"man, m' lee. you the old lady. you almost 30, right?"
so tonight marks a special moment. i just finished writing my 16th letter of complaint to my landlord. whoops - i mean slumlord. here are some excerpts...
"In your phone call, you said that my oven simply needs to be lit every time I use it. I have lived in this apartment since July of 2004, and I am aware of that fact. I know how to light my oven. But as I stated in my letter addressed to you on December 15, 2005, the gas to my oven has been turned off. If I put a lit match to the spot where you normally light the oven, nothing happens. This is because the gas has been turned off. Robbie turned it off on the night of November 30, 2005. Nothing has changed, except that I have been without my oven for almost TWO MONTHS. I expect this to be fixed with the utmost speed. "
"On December 20, I phoned in a request for the removal of an animal that had gotten into the roof of my building. The receptionist who took down my complaint/request said a trapping agency would be contacted. As of this week, I can still hear the animal in the ceiling. This means that either the same animal from December was never removed, or that another animal has also entered the building. In the first case, my request was not taken seriously and the complaint was not followed up on. This would certainly not be the first time that has happened. In the second case, the point of entry for these animals has not been repaired/sealed off.
In either case, there are animals walking above my ceiling, presumably starving to a slow death. I do not look forward to the smell of their decomposing bodies. Maybe their corpses will attract another rat?"
"The lights in both my stairwell and front steps were out for several weeks. I have changed both the light bulbs on many occasions due to the incredible threat to my safety that comes with entering a complete dark stairwell at night. Is there anyway your company can routinely change the bulbs so I do not have to run the risk of falling down the stairs or being accosted in the dark? I would appreciate this small token of care and maintenance."
***
at this point, i'm just hoping to survive the lease.
school has been... a new kind of insane lately.
i HATE HATE HATE being the bad ass of the team. i hate that i'm the teacher synonymous with discipline. it's like, every day, i have to put on this character. i can't just be goofy with the kids or they'll totally go haywire. i'm not quite sure how i can make it through thte semester without losing my mind, but i have a hunch that Jesus will be the answer. anything i ask according to His name and will, i get, right? ok. well. i'm asking for some help here. i know i'll get it, but still. this is going to a trifling semester.
we had a lovely situation in my homeroom the other day. typical stuff. girl gossips about boy. boy tells girl to stop. girl doesn't. girl hits boy. girl and boy fight. boy stomps girls face with his boot. girl's mom throws fit. girl's mom's boyfriend comes to school to fight boy. fights wrong boy. second boy gets throttled a bit by random adult man.
also, about 250,000 dollars of federal money is somehow unaccounted for at my school. missing money? no supplies anywhere in sight for teachers? yeah. that sounds about right.
on a brighter note, tfa hunted me down to write some acheivement plans for their summer institute. some extra cash, and my first ever paid writing gig. i'm down for that.
on another bright note, lesson planning has been fun lately. tomorrow, the kids are disecting "hey mama" by kanye west to identify some parts of speech. lord knows rap lyrics aren't great for diagramming sentences, ie. subject predicate stuff. but parts of speech transcend dialect, so i hope they like it.
rico continues to slide down his slippery slope from lovely, pleasing child to thug life, tough guy man. it's depressing. i have no idea how to support him and try to turn the tide of his life, and he totally resists anything i do to even show love to him. he's a total microcosm for the passive decline into doomed black man that so many of my boys succomb to.
what else... ok - the bachelor in paris? i have some thoughts.
one - i miss paris so much it physically presses on my chest. i always miss albion. i always miss camp. but paris, it's a different kind of longing. i hope i someday feel about a human being, preferably a man, what i feel about the city of paris.
two - do i have to go on tv to meet men? those girls are decent i suppose, but i think i could smoke them on a variety of categories. they could, of course, smoke me on say... willingness to wear a bikini on tv and willingness to make out with a man you've know for about 4 days. but in the end, at least they've had a date in recent past. granted, it may have been with 3 other girls. but that's something.
andrea. thank you for your lovely comment. i treasure you so much. i hope our lives lead us to live in the same state/city/house someday. i can hardly imagine the joy that would come from actually seeing you on a somewhat daily basis. all i have is our awesome lazy summer of quilting and not-working in the burrow.
soccer season is upon us once more. i have a new mantra for the team. "i don't care if we win, lose or even look stupid. i won't be bothered." those lazy girls will not steal my joy - whatever joy is left after every exhausting day in the office. i think this new mantra will actually free me to have fun with the girls again.
ten o'clock. sounds like a good time to watch some church on tv.
cheers.
