Weathering

It’s snowing. Again. It’s always snowing. Today’s snow is very pretty- all fat and falling in slow-motion, but it made my commute to work incredibly slow. I do love the snow, but I’m sick of it. It’s making things feel so hopeless. I think it would be different if I didn’t have to go to work, and I could just frolic in the snow, but driving adds a new poopy spin. At least the roads weren’t treacherous. I get myself so worked up when the snow is bad and driving is scary. I can’t sleep at all if I know I have to drive in the snow. Weather always has a very strong impact on me. Tornados and thunderstorms used to scare the crap out of me. I always went into the basement when I was little when there was just a tornado watch (not the actual warning). My dad, on the other hand, would sit with our front door open, videotaping. Today, in fact, is a school tornado drill. I am always freaked when we have drills. The worst is the “Intruder Drill,” because I always envision some horrible incident and me trying to save a bunch of children from a crazed maniac. The most annoying drills we have are fire drills. The kids don’t take the drills seriously, and neither do most of the adults. Everyone talks, and if it’s crappy out we have to stand outside in the crap. Kids are whining and throwing snowballs and jumping in mud. When I was little I really hated drills. I used to cry during fire drills because the buzz was so loud, and I hated the anticipation. I was so scared during tornado drills that I always put myself into the perfect tuck.

One of the members of my YALSA Audiobooks committee just moved to Alabama, and while she was out of town the terrible tornados came through. Her home was OK, but her dogs were in a kennel that got demolished. A day later, they found the dogs, who were a little hurt but doing fine. Thank goodness.

In non-weather news, it is Tuesday. Let the three-day Idol torture begin! Does anyone have any favorites yet?

Ruh Roh

Something funny happened at work yesterday. A student, who is an admirer of reading and writing, said she found my website one night when she couldn’t sleep. She read my blog and saw that I called another student “obnoxious,” and she tried to guess who it was. Now, I had a total right to call this student obnoxious for giving away the death on my favorite TV show. I don’t feel bad about that. I did, however, have a little panic in my stomach about what else I have said on my blog. Hmmm. It’s stupid to think that no one from my day job would possibly be interested in my other life, and I know at least one person that has had an actual boss confrontation about her blog. But, do I need to worry? Is this another thing in life I have to worry about? I am full of worry lately, as well as boredom. I want an exciting (good) thing to happen. Like an email from out of the blue. Or a really early review of GET WELL SOON. GWS is actually providing a lot of my anxiety. Over the past two days I have read a million book reviews for a book order I placed at work. While I read the reviews, I kept thinking about my upcoming novel and what its reviews will look like. It seems like the publishing business is like any other reviewing business, where one influential person says something good and everyone agrees. That’s what it looked like from my review reading. The weird thing was when three review sources gave starred reviews to a book I thought was really bad and completely inappropriate for its age group. What if reviewers all decide that my book sucks? I know it doesn’t, but what if it does to the review world? Or the book award world? I can’t stand the waiting! And I have to wait for another eight months! I have way too much time right now to think about stressful things. I’m trying to start writing a second novel, and I’m having a lot of trouble. So that’s not making me feel any better about the book career. Is this boring? Does it matter? Does a blog have to be great literature? Please don’t give me a negative review on this blog entry.

Aahhhh

Winter Break. I still have not decompressed yet. All of my dreams last night had my students in them. They are always on my brain. Hopefully, I will be able to shed work soon and just zone out.

I saw the best thing yesterday. It was a car driving down the highway with a giant, glowing menorah strapped to the top of it. Being the seventh night of Hanukkah, it had seven candles lit. I wanted to honk happy honks, but it was too far off. Way to show off the Jewish pride.

Speaking of, what is wrong with Target? I know there was that whole thing last year where they couldn’t say "Merry Christmas," but why did they have to go completely around and have their TV ads say "Merry Christmas." It's one thing in the stores, but to say only ""Merry Christmas," as opposed to "Happy Holidays," feels really anti-Jew. Does anyone else feel this way?

Happy Hanukkah one and all!

Sims and Runways

Wow. I am beat. With school going full time now, I am always tired. I hate that. Plus, my carpal tunnel is bothering me and scaring me that I will probably have to have surgery some day. How will I write another book? More importantly, how will I play The Sims? That is what I want to do on this lazy Sunday, but I'm scared that I'm making the carpal tunnel worse. But what is life without The Sims? I am actually on a live chat now with a Norton Antivirus help person named Ramil (at least I think it's a real person- the answers they are giving are very robotic) to help me shut off all of my antivirus junk so my Sims will run smoothly. Pathetic, eh? I have been playing The Sims for 7 years. A fifth grade student of mine told me about the game when it first came out, and I have bought every incarnation and expansion pack since. Why do I love it so much? I think it's because it's a blend of playing Barbie's and playing a role playing game. You get to dress them, get them jobs, have babies, make them go to work and school. It's funny and fun and I love it. Why is Ramil taking so damned long?

Project Runway is making me very unhappy this season. I don't like the mean crap. Jeffrey is a jerk. I will never understand why someone can be so hateful. It's one thing to be angry, but he STILL goes on about Angela. Maybe he loves her, like an eight-year-old boy with a crush. Hmmm... And why did they have to bring Angela and Vincent back? That was mean. I just don't like meanness. I liked this reality show because it was all about the talent and creativity, but now, it's playing unfairly. We shall see what evil they bring next season, and I may have to stop watching. I think I'd like Michael Knight to win, as he is very talented and has a good nature. I also like Uli. She says funny things, and her clothes look very wearable (although not by me. By someone skinny who doesn't need to wear bras). I like her "crazy colors." Did you know you can see the final four's fashion shows online. click here:
http://nymag.com/fashion/fashionshows/designers/bios/projectrunwaydesigners/

What do y'all think?

Rainy Doodles

It's Labor Day. I have been a slack blog writer. Ah well. I have a very small audience who I don't think will mind the absence.

It's raining, and I have am now set up in our "dining room," in quotes because we have only dined in here once, and we had to move a table in to do it. Now I am at a card table in the middle of the room, my trusty Tobin at my side, trying to finish my second revision of my novel. It's not going to be so bad, but why is it so hard to sit down and do it? I'm already at page 121 out of 158, so that's nothing really. I do have an extra page/section thing I have to do, also. It's a character description list that I have to fit into the story so readers are less confused. At this point, I am working on the novel at such large intervals that even I am confused about who's who. That's because I changed most of the characters' names after the first round of revisions, as too many were the same or similar to the real-life people they were based on. So that's going to be a little work.

Speaking of work, I'm back (although the kids don't come back until Wednesday). That means the sleep problems are also back. Sigh. I can't wait to see the kids, though.

I would like to wish my Tobin a happy tenth birthday. I have had him for almost ten years!!! I love him so much. One blog I will tell the wacky story of how we got together. Yes, I am talking about my cat.

Summer Crazies

I'm having the summer crazies. I know everyone envies the fact that teachers have summers off (as do school librarians), but I always get a little weird and anxious in the middle of the summer. Since I finished the first part of GWS editing, now I'm just waiting around. Not that I couldn't be doing other things, but I don't have anything I have to be doing. Now my scrapbooking stuff is all over the floor (but I just can't seem to get started), and I have some stuff on eBay. You know, I really have nothing to say.

Project Runway Commentary:
Does anyone else do that Fashion Face-Off on the Bravo website? You have to guess who's going to win and who will be out the next week. I suck at it. I feel back that Malan was out. He seemed so sincere and sad and weird. The drama of reality TV.

You know, I am boring myself with this crappy blog entry. Sorry to all one person who reads this.