meeting the neighbours

I am currently accepting donations to fund the "get chelle out of Canada and into the tropics" initiative. While a tax receipt will not be provided, your choice of cookies, muffins, or chocolates will be. An added Christmas incentive will include homemade Baileys.

Seriously, it's all kinds of stupid in this province right now. Yes, I am aware it's all kinds of stupid every year. I haven't quite decided which relatives I should blame this insanity on, but believe me, when I do, I will give their children/grand-children quite a scolding. What were they thinking? It's not like we had an excuse like most people - no one in my family farms. We are not "tied to the land" in any way shape or form. Currently, the only thing keeping us here is the rest of the family (and the pretty bridges, trees, and lovely 4 summer months). Gah.

So two days of blizzarding, two days of almost dying every time you leave your house. I'm not exaggerating here, for some reason, there are still people who have not figured out how to drive in the snow and ice. If you are not from out of province, what is your problem? This is nothing new. Gah.

This weather hasn't been all bad - I met a new acquaintance! We were brought together by the very blizzard I am cursing. You see, my parking spot is behind the rec center, beside the Loras bin, and conveniently collects snow drifts. It is also a low point, and collects water when it's warmer. So my parking spot is currently an excellent geological study (maybe not as good as Gnat's sandwich) - somewhere there is a base layer of asphalt, then many small layers of ice and snow, with severe ruts due to melting with a very loose but deep layer of blowy snow. There is no science needed to realise that this is a recipe for a stuck car. If I were single, this would be a great way to meet guys - drive, get car stuck, need help, get help from cute boy, meet cute boy for coffee and then hope the planets align. As I have a wonderful boyfriend, I don't really need to meet guys, but am very happy when they show up and offer to push my car out all the same. Thank you new neighbour acquaintance, from myself and my boyfriend who I would have had to call had you not showed up.

This whole process took around 15 minutes. It's a 3-5 minute drive to school. If you include the time my car warmed up, we're at around 25 minutes running car time. That is the same amount of time it would take me to walk to school (add minutes for snow on blizzard days). Currently I am trying to decide if I should spend money on better winter tires or better outside winter clothes.

follow up

And the mom set up continues.

I talked with HAS today. Finding out how the double date went was high on my priorities of things that needed to be covered during the course of our conversation. These are the very first two things she said:

"It sure was great catching up with you mom!"
"[insert mom's bf's name here] sure is nice..."

Notice she mentions nothing of her supposed date. We chatted more, and there may or may not be a follow up coffee date. Le boy made a fatal mistake in not loving the Vanier Cup, or at least pretending to be interested in it. Will he recover? Stay tuned!

think, then speak

It would appear I have become a smidgen too comfortable with my job, and by extension, my students. This week, in what loosely could have been called a teachable moment, things escaped my mouth that very surely should have only been uttered by a teacher with a permanent position. As of yet, I haven't received any phone calls, but it's not Friday.

My grade 10s are determining the equations of lines and exploring slope. Parallel and Perpendicular lines to be precise. Titillating material I assure you. To get them to really understand that when writing the equation of parallel or perpendicular lines it is only the slope that matters, I am ridiculous in choosing the intercept point. 2, -3, 103, 4 000 356. I shout these silly numbers over and over at them, hoping they'll get it.

This year, my extremely mature gr 10s, very much enjoyed this exercise. It started out with a y-intercept of 369. Small tittering around the room. Then, just 69. Quiet snickering. Another 69. They're almost laughing now, not quite sure if I'm going to say anything, or just keep writing 69 up there on the board for all the world to see. Another 69, and now we have laughing. I'm simply smiling, telling them that that is in fact a line parallel to the original. One boy is brave enough to admit he has no idea what anyone is finding funny. He asks me what 69 means. He's serious. He honestly has no idea what the joke is. I matter of factly tell him that's something he's going to have to ask his dad, since I don't really have that kind of extra time on my hands - curriculum and all. The rest of the class is dying, this lack of knowledge from a peer is too much for them. I continue on, highly amused at gr10s.

We come to a tricky example - one involving horizontal lines. This seemed like a good time to review the properties of horizontal and vertical lines. I write horz on the board, and start writing short notes underneath. My class explodes in laughter. Now it's me who has no idea what's going on. I turn around, searching the red faces for answers. They can barely contain themselves. What's so funny? I ask the giggling masses. Horz, one student manages to squeak out. I'm confused. I say it to myself in my head. (This is a French class, all dialogue is happening in French, and 0-ri-zontalle isn't really seeming funny to me.) Horz, like.... they trail off. The light bulb goes on. Like whores.

