Rest In Peace, Magnificent Horse

Barbaro was euthanized today, after an eight-month battle that left his fans (like Mom and I) with high hopes. Even after a setback this weekend, I didn't really think it would come to this. He was such a fighter.

Already, writers all over the country are asking if it was worth it to spend so much money on one horse with such a devestating injury. I have to wonder where their hearts are. Would they give up on a child diagnosed with serious lukemia? Would they give up on an otherwise-healthy adult with a serious illness? Barbaro's owners and veterinarians always knew that if the pain got to be too much for Barbaro, they would make the most difficult decision. It came to that today, sadly. But until today there has always been hope for him...and hope is worth every penny.

Now Barbaro is gone, but he won't be forgotten. His legacy will not live on in colts because he did not live to sire any. His full brothers may never touch the magic he had--but they give us something to be excited about, as does his incredible Kentucky Derby run.



Rest in peace, Barbaro. We'll miss you.

Someone Has To Bring Home The Tuna...

That's what I tell Millie most mornings as I hurry out the door to work.

(And yes, I talk to my cat. Who doesn't?)

I have some wierd sort of guilt at leaving her home by herself all day. It's just that she gives me those sad eyes and meows piteously when she sees me going for my coat and purse. Or she hides under the bed. I like to imagine the conversation we would have if she spoke English or I spoke Meow:

"Mah-ommmmm!!! You always leave!!"

"Millie, sweetie, I have to work."

"Every day?"

"Almost. Look, Saturday, I'm all yours."

"No you're not. You'll be cleaning and grocery shopping."

"Well, at least I won't be gone all day."

"I don't want you to go!! I wanna cuddle!!"

"I want to stay and cuddle with you, Millikins. And drink tea and read my book. But someone has to bring home the tuna, and you don't have a social security number."

We have this conversation pretty much every morning, and more and more, I'm feeling the guilt of leaving my very social little girl alone while I am gone. More and more it is making me consider getting her a kitten. Yikes.

Of course, every day, I get home and she's all over me. While I hang up my coat and change from work clothes to my "comfies," she follows me around the apartment, making chirping noises and head-butting me at every possible opportunity. Then we have to have our little "toot," which finds Millie tearing around the apartment, getting into things, digging her claws into the comforter on my bed...you get the picture. It's like, "Mom's home! Par-tay!!!"

Anyway, I bring all of this up in my blog because yesterday I got home and found a nice little mess, courtesy of one Millennium Joy. Imagine coming home from work and a Target run in dire need of the loo...to find that unravelling the toilet paper is going to be a chore:



Yep, someone has to bring home the tuna, and the Feline Greenies...and more toilet paper.

If You've Never Had A Massage...

GET ONE!

That is all I have to say.

Oh, Poo

I have not broken my resolution! I haven't, I haven't! I did intend to update the LPB more often, and...I will. Just not in January, apparently. : P

There have been a few "Oh, Poo!" moments this week, most of them bordering on the hysterically funny rather than being stressful. Sound intriguing? You have no idea. Let's get started, shall we?

The Horoscope

For a while now--a few years, actually--I've been having my horoscope emailed to me from MSN. It's free, and it's "personalized" (they put "Megan" in there once or twice so it sounds like some astrologist looked up my birthdate and time and wrote a personalized horoscope). I don't take a lot of stock in it--how many times has it told me I'm going to find glorious romance only to find myself instead being verbally abused by my students or some such thing?

But it is fun to read each morning, and every once in a while I get some opportunity for introspection from it. Or a good laugh.

Wednesday wasn't a bad day at work by any means, but I did find myself a teensy bit annoyed and irritated by my kids. I just wasn't in the mood for the silliness, and after school, I had a large group of kids in my room hanging out. Normally I don't mind this at all but I had massive amounts of stuff to get done and just wanted five minutes of peace and quiet. I announced to the room as a whole, "'Kay, guys, I have to go next door to help with Talent Show auditions--I have to kick you all out!" I said it at high enough volume to be heard, and with a smile. I was roundly ignored.

Hey, you're no one until you've been ignored by a teenager, but Wednesday was not the day for this.

"HELLO!! I HAVE TO LEAVE!! LET'S GO!!!!!"

They got the message this time and eeeevvvverrrr-so-slowly sauntered out of the room, continuing their conversations and flirting.

As I said, most of the time this wouldn't bother me, but I was feeling mildly irritated to begin with.

