Slay the Engineer
Saturday at work was less than memorable. I'm slowly becoming the can-do jackrabbit there. A lot of other tutors are seriously slipping in their paperwork which is seriously frustrating for the rest of us. On my way home, I stopped off at LM's, visited with S... and overstayed my welcome a bit. Oh well. There will be other times and places to catch up.
When I got home, I found that the ants were invading and were seeking to liberate something from the trash can. I introduced them to my secret weapon (A one-gallon jug of Ortho.), five quick squirts at their invasion point, a little vacuuming with the crevice tool and victory was mine. I decompressed by downloading some music on my want list (The A La Menthe:Nikkfurie, Incense and Peppermints:Strawberry Alarm Clock, Misirlou:Dick Dale, When I Hear Music:Debbie Deb and Cruel Crazy Beautiful World:Johnny Clegg) and catching up on some of my shows. I'm confused at ABC Family. What's the point of stressing that "you can't miss an episode" when they do a marathon every five weeks (They did it for "The Secret Life of the American Teenager", "Greek" and "Kyle XY." And don't look at me like that.)? In hindsight, it might have been better to go to the party, but I'd still need someone to sponsor me. Meh, maybe next month. Oh, while perusing the depths of my mp3 collection, I stumbled across the soundtrack to Riven. It'd make a great dungeon soundtrack. It reminded me of some of the stuff I would hear wafting out of G's speakers on the way too or coming back from Denny's after a long night of Starbashing.
Sunday was spent cleaning. The kitchen looks a hell of a lot better after a round with the steel wool (It works on everything.). After the temperature dropped, I wandered outside and mowed the lawn. I know I've neglected the yard and it'll probably take a professional gardener to get it back on track. I'm just tired of the rat-race aspect of it all. Oh to just hose the whole thing down with RoundUp and be done with it. I've just had no drive with all the job search fail I've been having. I did manage to hose off my car and it looks a lot better *not* coated with dirt and grime.
Monday was light at work, just those two hours around noon. ESL students can be a bit frustrating though. I got home just in time to get two rejection emails. One from Apple (FUCK!) and the other from Milpitas in response to a follow-up email I sent (FUUUUCK!). Needless to say, the munch was practically a requirement at this point. I read for a bit to take my mind off things then I headed out. I grabbed a cheap but filling bite at the local Taco Bell and navigated my way to Santa Cruz. I got there a bit early, but found Z already there. K had decided to stay home and watch Mr. Phelps break some records. We geeked out a bit until A showed up and brought us back to center. P showed up a bit later and we geeked out again. My "Segfault" t-shirt got some attention (I love that thing just as much as my "Sleepy Slug" shirt... which is in dire need of replacing.). It was another quiet munch, which was much welcomed since the weekly chaos that happens on Wednesday and Friday. I still want to do a field trip some Monday.
Today, I did the noon tables and was reminded that there was a mandatory meeting tonight (CRAP!). I wouldn't have minded so much if I hadn't had the noon tables. Doing that commute twice in one day is such a waste. On my way home, I stopped off at one of the local libraries and picked up some soundtracks to burn. I keep forgetting how easy it is to do that now. I remember the days of using a crappy ripper, an even crappier encoder and running out of space because AIFF files are FUCKING HUGE! Now, thanks to Nydus, I have space. Not much, but it works for what I need it for.
I did a ton of research at home on unemployment resources and found links to a few job sites I hadn't seen before. I'm getting fed up with Craigslist and it's job offers that aren't even in Northern California. Sylvia's been helping me weed out the less familiar names.
The meeting was... different. There are going to be a lot of changes in the future. We're dropping our AP program and modifying our PT program into a blended system. Students will be able to complete lessons online as well as in person. Reading and Math binders (and the associated paperwork) will be a thing of the past. Also, the schedule will be electronic and accessible to parents online (FINALLY!). Of course, the random drop-offs won't disappear completely, but they should slow down a bit (Our center is notorious for this. Whatever crack the parents are smoking, they need to share it with the rest of us.). It was nice to hear about all of this, but November is a long way off; hopefully, I'll have a full-time job by then. If that's the case, I might stay on cause I'm a bit of a masochist.
