Nothing Else Matters

It just occurred to me that today is August 31st!  This means I officially failed my 90 Day Bible Challenge.  I am disappointed, because I think it would have been really cool to be able to say "I've read the entire Bible in 90 days."  But I do feel good about getting through 60% of it, and I know I'll continue on, so I wouldn't call the entire thing a waste.  It did give me that push to try.  My sidebar info isn't exactly correct; I actually read all the way through Isaiah and had just started Jeremiah.  It has been really weird to go to church, because now every time the pastor says "Open your Bibles to verse blah blah blah," I'm like, "Oh cool, I've already read blah blah blah." 

This video doesn't do much for me, but the song is a classic.  When I listen to it, I just get flooded with high school memories.  I like how one commenter put it:

This is REAL music. No stupid fan girls who like it because of how 'hot' the artist is, no auto tune, no fake robot sound effects...just real talent.

Oh, I almost forgot to mention that now my classroom is saturated with ants.  I think the little bastards are following me.

Too Busy to be Sick

I feel like I should do a blog entry, but I've been so out of it the last two days.  I'll eventually write more about Vegas (maybe), but right now I'll just sum it up by saying it was entertaining on Friday night. sucky for most of Saturday, fun on Saturday night, and so-so on Sunday.  Once at home on Sunday night, I started to feel fever-like chills, and by the time I woke up yesterday morning, I was downright sick.  I still dragged myself to work, because I had already committed myself to doing a GATE presentation for the staff, plus I had no subbing plans.  It was a rough day.  The students were great to the point where I never even had to raise my voice, but I just felt so cold and dizzy all day long.  I skipped both breakfast and lunch, and barely picked at my dinner.  When I came home yesterday, I just collapsed on the couch and laid there for hours.  It was heavenly. 

This morning I woke up and still felt dizzy and fuzzy, although I was finally able to eat again (hard-boiled egg for breakfast, yogurt for lunch).  Yet again I went to work; this time because a bunch of my students signed up for after-school tutoring, and I didn't want to let them down.  Plus I had an appointment with my T-shirt guy (he's helping me make my Builders Club T-shirts for the new school year).  It's starting to occur to me that I just can't seem to squeeze "getting sick" into my schedule.  I'm sorry Flu, please call back at a more convenient time and I will be more than happy to make an appointment for you.

I'm still not quite up to par, but I'm feeling a hell of a lot better than I did yesterday.  Plus tomorrow is "Pajama Day," so I'm excited that I get to go to work in my comfy jammies and don't have to worry about looking all professional...especially since I don't feel professional.  Lazy and blah sound good to me right now.

Oh yeah, this morning our fire alarm shrieked piercingly through the house at 4:08 this morning.  For no reason.  There was no fire, no smoke, nothing.  It was strange.  And a really jarring way to be jerked awake when dawn has yet to even crack.

And unrelated, but our house is over-run by ants.  I'm sure a couple of scouts crawled over me while I slept, because they've pretty much permeated every crevice.  Fun stuff.

Vegas, Baby!

I had a terrible Monday and Tuesday, a mediocre Wednesday, and a really good today.  I want to say more but I really need to get to bed early tonight.  We're leaving straight from my work to Vegas tomorrow and I'm hoping to actually have more energy than a zombie.  But I did want to come on here real quick and show you a pic or two of the pool we get to splash around in this weekend.

Can we say Paradise?  I am practically giddy with excitement.  I'll be offline this weekend, so have a good one!  

Adjustment Bureau, Grading Depression, etc.

Last night I watched "The Adjustment Bureau" for the first time (I had avoided it previously because the title sounded boring), and wow, what an awesome movie.  It's suspenseful, romantic, thought-provoking...why didn't someone recommend this movie to me a long time ago?  I love the philosophical nature of the movie and the complexity of the characters; how the so-called bad guys *spoiler alert* aren't necessarily as evil as you might anticipate, and how you're not entirely sure through the entire movie who you should be rooting for.

Today I started grading papers at about 9:30 this morning, and I didn't finish until 3:00.  That was with Clint helping me to input the scores into my gradebook, or else it would have taken me all day.  I'm relieved to be caught up, but I'm starting to feel depressed by the quantity of grading I'm taking home every weekend.  I don't mind busting my ass Monday through Friday; I can totally live with that.  But I want my damn weekends to myself.  Last year I had three really great T.A's to help offset some of the work load, but this year, my T.A's, although very likable and sweet, are a little clueless when it comes to grading.

