24. Social Nerd... yes.

What Be Your Nerd Type? Your Result: Social Nerd You're interested in things such as politics, psychology, child care, and peace. I wouldn't go so far as to call you a hippie, but some of you may be tree-huggers. You're the type of people who are interested in bettering the world. You're possible the least nerdy of them all; unless you participate in other activies that paled your nerdiness compared to your involvement in social activities. Whatever the case, we could still use more of you around. ^_^
Drama Nerd
Artistic Nerd
Musician
Literature Nerd
Gamer/Computer Nerd
Science/Math Nerd
Anime Nerd
What Be Your Nerd Type? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

I post because that's much more spot on than any "How Nerdy Are You?" quizzes I've taken. :D

23. Past-Meg Does Not Want

Finally writing again - it's true, I failed my NaBloMo goal, however there's always another month and the fact of the matter is I really enjoyed doing it, especially getting feedback from friends I don't get to talk to every day and realising, even if I'm not having new adventures at college every day anymore, my life's still got enough stories to tell not to be boring.

On Tuesday this week, I had a tech meeting in the morning, hosted at my old elementary school. I haven't been there in years so after it was over, I was on my lunch and still had to go to Wal-Mart, sooo I thought I'd take a few minutes to look around before heading out. The obvious reactions were there: I remembered the halls but things have changed - there are new teachers 'names where all the old ones used to be, the walls have been redone here or there, it wasn't nearly as dark as I remembered with the front hall being done completely in a deep brown brick. I thought about popping down to see the old band teacher cause he was a young guy back when I had him and I knew he still worked there... but no. I knew exactly which teacher I couldn't leave without peaking in on. In hindsight I'm a little embarrassed - that morning I'd forgotten to set my alarm for a half hour earlier so I had to run out of the house with no shower or make-up and very frazzled. I wasn't looking my best - don't know why that would matter to a teacher who had me when I wore nothing but sweatpants, or who coached me in those ugly softball uniforms... but it did. I hear Mr. Belter's booming voice before I even got to the end of the hall and lucky for me his door was open and he was standing at the front of the room in perfect eyeline of anyone who walked by. So I gave him a little wave and he obviously recognised me and waved back, although I could tell he wasn't sure how he recognised me. I chilled outside in the hall for a minute or two while he finished telling the kids their math assignment, then he came out to meet me - and I adore Mr. Belter.

He squinted at me and said "I know you..." I laughed, hinted that I was a previous student and softball girl and he I could tell it was on the tip of his tongue. As soon as I gave him my name, he pulled me into one of his big bear hugs and asked me how I was and what I'd been up to. The part that I'm still thinking about is my answer... I told him about my job at this elementary school, I told him I was there for a tech meeting... then I told him I went to school for digital arts, and when he asked if I was done with school I said yes. As in, graduated. I didn't really lie - though I have NO clue why I said digital art when I switched to Studio... and I knew full well he was assuming I graduated, but I didn't clarify otherwise. Then he said, with this big proud grin "I'm not surprised."

Yeah. I wouldn't be either as that's exactly what I was supposed to do - go to school for something I love, graduate with flying colors, be one of those Good Students I always was - not just in Mr. Belter's 6th grade class, but through Jr. High and high school. Ask anyone from my past and they would never have thought I'd be a college dropout. I've been getting away with telling most people that I just withdrew because I wanted to change programs, but the many F's and absences and breakdowns that led to that decision aren't ever in the discussion. The last thing I could do would be to disappoint my absolute favorite teacher in the world. I told him I was working until I could go back to school for education, again, he was ever-so proud and supportive. He brought me into the classroom and asked if I wanted to sit in and help out for the day. I would have given anything to be able to say yes and observe him teach from a non-student perspective. He's so awesomely joke-mean but in that way that makes kids love him - I think that's the skill Kenny always had as a counselor at camp too. I remember him high-fiving my best friend Nina for shoving a kid in the snow because the guy was being a jerkface. I remember him running us every day, got my best mile time ever that year. There was so much about his teaching style that I'm in awe of, because it seems to work on everybody.

He had photocopies of his previous classes from yearbooks and it was fun to find myself. One girl needed help with her math and he directed me over to her saying jokingly that I could probably help her better than he could and then she proceeded to ask me the circumference of a circle and I completely stood there like an idiot with my brain going "Geo...metry? lolwut?" and I had no clue - luckily apparently she wasn't supposed to be working on that and I got out of it but that was slightly frightening.

