apple of my eye

The powers that be blocked blogger long ago...

2006-04-30T21:02:00.000-05:00

...so I've finally decided once and for all to move. Plus, I was feeling the need for a fresh, clean blog. So here it is. Update your links, and I'll update mine too (though I still won't be able to visit most of you during the school day).

My life as of late....and a belated meme response.....

2006-03-30T20:16:00.000-05:00

I still can't blog at school, which is my primary internet access point. Dammit, dammit, dammit.Lilly's still beautiful, but I've been sickly during all of March and haven't been able to visit her for fear of infecting her too. I'm glad my parents take lots of pictures!I took my first-ever midterm exam in my sociological foundations of education course. For months, our professor had prepared

Lilly!

2006-02-23T18:45:00.000-05:00

This is my brand new niece, born Sunday morning--isn't she beautiful?

Go back to your hometown, get your feet on the ground, and stop floating around...

2006-02-14T20:21:00.000-05:00

The subject line for this post (I stole it from the Shins, like all my comment-link text) is, apparently, HSSH's thought process right now, because he and I have reverted, at least temporarily, to "just friends" status. He says he needs to deal with all of the changes in his life before he throws relationship #3 with me into the mix.On the one hand, I am immensely disappointed at the lack of

There's something about what happens when we talk....

2006-01-29T19:43:00.000-05:00

(The title for this post is a direct lyrical lift from Lucinda Williams, so, um...thanks to her)Texas Biscuit left this comment on my last post:"I hope you aren't blogging because you've been too busy smiling, laughing, reminiscing, and having a grand old time with HSSH!"And she was right.The last two weeks have been a warm, swarming blur of fervent, trembling confessions....hours upon hours of

Old flame

2006-01-13T13:08:00.000-05:00

I ventured to write my first sestina the summer I was seventeen, months after my high school sweetheart broke my heart. I always dreamed HSSH would come back to me--that our love was somehow boundless and eternal--and last fall, he almost proved me right. But just when I'd decided to make permanent my two-week breakup with ex-boy, and just when HSSH had started falling love with me all over

New York, New York!

2006-01-08T19:03:00.000-05:00

Okay, y'all. It's taken me a solid week and some change, but I'm finally ready to post photos from my trip. So here goes:The Richmond, VA holiday skyline, made blurry by rapid van speed and a deliberately slow shutter:A foggy morning drive on the Delaware Memorial Bridge:M's apartment--outide:The cutest studio apartment interior I've ever seen:Obligatory photo of the tree at Rockefeller Center,

sad day

2006-01-03T00:10:00.000-05:00

I returned to school today to discover that the school server's content-filtering software now blocks gmail, hotmail (yes, I do still have one of those, though I reserve it mostly for bills and junk...), myspace and livejournal (where many of my flesh-and-blood friends blog), and--this is so sad--blogger and blogspot!I never spent that much at-school time blogging, but now it'll be absolutely

Very soon...

2005-12-29T23:10:00.000-05:00

I'll be posting photos of my whirlwind trip to New York City....:)

Merry Christmas!!

2005-12-24T14:11:00.000-05:00

From Reuters Oddly Enough....

2005-12-16T14:29:00.000-05:00

....here is a PostSecret in the making....

letters to Santa

2005-12-08T15:06:00.000-05:00

I have a student whose mother teaches second grade at a local elementary school; as many elementary school teachers do, Mrs. S______ assigned for her second graders to write letters to Santa Claus. She then sent the letters to school with her son, who distributed them in my 2nd period SAT Prep class of juniors and seniors. Most of my students wrote cute, humorous replies involving why Santa

apples

2005-12-08T11:04:00.000-05:00

I found this conversation between an artist and his (unexpectedly talkative despite being inanimate) subject to be quite lovely, so I just had to link to it. It was posted by one of my favorite blogging friends, rb at suchstuff--thanks, rb! :)

Argh!

2005-12-06T10:02:00.000-05:00

I've been in a bad mood all day. So (sorry, y'all!) I'm going to vent. Read no further unless you feel like being sucked into the abyss.First off, I took too long getting ready this morning, which meant that I'd be a minute or two late for work. No biggie.But a minute or two turned into five when Cheesepuff bolted into my spare bedroom just before I closed the door. I would've just left the door

Now a major motion picture!

