Wednesday, October 27, 2004

Some day I will be able to have only ONE job.

However, that day has evidently not yet come. I also got to "reregister" for insurance benefits. They've reorganized them this year and the upshot of it is that I don't get benefits as a .67 fulltime employee. Or rather, I do, but what I would have to pay for them is more than I pay for the insurance I bought on my own last year. Unamused here.

So my friend Cody called me up a little while ago about coming to work for him back in Park City part time and on-call at one of the condo/resort front desks. We worked together at the Hirsch until I quit, and he got the manager's position at this other place. Well anyway. Long story short, I said yes, was planning on changing my mind because of the commute, then got the real story on what I'm being paid (or not being paid) as a teacher, and realized that I needed to take him up on the offer.

Sonovabitch.

I looked for something closer to home, but the job market is grim right now. Unless you are a cook, a housekeeper, or are looking for full time work. I think I need to look more seriously into tutoring.

Tuesday, October 26, 2004

Flames of Rage

So. Every time I think that there couldn't be another way to dick me around with the whole teaching thing, I'm proven wrong. I got my second paycheck today and it is the same as the first. Okay, that sounds normal, you say. But no. See, the first paycheck was supposed to be for 2.5 weeks. This one was supposed to be for the whole month. But what they do instead of actually paying me for the time worked, they divide my total contract by 12 months and pay me like that.

Why this is a problem: I'm only hired for 5 months. So I won't see that huge fucking chunk of the money they owe me until FEBRUARY!! Six weeks after my contract ends. This is FUCKED UP.

What it means: instead of making $2000/month as I should be, my paychecks are for $1675/month. Yes, that means that I will be getting roughly a double paycheck at the end and according to the payroll lady, THERE IS NO WAY AROUND THIS CLUSTER FUCK. To put this in perspective, that $325 extra is my rent payment.

So unamused. Verging on bitter even.

This isn't funny anymore.


Monday, October 25, 2004

Naked, Screaming, and Dripping Wet

I think that's a line from a Bill Cosby routine, but I might be misquoting. Nonetheless, it seemed an appropriate intro for the next Kerri and Karlyn story. Heh heh.

So, as I mentioned before, K2 and K3 did pretty much everything together because Kerri didn't like to be alone and Karlyn didn't mind the company. When they were much younger - like 9 and 6 - they even used to shower together in my parents' shower-only bathroom downstairs. (The master bedroom is in the basement)

One Saturday afternoon, my mother and I heard an absolutely bloodcurdling scream echo up the stairs to the kitchen. It was followed by a different howl and then a second shriek from the first screamer. As we rushed down the stairs, Kerri raced out the bathroom door naked, screaming, and dripping wet. We snagged a towel from the linen closet to wrap around her and pushed into the bathroom. Karlyn was still in the shower, now cursing to herself. (Interesting vocab for a 9 year old, by the way) Further investigation revealed a steady stream of blood oozing down one leg.

It appears that Kerri had been frightened by a spider dropping over the shower curtain and into the shower stall. Naturally - for a 6 year old girl - she screamed. All would have been well except at that very moment Karlyn was using one of my dad's half-abandoned disposable razors to shave her legs for the first time. When Kerri screamed, Karlyn flinched, taking a chunk of skin out of her leg. Oops. Kerri, seeing the blood, screamed again, semi-convinced that she'd just killed her sister and still freaked out by the spider.

Damn... I don't think I can do that story justice. Just thinking about Kerri doing her little "Aaaaahhhhh!" dance and scream makes me laugh so hard the tears come to my eyes. And Karlyn being so...chagrined as being caught with the razor. Oh dear.

Thursday, October 21, 2004

Whoosh Whoosh Whoosh and I love my dad, but I don't love my dad

That's the sound of my days flying by. I'm still a little puzzled as to how it can be the 21st of October when I'm still spinning from September. NaNo's rushing up at me, and this year, instead of being on unemployment from my seasonal job at the resort, I'm working the most time and labor intensive position I've ever had. Of course, last year I finished in only 20 writing days... so maybe I'll be able to make it again this year using all 30.

