Another Year Older
Today was my birthday, and it was a little bittersweet. Most people seem to have forgotten all about it. At work not a soul wished my happy birthday which made me feel pretty crummy. When I got home, though, Eric took me out to get yummy Indian food at Sarovar. There is nothing more heartwarming than curry on a really cold day.
When I got home I heard from my parents, my sister, and brother-in-law Chris, so at least I've got family on my side.
Still, this is better than last year when I agonized about being 26 and having no career. This year, at 27 I have a job, a wonderful husband, and a caring family. I really have no room to complain.

Unrelated: See Finding Neverland wonderful, wonderful and more wonderful! It was one of the highlights of my lovely weekend in Dallas, the others being Cirque de Soleil and seeing my lurvely friend Jenni. We share the same birthday and have the same middle name, and she is one of the truly lovely people in the world. Happy Birthday.

Clem has grown poofy and fat in preparation for winter and I like to wear her as a stole. It will be all over Milan soon.

Calm in the Storm
There has been a distinct lack of complaining about me lately at school, so I figure I am either off the hook, or something ugly is brewing. In any case, I have actually started to enjoy going to work again. I haven't cried in the garage for at least 2 days. It's a start.
I spent all day immersed in MLA Handbook stylewriting, and I am straining to see the computer. I dread teaching it to the students because I find it so mindnumbingly boring myself.
We were thinking of going to Dallas this weekend because my sister is having a paryt, but instead we decided that the stress would be too much INstead we will hit the Icebats game. There is nothing more heartwarming than seeing guys beat each other with sticks, especially giant Canadian guys. It puts me in the holiday mood. Actually beating people with sticks really would put me in the holiday mood, but I would put in a pesky ref.
Today is Veteran's Day, and I've been thinking a little about my Grandfather who had an interesting relationship with the army to say the least. He always reminded me of Yossarian, but at the same time, I think the war encompassed the best years of his life. I think on days like this that if you do nothing but flag wave, you've missed the point. On the other hand, if you cannot acknowlege the sacrifices others have made, you don't really deseve to be here either.

Why can't we all have a day? All sorts of people in all walks of life give of themselves every day.

Head on a Platter
I actually brought in a pic of my head on a silver platter and gave it to my principal. Then I hung it on the wall in my classroom, and explained to my students that it symbolized two important life lessons: first, that sometimes if someone wants you head on a plate you should just give it to them and move on, and second, that if you lose your sense of humor, they win. Anyway, today two girls came up to me and told me they had made something for me. They ran off to their lockers and brought back a little head on a platter for me.
I laughed until I almost peed.
Made my week.

State and Main
In the immoratl words of Alec Baldwin (and yes, I used used those words together) in David Mamet's classic film State and Main "well, that happened."
That's about all I can say.
I refer not only to the extremely disappointing election result, although that did not help my mood, but also to the witch hunt which has been going on at school. The two has combined to make my life most unpleasant.
On the first day of class, I told my journalism students that they would be responsible for selling 2 advertisements for the yearbook and that the ad sales would be worth 25% of their grade. I sent this home in written form to the parents as well. From that point I mentioned ads every single day for the rest of the nine weeks. I had roughly half of the students completely blow it off, and so my grades for Journalism were rather low. It was only at this point that parents started coming out of the woodwork. I have been attcked and dragged over the coal, blamed for their kids not doing the homework assignments. Of course they could all do a much better job than I am doing. That goes without saying. I spent half of my day dealing with this today as some parents have come to officially complain. Luckily I have the backing of the rest of my team and the principal. They are theatening to take it to higher and higher levels. I have what is right on my side, but that does not take away the sting. One way or another I will prevail in this, but i am so sick of the battle. I am not these people's enemy. I really don't have the energy to be evil or hateful; I just don't care nearly enough.
I actually missed lunch--which I had prepaid for--for an endless meeting about all of this. I didn't actually cry in front of the principal, but shortly after. I had to pull myself together to teach a 7th grade class. These parents and their constant complaints have made work completely hellish and miserable. I've never not wanted to go to work before, but I am actually thinking of calling in sick tomorrow because I really just don't want to deal with everyone tomorrow.
The weird part is that I am having no problems with the kids. I get along really well with them, and they love my class. It hurts my feelings, then, that they are apparently bitching about me at home. For whatever reason, the parents have all ganged up on me, and I really just can't handle it anymore. Tonight I am pasting a picture of my head on a silver tray I have, and I will give it to the principal. I am going to tell him to give it to anyone who asks for it. I quite simply give up. I am handling this much more maturely than I really feel like though. I have kept my cool so far and not responded to their ugliness. That's good, I guess.
When I got home tonight, I grabbed Toby and we walked about 6 or 7 miles. I just kept going and going in hopes that I would find a solution to these problems. Unfortunatley, all I really got out of it was a blister on the bottom of my foot. Still, it was a nice walk. It has been the first time in a long time that I was glad for Toby's company.
Eric promised to come home and get me early, but he is running almost 2 hours late. So much for that.
I have popped Eminem in the cd player in hopes of relieving some of the tension and hostility. I feel like breaking things, but I can't afford replacements. So I come back to Alec Baldwin: "Well, that happened."