I must have been having a really good day, because there are days when this kind of ridiculous stuff really gets to me, but on this day, I'm almost laughing with them. So, I scan the room. I reel them in. You can't tell you parents what I'm about to teach you I tell them. Probably for the first time since September, everyone is paying attention. I explain: Horizontal lines are just like whores - they're flat on their backs for nothing. I used my arm to demonstrate the flat, zero sloped line for extra oomph. There was a brief pause of disbelief that a teacher had actually just said that before the laughing started.

I reminded them that this was something that should not be repeated around the dinner table later that evening, nor anywhere near the principal. I would like to think that no one will mess up the horizontal line questing on their upcoming exam, but I know better. Sigh.

beware my single friends

My mother may try to set you up on a blind date. She won't ask what I think or anything, she will just contact you out of the blue with a gentleman in mind. People will talk to people, and before you know it you'll be going on a blind bowling double date with my mother and her boyfriend. Don't get me wrong, my maman and her gentleman friend are swell people. Going on a date with my mom? That seems all kinds of wrong.

Giddy from hearing this hilarious news, I had to contact Rach ASAP. I have yet to contact HAS, the subject of my mom's scheming, to find out full details. As Rach and I giggled and squealed over this delicious bit of gossip (which is only going to get better, I just know it). Rach had some very pertinent questions.
1) HAS agreed to this?
2) your mother knows single young men?
3) a double blind date with your mom and her man?
4) is her tumour back?

I think number 4 sums it all up folks...

i support you rodger rare!

95% of the time other people are able to better express what I would like to say. If I thought he was game, I would invite Kev to do a guest blog here so he could enlighten you to the crooked practices of Wal-Mart right here in little Saskatoon. I would attempt to explain what happened, but I'm sure I would mess it all up. End product, Wal-Mart wins, Saskatoon loses. We're not just losing on a moral issue, we're also losing 8 million dollars. I hate you Wal-Mart.

This hurts my brain, fuels my rage, and make me happy other people are like minded. Well played Mr. Shawn, well played.

pd-tastic

Monday was a swell day. We had PD all day out at the Western Development Museum. No kids AND a nice change of scenery from a classroom or the cafeteria. Thank you PD committee, you are indeed doing a good job.

So we started off the morning with some entertaining group activities. Since we were at the WDM, naturally they revolved around early Saskatchewanians. We were divided into towns (go Pelly!) and each town was given the task and limited ressources to raise a barn. By limited resources, I mean our group had some cardboard, red paper, string and some markers. They also showed us a quick clip from some movie where Mennonites raise a barn, so we would "get the idea." A quick survey amongst the 6 Pelly townsfolk revealed none of us had ever raised a barn. Did I forget to mention a time restraint had been placed upon us? 15 minutes is not a whole lot... Anyway, despite our lack of expertise, our barn came together very nicely indeed. Keys were our main method of cutting things, and we securely wrapped our barn together. I, now a barn building expert, patented the design for our very solid roof. Just a hint, it involves slits and notches. Our group had finished the task and was just about delve into the discussion questions when a time extension was issued! Ridiculous! The competitive nature of Pelly did not appreciate the bending of the rules for lesser capable towns. However, we stood by our original product and chose to leisurely discuss the follow up questions over coffee instead of mess with near perfection.

Did I mention the media was out in full force for this little activity? I had a girl from Global in my face almost the entire time we were trying to build our barn. I think this testifies to how great the town of Pelly really is. I was however very glad she chose to interview someone else who had proper PD jargon down. Seriously, my fellow Pellian has a future in politics. One of my students came to school today and promptly informed me he'd seen me on the news last night. "You looked confused." was what he got out of it. Dude, I was building a barn out of cardboard and string, heck yes I was confused. CBC and the Star Phoenix were also out snapping away. From what I understand the story failed miserably at conveying what was going on and just reinforced the idea that teachers don't do any real work. They pay people downtown money to worry about my public image, I don't see the point in getting too worked up about it. I do think it's convenient that one 30minute activity in a 6 hour day is all that was mentioned.

Back to the barn. As I was getting my coffee, it became apparent Pelly was an independent and resourceful town. Other towns had scissors and tape! Cardboard rolls and newspapers! The discussions that followed the activity were surprisingly meaningful and insightful. Especially if you knew the bunch of jokers I work with. This part naturally got no media coverage.

We followed up our barn raising with some department time and a chance to explore the WDM. This was not overly useful for myself seeing as anything I could accomplish there I could accomplished as effectively and cheaper elsewhere. Someday if I'm in the position to teach an advanced class (they have more opportunities for multi-disciplinary projects) or maybe something in Core French will be more pertinent.

