The thought of waking up tomorrow, with my only responsibility being to cuddle my doggie, is absolutely divine!

I am going to paint my nails black glitter and I get to wear my most sloppy outfits for 2 weeks!!!

Hello peeps!

It's Friday morning and I don't feel like going to work just yet to face this very last day of the week. We're heading to Austin tonight for a graduation. We got Dwight a new, bigger crate because we haven't been crating him for about a year now, but he needs one for when he's left alone in the hotel room. Crates are expensive! It makes me nauseous to think about how much profit they made from selling me that crate. How expensive can a flimsy plastic resin box be to manufacture?
In any case, hopefully it will set my mind at ease about leaving him in a hotel room, which always freaks him out.

Last night, I got him a new shirt from American Apparel, because he grew out of his last one. I'm not psyched about the color, but our requirements was that it had to be 2xl, and be a dark color so it hides stains and shedded black hairs.



Dwight's been shivering even inside the house these days, and my old hoodie that I cut for him is just not cutting it. He keeps tripping on the end of it.

No dog-unrelated news today, except that I don't wanna go to work. Boo.

Edit: Work is going fine! Just 3/4 of an actual class left and it's all downhill from here. Also, I just noticed that that AA shirt for Dwight is in Slytherin colors! My brain is on Harry Potter because I'm making wands with my Advisory class this week.

Going back to work after a week-long break is so painful. I can only imagine how bad it will be after Christmas break...which starts in 3 weeks!!! It is the only thing keeping me going today.

I started dreading coming back to work Saturday night, in my sleep. I kept having stress dreams about deciding to call in sick Monday morning and then not being able to because they couldn't find a sub, and then another dream about not knowing how to fill in a census questionnaire. I don't know why I had a stress dream about my census job when it was the easiest job in the world.

Then last night while I was sleeping, I was thinking about what I was going to do today with my classes. Blerg.

On a happier note, Aaron and I are going to go on a short road trip over Christmas! We might take Dwight and Big Poppa! Wee!

Man, who knew kids get so grumpy when they are made to do work in school?! Grr. If only I could sit back and count mitotic cells as an assignment...

What up homies!

I took yesterday (Monday) off because
1. I had to work on Saturday...Took my AP Biology kids to their AP Test Prep Session at another high school.
2. Mondays are C days, which means that I see all my classes for 45 minutes each. So, if I skip a Monday, everyone is still on schedule, and no class is a whole class period ahead of another.
3. I could not have continued another day without taking a 3 day weekend.

So, the upside is, this week is a 4 day week (holla!), and I only have to get through this week and the next till Thanksgiving Break.
The downside is, I am super depressed today, and out of practice keeping my "workface" on. My workface consists of the following: pretending I am a figure of authority to 14-18 year olds, and pretending that I am an appropriate person, not one who is prone to talking like a sailor or letting out bodily noises at inopportune times at all. Not at all!

In any case, all of these factors make today seem interminable. And I can't make myself be as productive as I need to be. I just keep thinking about how much I want to take a trip to Orlando, FL this Christmas Break to go to the Harry Potter Theme Park. It is definitely one of my major life goals.

Oh, and I must tell you about Saturday, when I took my girls to the Prep Session.
I was told that I had to go to the Prep Session with the girls, and that I could not send them without going myself. But once I got there, there was nothing to do. I believe I was supposed to be doing something helpful, but I don't know what that was supposed to be. So, I spent my time hiding from other teachers in hopes of not being finagled into doing something helpful.

At one point, I snuck out behind the cafeteria, sat behind a wall to hide myself, and just contemplated the trees. It felt strangely like those wonderful UIL Competition days in high school, when we had to do our competitions, and then chill for the rest of the day, burning contraband incense matches and taking walks in the woods. (Elissa & Rachel: Remember??)

Anyways, sometimes I feel like the only professional-aged person who has failed to gain professional-aged morals. In fact, I feel like my work morals have only decreased since graduating college.

In fact, after sitting a while behind the wall, I decided I might as well skip till the end of the day, when I had to make sure my girls had a ride home, and so I called Aaron, and we went to Sonic to hang out till the end of the day. It was amazing. I finally got the chance to skip school with a hot guy!

