Chicago!

Chicago was awesome. Or, if you will, 'dawesome'. (shoutout to Müs!) All the energy, culture and variety of a big city, plus the niceness of the Midwest. Three days was definitely not enough, and I do not want to go back to school tomorrow. Some highlights of the trip, in picture form...because I have a new camera...

Chicago from the 94th floor of the Hancock Tower. The Sears Tower is on the right.

Pizza! The Germans didn't like it, which shocked and horrified me. And provided me with extra lunch.

Michigan Avenue, or the Magnificent Mile. I didn't do any shopping though; I was waiting at the bus stop to get to the Museum of Science and Industry...

... to see the greatest exhibit ever! If I weren't a teacher, I'd totally be a forensic scientist.

I also spent some time outside the Adler Planetarium enjoying the sun and the view.

Amazing. Now I just need an excuse to go back. I hear they're opening an immersion school in Chicago...

I hate to be such a sqealy fangirl, but...

...tonight's episode of 'The Office'? Made me so very, very happy. *sigh*

Off to NY for the (extended) weekend, to see Müs graduate! My little brother's all grown up. Except he's going back to school in the fall, so not quite. Wait a minute, so am I...

Feeling accomplished, for once

One of the only advantages to moving is that it gives you the incentive to clean out your closet. Which I absolutely hate doing, but it's either that or pack up and move extra pounds of stuff which I will probably not wear again anyway. So that was today's project, along with packing up my winter things and replacing them with tank tops and shorts. One less box I'll have to pack when I move, yay! Also, yay for donating stuff. Now it's just a matter of taking the bags down to Goodwill, along with the other bag of stuff that has been riding around with me in the trunk since October...

Also building my self-esteem: clothes that I bought for my first trip to Germany (5 years ago!) still fit! Awesome. Does this mean I need new summer clothes? Possibly.

Also, what is this?? Hi, WB, are you ripping off ideas from foreign films now? I have two main gripes with this: (a) The original movie is fantastic! and (b) Judging from the trailer, the directors have just ripped off the ideas from other directors. I mean, the shots are taken exactly from the original film, down to the one of the girl sitting on the counter, eating spaghetti, and the one of the chef bringing out a raw, bloody steak on a knife and impaling it to the table. It makes me want to go watch the German original again, just so I can recall how great it is.

Also, one of my students is moving to India on Tuesday. And she's one of the really great ones: hard-working, does everything without complaints, gets along with everyone, is just generally a happy person. Having taught her for almost two years, I'll miss her.

Also, no more 'also's. Get out there and enjoy the lovely spring weather.

Possibly an overreaction, but sometimes you just need to vent

I am so annoyed. SO ANNOYED.

The kids wrote their own books on their favorite animals this week, for which they had to make a list of questions and do some research. One of the questions was how big the animal could be. The know-it-all kid in the class decided to write his book on fish. I don't know how big a fish can get, so I look it up online. After searching around for a while (surprisingly, searching for the key phrase 'world's largest fish' doesn't get you anywhere), I find some site that says a certain kind of fish can get up to 2 meters long. Okay, here you go. He insisted that it was up to 17 meters, and I was like, you can't just make up numbers; besides, why did you ask me to look this up if you already knew what it was? You're writing this book in pencil; you can change it later if you have to.

Here's the kicker: I just got an email from him (via his dad's address) that's like, did you know that this certain type of fish can grow up to 18 meters and why did the school computer say that it was only to two meters when my laptop says 18? And he included the link to the article.

Seriously. Now a seven-year-old is treating me like I'm stupid. How the hell am I supposed to know how big fish are? I'm trying harder to get the class to get their work done, stop winding each other up, and think about what they're actually supposed to be doing. And clearly his parents take his side; why else would they let him write this email? And probably proofread it for him?

I AM NOT F****** STUPID. This is why I'm going to Cambridge next year. I am sick of this sh!t.

Arrr, eh?

I was listening to the radio on my drive in to work yesterday, as I do every day because the 40 minutes are otherwise mind-numbing, and this song came on. At first, I thought, what IS this? But then it made me laugh, and that's tough to do during the morning commute. I mean, come on, it's about CANADA! and PIRATES! In fact, it's about a CANADIAN PIRATE! How can you go wrong?

Also, 'The Office' is new tonight! And it's 45 minutes long! I feel like it's Friday, or my birthday.

Threat Level: Midnight!

This is the trailer someone made for 'Threat Level: Midnight', which you would be well familiar with if you watched 'The Office'. Even if you don't watch 'The Office', go watch this; it is the funniest video I've ever seen on YouTube.

Feel the need for more 'arbitrary' quote marks? 'Channeling' Moslow's 'syllabi' from 'high school math classes', perhaps? Here 'you' go.

Also, I told both directors that I'm not coming back next year. Went surprisingly well. One was really supportive, the other was a bit cooler but said that if I want a job there within the next five years, I'm hired. Which is nice, I guess. I'll have to weigh this against the endless crap that I have dealt with during the past year and a half, but having a backup plan is not a bad idea.