Thursday morning I woke up, and as usual, checked my email while eating breakfast and waiting for my hair to dry. My horoscope was there, as usual, so I opened it up. Here's what I found:

Stress, nerve strain, and overwork could have you feeling a bit under the weather today, Megan. You might decide to run away somewhere - and this just might be what you need right now.

Sounds nice, I thought to myself. Except that it's more of a pain in the butt to call in sick than it is to just go in and deal with them. I read on.

If you can't, try to concentrate on solitary activities, as being with others might not be a good idea right now. Your patience could well be rather thin. In the evening: Get out and enjoy yourself. You need it!

My first reaction was to start preparing sub plans for the day and to stay hidden in my apartment until Friday. Then I started to laugh. I nearly fell off my chair laughing. In the three-plus years I've been having my horoscope emailed to me, it has never been this accurate.

As it turns out, my day went well enough. The kids were goosey and a little bit annoying, but nothing I can't handle. I did go out in the evening, to a gathering of teachers at a local restaurant. I told my horoscope story to everyone and the whole table agreed it was a classic story.

Oh, Poo...

So yesterday at lunch, the two drama teachers, the band teacher and I were sitting there chatting in that way that four performing arts teachers will--dramatic, lots of hand gestures and ever-increasing volume. Then one of the drama teachers, T, mentions finding poo (he used a different term for "poo" but this blog is PG). The other drama teacher, P, and L, the band teacher, started to laugh. I wasn't in on the joke. T looks at me and says, "I haven't told you this one?!?"

"Nope...do share."

"I was going through the prop room a few days ago and I found [poo] in a corner."

I think I gasped with horror, then said, "Human?!?"

"Yes. Human."

"Oh my God!!"

"And the worst part is that whoever did it used an old costume to wipe."

By this time my jaw is hanging open and I'm making half-choking, half-laughing sounds (I have an annoying tendency to laugh at inappropriate times--not a good quality for a teacher).

P, who is also new to the school this year, turns to me with a sly smile and very, very dryly wisecracks, "Makes our problems here seem more manageable, doesn't it?"

I couldn't contain it. I was laughing so hard I had tears. It was a good few minutes before I could take another bite of my sandwich, for fear of choking.

I may have students questioning my credentials and ability to teach, but I'm 98% sure that none of them would dream of dropping trou in my classroom and leaving a little poo behind.

Other Ramblings

This afternoon I have an appointment at a local spa for the Pamper Me package. It includes a hot-stone facial, a pedicure, and a full-body massage. I've been wanting to do something like this for a while now, and I'm finally getting to it. After that I'm going to dinner with some colleagues and then I will come home and prepare to enjoy a lazy Sunday.

Finals are this week, and I can hardly believe that I'm almost halfway through my first year at this job. Good grief.

Other than that, and a rather hilarious week, things are going pretty well. I'm fortunate to have a sense of humor...however sophomoric it is at times. : )

Cheers,

Meg

Ramblings

So, it turns out I'm making nearly $6,000 more a year than I thought I was. Ha! I thought I was at step one on the pay scale, but I'm at step four--a difference of, as I mentioned, nearly $6,000. It only took me 4 paychecks to figure this out.

I don't deserve it, though, because apparently, I'm incompetent. : P

I passed out a new song yesterday to one of my top groups and one of the girls (who has a history of being snotty with me) asked, "Are you sure you can teach this to us?"

I just smiled and said, "Yes, I can teach this," before walking away and laughing to myself. I guess I haven't impressed her yet...

But enough about the kidlets!

To celebrate the fact that I'm making more money than I thought, I've booked an appointment at a local spa, owned by another students' mother. I'm getting the "Pamper Me" package, which includes a hot stone facial, full-body massage and a pedicure. Sounds glorious, doesn't it? I'm going next weekend (the 20th) and will report all about it afterwards. I can't wait. I fully expect to leave the salon a new woman.

A little pampering will go a long way...especially as I've had a cold this week. A really gross one, with lots of flem and snot and such. Yeah, thanks for sharing. All I can say is thank God for DayQuil and NyQuil. While teaching that very hard new song to my kids yesterday, I could barely sing the soprano part, which is normally not difficult for me. I just croaked my way through it like a nasally little frog. Even in speaking, I sound strange.

