#122, Kristy In Charge

I have begun to re-read some good ol' Baby Sitter's Club books. I mentioned to Katie about a month ago or so that I had a hankering to re-read them. ALL OF THEM. I also would like to collect them. This wouldn't be so big a task had I kept all of the ones I used to have... but I believe I let go of them when I gave them to Chi Trang to sell at a garage sale. Annnnyway, I decided that in order to make my reading of these books worthwhile, I will write a mini blog/summary of these books on my blog. So... let's have at it!

Plot/Conflict: The students of Stoneybrook Middle School (SMS) can participate in a program named Teachers of Tomorrow (TOT) that allows them to teach a class for 3 days of one week (Monday, Wednesday, and Friday). Kristy gets a gym class, which would normally be ideal, if it wasn't for that Cary Retlin--some dude who does what any other middle school kid would do given a position of authority, goof off. Kristy is NOT okay with this, as she intends to use her teaching time as a means of showing her gym coach how to be a better coach. Mallory, a sixth grader, is assigned to an 8th grade English class. Crying ensues.

Introduction of Characters: Kristy introduces the characters by going through each one and naming what subject they'd be best at teaching, whilst giving general character traits necessary at the beginning of each BSC novel.

Featured Characters: Kristy & Mallory. A sprinkling of Claudia (and her horrific spelling) and Mary Anne

Babysitting Story: Vanessa Pike becomes obsessed with teaching and forces her siblings to be a part of her class. She is a tyrant. And a brat. Someone slap her.

90's References: "I loaded a tape into the boom box. Sam had lent it to me when he came home the night before. It was called Jock Jam, and it had only high-powered, super-energizing music on it." -- Kristy. That about says it all, doesn't it?

Quotes: Kristy describing Claudia, "Claudia's class would have to be art. She lives and breathes it. She even looks like art. I'm not kidding. Today she was wearing a long-sleeved white T-shirt on which she'd painted a bald man's head from a side view. All the lines were sharp, not natural at all. his nose was purple, his eyes were orange, and his skin was green. Jagged yellow lines like lightning bolts sizzled around his head." Srsly, who came up with this stuff?

COMING SOON: Top 10 of 2010

I just remembered that last year I put up a list of my top 10 tracks/artists/albums from 2009. I love doing that kind of thing on Last.FM so I'll definitely do it again this year. I got curious and wanted to see who I had right now. I'm just hoping I don't start listening to certain songs in order to raise their likelihood of being on my list--and perhaps bumping some more embarrassing things off.

As of right now I only really remember one... so we'll see how that goes. I do have quite a few road trips ahead of me. The list will most likely be coming up January 3rd, as that is the first Monday after the new year (and that's when I did it last year!) :) I don't know why this post was worthy of writing, but I felt it was, so I did it.

Also, a reminder. You will definitely see her on my list, and you must not judge me. KE$HA was a huge part of my life in early 2010. :) What can I say, her love was my drug.

BOOK CRAZY!! BOOKPEOPLE--IAMABOOKPERSON!

This post's title reads exactly how I feel. I'm super duper ADD about books right now.

Last night I bought two when Schutte and I went to Half Price. I got Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro--I decided I liked Never Let Me Go enough to read his better known book--and George Eliot's Silas Marner. I remember having to read it in Mrs. Stockinger's class in 10th grade... and I think I liked it? Lisa has said that she LOVES it, so I figured I'd give it another try.

I just want to read! I want to read SO MUCH! So... here are my goals for this winter break. I, in no way, expect to actually be able to finish all of these, but ideally... this is what I will finish over the next week and a half or so:

1. Elizabeth & Mary by Jane Dunn (this is probably the one that will definitely not be finished).

2. Sense & Sensibility by Jane Austen

3. Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro

4. Silas Marner by George Eliot

5. Naked by David Sedaris (I'm already halfway done, so this should be easy... and because I love him... despite the fact I'm not white)

6. Lost in Austen by Emma Campbell Webster (this is a Choose Your Own Jane Austen Adventure book. How could I forget this one?)

I'll update you on my progress... or rather, you'll know when you see my review. :)

You Reap What You Sow, Right?

In this case, it's been a good thing. These past few days, I've gotten tons and tons of shtuff from my students. Mostly sweets (there's currently a package of assorted Ghirardelli chocolates staring me in the face), a scarf (keeping my neck warm), multiple Starbucks gift cards (boy, do I need them), a candle, and a painting of a musical Christmas tree ornament... just to name a few. I've written thank you cards for about 1/3 of the students (all the ones who gave me something prior to today), but there was a giant influx of items today and I haven't been able to keep up.

