A Reason Why...

Today was an okay day. I woke up tired, so once again it was a slow start. I didn't even try to catch my regular train. I had a breakfast drink and a breakfast cereal bar. I'm glad I went the store yesterday. Usually, my regular breakfast (when I'm not too pressed for time) is instant oatmeal and green tea. However (lately), I haven't even had time to boil the water, so I've been waiting until I get off the train to buy cake or something on my way to work. Yesterday I'm hoping these "breakfast" items are relatively healthy.

Today was a better day than yesterday, but there was a strange incident. A woman came to the classroom to pick up her niece. Well, the school policy is that each child has to be signed out in the main office so that there is a record of who picked up a child(and when). It sounds reasonable.

For whatever reason, the aunt felt she did not have to follow that rule. First her reason was she wasn't going to go down and come back upstairs. Then, she didn't want to sign her niece out, and wait for her niece in the office. She was very, very polite, but in that, "I'll do whatever I damn well feel like, and you're not going to stop me". How did I know? Her statement, "I'm taking my niece, are you going to stop me". There are a few pieces of information, I'm probably better off leaving out(nothing major). I just felt like venting.

I left the school about 5PM. I had Chinese takeout for dinner. I was out like a light soon after eating. Strange part, I don't even remember the time between eating and falling asleep. I woke up about 11:30pm.


Post Date - Thursday, April 30, 2009 2:23AM

Grilled or Fried...Not a big difference

A quick entry...I hope. Of course there was no repeat of yesterday. Even with half the class gone for much of the day, I was still stressed out.

Starting with another (approx.)4 hour sleep, this time I woke up feeling it. I was slow to get started, and rather than even try to run for my train, I just decided to wait for my late train. I arrived to school with about 5 minutes to spare thanks to the taxi ride half the way there.

I'm tired, so I'm going to go with a shorthanded summary:

About half the class was eligible for a free trip leaving me with about 10 students.
A visitor with a few days suspension from his school ruined my day...for the couple of hours he was with me. Within about 20 minutes, he was being disruptive, loud, and aggressive with my students. He banged, he shouted, cursed, and threatened my students. Finally, I just had enough. I was lucky that one phone call to AP1 and the student was gone. But the damage was done. After lunch, the computer/tech guy said that I could bring my small class to his computer lab. However, about 15 minutes was wasted on petty bickering and near fights on who started what. Partly the visitor, and partly the hot weather, I was exhausted.

I planned to be out of the building at 4pm, but when I'm too tired to move, I wasted a lot of time shuffling papers from here the there. Before I knew it, it was 5pm, and before I knew it, I was leaving at 5:30pm. My plan was to do my copying at Staples to get out of the building. $24 worth of copies later, I stopped at KFC to try out their new grilled chicken. Once home, I reheated the KFC dinner. I wasn't too impressed. Partly, they were out of the pieces I wanted. Partly, my day was just too long. After my successful (beginning apartment cleanup), I told myself that I would leave school about 4 or 4:30pm to go food shopping. I didn't leaving at the planned time, but I did decide to follow through with the shopping plan.

After returned from shopping, I had one more errand to run. I went to play the lottery. Normally, I'm not really a gambler, but lately, I've been playing the Mega Millions Lotto. I guess you can figure out why. Maybe I'll get lucky. It would be nice to quit on the spot, but knowing the kind of person I am, I would probably continue working to finish the school year.

Until next time...


Post Date - Tuesday, April 28, 2009 11:48PM

Well, I better go. Tomorrow is another day.

A Quick Bit

This has to be very quick. Today was a good day. It has been a very long time since I remember having a good day (not due to being on a field trip). Anyway my day ended with me smiling -- Except when Ms. Across the Hall on her way out the building told me that she lost my umbrella. Another piece of good today was Admin 2 approving of all my trips. Combined with trips already planned, 3rd grade classes will be going on about 9 field trips. I wanted to have at least a trip per week.

