A Fill In MMP

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
121

I don’t know how much recourse I’d have. I did have a bad month in October–lots of panic attacks and general inability to get anything done. I missed half of the journals and about two weeks worth of posting. Thing is, that professor didn’t give ANY breakdown of grades or explain her grading criteria. I turned in my annotated bibliography only to find out I should have had at least ten articles on it. She didn’t tell me this until AFTER it was graded. One of my friends was her GA last spring and he couldn’t stand her either.

Gah, I really want to get my TESOL classes done. I want to teach adult ESL either on the side or as a career when I graduate (I’m trying not to say if). I have to get my thesis done–I owe it to my family to do this. And myself. And my friends. Hell, I even owe it to my cat–someone has to keep him in cat food.

I’m not even going to work on the Great Pile of Thesis Books today. I’m going to veg out with the Simpsons (second season and Hit-n-Run) and my library books. I’m on vacation, I should act like it.

And dammit, I forgot to get my MST3K DVD’s from the Monday Night Society Hosts so I can’t watch my traditional Christmas Movie (Santa Claus ). They loved my Booze Balls, though. :smiley: The Germans and the Irish can always be friends when there’s alcohol in the room!

122

Mindude, PieDad bought those apples before. Seeing that I don’t like either apples or grapes, I didn’t eat one. However, they definitely smelled very grapey.
So, what, Noonelunchspecial1solunchableshewhomustnotbenamed is not going to take me up on my picture challenge !?!
ETA: Sorry, Spaz, but try not to be a spaz. :smiley: I can’t imagine that they’d kick you out that quickly either.

123

Can’t get my name on the obligatory sign… :slight_smile:

124

Deep breathing, okay? ((((Spaz))))
I think I’ll make caramels. Mum hasn’t got the car dug out yet, so we’re planning grocery shopping/midwife’s visit/lunch (N.O.L) on Thursday, and I’ll struggle through the snow in a few minutes and pick up some essentials. The snowbanks on the side of the road are about waist height. Three feet or so? Crazy.

We got pizza on Sunday after we got home, and thanked the delivery guy profusely. He said he’d just moved here from Los Angeles, and this is is his first Canadian winter. Everyone was assuring him that it isn’t usually like this. He just lucked out. Poor guy.
Time to make candy. I think we’ll have spaghetti for dinner. And I should call the landlady and find out if we’re ever getting our !^&%$ing stove fixed or replaced.

125

Write small then!!! Come on, you need to put a sign up. :smiley:

126

After yesterdays crappy day I went home ate dinner and went to bed. So far Tuesday is much better and I am in a better mood :smiley: :smiley: :smiley:
[ul]
[li]Christmas shopping complete - CHECK![/li][li]Christmas cards written - CHECK![/li][li]Christmas cards mailed that needed to be mailed - CHECK![/li][li]Christmas cards given out locally - CHECK![/li][/ul]

And I still have a week to go! You may all proceed to hate me now :smiley:

Libby the crazy kitty gets her stiches out tomorrow which means the cone will be off. I took if off for a little while last night when I got home and she sat on my leg and groomed her face for about 15 mins. She must be feelling all grimy and nasty poor thing.

I leave on Thursday to go home for Christmas - WHOOHOO!!!

127

Grapples? I think they should be called “Apes”. :smiley:

MinDude that would be me. Totally brilliant. :cool: Actually I just sent off both writing examples. They are concise, technical (well technical for what I do) and boring. Just what a professional writing example should be! Sometimes I think, what would people do if I talked that way. I tried it out on ol’ y’all know who once and he told me it sounded like I needed to up the medication. Smart ass. Good thing for him I consider smartassedness to be an endearing quality.

It’s cool and damp today. I’m hoping this means rain is movin’ on in. We should get rain by tomorrow anyways. Yay.

Oh, this mornin’ when I awoke to a cool and damp day I thought to myself, I wish I’d taken a beef roast out to thaw so I could chunk it up and make some beef stew. Then I remembered… frozen homemade beef stew in the freezer! WOOHOO! So I took it out and that’ll be dindin tonight. Cooked, of course. I have a feeling beefstewsicles are not as good as they sound. I’m thinkin’ a nice crisp green sallit and some itty bitty cornbread muffins will go nicely with. I am truly a Domestic God!

Ok, off to do stuff. I should do some more of that online training stuff, which I shall. Maybe a nap too.

Later Y’all!

