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Monday, March 30th, 2009
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8:13 pm - happenings
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i seem to only get around to posting on here a few times a year. since that seems to be the case, i figure that i should probably post about this, as it's the most newsworthy thing that's happened in quite some time.
i'm getting married! whoa! i said it. i mean, i wrote it. i've been saying it a bunch over the past week, but that's the first time i wrote it. typed it. so here's how it all happened, since i know all...two of you out there are just dying to know.
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| Wednesday, November 5th, 2008
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6:10 pm - talking politics with 9 year olds
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Most of you probably know that I teach fourth grade, and one of the greatest things about being a teacher is listening to all the ridiculous things they say on a daily basis.
So yesterday, we started talking about the election. My students have been very vocal about who they want to win. When one person randomly says "GoBama!" about three or four will literally stand up, throw their fist in the air, and scream "Yeah!". So it was no surprise when they wanted to voice their opinions yesterday about who they are planning on voting for. And yes, all of them said "Well I'm voting for _______ because...." as if they were literally going to the polls that afternoon to cast their vote.
Here are a few gems that came out of the conversation:
"I'm voting for Obama because he's no on 8 and McCain is yes on 8...........I have two aunties!" --K
"I'm voting for McCain because he's going to end the war in Iraq" ... "Oh and, I heard a good reason not to vote for Obama....because he might get assassinated!" --B
"But McCain is probably going to die of natural causes!" --M
"Wait, what happens it Obama and Palin both get assassinated? What happens then?!" --B
"I'm not voting for McCain because I don't like old people" --K
"I'm voting for Obama because when he speaks, I can tell he really means what he says. He really means it." --R
"I think it's time for an African American president!" --K
And my personal favorite:
"I I I'm Voting for....Obama.....because uh uh uh he's for adortion and uh McCain is against uhh adortion" --M2 ("Umm, actually, I think the issue you're talking about is ABORTION, but we're not going to have a conversation about that right now..." --me) [2 minutes later]: "Umm, do you want me to tell you what abortion is?" --M2 ("Ummm no that's ok....")
So there you have it, 4th grade political wisdom.
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| Sunday, July 20th, 2008
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1:09 pm
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My summer is more than halfway over, and I've not written down a single thing about it. It's not too surprising, as I never update this thing. But I feel like I need to make a little effort in the lj world, so here goes.
In no particular order, here's how I've been filling up my summer days:
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| Monday, March 24th, 2008
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6:22 pm - Summer 07: Adventures in Europe
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I realize it's about 6 months late, but if I don't get this out now, it's probably never going to happen. It's the long awaited, much anticipated, Europe blog. Here it is, in all of it's long winded, verbose, glory.
Fellow Europe adventurers
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| Monday, October 8th, 2007
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5:17 pm - salt water, automobiles, and accordians
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It's been three months since I last posted anything to this journal. I told myself a while back that I'd post this really long and awesome account of my trip to Europe over the summer, but I have yet to get around to doing that. No surprise there.
Instead, I decided to make a little update on some random and somewhat recent happenings. Nothing big, just silly things I've been doing. So here goes....
Yesterday, I went sailing in the bay with Dan, Dan's business partner, Zane, and Zane's girlfriend, Ari (spelling?).
( Read more... )
Ok so moving on to something completely different.....
A couple weekends ago, Dan and I met up with my friend Jen in Berkeley for lunch and a little stroll through the city for the "How Berkeley Can You Be" festival. We weren't really sure what to expect, but we knew there'd be some great people watching opportunities. As it turned out, the coolest part about it were the Berkeley Art Cars that were on display. Here are a couple of my favorites:
( Read more... )
Ok so that's enough of that nonsense. But I'm still not done...
So a while back, I caught yet another Jason Webley show.
( Read more... )
Alright well that's finally it. I suppose there's a lot more that could be said. About work or friends or lovers or health or whatever else there may be. But I'm tired of writing now. And more importantly, it's almost time for dinner.
