Great weekend

So, this weekend was really awesome. I’m kinda sick today because of it, but I expected that. That always happens when I have a lot of activity and not so much sleep. As far as I’m concerned, this will just make SERE easier. It’s like stretching my party muscles.

Anyway, Friday was nice. We got our tax returns in, so thought we’d celebrate by going to Outback for dinner. I almost ordered something new, but the idea of that ribeye sounded much too good to pass up, so I changed my order at the last minute. Oh, well, maybe next time. Then we went to Barnes and Noble and I picked up a couple of bargain books. You wanna hear something insane? I love Arthurian literature, read as much as I can about it, study it fanatically, and I didn’t own my own copy of Le Morte D’Arthur. Took care of that problem. Found that edition in the bargain books section for $10. Went and picked up northernminx at the airport, which I was happy to do, and that had the benefit of being able to spend an hour or so at pendragon and ladyofdarkstar‘s house with their various guests who were here for GOTM. All too brief, but good times.

More great things from the Land of Kaoru (Home of the Kaoru Cup)

Today has been fantastic so far. I subbed for the same teacher that I had on Monday, which is not normal in the slightest. I get very few repeats as the teachers tend to always choose a random sub rather than requesting anyone in particular.

Suffice it to say, today was even easier than Monday. Even the students I had a problem with then seemed to get the idea that I wasn’t going to deal with their shit. They thought they were clever by all asking for bathroom passes at once so they could go and hang out. I signed it, then told them to leave their backpacks in the room as they wouldn’t need them at the bathroom. The best part was I benefited by not having to deal with them for about 15 minutes.

Why People Are Miserable

In answering a question posted by Pokchop, I went to the website that explained the Monkeysphere, which is a wonderful theory that amuses me to no end. Suffice it to say, I followed a link to another article by the same person, 7 Reasons Why the 21st Century is Making Us Miserable. It’s actually a really interesting read. I don’t know how accurate it is (could just be a joke), but I think it’s interestingly and entertainingly presented.

Just as an example from the article, look back in your past LJ posts, and compare the replies to negative posts to those of positive posts. Then, compare that result to this quote, “If I post an article called, ‘Fall Out Boy is a Fine Band’ and on the same day post one called, ‘Fall Out Boy is the Worst Band of the Last 100 Years, Say Experts,’ which do you think will get the most traffic? Let me tell you from experience it’s the second one, by a 10-1 ratio. Outrage manufactures word-of-mouth.”

My favorite quote from it is, unsurprisingly, “It ain’t rocket science; you are a social animal and thus you are born with little happiness hormones that are released into your bloodstream when you see someone else benefitting from your actions. You can line up for yourself a spread of your favorite liquor, your favorite video game, your favorite movie and your favorite sex act, and the sum total of them won’t give you the same kind of lasting happiness you’d get from helping the cranky old lady down the street drag her garbage to the curb. ”

Check it out.

Who Would Be Interested?

So, I have no plans yet, and this’ll probably have to wait until the summer, but I was thinking of doing a marathon night of the Man With No Name trilogy (A Fistful of Dollars, For a Few Dollars More, and The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly) and having people over, then making themed food to go with it. Since they’re spaghetti Westerns, I was thinking of trying to come up with an Italian/Western fusion menu that everyone can snack on. I have some ideas of how I would do that. If anyone would be interested in the general idea, let me know and I can start planning it out for after SERE sometime.

I just think this would be an awesome theme night, an excuse for me to experiment on my friends with food ideas (and I already have a few), and a chance for people to share some classic films with some of the best music/directing to ever hit to silver screen.

Updating because I can

Just got home from work a little over an hour ago, and I have to say it’s nice and relaxing around here right now. Sun shining through the windows, great weather outside, and getting a chance to chill after a long day of work.

Subbing today was pretty light. I taught a math class, which is out of character for me, but that’s what was available. The teacher, apparently, took over half way through the year and is out nearly every week anyway. She didn’t leave lesson plans, but called to tell me what worksheets to give her students. All except her 6th period, that is, which she failed to mention is a different type of math.

