Dad and I have leftover Chinese food tonight for supper. Mom was off at her Craft Night and we had plenty of leftovers from the Mother’s Day meal that I bought the folks last night (which we ate at 9pm because their flight in from MSP – or rather their layover at O’Hare from MSP – was very late). There were, coincidentally, two extra fortune cookies from last night’s meal, too. So we each got one. Mine said:

Your success will astonish everyone.

Now, I understand how I should probably take that… But of course, I took it more as “any success that you have will astonish people.” Gee, thanks fortune cookie. 🙂

Leo’s usually an early riser. And he often decides that I should get up too. Today was one of those mornings. Though he did let me sleep in until 7:27. Well, that was too early for me. I told him “wake me up at 8 o’clock” and then went back to sleep. Awhile later, he starts rocking the phone in its cradle, which he knows wakes me up. I wake up and look at my watch. Yup, it’s 8:00. Amazing! 🙂

Of other kitteny interest, I found Kittenbreak.com in a comment in versaphile‘s LiveJournal. It’s got some damn cute kittens in it!

Cats rule! 🙂

When I started teaching, I discovered something very important – cheap-ass shoes just don’t cut it for standing on your feet for 7+ hours. Within a week, my folks and I were at a shoe store buying shoes that cost *gasp* more than $60! I bought 2 pair – one brown nubuck and one black – and was able to alternate them for my first year of teaching. So shoes that are comfy and look nice became a yearly priority for me. And now I’m not afraid to spend a bit extra to get lasting comfort for the day.

Another foot discovery that I made came when I started traveling a lot. When I travel, I end up walking a lot. I love walking. I can walk all day if my feet are happy. And that’s when I found out that socks can be just as important (if not moreso) than shoes. I need wick-away socks to help prevent blister formation and my favorite are Fox River’s wick-dry cross-training socks. They’re expensive too, alas. REI has them for $7.50. And that’s one of the better prices out there for those socks.

So today was my Fairborn Shopping Day. I go every couple of months or so to pick up my Doctor Who Magazine and Dreamwatch from the Bookery. I then headed for the Mall at Fairfield Commons and decided to look for Chaco sandals. Amy (who now works for REI) had suggested that I get Chacos when I asked her for the best sandals for my feet. I love my Birkenstocks, but they aren’t the best for standing around all day.

Most of the shoe stores that I went into either didn’t have Chacos or know what I was talking about when I asked. But The Walking Place had ’em. And I got a knowledgeable salesperson to help me. We talked of Birks and Chacos and Fox River socks (ah, it’s nice to find someone who speaks your own language). Turns out they had some Fox River socks ($9 and $10 a pair – gah!) there as well. I tried on women’s size 11 (that’s 42 in European, 8 in UK mens) which had a toe thong and men’s size 9 which didn’t. The men’s shoe was a little wider so I went with it. $95 for the pair! (And since I got home, I found out that’s the same price as the online places. And it’s cheaper than Mephisto shoes, which I hope someday to get up the nerve to buy.)

I checked out their Fox River selection while I was there and they had my favorite socks. Those were the $9 ones. But they also had Fox River socks in other colors! I’d never seen such a thing! So I got a pair of reddish socks ($10) and a pair of my favorites too. Now I need to send Amy some money and have her buy me some more Fox River socks at REI and use her store discount. 😉

When I got home, I tried on the new sandals and walked to Granny’s (where she had an opportunity to vent for awhile) and then home again. I like ’em! Now if only the ones with the cool purple straps were available in size 11 wide (the color’s only available in women’s). The ones I got, BTW, are the basic black.