2005-12-04T23:05:00.000-05:00

Ok, maybe not "major," but I've been in the process of making my acting debut this weekend. A friend of mine is a film student at UGA, and he asked me to play the female love interest in a short film he's making. I'm supposed to be "110 pounds of sunshine, with just a hint of sadness behind those big brown eyes." I guess I can pull that off, even if I am five pounds overweight for the role...?

(like any of you had any doubt, right?)

2005-11-28T10:58:00.000-05:00

I am now, as of last Tuesday's mail, a graduate student!They must've really liked me, because my cute little red-headed friend dropped off my resume and personal statement on the 14th, and my acceptance letter was dated the 17th--that's a three-day turnaround!Oh yeah, and I substituted eggnog for the milk in my flan recipe, with delicious results. The best flan I've ever made, if I do say so

food

2005-11-22T21:45:00.000-05:00

I'm planning on trying a few new recipes this Thanksgiving, but I'm also going to make a dessert that has quickly become a standard for our holiday feasts. (My mom actually requested it this year!)<--Thanks to rb for sending me a link to this photo of the pumpkin flan I made last year. It was darn tasty, if I do say so myself...

Blog redesign...

2005-11-21T16:40:00.000-05:00

...is still in the works...--edit:Ok, now I think I am finished, unless anyone has any further suggestions!

Step right up, ladies and gents, and see Aome's Amazing Circle of Quotations!

2005-11-17T17:54:00.000-05:00

Mae West once said, "Flattery will get you everywhere." Since, according to someone (I've heard it was Charles Caleb Colton), "imitation is the sincerest flattery," I guess that aping those who have already made their way might be the best way for me to achieve my goals. It makes sense, right? Why should my road to the top be an original, newly-forged path through the wilderness when others have

Don't click on this link unless

2005-11-17T15:41:00.000-05:00

you like really, really cheesy holiday crap.

help!

2005-11-10T13:34:00.000-05:00

This is my personal statement for my grad school application. Read it, give me suggestions for improvement, and don't worry about hurting my feelings. :) -- My mother says I spoke in complete sentences before I could walk and learned to read before my fourth birthday. Since then, my hunger for language has proven insatiable. During my senior year at ____ County High School, I enrolled in an

perspective

2005-11-09T09:23:00.000-05:00

"I'm pulling off the road, I'm opening the door, I'm showing you the pavement, And I'm tellin' you what for-- You're no more than a thought, no more than a thought, Oh, and you're gettin' smaller in the rearview mirror..." -The Old 97's "Won't Be Home" Drag It Up--I see it all in a rear-view mirror.I ought to look through the windshield, forward. I'm moving forward, at least I think I am.I

I'm tired today.

2005-11-07T14:20:00.000-05:00

Yawn.

what's on my mind?

2005-11-06T20:59:00.000-05:00

I finished Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone today, and now this Muggle is hooked. I washed dishes today after eating a tasty breakfast of fried jalapeno-cheddar grits and biscuits with my cute little red-headed friend. I visited a friend of mine from high school today. She's married and recently moved into a big, beautiful house across town from me. I'm cold, but I'm drinking an

Halloween pictures!

2005-11-03T18:13:00.000-05:00

I still don't have the pictures of me with my friends, but here are some individual shots from the costume party I attended Saturday night.This is a me operating on myself. Somehow that seems wrong...This is a small child operating on me. He refused to quit until he'd removed every single piece. :)

Bubble Yum’s Last Tango

2005-11-03T15:35:00.000-05:00

I was born of pink squish and equatorial fruit, shaped into a rectangular prism, and packed into paper clothes by a clanging machine in a factory. Bubble Yum is my name, and the tropical tango is my game. Or a least was until this afternoon. I enjoyed my younger times, spending my days with my friends in the psychedelic box we called home. Someone had posted our name (we were all called

My blogging pals, celebrate--

2005-11-03T11:39:00.000-05:00

--for today, my blog is one year old!

just like David Bowie,

2005-11-01T10:30:00.000-05:00

I'm under pressure.My grad school application is absolutely, positively, without a doubt complete, except for one thing: the personal statement. Somehow, in about a page, I'm supposed to explain why the heck I want to be a teacher and why the heck I want to get a Masters in English ed from UGA, and somehow, I'm stuck. I've tried twice, ended up with one to two pages each time, and been completely

I can't get rid of these bats...