Adios for now, LJ world.
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| Monday, July 2nd, 2007
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6:47 pm - Sicko
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Although I really want to post updates about my trip to Europe (currently in London, leaving for Paris tomorrow morning...), I have an even better story.
A couple of weeks ago, I started having trouble breathing. I won't go into the details about the pains in my chest or my inability to take a deep and refreshing breath of air, but I will tell you about my trip to visit a doctor at Kaiser, as well as an identical trip to the doctor I took while here in London earlier today, not even a week later.
USA:
I had been having trouble breathing for about a week and a half, and since I was about to hop on a plane bound for Europe, I thought I might as well visit a doctor (I knew it wasn't life threatening, because the same thing had happened two years prior, and magically went away after 2 weeks). So I called up Kaiser on the morning of the 26th and talked to an advice nurse about my issues. She was able to schedule me an appointment for that afternoon (wow! score points for Kaiser, but that's about all the points they will get). A nurse took my blood pressure and measured my oxygen intake. All was normal, though she made note of the fact that my heart rate was really high. Next, I talked with the doctor, and she seemed just as puzzled as myself about what kinds of issues I've been having. She, as well as the advice nurse said it could possibly be asthma (a very mild form), anxiety, or something else completely. She ordered a chest x-ray, which is more than I can say they did for me when this same thing happened to me two years ago. She told me someone would get back to me with the results "sometime". She also wanted me to do some kind of extensive breathing test thing but she couldn't schedule me for an appointment before I left for Europe. So instead, she prescribed me some xanax and said, "well if it's anxiety, then this will make your symptoms go away almost immediately". Otherwise, come back later and we can do that breathing test when you return from Europe (yeah but the problem is, it will probably go away on it's own before then, or at least I'd hoped). Well, the xanax didn't help at all, and a week later, I'm still not able to breathe.....
Well, since my school district sucks and doesn't pay for medical, I have a cheap Kaiser plan at about $100 a month. So.....
Total costs at Kaiser:
$60 copay (for the doctor visit)
$40 for the x-ray
$10 for the xanax
_____
$110 (plus, I will likely be billed later for even more, which is what happened the last time I went in for something very minor)
Europe
I'd been continuing to have the same breathing issues, only they got really worse this morning, to the point where I was having such a hard time breathing, that I was getting light headed and felt like I was going to faint because I couldn't get enough oxygen. I had to ditch my afternoon plans, and instead headed to the nearest pharmacy to ask some questions. The pharmacist was so nice, and she directed me to a nearby walk in clinic. I walked down the street and ended up finding a hospital. The lady at reception said I should go to the emergency room if I was having breathing issues, so I walked next door.
I told them the problem, and they asked for my name and birthdate. I sat down to wait. They actually got me in before others, and I only waited 30 minutes. I talked to two nurses, who, like Kaiser, took my blood pressure and measured my oxygen intake. Then the nurse did an ECG to monitor my heart, because she was actually concerned about my continued high heart rate. I then talked to a doctor, who wanted to do a chest x-ray. I told him I just had one done a few days ago in the U.S., and he asked, "well what were the results? was everything ok?" I said I didn't know, because Kaiser still hadn't called me. He had me do another, and said he would check the results and get back to me within 10 minutes. Sure enough, he did, and he said everytning looked fine, and that he wouldn't be concerned if I continued with my travels. He gave me some advice about the breathing, but said as soon as I return to the states, I need to request a 24 hour heart monitoring thing and that I should talk to a cardiologist. This is the first time a doctor has ever said anything besides "oh you'll be fine, it will go away" or something to that effect.
Total costs at emergency room in London:
£0copay
£0x-ray
£0anything
____
£0 for, not only the exact same service Kaiser provided, but an actual recommendation for what I should do to help with this medical problem.
