Going to the Vet

I took my kitties for their annual examinations at the vet. They HATE this above all things. I think that they have memories of being boxed up and carted off to the humane society. That is where I got my two older cats, Milano and Bella, at the humane society. My third cat, Pumpkin (no, I did not name her so don't blame me for that silly name, blame my sis), was a stray that ran into our apartment one night in October a couple of years ago.

Bella has allergies that cause her to have some eye gunk. We picked up some drops at the vet and they are clearing up nicely. However, she has some tartar build up on her teeth, a condition that the vet says is causing her to have, "objectionably bad breath". I can't believe the vet actually put that on the report! How rude.

Milano is my wussy boy cat. Every girl has to have a gay guy friend and since I don't have a real life one, he is my pseudo-gay guy friend. He is very skiddish and jumps at his own shadow. His whine is the most pitty-enducing meow you have ever heard. He was overweight last time we went to the vet but he has since slimmed down and was given a clean bill of health.

Disclaimer: to all of the extremely masculine gay guys, sorry.

I think that Bella and Milano were litter mates because they have similar markings, but I have no way of really knowing. But they are an inseparable pair. They drove out our previous cat, Jezebelle, who now lives with my mother. Brit and I were shocked when Pumpkin, whom I like to call 'little one', ran into our apartment, into the kitchen, and straight for the food one night and fit right in with Milano and Bella. She chose us to be her caretakers and has become one of the family.

I feel that it is an oxymoron to call her 'little one' now that she has been spayed and taken to overeating. The vet said that she gained 3.6 lbs this year and is now over 13 lbs. Time to go on a diet.

She is still very cute, though! She is the one who always loves and appreciates the toys we bring home for them from pet smart. Milano feigns interest and Bella flatly refuses to acknowledge the gesture.

But Bella is the most fickle because she is my favorite and she knows

that I won't throw her out (haha). She just wants to make sure I spend the right amount of money before she acts interested. Between the three of them and the eye drops for Bella, I dropped $300 for these 'kids' at the vet. Thank goodness this only comes around once a year, but I was given some rare attention as a reward.

Health and Happiness

Health and Happiness. That is what the radio wished me today. Are these two things inextricably linked for a reason? Is my good health because I am happy? And if I am not happy will I become unhealthy?

During this time of year I look back and think about all of the great things that happened last year. I finished my first successful year as a teacher. I found a perfect job that fulfills me intellectually and emotionally. I ran a 1/2 marathon. I applied for a home loan and took a step away from my apartment-renting youth. I met, loved, and broke up with a great guy.

Two days ago I decided to follow through with the decision that I had been debating for the entire holiday season and broke up with BK. If there were no holidays, a time to reflect, take stock, and make resolutions for the new year would I have broken up with him? Probably not.

I plan to be alone for the new year. The fear of being alone is easier to handle when it is chosen rather than forced. But loneliness is still there. But with him I essentially was alone and now I am free to be with someone on my own terms. So much of the relationship revolved around him and conceded what I wanted or needed. An added bonus is that I forgot my charger at my mom's house and couldn't call someone even if I wanted to.

Besides, internal reflection and cleansing is what this time of year is all about. I have been playing solitaire, watching DVDs, blogging, and reading Beowulf (for work). I may even resort to putting a puzzle together since I have already cleaned my apartment.
My only regret is how painful this is for BK right now. He says he will never love someone like he loves me. The hopeless romantic in me doesn't think we ever love anyone in the same way we love another and the heartless cynic believes that we never fully love anyone besides ourselves and knows that he will eventually stop the 'I will love you forever' crap and find someone else quickly.

I sure hope he does. I don't think I ever gave myself fully to him and hope that he will one day find a woman who can completely love him with a whole heart. I never will. I will always be 60/40. 60% intellect and 40% heart. It is stupid to give yourself completely to a single person. Because of the way the human heart is flawed, a girl must always sleep with one eye open. To love, but love smartly is best because when a man gets too comfortable he stops trying. A relationship is work and dynamic and can never be left unattended.

And yet I want to end this blog by saying that I hope there is someone out there to dispel my philosophies on love. Man, our Cinderella society has trained me well. Wishing you the best year ever...Mel.

I am getting so old

Today I applied for a home mortgage loan....scaryness.

Best movie of the year!

If you are lucky enough to have a movie theater in your city that shows indie films like mine, (thank you to the Bijou at Crossroads) then you have got to check out the greatest movie of the year.....Slumdog Millionaire.

It will rock your world.

Cooking Tip

Just so you know, do not put wax paper into the oven. I nearly burnt my apartment down.

When I told my mom about it she gave me the Burt sigh...you know the exasperated one that Burt would give Ernie whenever he would do something stupid.

I don't think that it necessarily warranted the "you're an idiot" sigh because wax paper and parchment paper are very similar and can easily be confused.


