100

I've visited a couple of other blogs today that have this posted, so I thought I'd give it a try. Will I actually make it to 100? You have to read on to find out!

1. My middle name is Wilma.
2. My favourite colour is pink.
3. It used to be purple.
4. Know how I knew my favourite colour was pink? My students told me! It was because I wear a lot of pink!
5. I am slightly claustrophobic.
6. Elevators don't bother me, but the closed door of my (way smaller than public school) classroom does.
7. So does the corn maze.
8. I have a fear of heights.
9. The skytrain doesn't bother me, but standing on a footstool does.
10. I am deathly afraid of snakes.
11. I can't even look at pictures of snakes in books or magazines. You can imagine what seeing the commercial or trailer for the movie "Snakes on a Plane" does to me.
12. I love watching TV.
13. I love watching movies.
14. Most of the movies I go see I go to by myself.
15. Being able to see a movie by yourself is very liberating.
16. I check my e-mail obsessively throughout the day.
17. I get mad when I don't get new e-mail.
18. I am a teacher.
19. Sometimes I don't want to be a teacher anymore.
20. I have no idea what I would do my life if I weren't a teacher.
21. I love teaching grammar!
22. I learned a LOT of grammar just be being thrown into the situation of having to teach advanced grammar.
23. The first class of teenagers I taught had 3 students in it!
24. The second day it went up to 5.
25. I did my education degree in primary education.
26. Now I teach teenagers.
27. I firmly believe that all teachers should be trained in primary education, even if they plan on teaching high school.
28. Most of the teachers I had in school were awesome.
29. My sister was a teacher at the same school I work at.
30. Now she sells insurance 3.5 days a week.
31. I didn't get my first credit card until I was in University.
32. That's because I didn't think I would be able to discipline myself enough not to spend, spend, spend and get into debt.
33. I pay my credit card bill in full each month.
34. I love reality television.
35. I don't watch shows like the Bachelor because I think they're boring.
36. I watch Survivor, the Amazing Race, Big Brother, Hell's Kitchen, the Apprentice and America's Next Top Model.
37. I used to watch American Idol, but not anymore.
38. I found Canadian Idol to be extremely boring.
39. I found Canada's Next Top Model to be extremely boring too.
40. My favourite show is House.
41. I am madly in love with Hugh Laurie.
42. I consider myself a Trekkie and I'm proud of it.
43. I have been to 10 Star Trek conventions.
44. Patrick Stewart was in Vancouver for a Star Trek convention once when I was 13. I wasn't allowed to go. I will always regret not sneaking out of the house to go.
45. I used to be madly in love with Patrick Stewart.
46. People tease me mercilessly for being in love with Patrick Stewart. But I don't care.
47. My love for Hugh Laurie has surpassed my love for Patrick Stewart.
48. I have a thing for British men.
49. It's their sexy British accent.
50. Strangely, I've never been a fan of British comedies.
51. One of my favourite singers is Bette Midler.
52. I love to sing.
53. I used to belong to my church choir.
54. I haven't been to Church in a long time.
55. It's because I'm too lazy to get out of bed early on Sunday morning to catch the two buses I would need to take to get to Church.
56. I miss singing.
57. I have sung solos in the choir before.
58. I have never sung karaoke.
59. I know someone whose baby is due TODAY!
60. Today is my mom and stepdad's wedding anniversary.
61. I don't have a driver's license.
62. I am addicted to reading blogs.
63. There are about 15 blogs bookmarked on my computer.
64. I check them at least once a day.
65. There are about 5 other blogs that I read once in a while too.
66. I don't find my blog particularly interesting.
67. I read celebrity gossip as well.
68. I buy People and Us magazine weekly.
69. I recycle the magazines by bringing them to school so my students can cut out the pictures for their projects.
70. I don't particularly like Jennifer Aniston.
71. I am rooting for Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie to be together forever (or at least for a really long time)
72. This list is really hard.
73. I used to love watching He-Man.
74. I used to love watching She-Ra.
75. I have never seen Gone With The Wind. The few minutes I've watched of it I've found boring.
76. I have never watched Casablanca either.
77. For a long time I refused to watch The Mirror has Two Faces because I don't like Barbra Streisand.
78. Now The Mirror has Two Faces is one of my favourite movies.
79. Sense and Sensibility is one of my other favourite movies.
80. My former boss gave me the nickname "Sarcastic Wench"
81. I don't like Nicole Kidman.
82. I think I might actually make it to 100.
83. I walk to work every morning.
84. It takes me twenty minutes.
85. I love living so close to work!
86. I am a 10 minutes (maximum) walk away from the skytrain station.
87. I can list all the skytrain stations, in order, between King George and Waterfront.
88. I like the sound of rain.
89. I prefer being cold than being hot.
90. I keep two sweaters at work. Both are navy blue.
91. I keep one in the staffroom and one in my classroom.
92. I don't know why I have two sweaters at work.
93. I have two university degrees. One is in English, one is in Education.
94. My high school reunion is in October.
95. I'm not going to my reunion. The people I wanted to keep in touch with, I did.
96. I want my sister to have a baby so that I can be a real aunt. I think I'd be a good aunt.
97. Je veux aller a Paris!
98. My best friend is a french immersion kindergarten teacher.
99. My extended family all live in Germany.
100. One day I will go and visit them there.
101. I can't believe I made it to 100!

Phantom

Today I'm going to see Phantom of the Opera - wheeeeeeeeeeeee! I can't wait! I'm seeing a two o'clock performance . . . so I'll write with more details later today.

EDIT: I got back from the Phantom about an hour ago. It was AMAZING! I've always, always wanted to see it performed live and it lived up to all my expectations. The singing and music were fantastic - they gave me chills. I enjoyed all the colouful costumes too . . . particularly during the singing of "Masquerade". The actors and actresses were clearly passionate about their music and it showed. The man who played the Phantom was wonderful. What a voice! Anyway, I was impressed by how closely the recent Phantom movie followed the play, but I think I liked the character of Christine a tiny bit better in the movie than in the play. I don't think it had anything to do with the story, I just felt that the interpretation of the character was a little more likeable in the movie. But whatever, it didn't take anything away from my enjoyment of the play. Overall it was a great day and seeing Phantom was an excellent birthday present. Thanks Jenn and Lance!

boy, are my arms tired ;-)

So I had this really weird dream last night and I just had to share it with my loyal blog readers (all two of you). WARNING: THIS DREAM CONTAINS A STAR TREK REFERENCE. IF THAT MAKES YOU NAUSEOUS, STOP READING HERE!

Still with me? Here it goes . . . I was flying, relatively low to the ground, in a lawn chair. This seemed to be completely normal to me. I was flying over what appeared to be grassy hills bordered by forests, and it seemed to be a small airport (like the airports for small private planes, not commercial airlines). There were planes taking off beneath me and I must have been high enough for this not to interfere with my flight but when I looked down it looked like I was only about 15 to 20 feet above the ground. I kept radioing the "tower" (though none was in sight) talking about cloning my signal so that I appeared to look like a plane. After I crossed the runway, I started to go down for a landing. I landed safely, though I touched down pretty hard, and waited impatiently for my travelling companion to land. I was worried that he had not made it safely. A few minutes later he stumbled towards me from the top of a low hill, coming from some trees. He looked in rough shape, but he was safe. That man was Leonard Nimoy (Spock) from Star Trek. But not Leonard Nimoy as he would look today. It was a young Leonard Nimoy like in the Star Trek days. It wasn't Spock, but it was the actor when he was young and played the character of Spock. Then, after I could see he was safe, the dream started again from the beginning and the exact same things happened again. How weird is that?

So my loyal blog readers, I now invite you to tell me about your strange or weird dreams. Or, if you have some kind of expertise in interpreting dreams, can you please tell me what the hell this dream was supposed to mean?!

I lied to my dog because the voices told me to

I think what you have to do is self-explanatory ;-)

The month you were born:
January-----------i married
Febuary-----------I did
March--------------i played with
April--------------- i ate
May----------------i spanked
June---------------i kissed
July----------------i killed
August------------i lied to
September-------i choked
October---------- i slapped
November------- i watched
December--------i stole from-

DAY [NUMBER] YOU WERE B0RN 0N =]
1-------a spork
2-------my friends pants
3------- myself
4-------a mexican
5-------a hobo
6------- p diddy
7-------my best friends boyfriend/girlfriend
8------- my dog
9-------a lawn gnome
10-------a banana
11-------a monkey
12-------an ipod
13-------my neighbor
14-------a sandwich
15-------a goat
16-------a pickle
17-------bigfoot
18-------a spoon
19-------my sister
20-------a football player
21-------a ninja
22-------a fireman
23-------your mom
24-------a gangster
25-------1000 people
26-------a noodle
27-------an alien
28-------my true love
29-------my science teacher
30-------a squirrel
31-------my uncle-

C0L0R OF Y0UR SHiRT ;]
White------- Because i keep it gangsta
Black--------Because im sexy and i do what i want.
Pink---------Because im in love
Red----------Because thats how i roll
Blue----------Because the voices told me to.
Green--------Because I hate myself.
Purple--------Because i can
Gray---------- Because dat thang took my taco.
Yellow--------Because someone offered me 1,000,000 dollars
Orange----Because i hate my family.
Other-------Because i was high
maroon-----Because i was drunk.
teal-----cuz they were illegal
Brown-----Because im emo
Caramel----cuz Charlie told me too.
Striped------cuz ur mom said so
black..pink----Because i am kool like that
bra-----cuz im to kool for tv
bathing suit----- cuz im so sexy and i freak like no other

Oregon Pictures

Hey y'all, here are some pictures I took in Oregon. Enjoy!

