Another's First Week

I thought I'd mention that Jon is doing increasingly better with his first days of teaching. The first day was chaos (not just his classes - the entire school, because of various administrative mess-ups). The second day had several students still stuck in summer mode. Yesterday was infinitely better and he came home with an actual smile - the first I'd seen since Sunday. He has students that actually want to learn and that seem to understand what he has started to teach to them. I'm particularly proud of him for helping out a student of his that came to the US 2 weeks ago and doesn't know English - the ESL teacher didn't even know she existed until Jon brought it to her attention and now the girl is going to get help learning the language.

But he did inform me of the latest fad to hit high school fashion (as much as "fashion" can be applied to such a place) - leaving the tags on your clothes so that people will know how much you've spent on them. (Also for the sake of possibly returning them after wearing - something that greatly offends the former retail sales worker in me.)

I think this might beat out clear heels for tackiest fad ever.

(They light up! Even better!)

First Day of PC - Thoughts

During PC I:

"Okay, keep calm. He's just talking about grades. No, stop freaking out. Stop it! Oh, I'm so going to be one of the people that gets a zero on their first quiz..."

"Wha-what? I read this! What is happening? 3 days? From when? Oh geez."

"No, no, no, NO. Do not be looking at me. Don't call on me! NO! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" *mental breath* "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

"Please don't ask me anything that has to do with numbers. No, really. There's a reason I want to use words for a living, other than taking 40% of anything. Ah! Dang it. I have NO clue where I read that. Was I conscious yesterday? I'm starting to think not."

"Okay, that wasn't SO bad... And I'm delusional already. Great."

During PC II:

"I wish I hadn't sat this far back."

"I hope I don't look tired. I probably do - two or three hours of sleep total does that to you. I don't think I've been kept awake by fear since the night before my first law school exam almost two years ago. Must. Not. Yawn. Or slouch."

"I'm so happy I wasn't called on again... SO HAPPY. Even happier that I'm pretty sure I know the answer. This is an improvement."

"He does not sound pleased with us. Cower! Cower! Cower more!"

"Yay! Starbucks is calling me - time to go. Wait... what do you mean the afternoon session will last 2 hours? AHHhh... No, I just can't muster the strength for that. I surrender."

Lights in the Sky

Excuse me while I go a bit fangirl here, but the NIN concert last night was the Best. Concert. Ever. And I've seen Tori Amos playing 3 instruments at once. But that doesn't hold a candle to the awesomeness of last night. Completely and utterly worth the hearing loss that I've probably suffered.

(The fantastic Robin Finck on lead last night.)

I do kind of worry about the couple (er, actually three people - I don't want to know) that found "Hurt" a romantic, make-out worthy song. You know, whatever floats their boat (of crazy).

Anyway, the music was fabulous (except for the opening act, which needed a sound check - but I was not there for them). Someone promised that the lighting would blow my mind and it DID. They use those clear LCD screens (THREE levels of them) to their utmost. It was fantastic. Anyone who has the chance should go. Go, go, go, before I pity you.

Nerdy Book Post

So I've been reading quite a bit this week, in an attempt to enjoy the printed word again. It hasn't been working quite as well as I'd hoped.

I would love for someone to tell me what the big deal is about Gregory Maguire (author of "Wicked" and "Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister"). I've read both of those said books now, and I kinda want to go find Mr. Maguire and give him a lesson in proper sentence structure. This is not a sentence - "A market." No one should write sentences like that unless it's in a screenplay. Although I detested "Wicked" for being completely ludicrous and a terrible assault on a cherished story, I came close to that level with "Confessions" just because of the horrific writing. It got better as it went along, but it really shouldn't be obvious that the author spent most of his time telling himself, "This prose of mine makes this book real literature! Gosh, I'm so brilliant." I half expected his bio at the back to simply say, "I'm the king of the world!"

Anyway, I got the book for a $1 at Half-Price, so I suppose that's not such a bad cost to pay for the stupidity of giving him a second chance. I suppose I'm annoyed because it's a concept that appeals to me - retelling fairy tales so that not every character is what they have seemed to be for centuries - but my theory is that's why everyone else reads these books too. I'm just more honest about how its execution fails to live up to that concept. Or I'm just being overly-critical.