Anyway, back to my quick summary. I was out of the building about 4:30pm. The weather here was great! I arrived home about 5:30pm. I ate a Healthy Choice meal then went to do my laundry. I was expecting the laundry room to be empty, but I was wrong. A couple of ladies also had the same idea. And apparently also allowed their weekends to go with the laundry piling up. While my clothes were being washed, I started cleaning up my apartment. I started with the recyclables that have been piling up in the kitchen. I had about 8 empty 1 gal milk containers. Since I drink about 1 gal per week, I guess you can get a good idea of the last time I dumped the recyclables (that includes newspapers, and cardboard from cereal boxes). I was thinking about taking a picture, but I came to my senses. I also finally got rid of my old printer and a 30 gal bag almost full of shredded paper. Finally, I cleared out the hallway of my apartment; I've had books and papers piled there for the longest time. Now for the first time in a very long time, I can walk the hallway without stepping on or over school materials. I have a bad habit of lugging tons of stuff home only to drop it at the front door and not touch it again. After dumping the bags of trash. I decided to take a bath. Another rare thing. After cleaning the tub and filling it, I decided to wash the dishes that have also been sitting around for the longest time as well. I soaked in the tub for almost an hour (mainly due to reading a few chapters of Sword of Truth Book 3 - Blood of the Fold.). I watched the 11PM newscast.

Well, that was my day. Oh, did I mentioned it started with only 4 hours of sleep. However, for some strange reason, I wasn't tired at all today.

I hope tomorrow is another good day.

Oh, and while I was cleaning, I found my prelabeled 1040EZ tax forms which I would have swore I never received.
Post Date - Tuesday, April 28, 2009 12:57AM

Britain's Got Talent

Hollie Steel will be giving Susan Boyle a run for her money.

Back at Work

I've been back at work since Monday. I came in with a plan for getting organized. However, you know me and my plans(not worth the paper I haven't written on). I'm going to try to keep this short so that I can call it a night.

Strange brews. Sorry, a couple of work related things I was going to write about, but I'm trying to not bring work too much into my blog.

Back to my boring life. My new plan was to use the next couple of weeks to try to get organized so that I could start exercising with a monthly membership to the boxing gym I mentioned a couple of blog entries ago. My new plan was to leave school about 4:30PM. Getting home about 5:30PM, I would allow myself one hour of apartment cleaning and one hour of school prep work. Then, about 30 minutes on my rowing machine. I also would stop buying those school lunches that were "not as healthy as others". Results?

On Monday, I did manage to get home about 5:30PM. And, I almost followed my new plan, but writing emails to parents ruined the mood. On Tuesday, the students book order arrived and before I realized it, I was leaving school about 8:10PM. I had to stop off to buying some clogged drain formula. I arrived home about 9:30PM. And between trying to unclog my tub drain and "decompress" from a tiring work day, I ended up going to bed about 2AM. I was up about 6PM (4 hours of sleep). No, the drain didn't unclog. It did a little bit, but not nearly what I was expecting for pouring about a half a gallon of the drain cleaner down the drain.

Today I was tired and in a cranky mood. The four grade classes went on a trip, and Ms. Across the Hall asked if two of her students who were not going on the trip could stay with my class. She ended up sending 5 students. Yesterday, she borrowed my "emergency umbrella", but has not returned it. She also borrowed my paper cutter, but forgot to return it. Sorry, I guess I'm still in a bad mood.

Well, I better end this entry now.


Post Date - Wednesday, April 22, 2009 11:43PM

Spring Break - Day 11

The end has arrived. And as usual, I'm annoyed with myself for not accomplishing anything productive. Now, I will be returning tomorrow stressed out about work, that should have, could have been done. Plus, I'll be stressed with the new work that will be added.
Today was my errand day. For the first time during my vacation, I was able to get up and out of my apartment at 9:30AM. I went to Macy's to buy the pair of pants and the white shirt for work. I also bought a lighter jacket for spring. I spent about $140. I didn't have my digital camera, so I took a couple of photos with my camera. I'll attach on for this blog entry. Macy's had a flower show display. From Macy's I had lunch at a pizza restaurant. Then, I went to my foster father's place to set up the TV I bought him. I felt a bit bad for being cheap. For about another hundred dollars, I could have gotten a larger TV than the 19 inch.

Next it was food shopping and laundry. Now, I better go because tomorrow will be a long day.