I'm bad enough that I came close to calling in sick today...but I muddled through. It's almost easier to go in feeling rough than it is to miss a day--substitute lesson plans, etc. I toughed it out. Fortunately I had my prep today, and also Show Choir. They're working choreography, which is mostly student-led, so I could just sit and not have to talk much. We had meetings after school (it was an early release day, we got out at 2:00 instead of 3:00) and the VAPA meeting (that's Visual And Performing Arts) didn't go long because we didn't have much to talk about.

Then--miracle of miracles!!--I left school at 3:00. I actually left school before 4:00. Beautiful! Brilliant! Fabulous!!

And that's my life. We're back in the saddle again. The students were hyper on Monday, the teachers were dragging. We all voted for one more week of break, but no one listened. : P

At least we get Monday off. : )

I Don't Get It

Why, why, WHY did the manufacturers of the 8-quart stock pot I bought the other day stick a massive label on the side--the kid of label that takes about 3 hours and some major damage to your fingernails to remove?



So maddening!

It's like the CDs and DVDs that come with that horrible sticky crap sealing them shut. Gah! I finally learned a new trick for CDs--open them from the bottom, and the label will peel itself off, but before I learned that, I shredded my nails--a lot.

Of course, now it's moot, because I get most of my music on iTunes, anyway. No sticky labels there! But I still deal with DVDs.

Anyway, even after a few hours of soaking the labelled side of the new stock pot in water, I couldn't get that label off. Ridiculous! I guess I'll just let time do it, because I certainly don't have the patience to scratch it all off myself.

Gah!

Resolutions

I still make New Year's Resolutions. I try, each year, to make them attainable, so sometimes it takes me a few days after the first of January to finalize the list. Here they are, in no particular order, for 2007:

Healthier Lifestyle!

I have no set goal for weight loss, or any expectation that I'll run a marathon or anything like that. That's not feasable for me. But I do expect that I can get back on the healthy eating wagon and manage to visit the (FREE) gym my apartment complex offers a few times each week.

Pamper Myself More

I'm going to be better about getting my hair done before the ends turn to straw, and before the dark roots are a mile long. I'm going to take better care of my nails and I'm going to indulge in my first-ever whole-body massage by a professional. Sooner rather than later!

Use Snail Mail

I am going to be better about sending little notes and cards to my friends and family. Just because I'm busy at work doesn't mean I can't send off a quick greeting from time to time! It's so much nicer than email, too. I'm also going to sing up at AdoptaPlatoon again, and get a couple of pen pals to send cards and letters to. It's a great cause, and brings me great joy, so why not?

Be A Joiner

Join what? For starters, the local Educator's Band. My colleague is a member, and I'm going to join this semester and play percussion. Good times! I'm also looking around for a place to sing.

And finally...

Update the LPB More Often!

'Nuff said.

How Rich Are You?

Imagine my surprise to learn, that making a little over $39,000 a year (before my dear Uncle Sam gets his hands on my check, that is), I'm still in the top 3.46% of world incomes. Fascinating.

I am, apparently, the 207,826,087 richest person on the planet. In other words, only 207,826,087 people are richer than I.

Also, I'm apparently one of the savvier travellers. There are those who should not be allowed to leave their homes.

What Would You Do?

This hit the news headlines today, a story about a family near Seattle who have taken drastic measures to limit the growth and maturation of their severely disabled little girl. The link is to a blog entry by her parents, explaining their reasons for what they did.

My opinion? I think they did what was best--for this particular child. I do think, however, that doctors and ethics committees need to be careful before approving this sort of treatment for just any disabled child. I can't begin to imagine the everyday stresses and heartaches that come with raising a child who will never develop mentally. I hope I never have to walk in those shoes. Therefore, I refuse to judge these parents, except to offer them huge kudos for the love and devotion they are giving to their children.

Everyday Heroes

...They still exsist. Even in New York City.




And that's it for today. Lazy Girl needs to shower.

Cheers,

Meg

Home Again, Home Again

Well, I'm back in Antioch...I wish I had about one more week to laze around at Mom and Dad's, then another week to come back here and clean, but I don't, so here I am. Today and tomorrow I will busy myself by taking all my Christmas stuff down and cleaning this poor, neglected pigsty. I think I got one good, thorough cleaning done in this place in December.

Then I'll have Thursday and Friday to relax and maybe make a nice day trip somewhere. Monday it's back to the grind.

Hope everyone had a safe and happy New Year's celebration, and I'll catch up with you all soon.

Cheers,

Meg