This is a super disjointed post. Eh, I can't be bothered to improve it, till later at least.

In response to Aaron B's question, I miss my census job because it was the perfect mix of inactivity, human interaction, and money. When I was working for the census, I would get up in the morning (not too early, because no one else working for the census wanted to wake up too early), drive to Whole Foods to meet my work group, hang out and talk for a while, and get some questionnaires to do. I'd get them done in a short amount of time, clock in my hours, and be done. I miss my hours of daylight at home, lounging and enjoying my time with the creatures. And I had found a group of kindred spirits in my census group--people who do not view work as the most important part of their lives, and thus, were very interesting people.

Teaching is fairly rewarding and interesting, but it's eating my soul, because I do not have enough time to do the things that really matter to me (i.e. improving and culturing my mind through reading and movies, as well as doing my god-given vocation, which is hanging out with my boy, dog, and kitty.)

On the other hand, I am learning science so much better now than I ever did in medical school. And I'm getting paid to learn it, rather than paying some bloated institution to teach it to me.

I really miss my census job.

Possibly the cutest kitten video I've ever seen.

The mix that randomly played this morning on my way to work was too amazing not to document.

1. Girl Right Next to Me - Goo Goo Dolls
2. My Life to Live - Lars Frederickson and the Bastards
3. Daylight Outro Remix - Matt & Kim
4. Losing Touch - The Killers

That, plus my starbux coffee, breakfast of hostess powdered donuts, and the fact that it is FRIDAY! should make this an amazing day.

Last night, Aaron and I followed a random car off I-75, just to see where he ended up. I was having my routine Sunday night depression, and started wishing I had somewhere to be, as it seemed all the other cars on the highway did. So, we decided to follow a white Honda to see where it was going. Strangely, he got off on our exit. Then, he took us on a winding route. Aaron conjectured that he was going to end up just taking us to his house/apt/living abode, and I hoped for a much more mysterious and exciting destination. In the end, we ended up about 2 blocks away from our house, and he parked in the parking lot behind Black Eyed Pea, either because he worked the night shift somewhere near there, or he was gonna party down on Cedar Springs, or because he wanted a late dinner. So, I guess we didn't learn much, but what is the likelihood that the exact car we decided to follow would end up getting off I-75 at our exit, and basically take us home?

Dwight looks like a baby puppy without his collar. The coating on his collar hardware wore off, and he had an allergic reaction to the nickel...or the brass, we're not sure. So we're gonna have to order some stainless steel hardware and re-hardware his collar. But first we're waiting for his neck to heal and stop leaking. Yuck. Oh, the things I do for this dog.

I had a dream last night that a bright pink kitten showed up at our doorstep. But when I touched her fur, crowds of fleas and mites could be seen running from my hand. So Aaron and I gave her a bath in Dawn soap, and the pink washed off to reveal mostly white with orange tabby patches. I was disappointed because I was hoping the pink was a rare genetic mutation.

The end, for now.

How many movies does Repo Men rip off? At least 4 obvious ones...
1. Old Boy
2. Pulp Fiction
3. Vanilla Sky
4. granted this is not a movie...but, a Corona commercial.

In the past year or so, I've begun having a certain recurring dream. Not exactly the same dream every time, but a recurring theme that twists into different situations every time. It always has to do with suddenly remembering that I have forgotten about a certain animal in a certain cage or aquarium, and realizing I haven't fed them in a very long time, and then being afraid to look, lest I see something awful inside, like a rotting body or something.

Last night's version was that I suddenly realized that I had forgotten about two additional animals living in the hermit crab's cage. One, a dark mouse, and the other, I'm not sure, some other rodent. There was the typical dread at looking into the cage, and I seem to remember that once I did, I saw the dark mouse, in bad shape, clinging to his water bottle on the side of the cage. I felt so guilty.

I guess that's the result of having so many animals. Especially when we still had the gerbils, there was so much upkeep that I felt like I was always falling behind on something. It also doesn't help that the hermit crab cage is now exactly where the gerbils' cage was, so maybe that's part of why I thought there should be two more rodents in the cage. I'm sure Billy and Lars have gone on to their heavenly rest, but my mind is still haunted in a very ordinary way by the confusion of space and time.

