So the best laid plans aren't going to come to fruition. I had plans to go to a writer's conference in Daytona this May. Been planning for it since last year, took a job that I didn't want to take and really stresses me out trying to keep up with it, and another job that I didn't really want trying to save for it, and stopped taking photography classes (very important to me) so I could save money for it. And now two things are going to prevent it. FIrst, my sister is probably getting...

My decorating angst has been somewhat appeased by finally getting curtains that aren't completely mismatched. They are far from interesting. THey are a cream, rough weave. It makes my room look more like a box when they are closed, but, how nice not to have curtains that clash so badly that they make my head hurt!!! It took me a while to get used to them. After I hung them, I just looked at them and thought,"weird!" Lighting in the room changed by not having yellow curtains on one...

Well, it's the eve of the 25th. It was a pretty nice, but not traditional Christmas holidays. No presents to unwrap but that's okay. We spent the morning house cleaning and it ended up being our Oo-souji (big house cleaning at the end of the year) and then we had a pot-luck open house from 1-10 pm. We had invited anyone we knew that was staying in town for the holidays and hadn't found something to do Christmas Day. Tokyo can be lonely at Christmas, especially if one has just moved he...

How do I describe my place? One visitor asked me, "How long have you lived here?" When I replied, "Three years" she looked puzzled. "I thought you'd just moved in." My apartment consists of two rooms, a kitchen and a bathroom. The bedroom has become a huge closet/den for me because it has a carpet and is bad for allergies so is no good for sleeping. The other room is our bedroom, dining room, tv room or whatever else room. As a system, it's not perfect, but it's what's goi...

I enjoy shopping and giving gifts to people. It's fun, especially when the gift is a hit. I have an excellent track record giving stuffed animals to kids. Usually, it becomes their can't-part-with-it animal. I'm really enjoying the secret santa exchange at work. THough me secret santa reciever threw me for a loop when he wrote, "nothing fattening please" on his info form. I was much easier to buy for. I filled in, "nothing made from internal organs of any species, please." There are so...

Well, it looks like the evil pink and cream argyle sock has cleared off on its own. Most likely, it escaped out the hole in the washing machine, but I can't prove it. I suspect it is lying in wait somewhere, looking innocent (a la video tape a la "Ring") while waiting for someone to pick it up. I say, "Good luck, evil sock. People generally don't take home strange socks off the street no matter how cute the are--even if they are a cashmere blend!"

Last winter I wrote about my evil sock. All innocent looking in cream and pink argyle, it is one of the itchiest socks I have ever worn. And it isn't both socks, just one of them. Now the season for toasty socks is approaching again and I am eyeing my wool sock bin. I see lots of favorites that promise a winter of warm and happy feet. Then I see the evil sock and its innocent twin. I observe them carefully wondering which one is really the evil sock and wondering how I am going to tel...

I've been planning to make dinner on a weeknight for two weeks now. Hubby either takes me out for dinner (as neither of us has enery to eat or clean up after) or I am falling asleep at 8 pm after getting home around 7. The gym? Forget it! But I made a potato cream soup today. Sauteed onion, garlic and mushrooms and then added microwaved potatoes and carrots to speed up cooking time. Added water and boiled it for a bit. Stopped the pot to go for a 10 minute jog with hubby (this was sh...

I have finally finished a pair of mittens that I was knitting for my brother. I started them three years ago. If you count all the times that I have ripped them out and started over then I have actually made about five mittens. Not five pairs, just five. So if one was a pentapod... The knitting itself is ok... the shaping (I used 4 double ended needles)... well. Let's just say I have learned the value of making notes when doing certain knitting projects... Still and all, I am reall...

I've been teaching for about 10 years now. I have enjoyed it quite a bit. I have taught across the spectrum. I have taught at a university, I taught at a nursery school. I taught at businesses, I have taught housewives and seniors. I have taught in an elementary and at high school. I taught EFL (English as a foreign language), English lit, history, health class, and now math at high school. In elementary it was the whole she-bang. I am thankful probably for the EFL teaching the mo...

Ack.......!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yep, that is how I feel right now. I don't know what it is about me but I have a tendency to get myself in over my head. Must be some sense of overwhelming self confidence that I probably shouldn't have. Feels like the energy rut I've been in is cycling out and I've got a lot of better focus. I'm teaching a math course and the whole teaching math thing is new for me. I'm working hard at it and I guess it's going ok, but this is probably NOT the job I sh...

Remember the movie Aliens when Ripley want to blow up the planet and the company guy says "no way" because it is too expensive? Ripley had the best comeback-- "They can bill me!" This is probably a vague parallel but... it seems like a lot of stuff that hasn't happened has not happened because no one authorized it. Whether it's using the city buses to evacuate people or the bringing in of troops, it seems to have slipped through the cracks of someone else's job or no one told me. Yet,...

Maybe I unknowingly clicked some buttons. Dunno, but my recent articles are anything but. Puzzling Any ideas?

Sheeplester: one who controls or manipulates sheeples sheepleitis: the condition of becoming a sheeple explacuse: what is said when it is not clear if making an excuse or giving and explanation.Join in the fun! What words can you create today!

Foreverserenity has a good discussion going about computer literacy. Link This blog is somewhat related to that, but mostly to a comment that someone made about a teacher saying (note the attempt at neutral terms here) why watching the movie of Romeo and Juliet was as good as treading he book. I really don't want to discss that issue here as arguements can be made for both sides. I also don't have the background to that comment as it wasn't included in the blog so I don't want to dis...