September 27, 2006
Thirteen Things I will NOT Be Doing Today...


Life has been super busy between the teaching, going to school, writing of thesis, grading student papers, writing comments on student papers, playing Friday Soccer (what up Team HOT!), occasionally sleeping only to get up way too early to do it all over again. So, as the title suggests, here is a list of Thirteen Things I will NOT be Doing Today... it's kinda my present to myself.

  1. I will not be waking up at the ass-crack of dawn. I will sleep as long as my cat allows me, and then I might just sleep some more.

  2. I will not have to shower, do my hair, apply make-up, and pick out clothes befitting a college instructor. Instead, I will lounge about all day in yoga pants and a scroungy tank-top.

  3. I will not be walking all day in painful yet stylish and pretty shoes. My feet will be blissfully bare.

  4. I will not be grading papers. In fact, I will not be doing anything class oriented. I am officially off for the weekend.

  5. I will not be doing homework. I do not have class next week, and should technically "get ahead." Aww phooey I say to getting ahead.

  6. I will not be eating food from a fast food food joint, Emerson Cafe, or Know Fat. Instead, I will indulge in a luxurious salad (hey, it's MY day off, I can eat whatever I want) topped with my favorite salad dressing and followed by some Vanilla Bean ice cream.

  7. I will not be sleeping on the couch anymore. My room will (finally) be cleaned and organized, and all boxes banished to the dumpster.

  8. I will not be neglecting my blog. All of Karmic Lollipop nation will be updated on the glorious status of my unglorious life.

  9. I will not be carrying around my first teaching paycheck anymore. It will luxuriate in a brand-spanking new bank account until such time that it can be of use.

  10. I will not neglect my Netflix any longer. Million Dollar Baby and disk four of season two of Carnivale will be viewed, enjoyed, inserted into their handy envelops and returned after three weeks of languishing on my TV stand.

  11. I will not neglect my bills. They will be paid and my contact info changed.

  12. I will not push my cat off my lap because he's nosing his way into the middle of my class work. Momma's little baby will get all the spankies and belly rubs he's been craving.

  13. I will not shun my running shoes, leaving them unused and collecting dust in a corner. They will learn the joy of feeling hard pavement slapping beneath their soles once again

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 10:16 PM
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September 25, 2006
Five Things That Piss Me Off...
1. Students who sign-up for conferences, neglect to write down the time and place and don't show up.

2. Students who think that signing-up for a conference, neglecting to write down the time and place, and don't show AND don't think that it's going to adversely affect their grade.

3. Students who turn in rough drafts with errors that we've SPECIFICALLY discussed in class... such as proper MLA citation (i.e. text text text (author page #). It's in the book people, I've pointed it out to you a bazillion times (ok, well at least once a class)... get it right.

4. Students who ply me with excuses for poor writing such as "oh, I wrote that at 4 a.m" Buy a clue, people, don't tell your instructor that your crappy writing is a result of your poor time management.

5. People who pick their boogers on the T... it's just plain gross.



 
posted by Tina at 10:40 PM
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September 22, 2006
Of Plants and Stuff
So I'm obsessed... completely and totally obsessed. My sister and I saw both a minirose bush and an orchid last time we went to Home Depot (like three weeks ago) and I have not been able to stop thinking about them. I'm DYING to get one of each. I simply must have them. I will perish without them. Litterally cease to exist. Must. Get. Plants.

In other plant news... my second job has these two GORGEOUS spider plants that I have surreptitously snipped little peices off (shh... don't tell). Currently, they're hiding in a dixie cup full of water under my desk. I plan to sneak them out under my jacket when I leave.

Was debating the merit of a third job. So not getting one... I barely have time to finish grading papers, prepping for class, doing my homework, working on my thesis let alone eatting and sleeping as it is. My first book better so make it big...
 
posted by Tina at 1:40 PM
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September 19, 2006
Day Off? I Think Not.
My schedule currently looks like this:
  • Teach/work Monday Wednesday & Friday
  • Nothing on Tuesday & Thursday
  • Soccer on Friday
  • Sunday Sports on, well, Sunday
So initially I was thinking, "hell yeah! I can sleep in late on Tuesday and Thursdays, maybe go to the gym, do a little writing..."

