Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Spooks, anyone?
So for some reason my mentalfloss links took me to an article about the top creepiest places in the United States, which was an interesting read, and one thing led to another and the next thing I know I'm on a website of the most haunted places in Georgia (random state, I know). Anyway, reading the description of some of these places is quite a scream (let me say now: I do not believe in ghosts, so it's hard to take most of this seriously) and one description in particular really cracked me up: It says "Atlanta-Six Flags: People have seen a little girl wondering around pretending like she is lost. If you follow her she will lead you so far into the woods you won't be able to find your way back, and then she disappears." Anyway, my query is this: if she leads you into the woods so far that you can't find your way back, then who is coming back to tell the story? Really? LOL.
Monday, May 17, 2010
Summer Reading List, Anyone?
So I'm posting a lot today because apparently, I have a lot to say (whether anyone wants to listen or not is besides the point). Anyway, this is just FYI, but yesterday whilst talking to Bets, she asked me what I had planned for the summer--besides Chicago, besides getting a part-time job--and I was like "I guess I'll just chill and hang out and stuff," which I know is the most intelligent, thought-provoking thing a person could ever utter. Anyway, it seems like fate decided to step in and take over, because as I was browsing mentalfloss's weekend links, I found a link to a great blog "Marc and Angel Hack Life" which is where I got the list of things to do on the net site, and which is also where I found a list of the bloggers' 40 Modern Books Everyone Should Read. So I read the list (and the handy descriptions of each book) and decided to compile my own summer reading book list based on their list. I picked 14 of their 40 that looked interesting to me, for whatever reason. Here they are:
The Road Less Traveled--Scott M. Peck
Scratch Beginnings: Me, $25 and the Search for the American Dream--Adam Shepard
The Joy of Simple Living--Jeff Davidson
Influence: The Psychology of Persuation--Robert Cialdini (although Mame says if I get any more persuasive I'll be manipulative)
Managment of the Absurd--Richard Farson (the blogger recommended it for teachers, so why not?)
An Incomplete Education: 3,684 Things You Should Have Learned But Probably Didn't--Judy Jones
Freakonomics--Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner
The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People--Steven Covey (this was the only one I'd actually ever heard of)
Personal Development for Smart People--Steve Pavlina (as opposed to Personal Development for Dummies? LOL)
The Now Habit--Neil Fiore
Ignore Everyone--Hugh MacLeod
Eating Well for Optimum Health--Andrew Weil (I've been wanting to eat better for years, I just need someone to tell me how to do it because I'm too lazy to plan my own menus).
A People's History of the United States--Howard Zinn
Career Renegade--Johnathon Field
I Will Teach You to Be Rich--Ramit Sethi (It's supposed to be targeted towards 20-somethings with no real financial knowledge, which would be me--which would be something Bets and I talked about last night as well)
Anyway, Bets, you're a librarian--ever read any of these or seen 'em? I'm wondering if Plaquemine Library will have some of these. I hope so, because I want to read them. Who knows? I might even blog about 'em. Yes, that is a threat. :)
The Road Less Traveled--Scott M. Peck
Scratch Beginnings: Me, $25 and the Search for the American Dream--Adam Shepard
The Joy of Simple Living--Jeff Davidson
Influence: The Psychology of Persuation--Robert Cialdini (although Mame says if I get any more persuasive I'll be manipulative)
Managment of the Absurd--Richard Farson (the blogger recommended it for teachers, so why not?)
An Incomplete Education: 3,684 Things You Should Have Learned But Probably Didn't--Judy Jones
Freakonomics--Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner
The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People--Steven Covey (this was the only one I'd actually ever heard of)
Personal Development for Smart People--Steve Pavlina (as opposed to Personal Development for Dummies? LOL)
The Now Habit--Neil Fiore
Ignore Everyone--Hugh MacLeod
Eating Well for Optimum Health--Andrew Weil (I've been wanting to eat better for years, I just need someone to tell me how to do it because I'm too lazy to plan my own menus).
