I saved a baby robin today. I think it got mauled by a cat, its wing was bent and it was too small to fly properly anyway. I thought it had had its tailfeathers chewed off too, which would have been too bad, but they just hadn't grown in yet, so that's good. I took him to a wildlife rescue place in Truro on my way home today. Truro wasn't exactly on my way home, but that's ok. It's a pretty drive from Tatamagouche. He chirped the whole way, it was a good time. He'll be nursed back to health and then released there, where there are lots of other robins, as there are everywhere. Apparently only 1-2 of the 5-6 hatchlings actually make it past fledgeling age. They actually have a new place set up that's for songbirds who are injured beyond repair but can still live normally in captivity, as a reminder that people should keep their cats inside. Interesting, no?

Is karma only a boomerang if you're a jerk, or does it work if you're a good person too? I'm sort of still waiting. I won $2 on Super 7 the other night, but I don't think that counts. Especially since the ticket was $5.

Good news for everyone, I say...

Ok, so yes, I got a new apartment, as of August 1st. It's goddamn beautiful. It's quite large, and bright, lots of windows. The couple living there now has it set up with 2 couches and 2 big chairs in the living room, as well as a kitchen table at one end (not in the kitchen) and there is still a lot of room. The kitchen itself has an island, and the bedroom and bathroom are both good sizes, so I'm so excited it's ridiculous. AND, it gets better. The landlord owns a paint store, and the apartment is above that. This is very good news, for 2 reasons. Reason 1 is that he'll provide me with paint if I should choose to change the colour (which right now is off-white, so *as if* I'm not going to paint. Trading Spaces here I come!). Reason 2 is that the store closes at 4:30, so after that the whole building is mine. Not that I can party in the paint store, but I can "entertain" (daquiri parties?) and blast music and whatnot and not offend anybody, cause there's nobody to offend!
I have to call and get everything switched over for the 1st now, so that should be fun. I'm hoping I can at least keep the same phone number, or maybe I'll get it switched over to something cool, like 55-Sarah! Mine now has too many numbers with no letters to spell anything.

This is really neat! It's called 26 things, and it's sort of a photo safari/scavenger hunt thing. I'm signing up, so is Tirésa, and I think everyone with a camera should too. But hurry, we only have until August 1st to get all the pictures.

Ok, so Smarties has a new kind, Sundae Smarties. They come in 8 flavours: chocolate, strawberry, orange, banana, caramel, vanilla, raspberry, and wildberry. They still are brown inside like regular smarties, but do not taste like chocolate. Except for the chocolate ones. hehe. Anyway, my mom really likes smarties, so I got 3 boxes. They're not very good. I tried one of each flavour and had to take a break from eating for a while. Grant just sees 'smarties' and gobbles a mouthful, and the look on his face when he chewed....I laughed my ass off. He had to spit them out, I still laughed.
Poor guy.

Did you know that on the bottoms of Bounty chocolate bars there are little palm trees and the word Bounty stamped in? Pretty neat.

I'm growing veggies in little pots outside my window: tomatoes, peppers, beans, and watermelon. Everything is growing, to an extent, but the beans are the only thing showing any signs of producing something.

Giant bean!
Bean, actual size.

There are about...5 beans so far. I'm pretty excited though, regardless, because most of what I've tried to grow up to this point has just died. The calla lily Erin gave me is still going strong, and a daisy plant I got from school in June is not only still alive, it's flowering again!

yay me!

I'm going to look at an apartment tomorrow. "Avail August 1st. Bachelor or 2 bdrm apts with balcony. elevators, storage lockers, laundry facilities, close to drug store. $340-$550 per month. Seniors welcome." They take cats, and I'll feel pretty safe living with seniors. I asked the guy if it's only for seniors or for anyone, and I was joking, but he said 'well we do make exceptions, how old are you?' I said I'm 24 and a teacher, and I guess that passed criteria because I'm allowed to see it. I'm looking at the bachelor, maybe the one bedroom, we'll see. $340 is a pretty tough price to beat, esp for cats allowed and laundry faciilties, security doors etc. I'm going to take a drive by later to see if it looks decent from the outside, but I'll probably go regardless tomorrow, some places look really dumpy outside but are nice inside.

I'm pretty excited, it might be cool living with old people. I don't like to par-tay much, so it shouldn't be a problem at all, and maybe they'll bake me brownies or something!

ok, links now open in new windows. enjoy. it's a really simple script, fortunately, from the Javascript Source where I've gotten some fun scripts for free, so there's their plug from me. Which opens in a new window. haha...

Damn, but my kitty is cute, eh?

what's with the lack of comments people? I'm feeling a little unloved over here...

I really liked that song when it was out long ago, in high school, and my sister found a mixed tape (bwah ahahah) with that on it, and it made me happy, so there you go.

Also, I went to "Butterfly World" at the Boardwalk here, and it was really neat. It's a giant dome full of flowers and plants and butterflies fluttering around freely, and they land on you and whatnot, and it's really cool. And, of course, you can take pictures. Anyway, I went on Saturday and I haven't gotten around to posting the pictures yet, so for Jenn, who's been harassing me about it, here you go.
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12

Tell Her
Del Amitri

Tell her not to go
I ain't holding on no more
Tell her something in my mind freezes up from time to time

Tell her not to cry
I just got scared that's all
Tell her I'll be by her side, all she has to do is call

Tell her the chips are down
I drank too much and shouted it aloud
Tell her something in my heart
Needs her more than even clowns need the laughter of the crowd

Tell her what was wrong
I sometimes think to much
But say nothing at all
And tell her from this high terrain, I am ready now to fall

Tell her not to go
I ain't holding on no more
Tell her nothing if not this; all I want to do is kiss her

Tell her something in my mind
Freezes up from time to time

Well, still not happy, currently trying to figure out what exactly I'll be able to do in the fall as far as paying rent and bills goes. If I don't have a teaching job, I'm not really sure what I'll do. I can have my tutoring job, but that's only 20 hours/week and won't cover everything. Supply teaching is pretty random most of the time, I can't count on any number of days guaranteed per week. I could live with Grant's parents, but I don't really want to, A, and B, I can't supply in Moncton if I live in Rexton, they don't give you enough time for that kind of travel, so that would give me about 3 schools within reasonable driving distance, which is silly, and if I'm not in Moncton every day, I can't tutor there after school. Getting a roommate isn't an ideal situation because I don't really know anyone who needs one, and I'll likely only need one for 4 months, which would be sort of inconvenient for everyone involved. So if anyone out there has recently won the lottery or something, I'd sure appreciate some of that! I'm not expecting to be rolling in dough at this point, but I did expect that I would be able to support myself.

big sigh.

sorry I'm so depressing. We did go see Pirates of the Caribbean tonight, it was really good. Quite entertaining, and it's got that Elf from Lord of the Rings, Orlando Bloom. 2 interesting facts. Johnny Depp is 40, and the girl who plays Elizabeth is only 18. I'm astounded on both counts. It makes sense that Mr. Depp is 40, but he sure doesn't look it.

anyway, yeah, it's 1:24, so buenos nachos.

