So, despite the questionable status of our finances for the rest of the summer and into the school year, I am taking a ballet class with a friend this month. Last night was the first class, and although it kicked my butt (and made me realize yet again how out of shape I am) it was a lot of fun and I was excited to see that I was not too rusty. I'm looking forward to next week and hoping that I can start hitting the gym again to supplement. Physical fitness, here I (hopefully) come!

In related news, I rode the motorcycle on Rt 80 last night. Scary, but cool.

so my brain is totally failing, i think bc of all the chaos surrounding me (both physically and mentally)...

been *super* busy. had animenext, then a wedding, then origins, then cape may. somewhere in there was the end of school and the beginning of the extended school year. i also managed to get the cat registered before the cutoff (or suffer a $2 late fee, oh noes!) and get my motorcycle inspected. upcoming includes this weekend (which may or may not include going to see two different friends' bands play), the next which involves going down south for ravenloft (if you could see me i'd be making my not excited face) and potentially 1-2 more games, the following both a craft meeting and another friend's game weekend... then the next month there is a week away at a friend's beachhouse and potential "free" time...

however, upon brief analysis of our current financial situation and looking at the potential pay periods for the esy (which they always screw us over with), it appears that we may need to acquire additional sources of income. which depletes the "free" time. if it's even possible.

also putting a damper on the fun things i was kinda hoping to do this summer. namely, tattoo and nose ring. also potential dance classes with a friend.

so happy news is that the bike is good to go, runs well, inspected, registered, insured, all that good stuff. the esy is not 100% torture, although i'm not superfond of a coworker's ethic... my house is still a disaster... sad news is that i think some of our summer fun may be canceled due to lack of fundage... gonna take a serious look at the budget tomorrow, and maybe look forward to the school year when the pay switches to 12-month... gotta make this work, and it may involve cutting back on some expenditures to preserve others... meh...

I promise, I'll post, soon... just been super busy.
Topics to include motorcycle, Origins, nose rings, food, summer, ESY, alcohol, bugs, and fail.
Now to sleep.

So this past weekend, briefly:

Thursday night after aftercare- Washington School Retirement Party, out til almost 10, home by 11, 4 drinks.
Friday day I got to be teacher all day, then do aftercare, then go to Dave's school's End of Year party (which was kinda a letdown b/c we got there like 6:20, had enough time to eat some of the food which was primarily different types of meat, have a bottled water since there was no soda left and little in the way of alcoholic beverages we would drink, then move outside b/c the building closed at 7).
Friday night, Hipshots show at the Axis Lounge, I kicked a black metal endtable before I even started drinking, super awesome time, 5 drinks.
Saturday, Sue and Steve's wedding. Reception started at 6, we left around 10, 6 drinks (including a glass of chardonnay and some champagne).
Saturday after the reception, QXTs with Chris, Rose, Scoop, Strangeway, ATL Thomas, and ATL Ben, 3 more drinks.

Yeah. It was a ridiculously busy weekend.

Three more days. Then Origins in Ohio. Then ESY starts Monday. Fourth of July weekend in Cape May. God knows what else is happening that I can't remember. At some point I need to register my cat and get my (overdue) motorcycle inspection done. Plus figure out how much money I am owed by other people and when I can get it back, b/c that's prolly how I'm paying my bills this summer. Yay.

Should I find the time, I may also get around to making an updated profile pic so I can stop using this really emo pic and switch to a much more emo one taken when I was fing tired after Qs. LOL.

here it is!


( in all its generic poorly formatted glory! )

Just made and tasted sauteed kale for the very first time... not sure if I did a good job sauteing it, as I wasn't quite sure how long it needed to be cooked and I was afraid I was going to burn it, but it's not bad, a little too chewy for my tastes but the actual flavor isn't bad. Used a splash of red wine vinegar and some baby red onions I sauteed in olive oil, then finished with garlic sea salt grinder. Nuked some leftover couscous to accompany it.



