Is It Vacation Yet?

Thirteen Things about npw's week 1. I was feeling rather uninspired yesterday afternoon, hence the youtube clip. Yes, it was the lazy girl's answer to a quick post, but cut me some slack. I can't be brilliant every moment of every day. Or can I? 2. I just paid my student loans, car payment, insurance, heat, electricity, and cell phone bill all at once. I felt a bit like crying. But then I found a dollar on the floor of the library. Who says education isn't a lucrative profession? 3. There have been some school-related frustrations on this end and they all sort of came to a head this week. I don't know who out there still believes that the education world is simple, but I do know that anyone who does think that is probably simple in the head. It's been like playing a giant political game of Risk over here for the past few months. I will tentatively state that I have secured some additional funding for next year's budget, but I'm preparing to have to fight to the death to spend it how I want. 4. As I believe I've mentioned, I have next week off for my Spring Break. To kick off the spring-like celebrations, the Boston weatherpeople have been predicting 4 inches of snow today and another 4 or 5 inches on Sunday. Add to that the fact that absolutely every friend I have from school is going away, and you have one cranky NPW. Yeah, because I love going to lunch and hearing about trips to Aruba, Chicago, Turks and Caicos, Cincinatti, Costa Rica, Denver, and Florida. I try to play it all cool, like I'm choosing to spend the week sitting on my couch watching movies, but damn if I couldn't use some fun in the sun right now. I suppose I could've planned in advance for this (seeing as how I've known about it since September) but now I am a.) missing a travel partner, and b.) broke as a joke. 5. This brings me to another complaint: Chris needs a new job. Stat. I have never heard of a job where you are required to stay at work until 8 p.m. every night and are not allowed to take your vacation time or personal days without being harrassed, and yet here he is, smack in the middle of that very special position. So: no hope of him getting to take a day or two to go somewhere fun. 6. I discovered yesterday that there is a contingent of 8th grade boys who have been falling asleep in class every afternoon. No one could figure out why until I overheard a conversation this morning in which said students were discussing how they go to bed at 10, set their alarms for 1 a.m., and get up to play xBox until it's time to head to school at 7. I do believe that none of them even bother undressing or showering, simply going to bed in their clothes and rolling into school in the same unwashed state in the mornings. You know I dig the gaming, but seriously with the smell? Not cool, kiddos. Not cool. 7. Oh, good. The snow just started. 8. My new membership at the Cheapest Gym in America has been going well so far. Three afternoons this week I've enjoyed watching Red Sox games while listening to music and running. Of course, I can't help but make some comparisons to the Gym of Dreams, the biggest one being that I forgot what it's like to work out alongside men. Men whose eyes never quite make it to your face, as they seem to get stuck just a foot or so lower. I wouldn't say it has reached the "leering" stage yet, but it's close. Ah well. What can you do? Ten bucks is ten bucks. 9. Yesterday a co-worker and I decided to sneak over to Starbucks for a pick-me-up chai. On the short walk I managed to twist my ankle, fall to the ground, scrape up my hands and legs, and bruise my wrist. Then someone left their bag out in the gym locker room and I slammed my toe into it, causing me to curse and jump, then smash my shin into the open locker door. I put the word of the day ("shinjury") to good use, I can tell you. 10. The last few months have been a movie-going drought for me, partly because Chris is so tired when he gets home after 8 every night that all he wants to do is sit in front of the tv or computer and appear brain dead, and partly because I haven't felt a strong urge to see anything. But now there are at least three movies that I must see in the upcoming weeks: Grindhouse, Aqua Teen, and Hot Fuzz. Anyone feel like an afternoon matinee next week, shoot me an email. 11. A co-worker came running in the other day to tell me she had a great book recommendation for me. Then she whips out this beat up paperback that was based on some shitty-ass show that got cancelled from the Hallmark channel. Is the proper response to this: a.) smile politely and accept the book, exclaiming that you can't wait to read it over break while actually crying on the inside, b.) look at the book in a vaguely disgusted way and say, "Uhh, no thanks. Loser", or c.) smack the book out of her hands and warn her that if she ever tries to pull something like that again it'll be her head getting the smack down. I chose A. How 'bout you? 12. Wait, snow and hail? Oh, New England. You're so funny. 13. I haven't decided yet if I want to post over break. I mean, seeing as how I'll be really, really busy. I'm sure I can probably pencil in some posts. Especially since the weather forecast looks like this every day for the next 10 days:




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