What made me laugh this week!

I've shaken off the melancholy -- so easy to do on a Saturday morning when my daughter is shaking her groove thing to the Wii with Cyndi Lauper's "Girls Just Wanna Have" fun, I've been to the gym and raised my endorphin levels, and most importantly, I haven't had to go to work and deal with stupid people :)

Thank you to everyone who messaged me, commented, or liked the last blog. It truly lifted my spirits and made me feel better! I haven't been on Facebook long, but I have yet to discover what is so evil about it; so far I've been better about keeping in touch and I've gotten support from people I really like. Don't know why I waited so long to try it. (Oh, yeah, right, it's because I was terrified every person I can't stand would know the intimate details of my life. If that's happening I don't know about it. Ignorance is bliss!)

The nightly humongous glasses of wine helped, as did the two Bud Light Lime-A-Ritas I tried last night. Yummy :) This paragraph is a quick pitch to advertise that delicious new concoction. I just "liked" it so you can click on the link from my page and see the shiny, silvery can of goodness and know what you're looking for at Wegmans. No thanks needed :)

Anyway, here's my list of things that made me laugh this week. In no particular order:

1. "Mom, I've got a situation." I reply, very concerned, "What is it, honey?" She says, "Daddy's a ghost!" Whew! For a minute there I was really worried!!

2. This is worth a Google -- ESPN's Friday Funnies -- I laughed so hard my gut ached. During a college football game in a clinch play, the referee plowed over the coach in his way. I don't know why, but watching the old guy go down again and again was hilarious! Love ESPN for replaying it several times so I could drag out my twisted enjoyment of others' pain :)

3. Thanks to the guy at the gym who made me laugh like an 8th grade boy because he farted while on the elliptical. Even now, as I type, I'm giggling.... I know, I know, but I can't help it. When someone parts your hair so to speak it's funny! As long as you're not directly downwind :)

4. And finally, my favorite. Saved the best for last. True story. Thanks Matt Lindstrom for this week's heartiest belly laugh. He told me the story of a friend of his. We'll call him Daddy because I don't know his name. His two sons, Frank and Furter, (clearly I don't know their names, either!) go to the bathroom at a restaurant and emerge arguing. Typical boys. The older one, Frank, was picking on Furter because he had dried his hands on his shirt and left wet hand prints. Furter whined to Daddy, "He's making fun of me because he says the hand prints look funny." Daddy says, "Well, they kinda do look funny." Furter looks at Frank, looks at Daddy, looks back at Frank, and back at Daddy, and says, "Fuck you both." (Brief pause while I laugh once again...) After he drags the delinquent children to the car and explains to his wife why it was indeed their children disrupting the entire restaurant, he tells the wife that Furter insists he heard it from the babysitter, a 60+, kindly, blue-hair who most likely did not spew the f-bomb at daycare, but nonetheless, the next day, Daddy calls blue-hair and shares the story. She indeed says, "Oh no, it wasn't me!" But when Daddy persists by saying, "Well, he said you were driving down the road, on your phone, and he heard you tell someone 'Fuck you, both!'" Ohhh, well, then, "Oh, yeah, that was me. Whoops." Nice :)

Itchin' to write something...

But although I've had so many moments, good and bad, in recent weeks, nothing seems big enough to blog about. But I really feel the need to write something. To express myself. So this may wander and may not be cohesive, or have a point, or a solid lesson, but I need to just go. 

Melancholy. That's what I feel at the moment. When I look in the mirror, I see someone who isn't as happy as she once was, lacks the enthusiasm she once possessed. And yet, underneath it all, I am happy. I couldn't ask for more in regard to Steve and Ryan. Thank God for them! They are what life is all about and they keep me smiling. School starting though has been an emotional roller coaster. I go one day thinking, "I can do this." And the next I'm crying in team that I don't want to do this anymore. That I can't do this anymore. 

