Well, I am back in the country… 🙂 I will owe you all a much more detailed report, but I just wanted to say that I had a lovely time at FilKONtario. I met a lot of wonderful, smart, very talented people, and they all offered me a very warm welcome.

(If any of you are reading and have journals that I don’t know about, please send a message or post a comment with a link!)

Of course, I had an especially great time meeting and hanging out with all of Urban Tapestry! (Yes, finally met Debbie! Also, there’s a good explanation of what “Filk” is on the UT page for anyone who’s wondering…) Debbie’s got a cute picture of me and Rand that she’s going to post, and I’ll either link to it or post it myself as soon as she does that. 🙂

‘Course, now it is Monday, the first day back after a loooooong break, and I’m sure it will prove to be exhausting. Bah.

Ok, more later!

Jen reminded me. I heard on the radio this morning that Bishop Edward Head passed away. I’ve met him, and he seemed a decent sort. Very well-respected. Here’s the thing I thought was strange…probably a good three months ago, we were talking about the Bishop’s death being imminent, and beginning to prepare for it. (“We” meaning the employees of WNY Catholic.) So I thought it was strange that the radio reporter said that Bishop Head died “suddenly, following a brief illness.” I wouldn’t have called the illness brief, or his death sudden…but that’s just me, I guess.

ETA: Maybe the illness was a secret? Was I supposed to keep my mouth shut? Hmmm…

It’s a good iTunes day! 🙂

I just came in from many hours of shopping…hit EvilWalMart first thing this morning, and among my other random necessities (razor blades, eye cream, dish soap, etc.) I found an adorable pink raincoat for spring. Only $15!

Then I went and got my hair cut (just a trim), went to school to pick up my check, went to the bank, and then hit…the MALL.

I actually had a fairly productive mall outing. A pair of denim capris, which I’ve been trying to find for, um, years. A cute spring skirty-work outfit, some new tees and a cami, and a fun little top at the Gap. I didn’t even get sad that the cute denim skirt I tried on didn’t fit me.

I came in to find our apartment airing out (it’s a lovely spring day here in Buffalo…yay!) and the floors cleaned…Jen’s been busy this morning too. iTunes is going, and I heard some Jackdaw, followed by Moxy Fruvous. Thank God for Jen’s downloading frenzies…and now the Low is on! Wheeeeee!

(Yes, I’m in a good mood today. You have a problem with that?)

🙂

Hey everyone, head over to Debbie’s Blatherings and wish her a happy birthday! 🙂

This week, a couple of fun and exciting things happen…

First of all, on Thursday evening, Rand and co. will be performing live at Nietzche’s. (Details available here) This will be the first opportunity I’ve had to actually see Ookla perform live and in person! 🙂 If you’re in the WNY area, do come out and enjoy the show!

Then on Friday, I will be heading to Toronto with Rand for FilKONtario, where I will finally get to meet (among other people) Debbie and Allison. We were supposed to make a day-trip up to Toronto and hang out with the two of them a couple of weeks ago, but then Rand got sick. 🙁 Anyway, I’m way excited about this!!

I’m on spring break this week, so I’ll probably be posting a little more regularly. Aren’t you thrilled? 😉

Happy Easter, everyone! 🙂

Whew!

I survived this week. Monday was a pretty rough day. Had I had the luxury, I probably would have stayed home. The kids were absolutely off the wall, as one would expect in the days before break. Yesterday, I gave tests, and they were still nearly impossible to contain.

I think that when we return after the break, I’m going to need to find a way to keep better order in the classroom. The teacher I’m subbing for used essays, as in “Write 250 words on why you shouldn’t talk during announcements” or “chew gum in school” or “hit so-and-so with my book.” I’ve tried to avoid that, because I’m not overly fond of the “writing as punishment” tactic, but neither do I want to entirely change classroom management style at this point in the year.

Hmm…

I had over half of my class missing at the community college last night. Man, I will not be sorry to see this class go. The amount of apathy is overwhelming. Seriously.

In reference to something Jen posted a few days ago…boy am I glad to not be a Catholic reporter anymore. This constant Pope Health Watch is exhausting. Yeah, it would probably be a good thing for him to step down, but I have to wonder…why does anyone who’s not Catholic care? Why is this a daily mainstream news story? “In other news, the Pope appeared in the window for a silent blessing today.” WHO CARES? Gak. Anyone else have images of JP being propped up like Bernie for public appearances? (oh, I’m so going to hell…)

One of these days, I swear I’m going to get back to writing. Really. Meantime, I’m still waiting to hear on my re-submission to Woman’s World. It’s only been two months, and their “normal” turnaround is four. *Fingers crossed*

Happy Birthday, Mom!

🙂

My official song of the day yesterday was “Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now.”

Ugh.

I’m ever-so-slightly better today. My conscious-to-nonconscious hours ratio is up. I ate a little bit of actual food. I don’t seem to be running a fever. So yeah, life is, uh, manageable.

I felt terrible about having to call in sick yesterday, but there was no earthly way I was going to be able to work. I got up to call in, and sitting upright was an effort. I started weeping uncontrollably for no apparent reason. And I suspect that the thermometer I was using was broken, because it stopped at 100.8, and there’s no way my temperature was that low. (I checked it again later, when I’m sure it was much lower, and it still said 100.8).

On the up side, this doesn’t seem to be hitting me quite as hard as it did Rand. He had the fever-chills thing going on for several days. I seem to have escaped with one.

Thanks for the well-wishes. Hope to be back to normal soon!

To celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, I recommend popping in your favorite Irish-type music and dancing a litle jig. 😉 I’d be doing that myself if I felt better…yes, it seems I’ve contracted whatever evil virus Rand was suffering from last week, although it doesn’t seem to be hitting me as hard as it hit him…

Lest there be any confusion, I must point out that I, alas, am not Irish. Not one little bit. Despite having a name that literally means Ireland, erin-go-blog is 100 percent Italian. But hey, *everyone* is Irish on St. Patrick’s Day! 😉

It’s been a looooooong week of teaching. Thank goodness for spring break.

I finally got to see The Incredibles this week. Hurrah! I loved it. Loved it, loved it, loved it.

Rand was completely adorable…you see, he had seen it already (twice!) in the theater, and I was a bit petulant and whiny about this fact. So I went over to his place after teaching Tuesday night, and he said “I have a surprise ready for you.” He had the movie in the DVD player, ready to play as soon as I sat down. Awww…so yeah, he’s off the hook. 😉

I have so many things to say about 8th graders that I hardly know where to begin. Most of the girls in my class are trying *way* too hard to be grown ups. They have acrylic nails. (the hell? what are these mothers thinking?) They get their hair highlighted. They go out to teen clubs where they hang out with boys who are far too old for them. Ach. But most of them still look like little girls playing dress-up.

One of them, though, scares me a little. She doesn’t look like a 13-year-old playing dress up. She looks like she could be 17. (I swear, officer, she said she was 17!) Her uniform skirt is hemmed too short. (again, mom? WTF?) I hardly know the girl, and I worry that she could be headed for trouble…

Er, anyway…be sure to celebrate, and have a little extra for me! 😉