October 31, 2006
A Prediction, Prediciment, and Pet Peeve
BUT FIRST... I've got a (precious) few moments free of student papers, grades, readings, and homework (theirs and mine). And since my life is all about playing catch up these days...

Team HOT is currently 3-2-1. I feel as though we may be in good standing for the play-offs.

For Halloween, my sister, friend and I dressed up as the Deal or No Deal girls. It was a long drawn out process that involved four hours of shopping and getting lost in Somerville. When I have pictures, I'll post them.

Finished watching Firefly. Saddened that the networks let a good thing slip through their fingers. There aren't nearly enough quality sci-fi shows (on non-cable networks). The ones that are on, such as repeats of the original Star Trek, Stargate SG-1, and Farscape are on either late late night (i.e. 2:00 a.m.--I have many a sleepless night) or middle of the day Saturday when normal folks are out and about. *sigh* It's hard to be a geek these days...

NOW... on to our main feature.

I predict that in the next week or so, my body may shut down. Between kow-towing to the Little Darlings and trying to keep up with my own school work AND deciding to NaNoWriMo, I've not been sleeping. And I've recently acquired a body rocking sneeze which results in some unpleasantness in the general area of my head (including bloody noses... I know, eww). I've been eating right for once in my life, and I'm staying hydrated. I'd sleep more if there were enough hours in the day (see below), but currently that can't be helped. So we shall see...

Current predicament: there are not enough hours in the day for me to sleep, eat, do my homework, grade student papers, meet with students, attempt a social life (side note: current boy is very cute about scheduling time... he even lets me do homework at his house just cause he wants to hang out. Say it with me people... awwww!). I would kill for Bill Murray's life in Groundhog Day right now.

And finally... a pet peeve. Students who can't read. Seriously kids, I've given you two (let me repeat that) TWO copies of the syllabus and course outline. Want to know when something is due? Look on the syllabus. Want to know what paper requirements are? Look on the syllabus. Interested in what the school's attendance policy is? LOOK ON THE SYLLABUS. I am not you mother. This is not high school. It is college. College is hard work, and a lot of it. So quit b*tching and hop to!


 
posted by Tina at 10:44 AM
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October 25, 2006
Thirteen of My Favorite Foods


  1. Stuffed Green Peppers... Best. Meal. Ever. My mom has made these for my birthday every year since I can remember.

  2. Pickles. Not sweet, not bread and butter. Dill and dill only. I teethed on dill pickles. No, better yet, my mother craved dill pickles while I was bakin' in her womb.

  3. Kabobs. Slip a little marinated meat(I prefer either venison or swordfish), potato, pepper, pickle, pearl onion, zucchini, yellow squash and tomato on a skewer, grill it and serve it over rice with a cold beer. *sigh* makes me miss summer just thinking about it!

  4. Citrus fruit. You can have your apple a day. Keep your pears. I'll take an orange or a grapefruit any day of the week!

  5. Salad. I have yet to meet a vegetable I don't like. What can I say, I like rabbit food.

  6. Mom's lasagna. I don't know what she does, but it can't be duplicated!

  7. French onion soup smothered in cheese--ooey gooey goodness!

  8. Strawberry rhubarb pie. My grandmother makes this during the late summer early fall. It makes me think of those lazy days of early fall where its still warm enough to wear flip flops but you need a sweatshirt.

  9. Cheese cake. Who ever invented this delectable desert is GOD.

  10. Grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup. Nothing is better than playing in the snow all day and coming inside to a piping hot bowl of tomato soup with toasty grilled sandwiches rip for the dipping. Dunk away... dunk away.

  11. Cheese. Everything tastes better with cheese.

  12. Waffles with strawberry compote and whipped cream... this reminds me of hungover Waffle Bar days at SLU. We'd all drag our asses out of bed for some wafflely goodness no matter how wrecked we were the night before.

  13. Masala dosa... it's Indian food and essentially a rice paste patty filled with spiced potatoes, onions, peas and chillies. It sounds gross, but its AWESOME.

So this is just a sampling... I wouldn't consider myself a "foodie" perse, but I do love to eat!



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The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged!



 
posted by Tina at 11:58 PM
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October 24, 2006
Fall has Sprung... er... Fallen?
I got home not five minutes ago and opened the blinds in my apartment to the most amazing view. I live on the fifth (and top floor) of a building that looks out over Boston's north side (NOTE: not to be confused with the North End) and the hillside is just awash with color; firey reds, warm oranges, fading greens, mellow yellows. Poking out here and there are a few buildings, sillouetted against a crisp blue fall sky peppered with fluffy white puffs of cloud.