I need to mention lunch briefly because there was no mayo or mustard on the sandwiches. Do you have any idea how rare that is? Fantabulous.

After lunch I went to a fantastic session lead by a terrible presenter. I really felt for her. I was so interested in what she was saying, and amazed that she could be a teacher AND such a terrible presenter. I later found out she's even been presenting all over lately, so by now she should be at least a little better. I'm not sure what her presenting issues are, but I was able to overcome them to be able to appreciate what she's saying. She's teaching at my old school, and I feel a little jealous that I didn't get to work with her. What her old school in Ontario developed is something I really stand behind and would like to see more of in the curriculum revisions that will be coming our way shortly. Happily, I think it's something my current staff is leaning towards as well. Yay math! It's nice to be reminded about good practices and awesome ideas that get forgotten about when curriculum, textbooks and time get in the way.

We finished off the day with a good old fashioned scavenger hunt. Pelly had somehow disintegrated and we were down to 4 townsfolk. Urban migration isn't a myth my friends! At first I wasn't very excited. This took me all of 30 seconds to get over. 2 minutes until full competitive me took right over. It was requested we not run. Ummm, nice try. It was also requested that we not split up. Again, Pelly makes it's own rules. What do you get for making your own rules? 2nd place and an old fashioned candy stick. Looking to have a scavenger hunt? I highly recommend the WDM, it's chock full of history and tricky things to find. And had I had a camera and some friends - fantastic photo opportunities.

I'm already looking forward to our next PD day. Which may not be til January. I think maybe I should take a peek at my Professional Growth Binder before then...

je suis pathétique!

I have finally decided to go back to the gym after a bit of absence. There is one right across the street from me after all. The particular gym I have joined, offers what appeals to me - some pretty fun looking classes and a weight room that is essentially never used because 95% of it's clientele is stay at home mom's who do step classes.

One of these classes is called "group centergy." i think it's pretty obvious from its name how awesome a class it is. I mean, someone took the time to make up a new hybrid word - just for this class! Group centergy is offered at 6am on Thursday mornings. Now, i'm no morning person, but for centergy, even the 6 am couldn't keep me away. Oh, I know what you're all saying - get out chelle! no class could be THAT good. oh ya? resist this!

Group Centergy is a revolution in mind/body training that will change the way you feel about your body—forever. You'll stand straighter, feel stronger, become more flexible, and more physically aware. Set to uplifting music, Group Centergy is designed to increase your endurance, reduce stress, and relieve pain. So get your mind and body into the flow - Group Centergy.

It's a revolution! It's going to change me forever! It's centergy!


Anyway, I figured it would be a good place to start my re-entry to the world of being in shape. The yoga thing appeals to me on a conceptual level. Realistically I've hated the little I've done, it's way too hokey. I've been told pilates is better, but more expensive. Tai chi? Something a little more hollywoodesque?  Really what I was hoping for was a good old fashioned stretch class. If it needed to be called centergy, so be it.


I roll out of bed. The cold hurts me, but the studio was nice and warm. I was all set to start my day with some good stretching and stress relieving. You know, in a relaxed manner. I was picturing the funny class Xtina and I took in Japan one day, minus the weird foamy things. For some reason my knowledge of the excitement over "centergy!" didn't make me think that it would be strenuous.


The fine folks at the gym really need to bold and underline the word endurance in their class description. Maybe make it flash or something. This was no gentle wake up. It was more of a plunge into cold water. Only the cold water was a flashback to doing deep pliés in second for hours on end (for you non dancers, wall sits are somewhat equivalent, minus the wall).


I was enjoying it - I did kinda ask for the stretch class - that is, until I just about passed out. Oh ya, that's right folks, I just about passed out from doing YOGA. I'm so out of shape that yoga makes me dizzy. True it was a little like yoga on speed (which, once i'm not a loser, will be awesome cause it makes it not hokey), but still. About 20mins in I had to leave and sit in the dressing room for fear of actually falling over. I'm a trooper though, I got over it and jumped right back in. Just in time for the lady to try and kill us all.


I'm an abs person. I love abs stuff. Probably cause it's something I've always been relatively good at. They didn't include in the centergy description that abs of steel were a prerequisite. Steel probably isn't good enough anyway, centergy demands some kind of crazy new alloy. Abs of centergy. The good thing was we were on the floor at this point so passing out would be almost undetectable.


For the first time ever, I appreciated the end cool down breathing/visualisation thing. Because I thought I was dying. Because I'm not sure I would have been able to walk out of there without it.

halloween

Folks seemed to be pretty excited to find out what goes on at Diva's for halloween so I thought I'd share some of the goodness.