_________________________
I couldn't help but think of Michael Moore's new flick. In addition to this experience, I've dealt with Kaiser's bullshit in other ways too. I know in the past, Michael Moore has gotten a lot of shit for the movies he's made, claims that he doesn't know what he's talking about or that he makes things up and twists the facts. Well boys and girls, my experience today shows that his new flick is spot on in so many ways. Not to mention, I totally want to move to Europe now.
K times up on the internet. Adios!
current mood: ughhh
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| Wednesday, June 20th, 2007
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9:19 pm - money
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I've been spending money like crazy lately. Aside from the whole trip to Europe thing....I recently bought a new camera, as well as a new mp3 player. It's my first mp3 player, and I really hope I made the right decision in not buying an Ipod.
Here's a nerdy picture of me with my new toys. Well you'll kind of have to imagine the new camera, because it was kind of busy taking the picture.
You can also see my new hair color in that picture as well--another thing I spent money on recently. Actually what was pretty sweet was that I got it done last week, but my hairdresser wasn't pleased with the original color and could tell that I wasn't too pleased either. She offered to redo the bangs for free today, but ended up redoing pretty much the whole thing as well as trimming it up a bit, all for free. I felt bad that I hadn't brought any cash with me to tip her, but I suppose she can expect an extra big tip from me the next time I go in for a haircut.
And what else have I been spending money on? Oh, just health insurance expenses. I watched Michael Moore's new film last night, Sicko, and it just made me even more aware of how much my current health plan sucks. I just got a bill for almost $400 from some simple bloodwork that was done a few months ago that I had no idea I'd be getting charged for. I think I was actually doing better that year when I didn't have health insurance. Now that I have it, I not only have to pay tons of money, but I still don't feel like I can really go to the doctor about anything (I've had trouble breathing a few days ago, not to mention my persistent sore throat that won't go away or the flu I had two weeks ago.....I avoid the doctor's office at all costs).
And yeah, I'm a teacher who doesn't get health insurance for free. LAME.
Alright well I'm off to go play with my new toys some more. Now that I have this sweet new mp3 player, I'm going to have to actually start downloading some music.
current mood:  geeky
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| Wednesday, June 6th, 2007
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5:48 pm
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I've been meaning to post these for quite some time now. Because, you know, I only really post animal related things on here it seems. Anyway, here are a couple pictures of the puppy my little brother brought home to my parents' house not too long ago. They weren't too happy about it, but they couldn't help but admire his cuteness. He's quite a bit bigger now, but still, here they are....this is Buddy (clever name, eh?)
Buddy's favorite thing in the whole world is jumping up at you and then promptly lying down on his back at your feet.
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| Sunday, May 27th, 2007
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5:01 pm - hello internet
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Ahhh livejournal. How I never post on you anymore. I didn't even post about the most recent Jason Webley show I went to, or how great the food was at the Whole Earth Festival, or about how how bad my allergies have been or how much my kids are driving me nuts with only a month left of the school year.
But now I'm here to bitch and complain about the parking ticket I got, after being late to the meter by only about 5 minutes, if that. My first parking ticket since many many years ago in Davis, where I'd received more than a few. I guess what pissed me off the most about it was that the reason I was 5 minutes late was because I was getting a haircut that took slightly longer than expected, and because I'd run out of change in my wallet to add to the meter before I went in.
But since I brought up the subject, I might also add that I got a new haircut yesterday. Finally, after a month of complaints about the last haircut I got, because it was oh so bad. The way it grew out made for this awful back part that was longer and didn't blend in right with the front and sides. So I decided to go for a drastically new cut, and got short bangs (well, short for me anyway), and a much shorter cut all around. I know this post is worthless without pictures. Too bad. My camera is functional, but my usb cable is so messed up that it will only work with my school computer. So no pictures for you, lj world.
.................
