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Posted on October 2, 2004 by annieblog

i must buy a new digi cam soon. I want to take pics at homecoming tonight. All we have is mark’s camera phone – which is better than nothing for digital. And we also have an old-fashioned camera – you know, one with film! 🙂 I want to see my pics right away. That moment. Then I know if I need to take another one or not. Are we spoiled or what? Technology has a hold on me I guess. I think I may just go out and buy one tomorrow – no questions asked. I NEED one!

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Posted on October 1, 2004 by annieblog

Tonight is going to be a great “bethanie” night . Mark has auditions this afternoon, so he’ll be home later. I’ll head home around lunch time without him. When he’s done with auditions he’ll come home for a little bit – then he’s going out to see a play. Why am I not going? I can’t stand melodramas! They’re just too cheesy for me. Mark feels like he must go and support people. I don’t feel that way, so I’m staying home and starting laundry. I plan on knitting and listening to a book or music or something. I will probably end up reading too. I’m in a baking mood, so who knows. I am bringing some grading home tonight too, so I need to get that done this weekend. I may rent a movie or watch something too, I have no idea what I’m doing, but I know it involves knitting.

The weather is STILL not cooperating. It’s supposed to be in the upper 80s today – lovely. It’s rainy, so it’s getting all muggy and humid. Lovely. I wish it would just please cool down for the love of God. I’m sick of the hot weather. It’s October, so it should be getting cooler. They say it’ll get cooler this weekend, but then who knows what will happen – it’ll probably shoot up to 90 again next week.

Here are my Friday Forum answers:

1] What was your first date like? When was it, and where did you go? What did you do? Did you have a good time?

I was 15 and he was 17. We worked at the same place. His name was Danny. We went to a movie, then we went to Wendy’s. I ate fries and a frosty. He had like 3 hamburgers, fries, frosty, pop – tons of food. Then we went to my house and he wanted to watch TV. So we sat in the living room watching TV. He pretty much ignored me – not on purpose, just cause he was a guy. I didn’t even walk him to the car or anything. It was kind of boring actually. He never asked me out again. That was fine, because I wasn’t much interested after that experience.

2] Who is the first person listed in your phone/address book? How do you know that person, and do you keep in touch often?

Tina – but she’s married now and her last name doesn’t begin with an A anymore. We met in college. We keep in touch via email once in awhile. Not too well though.

3] What’s the first music album that you ever bought yourself, with your own money? Do you still have it?

Shaun Cassidy. My Dad took me to Venture and I bought it with babysitting money. My parents said it was a waste of money, but I wanted it soooo badly. I do not still have it.

4] Do you remember your first day of high school, or perhaps your first day at college? What was it like, and how did you feel?

I vividly remember my first day of high school. I had gone to a very small Catholic school till high school. My high school was huge – like over 2000 kids. So this was a huge culture shock for me. And I was so stressed about it – my stomach was upset, I wasn’t eating, I spend forever in the bathroom getting sick. Horrible. I missed the bus the first day. My Catholic school didn’t have buses, so we just assumed I would step out the door and go to the corned at the exact time the schedule said – nope, the bus was like 5 minutes early and I missed it. My mom had to take me – totally embarrasing. I carried ALL my books with me because I couldn’t figure out my locker. I got lost – never knew which floor to be on – crazy. I had never been in a school cafeteria, so I didn’t eat lunch for the first couple of weeks because I couldn’t figure out the lunch line, and I was just so scared. I stayed in the bathroom the entire lunch period. I came home every day and cried. So yes, I do remember my first day of high school. Oddly enough I don’t remember my first day of college. I remember the first nigth I was dropped off at the dorms. I got drunk! Big time! I guess that’s what happens to the poor little sheltered Catholic girl when she goes away without her parents. All hell breaks loose…

5] Have you had any “firsts” recently ~ perhaps within the past month? [For example, trying a new food for the first time, traveling somewhere for the first time, grasping the concept of something for the first time, etc.]

I had to think about this – but yes. I stood up for myself in a meeting. I usually keep quite or if I’m really ballsy I’ll email my comments. It’s easier to email than say some things F2F. But this time, I just spoke up. I wasn’t even scared. I loved it. I felt really good afterwards. The result was good too. No one was mad, and the problem was solved. It gives me confidence for the future.