"In your phone call, you said that my oven simply needs to be lit every time I use it. I have lived in this apartment since July of 2004, and I am aware of that fact. I know how to light my oven. But as I stated in my letter addressed to you on December 15, 2005, the gas to my oven has been turned off. If I put a lit match to the spot where you normally light the oven, nothing happens. This is because the gas has been turned off. Robbie turned it off on the night of November 30, 2005. Nothing has changed, except that I have been without my oven for almost TWO MONTHS. I expect this to be fixed with the utmost speed. "
"On December 20, I phoned in a request for the removal of an animal that had gotten into the roof of my building. The receptionist who took down my complaint/request said a trapping agency would be contacted. As of this week, I can still hear the animal in the ceiling. This means that either the same animal from December was never removed, or that another animal has also entered the building. In the first case, my request was not taken seriously and the complaint was not followed up on. This would certainly not be the first time that has happened. In the second case, the point of entry for these animals has not been repaired/sealed off.
In either case, there are animals walking above my ceiling, presumably starving to a slow death. I do not look forward to the smell of their decomposing bodies. Maybe their corpses will attract another rat?"
"The lights in both my stairwell and front steps were out for several weeks. I have changed both the light bulbs on many occasions due to the incredible threat to my safety that comes with entering a complete dark stairwell at night. Is there anyway your company can routinely change the bulbs so I do not have to run the risk of falling down the stairs or being accosted in the dark? I would appreciate this small token of care and maintenance."
***
at this point, i'm just hoping to survive the lease.
school has been... a new kind of insane lately.
i HATE HATE HATE being the bad ass of the team. i hate that i'm the teacher synonymous with discipline. it's like, every day, i have to put on this character. i can't just be goofy with the kids or they'll totally go haywire. i'm not quite sure how i can make it through thte semester without losing my mind, but i have a hunch that Jesus will be the answer. anything i ask according to His name and will, i get, right? ok. well. i'm asking for some help here. i know i'll get it, but still. this is going to a trifling semester.
we had a lovely situation in my homeroom the other day. typical stuff. girl gossips about boy. boy tells girl to stop. girl doesn't. girl hits boy. girl and boy fight. boy stomps girls face with his boot. girl's mom throws fit. girl's mom's boyfriend comes to school to fight boy. fights wrong boy. second boy gets throttled a bit by random adult man.
also, about 250,000 dollars of federal money is somehow unaccounted for at my school. missing money? no supplies anywhere in sight for teachers? yeah. that sounds about right.
on a brighter note, tfa hunted me down to write some acheivement plans for their summer institute. some extra cash, and my first ever paid writing gig. i'm down for that.
on another bright note, lesson planning has been fun lately. tomorrow, the kids are disecting "hey mama" by kanye west to identify some parts of speech. lord knows rap lyrics aren't great for diagramming sentences, ie. subject predicate stuff. but parts of speech transcend dialect, so i hope they like it.
rico continues to slide down his slippery slope from lovely, pleasing child to thug life, tough guy man. it's depressing. i have no idea how to support him and try to turn the tide of his life, and he totally resists anything i do to even show love to him. he's a total microcosm for the passive decline into doomed black man that so many of my boys succomb to.
what else... ok - the bachelor in paris? i have some thoughts.
one - i miss paris so much it physically presses on my chest. i always miss albion. i always miss camp. but paris, it's a different kind of longing. i hope i someday feel about a human being, preferably a man, what i feel about the city of paris.
two - do i have to go on tv to meet men? those girls are decent i suppose, but i think i could smoke them on a variety of categories. they could, of course, smoke me on say... willingness to wear a bikini on tv and willingness to make out with a man you've know for about 4 days. but in the end, at least they've had a date in recent past. granted, it may have been with 3 other girls. but that's something.
andrea. thank you for your lovely comment. i treasure you so much. i hope our lives lead us to live in the same state/city/house someday. i can hardly imagine the joy that would come from actually seeing you on a somewhat daily basis. all i have is our awesome lazy summer of quilting and not-working in the burrow.
soccer season is upon us once more. i have a new mantra for the team. "i don't care if we win, lose or even look stupid. i won't be bothered." those lazy girls will not steal my joy - whatever joy is left after every exhausting day in the office. i think this new mantra will actually free me to have fun with the girls again.
ten o'clock. sounds like a good time to watch some church on tv.
cheers.