August 4th through August 7th
Wednesday, August 4, 2010: Interesting day! I had two classes at school today, and then had to rush home ro be at the phone for when the EDD called (mor eon that later). I learned that my Family Law teacher, Mrs. Englund, is 13 weeks pregnant, and her baby is due in February -- right after classmate Eva's baby is due! Wow! We can race 'em! Hah! And we were all a part of California (and perhaps national) history today when the Superior Court ruled tat Proposition 8, which banned gay marriage in California (for the 2nd or 3rd time) is UNCONSTITUTIONAL! We intelligent people KNEW that already, but it's nice that the court affirmed our belief (more on that later, too).
School Stuff: In my Word 2007 class, I worked on the SAM tests, oin-line. They're practice tests from which the "real" tests are taken, so if you can the practice tests, you're guaranteed an "A" on the real tests. Very kewl. Then I helped out a bit making signs for the Paralegal Club's car wash on Saturday. They schedule these meetings during lunch, but then complain when we actually stop to eat. WTF? I'm not going into low-sugar shock over a meeting scheduled during MY lunch break! But it was okay. I finished one sign, and took some photos for the Paralegal "cabinet" at school -- if they ever show us where it is and how to get into it. Hah!
Then it was off to Family Law class. I was surprised to hear that my classmate Brittany was having problems with the subject matter and didn't like the teacher. I don't understand that. I like Mrs. Englund; I think she's she's doing a GREAT job, and is very professional, well-prepared, polite, and respectful to students. She goes out of her way to answer students' questions, and tries to make everything as clear as she possibly can... I also didn't like the fact that another student "dissed" Mrs. Englund in the cafeteria. I told her, "If you spoke to her the way you're speaking to me now, I'd be rude to you, too!" Anyway, in Family Law class, we got our first tests back and I got a 96% on it. I was surprused by the mistakes I made on it; I KNEW the right answers, and wrote down some stupid ones. I think on the test we took today, though, that I got 100%. It was GOOD test that really forced us to think about the laws and concepts we'd learned in class (rather than just parroting verbiage back to the teacher from the book, like the first test was). Mrs. Englund had altered this second test based on the suggestions made by students -- so obviously she's listening to us. Can't ask for more than that!
Prop 8 Overturned: The "evil" Proposition 8 was overturned today by the California Court as "unconstitutional"! Yay! One of the students in our Family Law class kept her computer running during class, so we would know right when the ruling came through. At 1:55 PM, the announcement was made that the Prop 8 had been overturned, and Mrs. Englund said, "Remember this moment. It's history in the making." Such a great moment! I read the ruling (138+ pages), and, wow, he hit every single bogus argument right on the head and dismissed each and every one of them. I'm going to do a brief on the decision for my Family Law class and use it to "bump" up the grade on one of my tests.
EDD Crap: I had to rush home from school to sit by the phone and wait for a call from the EDD on my continued claim form. They've withheld my check for a MONTH already. The guy called (from Los Angeles) around 3:30 PM and wanted to know why I hadn't gone to the SJS meeting that had been scheduled for July 8th. I told him, "I've already submitted this information to the EDD twice in writing, but I'll repeat it to you. I didn't go to the meeting because I was scheduled for jury duty that week, and Frita at the SJS specifically told me NOT to come to the appointment." I heard the click-click-click, as he typed it into his machine, and then he said, "Oh. Okay. You're check should go out today." WTF?!?! Why did I have to go through that nonsense of the phone call?!
Thursday, August 5, 2010: This is a day when I have only one class at college, so I spent much of the morning reviewing and posting Chapter 22 of my"The Pon T'Keshtan" story on fanfiction.net. It was the chapter my beta, FarStrider (Teri) and I struggled over, and the reviews of it have been very gratifying. A couple of them read as follows:
LadyFangs: That was one of the most powerful chapters I have read in a very, very, very long time. The meld was flawless. The chapter move fluidly and builds to an astounding climax. One that, after reading I am left with a single, word. Damn.