By the way, none of my blog entries will be in chronological order--deal with it!

Faculty Choir Concert

So, as many of you know, I love to sing. So much so, that I volunteered willingly to participate in the Faculty Choir for this year's student choir concert. I had a blast. We sang The Christmas Song (better known as Chestnuts Roasting on and Open Fire) and Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree. We were a huge hit. There is a long instrumental during Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree so some of the students came out on stage and danced so that the audience was entertained throughout the whole song. You'll notice that I am dancing too.....but I am the only one dancing at "the grown up table".

That's me in the upper right hand corner of the pic. Suckers. They should know that the only reason we were invited to sing was so that the audience could have a laugh at our expense. Therefore, I felt obligated to give them a good show. The young man dancing in the forefront of the pic is one of my students--he rocked this show!

A special note goes out to my good friends Jac and MC. The both of them sat through this entire, boring concert that was filled with way too much Jesus to be a public school concert, just to see me live out my dream of singing on the stage. ***They didn't schedule the faculty songs until after intermission--and not accidentally***

The song after us featured my superintendent in angel wings pretending to be a tone deaf angel auditioning for the heavenly choir--again, way too much church for school. Sorry if the pic quality is bad.

After all of the squirming from the uber religious songs, I was beginning to feel incredibly bad that I had not forewarned my friends in respect of their anti-religious sentiments, sentiments I share by the way, when all of a sudden we hit paydirt. For the very last song of the night (Go Tell it on the Mountain, which I did not realize was a 'holiday' song, but apparently is because I was at a holiday concert afterall, what the fuck happened to Frosty the Snowman????!!! but ANYWAY) the choir director asked for all of the alumni to come on stage to participate in the singing of the final song, apparently this is a time-honored tradition.

A couple of recent high school grads bounded on the stage and were greeted by the hoots and hollers of their underclassmen buddies who were excited to see them back from a semester away at college and were immediately absorbed into the upper risers and took places next to their closest friends. Lastly, a near 40 year old man follows the young 20-somethings and shakes every hand belonging to the choir students along the first row of risers on stage. He then remains on stage at stage left. Alone. The young girls that were positioned closest to the stranger turned their backs to him and squished towards the center of the front row of singers as far as they could without looking off balance in an attempt to physically separate themselves as far from the 'alumni' as they could. Apparently all of his underclassmen admirers had all graduated long, long ago.

The choir director, not wanting to postpone the end of the show, prompts the students to begin singing. This song is labor intensive and supposed to be fun for the kids because they have traditional hand gestures and body movements that all of the current and past choir members know and join in on, all except the odd looking 40 year old at stage left.

Everyone in the audience, some of whom have been too polite to not notice the mistake that the man has made, cannot help but snicker to see the realization come over the strangers face as he too figures out that the choir director's call for alumni was for choir alumni, NOT Marshall alumni. But it is too late for the man to retreat and he just stands there swaying back and forth, clapping his hands, and hand gesturing 'bravo' at the students as they sing. The look on the students' faces as they quickly finish the song seems to scream..."Stranger Danger, Stranger Danger!" But as quickly as they sing, the song is way too long and the awkwardness of the moment has me shaking with laughter because I am at a work function and could not laugh out loud, but the situation was way too funny for me to just sit there stone like. It was a case of the church giggles.

After the show, MC tells me that the ending made up for the rest of the concert hands down. I jokingly ask DDV's hubbie what his brother was doing up on stage to which he quick-wittedly replied "I don't know, you used to date him. You tell me!" Fun times!

P.S. My conscience makes me add to this story, but I am adding it to the end after all of you have laughed so that you can share in my guilt. I later found out that the 40 year old man was actually in the choir at our school a long time ago, but it was the special education choir. So technically he was a choir alumni, he was just....wishing you the best year ever...Mel!

Christmas at Work

Thursday we went to the Ramblin' Inn where the food service students prepare food and sell it during holidays to teachers and staff. Me, DDV, Ruthie, and Chris (my regular lunch buddies) went down and had some great food.
Isn't it hilarious how guys never smile in pics?







But gals have no qualms about!
DDV decided to be funny!






And now just the girls! Ruthie doesn't share the same philosophy on classroom management and can be a bit uptight, but we still love having her in our group. She has been the source of many laughs!

A toast to my first xmas at my new school.

I am ready for the break!

Friday Before the Holiday Break in High School

Well, today is the last day in a very long week. I spent every day up at the school until at least 7:30 working with one of my more brilliant students. She is going to go great place if she can get organized. Since I was there so late a ton of other students came in and stayed with us to work on their own homework. The way schoolwork is structured, it builds on itself until the semester ends with usually large research project. With a research project in 5 out of 7 classes the students get really stressed this time of year.

Thankfully, it is all over and we can all go home. I will be reading Beowulf over the break--yes, it sucks being in academic support because I have to know all of the information and assignments for all 4 core classes and that can get tiring. But my geometry is getting good though.

