New Story

Every so often, morbid inspiration strikes me. Did yesterday. New story here.

Election Blues

I have studiously avoided all network television for months, in part so I don't have to watch campaign ads. I've hung up politely on all the people who've been calling to solicit money or votes for various causes or candidates. I've restrained myself from pulling over and shaking the "Yes on Prop 8" ladies who have been stationing themselves near Target. I have placed in the recycling bin all 9--count 'em, 9--separate fliers our household received in the mail today trying to tell us what, or whom to vote for.

ENOUGH ALREADY!!

Hubby and I have already mailed in our ballots. Now everyone else needs to get off their butts and vote, and then the campaign people can LEAVE US THE HELL ALONE!!

I feel better now.

Happy Birthday Ruthie!

Thing 1 isn't the only October birthday girl around here--Ruthie turned 10 on Friday! I tried to get a pic of her, but she was more interested in sitting on my feet. Thus, this crappy portrait:

You'll have to take my word for it that she looks very pretty, having been groomed on Monday. Ten is a pretty ripe old age for a Saint, but, other than arthritis in one hind leg, she's doing well. And, happily, Ruthie did not request a slumber party for her birthday (although she sure did enjoy Thing 1's).

I'm finding it hard to believe it's nearly Halloween. It's been in the mid 80's, so the kids are still running around in shorts, and we had dinner tonight on the back patio. Not that I'm complaining. One year when we lived in Nebraska, the mayor of Lincoln cancelled Halloween because there was a blizzard!

I spent the day grading mid-terms. You have no idea how many wrong ways there are to spell catharsis.

Disnification

We had a good time at Disneyland. October's a great time to visit--lines were short and the weather was perfect. And they redo the Haunted Mansion in a whole Nightmare before Christmas theme which is pretty cool. We rode all our favorite rides. I like Tower of Terror best, personally. I also enjoyed people watching. I love how Disney turns everyone--young, old, tough guys, hipsters, cool dudes...just everyone--into goofy Disneyfied people. I say heavily tattooed, muscle-bound guys in Mickey ears. My favorite was the one totally gangster-looking man who was patiently waiting for his wife and kids outside Space Mountain, sporting his daughter's pink, flowered backpack. We made good time on the road, too, and arrived back home at 1am today. Today it was back to the real Mickey Mouse world of work.

Here are the Things and me with some villians. I always like the villians best.

Oh, and the remarkably observant among you might notice that I'm now sort of a redhead. I asked my hairdresser to do something different.

I finished something!

Look!! An actual FO!

If you can't tell from the pic, this is a funky wall pocket thingy. I quite like it. And here's a secret. See those oh-so-artistic-looking cracks? Those weren't intentional. Apparently this batch of clay tended to crack a lot in the kiln for some reason. But that's okay, because I think the thingy actually looks better with the cracks than without. Serendipity, I guess.

We're off to Disneyland in the morning. It's a little over 300 miles from here. We're hoping that this time of year the lines will be short.

We survived!

Thing 1 turned 9 on Friday and celebrated with a slumber party last night. She had 5 guests, but only 3 actually spent the night. Which is good, because the small group we did have made plenty of noise and stayed up till nearly 4 am. They had fun.

But I need to rant about parents. Several didn't RSVP at all. One kid's parents (whom we've never met before) not only failed to RSVP, but showed up to drop the kid off 2 hours early yesterday, and then picked her up nearly 2 hours late today. The girl actually is very sweet and I like her a lot (when Thing 2 was crying about having to go to bed and "miss all the fun," this girl read her a bedtime story). But what are these parents thinking??

Next weekend we're off to Disneyland, which was our present to T1.

Thanks for the feedback on my Poland trip. I'm excited about it! Knatolee, there is no excuse for my having never visited The Great White North. We're considering a drive up the west coast to BC (with stops in Portland and Seattle) as our major family vacation next year, though. Although certain members of the family have been lobbying heavily for Hawaii instead.

