1. Because I know some people will be wondering...if you read that last post, it wasn't about you. The reason it was safe to write is because the person who needs to hear it doesn't come here. So don't worry.
2. I am trying to win a copy of Wii Fit in an internet contest. I currently have a 4 in 5100 chance of winning. And those odds are dropping like stones. Wish me luck!
Monday, June 30, 2008
No, I don't want to talk about it. Thanks anyway.
I have never been arrested.
I have never flunked a class.
I have never gotten kicked out of an apartment.
I have never driven drunk.
I have never stolen anything.
I have never committed a violent act against another person.
I have never squandered large amounts of money.
I have never asked for anything.
I have never failed to be there when you needed me.
Perhaps if I had done a couple of these things, it would be a little harder to forget about me. A little harder to convince yourself that I can take care of myself. Or at the very least a little harder to put me dead last behind every other single thing you include in your oh-so-busy life.
It's not the lack of support that hurts because I really can take care of myself. It's the complete and utter lack of understanding you have for how little you have really done for me. It's the fact that you don't see the imbalance. And the fact that I will never, ever point it out to you.
- - - - - - - - - - -
Okay. Enough of that. I have had my pity party and I am moving on. I don't plan on letting this particular demon out to play again for some time. I apologize to anyone who happened to see this pathetic bit of self-absorbed whining. I now return you to your regularly scheduled programming.
I have never flunked a class.
I have never gotten kicked out of an apartment.
I have never driven drunk.
I have never stolen anything.
I have never committed a violent act against another person.
I have never squandered large amounts of money.
I have never asked for anything.
I have never failed to be there when you needed me.
Perhaps if I had done a couple of these things, it would be a little harder to forget about me. A little harder to convince yourself that I can take care of myself. Or at the very least a little harder to put me dead last behind every other single thing you include in your oh-so-busy life.
It's not the lack of support that hurts because I really can take care of myself. It's the complete and utter lack of understanding you have for how little you have really done for me. It's the fact that you don't see the imbalance. And the fact that I will never, ever point it out to you.
- - - - - - - - - - -
Okay. Enough of that. I have had my pity party and I am moving on. I don't plan on letting this particular demon out to play again for some time. I apologize to anyone who happened to see this pathetic bit of self-absorbed whining. I now return you to your regularly scheduled programming.
Pissed Off
You know when you are so angry that you can hardly breathe through the pressure in your chest? That anger that fills your emotions and makes you unable to think about anything else? That rage that you can't find enough vile words to express? That bitterness that grabs onto every slight and insult, every injustice you have ever experienced and feeds on it, growing exponentially until you are pretty sure that everything has always been this horrible, if not a little worse?
Yeah.
Being that angry sucks.
Yeah.
Being that angry sucks.
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Dinner and a Movie
Tonight, we watched a Japanese horror film called "One Missed Call". Even though I was watching carefully, and even though it was fairly well dubbed in English, I have NO IDEA what happened in this movie. People were getting phone calls from themselves time stamped about 2 days in the future. They would then die some kind of horrible death at the time the call was made. The main character (Yumi) and her kinda-boyfriend (Yamashita) spend some of their time trying to save her doomed roommate and the rest investigating the asthma death of a young girl. They suspected that the girl had been abused by her mother. More people die horrible, gruesome deaths. Then the last third of the movie is spent trying out one ending after another. It's like the director kept thinking up "one more thing!" The final plot has more twists and turns than Lombard Street. (Thanks, Mikey, for that reference.) I won't say that I hated it - there were some truly creepy scenes (if you like that kind of thing) - but it left me feeling a bit lost.
Mid-movie we stopped to make an ambitious meal - eggrolls! They are SO yummy, but they take FOREVER to make. Ours were filled with cabbage, carrots, glass noodles, and Hoisin marinated tofu. Sauteing, boiling, frying, and that's all before you even get to the wrapping and deep frying. We sure enjoyed them after all that work. Mikey made his special sweet and sour sauce, and we even had a couple of apple-cinnamon filled eggrolls for dessert.
To finish out the evening, we watched an anime show called "Rurouni Kenshin, wandering samurai" about a swordsman who has chosen a new, non-violent path. Unfortunately, it seems as though every swordsman in the area wants to use him to prove their own strength. It actually reminds me a lot of another anime show called "Trigun", except in that story it is an expert gunfighter who has repented his violent past.
Mid-movie we stopped to make an ambitious meal - eggrolls! They are SO yummy, but they take FOREVER to make. Ours were filled with cabbage, carrots, glass noodles, and Hoisin marinated tofu. Sauteing, boiling, frying, and that's all before you even get to the wrapping and deep frying. We sure enjoyed them after all that work. Mikey made his special sweet and sour sauce, and we even had a couple of apple-cinnamon filled eggrolls for dessert.
