Happy Halloween Y'all

Happy Halloween every one. I walked like crazy - that's two days worth of exercise that I am so not used to. I'll pay for it in the morning, but I can console myself with the left over snickers bars. We took the kids trick or treating at the church down the street. They had three moon jumps, an inflatable obstacle course, and a bunch of other cool stuff. We all has a blast, inspite of this over sized pre-teen behemoth that went the wrong way on the obstacle course and plowed into Lea Anna. I just glared at her the first time. I told her off the second time when she almost plowed into her again. Lea Anna won one of those skipper thingys in a drawing that you twirl around your ankle and hop over. Daniel seemed a little bummed out that he didn't win any prizes, but I told him Lea Anna was too little for the skipper, so he'd have to play with it first and show her how to use it. He's a happy camper now. I forgot to frisk him before he went to bed. I'll probably find loads of kit kat wrappers on the floor in the morning.

Nashville Zoo

I took the kids to the zoo yesterday. It was fun, but even Daniel was wore out from all that walking. Lea Anna's favorite was the lemurs. As soon as she saw them she (and every other preschooler) yelled ZABOO! I liked the meerkats. They are the cutest little rodents I have ever seen. Every time a plane flew over head, the whole group stood on their hind legs and peered up at the sky with their snouts pointed up. They all had that "what the $%@$ was that?" expression. The tigers were cool also. They were feeding them blood popsicles. That was more information than I needed, but that's what I get for asking the zoo keeper.

Dark Darth Vader!!!

Me & the NEW Batmobile!!!





These pictures were taken in june so I've been meaning to post em for awhile so they're kinda old. I'll be posting some newer ones soon and I'll be sure to dress up nicely.

Thats all I've got to say right now so, this is Adrian, wondering when in the hell are we getting those damn flying cars! those suckers are 5 years overdue!!!!, signing off!!

Bon Voyage!

Janet and Suzanne will be heading out on their long-awaited cruise this weekend. Party on, ladies, and be sure to say hi to Isaac and Gopher for me!

Funny Dilbert Today

Check it out.

An Arthritic Haiku

It is times like these
When the biting cold winds come
My steel-pinned toe aches

Arigato!

What's your haiku for today? Share it here. Remember, grasshopper: 5-7-5!

Alfred the Pumpkin

The company that runs our cafeteria is having a pumpkin carving contest this week. This is our groups contribution. Notice the John Deere tractor Alfred is chomping on. Unfortunately I can't take credit for that particular idea, but I do think it adds a nice touch :)

What's Up With Jazz...

Hello Family!

Yesturday was an eventful day... i went to Hollywood with my friends Bridgette and Aaron. We went to a few stores, hoping to find Bridgette a costume for Halloween. (We got her options down to Rainbow Brite and a police woman...she wants a gun.) Unfortunately, we couldn't find anything...that was affordable anyway. On our way to Melrose we did find a cool thrift shop, though. They have awesome band Ts. They had Souxie and the Banshees, Joy Division (although I don't really like them), AC/DC, Black Sabbath, The Clash...it was awesome. All their REALLY cool stuff was kept hung from the ceiling or in the "EMPLOYEES ONLY" area in the back...I really want to raid the employees' area!!!

After that we continued on our journey to Melrose...I had to pee. However, everywhere we stopped on the way seeme to NOT have a bathroom. The first place that DID have one was a 76 gas station. I went up to the guy at the window and said "Excuse me, may I use your bathroom?" I asked like THREE times and even knocked on the window, but the asshole ignored me and kept counting his damn money! (He's just lucky I don't have a penis...I'd have pissed on his window!) After that we found a cafe. Aaron said they probably didn't have one either (because that seemed to be the case with everywhere else...except the 76 station), but i argued that wherever coffe was served there was a bathroom because coffee makes you have to pee...so we walked around to the entrance... THERE WAS A PRIVATE PARTY GOING ON 'TIL 7PM, SO I COULDN"T GO IN!!! Bridgette and Aaron laughed at me the whole time...how sweet of them... (And you know wherever there's a party, there's a toilet!) I didn't find salvation 'til we came to a Laundromat...I had to pay $.25 to use it, but I was happy.

When we finally got to Melrose we went to a few clothing stores and a comic book shop. American Vintage was really cool. Bridgette and Aaron put on afros and let me take a picture. (Bridgette's afro was blonde though, sothe flash bounced off of it and you can't see it very well.) We also found a pair of plus-sized leather chaps (even fat guys can be sexy!) and some prom dresses from hell. The Shrine was another REALLY awesome store. The best outfit ever was one the guy mannequin was modleing in the window. He had on black slacks, a long black trenchcoat, and under it was a blood-red silk shirt with ruffles (like Lestat wears). I should've taken pictures...I want whoever I marry to wear it at the wedding...it was that awesomely beautiful. We also went to a store called Necromance. They sell REAl human and animal bones 'n' stuff. They had everything from mink penis bones to shark teeth and turtle shells...they even had a couple human hand bones. I wanted to buy a freeze-dried bat (yes...a real bat), but I didn't have the money, so i just bought a yard of this really cool wire ribbon they had and a plastic casket keychain. It was so cute...it had an itty-bitty skeleton in it.

