Today, while I was out trying desperately to find clothes that I could use for next week’s various costume events at work and casually browsing the children’s books, I started thinking about how one of the groovy things about living here is that I had rather missed being “Miss Marie”. I LIKE having a positive impact on kids. But I wonder, sometimes, now that I’ve been out of the educational field so long (and was only tangentially in it, before), if children really have changed that much.

I remember, as if it were yesterday, Nancy’s disgust at the fact that her class literally had no concept of imagination. One of the things she had done EVERY year before Nichole’s year was “A field trip to the North Pole in our imaginations”, keyed to POLAR EXPRESS, right? That’s the sorta thing that with the right kinda kids, actually does make a memory. Not that year’s crop of first graders. Literally, over half of the children started crying and there were parental COMPLAINTS about the kids being traumatized. How fucked up was THAT?

I wonder if she’s still teaching. Hell, I wonder if Leslie ever went back to teaching. Had I chosen to continue in the field, I would have loved to have had her as a mentor. She and I “got” one another mentally.

My life, however, proceeds in its slothful pace. I only have Sunday off, then not again till Wednesday. The transitioning of schedules is truly irritating, and me being hormonal and potentially oversensitive to perceived slights isn’t helping! Trust. Believe. Have Faith. These are things much more easily said than done, sometimes.

Several of the Sludge folks are at the FiFi LaRue gig in Santa Monica. I have to laugh at the fact that there are as many people (including Jim) on the “Do not let in club” list as there probably are who were willing to pay to get in. I can honestly say that I am NOT sad that I’ve never seen FiFi live. Seriously, I’d rather douche with battery acid and masturbate with a cheese grater (simultaneously). I do hope everyone’s having fun, at least. A lot of people I enjoy are there, apparently (well, “a lot” might be an overstate, but more than two, I’ll put it THAT way!)

Ok, wow…. a couple of the folks you’d expect to get thrown out of the gig are still inside, while people who’ve been supportive HAVE been thrown out. W-T-F?

Doing ok with my spending today: made a car payment ($315), paid rent/utilities ($450), ordered a pair of really cute drawers and a Sun Studio T-shirt ($8–total score, due to a Hot Topic discount code, cuz that total includes shipping), bought a skirt and t-shirt (.50) and some books for a gal I know ($1.50 for like five books), two packs of cigarettes and a pop ($12), as well as a pop and a bag of pretzels this morning ($3). Not bad at all. I have groceries, and 3/4 a tank of gas, so maybe tomorrow’s spending shall be even “better”.