Forever A Fangirl

A shortage of good news...

I've been waiting to post until I had some good news...and I'd still be waiting if I followed through on that.

It's pretty much more of the "same old"--my eldest is in jail and my mother is in the hospital. And I got "fired" from my volunteer gig because my son got fired and all the volunteers are being removed. The person now in charge is going destroy the place but that is no longer my concern.

He was fired 'cos he couldn't go to work due to moronic past behaviour combined with a short stretch of idiot behaviour now. Grrrrrrr!
I wouldn't really be as annoyed with him if he were not effecting so many other people. My biggest concern is his girlfriend. She's ill to begin with and now is not sleeping enough and can't eat. So me being a natural cheerleader (metaphorically speaking), I'm trying to give her hope and prop up her spirits but the situation is what it is. $4000 bond that no one has or is willing to part with :sigh:

My mother is diabetic and won't take her medication or modify her diet.
Her numbers are horrific; in my dad's words, she was close to a comatose before being hospitalized.
I do not know if the doctors/staff have had success in any way yet. It's pretty much been my feeling, especially since seeing her late last summer, that she is not interested in living any longer. :sigh:

So good news, lessee if I can scrape around. Erm, well now that I sort of need a job ASAP, it occurred to me that I do in fact have couple of degrees and I might make use of them. 
I've substitute taught in our elementary school district and after inquiry I found that it's quite easy to re-activate my status--just need to send money, minimal paperwork, and get a tetanus shot.
I liked working in the schools-- but it was a few years ago and I was still pretty weak and it wrung me out something fierce. I still can't do a full-time gig but I think I can manage part-time. So I'll be waiting to hear from the powers that be. We still have a teacher shortage here and that usually equals a substitute teacher shortage as well. :fingers crossed:

Just a few days ago...

I found what I consider to be a neat piece of stained glass, perfect for my northern exposure BR window of my condo (only ugly blinds allowed as per the association). The piece has plenty of clear glass as well.
We had a funky January--more weatherishly like the month of March, perhaps. Damp and
gray but no teeth-knashing cold.
Now we've hit late mid-February and it feels really cold--though in truth it's almost normal 

(February in Chicago blows--literally).  :D

I learn in her class despite her.

We are having a lovely torrential downpour on the one day where I cannot go anywhere both by design and for the very impractical reason of having a flat tire on the Mustang Even though the tires cost a $1000 for the four that are on there now-- they are--I now find out--rated as shite! Especially on wet and snowy roads! They are not even all-weather! In some ways I feel pretty good that I've avoided crashing the car--though I've done lots of fishtailing and general skidding to a sort-of-stop on wet roads. Anyway, a lesson to me to pay better attention. I'm replacing all four tires now with something better suited to my environment but big surprise here--they have to be special ordered. Of course there's a "special" price tag for that special ordering, too. Meh. On a more positive note... Earlier this week my younger son was able to proudly disclose that of the thousands of 8th graders that took the high school assessment test last month, he scored at the highest level for Mathematics! His teacher told him not to tell the other kids as everyone's schedule won't be publically distributed until next month. In response to my query as to who was the best maths teacher he'd yet had, Chris first demured as not remembering, then skipped back to the single Mathematics teacher he had prior to Jr. High--in grades 3-6, Mrs. O'Brien. Coming back to the present (though same school district) a ironic statement about even an advanced math's teacher's opinion about  student's attitudes toward math. Chris's math teacher is obviously happy about his achievements but his comments on how he grades her as a teacher are rather eye-opening: "She assumes everyone thinks math is boring. She assumes wrong(ly) with me. I learn in her class despite her. She's a distraction (trying to make math "fun" by joking, clowning)." Eeep. This guy takes his math seriously, lol. I'd be proud of Chris for being the good person he is without his gift for math but as someone who failed grade four math myself and being his mom, of course--it so pleases me to see him do so well! Cheers! --Cyn

I did _not_ bail him out.

I did _not_ bail him out.

He had lots of people stepping in but it ended up being his gf's cousin. Gobs of money was collected on the $1200 bond to get him out within a few more days (I owed him about $125 for taking care of  my "tab" at the store so I paid him). What complicated things for him--not me was that the Cook County jail was on lock-down for the weekend due to multiple escapees...in multiple escapes.

It's not a nice place and for once I can feel a bit sorry for my son (though he seems none the worse for wear--not too much risk when everyone 'cept the guards is in lockdown).

My son has a bit of a story to tell in terms of him not having committed any real act that was unlawful on the night in question but unbeknownst to him his long-ago-lost State ID card started getting used by his "friend"  who, on the night in question got stopped with an unregistered car and used my son's ID while Jim was right there in the car! 

Then a very old warrant for underage drinking (My son is currently 2 weeks from his 23rd BD) popped up on the new, improved backgroundchecker and the warrant's so old that whammy! huge bond--but as my son cheerfully relates--the girl in the car--the girlfriend of the friend who had been for some time apparently my son's ID in order to pass for 21, she had five! old warrants and got nailed for a $5500 cash bond. She's still cooling her heels.
Nice folks, huh? I think it was a harsh reminder for him why he doesn't hang with those folks very much anymore.
Also, to not ever "forget" your traffic court date! Even if it is years old...Sheesh.

Children: The gifts that keep on giving.

Between Comcast Cable (Internet) being dufuses for the past two days ( dial-up blows but is not a bad as nothing)    and being in the circus of "OMFG the jail's on lockdown, ...6 no 7 inmates escaped...a guard was stabbed...OMFG we "gotta" get Jim out of jail" simply by merit of having once rented my womb out to him... Then there's the fun, fun, fun, of co-ordinating bailing him out with a large wad of CASH (ONLY)--I had no idea how many people want him out yesterday. (Not that I don't but I do not have $1200 to say goodbye to right now).

Irony: being arrested at age 23 for underage drinking. Never ignore court dates. They will find you sooner or in this case--much later.

Man oh man oh man. Children: The gifts that keep on giving. 

Saturday Political Cartoons

From the Saturday Chicago Tribune's round-up of editorial cartoons of this week past: It was a bit of a relief to find that four of the five Saturday editorial cartoons addressed the subject in a style that shows that I'm not the only one with the incapacity to not snicker when hearing that political cartoons have incited terrorism.

It's a completely ludicrous/horrible situation. Guess that could be a source...

It's just too much for me to understand.

 

Body-language people must be having a field-day with this shot.

http://tinyurl.com/72g4a

"I have never been employed in my life. That is the change I want. "

QUOTATION OF THE DAY
      "I am here because I want a change in my country. I have never been employed in my life. That is the change I want. "
  BARRETT KAJUSTE,   a voter in Haiti.

Pretty powerful sentiment.

"The British Government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa."

Dear Cynthia,

Remember this? "The British Government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa."

Those are George Bush's famous 16 words from his 2003 State of the Union address, delivered less than two months before he sent troops into war in Iraq.

They were false. Three years later Americans are still demanding answers on the manipulation of intelligence by an administration eager to start a war.

Americans have a lot of questions that went unanswered tonight. When George Bush delivered his State of the Union address, he had a big megaphone and the world's attention. He had the opportunity to regain some degree of credibility with the American people -- more than half of whom disapprove of his performance as president. But he failed to answer the real questions ordinary Americans have about the state of our union:

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