After that we took the bus home. On the 210, this bum who smelled like pee got on... when he noticed me he started talking about how I was a beautiful princess (I was wearing a gown...stupid me) and how I shouldn't be alone at night. I nodded my head and didn't say anything. Then he asked who the guy next to me was...I told him I didn't know who the hell he was and that he was there when I got there...I also pointed to Bridgette and Aaron and said I was with them. But, that's not the worst part!

As more people got on the bus he leaned closer to let them pass...EEEEW! His crotch was like, a foot from my face and pressed myself against the guy next to me. (Bridgette and Aaron...and just about everybody else at the back of the bus were laughing at me...) When the guy woke up and saw why I was pinned so close to him he immediatley got up. As soon as he left i bolted out of my seat and let the bum have the entire damn thing to himself! (I knew if I didn't he was gonna try to sit next to me...NO WAY!) Aaron was kind enough to give me his seat next to Bridgette...yay! The bum still kept trying to talk to me...people still laughed. I was scarred for awhile and when we got off the bus (because it eventually broke down a few blocks from Crenshaw and Slauson) Bridgette, Aaron and I were still laughing about it. I SWEAR TO GOD, I WAS GONNA BUST THAT BUM'S NUTS IF HIS CROTCH CAME ANY CLOSER! I HAD MY FIST READY!!!

Bridgette and I went to Taco Bell while Aaron walked home and borrowed his brother's car. He picked us up from Taco Bell and we all got something to eat from Master Burger. We then headed to Grandma's and watched movies for the night. (We watched Freaked and Alexander...A LOT of gay action going on in that movie.) I had fun. And this Friday and Saturday I'll be spending to fun-filled days with Emerald! Sins of the Flesh is having a special Rocky Horror event Halloween Weekend and Friday we are going to Das Bunker (an industrial club). The only bad thing is that her evil boyfriend has to come...I only told her to invite him because everytime she goes somewhere fun with me (at night) he alsways has shit to say and I didn't want him bitching at her for stupid crap. (Always complaining about how he's excluded...that crybaby!)

Wheres the SUN !?!?!?!?!!!

The weather out here has been reeeally crappy as of late. Normally about this time its sunny, not as hot, occasional showers etc, etc but the past few days have sucked weather wise. The reason for all this bad weather is simple: god hates L.A. he plans to rid the world of it by depriving it of sun so that the plants all die and stop producing oxygen, which in turn will leave us with all that smog we created which in turn will cause us to die. As tragic as this may sound, there is still hope. The governator Arnold "Cali-FAwn-Ya' Schwarzennegger has already drawn up a plan to rapidly remove a majority of hollywoods A-listers with the exception of Britney spears, that giant dousche thats always following her around, and Paris Hilton. Angry democrats quickly helped them unionize into the W.I.T.H.A.T.P.F. union also known as Why in the hell are these people famous union which quickly garnered their release.

Joking aside the past few days have been actually really good. Saturday dad thought it would rain so I stayed home and finally finished that A-10 model I got almost a month ago. I painted it silver, but the flaps and weapon pylons as well as the nose cone were all painted black. The cockpit was done brown and the bombs & missles were done in either white, green, or black. It looks real cool but the best part is it was made with battle damage included! This included:Huge finger shaped Paint smudges from Anti aircraft artillery, bent tail wing from a suicidal bird bomber, broken landing gear from dogfighting, a broken windsheild caused by highflying baseballs coming from a steroid abusing baseball player, a crooked gun, as well as a multiple bent pylons, as well as huge cracks in armor from surface to air missle hits! I didn't try to put stickers on because I ran out of battle damage explanations. The next thing I'm gonna butcher is a model dodge viper srt-10, mwa ha ha ha ha ha ha!!!

Sunday dad drove down to the park and let me drive around the empty lot. I almost ran into the curb twice before finally getting a feel for it, then I did pretty well. After that we went to majic johnson theaters to see DOOM. I personally loved that movie (not as much as war of the worlds though) but dad HATED it and we had a hort argument on the films quality. After that we went to Roscoes for dinner and as usual the waitress messed up my order. After that we went home but dad stopped at wal-mart and bought 2 DVD's Battlestar Galactica season one, and Batman begins. I was especially glad he bought Batman, but he got the cheap one that had no special features :~(