I am ready for some sleep, but Jac is moving to Austin tomorrow and I am helping her pack at 9:00 a.m. She is promising blueberry pancakes and mimosas so it will be well worth it. Shout out to her for getting into grad school at UT. Wishing you the best year ever...Mel.

The straw that broke the camel toe

As most of you know my boyfriend BK is living in Los Angeles, CA with his family. Although I would love to, I can't afford to visit this holiday season. That along with a myriad of other small issues between us has made me realize that absence does not make the heart grow fonder.
In a recent conversation he asked me if I had ever seen the BK Show on youtube. I of course said no, what is the BK Show? He told me that it is a show that he is uploading to youtube where he goes around asking strangers at his job unusual questions. His most recent episode's topic was....."Do you like camel toe". I know, I know what you are all thinking--of course! everyone loves camel toe.
There was a long silence between BK and I on the phone and I broke it by asking him how old he was. He told me his age and then I asked him whether he was a grow up to which he responded "sometimes". I promptly told him that I was completely disgusted with the vulgarity and immaturity of the topic, the show, and him. I told him to never speak to me about the whole BK show idea again. About 20 minutes later in our conversation and he tried to bring it up again. I quickly interupted "No, no, no, I don't think you understood me earlier, I never want to hear about it again". I still don't think that he understood the severity of my irritation, what with the language barrier and all. It is like when the asian women are giving you a pedicure and are trying to hold a conversation with you. They smile and bob their head up and down, but you can tell that they really have no clue what you are talking about.
I still like to have BK around, but it is more out of familiarity now than out of need or want. I am shopping for a newer and updated model so my blog entries may get more interesting in the next few months...wishing you the best year ever...Mel

Habitat for Humanity

Well since my students have to do community service, sometimes I am a chaperone at events that are outside my general repertoire. Take building houses for example, although I love the color pink, I am not a girly girl in the sense that I can lift at least 50 lbs and can hammer, measure, saw, etc, but these are not things that I choose to do on a regular basis. But for a good cause and for the betterment of my students (not to sound high and mighty or anything) I woke up early on two Saturday mornings, 11/22 and 12/6, and fought the cold and the rain to the south side of San Antonio to build houses.

I got to measure siding, hammer the siding to the house, and then paint. At first the students kind of stood around doing nothing and I quickly realized that as a chaperone I would not be able to just stand around and take pictures, say "good job!", or direct the operations, but that I would have to lead by example and get my hands dirty. Ugh! was my first thought, but after a while I realized that it was kinda fun putting all of that stuff together for a family that would otherwise be forced to live with family members or forever rent.

I even had something to bitch about. The site leader was a cranky guy who was obviously pissed that the majority of his crew that day were high schoolers. Everything that we tried to do was critiqued, so much so that his critiques began to contradict themselves. "You don't have to cut directly on the line that you traced as a measurement, they can be a little to the left or right" and in the next breathe say "You have to make sure that you measure so that the siding doesn't hang off the end so much' to which I thought, so it matters after all that we saw on the line that we measured. But alas, I am not in construction so my performance was not going to be 100% accurate the first time out.



Later, the site leader saw that I was standing next to some siding staring expectantly at a couple of students as they chatted amongst themselves. He asked what I was doing and I said waiting for them to notice me staring at them. He took it upon himself to motivate the girls and shouted "Hey, get her number and call her later we have work to do". Well naturally, in mother hen fashion, I was a bit annoyed that this man thought that poor little female me didn't have the authoritative bravado to get my students to do what I wanted them to do and felt he would exert his construction worker 'leadership' and embarrass my young students. I told the girls to ignore the man because he had very little power in the world and takes it out on those who he sees as having less power than him--a nice little circle of oppression--and vowed to myself, privately of course, that I would get him back. (I am not sure if doing so makes me continue the oppressive circle or champions the little guy and really have no desire to philosophically debate that idea since it made me feel great to blast the guy).

Later the same man was chatting up a couple of my tiny senior girl students and I needed him to use the power saw for me. I called his name politely. When he ignored me and continued to harass the jail bate I yelled across the build site, "Hey Pete! Get their number, call them later, we have work to do!" He pointed to the girls and mouthed 'your teacher wants you', but I corrected his error by saying, "No, I was calling you." Needless to say he stayed clear of correcting my efforts and away from fraternizing with my students too closely the rest of the day.

The second build day was better, but it was mostly my sophomore girls and they were pretty worthless. I was proud of one student in particular that was gracious and kind to the Asberger's syndrome boy that followed her around all day chatting idly about nothing because he mistook her polite listening for genuine interest. Not all children are bad, there are a few that will support us when we are old. I also got to know a particularly introverted student of mine while we waited 45 minutes for his parents to pick him up. (By the way, if you have children attending a school-chaperoned event, be on fucking time because somebody is missing time away from their family, friends, and fun to wait on you-not that I am bitter or anything) So dad is in the Mexican Mafia and mom just had a tumor removed and now she can tell the future. Mom was really nice though and I told her to call me if she saw anything major in the cards for me. Getting to know my students and their families is the BEST part of my job. Wishing you the best year ever...Mel

This just in..special report...Rock n Roll 1/2 Marathon--Completed!