Oh, one last thing before I go. Did anyone see the new animation show on FOX called, "Sit Down and Shut Up!" The show was a cartoon about a group of teachers and a principal at a school. Wow, it was unbelievable. And not in a good way. Due to my need to get off line, I have to cut this short. Bye for now.

Post Date - Sunday, April 19, 2009 11:09PM

Spring Break - Day 10 (Watchmen)

Another wasted day and wasted vacation. One more day remaining before I return to work. I started with a trip to the boxing gym to see I could get a idea of the cost, start time, etc... The owner wasn't in, but the person in charge seemed to be doing the exact same thing I mention in a previous blog. Lots of talking, but very reluctant to give specifics. I did get a price tag. Group sessions for a month (3x per week) is $160. I think the other gym charged $180 for a month. Even while the guy was giving me his salespitch, he kept one of his clients waiting the way I was kept waiting at the other gym.

After the gym, I decided to visit another gym that I googled, but since I didn't have the actual address, it was a wasted effort.

After the "bus ride" to nowheresville, I decided to go see "Watchmen". I knew if I didn't go today, I wouldn't be going at all. Again, I was flying blind. Without any idea of when or where the movie was playing, I just rode the train to 42nd Street. One of the benefits to living in NYC. Within one city block there were 3 or 4 movie theaters each showing about 8 to 10 different movies. I was hoping Watchmen was showing. Since I had 2 hours to kill, I did some walking. I ate at a Japanese fastfood restaurant "Yoshinoya". I was about to go to Burger King, but the service was too slow. I then killed more time in a comic shop. I walked a little more before realizing I needed a new pair of pants and white shirt. I'm some piece of work. Eleven days and I do absolutely nothing, than at the last minute I remember. I made it to the men's department in Macy's before I had to then turn right around and walk back to the theater.

So, how was the movie?

The movie was okay. I thought it was nice. They seemed to really put a lot of effort into the making of the movie. Normally, movies from books (to me) seem to be a disappointment because so much of the movie is left out. Here, the movie still left out (minor pieces) and changed bits, but it did seem a bit too long. Also, the movie was almost ruined by the couple sitting next to me.

The theater was fairly full. Normally, I hate seeing movies in crowded theater. The young couple treated the theater like it was their private living room. They had their shoes off with the young lady stretched out like she was on her couch at home. Yep, three seats in a full theater. And they talked, and talked, and talked. Yes, I think you get the idea. The woman sang, and hummed during the songs. She asked questions through out. They predicted parts along the way. I was so annoyed. I felt trapped. There was no place to moved to. It was a small multiplex theater of about 150 seats. All the aisle seats were taken -- I like the aisle seats. There were only single seating spaces between people.

THE COUPLE WOULDN'T SHUT UP!!!

After the movie, unlike other times, I went directly to the train. I did not want to miss my train. With the weekend schedule, I missed train would have been an hour wait.

Since I arrived in the Bronx with about 10 minutes to spare. I went to MacDonald's. I ordered a regular hamburger, small fries, and a medium milkshake (I should have ordered a small). This meal was my poor attempt to eat a bit healthier by eating in moderation. Usually, I would have the Big Mac Extra Value Meal.

This whole (wasted) vacation, I've been eating healthier than usual mainly due to the fact I was too lazy to get out of bed. Now, with work only a day away, I am already returning to bad habits.

Well, I better go. Tomorrow is my rat race day. I will have to do in a day what I could and should have done in a week.


Post Date - Sunday, April 19, 2009 12:33AM

Spring Break - Day 9

Another wasted day letting the clock run out.

Spring Break - Day 8

I might as do this now and get it out of the way. Plans??? Well, you know about me and my "plans" so I won't bother wasting time with a recount of my plans for the day. So, what did I do?

I went to bed about 12:20am last night. I woke up about 6am this morning, but didn't get out of bed until about 11:30am. I logged online with the "idea" of quickly checking the movie time (which I have yet to do) for the movie "Watchmen". I really want to see the movie, but once again, I've fallen into my "comatose" mode. I went to YouTube and started watching clips from "Oz" and I am only now breaking away. Actually, I watched a few hours worth of clips yesterday. Now it is about 3:14pm I'm still in my pajamas, and strange enough without having eaten anything yet -- I came directly to the computer. I'm only a little bit hungry.