I'm taking this as a sign that the kids really do maybe actually like me, or that, at least, their parents think I'm worthy of showing appreciation for the holidays. I'll try to snap a picture of my mound of student goodies, and maybe even a photo of myself today. I look kind of awesome... just saying. Schutte and I went shopping last night and I bought a cute ugly/tacky Christmas sweater. There was one really really ugly Christmas vest, but I had already drawn the line. I belted it (it was kind of big), side pony-tailed my hair, put on a headband with antlers on it, and has since been told by a couple of students that I look like a teenager. GOOD. Cause that's what I was going for. :)

Tonight: CPI Christmas Party--Charter Bus to Salt Lick!

Tomorrow: Third Annual Christmas Potluck with The Gang

Saturday: Dallas! :)

Mo' Money, Mo' Problems... No Money... Still Problems...

What's my problem?

Money's been tight. Incredibly tight... but it's the holidays and I spend like I have all the money in the world. It makes me incredibly happy and is really satisfying too. Yesterday, some friends (Schutte, Buddy, Kristi, LC and her friend Ellie) and I went to Big Lots and bought a buttload of toys. It was so fun! :) Diana also bought some and we brought them to school and put them in our boxes in front of Camerati and shamed them for not contributing to the toy drive. I then pointed out that some of the things we bought were for $1, or $1.50 or $3, etc. and that if they all brought just one toy, it would make such a big difference. We'll see how that goes.

Ugh, I love Christmas. I love love love love LOVE Christmas. I don't know if it beats Tet for me, but it definitely is AWESOME!

An Extension of Christian Louboutin Love

Check out this blog. It's titled "Louboutin Love Fest."

I had a dream last night in which it was my wedding and I was completely unaware of the fact. When I did become aware, one of my first concerns was that I didn't have shoes. I was going to have to wear ugly shoes for my wedding. Either ugly, crusty, old white clunky shoes that I had from when I was... 10, or I'd have to go to Payless and buy some cheap shoes. And NOT my beloved Christian Louboutins that I've been lusting after since before I was engaged (i.e., NOW). So... I started googling and check out these that were on the aforementioned blog.

Loving the baby blue inside the shoe

Obvious Reason Why Thomas is Wonderful - #10

He loves to learn.

He's got a thirst for knowledge... look at the most recent thing he's learned:

cuz christian is from paris
did you know that? his first name is christian and not louie?
Christian Louboutin. NOT Louie Vitton

These things are dreadfully important. I'm glad he knows the difference. Oh and Thomas, to add to your fashion knowledge bank, it's Louis Vuitton, and he's also from Paris. :)

P.S. Do I talk about shoes enough that I seriously already had a shoe tag on my blog? Awesome.

PBS Masterpiece Mystery: Sherlock Holmes = AMAZING

Masterpiece Mystery: Sherlock
Okay. So... over two months ago, my brother sent my sisters an e-mail telling us to watch the Sherlock series that had started on PBS. He stated that one of the stars was Martin Freeman, the man who played Tim from the original office (and the one that's in that incredibly awkward couple in Love Actually).

I finally watched it last night while I had some free time. Schutte was out of town and Thomas was, as per usual, in Waco, so after watching the new Sherlock movie on tv, Johnny and I headed off to bed and I, not being used to going to bed before midnight, was too tired to read a book. Instead, since I was in the Sherlocky mood anyway, I decided to get all up ons the show my brother had suggested before.

I only watched the first episode, and I was already in love in the first 10 minutes or so. They're about an hour and a half long. They remind me of old Poirot episodes I'd randomly catch and watch at night when I was little.

Anyway, I think part of the reason that I like Sherlock so much is because he's a mixture between two of my favorite people ever. The first of which is super obvious--after all, the show is loosely based on Sherlock Holmes. Sherlock HOLMES = Gregory HOUSE. See it??? Anyway, also, Bones. But that's just probably because she's also an incredibly brilliant genius that's kind of hard to get along with.

And who doesn't love Martin Freeman? Also, it says he's to play Bilbo Baggins?! OMG my life is about to be amazing, isn't it? :)

Okay, go watch. There needs to be more episodes NOW, but... I guess that's all you get for now... 3 episodes online to watch--do it!

I'm Just a Big Puffy Marshmallow

A few weeks ago, one of my students lied to me. A big lie, too. It affected another teacher and that teacher in turn wrote a referral for her and instructed me to do the same. As I am a sub, I am not privy to the proper channels of writing up a student with a referral, so Diana had to e-mail one of our assistant principals to figure out what to do. We had not yet heard back from the principal, and I became unsure if this is even worth looking into anymore since the time had kind of passed, and she was already getting in trouble for it.