Here are my grandparents, Bob and Evaline Bixby, and my step-sister Roisin (pronounced Row-sheen).

Here's a picture of where my sis and I slept. I had the bed on the right, Jennifer slept in the bed on the left. The room was in the basement, so it was nice and cool at night. One thing I found rather interesting was how differently Jennifer and I perceived the temperature downstairs. I know that Jennifer feels the coolness a lot more than I do, so I was curious to know how comfortable she'd be in the basement. She ended up wearing long-sleeved pajamas and sleeping with the top sheet, blanket and quilt covering her. In contrast, I slept in shorts and a tank top with only the top sheet covering me. I slept under the window, which I only closed because I figured Jennifer would be cold with it open all night.

This is my grandparents' house. They live in a city called St. Helens.

Here's a cool house in St. Helens.

Back from Oregon!

I'm back from Oregon my peeps! We got back this afternoon after a long car ride. The ride down was worse though - my knees were cramped and my legs were tired. We stopped more on the way back up so my legs weren't feeling so bad. We had a nice visit with our grandparents. We didn't really do much besides read, talk, take naps, and go for a walk down to the river. It was nice and relaxing for me. I took a bunch of pictures, which I have attempted to post 3 times now, but blogger is being uncooperative at the moment. We got to see an aunt and uncle and two cousins from Portland. They came up for dinner on Sunday so we got to chat and find out what's happening in their lives. One of the cousins has just turned 18 and he's going off to college next week. He'll be studying in Wisconsin, at a college that's quite close to Chicago.
We, or more accurately I, had a shocking moment yesterday evening though. We had been sitting around chatting after dinner and someone knocked on the door. He was from across the street and wanted to let us know that his dog had gotten out of the yard and had spent some time in our garage. He just wanted to apologize for his dog getting out, but we hadn't even known that the dog was in the garage, so it was fine. Anyway, a short while later I went downstairs to take a shower and get ready for bed. I got to the bottom of the stairs and saw that the basement door was wide open. This did make me a bit nervous, but knowing the family I figured that someone had left the door open when they came in from the garden (my grandparents aren't in the habit of locking their doors at night, or when they go for walks around the block). I rounded the corner to walk down the hallway to the bedrooms when I came face to face with a giant dog sitting in front of the bedroom doors! Yup, it was the dog from across the street! It turns out that the basement door hadn't been closed properly when the last person came through it so the dog, when he escaped from the yard again, was able to push it open and come right in. No harm done, but it was rather shocking!

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In other news . . . tomorrow is my birthday!!!!!!!! I'll be honest, I love getting birthday presents! I haven't always had the best birthdays . . . but that's a whole different story. Anyway, I can't remember if I've mentioned this before, but I really, really want to see Phantom of the Opera for my birthday! I love the music, I love the recent movie that came out, and I know I would love to see it performed live too! I don't know if it will happen or not, but I'd sure love it if it did.

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Now my lovely blog readers, it's time to get back to reality and get ready for work tomorrow. Did I mention that while I was relaxing in Oregon I had two work-related dreams? In the first one I was heading to the bathroom when someone beat me to it. I had to go down the hall to the other bathroom, which is right when I woke up. Man, I was pretty ticked off when my sister went into the bathroom first and I had to wait with my full bladder! In the second dream I was basically living the life of my sister with her two jobs and I was focused on job number two. I couldn't for the life of me remember if I had to work on Saturday or Sunday. I don't know how my sister works two jobs . . . I don't think I could handle it!

Going to Oregon!

I'm leaving for Oregon tomorrow to spend the long weekend with my sis, step-mom and step-sis. We're going to visit my step-mom's parents, which is always a lot of fun. I'm taking my camera so I'll be posting some pix when we get back on Monday. So my loyal blog fans (and I know there are legions of you out there who are just too shy to comment. Don't be shy! I don't bite . . . hard), I probably won't be posting or checking my blog over the weekend. Try not to miss me too much!

Best wedding favours ever!

The groom (my step-brother Brad) and the bride, Janine.

At this point the witnesses were signing the register. The woman sitting at the table is the bride's sister, Michelle.

My sister Jenn, and her husband Lance. They're newlyweds!

The Sadowski family. From left to right: Rachel, Cindy, Brandon and Dave. Cindy is Brad's sister.

These are the groom's parents. That's my mom, Erika, and my (step) dad Howie.

These cupcakes from Cupcakes made up the wedding cake. They were delicious!

So as you can tell from the pictures above, Brad and Janine's wedding on Sunday was awesome. I couldn't get over how elegant yet casual things were. There were bride and groom touches all over, from the total organization on the bride's part to the exclusion from the bar of Coors Light beer on the groom's part. Although it did start raining on us during the ceremony, everyone had a great time. The choir that brought this couple together sang during the ceremony and that was a really special touch. I couldn't get over how gorgeous the wedding dress was. It was everything that I imagined my own wedding dress to be one day. Oh and the wedding favours? Like I said, they were the best wedding favours ever. They were personalized M&Ms! No pictures of those though, they were gobbled up too quickly!

Congratulations!

A huge congratulations to my friends Sheryl and Koji! Early on Tuesday morning Sheryl gave birth to their second son, Caden. He's absolutely gorgeous and I'm sure he'll bring his parents a lot of joy and happiness :-)

My Feet

The beauty shot of my toes. The colour I chose was "I'm not really a waitress" by OPI. I have decided that I LOVE OPI nailpolish, so if anyone out there would like to know what to buy me for my birthday (which is on August 8th) . . . .

My left foot up close. My toes have alway been called "sausage toes". I inherited them from my dad. My baby toe has a really, really small nail that was difficult to apply polish to! One thing I don't really like about my feet is the hair on the knuckles of my toes.

My right foot. Not that much different than my left foot.

One last shot of my beautiful feet. These are my favourite shoes. I got them last summer from Avon. I really, really wish I had purchased two pairs! The best part about these shoes is that the flowers are stuck on by velcro and they come with 4 different coloured flowers - green, pink, orange, and beige.

Brides are everywhere!

Yesterday I went to a bridal shower for my future step-sister-in-law Janine. It was a Pampered Chef party and it was really neat. I had never been to any kind of Pampered Chef show before, but I have used a few of their products. My mom and sister both have some of their stuff, so I knew it was good. Watching the food preparation actually made me want to cook . . . but only if I have all the products she showed us! I was curious to know how we would be able to buy Janine some products since we didn't know what she had or what she wanted. In the end we were able to purchase products in two ways - by choosing things from the catalogue that Janine browsed through and chose items from, or by leaving money for her in a gift bag that she could use to buy whatever she wanted. Since Jennifer had given me some money to contribute towards a gift, I opted to give the money to Janine to buy whatever she wanted. Of course I also wanted to buy some stuff, so after careful consideration, I bought the food chopper (works to both chop food and relieve stress since you get to pound on the food a bit to chop it) and an apple wedger/corer that also works for potatoes. As my free gift with purchase I also received some twixit clips - clips of different sizes that you use to keep open bags closed. Since I had wanted to order those anyway, it worked out well. My mom also got a bunch of stuff! She got some stoneware and the miracle can opener (really wicked cool - it opens cans and leaves no sharp edges! And the can lids snap back on afterwards) for Janine and the garlic press (which is for Janine from my step-sister Cindy, who couldn't make it yesterday). For herself, my mom got a spatula and a piece of stoneware.
The marathon of brides continues today with a stagette for my friend Taran. The stagette is at a spa in Richmond (how cool is that?!) and I'm going to be getting a pedicure. Right now I can't think of anything more decadent than a pedicure for my tired, sore feet. The spa has a big party room that we can use to have some of our treatments, watch movies, and munch on some snacks. I'm totally looking forward to this spa experience. Right now I'm thinking of choosing a deep red colour for my toes. After our spa treatments, we're going to have dinner at the Cactus Club (yummy!). Hopefully I'll get a picture of my fabulously well-rested and pampered feet and post a picture later.

Insomniac

I've been awake since 3am. Not by choice, but anyone who knows me knows that to be the case. Yesterday was a crazy busy day! We tested in the neighbourhood of 120 new kids. It was chaotic, but it was controlled chaos. Placing students afterwards wasn't too bad either, but it took me 4 hours to create a working class list! I didn't leave work last night until 7:30 (usually I leave at 5:30)! There were a lot of students who didn't know how to spell their name in English, or who didn't write their full name on their test, so I had to make a few educated guesses. Today I'll have to spend a few more hours trying to get the list back up-to-date. I figure it'll take another 3 or 4 hours. I'm hoping that the 19 or so students we test today end up fairly evenly distributed throughout the levels we created yesterday or I could have a few more headaches to contend with today. It would be abundantly useful if I could use e-mail at our summer campus so I could e-mail myself some documents back and forth to work on while everyone else is teaching. At this point I'm not sure if that's possible, but we'll see. I'm hoping that once we get through today and start the process of getting ourselves fully organized, my insomnia will go away! I can't take too many more nights like this.

Another Kill Count

Bathroom: 10
Kitchen: 6

TOTAL: 16

Sweet. If only all problems could be solved with a tablespoon of sugar, a tablespoon of vinegar, and a drop of dish soap! Although wasn't it Mary Poppins who sang "just a spoonful of a sugar helps the medicine go down"?

