Hey, I didn't get fired! Woo and hoo! AND if I can stick it out to June 3rd, my paychecks will continue till 7/25. I may go get a tattoo and inscribe this on my forehead. That will give me the summer to do a kickass job on some freelance jobs, build a portfolio up, and maybe try to find a mentor for some other stuff I'm kicking around.

Today wasn't awful. Even though I walked into my classroom and ALL MY FREAKING COMPUTERs (except mine) were gone, and my kids are all working on typing papers and powerpoint projects due Monday. I swear.

AND my wonderful therapist emailed me back and said it's better that you come in and deal with your stuff than freak about the $250 you owe me; we'll work on it, and it's okay. YAY.

I wish I had the patience or talent for artwork, but right now, I am finding relaxing from playing with OneNote and trolling through gardening, home decorating and decluttering websites.

Barb, thanks! I'm so glad I could be useful.

Jilli, continued -ma for Tzepesh.

Also, a student I worked with on his application and essay found out today he got into the International Exchange Program to go to Japan for a manga-based summer program! The kid has never been out of the state, and he is the sweetest kid, and he was VIBRATING with joy.

That's good news, Erin. Sometimes life gives you a little tailwind to push you along.

There was a birdhouse that has housed bluebirds for several years on the trellis that blew down Monday night in the giant storm. I hadn't seen any birds, so I just put it to one side as I tried to clean up the mess. Then this afternoon I looked out and there were two bluebirds scaring away a chipmunk. I looked in the birdhouse and there were eggs. Now I feel like a murderer. I just tried to put it back up, but it's not real stable because part of the hanger on the back broke.

Dunno if this has made the rounds around here yet:

When Harry Met Sally, the Sequel, via Funny or Die:

[link]

All good stuff, Erin. Hang in there.

In better news, I cried in front of my boss (big teddy bear of a construction guy) (that's not the better part) and he was completely unfazed and sympathetic in a non-condescending way. That is an important quality for any boss of mine. The crying came out of nowhere - apparently I still really hate messing up in any way, even if it's not really my fault and not a big deal. And apparently I'm a little more frustrated than I realized about the lack of admin support for what I do.

Anyhoo. I'm finally home and eating leftover Thai from lunch and watching a new-to-me Raising Hope and there will be wine tonight, oh yes. I've still got some work to do for tomorrow but I hope it won't take me too long.

our Webhost is a bunch of lying liars who lie and I just caught them in it, stone cold.

Oooo, about what and how?

Basically, at the beginning of the year, we made one category of article available only online; those articles no longer get "real" page numbers, but get an "e-page" number (like e1, e15, whatever).

All of the articles from a given issue go online together, and our site has a TOC that, quite reasonably, we would prefer to appear in the order that the articles appear in the journal. This has never been a problem, since until now they've all been regular numbers, not e-numbers.

Since we switched the one section to online-only, TPTB still want them to appear in the TOC, *and* they want them to appear in the same order as if they were still in the print journal (they are about the 4th section).

Since January, our Webhost has been putting the TOC up with the e-page numbers at the top, and then everything else. When we told them we needed the TOC in a different order, they said that wasn't possible, that the software reads the e-numbers as coming first numerically.

Two days ago, they told us that they *could* do the TOC in the order we want, if we could give them a TOC in a new format. So I sent them a test file from -- this is key -- the March issue.

Today they e-mailed us a link to see the mock-up of the TOC, which they said should be in the right order. And -- lo and behold! -- it was in the right order.

The content? FROM THE JANUARY ISSUE.

The file I sent them? From MARCH. The file I sent them, which was a new format, was allegedly the only format which would produce the TOC the way we wanted it.

So the January content came from old files, in the format that THEY SAID would not allow them to put the TOC in the order we wanted. Busted.

LYING. LIARS. WHO. LIE.

Steph, about your VSW - maybe look up recommendations for genital piercings that won't heal? I'm guessing salt water, but you may find good info on proportions. And sorry about the day of massive suckitude.

I haven't looked at it yet since I've gotten home from work, but I'm thinking the best thing to do is leave it alone. It was only after I started soaking it and putting neosporin on it that it started giving me more grief. I'm going to use the steroid cream before bed, but avoid the actual boo-boo, and see what happens.

HKF's new bedtime delaying tactic is "If you read me one more page of Harry Potter, I'll read one more page to you." Smart kid. Totally working.

Also, politicians are making me despair.

Also.2 - Erin that is wonderful news. Of course your place of work had to follow it up with sucking all your computers away, which sucks. You can totally make it through their deadline and get all the salary you have coming to you. I'm wondering how much of what you're going through is because the place you work seems like admin decisions are engineered by demons and folks who talk at the theater.

admin decisions are engineered by demons and folks who talk at the theater.

Hee! I have to admit, on my walk into the building most mornings, I'm mentally muttering "Welcome to the Hellmouth" to myself.

Well, my students are going to love me, because the computers going away means I am nixing the seniors powerpoint presentation that was going to follow their research paper. And once we are done with the novels (my dual credit students are LOVING The Poisonwood Bible, which makes me so happy), I am only going to do creative writing projects -- poems, essays and short stories.

I don't have to worry about curriculum, so I am going to teach some freakin' fun stuff, focus on descriptive writing, powerful words, actually playing with language -- and our Spring Break starts April 22, seniors graduate the 24th of May, final grades are due the 27th, and school lets out on the 3rd, so fuck it. The last week is no grades, just babysitting, so I am going to kick off the creative writing month by showing my students the film "Slam." With inspiration from bonny, I might incorporate mandalas into some of the writing, too.

Tep, i just spent a fruitless 20 minutes looking up solutions for labial wound healing, and google-fu is giving me no love. Saline rinse seems to be the only constant. I hope it heals SOON -- goolie pain is no joke.

Tep, i just spent a fruitless 20 minutes looking up solutions for labial wound healing, and google-fu is giving me no love. Saline rinse seems to be the only constant. I hope it heals SOON -- goolie pain is no joke.

After my last post, I went to check on it (using, seriously, a hand mirror and a headlamp, and no, Tim was not *wearing* the headlamp), and it looks much better than yesterday. For the past week it's been about the size of a pencil eraser, and today it was less than half that size. The only thing I did different was start the topical steroid last night. IIRC, Cass was the one who suggested a steroid cream, so: CASS FTW!!!!!

Completely unrelatedly, I just had a moment where I realized how fucking jaded I am. During Big Bang Theory (Amy Farrah Fowler RULZ), there was a commercial for CSI. Apparently Lady Heather is in this episode. The commercial made it seem like it's about kitty play (yes, people who dress like kitties -- not in a full suit like a furry would, but ears and a tail and a collar and sometimes paws...which might not seem like much of a distinction between kitty play and furries, but apparently they are 2 different camps).

My first thought, hand to god? "THAT'S not so weird...."

I can never see Lady Heather without thinking "Julie Cooper!" Because Julie Cooper ROCKS.

Amy Farrah Fowler RULZ

I love her.