I also have this urge to get rid of a lot of my possessions. Not just because it will be easier to put things in storage this summer, which I may do if I can swing it right (so I won't have to pay rent while in Europe), but also because I feel like I have too much stuff I don't use. I'm sure by comparison I have way fewer things than many, but I still feel like a lot of the random things in my room get absolutely no use. If I can get my act together and stop being so damn lazy all the time, I'm sure I could craigslist a lot of these things and make a few extra bucks for my upcoming trip. The key obstacle being the stop being so damn lazy part. We shall see.
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| Wednesday, April 11th, 2007
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6:43 pm - vacation
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Most recent news: I bought a plane ticket to Europe. Flying into London on June 28th and out of Amsterdam on July 25th. Total days? 27
22 of those days will be spent doing this
Sadly, Scotland just wasn't in the budget. But I should be able to afford a month in europe every other summer or so, if i stick to my usual routine of not spending very much money on a regular basis. So perhaps next time.
Now here's hoping my passport arrives in time.
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In other, unrelated news, my brother's dog ate my shoes (my expensive as all hell diesel shoes, that is). And now I'm in the market for some new ones.
And I've been trying this whole, be healthier and eat better thing. It's worked for the past few weeks. I've been making most of my meals and eating salads nearly every day, lots of fruits and veggies. But all that went to shit when I went to davis for a few days during my spring break and proceeded to eat out for many meals. It's weird how my body can already feel a difference now that i've cut out a lot of unneeded stuff from my diet and am now eating more regularly sized portions.
Anywho, I'm still on spring break until this sunday. Still enjoying the single life. But I have a couple of dates lined up in the coming week or so. What? Dates? Definitely weird. But I'm looking forward to them nonetheless. Not that I want anything serious to come of them, no way. But....at least it'll be nice to meet some new faces.
And allergy season has hit me all at once. Thank you, Davis, for getting me off to a great start of a sore throat, sneezing, and itchy eyes this year. I look forward to more misery in the coming weeks.
current mood:  excited
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| Thursday, March 1st, 2007
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8:50 pm - shaky
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My apartment started shaking a few minutes ago. Apparently there was an earthquake just a couple miles from here.
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| Tuesday, February 20th, 2007
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8:12 pm - inquiry
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It seems as if I've been going to SF an awful lot lately. Took my kids to The Exploratorium earlier today. I really enjoyed it, mostly because I just wandered around with my coworkers as all of our parents ran around trying to keep up with all the groups of kids. The overpriced fake cheese nachos should have been better, but they weren't.
I almost forgot to mention, I caught a common cold while I was there. So cute!
I also made it over to the city this past weekend, out dancing at some place called The Mojito Lounge. I was more than a little disappointed, however, when I found out that they were out of mojitos by the time we arrived. Who runs out of mojitos at a place called the mojito lounge?! pshh
But I did get in my fair share of dancing to this great cuban band. It was a nice change from the usual dj sets at clubs. Scott was there to tear it up on the dance floor with me. My usual dancing partner in crime, though I really ought to find more. Speaking of which, I was also in SF a couple weekends ago at some other club, dancing the night away. Stayed at Chris' awesome apartment for the evening, and ate dinner at the lovely thai restaurant across the street. Oh, and we only had to walk about 5 feet outside his front door to arrive at the club! What a deal! I really do love the city, I just wish BART would run all night. As it stands, I've got to make an allnighter out of it every time I head there.
.......
Today I signed up to be a part of this focus group for teachers. They wanted 1st and 4th grade teachers to discuss issues related to curriculum and instruction. It's only 2 hours, they serve refreshments, and they are going to pay me $100 just for going, and an extra $20 just for bringing in a few teacher manuals and test prep items to use as discussion points. $120 just for ranting about things I like and dislike? Sweet!
To qualify for the focus group, I had to do a phone interview first. The woman on the phone had to make sure I met their quota requirements for the people participating in the study. (i.e. work in a particular type of school district, have a particular amount of teaching years under my belt, have a particular population of students, etc.). Then she says, "Oh I'm supposed to ask you one more thing: If you could sit down with any historically famous person and talk to them about anything, who would it be and what you would talk about?"