Now, I will eat something. Finish filling out my 1040EZ tax form. Since I'm getting a tax refund, I convinced myself (without much difficulty) to not travel to the main post office in midtown to drop off my tax form.

Well, I've done enough time wasting for the time being.


Post Date - Thursday, April 16, 2009 3:20PM

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I decided to change the post date. It is now 6:59PM and I'm still sitting here in front of my computer having not moved from the time of the above post date. I ended up watching some more of the "Oz" clips.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Yep, I'm still here. And no, I haven't moved from this spot at now 8:51PM. After watching another couple of hours of clips, I think I've gotten my fill of "Oz".

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I'm still here now 10:06PM unmoved. I should just buy the box set.

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Okay now I'm leaving. It is now 10:32PM. It was a long and wasteful day. Bye for now. I hope.

Spring Break - Day 7

Another wasted day. I went to the boxing gym I dismissed a few months ago for being vague with pricing. However, I'm still interested in taking boxing lessons, but at the same time, I'm too lazy to venture beyond my regular commuter routine. I want to try paying for a monthly fee. So, I went to the gym, but the owner wasn't there. One of the guys there called and found out the owner was in small claims court. Not a good sign. Anyway, I was told to come back tomorrow. I was planning to visit my foster father to see if he was able to set up the new TV. However, on my way back from the gym I realized that today is April 15th. Taxes are due! So, I returned home to start my taxes. I will take them to the main post office in midtown which is open 24 hours.


Post Date - Wednesday, April 15, 2009 7:59PM

Amazing

I saw this clip on the news last night. Today another blogger mentioned it, so I thought I would post it here. Amazing! Just goes to show you can't judge a book by its cover. You will have to click on the link below the picture to see the YouTube clip. Enjoy!

Susan Boyle

















Post Date - Wednesday, April 15, 2009 11:52AM

Spring Break - Day 6

Another fairly unproductive day. But then, I'm sure you knew it would be (those who are regular readers).

Today I did try to not return to bed after eating a couple of bowls of cereal. I also started cleaning my living room. Not much but I did at least start cleaning. I'm missing one of my shelving units (brought to school), so I was trying to organize one of the two I have at home. One shelf unit contains all of my fantasy, sci-fi books, and comics. The other shelf unit will be for school related material.

Around 4:30pm, I went to the library to get my 1040EZ tax form. For some strange reason I do remember getting one. While I was out (only planning to get the tax forms and return home), I decided to sign up for membership at the local Y. Well, they told me that they only provided boxing for kids. Or, they provided something called "white collar" boxing. I didn't like the sound of that. That sounded like a weak substitute for the real thing. They told me the guy in charge of the "white collar" boxing program would be available at 7:30pm. So of course, I didn't sign up. I also looked closer at the membership fees. In the past, I've signed up for the "preminum" membership ($450) for a one year membership. The only difference between the "preminum" and the "full" membership is access to sauna and the steamroom. I've never used the steamroom, but I like the sauna. Oh, and the "full" membership is only ($220) per year.

So, what now? I told myself to forget the sauna. I'm going to try to find the boxing gym number I found a few months ago. It is about 30 minutes from work. I'll visit and see what the place is like.


Post Date - Tuesday, April 14, 2009 9:59PM

Spring Break - Day 5

Another wasted day of sleeping and surfing.

Spring Break - Day 4

I stayed in bed for much of the day. Then, I went to my foster father's place. His ladyfriend cooked a very nice dinner. I forgot my foster father's birthday, so I just purchased a TV online. Since it is already a few days late, I paid the extra $47 for express delivery. At the moment his TV broke, and for the last few days he has been using a 13-inch color TV. I'll attached a photo of the TV I just ordered. Sorry, I was being a bit of a cheapskate.

Well, tomorrow will be Day 5 of my vacation. Hopefully, I will break out of the comatose rountine I've been in for I don't know how long. The plan tomorrow? Maybe sign up at the gym around 10:30 and do about 20 minutes on the treadmill and some lite weightlifting -- since I have not been in the gym for quite some time, I want to try to take it easy. Well, that's Plan A. Plan B is to start cleaning livingroom. Plan C is to sleep the day away with usual, "Oh, I'll do something tomorrow" idea.


