I have in my possession a copy of Calling in ‘the One’ that is in need of a good home.

I know, the title sounds sort of hokey, but I credit this book with helping me work through all of my icky breakup issues, not just from the last relationship, but from all of them. And hey, the relationship that I “called in” is still going strong. 😉

If you’re interested, send me an email or leave me a comment!

So yesterday, I got to meet another of Rand’s friends. A while ago, we made plans to go out to Rochester and spend some time with Scott and his wife and kids. I knew two things about Scott: he lives near Rochester, and he’s in a band. We made plans to come out when he had a gig, so we could see him play.

As we were driving, I was thinking about how it was kind of strange that I hadn’t really been to Rochester since X and I broke up.

Once we got off the Thruway, we were in territory I wasn’t completely familiar with, other than recognizing the names of some of the towns. We drove through Spencerport (Spencerport, I thought…that’s near Brockport. I used to drive through Brockport on my way to X’s.)

So we’re driving, driving, driving, and Rand’s not exactly sure where the house is. Knowing that we’re just a few doors past the house, Rand pulls into the gas station on the corner to call Scott.

Gee, I think…something about this seems…hey…I know this corner.

Directly across from us is a now-closed garage where X used to have work done on his car. We’re like 5 minutes away from X’s parents’ house.

No. Freaking. Way.

So, where was the band playing, you ask? At the bowling alley in Hilton, X’s hometown. I’d never been in the bowling alley before, but it’s attached to a pizza place that has the best mozzarella sticks in the entire world. How do I know this? Because we used to get food there all the time.

“I have to admit, I feel a little weird about being here,” I told Rand. It wasn’t sad or upsetting in any way, it was just…strange. Surreal. Dream-like, if you will.

“Do you want to go say hi?” he asked.

I just laughed.

“Nah. That’s okay.”

John Spencer (aka West Wing’s Leo McGarry) died last night.

Well, today was the first truly difficult day I’ve had at my favorite school.

I had two kids go AWOL during one of my classes. I’m pretty sure I let one of them go to the bathroom, and he just never came back. The other one? Not exactly sure.

I got a call from the attendance office asking if they were there. I checked. Nope.

I got another call from someone in the office who had apparently caught them in the parking lot. They told her Mrs. B (their regular teacher) had given them permission to go out to their cars and get their homework. (Gee, did they think no one would figure out that Mrs. B wasn’t in school?) I assured her that they did not have my permission to be outside.

This same person came to find me in the faculty room during my lunch period, just to make sure these two boys came to class and then left, and had not skipped out earlier. She wanted to be sure of the situation before writing them up.

Sigh.

Also, I met another English sub who is coming in to fill in for a maternity leave. I hate meeting other English subs. Other English subs are my competition. And knowing that he’s doing the maternity leave sort of ruined my day. Because if someone retires, wouldn’t they be more likely to hire the guy who’s worked there in a long-term position?

But on the other hand, today I was leaning VERY heavily toward wanting to teach college full time. I vacillate on this daily. And I don’t know how likely I am to be able to do this without a doctorate, and I absolutely, positively cannot go back to school right now. I can’t. I need to pay my loans BACK, not take out more. I already feel like a huge loser when I think about my loans.

Speaking of jobs…I did hear from the principal at that Catholic school. They hired someone else. Like I said, I wasn’t sure if it was what I wanted…but it sure would be nice to be the one doing the rejecting…

As a result of being a substitute teacher in several different districts and teaching part-time at a local college, I’ve discovered a unique occupational hazard.

I leave crap in refrigerators all over Western New York.

Yogurts. Sandwiches. Drinks. The occasional Rubbermaid container with leftovers. My leftover pork and garlic mashed potatoes from Fat Bob’s. (WAH!)

Sigh.

One of the schools where I sub has these great pizza-filled soft pretzels available for lunch, and I cannot stop eating them. Yum. 🙂

Other current food item I am addicted to…orange cream yogurt from Wegmans (Wegmans brand). Mmmmmm.

Jen and I went to Home Depot and purchased our Christmas tree yesterday. Oh, how I wish I had a digital camera. It has an…interesting…shape. So far, neither of us has summoned enough energy to string the lights. And so, our oddly-shaped tree is naked. How sad. 😉

I will probably be posting little in the next week or so. I have loads of grading to do. Thank goodness for substitute teaching!

OH! And I almost forgot. Loved the Narnia movie. LOVED it. Anyone else see it?

Well, the morning commute was simply dreadful today. Slippery roads, low visibility, and oh…yeah…people driving like morons in the snow even though they LIVE IN BUFFALO. Seriously, people.

One of my biggest pet peeves on the road is this: people who ride the right lane from 198 onto the 33 on-ramp even though they know G-d damn well that that lane ENDS. Not only does it not get you there any faster, it MAKES TRAFFIC WORSE. What do I hate more than this? Someone who does it when the roads are slippery. Even more? When said someone is: a) driving a Mercedes, and b) talking on her cell phone. I could barely contain my rage this morning.