Seriously though, 2 rejections in one week? It's becoming awfully difficult to be motivated to apply for jobs when I feel like I have no chance of getting one. My presentation is excellent, very professional, but I just don't have the experience to compete with the other candidates. Why then, do they call me?
In other super news, I found out that one of the main reasons I didn't get the job from Monday was that they are retarded, and completely misunderstood part of my presentation where I told them quite clearly that I didn't bring some of the lesson plans I have because I didn't make them, but I did bring several examples of lesson plans I did make. Somehow that got turned into 'I have never made a lesson plan, here are some examples of ones I have scammed.'

not happy.

So I'm not feeling quite as bitter, I did have a good time at my institute the past 2 days, and I still don't have a job, but I do have another interview on Friday for an at-risk site in Caledonia, so once again, happy thoughts and crossed fingers are appreciated. I'm going to call tomorrow and see if I can't find out why specifically I didn't get the job yesterday, and if I have a chance of actually getting jobs or if they just like my presentation and like having me around in the office. Not to sound really snarky or anything, I know interview experience is good to have, but it is pretty frustrating to think that I really can't *get* any job I'm interviewed for because there's somebody who has significantly more experience than me who will win because of that. I'm still hopeful though, seriously, so I'll keep interviewing.
But now I have to sleep.

Ok. So if you do your absolute best and try your hardest and work your ass off and give a killer presentation that represents you really well and you're perfectly qualified for the job, and you still don't get the job, what kind of loser ass does that make you?

Just wondering.

Hey, look what I won at the fair! It was a dart game, and since all the games are rigged and my aim is crap to begin with, I looked away from the dart board thing while firing, and I hit 2 stars! Out of 3 tries, not bad eh? I'm pretty proud of myself, and the cheetah is damn cute.
Anyway, it's almost 1, I'm here by myself and the cats are giving me grief for not being in bed yet, so off I go.

Today is Grant's birthday. I bet he'd love to get happy bday wishes from strangers! haha....go for it!

wow. I was just looking for stuff, and came to realize that the webpage I stopped updating in November, since it was NBNet and we've been on Rogers since then, it still on the NBNet server. Weird eh? I thought they deleted those things right away. Apparently not. Check it out! Hey look, it's me in November. Short hair!
I also found some fun links that I had totally forgotten about, that I will add to the links section. Good times.

ok, how does one republish one's archives with the new blog editor? I edited the template and now it says "blogarchivewhatever" where the dates should be. rrrrg...

but damn, they're cute aren't they?

must....stop...posting.....giant.....pictures......

I'm so happy that Blogger and Google have joined forces; they're 2 of my very favourite sites! This has culminated in the supercool Google toolbar with Blogthis!. I do enjoy it, I can search now with the "I'm feeling lucky" option or search images from the toolbar. I can also blog whatever page I'm on at the moment, and while I haven't yet figured out the fine points of that feature, I'm sure it's a good thing.

Another reason I'm so excited though, is that a while ago I had this toolbar magically install itself on my computer, and man, did that piss me off. It didn't show up on Adaware or virus scans, and there was no uninstall. I could deselect it, but it would still be there. It didn't come up in any file searches on my computer either. So I search and ask for help but the best I could find was how to not enable 3rd party browser extensions, which is good, until I find this Google/Blogger toolbar that I want. Now I must kill it. So I search and search some more, and find out how to search and edit things in the registry, and I do, and I don't have that toolbar anymore as an option. The evil one, that is. Honestly, it wasn't that evil in itself, but I did not put it there or agree to its being put there, so that sort of made it evil.

yay me!

So we came up to Fredericton to put a damage deposit on an apartment for Grant, and we get here and the guy has rented it. Now, this is not even the most irritating part, it's just that he had our number and really could and should have called us to let us know to save us the driving up on a nice day when I would MUCH rather go to the cottage.

100 things is a lot!

seriously, bed now.

"Clearly an unwanted pregnancy or a sexually transmitted disease would more than offset any advantageous psychological effects of semen...."
Thanks Jenn for the sweet link!

I didn't get a job, the new blogger editor is sweet, and Mike's Hard Limonade is really tasty. I'm going to bed now.
Sinbad is funny too, gotta love Brad Pitt in cartoon.

ooh, blue...you like?

you know, I'm looking at this colour on my sister's computer, and it's kind of gross actually. I like they layout, it's quite similar to what I used to have, but I'm not seeing the beautiful spring green happy colour I was seeing yesterday. Blech. I'll work on it....

ooh, new colours!

Happy Canada Day!

good thing I can have like 7 email addresses on Rogers! haha...10M doesn't go far with my giant pictures...

the cottage, seen at low tide

sunset, beautiful

low tide, looking out off the top of the stairs down to the water

I found a great site that tells me how to "roll my own" comment system, but I can't change the properties on the folders on the rogers site, so I can't host my own comment system, which is too bad really. Thing #45982 that I'm going to do when I have some money - get my own webspace.

So apparently it works, which is good.

I had a terrific weekend at the cottage with Mom & Dad and Erin. It's a really perfect spot, about 10 minutes from town where there's a grocery store, hardware store, bank, and most importantly for cottage life, a liquor store. We can walk down the stairs into the water, which is pretty sweet, and the deck gets sun all day, when it's sunny, which it was all weekend. I was really sort of annoyed to have to come back to real life here in Moncton, where I have to wait for call backs from job interviews, apply for still more jobs, and figure out if we can live here for the summer or have to move to Rexton.

In other news, the dehumidifier is running constantly and fills the jug in about a day, which is just foolish. The cats had a fun week in Rexton too, George went to the vet and is "very healthy" and 10.5lbs. Mort goes in the fall, he'll be a bit heavier, haha, but he's on the special food for bladder crystals which is fattening, and even the vet said he's better a bit overweight than dead, which I have to agree with.

I'll resize some weekend pics and post them shortly, I made 3 super panorama shots, but they're pretty big so I'll see about putting those up.

ok, I'm mainly just posting to see if this works, with the new editor and settings and whatnot, so here goes! I'm in Rexton, I have my interview in Miramichi tomorrow AM and then plan to go to the cottage with my parents for the weekend. I'm very excited! Even though we don't have any furniture, like beds and whatnot. details, details. Anyway, yes, we're on a little vacation in Rexton because the apartment is intolerable with the neighbours in the summer. Grant is only just beginning to understand what I put up with all last summer, having worked nights and trying to sleep days. He was always at work days like a normal person, when the devil children were out screaming like banshees outside my windows. grrr. And I like kids!
We brought the boys with us, cause we'll be here for a few days and George has a vet appt on Saturday, so they may end up staying til Sunday when we get back from the cottage. Grant's parents really like them though, so it's good all around.
I think that's about it... we went down to the cape/beach for a little walk today, it was lovely and I took some pictures of beach stuff which I'll post just as soon as I get home, probably Sunday. Until then, enjoy the heat, and keep your fingers crossed for me for tomorrow!