128

Wow, Spaz, that’s one nasty mess with your classes. I had no idea professors could get worse than they are teaching undergrad classes, but apparently so. :frowning: You say your prof didn’t explain her grading criteria at ALL? What the hell, isn’t that what the syllabus is for? I don’t know if that’s even allowed… Students should always know how they are going to be graded… If there’s some way to contest her, like speaking to the Dean of the department or something, I would say to do so. And if you can take that TESOL class with anyone except her, I would recommend it… Dunno if that’s possible, but it’s just some thoughts.

Mindfield, I saw those apple-grape-things the other day. My reaction was very similar to yours–“What the hell?” I suppose if someone wanted to make an apple and grape smoothie or something, they might be able to save a little money that way, but honestly… Maybe the manufacturers are just trying to see how much genetic engineering they can get away with. :stuck_out_tongue:

Well, the gum swelling has completely gone down today and I’m feeling much better. Apparently my gums are just weaklings who can’t handle a bit of tough love. :stuck_out_tongue: Next up, appointment to cut and dye my hair, which should be much more fun. And afterwards, Ali’s driving up to see me for the evening. I haven’t seen him in over a week… I think I’m going through withdrawal. :stuck_out_tongue:

129

Ow, meli, can’t you ask her to take it easy?

Grape-flavored apples? That doesn’t sound good to me. When I want a apple, I wants one that is crisp and juicy and tastes like an apple.

Internet was out here at work this morning. So I whizzed through billing hell and have only one more client to do. Guess that says something, huh?

Still cold here this mawnin. In th mid 40s. Brrrrrrrrrrr!

More later.

Tupug

130

Hello, all. I have been busy this morning, running errands. I got my UK friend’s present off–only $6 to airmail (they don’t do ground shipping anymore). I also got the storm windows frames to the glazier finally–it’s only been since July. :rolleyes:
And I just realized that Xmas Eve is like Monday. this is not good. I have more grocery shopping to do. Am working the next 3 days, two 0530s and one later shift. Why did I say I’d do that? Oh, yeah, to help pay for Christmas.

Sorry to hear about the grades, Spaz. We have to fill out evals on our profs each semester. I doubt they do much good, but it’s something. Can you talk to a Dean–the now knowing the parameters of the assignment prior to handing it in seems a bit surreal to me… (and sadly, completely predictable. I had a horrible cataloging teacher this last semester. I call her the Smurf).

131

Hi, everyone! I am cheerful and chirpy today; I feel like I finally caught up on my sleep! I only woke up about 3 times last night instead of every hour.

Work is going well, and I found a crisp $100 bill in my locker after the Christmas party, which I didn’t attend because there was a hockey game that night. I haven’t been there long enough to get the entire quarterly bonus but it was very nice to get something. I used part of it to buy Mr. SCL a $20 lottery ticket as part of his Christmas, and bought myself a $10 ticket while I was there. I won another $100 on the lottery ticket!! Mine, all mine! I have been doing some bidding on jewelry stuff on e-bay; I found a site that has nice gemstone jewelry and beads at really good prices. I got a ring with 8 stones (citrine, amethyst, topaz) set in silver for $6 including shipping. There’s more than $6 worth of silver in it!

Off to get cleaned up and dressed for work.

I wuvs you all!

/ sickly sweet

132

Hello! Sorry for being so late to the MMP - I have guests over and general craziness has ensued. The two of them have gone off to spend some couple-y time together so I have the house to myself for a few hours. But they’re leaving tomorrow, so I can get back to more important things, like surfing the Dope. :stuck_out_tongue:

There’s an amusing story I have to tell involving a lot of alcohol and a gay bar, but I’ll have to save that for later. Something to look forward to, eh? :smiley:

133

Should I read it in my bunk, or should swampy? :smiley:

134

Blurgh. I swear there’s something in the air today that’s lowering the general threshold for frustration. I flipped out in the kitchen this morning because it was just disorganized. It wasn’t even that dirty, but I could not leave until it was straightened up. It made me a little late for work, but my mental health is a bit better for it. And then a coworker came over almost in tears because Excel was being a bitch. Stuff I’m sure she normally could handle, and it seemed like she’d reached the same ARGH kind of moment that I’d had at home this morning. So there’s something weird going on that’s giving us all short fuses.

Sorry about the grade stuff Spaz. Do you have funding/scholarships/grants that depend on maintaining a certain GPA? Maybe go talk to whoever controls the purse strings just so they know what’s up. {{{Spaz}}}

135

You should read it in Swampy’s bunk.

