Actually, no, the Queen didn’t make it to my dream (don’t think she ever has and, hell, I’ve even dreamed G.I. Joe cartoons), but I like that Pet Shop Boys song.

Yesterday (when I was mad… Oh wait, shush about PSB, trina!) morning, I was going to write about the dream I’d had the night before, but I don’t have a lot of time in the morning, especially when I hit the snooze button 4 times. So all I could do was read my e-mail and Friends’ LJ entries and then get ready for work. So I’ll try to remember some of the odder bits.

The dream takes place at Newton (as so many of my dreams seem to) but this one wasn’t a teaching anxiety dream. It turns out Newton was playing host to a convention. Not a sci-fi convention. Indeed, I’m not entirely sure what the people who were there had in common. I remember watching Emeril Lagasse on stage in our auditorium. Of course, in the dream, there’s no gym floor in the auditorium and the room itself is about 10 times bigger. So Emeril was just a spec on the stage from where I was sitting.

The girls (elsaf and judiang) were staying with me in order to participate in the convention, and we had a room in the school which was across from my classroom. (There is no room across from my classroom in real life, unless you want to count the girl’s restroom.) One of the PMEBers (don’t remember who, only that she was a PMEBer), who I guess was also at the convention, brought us a giant “M”, McDonald’s style, that she’d made out of paper. We were to hang it over our room door because, in honor of Emeril being there, we were going to be serving food out of our room.

The second night of the convention was supposed to have Bill Bailey performing (woohoo!) and I had intended to show the girls Black Books (one of my favorite modern British TV comedies — it has Bill Bailey as a regular). The trouble was, in addition to staying at the school, I was also staying at my parents’ house (as you do in dreams) and my multi-region DVD player was at my house. So I needed to get the girls next door in order to show them the series. Things were complicated, however, by Granny staying over at my parents’ house (in their bedroom, no less). Can’t remember exactly *how* she complicated things, however.

Well, alas, I woke up before we could watch Black Books or see Bill Bailey. That’s a real shame because given the two performers, I’d much rather see Bill Bailey on stage than Emeril. (Can’t stand his shows – give me Alton Brown or Kathleen Daelemans any day!)

Now, I can see the reasons behind a number of the dream elements. The convention has to do with Gallifrey One which is coming up. The girls were there cuz I often dream of the girls and we love going to conventions and other things together. We’re FoodTV regulars, so that sort of explains Emeril (but not completely, as we never watch him together. Iron Chef, yes. Alton Brown, yes.) The McDonald’s sign came from an article that gregmce posted in his LJ the other day. Newton School appeared because, as I mentioned earlier, it often stars in my dreams. Granny was there – well, probably just me being guilty that I haven’t gone to see Granny lately. Maybe I can rectify that this weekend. Bill Bailey & Black Books? Well, I like ’em both, but haven’t really thought about them much lately. So not sure why they showed up.

Dreams are strange, eh? But they can be very entertaining. “But that’s OK because I’ve got my spatula!” (Wonder if anyone gets the quote? Amy will, of course…)

Today’s Friday – woohoo! And it was a good day. After work, I met up with several co-workers at BW3s (Buffalo Wild Wings and Weck – an Ohio-originated chain). It’s become a Friday tradition – usually BeeDubs (as we call it) but sometimes Applebee’s or High Marks (a local restaurant/bar). We go, we chat, many drink (not I – I’m there for the conversation & the food), and we all have a blast.

Tonight was no exception. I really enjoy my co-workers. I think our school is lucky to have such a fabulous staff of hard workers who also know how to have fun. Heck, we’re such a lovable bunch that folks who’ve since left our staff still join us on Fridays from time to time. Tonight, for example, the principal who hired me was there, as was his former secretary. Spouses and S/Os are allowed as well, since 2 of the regulars have both spouses as members of the Newton staff. The discussion is always lively and the food isn’t half bad either.

On the way to BW’s I had to drive through the first real snow of the season (leaving out that early one from November – it doesn’t count). There was just a dusting on the ground when I parked in the lot, but by the time I left my friends, the car (and everything else) had half an inch of snow on it. And cuz there’s a few nice curvy roads on the way home, plus lots of drifting areas, I drove back at an average speed of about 30mph. (I took Washington, the curviest of the roads, at less than 20mph, and noticed the other few cars on it were going as slow.) But I got home safe & sound and got to wear my snow boots in actual snow. Woohoo!

In other news, I did my preliminary tax review (I’m sorry, but I love doing my taxes on TurboTax and get them in as soon as I can) since we got our W-2s today. Looks like I’m getting a boatload of money back from the feds this year. Yay! (Well, boo! They’ve had my money all this time and never gave me any interest, the cads!) Will get some back from the state as well. Ought to help pay off my roof debt – yay!