Apart from lunch at the Olive Garden and the purchase of a Flash MX book at Narn’s Ignoble, the rest of the day was pretty uneventful. I like a nice relaxing Saturday. Especially one where I get to treat my feet to some luxury. 🙂

We had the Mock Crash today – and they specified that it was a “crash” and not an “accident” since the mock crasher was mock drunk. They pretty much followed the script that was in use last year, but it is a good script and the important bit is seeing the interaction of the people trying to get the injured people out of the cars. The thing that struck me most this time around is the time it takes for the emergency folks to get there. And once they get there, if the car doors are jammed, the time it takes to get people out of the car. We’re a small town and yet it was still 10 minutes before the emergency people showed up from the 911 call. Our emergency squad and fire department are run by volunteers. And I figure these volunteers were informed before hand about the mock crash, so were in the vicinity as it was. In a real crash, you don’t have that luxury and the wait can be 15 to 20 minutes for anyone to show.

Care Flight came in from Miami Valley Hospital as well. It was probably half an hour before they got there since folks on the scene wouldn’t know until they were there that they’d even need Care Flight. Sure enough, the hearse came to this mock crash, too. This time it was Ron’s daughter, Suzy, who arrived, but that’s still a creepy thought. (The Jacksons are some of the neatest people in town – and they’re very upbeat, too, considering their profession.) They used the “jaws of life” to get the two people out of the second car. And the valedictorian was the one who was thrown out of the windshield and was dead before the emergency crews arrived. She lives across the street from me and I was trying to picture her family if something like that really had happened. Bleh – not an image I want to dwell on.

One girl sitting on the risers near me was crying throughout most of the mock crash. Some of it is pretty intense stuff. The only real time when it didn’t look real was when some of the firemen were joking with Robin, the “deceased” girl on the hood of the car. They were doing this before they loaded her on the stretcher and then into the hearse.

The weather for this event was perfect. Well, until about the time we spotted the Care Flight ‘copter. Then a huge and steady wind blew in and slammed into our backs. It was about 10°F colder than the still air, so for the second half of the outside portion, we suffered this continual cold blast. I’m sure the folks in the ‘copter weren’t happy about the sudden shift in wind.

The last 10 minutes of the outdoor presentation had the parents of a boy who was killed in a drunk driving crash 8 years ago talk to us. They travel with the sherrif’s department on these mock crashes and bring their son’s wrecked car for everyone to see. They were also there last year, but it was still a touching story.

We got back inside and folks were awfully quiet. Our guest speaker for the inside segment is a paraplegic who got that way by breaking his neck in a single car drunk driving accident. He’d been the football star, wrestling star, baseball star of his high school, but from his freshman year on, he drunk and did drugs pretty regularly. I thought his message was very good – I think he understood the mentality of the kids in the audience well and didn’t mince words. And the gym was probably the quietest I’d ever heard. That’s pretty impressive, actually, as our students are VERY well behaved at assemblies.

So, tomorrow night, the juniors and seniors will go off to prom and after prom. And I’m hoping that some of the kids think twice about including alcohol or drugs during that experience. For the two classes that I actually got to see today, I wished them the best of luck and said “And if you’re going to have sex, don’t forget to use a condom!” That’s one message they didn’t impart to the kids, so I figured I should. 😉 “Remember, babies are a sexually transmitted disease!” Yes, I’ve got something of a reputation at the school. Apparently the seniors are keeping a log of my more humorous statements. I shudder to think what they have written. 🙂

Summer suddenly arrived today. I wasn’t expecting it until at least tomorrow, but no, it decided to come today. It got up to 86°F (29°C) and still feels awfully warm right now. (Ah, that’s because it’s 78°F (26°C) right now – gah!) Thank goodness for open windows. I know Leo appreciates them. He was doing his best “Hot & Shitty Kitty®” look earlier this evening while lounging in front of the monitor, so I grabbed the camera to take a picture. He quickly became “Curious Kitty” and got up from his pose to examine the camera. So no picture of “Hot & Shitty Kitty®,” alas. Still, I got a gorgeous closeup photo of him which I’m now using as my main Leo icon.