…
(d&r)

136

My, my, aren’t we all a frisky bunch today! I’m not frisky, but at least I’m feeling human. Unlike Papa Tigs, who is home for the second day in a row. How do you know Papa Tigs is really sick? When he stays home from work. And how do you know he’s on death’s doorstep? When he voluntarily goes to bed at noon for a nap. Needless to say, we shall be Discussing whether he goes to work tomorrow or not. I get a veto in the matter, since he’s vetoed me a time or two, too.

meli, to avoid future painful dental hygiene appointments, may I recommend a simple solution? Flossing your teeth thoroughly, getting down below the gumline, at least once a day, preferably after every meal. And brush your gums vigorously when you brush your teeth, too. The older I get, the more I do of both to avoid periodontal problems, and I have been highly successful in keeping dental work in recent years to crowns to replace old monster fillings. Plus cleanings don’t do my gums any damage whatsoever. Tough gums, that’s the ticket! :smiley:

I just ran a couple of errands, hoping I was early enough to beat the crowd, but I still didn’t completely make it. I fled the last shopping area rather than even contemplate finding a parking spot. In the two prior to that, I cheated and used my handicapped placard that I no longer need but is still good for three more years, and my foot’s hurting today anyway so that’s a good enough excuse for me anyway. Especially since one of my stops was the drugstore to pick up a scrip for the spasms in my foot. Yes, I’m expert at rationalization and justification, is there a problem with that? :dubious: :smiley:

And now back to work. An investigatory interview that is sending my blood pressure through the roof because of fraud, waste, and corruption :mad: (not on the part of the interviewee, thank heaven; that’s the person spilling the beans, and boy, does she have beans to spill). And that’s even without getting to cleaning up Ms. Bibwhacked’s section. Wish me luck. :frowning:

137

Ow.

I was heading up the stairs, and remembered something I needed to take with me, so I stepped back down…and had gone one step farther up than I remembered, so I stepped down over two steps. I didn’t fall, but there’s a wall across the hall from the bottom of the stairs and my arm went behind me and caught me against it. Now I’ve got a sore muscle right near my shoulder. And this is my right arm, which is my steering arm when I drive, because my left is on the hand controls. It hurts when I move my arm up more than a few inches. I’m not really worried, but I’m kinda pissed. It’s not hideous pain or I’d be considering a trip to the doc. I’d be more worried if I’d hurt my wrist, like I thought I’d done for the first few minutes! I guess I’ll break out the ice pack. Lucky me, I don’t have to work for the rest of the week, so I can go easy on it.

138

I have just de-stickied myself from caramel. I have about four or five pounds of wrapped caramel. Now I think I’ll slog to the grocery store.

Drat. I’m trying to find a quote from The Dispossessed, by Le Guin, and google isn’t helping at all. I can find the bit that comes right after (and which I’ll put up here because it’s one of my favourites), but not the first bit, which goes something like, “If you evade the possibility of suffering, you also also miss the chance of joy…” The main character has just been reunited with his wife after four years of famine and drought.

Mr. Lissar’s just reading it for the first time.

139

Next time I think it’s a good idea to take an afternoon off, one of youse guys smack me, ok?

I got WAAAAAAY too much to do here today.

grumble grumble

140

And what’s wrong wth my bunk?

I misread that as de-stinkied.
It’s been a crappity-crap-crap week so far. DH succumbed to Cow Palace Plague on Sunday night and is still flat on his back from it. On the miniscule plus side, he’s not losing any “time” from unemployment payments while he’s sick. We’re just waiting impatiently for the first UI check to show up so we can pay the mortgage, which was due 18 days ago.

The house medics at the Dickens Fair appreciate his authoritative patriarchal persona as “Papa” as he’s looked at more than a few cast members and said “You’re sick. GO HOME!” freeing them to tend to other people. The foolish few that protest win a visit from the medics (A husband and wife duo of ER physicians in real life) who listen to what DH tells them, then they tell the person “You’re sick. GO HOME!” Unfortunately, he’s picked up the bug from somebody and didn’t keep the receipt so he could return it.

We had a panic at the tea shop on Sunday morning. The early people that get there found a note (written in crayon on a placemat) on the sink faucet saying “NO WATER IN BUILDING PIPE BURST.” Seeing as the main ingredient in hot tea is water, and the health department is fussy about food service establishments having running water, this was quite the pickle. The water came back on in time, only to disappear again right at the beginning of afternoon High Tea. :eek: Ten minutes later, we had water, but we had been pondering how long we could hold out before we’d have to close.

Last year, we lost power. This year, we lost water. What will we lose next year? A piece of the roof, maybe?