These two certainly don't do anything half assed now do they?

Just cause I love them so much, here they are again.


We're off to see the wizard!


That pic really does the tin man no justice at all, but oh well.

How cute is this? Sure it's easy, but it's still awesome!


Not so cute, but pretty impressive.



I can't imagine how uncomfortable she would have been walking around with the world's biggest cookie pan on her back.

And lastly, I have no idea what this guy is, but I'm not convinced anyone cared...


So ya, that was halloween Diva's style. There were lots of other cute costumes, but they either didn't photograph well or at all.

robot what?

not surprisingly, big red is obsessed with the tv show robot chicken. not knowing what it was, he made it a mission to force me to like it. i humoured big red. sure it was funny, but it wasn't the roll around on the floor/couch kinda funny that he thinks it is

until this. sweet corn. this video sold me on robot chicken. and if you watch this clip and have no idea what is going on, do yourself a favour and go rent "you got serverd." you can thank me later.

i heart nerds

I love nerds for many reasons. Currently it's for their love of halloween and cool costume ideas.

Have you ever seen anything cuter than this? (scroll to bottom of page) Ya, I didn't think so.

we all love product placement everyday...

While I was busy immersing myself in all sorts of ways to create a French environnment in my classroom, another conference was also giong on in Regina. Yet again not knowing anything, it may or may not have been a big deal. Sci-matics, the annual math/science conference. I think it is annual and provincial. I guess I will find out next year when I go (alternating French Math seems like a plan to me).

Anywho, the staff who went to Sci-matics are super. They brought me back presents! Merci beaucoup other staff. A spectrum pen, some handouts, a CD with graphing calculator games/exercises from the fine folks at Texas Instruments and a package from CBS.

Oh yes, that's right. CBS. The tv people. They are the brainchild (with a helping hand from Texas Instuments) of the "We all use math everyday" program. Right off the bat this sounds awesome. A program supporting math and providing cool activities can't be bad can it? can it? Hmmmm.

The WAUMED program has at its base the tv show Numb3rs. Oh. I've never watched Numb3rs, mainly cause I watch too much tv already. Maybe it's a great show. I'm still not sure I was to shamelessly promote it in my classroom. Even when you pair math teachers, university professors and the calculator people to make up activities about a tv show, the bottom line still apprears to be advertising for the tv show. The activities can be made to stand alone (or so they claim) but they focus on math used in the episodes.

Each week, the fine folk from WAUMED publish 3-5 acitivities that correspond to the math used in the upcoming episode. It does appear like the include all sorts of cool ressources for follow up things if the students interest is piqued (that are not related to the show), but the lessons themselves are full of dorky plugs. Unnessesary plugs. While it would be fairly easy to modify this stuff, why put it in there in the first place? It feels like the NCTM sold out on this one.

Example:
One of the sample activities is about cryptography. A brief history on cryptography is given as well as an example of where "Charlie" receives a coded message in the show. Followed by a really solid lesson on creating ciphers and modular math, examples included. Ok, I'm willing to let the reference to the show in the intro go, seeing as they are most likely paying for this stuff, and we are supposed to be linking where this would be used in a real life situation. On to the student participation aspect. It asks the students to code their own sentence. Logical considering the lesson. However, having the student code the sentence "I watch numbers every Friday" is so cheesy and lame it hurts. Now, it's not hard to have you students code a different sentece or something of their choice, but this just became something that I couldn't just print and use. Unless of course I wanted to get into a discussion about product placement in our lives. And then this becomes an awesome lesson.

Argh. I put the we all use math everyday poster up in my classroom because it abides by the Quebec laws - what I want the kids to read is over triple the size of the CBS ad in the corner. But still. I feel like I'm being used by a network. Isn't this where selling out starts? Subtle manipulations that we ignore because we think the good is better than the evil?

And even if I use the cheesiness to discuss product placement, selling out, etc, with my kids, doesn't the network attain their goal anyway? We're still talking about them, their show and what they're doing. Something about all press is good press...

acpi

No one really ever tells me anything at my school. Apparently, there exists things I am just supposed to know about and know what a big deal they are. When I was asked a month or so ago if I was interested in going to Congres 2006, I replied not really. The school only was alloted one paid spot, and another teacher appeared very keen on going. I could have applied to receive in school funds, but still would have had to foot a bill of over $100. So I declined the invite.