Rarely has the city looked so beautiful to me as it does right now.
 
posted by Tina at 2:57 PM
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October 20, 2006
I Can't Decide...
I can't decide if I should be pissed about this or if I should laugh. The feminist in me wants to march in there with a sledge hammer and bust the damn thing up. The side of me that loves, ahem, "potty" humor can't stop giggling.

You decide.

 
posted by Tina at 1:40 PM
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October 19, 2006
Thirteen Things I Might Be for Halloween


I love Halloween. It is, by far, my favorite holiday. Granted, these days it's less of an excuse to eat candy and more of an excuse to dress as slutty as possible and get as drunk as possible, but I still love it! So here are some of my ideas for this year (I'm lacking in imagination these days so if anyone has a creative idea, please share!).

  1. Referee
  2. Go-go Dancer
  3. Witch
  4. Fairy/Tinkerbell
  5. Fairytale Princess
  6. Pirate
  7. Comicbook Heroine (I'm thinking Super Girl since she was blond)
  8. Starlett (Marilyn Monroe or Veroinica Lake)
  9. Rosie the Riviter
  10. Barvarian Bar Maid
  11. Alice in Wonderland
  12. Zombie (I've never used fake blood...)
  13. Cave Woman


Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!


The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! !




 
posted by Tina at 11:47 AM
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October 16, 2006
Monday, Bloody Monday
I feel as though this blog has become an outlet for me to bitch about all the inane, mucked up things in my life. I promise to try and be more entertaining... starting tomorrow. Maybe.

So Monday's suck. Big time. This Monday is a sterling example.

For starters, my iPod froze. I got up at 6 a.m. this morning, which is not unusual for a Monday, Wednesday or Friday and plugged in the Pod before getting in the shower. It charged for about an hour and I "safely removed my hardware." I popped the buds in my ears and hit play and... nothing. I look at the screen and its all lit up, but the song title is stuck half-off the screen.

Then, I get into school, so I can make copies. Again, not unusual for a Monday, Wednesday or Friday. Usually I email a copy of whatever handout the Little Darlings will be working with for the day. So I log on, access my email, and download my file. Except, only half of the document pops up. We're talking 9 out of 15 pages. So now I've got to re-write 6 pages of comments. But wait, it gets better.

At this point, I'm running about 10 minutes behind schedule BUT I have enough time that if I really haul ass, I can make it to my 8:30 a.m. class. I decide to eat the cost of making copies and rather than make them on my department's photocopier, I'll just make them on the library photocopier.

Worst.
Idea.
Ever.

They came out looking like some giant hand inside the machine had wadded them up. Now, I've got 10 minutes before class and I've got to haul my tushie over to my department's floor and make copies.

Long story short, I was 5 minutes late to class.

The middle part of the day went alright. If you count waiting an hour and a half at the Registry of Motor Vehicles to renew your car registration alright. And don't EVEN get me started on that story--suffice to say it involves a mis-communication with my insurance company and some strong words. All better now though.

So I'm out of the RMV by 4:30, which at this point I figure is great cause that gives me time to print out my homework--seven pages of response to the assigned readings--and get something to eat before class.

So once again, I log on, sign-in to my email, and download the file. Only, instead of seven pages of reading response goodness, up pops TWO PAGES. Yep, the computer ate my homework.

Anyways, I guess it doesn't matter cause in 45 minutes, Monday is officially over.

Effing Monday.



 
posted by Tina at 11:11 PM
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October 13, 2006
Thirteen Reasons Why My Thursday Thirteen Picture Perfectly Describes How I Feel and Reasons Why I am Not to be F*cked With Today


1. Because my life is officially running 24 hours. Don't believe me? Notice what day of the week it is. Now notice that I'm JUST getting my Thursday Thirteen up.

2. Because teaching sucked this week. Tuesday was a Friday, and the Little Darlings acted like. In fact, they were so bad that I said, and I quote, "I'm sorry I'm wasting your time. Why don't you just leave?" with 20 minutes of class left. And then, AND THEN, there was today. They had to bring in 2 copies of their rough draft of essay two. Two kids were absent (at least one had the common courtesy to have a friend bring in his draft) and about half the class "forgot" and had to spend the first 20 minutes of class photocopying. That, and Tuesday, annoyed me enough that I yelled. Something to the effect of "I don't want to be a hardass. I hate being a hardass. But you guys have forced me to become a hardass. Re-read the syllabus. If you're not conducting yourself according to the guidelines set forth in the syllabus, you will be docked points."

