Busy, bureaucracy, badge, books
So it looks like I haven't posted any actual content for a couple of weeks. I feel like my life has been pretty boring, tbh. I've been full up on sub jobs, just about every day and while I certainly don't mind the money (so to speak - the pay rate isn't fantastic; MiniPlu earns more per hour at her Levi's job than I do as a sub), I intended this to be a p/t job, not a f/t job. I could say "no" more often, but I know how desperate they often are, and I feel bad for leaving them in the lurch if I don't have to.
So, been busy with jobs - some I've liked better than others :-P - taking my FIL to his twice-weekly cardiac rehab appointments (it's 3x/weekly, but Will takes him to one, and I do the other two), the usual chores, errands, cooking, arguing with Two, occasionally helping MiniPlu (who has been absolutely drowning in work this term), exercising at 5:30a, going to TKD, and trying to keep to my resolution to have the lights out by 11pm on weeknights. (Not usually succeeding, but I'm at least managing it before 11:15p.)
Meanwhile, MiniPlu is having her ass handed to her by her honors English class. It’s not called “English IV Honors” it’s called “Research and Themes Honors” and it’s way more of a collegiate workload than her actual college class (Sociology) was last fall. They’ve had to come up with 8 resources for their chosen topic, and create an annotated bibliography (meaning she has to analyze the resources), then her teacher didn’t like some of her resources so she’s had to find new ones, under the limitation of using just two databases, and the article must be from 2015-2020 and based in America. (I’m not sure if everyone is limited to America or just MiniPlu because of the nature of her topic, childhood obesity and poverty.). Last night she had to make 20 extensive notecards about the main points of her topic, from her 8 resources, which meant finding the new ones. The teacher reliably gives them only a few days to complete each step of the project, but it’s much more than a few days’ worth of work, especially considering all the other obligations. They have a significant amount of reading homework for The Invisible Man on top of all that. Plus, you know, homework for AP-HUG, Crime and Justice (which she didn’t have to take but she didn’t realize at the time - she could have had study hall for this one quarter), Health (the non-active gym segment) and Statistics.
March is always awful because it’s prime competition season for Winter Guard, so she’s got twice-weekly rehearsals - usually only 2 hours each but yesterday it was 4 - and all-day practice/getting dressed/busing out to the competition location/competing/coming home obligations on a number of weekends. Plus her job once a week. And a desperate need for sleep - she’s had to stay up until 2a twice in the past 2 weeks, just to barely squeak by. Thankfully, Crime & Justice ends the first Fri in April, Health ends in a couple of weeks, too, Guard ends the weekend after Easter, and the AP exam is in early May. As each obligation drops down, her life will get a little less stressful. But still - man, she’s going to think college is easy after this English class!
Meanwhile, Two is learning the hard realities of life. He’s working a week as a kitchen helper (read: dishwasher) at his camp this summer, so the other day I had him fill out the legal employment form and tax withholding form. He groused that I wouldn’t do it for him - nope, sorry, kid, it’s YOUR job. Literally. I will provide your SSN, and check to see if what you wrote was correct, but you will fill it out. Thankfully, everything but the signature could be filled out as a pdf, which meant handwriting wasn’t an issue, but still - man, did he complain. “This is boring.” Yes, yes, it is. Welcome to real life. Paperwork is boring. And no, you may not put down a fake birthdate on government forms. This isn’t Instagram. He was then surprised to learn that his earnings would be taxed - I had to explain that it’s taxed NOW, so that when April comes around, the government goes, “Ok, you’re good” and not “Sorry, you owe us $2000.” And that, yes, it would be taxed no matter what. He asked if he would be taxed extra because he’s trans. Uh, no, why would you think that? “Because of medical expenses.” That has to do with health insurance, not taxes.
I swear he’s going to refuse to look for a local job (to have in general, aside from the week at camp) just so he doesn’t have to fill out the paperwork. :-P. It’s like when I did most of the adoption paperwork because I’m the one with legible handwriting, and then Will complained when I had to corner him and make him sign his name on the documents.
And speaking of work - I think I may have permanently lost my ID badge (for the school district), which means I'm stuck with the general Guest Teacher/Visitor badges until next fall. I accidentally wore my lanyard into the house on Tuesday afternoon - normally I try to remember to take it off in my car on the way home from school and leave it in the center console storage. But when it's zipped under a jacket, I sometimes forget. Sometimes I'll throw it in the key bin by the door and hope I remember to grab it on the way out, but sometimes I'll stick it in my jacket sleeve - that way, when I put the jacket on the next morning, I'll find it. But on Tues evening I ran an errand to the pharmacy after dinner, which means I wore the jacket. I don't remember feeling it in my sleeve, and it definitely wasn't there yesterday morning. I've looked in all the places my jacket was hanging on Tues - no lanyard. I called the pharmacy - no lanyard. I'm worried it fell out between my front door and the driveway on Tues night, in which case it probably blew away because we had a storm hit a few hours later - in which case, God only knows where it is now.