I know, I know, it has been a long while since I blogged. But really, it took me this long to recuperate from my 1/2 marathon. No, that's not really true but I figured some people would buy that excuse and the others would know it is just my laziness that prevents me from writing.

The marathon was intense. The night before myself, DDV and her hubby, and Clay and Kristel went to eat at Macaroni grill to carb up. Unfortunately, the other 40,000 racers had the same idea and we spent 2 hours waiting to sit down and 1 hour to get our food. I know we should have left after hour 1, but we were so pissed that we has wasted the hour and figured that every other place in town would be just as crowded so we stubbornly stayed. The food was bad and I probably will never go back to a Macaroni Grill in my life since the waiter told me that the reason our food was taking so long was because I ordered a 'create your own pasta' and that it was holding up the food line instead of realizing that it was because they were unprepared for that large of a crowd on a Friday night and were behind.

Race day was cccccooooolllllddd! It was 35 degrees outside. We were dropped off at the start of the race by my sis in the dark at about 5:00 a.m.--DDV and I wanted to make sure we got to where we needed to be and on time, with this being our first race and all. The race began with a speech by the governor, Rick Perry in which he started of by saying "Gooooodddd mooooorning AAAAuuuuussstin-no, San Antonio!" What an idiot, he couldn't even get the city right in front of 40,000+ people. The race began at 7:45 and was a wave start. That means that the crowd was separated into corrals of 1000 people who would cross the starting line every 40-90 seconds. Me and DDV were at corral 29. We crossed the starting line at 8:45 and the race was on!

The bands weren't all that great, but it was super fun running in front of the Alamo and seeing all the people that came out to cheer for us. There was a little girl singing the Taylor Swift song "Baby just say Yes" and we sang along and slapped the outstretched hands of the fans as we fell into our 2/3 pace.

Remember last weekend when I hiked at Enchanted Rock for nearly 13 miles!? Well, unfortunately I was wearing the same shoes for that as I was for the marathon and by mile 6 it was clear that I should have purchased new shoes two weeks prior to the race so that I could break them in because these shoes were 4 months old and had been seriously used. My foot felt like it was on fire. There were no blisters or anything like that, but it felt as though my middle toes were going numb and my 2nd, 3rd, and 4th metatarsals were grinding together in my left foot. I quit my 2/3 pace and let DDV go on ahead of me and continued to walk. At mile 10 I hit not only my physical wall, but more importantly my mental wall. I kept looking at the ambulances that were strategically placed along the race route and just thought of how easy it would be to just walk over, lay down in the stretcher, and ask to be driven to the finish line.

But then it happened, the motivation that I needed to kick my ass back into gear. An old, fat man began to pass me up. "Oh, hell no" is all I thought. I could not let this dude finish before I did. So for the rest of the race I was motivated by this overweight old man and my pride. I finished in 3:44, which was 44 more minutes than my goal, but considering I walked the last 7 miles I figure 15 minutes is not that far behind.

Sunday afternoon I hung out with my best gal friends Elizabeth and Jac (Jac also did the race) and sported my medal for everyone to see. I really am proud that I did the race and will continue with the running. I am planning to do a 4 miler in February--nothing as extreme as 13.1, but definitely a challenge for a notorious athletic slacker. Thanks again to all of those who supported me on my road to the Rock n Roll marathon, especially DDV and her hubby and mom and bruce--you guys rock! Wishing you the best year ever...Mel

Spontaneous and Independent: Weekend in the Wild

Enchanted Weekend

Friday I left work at 4:15 and sped toward Fredricksburg. I arrived at Enchanted Rock National Area, approximately 17 miles outside Fredricksburg, at 5:45 p.m. and checked in at the ranger's station. The ranger told me that it was a 1.5 mile hike to where my campsite was. There were signs on the ranger's station to be aware of snakes. I asked how bad the snake problem was this time of year and the ranger jokingly said that there had been no bites that day and that if you don't bother them, they don't bother you. Besides, he said, "they only bite you once" to which I replied, "yeah, and I only die once too!" I made a split decision to drive back into Fredricksburg, rent a room, and stay for the night because the sun had gone down and I was unfamiliar with the trail and thought it would be bad for me to get lost in the park on a cold night. I checked into a motel 8 and went down main street in search of some dinner. I found a cute little historic house that had been converted into a restaurant with live music. There was a local singer/songwriter there and I ate steak, enjoyed the ambiance, and got to talking with the waiter. I truly felt as though I was meant to be at that precise spot when the waiter told me that he had lived in the BVI's. Well, as you know I am planning a trip there in June and my mother has been trying to get me to move there and live the island life. Patrick, the waiter, told me that locals HATE foreigners, the school system is incredibly bad, and that they only get paid about 15k. That did it for me! I am confident in my decision not to move there.