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Posted on September 29, 2004 by annieblog

Ok, so I had to cry at work again today – this time it had nothing to do with my students. Shock of shockers. The troops from our area were shipped out today. We were all supposed to line the streets as they left town. I did. I was surrounded by lots of people – co-workers and students. As soon as we heard the police sirens going people started moving to the curb. Some were waving flags, most were cheering. I started to get teary eyed. I saw all these faces of men and women in uniform – none of which I knew. And I thought about how some may not come back. How scary would that be for the families? These people are leaving their jobs, their friends, their families – and going away to possibly be killed. That makes me so, so sad. Ok, I’m gonna cry again now. I support our troops, but I really wish they here and not there. I NEVER want anyone in harm’s way. I think I was the only one that got sad. It all happened in slow motion for me. I left as quickly as I could, I really needed to sit in my office alone for awhile. I can NOT even fathom what the families are going through. I’m bothered when Mark goes away on a business trip – I’m stressed about his safety, and I don’t sleep well till he’s back home. What would it be like to have a loved one in the middle of a frickin’ war? I would have to be drugged up on a daily basis in order to function. My God! I do not want to imagine that – I don’t know if I could do it.

But on to other things – while we were waiting at the parade. We all were sitting down, I was on this concrete bench thingy by the curb with a bunch of other people. I had kicked my shoes off and was swinging my feet. When the sirens started and I ran to the curb, I left my shoes there. Now, This was only about five feet away. When I turned around, my shoes were gone. I really didn’t have time to deal with this because I had a 2:15 meeting and it was already 2:00 and I had to get to my office, get my stuff, go to the bathroom, and gather my things for the night – because I was leaving as soon as the meeting was over. So I trod on through the school to my office. No one says anything until my secretary sees me. I can tell she knows what’s up, and I tell her that I really don’t have time to look for my shoes because I had a meeting and was going to have to go shoe-less. She said seemed confused and shocked that I wasn’t going to quiz the entire department about who had my shoes. Well, normally I would’ve, but I didn’t have time. I was the one running the meeting – I needed to be there ASAP. So I got my stuff done, and headed off to my meeting without shoes. No one noticed, or at least they didn’t say anything. But Mark comes slinking in right before we’re ready to start and he has my shoes. He says my secretary was outside the door and said the person who took my shoes thought I would try and search for them and it was just a joke. That’s fine – I know it’s a joke, I just did not have time to look for them – seriously. I had stuff going on then. I figured someone would return them eventually, and if not, I could always get another pair – they were just little black slides. Mark doesn’t know who did it either. So, I guess that’s over. It was a little strange though. I’m afraid everyone is gonna say that I can’t take a joke, but it’s not that – I was way behind on stuff and only had a few minutes to get it done. My priority wasn’t shoes – I guess I’ll try out tomorrow who did it…

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Posted on September 29, 2004 by annieblog

This week is moving along slowly. I am ready for the weekend. But, alas, it’s not to be. I have an easy Wednesday, a busy Thursday, and a very busy Friday at work. Then it’s time to relax. I don’t think I’ll have lots of homework, which is good. I can spend time doing “me” things!

I have this one class that is frustrating the heck out of me. They just aren’t “getting it”. I have tried numerous approaches already, but they’re not where they should be at this point in the semester. I almost cried today. I excused them, and went to Mark’s office for advice and comfort. It’s just an odd mix of people and none of them seem to “get it” or even want to. I had a talk with them last week about – if you don’t want to be here, you don’t have to be here. It’s college – nobody is forcing to take this class. It’s not a requirement for graduation. So, I have no idea what they are thinking. We talked a little bit about it, and they all seemed clueless. They think they rock! The class is improv by the way. Most of them are not performers, which is fine. But at least they need to remember the basic rules of the games – but from one day to the next they act like they forgot everything. I try and review, but they have these blank looks on their faces. They also won’t follow directions. We were playing something today and I specifically asked them to keep it clean and not bring up any controversial topics. Well, they bring up racism. I about started banging my head on the floor. Then the week before we did the same type of thing and they started talking about “retards” – my god! Then when we sit down to discuss their inappropriate behavior they don’t get it. What? You can’t say “retard”? What is wrong with these people. They understand nothing. We are still doing things that I usually do the second week of school. This is like the 5th week – looks like I have a really slow bunch. Lucky me.