Weeks later, for reasons unbeknownst to me, the lady who wanted to go backed out. Our school now had a paid spot up for grabs. There was another teacher going, but he received in school funds (and didn't seem to care that he would have to pay) so I decided to go. It seems like a terrible waste of board money not to have them send someone. I filled out my forms and signed myself up.

No one told me that this conference was a really big deal. I mean a National conference that only happens every 2 years and won't be back in Sk for a guessed 15 years kind of big deal. 900 folks from around the country kind of big deal. I heard from many people that their schools had cancelled school so their teachers could be there. I just assumed it was a little conference with folk from around the province like is always offered. Silly me.

So I'm super glad I got to go. Not only was almost everyone I graduated with there (minus the girls on mat leave) but I picked great sessions, except for one. I left with lots of useable material and am feeling much better about teaching Core French next semester.

An an extra added bonus Not So French Girl was down for the conference and stayed with me. She's always a welcome house guest! It was unfortunate I had to work Sat night, but I think all worked out ok.

Fantastique!

would you like a headache?

In an attempt to be creative, interesting and a good teacher all at the same time, I decided to get my grade nines to perform a little activity this afternoon. This seemed like a fantastic idea yesterday afterschool as I was planning it. In my mind everything was going to go tickety-boo, complete with an administrator walking in making some comment to the effect of "my, what a spectacular learning environnment you have created here!"

The plan - have them measure their height, femur length, head circumference and then answer some simple ratio and proportion questions. Sounds simple right? At first I was thinking I would just write the instructions on the board, and let them go at it. Then a little voice piped up that maybe a detailed worksheet would probably be a good idea. Bless you little voice.

So today. I get everyone seated, quiet, paying close attention. There are some simple instructions that go with the activity. All measurements need to be in the same units. I don't care which units, just the same ones. I told them where their femur was. I demonstrated how one would go about measuring apporximate femur length. We discussed what circumference was. I reinforced that to measure the circumference of your head you would need to use string and not a meter stick. Ok, good to go. Anything else they would need to know was on the sheet I had so carefully prepared. One last warning about how the meter sticks were not to be used for anything besides measuring and we were off.

I think it took less than 2 minutes for chaos to break out. Kids yelling for my help in every direction. I am incapable of helping anyone because I am utterly confused at how the instructions "Measure and record your height" followed by a space to record said height could be confusing. When I finally can speak, I consider hitting some of the children with the metersticks myself because they have already forgotten how to make a ratio. They love ratios. Nothing gets easier than first value, colon, second value. We spent the first 20 minutes of class making ratios. Somehow femur length and height are outside what we can make ratios with. Girls and boys in a class, easy. Minutes spent reading to minutes spent watching tv, done deal. My personal favorite, chocolate cake to marble cake, to white cake, super fantastic. Femur to height, wha?!

In the meantime the noise level has gotten loud enough that my neighbour feels the need to check in. His wall is shaking. You need to bang to measure. Of course you do.

The questions continue.
"I don't get #2" impatiently says student.
"What does #2 say to do" I exasperatedly reply in my most patient tone.
"Check with 2 other groups..."the trail off.
I don't reply, I just raise my eyebrows expectantly. Student stares at me.
"What does check with 2 other groups mean?" my expectant look obviously getting me nowhere.
"Oh! You really want us to check with other groups?"
"Ummm yeah..." I trail off, not wanting to say anything inappropriate by accident.

Repeat, repeat, repeat.

I may have been pleased at my students knowledge of integers, but they sure do have a long way to go in the domain of being independant thinkers!!!

interviews

My favorite time of the year. Parent-teacher interviews. Normally I don't stress out too much about them - there's not a whole lot that can go wrong in 5 minutes - but this year I was feeling a little apprehensive. You see, often with high achieving kids come crazy parents. Not to mention everyone, parents included, maybe got a little too attached to their previous teacher. Not that she wasn't wonderful, but there was a lot of freaking outlast year when a stable replacement was hard to track down.

Needless to say I was 100% booked last night. 6:30-9, one 5 minute break. It went much better then anticipated. Almost all the parents were great, very supportive and just stopping by to meet me. Turns out I'm good at ushering parents out the door and staying on time - I ran ahead of schedule almost all evening. The parents of the my most easygoing and generally likeable student are of course people who never smile. He must be adopted. I also had a family feud in my classroom. Sweet! The best part? I was not included in the conversation at all - they simply used my room and chairs. Of course, they were late and then wouldn't leave. Maybe they don't have chairs at home? Je ne sais pas. They may have remembered to say goodbye to me when they finally did leave.

