journal-05/21/99

05/21/99

for some reason i'm really tired today. it's probably just because i've been working some overtime lately and it's starting to catch up with me (it doesn't help that i've been staying up pretty late, so i only get 5-6 hours of sleep every night, but then, that's my fault).

anyway, i just received a forwarded email message (aka petition) to get howard stern off the air because of the comments he made about the columbine high school shooting. the subject of the email was "shows the ignorance."

now, i happen to like howard stern. i don't agree with a lot of what he says, but his commentary is just another point of view in the vast american rainbow.

he just happens to make a living out of it.

he's certainly not ignorant.

i don't know why i felt the need to post that, but there it is.

as for life in general, it's been going pretty well for me. work is getting easier-- not easier in the regular sense, just easier in that i'm getting used to it, and the kids are getting used to me, and some of them appear to actually like having me as their teacher, so that makes it all worthwhile...

i'm still broke and kind of lonely, but those two things will come full swing on their own. i'm not worried about it. well, i'm worried about the broke-ness, but loneliness... no.

and i've decided that i'm going to get a cat when i come back from my vacation in june. i've started volunteering at a pet store near the school-- they have a place called "kitty city" where you can adopt a cat. they're not for sale, these are mostly cats that were picked up off the street and taken to a local shelter, and they've ended up at this pet store. what i do as a volunteer-- pet all the kitties. gee, that's tough.

i already know which one i want. his name is theodore, and he's a sweet, friendly kitty, rainy-day gray longish hair with bright yellow-green eyes. he has a very cute little meow, and he doesn't like to fight with the other cats.

i just hope he's waiting for me when i come back from texas...

and my vacation isn't exactly going to be a vacation. i mean, it will in that i'm not going to be at work for a week, but it won't in that i'm going to be going to texas to visit my parents and keep my mom company while my dad is in the hospital. i found out last week that he's going to have major back surgery, a 360-degree fusion.

that means he's going to have 2 discs fused together in his lower back. it's a last-resort kind of thing. he's been home from work since october, and now he's on long-term disability.

he's in so much pain now that he has to lie on the floor a lot, because it's too uncomfortable to stand or sit.

he's depressed. i don't blame him. he's used to go-go-going all the time, and now he just can't.

i didn't realize how bad it was.

but then, he's very humble, and anytime he gives a hint of something going wrong, you know it's very serious.

so.

i'm worried, but there's nothing i can do about it, so i try not to worry.

the only thing is, during the surgery they have to start out with him on his back (they take out his intestine), and at some point they have to turn him over onto his stomach. that's the dangerous part.

i'll know more later.

the surgery is june 10. my vacation starts the next day. i'm going to try and take the 10th off so i can be there for the surgery.

oh yeah-- my birthday is the 25th. only four days until i'm officially a year older...

*sigh*