I live in a house where I have rooms on the second and third floors. My landlord, an older man, lives with his wife on the first floor of the house.


Until now, I have thought of this man as being completely trustworthy. When I moved in, I told him that one of the reasons I left my last apartment was that the landlord kept walking in on me. He seemed reasonably and appropriately disgusted by the idea of a man walking in on a single woman. I have enjoyed feeling respected and generally left alone in this apartment.

I have doors leading to my apartment on both the second and third floors of the house. I rarely lock either door, but I do always have them shut. There have been instances where I have heard my landlord knocking on the door, but have not gotten to the door right away. There have been times when it has taken me a couple of minutes to get to the door. He had NEVER simply let himself in.

Anyway, I came home today and took a shower, put some groceries away, and just settled in. When I went to leave my living room (on the second floor) to go up to the bedroom (third floor), the door would not budge. I thought it must be stuck. I had also just blown the lightbulb in my overhead light in the living room and was on the way up to get a replacement, so I could not really see what was going on.

I seriously stood there for several seconds, pulling at the door, turning the knob this way and that and wondering what in the hell was going on. I had all these scenarios of my not being able to get up to my room to get to bed or get clean clothes for tomorrow.

Then it dawned on me that perhaps the door was locked...as in, locked with the key. I figured that could not possibly be the case as I had not locked my door. I went and grabbed my key, inserted it into the lock, turned, and bam...the door opened. I was duely freaked out. I went upstairs to my room to discover my bedroom door unlocked, too. I had to go back downstairs and retrieve the keys again to unlock my bedroom door.

Now, even if I thought I had, in a total flight of consciousness, locked the living room door, all suspicion of yours truly was lifted when I discovered the bedroom door locked. I cannot even tell you the last time I had my keys on the third floor. I usually come in, place them on the key rack next to my entrance door, and forget about them until the next time I leave the apartment and lock the outside door.

What does all this mean? My landlord must have come into my place and then, as a matter of routine, locked the door behind himself. Now, you might ask why I would care if he came in my apartment when I leave the door unlocked in the first place.

It does not even matter whether I lock it or leave it unlocked. He apparently was in my space and obviously has keys so he would have come in whether the doors were locked or not.

I really hate this shit and think that my next apartment is going to have to be some thing in a big apartment building. My last apartment was also in a house, and the landlord there took quite a few liberties, too. This totally sucks.

I am going to have to ask my landlord tomorrow what possibly prompted him to lock me out of my own space!

Total bullshit!!

Bushism of the Day, 23 January, 2006

"Well, I think if you say you're going to do something and don't do it, that's trustworthiness."

Need I say more???

Croatia, Here We Come...In Six Freakin' Months!

I spent two weeks of the summer of 2003 in Dubrovnik, Croatia. Stephen and I really wanted to travel in Europe for a couple of weeks in the summer, but we weren't sure where we should go. He had been to Croatia the previous summer, and said it was incredible. I knew very little about the place, but I'm willing to go anywhere once, so I agreed that our destination for our first big trip together would be Croatia.

People greeted the news of my upcoming trip to Croatia with confusion. "Are you going there to volunteer and help people?", was the most frequently asked question. Stephen had assured me that Croatia could be best compared to Paradise, and I, in turn, assured people that I would not be volunteering, but instead planned on lounging around on the shores of the Adriatic, sunning myself and drinking copious amounts of inexpensive, delicately flavored Eastern European beer. I liked the sound of "cheap", too. This was another strong pull factor toward Croatia.

We were rather excited to find a flight to Dubrovnik for $1,200. Expensive, I know, but when you consider how inexpensive the accommodations and such are, the expensive flight isn't so painful. The drawback, of course, was that we had to stop over in Hell, I mean Charles De Gaulle Airport in Paris for 3 hours. CDG Airport is so pathetic. I cannot believe that it is the main air hub of a major, western European capital city. A major trans-Atlantic connection hub should have, at the very least, in my humble opinion, chairs for people to sit in as they await their flights. Well, actually, they do have chairs, but you have to turn in your boarding pass in order to sit down in the little glassed-in chair area, and then you CANNOT come back out into the airport terminal to use bathrooms or get a drink once you sit down. Anybody who knows me understands full well that I do not trust myself to be deprived of toilet facilities for more than 30 seconds.