Hmm! That one caught me off guard. I thought for a moment, and although many historically interesting people were swirling around my mind (Darwin, I'd just written a powerpoint presentation about his famous finches for my kiddies earlier today...Plato/Socrates...), I instantly thought, Carl Jung! I don't think she knew who I was talking about. I told her I'd like to discuss some of his theories of consciousness with him. The human mind has been on my mind a lot lately. She told me she didn't know how to spell consciousness. I laughed, and she tried to quote me directly. She kept saying, "Ok is that what you said about him?" "What?" "No what were you saying?" Then she confessed that asking this question of potential focus group participants is somehow supposed to be an indicator of how willing one would be in answering totally random questions off the top of their heads during a focus group, so as to gather the best possible information from everyone. Hmm...well if conciseness is what you were looking for, then count me out! She assured me my response was superb and that I would make a great candidate for their research. But she'd technically already given me the o.k.
...
Well....I'm sad that I called my spring break to chicago trip off. I've been convinced that the weather is going to be no good that first week of april. chicago is having some record cold days right now and i'm not about to go spend my spring break in that freezing chilliness. so, where to now?
And Dan returned from his big business trip so it was good to catch up and hang out, even if he was too tired to dance with me and scott.
(new and improved with the added boredom bonus of links)
current mood: accomplished
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| Tuesday, January 30th, 2007
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9:24 pm - somewhat. something.
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it's been almost three months since my last post, and even now i'm not sure i feel much of a desire to add anything to this journal. things have been going well enough, smoothly enough. just quite right. the ins and outs of my life.
the negatives:
-still don't have health insurance. what? you think all teachers get health benefits? pshh. i'm working on it, so don't lecture me
-not sleeping enough. but there's nothing new there i suppose
-field trip planning is a pain. can you believe amtrak is turning down 100 definite tickets for the 'potential' of commuter passengers? last year the train was hardly full even with all three of our classes! i really could rant for about 5 pages on this, but i won't, for my own sanity.
-my brother got a new puppy. that should be a positive, except i still haven't been to town to see him, and he's likely going to be all grown up by the time i do! the puppy, not the brother, that is.
the positives:
+been working out a lot more lately, with or without the coworker
+went out dancing the other day, plan to do so a lot more often
+had an awesome assembly at my school the other day. chinese acrobats are absolutely amazing!
+Lost starts up again next week (!!!)
+meeting new people, and getting back in touch with old ones
in other news:
my coworker (i'm not sure why i always refer to her as this. i guess because even though we're friends, we were 'coworkers' first) convinced me to get a pedicure with her the other day. i have never had a pedicure (or manicure for that matter) in my life. i honestly like painting my own toes and think i do a damn fine job of it too. but she convinced me, with talk of all that wonderful foot rubbing and scrubbing and massaging. but all i really felt the whole time was prodding and a general feeling of discomfort. she also rubbed one of my feet about 10 times longer and more intensely than the other. i left feeling all uneven and awkward. not to mention, the paint job wasn't all that great either. it's definitely going to take a lot more convincing for me to ever think about getting a pedicure again.
in other (video game related) news: i bought some more wiimote batteries and plan on spending a lot of time zeldaing over the next few weeks.
mmm....that's all for now.