Went to see the Hulk tonight, and while it wasn't terrible as critiqued, it wasn't really great either, and the ending was ter-rib-le.
Had an interview this morning for a job in Minto, in resource, which would be pretty sweet. I do have some experience, and am quite cute and charming (even wore makeup today!), so we'll see how it goes. Don't ask though, I promise I'll let you know if I get any good news. I have another interview on Friday for an English job in Rexton, which would actually be pretty cool, cause it's actually teaching English, and Rexton isn't too too far away from here or Fredericton. Anyway, yes, again I'll keep you posted. Send your happy thoughts my way please! I was up early this morning, relative to my summer routine, so I'm going to go relax for a bit and watch Keen Eddie, which is a great show.
Ah, 2 last things: download the new MSN Messenger, cause there are some kick-ass icons in it, you can add backgrounds and play tic-tac-toe and all sorts of stuff. and make your OWN icons! I made a fish and a bird in MSPaint, pretty effing sweet.
also, DO NOT GET the new Smirnoff Black whatever, it's really gross. It tastes like carbonated wine, like Baby Duck or something, really ick. I know I'm too late for some of you, and I apologize, but if I can spare one person, my job is done.

also, Erin was here last night, she spent the night here so as to catch a plane to Tdot this morning at like 7, to meet her honey man who's been in Sweden the past TEN MONTHS. Yeah, wow. She was in such a good mood because of this, that she brought me a calla lily, my absolute favourite plant/flower in the world.
Beautiful, no?
Also, I'm scaling down the size of the photos I post, cause they're lovely big like they are, but take up too much server space, sadly.

Jenn and I celebrated her birthday today, it was great. I got her bar themed gifts, half at Pier 1 and half at Cameron's Restaurant Supply. It's great there, you can buy a whole box of coctail umbrellas, or little straws! Good times. We went to Jungle Jim's for a drink and were slightly put out that we couldn't swaggle a free drink out of the cute waiter boy, but it's illegal so we won't hold that against him. Also, he brought her a piece of tasty birthday cake with a sparkler in it, so all is forgiven.
Yeah, the sunglasses were from me too, I have a matching pair, in blue. I have to say too, they're great sunglasses, and not just from a style point of view. They, being so large, block out a lot of sunlight, and they have an anti glare coating on them, so they work really well! AND, they're sexy. hehe.



Happy Birthday Jenn!

I went to the prom tonight, how funny was that. It was a grade 8 prom, so it was pretty sad really, they all get dressed up and then stand around and refuse to dance with each other. And some of them show up in like, jeans. Odd. By the end, most of them were dancing, and they seemed to have a good time regardless, which I suppose is all that matters. There was an "after prom party" too, at one girl's house. As if, as a parent, yes, please invite all your 14 year old friends over at 10pm and start a party. No thanks!
I don't really have a lot of news, just wanted to say hello, and remind you that it's Jenn's birthday tomorrow! The big 2-4...ooh..pop over and spread your happy thoughts with her.

Ok. Went to see Finding Nemo on Friday morning with the grades 4, 5, 6, and 7s from school. It was GREAT! Quite emotional, there were a few very scary parts, and a couple of *quite* sad parts, I had to break out the kleenex there at the end, but it was really really good. There were a lot of parts where Lisa and I were laughing and nobody else was, and some where I was laughing and nobody else was, but whatever, I enjoyed myself.
We went to see Dumb and Dumberer last night, and it was, you guessed it, dumb. Pretty funny, but really stupid. The guy who played Lloyd, Jim Carrey's character, was very much like him, it was kind of weird. Not worth a weekend fee, but go for a matinee or rent it.

Happy Father's Day!

tutoring flowers

Ok. 2 interesting things.

Thing one, a lesson learned: I was coming home from tutoring today, and parked beside me was a pickup truck with an interesting sticker, not on the bumper, but on the back of the truck. It had a picture of a deer, a drawn one but not cartoon-y. Under the deer pic, it says "Hunting is fun, let's keep our guns!". What the...?

Thing two, the saga of the walking catfish continues: Was out with Jenn tonight, went to supper at Arby's and then for a tour to Pets Unlimited. Wandered around the 4 legged animals for a bit, fell in love with a 3 month old Chesapeake / Lab mix puppy who I would have bought, even though she's at a petstore, just because she was so damned cute, mocked the skinny pigs/house hippos, and then decided to check out the fish. After admiring the extremely cool and large saltwater aquarium they have set up, we wandered around to see if they still had any walking catfish. They do, and here's the kicker, they're GIVING THEM AWAY. They're my fish, that I returned, because the other 2 that were in the tank were much bigger and much smaller than mine, who are the same size. So my 2 bastard catfish, still there, now being given away for free, because they're devil fish who eat everything. I think they should be euthanized or something, they can't possibly live in a tank with anything other than eachother, and who wants 2 goddamn ugly giant catfish all by themselves?

Moving on, I got flowers today! I'm so loved lately. It was my last day tutoring, and the mother of the boy I'm working with at school as well as tutoring gave me a potted chrysanthemum of some sort, it's really neat looking, I'll post a picture of it tomorrow. Or in a minute, hang on. I got a card too, and I just felt really good. I love feeling appreciated. I would love to work at the school I'm at too, it's great. I don't think there are many openings there though, which is unfortunate.

So I've started planning, or continued planning I guess. Anyway, I'm still waiting on jobs for the fall, and tutoring...I think I'll have that for next year but I haven't been told yet for sure. Anyway, I'm thinking financially, and I'm wondering what about a bachelor apartment for next year? They're much cheaper than 1 bedrooms, and it'll just be me and the cats... Are there nice bachelors? I don't want something tiny, but I'm cool with not having separate rooms. Has anyone or anyone's friend ever lived in a bachelor? I'll just have to check them out myself I suppose, but extra opinions never hurt.
I want to go see a movie tonight, Grant's gone home to write the exam for his correspondance course, but there's nothing I really want to see in theatres. Old School came out on video, but if I rent that without the boy he'll be all cranky. hah. Bad TV it is!

Hello all. I don't have much to say, but I've been slacking off so I thought I'd better pop by. School is almost done, I finish tutoring on Thursday and my morning job is done the 20th. I'm looking forward to sitting around doing nothing, but I wouldn't mind doing something...so long as I don't have to work some menial minimum wage job at crappy hours. I haven't yet figured out how to avoid that and still work, so it's looking like not much for the summer. Ah well. I'm still on relief at MCRI, so I'll get a couple of shifts there, but definitely not enough to pay rent. I have to do up applications for jobs in other districts now, which is a hassle but may be worth it. Only one job I can do in dist 16, teaching English at Grant's old school. That'd be kind of funny, but I'd rather work here. No jobs in Freddy yet, so the waiting game continues. Anyway, I have to eat something because all I had for brekkie was a granola bar. A healthy one, at that.