To finish out the evening, we watched an anime show called "Rurouni Kenshin, wandering samurai" about a swordsman who has chosen a new, non-violent path. Unfortunately, it seems as though every swordsman in the area wants to use him to prove their own strength. It actually reminds me a lot of another anime show called "Trigun", except in that story it is an expert gunfighter who has repented his violent past.
Design Problem
Mikey and I have been trying to exercise for the last couple of days. Our favorite form of exercise is Dance, Dance Revolution, the Playstation game that you play with your feet. I have discovered (or rather re-discovered) a major design flaw.
No, not in the game. In me.
You see, when I start to exercise, I use muscles that I don't usually use. This is a good thing. Except that those muscles tend to protest this new abuse, causing me to ache and walk funny and leave things on the floor because it's too painful to pick them up. This means that the next day it is that much harder to motivate myself to exercise. Because it HURTS.
That is just foolish design. If I didn't hurt so much (and lest you think I actually did damage to myself - I'm a big baby and I'm talking about the normal aches and pains you get when you stop lying on the couch all day long - I am actually just fine), I wouldn't have to work so hard to convince myself that exercise is a good idea. And I wouldn't be so quick to give it up. And I wouldn't feel so guilty. And I wouldn't have to gorge myself on french fries and bad television to make myself feel better. And I wouldn't be so fat and lazy.
This is all a design flaw and has nothing to do with my inability to exert any kind of self-control over myself. So. Who do I sue?
No, not in the game. In me.
You see, when I start to exercise, I use muscles that I don't usually use. This is a good thing. Except that those muscles tend to protest this new abuse, causing me to ache and walk funny and leave things on the floor because it's too painful to pick them up. This means that the next day it is that much harder to motivate myself to exercise. Because it HURTS.
That is just foolish design. If I didn't hurt so much (and lest you think I actually did damage to myself - I'm a big baby and I'm talking about the normal aches and pains you get when you stop lying on the couch all day long - I am actually just fine), I wouldn't have to work so hard to convince myself that exercise is a good idea. And I wouldn't be so quick to give it up. And I wouldn't feel so guilty. And I wouldn't have to gorge myself on french fries and bad television to make myself feel better. And I wouldn't be so fat and lazy.
This is all a design flaw and has nothing to do with my inability to exert any kind of self-control over myself. So. Who do I sue?
Friday, June 27, 2008
Summer Vacation News
I have been on my summer break since June 15th. I'm managing to keep my self busy. Or at the very least occupied. :)
Bri-Bri!
Mikey's childhood buddy, Brian, came to visit for a few days. We greatly enjoyed exposing him to our Anza lifestyle, including profanity laden comedic television, a variety of video games, and breakfast at the local hick diner. We also saw the WORST M. Night movie to date (The Happening - don't see it 'cause it's not), ate overpriced Round Table pizza (these Poway boys seem to be addicted to the stuff), and generally stayed up way too late hangin' out. It was tons of fun, and our pal Bri is welcome here any time.
It's What I Do
I was going to use this title to talk about my summer tutoring but it's really more accurate to use it to talk about what I've been reading. In the last 2 weeks I have plowed through 4 or 5 books from the In Death series by J.D. Robb (aka Nora Roberts), sadly leaving me no more until the publish the next title in paperback. In the meantime, I am reading a textbook for my masters class called Models of Teaching, a young adult novel by Cory Doctorow called Little Brother, and the true story of the guy who started several schools for girls in the mountains in Afghanistan called Three Cups of Tea. I'm also popping in and out of a book about families that have adopted stray dogs called Second Chances.
The Other Thing I Do
I am currently responsible for covering our Tuesday (9:00-12:30, 2:45-6:15) and Wednesday (10:15-12:30, 2:45-5:00) hours at Escuela del Sol. My youngest student is going into 1st grade and my oldest ones are going into 8th grade. All of my students are focusing on either math or language arts (summer is when the students get back to the basics in an effort to avoid retention), and every one of them is a pleasure to work with. I managed to accomplish quite a bit of paperwork and organization in between students, as well.
Actual Work
The only thing I am doing that feels like actual work these days is trying to make progress on my masters program. The book I am reading isn't so bad, but the questions I am responsible for answering are uber-stupid. I don't like writing essays anyway, and feeling that what I am writing is useless and brainless makes it even harder. I have no choice but to power through as much as possible this summer, though. There is no time during the school year.
Ch-ch-ch-changes.
Thanks to Netflix's oh-so-helpful removal of that pesky multi-queue option and their dedicated interest in the needs and desires of their customers (watch out...don't get any of that dripping sarcasm on you!) we have decided to move our video rental loyalties over to Blockbuster. I am not thrilled with the idea of supporting a chain like Blockbuster, but it prefer that to supporting those arrogant bastards over at NetFlix.
