You will have pancake and you'll like it.
So January has come (or rather, is still coming) to a close. With it came Vericon last weekend in Boston. Aphro and I drove up in my car and stayed in Allston with her friend Lucy who is awesome for not only letting us crash at her place, but for also adoring Terry Pratchett as much as me. =)We skipped the convention friday night and went to dinner at a. . I think it's called Shupa Shupa. . but either way, it was Japanese Hot Pot goodness. Well worth the expense. I also klutzed out both there and on the way back, successfully drenching both feet by stepping into puddles that I Swear, did not appear to be puddles.
Saturday brought convention fun. We began our day with Capture the Flag (with STUFF) (details of how this awesome game is played here: http://www.cmukgb.org/activities/ctfws.php) This year's games were pretty great. Instead of playing on one floor, we had two entire floors to run, hop, scout, and defend like crazy. I was a captain for a second game and lead (not really, toadally a team effort =P) Team Orange to victory. The last few times I had a chance to play this game, I went defense, but after this year, there is no way I'm going to do anything but offense. Nothing felt better than sneaking over the enemy lines, grabbing their 3 point flag, and then running back to neutral territory to taunt them with a victory dance. =)
I spent the next few hours doing some karaoke (eh), playing a game called Castle Crushers(i think) on the xbox with some new people, and then a card game kind of a cross between war and egyptian ratscrew called Jungle. . Jungle something-or-other with some more lovely strangers. While waiting for Lucy and Josh to get their Spike and Drusilla thing going, Scott taught Aphro and me how to play Dominion. Sweet game that I must buy and force people to play with me. We eventually went with a crapload of people to a thai restaurant about a 5 minute walk from Harvard. Foods were delicious although consumption of said foods was constantly being interrupted by Botticelli. I love it, but Harvard folk are a little more nitpicky than the people I'm used to playing with.
Sunday gave us an MST3k for National Treasure 2. I slept through most of the movie AGAIN, but enjoyed the brief skits the presenters put on at various points. ("Mr. President, don't you think we should go find the gold? Think of what it would do for the economy!" "NO. Must not disrupt free market.") Had lunch at a place with amazing sushi and said goodbye to Scott for he is leaving us for Georgia. =( Drove home and made pretty good time until we found out that the Jackie Robinson pkwy was closed for an inexplicable reason. (Balls!) So that turned our last 15 minutes into another 40.
And now it's Monday and all I left is a quick sum up of 2009 so far:
Friends: mostly good on this front. A couple have lost touch, but I have no doubt they'll return eventually, so I'm not stressing over it. Only one really worries me. Things are supposed to be ok, but I don't really know if they are. It's definitely not the same(after that) though. (cue Ben Folds song in my brain)
Work: Sometimes I have a good hour, but mostly I fucking hate this place. (yes, she's gone to cursing) I'm supposed to have the fourth grade at the end of February, but you wouldn't know this if you ask my principal. So yeah, I mostly hate my job. I try to go home not feeling like a failure, but it's getting hard not to. I know that I have the ability to teach. I know I have the skills to do this job. I'm doing the best I can, but am only getting results with a few classes. The others. . the administration tells me not to sweat it, that these kids are pretty much hopeless, to just fail them and move on. They tell me that's ok, but it's not ok. Fifty percent of my 8th graders are failing. They're failing music. How can I not sweat that?
Family: Both sides seem to be ok with the future moving plans. Or at least Mom is doing a real good job of pretending that she is. Thomas and Elizabeth continue to be as adorable as ever. I babysat for them about a week ago and got destroyed in battleship. (Elizabeth put the white pegs in for me and yelled at me for eating one of her goldfish (meanwhile, it's totally ok that she stole one of my pretzels. . grr)) I finally got to know my other nephew Wesley over Christmas. Fell in love with the kid right quick. I'm really happy that I'm going to be closer to him and Christine next year. =)
Relationships/love life: This area of my life is a joke. It's seems I can't get it right no matter what I do. Sometimes I wonder if I should give it up entirely and just adopt in 10 years.