I talked to myKarlyn over the weekend. I've asked for her confirmation and clarification on the "peneth" thing, so hopefully she'll find a few minutes to leave a comment in the next week or so. She was getting ready to go out with her boyfriend to celebrate their 2nd year anniversary as a disgustingly cute couple. No, they're not disgusting. Well, I guess they might be. I've never actually met John... I've seen the pictures though, and DAMN that boy is big. Linebacker big, not "too many Biggie Size Fries" big. And he looks like a taller, younger version of my dad. Creepy. Personally, I've never been attracted to men who look like my father. But maybe that's just me, eh? To be honest, I used to be attracted to men with my father's "alcoholic in denial" tendencies, but I figured out after a while that that's simply no fun. Aaaaaaaand, while we're being honest, I guess Jay has that "responsible sciencey guy who needs to control everything in his life" thing going on, similar to my dad. But since those are a combination of my dad's most attractive and least offensive (to me) qualities, I think that's okay.

On a scarier note, I think I might be becoming my dad. I've gone to bed every night this week at 9:30pm and gotten up around 6am, to leave the house before 7am. I never believed my dad when he said that he used to be a night person before he had to work a regular job. Now I think I might be getting the picture. And the picture is dark. Oh dark hundred hours, that is. Sigh.

Friday, October 15, 2004

Back to Bellybuttons


Have I written about this already? Does it matter? I didn't think so.


The motivation for this post came from Jay's new obsession with Dooce's blog. Like any freshly speared blog addict, he combed through the archives as I haven't taken the time to do...and he found a picture with a caption revealing that Dooce's belly button is named Fred. Fred the bellybutton. Yep, my Karlyn, sorry to break it to you, but your naming of my bellybutton was evidently not as original as we might have thought.

You see, we three K sisters (Kate, Karlyn, and Kerri) have this belly button bonding thing going on.

I think it started as a result of Kerri's thumb-sucking, belly-button-fingering childhood. Right thumb always in mouth, index finger hooked over her little button nose, left index finger in a belly button. Note I said a belly button, NOT her bellybutton. She wasn't at all picky.

Now Kerri always slept with Karlyn until... well, until she was old enough to want privacy... like 10 or 11? (Feel free to correct me, K2 or K3.) And I don't blame her a bit - Karlyn has had a double bed for as long as I can remember and she is just the snuggliest person to sleep with. So very often, the belly button Kerri had her finger in belonged to Karlyn. Belly buttons became a central facet of our lives in the late 1980s. So I suppose it only seemed proper that they be named. And have personalities assigned. (Don't ask me, I only tell the stories.)

Karlyn's belly button is Billy. He's Karlyn's gay fashion consultant. Perhaps that's a stereotype, but I'd say he's done a fabulous job. Kar is way more stylin' than I am.

My belly button, as I alluded to above, is Fred. Though he is not above exchanging a belly kiss hello with Billy, he is definitely "not into that sort of thing". Mainly I refer to him as "the pudgy bald guy".

Kerri's belly button is Peneth... pronounced "Pea-neth" with a lisp. I couldn't begin to assign a gender. I wish I could explain Peneth, but I think my brain shuts down everytime the younger Ks have tried to clarify. Or else they've only giggled and rolled their eyes at my confusion. It could be the second option. Sometimes that 8 and 10.5 year age gap really hits hard. Sometimes we barely feel it.

Happily, all the buttons will be reunited at Christmas this year. I just hope it doesn't snow like it did last year over the holiday. Jay will sulk for weeks if he misses another winter storm...

Saturday, October 09, 2004

Laziness abounds

Bit of a nothing week. School had its ups and downs - mostly in the form of students not making up work they needed to make up. Drives me nuts. One student failed a quiz (4 out of 16 pts) and I told him he could retake it as a multiple choice quiz ONLINE. Has he done so? Nope. He has a learning disability that makes it very hard for him to write his thoughts out longhand. So the second quiz I gave, I told him he could take it directly off the computer if he wanted, and that if he wanted, he could have an extra day to study. He accepted the extra day but has yet to take the quiz. Three weeks have passed, he's lost his chance. I just want to shake his smug little face right off his fat little shoulders. It's like he's using his status as learning disabled as an excuse not to do any work. Gah.