Anyway, from Paris, we flew on to Zagreb, the capital of Croatia, where we had another 6 hour delay. At this time, we just took advantage of a few hours in Zagreb to have a look around the city. It was pretty interesting taking the bus from the airport into the city center. The buildings outside of the city all looked like these huge, soul-less Communist block edifices, built en masse to house large numbers of people in basic, nondescript structures. I am always very interested by this whole eastern block stuff.

Anyway, the trip was wonderful and enough good things cannot be said about Croatia. Here are a few photos of what we'll be experiencing this August...





Dubrovnik is a beautiful, walled city located right on the coast of the Adriatic. Over the course of hundreds of years, foot traffic has eroded the cobblestone streets so that they are smoothed down like marble. Tourists can walk along the walls to get amazing views of the red-tiled roofs (or is it rooves?) on one side, and the sparkling Adriatic Sea on the other. Occasionally, you see little tiny restaurants located atop the city walls. There are also a few places where there is a little hole the wall (literally) through which you can crawl in order to descend a little ways to find a tiny bar (usually some guy with a cooler, and a table with a few chairs) perched precariously along the stone outcroppings, where you can sit and overlook the sea and soak in the sun.

Dubrovnik is a favorite stop of the major cruise liners, so there are always huge ships docked nearby. There are also little dinghies and row boats out there.

The weather is always perfect. For each of the 15 days we were there, the weather was glorious. It was, on average, about 90 degrees every day, and the sun was always shining in full. The air was dry and beautiful and a dip in the cool Adriatic was always the perfect remedy to the heat. Oh, and let's not forget a nice, freezing cold, tall frothy beer!








Cavtat is where we actually stayed. It is a really adorable little resort-like town, located on the bay, straight across from Dubrovnik. Dubrovnik is easily accessible by water taxi. It takes about 20 minutes to get over there, and costs around 6 dollars to get over there. Cavtat is heavenly. We stayed in a couple of different places, both private accommodations. The first was like a very clean, sophisticated college dorm. There were 4 very simple rooms on a floor, with 2 bathrooms to share. The accommodations were sparse, but very comfortable, and the staff were extremely pleasant. All the staff are pleasant at these places because they are privately owned and the people want to earn money. I think that room cost us about 12 dollars a night each.

Our second place was a lovely apartment, complete with full kitchen, large bathroom and bedroom, and very cozy sitting room. The best feature was the massive deck. We spent many an hour at the round picnic table, sipping on beers and eating the fresh figs that the proprietors would bring by the bucketful on a daily basis.

It was the perfect vacation. Life is slow. The weather is a marvel. People were kind. We did whatever the hell we felt like going every single day, and just loved life.

We booked our tickets this Friday night to go back again this August. I, for one, cannot wait.

I have to keep telling myself that August will be here before I know it, even though I know it means finishing up an entire school year before the trip even begins to really loom near.

But, it is great to have something to look forward to.

Bushism of the Day, Weekend of January 21/22, 2006

"There's a huge trust. I see it all the time when people come up to me and say, 'I don't want you to let me down again.'"

Busy Day...Now to the Gym!, then to the booze!

Ahhh....What a long, exhausting week!

I wish I could sit here and blog at length about another exhausting week with the leaders of tomorrow. But, alas, two things are keeping me from doing so.

1. I am frightened at the prospect of these people being the future of America and therefore choose not to acknowledge the fact that they will be taking care of me when I'm old and alone.

2. I have to get to the gym to pre-empt the beer calorie damage I'm sure to do later.

Actually, I have a school event to work tomorrow, so I'll go easy on the hooch. Just one or two...CASES!

Just joking.

I hope you suckers have a good Friday night.