Canvuljan: One of your greatest strengths is that you write with a voice of authority. This adds so much to your storytelling because the reader willingly follows you along. Your counseling sessions with Spock are not only moving and revealing but informative. I like Dr Surrey as a character so much. Spock didn't tell Dr Surrey that T'Pau wanted his child. Hmmm. And now there is a child down in sickbay. So much tension! Another chapter please!
NotesfromaClassroom: Very clever how you used several different techniques for expository passages-the mind-meld with Sa'aat and the vip nie, for instance. Well done.
Linstock: Once again I am awestruck by this work. Brilliant and beyond brilliant. It is complex, but I do not find that I am confused by the various story lines as I often am in other stories (and not just fanfic, published books). I was glad to see Dr Surrey back , he is a wonderful character. The drama with Spock’s child and the mind meld with Sa’aat all gripping . I eagerly await the next chapters.
I know LadyFang's work and Notesfrom aClassroom's work, so I'm doubly pleased when they like what I'm working on.
Paralegal Club Stuff: I was a little aggravated with some of the senior staffer today, but, hey, I'm just a peon... Throughout our Crimial Law class they kept chattering about club projects, writing texts, and even flagged me down to join one of them in the cafeteria area WHILE CLASS WAS GOING ON. I went out to find out that our "cabinet" is actually a full-sized floor-standing display case. So now I have to find some 3-dimentional things to set inside of it. That wasn't important enough to drag me out of class, so I'm putting my foot down: no more "urgent" calls unless you're dying, please, and NEVER expect me to walk out in the middle of class to handle club business.
After school, I stopped at the 99-Cent Store and got a few frames to set up in the cabinet... and I'll be looking for other things like a copy of the Declaration of Independence, an eagle, some flags, old law books and a Blind Justice statute to add to the cabinet later. Oooo, just found a Blind Justice statuette, a small sculpture of an eagle sitting on top of the Liberty Bell, and parchment copies of the Constitution, et al. Kewl! Let's see if I can play the "starving student" card and get a discount on them!
Other Stuff: I finally got to see some photos of Mrs. Hill's baby girl, Elizabeth Virginia, born on Saturday, June 26th at 7:26 p.m. She weighed seven pounds, eight ounces and was twenty inches long. What a cutie!
TV Stuff: I watched "America's Next Top Model", because I like to see the photo-shoots at the end of each episode, and this time Marty watched it with me. We had fun dissing all the girls, and choosing our favorites. When one girl was doing a photoshoot in a dress made entirely of hair, one of our favorite contestants yelled at her, "Epic Failure!" It became our new buzz word for the week. Hah!
Miles Stuff: Mark Jr. finally heard something from Miles, who is back in Southern California now. Miles wrote: "I am currently still in California with Lisa and her kids. Robert is suppose to have been sentenced on Grand Theft yesterday, but Lisa hasn't had s chance to check online for his sentence. Lisa is on welfare, and gets just about enough cash to pay her "outrageous" rent.Because Robert has been incarcerated, she has had several appointments with the county, and is pretty stressed herself. Priscilla is in kindergarten this year and has started this week. Lisa goes with her for the 1st week. Daniell will be in head-start classes, and Angelica starts the 2nd grade. Lisa must put in 150 hours this month at the county welfare to work classes, which start Monday." Glad he's settling in again somewhere.
Friday, August 6, 2010: I got up about 6:30 this morning, even though I have no in-school classes today. I went through my e-mail and job search stuff, and then worked on setting up some framed items for the Paralegal Club cabinet at the college. Then it was off to the school to set the stuff up, and I got back home before 9:30 am!
Around 11 o'clock the mail came with my checks from the EDD (that they had been holding for a month for no reason), so I told Marty that if he drove me to the bank, I'd buy him lunch. We found a BofA within about 5 minutes of the house (!), and, man, was it a busy banks. There were cars lined up at the drive-up window, and there were seven tellers inside to handle the in-house customers. Amazing! Once the checks were deposited, I told Marty he could choose whatever place he wanted to for lunch. He'd heard of a place called the Squeeze Inn that was supposed to have th e best hamburgers in town, so we drove over there, but the place was so packed (and parking was so scarce) he decided to skip it for now. So, we ended up and a little mom and pop hamburger joint further down the street called "Juicy Burger". He had a burger and fries, and I had a French Dip, fries and an order of fried zuchini. It wasn't fabulous food, but it was good and filling, so I was satisfied. And I always like to try out 'new" places to eat.