In other news . . . today I met the majority of the new teachers I will be working with over the summer. It seems to be an interesting group. A lot of them are trained public school teachers, so that should improve the organization and general level of chaos. Several of the teachers already know each other from the school they currently work at, so that's neat. Hopefully that will work to our advantage - I don't want a situation where we have a group of teachers who do nothing but fraternize with each other! I do have a wonderful teacher who is returning from last year, so that should help. He's a great guy who is completely reliable and gets along well with everyone. There is another woman who is a bit older that I'm not sure about. I'm hoping she doesn't turn out to be like a current teacher we have who can't handle the teenagers and gets all upset every week. Don't get me wrong - I've definitely been in the situation where I have a class that's hard to handle and it makes me upset, but I only ever lost it at work once! Even that situation was extreme in that I'd had to deal with one thing after another after another after another, culminating in a student stealing the damn batteries from the classroom clock. At least I learned a few things from that situation. But, I digress.
I've decided that in order to cope with the summer (and hopefully avoid getting yet another ulcer) I've got to do a couple of things to relax myself. To that end, I've decided that I deserve a little pmapering. I've booked myself for a 30 minute massage on July 3rd. The following Sunday I'm getting a spa pedicure! The pedicure is part of a friend's stagette that is being held at a spa in Richmond. It should be a lot of fun - and what great timing!

Updated Kill Count ('Cause Now I'm Obsessed)

Kitchen: 4
Bathroom: 8

TOTAL: 12

Normally I wouldn't take pleasure in the death of another living being, but these are FRUIT FLIES! Do you have any idea how satisfying it feels to kill a fruit fly? Damn honey! It feels great!!

Teachers Take Note!

In my time as a teacher I have learned the following truths:

1. Teachers should all be trained as primary (preferably kindergarten or grade 1) teachers. They can move up from there, but it's really hard to move down if your training is at a higher level. It has been my experience that primary-trained teachers are waaayyy better prepared to deal with students at all levels of education. They're organized, able to manage a whole roomful of students without breaking a sweat, are more creative, and generally deliver better lessons. Now if you're a teacher reading this and you disagree, please feel free to comment argue with me.

2. Teachers should do their photocopying ahead of time. Do not leave it for the morning of because you never know what might come up! Photocopiers break down quite regularly you know!

3. Teachers should leave day plans, attendance lists, etc. AT THE SCHOOL. Taking it home might help you with your planning, but it doesn't help the substitute at all! If you really need to take stuff home with you, photocopy it and then you can keep a copy at home!

4. Teachers who can't be flexible or think on their feet shouldn't be teachers. Bottom line is you never know what is going to get thrown at you. If you can't deal with it, you shouldn't be there.

Happy Father's Day!

Just wanted to wish all the fathers and fathers-to-be a happy Father's Day this weekend! I am lucky enough to have two fathers (bio and step) and I hope they both have a great weekend!

Bye Dragon Lady!

Today was Dragon Lady's last day of work. Tomorrow she has to move out of her apartment. In the past couple of weeks I have tried harder than usual to be helpful and pleasant. I tried very hard lend her a hand in view of the fact that the assistant director (who is now the new director) was away on vacation. Today I found out that dragon lady told someone that I've been a real bitch lately and she didn't know how she would have dealt with me over the summer. Either I am one super-bitch who can no longer tell the difference between niceness and bitchiness (doubtful since I can't even walk past a former student without them saying hi and wanting to talk to me, and everytime I see my former students they shout "Kim, Kim we miss you!"), or dragon lady was truly a miserable person that I am well rid of as she just brings everyone around her down. So the last thing I have to say to dragon lady is "good riddance!"

High School Reunion

I just got an invitation to my 10-year high school reunion. It's given me conflicted feelings. On the one hand I want to go and see what people are up to and how they've changed. I also (selfishly, I suppose) want to show people what I've been able to accomplish in the past ten years. I may not be married or have kids or be rich, but I'm satisfied with my life. On the other hand, I don't really feel like seeing a lot of the real jerks that were in my class. Also, I don't feel like I have anything to prove to anyone. I only keep in touch with a few people from my class. Seriously, there are very few people from my class that I really cared to know or stay in contact with. Of those few people, I see two on a somewhat more regular basis than the third (who is in New Zealand). They all know what's happening in my life. I've run into a few people over the years and we've had some pleasant "how are you/what are you up to" conversations, but for the most part, I really don't have a burning desire to know what everyone is up to. Anyway, the reunion isn't until October, so I guess I have a few months to decide whether or not I want to go.

My first photo post

I've been watching a friend play around with her blog for the past day and a half and it has inspired me to try and post a picture on my blog. This picture was taken at my sister's bridal shower a few weeks ago. If you know me, you know which person is me. If you don't know me, please feel free to post a guess in the comments section. Maybe I'll tell you if you're right . . . maybe I won't ;-)

Another Meme Courtesy of Vesper

Yes, yes I'm posting another meme, and yes, I got it from Vesper:

accent: Canadian all the way, baby!

booze: I never drink.

chore I hate: Hmmm. You'd be better off asking me what chores I like. I HATE vacuuming and dusting. I love doing laundry.

dogs/cats: I don't have either right now, but I'd love to have a cat! We always had dogs when I was growing up, but I have to say I'm partial to cats. I still miss my first (and only) cat Frisky.

essential electronics: My computer and tv.

favorite perfume/cologne: I don't wear perfume that often, but when I do, I like Elizabeth Taylor's "White Diamonds"

gold/silver: I like both, but I suspect that gold looks better with my skin tone.

hometown: I was born in Burnaby, B.C., but we moved to Surrey just before I turned two. So I'm going to have to call myself a proud Surrey girl.

insomnia: Yes. I get it quite often when I'm stressed. I've just gotten over a bout of it actually.

job title: Juniors and Children Head Teacher. It sounds big and important, and it sometimes is. But usually it's just code for "do this. Do that. Take care of that. It's your fault if this doesn't work."

kids: no biological kids, but I often refer to my students as my kids. Oh, and I've sorta "adopted" two of my Mexican girls. One is a former student who is 17. The other is a current student who is 16. They are my hijas.

living arrangements: in an apartment that I bought last September. I live alone and I LOVE it that way!

most admired trait: organization and passion for teaching!

number of sexual partners: yeah, like I'm going to publish that information here ;-)

overnight hospital stays: none. Knock on wood.

phobia: Heights, though that one has gotten better. Snakes, which I don't even like to think about or see pictures of. And I've started to develop a slight fear of small spaces.

quote: "What fools these mortals be." No, in all seriousness, I don't really have a quote.

religion: Christian. I'm a member of the United Church of Canada.

siblings: my sister, Jennifer. I have a step-brother (Sean) and a step-sister (Roisin) on my dad's side, and a step-sister (Cindy) and a step-brother (Brad) on my mom's side.

time I usually wake up: 6:33am. Yes, that is what my alarm clock is set for. It's very scientifically figured out. My snooze alarm lasts for 9 minutes. If I hit it 3 times my alarm goes off at exactly 7am. I never stay in bed that long though.

unusual talent: The ability to raise my left eyebrow independently of my right.

vegetable I refuse to eat: none actually.

worst habit: I talk to myself an awful lot. And I tend to get pretty crabby when I'm stressed.

x-rays: None.

yummy foods I make: Well, I don't cook a lot, but I do make an awesome spinach dip and some great chocolate-chip pecan cookies.

zodiac sign: Leo. Oh, and I was born in the year of the horse.

Warning: Faulty Appendix Story

Yesterday one of the students at my school, a boy who I see everyday and is always friendly and says "hi Kim" to me, was taken to the emergency room with a faulty appendix. Yes, he has appendicitis! When I went to the hospital yesterday afternoon to visit him, he was still in the Emergency Room with a morphine drip to control the pain. The poor guy . . . he's all alone in Canada and we can't find his gaurdian. All of our minor students are supposed to have guardians when they come to Canada, but sometimes these guardians are more like "paper guardians" that only sign the documentation but don't know or care about the student who they are supposed to guard. Anyway, there were people from the school who were going to stay with him overnight. He was supposed to go into surgery late last night or early this morning. I'm sure that he'll be just fine, but I worry about him being in the hospital over the weekend without anyone to sit with him and visit him. I told my colleague from the school that if they couldn't get hold of the guardian to call me and I would come and stay with him for a while. This afternoon I'll stop and pick up a get well soon card and maybe a Korean book or magazine to bring to him.

Grinder, Coola, and CNTM

Went to Grouse Mountain today. Gorgeous, gorgeous day with awesome views. We got to meet the two grizzly bears they have up there too, and we watched a short film explaining how they got to Grouse Mountain. Overall a pretty good way to spend the day. All my students (well, technically since I'm not teaching right now, they're not my students!) want to take home bear cubs as pets now. Clearly, the do not understand the meaning of WILD animals. Reminds me of one of my former Japanese students who was totally determined to ride a polar bear. Yes. Ride a polar bear!

Quick rant: Why does Canadian reality television, as a general rule, suck? Seriously . . . I used to be addicted to American Idol, but I can't even sit through a whole episode of Canadian Idol! I sit glued to the TV when America's Next Top Model is on, but I think Canada's Next Top Model is fairly lousy. I don't know what it is . . . but I have a theory that the slickness of Hollywood is a factor. The glossy sheen and sparkle seems to be missing from Canadian television. The slick and glossy Hollywood personalities seem to be missing too! Call me shallow, but I miss the Hollywood-factor!