I mentioned a couple weeks ago that I've started watching True Blood on HBO. I'm still really enjoying it. And it has what I personally think is the best ever opening credits sequence. Perfect music, even.

Poland

I just bought my tickets to Warsaw. This follows several days of agonizing, because there actually aren't many convenient ways to get from San Francisco to Warsaw. I wanted to avoid any plane changes in the US, because the weather in January in places like Detroit and Chicago and Newark can be iffy, and if I'm going to get stuck somewhere due to a storm, I'd prefer for it to be a tad more exotic than Newark. On top of that, the flight costs have been swinging up and down by as much as $200/day, so deciding when to buy is like playing the stock market.

So...I'm flying via British Airways, which means connections at Heathrow. I don't get to spend any extra time in Europe because Hubby needs me back here, but I do end up with one night in London, probably somewhere thrilling like the Heathrow Sheraton. I'd hoped for Paris, where I've never been outside the airport, but c'est la vie. On the plus side, BA lets you choose from a long list of interesting titles to call yourself, so if you've ever fancied yourself a viscountess or marquise, this would be your chance to declare it.

You know, my trip to Poland will mean that I've made a pretty decent circuit of central and eastern Europe, but I've never been to Canada, and my one trip to Mexico consisted of a few hours in Tijuana when I was 3. Strange.

Yesterday I got an issue in the mail of Verena Knitting, "Europe's top knit magazine." I dunno why. I subscribe to a few US knit magazines, and I assume that has something to do with it. I'm never one to look a gift magazine in the mouth, anyway.

More bragging

In my last post, I bragged on T1 and my students. Here's two more brags.

Today the director of T2's school mentioned that T2 is reading at a 3rd grade level. She's two months into kindergarten. The advanced reading is currently just great, because she's at a Montessori school, where kids sorta go at their own speeds. But it should be interesting next Fall, when T2 attends public 1st grade. I hope her teacher can keep her gainfully occupied, because a bored T2 is a dangerous T2.

Last night, I sent Hubby to the store with the Things to get two items: shoelaces for T2, and ginger ale for me, because that's what I like to drink when I'm sick. He came home with shoelaces, ice cream, cookies, potato chips, and a mop. No ginger ale. So then--without my making a fuss or asking him to do so--he went back to the store and got ginger ale (and Reese's Pieces for him, but nobody's perfect).

Wednesday

T1 did very well in the spelling bee; only about 6 kids remained after her. And considering that she was up against 5th and 6th graders, that's really good. She bombed out on indebted. I took her out for ice cream after.

Still have that stupid cold. Yesterday a student emailed to ask for an exam grade, which I couldn't give her because I was at home and the grades were at work. Look at this sweet message she sent back:

YES! I know how you feel. Hope you feel much better. Remember home is just one
call away. You should stay home for a while and visit your family. Get well soon.
See you on Thursday. :)

At least she and the other students in my Intro class will be pleased tomorrow when they get their tests back. They kicked butt. Average was 85, and two students got perfect scores. Yay! I've taught them something!

One thing I hate about parenting is the amount of pimping for fundraisers you get stuck doing. A few weeks ago T1 was selling wrapping paper for her school. Now T2 is selling frozen cookie dough for her school, while T1 is selling magazines, candy, and nuts for Girl Scouts. And we're still nowhere near Girl Scout cookie time yet. Anyone need magazine subscriptions? Sich.

Tuesday

I have a cold. And I always feel sorry for myself when I have a cold, but this time even more so, because it's been hot out (we were near 100 for a few days), but Hubby insists we not run the AC because it's the end of September and we shouldn't need AC at the end of September. And I'm too sick too argue, so I've been sick and hot. Blah!!