For the most part, while most of the kids were unwilling to be helpful in any way, they were at least polite and quiet. I had to have five students escorted out of my fourth period. I don’t mind the “We speak a language you don’t so can say what we want about you in it” game especially since no matter how many times I show these kids that I understand Spanish, they are always surprised when I know what they’re talking about. I don’t mind them being generally disrespectful. However, flinging M&Ms at one another, other students, and me, you get a one way ticket out of my class. Again, they seemed surprised. I’m not sure if they have no memory and can’t remember that I don’t put up with their shit, or if they lack the ability to extrapolate future events from current ones (e.g. I tell them that the next time an M&M gets thrown, I’m holding them all responsible and getting them taken out of class, and they don’t get what that means), or perhaps they simply didn’t believe me. Hopefully they’ll believe me next time.

Now I’m home and watching For a Few Dollars More. Great film, part of an incredible series, with one of my favorite soundtracks. None of them were as good as the first, Lee Van Cleef aside, but all three of those movies rock.

A good day

Yesterday was a good day. I got to work for a little while, got good news, and went out with friends. What more can a person really ask for?

So, the first two parts have been shared, I’ll go on with the rest.

Mage was a lot of fun. But I nearly always have fun at Mage, so that’s not a big shocker. I really can’t wait until I can step down from the Hierarch position with IC grace and make sure that Orlando is running in admirable fashion. In the meantime, at the very least it’s fun to be able to pick and choose which plots to follow and which to delegate. But the being pulled from one place to another can be annoying at best, detrimental at worst. However, it keeps me busy at game, and makes sure I’m never bored or lacking something to do. Besides, Casey runs an incredible game, so I always enjoy it OOC.

Afterwards we went to D’s place for part of the Friday the 13th marathon. That was a total blast. I only hung around for #7, as both my ride and I were getting tired, but I’m pretty sure I didn’t hear more then six lines of dialog in the movie. We spent the night making comments and throwing marshmallows at the screen when people were being stupid or bad lines were uttered. As you can imagine, there were marshmallows flying pretty often.

What I will say, though, is, “Poor Hot Redhead.”

Finally got home around 4am and crawled right into bed. All in all, a really nice night.

Watching Casino Royale right now and chilling out on this fine Saturday. This movie has to have the best on-foot chase sequence ever filmed. It’s brilliant.

Looking forward to the GOTM next week. Cellshade is coming up and crashing at my place for the weekend, which will be fun, and I get to spend the weekend hanging out with people I like and gaming. Who could beat that?

A day off

Ok, so I was a day off on the incredible bit, but it happened today so I think it still counts.

I was speaking to the sub coordinator at University High today, who had nothing but praise to heap upon my incredible ego, when I mentioned that I was looking for a job for next year. She said how great it would be if I could work there (which I’d love to) and asked if I’d dropped off a resume yet. I told her I hadn’t, but would be at the job fair. She then suggested that I bring in a resume on Monday and she’ll fast track it to the right people and see if she can get me a Language Arts position for next year at the closest high school to my apartment (that one).

See what I meant? I’m working on a sample syllabus and lesson plan right now so I’ll be prepped in case they want to speak to me.

Happy memories

This is a new meme.

We’ve been friends for a while. Tell me one good memory you have of the two of us, or a group of us, that you have. Reply here, think about how great it was, and post this meme to your LJ when you’re done.

Something great

Something incredible is going to happen to me today or tomorrow morning. It’s going to solve so many of my problems. I know it. And when it does, I’m going to celebrate. Watch.

EDIT: And it’s going to change my life positively.

Had to Share

Quote from the new NBC improv show Thank God You’re Here regarding Kevin Neland’s most recent scene.

“I really loved your demonstration of Chick-on-Chick CPR.” – Dave Foley

If anybody else would like to demonstrate that, please call for an appointment. I also give lessons.