Also, I found a dead wild mouse in our backyard yesterday, still soft. Poison? Or murdered by B.P.? My guess is poisoned, since he was still soft and B.P. had been inside overnight, and the mouse seemed untouched, but it's always possible B.P. thought I deserved a treat for being so nice to him... : )

Aaron and I have been trying to find discount Scarborough Faire tickets on craigslist (it's Dallas's version of the Renaissance Festival). Here is the email we just sent to a guy selling his two tickets for $30.

Subject: scarborough fair tickets‏
From: Aaron Yarbrough (a*****@hotmail.com)
Sent: Fri 5/21/10 4:10 PM
To: t*****@hotmail.com

Hello milord,
Might you consent to let these illustrious tickets go for $24?

I can meet you on my steed at any location in the Dallas area.

Many thanks, good sir, and I look humbly forward to your reply forthwith.

Sir Aaron

If I got this email, I would totally take the $6 loss just to see what kind of freaks came to pick the tickets up. Lol!

I love playing escape games. Sometime during my hellish time in med school, I decided it might be fun to be able to make my own escape games. So I got Flash CS3 and got started. Try out my very first escape game below!



It's not anywhere near as complicated as most escape games I've played. But I'm proud that I was able to learn enough Actionscripting to be able to do anything at all.
A more complicated and more by-the-books escape game is coming soon, just as soon as Aaron tests it out for me first.

If you want to play a more professional escape game, here's a link to my favorite.

This video is my comedic relief for the night.

I originally thought this song was by Jason Mraz, because it sounds so much like him. But it's actually Train. It's getting major radio play in Dallas, and I thought it was pretty cheesy--for one thing, who wants to be called "sister" by someone who claims to think you're hot? But after watching the vid, it's quickly becoming an earworm.

Check out the dance moves at 1:00 and 2:08. So awkward! So cheesy! But yet so endearing!

Also, just as a bonus, check out the Dwight look-a-like at 1:47.

I've been pretty lucky lately.

First, I got a job. A temporary one, but to me, that's better than a permanent one for now, since I've been having commitment issues regarding my career for the past year. I'm working for the census, helping people who don't speak English well fill out their census forms. I had three days of training that bored me out of my mind, but in those three days I met some interesting people and made some much-needed money, so I guess I can't complain. I do anyways though, because it's what I do best.

Second, we found an amazing home for my first ever foster puppy. Well actually, I should say that my second bit of luck was that I got my first ever foster puppy. Just a couple weeks ago, I was telling Aaron, "I wish someone would lose their puppy so I could find it and play with it for a few days before giving it back." Well, I got my wish--Andi and Jeff found a puppy they couldn't keep, and so we took care of him for a couple days and tried to find him a home.

Here he is:

I got super attached! I didn't mean to--I didn't even name him because I knew I would get too attached. But it was amazing carrying his soft, flexible little puppy body around, and so of course, I loved him almost too much to give him up.

We ended up finding him an amazing home on Craigslist. I was very nervous about giving him to a stranger, since we've had some not-so-great experiences from unreliable people on Craigslist, but we did as much screening as we could, and found a great owner for him. I've already gotten multiple emails from the guy after the adoption, updating me on Jeremy's (foster puppy's new name) puppy shots, and training. We even have a neuter appointment scheduled already.

Third, B.P. got himself into some trouble last week on one of his solitary wanders. He must've gotten his back foot stuck on something, because he didn't come home until 4 am, and he was shaking and his back foot was swollen and had cuts on it. I'm guessing he got his foot stuck and couldn't get free, and had to wrench it out by force. He's healed up for the most part now, but we're not so sure about letting him back out. I'll probably sew up a harness for him and see if he'll be satisfied with walks. (I have to sew the harness because he's the size of a small pug, but dog harnesses are too thick and heavy for him to be happy with.)

This whole situation probably doesn't seem lucky to you, but it is, because we got him back. He so easily could have just never made it home. I wonder how many of his 9 lives he's used up by now--he's avoided any and all disease despite being a stray cat for so many years, and now this...

So, I have felt pretty lucky lately, though I will say that getting back into having something I have to go to every day (i.e. a job or school) really makes me wonder why anyone even bothers. Now there aren't enough hours in the day for me to live like I want to, but if I don't work, I can't really live like I want to either. Life seems so perverse at times.

