Thursday, March 24, 2005

Nailing Jello to the Wall

Friday, March 18, 2005

Things I'd like to tell my students - - -

Ian said that I should update my blog; the problem is that the main thing I would like to put on my blog I have decided against for various reasons, one of which is that- - - well, let's just say I'm not.
Trey GOT A JOB, he is working at Front Page News in Little 5 so hopefully he will make lots of $$ and can save up and get a car before too long, and then go back to school. I think he rather enjoyed being in college and I'm sure he would enjoy it again, besides, everyone knows waitering is not really a good permanent Career. He'd be better off doing something he enjoyed more and could make money at.
O and I read on the internet that there was one teacher who had a bunch of things that he Wanted to say to his students But Couldn't, and I had to think about it. There isn't that much to say to these students as sometimes, but still: Here's my list.
1st period: Boy who sits over by the wall; You look like a three star clown when you come to school. The boy whom everyone says looks like a gorilla does, and he acts like one too. Boy who wore the hat and mirrored sunglasses: Looking like Michael Jackson is NOT a good thing. 3rd Period: Young man: You look like a Big Flaming Mop. You need to do something with your hair and turn down the FLAMES, dammit. Mr. I wanna be Outcast: you need to stop, and you need to come to terms with your sexuality too. You are not nearly as cool as you think you are. Mr. boy who sits behind I wanna be Outkast. If you talk constantly, girls don't like that. Stop it. You don't have that much to say. Cheer Chick: You make an awful whistling noise when you breathe. What's up with that?
4th period: Young lady in the front row pulling out your weave: When you write essays, I take them home and show them to my friends when we drink and we laugh at them.
Dude with the two different colour eyes: That is so cool! Can we get together and make a movie? Round Boy: You are not Fat Albert. Get over it.
Last term:
1st period: Violinist: You aren't as smart as you look.
3rd period: French-speaking girl: Your imitation of Joan Crawford with the Wire Hangers was very, well, VERY. You should have gotten kicked out of school, because you are SERIOUSLY insane. Li'l Reyna: Your Bette Davis impression was spot on, (If I weren't in this wheelchair, Blanche- - - ) but why is your hair shoe-polish black this term? Who the hell gave you that fashion advice? Kim Jong-Il? Grill-Boy: If you can fill your mouth with ugly pieces of metal, you can afford a damn pencil. Boy with the Porn Name: You are NOT a thug. Get over it.
4th period. La Choriste: You are not all that. Boy who sat in the corner: Your reality check has seriously bounced. You might believe in yourself but you have to produce to give other people a reason to believe in you.
Boy who had issues with me: You are not going to be Cedric the Entertainer. In a few years, I think you are going to wear a really ugly dress at that new drag club at Underground.
Noisy Girl: The universe does not revolve around you! And volume does not make up for the lack of interest in your stories. Just because you are LOUD doesn't make you Interesting. You are like a big giant black hole that sucks up attention. It's kinda tragic.

Wednesday, March 09, 2005

House Work

I've posted some pictures, some of them good, some of them not so good, of the work that we have recently done to the house and I would like to note a few things:

You can tell it's my house because of all the clutter lying around. So if you don't believe that the ugly little hole that used to be the bath looks like it does now, pay attention to the bottles of bleach and shampoo everywhere! Also you can't tell it from the picture, but the ceiling above the bathtub is vaulted and has skylights put in it. It's bright and cheerful and luxurious instead of being cramped and dull. Also I need to point out that the tile work was done by Tony Covaci, who can make your house look equally decadent. 678-754-8626, tell him Alan Thomas recommended him.

I also added pictures of the curtains, and the sunroom/screened porch and the new kitchen. I noticed as well that there are a lot of things that come out in the pictures that I don't notice in person, such as the godawful clutteredness of the house. We're definitely going to have to get a Pod before we move to clear out a lot of rubbish.

Also a couple of people (Instapundit) have written about the bankruptcy bill before Congress now- and if you want to see your elected representatives queue up to sell out more than usual, now's the time. Folks, this one is seriously against your interests. There's just no way they can justify this one as defending the consumer. Basically, under current law a bankruptcy wipes out and restructures debt; it restructures secured debt and wipes out unsecured debt (credit cards). And there are two different kinds of bankruptcies which I can explain to you once I become a lawyer. The credit card issuers are not happy about this and have introduced a law which would force bankrupt individuals to continue to be liable for their credit card debts. So then what protection exactly are individuals getting from bankruptcy? I agree with the idea that people should be held responsible for their actions, but I think no one really wants to file for bankruptcy- and that the credit card companies should be held responsible for issuing credit to people who are BAD CREDIT RISKS. Isn't that what they use to justify the exorbitant interest rates, fees, etc.? Remember in the '80's when it was a status symbol to have a pile of plastic, or a gold card because it meant that you were a good credit risk and had Made It? Now I think kitchen appliances can apply and get credit- and would probably be a better credit risk than most of the people granted credit nowadays.