2005-10-31T16:30:00.000-05:00

I went to brunch with Bats and some of his pals yesterday. Afterward, he explained that he'd, on a whim, bought a football at Toys R Us over the weekend and asked if any of us would like to throw it around with him since it was such a nice day. His other two pals had stuff to do, but I told him I'd play with him, so we played catch for a good hour, soaking up the sunshine, enjoying a good

Happy Halloween!!

2005-10-31T08:00:00.000-05:00

I had an eventful weekend....more about that later.... Plus (if the camera gods are on my side) I'll have pictures to post soon!

Q. What happens when you don't pay the exorcist?

2005-10-27T10:07:00.000-05:00

A. You get repossessed.Last night, I spent an hour and a half cutting body cavities out of red felt and outlining them in silver to represent the metal contacts on the Operation board. Then I cut wrenched ankles, charlie horses, etc. out of white foam. Now all I have to do is sew velcro to each piece, attach it all to my flesh-colored bodysuit, and decorate my tweezers (salad tongs). This must be

Myers-Briggs and more!

2005-10-25T08:58:00.000-05:00

First off, it seems to be a no-go with Bats. He's definitely not interested, at least as far as I can tell from the livejournal entry he posted about how he's planning on being celibate until May and doesn't need a date when he's got his pistol. Back to the drawing board....* * * * *Ashleycrow mentioned in her comments for this post that on the Myers-Briggs scale I sound like I'd be an ENFJ (

caring is creepy....

2005-10-24T13:02:00.000-05:00

I'm such a voyeur. I've become addicted to PostSecret, which I regularly check for its weekly updates. I don't remember now which of my blogging buddies is actually responsible for this--several of you have posted the link--but in any case, I'm hooked. Some of the secrets make me laugh out loud, and many of them (like this one) melt me into a sobbing puddle of sympathetic (or empathetic) goo,

beans, spilling

2005-10-18T12:42:00.000-05:00

My newest crush, who I'll call Bats (this makes sense only to me), is someone I've known since I was seventeen. I met Bats during our freshman year at UGA when we lived in the same dorm; he manifested the "goth kid" stereotype, with black clothes, black hair, black eyeliner, and whiter-than-white skin. He was skinny and androgynous; occasionally, he dressed in drag. Since I was a Japanese

I am in:

2005-10-17T15:23:00.000-05:00

Infatuated? For sure, though I am not sure whether the object of my pursuit even knows he's being chased--he certainly hasn't acknowledged it, and I haven't mounted any efforts to make myself known. But he dances among my waking thoughts--coffee, books, him, school, ironing, toothpaste, him--and tiptoes through my dreams, sitting beside me in unknown cars or reading authorless chapters of hazy,

Q: Why does Snoop Dogg carry an umbrella?

2005-10-07T14:17:00.000-05:00

A: Fo' drizzle.* * * * *I realized that this week has been my first full week in school since the end of August. How on earth did I manage not to go to school for a full week during the entire month of September? September 5-9: Labor Day September 12-16: High Schools That Work workshop ("professional learning"--woo!) September 19-23: Mammaw September 26-20: Governor Sonny Perdue tells us

ROTFL or LOL or LMAO or whatever other IM acronym you want to use...

2005-10-04T14:27:00.000-05:00

This, on lost and profound, is one of the funniest cat pictures I have ever, ever, ever seen.

ex-boy continues to prove his unworthiness

2005-10-04T07:39:00.000-05:00

First off, I apologize for wallowing in self-pity in my last post, but I must offer the caveat that this post is also a rant about ex-boy. The only difference is that the overly sentimental, wallowing part of me has been muzzled for the time being so that I can bitch about him without feeling too bad about it. If you're not in the mood to listen to me complain, stop reading now.* * * * *Message

closure...?

2005-10-03T13:26:00.000-05:00

(Bitter) Recap:Three months ago, on July 1, I moved into the apartment across the street from my sweetie and two of my best friends. On July 5, my sweetie, with no warning or ultimatum or suggestions for improvement, dumped me after a three and a half year relationship. Within a week, ex-boy started dating a trendy, maroon-haired, teenage "artist" who works at the movie theater with him, and

It's a girl!!