Bushisms...Two for One. January 19 and 20.

January 19...

"I'm hopeful. I know there is a lot of ambition in Washington, obviously. But I hope the ambitious realize that they are more likely to succeed with success as opposed to failure."


January 20....

"I hope we get to the bottom of the answer. Its what I'm interested to know."

Bushism of the Day, January 18...a VERY funny one!

"I want to thank you for taking time out of your day to come and witness my hanging."

George W. Bush said this at the dedication/hanging of his portrait at the Governer's Mansion in Austin, TX on January 4, 2002.

Gee....witnessing W's hanging. I wish I could have been there!!!!!

Loooooooong Day!

Is it sad that I'm seeking relaxation in a bottle of hooch? Would it be a little classier if I said I were seekign relaxation in a small glass of Smoking Loon Chardonnay? Good, because that is just what I'm doing. Don't get me wrong, if I could drink any more than one small glass of wine without getting completely smashed or violently hung over, I'd be diving in and looking for the very bottom of this bottle. But that is not the case. Too much wine is not something I ever care to experience again. I've been there once in my life. Two words...NEVER AGAIN.

I am exhausted. I left my place at just before 7 this morning and I got home around a half hour ago, at 9:30 in the evening. I had school (naturally), the gym (naturally) and I had to pick up a few things in Harvard Square. I was significantly sidelined in my travels throughout the Somerville/Cambridge area by periods of downpours of absolute sheets of rain. But, I perservered and accomplished the tasks that needed accomplishing.

I had a meeting for work tonight. This is unusual for a teacher. The meeting was supposed to start at 8, but was delayed, and did not start until 9. I was there as a support for my boss, and was justifiably flustered when the School Committee people insisted that I come forward and sit at the presentation table with her, rather than remain comfortably tucked in the back of the room as had been my strong preference.

I was post-gym, no makeup, exhausted and just generally out way past my bed time. I hesitantly stepped up next to my boss and took my place at the presentation area and helped her field questions from people who, although they serve on the School Committee, sadly know very little about education. My boss, who I like tremendously on both a professional and personal level, was glad of having me there, so suddenly the bags under the eyes and the lack of makeup didn't seem so bad.

But, I'm home now, finishing up a glass of Smoking Loon Chardonnay and getting ready to get into a hot shower, then hit the hay with a good book!

I highly recommend Smoking Loon Chardonnay. It is DELISHH!!!!

Oh, by the way, I walked to the gym after work. The temperatures were very mild today, around 50 degrees. Normally, I would relish the 25 minute walk in such balmy weather. Today, however, it was POURING out, and I was soaked to the bone withing minutes. When I arrived at the gym, I tried desperately to hang my jeans out in such a way as to make them dry while I worked out. I realized that confined in a locker, there was little chance they would become completely dry.

Do any of you have any idea of how unpleasant it is to dress up in soaking wet corduroys following a nice hot, post-workout shower? No? Didn't think so!

The pants dried in the nick of time to get re-soaked by the next of the violent spurts of torrential rain!

Yes, I did have to sit through the meeting with soaking wet pants.

Oh, and I also have to assemble a raffle basket for the 7th grade class. I collected 50 dollars from the kids, and they decided on a "candy" theme. So, in addition to carrying around my soaking wet husk of an exhausted bod all day long, I also had about 4 grocery shopping bags full of candy!

I am soooooooooo glad to be home and I deserve this wine, BITCHES!!

iTunes, You've Created a Monster

At Christmas, my parents gave me an awesome 15 dollar gift card to the iTunes music store. Great....15 songs! The brilliance between online music shopping, of course, is that instead of buying some CD with 3 good songs and 12 crappy ones, you can pick the 15 exact songs you want.

Now, that said, I realize that my definition of "good music" might differ greatly from yours. However, I make no apologies for my ecclectic and often inexplicable taste in music. I just invite you to share in the newest members of my iPod/iTunes family.

Laugh, mock, scoff, scorn, or just tap your feet along to the beat!