Tomorrow I have a fellow coming over to give me an estimate on painting the exterior of my house & garage. That’s a job that needs doing this summer. Actually, it’s more of a stain than a paint (or it should be). The group that’s doing the estimate is a group of college students who paint houses to help pay for school. Sounds like a good deal to me. Hopefully I can afford their prices.

And also tomorrow, at 10:30am, is my appointment at Curves. Mom and I shall be braving the snow covered roads to attend. It’ll be interesting to hear what my measurements are. If you wondering how the Project is going, I can tell you that, thus far, I haven’t lost anything. BUT, and this is important, I haven’t gained anything yet either. 🙂

Mom called tonight to see if I wanted to join her at Curves for a session, and I said yes. It was Wacky Wednesday, where they go around the room in the counterclockwise instead of clockwise, which helped little ol’ Trina and her left-deafness. Mom was able to show me how to do the exercise machines and I could hear her. What I couldn’t hear well was the recording telling us when to switch devices. Thankfully, mom and the other ladies present moved, which indicated to me to move.

On the one time (of 3) I was able to count my pulse, I found out that I was at the 80% heart-rate thingy (not entirely sure what that means, but I’ll find out Saturday, I’ll bet). Mom’s pulse was less, but as she’s older, she was also at her 80% rate.

I decided that I liked it enough. I especially like the machines. The walking in place bits was my least favorite but only cuz it wasn’t as fun as playing with the machines. Actually, now that I think about it, the stretching bit at the end was my least favorite cuz it was more like the exercises I remember as a kid. But it doesn’t take long to do.

I’m going to join Curves on Saturday morning. They take measurements and all that jazz, apparently. So I’ll get to know what all of my measurements are (and no, I shan’t be sharing them here). And it looks like I’ll need to get a pair of gym shoes cuz they prefer non-street gymmies on their nice clean machines. (Don’t blame ’em – they’re all brand-spankin’ new or look like they are.)

When I was growing up, I knew many people who dieted. And I learned that when people dieted, they became cranky and when the diet was over, they gained it all back (and sometimes more). So I never wanted to go on a diet.

But last year, my mother joined Weight Watchers Online and during the year she got down to her goal weight. What’s more, she’s changed her lifestyle, she’s exercising regularly at Curves, and is having a blast trying out new and different recipes. That has encouraged me where fad diets never could.

Lifestyle change – that’s what I need. My biggest problem is that I love food. And will eat it. Usually too much of it. I need to work on portion control. So I’ve decided to do that. And rather than think of it as a diet, it’s a project. (Hey, anything to avoid the earlier thoughts I have about dieting.) I made up an Excel spreadsheet to keep track of my weight, my water intake, my lunches & dinners, snacks, deserts, and any (currently rare) incidents of exercise. I’m going to join Curves (and go in with mom when we can go together) and if I like it, I’ll get some exercise. (I think you can do it once for free.) If my Portion Control Project does work and I can change my lifestyle to include smaller portions (and hopefully lose some weight), that’ll be great. If it doesn’t, I might spend some money on Weight Watchers Online.

So, why am I going to try to do this? I’m still young (not yet to 33 1/3) but I am overweight (obese is the word). In order to cut down on future health problems, I’d like to change my lifestyle NOW rather than later. Who knows, maybe in a year’s time, I might be down to my goal weight. But if not, I’m not going to get all depressed and binge eat until I gain everything back and then some! (At least, I *hope* not!) Wish me luck!

My hands are cold. The rest of me is quite warm. But as I sit here at my computer (I’ve been here awhile) my fingers always seem to get cold. Perhaps I should wear gloves while I type, but that doesn’t sound conducive to good typing. I could turn up the heat, but then the rest of the house will be too warm (central air). I could have Leo sit on my fingers while I type, but he usually doesn’t like that. And tends to hit keys that I don’t want him to hit. So instead, I simply type with cold fingers.

I had a nice day off today. Slept in until 9am and then Leo insisted that I get up. Watched last Friday’s episode of Monk while I paid bills. Had lunch (left overs). Went into the school to show the new principal how to use his network account and Pegasus and stuff like that. The old principal was also present. After that, I went to Walmart and saw the old principal’s predecessor. Weird, saw 3/5ths of the principals I’ve worked for today.

The rest of my afternoon has been spent playing around on the computer (as you might gather from my starting paragraph) and trying to get all of my playlists and MP3 folders sorted. Found a few albums that didn’t have playlists saved, so I did those (and am listening to them now.)

Well, that’s enough blather for today. I apologize to anyone reading. I promise that after January, I’ll just post only when I’ve got something to say. (Well, maybe I’d better not promise that at all… I tend to say a lot of nothing even when I have something to say.)