On my way home I listened to the recently procured CD's and felt the emotions cresting over me. I kept the sobs at bay...barely. I'm tired of being wired this way and having such delicate triggers.
When I got home, I found that the ants were invading and were seeking to liberate something from the trash can. I introduced them to my secret weapon (A one-gallon jug of Ortho.), five quick squirts at their invasion point, a little vacuuming with the crevice tool and victory was mine. I decompressed by downloading some music on my want list (The A La Menthe:Nikkfurie, Incense and Peppermints:Strawberry Alarm Clock, Misirlou:Dick Dale, When I Hear Music:Debbie Deb and Cruel Crazy Beautiful World:Johnny Clegg) and catching up on some of my shows. I'm confused at ABC Family. What's the point of stressing that "you can't miss an episode" when they do a marathon every five weeks (They did it for "The Secret Life of the American Teenager", "Greek" and "Kyle XY." And don't look at me like that.)? In hindsight, it might have been better to go to the party, but I'd still need someone to sponsor me. Meh, maybe next month. Oh, while perusing the depths of my mp3 collection, I stumbled across the soundtrack to Riven. It'd make a great dungeon soundtrack. It reminded me of some of the stuff I would hear wafting out of G's speakers on the way too or coming back from Denny's after a long night of Starbashing.
Sunday was spent cleaning. The kitchen looks a hell of a lot better after a round with the steel wool (It works on everything.). After the temperature dropped, I wandered outside and mowed the lawn. I know I've neglected the yard and it'll probably take a professional gardener to get it back on track. I'm just tired of the rat-race aspect of it all. Oh to just hose the whole thing down with RoundUp and be done with it. I've just had no drive with all the job search fail I've been having. I did manage to hose off my car and it looks a lot better *not* coated with dirt and grime.
Monday was light at work, just those two hours around noon. ESL students can be a bit frustrating though. I got home just in time to get two rejection emails. One from Apple (FUCK!) and the other from Milpitas in response to a follow-up email I sent (FUUUUCK!). Needless to say, the munch was practically a requirement at this point. I read for a bit to take my mind off things then I headed out. I grabbed a cheap but filling bite at the local Taco Bell and navigated my way to Santa Cruz. I got there a bit early, but found Z already there. K had decided to stay home and watch Mr. Phelps break some records. We geeked out a bit until A showed up and brought us back to center. P showed up a bit later and we geeked out again. My "Segfault" t-shirt got some attention (I love that thing just as much as my "Sleepy Slug" shirt... which is in dire need of replacing.). It was another quiet munch, which was much welcomed since the weekly chaos that happens on Wednesday and Friday. I still want to do a field trip some Monday.
Today, I did the noon tables and was reminded that there was a mandatory meeting tonight (CRAP!). I wouldn't have minded so much if I hadn't had the noon tables. Doing that commute twice in one day is such a waste. On my way home, I stopped off at one of the local libraries and picked up some soundtracks to burn. I keep forgetting how easy it is to do that now. I remember the days of using a crappy ripper, an even crappier encoder and running out of space because AIFF files are FUCKING HUGE! Now, thanks to Nydus, I have space. Not much, but it works for what I need it for.
I did a ton of research at home on unemployment resources and found links to a few job sites I hadn't seen before. I'm getting fed up with Craigslist and it's job offers that aren't even in Northern California. Sylvia's been helping me weed out the less familiar names.
The meeting was... different. There are going to be a lot of changes in the future. We're dropping our AP program and modifying our PT program into a blended system. Students will be able to complete lessons online as well as in person. Reading and Math binders (and the associated paperwork) will be a thing of the past. Also, the schedule will be electronic and accessible to parents online (FINALLY!). Of course, the random drop-offs won't disappear completely, but they should slow down a bit (Our center is notorious for this. Whatever crack the parents are smoking, they need to share it with the rest of us.). It was nice to hear about all of this, but November is a long way off; hopefully, I'll have a full-time job by then. If that's the case, I might stay on cause I'm a bit of a masochist.
On my way home I listened to the recently procured CD's and felt the emotions cresting over me. I kept the sobs at bay...barely. I'm tired of being wired this way and having such delicate triggers.