No dice. I spent from roughly 11 a.m. today until about 9 p.m. tonight prepping for my class tomorrow. We're talking lesson planning, grading homework assignments, learning how to use the online grading component of WebCT, grading more assignments, more lesson planning... see a pattern here?

And did I accomplish anything I needed to, like sleep? Like thesis writing? Like gym time??!

The answer, my friends, is a big fat no.


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posted by Tina at 9:30 PM
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September 17, 2006
*Sigh*
This teaching stuff is hard. Not hard in the "I can't do this" kind of way, cause I can and I am. In fact, I love my students (so far). They're smart, articulate, and willing to muddle through this first week with me. No sir, this teaching stuff is hard in a "god am I pooped" kind of way. I literally spent seven hours reading and responding to 14 four page papers. And then another two hours putting my class for tomorrow together.

I. Am. EXHAUSTED.

Mentally and physically. I should be sleeping, as I have to get up at 6:3o a.m., and my finger hurts (Sunday Sports related injury--I jammed my right hand distal phalanx... it's turned a lovely shade of reddish purple), but I'm so exhausted I can't sleep.

And I still haven't done my for real home work...

*sigh*

But at the end of the day I have this incredibly satisfying sense of accomplishment. I've got this class that at least pretends that they're really into the class. And it's so neat to see them in that moment of "aha!" especially when they've made a connection between the texts we're reading or the texts and current issues.

*sigh*

 
posted by Tina at 10:53 PM
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September 14, 2006
Thirteen Books on My Bookshelf


I just finished unpacking and rearranging my bookshelf and found these little gems.
All come highly recommended....

  1. Memoirs of a Geisha. by Arthur Golden

  2. Lord of the Rings Trilogy. By J. R. R. Tolkein

  3. The Shipping News. By Annie Proulx

  4. Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. By John Berendt

  5. The Princess Diaries. By S. Morgenstern

  6. A Venetian Affair. By Andrea Di Robilant

  7. The Complete Collected Works of William Shakespeare

  8. Wuthering Heights. By Emily Bronte

  9. The Count of Monte Cristo. By Alexandre Dumas pere

  10. The Poisonwood Bible. By Barbara Kingslover

  11. The Sparrow. By May Doria Russell

  12. Midnights Children. By Salman Rushdie

  13. Collected Poems. By Dylan Thomas


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 12:51 PM
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September 11, 2006
Shaping the Minds of the Youth of America
So today was the first day of my teaching career. That's right folks, I am officially a college composition instructor (Adjunct Professor to be exact).

So how'd it go, you ask? It went.

I have 17 kids in my class ranging from the ages of 17 to 40. That's right, I said 40. This guy in jeans and a t-shirt and I'm thinking "Ok, this is some IT guy come to take away the T.V. in my room." Which truthfully, I wouldn't mind cause the room is effing small. But no, this guy sits down. So now I'm thinking, "Ok, this guy is a continuing ed student and he's just in the wrong class." So I decide that I'll announce the title of the class. Like three times. He still doesn't move. Long story short, he's the IT Help Desk Coordinator at Emerson College and he's pursuing an adult degree--which major kudos to him for wanting to better himself. I think I may have scared him though, cause he came up to me at the end of class and asked me if he should consider dropping the class because of work and school assignments. I told him to hang in there for the week and then we'll talk.

BUT (there's always a but), this TOTALLY changes the dynamic of the class. I mean, I can not talk to him as though he were 18, that's just insulting. I'm looking forward to see what this guy brings to the table.

Other than that, the first day went well. The kids like to talk. A lot. Especially this one Theater Major--he talks over me. We are totally going to have to break him of that habit. And yes, I'm patting myself on my back.


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posted by Tina at 8:51 PM
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September 09, 2006
Lazy Saturday
It's a lazy lazy day. The roomie and I aren't up to much, just painting the apartment. We had to run to Home Depot to get more supplies and I found the most GORGEOUS orchid and mini indoor rose bush. Am tempted to buy it but I keep telling myself no more plants until the bills are paid and the apartment fixed up just the right way. *sigh*

And now I return to the painting...


 
posted by Tina at 1:02 PM
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September 07, 2006
Thirteen Things I Like About Myself




1. I am kind--excessively so. Some people would say it's a bad quality, always being the bleeding heart, but I think too few people care enough about other beings and the world we inhabit.