After ten minutes or so I admitted that I couldn't stay and had to get back to work, so he gave me another rib-crunching hug and we said goodbye. I walked out of there both so happy to have seen him again, especially in the classroom, and also... so, so disappointed in myself. Both that I'd stretched the truth about what I'd done just to make myself look more put together than I am, and of course that I'm not his Good Student anymore. Thinking about it, I feel like I've failed him a bit. Along with a few other teachers, and then of course all the way back to completely failing my parents.

It's all in the past, you know? And what's done is done, it does no good to sit here and stew about what I should have done because for some reason I didn't and the only thing to do is focus one what I'm doing now and what I'm going to do in the future. But I really can't help it when I'm reunited with my past constantly here in Stillwater. I love the town, I've realised that. I know why my parents chose here to live. But I'm getting tired of making up excuses and fibs to connect childhood-Meg with adult-Meg. They're two different people, and while everyone changes... I think I liked childhood-Meg better.

22. Stories from the... computer lab.

Had a fairly relaxing weekend - brother's birthday party happened Saturday night, so that was "exciting". Woo ten 18 year olds hanging out in the living room playing rock band. Wouldn't have been so bad if I hadn't been trying to do heroics for the first time in a few weeks, and was on vent at the same time. But yeah, they didn't help me try to reset my sleep schedule.

Anyway, I've got some stuff I want to write about but I'm not really in the mood at the moment, soooo I thought I'd share some stories the kdis have been writing for the newsletter. We've got a variety today:

"I am thankful for big leaf piles." - I can't help it. The writer/artist in me loves this simple sentence.

"Aliens today were invading my house and they had mind controls so they used mind controls on me. Ten I was one of them. Then they took me home." - I just love that mind control is plural.

"My mom feels like a bear. She wants to sleep all winter long. When she wakes up she will feel angry and I just feel like a kid." - ... whaaaat? I'm not sure if I feel sorry for the kid or the mom here.

The rest are standard "I like butterflies. They are cool." "My tooth fell out yesterday" etc.

21. Tidbits

Because I'm too tired today to do the complete paragraphed post thing:

- Yesterday morning I washed my hair with bar soap. For those curious, it does not work as well. Hurrah for being in a rush with no family to come to your aid and not having any shampoo.

- Kids have always mashed the keyboard when they're supposed to be typing their names into the keyboard. Some, however, are getting more creative. Yesterday we had a "dylan.com" and an "undrwar" visit the computer lab.

- Girl-Vader is still pretending she doesn't get Cheating. Luckily I don't think she's actually done it since I've been watching her like a hawk.

- Learned how to use what they call a SMART board during the late start yesterday. They're like a computerized white-board hooked up to an interactive projector. That thing's badass.

- Kids in play practice were already able to read their lines with no scripts at yesterday's rehearsal. Leaves two weeks to just work on blocking and expression. Amazing!

- Last night while rummaging for food, I opened the liquer cabinet to see if anything was stashed away. I saw this new fancy bottle in there, immediately thinking "omg new booze!" It was definitely extra virgin olive oil. Sigh.

- Today li'l S pooped his pants. Ah, the smell of K-1. Poor thing.

- Found out there's a possibility of getting some free WoW game time from a friend. Badaaaaaass!

- Thank god it's Friday. I won't feel bad if I go home and SLEEP.

20. Girl-Vader NOOOoooo...

Thanksgiving break's over and while I really enjoyed sleeping in, and even spending what little time I did with my brother, I need to get back on a normal sleep schedule. I've gotten about 2 hours of sleep for the last couple nights. My problem is I have a really hard time getting to sleep unless I'm so exhausted I have to pass out. Finally got there last night at about 2:30am, konked out while reading something on my laptop and woke up to find my glasses still on and it sitting on the bed in sleep mode.

Ross got Rock Band on Sunday for his birthday, and I think I like it just as much, if not more than he does. We've been having an awesome time with it, even if I have to play drums. I even bonded with his girlfriend when she came over Monday afternoon because she played it with us, and is brave enough to do vocals. We laughed and made fun of the ridiculousness of Ross's character (viking hat, goggles, blue hair and beard, plus the ugly, UGLY color comb of teal and red in all his clothes AND a warped toaster painted on his face). Jen's may have been pink up the wazoo, but at least she matched and had a decent ensemble. But yeah, been gettig my videogame fix from there versus WoW for the last few days. Plus after the mad rush to 80, I think my brain wanted a short break from it. AND I've been getting back to my forum rp a little bit. Took the time to make new journals and write up some bios.