Since the student lied to me, she hasn't spoken to me at all and has avoided all eye contact with me. Today, the student came up to me and said "Miss Nguyen, I need to talk to you." Picture a student about 8 inches taller than me, looking at me like I might shoot daggers from my eyes. She was looking uber sheepish. I just nodded and said, "Okay, what's up?" And then she said, "I just wanted to say I'm really sorry for that day, and it's all been taken care of, and... I'm just really sorry I did that to you." And then she leaned down and gave me a hug. I feel like I could've been a hardass and said something "I hope you learned your lesson"-y, but instead, I just went with, "Well, I really appreciate that." Because I did. She didn't have to say anything to me ever again, but she came to me on her own volition and apologized.

Last.FM Must Not Tell Lies...

Proof:

The Tale of DANCE DANCE RACHELUTION!

Tonight, Buddy, Johnny and I will be making our way towards College Station for our third installation of Rachel Acevedo's off-the-chain dance party. (Please refer to here and here if you don't know what I'm talking about.)

This time we're joined by three new members! Thomas, Schutte and Nick! We are all staying in a double bed hotel room. So... we'll see how that goes! IT'LL FEEL LIKE COLLEGE ALL OVER AGAIN!

THIS IS GONNA BE AWESOME! Pictures to come after the weekend I'm sure.

Oh yeah and Johnny's bday is Saturday night. This is going to be a roooooough weekend.

For One More Day by Mitch Albom

Grade: C+ or B (depending on how you look at it)

Maybe I'm being hard on this book, I don't know. I did devour 75% of it in a couple hours, but I don't know if that was because it was that good, or because I was that much in want of another book to finish. I finished it the day after I finished Never Let Me Go. That being said, I STARTED the book back in... May. I think I had it on my trip to Boston with Buddy. I tried to read it on my flight back, but I'm pretty sure sleep took over. [Again, not sure if that is indicative of my true feelings of this book.]

Maybe after reading Tuesdays with Morrie, and then after that, The Five People You Meet in Heaven, another book surrounding themes of death and mortality and legacies and stories left behind... I don't know, I felt a little blah. Maybe if this was the first one I read, I'd have felt like it taught me a more profound message (Hence, the B)... but it was a little too much like Five People and I guess the semi-mini-twist at the end felt like an afterthought... a "I'm gonna throw this in here just to wow the reader." Kind of like a singer deciding at the last second to hold a note longer and maybe even try to go up a half step or so... but instead of the intended effect of "Oh shit, she's awesome," it was just awkward and made her miss her next entrance.

It follows the story of Charley "Chick" Benetto and his life--but not really. Essentially, it's his story of an extra special day he had with his mother. Maybe if I thought about the book more, I'll like it more, but where I stand right now, a few days after reading it, I'm underwhelmed. I actually can't even really think of what happens in it. So maybe if I remembered, I'll go "OH YEAH THE BOOK WAS AWESOME," but I think it's definitely is a sign that I DON'T remember any of it, because--and most of my friends can attest to this--I REMEMBER EVERYTHING!

Oh, I did just remember one thing that I really liked about the novel. Much like Tuesdays, the story itself is peppered with mini stories that help facilitate the telling of the main story. In this novel, Chick gives examples of "Times My Mother Stood Up for Me" and then, in contrast, "Times I Did Not Stand Up for My Mother." These are all examples of how mothers (parents) will do big and little things for the sake of their child, and the child... is at the time oblivious to this and is kind of a dick. Yes... I loved these stories so much, I'll go ahead and bump up my original grade. And I'll go ahead and give it an endorsement of "read it if you have time because it's good and it's short, so it won't be a time consumer."

Final Grade: B-

P.S. They apparently made a tv movie out of this. Oprah produced it I guess, but according to wikipedia, it got some bad reviews.

Only Downside to Living with Schutte...

We won't stop talking.

I get home. We chat. We hang. We get ready for bed. We chat. And lay in bed. We chat...

we chat some more...

I decide I'm a little hungry so I go eat a clementine...

I get back in bed...

we chat... some more...

We mention how we should really get some sleep...

and we chat some more...

I honestly don't know when/how we ever got to bed last night, but it happened eventually! :)

Other than losing a few z's, she's been a wonderful roommate and now that she's done with Boards... I'm interested to see what kind of shenanigans we'll get into (considering those we got into while she was SUPPOSED to be studying). :)

Summer 2006 with my current roomies

Current Tay Tay Song Obsession: Enchanted

It's adorable! She perfectly narrates how you feel when you first meet someone and are instantly infatuated by them. Only thing she could've done was add a verse about how you immediately go home and facebook/myspace/cyber-stalk him to find out everything about him. Anyway, unfortunately, half the time I sing the song in my head... this is the image that comes up.

Amy Adams is presh.