2005-10-01T10:10:00.000-05:00

The cycle continues, as it always does. Mammaw passed away last week, and this week my little brother and his girlfriend found out that on or around February 17, they'll be having a healthy baby girl! The ultrasound pictures don't look like much, but some little white blobs in the photo were labeled "leg"-"leg"-"girl," which I guess means everything's where it's supposed to be.I joked with my

goodbyes, continued

2005-09-24T12:15:00.000-05:00

When Mom and I visited Mammaw on Tuesday night, she didn't even look like herself. Her eyes were half-closed and rolled back into her head, and her cheeks were flushed to the same deep, dark red as the inside of her chapped, open mouth. Her hands and face felt hot, hotter than any fevered skin I've ever touched, and her breaths were short and raspy.My mother and I stayed in Mammaw's room for

goodbyes

2005-09-21T07:51:00.000-05:00

Mammaw passed away this morning.

coping

2005-09-19T17:47:00.000-05:00

My grandmother's health has been gradually deteriorating over the last few months since doctors discovered malignancies on her lungs and adrenal glands, but she's mostly kept high spirits. During my several-times-a-week visits, at least through most of last month, she's been in bed but sitting up (she rarely leaves her bed now that the growths on her adrenal glands have started to cause her back

the big easy speaks

2005-09-05T08:43:00.000-05:00

Damn straight.

tgif

2005-09-02T14:23:00.000-05:00

I'm killing the last couple of classroom minutes before I'm free to leave at 3:45--damn salaried jobs with their 8-hour work days. I recently discovered (like, yesterday) that I really enjoy listening to the Shins, a band I'd heard before when I saw Garden State and when I rode with a friend who had their more (most?) recent album, Chutes Too Narrow. So their song "Pink Bullets" is playing right

where's snoop dogg when you need him?

2005-08-31T08:38:00.000-05:00

One of my first period students, flushed and stuttering, approached my desk a few minutes ago and asked, "You have planning during fourth block, right?""Yeah," I replied, "what class do you have fourth block?""Physical science," he said, smiling. "You can't skip science class to hang out in my room, if that's what you were about to ask," I told him, assuming that he wanted to hang out with the

my attempt, at 19, to write from the point of view of an 18-year-old Georgia boy living in the early 1980s

2005-08-29T10:00:00.000-05:00

“You got it?” I opened the glove box and showed Carol the brown paper bag. “Jerry’s dad got it. All ours. You still—” I didn’t want to say it. She was already turning red and staring at her feet. Plus her mom was out on the porch. “Don’t cops come out there?” I knew a couple of boys who’d been busted with girls out at the lake. Police just told them to put their clothes on and get

I am in love with the man who couldn't blog...

2005-08-29T09:35:00.000-05:00

Ok, so it might be a little early now for me to be using the l-word, but the man who couldn't blog has taken my heart prisoner with his beautifully simple excuses for why he can't.

jumping on the bandwagon

2005-08-25T13:32:00.000-05:00

I don't normally set much stock in the gazillion new, interesting bands that Spin magazine says I need to listen to, but my across-the-street friends (the two lovely ladies who so unfortunately live with ex-boy until he manages to move out) introduced me to the Arcade Fire and I am absolutely infatuated.Crown Of Love They say it fades if you let it,love was made to forget it.I carved your name

birthdays, boys, booze, and oompa loompas

2005-08-22T12:56:00.000-05:00

On my birthday last Wednesday, I visited my little brother at one of his frequent watering holes, where he gave me two awesome birthday gifts. First off, he got me a Rezillos poster, which rocks my world because these lovely late-70s Edinburgh art school kids became one of my favorite bands ever after I bought their (at that point only) album for ex-boy two years ago. Gift number two from Li'l

23 years ago today...

2005-08-17T11:32:00.000-05:00

...I was born! My 10th graders even sang "Happy Birthday" to me when I walked into class today, and my mom's making me an ice cream cake. Woo hoo! :)

good times....

2005-08-14T18:37:00.000-05:00

I got a disgustingly cute haircut Friday night and then I partied all weekend....

yikes

2005-08-11T14:24:00.000-05:00

I don't know whether this is amazing or just plain scary.

boys! aarrrggghh!