In other news, Hubby and I have been watching Six Feet Under on DVD. I missed this series when it was originally on, and it's fantastic. We're in season 2 now. We're also actually following 2 current series, which I haven't done since the writers' strike. One of them is Dexter, which just started Season 3 on Showtime. I don't normally watch cop shows, but this one's too good to miss. And now we're hooked on True Blood, which debuted a couple weeks ago on HBO. True Blood is about vampires in Louisiana. It's based on the Sookie Stackhouse novels by Charlene Harris. Those novels are great fun, so when I heard about the series, and heard it's produced by the same guy who did Six Feet Under, I subscribed to HBO. And so far, the tv series has been way fun, too. And if you notice a certain theme to my favorite tv shows, what can I say? I have a macabre sense of humor. It's one of my eccentricities. :-)

Thing 1 is participating in a school spelling bee tomorrow. They gave out the list of words ahead of time, so she's been preparing. There are several hundred words and most of them are really hard for a 4th grader (reconnaissance, rheumatism, and antimacassar are a few). I know I can't spell some of them correctly. But T1 is a good speller and she's been working hard. She won't win--she'll be competing with 5th and 6th graders as well--but I'm sure she'll do great.

Okay, I'm back to my Kleenex now.

Eccentric

This morning, one of my students was complaining that another one of her professors is pretty strange. Actually, he is. But being a professional, I just told her that a lot of academics are eccentric. Her response? "No, professor. You're eccentric. He's crazy." I've decided to take it as a compliment.

Tuesday Miscellany

A few comments today:

• Am considering buying another pair of Docs. These. Can't make up my mind. Input?
• Shout gel will do a reasonable, if not complete, job of removing black magic marker from beige/tan microsuede upholstery. Ask Thing 2 how I know this.
• I'm going to go to Warsaw in January (yes, I am slightly insane), and I've begun pricing plane tickets. There are no direct flights from San Francisco to Poland, and, since I have to connect somewhere anyway, I figure maybe I can swing an extra couple days in the connecting city. Right now London's looking like a good bet, but I've been there a couple times already. So maybe Paris. If any of you have been to Paris, I'd surely appreciate tips. Is it worth it for, say, 2 days? What should I see in that short time frame? Where should I stay?
• Thing 1's 9th birthday is next month and--shhh!! Don't tell her!--we're going to take her to Disneyland. Plus she wants a slumber party.
• On Sunday we hired an actual babysitter and went to see a movie without Things. We saw Dark Knight, and both really enjoyed it. Lots of stuff blows up. So nice to have occasional grownup time.

I wouldn't have done it....

I've completed a draft of the story I wrote in response to last week's contest. You can read it over on LiveJournal. I hope you like it, and I would prostrate myself in thanks for feedback. :-)

Thursday

I made a tiny bit of progress on that story today. I'm only getting in about 2 words at a time, before those pesky work-related interruptions interfere.

Today one of the students in my Intro class, which is 90 minutes long, came up to me after class. "Wow! Time went by really fast today!" he said. Which was nice. Always glad to know I'm not boring them all to death.

Yesterday evening when it was time for Thing 2 to go to bed, I told her to get her jammies on while I put some things away in my bedroom. When I went to find her a few minutes later, she was in her bathroom. She was stark naked, standing in her sink, bent over double and looking between her legs toward the mirror behind her. "I'm looking to see if my butt is sandy," she explained. Ooookaaay.

My students have been noticing my tattoo. They're impressed. Yesterday I had a whole tattoo-related conversation with one student who got a tat this summer on his forearm. It's his mother's name and dates of birth and death, in Aramaic. Which is sweet, but as a parent, I'm not sure I'd want my offspring to memorialize me by inking their arms.

Happy today

I am happy today.

I learned this weekend that there's a new Thai restaurant in town. Our previous only Thai place, which was really good, closed several years ago when, in the process of "redeveloping" downtown, they tore it up so much that for months it was pretty much impossible to get anywhere the businesses there. Looks pretty now, I guess, but no Thai has made me very sad. So I checked out the new place today for lunch, and it was quite good. Mmmm.