One of the very first artists I looked up (and whose "Rock DJ" is securly downloaded and playing as a backdrop as I type this entry) reminds me soooooo much of my two years in Germany. This guy was HUGE when I was over there. Every single mall, store, restaurant, car, house, apartment had this guy's music blaring from its speakers. He never seemed to do so much here, but I still really like him. Actually, I like him in that way that you like somebody who you know is, by all that's right and holy, way to cheesy to take seriously but you can't help yourself. He filmed a video for this song in which he had this great leotard that looked like the muscular structure of a human body. He began to tear the thing off and MTV America deemed it too graphic and yanked it. Of course, two years before, it was on 24 hours a day in Germany. Anyway, this guy keeps Deutschland alive for me..even though he's a tacky British singer!



I had to download "yeah!" by Usher. I always sort of chuckle about it, but I secretly (no longer) LOVE IT. If you haven't seen Usher dance yet, let me just sum up his abilities by saying that he makes Michael Jackson, at his most limber, not laid up with back pain in pajamas at the LA courtroom, look like a steel beam. I love Usher. He's too cute not to love.

I would have put all my choices in the same entry, but my number of pics is limited. It will take a few!

Next....

Kylie Minogue's "Can't Get You Out of My Mind" is amazingly irritating, and fun at the same time. Perfect gym song!



I'm sure Lauren has the entire Pat Benetar catalog on Vinyl, 8-track, 33, 45, CD, DVD and MP3, but still, I had to purchase a couple of her greatest, "We Belong" and "Love is a Battlefield." Lauren, I'll still be taking your entire Jovi collection into custody to feed into my computer. What a lucky little iMac I have!!



Another artist whose collection I am ashamed to admit I do not have at my disposal. "Help Yourself" is a must for any self-respecting girl with a bunch of cool jams in her iPod!



"Sweet Caroline" Obvious choice!



Can you believe I didn't have "Holiday?" What kind of 80's child do I call myself?

And more still....

I also downloaded the fabulous Beyonce's "Crazy In Love." It was damn hard to find a picture of Beyonce's face. Most were butt shots, but I did not falter, and I managed to find her lovely face to go along with this post. Never let it be said that I give up easily!



At the U2 shows I saw recently, Bono did all the vacals for the song, Miss Sarajevo. He sounded great, but I think Pavarotti's absence from the tour shortened Bono's singing career by about 15 years. No wonder there is talk of Bono leaving U2. I don't think he has the chops to keep up this one-sided Pavarottie routine!



Andrea Bocelli does a beautiful rendition of La Dona e Mobile from Rigoletto. I never claimed my music choices had any continnuity! In fact, I like to mix things up!!



I just couldn't lay claim to being a cool kid if I didn't have some Johnny Cash in my music collection, n'est-ce pas? I downloaded "I Walk the Line" and "Ring of Fire." I know nothing about Cash (of both the performer and currency pursuasions), but the music is hard to avoid, and I actually find that I quite like it.




I love "Rich Girl!" No apologies. It is what it is.

Bushism of the Day, January 17 2006

This one isn't even funny, but I'll stick with my committment to post one every day.

"I love the idea of a school in which people come to get educated and they stay in the state in which they're educated."

????..Ok, so the calendar publisher isn't that bright, either.

Bushism of the Day, January 16, 2006

"The CIA laid out several scenarios and said life could be lousy, life could be OK, life could be better, and they were just guessing as to what the conditions might be."

Frrr....Frrrr...Freezing!

It is ABSOLUTELY FREAKIN FREEZING right now! We were spoiled by two or three days of very mild weather, but winter is back to remind us New Englnders who's boss. Yesterday I took a walk wearing capri gym pants and a light fleece. Today I couldn't find enough layers to put on. And even then, any attempt to stay warm was destined to fail even before I walked out the door.