The good part of interviews is invariably many teachers get together and go for a drink afterwards. We had to go out seeing as in switching school boards I left behind being legally allowed to drink in the school. Sigh. Not everything about the Catholics is bad... Anyway, there was probably about 20 teachers who wound up going out (not great numbers if you consider there are over 120 staff members...). It was bizarre at first. My old staff was a fairly close staff. When I showed up I was amazed that there literally were people sitting at the table that I had never seen before. I knew 2 names. Awkward. Someone finally admitted they had no idea who I was either, and some intros were made. Finally I felt at ease enough to insult someone, and voila! acceptance into 'the group.' I think I will include a meeting people goal in my professional growth plan for this year. Seriously, learning 30 names will take effort.

Today I got to sleep in, was served a fresh cinnamon bun breakfast to accompany my Personal Development, and accomplished looking at my Professional Growth binder. Baby steps... Oh, and I also decided that as part of my plan for this year I'm going to start keeping a super nerdy teacher blog. They encourage journal writing for reflexion, but physically having to writing things is almost obsolete. I would never actually sit down with a book and write things out, so I will type them. And share it with those who are interested. ie, my administrator in charge of consulting with me on my growth. He's not actually interested, but he gets paid to pretend so I guess that counts.

The rest of my interviews were fine, a little on the disorganised side, but nothing exciting and no stories. Darn you parents for being supportive and not crazy! You make terrible blog material.

so far so good

I am currently wearing heels AND trouser socks. So far so good. I haven't fallen, tripped or sprained an ankle (yet). This is actually somewhat of a feat considering I had to shuffle to my car this morning, and then skate around it to get it cleaned off. The trouser socks and myself are also getting along. There is no love, but no hatred either. I guess they will do until a better solution presents itself.

relief

This weekend was the best weekend since my 26th birthday. You're prolly thinking I did something exciting, adventurous, or fun. Nope. Instead I celebrated getting old and stayed at home all weekend. I cleaned, I did school work and I watched tv. It was freaking awesome.

I have no idea what is wrong with me. I'm not a dirty person, but I certainly am a messy one. As hard as I try to fix this, I just can't do it. I'm one of those 'has to make a big mess before anything can get clean' kind of people. Only it's a little extreme cause it applies to every facet of my life. I don't refile school things when I take them out, I have a big pile of 'things to refile, someday.' I don't put clothes away or wash them until there is a huge pile that has taken over my dresser/floor. Floor for dirty, dresser for clean. Mail stacks for long periods of time until it gets dealt with. At the end of the day I have to clean my classroom and put everything away cause I am capable of messing it up in the 4 hours I teach in here. Gah!

So this weekend, I cleaned my house. All of it. With the exception of the computer room, cause that is where some chaos is allowed to stay. Seeing as I can only clean in bits before I get bored, this took 3 days. But now it's awesome. And I really am going to try to get slightly neater. My closet organiser should help. This year I've already been way better with the bathroom. Next step - keeping things off the kitchen table and hanging up my jacket. Big hopes and dreams for 26!

I also watched a tonne of tv while doing school work. This makes school stuff less annoying. Seeing as I'm making up the answer key (somedays better than others...) I have lots and lots of questions to do, all the time. Tv makes this slightly less painful. Marking is also better while accompanied by Mack and crew. If my current school work load is any indication, I will be caught up on all the CSIs by Christmas... sigh.

Honestly it was good to be a hermit for a few days. Not to mention both my school and home life are in much better shape. Stress minimisation, that's what I accomplished this weekend. I would like to think that someday soon, having a clean house, being caught up on school AND seeing my friends is a possibility. For now, 2 out of 3 ain't bad.

birthday extravaganza con't

After our delicious supper and a small wardrobe adjustment, we continued our evening with what every good birthday must contain - dancing! Remembering how well the hose turned out for Rach's stagette, I decided to head there first with plans on bailing if it sucked.



We were joined by Xtina and some of her fabulous friends/aquaintances. They were wonderful because they were so fabulously nerdy. They convered the whole spectrum of the nerd scale, which I highly appreciated. The friend was my favorite type of nerd - nerdy interests but some social skills, very funny, and generally confused by those operating on a lesser intellectual level than himself. The two aquaintances were the extremes. #1 was more of a traditional nerd. As in a geek. Little social skills, even less interest in posessing any. #2 had the long hair and glasses, reasonable social skills, less intelligence but potentially a closet full of costumes and magic cards. There was also an aquaintance girl whose role did not become obvious until later in the evening. She seemed very nice, awesome and normal but seeing as we were with her friends you knew she must have some secret nerdiness locked away that she can bring out when she wants to.