A People's History of the United States--Howard Zinn
Career Renegade--Johnathon Field
I Will Teach You to Be Rich--Ramit Sethi (It's supposed to be targeted towards 20-somethings with no real financial knowledge, which would be me--which would be something Bets and I talked about last night as well)
Anyway, Bets, you're a librarian--ever read any of these or seen 'em? I'm wondering if Plaquemine Library will have some of these. I hope so, because I want to read them. Who knows? I might even blog about 'em. Yes, that is a threat. :)
25 Ways to Procrastinate Online
It's not my original work, so I'll direct you to the original blog, which has the better title of "25 Semi-Productive Things I Do Online When I'm Trying to Avoid Real Work." It's actually pretty neat and now I want to try some of the links!
http://www.marcandangel.com/2010/02/08/29-semi-productive-things-i-do-online/
http://www.marcandangel.com/2010/02/08/29-semi-productive-things-i-do-online/
Graduation, Ethnic Cuisine and Tangi Lanes
I was walking down the hall from the teacher's workroom to my classroom and I overheard one of our custodians asking another teacher how her weekend was. The teacher's reply? "Too short."
I know exactly what she means. My weekend literally flew by, because I don't think I stopped once in the past two days. Here's what happened:
Saturday I drove to Hammond for Southeastern's graduation. I picked up Doug in Loranger (he has no vehicle--his fault, but I felt sorry for him--my fault, LOL), and we sat through the two hour and so commencement together. We joked that we should have been friends with more liberal arts majors, since the college of Arts and Humanities was called first, instead of being friends with science majors, since Science and Tech was LAST. But that's what you get when one of you is a Biology Ed major and the other is a Physics major (or PhySUCKS,as I like to tell him). Anyway, afterwards we were going to go eat at Mariner's, but Trammie (one of our graduating friends) invited us to New Orleans to celebrate with her and her family--so Doug and I gamely went along. And by gamely, I do mean we were the best of all possible sports--crammed in Trammie's car, with her and her parents, on an hour and half drive in the rain, with Tram driving (like riding the Wild Mouse) and I had NO seat belt because her car ate her middle backseat seatbelt... oy vey. :) But we love Trammie, so we went. It was an interesting ride, really, because Tram's parents' English is about as good as Doug's and my Vietnamese. There was perpetually two conversations going on at all times: Tram to her parents, and Tram to us. LOL. And every so often, Tram's mom (who shared the back seat with Doug and me) would look at us and begin to laugh... I'm not sure at what, but we just smiled back. Her mom loves me though, she's always hugging on me and feeding me when I go over to their house, so I don't mind she she laughs at us for random reasons. I'm pretty sure we're amusing sometimes.
Anyway, we went out to this Vietnamese resturant and ate some really good "foods" as Tram says. The waitress bought out this stove looking thing and placed it in the middle of the table and there was a big platter of (raw) thinly sliced beef, a tray of assorted veggies, and big bowls of rice noodles. They also gave us a stack of things that looked like plastic doilies, only it was rice paper. We cooked our beef at the table, then dipped the rice paper in a bowl of steaming hot water to make it soft, then put the beef, rice noodles and whatever veggies you want onto the rice paper, roll it up like a tortilla (a very flimsy, floppy tortilla) and then dip in one of the "fish sauces" provided. That was the first course. The second course was a hot soup, kind of yellowish base with okra, shrimp, crab, squid, pineapples, cucumbers, and some other veggie I couldn't identify. Then to drink we had hot, unsweetened green tea, which was very good and kinda cleaned the palate after all those other interesting tastes and textures. Anyway, I sampled it all and liked it all except the squid, which was cold and kinda squishy. Doug, who is less adventurous than I when it comes to food (a fact he freely admits) only ate beef and rice noodles on the rice paper and skipped the soup (he said soup makes him sick, which he blames on this gray soup he ate in the Phillipians). I really enjoyed it, and Doug said he did too.
Trammie dropped us off at my car in Hammond, and I drove Doug out to Ponchatoula to a friend's house so he could go to his graduation party (we knew a lot of people that graduated Saturday). Then I came home and fell into bed almost immediately because I was exhausted.