I'm still feeling really good about my job. Seems like every time Im beginning to feel it's at all routine, I have a day that shakes things up. Not always in a positive way, but a lot of times so, and I love it. Today, we had a boy who's usually very enthusiastic and energetic acting sort of blase and apathetic. He didn't want to stick around to finish his work and he was getting unusually poor scores. One of our parent volunteers was starting to have some trouble with him arguing back about trying a lesson again, so I stepped in to deal with it for her - and apparently he needed a bit of a cry. Poor thing had some kids tell him they didn't like him this morning, and he told me he was lonely and asked why no one was playing with him. He's a good kid, too, so we talked about being lonely and that just because his friends weren't playing with him that morning, it didn't mean they didn't like him, etc. etc. He calmed down and seemed to understand, then tried his lesson again, acing it.

I dunno, kids get upset about this stuff all the time, plus some kids are just little assholes to each other, but this morning struck me a little bit. Not so much that he had that problem, it's not an unusual one for a kid to have, but that I knew how to talk with him about it. Not only that but instead of just trying to get him to cooperate and do his work, that I knew him well enough to ask "what's wrong?" instead. I could just tell he wasn't being himself. It reassured me that yes, I am good at this job outside of the computer part and busy work. I'm getting the differences in how to handle the kids, from the kids in the new play and having a Respect Rule during play practice right from the get-go, where no one talks while people are reading their lines, to this boy who really just needed to talk to someone before he could go back to feeling better and doing his work, to Girl-Vader, who I sadly caught literally CHEATING yesterday. The scores for the lessons just come up in a text document, and as awesomely smart as H is, she figured out it's easily editable and switched the numbers so she had a 9/9. I'd been suspicious for a bit when she'd been getting 7/9, the exact minimum she needed right, on her last 5 lessons but hadn't been able to catch her or Undo the document to the point to see it. (Stupid 1-step only Undo/Redo - I hate it) Luckily, the boy sitting next to her caught her and told me and I was able to Undo and see her original 5/9 score. Sigh. I think the saying about intelligence vs. obedience in dogs can be so true with kids too - the smarter they are, the less they listen to you. It's almost frightening how manipulative Girl-Vader can be. I hope she learns.

But yeah, I'm definitely feeling more comfortable in handling the little kiddos lately. Now if I could just stay awake for the week, I'll survive to winter break.

EDIT: HAHAHA little C, a boy I adore, is sitting across from me doing Spelling Blaster. I coughed and he turned to look at me - then he WINKED and said "piece of cake" and turned back to his computer. Oh yeah, and this morning I had J ask me "Are you even doing work?" when he saw me working (yes, working) on my laptop while the volunteers took care of the lab supervision. <3 them.

19. Ms. Livermore and the Case of the Wrong Pants

Okay, so I admit it - I FAIL at NaNoBloPo this last week. Oh, I've got plenty of excuses! Good ones too. (If you played WoW, you would understand.) But during the week I usually blog at work and I had to use all my free time to get the newsletter all formatted and ready to proofread for the teachers. It's a good thing I did, because they got it back to me this morning and Barb's printing them all out right now with the edits I made. Much less of a rush this month. And then along with that I was sick as hell from Wednesday night on, and when I was home I was either in bed, sleeping, eating, or attempting and failing to level my mage on WoW. Which is srs business you know. And yeah that is my third excuse. WoW Expansion = LVL 80!!! I'm almost there, and then I can chill out. Jesus, it's like a race... I mean I haven't been really busting my ass over it, but I do feel unproductive if I'm putzing around in game instead of gaining experience.

But after all that, I'm back. It's a pity I didn't blog some of the week last week because I went to a Mozart concert at Orchestra Hall on Wednesday night which was amazing. I forget how much I like his stuff that isn't the Magical Flute. Felt good to be enveloped in a musical experience again. Sometimes I miss playing in band so much.