I had to call the school where I was working and let them know I was not going to make it in on time. Not such a big deal, as I was subbing for the librarian. (When subbing in the library, your main duty is crowd control.) When I arrived, I found that the buses had only beat me in by 5-10 minutes.

Good thing about subbing in the library today: aside from aforementioned crowd control, I had precious little to do. I spent most of the day getting addicted to Sudoku.

Bad thing about subbing in the library today: I got NO grading done.

That’s my day. Looks like I’m going to be seeing The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe today. YAY!! I saw the trailer last week when we went to see Harry Potter, and it looks very cool. I also re-read the book earlier in the week in anticipation of this event. 🙂

(thanks, Mac)

Because they print inane crapfests like this:

100 things you need to know about women

Ladies, check out the list and let me know what you think. Guys, how many of you actually believe this crap?

Look, it’s not like I’m defending women’s mags. Cosmo and Glamour are equally full of shit.

Some favorites:

89. A girl would prefer to get a $100 gift from Tiffany & Co. than a $500 gift from Fortunoff. Why? Because her friends will ask where she got it.

I am fully aware that there are women like this out there. I’m not one. I’m not friends with any of them, and I have no idea why you would want to date one.

88. �If I give you my number on Friday, Tuesday and Wednesday are your best bets to score a date. Monday is too desperate, Thursday is too late.��Claire, 27

“Claire” is full of crap. If I like you, I’ll go out with you. Period.

62. A British study claims a woman�s chances of getting married drop by 40 percent for every 16-point rise in her IQ. The same increase in IQ for a man boosted his chances of getting married by 35 percent.

I guess I can’t really blame the good people at Maxim for this one, but feh. Whatever.

52. Despite always complimenting another woman�s short haircut, she secretly celebrates having one less competitor, since men prefer long hair.

Do I even have to say it?

29. On a first date, women never order what they really want to eat.

Again, feh.

22. If you want more sex, tell your girl an attractive woman hit on you that day. Sixty percent of the time, it works every time.

Oh, for crying out loud…if you need to trick someone into having more sex with you, you’ve got bigger problems.

1. You’ll probably never know how many guys she’s slept with. The standard lie is five. Which really means about 12.

Again, maybe true for some people, I’ve never felt the need to lie about this.

I’m dying to hear responses on this one…

Last week, I was subbing in an English class. I’m not sure what it is that they’re reading, but it had something to do with the Holocaust. (and it wasn’t the Diary of Anne Frank) So in her absence, the teacher left a video for them to watch.

As expected, it was horrifying and sad (I cried several times), and as I always do when I watch or read these things, I have to ask myself, “how?”

As in how did this happen? No, not in my lifetime, but not so long ago. During a war that my grandfather fought in.

How can people, ordinary human beings, commit such horrible, atrocious acts of violence? How can people do such unspeakable things to each other?

This, I think, is what hell really is…not some fiery pit on some other plane of existence. It’s right here, right in front of us.

And I guess that makes us (the collective ‘us’, humanity) the devil.

It would be easy to give up on us, if we weren’t also capable of such remarkable goodness.

Why do church organists always have THAT VOICE? You know the one.

Why do teenage girls think flip-flops are appropriate footwear in December?

Why do those large inflatable snow globes for your lawn exist?

Hrm.

A pleasant (if lazy) weekend. I got to see Harry Potter on Saturday night. YAY! I loved it. I thought it was very well done. Of course, there was a lot that had to be left out (and precious little Snape), but still…I think the kids are fantastic, and it’s nice to see them growing up so well. 🙂

I taught 7th graders all day today, and my head is killing me…so I think any of the more serious writing I wanted to do is going to have to wait…

I pretty much finished grading tonight’s papers, so as promised, here’s some more blathering from your humble narrator.

Today’s topic: pantyhose.

One day, noticing me throwing away yet another pair of $3 hose, Rand asked me why I wear them.

The answer is, I don’t…whenever possible. I tried to explain that it’s fall/winter, and therefore I *need* to wear them. And as I was explaining, I imagined how silly that must sound. After all, a translucent layer of stretchy nylon doesn’t really offer any protection from the elements.

So I came to the conclusion that it’s an aesthetic thing. Because wool skirts and dress shoes that aren’t sandals look silly with bare legs.

Basically, I need my legs to appear covered. Because otherwise, I look dumb.

My favorite brand is L’eggs silken mist, because I like the way they look/feel on my legs.

But it is frustrating to keep throwing money away…sometimes I get a few wearings out of a pair of hose, but frequently a large runner/hole/snag prevents this. Does anybody have a suggestion of a brand that holds up better? (I tried buying more expensive ones before, in the hopes that they wouldn’t run the moment my skin touched them, but it didn’t seem to make a difference.)

Ladies, I’d love for you to weigh in on this one! 🙂