MySpace

Well, I resisted for a year. I have a few friends who have done it, but I held out. As it is I sometimes feel as though I spend hours in front of the computer. I have finally caved. I am now a member of MySpace! Thanks to my friend Brooke, I have joined on up and I invited all of you to come and check out my site at the address below:

www.myspace.com/kimfeuchter

AKA Verbal Diarrhea

It's June 1st and it's raining outside. What's up with that?!
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Had a lovely lunch at White Spot with one of my teaching colleagues. We're both on "Spring Break" right now. I (again) managed to spill mayonnaise down my shirt. Lovely. My shirt is in the washing machine right now with a few other dirty things. I hope it gets clean. It's a lovely shade of blue. The main thing that we talked about at lunch was teaching. I find this extremely interesting since she and I both have similar feelings on this subject. Basically, it annoys both of us when teachers get together and talk about nothing but teaching. Does that happen with other professions? Dianne, does this happen when accountants get together? Do they talk about nothing but accounting? Anyway, it happens all the time with my friends who are teachers. I guess the friend and I who had lunch together had to catch up since we haven't seen each other since last week. Also, we both took the same TESL course online, so some of our conversation was spent talking about where she was at with that course. It was a good lunch nevertheless.
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Got my Property Taxes in the mail today. Oh, the joys of home ownership! Can't hardly wait to pay that!
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I have a calendar from Telus Mobility that has really, really cute pictures. You know those Telus commercials with all those cute animals? Those animals are in my calendar! The June picture is adorable . . . a line of bowling balls, and the third one from the left is actually a white piglet with a pink nose! It's the cutest thing I've ever seen! I love this calendar :-) The heading of this month's picture is "daddy likes". How can I tell this calendar was made in Canada? The heading of the month's picture is also in French!
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A few years ago I had a summer that was full of weddings. I think I went to 4 weddings during that summer. Weddings are great . . . if you have a date! I didn't have a date for any of the weddings. This summer I've already been invited to two weddings. I don't have a date for either of them. If you count my sister's wedding back in April, that's three weddings for which I need/needed a date. My best friend went with my to my sister's wedding. I'm thinking about asking her if she wants to come to one of the other two weddings too. This is getting depressing!
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I like to consider myself a good speller. I didn't even have to look up the spelling of the word "diarrhea" for the title of this post. I once rented a spelling documentary. It was very interesting to see how seriously these children took the spelling bee. Man! They were really, really good spellers. I haven't seen the most recent movies about spelling. I'm sure they are similar. I have never been in a spelling bee. I think it would be cool. Once in a while at the school we have a spelling bee competition for the students. We were once going to have one for the teachers, but some of the other teachers were too chicken to compete! Bah! Who cares if you end up looking a little silly!
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I'm working on a new cross-stitching project right now. It's coming along very slowly. It's the largest piece I've ever worked on. I'd better get back to working on it right now.

I'm a total sucker for these memes . . .

Got this from Vesper:

1. My ex is: not here. Hence the ex part.
2. I am listening to: I'm trying to listen to the television, but my upstairs neighbour is doing some renovations to his bathroom so right now I'm also listening to his hammering and scraping. It's bloody annoying!
3. Maybe I should: Get a cold glass of milk to go with my chocolate chip cookies!
4. I love: Six sexy British men. They rule my world.
5. My best friend(s): Are awesome! They are treasures and I love them dearly!
6. I don't understand: Nuclear physics. Mind you, I haven't tried. Yet.
7. I lose: Thoughts from my head. All the time. Look, there goes another one! Goodbye beautiful thought!
8. People say: You're funny. It's true. I am.
9. The meaning of my screen name is: not very interesting.
10. Love is: hard work.
11. Somewhere, someone is: having sex.
12. I will always: be fascinated by the stars and the thought of traveling in space.
13. Forever seems: like a really long time.
14. I never want to: get an enema. 'nuff said.
15. My cell phone is: in my purse. I don't think it'll ring tonight.
16. When I wake in the morning: I hit the snooze button. I roll over and wish for more time to sleep!
17. I get annoyed when: people don't do what they're supposed to do. If you've got a bloody job/responsibility - DO IT! Don't leave it for someone else (ME) to do.
18. Parties are: Fun when you're with people you know.
19. My dog is: on the farm. I don't even remember the last dog the family had. I'm a cat person, people!
20. Kisses are the worst when: they are sloppy and wet. Eeeww!
21. Today I did: Lots of work. I also played.
22. Tonight I will: Watch House reruns. Maybe continue the DVD I started earlier.
23. Tomorrow I will: Pick up and deposit my pay check. Possibly go out for a movie. Maybe book a massage.

9 Lasts
9. Last dollar spent: Buying a magazine to read for the bus.
8. Last cigarette: Never had a first cigarette.
6. Last movie: partial movie, Forrest Gump (watched the first and third hour). Full movie, Seven.
5. Last song played: Fast Cars and Freedom by Rascal Flatts.
4. Last bubble bath: Don't remember, so clearly too long ago.
3. Last time you cried: Also don't remember. Hmmm . . .
2. Last thing you ate: chocolate chip cookie.
1. Last place you were: in the kitchen getting the cookies.

8 Have You Evers?
8. Dated a best friend? No comment.
7. Skinny dipped? Yes.
6. Kissed somebody and regretted it? No.
5. Been in love? Yes. (aren't these witty answers?)
4. Lost someone you loved? Not in the sense of a permanent loss. Lost touch with, yes.
3. Been drunk and threw up? No. Never. Ever.
2. Ran away? No. Probably threatened to once or twice, but never done it.
1. Broken a bone? No. Thankfully, all my bones are and have been in the past, fully intact.

Wanna play along? Then TAG . . . you're it!

Forrest Gump

I'm watching Forrest Gump on tv for the zillionth time. I LOVE that movie! It makes me laugh and cry. As you may already know, I love Tom Hanks. I'll be honest. I loved his performance in this movie. I fell in love with him in the movie You've Got Mail. What can I say? I'm a sucker for romantic comedies! Now what am I don't typing this? I should be focusing on Forrest!!

Organizational Heaven

Even though this coming week is the school's Spring Break week, I have elected to go to work for two days. Why? I desperately need to get some stuff organized before June! I'm very good at organizing things if I do say so myself (though you wouldn't know if by seeing the perpetual state of messiness I live in at home), so I'm kinda looking forward to tackling a few of these projects. Over the next two days I plan on completely cleaning out my filing cabinet drawer (it's packed FULL of stuff. A lot of it I use a lot, some of it I don't), cleaning and organizing my desk area (which constantly has different stacks of papers all over it, in addition to the computer and several binders), sorting out the files on my computer, finding a place for all the back-up tapes and CDs that seem to have found their way onto my desk, and finding a place to store the program tests that we reuse every month. Whew. Hopefully by the time all that's done, I'll exist in a state of organizational euphoria that will carry me through to the end of the summer :)

The Underwear Story

Some of you may already know this story. I had a request from a fellow blogger to share it, so here you go Vesper!

Just over 3 years ago, I was a TOC is the Surrey school district. Around Easter of that year, I got a call to cover a 7th grade class. I did all my training with very little people - kindergartners and first graders, so 7th grade is NOT my favourite grade, but needing the money I took the job. As it turns out, the teacher was quite sick and I ended up being in the class for a total of five consecutive days. The underwear story took place on day 2. On that beautiful April morning I left the house without my usual sweater as it was quite warm out. I hopped on the bus (no license, no car) and headed to the school. The whole way there (about 20 minutes) my rear felt a little cool, but I was wearing fairly new pants, so I didn't really think too much about it. I got to the school, opened the classroom door, and began to mentally prepare myself for the day. About an hour later, I was well into the groove of the teaching day. The class was fantastic - a really nice group of kids who genuinely wanted to learn. At one point I was explaining a math concept to one of the students, and I sat on my desk to get comfortable. I could have sworn for a second that when I sat down I could feel the coolness of the desk on my skin, but still didn't think too much of it. Fifteen minutes later saw my students head off to another teacher's classroom and the beginning of my prep block. I headed off to the staff washroom, and that's when I discovered why I felt a little breezy down there. My pants, right in the ass area, were starting to rip! These were practically brand new pants, and the rip was right over the right cheek! It was one of those rips that would just get bigger throughout the day. I didn't know what to do at first. Luckily at this point it was still fairly small, but when I checked out the situation in the mirror, I could already see my leopard print underwear. Since I did NOT want to be known as the TOC with the leopard print underwear, I knew I was going to have to do something fast. I spent a few precious minutes trying to call my mom and sister to get a spare pair of pants, but neither of them was home. I tried calling a neighbour to find out if she had the spare key on the off chance that she could stop by my place and deliver me a new pair of pants. She wasn't home either. I managed to get some safety pins from the school's secretary and I used those to minimize the view, but it didn't do anything about the fact that the rip was getting bigger. Running out to get a new pair of pants wasn't an option since I'd never be able to make it to a store and back quickly enough by bus. I cursed the beatiful weather that had made me leave my sweater at home. At least with the sweater I could have tied it around my waist. That's when I hit upon a possible plan. The seventh graders I was teaching had sweaters proclaiming they were the graduates of the school that year (you know the sweaters I mean, the ones that all seventh graders get that have their year on the back, and usually each student in the class has signed it). When the students came back to the classroom, I made sure that I was sitting in my chair. Very calmly, I asked the students if I could borrow one of their sweaters for the day. One of the boys eagerly jumped up and handed me his sweater. I was able to tie it around my waist and carry on with the day. Not a single person at that school knew what was going on! I was so grateful to that boy, he loaned me his sweater for the entire day without question. At the end of the day when I returned my sweater, the boy shyly asked me if he could have one of the lollipops that their regular teacher had in his desk for rewarding the students. I told the boy that since he had been so generous and hadn't asked any questions, he could have two. That sweet kid kept one for himself and gave the other one to his friend. On the way home that day I stopped at the store and bought a new pair of pants.