The next morning I was up by 6, had my complimentary breakfast, showered, packed my things and headed back to ER. Since I didn't know the terrain, I decided to take my tent, hammer, and backpack with waters, phone, ID, camera along the trail. It was a tough one and I was glad of my decision to make the first hike light. The trail went from rambling walk into the forest under the falling leaves to navigating my way through dried creek beds and up hills of rock. I had a great time the first time. It took me 3 trips in and 2 trips out to move all of my stuff in and out of camp. I was really wishing I had a husband and some kids to carry all of my shit! Needless to say, I downsized from a large rolling luggage bag and ice chest to an HEB bag for my food, waters in my backpack, and the clothes I had on my back. There was not going to be any need for changing clothes in the wild. All in all I hiked over 12 miles in two SHORT days.

Once I had camp set up I hiked back to take summit trail up the main dome of Enchanted Rock. It was a lot harder to do after hiking 3 miles, but I made it. I spent the afternoon reading and writing and enjoying the view. There was a girl who fell in the cave and broke her ankle and busted her head open and had to be carried in a gurney down the sheer rock surface of ER by 8 rescue men. I, of course, did not go into the caves. I am very accident prone and will save that kind of insanity for when I have friends with me who can call 911.

That night I ate my lunchable, read until dark, and went to bed. Since it gets dark at around 6, I was in bed early. As soon as the sun went down, the cold enveloped me. I spent the night dozing in and out of sleep broken by the feeling of rocks in my back, a blanket that was to small to pull over my head while at the same time covering my feet, and strangers mistaking my tent for theirs. It was very interesting to find that the insects that I always hear at dusk do not sleep through the night. At daybreak I awoke and hurriedly packed my camp.

Leaving ER I felt tired from the miles of walking I had done, but rejuvenated. While I was there I thought about my safety, survival, and the sounds of nature. Getting anywhere took time, patience, and a plan. I feel like that is analogous to life as well. Before I went on this trip I thought I would spend time meditating on life and my job and how to solve problems. What really happened was I paid special attention to the most important things life can put before you--staying alive and enjoying your time here. I guess if I have those two things covered then everything else is seriously, not an issue. Wishing you the best year ever.....Mel.

4 years in review

4 years ago I called my mother on November 5th and cried on the phone to her. I was devastated that Bush made it to the Presidency. Again! I felt robbed, cheated, disillusioned. It was just another example of life smacking the crap out of my hopeful optimism. I asked her, "aren't you just devastated?" to which she replied, "no, the person I voted for won." Double whammy. The woman that I looked up to for her level headed thinking, life experience, and reason had voted for an idiot! I couldn't believe that she had listened to me campaign for Kerry the whole while planning to vote for Bush. In retrospect I gained another level of respect for my mother because she allowed me to spread my political wings without stifling my views. (But I was still irritated that she didn't let me know she didn't feel the same as me so that I could convince her that I was right!)

This year I did not harp to my mother about who she should vote for or why she shouldn't vote for the other. Mostly this was because I noticed a slow change in my mother's view. She began enjoying comedians like John Stewart, shows like The Colbert Report, and movies like Religulous. I did call once during early voting and when I found out that she had voted I asked who she had voted for. She coyly said, "who did you want me to vote for?" I said, "I want you to vote for who you think would be the best at leading our country" in a very sarcastic, humorous way. Again she said, "who do you think I voted for?" to which I said, "Obama".
She whispered into the phone that she had in fact voted for Obama, but that if anyone at the office found out she might be fired. She said this half jokingly and half seriously. I asked her what changed her mind from a lifetime of republican voting to vote for a young, black, democrat. I rattled off a list of issues that have been batted about during the campaign, but she said that there was only one reason that she voted for Obama. She believes that if elected president both Obama and McCain will not live through the first term and that Palin is too much of an idiot to be trusted with such a high-stakes position. Thank you Palin.

This morning as I was driving to work and while I listened to all of the coverage of the post-election news I cried again. My tears were first from a sense of profound and overwhelming happiness that what I think is greatest about our country was illustrated by Obama's election. My tears were secondly from the dark, seizing fear that tightened the pit of my stomach. It was a wave of fear so profound that I almost had to pull over from the nausea. I am deathly afraid that some crazed hick from the sticks is going to harm Obama because of residual racist ideologies that are still rampant in places like rural Texas. I am not usually so religious, but lack the vocabulary to honor the spirits of the world so, I will use popular vernacular; please God, look over Obama and let him succeed where others have failed. Please bring the United States out of the downward spiral of hubris. Wishing you the best 4 years ever....Mel

Ocassional Saturdays

Well Friday night I stayed up late with my sister and watched a movie that we picked up for Hollywood Video. It was P.S. I Love You with hot ass Gerard Butler. I cried throughout the whole thing. That movie is phenominal (even though I can't stand Hillary Swanks teeth). It makes me want to go to Ireland. I watched the DVD features and found out that the author is the most gorgeous little Irish girl who wrote the book that inspired the film at 21!!! That's right, 21. I guess I am not ever gonna be inspired enough to have something published. Good for her though.