Curtains

Dining Room

Front of House

Kitchen 1

Kitchen from Dining Room

Kitchen Floor

Kitchen 2

Entrance to Kitchen

the Skylights

Bath 1

A View to a Bath

Wall of Bath

Thursday, March 03, 2005

This Week has been brought to you by the letter W

The window world people finally came, and have put in the windows, mostly- FYI, they weren't what was promised; I was promised double hung and these seem to be single hung, a little like some of the dates I went on during the summer - ha-
But they do make the house much warmer. It is actually WARM inside the house, which it has never been previously in winter, save those spells in December when it gets up to 70. I couldn't believe it. They took down the blinds to put up the windows, and took down the two-by-fours I had put across the windows when Crystal the Crack Whore was still walking up and down the street and so Trey was concerned that everyone outside could see what was happening inside, and I am not into voyeurism. So Trey wanted new blinds or Curtains, and I got all excited at the possibility of making curtains.
I was thinking that I got disproportionately excited about the possibility of making curtains, because it probably seems like a pathetic thing to get that excited about- I mean, I got REALLY excited. I was so thrilled I had to invite other people to watch me make the curtains; I invited Dispense Me, but she was busy, and I invited Sandy, but she went to the gym, and so I invited Ian and then Trey came too. But I LOVE doing Martha-Stewart kind of things, and creative things, and I had never previously made curtains so I just about wet myself.
I made the curtains out of blue shiny cloth, and I bought some white braided trim to go on them, because the bedroom is blue, and I made them with a glue gun.
Also there was a lady having a fit on the phone in Wal-Mart (we went there to buy Weights to put in the Curtains, and a glue gun and some groceries, they don't sell Whisky at Wal Mart though) It was very comical because she was shrieking into the phone in the aisle next to the curtain-rod aisle, she was very loud and dramatic and angry about someone else on the phone, probably baby mama drama, and I mimed her in the curtain rod aisle. Several other shoppers were deeply amused.
Many things I love start with W: Wal-Mart, Whisky, Windows, W (George) and most of all, Woggy.

O I forgot, I saw a meteor yesterday for the first time ever, and looked all evening for some more- it was quite large and exciting, but I didn't see any more.

Tuesday, March 01, 2005

Anomie

I have finally diagnosed the reasons for the vague feelings of anomie that have been plaguing me recently; there are too many unresolved things floating around, the main thing being the work on the house isn't done and I want it to be completed, badly. Julio won't return and put in the electricity; Dominic won't finish his work, like installing the trim around the backsplash in the kitchen or fix the lawnmower, and then last week when Alejandro was there I discovered there was a large hole in the closet ceiling, which was unnerving enough but then Trey said that Dominic had done it "to see what was up there." Well, I could have told Dominic what was there- attic- but he had to see for himself, apparently and now WON'T REPAIR IT, which is annoying. The Window World people disappeared with my $- quite a bit of it, and won't come and put the windows IN, This is three months after I ordered them- and I wanted them during winter, when it is the coldest-
So that is the main Unresolvedness. Then there are other things I need to do, like get rid of the old car, finish whatever it is I need to do to go to Kennesaw over the summer, study for the LSAT, - transfer to another school- lots of things. Trey needs to get a job, which he is working on, but it takes a while, and then there are Other Things like my mom won't move in with my Dad, which creates financial pressure on him- - on and on and on.

We went to see Nobody Knows this weekend- Trey thought it was very sad, I - well- I didn't think it was so sad. The really heartwrenching bit was a bit contrived, I thought, and the rest of it- the kids seemed to be having fun and managing, not ideally, but then again, they could have been both neglected AND abused, which seems to be so common here. They seemed pretty happy and resourceful. It reminded me of the summers I spent taking care of my brother, they were wonderful, not sad-. At any rate, I wouldn't strongly recommend the movie, it was too slow even for me- I think you have to be in a sad mood already to really enjoy it.

Last week, when I was unloading the dishwasher, I noticed that Trey had put a screwdriver in with the cutlery . . .