It was cool enough this morning that I could wear my new Docs without risking baking my lower extremities. I'll have to wear them with thicker socks next time, because they rub a bit in the heel, but they're otherwise comfy. I've had a request for a pic of me with boots, so here you go:

I think blue hair would've completed the look nicely, but the dye's washed out. ;-)

Fall Knitty's up.

And tonight is ceramics class.

See, doesn't take much to please me.

Future Noise

Oh, no.
Look what we're in for now:

Could be worse, I guess. At least it's acoustic and not electric.

Really, the main worry I have is what kind of music she'll want to play on the thing. Kids seem to want music that annoys their parents, and, considering that this Thing's parents have been listening to The Sex Pistols and Tool, respectively, what's she going to choose? Shudder.

On another note, I've actually written the first couple paragraphs of the "I wouldn't have done it" story. Now I know exactly what I wouldn't have done. Once I get the story poured out of my brain and into the computer, you'll know, too. [chuckles evilly]

And the winner is...

"I wouldn't have done it under normal circumstances."

Thanks for voting, folks! As soon as I get something written, I'll post it. I'm anxious myself to find out what happens. :-)

Wednesday

Thanks for the votes so far--only 3 more days to get your vote in. And I promise, no Alaskan governors will be involved.

The semester has begun, so this was my third consecutive weekday of solid meetings. I think that, in general, meetings could be reduced by 90%, and the world would continue to function just fine. Better, maybe. Classes begin tomorrow, so tomorrow at 9:40 am I expect to have 100 or so freshmen all ready for me. Heh heh heh.

I decided on which pair of Docs I wanted. I ordered them last night, and--score another big one for Zappos--I already have them in my possession. I got these. They're comfy and they come with regular laces and ribbon laces. It's going to be 99 degrees tomorrow so I won't get to wear them yet. Now I'm really looking forward to cooler weather!

Thing 1 has taken to writing me notes at bedtime, which she leaves on my nightstand. Here's a recent one:

Dear Mom,
I'm not tired. I'm upset because you're not helping with this Toontown
thing. Neither of you. By the way, I want to go to Hawii, not Canada and Death
Desert/Valley. And my stomach is STILL hurting so, CALL THE DOCTER! Plus, I want
a computer in my room. And I want a phone. Why? Because almost EVERYBODY has a
phone at my school. And don't forget, CALL THE DOCTER! And I'm half tomboy and
half girl. Tomboy = tough. girl =hates dead worms and flies.
Love,
Thing 1

Oh, the joys of preadolescence. Dad, remember when you used to accuse me of being melodramatic and I'd get angry? Well, you can laugh now.

Inspire Me!

Way back BC (Before Children) I used to like to do some creative writing. I've posted some of my old stuff on Live Journal, if you want to read. But in recent years, my responsibilities have been piling up and I haven't done anything but academic writing. I miss the fun stuff.

I used to also keep a journal of sorts, and, as a self-prompting exercise, each entry would include just the first sentence of a story. Some of those sentences eventually made their way into stories I wrote. Most didn't.

So...I thought maybe I'd try to get some creative juices flowing again, and maybe I'd start with those old sentences. Here's the deal: I'm going to write 5 of those sentences below. You vote in the comments for one. Whichever gets the most votes by September 6 gets turned into an actual story. I have no idea yet where any of these sentences will go. So, folks, please. Vote and inspire me. :-)

1. She had her own web page.
2. He was going to have to start over.
3. As always, she burned her tongue drinking her hot chocolate.
4. Nick Ford was stopped at a red light on Ninth Street when he decided to become a woman.
5. I wouldn't have done it under normal circumstances.

Blue

Okay, by popular demand, I present my blue hair:

Thing 1 took the pic a couple days ago. The blue has faded, but it was still definitely there yesterday when I met with the police chief. Oh well. My boss, the Dean, was there, too, and it didn't bug her any.