Post Date - Sunday, April 12, 2009 11:28PM

Before Dishonor

Rather than add this book review with the previous blog entry, I decided to separate it.
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I finished reading The Star Trek:The Next Generation book, "Before Dishonor". I didn't like the cover, and that should have been a warning. I only got the book because I read online that the book series was trying to do a "continuation" from the TV series. Having been a fan of the TV series, I wanted to read the book.

So, what were some of my reasons for not liking the book:

* starting with the cover. Seven of Nine rarely had her hair down and the expression on the face doesn't fit with the character that was portrayed on the TV show. I'm not sure what the author was going for, but I missed the point.
* Also, a major, I mean "major" character gets killed off as if that character was one of the original Star Trek series minor characters. Remember how in the original show, whenever a minor character went on an away mission, inevitably that character was killed off just to drive the plot forward.
* I also didn't like the borg attack sequences (for lack of a better terminology). Basically, the borg having been cut off from the rest of the collective had to adapt to survive. However, thay were beaten so badly (according to the book), that they had to evolve. Now they can defeat an armada of starships in seconds. They can also "eat" -- yes "eat" planets in seconds. They could also fly in and out of the sun...well, I think you get the idea.
* The primary plot point is that the borg have been beaten by the federation to the point of extinction and will do anything to end the threat of the federation. So being completing unstoppable, and coming within seconds of "eating" planet earth(and dealing an extremely crippling blow to their "enemy"), the borg decide to stop for what I thought was a rather stupid reason. If you're unstoppable, and you have your enemy on his knees. Why stop and wait for...."someone" who can neither stop you nor really add anything of significance.

I did like the feeling that I was reading a continuation of the ST:TNG series, I thought the story was a bit over the top.


Post Date - Sunday, April 12, 2009 12:39AM

Spring Break - Day 3

No Change. I think I've just about fallen into my regular comatose vacation mode. Today I was up only to eat a couple of bowls of cereal, then I was back in bed until about 6PM. So, not much to blog about.

I did finally collect all fifty state quarters. I got the last one today. I went out to order a spaghetti dinner from a nearby takeout restaurant. See the attached photo of my quarter collection. Oh, the bill in the photo is a two dollar bill. I don't see them very often, so I have not spent that one.

Tomorrow I visit my foster father for Easter dinner. Hopefully, I will do something productive on Monday.


Post Date - Sunday, April 12, 2009 12:14AM

Spring Break - Day 2

I woke up about 7am. The day started off good, but in the end, I fell back to old habit. I ended up sleeping a bit of the day away. I finally got up (showered) and was out the door about 2:30pm. I dropped off my rent payment and went food shopping. After returning home, I went out for Chinese takeout. Not an exciting day. I will try again tomorrow to be more productive. I'm telling myself that two wasted days out of 11 isn't too bad. Oh, and I did managed to plan another trip for the 3rd grade classes.

I also came to another decision about the gym. My plan of joining the boxing program will have to wait. I think I mentioned here that I'm trying to cut down on my credit cards. Each time I try to become credit card debit free, I go on a spending spree. I'm not going cold turkey, I'm just trying for a bit of spending control. My orginal plan was to pay for the gym membership and the boxing program (which is separate) together. Now, I think I will just pay for the one year membership on Monday, and pay for the boxing membership on Wednesday. I'm sure some of you are saying, "why don't you just sign up for the monthly payment plan".

1. I don't like the "automatic deductions".
2. I think it is more expensive.
3. If I don't use my membership, I'll probably be too embarassed to end it quickly knowing that I won't go. I'll just keep telling myself, "next month, next month, it will be different.

Well, by now, I just you (the reader) figured out that I am a time (and money) waster. Either way, I'll end up wasting money.

Well, I think that is about it. Hopefully, Day 3 will be better and much more productive.


Post Date - Friday, April 10, 2009 10:43PM

Spring Break - Day 1

Spring Break is in full-swing. Day 1? I mostly slept it away. After my usually procrastination to exhaustion routine, I told myself that I was entitled to sleep the day away (after a few false starts). So, what's the plan for the 11-day vacation? I am the plan-maker?....I'm also the dreamer.