Then Sunday I woke up, went to church from 10-11:30, then went to Baton Rouge to pick up Tram, we drove to Hammond, picked up Doug, went out to IHOP for lunch, then went bowling for two hours at Tangi Lanes. I am a horrible bowler (my best score for the day was a 68) but Doug and Tram are moderately good and highly competetive, so it's amusing just to watch them try to beat each other. I teased them and told them that I am really a pro-bowler, and if bowled like I *usually* did, they would be crushed into oblivion, but I cared about them to much to do that to them. LOL. Once we went bowling with Tram's boyfriend Phu, who actually is VERY good at bowling, and he whooped all of us. It was hilarious how awful we were compared to Phu.
Anyway, after we bowled I dropped Doug off, and Tram and I stopped by my little sister's house to visit for like 5 minutes, and then I drove Trammie home and went to the night service at church and then went home, called Bets and talked to her for awhile, and then went to bed because today was work! Last week of school and I'm currently giving final exams. Yippee!!! Two weeks until Chicago, with Mame and Judy!!! I'm so excited about my trip!!!
And then I have to find a part-time job for the summer. Bets suggested I check the library, so I think I'll swing by there after work either today or tomorrow and see if Mr. Dan has any open positions. I'll keep you posted!
I know exactly what she means. My weekend literally flew by, because I don't think I stopped once in the past two days. Here's what happened:
Saturday I drove to Hammond for Southeastern's graduation. I picked up Doug in Loranger (he has no vehicle--his fault, but I felt sorry for him--my fault, LOL), and we sat through the two hour and so commencement together. We joked that we should have been friends with more liberal arts majors, since the college of Arts and Humanities was called first, instead of being friends with science majors, since Science and Tech was LAST. But that's what you get when one of you is a Biology Ed major and the other is a Physics major (or PhySUCKS,as I like to tell him). Anyway, afterwards we were going to go eat at Mariner's, but Trammie (one of our graduating friends) invited us to New Orleans to celebrate with her and her family--so Doug and I gamely went along. And by gamely, I do mean we were the best of all possible sports--crammed in Trammie's car, with her and her parents, on an hour and half drive in the rain, with Tram driving (like riding the Wild Mouse) and I had NO seat belt because her car ate her middle backseat seatbelt... oy vey. :) But we love Trammie, so we went. It was an interesting ride, really, because Tram's parents' English is about as good as Doug's and my Vietnamese. There was perpetually two conversations going on at all times: Tram to her parents, and Tram to us. LOL. And every so often, Tram's mom (who shared the back seat with Doug and me) would look at us and begin to laugh... I'm not sure at what, but we just smiled back. Her mom loves me though, she's always hugging on me and feeding me when I go over to their house, so I don't mind she she laughs at us for random reasons. I'm pretty sure we're amusing sometimes.
Anyway, we went out to this Vietnamese resturant and ate some really good "foods" as Tram says. The waitress bought out this stove looking thing and placed it in the middle of the table and there was a big platter of (raw) thinly sliced beef, a tray of assorted veggies, and big bowls of rice noodles. They also gave us a stack of things that looked like plastic doilies, only it was rice paper. We cooked our beef at the table, then dipped the rice paper in a bowl of steaming hot water to make it soft, then put the beef, rice noodles and whatever veggies you want onto the rice paper, roll it up like a tortilla (a very flimsy, floppy tortilla) and then dip in one of the "fish sauces" provided. That was the first course. The second course was a hot soup, kind of yellowish base with okra, shrimp, crab, squid, pineapples, cucumbers, and some other veggie I couldn't identify. Then to drink we had hot, unsweetened green tea, which was very good and kinda cleaned the palate after all those other interesting tastes and textures. Anyway, I sampled it all and liked it all except the squid, which was cold and kinda squishy. Doug, who is less adventurous than I when it comes to food (a fact he freely admits) only ate beef and rice noodles on the rice paper and skipped the soup (he said soup makes him sick, which he blames on this gray soup he ate in the Phillipians). I really enjoyed it, and Doug said he did too.
Trammie dropped us off at my car in Hammond, and I drove Doug out to Ponchatoula to a friend's house so he could go to his graduation party (we knew a lot of people that graduated Saturday). Then I came home and fell into bed almost immediately because I was exhausted.