What's Up With Lisa

It has been non-eventful around here, which is always a good thing. I took the kids down to Centennial Park yesterday morning to participate with me in the Walk for Juvenile Diabetes Research. Besides a few other organizations feeding us, they also had two moon jumps, a giant twister game, and a few other activities to keep the kids entertained. Inspite of the cold weather we had a lot of fun. A dog licked Daniel's bagel and made him cry. What made matters worse is that I stuck the bagel in Daniel's back pack and totally forgot the origins of it when I got hungry and munched on it on the way home, until Daniel reminded me - after I finished eating it of course. I know we've all heard that dogs mouths are cleaner than humans, but I don't stick my nose in other animals butts and I am still a little grossed out from it.
Lea Anna is watching Shrek for the only the second time today. She is worse than Daniel was with the Monster Trucks DVD. Needing a break from it, Gary rented Shrek II earlier in the week. About five minutes into the movie she said "That's not Shrek!". She did enjoy the rest of the movie quietly, but as soon as it was done she wanted to watch Shrek (1) again. She is still constantly raiding the refrigerator, but I noticed that she'll take bites of just about anything in there so I been leaving raw veggies in plain view. She ate about a third of a crook neck squash which she won't even touch if I cook it and put it on her dinner plate, so it is not totally a bad thing.
Daniel is doing a little better with his behavior in school. He only got one yellow light this week. His class uses the green, yellow and red light system. If the kid gets a red light they are in major trouble. I took him to one of his classmates birthday party yesterday. He was bored at first because for the first half hour he was the only boy, but he ended up having a lot of fun. They had the usual party games, but my favorites was the marshmallow eating contest - you know the one where they hang a marshmallow on a string from the ceiling and the kids race to be the first one to eat theirs. It was hilarious watching it! I wish I would have brought my camera.

Brrrr!

Wishin I was in Cali right about now. Summer's gone. Wah!

Interesting Reggie Info...

Gator gets his own blog as fans jump on the bandwagon. Media coverage springs forth across the country.

Reggie's presence in Machado Lake is "like having a zoo right in your back yard."
By Donna Littlejohn
Daily Breeze

Reggie's presence in Machado Lake is "like having a zoo right in your back yard."By Donna Littlejohn Daily BreezeIt just goes to show you what a little media exposure can do for a guy.Reggie the alligator now has his own blog spot. "Free Reggie" T-shirts, bumper stickers and coffee mugs are being peddled over the Internet. Harbor College briefly toyed with the idea of making him the new school mascot.

And the Harbor City Neighborhood Council is drawing up "adoption" papers to sign at a Sept. 14 alligator costume rally.Reggie, the wayward alligator of Machado Lake, is well on his way to folk hero status.

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Wow! Screw the president...Reggie's my hero now! 8-P

Hi everyone

I haven't posted in a while because really I dont have much to talk about. I fear boring everyone to death. Even though I am 33, my life is still forming. I am still in college (If I buckle down I'll be finished in june) and I haven't found my life's passion yet. Maybe life will change after my kids have grown and I'll get more hobbies . Well anyway I am doing well in school. So are the kids, except for Marisela getting in trouble for talking in class (we had to put her on TV restriction)So, is anyone dressing up for Halloween? I don't really celebrate Halloween but my kids want to go trick or treating. Chela (Marisela) is going to be a pink Kitty. Jazzmin made her a tail and I bought her a pink leotard. I wonder what Leannna will be. Lisa has to send me pictures so I can show everyone how much cuter my neice is than anyone else's. It was interesting to see Ryan's pictures and hear his post. It is as if I travel vicariously with him. Teresa, this blog was such a good idea and has brought everyone much closer.....Luis is fine right now he is all about studying, as opposed to me. Me I am relaxed. If I can get a "C" without studying, I go for the "C" Still, my Gpa is pretty good . I have Spanish and I have P.E. Next semestre it is Political science, History, Pe, and then I am outta here. After that I am going to take courses for enrichment to find my path. Then maybe who knows- a four year degree. Well I think that's all for today except-oh yeah- they haven't caught Reggie the famous alligator from Lake Machado.

The ASVAB!

Tuesday in my american government class we had 2 guest speakers One was the crypt keepers wife, who spoke about the importance of college. It was really boring since I've heard the same speech since 7th grade. Once the teacher left for a moment, she went on a quick mini-rant about how the military doesn't help you at all and how its a lie and they'd never really pay for your college. The reason that she had to wait for the teacher to leave was becau Ms.C (Short for Crockam, everyone calls her Ms. C because no one could spell her name right.) is a loading captian in the airforce (the only black female one which she proudly braggs about alot) and used the GI bill to help get into college. The other one was a NAVY recruiter who talked about the ASVAB test. For those who dont know its a test that checks out what careers you'd be good or bad at basically. The cateories they test you in are General science, Arithmetic reasoning, mathematics knowledge, word knowledge, paragraph comprehension, electronics info, auto and shop info, and mechanical comprehension. I did pretty good in gen science, excellent in word knowlledge and paragraph comp as well as mechanical comp. I did o.k. in electronics info but where I really dropped the ball is math knowledge and arithmetic reasoning because frankly,I am math retarted. I also did pretty badly in Auto and shop info because I dont know how the hell a car works, all I know is gas makes it go, brakes make it stop, and big engine = big horse power. After the test they printed out personal dog tags. The people that were monitoring the tests were all military recruiters from all military branches --except coast guard, so once I got out the test room freinds bombarded me with so many draft jokes it compared to the devistation that godzilla brought to tokyo. We also got some sweet NAVY mouse pads and ARMY coffe mugs (both of which I sadly left in my 6th period classroom and more than likely will never see agian.) I saw Mr. Griffin in the hallway and stopped him, and asked if he reported mr. Vela ( a.k.a. ignorant-racist-jackass, schmuk of a teacher) and he did, and Vela was once agian fired today. The navy recruiter is stationed at the crenshaw plaza, a short bus ride from my house so this weekend I'm going to go visit him and try to get info on how I can possibly become a pilot in the navy, the only obstruction is dad who is agianst me joining the military and thinks job core is a better oppurtinity.

