Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Newest Obsession

I'm fortunate in that I have only a mildly addictive personality - I obsess briefly over something, then move on. This grand new invention called the Internet has offered me the chance for many an obsession. I have spent countless hours playing minesweeper, solitaire, Zuma, RollerCoaster Tycoon, and Tetras - though its been years since I've played any. I have 242 movies in my Netflix queue despite not having added any since the new year. I religiously downloaded my new music every Tuesday for several months as I'd scan and rearrange my itunes. Cruised eBay, amazon.com, and shopforchange for bargains I couldn't afford. And still enter every book I read into my Goodreads account (I believe I'm at 64 since New Years 2008).

My newest check-three-times-a-day site is Facebook. I've been hearing about it for a few years - actually even opened up an account sometime last summer - but never really saw the attraction. Then I started getting invites from friends I hadn't heard from in years, finding out what they're up to, and can't leave it alone.

I think I need to figure out a way to become obsessed with eating carrots and jogging.

Sunday, March 22, 2009

Overlookmen

Holy moly - I have heard, from various sources, that Watchmen is a fantastic graphic novel, and it may very well be. But the movie - yowza bad.

And LLLOOONNNGGGG.

And disjointed.

And violent.

And set up for a sequel - unbelievable!

Please, save yourself the dollars 8 and the hours three and don't go - no matter who tells you what a fab book it is.

I may sound like a masochist, but now I totally need to read it - did they butcher the book, or is everyone I've talked to about it is just crazy?

Wow - I cannot tell you enough not to see this.

So - see any good movies lately?

Saturday, March 14, 2009

Kids

When I first began teaching, I began my Master's program in School Counseling. Most people think I'm fairly level-headed and a pretty good listener, and though I was REALLY struggling in my classroom, I knew my future included working with kids. I stayed in the program for a few semesters, but, after some time getting to know my kids, realized this was not a career I wanted.

As an ELA teacher, I'm privy to lots of info that other teachers may not get about their kids thanks to the power of writing. This is wonderful in terms of relationship building, but clues me in to some of the more awful parts of a kid's life as well. I figured that currently I know more than I want to about the bad things that go on in the world, if I became a counselor, the world as I know it would get darker. No thanks.

Another example of the wiseness of my decision to pursue an MA in English Ed occurred this past week. Several of my students are in foster homes, some with more success than others. On Thursday, the office called one of my students out of her 4th hour class to release her into the custody of two strangers - effective immediately. Her foster family decided they didn't want her any more, and within a half hour of discovering that, the girl was on her way to a detention center in Detroit - not even allowed to say goodbye to her teachers or friends. So not cool - and we wonder why some kids are screwed up.

So, while this has reaffirmed my career choice, it's also reaffirmed my intentions to become a foster parent when my kids are grown. I like to think some good has come out of this.

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Bowling for ?

My friends, Sue and Lori, and I decided that we become way too hermit-like in these dark winter months, so last fall, we joined a bowling league to force us out of the house one night a week. The idea was to see each other regularly, and to perhaps meet some new people along the way. Sounds brilliant right. Well, it turns out that maybe not so much. It's not that we don't have a nice time, but really all any of us want to be doing from 7-9:30 on a Tuesday night is cuddling up on the couch with our dogs watching Two and a Half Men reruns. So, needless to say, we are anxiously awaiting the end of the season.

Maybe next year we'll try darts.

Speaking of cuddling with my dog - I'm guessing most of you don't know I have one (don't you love how I assume enough people are actually reading this to allow for a most of you!! Call me Pollyanna:). Jasper (named after a semi-famous vampire) is suppossed to be Ally's ridiculously cute birthday present dog, and he is all that. Except he thinks he's my dog. But - here's a couple pictures just so you can fall in love (and see my cute kids too:).


Sunday, March 8, 2009

Noon-thirty already!?

As my devoted readers (which number many:) may have noticed, posting here has taken too much energy of late, but when my friend Kevin exclaimed that my blog sucked (which I am choosing to believe is in reference to quantity, not quality) I decided it was time to shake off the funk and get back to the business of becoming a writer.

The end results of Daylight Savings Time are, for me, wonderful. I love the light - crave the light - am looking forward to actual spring, then summer, with gleeful anticipation. But, this day with only 23 short hours in it about kicks my butt. In fact, it has been a long bleak winter for me.

Despite appearances, I am not much a doer of drugs, but two pharmaceuticals these past several months have persuaded me that a daily drug habit can be a good thing.

Late fall - perhaps with the end of Daylight Savings Time as the signal - my mood began spiraling downward to the point that I finally relented and asked my doc for some help. I'm thinking this turned out to be a good thing - no more crying jags on my way to work, and I've actually been managing to get out of bed at a reasonable hour. Doc recommends staying on them pretty much except when the summer is here - I'm beginning to agree.

Then, in early February, we finally put Carlos on ADHD meds. I wasn't so sure about that, and I'm not sure his dad or his teacher were totally gung-ho either. Carlos was a fab little dude with a ton of energy - was there really anything to be fixed? Apparently so. One month and 26 magic little pills later I can't imagine it took us so long to do this. He is still a fab little dude with plenty of energy, but he can now focus that energy on specific tasks. The amount of progress he's made with his speech, writing, and other fine motor skills is tremendous. Seriously.

So Kevin - let me know if I stop sucking:)