Future plans: At least here is a bright spot. I'm looking forward to moving to MA in July. I have a strong feeling that it's going to work out really well. I'll have roommates again, possibly eventually a dog, plenty of friends nearby, and hopefully a chance to have my life go somewhere close to right.
Saturday brought convention fun. We began our day with Capture the Flag (with STUFF) (details of how this awesome game is played here: http://www.cmukgb.org/activities/ctfws.php) This year's games were pretty great. Instead of playing on one floor, we had two entire floors to run, hop, scout, and defend like crazy. I was a captain for a second game and lead (not really, toadally a team effort =P) Team Orange to victory. The last few times I had a chance to play this game, I went defense, but after this year, there is no way I'm going to do anything but offense. Nothing felt better than sneaking over the enemy lines, grabbing their 3 point flag, and then running back to neutral territory to taunt them with a victory dance. =)
I spent the next few hours doing some karaoke (eh), playing a game called Castle Crushers(i think) on the xbox with some new people, and then a card game kind of a cross between war and egyptian ratscrew called Jungle. . Jungle something-or-other with some more lovely strangers. While waiting for Lucy and Josh to get their Spike and Drusilla thing going, Scott taught Aphro and me how to play Dominion. Sweet game that I must buy and force people to play with me. We eventually went with a crapload of people to a thai restaurant about a 5 minute walk from Harvard. Foods were delicious although consumption of said foods was constantly being interrupted by Botticelli. I love it, but Harvard folk are a little more nitpicky than the people I'm used to playing with.
Sunday gave us an MST3k for National Treasure 2. I slept through most of the movie AGAIN, but enjoyed the brief skits the presenters put on at various points. ("Mr. President, don't you think we should go find the gold? Think of what it would do for the economy!" "NO. Must not disrupt free market.") Had lunch at a place with amazing sushi and said goodbye to Scott for he is leaving us for Georgia. =( Drove home and made pretty good time until we found out that the Jackie Robinson pkwy was closed for an inexplicable reason. (Balls!) So that turned our last 15 minutes into another 40.
And now it's Monday and all I left is a quick sum up of 2009 so far:
Friends: mostly good on this front. A couple have lost touch, but I have no doubt they'll return eventually, so I'm not stressing over it. Only one really worries me. Things are supposed to be ok, but I don't really know if they are. It's definitely not the same(after that) though. (cue Ben Folds song in my brain)
Work: Sometimes I have a good hour, but mostly I fucking hate this place. (yes, she's gone to cursing) I'm supposed to have the fourth grade at the end of February, but you wouldn't know this if you ask my principal. So yeah, I mostly hate my job. I try to go home not feeling like a failure, but it's getting hard not to. I know that I have the ability to teach. I know I have the skills to do this job. I'm doing the best I can, but am only getting results with a few classes. The others. . the administration tells me not to sweat it, that these kids are pretty much hopeless, to just fail them and move on. They tell me that's ok, but it's not ok. Fifty percent of my 8th graders are failing. They're failing music. How can I not sweat that?
Family: Both sides seem to be ok with the future moving plans. Or at least Mom is doing a real good job of pretending that she is. Thomas and Elizabeth continue to be as adorable as ever. I babysat for them about a week ago and got destroyed in battleship. (Elizabeth put the white pegs in for me and yelled at me for eating one of her goldfish (meanwhile, it's totally ok that she stole one of my pretzels. . grr)) I finally got to know my other nephew Wesley over Christmas. Fell in love with the kid right quick. I'm really happy that I'm going to be closer to him and Christine next year. =)
Relationships/love life: This area of my life is a joke. It's seems I can't get it right no matter what I do. Sometimes I wonder if I should give it up entirely and just adopt in 10 years.
Future plans: At least here is a bright spot. I'm looking forward to moving to MA in July. I have a strong feeling that it's going to work out really well. I'll have roommates again, possibly eventually a dog, plenty of friends nearby, and hopefully a chance to have my life go somewhere close to right.