current mood: ehh
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| Saturday, November 4th, 2006
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10:58 pm
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well i've been out of a computer for a few weeks now. my hard drive decided to die on me, and although i could have just gotten another, i decided it was time for a new computer. so here's what i ordered from dell.com
AMD Athlon™ 64 X2 Dual-Core 3800+
Genuine Windows® XP Media Center Edition 2005
1GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz- 2DIMMs
Dell USB Keyboard and Dell 2-button Scroll Mouse
20 inch E207WFP Digital Flat Panel
256MB NVIDIA Geforce 7300LE TurboCache
160GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM) w/DataBurst Cache™
13 in 1 Media Card Reader
Integrated 10/100 Ethernet
56K PCI Data Fax Modem
Adobe® Acrobat® Reader 7.0
Dual Drives: 16x DVD-ROM Drive + 16x DVD+/-RW
Integrated 7.1 Channel Audio
Office Productivity Software (Pre-Installed) No productivity suite- Includes Microsoft Works 8. DOES NOT INCLUDE MS WORD
No Security Subscription
1Yr Ltd Warranty and At-Home Service
6 Months of America Online Membership Included
Windows Vista™ Capable
No preinstalled software
$750 plus tax came to about $830. not bad. i'll be back to my usual internetting self in just under a week.
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| Tuesday, September 26th, 2006
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9:10 pm - mid20s, eek!
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was my birthday on sunday. first time in many years i didn't end up in tears by the end of it. a step in the right direction, i suppose. i spent the saturday evening beforehand partying at danny and jenns place with old friends, old acquaintances, and some new faces too. was good to see davis again. stuffed myself with ding how that night, mmmmmm. drank more vodka that i had in quite a while, but i still didn't overdo it, thankfully. and although all 10 of us or so that stayed the night there honestly couldn't remember big chunks of the evening, i was hardly hungover at all the next morning after waking up at a very early 930am. so that was nice. the next day, i hung around at my parents house and waited for my family to get home from their trip to tahoe for the weekend. and when they got back in the early afternoon they were tired and didn't even want to go out to dinner with me for my birthday. i didn't get so much as a card from any of them. but, i suppose i wasn't really expecting anything either. wouldn't want to break tradition now, would we? i thought, after the fact, that it would have been nice to ask for something like an mp3 player, until dan reminded me that they had said they'd get me one of those a couple years ago for christmas and never actually followed through with it.
but that doesn't really matter anyway, because the only thing i really like to do for birthdays is go out to a nice dinner and relax. so that's what i did. when i first moved to walnut creek, i walked by this restaurant and was instantly drawn to a menu item i saw featured on a sign. "plantain crusted halibut". i promised myself i'd go there one day and try it, and sunday was the night. so dan and i headed to Havana in downtown walnut creek and had an amazingly good dinner. the pinneapple shrimp salad (with yummy pinneapple dressing) was totally worth the $7. next time i'm going back for the twice fried plantain pinneapple ceviche and a mango mojito. man my mouth is watering just thinking about it.
interestingly enough, today in school, a parent of a student who's not in my class (but who is in the math class I teach) came up to me and said "hey you were at havana the other day". turns out, she was sitting RIGHT next to me with two other women. i remember them, because they ordered the same thing as me. she was super friendly and we talked about what awesome food they had. she was there for her birthday too. as we were having this conversation though, i couldn't help but wonder if i had said anything unteacherly or in any way inappropriate. i have a terrible memory so i called dan and asked. he said he's pretty sure we kept the conversation pretty pc, but he did say i was talking about one kid who was being very sneaky. and yes, i said her name, but thankfully i didn't fully go on about how much she annoys me and drives me crazy. not that i'm not allowed to have those thoughts, but one must maintain a somewhat professional persona with regards to student confidentiality issues, etc. i can only hope that she was too wrapped up in her own conversation to take notice about anything bad i might have said about any of my kids.
and now, it's just about bedtime. goodnight all.
current mood: productive
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| Wednesday, August 23rd, 2006
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6:08 pm - almost....
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| Tuesday, August 8th, 2006
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1:42 pm - summer is coming to an end : (
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For as much free time I've had this summer, you'd think I'd get around to updating this more often than I have.