News today:

I *finally* learned what the hell the BMT in the Subway Italian BMT sub stands for. It's like, Bostom Metro Transit or something, some kind of train system. Very odd, nothing to do with sandwiches, but it's good to know. I've been asking at every Subway for about 2 months now, and this was the first time anyone had any idea.

Also, I was chatting with a couple of the girls in my grade 7 class, and I mentioned how I wanted to get a dog, but had to wait til I got a house. One student said "Miss Smith, I work at the SPCA, do you want a dog? Cause I can get you one!". I don't know if she was offering to pick one out or sneak one out for me, but either way it was funny. anyway, now it's bedtime.

Alright. Just got back from Down With Love. It was cute, funny, but sort of weird. Lots of laughs, but lots of groans too. Honestly, hard to explain. I went with Jenn (who has comments now) after work today, it was the last night that it's showing. It was definitely worth the $7. Anyway, it's just about midnight and I do have to work tomorrow, so bon soir a vous autres.

it's great to feel loved. I got flowers on Friday just for being at the school I'm at. All the TA's and such got them, so I felt pretty special. Aren't they lovely?

Just to keep you entertained....I had to pull over on Wheeler Blvd today to take pictures of some trees, because for some reason they are really the most bent and still growing there. Odd, but fun. So, for your viewing pleasure, a bendy birch tree, and a bendy evergreen. Neat eh? Oh, yeah, they're bendy because of the ice storm way back, they got so weighed down that they just never really recovered, but seem to be doing fine. Lots of trees just died, and a lot came back, but these ones are the most interesting.

Also, I did a pretty poor write up of my weekend didn't I? It was pretty good! I went up to Freddy for the day, just for fun. Grant had to do work on his senior proposal presentation, so I figured I may as well get out. I went with Tirésa to the Clay Cafe up there, and it was terrific. If I had like, $100, 000...I would really open one up here in Moncton. So, if you do have that kind of cash, or access to it, I'd go for it. You pick your ceramic pieces, everything from blank tiles to sushi bowl sets. I chose 3 sweet bud vases, all different shapes, and painted them each a different solid colour, with a different colour on the inside that was visible, and an apple-shaped box for holding knick-knacks on my imaginary desk in my imaginary classroom. I'm hoping this 'power of positive thought' thing works out. My apple is a granny smith, just because. Erin and her terrific new roommate Katie, who's also trying to break her way in to the full-time teaching world, made us a great, Chinese type supper with rice, chicken, eggrolls etc. I hadn't planned on spending the night, but supper ended at about 9, so I opted not to drive home. It was then that we rented 25th Hour, which I have rented again, but it's due back at 11pm and I'm not sure that I'll watch it before then.

Anyway, going to go sit and vegetate for a bit before work.

Heaven help me for the way I am
Save me from these evil deeds
Before I get them done
I know tomorrow brings
The consequence at hand
But I keep livin' this day like
The next will never come
Oh help me but don't tell me to deny it
I've got to cleanse myself
Of all these lies till I'm good enough for him
I've got a lot to lose
and I'm bettin' high so I'm beggin' you
before it ends just tell me where to begin

Just rented a really good movie. Welcome to Collinwood. You should all rent it, and definitely remember to watch the bonus footage, and the credits at the end of the bonus footage. It's just terrifically funny. Grant and I are very close to declaring a ban on renting movies we've heard of, because they're so rarely as good as you hope they will be, and the smaller movies are so often very very good. I'm sure if Erin reads this she'll be like, duh, I could have told you that. But as with most things, I had to figure it out for myself.
I've also rented 25th Hour, with Ed Norton. Now, I rented it with Tirésa on Saturday night, and we turned it off because we were a bit tired and it was a bit slow. I do want to see the end, but I'm not holding out a lot of hope that it'll thrill me. Apparently that's a "Spike Lee Joint" thing, sort of slow to develop. I say boo to that, I want interesting plot before the movie is half over.
That's about all my advice for tonight I guess. I reorganized my car cd collection, that's always a good thing. I've been listening to Fiona Apple somewhat obsessively for the past couple of days I haven't listened to her for quite a long time, and surprised myself at how much of the cd I remember. Criminal is such a great song to turn up loud and sing along. I suppose most of the reason I enjoy her is because she's in my key.

ooh, giant pictures! I've been playing with my camera, and I did some close ups. I got some skittles, and the Rubick's Cube. Fun stuff! These are about half the size they were when they came off the camera.

Another joke, from a compilation of largely un-funny jokes by Stuff magazine. This one just struck me as funny, and it's short.
2 goldfish are sitting in a tank. One goldfish says to the other, "so, do you know how to drive this thing?".
Ha!

ok. Here's a joke I heard today from the teacher of the grade 7 class I work with.

2 cows are standing in a field, chewing their cud. One cow looks at the other cow and he says,"you know, all this mad cow talk is making me nervous. I'm really worried I might get it! You seem really calm though, aren't you worried?"
The 2nd cow looks back at him and says, "what do I have to worry about? I'm a penguin!"

the webcam is up and running again, all I had to do was format the hard drive to reinsall the GD software. Seems worth it eh? Anyway, I'm working 8-8 yesterday, today, and tomorrow, so I'm not around much, but I'll let you know if anything really exciting happens, I promise!

Well so I formatted my hard drive. I also partitioned it so that next time things aren't working I don't have to lose everything. I backed everything up, but it was still a pain in the ass. Went to see Bruce Almighty today, and it was pretty funny, I have to say. I have to also say though that there were a lot of kids there, and it's really not a kid's movie. It's not too offensive or anything, but there's a good amount of sexual humour and swearing, as indicated on the website. Just my 2 cents I guess.
We just watched Drumline, and it was decent too. I haven't seen a really good movie for a while, that I can think of anyway.
I was up really late last night fixing the GD computer, so I'm going to get my pjs on and go to bed momentarily. nighty night!

Take a moment and look at this. It's a proposed law requiring treatment and pre-release evaluations of sex offenders which may allow them to be placed on the dangerous offenders list. If you agree, please sign the petition.

In this new unscripted drama series, 15 beautiful girls come for love but are surprised to learn in the first episode that there is also a million dollar prize at stake - but the winner and the bachelor will not know that she ultimately must choose between the man of her dreams or $1 million.
I cry for the generation for whom this is normal TV.

I realized that I haven't posted any pictures of my new car! I washed her today so she's extra purty.
glamour shot #1 and glamour shot #2. Would you mess with that? I haven't been cut off yet!

ok, going back to my commentary on the Matrix: Reloaded....Ernie did a great synopsis of it in his post from the 20th. Enjoy!

I just want to let everyone know that if Clay wins American Idol tonight, I'm going to vomit. I haven't even been watching the show, but I know that he's creepy, and has a voice fit for show tunes, not top 40 radio. Ruben doesn't have a great radio voice either, honestly, but he does have a great voice, and he's way cooler than Clay.
I also see that tonight buddy Firestone from the Bachelor has made his choice and we get to see what's going on now, and meet the next Bachelor. *sigh* What's wrong with people that a top choice for tv is complete strangers meeting other complete strangers and proposing to them? I don't get it.