I really shouldn't have stayed up late because I had to promote team in training and the leukemia and lymphoma society in New Braunfels early the next morning at the Wurster 5 miler. I was up at 4:45 and we were there by 6:15 a.m. I really wish I had known how close Landa Park was to my house because I could have gotten a few extra minutes of sleep in. The event was interesting. I have come to the conclusion that middle to late-aged white men really scare me and they were everywhere at this event. The are all really dorky because they have been domesticated, but if you look into their eyes, I mean really look in their eyes, there is a sick desperation. The kind of desperation that elicits sick, dark, thoughts usually about the nearest pretty young thing. But it was not a middle aged white man that would hit on me Saturday morning. It was a middle aged Hispanic man who was pushing 50 that came up to me and dropped lines like, "well if you ever need a running partner..." and "like I said, I would really like to hear from you some time..." and "I really hope to see you around...". I really try to be polite when things like that happen, I mean, I guess that those things are supposed to happen in that way, but the guy was so far from my type that conversely you would think that I would be the farthest from his type too. But alas I was not. All I could do was politely ignore his attempts and pack up all of my shit as quickly as possible to make a quick dash to my car and be gone from the most awkward situation I had been in in a while.

But later in the afternoon made up for the weirdness of the morning. I went and met up with my old buddy MC and had a juicy cheese burger from Chester's Hamburgers. It was the most delicious "bad" food I had had in a while, but after the morning I had I think I deserved it. MC and I caught up on our lives since it had been several months since we had last chatted and all I could think in my mind was thank god I have friends who are as busy as I am and who do not get pissy or offended if I can't sit on the phone and chat with them for three hours a day every day of the week. Most of my friends are perfectly happy meeting up quarterly, sharing what has transpired in our lives, enjoying a few beers and then going our separate ways until the next time we get a chance to see each other. Being a high school teacher is exhausting sometimes when you have students saying day in and day out that what is going on with their friends is life altering and something they will never get over and that they will be friends forever. Friends are situational, they come and go. Be as good a friend as you can and they will be good to you in turn. When your lives no longer need each other, move on knowing that there will be others to replace them.

After the juicy burger we headed to Charlie Brown's, a dive bar off of Starcrest and had one drink before we left. It is only a matter of time when reading the obsenities on the bar is no longer interesting and you begin looking for a way out. If we had stayed any longer we would have died of boredom. So we made our way down to another dive bar called Fiasco's and there we found the greatest rock cover band in the world getting no love from the red neck sports fans that were patroning the bar. But we sought to change that as quickly as we realized how good these guys were. My sis Brit came along and we hooted, hollered, and clapped after each of the sets. They kept getting better and better, and so did the entertainment. Oh, yes. There is one in every town. There is a woman, I don't know her name, but I have seen her in almost every bar in town that I have ever been in. Mind you, I go out MAYBE once a semester and it is usually to different places every time, so this chick gets around. Last night she was wearing a shortsleeved, turtle neck, UT sweater that barely covered her incredibly large breasts, a belly button ring that sparkled in the neon lights, jeans that were accentuated by the rinestone studded country and western belt that she wore, and the entire outfit was complemented by the white boots she was wearing on her feet. She was at least 40, but hot. Her stomach was a washboard and she had the ass of a teenager and she was not afraid to shake it on the dance floor. The lap dances abounded. Every man who had the balls to go up to her got one, even the drummer of the band and I almost sent my bud MC out to get one too until I noticed her one, fatal flaw--meth mouth. That is right. She had blackened and missing teeth. She was the poster child to the old locker room joke that if you put a bag over her head you could do her. I just feel bad that she didn't find herself that rich husband whom she could be the trophy wife for before she became the sad, old hag in the bar. Don't turn out like her! Wishing you the best year ever.....Mel

Tired of the Election Hooplah

I really am tired of hearing about the election. I have already voted and in my mind the election is over already. The republicans need to just shut up and concede because their arguments are getting desperate and silly.

I raised some more money for LLS this week and tomorrow I will be going to spread the word about TNT at a 5 miler in New Braunfel. I am going to car pool with another TNT participate whom I don't know. It aught to be interesting. Or excrutiating. Who knows. I should have read the requirements before I signed up for this thing. I thought is was here in town, but now I have to drive to BFE at 5:30 in the morning and I REALLY like sleeping in.