Tomorrow I’ll have the A/C on and all the windows shut (poor Leo – he’ll miss his open windows) because the guy from Student Painters, Inc. is supposed to show up to power wash my house. They’re going to start painting it next Thursday – woohoo! I should get some BEFORE pictures so I can compare them to AFTER. (It’s getting too dark to do that now, so I’ll have to do it tomorrow.)

Tomorrow is also the day before prom and, in order to discourage students from drinking and driving, we’ll be having a Mock Accident. Due to a change in administration mid year, this will make the second Mock Accident in 2 years. The one last year was very disturbing, I thought. The bit that gave me the willies was when Ron Jackson from the local funeral home arrived with the hearse. Seeing the local folks on the emergency squad had been disturbing enough, but when you see Ron in that situation, it’s just creepy. We’ve also got a guest speaker (I believe it’s someone who once killed someone in a car accident – at least, that’s what our Police Guy wanted when he was setting this all up) and junior and senior class meetings, so I won’t get to have chemistry or much of physics tomorrow. And in the afternoon, it’s the county tech meeting, so I’ll be leaving the school anyhoo to go off for nice Mexican American food and chat with other county techs.

Tomorrow is also Pay Day. Woohoo! So let’s hear it for Friday!

Found a nice website on Cinco de Mayo. (Always wondered what it was, myself…)

The 5th of May is not Mexican Independence Day, but it should be! And Cinco de Mayo is not an American holiday, but it should be.

Read the rest at http://www.vivacincodemayo.org/history.htm.

In other news, only 14 more days with the seniors – woohoo! I’ve got both physics and chemistry planned out from now until the end of the school year. I’m halfway through episode five of Bob and Rose, a TV series written by Russell T Davies about a gay man and straight woman who fall in love. Episode four was brilliant and, if you ask me, the reason to watch the series. I think I’ve figured out what to get Amy and Rachel for both their birthdays and as a wedding gift. (So yes, Amy, expect an e-mail from me, if you haven’t already gotten it.) The latest Big Finish audio, Axis of Insanity has been good so far. I like Peri and Erimem’s banter – they’re working off of each other well. (And it’s a relief to be onto a Doctor/companion team that I actually like! Sorry Paul & India, you just don’t work for me!) Hmmm, anything else to report? Nope, think I’m good for now.

I gakked this from judiang. And I knew what I’d get before I even started the quiz.

You’re a Dialogue/Character Writer!

What kind of writer are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

Who needs description when you can have dialog, that’s my philosophy!

I haven’t done one of these in awhile and I needed something for my posts to monday_gdp and other food-related posts.

Yes, it’s TISWAS Sylv! 🙂 (That’s a chicken he’s eating…)

Don’t panic – I’m not going to display 33 1/3 photos here, just photos of my 33 1/3 birthday bash. 🙂

Trina hugs Amy – the surprise part of her party.

The birthday cake!

Amy lights 33 1/3 candles.

Trina hugs Rachel via the Piglet Proxy

We hope Rachel didn’t wake up with a hangover – Piglet really liked the wine…

Awwww – cute little baby goose!

I always wanted a surprise birthday party, and today, I finally got my wish. So, how does someone get a surprise birthday party when they’re putting the party on themselves? Just read on and find out..

Leo let me sleep in some – but then dad called at 8:30 to make sure I was getting up. The original plan last night was that we’d go to the Lake together and get the place ready for guests. But later in the evening, he called to say that he’d gotten an e-mail and now he had to run an errand in Dayton in the morning. He figured he’d be at the Lake by noon. No problemo, I could get things ready.

Shortly after I got up, the phone rang again. It was Amy! “Happy 33 1/3 birthday to you! Happy 33 1/3 birthday to you! Happy 33 1/3 birthday dear Trina, I forgot the time change!” She’d meant to call at 8:16am when I was actually 33 1/3 (I was born at 12:16am) but forgot that Central Time was an hour off. No matter, just talking to Amy was wonderful enough. She was at the airport waiting for Alissa, one of her friends, to arrive (and her flight was late). She talked for as long as she could, but then had to head off when Alissa’s plane arrived.