Otherwise though, I didn't have a whole lot to update about. However - onto the topic of today's post:

Tomorrow is the play performance. The kids would actually be prepared if they shut up enough to concentrate on their cues. I don't think they will, though. At any rate, because tomorrow's the play, today was dress rehearsal. Some kids finally take it seriously at dress rehearsal. These kids did not. Every prop and costume piece was just another thing to distract them. So it was yet again another very frustrating day of play practice. I even saw Kathy, who's son is in the play and who's parents came to see it last week, and she told me that her father had "had to leave he was going to laugh so hard and he said 'that poor woman...'" meaning me. Sigh. That made me feel like a loser. But it turned around after play practice. The boys were sent to the boys' restroom which I stood outside of, and the girls to the girls' with the teacher. All was well and good, the girls somehow got changed much quicker until I was left with a couple boys. B, came out and I heard A shouting behind him "He has my pants!" So I stop B and ask him if he's sure the jeans he's wearing are his. He says yes and trots back off to the colony before I can stop him. Meanwhile, A's peaking at me through the door in just his underwear and a pair of jeans covering his front. "He's got my jeans! These aren't my jeans!" I'm trying not to crack up at this point and people are walking by hearing pieces of the conversation:

"A, just try them on, if they don't fit, we'll get B and exchange pants."
"A, you can at least put your shirt on while you wait."

On of our receptionists walked by and asked me if I was loitering outside the men's room with a laugh. Another embarrassing moment was when, after telling A repeatedly to keep the door shut while he waited, it opened and I proceeded to call his name in reprimand and a full-grown teacher walked out and looked at me as if he'd done something wrong. "Oh.. uh... sorry, I'm waiting for the student in there..." I look a little creepy then. Most teachers knew exactly what was going on when i said "dress-rehearsal" as they walked by.

But I was basically laughing throughout the whole thing. Finally I had to go and get B myself and drag him back up to the bathroom so they could switch jeans. Sigh. Crisis averted.

"He has my pants!!"

Totally worth it.

18. Stone Soup... I hate you.

UGH, I hate being a female and overemotional at times. Although, considering my usual track record I didn't actually break down today, so, I suppose that counts as a win for me? I don't know.

Had the kids to myself at play practice today and they decided because their teacher wasn't there they were going to be the most rambunctious group EVAR. I know they're all good, smart kids and I know I have it easy compared to teachers who deal with the kids who have severe behavior problems but I was ready to cry today after trying a few different ways to try and get them to calm down and quiet down enough so they could hear each other say the lines. They wouldn't pay attention so they never knew when to come in, they only see me as the computer lady and not a teacher with authority, so they don't hardly take me seriously. No matter what I did, they wouldn't STOP. I kept trying to remind myself, they're first graders, they're not going to actually ever sit still like you can expect from older age groups but at the same time, that wasn't particularly what I was asking for I was just asking them to listen to me and each other and it wasn't happening. Everything made them laugh, some just blatantly ignored me, some provoked others, and a couple even got pissed at the others because they were ruining rehearsal. It really doesn't help that I get them for this right after lunch when they normally will be outside burning off that little kid energy, but there's no other time in the day for it.

It was just embarrassing because there was a parent there watching since it was bring a special person to lunch day and even she felt the need to step in and tell them how disrespectful they were being. Maybe it'll be better when I have actual education training under my belt, maybe this age group just isn't my ideal age group to eventually teach, but it's days like these and moments like this where I question my ability to be a teacher. Because I know things could be much worse off, and I was getting so upset that a bunch of 6 year olds weren't taking me seriously? It feels a bit pathetic. Heh, one little girl who was obnoxious before I stopped them midrehearsal and sat them down to tell them how uncool their behavior was, spoke up afterward "C'mon guys! It's hard enough for her already!" I both adored her at that moment for being a mature enough human being to realise this wasn't easy for me, and wished she hadn't said anything because I'd hate to look like I can't handle it, especially to students. I mean, a sympathy/empathy plea can work with older age groups and did awesome when I was an RA with peers, buuuut for kids you're supposed to have ultimate authority over? I dunno. I just feel like jeez, if I get upset over this, what's in store for me when I'm a Real Live Teacher, and dealing with teenagers who do a lot worse than be loud at play practice.

I suppose all of these things help me get prepared for that. Not to mention I just haven't dealt with so many young kids in this capacity, where as I have done so with teenagers. So maybe it was just inner panic I was feeling at such unfamiliar territory. I do always have this voice in my head wondering what's taught as common practice when dealing with this age-range. And being in an actual school rather than a non-prophit organization camp has me all paranoid I'm going to handle things by going with my gut at some point and it's going to be completely against school policy or something cause as many times as I read the protocols, it's so vague and subjective. Sigh.

At least I got a lot of newsletter work done today. Productivity nom nom nom.

17. ita iz stoopid? maybee?

