September 24, 2004 by Louise
Same-sex marriage became legal in Nova Scotia today. Woo!
(heh! I’m giggling at how the only article I could find online about it was from San Francisco, which is about as far away from NS as you can get).
:: Edit like, five hours later:: You can see more information here.
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September 23, 2004 by Louise
So this morning, I was waiting outside for my ride, and I was so nervous about coming in to school that I BARFED ON THE GROUND. Oh, that is so disgusting. Luckily none of it got on me, and I have a toothbrush at school.
When I got in, one of the other teachers came up to me and said that the mother “cornered” her in the parking lot after she left my classroom last night and began rattling off a list of things that I have supposedly done/said and how she doesn’t want me teaching anymore etc etc etc. This colleague of mine (bless her soul), when she finally managed to get a word in edgewise, said to her “You know that I can’t be involved in this type of conversation. You need to speak to the principal”. The mother said that she knew, but she just “wanted to get the word out about what kind of person” I am.
Other teachers who were around when she was telling me this asked what had happened, and I told them what I’ve already written here. They all told me that this is nothing new for this mother, and that this is harassment (which I knew– I know it is, but I can’t help but feeling like maybe I’m not doing all that I should be– argh Catholic Guilt). The EPA (teacher’s aide) who is in the room about half the day, and another lady who is in the room from APSEA (she works with my blind student) were both there and said that if I ever needed a reference as to what kind of teacher I am, they would do it in a heartbeat (this is without me asking, and I don’t really think that will ever be necessary, but it’s good to know). Later I was down in the photocopy room and one of the other parents who were in that meeting last night when the mother pulled this stunt was also there (she volunteers within the school). She pulled me aside and told me that she and the other two parents who were there left that room and were “disgusted and horrified” that that mother would have launched such a “personal attack” on me in front of others, and that they found it completely inappropriate, which is why they stood up and left the room; they didn’t want to give her an audience. I told her thank you, and reiterated that if ever there were any concerns, I hoped that the parents knew that they could come to me for a meeting and we would hopefully be able to work together toward a solution.
See, it’s all very encouraging. I have absolutely NO PROBLEM with parents coming to me if they have a concern– but to come in accusing me of things I would never do, and then not listening to my response and/or twisting my words around, is not going to get either of us feeling any better about the situation.
Still though, the principal (who, as I mentioned, is very supportive and is backing me completely on this) came to see me this afternoon, telling me that the mother has called twice asking for a meeting. She doesn’t want to meet with me– just with the principal– but the principal wanted me to be in the school in case I needed to be called to participate. I told her that I stay until 4:00 at the earliest every day, but that tomorrow I have a meeting scheduled with another parent (the parent of my autistic student) after school. It will have to wait until next week.
I just really don’t want to ever, ever meet with this woman. Ever. But I will, and as Dawn (and really, everyone who commented on my last post– thank you guys!) said, I just have to be strong and let it be known that I won’t be finishing the school year with her footprints all over my back.
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by Louise
I’m on my way to school. I feel nauseous and afraid; worst-case scenarios keep running through my head.
No one should feel that way about going to a job that they love.
I have to deal with this woman for at least 9 more months, and I don’t know if I can handle it. Seriously. I keep seeing parent-teacher interviews coming up, more “meetings” with her, and I don’t know if I can handle it.
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September 22, 2004 by Louise
What. A. Fucking. Night. I can feel my blood pressure rising. I actually just got home and threw up because of the CRAP that has happened this evening.
(more…)
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by Louise
Build a man a fire, and he’ll be warm for a day. Set a man on fire, and he’ll be warm for the rest of his life.
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September 21, 2004 by Louise
My God I am sleepy. Yesterday afternoon’s nap caused me to stay awake until past midnight last night (I was laying in bed for HOURS trying to sleep) and this morning when the alarm rang at 5:30… I just couldn’t do it.
Snooze button. Snooze button. Snooze button.
I finally managed to drag myself out of bed at 6:30 and was ready within fifteen minutes (which is good since my ride arrived at 6:50). And today was a long day at school, too. I don’t know, just seemed really long. Could have something to do with not having any prep periods, plus being on recess duty, PLUS being on lunch duty (meaning that instead of eating lunch in my classroom I had to spend the lunch hour at the secretary’s desk while she was gone out for her lunch break).
Tomorrow I am going to school at the usual time (7 am) and only leaving sometime past 8 pm, because it’s Curriculum Night (meet the teacher plus the teacher tells parents what the kids will be learning during the year, then the parents yell at her and scream at her and try to beat her with a stick if my one and only encounter with a parent so far this year is any indication).
Meh.
I am tired.
Tired.
Need. Sleep.
Good night.
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September 20, 2004 by Louise
I forgot one last thing… It’s thanks to Mikey’s post on names, too.
My full name is Marie Frances Louise insertlastnamehere.
Marie is like, a Catholic thing– my sister’s name is Marie E******* A**, (she’d kill me if I put her full E-name in, so I’ll blank out the other one, too) my brother’s name is Joseph David, my mom is Marie something something something… so none of us go by Marie or Joseph, obviously.