I'm still hoping that mom, jazz, and me can all visit teresas for christmas, though I do think its going to suck that right after a 4-hour flight were going to go on a 4 hour drive, this time without infinite peanuts, cokes, random junkfood, pillows, blankets, nice sky veiw and with a possibly screaming toddler and first grader in the back... ya know the more I think about it I wonder: Is it really worth it? *sigh* I guess I'll just have to find out.

well thats all I've got to write about right now, so this is Adrian- anxiously awaiting the inevitable American/French war, signing off.

Not worthy of the "Teacher" title

My substitute teachers on CRACK!!!!!!

Crenshaw's rampant axing of classes has really pissed off alot of teachers and some of them decided to leave and now the school is in desperate need of replacment teachers or long term substitutes. I had no idea how deperate they were until today. My english teacher left ( though only for 2 days luckily) and as I walked into my class I saw a horrific sight: my substitute teacher was Mr. VELA ( insert overly dramatic dun-dun-duh) Last year I had him for 1 week in history- then he got fired. He was fired for teaching outside the state standards( he taught slavery which is a 6th grade standardin LAUSD), giving students information that was not true, and encouraging students not to do work in classes with white teachers. He was also a complete idiot that used big words incorrectly to make himself sound smart and he would make the dumbest claims (like his picnic refrence which ill talk about in a second, Jazzmin knows it!)
and say its right because he had knowledge (which he didn't pronounce right.)

So anyways, once the class settled downhe started doing what got him fired in the firstplace- teaching the same 6th grade standards he taught last year (slavery) and he ended up making pretty much the same absurd statments he madelast year as well. He started out by claiming that "black people who join the police force are syphoners of their own race, because the LAPD was established to blame innocent blacks of crimes the white man commited, keeping them free!" after a little more rambling he told us what our homework would be- to find a book ritten by a black author, and find out if the publishers white or black which will have something to do with tommorows lesson. He then showed a breif film about slavery, and then began making more absurd claims, like how the army hires blacks to use as human sheilds, and how there has never been a black pilot in history because the 'white man' wont let him fly, and he even went on to make the same picnic refrence after telling us why he never uses the word. He said Picnic is short for pic a nig, and in the south it meant Pick a nigger and hang him at the park for lunch. The whole class burst out laughing at the absurdity of his claims, and he got angry so he gave us a challenge to the people who think he's wrong and think he "don't have no knowledge" write a essay that proves him wrong! After class I talked to about 5 or so people from the calss and they're all doing the eassay as am I. So far I've just finished writinng about the tuskegee airmen of WW2 (The first black fighter pilots, and got the definition of picnic down so I'm almost finished. I personally cant wait to see the look on that idiots face tommorow when the whole class comes in with essays proving him wrong!
MWAHA HA HA!!


--------------------------UPDATE!--------------------------------------
Today he wasn't there, which sucks since all but 3 of the students (theres 26 people in the class) brought atleast a paragraph disputing something he said. Instead we had Mr. griffin which is a really good teacher. The class spent about 10 minuites ranting about the things he said and how stupid he was. He promised to talk to the principal at lunch about him. I'm glad to see him go (agian) but I'm sad he didn't get to see the many essays and paragraphs disputing his claims then see his reaction. Anyways tommorow my teacher will get back so theres no chance of vela coming for another day.

The HIM Concert Experience...

The concert on Oct. 14th was awesome...Skindred was cool and Finch practically got boo-ed off stage...HA! I was 3 people away from the front (Emerald was in front of me and some other chic...damn her for being in front) and could see the glint in Ville's (the singer) eye...it was awesome...

HE WAS DRUNK! When he sang he slurred the words a little or let the audience sing the song...and there were times when he sat down for a few seconds...he had a beer on stage with him and would put it in his back pocket...and while smoking he would clap and ashes from his cigarette would fly all over the place like little fireworks...

The people throwing stuff on stage were funny... Some guy threw threw a beanie...some other guy threw a shirt and when Ville picked it up he threw a sharpie too...it hit Ville right in the chest...he kinda had a "What the f***?" look on his face. Somebody from the rafters threw pink glowsticks and, of course, some chics threw bras and some dude threw a pair of boxers...I think... Emerald and I got into the spirit also...I threw a bracelet and she threw a black rose pin...who knows what happened to them after that... I also thought the bands' bra wall [a bunch of bras pinned to a black sheet that covered Gas' (the drummer) drumset] was funny. The one that stuck out the most was a huge red one.