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Posted on September 28, 2004 by annieblog

Well, I broke our digital camera today. Isn’t that lovely? I was ready to take a picture at one of our homecoming things today, and when I pulled the lens cover thingy off to the side and the lens is supposed to come sliding out – it didn’t. It’s like it’s stuck. I’ve switched batteries, I’ve turned it off and on a zillion times, I’ve yanked on it a little bit. It’s stuck. You can’t take pictures that way. Mark needs to look at it yet, but if he can’t get it fixed I guess it’s time to buy a new one. Which is sad because that’s not even two years old. Sucks. But it was a gift, so technically we aren’t out anything. But still… I like that camera because it’s easy to use. I don’t know what we’ll do now. We have regular film cameras, plus Mark has a camera phone, but I want my own digi cam. Spoiled!

I had a busy day today. A thousand things going on all the time. It seems like I barely had time to sit. I did sit and visit with my mom on the phone tonight, other than that – and this time here – I’ve been going non-stop. I think I’m going to grab some knitting and re-fill my water (I’m over my cold from this weekend – but I’m mighty dehydrated) and turn on the TV in the bedroom and chill for a little bit. Sounds like a plan.

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Posted on September 26, 2004 by annieblog

While in my sickly state I decided I would have soup while Mark was away. I opened the can of tomato soup – condensed – and it was almost brown – I’m sorry, can you say OLD?? I really didn’t even know we had that on our shelves, but it must’ve been there since the stone ages. So, I got teary – like always. Then I poked around in the freezer and found a pack of those breakfast toaster thingies with eggs and bacon. I must have not closed the pack properly after the last usage because they were all freezer burned! Teary again.Distraught I grabbed some water and decided to read blogs.

I read some knitting blogs and got teary again because I suck at knitting and I have no one to ask for help. I am so sad by that. That’s a major disadvantage of living in the middle of nowhere.

After my shower – which worked wonders – I doused zit cream on random dots across my face. I figured – hey, I’m in for the night – who cares?

After walking around, watching TV, reading blogs and picking at magazines I knew I needed food. So, in my jammies I put on flip flops and grabbed a sweatshirt and headed to get fast food. I order, drive up and give the guy my money, I wait, he gives me my food, and I drive off. At the next stop sign I glance in the mirror and what do you think I discover? Zit cream!!! All over my face in big white polka dots! Lovely!!! I feel like a total idiot. I glance at the car next to me and the woman kind of does a double take. I quickly try and rub it off with spit because it’s all totally dried on my face by now. I eventually gave up. I only did the left side of my face because I figured that the right side was too far away for anyone to really see – plus it was getting dark.My night has been a joy.

I finished my food. Had some more tea. Did some knitting – which by the way, I am totally destroying what I’ve done because I can’t figure out the next instructions. Now I’m ready for a new activity. I think I’ll go to bed and read – at least the kitty doesn’t care if I have zit cream on my face.At least I feel a lot better – no coughing, but my throat still hurts. I hope that’s over by tomorrow

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Posted on September 25, 2004 by annieblog

This could be long – just a warning. Thursday night I was supposed to have my live online chat for my class I’m teaching. Mark was going to be our special guest – since he’s a playwright and director. The chat was to start at 5:30. The laptop is being fixed, so I was at home on our PC and Mark was at work. The chat is to last an hour, so I light some candles, brew some tea, and try to log on. By 5:20 I have tried like 5 times and can’t get into the room for some reason. Sooo, I panic. Mark calls, and I tell him he’ll have to start the chat while I race to school to log on. So, I blow out the candles, put on some jeans and shoes, and race to school in the rain. I get to school at 5:35 – thank goodness we live close. The chat goes fine, and the students understand, but man, was that close. Now I’m stressed about the next one – we’ll see what happens with that one.

Friday night we head out to see Seussical – it’s a musical Mark is doing next year. It’s ok. The music is hard, but I think we can do it. It really gave us some good ideas on set and costumes. We had dinner at a Chinese place that had a buffet – not bad. But, my tummy hurt a little bit afterwards – just a little upset. I knew that it wasn’t anything I ate, it was just not feeling well for some reason. We stopped off and got tacos for the ride home – this place is about an hour away. They screwed up Mark’s order, so he ate my order and I tried to eat his, but it wasn’t so good. I stayed up a little later than normal, and fell right asleep when we got home.

This morning I got up and had cereal. Then I was so tired once again I went back to bed. I got up and was coughing a little. We went to lunch at the coffee shop, and I was coughing and getting stuffed up more and more. We went to the liquor store to get stuff for tonight’s tailgating party. When we came home I was hacking and sniffling, so I chugged some orange juice, sipped some tea, popped some vitamin C, some ad*vil, and went back to bed. The nap helped calm my cough. But I still felt icky. I knew I couldn’t go to the football game tonight. There’s no way. I would be out there and my allergies would kick up, plus my throat was hurting and I knew I’d wanna scream and shout for the team. And, I knew the temperature was going to drop. I felt bad and started to cry a little bit – I usually cry when I’m sick – what a dork. I don’t have a fever though. But I am achey, sleepy, headachy, freezing, and my eyes are all runny, my nose is stuffed, my throat hurts, my chest is tight – you know, the usual. So, Mark went without me, he said he was gonna stay with me at first, but I told him to go. He has his cell phone, so I can call if I need him.