Proud of myself for a)cooking, b)trying something new, and c)getting something done today.

Just ordered the proof copy of my novella (I'm calling it a novella because I really don't think it's long enough to be a novel). In about a month I'll have a really cheesetastic book with template-generated cover (complete with generic art) arrive on my doorstep. Even though I'm in full hatred of my own work mode it is kinda exciting to think about seeing my writing printed.

So I've got some awesome cold or something, and my stupid work ethic made me not take off Monday or today because I'm stupid and plagued with guilt whenever I take time off... so instead I've been exhausted and coughing all over the place. Good times.

So yesterday I got an email from Dave's credit card saying there was suspicious activity on the account... and I knew right away that there was a big problem. Because we don't actually use the credit cards. We just pay them off slowly by slowly.

So Dave calls the # on the back of the card because I am now uber suspicious and don't trust the phone # or website the email says to go to to verify the transactions... and yeh, somebody stole his info and was buying stuff in NY... I'm wondering if they stole the # and info and made a duplicate card, because to have purchase locations means it wasn't just the numbers and purchases online.... luckily that particular card comes with free fraud protection, plus it's fairly obvious that we don't make purchases, so the fraud beacon was bound to go off...

So now that card is cancelled and we're not responsible for the fraudulent charges - yay a business actually doing what they should and being on the ball!

AnimeNext is coming way too fast, I have a costume to finish and it's not going to happen fast enough... because I'm sick and tired and ineffectual... yay....

Yeah, it would also be super-awesome if I could get some sort of confirmation that I actually have a job for the summer... cuz you know, it's like June 2nd, and the summer session begins June 29th, and it'd be great to know if I'm actually working that officially and whatnot... yay school systems not telling you anything in advance... cuz if I need a different job I'm screwed...

Grrr... that is my mood. And my books need to come out in paperback so I can buy them with my giftcard that has been sitting around since xmas because none of my books are out yet.

Oh, but I did finish the first edit of my novel... and I hate it. But that's kinda to be expected, considering I know the story and am a super-harsh critic of myself. So yeh... maybe someday I'll let someone else read it...

So, I'm buying a motorcycle... but the most "fun" part is figuring out the state-to-state title fun (cuz PA and NJ have totally different rules)...

My b-day is Saturday. Decided not to do the DND pub-crawl. Dave, my mom, and Sarah are taking a motorcycle course this weekend (my dad sprung the news on us at the end of this past week), so it wouldn't be feasible even if I wanted to... which, realizing that it would be the city, and I don't like the city, I decided I didn't want to...

I *may* be getting my tattoo finally this weekend. I've researched a tattoo parlor (well, researched several and chosen one). I have a design. I have friends willing to go with me. I just have to decide *when*.

We finally moved the living room around, which makes the space... different? Not bigger, not smaller... some things don't fit anymore, but others fit better and leave empty spaces. It's weird. Have to figure out how to piece back some of the living room puzzle together...

Been absolutely exhausted lately, and absentminded about things. Hopefully the long weekend will help me get my shit back together.

almost done with testing... god i hate state standardized retardation...
extended constructed-response question - wtfbbqfukr?
use language elementary school children will understand, plzthxk?

ion, birthday coming soon, want to go get myself a tattoo, should prolly find myself someone who's gone b4 to go with b/c otherwise i prolly won't actually go... haven't decided where, should prolly do that in advance too...

got a few early bday gifties, a new camera, mem cards for cam, mini wireless mouse for th laptop...

also win, cvs sent us new discount cards (dave's literally disintegrated)...

*really* need to weed whack... but finding the time is hard... weeds are coming up to crazy high tho...

star trek was awesome!! it was not only a good star trek movie, it was a good movie, period! and nimoy, excellent, it would've been too cheesy if shatner had done a role too... i laughed, i cried, i loved the twists...

want to see newkirk & newspock (and btw, best casting ever, ZQ as spock!!) fight to the death with the epic music from the tv show...

actually i liked all the casting, and the little hints and tributes to the old show and old actors... and the new actors really kept true to the characters without being mimics of the old actors...

