Ahead of themselves

There's Halloween candy for sale at the grocery.

What is wrong with these people?

How out of line would this be?

For the first time ever, both major Jewish holidays fall on class days. I wonder how many of my students will take a sudden and fervent interest in Judaism to get the days off, excused. I've half a mind to make them recite one of the major prayers and prove it to me, but that would way, way against college policy.

Lapsed Jew that I am, I'll be teaching those days. I'm not going to go to the trouble of finding a sub when I'm now barred from my family's synagogue, since I declined the honor of continuing to remain a member.
Me: You're pretty big, cold and impersonal. I just don't get much out of attending.
Synagogue president: Let us know if you change your mind!
Me: Yeaaaaah.
I think I would have gotten the same response from her if I'd said: "I think I shall worship Satan instead."

Hot, hot, hot

I've been too busy frying to come up with creative blog entries, I suppose. My city has broken a 100+-year-old heat record for days above 90 degrees. Al Gore's shaking his finger and saying "I told you so."

I now have to pull out all the stuff for teaching that I gleefully shoved away in May and sort through it, for classes start next week. I'm looking forward to it and not looking forward to it at the same time. It's been really nice to have mornings at home, but I've missed the classroom.*

I'm headed away from the city tomorrow, to see some family friends that have a home in the, er, hills.** I missed them last summer because I was teaching summer school and couldn't go up with the rest of my family. I'm looking forward to it.

Bored with me? (Can't say I blame you...) Notice the new link to the left, and go read "Legally Mommy." She's a college friend who's a lawyer with a baby and a toddler.

*And the cash, but that's honestly secondary.
**I know you know where I live, and I know anyone stumbling on here who doesn't know me can probably figure it out, but I hate to give it away to the Google-bots.

Dammit, I know that's Chicago

I saw the Batman movie this weekend. It was good, although soooooo not cheery. And soooooo not for kids. There were some pretty young kiddoes in there. But I have a beef with it.

That. Is. Chicago. Not Gotham City. It interfered with the movie "suspension of disbelief" for me to have the city so recognizable. I'd get into it and boom! El tracks. Library. Sears Tower. Daley Center. Shedd Aquarium. Board of Trade. Chicago River. Lower Wacker Drive. Even street signs reading "State" and "LaSalle" and a storefront with "Chicago" in the name. I saw a news story this weekend alluding to the director having done this on purpose, since he thought Chicago made a great template for Gotham City. But it bothered me. I do know the city well, especially downtown. My companion, who'd never been there, thought I was nuts. So I guess it won't bother most people. But it kept pulling me out of the movie every time I thought "Hey! I know that corner!"

As an antidote to all the darkness, I also saw "Mamma Mia!" which was quite adorable. The critics were pretty snipy about it, but I liked it. Although Pierce Brosnan is a little croaky. I can forgive him. Easily.

Sometimes the internets are good. Sometimes, not

• The internets are good: I had a best friend in elementary school. She moved away after sixth grade, which of course I found upsetting. We lost touch fairly quickly. I thought of her from time to time, but never made an effort to locate. So imagine my surprise when she found me on Facebook not too long ago, and contacted me. It's good to be back in touch with her.

• The internets are still good: A guest recently put a glass down without a coaster on a piece of wood furniture, leaving a white ring. The most common remedy online seemed to be mayonnaise. Full fat, if you please. Mayonnaise? Really? One purchase of the smallest jar of full-fat, store brand mayonnaise later (and subsequent application*) and poof! the white ring is gone.

• The internets are bad: I was looking up something real-estate related for work not too long ago, and I was shocked to stumble upon a listing for my former home. For waaaaay more than it's worth, which probably means my ex is in some kind of financial trouble. So I make the mistake of mentioning this to my mom. Less than 24 hours later, she managed to sleuth out the fact that my ex was engaged to the real estate agent. And she found their wedding registry. While I'm in awe of my mom's mad online search skillz, I'm also a little afraid. What else is out there? Hence why the Facebook page, under my real name, isn't linked here.

*Smelled horrible, though. I can't deal with mayo without gagging. Unless it's Japanese mayonnaise. That stuff rocks.

You can't see this at home

I just got back from a trip to see the most excellent Stacy and Geoffrey. We went to a beach. With sand! And water! And really good seafood. All things that cannot be found in my landlocked home state. It's been so nice to have a break from work. And from teaching -- much as I enjoy it, I'm taking the summer semester off. It was really, really hard to teach all day and work all night last year. And I want to see movies, and go swimming, and sit and read on my porch this summer.

Oh, and I meant to post pictures of my boot, but what with grades and all I never got around to it while I was actually wearing it. What boot would that be? This boot. I'm the one on the right, and hoo boy, does my thigh look fat with my pants bunched up like that. (Thanks, co-worker Kitt, for the blog entry!) It became the fashion at work to injure oneself. Although I don't usually follow trends, I just couldn't help following this one. The good news? It came off before I left the state.

Overheard at the grocery this morning

From the customer at the cash register behind me: "Well, I left him at the altar."
Cashier: "Really? What did you do with your wedding dress?"
Customer: "Oh, I had my mom deliver it to him with the news I wasn't coming with it."

I so wanted to turn around and get the rest of the story, but I had to pay for my stuff, and she was gone by the time I finished. There's a chick lit book -- or movie -- in there somewhere.

Hi! Still here!

So what's new ....

• I got new glasses. I had the same pair of dark tortoiseshell frames* for the last three years. They're fine, but I was bored and wanted something completely different. Behold:



The photos are crappy, but you get the general idea. I wear contacts mostly, but I do wear glasses on a regular basis. My prescription's awful. I read an essay once written by a woman about being legally blind. The irony here? Her eyes were better than mine, and I don't consider myself legally blind.

• I got a strange phone call the other night. Here's the gist:
Caller: Who is this?
Me: Who is this? You called me.
Caller: You're not my sister, "Faith". This was my sister's number.
Me: I've had this number for two years. I know she had this number before me**, but I don't know what her number is now.
Caller: Guess that shows how close me and my sister are. Sorry to bother you.

It beats the "Rachel" incident last year. A woman named Rachel got a phone number that was one digit off mine and proceeded to give out my number as hers. Her friends called at all hours of the night, all the time. I cussed out one of them when he called at 3 a.m. from an "unknown number," and I answered because I thought it was the hospital calling about my grandmother. Good times. So for a while after that, my outgoing message read thus: "You have reached xxx-xxx-xxxx. If you are calling for Rachel, this isn't her number. Please hang up and make a note of it."

Gosh, wouldn't that have made a good blog entry at the time?

*I got in a huge fight with my ex over this particular pair of glasses. He hated them. I didn't care what he liked by that point in time.
**How do I know my number was "Faith's"? When I first moved in, I got a TON of collection calls, all asking for her. Plus her cousin in Oklahoma has called a couple of times.