...Yeah, I'm not a blogger.
Definitely, positively, absolutely not.
Though I was...but not right now >_< Conclusion of conclusions. But I'll try to write...even though I owe a bit of an explanation, for both the absence and the stuff I promised I'd update.
I'll answer the first one first, which can be summed up by the following word: YEARBOOK. The good thing is that limitations have been set. 5 pm is the "GET THE HELL OUT OF MY CLASSROOM!" time, except on critical deadlines, when we stay until 6 pm. No more running out of the premises right before the silent alarms are turned on. I also found the blog of a yearbook+newspaper+video teacher/adviser, which has helped me a lot. It makes me feel like I'm not alone in this, because we're hitting a lot of similar issues, despite the differences in states and student population.
What have I been doing with my new-found time? First, cooking. I like it! I wish I had a oven (if anyone is so inclined as to help with the pilot light, I will bake you brownies...or whatever you want...because then I will be able to BAKE!). But cooking takes time. I finally bought a microwave this month, so I can eat a little faster. But all in all, I like eating and cooking for myself, despite it (and grocery shopping and cleaning up afterwards) being time consuming.
Second, I have this wonderful and horribly addicting invention called a television. It stops me from going insane, since I have no radio and repeating songs over and over again can only do so much (though I have gotten some help from Linh, with streamed songs...I just forgot the link D: ). I've learned that I DO NOT like most of the reality TV shows, and ranking at the top of my list currently are Cold Case and Chuck...who I know was kicked out of SSSSSSSSStanford, but that's their loss. The Writer's Guild strike has been happening, so there have been a slew of reality TV and game shows. I enjoy the commercials, but they get damn repetitive. All in all, it makes me happy.
It's the holidays, so I've been behaving more like an active human. Been actually seeing friends again, and will do so for as much and as long as I can. Hung out with Jerylin, Gary and Andy on Friday, in Old Town and ate at Cheescake Factory. The wait wasn't too bad, and catching up is always good. We were seated by the door, which is not good with all the wind LA has been getting. It could be termed as epic, with trees falling on houses and lost power lines, but this happens every so often. It kinda reminds me of my senior year in high school, when school was canceled because we had no power. Writing a term paper in candle light is never good.
What doesn't happen so often is having a shooting in Old Town. Andy and I were watching "Charlie Wilson's War", which is good, if anyone's wondering about watching it, when we exited the theatre and saw that the area had been taped off, police on both sides of the sidewalk by the tape, three or four cars in an otherwise empty block, and shoes and some clothes left at the scene...at least I think that they were shoes and clothes. without a person laying there. I don't like staring at scenes like those. The news has been quick to report that these kinds of things don't usually happen, with the upcoming Rose Parade. And it's true. This isn't typical of things that happen in Old Town.
Thursday, Andy and I watched "Atonement", which really does have Oscar written all over it. I thought it was pretty good, but I wouldn't go out and want to buy it like I did "Pride and Prejudice". I should watch trailers, which I haven't done in months. But I'll probably watch "Sweeny Todd" and "Kite Runner" while it's still running.
Friday was interesting. I went to work...because I'M A BUM!! And found a really, really old message on the answering machine. I think we should get a new answering machine that records the date and time of the message, but that's for me and the newspaper adviser to work out. There was a request for the pictures of an elderly alumni, of the grandparent generation. Since I've only been in the position for the last few years, I didn't know what the status of the collection was, especially not books from the 1950s. But lo and behold! Right there, at eye level, was the book from the alumni's graduating year. That motivates me to keep better records, and possibly secure copies of books in a "Handle with Care" label, since they're so old. I've already put away a book from the 1920s.
Afterwards, I met up with Brett, TJ, Steve and Bryan, and did some more catching up. Bryan, with his new iPhone, showed lots of pictures of people I don't really remember...which kinda makes me sad. This year was our 10-year reunion. I didn't go, but I think it would have been fairly awkward. Meeting up with a small group of old friends was much better, I think, because there's the sense that what we talk about matters, and isn't just shallow small talk about what never really was there, and won't be there in the future. ANYWAY, I had a really good time at dinner, though I don't recommend the Malaysian Steak Salad at Claim Jumpers. It's not really...a salad. When they don't mention lettuce as really being one of the main ingredients in the salad, they really mean it.
Now that I'm finished writing this small essay, I'm going to work on other things...to write about them...maybe.
And did I mention I spent 3 days painting my parents' kitchen? I painted my parents' kitchen.
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