I left my apartment at around 10:00 AM. My plan was to head to the gym. First, I figured, I would walk to Davis Square to get a coffee, and then I'd eventually meander over to the gym. The walk to Davis is about a half hour. The wind was so strong and biting, that I thought it would ultimately be responsible for me abandoning the plans to walk. However, before the wind could even get the better of me, the solid sheets of black ice on the sidewalk helped me make up my mind to hop on the bus. Sure, I missed out on the opportunity to burn a few calories with a walk, but then again, if I fell and broke both of my legs, I'd miss out on many future walks. I honestly could not even gain any solid footing at all on the sidewalk. I cried "UNCLE" and gave up. I do hate the winter, and I'd like to think I could kick its ass, but I'm not stupid. I'm no match for a New England wintery weather spell.

I had my coffee, went to the gym, and then went over to visit with my parents for a while. I also got to see Lauren and Al, which is always a treat. Al and I played with the new toy food I bought her. I was desperately trying to teach her how to say "pork chop" for the sheer humor I saw in it, but once she discovered the play can of olives, she had no interest in the pork chop. Actually, she really isn't much of a carnivore, so even in a pretend plastic form, a pork chop holds very minimal appeal to Al.

Caroline was also as cute as ever!

I just came home and had my heart in my throat as I clamored my way up my ice rink stairs.

New England sucks. I have to get out!

Bushism for the Weekend of January 14/15, 2006

"We can come together to heal whatever wounds may exist, whatever residuals there may be."

IDIOT!!

Suicide Blond...Dyed By My Own Hand

I was getting tired of my frumpy hair color. It had been waaaayyyyy too long since I'd had my "hair did." A week ago, I arranged to have it done this Friday. I had a whole week to get myself mentally prepared for the cost of the foil. Let's face it, they aren't giving doing these things for free.

Anyway, I was ok with it as I didn't forsee the purchase of any big ticket items being necessary in the near future.

Of course, on Thursday, after my MRI, as I was leaving the hospital, I took my phone out to call my friend. I don't know how th hell I managed this, but instead of just dropping the phone (which I have done on many occasions, to no detriment to the phone), I actually lost my grip of the device, causing it to go careening about ten feet straight up in the air, where it executed about 12 very elegant flips, tumbles and cartwheels before it crashed to the floor. I saw this unfolding in slow motion, of course. I was walking on the hard, tile floor, but just a few feet ahead, the carpeted area of the reception space began. I was silently (I think...although I may have actually been rooting aloud) for it to land on the carpet.

But, alas, it did not manage to accomplish in length what it accomplished in height.

After its impressive acrobatic display, the phone crashed to the floor. I picked it up and my worst fears came true. The digital display screen on the phone is completely cracked and busted. Nothing displays. There is no SIM card in there, so I think all my phone number data is lost. But the horn still works for making and taking calls, so I can't complain too much.

The problem, of course, is that I now have to buy a new phone. I know I can get a simple one, but even those are expensive. I don't need a phone capable of accessing the internet, taking pictures, cooking dinner or launching Sputnik. But I also don't want a ghetto phone. I'm not eligible for an upgrade. This will probably set me back a couple hundred.

I almost cancelled my wig appointment, but then I thought better of it. First, I really wanted to get it done. Secondly, the guy had blocked off a good coupe of hours in the middle of his day to do my wig. it would be crappy to cancel on him at the last minute.

So, the above pictures show the before and after. The before is a better shot because of the beer, of course. If I could put the beer in the "after" shot, we'd have the perfect picture. Maybe the new version of iLife will have an iPhoto package capable of such editing. I'll get back to you on that one!

Kinda Drunk! Freakin' Weekend

I'm kind of drunk. I left for school at 7:00 this morning. From school, I went directly to have my hair done. From there, I went to meet up with Gene for a few drinks at Red Bones. As per usual, the crowd there was ecclectic and we met our fair share of random fools. I am off to bed in order to get up in time to make it to the 8:00 step aerobics class tomorrow. Must repent for caloric sins!

Bushism of the Day, January 13, 2006

"The students at Yale came from all different backgrounds ad all parts of the country. Within months, I knew many of them."

I don't personally see the humor in this, but whatever. Tomorrow's is better.