My plan is to not turn on my computer (or the TV) until after 5pm. Most of you regular readers know that I tend to vegout when either comes on. Other plans. For the next (now 3 days) I want to try to clean up my living room. The other rooms at one point or another have been cleaned (the most recent being the bedroom and bathroom). I've been stepping over, around and on various piles. It would be nice to have my apartment cleaned for once, especially at the beginning of the vacation, not the (usual) end. I also want to set up my new printer/copier/scanner machine. I think I bought the machine a couple of months ago. Yep, it is still sitting unopened on the floor.....

I just checked the receipt. I bought the printer January 2, 2009. Since my living room is such a mess, I told myself that the best place to keep the receipt was on the box until I opened it, just in case I needed to return the machine. The 90 return policy expired a few days ago. I also have my Iron Gym unopened on the floor as well. The Iron Gym has been on the floor (unopened) longer than the printer.

Anyway, I want to clean my living room. I want to do (at least) a week of lesson plans for my return to work. I also want to grade some of the piles of papers that have been cluttering up my living room for months. I would like to do some (or all) of this by this coming Sunday. Before "vacation mood" sets in. Usually as you "regulars" know, I tend to do things at the last minute. I also tend to go comatose during vacations. Lastly, I want to join the gym on Monday. Hopefully, I can start a routine with the gym that I will be able to continue when I return to work.

Well, it is getting late. I also want to try to get into a regular sleep routine. Being in bed before midnight on non-work days and before 11:30pm during work days. I'm tired of the irregular (regular) sleep routine. Next week, I would also like to see at least 2 or 3 movies - I want to see Watchmen before it leaves the theater. I also want to do at least 2 or 3 touristy things like visit the Empire State Buiding's Observation Deck. Lately, I've missed several movies that I wanted to see, but was too stressed out from work to bother. And I rarely (if ever) do anything touristy. Hopefully, this vacation will be different.

Well, Day one is over. Let's see if I can improve myself this vacation.

Oh, I almost forgot. I need to apply to College to finish my Master's Degree.


Post Date - Thursday, April 9, 2009 11:18PM

Vacation Begins

Not the best start to a vacation. Today was the last day of school before the Spring Break Vacation begins. After my students were dismissed, I made changing my bulletin board a top priority. By the time I finished the bulletin board, it was about 7:30pm. I was out of the building at about 8:30pm. I missed my train by about 3 or 4 minutes. Since I had about 40 minutes to kill, I went to Subways restaurant for dinner. On my way back to the train station, I realized I needed to pay one of my store credit cards. After making the detour, I missed my train again by about 3 or 4 minutes. However, now it is past rush hour, so the train is running every hour. I've got an hour to kill on the platform. Mainly it was me fighting falling asleep know that I might miss the next train. I finally arrive home about 11pm. The strange thing is that when I finally got home, I was no longer tired.

Not the best start to the vacation.

Post Date - Thursday, April 9, 2009 10:29PM

Nothing New

I think the title says it all. I slept Saturday away. I went out for a spaghetti dinner takeout at a local restaurant. I made a quick run to the supermarket for a pint of Ben & Jerry's "FroYo - Cherry and Chocolate" frozen yogurt. I also picked up a couple of boxes of cereal for my breakfast in the morning. While I was watching TV, I saw a boat floating by my window, so I got my digital camera to take a picture. I'll attached the photo.

Well, I think that is about it. Nothing really new to write about. I did plan some trips for my grade level, I also put together a homework pack for my grade level. Everyone else seemed too busy or uninterested in doing either, but seemed to like the results I submitted for both. Next week begins the Spring Recess vacation. I'm really looking forward to the rest.

I'm going to try (I hope) to join the gym sometime next week. But then, you probably can't count how many times I've written that here.


Post Date - Saturday, April 4, 2009 11:48

From Bad to Worse

It is 4:23am. After dozing off throughout the night here at the computer chair, I now have to finished last minute preparations.

Gym? No.
Leaving work before 5PM? No.

Yesterday, I was out at 8PM to go to Staples to make some copies. Chinese takeout. Home about 9:30PM.