Big Money
Now that summer is here and I'm not so dependent on my vehicle, I found the time to take it in for the numerous repairs that have been piling up. There is a VW dealer that is fairly close to Temecula, but I refuse to let them touch my pretty Jetta since the last time, when they caused more harm than good. This means that I have to go all the way to Escondido to the second closest dealer when I need major work done. This time I got to pay for...
- a new front bumper
- reattachment of driver side door handle
- 1 headlamp and 1 taillight
- a sun roof control
- a temp gauge
- repair of the central arm rest
- a timing belt
- a water pump and various related parts
- other bits and pieces from the engine
- 90,000 maintenance
- the labor and time that went into all these repairs
I'm quite pleased with the work they did. I even got a 10% discount on the labor and a free inside/outside wash due to the magnitude of my bill. I sure hope we don't need to do that again any time soon, though.
Yum Yums
On the brighter side, we got to have a lunch at one of our new favorite places, the Stone Brewery. Although we aren't huge fans of beer, we are huge fans of the 100% organic, mostly vegetarian menu. Mikey got a delicious tofu stir-fry, and I got a rich and creamy wild mushroom pasta. Yum!
Bri-Bri!
Mikey's childhood buddy, Brian, came to visit for a few days. We greatly enjoyed exposing him to our Anza lifestyle, including profanity laden comedic television, a variety of video games, and breakfast at the local hick diner. We also saw the WORST M. Night movie to date (The Happening - don't see it 'cause it's not), ate overpriced Round Table pizza (these Poway boys seem to be addicted to the stuff), and generally stayed up way too late hangin' out. It was tons of fun, and our pal Bri is welcome here any time.
It's What I Do
I was going to use this title to talk about my summer tutoring but it's really more accurate to use it to talk about what I've been reading. In the last 2 weeks I have plowed through 4 or 5 books from the In Death series by J.D. Robb (aka Nora Roberts), sadly leaving me no more until the publish the next title in paperback. In the meantime, I am reading a textbook for my masters class called Models of Teaching, a young adult novel by Cory Doctorow called Little Brother, and the true story of the guy who started several schools for girls in the mountains in Afghanistan called Three Cups of Tea. I'm also popping in and out of a book about families that have adopted stray dogs called Second Chances.
The Other Thing I Do
I am currently responsible for covering our Tuesday (9:00-12:30, 2:45-6:15) and Wednesday (10:15-12:30, 2:45-5:00) hours at Escuela del Sol. My youngest student is going into 1st grade and my oldest ones are going into 8th grade. All of my students are focusing on either math or language arts (summer is when the students get back to the basics in an effort to avoid retention), and every one of them is a pleasure to work with. I managed to accomplish quite a bit of paperwork and organization in between students, as well.
Actual Work
The only thing I am doing that feels like actual work these days is trying to make progress on my masters program. The book I am reading isn't so bad, but the questions I am responsible for answering are uber-stupid. I don't like writing essays anyway, and feeling that what I am writing is useless and brainless makes it even harder. I have no choice but to power through as much as possible this summer, though. There is no time during the school year.
Ch-ch-ch-changes.
Thanks to Netflix's oh-so-helpful removal of that pesky multi-queue option and their dedicated interest in the needs and desires of their customers (watch out...don't get any of that dripping sarcasm on you!) we have decided to move our video rental loyalties over to Blockbuster. I am not thrilled with the idea of supporting a chain like Blockbuster, but it prefer that to supporting those arrogant bastards over at NetFlix.
Big Money
Now that summer is here and I'm not so dependent on my vehicle, I found the time to take it in for the numerous repairs that have been piling up. There is a VW dealer that is fairly close to Temecula, but I refuse to let them touch my pretty Jetta since the last time, when they caused more harm than good. This means that I have to go all the way to Escondido to the second closest dealer when I need major work done. This time I got to pay for...
- a new front bumper
- reattachment of driver side door handle
- 1 headlamp and 1 taillight
- a sun roof control
- a temp gauge
- repair of the central arm rest
- a timing belt
- a water pump and various related parts
- other bits and pieces from the engine
- 90,000 maintenance
- the labor and time that went into all these repairs
I'm quite pleased with the work they did. I even got a 10% discount on the labor and a free inside/outside wash due to the magnitude of my bill. I sure hope we don't need to do that again any time soon, though.
Yum Yums
On the brighter side, we got to have a lunch at one of our new favorite places, the Stone Brewery. Although we aren't huge fans of beer, we are huge fans of the 100% organic, mostly vegetarian menu. Mikey got a delicious tofu stir-fry, and I got a rich and creamy wild mushroom pasta. Yum!
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