Then Sunday I woke up, went to church from 10-11:30, then went to Baton Rouge to pick up Tram, we drove to Hammond, picked up Doug, went out to IHOP for lunch, then went bowling for two hours at Tangi Lanes. I am a horrible bowler (my best score for the day was a 68) but Doug and Tram are moderately good and highly competetive, so it's amusing just to watch them try to beat each other. I teased them and told them that I am really a pro-bowler, and if bowled like I *usually* did, they would be crushed into oblivion, but I cared about them to much to do that to them. LOL. Once we went bowling with Tram's boyfriend Phu, who actually is VERY good at bowling, and he whooped all of us. It was hilarious how awful we were compared to Phu.
Anyway, after we bowled I dropped Doug off, and Tram and I stopped by my little sister's house to visit for like 5 minutes, and then I drove Trammie home and went to the night service at church and then went home, called Bets and talked to her for awhile, and then went to bed because today was work! Last week of school and I'm currently giving final exams. Yippee!!! Two weeks until Chicago, with Mame and Judy!!! I'm so excited about my trip!!!
And then I have to find a part-time job for the summer. Bets suggested I check the library, so I think I'll swing by there after work either today or tomorrow and see if Mr. Dan has any open positions. I'll keep you posted!
Friday, May 14, 2010
Screaming in the Face of Sheer Boredom...
If possible, this last week of school is even more boring than the LEAP testing weeks. With the exception of two classes, my students and I have reviewed all of the material for the final exams next week, and I am "youtubed" out, after surfing the web finding amusing clips for us to watch/listen to in our free time. The Friday Happy Hour post is two hours late. I have read every new article in the news section of Mentalfloss, and even read a few "real" news articles of the interwebs... I have looked at Icanhascheezburger until the cats with bad grammer are no longer funny, and I read an entire wikapedia article on Steve Buscemi... I even read the critical reviews of "Fargo." AND my physical science class and I boxed laser printer cartridges and it didn't even take us the whole hour.
The only thing that keeps this day from being completely mindlessly dull is that Judy finally emailed me (she was in Louisiana, cleaning out her old house this week which is why she didn't get to me sooner) and said that of course we're still on for Chicago, she's excited about seeing Mame and I, and then gave me her cell phone number, which used to be (when she taught at SLU) protected by the equivalent of a Presidential Guard--and that's only a slight exaggeration. And I was stoked when she gave me her personal email address. :) Anyway, Mame and I are excited--seeing a new city and an old friend--and I am excited because this week is almost over. And then after next week, this particular experience will be over. At least for now.
Only five more hours to go, plus lunch.
The only thing that keeps this day from being completely mindlessly dull is that Judy finally emailed me (she was in Louisiana, cleaning out her old house this week which is why she didn't get to me sooner) and said that of course we're still on for Chicago, she's excited about seeing Mame and I, and then gave me her cell phone number, which used to be (when she taught at SLU) protected by the equivalent of a Presidential Guard--and that's only a slight exaggeration. And I was stoked when she gave me her personal email address. :) Anyway, Mame and I are excited--seeing a new city and an old friend--and I am excited because this week is almost over. And then after next week, this particular experience will be over. At least for now.
Only five more hours to go, plus lunch.
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Funny
Oh, one more thing--again courtesy of Mentalfloss (I'm telling you, it's an amazing site) the best flow chart I've ever seen:
Oh, and this is hysterical as well: http://www.mcbidz.com/mcvidz/video/1682/SNL-Skit--Seinfelds-History-Class
Short n' Sweet
I got hired at the Iberville Math, Science and Arts Academy for next school year!!! Woo hoo!!! Don't really have time to elaborate, but with that coming up and school here ending in less than two weeks, I am feeling really good. Coming up next: Chicago, IL! I still haven't heard from Judy (since March, anyway) but I assume she still wants to meet up with us, since it was her suggestion and all. I emailed her yesterday, but busy woman that she is, she may or may not get back to me soon.
Anyway, final exams, signing paper work for my new job, and the Windy City! I can't wait!
Anyway, final exams, signing paper work for my new job, and the Windy City! I can't wait!
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