Marty getting ready to eat
Their version of fried zuchini
When we were done with lunch, we stopped at a couple of thrift stores in the area. Marty always finds the best stuff. I found some used legal books (for the club cabinet) abd a beaded purse I got just because it was pretty. Then we stopped at Belair for some fruit for supper and food for the dogs, and then came home and watched "Judge Alex" on TV before calling it a day. Oh, outside of Belair, there was a big truch with a large Superman doll/figure chained to the grille. Weird! And, dangit, I should have taken a photo of it!
Paralegal Club Stuff: As I mentioned before, I went to the college to set up the cabinet display for the Paralegal Club, and found out that besides the fact that the cabinet itself is heavy (!), the shelves inside of it are glass, full-length, and fit so tightly into the cabinet that you can't move them! Grrrr. So, I set up the few things I had to put in there, and then sent an e-mail to the powers that be asking if (1) the shelves could be cut in half so I could stagger them inside the cabinet, and/or (2) if about an inch could be cut off the end of the shelves so I can at least MOVE them inside the cabinet. I'd like to be able to fill the lower part of the cabinet with books, statuettes, scrolls and the like, and then use the shelves (staggered or not) to display "flat" items like photos, flyers and certificates. We'll see what happens, if anything.
Saturday, August 7, 2010: Got up around 6:00 am. The power went out briefly during the night which loused up my clock, so when I had to get up for my morning pee, I fixed that. My back and knee hurt from pushing around the paralegal cabinet yesterday. Nonetheless, it was a kind of busy day. I worked on my e-mail, job search and writing until about 8:30 and then drove off to the other side of Sac'to to the car wash. Had fun there, then stopped off at belair to get quick lunch stuff -- I'll buy the "real" groceries tomorrow -- and then tooled on home. I had my lunch, napped for about 2 hours, and then did 3/4 of the work I needed to get done for my on-line Algebra class. I don't know if I'm really "getting" it or not, but at least I'm turning the work in... and apparently I've got a "B" in the class, which is better than I thought I'd have... Stupid class is going to ruin my "4.0" average, though; and WHY do I have to take ALGEBRA if I'm seeking a degree in PARALEGAL studies? Can't they give us a "logic" class based on legal stuff? Cripes.
Paralegal Club Carwash: It was held behind the Chevron Station by K-Mart on Zinfendel and Sunrise. A great spot where about 12 lanes of traffic converge! Wow! I was one of the first people there; Christina had gotten there around 8:30 and set up a table, chairs, and cover. We were in an area where there were several tress, too, so we had plenty of shade. And the weather couldn't have been more lovely: sunny, in the 70's and low 80's, with a slight breeze. Just perfect! I got my car washed first, and slowly but surely other ones started pulling in. "Dr. Mac",from Heald College came by with his dog "Q" (short for "Quickbooks"), and Mr. Murray, my former Composition teacher, came by to support us, too! That was so nice of them. Miss Mills, one of the law teachers, furnished coffee and donuts, Christina brought water, and Ruth brought a bowl full of sliced watermelon, so we were set. I took about 50 photos, and stood on the street with signs for about 2 hours. But after that much time on my feet, my back hurt and my arms were sore from holding the signs up, so I had to call it quits by about 11:30... Speaking of the club, I put an order in for the statuettes and scrolls, and am expecting them to be delivered in a week or so...
CLICK HERE TO SEE PHOTOS OF THE CAR WASH
Funny Commercial: This is apropos of nothing: "Starbust" candy is running a series of adds about contradictions. Starburst is a contradiction because, as the tag line says, "It's solid -- but juicy like a liquid." The most recent ad revolves around a Korean man playing a Scottsman (in a kilt, bagpipes and everything) on a bus with a zombie. The zombie quips, "Living-dead, now that's a contradiction, my friend." As the Korean-Scott then tries to explain the Starburst candy to the zombie, the zombie complains, "You're boring me to death -- and I'm already dead. You're boring me back to death!" Hah! CLICK HERE TO SEE THE COMMERCIAL.