The lack of action in the mosh pit ticked me off. Skindred was an awesome band and barely anybody moshed. It was me and three dudes in the back, a few people off to the left of the audience, and this blonde guy (who I've dubbed Crazy White Boy) and a couple of his friends. When I shoved people and tried to get them to mosh, they stood there and gave me dumb looks... It's like, why go into a mosh pit when you're NOT gonna mosh? ...weenies. I wasn't surprised when no one moshed to Finch though. I tried a little (I wanted my moneys worth of pit action, damnit!), but gave up 5 seconds later. The minute the band came out people boo-ed and flipped them off. The lead singer even said, "Ok, since no one seems to like us we'll just play a couple songs then leave." Thank god!

People didn't start REALLY moshing until HIM came on. When they played their more fast-paced songs (like Buried Alive By Love) the guys started their mosh pit. Before the concert I was like, "Who moshes to HIM?", but they did and it was awesome. Crazy White Boy (or, Brandon O) was practically the king of the pit... He was whirling around like a friggin' tornado and slamming into people. I got some body slams in, but couldn't go full-on in the pit...some stupid, preppy girl was trying squeeze her way past me and Emerald and I didn't want to move.

One girl I tried to hold off actually got passed me, but Emerald saved the day. The girl stepped on Emerald's foot (which was stupid because she had on girly shoes and Emerald had on docs... You tell me who's gonna win THAT fight!) and had the nerve to say, "Sorry, I'm drunk!" (Lieing b****, I saw her the whole time she was in the pit and she didn't even drink water!) Emerald stepped on her foot (GO DOC MARTENS!) and hit her in the head. I am proud to say we won that battle (although Emerald broke her really cool ring and even though the concert is over, she's still out for that girl's blood).

My suspicions that Linde was stoned was confirmed when Emerald and a couple of others in the audience said if you paid attention you could smell the faint scent of pot coming from the stage...2 others that actually got to meet him said he was kinda out of it when they spoke to him.

Emerald and I had had a lot of fun and got some cool pictures. (You can tell they're authentic fan pictures because they're crappy...) I was hoping to get the whole band, but Mige (the bassist) and Linde (the guitartist) were moving around too much (which is understandable) and Burton (the keyboardist) and Gas were too far in the back...Ville was easier for Emerald to photograph...but as long as I got one good picture of Linde (and all I got WAS one) I'm happy. I even got a couple of mosh pit pictures, but because of all the movement the pictures are pretty chaotic looking...I even got Crazy White Boy's head in the picture.

When the concert was over Emerald and I met our two new friends, Randy and Liz (we met them in line...they're awesome...) outside and bought some souvenirs (Did I spell that right?) I bought 7 pins (3 for Emerald, 4 for me...I got my 4th one free though. :-P) and an official, bootleg HIM tour shirt. I can ALMOST die happy.

My next goal is to see them in London, England July 26th. If Skindred is there again, that'll be awesome...I just hope they ditch Finch...

E-Mail Notification?

I am thinking of setting up a system that would send out an e-mail letting you know that someone has posted to the blog. It would notify you only for main posts, not comments, so it shouldn't be ton of e-mail. It'll also have a link so you can go directly to the post.

If you're interested, let me know (either by leaving a comment or e-mailing me directly) and I'll add you to the list of people to be notified.

Upcoming Holidaze

Okay, I know we haven't even got through Halloween yet, but does anyone have Thanksgiving or Christmas plans yet? Jazzmin and Adrian are going to be here with me again in TN. Yay! I haven't made up my mind on anything definite. You all are welcome up here for either.

Lea Anna helped me paint ginger bread men ornaments tonight. I have to start ahead of time this year since my little princess yanked all but the top two feet of ornaments off the tree last year and many got lost. I can't tell which of her paint splooshes is which body feature but the joy on her face is well worth it. Besides, they have a lot more character than the store bought ones.

Gary took Daniel with him today to Sam Ash Music and let him try out a drum set and several other demo instruments. They had fun and Daniel was so excited and yammering on and on about the drums that Gary's thinking of getting him a small drum set. AGGGGGGGH! My comment was "Can we keep them in the basement?!" They would be perfect gift for Daniel since he has the perfect gung ho attitude and a pure unadulterated love of banging on things to someday become a great drummer, but they are so LOUD.

Happy Birthday, Jen-Jen

Wherever you are. I wish something would happen that would make a difference in your life, and soon.

Interesting Web Link

I heard about this on the radio driving home, so I had to check this out:

Office of the Director of National Intelligence

It's a link to a recently declassified letter between two senior Qa'ida leaders that was intercepted this summer. It rambles on for thirteen pages while this al-Zawahiri schmuck (that's the nicest word I can come up with for these sub human entities) gives a broad view of al Qa'ida's strategy not just in Iraq, but globally.

The good, the bad, and the just plain psychotic.

