brainxplosion

W O U L D Y O U R A T H E R . . .
1) Pierce your nose or tongue: nose
2) Be serious or be funny: funny
3) Drink whole or skim milk: ugh - neither

A R E Y O U . . .
4) Simple or complicated: probably more complicated, even though sometimes I'm really simple -- no, definitely complicated
5) Flowers or angels: flowers
6) Grey or gray: grey like the earl
7) Color or black-and-white photos: color
8) Sunrise or sunset: sunrise
9) M&Ms or Skittles: skittles
10) Rap or rock: rock
11) Staying up late or waking up early: both (in phases)
12) TV or radio: radio
13) Apples or oranges: apples

A N S W E R T R U T H F U L L Y . . .

14) Do you have a crush: yes
15) Who is it: D.

D O Y O U P R E F E R . .
16) Being hot or cold: cold
17) Tall or short people: just people
18) Sun or moon: sun
19) Emeralds or rubies: rubies
20) Left or right: right
21) Having ten acquaintances or one best friend?: one best friend
22) Sun or rain: both in balance
23) Vanilla ice cream or chocolate ice cream: chocolate

M I S C E L L A N E O U S . . .
24) What are your biggest fears in the world: fear itself
25) Kids or no kids: kids (sigh)
26) Cat or dog: dog
27) Half empty or half full: half full most of the time
28) Mustard or ketchup: mustard, but not often
29) Hardcover books or soft cover books: any books
30) Newspaper or magazine?: magazine and Sunday paper
31) Sandals or sneakers: (rainbow) sandals
32) Wonder or amazement: wonder
33) Red car or white car: red
34) Happy and poor or sad and rich: happy and poor
35) Singing or dancing: both

A B O U T Y O U . . .
36) What time is it: 4 minutes past my bedtime (and counting)
37) Number of siblings: 1
38) Birthdate: December 14
39) Height: 5'3
40) Eye color: blue
41) Hair color: blond
42) Piercing(s): right ear - 1, left ear - 4

W H A T D O Y O U W A N T . . .
44) How many kids do you want: 2+

W H I C H I S B E T T E R . . .
45) Two doors or four (on a car): 4
46) Coffee or ice cream: both together
47) Bridges or tunnels: both freak me out a little

F A V O R I T E S . . .
48) Color of socks: white or argyle
49) Food: this cherry cake my mom makes - a chocolate layer, a vanilla layer, pudding, chocolate on the top, and cherries dropped in - hmmmmmmm
50) Non-alcoholic drink: tea
51) Alcoholic drink: wine

I A M . . .
52) Wearing: jeans, T-Shirt, birthday cardigan, socks
53) Listening to: computer hum and D. puttering about the house

C U R R E N T S. . .
54) Hairstyle: short but in need of a trim
55) Annoyance: the chair I'm sitting in: uncomfortable and no place to rest my feet on
56) Smell: buttermilk baby lotion I use - I smell like freshly baked cookies...
57) Show: TV is off for now, but I just got through watching all 12 episodes of Fawlty Towers which is awesomely funny
58) Book: One Hit Wonder by Lisa Jewel
59) Refreshment: None... "Honey..?"
60) Thought: This is more fun than doing homework!

I really wanted to write a post about how everthing is good becuase I'm feeling better - no more coughing til gagging every night etc.
Today was not a good day though, so I'm afraid this will be sort of whiny. Out the door goes my resolution to be more upbeat on brainxplosion. But you know what? This is my website and when I'm whiny, it's whiny. So there.
I went to a teacher job fair today. It was put on by my university and attendance was a requirement (which is the reason I went).
I sat for 2 hours in 2 different waste-of-time workshops, which was a nice continuum from this Saturday which I spent at a science conference (you guessed it - a requirement).
The job fair was lame because:
* Schools do not hire mid-year, and if they are forced to, they hire one of their subs.
* I don't know where I will be living come January - D. is interviewing for a job which would require us to move (for the second time in 6 months).
* The districts I am actually interested in were not in attendance.
* My brand-new on sale extremely cute skirt suit was so scratchy that I really just wanted to rip my clothes off and sit on an oversized ice cube (If you don't understand this you have clearly never worn a scratchy skirt for 5 hours).
The science fair was lame because:
* None of the rooms were appropriate for the workshops that were held in them (too small, wrong # of seats, tables not suited for activity...).
* Programs were still at the printers when I showed up 30 minutes after the official starting time.
* The keynote speaker's talk was written for Geology MAs, not for proud-of-my-B-in-Geo and please put-the-fossil-record-where-the-sun-don't-shine me. (I learned a valuable lesson: NEVER SIT IN THE FIRST ROW IF YOU THINK YOU MIGHT WANT TO LEAVE EARLY.)
* You stole my Saturday, and now I don't have clean clothes to wear (Saturday = laundry day).

Sonja is lame because:
* She can't get over it.

Coghing is a great abs workout.

I was flipping through channels and happened upon this. As they say, laughter is the best medicine.

In unrelated news: I forgot for the second time in two days to take my medicine in the morning while I was convinced I took it. I should read the pharmacy printout to see if one of the side effects has to do with memory problems.