Tonight I am staying in with my sister. The Halloween outfit I bought a year ago has yet to be seen outside of my bedroom. Oh, well. I just don't enjoy the get dressed up, drink till ya puke, party all night long thing anymore and if I'm not gonna do that, I would rather sit and watch movies, have some good food, and drink at my house. That way I don't get a DUI and get fired. Ugh! Getting older sucks sometimes.

School is going alright. I just feel sometimes that in order to get the kids' attention I have to stand on my head and juggle. They don't even stop talking when I am giving instructions. That is why my last two class periods didn't have a 'cultural event' today. They didn't hear me announce that they could have one and therefore, didn't have one. Oh well! I bet they pay attention next time.....wishing you the best year ever.....Mel!

Fundamental Weirdos

Why must the fundamentalist christians insist on infringing on my rights to the separation of church and state? I let them do their thing, they should let me do my thing. Colorado has gotten the personhood act on the ballot in the Nov 4th election. This is a movement led by a 22 year old fundamental christian to get her belief that personhood begins at conception into law. I am sorry, but the little fertilized eggs that are discarded after an invitro fertilization procedure are NOT humans. Not until you have all of your parts, and maybe not even until birth, should you be given the rights that born persons get. I don't want to have some chick who is 2 weeks pregnant chilling in the high occupancy vehicle lane beating me to work because her fetus is considered a human. This is just another backdoor attempt at reversing Roe v. Wade. I am sorry, but if I accidentally get pregnant, am raped and get pregnant, or am at risk of having a baby with severe deformities, I have the RIGHT to end the pregnancy, kill the baby, however you want to put it and no fundamentalist weirdo can stop me!! Wishing you the best year ever....Mel

Dreaming

Well it's been a long time since I have had a chance to write so I'll get right down to it. I am totally slacking on my jogging since the weather got colder. I have been getting up at a later hour and spending time by myself drinking coffee and writing to start off my day and then I get dressed and head off to work. In the afternoon I am trying to get home at a decent hour instead of 7 or 8 pm, but I still don't feel motivated or rested enough to go work out in the evenings either. It must be because it is my time of the month. The 1/2 marathon is 2 weeks away. I still have to raise $1000 otherwise it will come out of my account. Well, I shoulda gotten out there a bit more. I still had a good time though. And I did something completely outside of my usual character. Another way that I am being outside my box is by venturing out to do things alone. I am energized by the outside world, people, things, and activities. I thrive off of interpersonal interaction, but lately I have felt lost and believe I need to be by myself to think things out. My inner introvert is awakening. I am going to go camping all by my self in a few weeks. I am going to take my tent and provisions and hike to a primitive camping spot. I am going to pack my lounge chair, book, notebook, hat, sunglasses, and ice chest, hike 6 miles to the summit of Enchanted Rock, and spend the afternoon reading, writing, and meditating. I am enjoying my job, but really miss traveling. I need to find a way to do what I do in an exotic location. Or at least have a plan to visit one in the summer. I am hoping to go to the BVIs this summer. The only problem is that I want to go to LA during Christmas break and don't think I have enough cash for what I owe to LLS, LA trip, and BVI trip. Maybe I should get a second job....wishing you the best year ever....Mel

Back to School

Well, the first two weeks of school were very interesting. My boss told me and my coteacher that we had to be tough, our program had to dispel the reputation that we were a blow off. And so, DDV and I set out to make it just that. The first week, at least 10 kids wanted to drop the class and the others were scared shitless. And that is when we started to hear the passive aggressive shit storm. 'You are being too tough, you need to have the kids warm up to you, you are keeping them too busy'--which was as far from the truth as one could get. So, we were forced to chill out and make it easier for the students the first week. But DDV and I refuse to let up for the rest of the year. These kids need to be doing all the things that we ask them to, otherwise they will not get into college. As for my sophomores, they are a little rougher around the edges when it comes to discipline. A lot of my students were 'placed' in my class by well-meaning counselors but the reality is that you have to be accepted into my program and agree to the rigorous schedule that it requires and some of the students in there will not make it. Also, the teacher they had last year gave up on them during the first month of school. It was not her fault, she just didn't want to be an elective teacher. She wanted to have a set curriculum were she knew exactly what she was doing on such in such day from year to year. The elective class I teach is much more fluid since our goal is to get the kids into a good college and the ways to do that change over the years. My azizam and I have talked less than we normally do since he is working two jobs and going to school and I am through with my summer hiatus and back in class as well. It sucks, but will be fine. The marathon training is going great. I am still working out in the mornings. Other than that, nothing could be better. Great job, going to buy a house this summer, great friends, etc. Wishing you the best year ever.....Mel

Busy Week

My nights and days were all turned upside down while my azizam was here. We were up all night and down all day but with the start of the new school year, I have to be down all night and up all day. I moved my training to the morning, so I get up at 5, have my stuff packed and ready to go the night before and head off to the gym. 3 things are great about that 1. I get my workout over with in the a.m. and don't have to do it after and exhausting day 2. I beat hellacious morning traffic 3. The gym that I go to now is so posh it has all the things I need: shampoo, conditioner, soap, razors, shaving cream, blow dryers, flat irons, q-tips! The list goes on. I am really excited and nervous to meet my new students. I hope they are up to the challenge because I have a lot of hopes and dreams for their year. It aughta be a blast, especially since I am co-teaching with my friend DDV. I miss azizam terribly. Trying to avoid all the sappy movies on TV. Wishing you the best year ever....Mel!