Also, on the day I gave a quiz, 6 students were absent. I almost postponed the quiz because getting these kids to make stuff up is near impossible. However, I thought that would set a poor precedent... they have to learn to take responsibility. As much as I'd prefer that they not fail, I'm not doing them any favors by enabling them to do crappy work and not be punished for it.

*putting on my stern teacher face*

Grrr. Do your work!

Sunday, October 03, 2004

Mulling over the options

So.

I'm getting a little fed up with Utah. Maybe it's just that it's an election year, maybe it's that I'm getting a close up look at the education issues, maybe it's that 62% of people polled in Utah think that banning same sex marriages AND anything other non-marriage relationship that formerly held marriage-like rights (read common-law marriage) is a GOOD IDEA!! WTF, people? How totally short-sighted can you be? How narrow-minded?

Anyway.

Jay has another year here to finish with the PhD. I could stick around for that without too much trouble, I guess. Maybe I'm a little irked still at the "but how do you know?" and "I don't want to get married" discussions of the past few years. I understand that he's got his hands full with not only the PhD work, but his commitment to the educational outreach required by his fellowship and volunteer work with the upcoming science center, AND other little departmental duties. However, just because I understand, doesn't mean I feel good about being stuffed into a holding pattern for the last few years. (I don't think this should be news to you, sweetie.) (Yes, Jay reads the site fairly regularly.)

So I've been thinking about getting out and away from here. There's a language teaching assistantship organized through the French Embassy which places between 1000-2000 foreigners in French schools to act as language assistants in their native language. The pay is minimal - about 800 Euros a month take home pay - but should be enough to live on, if frugally. The assistantship is open to people ages 20-30 who have had at least 3 semesters of college French and who have a working knowledge of French language and culture. I'm not even sure what my chances of getting it would be. It's a seven month posting and would start next October 1st. Application deadline is December 1st, 2004.

One way or another I need to decide soon so I can start getting the materials together... like recommendation letters.

I keep swinging back and forth on the subject. Last night I was totally excited about it. Today, much less so...

Thoughts?


Saturday, October 02, 2004

Writing and Painting and Reading, Oh My!

This whole "not working on the weekends" thing is really nice. I had forgotten how nice. Yesterday I didn't leave the house, because I truly needed a day to veg out and putter around.

I revised two chapters of Retribution and finished a critique for a member of Silver Griffin crit circle that was long overdue. I also reregistered for NaNo and posted a few things there after donating my $25 to keep the show on the road, so to speak.

THEN, I painted another shelf of the bookcase I've been working on for months (added more shrubberies and a man playing frisbee with a dog) and finished the right side panel with a field of grass and wildflowers. Just two more shelves to go and then I will post pictures. My next project with be something small and quickly finshable: napkin rings.

I also got to catch up with all the blogs I read AND the newspapers and magazines in the house, as well as a few more chapters of the Diana Gabaldon book I'm reading (just reread Outlander, Dragonfly in Amber, and Voyager. Now working on Drums of Autumn). One of my students recommended Greenrider but I can't remember the author's name. I suspect that will be the next item of fiction for me.

Today, I'll be going hiking with Jay as soon as he gets home. We bargained up/down for an 8 mile hike today... we'll see if it doesn't turn out to be more like 6. (I hope.)

Friday, October 01, 2004

NaNoWriMo boards open this evening

Yep - it's that time again. The National Novel Writing Month is November, but the boards should be reopening tonight for all the pre-writing splendor.

I can't wait. hee hee.

Just call me Moby

I was just looking at more of the recent pictures that Jay has of the both of us. I must stop having my picture taken while standing next to the boy. Jeez. He's so fricking skinny that I look enormous next to him. (All right, all right, he's not skinny, he just has no fat over his many muscles or bonyass hips. The wiener.) And he's tan and olivey where I'm kind of golden and pale so I look completely pasty in comparison.

Hmmm, let's see... yes. That makes me a big, white whale. Fabulous, neh?