..and bats in the belfry.

.... Did you know that Granite High has ghosts?  Considering that parts of the building are damn near a hundred years old, I wasn't surpirsed when I first heard the rumors.  With all the students and faculty that went through there, there's no doubt the place is filled with psychological ghosts and moral skeletons in the closets.  But real live ghosts? I went to lunch with the principal and counselor from that last year, and found out that some para-normal group wanted to rent the building overnight so they could attempt to contact the ghosts.  No, I'm serious.  It wasn't for a halloween gag or some sort of fraternity initiation.  They were real live ghost busters.  The principal had to say no, mainly because since the closing they have stopped new rentals until they know what is going to happen to the building.  Which we, the general public at least, still don't know.

.... So, the haunted thing in mind I made this up and sent it to a bunch of the teachers that used to work there, through district mail.

.... I talked to the principal today and she said it made her day.  Yeah, I think I'm gonna keep this going, I even got a new email for it: graniteghosts@gmail.com.  Fun stuff ahead.

Oh, and if someone from Granite reads this, shhhhhhhhh, mum's the word.

Alex & Marijke

Back to school & a hospital visit

....Yesterday they came in the newspaper. The back to school ads. Yup, exactly 2 weeks from today the kids will show up at my school and I'll officially be a junior high teacher again. I hate to admit it, but the truth is I'm looking forward to it. The same way I look forward to the beginning of summer. A change. I like teaching, I like being in the classroom and interacting with the students. There is a lot of crap in the profession that annoys the hell out of me, and there certainly are days I wish I was independantly wealthy and could quit. But overall, I love it. I get kind of bored trying to find things to do by the end of the summer. It's time to start wrapping up the home projects, and not enough time, and often no more money, to start new ones. So, bring it on, I'm as ready as I'll ever be.

.... On the other hand, I won't have to hard a time finding something to do this week. My father is going to be in the hospital for at least the next 5 days. I got a call from my sister-in-law this afternoon, and as soon as I heard her voice I knew something was up. Being the smart woman she is, she started off with "He's going to be fine,...." Much better than leading off with "Your dad's in the hospital..." He has some blood clots in one of his lungs, which caused his heart to overwork itself trying to get oxygen to his body. He's on blood thinners and they are keeping him there just to make sure his heart repairs itself when his oxygen levels rise again, which they are as sure as they can be that it will. All in all not that bad, but it's still freaky when someone you love is in the hospital, no matter how good it looks.

.... Now, if any of you have wondered where I get my bizarre sense of humor, here it is. My dad's laying in the bed, oxygen tube in his nose and a tube hanging from his arm that they use to inject his medicine, so they don't have to keep jabbing him with needles (just put one in and leave it there for the duration). He looks down at it, holds it and shows it to us (my sister was there too) and asks "You know what this is for?" Yeah, but he doesn't give a chance to answer. "To make it easier for vampires." We laugh, I say something about not having to puncture your neck and start slurping at my arm. We laugh some more and then my sister says, in her best vampire voice, "I like this place, they give you straws." I thought they'd have to use the paddles.

(That picture came after the comments, so you may have read them to get it).

Are you on crack?

or just a total moron?

This silver Pontiac Sunbird pulls up to pump 5 and the guy gets out with a lit cigarette. Now this is stupid enough, but since people usually immediately throw the smoke on the ground and stomp it out I didn't think much of it. A couple of minutes later I look out there and he's pumping gas with his left hand and holding the lit cigarette in his right hand. I actually had to get on the speaker and tell him to put it out. "Welcome to Chevron, smoking is not allowed at the gas pumps." You can just imagine what I wanted to say.

Fun with Photoshop, 2

This one was inspired by Writer's comment, but with my own twist....

click on photo to see full sized