Some People!

Some people just do NOT know how to take care of their children. Yes I am single, no I do not have any kids, but I have seen many children. Enough to know the difference between well behaved and ill behaved ones. Last night after knocking out the first 6 weeks of Senior lesson plans with DDV I was invited by her and her husband to visit an old friend that I met through them. We drove for an hour to Timbuktu and finally arrived at her very quaint 3 bedroom house that had stunning hardwood floors and a huge yard. The sun was setting, the cicadas were singing, and the children were screaming. I knew that I was going to visit a bunch of couples and that was ok since I have a significant other too, but what I was not prepared for were two obnoxious boys under the age of 6 having free range of the house. They fought, they cried, they stood on the new couch with dog shitted shoes, they ran into walls and doors because it seemed fun, they grabbed food off of other adults' plates, they bumped into my plate spilling food down the front of my shirt. All of this took place while their exasperated parents explained that they don't discipline the children because they want them to explore the world around them!!! Fuck that! I and about 7 other people had a horribly irritating experience while these two shit heads got to 'explore themselves.' This is the same mentality that my uncle has and it is just bull shit. What happens is they grow up without a sense of socialization and an unmerited sense of entitlement. They will have no work ethic or obligation to the community that they are a part of and will become an annoying drain on some teachers' years. If you have kids, make sure that they behave properly in front of company. Otherwise, don't bring them to a non-kid event just because you are too cheap to find a babysitter. You should have thought long and hard about how your life was going to be OVER the minute you had them BEFORE you had them. That is why I don't have them. Wishing you the best year ever...Mel

Visitor

My azizam came to visit me for four wonderful days. I hate that he had to move to LA and that I can't move with him. I hope that he is successful in his endeavours and that one day we can have a normal, non long-distance relationship again. He is the perfect guy for me. His pillow talk is amazing. All of the things that a partner is supposed to be, he is. We spent a lot of time at my home, but did make it down to CC to see my parents (meaning my mom and step day). My dad came back from Africa during the past week and came up to SA to meet his mom, my grandma, to unload some things from a storage shed that she wishes to move back into her home. I felt bad that I was unable to spend time with him because my azizam was here and I was fundraising for my 1/2 marathon, but he needs to be better at making PLANS. I can't just drop everything for him when he shows up unannounced and unexpectedly. My sister thinks that I am being a bitch for not making my azizam going to dinner with him and my grandma while they were in town, but they are backwoods hillbillies when it comes to 'who you should and should not date' and since my azizam is not the white, upper middle class, banker that they would want me to be with, I refused the invitation. I will not put my love through that. It was hard to say goodbye to him, but with plans for visiting him in LA in November, the goodbye was softened because it was not forever. I was a total slacker when it came to my training this week because he was here, but I will be back out there tomorrow, running and sweating. My bday is in July, but I had a dinner party celebration on the 10th of August because it was after payday and my baby was in town and I wanted all of my friends to meet him. It was a good turn out. I had about 20 people show up. In lieu of gifts, they donated to my marathon fundraiser so I have met my 25% goal. hopefully I can finish raising the whole amount before November. I certainly don't want to have to pay for the remainder of it out of my pocket. I have already donated almost $200 myself. School starts up again next week and I plan to meet with DDV to make some lesson plans. It should be sweet to be busy again. A summer without a trip to some exotic location is too long. Wishing you the best year ever, Mel.

Initial Blog

Wow! I can't believe that I am sharing my life with the world! I mean, I am not a very private person--I tell everyone I meet everything--but that is usually my choice. It is so weird to imagine that people I don't know and will never meet will see this and gain something from it. (It is a good thing that I have never been the controling type) But, it is also a way for my people to stay up to date with what is going on in my life. The reason that I titled my blog 'The Best Year Ever!' is because that is exactly what this is. I have a great life, great boyfriend, great friends, great job and I need to share my experiences to rub it in the faces of all those who have shitty lives. JUST KIDDING. Hopefully, those who are where I was can have hope that things will get better if they believe that they will. And how do we believe things will get better? By reading the stories of those whose lives have gotten better; whether it is a fairy tale, movie, novel, or autobiography. Well, I will get back at ya with what is going on in my life shortly. Wishing you the best year ever....Mel