I have had some toast and more tea. I want to take a shower with a lot of hot water and just stand in the steam awhile. I have some soup I’ll probably have later. I really need to start a load of laundry – I may do that because that’s not that tiring to do. So, I’m gonna go feed the kitty and get in the shower. That should make me feel a little better. I can’t wait to put on jammies. It’s not even 6:30 yet – but I don’t care. I’ll probably just lie around and listen to the game on the radio. I’ll try knitting, but I really just feel like sitting. I may just go to bed early – who knows. Ok, I’m gonna walk around here with my blankie around my shoulders and a box of tissues under my arm – sounds like a fun Saturday night, huh?

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Posted on September 23, 2004 by annieblog

One excellent perk at work is the fact that I get free books all the time. Companies send teachers books to peruse. They know I teach lit and theatre, so I get tons of novels and plays and fun stuff. I just keep them all. Today I got a great copy of Great Expectations, and a book called Sodom and Gomorrah. It’s about the history – I can’t wait to read that. But, I read things in the order in which I get them. Obsess much? So, these books are last in my stack. My current stack has 52 total including my most recent additions. So, I suppose I’ll be reading that in about 8 or 9 months. I wish I could read lighting quick. Plus, I have all my actual school reading to do. So that adds up also. Good thing I love books!

It’s very cloudy and overcast today – but it’s still a little humid. I can kind of feel fall in the air, but not really.

We have a busy weekend planned. Tomorrow we are heading to see a musical that Mark is thinking about doing next summer. I hope it’s good. It’s new – it’s called Seussical. It’s based off of all the Dr. Seuss stories. It should be fun, but I hear it could be a little long. Then Saturday night we have a college football game. So that means tailgating is in order. What to make??? Plus, there are tons of little things that we need to take care of over the weekend too. That’s ok – as long as it’s fall-like weather I’ll be happy!

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Posted on September 22, 2004 by annieblog

This is way too true!!!

The Count’s Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

It started with a simple affection for counting and
the terror it induced in others, didn’t it?
But now it’s turned into a full-blown
life-consuming chaotic nightmare of order,
repetition, zealousness, and perfectionism.
You used to be so grand, but now you find
yourself obsessively worrying over the littlest
things–like, maybe if you don’t check the
light switch at least once every two minutes,
the electricity will go out (and damnit, you’re
a vampire–that shouldn’t be a problem!), or
maybe if you don’t wash your hands until your
seams are coming out, you’ll get some fatal
disease. Get yourself some treatment.

Which Sesame Street Muppet’s Dark Secret Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

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Posted on September 22, 2004 by annieblog

We took Mark to his neurosurgeon today. The MRI results were fine – so now we have an appointment for an ENG – nerve conduction test. He’s had two before, so he knows what to expect.

I brought homework home because we left work early and I didn’t have time to get grading done this afternoon. I was a little unhappy with the discussion we had in one of our classes this morning. I kept feeling like no one knew what I was talking about – hence, I am making a test. I need to know that they read the material and fully understand it. Right now, I am unsure if most even read the entire book. So, we’ll see…

They say the weather should start cooling down by the end of this week – maybe only in the 80s. Anything under 90 will be welcome. I still have the A/C going. It’s still so hot and muggy. And here I am longing for some hot tea, but I’m afraid I’ll get all sticky and sweaty again. I will probably hop in the shower and snuggle in my jammie THEN have a cuppa. I am drinking iced tea now. This is the first summer I have had my iced tea maker – I wonder how long before I don’t have the hankerin’ for some iced tea. I’m sure there will be a time when I just feel like water for a cool drink, and hot tea for everything else. In my new office (if/when I get it) I will have a little kitchen area set up for teas and my electric kettle and everything. I can’t wait. I am trying to find something cute to store my teas in. I have a cute little box thingy, but it’s painted, and I’m afraid it’ll make the tea smell like paint since I can smell the pain on the box now. I probably won’t risk it.

Okey dokey – off to shower, jammie it up, boil water, and work on homework. If that gets done, I’m gonna knit.

Good night all!