Quite a few things have happened since I last wrote/typed. Aside from a few shootings, a few high speed pursuits and a rising homicide rate, some of the most important news has centered around my wonderfully crappy school Crenshaw . Well, okay its not really important but constant events have given the school at least 12 seconds of coverage by the local news . First off, race fights have broken out again at our school a couple weeks ago. Also students and teachers organized a protest against our losing accreditation. The flyers announcing it about a week prior to the event promised "to unite students towards sweeping changes among the school and force the district to give us our accreditation back!" This flyer was also complicated with pictures of WWII marines hoisting the flag at Iwo Jima. I have no clue what it had to do with the event but the designer clearly thought it had some important significance. The rally was actually quite pathetic, consisting of some 15 students and teachers holding signs but apparently absolutely nothing was going on in California that day so some press came down and covered it. They did have a guest speaker but she kept rambling on about why we needed accreditation and talked for 10 minutes repeating the same things over and over and over and over and over and over and over again. It was so boring that some parents, some of the press and even some teachers left before she finished. Many students who wanted to go home took advantage of it and used it as an excuse to stage a walk out, though if you lived here you would know that a walk out is really a 'leave school and sprint to your friends house as fast as you can and waste the whole day claiming its for a cause'-out. Another thing that's going on with the school is the higher ups have gone ax crazy and have been killing classes left and right. First class they've cut was my African American history class and a couple weeks ago I changed my composition class and they just killed that off Friday. A geometry class was axed so my geometry class just received about 12 new students and one of the drama classes were cut as well as film making.

I had a couple more encounters with some L.A. psychos recently the first happened on, yes you guessed it-- the METRO! A short white haired man sat next to me and noticed my watch. (My watch is a luminox watch and a model commonly used by SEALS- even has the Navy emblem on it which is what I guess caught his attention.) He then asked if I was interested in the military and I told him I was. He then responded "I was in the Air Force, and I fought in Stalingrad." I'm sure the local militia know but for the ones who don't, Stalingrad was a Russian city named after Joseph Stalin and was the site of one of the turning points in the war in the European theater during WW2. At the end of the battle the city was pretty much rubble. I simply responded "Really?" and after that he started talking about his battles with the ruskies and how aliens helped him win the final battle and then abducted him! The next psycho encounter occurred on the street on my way home from the gym. I was walking by a homeless guy and he stepped in front of me and shoved this muddy, rotten, half eaten steak inches from my face- the thing had flies buzzing all over it, and he said " Here, here take a bite its good!" Naturally I walked around him and got away as fast as I could, trying to hold that sandwich I had for lunch in.

Some really great news came recently for theme park lovers, six flags magic mountain has announced that it plans to create up to 12 more rides, 3 of which will be rollercoasters by 2010 and has opened an aquarium in northern California. That's great news but being to damn far away to ride the metro there, I'll just have to hope that universal studios Hollywood decides to open up some half-decent rides soon. That rouge gator is still on the loose and a lot of the trappers have given up hunting it which is very good because I've yet to get that gator schwag I've been thinking about.

Hey mom! Riding on the metro-o-o-o!!!

A Cautionary Tale

Let me start off by saying I'm okay and it's all good now, and add that trusting my judgement and sticking to it would have prevented all this.

The short version is this: a couple of weeks ago I faced the facts that, after nearly two years of not contributing his share and two months of contributing almost nothing, Steve was a messed-up person who would live off of me for the rest of his life if I allowed it. I decided that life is too short to have wasted two years of it - and certainly not the rest of it - supporting his freeloading arse. So I started putting things in order and finding out what I would have to do to get his name off the house. I planned to come home from work the Friday before last, sit down and have a talk with him, and work things out rationally. And then crap (it seems to be a common theme on this blog) hit the fan.

Okay, so how does a supposedly smart woman like me find herself in the kind of predicament that leads to a decision like this? Well, first off, the aforementioned "trusting my judgement" was something I constantly questioned, due only in part to Steve always telling me it was just the way I saw things. Things like it not being okay to be over 40 and still "borrowing" money from your mom or averaging maybe 3.5 days of work per week. But, I digress...

When we lived at my previous house, I approached him about the money and sharing expenses issue and he said that if it was his house he wouldn't expect me to pay for anything. He said that all I needed to do was ask him for money if I needed it. I had a problem with that and thought he should just pay part of the bills and we wound up settling on him paying a $300 bill for me every month. This was about three months before we moved. He did pay it twice and then didn't have the money the last month. He also said that when we got a house that was ours as opposed to just mine, things would be different.

So here's where the against-my-better-judgement thing comes in. When you're dealing with someone who isn't honest or who has mental problems (Steve is bipolar - a fact he didn't disclose until after we'd been together a year - but that's the least of it), you can't treat them as though they were like you. They're not, and if you think you're going to be an open-mined person, a reasonable person and give them the same fair shot you'd expect, you're going to get hurt. So I did, and I did. I gave him his shot at having the responsibility of a house payment and in just over two months I wound up paying or charging (mostly charging) more than $2,000 of his share of expenses. I knew it was an unfair balance, but until I put it all in a spreadsheet and saw that it added up to that amount, I think I was in some kind of denial.