It's not like I even have a spare ID from last year. I missed staff photos this year - I missed the regular one by about 10 minutes because they finished early and had packed up by the time I was able to get there - and I was given incorrect information about staff make-up photos, so I've been just using last year's badge, with the current school year written on it in Sharpie.
Sigh.
On a more cheerful note, I finished reading Loving Our Cats, a "Chicken Soup for the Soul" collection of cat-lover stories, taken from a number of previous CSftS books. The librarian gave it to me for Christmas, knowing we had five cats, and forgetting that I generally prefer dogs. ;-) But I have definitely developed a soft spot for most of our cats, and it was a very sweet book, full of feel-good stories and some amusing tales as well. If you're a cat-lover, it's a nice light read.
Today I also finished reading Call Down the Hawk by Maggie Stiefvater, the first Ronan-centric book from the Raven Cycle series. I say "Ronan-centric" but it's really more "dreamer-centric." Of all the various POVs in this story, my least favorite were the ones with Carmen Noord-Faroq and Parsifal. I just really didn't care about the work they were doing, nor did I ever feel connected to either of them. Well, of course, Parsifal is annoying, but still - I didn't really care about Carmen, either. It took me awhile to warm up to Hennessey and her copies as well - I think I started to get more attached when Jordan and Declan connected, and, much later, after Ronan entered their lives. I wish there had been more Ronan and Adam. It took me ages to figure out why people kept exploding around Liliana - I just didn't realize this was how Visionaries killed people before they turned that energy inward - that it was how Parsifal had killed his family. I thought Liliana was just evil. But I guess she's not? I liked seeing Ronan try to help Hennessey. I liked the relationship that develops between Declan and Jordan and I really liked that we see what really lies beneath Declan's boring exterior, and why he had deliberately cultivated that image. I felt bad for Matthew, finally realizing he was a dream. I'm trying to figure out how Declan knows (is he right?) that he wasn't Aurora's son, but Mor O Corra’s/Boudicca's. And that he knew to cut open the back.
When Hennessey comes home only to find the youngest three copies dead, I first was afraid that when Ronan kept banishing the copies in Lindenmere, they were really being killed in real life, too. It was almost a relief to realize it was the killer Moderators, rather than Ronan accidentally killing the real ones.
Did all the other copies suddenly gain another tattoo when Hennessey did? Did they not wonder why? And why did Jordan suddenly go all dreamlike, when she was at Declan’s house? Because Hennessey was dreaming? But that doesn’t explain why Matthew got dreamlike, or he would have done that every night, you know?
What the heck is the Lace?
I wish there’d been more Adam.
I realize there’s some quibbling in my review, but, honestly, I did like the book. Not every single second, but I’m sufficiently intrigued that I plan to read the next one, whenever that is. Thank you, hamsterwoman, for the book!
So, been busy with jobs - some I've liked better than others :-P - taking my FIL to his twice-weekly cardiac rehab appointments (it's 3x/weekly, but Will takes him to one, and I do the other two), the usual chores, errands, cooking, arguing with Two, occasionally helping MiniPlu (who has been absolutely drowning in work this term), exercising at 5:30a, going to TKD, and trying to keep to my resolution to have the lights out by 11pm on weeknights. (Not usually succeeding, but I'm at least managing it before 11:15p.)
Meanwhile, MiniPlu is having her ass handed to her by her honors English class. It’s not called “English IV Honors” it’s called “Research and Themes Honors” and it’s way more of a collegiate workload than her actual college class (Sociology) was last fall. They’ve had to come up with 8 resources for their chosen topic, and create an annotated bibliography (meaning she has to analyze the resources), then her teacher didn’t like some of her resources so she’s had to find new ones, under the limitation of using just two databases, and the article must be from 2015-2020 and based in America. (I’m not sure if everyone is limited to America or just MiniPlu because of the nature of her topic, childhood obesity and poverty.). Last night she had to make 20 extensive notecards about the main points of her topic, from her 8 resources, which meant finding the new ones. The teacher reliably gives them only a few days to complete each step of the project, but it’s much more than a few days’ worth of work, especially considering all the other obligations. They have a significant amount of reading homework for The Invisible Man on top of all that. Plus, you know, homework for AP-HUG, Crime and Justice (which she didn’t have to take but she didn’t realize at the time - she could have had study hall for this one quarter), Health (the non-active gym segment) and Statistics.
March is always awful because it’s prime competition season for Winter Guard, so she’s got twice-weekly rehearsals - usually only 2 hours each but yesterday it was 4 - and all-day practice/getting dressed/busing out to the competition location/competing/coming home obligations on a number of weekends. Plus her job once a week. And a desperate need for sleep - she’s had to stay up until 2a twice in the past 2 weeks, just to barely squeak by. Thankfully, Crime & Justice ends the first Fri in April, Health ends in a couple of weeks, too, Guard ends the weekend after Easter, and the AP exam is in early May. As each obligation drops down, her life will get a little less stressful. But still - man, she’s going to think college is easy after this English class!