2005-08-10T14:53:00.000-05:00

The cute, drunk host (who I believe was sober by this point) called me last night to apologize (if necessary) for his actions at the party on Saturday and to ask me out on a date. I didn't give him a definite answer because I've heard from several reliable sources that CDH is a man-whore who's slept with 5 girls in the space of a week or something. (But he will be at a potluck dinner

date #3ish

2005-08-07T11:22:00.000-05:00

I was in a funk for most of the day yesterday, but at some point I convinced myself that I'd vowed not to wallow and couldn't violate that just because I'd had a couple of upsetting moments on ex-boy's account. I don't want to be depressed about ex-boy when I have so many other things to be happy about. So I bought myself a cute pair of pants, ate some dinner, and geared up to go to a party

bad, bad, bad timing...

2005-08-06T14:34:00.000-05:00

Date #2 with FOAF happened last night, and things started off well. We basically repeated date #1 with dinner and drinks downtown, this time eating at a delicious Italian restaurant that neither of us had been to before, and then going out for drinks at a bar where whoever was in charge of the music had some serious musical ADD. In any case, we had an excellent conversation and the evening

why keep the lowdown on the downlow?

2005-08-03T14:30:00.000-05:00

FOAF called me at 5:30 yesterday (while I was still an hour away from my house) to make sure I was still up for our 7:30 rendezvous, and to make sure an hour was enough time for me to get ready after a long day of school. “Don’t worry about getting all dressed up,” he said. “We’ll go to dinner and then figure things out from there. Just be casual. I’ll pick you up at 7:30.” Click.

rambling...

2005-08-02T14:30:00.000-05:00

Preplanning started yesterday for my school, and I spent the first half of the day (from 8:00 until around 11:45) freezing my butt off and holding my pee in meetings. The first was a system-wide glad-to-have-you-back kind of thing and didn't take too long (about an hour), but the second meeting was a high-school-only faculty meeting that took forever, mostly because our new principal (see my

long day...

2005-07-30T16:20:00.000-05:00

Eight hours ago, I entered my karate school wearing a brown belt and struggling with the giant tropical killer butterflies in my stomach. I'd listened to a hyper punk/glam CD (which included the Rezillos version of "Somebody's Gonna Get Their Head Kicked in Tonight" and the Sweet's "Ballroom Blitz") during my hour drive this morning, and I was bursting with nervous energy.Over the course of my

does this make me a player? (i hope not...)

2005-07-27T12:05:00.000-05:00

The sushi-loving karaoke DJ left for a weekend road trip right after we had lunch on Saturday, so I didn't really expect to see or hear from him for a day or two. Imagine my surprise when, while I was out for pizza with some of my friends Sunday evening, SLKDJ walked into the pizzeria and got in line to place an order. Giddy at my amazing luck, I immediately (and in the most nonchalant manner

maybe the bar scene isn't all bad...

2005-07-23T19:02:00.000-05:00

...because I went on a (gulp!) first date today. He's 28 and about to start grad school in August, and he's a karaoke DJ, which is how I met up with him. I don't know if he was attracted to my slightly tipsy renditions of the James song "Laid" and Weezer's "The Good Life," the duet of "Bohemian Rhapsody" I did with my best friend, or my silly dancing to David Bowie's "Drive-In Saturday," but he

a never-before encountered quandary

2005-07-20T11:19:00.000-05:00

Ex-boy met his last five girlfriends (#1, #2, Me, Teenager #1, and Teenager #2) at the movie theater where he's worked for six years.My brother got to know his last two girlfriends when they frequented the store where he works, and his current live-in girlfriend was a coworker before they started dating.My best friend chatted with her boyfriend in between calls at their telemarketing employer.All

double sigh (with apologies for rb for the forthcoming rant)

2005-07-18T10:24:00.000-05:00

There's a lot of back-story in this post, and a lot of ranting about recent developments.I have to preface all of what I'm about to say with a short flashback to last August, when I first started teaching and moved an hour away from my then-sweetie. My life last fall was hard--new house, new job with lots of new responsibilities, new life in a tiny little Bible-belt town, no friends closer than

Top 10 signs I just got dumped (in no particular order):

2005-07-09T14:16:00.000-05:00

My favorite songs--even the upbeat ones that I'd usually sing in the shower and/or yell along with while driving--make me cry.Songs that I hate also make me cry.Petting my cats makes me wonder if he misses them as much as he ought to after helping me raise them from sickly kittenhood.I've lost three pounds in four days.I have raw spots under my eyes from drying tears off my face after bouts of

sigh...

2005-07-08T15:44:00.000-05:00

I got dumped two days ago after a 3 1/2 year relationship. The worst part is, I never saw it coming...

seen on a local church sign...