After conquering that insane heap of papers, I worked on my Japanese Maple painting.  It's just about finished, so I might be posting a picture of it tomorrow on my Glazey blog.  Once it's touch-dry (which will take a few weeks minimum), I'm going to give it to Shannon.  I didn't originally start the painting for her, but she saw it the other day at my house and really liked it.  I still plan on painting something else for her in the (distant) future that's especially meant for her, as this one was just sort of a "whatever" project.  Last night I sketched out my next painting.  I'm really excited about it, but don't know if I'll be able to pull it off.  It involves an underwater scene, and I have no clue how to accomplish that look. 

Next weekend I'm going to Vegas with my entire family!  I am so excited!  My parents really know how to have a good time in Vegas, plus my mom, Shan, and I get really silly when we're together anywhere.  I still remember going out to dinner with them for Mother's Day over a year ago, and they were scolding me in slightly inebriated, over-loud voices for using a toilet-seat liner when I went to the restroom (haha, TMI--sorry).  Apparently this made me some sort of freak-germaphobe.  And I, of course, was yelling at them for not using one.  Meanwhile, fellow diners were looking at us like...well, the way anyone would look at some crazy person who's carrying on about toilet seat liners in the middle of a crowded restaurant.  But these are the types of conversations we end up having anytime we're all together (especially if liquor's involved), and it is what it is. 

Ughhh.  I feel so blah right now.

Nocturnal Butterfly

I only slept for a few hours last night, so don't hold me liable for anything weird or random I write.  Blogging tired is like blogging drunk.  I've never blogged drunk before, but I have facebooked drunk, which I have to say is both hilarious and embarrassing as all get-out when you realize the next day what an idiot you were.  You might think that "Damn I wish I could balance on this toilet and why does my reflection look so weird" sounds like a great status update at the time, but things look just a tiny bit different the next morning. 

I just realized I have no idea what I'm talking about.  I'm sure there was a point in there somewhere.  Hey, did you know that the spanish word for moth is "mariposa nocturna"?  That actually translates to "nocturnal butterfly".  I love that.  I just think that is the most beautiful spin on what most would consider an incredibly mundane insect.  I mean, look at the English version of the word.  Moth.  One very boring, four-lettered, uninspiring syllable.  And unfortunately, it's an apt name that pretty much matches up with the bug itself.  Moths are flat, colorless, and uninspiring.  They don't even have venom to spice them up.  But then I hear the name "nocturnal butterfly," and talk about the glass being half-full...it makes me look at the moth in a completely different way.  The whole thing reminds me of "Aunt Beast" from A Wrinkle in Time.  Aunt Beast and the rest of her species are very dull and plain in appearance, but they don't need to be anything more, for they are blind and experience an extraordinary reality of their own soley through their senses.  Likewise, the moth doesn't have to be pretty.  It's a butterfly of the night with its own way of perceiving the world. 

But now I'm suddenly thinking that my over-romanticized notions of the moth are going to be really depressing the next time I go on a camping trip and watch one fly straight into the bug zapper.  That's gonna suck.  No one likes their mariposa nocturna well-done.

Today was good.  I had a few strange, melatonin-induced dreams last night, but they weren't terrible, and I actually woke up feeling sort of light and happy.  I'd write more but my tired brain is officially going on strike now.

Broken by Lifehouse--Photo Rendition

I'm too lazy to write about my life right now, plus it's been awhile since I posted a song, so that pretty much adds up to a quick and lazy "music video post."  Although technically the clip below is not a music video.  The official video for this song actually has much better sound quality than this does, but I opted to post this instead because the little artist in me loves the way the producers combined music with expressive photography (although I wish they had opted for a less gaudy intro and concluding credits).  I did have to laugh at the title of this song though, considering that I just posted another song by the same title ("Broken" by Seether) about a month ago.  I wouldn't be surprised if readers thought that I was chronically depressed by now.  I swear I'm a happy person...93.7% of the time, anyway.  At any rate, here is a photographer's rendition of "Broken" by Lifehouse (you may recognize the song from The Time Traveler's Wife).  Blogger doesn't enlarge video clips, so if you want to view it full-screen on You Tube, click here.

         

Indoor Rainbows Strictly Prohibited

Now my friggen' dog is in heat.  As if the first week of school wasn't already an adjustment, now I get to come home to horny animals.  And I'm sure you can imagine the interesting conversations this sparks between myself and my seven year old.  Elijah was playing outside earlier, when he suddenly peeked his head inside the door and said, "Mom, Cricket and Kalzhagi are humping."  After recovering from the initial shock of hearing my son's cute little chipmunk voice say the word "humping" (seriously, where did he pick that up from?), I told him, "Thanks for the update bud, but let's come up with a different way to say that."  We all brainstormed for a minute.  Trinity came up with "making rainbows," and I suggested "playing leapfrog."  We quickly ran out of ideas though, and frankly, I was more than ready to change the subject. 