Back to the hose. Hmmm, I should have assumed the luck we had the first time was just that - luck and maybe attempted another local. It would appear the Hose has developped several fatal flaws and therefore should only be attempted in a large pack. Flaw number 1, the good music appears in very spaced out sets. Unless of course you are a gangsta' and then they temporarily interrupt what you like so people can dance every hour and a half. Flaw number 2, the age of the patrons. When I go to a bar, I always expect to see what I like to fondly refer to as "the creeps." You know them, they're old, they're creepy, and occasionnally they drink enough that they think talking to you is a good idea. At the Hose on Friday night, those creeps were not 40-50, they were 25ish. WHAT? If I were to draw you a box and whisker graph of what the average age at the Hose was, this is what it would look like:




Naturally, when this is your age dispersion, stupid drunk boys happen. They yell. They also come up to your table and try to hand out straws. This is awesome for many reasons. No one really wants a straw in their drink that a stranger has manhandled. A drunk stranger. Some people are more opposed to this than others. Some people, are nerd #1. Having not said a word all night as far as I know, he must have been sitting in the corner working himself up into a big ball of angry. All the drunken stupidity must really have gotten to him, and drunk straw man is who pushed him over the edge. Contrary to his very nerd nature, he could no longer contain himself. So angered was he by the drunken straw touching and handing out, he grabbed a straw off the table, stood up, and whipped the straw at drunk boy's back. This may have been on of the funniest things I have ever seen. I was in awe. I mean, drunk boy didn't even feel it and nerd #1 was practically shaking he was so angry. I sure hope he felt better after the release of the pent up anger, cause we made him stay there for at least another hour. He confided to Xtina later that "he's never been a bar person." I resisted the great urge to call him Captain Obvious, I was pretty sure he wouldn't find that funny.

I digress. It was weird to be in a bar with creepy 25 year olds. I always thought there was a process to becoming a creep. It would appear it's inborn in certain people. But we didn't get to bent out of shape by it, there was of course dancing to be done! True, it was dancing with 17 year olds by the nicest guess, but Sexyback is Sexyback. On the dance floor is where we met Elbows. He swooped in out of nowhere and appeared to belong to no one. We were suspicious, it seemed very likely a dare on behalf of his friends that he come dance with the two 'old girls' on the dance floor in the most ridiculous way possible. His manner of choice? The elbow dance. Much like the uppercut, with no cutting. He also favoured the twirl, the group sway and his grand piece de resistance was trying to push himself off our shoulders and onto the speaker (failed on all 3 attempts). I kept expecting Elbow's friends to show up and politely escort him away. They never arrived. Luckily, bad music eventually did, and we sadly had to leave the dance floor and Elbows behind. Whatever became of him we don't know, as far as we know he is still cutting up a rug on the hose dance floor.

It was finally of an appropriate hour to be able to leave and head to Diva's for what was hopefully to be better music, and a slightly less intoxicated crowd. It was here that the girl's role became known. She was nerd #1's girlfriend!! I never saw it coming. She ditched them to come with us, which was almost as unexpected as her dating nerd #1. Not unexpected was running into a fight on the way out. Want to make your bar look busy? Simple, don't let anyone leave! An approved practice since 1925!

Diva's was mediocre, but still fun. Kev and crew showed up and confirmed that all of Saskatoon was mediocre - hypothetically due to the long weekend/rolling stones concert combo. Twas a good birthday indeed.

birthday extravaganza!

I had been warned by Big Red that we had supper plans on Friday at 6:30. So I wasn't too surprised by him arriving at my house unannounced at 5:30. I was surprised that he arrived with flowers! Absolutley gorgeous flowers. These are the only flowers I've ever received from Big Red, but he picked them out like he'd been doing it all his life. A true expert in flower selection, Big Red bought me a bouquet that's gotten nicer looking over time instead of uglier - every day a new lily has opened, and these flowers appear to have genetically modified stem cells because the rest of them aren't dying. My boyfriend the prostar.

After I finished getting ready (and said goodbye to NSFG and D) we went for supper. Secret supper. My 3rd gradish attempt to break Big Red's will and have him tell me where we were going failed miserably. A year and a half later he appears to be completly immune to my pestering. So I found out when we were a block away.

In attempt to win some kind of "best boyfriend ever" award, he took me to the Taj Mahal. As Kilometers would say "OH MY GAWG." You see, Big Red doesn't like Indian food. I believe he has been quoted using the word 'hate' and 'Indian food' in the same sentence, several times. Well it was fan-freaking-tastic. So good that Big Red is willing to admit he doesn't hate Indian food anymore. He's not yet willing to add a like or a love in there, but this is huge progress. Besides, I don't think I loved Indian food the first time I ate it either but I sure do now. Anyway, back to our meal. We shared an appetizer platter that had the best pakoras I've ever eaten on it. I mean, I'm not sure I'd be willing to agree that what we had at the Taj Mahal and what I'd know previously to be pakoras were actually the same thing. For supper we shared 2 dishes - lamb and spinach was Big Red's pick, while I chose chicken with oranges and almonds. Then for dessert homemade mango ice cream complete with a sparkler.