I came out of the shower today to see Dwight laying outside the bathroom door waiting for me, and kitty laying on the towel outside the shower waiting for me. And as I brushed my teeth, B.P. started licking my leg with his sandpaper tongue.

Just a normal occurence for any pet owner, but it is nice to feel loved by creatures.

Lately I've been feeling sad, frustrated, and extremely misanthropic. In fact, I think 'misanthrope' is my current favorite word, because it describes my current personality so well. And maybe not just my current personality...

Last night, we had pizza at Eno's with Andi and Jeff after spending the day helping them rid their yard of all the limbs that had fallen due to the recent snow. While there, we started talking about cartoons. Jeff's theory is that shows that were once popular with kids would always be popular, because kids don't have a whole lot of mental baggage--if Teletubbies appealed to some part of the primal child brain in 2001, the show will continue to appeal to kids in 2050. The only difference is whether parents will feel the show is appropriate/fashionable for their kid to watch in 2050. Talking about this made me realize how few kids' shows I actually watched as a child. I remember liking most of Sesame Street (most everything but those yip-yip characters), Mr. Rogers, and Pee-Wee Herman (esp. the opening sequence). Later on, I really liked Mighty Max and Bobby's World. But I hated Looney Tunes, Animaniacs, and all those kids' shows that were supposed to be funny. Because I hated the characters--I found them annoying and unfunny. This causes me to suspect that my misanthropic tendencies existed from a very early age. I mean, what kid dislikes Bugs Bunny?

In reference to my current state of mind, I mostly blame it on too much internet-ing. People are too ready to speak their mind while remaining hidden behind a computer screen, and spending too much time reading the raw, unfiltered thoughts of thousands of Americans is bound to make anyone hate the world. I do feel, however, that these unfiltered thoughts (because of the sheer volume of like-minded comments) represent something of the nebulous, ephemeral thing we call 'society.'

And there's nothing like reading these unfiltered thoughts to remind me of how much I don't fit in.

I hate feeling like an 'other.' I hate not agreeing with 95% of people who are in the same situation as I am in. It not only makes me feel frustrated with myself for being myself, but it also makes me feel frustrated with the rest of the world for being so incomprehensible.

I suppose I am at odds with everything around me.

Although I did have a fairly stimulating conversation with my dental hygienist today during my teeth cleaning...

I once made a joking comment during a medical school child psychology class that I planned on potty training my possible future kids like I potty trained my dog--15 minutes after eating or playing, take them to the toilet, and reward proper defecation! If they hadn't learned to sit up by themselves yet, I would hold them up to the toilet. I was chastised and told that I would scar my children mentally by expecting so much of them...apparently, according to medical professionals, attempts to potty train can't occur without serious damage to the self esteem until 2.5 years of age.

I really was joking at the time, mostly. Just like I'm mostly joking when I say I will use a spray bottle to discipline my toddler... ;) Though it does seem quite ridiculous to have to change disgusting baby diapers for 2.5 years of my adult life...and that's if you only want one kid!

But tonight, I was surfing around the internet, and came upon this website about "elimination communication." Apparently, this method was brought to the industrialized West by a woman who spent a lot of time in India in the 70s and 80s, and who noticed that Indian women carried their naked babies on their backs all day, and yet were rarely defecated on by their offspring. Somehow, they could tell when their infants had to go to the bathroom (very young babies that can't talk or sign yet) and would then hold them over a toilet. The method is all about observing your baby and recognizing the signs of an imminent pee or poop. Genius! It is like potty training a dog!

I feel positively vindicated.

Up late reading The Turn of the Screw--my first Henry James! Creepy
voices and whistling outside are freaking me out.

It is way too freaking cold to go outside...I think I will stay in and cuddle w/ the animals tomorrow. It's not even an enjoyable, drink hot chocolate, and wear cute winter clothes cold. It's a desperately grip your scarf to your face and scream in relief when you finally get into your car cold.

I am so ready for summer.

The most exciting thing that has happened to me this week is getting a warm fleece jacket. Oh, and making a pretty good bowl of homemade chili.