Never did finish my “knock knock” joke in an earlier post, so I’ll go ahead and stick it all here. (It’s inspired by one of Dawn French’s jokes from The Vicar of Dibley.)

Knock Knock!
Who’s there?
Martha Stewart.
Martha Stewart Who?
OK, you can be on the jury…

Heh – sorry about that!

Thanks to elsaf, I found this cool program for determining your Flesch-Kincaid level of writing.

trinalin’s Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level: 6
Average number of words per sentence:	13.85
Average number of syllables per word:	1.36
Total words in sample:	5109
Analyze your journal! Username:
Another fun meme brought to you by rfreebern

Now, back when I was in teacher training, I had to do these tests myself. You’d randomly flip through a textbook and then start counting words and letters and paragraphs, etc. Now, of course, I can simply use Word to do the same thing, only quicker. (You’d be surprised at what level many high school science text books are written at.)

In other interesting news, Elsa’s writing level was 5th grade and judiang‘s was 6th like mine. I figured out why. Elsa has to write for the general public since she’s a newspaper employee. I, on the other hand, write for juniors and seniors, so can write a bit more sophisticated. Judi has to write for judges, who probably have a similar mindset to juniors and seniors.

Or it could simply be because of the various journal entries we’ve recently written. 🙂

So I decided to check out some of my other writings to see what sorts of Flesch-Kincaid scores that I get. My 40th Anniversary Doctor Who article, for example, scores at 7.9. My short story, Tee Time, however, had a score of 3.5. Quite a contrast, eh?

Last night during my MP3 listening, I heard my new Songs from the Street: 35 Years of Music tunes (ta Wemb!) and was transported back nearly 30 years. The Street in this CD collection’s case, is Sesame Street. I watched Sesame Street as a child and it’s one of the reasons that I adore Muppets today. It also explains a lot more about me. (Ernie, for example, is definitely my inner Muppet.)

Some of the songs I haven’t heard in years. The one that really tugged at my nostalgia cells was “Five People in my Family.” As the song continued, I remembered listening to it (possibly on a 45) and singing along. But it has to have been 25 years since I’d heard it. Then there was “The King of Eight” and “Ladybug’s Picnic.” Later on, “I’ve Got Two” which I must have had on 45. Of the new pieces, the one I liked best was probably Ladysmith Black Mambazo (one of my favorite groups as it is) and Kermit the Frog singing their ABCs. And probably the funniest was R.E.M. singing “Furry Happy Monsters.”

If they came out with DVDs of classic Sesame Street sketches, I’d definitely have to buy it. It was a joy to listen to the tunes and remember sitting on the floor & watching the show, or dancing around my little white plastic record player listening & singing along to the music.

One of the IRC folks last night asked if I was going through my second childhood while listening to the music. I have to admit that this wasn’t the case. How can you have a second childhood if you never left the first one? 🙂

I decided that I wanted January to be the first month that I have an LJ entry for every day. However, tonight I’m stuck on what to write about. So, I have my friends on IRC come up with topics to write about. DrFaust suggested that I write about the Smurfista Revolution. gordon_r_d suggested “Why Chuck Austen Should Never Be Allowed To Write A Comic Again.” So, here goes!

Why Chuck Austen Should Never Be Allowed To Write A Comic Again: Well, I for one am opposed to Chuck Austen (whoever the hell he is) writing comics. And I blame the Smurfista Revolution. (I had to ask Faust what Smurfista meant and he wasn’t sure. Something like barista, he thought. But he didn’t know what that was either. Gordon thinks it’s a Mexican spice.)

Ah, I know what you’re thinking, why are the Smurfistas responsible? Well, it goes like this… Chuck would be a better comic book writer if only he didn’t eat spicy Smurfs. And there wouldn’t be spicy Smurfs around for him to eat if it weren’t for the Smurfista Revolution. (And the thought of blue food anyway… Bleh. Food shouldn’t be blue. Unless it’s blueberries. I wonder if Smurfs taste like blueberries – never had one myself. Smurfs that is – I love blueberries and have had lots.)

Well, the conversation on IRC has switched to scientist’s laws. Almost had ’em fooled with Cole’s law. (Cole’s law is great with fried chicken & mashed taters.)

I think I’ve rambled on enough. So I’ll just listen to my Sesame Street music and chat more on IRC.

So tonight I went to the farewell gathering for our retiring principal and was also able to meet the new guy. And discovered that I taught him! He took physics at Wright State when dad was teaching the physics for elementary education majors. So dad was his teacher – but that was the one quarter when I subbed for dad during one week. And now this guy is going to be my principal! Very funny stuff. 🙂 He was really impressed with dad as a teacher (which is no surprise – dad’s the best science teacher in the state of Ohio, IMO) and said that I was good too (but only as an afterthought, hmmm…)