3. I'm *kinda* seeing this boy. That's good! you say. Urm... no. I can't decide if I really like this guy or if I'm just settling because the boy I have a crush on isn't interested in me and I am just desperate for attention. In which case, I feel like a self-centered bitch. I don't like feeling like a bitch, it makes me feel bad about myself.

4. My sister, who I live with, might be mad at me and I'm not sure why. Sometimes I think that I'm not being considerate of her needs, after all I did beg her to move to Beantown. But other times I feel like she's acting like a little prima donna. Like when I clomp around in my heels in the early morning when she's still asleep. I'm sorry you spent all night on the phone with your boyfriend and have JUST gotten to sleep. That is NOT my problem so GET OVER IT. Or the fact that she's making me hold on to a Netflix I already watched because she wants to watch it and is taking her sweet time in doing so. I NEED my Saturday fix of new Netflix. Its how I keep passing the open windows when I'm grading papers. So please, watch the damn thing!

5. I didn't get to shower this morning. I know, eww. But I didn't have time. And for me, morning showers are like a cup of black coffee.

6. I didn't eat dinner last night and I didn't eat breakfast this morning. There are simply not enough hours in the day. Therefore, I am hungry and when I'm hungry, I get cranky. Very. Cranky.

7. My cat vomited on the floor. 'Nuf said.

8. I have a soccer game tonight and its cold. Which, again, makes me cranky. Very. Cranky.

9. I paid all my bills yesterday.

10. Because I paid all my bills, some of which were larger than anticipated (stupid cell phone) I didn't get to go shopping. And I really wanted to go shopping (I need new teaching clothes).

11. My car registration ran out. Which, in the process of renewal, illuminated the fact that my car insurance had been cancelled due to an error that wasn't fully mine. So now I've got to deal with that shit.

12. I haven't been sleeping well lately (partly due to a small she-beast of a cat that lives in our apartment, partly because I'm stressed). Combine that with #5 and a snarky cranky Tina it does make.

13. I had to submit my piece for my Memoir class workshop this week. I was compelled to write a narrative about the aftermath of a high school classmates suicide. It just brought up a lot of icky memories that've suck with me all week and made me feel weepy. I hate feeling weepy.

So there you go. It's Friday, but who the hell cares.


Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged!





 
posted by Tina at 10:35 AM
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October 10, 2006
Best. Movie. Ever.
Ok...
I JUST got back from seeing The Departed.

Best. Movie. Ever.

Ok, maybe not the best ever but one of the best I've seen in awhile. It's got a little bit of everything: mystery, intrigue, sex, violence (what'd you expect, its a Scorsese film), hot guys (Matt Damon, Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Wahlberg), hot women, JACK NICHOLSON,... you get the picture.

Better yet, it was filmed in Boston. Oh yeah, right in lovely little Southie. I spent and entire summer last year trying to catch a glimpse of these hotties, but no dice. It was really cool to see familiar scene sprinkled throughout the movie though.

If you haven't seen this movie, do. You will NOT regret it.



 
posted by Tina at 9:25 PM
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October 08, 2006
How Easily I Become Addicted
So, instead of working on homework or grading papers or cleaning my room, I got hooked. Yes my friends, I am addicted and what I crave is...

The Forsyte Saga

Now when I in my freshman year of college I had this roommate who wasn't all that great. She used to do crazy creepy things like meet men online, stinky Canadian men I might add, and invite them to our room for extended amounts of time. And that was probably the least creepy activity she engaged in. But, she did introduce me to the wonders of BBC... and I'm talking beyond Monty Python. We would spend entire Sundays watching Pride and Prejudice, the Colin Firth version, for hours and hours and just become lost in the trials and tribulations of the Bennet sisters or BBC Shakespeare. *sigh*

Well, I'm addicted again. I turn on the T.V. tonight to see a handful of men and women in period piece clothing (I love me some bustles and crinoline!) whirling around on a marble dance floor. It's apparent that one man, played by the delightfully hot welsh actor Ioan Gruffordd, is in love with this stunning woman (ok, maybe not Angelina hot, but she is a British actress so we'll give her some modicum of credit) in a red dress and she of course is unattainable due to social mores of the day.