On a brighter note, I realized what great experience I'm getting at my tutoring job. I have to basically make SEP's for all 8 of my students, and be far more creative and flexible than I would have to be in any regular classroom. I have one student who wants to learn. The rest range from "I'd rather not" to "I would rather shove hot nails into my eyes than do work". It's not very fun sometimes, but there are only 21 school days left, and sometimes it is fun. The student I'm working with in the mornings has made improvements in how much work he gets done. Mainly because he comes for tutoring 3 times a week and I make him do work there, but still, it's better for everyone. He's gone from having to stay in every day for not having work done or assignments handed in, to actually having his homework done one day without having been to tutoring the night before. It's really frustrating because he's more than capable of doing any of the work that's thrown at him, but chooses not to most of the time. How to make 13 year-olds understand that school is just something you have to do to get on with your life?

As promised, zoo pictures! Be warned, they're not small pictures, and there are about 25 of them. Enjoy! I didn't put any pictures of the lions or tigers or most of the chimps up, because I didn't figure out til the end of our visit how to not focus on the fence separating me from the animals. I now know how to manually focus the camera, so I'm all set.

Just got back from the Matrix. It wasn't horrible, but there was a really poor plot : fight scenes ratio. It also really seemed like a bunch of guys just sat around and threw out ideas, and given no coherent way to get them all in the movie, they just said, screw it, put them all in! Good action, overall I'd say 3/5. I will have to go see the next one, because be warned, this one just sort of ends. I realize it's a trilogy, but normally there's some sort of closure before embarking on the next chapter, no? This was more like the season finale of a TV show, leaving you more annoyed like, 'I can't believe they're ending it THERE!' than 'ooh, that's fun, I can't wait for the fall!'

Also, I went to the Magnetic Hill Zoo yesterday. Pictures to follow, I'm too tired right now. We saw jaguars rockin' on though, it was pretty funny. We thought they were having a drink because they were lying right by the pool, but then Jenn was like, oh...they're not drinking...
We saw a bunch of animals, and I got a super cute picture of 2 ring-tailed lemurs. But you have to wait to see it! mwah ah ah....Lions and tigers and bears, oh my! and zebras, and a HUGE camel, some ducks and bunnies, and deer and goats, peacocks and turkeys, a lynx, jaguars, as mentione, assorted primates, and a guy without his shirt, who had no business having his shirt off. I think that's it.

I got some not especially stellar pictures of the eclipse, it got really hard to focus at the end, and I'm still working out the details on this camera, but they're not too bad. So here you go, in approximate order. The shutter speed was slow, so a couple are really odd looking, but I kind of like them anyway! tripod will have to wait for now...

beginning of the eclipse
getting smaller
smaller..
almost gone
not much to focus on in this one

OOOOh, there's a lunar eclipse tonight! click for details and times.

(ha ha, I almost posted with the link to the Wolverine pic in there again...)

I'm not dead! yaaaaaay! Yes, there was some doubt there on Tuesday. Feverish and just feeling like crap in general, but Wednesdy I woke up feeling pretty good, except for a cold. I watched the series finale of Dawson's Creek today, they've been playing all the episodes on Superstation for the past month or so. I was *really* confused though, because Jenn was dying and had a baby, and when I watched Tuesday her Grandma had cancer and there were no babies on the way. Apparently this was to be 5 years in the future. Ahhh. So I won't ruin it...yes I will. Jenn dies from some weird heart disease, Jack takes her baby and he and his boyfriend, Pacey's brother Deputy Doug (now the sherrif) are going to raise her, Dawson is a successful writer of a show called "The Creek", and Joey and Pacey end up together. So there you go. I had to call Calleen though, I was all confused cause I missed 2.5 shows between Tuesday and today. She cleared everything up though, thank heavens! haha...I had to watch it, if only to be sure it's really over.
I think Friends and ER are both season finales tonight, so that about sums up my plans for the evening. I lead *such* an exciting life. We went to see X2 last night, and I don't know what the bad reviewers were talking about, it was supercool. I love Wolverine. Even bleeding, he's still hot. He does some serious damage in this movie.

Well. Not much new here. I caught a nasty bug from Grant's parents, so I'm not too thrilled about that. I don't have a lot to say really, I'm not feeling to super. Grant is once again MIA, but this time he made and left me supper, so I can't be too upset with him now, can I? I'm guessing hockey. Also, he was making me feel a bit bad about buying a digital camera, since I really don't have any money, but they have 12 months no payments no interest, so surely I can pay it off in that amount of time. So I said fine, whatever, if you're going to make me feel bad about it then screw it. He comes back (obviously having given it some thought) with that photography is my hobby, and if I'm not going to give him a hard time about spending whacks of money on hockey, then fair's fair. So there you go.

I'm watching a really, really excellent video on learning disabilities called "Misunderstood Minds", off of PBS. Go here and scroll down to the "try it - experience a learning difficulty". It's about phonemic awareness, and it's really hard. And as they point out, they've only changed 8 of the 40-some phonemes. It was hard, but you can sort of figure it out as you go, because you'll probably know what it's talking about, the passage. It would be even worse being a child, and not knowing at all what the passage was saying. Try it!

The fish seem much happier without the cannibal bastards in the tank. Cleatus still hasn't realized he's allowed back in the cave, but he's fun to look at anyway, so him being out in the general population is ok. He doesn't eat my other fish.
It's beautiful outside, not terribly sunny but supposedly about 18 degrees, so yay spring! I'm going to not waste my entire lunch hours inside like I did yesterday. I think George needs to go outside. Mort already did, so it only seems fair.

gross eh?

holy shit. what the hell just happened? Do I really have to wait until fall to find out what's going on with Alias? This is not good at all. Just in case someone hasn't seen it, is watching it on ABC at 10, I won't say much. But holy shit.

In other news, I worked my last shift at MCRI today, it was a trade I had done to get Easter off to visit my Grannie. So that was pretty cool, Sundays are easily the easiest day at work, and overall every day is pretty easy.