My Love of P

Got this from Vesper's blog:

Here are the rules: Comment on this entry and I will give you a letter. Write 10 words beginning with that letter in your journal, including an explanation what the word means to you and why, and then pass out letters to those who want to play along.

Here goes nothing!

1. Pants: I am a girl. I WAY prefer wearing pants to a skirt. I own several pairs of skirts and two dresses. But, I still prefer pants. Go figure.

2. Pee: (You had to know this was coming up) I pee everyday. Usually more than once a day. My students, who are teenagers, think it's hilariously funny to talk about pee. Oi vey!

3. Pretty: When I got my hair cut on Sunday I thought I looked very pretty.

4. Poo: (Yes, I am going there) Again, my students think it's hilariously funny to make jokes about poo. At our school, the staff have two possible bathrooms they can use. One is in the staffroom (next to the kitchen area, which is rather gross when you think about it). The other one is down a main hallway and is accessed by a punching a code into a keypad. The washroom in the hallway is the designated poo washroom.

5. People: As a general rule, I think all people are a little weird. I like to study people's behaviour and try and understand the reason why they act the way they do. There are days when I really hate people and the things they do.

6. Psychology: I was going to major in psychology in university! That is, until I figured out that I was better at English, and English was better for the education degree I wanted to pursue.

7. Peace: It's a good thing. My Korean students make the peace sign (you know, the first two fingers in a vee shape) in EVERY freakin' photograph they appear in. For them however, the sign doesn't actually mean peace, it means victory . . . as in Korea will be victorious over all.

8. Politics: I generally don't follow politics all that closely. I can say that I LOATHED one particular politician . . . Christie Clark, former Education Minister. If I ever meet her in a dark alley I'm going to go postal on her ass!

9. Pears: Not my favourite fruit. Unless they're diced and packed in pear juice. Then I will eat them.

10. Purse: I recently bought a new purse. I love it! It's a Roots purse, but I got it at Bentley.

Remember people, if you want a letter, comment on this post and tell me that you want to play too!

Woo Hoo! Day Off!

Happy Victoria Day! All that means to me is that I get a day off of work, but if you celebrate Victoria Day then I send you my good wishes!
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When and why did the weather turn to crap? When it comes to weather I'm very contradictory. I like the sun, but I don't like it too hot. I like rain, but not every day. I like winter, but it makes me slightly depressed. I like summer, but it makes me stressed out. I don't think I have a favourite season since there's something to like about all of them. I like the winter temps, the blossoming that comes in the spring, the fruits of summer, and the gorgeous fall colours. How weird am I?
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Forgot to mention that I saw "The Da Vinci Code" on Saturday! Although it has pretty much gotten slammed in the press, I really liked it. They stayed fairly faithful to the book, though my one little disappointment was that they didn't really play out the whole "treasure hunt" aspect of the book. There were a couple of fairly brutal scenes though. I don't want to say too much because I don't want to ruin it for anyone, but there were a couple of gasps from me! I loved Tom Hanks (as per usual) and Audrey Tatou. Sir Ian McKellan was his usual self, which I actually don't overly like. There's something about him that irritates me, but whatever. Paul Bettany was good too as Silas. I'm not a very discriminating moviegoer; I pretty much like everything I see. But I did really enjoy this movie. I think those critics were just overly critical!
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I'm going to leave you now with 5 things you (maybe) don't know about me:

1. I'm addicted to court shows. I love People's Court (which is what I'm currently watching) and Judge Judy in particular. Always have, probably always will.

2. I hated math when I was in school, but now I'm fascinated with numbers. And Numb3rs.

3. I have a list of hot men that I maintain with a former coworker. We have our individual lists and our shared list. Yes. My list includes Patrick Stewart and Tom Hanks.

4. When I was younger I attended many Star Trek conventions. I think I've been to 10. Good times. I will always regret not seeing Patrick Stewart when he was in Vancouver.

5. I got a sexy new haircut yesterday. Maybe one day, when I have time and the inclination to fiddle with my blog, I'll post some pictures. Until then, use your imagination! Oh, and when you do, make me look a few years younger, okay?

Quick Update

So I think I've been updating my blog fairly regularly, but for those who haven't been reading regularly, here's what's going on in my world. In no particular order:

1. The summer season at work is starting to gear up slowly. If all goes according to plan, May 26th will be my last teaching day as I come out of classes to focus on admin and curriculum. That was supposed to happen on the 15th, but the woman who was supposed to replace me ended up replacing another Junior teacher who abruptly quit.

2. I've been having trouble sleeping lately. I think it's a combination of stress and heat. Hopefully now that it's gotten a little cooler, I can get some sleep this weekend!

3. My "beloved" boss will be moving to a new campus in the middle of June. Hooray!

4. My birthday is coming up in August. I want to go see "Phantom of the Opera".

5. I have finished my online TESL course and now have my diploma. Yippee!

6. My school's Spring Break is coming up in two weeks. I'm currently debating with myself over whether or not to work two of that week. I could use the time off, but I could also really use the money!

7. I got a new computer a little while ago. It's S.W.E.E.T. Very fast and sexy.

8. I'm going to see "The Da Vinci Code" tomorrow with my best friend.

I think that about covers it for now! Check back often for more on what's happening in my world!

Thank you for not smoking

When was the last time you read something in an e-mail that made you laugh outloud? I had this experience yesterday when my friend D sent me an e-mail from Shanghai. D has been teaching in China for the past three months. He sounds like he's definitely ready to come home! He told me a funny story about how people in China smoke EVERYWHERE! He said he's seen teachers smoke in class while teaching, and people smoking in the gym while working out (WTF?!). Anyway, the smoking in the gym thing really bothers him so, as he relayed to me in the e-mail, after three months of politely asking people in the gym to smoke outside, he talked to the manager about the issue. He told the manager that as there were signs posted around advertising that the gym was a non-smoking environment, he would really appreciate it if the rule were enforced. The manager said "yes, that is a contradiction" and walked away. D thought he had won the battle and left for the day. When he returned the next day, all the signs had been taken down! If that story isn't laugh-worthy, I don't know what is!

So Tired

Okay, why am I always so tired these days? It's not like I stay up until all hours of the night or anything like that. Last night, which I would say is typical of my nighttime patterns, I was in bed and sleeping by 11:30. Since I woke up at 6:30 that should mean I got about 7 hours of sleep. But I feel like I only got 4 or 5! My limbs ache and all I want to do is go back to bed, close my eyes, and sleep until Thursday or Friday. This isn't really a great way to go work with teenagers since they definitely don't give me much of a break! Maybe this is like an episode of House from last season: this woman was active and walking around in her sleep and couldn't figure out why she would wake up in the morning all tired and sore! Of course in that case she was having sex with her ex-husband in her sleep, but mine is the same basic idea without the sex. Too bad I can't set up some kind of "sleep camera" that will tell me if I'm doing anything in my sleep that might make me really tired when I wake up!

Another quiz from Vesper

Here's another quiz I got from Vesper. Without giving too much away, I'm curious to know how they can decide what kind of love I want by asking me a bunch of questions about animals? How do they know I didn't answer based on the colour of the animals or something? Interesting . . .

The Keys to Your Heart

You are attracted to those who are unbridled, untrammeled, and free. In love, you feel the most alive when your partner is patient and never willing to give up on you. You'd like to your lover to think you are stylish and alluring. You would be forced to break up with someone who was emotional, moody, and difficult to please. Your ideal relationship is lasting. You want a relationship that looks to the future... one you can grow with. Your risk of cheating is zero. You care about society and morality. You would never break a commitment. You think of marriage as something that will confine you. You are afraid of marriage. In this moment, you think of love as something you can get or discard anytime. You're feeling self centered.

What'>http://www.blogthings.com/keystoyourheartquiz/">What Are The Keys To Your Heart?

Da Vinci Code

Have you read the book "The Da Vinci Code" by Dan Brown? I have and I thought it was fabulous. It's very controversial, but I like it for its adventure story. I know people who won't even read it because it's so inflammatory, but to those people I say: "what are you so afraid of?" Seriously, people who won't read books that dare to question their faith bug me. Are you that afraid that your faith is going to be shaken? Is your faith so delicate that it's going to be rocked off its foundation because of a theory posed in a FICTIONAL book? Yes, the suggestions about Christ put forth in the book are shocking and beyond belief, but it's not like they're new ideas! Besides, I have news for you, history is full of examples of people who have doctored the "truth" to make their side of the story more sympathetic, so the idea that the bible was put together in this way shouldn't really shock anyone. Anyway, I bring up the topic only because the movie based on the book comes out next Friday. I'm planning to see it for sure. Besides the fact that I love Tom Hanks, I've really, really been wanting to see how Hollywood handles aspects of the book. After I read the book the first time I bought the illustrated edition of the book in order to better appreciate all the artwork involved. I was hoping to get some illustrations of other story elements too, but I was disappointed. Now I can't wait to see how everything comes together! And yes, for people who are wondering, I own two copies of the book - the original hardcover and the illustrated edition. The illustrated one never leaves my house, but I've loaned the other one out to half a dozen people already.