This whole sick thing is getting old. I'm sitting on the couch a lot, and there are only so many hours you can spend watching stupid people lie to TV judges.*

For lack of the energy to do anything, I started introspecting. Yes, that could have been good news, but it's not. I discovered a gap between my life and my personality. Or maybe between my life and the life I wanted. Currently, my life is insane. When Mom said I needed to stop burning the candle from both ends, she was right. These days, my mail goes unopened until the weekend arrives, my emails stay unanswered, my craft projects get put aside "for later." It's just not fair. I want to express myself. I want to be spontaneous. I want to cook and bake. I want to paint the bathroom. I want to have order in my house. I want to have time for my husband. I don't want to laugh at people when they ask me when we could hang out together (before Christmas - can you believe the nerve???).

Now, I understand that I'm doing my student teaching right now, and that it's crazy-busy for everybody. I understand that choosing to live over 40 miles away from school is not making my life easier right now.
The good thing is that this is temporary. TEMPORARY. Yes!
The gap in my life widens when I think about what's next. And quite frankly, I don't think this stress will ever let up. Ever.
Hope, anyone?


*I have no cable and get only two channels. Three on a good day. LOOOOOOTS of Judge Judy.

In case you hadn't noticed, I changed my template. I lost my links and my stat counter and my little Harry Potter badge, but here it is: All shiny and new, as Madonna would say.

I was going to post about how I'm feeling better, but I don't feel like it just now. Suffice it to say that I'm starting to get my strength back after almost 3 days entirely spent laying in bed or on the couch, and that I sstarted taking Amoxicillin because my dear little throat is still very sore.

With luck, I'll be back at school on Tuesday. Or Wednesday maybe. We shall see.

I quickly want to share something nifty: Blogger makes me grin. When I post a comment, it says "Choose your identity." It makes me feel like an undercover superhero. Which really, every teacher is.
Just the costumes are not so great.

The kid-germs have gotten to me. On Wednesday night, I was out with a bunch of friends who are also student teaching. We went bowling and eating - veeeeery nice. When I got home, my throat felt sorta sore, but I blamed it on the, ehem, liveliness of the evening (not that I was shouting or anything). I woke up in the middle of the night and the throat was still sore. Which made me grumpy. And then it made me get out of bed to drink an Airborne - just about the best thing ever, so: buy it, internet people! Alas, it was to late for me. On Thursday, I went to school full of energy, with a good attitude, and with my scratchy throat. Thrusday night, I barely made it home I was so miserable. At some point I noticed that my face hurt and I started to realize that it hurst because I was forcefully keeping my mouth shut because swallowing hurt so much. This morning, I barely even woke up!

Here's a conversation with student #6 (they all have numbers which really helps with classroom management blahblahblah - since I can't very well tell you her name, she will be #6):
Mrs. European: Hi #6! I'm glad you're back. Are you feeling better?
#6: Yeah (sniff). I'm fine, really (cough, cough). My mom says I had the croup last night.
Mrs. European: Well, I'm glad you're feeling better.

NOTE TO PARENTS: I KNOW IT STINKS FOR YOUR KID TO MISS SCHOOL BUT WOULD YOU GET A FREAKING GRIP AND KEEP YOUR GERM-COUGHER AT HOME??? YOU JUST INFECTED THE SECOND-MOST IMPORTANT PERSON IN THE CLASS, DIMWIT!

I'm sad. It comes with being sick. I'm also angry, because my doctor, who I've been going to for a good five years, is leaving the office at 2 today. Maybe he could squeeze me in on Monday.
Ehem. I will be dead on Monday, I believe. So I found a new doctor.


Please note that I have a fever and can therefore not be held accountable for anything I just wrote. Check out my sick picture on Flickr.

I have written oodles of posts over the last few days -- in my mind, that is. Now I have computer trouble to top off the general lack of time problems, and so I decided to make a list.

* Over the last two days, I have reformatted the hard drive on my PC 4 times. This is a long story and not at all pleasant, so I'll leave it at that. Denial works for me.

* This Saturday, I was at The Gap, and they played a Christmas song. On November the fifth - FIFTH! All that adrenaline helped me do some serious shopping that has put me in possession of The Cutest Ever Red Shoes. And The Beautifullest Purse That Is A Graduation Gift. I will post pictures soon (when the computer cooperates).

* My digital camera has finally arrived which means that the website I bought it from (for over $150 less than retail) was NOT a scam. Yessssss! Picture that!

* Today, I saw kids working on math pages without names on them, so I said "I sense a disturbance in the force. There are some math papers in this room without names on them." I thought I was pretty funny, but 6-year olds don't get that kind of humor. Then one of the kids said "How did you know that?" Cracked me up! He hasn't learned what all my friends know: Never take Mrs. European entirely serious.

* I was vacuuming last week, when suddenly the vacuum made this whincing sound and then started to smoke. Now I have to buy a new one. SUGGESTIONS PLEASE! Is the never-looses-suction Dyson worth it?

* I wonder about stuff. Like, why do first-graders run everywhere, but when they walk in line as a class the line gets longer and longer because they walk slower and slower? And why can they not just walk right behind the person in front of them? Why do they have to walk loopy circles all over the place? Why do they giggle and nod when I role-play how to walk in line (and how not to walk in line) and then NOT DO IT FOR THE LOVE OF PEACE?
Just wondering.