I don’t even bother putting it on my drivers’ license or health card or anything– I mean all together my full name, first, two middles, and last comes up to 25 letters which is pretty long for filling out forms and stuff. It doesn’t fit on your drivers’ license. It’s annoying.
So people basically see my name as Frances Louise.
Frances. FRANCES.
How could my parents do that to me? Louise is bad enough, but Frances???
Actually, I’m named after both of my grandmothers (why they didn’t do this to my brother I will never know– except that his name would have been Aloysius Auguste and maybe he’d have ended up in the mental hospital). I’m not trying to dis my grandmothers. They are/were both wonderful women. But they were also born in 1915 (Emelida Louise, my mom’s mom was– oh wait, Louise was her middle name, but my parents were kind enough not to saddle me with Emelida) and 1926 (Frances, my dad’s mom). I go by Louise because when I was born, both my grandmothers were alive. Frances goes by Frances, and Emelida Louise went by Emelida, so there would be no confusion with the Louise part.
My whole life, I’d be introduced, then people would say something like “Oh, you don’t hear that name much anymore!” or “Wow, you have an old-lady name”, in the case of tactless people my own age.
It would embarass the hell out of me. Why couldn’t I be normal? Why couldn’t I have a name like Rachel or Kristie or something?
Now that I’m older, I’m kind of happy with my name. I’m used to Louise. I can’t imagine myself with a different name. I mean, think of it. Britney? Shaniqua? Katie? All perfectly good names, but not for me.
But yes, the name on my health card is Frances Louise. So I had to deal with the receptionist at the hospital calling me Frances all morning. “FRANCES! Okay, just go right in there, Frances, and put on this Johnnyshirt. Alright, Frances, you can wait in the waiting room now. Take off your johnnyshirt and stand right here, Frances. Here let me tape these metal balls to your nipples, Frances!”
I cringed each and every time.
And no, not just because of the metal balls.
I figure it’s taken me 20-odd years to warm up to Louise… it might take me a bit longer to love on Frances.
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by Louise
As you’ve no doubt read on Rob’s blog, the boob-squishing is over and done with.
First of all let me say that it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be, pain-wise.
Secondly I must also say that it’s not something I will ever look forward to.
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by Louise
My mammogram appointment is in less than an hour. I’ve mentally blocked the directions to the hospital so I’m looking it up on Yahoo Maps. Except I keep forgetting that Yahoo Maps is an asshole and has roads from 1963 that aren’t even there anymore.
Mapquest here I come.
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September 19, 2004 by Louise
Okay so I came online to do some stuff and my evil ex roommate who STILL OWES ME five hundred bucks nearly two years later and yes I know I should just give it up but whatever, I’m bitter, immediately starts sending me a flurry of MSN messages.
Idiot: Hi
Idiot: I was in Charlottetown this weekend, it was the Seafood Festival.
Idiot: It was pretty good.
Idiot: Listen I have a computer related question here.
Louise: Hello.
Idiot: How do I get there to be sound?
Louise: Do you have speakers?
Idiot: No.
Okay I’ll just wait for you all to stop laughing. It took me about ten minutes.
Louise: Do you have headphones or anything at all plugged in?
Idiot: No.
Louise: You can’t get sound if you have nothing for the sound to come out of.
Idiot: Oh, okay.
Idiot: I have headphones now.
Idiot: Should I plug them in?
Laugh. LAUGH! It’s okay, he can’t hear you.
Louise: Yes, you should.
Idiot: Where do I plug them in?
Louise: Depends. Do you have a CD drive?
Idiot: I don’t know.
Louise: Do you ever play CDs on your computer?
Idiot: Yes.
Louise: Then you have a CD drive. Are you trying to listen to a CD?
Idiot: No. Stuff off the Internet.
Louise: You can buy speakers at the dollar store, if you want some.
Idiot: I’d rather not, headphones are more private.
So he’s trying to find a way to watch porn all privately. I find that you should never listen to porn on headphones, you never know who could sneak up behind you. Then again maybe he lives for danger.
After about 20 or so minutes of me trying to get him to find his “start” button (“There is no start button. Should I click on “log off?”) and then finally getting him into the audio settings, we were finally getting somewhere.
Idiot: I’m in the audio part. There are lots of icons here.
Louise: Fiddle around in there.
Idiot: What do you mean?
Louise: Click on something, and see if there’s anything you can do.
Idiot: I don’t know what to do!
Louise: You’re not going to break your computer. If you’re about to fuck something up, something will pop up saying “Are you sure you want to do that? It will fuck up the computer”. Take a chance.
Idiot: Oh well, I don’t have time for this. I have better things to do.
Idiot: Bye.
Gee, you’re welcome for spending my time on this. I’m fine, by the way. Oh, thanks for your well-wishes on my mammogram tomorrow. Yes, I am having a mammogram. Yes, it really has been that long since you bothered speaking to me about me and not you. Great talking to you. Buh-bye.
(more…)
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