Also, remember the walking catfish? I'll try to find the link to that post, it was in March I think. Anyway, I bought 2 of them because they were small, sort of ugly, and hang from their noses at the top of the aquarium. I'll admit, I don't check my fish numbers very often. I guess I take for granted that they'll all be there, day to day. I do check them for stress and disease etc, I'm a decent fish-mom. Yesterday, Calleen, Travis and I went to Pets Unlimited, where I got said catfish. I want to show Calleen how much bigger mine are than the ones in the store, but surprise, the one left in the store is enormous. Really, really big. I'll say..7-8 inches and a good size around. Odd looking critters. Anyway, so I say to the guy, wow, mine aren't that big, and he says oh really? They will be! I'm like, oh crap, really? He says, it depends how much they're eating. Are they bothering any of my other fish? I say no, I don't think so, they mostly just hide in the cave. Wow, he says...they normally eat anything they can get their mouths around (which, due to the increasing size of these bastards, is getting to be a lot of my fish. I start to worry.). I say wow, nobody told me that, but I haven't noticed any problems yet. One of them is probably 6 inches long and pretty fat, they have big mouths like...pacman or something.
So I go home, and to my shock and horror, I have NO NEONS left. Not one. I do, Calleen, have the little orange glowlight tetra that I got from you in like, 3rd year. But no neon tetras. I am saddened. I mean, those guys hide all the time; there are...were...a lot of smaller fish in my tank, so I hadn't noticed. I notice now. I notice later that the bastards have also eaten my favorite baby fish, a little orange platy who was one of only 2 that my now dead orange platy mom had. The other one lives, but is orange and black and sort of ugly. *sigh*
Grant offered to euthanize the mo' fo's for me, but I felt bad, even though they're cannibals and clearly cannot continue living in my community aquarium. I take them out, or Grant does, he being the engineer comes up with a way to catch them, they're big and fast, and I didn't want a repeat of the algae eater on the floor incident. I put them in my 3 gallon unheated tank for the night, and bring them back to PetsUnlimited today. The people there are like, who sold you the fish? I don't know, any more than when I go to any other store I remember the person's name. So whatever, I tell them that yes, I am sure that I told the guy what size tank I have and who lives in it, and that there was no mention of the size or violent nature of these fish. Live and learn I suppose.

Today's moral: Don't buy pets at super-sized pet stores..
If you must, buy your food and supplies there, but not the pets. Spend the extra dollar and go to a reputable pet store. That's my two cents. More like a loonie I guess, sorry about the length!

Where is my boyfriend? Why doens't he leave notes? I went out for ice cream and supper with Jenn last night after work, while Grant was at 'card night'. I did not leave a note. I was feeling very rebellious, but then kind of bad until I remembered I had my cell phone on me if he actually was wondering where I was. I got home at about 10:30. He was still not home. Mild guilt turned quickly to relief then mild irritation that he still wasn't home and that I'd been feeling bad. Why do I care? Why don't boys get that it's just nice for them to let their significant others know where they are? Maybe even an approximate time of returning! I know, it sounds crazy. Good thing there's good tv on tonight, or I'd be bored and annoyed.
I have a headache, which is from a combination of being tired, not eating anything today, and trying for 3 hours at lunch to get my cover letters done and printed off to hand in today for the non-jobs at district 2. My printer is very split-personality. Sometimes, it'll print perfectly. Most of the time, however, it will print 50-90% of the page perfectly, and screw up one line. It'll print half of it, or skew it all to hell. So this is what I did for my break between jobs today. I got my resume and one of 4-5 needed cover letters printed. I'll finish tomorrow, it's a day off anyway.

ah, have you missed me? 35 days left of school! wooh! Is it really sad that I'm already counting down the days until I'm done my new jobs? It's habit. I didn't count them, one of my students did, it was on the board today. I like my jobs, but I like doing nothing in the warm weather too. I've registered for 10 Summer Institutes, which are free courses for teachers, which is awesome. The plan of EI is getting more appealing by the day, especially with these things. They're all one or 2 days, some in Fredericton, so that would put a cramp in my abilty to work any kind of normal job anyway. Also, what kind of near decent job am I going to find for 2 months? I'm thinking...there isn't one. I'm also thinking..it's bed time.

so, clearly, ordering that last drink was an error in judgement. I had just, shall we say, gotten a bit too much into the spirit of the evening, of which the purpose was to spend my $50 VooDoo gift certificate. I actually ended up going over a bit, because we were ordering fun drinks like double chocolate martinis and the like (which are, by the way, remarkably tasty, and clear...I don't understand!). I say to Jenn, "I'm going to go and ask them for their biggest, baddest drink.". I do, and it's one large mo' fo', roughly the size of my head. I ordered one for Jenn and one for me. It seemed like a good idea at the time, I swear.
Live and learn, folks.

So I'm taking my new baby in to the dealership to get all spiffed up, floor mats put in, rust proofing on the underside etc. They're going to rent me a car for tonight / tomorrow, which is pretty cool. I have to go to Saint John for an orthoptist appointment, so it'll also save me putting kms on the new car. Jenn says I have to name it. She suggested "kitten", which deserves contemplation at the very least. Any suggestions, let me know! It's navy blue, if that helps.

I suppose you can tell that I’m French by the numerous spelling mistake in this letter…I’m also good with my hands

ok, for your next pot luck, may I suggest...this?

Man, that was an embarrassing hockey game. 6-1?

My jobs are pretty good, it's going to take me a day or 2 to get in the swing of things for the behaviour interventionist job, I'm not sure where I'll fit in in all the classes; I may end up just sort of doing another practicum. Which surely, could be worse, but wasn't exactly what I was expecting. So I'll keep you posted.

Also, I ordered a book on pregnancy and babies. HA HA! Not, I stress, because I'm planning on dealing with either of those things right away, but rather because it's been touted as a really good book, selling for about $50 at Chapters etc., and it was free. From State Farm Insurance. I don't know why, nor do I care especially. I like free stuff, even if it won't be useful right away. So, I'll have to explain to Grant at some point before it arrives that this doesn't mean I'm trying to have babies right now. Really, the 'free' reason should be reason enough, he knows me pretty well. I'm forever getting crap because it's cheap or free. Anyway, if you'd like one, or know someone who would, here's the link. You have to copy and paste it, you can't click it. Again, I don't know why, but it doesn't work as a clickable link.

http://www.sf.pii.orders.com/events/birth/

Happy Earth Day!

yeah, so for more explanation, the neon was going to cost about $1500 to fix, it was just in a mess....oil had gotten into everything and wrecked it. so they gave me $1500 on a trade, as-is, which works out pretty well for me.

also, I start my 2 new jobs tomorrow. 'Tis the time of change for Chachi!

Holy shit, I bought a car.

Well I'm back, but my car is dead. Or very near death anyway. The head gasket needs to be replaced again, it was replaced 2 years ago. Unacceptable. Also, the transmission is doing bad things, such as not dropping in to gear right away and revving at random times while driving. So, I'm going to go talk to my buddy Bob at the dealership again and see what he can do for me. It has, to this point, been cheaper to fix the neon than buy new, but it's just not anymore. Things keep breaking with increased regularity, and it just annoys me to keep putting money into this car that I know is going to break again. YARG!

Well, I'm a bit cranky, but being sick and having to work while sick makes me that way. I'm going to bed soon, I just have to finish my neo-citrin. It's delicious and full of chemicals which make me sleepy. mmm. Don't get the honey lemon flavour though! It sounds like it'll be tasty and sweet, but it tastes like ass. Very sweet ass. Stick to the lemon, or even the apple cinnamon isn't bad. I have to start going to bed at a normal time, I have to be to work at 8 every morning starting Tuesday!
My sister and I are going to Halifax tomorrow to visit my grannie for Easter. My boss from the job I've left...again...gave me a card and a chocolate easter bunny. I love that job for reasons like that. There are couches at that job, and a cat. Can't say that for many other jobs, really. Anyway, the typing is interfering with the drinking of neo-citrin, so I'm going to direct all my energy toward that. Might not post this weekend, but surely you can survive without me until Sunday.
Happy Easter!