So I, um, misplaced my checkbook about 2 weeks ago... have done numerous random searches everywhere I thought it might be, but to no avail... so finally ordered new checks... so now I have checks and can pay the bills. Yay!

Went to the gym twice this week. Wanted to go 3 times but was overruled on Wed. On a side note, a much closer franchise of the gym we go to opened up recently, but because Dave's membership is a prepaid year we can't switch until the year is up (at which point we'll both do a monthly membership at the closer place). Kinda annoying for those days where he doesn't want to go and I don't feel like driving back out to the place we go now (it's convenient for stopping on the way back from work), but we'll work with it until the year is up.

Another annoying side effect of going to the gym is that by the time we get home I don't feel like cooking, which is one reason why I'm typing a post on LJ right now instead of making us foods for our hungry bellies.

This weekend needs to be relaxing, because the next 2 weeks are gonna be a pain. Oh, and I found out that because of the testing I won't be able to go on the 2nd grade trip to the planetarium, which is supposed to be really cool. Stupid testing.

Inching ever closer to "summer"... and then the extended school year... and then finally real summer...

< sarcasm > I am soooooo excited about the ASK testing that I get to help with over the next 2-3 weeks. Soooooooo excited... < /sarcasm >

Seriously, though... I am an aide. Apparently, this makes me non-essential personnel, and therefore disposable for the purposes of not doing the job I am there for but a completely different and more annoying job. Testing.

I get the privelege of administering the ASK 3 to either a single gen ed student or a small group of gen ed students (the person with the list didn't have the list when I talked to her and therefore couldn't actually tell me anything except that the student(s) is/are gen ed) next week, which I believe is 4 days of testing.

Then, lucky me!, the following week I get to administer the ASK 5 to a small group of students who I've never met from the class of a teacher I've never spoken to. Another 3/4/5 days, I don't even know. Yay!

Then I get the message that I may be so lucky as to get to do make-up tests for the ASK 3, 4, or 5 the week after that.

So I pretty much get to spend the entire month of May testing. Which is like half of the rest of the regular school year. Last month is usually wrapping up and trying to establish good habits for the summer so the kids retain the info they've learned, then I have about 4 days (which *should* be spend at Origins), then it's right back to work for the ESY (assuming that we get the jobs, which we should).

I can't wait for August.

I really dislike the education system. I could go on for hours about the stupidity of a field where despite years of training you are doubted every step of the way, where special education students' test scores are included with the gen ed scores when assessing a school (because the kids who can't read bring down the scores of the whole district, yeh that makes sense, and lets not give them any real help), where the district itself doesn't even trust the people it hired to be able to take notes themselves and rather has them print out tens of pages of BS to bring to the meetings (waste of paper) on differentiated instruction which seems to be every meeting but doesn't seem to be making much of a difference.....

Teachers I work with ask why I don't want to be a teacher. This is why.

( Ranty-rant )

Yeh, time to go to bed, to get ready for a fun-filled day of standardized testing with spec ed followed by training for other testing with other spec ed...

Got the Jeep back today! and God, do I miss that rumble... I'll be sad to see her go, but I know she's going to a good home, and I'm helping out a friend, so it's okay... I'll just have to replace her with a motorcycle, lol! Wasn't too bad, the repair fee, I like local mechanics =D Replaced a whole buncha stuff too... radiator, alternator, something with bearings that had rusted, the serpentine belt (which was newish but he said it had a wicked squeal that he couldn't get rid of, so he just replaced it), the thermostat (which was apparently missing?! good thing he caught that!)...

Wow, first day back after a week off sucks! The day itself flew by pretty quickly (I read like 2/3 of the new Dresden Files book) but by the end of the day I was dead tired (and yet here I am online at 10pm like a fool)... Didn't achieve nearly half of the things I wanted to this break, but eh, we had a good week, so no big deal...