2. My legs... I run a lot and play Sunday Sports. Therefore, my legs don't jiggle.

3. I am level headed in a crisis. Sure, I may cry or panic, but not for long (what good is losing your head gonna do?).

4. My humor--it may be sarcastic, but it's always funny! And trust me, I can find the humor in everything.

5. My creativity. I write, I sew, I sketch, I day dream...

6. I am reliable. My friends and family know that they can count on me for anything.

7. My eyes... quite possibly my best feature.

8. That I embrace my uniqueness. Some people call me odd, I call me excentrically delightful.

9. My common sense (gotta give the rents props for this one). I am very careful about the decisions I make and implications of those decisions.

10. My stubborness. Some people would call this bullheadedness a character flaw. I call it the ability to know what I want and go about accomplishing it.

11. My fashion sense. It's good and it's my own.

12. My willingness to change. Not "change because someone wants me to" change, but change because it is good and necessary. Like when I hated my Aunt's Crispy Coleslaw Salad based on its looks alone--until I was convinced to try it! Woo wee! Change is good people, it is what keeps us young and alive.

13. My zest for life. I'm not afraid to try anything once and hope that I do! I may not always have the resources to accomplish a dream, but I still dream big and hold on to the hope they'll all come true! (My appologies for the cliched opptimism!)



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!




Tags:

 
posted by Tina at 12:42 PM
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September 05, 2006
Cat Gone Missing...
I am the WORST cat momma ever. I took my kitties home (to the rents house) for the extended weekend. Pretty Kitty, needless to say, was a bit traumatized by the whole ordeal. She spent most of the time under the futon in the spare bedroom, which was fine since we were camping the whole weekend. So everything should have been, and was alright...

Until we came home.

Until the dog barked.

It wasn't until half an hour or so later that we figured out that Pretty wasn't in the room I had shut her in. It wasn't until half an hour later that we realized that the screen in the window was popped out. Panic ensued. We searched the ENTIRE house looking for her, refusing to accept the fact that the cat had freaked out at the dog barking and busted out the screen window.

We looked every where. I cried profusely. And then we looked everywhere again with flashlights. My father, bless his soul, stayed out late and got up early to look for her. He spotted her this morning, but she ran. So he's set up train cameras to try and catch a picture of her in the woods. He's also investing in a live-trap to catch her with out hurting her. My mother, bless her soul, is posting flyers and putting out food for her.

I returned to Boston with out her. I feel so bad having done so, but I have no choice. My parents will continue to search for her.

Wish us luck.



 
posted by Tina at 11:36 PM
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September 01, 2006
Moving Day
All my worldly goods are packed into boxes and the cats are corralled (unhappily) in their crates. Now if the guy upstairs in our new apartment would hurry the hell up...

In other random news: if you're looking for a highly entertaining, laugh-your-socks-off blog to read, check out WWdN: In Exile. This is the blog of Wil Wheaton. Yes, that Wil Wheaton who starred as Wesley Crusher on Star Trek: The Next Generation. I had the HUGEST crush on Ensign Crusher when I was a wee lass. I LOVED this show when I was a kid. My mother grew up with the original Star Trek and exposed us to the joys of this futuristic morality play and it's spin-off when we were little. My sisters quickly lost interest but I stayed hooked. But I digress... Wil's blog is, as previously stated, hilarious. He pulls no punches about being a geek and talks unabashedly about his life, loves, family, frustrations, hopes, etc. I about pee my pants every single time I read it... which is daily.

I never said I wasn't a geek.



EDIT: Moved all my worldly goods, including the computer (which I managed to "lose" in a box some place--thus the late post). Had to take the cats home to the parents house for the weekend--6 hours away. Pretty Kitty has been mildly traumatized and has not come out from under the bed. *sigh*

 
posted by Tina at 12:14 AM
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