I packed up my car with my turn table and albums, the food and beverages, and stuff. And by 10am, I was on the road to Lake Loramie. Once I got there, I unpacked and set things up. The record player went in the patio room and the food in the fridge. I pressed the hamburger into patties and realized that I forgot to get fixins for the hamburgers and hot dogs. Once I decorated the place with my albums, I went off to Wagner’s grocery for a tomato, onion, and lettuce. I also got an apple to put in the fruit that we’d gotten (pineapple, blueberries and strawberries) the night before.

Back at the cottage, I was listening to the soundtrack to Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and cutting up the sammich fixins. Round about noon, a knock came on the patio door. That was strange since I hadn’t seen a car pull up in the drive, but I went to go see. And then I saw the oddest thing… An Amy-shaped silouette. But Amy was in Minnesota, my brain said. I walked out into the patio room and the shape came in. “I brought your cake!” Amy said, with a big grin. I was shocked, to say the least. I almost cried, I was so thrilled to see my sissy! I gave her a big hug and dad took our picture. Awwwww!

We sat and talked for a bit. Turns out she was at Midway when she called me in the morning. The turkey! The Fishers arrived at 12:30. They were surprised to see Amy as well. (Turns out she’d booked the tickets the night before at 5:30pm. The errand that dad had to run was to pick Amy up from the airport.) I got the veggies out and we showed the Fishers around the place. Gary was really impressed and Marcia decided that they really needed to get a cottage themselves. 🙂

The Weavers arrived closer to 1pm and Amy insisted that dad start the fire for the burgers and dogs. (I was going to do it, honest! But while I was being hostess, Amy made dad to do it instead.) I believe Amy was a bit hungry. 🙂 The Weavers were just as impressed as the Fishers regarding the cottage. And we had a great lunch and fun conversation. Both the Fishers and the Weavers brought some LPs so we played some Bob Dylan that Marcia brought and a Queen album that Tammy brought. I had the Beatles playing at times as well.

Amy and Gary did their best at pouring Bass and Guiness to make Black & Tans, and they were somewhat successful. You could see the two tones in Amy’s glass in particular. (I found it funny that they had to use old Pepsi Cola glasses. Still, later in the evening, dad was drinking wine out of an old jam jar, so I guess it was fitting.)

Sometime after 3pm, we got the cake ready. Mom had ordered a cake from Wagners and it had a record on it and said “Happy 33 1/3 Birthday, Trina!” And Amy put 33 1/3 candles on it. (She cut 2/3rds off of a candle for one of them). She said that Rachel would have insisted. (Alas, Rachel wanted to come, but was unable. So she sent her stuffed Piglet as a proxy. I gave Piglet a big hug in lieu of Rachel.) And as Amy was lighting the candles, mom arrived! Yay! (She didn’t have to pick up her cousin-in-law from the hospital after all – someone else got him while she was at work.)

The cake was lit and everyone sang an interesting rendition of Happy Birthday (not everyone singing the same lyrics with Amy adding “33 1/3” into the mix). To blow out the candles, I had a brainstorm. Recently I bought a physics toy called an Airzooka. I had brought it to the Lake to show it off to folks and decided to use it to blow out the candles. I stood about 5 feet away from the cake and “whoosh”, all but 1 1/3 candles were blown out. I used my own breath to get those out. The cake was yummy and everyone enjoyed the Bailey’s ice cream.

The Weavers had to leave around 4pm because their oldest boy was going to the prom tonight. 🙂 They had to get back to take lots of photos. (I can’t believe he’s a senior now!) Once they were gone, Gary insisted on washing the dishes. Amy dried and I put stuff away. The Fishers headed off around 5pm and then it was just us. So we listened to albums and chatted. We finally left the cottage around 9pm and now I’m watching Big Fish and typing this up. It was a lovely day. And such a surprise to see my sister. 🙂