I get to half way and I nearly lose it - but I just haven't had a whole lot to write about. I mean, I got Wrath on Thursday night and that's pretty much all I've been doing beyond work and sleep since then. I'll be over my hardcore-ness once I reach 80 and all, but right now I've got guildies to keep up with. Gotta love feeling like you should be out of breath when you're sitting at a computer for hours at a time. Plus I have to say it's been awesome experience content for the first time with everyone else. Sure, people have already reached 80, but in terms of really enjoying new content with my friends and us all going into dungeons saying "who knows, let's do it" is so fun. Plus, Blizzard's really done a great job on most of these quests. They're almost all so much fun!

Today I did some stuff for work though. I shouldn't be bringing things home, but the lab at school literally doesn't have the resources for me to scan and crop this clip art that I need to, and I refuse to do it the old school way by photocopying the pages then trying to resize them with the copier to be just the right size and all tiny for the graphics of the newsletter. I was talking to my dad, and we starting discussing how a lot of things are getting frustrating because of the advancement of the technology in school. The computers in Colony 1 are probably the oldest in the school - granted, they're not that old. I mean, they're the computers that were big in the 90's, I used them in Jr. High. They're not quite back to big floppy disc Apple's that only had black screens with neon 8-bit colors that I used at these kids' age. (I'm not trying to sound old here, I know that in most terms even that isn't CRAZY long ago, but technology gets old fast.) They're old iMacs, most with the old OS 9. Apparently the only reason they haven't been updated to the much more compatible OS X like my desk's iMac is because the ita programs the kids use won't work on those. It uses HyperStudio, which I'd never heard of before working here but as far as I can tell it's like an old Mac version of an interactive PowerPoint? All the kids do is have slide they click through with a voice over reading things or asking them questions to answer, but the trick is that it records their answers, calculating their score and spitting it out at the end. Programming a bit beyond what I know at the moment. Also, only the iMacs support the ita font - which boggles me a little bit because if it's a font file, it should be compatible with most systems, unless Mac switched their font format somewhere in the last 10 years, which is completely possible.

So, while all that would be fine and good if they just said "we have these computers and will only use them for ita things", they're not. Teachers are asking me to have kids go play the educational games online, they want the ita font used in the newsletters I write on more recent operating systems, and they want to keep integrating new technology into their education. So - why don't we contact the ita foundation that gives us this grant to not only hire me but buy supplies for all the custom-made ita books, etc. and say can we have upgraded software? Key word is custom-made. Not only are the books created basically from scratch by staff here, so are the computer programs. The school had a woman with some background in animation and programming (I guess) make all these HyperStudio programs for the kids. It's her drawings in front of them, it's her voice reading the questions, everything. And she no longer works for us/with us, not to mention I heard she... wouldn't be available to ask about them, either. I have no idea why.

So, therein the dilemma. Bill, the tech-head for our side of the district elementary schools say he hopes to have the Colony 1 lab upgraded to all OS X operating systems next fall. Problem is, it literally can't be done with these ita programs holding us back. If you ignore my personal beliefs on ita that gives one simple solution, K-1 here is stuck because there's no getting rid of it. Stonebridge prides itself in this alphabet and it's use, even though most schools stopped it after the sixties.

I ponder aloud to my dad if that was a difference between me and the women who've held this position in the past. They were certainly capable with computers, but were they as tech-savvy as your average 22 year old? Or what about a fairly dorky and geeky 22 year old who spends half her life on the computer and is baffled at the mere concept that someone in the education field can't format a document in Word? I wonder if Kathy and Joan just dealt with what they had because it was all they new how to do wheras I'm sitting here analyzing what all could be changed for the better and literally how it could be done because the limitations are driving me nuts. Hell, maybe they investigated all the avenues I'm thinking, or if they haven't, wouldn't Bill have? He sure as hell knows a lot more about it than I do. But dad said maybe I should take it upon myself, if I have the time, to see what I can do to move things ahead. Of course, as he also said, there's a point where you just have to tolerate the resources you have and that's that, but the thing is I think we have more than we could be using, and I know already Bill wants to move in that direction too.

So the next course of action? Well, before I go forward and do all this shit, I need to consult people - make sure I'm not just overthinking things that have already been attempted and found impossible.

Questions for Kathy and/or Bill:
- Have they contacted the ita foundation about new software/an updated version of the font?
- Is there a new version of HyperStudio that can be looked into?
- Can't a new font be made somehow?