It wasn't just about money - there were several other areas that were problematic. All stemmed from the same issue, and where that issue came from I don't know. A bad childhood and parents that he was able to guilt-trip into making up for it, I guess. He laid out of work for just about any reason he could come up with. And no work = no money. One morning, toward the end of it, he stayed home from work because he had to clean up dog crap and it made him sick to his stomach. He said that - I'm not making it up. Anyway, he'd stay down in the basement, on the couch in front of the TV, for days on end. He'd come up to get something to eat or drink, but that was it. By the time I'd decided I'd had enough and was going to have "The Talk," I'd already quit buying groceries for at least a week or two. I guess I starved him out because when I got home, ready for "The Talk," there was a note on the door from Steve.

He said he "had to figure something out about all this" and was going to his parents' house. I think what he really had to figure out was where to get a decent meal without having to pay for it. He said I should call him if I wanted to talk. Well, from past experience with Steve I knew getting him to actually leave the house was half the battle, and that I should just run with it. I know - it's terrible that I didn't have "The Talk" face to face like I planned, but I've since decided that my actions fall under the aforementioned exemption from giving dishonest and/or mentally ill people a fair shot because they won't be fair to you.

So I wrote an e-mail outlining how his parents had given us $5,000 for the house and, while he had put in $1,100, he'd slacked off to the tune of over $2,000 in just over two months so I didn't owe him anything. I was taking out a loan against my retirement to pay his parents back but he himself wasn't getting another dime from me. I didn't say it nasty. It was firm and business like. But that was irrelevant. I called and left him a voice mail telling him he should check his e-mail, and when he did, he exploded.

He wouldn't agree to be removed from the title unless I gave him his parents' money and "his" money. My spreadsheet didn't mean crap to him. He was on the title and said I could either give him what he wanted to get rid of him or he would come back and live here for as long as he pleased. Either that, or when I sold the house in 10 - 15 years I could give him half the proceeds. Me trying to calmly explain how - even if you completely disregarded the rent-free year and a half he spent at my house - I had picked up the lion's share of the expenses was all irrelevant to him. He knew I wanted him out of the house and off the title and he was the one who held the keys to make that happen.

Or so he thought.

During my "putting things in order" period, one of the steps I took was to contact the real estate attorney who'd conducted our closing in mid-July and ask if they could do a Quit Claim Deed to take his name off the title like they'd done when they added him at closing, provided he agreed. They said there was no problem with that, and the fee was only about $60. I planned to call them back for an appointment after my rational conversation with Steve, which of course never happened.

I called the real estate attorney for an appointment the Monday following the Weekend from Hell (I say that because it was pretty much non-stop harrassment from Steve via e-mail, phone and cell phone), and the woman who handles the titles was out of the office. Argh. Every thing else had seemed to fall into place, like God was going, "Girl, I'm so glad you finally wised up - let me help you all I can!" I'd finally agreed to write Steve a post-dated check for half the $1,100 so he would just go away and let me get on with my life. And now I couldn't make the appointment to get him legally out.

So, a day and a half later, I'm sitting at work when I get a phone call from the real estate attorney lady. She says, "I pulled your paperwork and he's not on the title." I was incredulous. It was too good to be true. I asked how that was, and she said that they first have to send off the title after closing, get it recorded with the county, and then they can file the Quit Claim Deed to add someone. The title hadn't even come back from the county yet. She asked if I wanted to just forget the Quit Claim Deed and I was like, um, "YEAH!" Then she said, "Well if you ever change your mind..." I interrupted her: "I don't think so."

I'd had all the locks rekeyed that Monday (the one following the Weekend from Hell). God, how it angered Steve that he couldn't get into the house to intimidate me. But I felt a lot safer - and saner - without him here. He left me a voice mail threatening to get his daddy and a lawyer and the sherriff and come over here, but I felt like if I got before a judge I'd be okay.

Steve didn't really bring anything into the house but the clothes on his back, most of which I had put in the garage and he had picked up that Monday. He still had the garage door opener and had programmed the remote control in his mirror, so he could still get into the garage. That worried me. So before I let him know that he had absolutely no legal claim to the house - and thus no leverage he could use to extort money from me - I got on the Internet and got instructions for how to zap the garage door openers so the remotes wouldn't work. Once I had the house and the garage completely secured, I wrote him an e-mail and told him how it was going to be. The subject line: "Bad Karma." It was pretty late when I finished.

I was giving his parents back the money they'd given us. I was not giving it to him unless they directly told me I should. Furthermore, he was not getting any additional money out of me. He owed me, though I realized I probably would never see it. He was to show up to collect the rest of his belongings between 7:30 and 8:30 on Thursday evening and was to hand over the garage door remote before I would allow him in. He would not be coming into the house, and if I felt threatened in any way I would call the police.

He apparently finished reading my "this is how it's going to be" e-mail right about the time I got into the office, and it didn't go over too well. I'd started it off by telling him he could scream, curse, go to the county and get a copy of the title, etc., but it wouldn't matter. I guess he decided to do all that anyway. He started calling my cell phone, my desk phone, calling the front desk and having them put him through to my phone, text messaging...everything. A few days prior to this when it became apparent that this all wasn't going to go too well I decided I needed to keep everything in writing in case it was ever called into question, plus I was an emotional wreck from him trying to manipulate me and I really didn't want to volunteer for more. So I wouldn't answer the phone. Which of course made him angrier and more persistent.