This is my 21st year of teaching and I think I may be burned out. I should be better at dealing with the BS, but even though in some ways I am, in others I am not at all. I still cannot wrap my head around why some things are the way they are. Why are some people lazy and ineffective and get away with it, but some of us bust our asses day in and day out, lose sleep at night and yet never even get a thank you? Why do some kids have such crappy home lives, to the point where they can't focus on learning, let alone passing state exams written by some a-hole who has never stepped foot in a classroom? Why do some teachers have far less responsibility than others? 

I don't know. I just don't know. I feel so powerless to change anything. Yeah, yeah, I know I should be the change I want to see in the world. And every morning I wake up with a smile on my face, determined to make the best of it, and by 3PM, I'm exhausted, have a headache, and need some ibuprofen and a glass of wine. Teachers, am I alone? Am I bat shit crazy?! Or is this normal? 

I don't want to be discouraged, but I am. Summer is already a distant memory. I am already tired. Oy vay! You know how they say to treat yourself? Take care of yourself? If I ate as much chocolate, drank as much wine, had as many massages as I need, I'd be fat, drunk, and broke!! 

Ryan's first concert!

Do you remember the first concert you ever attended? I do! It was Heart at the War Memorial. Ooooooh.... Barracuda!! My first concert should have been Michael Jackson; when I was about 14 my older cousin, Tim, asked my parents if he could take me. Dad said no. Now that would have been an experience!  What was he thinking depriving me of a legend performing Thriller?!

Since then, I've been to many concerts and what a varied lot I've seen! I've been in the presence of Garth Brooks (who pointed and winked at me! and no, it wasn't to the chick behind me, it was to me! ME!!), Aerosmith, The Beach Boys, Chicago, Barry Manilow (2x and I'm going again Friday!), Guns 'N Roses, Bon Jovi, Tim McGraw, Steve Miller, James Taylor, Debbie Gibson, Phish, Paula Abdul, Color Me Badd, Young MC, Milli Vanilli, Taylor Dane... That's all I can come up with right now, but I know I'm forgetting a lot. I used to keep the ticket stubs but then the pile was so big I threw them away. I'm really not a saver of stuff!

You might wonder what's prompted this stroll down memory lane. The answer is THE FRESH BEAT BAND! Steve and I took Ryan to CMAC yesterday to see them. They asked if there was anyone in the audience who was attending their first concert and Ryan raised her little hands. It made me realize I was 18 when I went to my first concert and Ryan was only 3. Man, times have changed!

First, the good news -- Ryan loved it. She was so excited! She got a t-shirt, sang along, shook her groove thing and made us so happy that we had done that for her.

Now, the bad news -- I'd just like to say to Nickelodeon -- WTF?! Those 3 tickets cost us 145 bucks! It was over in less than an hour and a half, and that includes the freakin' intermission! Who needs an intermission when you're only performing for a total of 45 minutes?! Really? You people have quite a racket going on there, what with the merchandising and hype. Clearly you are raking it in. What BS. The trouble is, while the kids have no idea that the "concert" was the shortest, most simple, biggest rip-off concert ever, their parents do! And Nickelodeon can get away with it because parents like us want to give Ryan the "experience". Suckers! All of us! Big, fat suckers!

And of course, one last bit of bad news...my kid is smart enough to remember that on TV The Fresh Beat Band pulls a kid up on stage. She told us about a hundred times she wanted to go on stage. Yeah, kid, we know, everyone wants to get pulled up on stage, but it ain't happenin', so get over it! Then when it was over, she cried -- and I mean all the way to the parking lot! We were the only people there with a kid who was crying. Why? Because on TV they high five the kids in the audience. She wanted to high five them. She didn't get to high five The Fresh Beat Band!

What a mix of emotions! Happiness, heartbreak, joy, disappointment... but I guess that's life, isn't it? We ride the roller coaster of experiences, feel the feelings along the way, and experience all the shades of gray. (I am NOT referring to the book, either.) Very little in life is black and white. Not even your first concert :)