In short, Monday did taxes, Tuesday saw a movie and had awesome foods at a local bar (mmm, roasted garlic), Wednesday got hairs did and then hung out at strangeway's, Thursday had Jeep towed and then went to Hen's for good times and awesome foods and burnin' stuff, Friday night went to La Mela's in Little Italy for Trish's b-day, Saturday had GYFAIG's first art meeting (Get Your F*ing Ass In Gear = GYFAIG pronounced gay-fag, which is our artists group), Sunday went to Easter dinner with my family. So it was a slightly productive but fun week, which makes me feel a little bit better about not getting all the things I wanted to do done.

Jeep is getting towed today. I went over to the tow place to drop off the key and a check, so I don't have to worry about being here when they come. Hopefully it won't be too much of a pain to get out of the drive and onto the truck (depending on what truck they use, they may be able to just block the road for a few minutes and load it right up, unless the neighbors park in the street before they get here, and then it might be a bigger pain).

I hope that the problem is not to expensive to fix, because I would hate for the car to go to waste, although the guy said he'd be interested in buying it off us...

It's a testament to the fact we don't *really* need 2 cars that it took me until someone else was in need of a vehicle to get off my ass and have the thing looked at... Although it was nice the few times I needed to go somewhere when the Jeep was running that I could just take it and go (and hope it turned over).

Now I need to go find the title, because someone will likely be taking title from me, whether it's a friend or the mechanic.

Going to have my hair cut and colored, and Dave's hair cut, in the morning.

Need to call to get quotes on towing for Jeep. Mechanic will come out to us for $75 but suggested towing to him, he will check if reparable and if not would be interested in buying off us for parts. Considered AAA but basic membership only covers up to 3 miles (thought it used to be 10?) and for some reason the AAA site doesn't want to tell me how much the membership's cost... Figure it's worth the tow b/c if he can fix it'd prolly need to be towed to him anyway and if not he may buy the jeep from us. Hoping it can be fixed b/c if it can we have a friend in need of some wheels, who would be interested. Then I won't feel so bad about it just sitting there.

Federal Taxes e-Filed! Moneys soon to be in our checking account! Yay!
*side note - getting only $100 more than last year's return, despite itemizing this year... but I was still actively schooling at the beginning of '07, and wasn't in '08, so I'm sure there's some tuition credit or something that made the difference in '07...

Now on to the state taxes, which looks like we might get *gasp* money back this year! Possibly a whopping sixty bucks! *sarcasm* (but also actually excited, since usually we pay them $20... any money back is good money!)

Pay... for summer school 2007... $0.78/hr for 120hrs... like $80 bucks... was a very confusing check to receive, because there was no explanation, just the words "Retro" and $$s... but again, yay extra moneys! That's like one hair appt (which I need to do again soon, my color is fail).

May actually get to itemize this year, if I did my pre-computer calculations right... We shall see.

Just got a revised form 1099 or something like that which probably doesn't affect the numbers too much but would have been a pain if I had already filed, because I would've had to go back and file a corrected somethingorother...

May be getting in the $2k range from federal, haven't looked at state but assuming I'll owe $25 b/c that's what always happens (although maybe now with the house for a full year we'll actually get something back?).

*Should* put whatever return we get straight into savings so we can pay for living in August. Probably won't put the whole thing away, because god damn it we're young and should enjoy the little things in life, even if they're not the most financially sound decisions....

In other news, have 10 days to prove to the state of NJ that I did indeed own my home as of 12:01am on Oct 1st of 2007 so that I can get my pittance of the 2007 Homestead Rebate (I think it's like $200 or something based on the taxes we pd in 07, but money is money)... They say they need a copy of my deed, which I found online using the Sussex Cty records search, but I need to call during office hours to find out if they need a certified copy or if I print the PDF file from my computer that will be enough. If I need a cert copy I'll have to use a spring break day to go to the Sussex Cty Clerk's office and request it or something like that...

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Tag:
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