In other news, I'm so glad it's the weekend! This past week at work was killer. Then to top it all off, one of my students e-mailed me an essay that I had assigned him on respect. The essay was given as punishment for being very disrespectful. It was a week late. Now, to top it off, I discovered that the essay was completely plagiarized. It was very obvious from the first sentence I read that my student did not write a single word of this essay. So now I have to figure out how to deal with this situation. I'd send him to the director for punishment but as she's likely to just say to him "don't do it again" I'm not inclined to go that route. I've got to come up with something clever or he's not going to learn anything.

The best laid plans . . .

So I'm completed pissed off and frustrated right now. I was supposed to stop teaching next week in order to focus on administration and curriculum development. My replacement teacher, whom I began training yesterday, seemed to be a really good fit. Then this morning happened. One of the other teachers who teaches in my program quit this morning. No two weeks notice, no talking in person, just an e-mail saying "I quit". So my replacement teacher quickly became HIS replacement teacher and everything changed! Now they have to hire someone else to replace me, which means I'll be staying in class indefinitely. There have been lots of interviews lately so hopefully it won't be long, but it's so bloody frustrating! I'm glad to have a bit of extra time with my students, but this just represents another change for them and as a whole, none of the students are coping too well. There have been a lot of behavioural problems lately, and today was no exception. Today we had not one but two doors broken! The first door has a hole in it as a result of one of the students kicking it to try and get it open (the handle of the door is broken so if the door is closed, it doesn't open from the outside). The damage is unsightly, but fairly minor. The second door, however, came right off its hinges while some of the boys were fooling around. There were two girls standing behind the door and a couple of the boys decided to push against the door for fun. The door already had a crack in it from some previous damage, and the entire thing came off its hinges. Then, as a couple of the male staff members tried to remove the door from the doorway, the entire top ripped off! Turns out that in addition to the fooling around, the door is really cheap - it's made of particle board and it's hollow inside except for the random pieces of cardboard stuffed inside it. Sigh. At least tomorrow is Friday!

Novel Studies + Teenagers = Trouble

I have been teaching teenagers for 2 years, 6 months and 12 days. In that time, I've learned a great many things about life, but one of the most valuable lessons I've learned is that mixing teenagers and novel studies can make trouble! Today's Language Arts class was yet another good example of that . . . my students have been reading "Phantom of the Opera" by Gaston Leroux (they are ESL students, so this is a Penguin Reader edition of the book). During the time we've been studying the book, my *lovely* students have failed to do their homework twice, left materials at home, and generally fallen behind in their reading. Sigh. One of the first things I told my students about last week was the idea of completing a creative project to express what they have learned through reading the book. I provided them with a variety of possibilities including: a writing assignment where they would put one of the characters of the book on trial, a diorama assignment where they could express one of the scenes from the book in three dimensions, and an assignment where they would create a series of advertisements to entice people to buy the book "Phantom of the Opera". As we were talking about the possibilities this morning, one of the girls in the class put up her hand and said, quite seriously, "Kim, why does it say Phantom of the Opera" across the top of this paper?" (she was holding up the paper where I had outlined each of the possibilities for the creative assignment). Not quite comprehending what this girl was saying, all I could really do was stare at her for a moment. In that moment, everyone else in the class turned to stare at this student and said "Ahhhhh M, the project is for the book Phantom of the Opera!" That's when I figured out that she was genuinely confused! Sigh. I only repeated myself about 5 times, and wrote on the project sheet at least twice "This assignment will help you express what you learned about the Phantom of the Opera".

On a brighter note, I won't have to suffer these same questions and confusions next month when my students read "Lord of the Flies" (the full version), which happens to be approximately 2.5 times longer than Phantom. As I only have another 3 days left to teach these students (I'm coming out of teaching for the summer to focus on administration and curriculum), all I have to do at this point is get them through this current novel study ;-)

Book Review

Forgot to mention that I finished reading the third volume of Jeffrey Archer's prison diaries. It was an amazing book series that really shed a lot of light on the prison system. Even though it talks exclusively about the British prison system, I think most of the points the book tries to illustrate can apply to prison systems all around the world. I have never been to prison, but I could definitely visualize what it must be like after reading Archer's books. Great, great, great books. Now I can't wait to read his next work of fiction, which I'm still waiting to get from the library :-)

I'm not laughing!

Alright, I'm praying that this is some kind of weird hotmail error, but it seems as though hotmail has erased my entire contact list! We're talking hundreds of contacts . . . gone! I'm hoping they just temporarily "lost" them and that when I check my e-mail again tonight they'll have magically reappeared since I do NOT relish the idea of having to reconstruct my entire contacts list! What could have happened to them? I'm positive they were there last time I wrote an e-mail, which was maybe a couple of days ago? I check this e-mail account several days, and I know I checked it this morning and this afternoon at work, but as I didn't have any new e-mails at that time, I didn't bother to go beyond the first screen! HELP!

In the dictionary

Kim -- [adjective]: Smells like teen spirit 'How" will you be defined in the dictionary?' at QuizGalaxy.com

Wish Fulfillment

So the other day I wished for things at work to change . . . and now they're gonna! L, the boss from hell, is being transferred to our campus in Victoria! In approximately 5 weeks she'll be a distant memory - yipppeeeee! The current assistant director is going to become the new director, which is what should have happened 7 months ago when the previous director left. For the time being we won't have an assistant director, which is going to make things a little tough at first but I think everyone will adjust. Anyway, now I just have to survive the next 5 weeks with her ;-)

Worst. Day. Ever. Period.

WARNING: For those who do not care for foul language, stop reading here. I have a feeling this post will be full of foul language!

So today I had possibly my worst work day ever. I had this funny feeling when I woke up this morning that I should just stay in bed. It turns out I was right. So here, preserved for all eternity, is what happened to me on May 3, 2006.

1. I got to work 5 - 10 minutes later than my normal time. This was planned because I'm tired of having to open the door on L's (The Director, other wise known as Dragon Lady, bitch from hell, etc.) day to do it. The phone was already ringing when I unlocked the door, but I thought it was more important to turn off the alarm than answer the phone. I spent the next half an hour waiting to see if the phone would ring again because one of my colleagues has been sick the past couple of days and I wanted to see if she would come to work today. She did, but only long enough to explain that due to some stress and mental health problems she's dealing with right now, her physical problems are being exacerbated and she doesn't know if/when she'll be able to return to work. Fucking great. I honestly do feel bad for her, but L is not a sympathetic person and wants to move her out of her current teaching job and possibly make her a TOC. That means the new TOC just starting out will take over for her, which means another fucking person I have to train and another fucking change for the students.
2. I waited and waited for the girl who subbed for my colleague the past two days to come in. 9am came and went and she didn't show up. I had to race around to find someone else to cover the class. The assistant director agreed to do it for a few minutes while we got another CA into the room. I had to spend another few minutes trying to figure out what had been taught the past two days so I could tell the new teacher what to teach. Luckily this person has been doing this job for a long time and can very easily and quickly adapt. She was fine for the rest of the day. While I was racing around I asked the receptionists if anyone had checked the messages that morning. They hadn't. They checked. The person who had been subbing for the past two days did indeed call in sick. Great.
3. During my second class of the day, one of my students left the room to join a student from another class in talking to L about a money problem relating to another student that had absolutely fuck all to do with them. L talked to them for close to an hour. WHY? Why did she talk to them for that long about something that was none of their business????!!!! My student missed the entire lesson and came in as I was letting the students finish some reading.
4. During the third class, one of my more problematic students mouthed off to me one to many times and I sent him out of the class with a dictionary to look up the meaning of the word respect. I had him copy the meaning. He managed, during the three minutes it took, to get into a conversation with a new teacher and get completely distracted. He completely missed the point of what I was trying to teach him. Great.
5. Lunch time. One of my less bright students came to the door of the lunchroom twice to get my e-mail address so he could send me some class materials he wanted me to print out. When I opened the e-mail I realized that my student had e-mailed me the completely wrong stuff. Wonderful. Who knows if he's going to have time to send me the right stuff?
6. Last class of the day. I'm thinking "great, only 1.5 hours left to get through before I can relax a bit in front of the computer and lose myself in curriculum work. WRONG! Three of my students were missing from class. One apparently went home sick. Two went to the bank together and were late getting back. When they arrived back they were in the middle of explaining that they ran into a former student who stole the wallet of one girl and they had to chase him down to get it back when two other students got into a swearing match over ?? It VERY quickly escalated and I realized that I had to remove the two students from the room and send them to L to sort out the problem. Here I was, naively believing that L would sort out the problem. As I was getting them to follow me out of the room, one of the boys, a shithead called Zack*, starting laughing at the anger of the other boy, Todd*. I could see it coming, but I wasn't quick enough to step between them and Todd literally kicked Zack in the ass. Well, by this point I'd really had it. I practically dragged them to L's office, explained the situation really briefly, and left them there. I was confident that L would keep them out of class as they had gotten into a physical fight. Nope. L brought Todd back to class a few minutes later and said Zack would follow in a few minutes because he was outside. Yep. Zack was outside fucking SMOKING! I didn't know we allowed that during class time. I'm thinking about taking up smoking now. As soon as Zack returned to the class, I could see by their body language that this problem had not been resolved and that there was going to be a fight. Luckily nothing broke out during class, but I knew at 3pm there'd be trouble. At 3 I asked Zack to stay behind for a few minutes in order to give Todd time to get away. I know that in a fight between the two, Todd would get his ass kicked. I talked to Zack and when I left class I didn't see Todd. I figured Todd had left.
7. I realized that I really needed some fresh air, so I headed to the door to go outside. I didn't even make it to the FUCKING door when I ran across the boy who had apparently gone home sick. He took one look at me and ran to hide in the boy's bathroom. I called him out of the bathroom and stared at him. He had the grace to look really embarrassed. I asked him if he knew why I was mad. He did. I asked him if he had told someone at the front desk that he was going home sick. He had. I took him to talk to that person at the front desk. That person talked to him for a few minutes and came into the staffroom to feed me the same bullshit story the kid fed him. AM I THE ONLY PERSON WHO CAN TELL WHEN A TEENAGER IS LYING??? Why is lying straight to the teacher's face something that the students seem to be allowed to get away with? Then this person casually says "by the way, you know about the fight in the parking lot, right?" Christ. Bloody fucking hell. Yup, you guessed it. Zack and Todd, part two. A few minutes later Todd got a bunch of his friends together and they tried to gang up on Zack. Meanwhile, L had disappeared from the campus on a business-related meeting. She returned shortly after and ended up pulling Zack, Todd and Todd's friends into her office to "get to the bottom of this". I joined them. It was discovered at some point along the way that L had told Zack and Todd during their original meeting during class that it was okay to fight as long as it wasn't inside. Holy fuck woman! Are you a complete idiot??!! Then L goes on to lecture the students about how unsportsmanlike it was to gang up on someone and how unfair it is. Implied message: go ahead and fight as long as it's one on one. She did say a couple of times "no fighting", but what message do you think the students really took away from that? Then it came out that Zack took off his belt to hit Todd with. L told Zack that he shouldn't use his belt because it comes a weapon and he should only fight with weapons when he feels his life is in danger. Fuck yeah! Now when he gets into a fight again all he has to say to L is that he felt his life was in danger. Since he and his friends have L wrapped around their little finger L will probably end up throwing him a parade because he remembered her pearls of wisdom. L couldn't even get the boys to promise not to fight anymore!! She had them promise that the next time they felt like fighting they would go and talk to her first. Yes, because all teenage boys who get upset enough to get into a fight are rational enough to go and find an adult to discuss their feelings with first.

FUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I HATE L! I want to strangle her so hard that her little head pops off her little body. I am not a violent person, but I left work today so mad that I probably only narrowly missed having a heart attack. In case you couldn't tell, it makes me really, really mad that L doesn't think about the message she's sending to my students when she tries to discipline them. This over-50 woman, who has had two kids (boys) has no clue that my ESL teenagers routinely lie to her and play her for a fool. She thinks she's doing the right thing, but that makes her the president of fantasyland. No wonder we have problems with the students everyday! She can't even see that she's making the problems worse. This can't continue. It just can't. And I am still left with the question of why, when the two students came back to my class clearly still upset and with issues unresolved, she fucking sent them back to class.



* Names have been changed to protect their identities. This is Canada and in Canada we can't publish the names of youthful offenders due to the stupid Young Offenders Act.

So funny . . .

Got this from Vesper:

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	Kim Pills: Will cause an instant boost in original Nintendo play
	'What" effect do you have on people?' at QuizGalaxy.com

Counting my blessings

It's Sunday. I haven't been to Church (regularly) in a long time. It makes me feel a bit guilty, especially when I do go back for a Sunday service and get a warm reception (not to mention a healthy dose of "where have you been?" guilt). The reason I haven't been to Church in ages is simple - I've gotten lazy. Before I moved to my current place I used to have to either take a cab to Church (expensive at nearly $15 a ride), ask for a ride from a friend (which made me feel guilty and I HATED, above all else, to bug my friends for rides), or take the bus halfway and walk the rest (which took about half an hour, unless someone headed for Church stopped and picked me up along the way). Now that I've moved I have to take two buses to get to Church. It takes about 40 minutes. It's way easier to stay at home. I'm a horrible Christian. Since I haven't been going to Church regularly, I thought I'd take this time to make a list of my blessings. I strongly encourage everyone who is reading this to do the same.

1. It isn't raining outside.
2. I cleaned my house this morning. Finally. Let me say hooray for swiffer, vileda, tilex, and all other products that make cleaning just that much easier!
3. I'm getting my laundry done at home, and I've been lucky enough to have in-suite laundry at every home I've ever lived in.
4. I got to see a movie and have dinner with my best friend yesterday. My best friend has been talking a lot lately about marrying her longtime boyfriend and is thinking that December is a good month to get married. She says that I will be her maid of honour.
5. I know several people who are pregnant right now. Two are due in July and one is due in September. Hearing them talk about their excitement is contagious.
6. I have a newly married sister who is very happy.
7. I am in good health.
8. My mother is happily remarried and has an awesome husband.
9. I have a new, fast computer that I love playing with.
10. My students are learning! I marked their essays yesterday and without exception all of them have learned to indent their paragraphs, write topic sentences, and confine their paragraphs to one topic. If you knew my students, you would know what a huge accomplishment this was.
11. I have lots of friends at work who make the day pass much faster.
12. In my bedroom there are two big closets. Both are mine.
13. I have the unexpected blessing of a dishwasher. When I was looking for this place I never expected to get a dishwasher. My priority was the laundry.
14. I have money in the bank. Not a lot, but enough so that I don't have to worry about money every night before I fall asleep.
15. My wonderful mom and stepfather are coming over on Monday while I'm at work to fix a couple of small things in my place. Yes, this is what prompted me to clean this morning.
16. I have a step-brother and a step-sister on my mom's side and dad's side. All of us get along. How sweet is that?!
17. I have finally finished my TESL course, which gives me more work options.
18. I got a raise at work, so the paycheck I deposited on Friday was the biggest one I've ever deposited (don't get me wrong, I'm still barely above poor, but I like to think there's nowhere to go but up from here).
19. I can raise my left eyebrow independently of my right. This is a very useful skill when dealing with students as it tends to get their attention and signal that I'm not pleased with whatever they are doing/saying.
20. I completed the Sun Run last Sunday in two hours and twenty minutes. I know a lot of people who have never even attempted it. It was my SECOND time doing it and I felt frigging FANTASTIC when I was finished.
21. I have at least two books on my shelf that I haven't read yet and can't wait to start reading.
22. I get to borrow a DVD from my sister on Monday.
23. I bought a new purse yesterday.
24. I've met some cool people online by surfing blogs.
25. I live alone (no annoying roommates to bug me!) and don't have to answer to anyone.
26. I have not one, but two pairs of sexy boots.
27. I bought new clothes last weekend.
28. I still have a whole day ahead of me to do whatever I WANT!

That's one blessing for each year I've been alive :-)

Dreams

Recently I had a dream that I was chewing gum and it turned to cement in my mouth and pulled out 4 of my teeth. I was too embarrassed to go visit my dentist (in the dream) because I recently was at the dentist to get some dental work done and I didn't want him to see that I pulled out the teeth with gum. Wonder what that means?

I have dreams of travelling to Russia. There are lots of place, primarily in Europe, that I want to visit, but right now Russia is at the top of my list. I want to visit St. Petersburg. That would be totally sweet.

I dream of having a husband one day. But at the same time I love my independence and I don't want to give it up.

I had dreams about the situation at work changing. Will that dream ever be realized?

You know those cheesy e-mail surveys? This isn't one of them!

Okay, I admit it - I secretly adore those internet surveys that I get sent from my friend Debbie (strangely, I never get them from anyone else). That's probably why I like filling in and posting these memes. Without further adieu . . .

I AM: a conscientious teacher
I WANT: more sleep! More days in the weekend!
I WISH: that I could travel more! I want to see Europe, New York, Las Vegas, and Japan!
I HATE: liars!
I MISS: my dad! More accurately, I miss the dad I knew growing up. My dad has alzheimer's disease. He lives in the hospital and sits in a chair all day. He is not the man I remember. I miss my old dad so much that sometimes when I think about him (no matter where I am) I cry.
I FEAR: never falling in love!
I HEAR: a commercial, my own inner voice telling me to dust (don't worry, I've been ignoring that voice for a few days now so I'm not about to leave you mid-meme!)
I WONDER: how I will feel tomorrow when I see a particular man I had a huge crush on last year.
I REGRET: not knowing German. Luckily I still have time to learn!
I AM NOT: pretty. It's true.
I DANCE: sexy, according to my students. They have vision problems. I like moving to music, but I'm not particularly good at it.
I SING: whenever I hear a song I like, or whenever I think of a song I like. I sing when I'm happy, and I sing when I'm stressed out or sad.
I CRY: When I laugh so hard that tears come out of my eyes! I also cry when I'm sad.
I AM NOT ALWAYS: the hard-ass some people think I am.
I MAKE: people smile, laugh, and learn.
I WRITE: e-mails, memos, curriculum, blog entries.
I CONFUSE: myself sometimes!
I NEED: more sleep! A long vacation where I am required to do nothing more strenuous than decide which beach to go lie on.
I SHOULD: dust. Not going to happen until the weekend though!
I START: reading good books.
I FINISH: reading good books.
I TAG: anyone reading this :-)

Changes

My students have gotten me thinking about all the changes that have been happening at my school lately. They have heard that our Activities Coordinator is leaving (Friday is his last day), and they found out last week that they will be changing teachers (not me, their other teacher) tomorrow. Their "old" teacher isn't leaving, she's just going to be teaching another level. They're getting a little freaked out and keep asking me if I'm going to be leaving them. I keep telling them that I'm staying put, but I'm not sure they believe me. I'm not looking for a new job right now, but my job has been posted out because over the summer my school would like me to focus on administration and not on teaching. I haven't actually told my students that yet. They have no clue. Now, if they did hire someone to teach for me, that person could theoretically start teaching as early as next week or the week after. That's a bit scary. I love my students and I can't really envision someone else teaching them. Also, I have a feeling that even though they would still see me every day, they would NOT be happy if I stopped teaching them right now. Not to toot my own horn, but I'm a pretty darn good teacher and I'd like to think I've made personal connections with each of my students. But, we'll see what happens. At the rate the resumes are coming in right now, I'll probably end up teaching all summer!