( adventures in SLO )
Also, almost immediately after returning from that place, I headed up to Davis/Sac to hang out with folks. I was actually quite pleased with the fact that it wasn't a pointless boring adventure like Davis usually tends to be (sprinkled with some good eatin' of course). Instead, I saw Christina (if only briefly) who was in town from Chicago at Sophia's dollar drink night, had sushi with Katie (by the way, if you're hungry in Davis between the hours of 4 and 5pm, you just might be out of luck), played the new apples to apples with expansion pack at Danny and Jenn's place with the usual homies, went to my first college house party in AGES and saw mostly people I didn't know, a few familiar faces, some old friends, some not, and met a lot of interesting people too, or maybe just a few, won a texas holdem tournament yet again (just $20, as usual, but this was like my 5th time in a row, and I hardly ever play), played a lot of Zelda Wind Waker (I know, I know), ate at just about every one of my favorite Davis restaurants, chatted it up with old friends (thanks for the CD Gonzalo, but I still want my Jonah CD back!), saw the new Turtle House (what's with the sinks in all the rooms? very odd), but missed the show, etc. etc. etc.
I returned much later than I had anticipated, due to the recent haunting of my current apartment. But no worries, I am moving out of here in a couple of weeks, and until then, I'm going to kill time to by heading down to the LA area to visit friends and hopefully make it to Disneyland. Right now, I've got Magic Mountain on the agenda, but I'd love to find a way to sqeeze Disneyland in there at some point too. We shall see!
p.s., sorry no pictures, but Eric has them all from SLO, and I couldn't seem to get the files open, and he has since deleted his myspace blog which contained a few. I'll try and post em later.
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| Saturday, July 15th, 2006
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7:11 pm - 4 days later...
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Update
I found "Pudding's" owners! Apparently their neighbor spotted one of the fliers I put up, and then showed it to them. They called me up a bit ago, and already she's gone! When they came to the door and tried to grab her, she was totally freaked out and wouldn't go to them, only to me. Finally they were able to grab her, and then they just rushed her off to the car! They forked over $7 for the food I bought her (course I spent well over $40 in food/supplies/efforts to find her, but whatever, happily done). They did say that one of them works downtown and she often follows them all the way to work (they walk from their house, accross the park where I found her, to work), so I guess it's no surprise that she was wandering around the downtown area.
Well anyway, I totally miss her now. Glad my efforts paid off and that she is back with her rightful owners, but still....I'm a little sad.
current mood:  relieved
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| Thursday, July 13th, 2006
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1:52 pm - kitty dilemma
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I was walking to my car late Tuesday evening with a friend when we decided to wander around Civic Park in downtown Walnut Creek. Suddenly, an adorable kitty (very old kitten/young adult?) came running up to us and pretty much jumped into our arms. It proceeded to cuddle with us profusely and wouldn't leave us alone. It was getting late though, so we decided to head back to our cars and take off. But then the kitty followed us, and kept following us. It wasn't doing the "run up to us then skiddishly run away thing" either, I mean, it kept following steadily along side of us, pausing to meow frantically every so often. Now, Civic Park is right in the middle of downtown, surrounded by very busy streets, and I have no idea where this cat might have come from. It had no collar, and the nearest residential area was behind the creek that is behind the park where we found the cat.
As we kept walking, and as the cat kept following, it became more and more frantic, going up to various buildings' doors and meowing to get in. The cat seemed hopelessly lost. I can only assume that it had strayed too far away from home and was now confused, in the middle of downtown. We attempted to lead it back to the place we found it, with the hopes of it recognizing the area more, and then scampering back to its home, but to no avail. It seemed just as lost and scared as ever. So we tried to ditch it as we crossed a major street, but it frantically meowed at us and then proceeded to follow us accross a big street...then another. I decided, after it crossed the first big street, that I had a duty to take this kitty home and try and find its owner, as I felt it might very well get hit by a car, and it didn't seem to have the slightest clue where its home was.