Meanwhile, Two is learning the hard realities of life. He’s working a week as a kitchen helper (read: dishwasher) at his camp this summer, so the other day I had him fill out the legal employment form and tax withholding form. He groused that I wouldn’t do it for him - nope, sorry, kid, it’s YOUR job. Literally. I will provide your SSN, and check to see if what you wrote was correct, but you will fill it out. Thankfully, everything but the signature could be filled out as a pdf, which meant handwriting wasn’t an issue, but still - man, did he complain. “This is boring.” Yes, yes, it is. Welcome to real life. Paperwork is boring. And no, you may not put down a fake birthdate on government forms. This isn’t Instagram. He was then surprised to learn that his earnings would be taxed - I had to explain that it’s taxed NOW, so that when April comes around, the government goes, “Ok, you’re good” and not “Sorry, you owe us $2000.” And that, yes, it would be taxed no matter what. He asked if he would be taxed extra because he’s trans. Uh, no, why would you think that? “Because of medical expenses.” That has to do with health insurance, not taxes.
I swear he’s going to refuse to look for a local job (to have in general, aside from the week at camp) just so he doesn’t have to fill out the paperwork. :-P. It’s like when I did most of the adoption paperwork because I’m the one with legible handwriting, and then Will complained when I had to corner him and make him sign his name on the documents.
And speaking of work - I think I may have permanently lost my ID badge (for the school district), which means I'm stuck with the general Guest Teacher/Visitor badges until next fall. I accidentally wore my lanyard into the house on Tuesday afternoon - normally I try to remember to take it off in my car on the way home from school and leave it in the center console storage. But when it's zipped under a jacket, I sometimes forget. Sometimes I'll throw it in the key bin by the door and hope I remember to grab it on the way out, but sometimes I'll stick it in my jacket sleeve - that way, when I put the jacket on the next morning, I'll find it. But on Tues evening I ran an errand to the pharmacy after dinner, which means I wore the jacket. I don't remember feeling it in my sleeve, and it definitely wasn't there yesterday morning. I've looked in all the places my jacket was hanging on Tues - no lanyard. I called the pharmacy - no lanyard. I'm worried it fell out between my front door and the driveway on Tues night, in which case it probably blew away because we had a storm hit a few hours later - in which case, God only knows where it is now.
It's not like I even have a spare ID from last year. I missed staff photos this year - I missed the regular one by about 10 minutes because they finished early and had packed up by the time I was able to get there - and I was given incorrect information about staff make-up photos, so I've been just using last year's badge, with the current school year written on it in Sharpie.
Sigh.
On a more cheerful note, I finished reading Loving Our Cats, a "Chicken Soup for the Soul" collection of cat-lover stories, taken from a number of previous CSftS books. The librarian gave it to me for Christmas, knowing we had five cats, and forgetting that I generally prefer dogs. ;-) But I have definitely developed a soft spot for most of our cats, and it was a very sweet book, full of feel-good stories and some amusing tales as well. If you're a cat-lover, it's a nice light read.
Today I also finished reading Call Down the Hawk by Maggie Stiefvater, the first Ronan-centric book from the Raven Cycle series. I say "Ronan-centric" but it's really more "dreamer-centric." Of all the various POVs in this story, my least favorite were the ones with Carmen Noord-Faroq and Parsifal. I just really didn't care about the work they were doing, nor did I ever feel connected to either of them. Well, of course, Parsifal is annoying, but still - I didn't really care about Carmen, either. It took me awhile to warm up to Hennessey and her copies as well - I think I started to get more attached when Jordan and Declan connected, and, much later, after Ronan entered their lives. I wish there had been more Ronan and Adam. It took me ages to figure out why people kept exploding around Liliana - I just didn't realize this was how Visionaries killed people before they turned that energy inward - that it was how Parsifal had killed his family. I thought Liliana was just evil. But I guess she's not? I liked seeing Ronan try to help Hennessey. I liked the relationship that develops between Declan and Jordan and I really liked that we see what really lies beneath Declan's boring exterior, and why he had deliberately cultivated that image. I felt bad for Matthew, finally realizing he was a dream. I'm trying to figure out how Declan knows (is he right?) that he wasn't Aurora's son, but Mor O Corra’s/Boudicca's. And that he knew to cut open the back.
When Hennessey comes home only to find the youngest three copies dead, I first was afraid that when Ronan kept banishing the copies in Lindenmere, they were really being killed in real life, too. It was almost a relief to realize it was the killer Moderators, rather than Ronan accidentally killing the real ones.
Did all the other copies suddenly gain another tattoo when Hennessey did? Did they not wonder why? And why did Jordan suddenly go all dreamlike, when she was at Declan’s house? Because Hennessey was dreaming? But that doesn’t explain why Matthew got dreamlike, or he would have done that every night, you know?
What the heck is the Lace?
I wish there’d been more Adam.
I realize there’s some quibbling in my review, but, honestly, I did like the book. Not every single second, but I’m sufficiently intrigued that I plan to read the next one, whenever that is. Thank you, hamsterwoman, for the book!