Then I read a book by Margaret Atwood called "The Penelopaid". Atwood, unlike Maguire, is one of my favorite authors, although not many live up to "The Handmaid's Tale". ("Oryx and Crake" is close.) But this one was so far from THT that I was almost depressed. It wasn't *bad*... it just wasn't the involving, mysterious book that I wanted it to be.

But that's okay. I'm going home tomorrow for a couple days, mostly to see NIN in concert (*squee*). I'll pick up a couple of my tried and true favorites, like "Jane Eyre" or "Emma"... which will promptly be left on my bedside table to get dusty, because I have PC this fall.

Sorry, it just always comes back to that.

I Still Need To Have Some Good Mexican Food

It's been a week since returning to the States, and I've been all kinds of thankful to get back to what I've missed - hamburgers that taste like real beef, milkshakes with real ice cream, pedicures... and sure, my family. Of course, it also means I've gotten back to all the things I haven't missed, like political mud-slinging and car troubles.

After a week of indulging in all that I missed though, all I have left is this horrific death march towards PC. I feel like someone should be briefing me on my mission and giving me a cyanide tablet, "just in case". Lacour gave me the next best thing - a little bag of school supplies, complete with a packet of Kleenex. Cue the dread.

Okay, okay. It's not going to be two weeks of me huddled in a corner, rocking back and forth, hugging my knees and muttering to myself. I have gotten out - I finally saw "The Dark Knight". I can legitimately saw Heath Ledger is owed a posthumous Oscar. And Maggie Gyllenhaal didn't annoy me as much as I thought she would. And yesterday, I saw "Wall-E", which I'm pretty sure is going to nab Best Animated Feature because geez, I'm still melting from the cuteness there. Hello, they took essentially mute robots and made it both endearing and interesting. Although I have to say that the huge drawback of kids' movies are... you know, the kids in the theater. What does it take, parents? How many glares can you sit through before you tell your 8 and 10 year old children to shut up? Apparently, a lot. *pulls out hair*

Anyway, the point is that we're gearing up for a difficult year here and trying to enjoy the last few days of freedom. Jon just returned from his first day of workshops with WISD and has informed me of the pathetic state of Waco High in its TAKS performance - worse than we thought, although not as bad as it could be, I *guess*. He'll be teaching 11th grade math - i.e. exit level TAKS.

He'll be fine. I'll be fine. We'll be fine. Right?

... We're thinking about starting a pool on who cracks first.

So This Is It

I'm going to be packing up my last few items and heading to the airport in a couple hours. I've been informed that I will indeed have to get my luggage and recheck it in Chicago but that they'll have a special line for us cattle that just want to get through the hell that is O'Hare. Oh gee.

So I'm dreading that. But, that is not to say I didn't live up to my promise and do lots of British-y things in my last two days. If you remember, I did promise myself to make it to the top of St. Paul's - the very, very top. 528 steps. And I did, with minimal sweating and labored breathing too. People around me were snorting like rhinos, but after 5 weeks walking around this city, it was almost TOO easy:

(This horrible picture brought to you by another tourist, who doesn't know you're supposed to focus on the person. Not that I MIND being blurry in this instance...)

I also went to Portobello Road because it was pretty and I was told it wasn't THAT dead during the week... but it was. It was the quickest jaunt to Portobello in history.

For my final day though, I had to go to the just-opened-for-2-month Buckingham Palace. It was kind of exactly like Windsor Castle, except newer looking because these State Rooms are actually used. The English really know how to make ceilings, I'll say that for them, but otherwise, it was a bit too much Louis XIV there. I kind of wonder how anyone could live there and not be freaked out constantly by the opulence. I guess you get used to it. They did have a special room where, for the first time, it was set up as if a State Dinner was going on. That was really gorgeous - definitely a party to get invited to, if you can. I was glad I went, but not overly excited by the actual content.