But then, about ten minutes ago, Elijah let the dogs in the house.  In a matter-of-fact voice he told them, "You two can come in now, but no making rainbows in the house."

I'd write more, but I think I might be on the verge of peeing my pants from laughing so hard, so I better go recover.

Day 2 and Meow

Day two of school DOWN, 179 left to go!  Okay, I'm realizing how incredibly spoiled I am by how few days I actually "work" during the school year...but don't get me started on that tangent, because then I'll start pointing out all of the stuff teachers do outside of the classroom, and it's pretty much an endless rant.

So the first day of school was overwhelming.  Large classes, lost students, schedule mix-ups, etc...just your typical welcome-to-middle-school stuff.  Although this year there was a new added element of fun, because  every student with Mrs. C as their Language Arts teacher had MY room number listed on their schedule, so I had the pleasure of being bombarded with over sixty students every period and having to send half of them to Mrs. C's class.  But overall it was an entertaining day.  I played a fun game of "Get to Know the Teacher Balderdash" with the kids, and both the students' bogus answers combined with my real ones left us in hysterics.  

Today, on the other hand, was much more calm and organized.  I actually got to just teach today, instead of trying to deal with schedule errors and redirecting students to different locations.  It's still a little early to gauge what kind of classes I will have this year, but so far my students seem lively and interested.  Oh, and during the staff meeting this morning, they did a raffle for a great parking spot right at the very front of the school, and I won.  I only get to keep it for a month (then it gets raffled off to another employee), but hey, I'll take it.

When I came home from work today, Trinity's teacher from last year called to tell me that Trinity had scored a 600 (out of 600) on her state math test.  Her teacher wanted to know if it was okay if she took Trin out to lunch on Friday to celebrate.  I am still so shocked by this news!  When did Trin get good at math?  She's been holding out on me.  

The only downfall to an otherwise awesome day is our cat, Meow (try not to marvel at the creativity of her name), is in heat.  But the stupid cat's been in heat off and on for like a month.  I keep waiting for it to go away so we can get her fixed, but every time I think she's done, BAM--a whole new wave of it hits.  I'm not particularly a cat person as it stands, but this heat-thing is driving me nuts.  All of the little noises she makes; the half purrs/half meows; while rubbing against our neutered male cat (or the leg of the coffee table) and trying to solicit him (or the coffee table) for the good stuff--it's just downright awkward.  I swear I feel like I'm witnessing a feline porno.      

I'm tired now, so I'm going to plaster an uncreative title to this entry and go to bed.

Indifference

Last night I found out that my first step-dad died of cancer.  His name was Mark, and he married my mom when I was four.  It makes me sad, because I don't feel sad.  The only thing I feel about his death is indifference.  I'm trying to summon up some emotion...anything...but it's just not happening.  I wasn't even going to write about it because I don't really have anything to say, but I thought it was something I should mention.

Clint did remind me earlier that my Miracle of Faith story (my one and only published article) was inspired by events surrounding my step-dad, so I do have that to thank him for.  Plus he did give Shannon and me a really nice Christmas one year.  But all my other memories of him are sort of unpleasant.  I guess at the minimum, I hope that his family and friends aren't suffering as a result of his death.

And that's about all I can muster up for this topic.  I tried.

Stuff I Can't Talk About

This seems a bit anticlimactic since I already posted this on facebook, but Clint passed his black belt test!  I would have written about this earlier, but I keep hitting a wall every time I try to blog about it.  The promotion ceremony was really really interesting, but I'm not allowed to talk about it.  Only friends and family who attended the event are privy to what goes on during the ceremony.  Likewise, the black belt test itself was insane--like, insanely insane,  but I'm not allowed to share details about that, either.  So you can see my frustration.  I'm essentially writing an entry to talk about all the stuff I can't talk about.  I will say that Clint came back from the test a completely different person.  My previously cynical, pessimistic hubby is more confident, relaxed, and upbeat.  I'm hoping this effect will last for awhile.

Other than all that, this week has been a blur.  I've been in my classroom getting everything ready for the new school year (school starts this Monday), and there is still so much I have to do.  I'm hoping I can finish everything by tomorrow, because I really don't want to lose my Saturday.

Okay, this entry is really boring.  I'm not feeling any motivation to write.  I think I'm feeling a little bit of childish glumness over the fact that summer is already over.