I was all so good, and the staff was so awesome. You can tell how proud they are of their restaurant and how much they love what they do. The father and son duo were always around to answer questions, make sure everything was perfect or just to chat.

Well played boyfriend, well played!

i heart my friends

I have pretty awesome friends. Seriously, you rule. Even if you did forget my birthday was this weekend, I understand cause I forget birthdays all the time. Actually, I remember them several days before and then forget the day of only to remember again the day after and feel like a total twit and bad friend. So, no hard feeling about the birthday wishes or lack of.

Back to my friends. Not So French Girl and D decided to come visit me all the way from the queen city. How awesome a present is that?! They couldn't come down for the weekend since D had to work, so instead they came Thursday night. I'm still working Thursday nights for my mom, so they had supper with other friends until I was finished. Then we went for delicious and funly named drinks and food. I think by naming something a "purple nurple" you make it taste better. I was proved right. Mmmmm. The company was also spectacular (which goes without saying, but for extra reinforcement I said it) AND we spoke mostly French. Good stuff.

Back to my house where we met up with Kev and his not from Austria girlfriend. D turned into Magiver so we could enjoy wine with our conversation. 2 screws, pliers, and some elbow grease = tasty. After exerting all that effort D didn't even have any wine, but the rest of us enjoyed it for him. Kev regaled us with stories of his travels across the world until the wee hours of the morning.

I had to work Friday, so I met up with NSFG and D for lunch at my most favorite lunchtime restaurant. Jake's, you make me so very happy! Adding to the happieness, I ran into my favorite coworker from my old school. Fitting seeing as she is the one who introduced me to Jake's. If you have never been to Jake's for lunch, you need to make it a priority, it's really that good.

After school, I visited some more with NSFG while D slept in the papasan (all the while maintaining he wasn't tired and didn't need a nap). NSFG helped me get ready for supper, and then when they had squeezed all the goodness out of Stoon that they could in 24 hours, they packed up and left. This leaving coincided very nicely with the arrival of Big Red who may or may not have encouraged D to buy NSFG flowers.

Thanks so much for coming guys! Come back any time! I know you're saying it's my turn to go visit now, which I will, but don't be shy about announcing you want to sleep in my spare bedroom anytime. This goes for everyone else too.

cracker-jack

Before yesterday, one of my favorite things someone had said about me was that "I was all that and a bag of potato chips." What a hilarious compliment. Yesterday, I was called a "cracker-jack." I liked it just because saying cracker-jack is fun. Had it stopped there, I would have been happy knowing that someone had paid me an ambiguous, but fun compliment. The person, however, made sure to follow up his compliment with the reinforcement that it is in fact a very good thing to be called a cracker-jack. You may not know this, but the antonym to cracker-jack is slug. Now you know - look I can teach English and Math!

Then, as I was sitting in my desk prepping for my day this morning (read, enjoying my not quite sweetened enough coffee wishing it was Saturday so I could still be sleeping and cursing myself for forgetting I had something to do last night until 10:40 when I was just about to go to bed) another teacher stopped by to say hi and tell me how much my school and staff appreciates having me here. What a nice way to start my day! Oh Mr. D, you make me feel so welcome.

This is pretty awesome. It is so nice to be noticed as someone who is working hard. Sure, I know I work hard, but it sure does make my day when other people notice and go out of their way to tell me. At my job last year I could have completely revolutionnised the way math is done and no one would have said boo. At least not to me.

Telling people they're fantastic for one reason or anther is a good thing on many levels. It makes me want to tell other people I think they're awesome too, so they can enjoy the same feeling. Which is good, everyone loves to hear it, and sometimes we forget to mention it even though we think it all the time. And, it's encouragement to keep working hard. I can't have all these people telling me I'm doing a good job and then go slack off!

So, blog readers, I appreciate you. For one reason or another you're keeping up with me and my life and that's pretty darn cool. Unless of course you're keeping up with me because you're holding a grudge and figuring out what you're best revenge would be. In that case, well I appreciate that you think I merit that much time and energy. Now go tell someone why you appreciate them! Do it, it's thanksgiving. We shall feast on a cornicopia of compliments. Good times.