Ok, BBC, you've got me. I'm hooked. There is nothing hotter than unattainable love... which kinda makes me question if that's where I get my masochistic lusting after unattainable men (i.e. attached or gay) fetishistic tendancies. But I digress...

So now I've Netflixed the whole dang series and immediately moved it to the top of my list. *sigh* It can't get here fast enough.






 
posted by Tina at 11:35 PM
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October 05, 2006
Thirteen Things I'm Doing Right Now (yes... I'm that good)


Ok
... so maybe the title is a misnomer. Maybe it should say something like "Thirteen On-Going Projects I'm in the Middle of and Have Been For the Past Year or So" or "Thirteen Random Things Racing Through My Mind." But whatever, it's my list and I and I can do what I want so there. So here goes...

  1. I'm working on a thesis. It's non-fiction and it's not going well. So don't ask.

  2. I'm trying not to move too much so as not to wake the Noodle. What is the Noodle, you ask? Why, the Noodle is the cutest most rambunctious little kitty kitty ever. Which is why when she stops moving and actually settles down and takes a nap, we Don't Disturb the Noodle.

  3. Watching T.V. It's Thursday. Thursday is a T.V. watching day.

  4. Typing... duh.

  5. Grading my little darlings papers. It's a scary, long, and involved process that's taken me all day. I wish it would end. Now. Please. For the LOVE OF GOD!

  6. Digesting the delightful dinner my sister made. Hamburger Helper RAWKS!

  7. Trying to remember the last time I watered my plants. They're green and healthy looking, but probably thirsty.

  8. Wondering what this furry, fuzzy, white ball is in the corner.

  9. Wondering, based on the aforementioned furry, fuzzy, white ball in the corner, when the last time I swiffered was. Probably a good indicator that it's time to do some cleaning.

  10. Considering the merits of actually getting up off the couch and getting a drink. Wondering if I can convince my sister to do it for me...

  11. Craving a pickle.

  12. Snuggling with the Tai Tai (I wuv my little snuggle bunny!).

  13. Wishing I had gone to the gym today. You know how if you get used to going to the gym, you body hurts if you don't go? Well, my body hurts. I blame it on the all day paper grading marathon that prohibited me from going to the gym. Stupid little darlings.



Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!


The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged!





 
posted by Tina at 6:37 PM
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October 04, 2006
You Can't Always Get What You Want, But You Might Just Get What You Need
So there's this boy (isn't there always a boy?). He's all the Harlequin novel cliches that you can think of and then some. Here's the catch... so not interested. How do I know, you ask? Simple. He's had lots of opportunity but has not acted on any single one of them. Instead, he's managed to develop this thing for a girl on Team HOT.

Isn't there always another girl?

And I would love to hate her. I would love to despise her cute little person with every fiber of my being, except... she's totally nice. And totally cool. And I could totally be friends with.

But instead of moping about all depressed and stupid over a boy, I've decided that perhaps this is a sign from The Powers That Be that I need ot start concentrating on things other than the silly imaginings of a bubbleheaded girl.

Besides, I give them a week. Maybe two.
 
posted by Tina at 6:36 PM
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October 02, 2006
Breaking News: Cat Found in Vacant Bedroom
If you remember, I lost my cat. It was very sad, and very tragic, and I was practically over it when...

My mom calls.

"Tina, I don't want to freak you out."

Ok... people, when you say the words "don't freak out," it's total liscense to freak. In fact, you're practically commanding that I freak out.

"But..." she continues, "I think we found Pretty Kitty."

Now, bear with me. My grandparents used to have this dog named Fluppy. He was this awesome and loyal little beagle mix that loved to take walks with his people. One day, Fluppy wanders off, which is no big, except this time he doesn't come back. He's gone for days and we kind of just figured that he had wander off to where ever it is old dogs wander off to die. About two weeks later we found him. He had been hit and flattened by a car.

"And I think she's in the house."

WHAT??!!

That's right folks, apparently the little darling has either been hiding out in the woods around my parents house and snuck back in through the open screen door or has been hiding out in the crawlspace in my parents room and eating the dog food when no one is home. Either way, she's now sequestered in my sister's vacant bedroom until such a time I can pick her up and bring her home.

Silly kitty!



 
posted by Tina at 5:18 PM
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