Aaaand back to kicking some Scourge ass.

16. 1,2,3,4, can I have a little more?

I'm officially half way through my NaNoBloMo, and haven't missed a day! Woo! Again, more Friday Five on Saturday! I'm doig more than one set though, because they're short:

1. Last party you went to?
- Corlett's going away/birthday party the weekend before she moved out to New York. It was fun! Played with Legos with her little nieces and had an awesome dinner and nummy cake.

2. Do you pee in the shower?
- Uh... no? That's slightly awkward.

3. Have you ever fired a gun?
- Nope. Guns terrify me, honestly. I'd be nervous to even hold one.

4. Where do you call home?
- Right now? Stillwater. At the house I grew up in. Sigh.

5. What's your favorite board game?
- I have a lot: Cranium, Clue, and Life are some of my favorites. I HATE MONOPOLY.

-----------------------------------------------------

1. What's your weather?
- Cold cold, been snowing a bit lately, but not enough to stick. Very wet.

2. Where are you on your way to?
- That's a loaded question. No where specifically. Forward in life?

3. Are you good with directions?
- Not really. I get lost a lot, but not cause I'm bad with directions, road things just tend to confuse m if I haven't been there before. I have a big tendency to miss things.

4. Do you know your neighbors?
- One set, yep! The Choinieres have been like a second family to me since we moved in. John and Dan are all off at grad school and college and having real lives and things now like I am, so I don't see my honorary brothers much anymore. But Becky is still so fun to chat with, I wish I saw her more. She's an awesome second mom. I don't know my other neighbors other than they've got a Jack Russel that they really need to TIE UP better cause he keeps getting loose and driving my dog nuts.

5. What do you smell?
- Not much, at the moment. My house, I guess. Little bit of constructiony smell from my dad cutting holes in our walls.

15. No means No!

What another day at work. I'm blogging now at the end of the day so I don't accidentally forget while WoWing it up tonight, but today was insane. This afternoon at one point I had one of those out of body experiences and saw myself in a movie - I stopped and put a hand to my head while ten 6 and 7 year old kids were all asking for my attention at once. I can just see the blurring, the voices of "Ms. Livermore? Ms. Livermoooooore!" in the background. Man. Barb was "sick" today, and she was supposed to have a sub, but I guess they couldn't get one or something because she definitely didn't. Then I got a call from the office saying that my usual Friday volunteer wouldn't be in again until December because she's now on crutches. Ouch. In both senses. So that leaves Tuesday AND Friday with no morning volunteers, and now that art's done, I'm getting a buttload of kids coming to me in the afternoon too. I felt so awful the whole time cause kdis come in and are either standing in line for ten minutes at a time or sitting there with their hands up for 5, waiting for me to go check their work. But what am I supposed to do?? WHY did both orange and yellow have to be sent at the SAME TIME this morning! And figures the one morning that there's pretty much no badges up on the badge board because instead of staying an extra 15 minutes like I usually do here yesterday afternoon to put up badges, I went home on time to play some WoW. Usually I ave time in the morning to go add badges to the badge board too, I didn't think anything of it. This was the first morning I had kids coming to me about no badges. That was intense.

Of course later, Mary, one of the other paras was just like "Why didn't you tell them you were full? Just send the kids back if you're overloaded." Heh. Oops. Duh, right? Well, I don't even know if that would work, because every time Barb tries that, the teachers are all "no, they're not, go back". Poor kids. I don't mind the afternoons as much because then I can at least have a little more easy-going conversation with the kids. JK, one of my favorites, brightens my day every day.. He comes on in to do Spelling Blaster every afternoon and hell, I don't even have to do anything with him. I give him a smile and a nod, he goes on back to his computer and just opens the program up and gets going no problem. It's brilliant. Plus the kid's just a cool guy. I used to play catch with him on the playground at recess and his mom volunteers every Wednesday morning - she's a pretty cool lady, so I guess it makes sense!

I was definitely in a Mood after lunch though. DST (Super Sweet Teacher is now Disturbingly Sweet Teacher) catches me while I'm handing out phone messages and asks me if I've taken pictures to send to the ita foundation people yet. What? Pictures? When there's a newsletter coming out in a week and a half, a play being put on in the same amount of time, you're sending me all thirty of your kids at once for 20 computers and I was supposed to be taking pictures since you mentioned it briefly as a 'what if' in passing yesterday afternoon AFTER making me send and format and edit your e-mail??

I said No.

And then I walked away.