At some point, he realized it was all futile. I don't know if he got information from the county that confirmed what I told him, or what. I reminded him in the "Bad Karma" e-mail that his parents had given me the money and had signed a gift letter to that effect, and that I was not obligated to give them anything, either. Maybe that was it. Whatever it was, he realized the tables had been turned and, a couple of hours after he read my final e-mail I received a one word reply: "Fine."

It's now Sunday night, three nights after he cleared the last of his stuff out. That day, that Thursday, guess what I received in the mail? The title that had just come back from the county. If I had waited even a few days longer to put him out of my life it would have been even more costly. I am so grateful it wasn't any worse. So what have I learned that I can pass on to you all? That I should have trusted my gut instinct nearly two years ago. At minimum I should never have gone into this house with him. By the grace of God I escaped with only somewhat of a financial setback. I've realized that the playing field isn't necessarily level and I don't have to open myself up to risk in order to be seen as a nice, fair, open-minded person. And, in the end, I'm reminded that there's nothing wrong with being alone if the right person's not there. The alternative isn't worth it.

Doggies

KiKi (a.k.a. KittyKitty) looks just a little bit better than the last time y'all saw her.

Sara is too sad to play : (

Macaroni for Dinner tonite

Nothing much is happening. I am taking Spanish and PE. I gave blood Wednesday and tried to excercise despite them telling me not do anything strenuous-and it was hot on top of that.I will listen next time.Dad is in here talking to me about the pope from world war2. You know Dad. I went to Target today and it was not open yet. They extended the grand opening to next Sunday. They built this huge two story target behind the Galleria where Levitz used to be. I will let you know how it goes when I go to the opening, Lord willing.Luis and I are good-he is still trying hard and studying alot.Mom is fine. We are both praying for God to take us in his hand. Regarding health insurance-we dont know what is going to happen. Most likely they will have to spend down, and might have to sell the house.We dont know. Maybe God will give us a miracle. But whatever happens I am trying to get prepared by going to school.You know I am weird what should scare me-like all the stuff that is happening- doesn't and what shouldnt scare me-like meeting new people does.Well, I am neglecting my dinner I have to go.( I am making macaroni) Hi to everyone!

Holy Crap Revisited

I was thinking of Amanda and her summer encounter with the manure truck on my drive home. I got stuck a couple of car lengths behind a semi filled with some kind of putrid manure that was so sickening it couldn't have been cow plop. Rolling up the windows and blasting the air had almost no effect on the smell. It was bumper to bumper traffic so I couldn't get out of it's way or off the freaking interstate to get away from it. Just one more thing to remind me that I am not in Torrance anymore.
Daniel got his report card Monday. He is doing well academically but behaviorally is another matter. He did good all week, but He got busted again for repeatedly burping loudly in class today. Our parent-teacher conference is this Monday. I don't know what to tell his teacher. I've been trying and will keep trying to quiet him down for years but it hasn't worked yet. I think that is why God gave him big brown eyes and dimples, so I won't strangle him when the notes start coming home.
Lea Anna has learned in the past couple of weeks to foil the refrigerator safety lock. I gave up and removed it. She keeps doing thinks like taking one bite out of each baby carrot and leaving the remainder in various places around the house. She also likes sitting on the bottom shelf and rifling through the pickles and ketchup hanging inside the door. It's really cute and extremely annoying at the same time. Lea Anna never was one to skip a meal.

Army vs. Airforce

This week at school I went to get a couple of my U.S. History and Government classes changed. I was doing extremely well in both classes but the teacher was treating the students like they were special ed and I got sick of it so I went to get my classes changed. Upon speaking to my counselor I learned the school had screwed my schedule up something feirce. My first period composition class was actually a basic comp class along with my U.S. History and Teen living classes and I told my councelor to give me advanced classes only. So now I have a different composition class, us history, & government classes and I now have a geometry and biology class so I pretty much changed all but my typing class.

Me and dad were going to see that sci-fi flick serinity saturday but the times displayed at the theater was diffrent from the times posted on the website so he went home. I stayed behind and went to walmart to get some paint for my A-10 model. I also went to see what was out at EB games and saw a amuzing scene playout between two recruiters. One was in an airforce uniform and the other was in the army. Them and a couple other recruiters were moving around the mall passing out pamphlets for their branches, but these guys were taking a break to duke it out in super smash brothers (which is a fighting game with mario characters.) These guys were doing some serious trash talking about eachothers branches, and they sounded serious like at any moment they would drop the controllers and go at each others throats with knives. They stopped once they realized I someone else had entered the store and they each handed me a pamphlet and then walked their seperate ways likenothing had happened.
The 'Join the Army' pamphlet was funny to me, It had a picture of 6 people who joined the army and had parts of their personal stories on it. Funny thing was they were all black or latino, which is the 2 main groups in the area. The air force one was cool because It had pictures of jets and all that cool airforce stuff.