2005-06-28T20:26:00.000-05:00

"Stop, drop, and roll won't work when you're in hell."

finally, the scoop! (and it's a big one)

2005-06-17T19:26:00.000-05:00

Below you will find the newspaper article that sparked several of my friends to offer financial assistance should I choose to sue Rev. Redneck for slander, as well as various letters to my local paper's editor, online guestbook vents, and a column printed in a different local news source. It's a lot to read, and I've edited some of it to preserve my anonymity and keep the internet-savvy

anyone know a good lawyer?

2005-06-07T06:01:00.000-05:00

Ok. Two weeks passed after the newspaper interview with no article, and I guess I kinda thought maybe the kind young journalist who'd sympathized with me had backed out of printing it or something. Not so. The nifty little article (which I'll be posting in its entirety later) appeared in last week's paper. Though I can't give you the full text of the article until I retrieve my copy of the

I meme, you meme, we all meme for...uh...ice meme?

2005-05-18T11:09:00.000-05:00

I don't often meme (laziness, I don't know) but I saw this one on spiceblog, which always makes me wish my laptop included a teleportation device that would land me in Anthony's kitchen...1) Total number of books I've owned:I hope no one actually expects a number for this one, because I really don't catalog my volumes or anything. My mom says I started reading when I was 3 or 4, and the books

newspapers vs. GOD

2005-05-18T10:19:00.000-05:00

Well, I finally had my newspaper interview last Thursday--too late for last week's issue of the paper--so I guess that means all the hoopla the article generates has been postponed until tomorrow.Fortunately, the reporter assigned to my story is an outsider to my Bible-belt county, so his perspective on local issues isn't tainted by any family ties or political bullshit. Thank God. Well, except

eerie synchronism

2005-05-18T09:17:00.000-05:00

The first student to enter my classroom on April 29th morning took her seat quietly, folded her arms on her desktop, and burrowed her face deep into the folds of her sweatshirt sleeves. This particular student often sleeps during class, and I assumed she'd probably had another late night. When her best friend came into the room and squatted beside her desk, though, I realized that my usually

the BITCH strikes back

2005-05-09T08:57:00.000-05:00

Apparently, the Georgia Professional Standards Commission’s decision not to investigate my case spurred the BITCH to take matters into her own hands, and not in the nicest way. My principal called me into his office the other day (I’m starting to get used to this) to tell me that as far as he was concerned, and as far as the state of Georgia was concerned, the issue had been handled. But

new friend

2005-04-30T12:42:00.000-05:00

Everyone should hop on over to Coolcat's blog. You can read about pastel cows, bureaucracy over the phone, and much more--all while listening to nifty music like Angelo Badalamenti's theme to my favorite no-longer-running tv show, Twin Peaks.

finally a moment to breathe

2005-04-26T10:15:00.000-05:00

Ok. I'm completely caught up on my grading, I don't have to make any more lesson plans until the last week of school, and I've paid (almost) all of my bills for this month, so damn it--I deserve the "sick" day I took off on Friday. I said I had an appointment--never mind that the doctor I visited has a Ph.D. in English and wrote a grad school recommendation for me instead of a

aarrgghh!

2005-04-23T16:30:00.000-05:00

I'm having posting difficulties (i.e. Blogger ate the post I started on yesterday and I don't have the time or motivation to finish it today), but one of these days you guys will hear all about the Baneful, Inimical, Tattling, Church-gossiping Hag of a teacher who apparently would like the BOE to serve her a delightful platter of hors d'oeuvres. The B.I.T.C.H.'s little appetizers will primarily

And my life continues to become...

2005-04-18T14:48:00.000-05:00

...more stressful! We thought it was all over, but stay tuned--December's incident with my students' inappropriate poetry (and the negative publicity it generated) resurfaced today, with unforeseeable consequences....(More about vendettas, heads on platters, and the like--as soon as I turn in my 13 1/2-week grades tomorrow morning and have a minute to write!)Also, thanks to everyone who

here's the update miss p has been waiting for

2005-04-09T16:37:00.000-05:00

The case of the mysterious dead woman in my shaggin' wagon turned out to be more sad than creepy in the end. The body belonged to a woman from Florida who'd spent the last four years of her life living what my local paper euphemistically called "an alternative life style"; her father disapproved, and she'd left home. She called her father for the first time in four years just before the incident

mmm....