So I got her in the car and drove up the street to my apartment. At which point, I had no idea what I'd do with this poor little kitty, given that I live in a one bedroom apartment, where I'm not allowed to have pets, not to mention the fact that I'm moving in one month with a girl that is allergic to cats. But, it wasn't my intent to keep her anyway, so I immediately took some pictures and posted a craigslist lost and found ad. I also made up a flier which I am going to get printed today and stick up around Civic Park and the closest residential areas I can find.
She is an absolute sweetheart though, and the biggest kitty cuddler I've ever met. She absolutely adores lying on her back, paws up, getting her belly rubbed. She doesn't bite or scratch or do pretty much anything except be incredibly cute. She has slept with me for the past two nights. Of course, she has no interest in either the food or litter that I got for her, and she prefers to hang out outside where she makes me nervous that I'm going to lose her and be responsible for not only taking the cat further from her rightful home, but also losing her in the process. Thankfully though, every time I've let her out, she comes back within the hour.
Anyway, I am really hoping that the owners contact me, because as much as I would love to be the new owner of this kitty, I feel like a terrible person for driving off with somebody's kitty. I assumed I was doing the right thing at the time, as it honestly seemed lost and in danger of getting hurt. But I still feel awful. Also, if the owners don't contact me, what am I supposed to do?! I can't keep this kitty (not more than a month anyway), but I'd feel terrible dropping her off at a shelter (even if it IS a no kill one, obviously). Someone suggested I just take her back to where I found her, and perhaps she'll find her way home. But, I'd feel just as awful doing that as well.
So, any suggestions? Comments as to whether or not what I did was a good or bad thing? She seems quite happy here, but I know there's probably some sad 5 year old out there crying over her missing kitty right this moment.
current mood:  hopeful
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| Sunday, May 21st, 2006
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7:49 pm - a webley weekend
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I really miss Davis. Last weekend I headed there for the Whole Earth Festival. When I was a kid, that weekend was all about the Dixon May Fair. Then one year (maybe early high school?) I discovered WEF and haven't been back to the May Fair since. Anyway, this was the first year living out of the area, but I gladly made the trek back to Davis, especially since Jason Webley was going to be playing.
So I suffered through my miserable allergies so I could stand around on the burning UC Davis quad and watch Mr. Webley. And while I loved his performance, I noticed that he did not seem quite as into it as he usually is, and though the music was good, it seemed to be lacking something. After the show, I overheard him talking about how he was feeling quite sick. It showed, but I was still happy to have attended the show.
So happy in fact, that I decided to catch him again in Oakland since I was heading back to the bay anyway. Before that, however, I headed up to Sac to hang with a friend I haven't seen in quite a while. We had some drinks, watched some awesome and not so awesome people kareoke, and in general, had a good time.
But back to Jason Webley. I caught him at 21 Grand, a venue I'd never been to before. It was a bit odd. There were chairs set up all around and there was someone selling bottled water and beer out of an ice chest. The crowd was quite small. Everyone was seated during the majority of the performance, which was a bit odd for a Webley show. Regardless, this show would be the 4th or 5th time seeing him, and it was by far the best. He played an incredibly long set. He told some awesome stories. He even pulled out his laptop and read one that he had written there called "The 11th Night" (or the 11th day? I can't remember). It was quite good. Let's see.....he played some crowd favorites, and he played Graveyard, which I requested, and I was very happy to hear it live for the first time. He also jokingly said he would play the entire soundtrack to Footloose, and then proceeded to actually play quite a bit of it, in an exceedingly good way, as few others could pull off, I'm sure. At the end of the night I bought a cd and a tshirt. A nice way to end the evening.
Well, as it turned out, the evening was somewhat ruined by drama dealing with a certain someone who can't seem to stop following me, apparently. But I'd rather not get into that in this particular place.
Regardless, the weekend was lovely in most respects. Perhaps in another week or more I'll update the lj world on the weekend that has just ended. I seem to live many facets of my life a week or more behind. Just the way things work I guess.
In other news.......Open House at my school is this Wednesday. Lots of work to do before then!
current mood:  mellow
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