Victory!

Got home a short while ago from the 22nd annual Sun Run. I feel awesome! I just walked it (like I did two years ago), and I completed it in approximately 2 hours and 20 minutes. Last time I did it, it took 2 hours and 35 minutes. Ten kilometres - fantastic! I feel pretty good. A little sore, but otherwise fine. Of course, ask me how I feel tomorrow . . . I've done a little stretching, which should help ease the stiffness for tomorrow. I'll go sit in a hot bath soon too. It feels great to have accomplished this goal!

An Update on Work

When I last posted I was afraid that the sh*t was going to hit the fan as a result of a talk that the boss's boss had with her based on complaints from me and a couple of other colleagues. I was really nervous about how yesterday was going to go. I didn't know how the boss was going to react, but I was pretty sure it was going to be negatively. She didn't disappoint! I got the evil eye, which isn't really unusual for her. Our few exchanges were rather terse. The Assistant Director bore the brunt of her wrath though - apparently they had a closed-door *talk* that involved tears from both parties. Resignation was mentioned by the witch, but we still don't know for sure if this is just talk. I guess the next couple of weeks will tell the tale.
Here's what I don't get though: the woman is desperately unhappy in the job and even if she were happy, it's a hugely stressful job. Now that she knows that she has no friends at work, why would she stay? Ultimately isn't that worse for you and your life satisfaction? I know I've complained about work, but at the end if the day, I still laugh a lot more than I frown and I care about my students and teachers. I think of the teachers under my charge as *my* teachers, and I get VERY protective of them. My students are like my kids (even the annoying ones), and I am equally protective of them (and by protective I mean I always have their best interests at heart - academically, behaviourally, and socially).
I think the next few weeks will be more stressful for her than for any of us. I'm pretty sure she's going to be under a microscope from above because we were told that if her behaviour doesn't change then further action would be taken. In the past 48 hours, this 52-year-old woman has refused to look certain people in the eye (me included), has been rude and abrupt with people she has to work closely with, and has flat-out lied to the entire staff during a staff meeting while at the same time making a really rude and inappropriate comment. Isn't that a good indicator of maturity and suitability for the job? Mind you, I suppose if I'm being fair I would have to admit that I don't know if my reaction in her situation would be much better. I have to think it would be, but I don't know.
Anyway, the bottom line is that I refuse to let her attitude towards me and my colleagues affect my mood and attitude at work. During the past 48 hours I have still been the same cheerful person I've always been, even when dealing with the witch (whom I don't actually call the witch at work, in case you were curious). I have been friendly and polite to her and even though she acts miserably, I don't let it get to me. If she thinks that she can make me miserable, she's got another thing coming. I'm damn stubborn and I refuse to be made to feel bad by her. It's become a challenge now - I CAN and WILL outlast her.

Will the Sh*t hit the fan today?

So I'm a little worried about what's going to happen at work today. Regular readers of my blog know that I have a boss who is completely unqualified for her job and a real tyrant. Her *antics* are really becoming a problem in the workplace and many, many people are unhappy working for/with her. Here's an example of something that happened yesterday: Between classes we have a ten minute break. There are clocks all over the school and all of them are slightly off with their time-keeping abilities because they're cheap clocks. My watch always tells correct time and I periodically reset my classroom clock because some of my students have issues with lateness and I want to make sure they know the correct time. Yesterday after the break I returned to my classroom only to discover that my classroom clock said 11:44 when I knew that it was only 11:40 and I was on time for class. My students took great glee in informing me that I was late, but I knew I wasn't and that the clock had been changed. That really pissed me off because I've had students tamper with my clock before (which is dumb because I always wear a watch). Anyway, when I asked them who changed the clock they all replied "(name of boss) did it!" Which (name of boss) confirmed a few seconds later when she walked past my classroom. Needless to say, this made me LIVID! This is just one example of the little mind games my immature, 52-year-old boss plays. I think she knew that I went to her boss earlier in the morning to complain about her. Several other employees in the past couple of days have also complained. So yesterday evening before we left, the boss of our boss went into her office to have a closed-door chat with her about her behaviour, language (she swears like a trucker and in the workplace it's not appropriate) and other things. I have to be honest - I'm worried about what the fallout will be today! I know that we were in the right and we didn't exaggerate or lie about anything, but my boss is not the type of person to recognize her faults and try to change. She's a mean, vindictive person who will likely either give me the cold shoulder all day (which would be fine), play more mind games today (geez, grow up already!), or come in to have a confrontation with a few of us this morning (not a fun way to start the day!). I'm hoping that since she's already unhappy in her job that yesterday would have just put her over the edge and she'll end up quitting, but I don't know if I'm that lucky! I'll update when I know more!

I'm Finished! (Alternate title: I spent $749 on that?!)

Woot woot! Yup, those happy cries are coming from me 'cause I JUST FINISHED MY LAST ASSIGNMENT for my TESL course. Yup, it's true! My last assignment is finished - all I have to do is print it out and send it in! I started this online course about 6 months ago. Basically, I was told at work that I had to get my TESL certificate in order to continue teaching at my school. Despite the fact that I have a teaching degree from UBC, that apparently isn't good enough to teach in the ESL industry. This online course that I just finished was the cheapest course I could find that didn't require me to take time off work for a practicum. There are a couple of other people at work who are doing the same course right now too. I suppose we could have argued that it wasn't our fault the company hired us, and kept us employed, knowing our qualifications. But, since this was something I had thought about doing before, I figured I may as well get it over with now. At least this way I can say I have a TESL certificate if/when I apply for other jobs. Right now I'm just thinking about how I can celebrate this accomplishment since this course has taken up all my weekends for the past 6 months!! I did write once on this blog that I was going to go out and buy a new Nintendo game when I finished, so maybe I'll spend some time at Best Buy this weekend. Anyway, for now I'll just continue with the loud and proud "woot woot!"

Wwwwaaaaahhhhhhh!

Okay, this is really immature, but I just discovered that my VCR did not properly tape a show I wanted to see! I got 6 minutes of the show and THAT'S IT! How unfair is that?! Now I'm going to have to wait until next week to see what happens and that SUCKS! I know, I know, there's more to life than TV, but after a tough 3 days with my teenagers I was just looking forward to chillin' with my models (yes, the show I was trying to tape was America's Next Top Model). Sigh.

A Prison Diary

I don't normally post book reviews on my blog because that's not what this blog is about. I'm making an exception this time because I just read a book that really moved me. I'm a big fan of Jeffrey Archer - I've read just about everything he's written. I just now finished volume one of his prison diary, aptly titled "A Prison Diary". I picked it up from the library to try it out since I am a fan of his fictional books. I did not expect to have my eyes opened by the book - nor did I expect to absolutely devour it so voraciously. The books chronicles his first 21 days in prison - what new experiences he goes through, how he spends his days, and the people he meets. Prison, as you may expect, is highly routined and so I figured that the book would get a little stale. It's Archer's descriptions his fellow inmates that hooked me. He recounts exactly what these people are in prison for and what these people tell him. In a word, it's fascinating. The book made me laugh and cry. I will now think twice when I hear people talking about how cushy jail must be since the prisoners are "given three square meals a day and free television." There are two other volumes in Archer's prison diaries publication and I've got both of them on hold at the library.
What about you? What books have you read recently, or not so recently, that surprised you or made you think about something in a different way?

My sister is a married lady now!

Well, my sister is now Mrs. Lance Richardsen! She probably won't use that name much, but symbolically it's a big change! The wedding was beautiful and went off without a hitch, so I'm pleased about that. Even though it rained most of the day, nobody cared. Jennifer looked absolutely gorgeous in her sky blue dress and I wish I had some pictures right now. Lance looked very handsome in his blue pin-striped suit, and just as they are every other day of the year, they complemented each other nicely. Everyone in the bridal party (me included, shock of all shocks!) looked awesome and the day was magical. Of course during the vows I nearly lost it twice, but I managed to hold it together. The reception afterwards was great and everyone had a good time. There wasn't much dancing, which may have been the only thing that Jennifer will later be disappointed about, but the music was rather jazzy and kind of hard to dance to. I was the first person to dance actually (with Jerry, my friend Amy's boyfriend) and I found it hard to keep time with the music. It was still fun though . . . Overall I think everyone had a spectacular time and now the bride and groom will be able to enjoy their Mexican honeymoon!