2005-04-08T13:50:00.000-05:00

This is what I made for dinner tonight (stolen from the label of a Goya can):Filet of Red Snapper with Coconut Sauce4 large red snapper filetsjuice of 1 lime2 tbsp. olive oil6 garlic cloves, minced1 medium white onion, julienned2 celery shafts, julienned1 can tomato paste2 13.5 oz. cans coconut milk2 chicken boullion cubesbay leaves1 large tomato, juliennedSprinkle the filets with lime juice and

oh, so much to tell...

2005-04-01T12:53:00.000-05:00

In the last couple of days, my life has seemed like one big, surreal April Fool's joke....Weird Occurrence #1 - My mom and stepdad own the lot across the street from their house, which is occupied by a dilapidated eyesore of a house. When I killed my high school vehicle (affectionately dubbed "the shaggin' wagon" despite its lack of any qualities I'd consider shagadelic), my parents towed it

songs...

2005-03-31T17:52:00.000-05:00

I swiped this idea from Michael, who got it from Texas Biscuit, who got it from...well, the list goes on, but you can follow the breadcrumbs yourself. Basically you pick a band and then answer these questions using that band's song titles. I chose the Donnas because they're awesome in that cock-rock-sung-by-girls kind of way, plus I wanted to be kind of silly and sophomoric since my spring

worldly pleasures

2005-03-29T10:28:00.000-05:00

Anthony's spiceblog--brimming with mouthwatering recipes--makes me wish I weren't eating school lunch today. And Ken and Ariel's advice blog--full of (sometimes) tongue-in-cheek sex advice--had me laughing out loud, though I can't access it from school because of the aforementioned blocking software on our server.

I'm not sure I've ever been so flabbergasted...

2005-03-26T20:38:00.000-05:00

...as I was the other day at school. My high school was administering standardized tests (yuck!) Monday through Thursday of last week during the first two hours of each day. At 10:15, my 10th graders--wild-eyed and bloodthirsty from bubble-filling purgatory--were unleashed upon my classroom packing two more hours of relative consciousness than usual. Not only were they for the most part energetic

Tonight I Can Write...

2005-03-26T01:49:00.000-05:00

Tonight I can write the saddest lines.Write, for example, 'The night is shattered And blue stars shiver in the distance'. The night wind revolves in the sky and sings.Tonight I can write the saddest lines.I loved her, and sometimes she loved me too.Through the nights like this one I held her in my arms.I kissed her over and over again under the endless sky. She loved me, sometimes I did love her

aome -- revamped!

2005-03-22T09:29:00.000-05:00

As some of my more regular visitors may have noticed, my blog's had a makeover! She was starting to get bored with her Blogger "Minima Black" template, but I had no idea what to do to redefine her style. Would she want to look like a funky 70's disco chick, an 80's punk rocker, a flower child from the 60's? Potential abounded, but my lack of code know-how was cramping my poor blog's style. But

aftermath

2005-03-19T14:47:00.000-05:00

I'm having a lazy Saturday today after a busy week, so I'll keep this short.Right after I posted my very long update on the situation with my principal, my next-door neighbor teacher came by my classroom and told me that the BOE meeting, which had been recorded by the local cable channel, would be starting in a few minutes. So she and I hung out at school until after 8pm watching the meeting with

climax and denouement

2005-03-15T08:34:00.000-05:00

Last Tuesday, after meeting with the first- and second-year teachers about my principal's contract renewal, I'd followed the Board of Education's procedures for being on the agenda for last night's meeting, submitting all the proper paperwork to the county office to explain who I was and why I wanted to speak. All week, I kept in constant contact with my fellow scheming teachers about the

more to watch...

2005-03-10T20:45:00.000-05:00

Check out some lovely photos on BHR's PhotoSydney...and you might also visit My Restaurant Rules, where he and a small entourage of online pals trace an Australian television program that follows five couples as they set up and run their own restaurants...this is assuming you 1) get whatever Australian TV station that airs the program and/or 2) like reading about food...Mmm...food....I think it's

in cahoots?

2005-03-10T16:29:00.000-05:00

Thanks to rb, Wendelynn, and betapundit for their thoughtful comments and encouragement, and double kudos to Barista for linking to me all the way from down under, where Miss Jellyfish is also having difficulty with her (previously) employing educational system...And Krankiboy's dealing with a situation so frustratingly inane I'm sure that his LA school district is somehow involved in a

the teachers get sneaky...