Just saw The Transporter, it was cool. I want to be able to do half the moves that guy (Jason Statham, from Lock Stock, Snatch, Mean Machine, The One, and the upcoming Italian Job) does. Pretty cool movie, cool moves, cool car etc. He's not too hard on the eyes either, but he's no Vin.
And yeah, it's true, Knockaround Guys wasn't a very good movie. It wasn't terrible, it had some really talented actors in it, it just wasn't.. very good. I blame the fact that Vin didn't have a big enough part in it. See, had he been the star, then it would have been MUCH better. hah...

so...I've accepted another job. This one is as "behaviour interventionist" at an elementary/middle school. It's just going to be one-on-one here too, which is super. It won't pay quite as well as supply teaching, but I'm not getting much of that at all lately. So this'll work out to a couple of days supply work a week, and it's guaranteed, so wonderful. I have a real schedule now! very exciting. I'm going in for my orientation for the tutoring job this afternoon. I'm getting a nasty cold though, and am going to go have a nap before then.

why, I don't understand, does this just not work sometimes? I'd really like to know. Can anyone tell me how to run a blog from my own computer? Is there software for that? I know I could just edit a page every day, but that's a pain, no?

Damn, but Vin Diesel is hot.

Just got back from A Man Apart, and even though I knew what was going to happen from reading the reviews and previews and what not, it was still good, and kept me guessing a bit til the end. And, even if it was terrible, it still would have been worth it, just for my sweet, hot, Vin. It also had Larenz Tate and Timothy Olyphant, who was Pete in Dreamcatcher, was also in Rock Star, but I didn't see that one. Anyway, he was funny in this one. A bad guy, but funny.

Bedtime, off to read the all-celebrity Jane

because it's funny, that's why

Funny and not-so...

Funny: for the 2nd time in recent history, an elderly (not ancient, but senior quality) woman on the Price is Right bid a ridiculous amount on her showcase in the showdown. $85 000 specifically. The one I saw before, she wanted to bid $100 000 but the audience was like, "BOOOOOO!" (plus it wouldn't have fit in the display..) so she made it $90 000. Some weiner yesterday bid like $8000 on the lame showcase, but even the lame one is always worth minimum...$12-13k. If only I could be on, I'd win on those kinds of things. That and Blackjack. Calleen astutely pointed out that the one that's 10x the price and thus gets you a 10 card, is always the price that ends in 0. Obviously! haha.

not so: I need a more impressive or aggressive looking car. People are forever cutting me off in traffic. And at least 80% of the time, I swear it's just to prove that they can. What I mean by this is one of 2 situations. They either kill themselves to get out in front of me and drive 30, or they kill themselves to get out in front of me, and there is NOBODY behind me. Not a soul. Why, people? I need an old beater car, then I'll just run into them. That'll teach 'em!

It has come to my attention that most people may not be aware of the history behind my title here. I didn't make it up, I wish I did, but here is the original thing.

The Parenting Test
(how to tell if you're ready)

Mess Test:
Smear peanut butter on the sofa and curtains. Place a fish stick behind the couch and leave it there all summer.

Toy Test:
Obtain a 55-gallon box of Lego. (If Lego is not available, you may substitute roofing tacks). Have a friend spread them all over the house. Put on a blindfold. Try to walk to the bathroom or kitchen. Do not scream. (This could wake a child at night.)

Supermarket Test:
Borrow one or two small animals (goats are best) and take them with you as you shop at the supermarket. Always keep them in sight and pay for anything they eat or damage.

Dressing Test:
Obtain one large, unhappy, live octopus. Stuff into a small net bag, making sure that all arms stay inside.

Feeding Test:
Obtain a large plastic milk jug. Fill halfway with water. Suspend from the ceiling with a stout cord. Start the jug swinging. Try to insert spoonfuls of soggy cereal (such as Weetabix or Ready Brek) into the mouth of the jug, while pretending to be an airplane. Now dump the contents of the jug on the floor.

Night Test:
Prepare by obtaining a small cloth bag and fill it with 8 - 12 lbs of sand. Soak it thoroughly in water. At 8:00pm, begin to waltz and hum with the bag until 9:00pm. Lay down your bag and set your alarm for 10:00pm. Get up, pick up your bag, and sing every song you have ever heard. Make up about a dozen more and sing these too until 4:00am. Set alarm for 5:00am. Get up and make breakfast. Keep this up for 5 years. Look cheerful.

Physical Test (Women):
Obtain a large beanbag chair and attach it to the front of your clothes. Leave it there for 9 months. Now remove 10 of the beans.

Physical Test (Men):
Go to the nearest chemists. Set your wallet on the counter. Ask the clerk to help himself. Now proceed to the nearest food store. Go to the head office and arrange for your paycheck to be directly deposited to the store. Purchase a newspaper. Go home and read it quietly for the last time.

Final Assignment:
Find a couple who already has a small child. Lecture them on how they can improve their discipline, patience, tolerance, toilet training, and child's table manners. Suggest many ways they can improve. Emphasise to them that they should never allow their children to run riot.

Enjoy this experience. It will be the last time you will have all the answers.

so I'm just feeling really good about things now. It's still entirely possible that I won't have a contract teaching job in the fall, but the new thing is that now I can stay here to find out. I do love Fredericton, but I do not like moving. My thinking was that we'd get to Fredericton, me having to go with Grant because I wouldn't be able to support myself on my supply wages (not, if, as the VP of my HS pointed out, I like things like...eating...). Again, I love Fredericton, and Grant, but I'm pretty sure we would have ended up back here in a year anyway, so I'd like to just leave out that middle step. It's also possible that Grant will be able to finish school in one term, which makes moving even less worthwhile. So now, with the chance of at least having this tutoring job in the fall to supplement my supply work, I can in fact afford to stay here. I won't be living the high life, mind you, but I'll be alright, and able to keep working my "connections" in Moncton. Things may still change, but they're looking good for now. This is the first hint of stability I've had for some time now, and it feels reallllly good.