The back of Buckingham (we all know what the front looks like, I'm assuming?):


And then last night, we met Jeff of BLS fame. He's wandering around Europe and decided to wander over to London. Drinks were bought and then - after realizing he had somehow missed it - we took him to see Big Ben, all lit up.... Then they turned it off and we realized we should be going home. As in, home home.

But not before ALV dared me to climb the famous lions in Trafalgar Square. So I did.

Goodbye, London!

Exams? What?

So today is the big exam day. Most of the others have theirs spread out over 3 days, but I had 2 today and the third is a take-home due tomorrow, so instead of torturing myself at the last minute, I plan to do it tonight at get it over with. Once you're past about 3:30 in London (when my exam ended), there's not a lot to do anyway. Well, nothing that doesn't include the word "pint".

And let's be honest, they're summer classes. Yes, now I know what Incoterms 2000 is, but when one of the questions is "What is a sight draft?", I'm glad I didn't worry too much about the exams.

Instead, I took full advantage of my weekend. Friday was the Tate Modern, which ranges from "interesting" to "I'd put that in my living room - definitely a conversation piece" to "oh GOD, what IS that?... Do I... do I... no, I don't want to know!" (Seriously, there were pieces made with blood - the artist was German. Go figure.) I did get to walk across the Millenium Bridge to get to it though, which was nice, if a bit warmish (that's the Tate in the background):

That night was our last(?) pub crawl, during which I took many a fuzzy photo of Big Ben and the London Eye at night, which I won't subject you to. We did walk (and drink) along the Thames though, which was rather nice:

(I guess that's kind of fuzzy and in the dark too... oh well. Hey look! St. Paul's!)

Saturday was full of British-ness. We went to the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham, which was probably one of the most aggravating experiences of my life. And I once dealt with the US Border Patrol when my taxi driver was an Iraqi - and that still comes in below this one. We got a fortunate place against the fence but were so crushed and abused by people around us, that I had to repeatedly (and quite seriously) tell myself that both the cops and guards had mega-bad-ass weapons and were not afraid to use them. Some people don't understand the concept of personal space. Or deodorant. Or making sure your kids don't step on and kick random strangers. They understand a surprising amount of English swear words though, no matter where they're from. Yeah, a few choice words definitely get their attention and their butts out of your face. (I'm being quite literal about that - they were hoisting themselves up on the fence and I was just the right height to get a disturbing and up-close view.)

Anyway... it was actually kind of boring. I mean, the band was good and I'm glad I did it in order to check it off my list, but I don't need to see it again. Ever. Most of the pictures are pretty dull too. This is the closest we got:

Yeah, those guys just kept walking back and forth. I don't understand the English and their odd traditions.

But after that, we went over to Regent's Park and saw "Twelfth Night" in the open air theater. It's my favorite and it was really quite good. I even recognized a few of the actors from BBC shows and the like.

Yesterday, my procrastination continued as I took a boat down the Thames to Greenwich. It was lovely - the hike up to the Royal Observatory is quite steep, but the Old Royal Naval College is gorgeous. We just sat for quite awhile enjoying the beautiful weather. We even went to the Trafalgar Tavern, which Dickens apparently frequented (and wrote about, I believe). In continuing the "Brits are morbid", I went through the National Maritime Museum to see the coat Lord Nelson died in. He was much littler than you would think...

Here's the Royal Observatory:

And me standing on the Prime Meridian, looking like a dork. I also have a picture of me on the equator in Ecuador... looking like a dork...:

The loveliness that was the Old Royal Naval College (just one side of it):

And the inside of the Painted Hall at the ORNC:

So, I feel like I accomplished more in my weekend than just studying. :) Two more days though! And then I'm off, back to home on Thursday. So I'll probably post once more Wednesday night - we'll see if I'm in frantic packing mode.

Oh, and just a note to STA - when you say "non-stop flight", most people don't count when you land in Chicago, make everyone get off the plane and then reload us into different seats 2 hours later... Do you think I'm going to have to go through customs and recheck my bag??? *dies*