2005-03-08T23:00:00.000-05:00

I felt more than a little subversive as I quietly slipped inside the door of my county library's basement and joined the other twenty or so teachers who sat around the tables inside. One of the other teachers had discussed our plans with her legal representative and discovered that we weren't legally allowed to have this kind of meeting on school grounds during school hours. Apparently our

small-town myopia and its frightful consequences

2005-03-05T14:02:00.000-05:00

When I was a high school student, two different principals served two-year terms and then disappeared; the second of these (one of the most accessible, endearing, and effective principals I've ever met) was replaced immediately after I graduated in 1999. This fall, I returned to my old high school as a first-year English teacher and encountered yet another new face just finishing his own first

school - 3:45

2005-03-01T15:35:00.000-05:00

Karen Armstrong, from "Compassion's Fruit"

2005-03-01T15:02:00.000-05:00

Psychologist Carl Jung once said that a great deal of institutional religion seems designed to prevent the faithful from having a spiritual experience. Instead of teaching people how to live in peace, religious leaders often concentrate on marginal issues: Can women or gay people be ordained as priests or rabbis? Is contraception permissible? Is evolution compatible with the first chapter of

The Artist - A Chinese Fable

2005-02-28T21:59:00.000-05:00

There was once a king who loved the graceful curves of the rooster. He asked the court artist to paint a picture of a rooster for him. For one year he waited, and still this order was not fulfilled. In a rage, he stomped to the artist's studio and demanded to see the artist.Quickly the artist brought out paper, paint, and brush. In five minutes a perfect picture of a rooster emerged from his

Happy birthday...

2005-02-28T10:44:00.000-05:00

...to my leap day sweetheart,who is either 25 or 6 1/4 today!

On Writing Poetry

2005-02-25T10:02:00.000-05:00

The writing of my poetry is never consciously planned; although I become aware that there are certain emotions I would like to explore. Perhaps my unconscious begins working on poems from these emotions long before I am aware of it. I have learned to wait patiently (sometimes refusing good lines, images, when they come to me, for fear they are not lasting), until a poem is ready to present

one day's passing

2005-02-22T15:16:00.000-05:00

I scamper like a stone from your bed,snail into my clothes with lightless vigorin the dark of the still-sleeping sun,leaving you lingering on the edgeof dreams undreamed but brewing,quickening with your slow breath"Sweet dreams," and "good night"--my morning-parting wishes for youas I venture to the edge of the sunrise,blinking into my day's endeavorsmy eight to four to evening passes,tripping

storm

2005-02-21T14:00:00.000-05:00

red bricks blush blackunder greying, puffing skies,drinking through mortar poresand darkening with rainwindows teem with pushing, round beads, fighting over who will feel gravity first, fast drops sliding down glass assembly linesskies drum baritone, bass, deep,flashing and dark, pale behind spidering winter trees, nakedly blackening with wet© aome 2.19.2005

eulogy for the long-lost

2005-02-19T22:50:00.000-05:00

she misplaced herself,set herself blindly downwithout looking to seewhere she'd fall,landing amidst hispennies and keys--ticket stubs from the movie that had watched them argue in the dark silence--bent capsfrom bottles he'd finishedto remind himself thathe'd started becausehe wanted to forget--books he'd borrowed from her that she'd dutifully dogeared for laterbut never discussions--in all this,

my love is building a building... (XII)

2005-02-19T08:14:00.000-05:00

my love is building a buildingaround you, a frail slipperyhouse, a strong fragile house(beginning at the singular beginningof your smile)a skilful uncouthprison, a precise clumsyprison(building thatandthis into Thus,Around the reckless magic of your mouth)my love is building a magic, a discretetower of magic and(as i guess)when Farmer Death(whom fairies hate)shallcrumble the mouth-flower

sick, sick, sick

2005-02-16T09:03:00.000-05:00

I took a sick day off of school yesterday, and yes, I did have ulterior motives. I did have a doctor's appointment, and I did need an oil change, but yes, I did also feel the need to avoid getting up early the morning after Valentine's Day. Sad to say, my Valentine's evening was not spent enjoying a candlelit dinner/night on the town with my sweetie--he was unfortunately running a fever of 102*