I got the tutoring job. Yay me! I start a week from Monday, and go in one day next week for an orientation type thing. It's Mon-Thursday from 3-8, but if I do end up working at HS, which only gets out at 3:30, I can most likely just tack on the time to the end of my day, which is fine. Weekends off!

ok, so my week went well, AND, I just had a little interview/meeting for a tutoring job at the alternate ed centre, so I'm super happy. It's Friday, it's beautiful outside, and I might have a teacher-related way of making extra money. I wouldn't be able to keep working at the house, so that's kind of a bummer, unless they just want me for weekends...but this is really what I want to be doing, it's why I went to school, so I really think it would be stupid of me to pass up this opportunity. And you never know, it might lead into an actual teaching position.
Because really, I do want to get my masters, but not necessarily right now. I still don't really know what I want to do it in. I like exceptional learners, but I also like guidance and counselling, and I think that might be more where my talents lie. Also, working with at-risk students, the guidance option would probably be more useful. I hadn't ever really entertained the idea of that one vs the E.L. masters, because I didn't think it would really be that useful, as far as employability goes. Much like the reason I didn't go to NSCAD and do a fine arts degree. Some people can make it work, but not everyone.
I'll keep you posted!

so today, as with every morning this week, I am to work one-on-one with a student. She didn't show up today though. So I got to work with another student, which was pretty good as well, like I said, any student can be a sweet heart when you get them one-on-one. Boo to low funding. But that made my morning worthwhile anyway. I go to my afternoon booking, eat my decent but not especially tasty lunch that I brought. I wasn't able to fridge or freezer anything, being at 2 schools I'd probably have left it in the first, so I brought one of those Betty Crocker just add water and nuke dealies. It was ok. I ask when I get there who I am, then have my lunch. I go to the classroom after lunch, and there is already a supply teacher in there. Ok, clearly I'm in another classroom.
Except I'm not.
I'm booked in the computer system, I'm not just an idiot, but the principal who does the bookings is gone for the afternoon and there's nobody else who needs replacing. I had this happen before so I always check the computer booking online before I go. I'm booked, but so is this other woman, and even though I've been booked for like, a month...I get sent home. With sincere apologies, granted, but still, it's, shall we say...a bit of a nuisance. Also, I was going to talk to the principal about possible positions for the fall, but he was not there.
I stopped on the way home to get toothpaste, cause the stuff we have hurts my mouth, no good. I opt for the stupid "check yourself out" option, and the machine goes schitzo on me and calls for help. I don't need help, I just want to pay for my crap and go home. No such luck.
So that's been my day.

As suspected, that girl from the band Boomkat is in fact the girl from that super movie, Crossroads, with Britney Spears. She was Mimi, the girl who was date raped by the snobby girl's college boyfriend. Really a sweet movie. Date rape, falling in love with some random guy who looks like he's 30, miscarriage, cheating/rapist older boyfriends. Great for the wee ones.
yeah, I saw it. It was really funny, if you ignored all the really dark things going on, which I guess we're suppsed to, since it's geared at Britney fans, average age...9. Also a good movie to practise your "guess what's going to happen next" skills, cause it's a sure bet you'll be right. Yeah, I even guessed the big twist at the end!

well said.

so, latest plan, but it will be planned out better than the going back for a few courses idea, is to get my masters in exceptional learners. If my calculations are correct (and I'm getting them checked too) I should only have to take 9 courses to get my masters, since I have undergrad classes that are equivalent to some grad courses. I'll check and see if I can do it in a year, and if nothing else comes up for the fall, I may just do it. Then I can be Sarah Smith, BA, BEd, MEd. Nice. I'd be happy just to be Miss Smith for now though, hehe.
It'll come...
Anyway, just a quick update cause I've been slack the past few days.

editor's note: I will have to take the same number of courses, which right now stands at 12, but is most likely being reduced to 10, which is do-able in one year. now I have to see if all 5 (not 8, I already have 3) required courses will be offered this coming year. if not, eff it!

alright. Not that things are any more clear, but here is how they stand. Our house is staying open. I will have a job until at most June, because I'm only there to replace someone who's doing school and will be back then. For one more kink, the girl who works the same shift as me, on opposite days, wants to have fewer hours. The company can't give her fewer hours, that's just the line she's working, and how many hours it has. So she might just not stay on at all. I don't know what that means for me, I'll hopefully find out more tomorrow.
Completely unrelated, I'm going to check out a computer at Future Shop, it's an e-Machines 1.4G 40G hard drive 128M of ram, dvd-rom and cd burner, network card, and monitor for $799+tax. It's refurbished, hence the good price, but comes with the same warantee as any other computer. Still a good deal? I know a few people with eMachines computers and they haven't had any problems, so I think it might be. If I can get the 90 days no payments no interest deal, that would be even more tempting. I don't really neeed a new computer though, I just mostly want winXP, which nobody I knows has a legal copy of, and I'm not shelling out $150 for the freaking UPGRADE only cd.
Off topic #2 - I want a cool summer job. I can go on EI and volunteer at the SPCA or hospital, 2 excellent ideas raised by Tirésa, or I could try to take pictures for the paper or something, an excellent idea raised by my dear sister. I don't know if that one is feasible, if they just take random people or if you need a degree in photography or something, but it's worth looking into. Anybody else think of cool ways to spend my summer? I don't want to work at a call centre. No, correction, I won't work at a call centre. I could go for summer day camp for kids or something like that, it's not all about the money so much as me not hating getting up in the morning. I do need some money for paying bills and whatnot, but that's about it. I'm not expecting to save much. So who has done something cool, and how do I get to do it too?

oh, yeah, and my teaching French immersion today was actually watching the movie "Hardball" with Keanu Reeves and Diane Lane (which is pretty good, btw) for 3 periods, and "Oliver" for one. Music class, naturally. So it went pretty well. Slow though, I have to say, but I can't complain about being paid to do that really. Days like that make up for the other, 'no-amount-of-money-is-worth-this' sorts of supply days I sometimes have.

I taught today and met with 2 new-to-me supply teachers in the staff room at lunch and during my prep period. One of them was a mom who has her BEd but is just supplying for a bit of money, which I didn't really know people did. The other one is like me, just in it to get a "real" job. He seems hopeful about this coming year, said that there are something like 80 retirements in Moncton this year, as well as a whack of admin positions that have to be filled by teachers. So that's pretty good, but not when you think of how many people there are waiting for those positoins. He raised the following stats, which may or may not have been made up, but made me feel better for the moment. Only about half of supply teachers here have their BEd, the rest are just local permits. So that's a large chunk not to have to compete with. Also, among the teacher chunk, are a good number of people who are either retired and doing it for lack of anything else to do, or who just don't really want to teach full time. So, there are still a lot of people, but not as many, which is nice. Of course, there are no jobs posted at all right now, so there's really no telling how things will be. I keep being told that I can go away, to Ontario or out west, and get a job there. This is true, but I don't want to go away. I like it here, it's where I'm from, it's the closest I can get to my family, such as it is, and when my parents to come back, this is the area they'll be in. I'm tired of people being like, you're young! Go while you can! As if I'm going to blow up in 5 years or something. Even when I was single I didn't want to go teach in Korea or anything. It's just not me. I want to work, but I don't want to have to give up everything I have here to move into some tiny apartment by myself in a strange place. So sue me. Because, generally, then these same people turn around if the topic comes to family, children etc, I say I want to get a job so I can save money, have a nice place to live, children etc...they say "well you can't wait for everything to be perfect to start your life, money isn't everything, blah blah blah". Make up your minds! Or, stop offering generic advice to random strangers. Either way. I'm not angry, just sort of irked. Still very frustrated, understandably I think, but hey.
On a possibly good note, the house that I work at for MCRI isn't closing, so we don't have to move and theoretically I'll have a job past the end of this month. That said, they will be redoing the schedule and cutting back some hours, so I may not have a job anyway. I'll keep you posted, as usual.