The Adventures of Kinky Reggae: A Vagabond for Beauty

1. They suck. 2. They come out of nowhere. I had one in class last night, and I just prayed that no one could tell I was gasping for breath. 3. They are illogical. There is nothing in my life that is upsetting me right now, and yet, I'm literally sick with anxiety. I had to call in today. 4. They are getting worse as I get older. How fun.

About three things I am absolutely positive. First, I want to marry Edward. Second, Stephanie Meyer is an amazing author. And third, I am unconditionally and irrevocably in love with the Twilight books. I planned on reading these books this summer. I've heard so much about them. At first, they really didn't sound interesting. But after seeing my students persistently struggle through them, I decided I had to see what the fuss was about. I tend to be an addict with reading, so it's not surprising I read the whole book in one day. Actually, it's the third full length novel I read this weekend. And I did not just stay in my house all weekend, either. Sarah came over on Friday night. Saturday night I did my usual line dancing with Faye. And Sunday I went out to Naperville and did dinner and a movie with my parents. (The new Indiana Jones movie is great, by the way.) Today, I started reading Twilight around 3:00 and finished around 10:00. I am trying not to th

1. The smell of a summer night in the country 2. Dancing to "A Little Less Talk and A Lot More Action" 3. The Dixie Chicks 4. Driving with the windows down 5. White Grape Peach juice 6. Romance novels 7. Friends who humor you, even when you know you're being silly 8. " Still I Rise " and " Phenomenal Woman " by Maya Angelou 9. The Lutheran Hymnal 10. Juno 11. Playing tennis 12. Gossip Girl 13. Sexy Motherpucker Lip Plumper 14. Talking to my grandma 15. The Pieces of Flair application on Facebook 16. Planning vacations and other fun things

My fish died tonight. Luckily Sarah was here, so she took him out of the tank and put him in the toilet for me. We said some nice words, then flushed him. I couldn't even look. I feel kind of guilty that he didn't get the same quality funeral that Sammy got. But Nina is out of town, so we would have had to wait a week for the funeral. And I didn't think I could stand to have Rhett in my freezer for that long. Sarah and I thought about just going down to the river and doing it tonight, but it's really cold. Also, I feel bad saying this, but Rhett was not as cool of a fish as Sammy. Sammy would swim over to see me whenever I came in the room and wiggle his little fins at me. Rhett just liked to chill in his castle. But he was a good fish. A loner, but not in a bad way. I will miss him. It's also kind of depressing that I am now the only living thing in my apartment.

Stuff White People Like

Lil' Sis's birthday is this week, so I let her choose what she wanted to do on Saturday. We had lunch at Olive Garden and went to the zoo. She is turning 11 and has never been to a zoo before. She has a cold, and I noticed she looked tired at lunch, so I asked if the cold was keeping her up at night. She misunderstood and said she has to sleep with her windows open, like that explained it. I said that her street seemed pretty quiet, and she looked at me like I was nuts. She said the gunshots keep her up. She went on to tell me there are two things she hates about her neighborhood- the gunshots and the grown men who won't leave her alone when she walks places. She also mentioned that her brother's been in jail for a while now, but she's not sure why. He's 19. She said her family's been very sad because there was a whole family shot in Englewood recently, and the son was one of her brother's friends. I'm glad she opened up, but it was still

This morning, C showed up in my classroom wanting to apologize. "I'm sorry I've been so mean to you at work," she said. "I'm going to stop doing that. I really hope you have a great day." That sounds nice, right? Except she hasn't been mean to me at work. Also, she said it in this really insincere, smug, flippant way... the word that came to mind in the moment was Stepford. It was weird. I just nodded and said, "Ok, thanks." Then, I saw her in the hall a few minutes later, and she gave me this huge, fake smile and said, "Have a wonderful day!" and walked away humming. I know this doesn't sound creepy in writing, but it totally was. She sounded like someone who was mentally ill. I think I know what's going on here. When her fiance cheated, she felt really guilty for being mad. She even started therapy so she could get over it. She told him she forgave him, and tried to convince herself she'd forgiven him,

C. friend requested one of my Facebook friends, and they are now friends. It's this guy who used to be best friends with my ex (I don't know how close they are now). I was kind of friends with him (we hung out a few times last summer and may or may not have made out in the back of a cab when we were drunk after a Cubs game), but we haven't talked since last summer. I wrote on his wall on Facebook to invite him to me and Nina's party and he never replied, so I'm assuming he doesn't want to talk to me anymore, which is fine, because I don't have any feelings invested in that friendship. But why on earth would C friend-request him, and only him? I looked through her friends (can't see her profile since it's private) and didn't see any of my other friends on her list. Does she somehow remember me mentioning that I made out with him that one time? It's not like it meant anything to either of us, so why would she think that was important? I

Today was my first day of grad school. (I'm starting a new cohort program through Concordia to get my master's in Reading.) I was so nervous/excited about going to class, since I did my first master's online. I planned what I was going to wear, how I was going to get there, had everything timed down to the minute... I was so prepared. It wasn't until I had parked that I realized I didn't have a pen or notebook. Who goes to grad school without basic school supplies? I'm such an idiot sometimes.

Gossip Girl has quickly become one of my favorite shows. One thing I like is that none of the characters are all good or all bad. For example, Blair is a heinous witch to some people, but a really good friend to others. And Chuck- my friend at work can't stand him, and I admit, I've had moments of intense dislike. But you get these rare glimpses of his kind, vulnerable, side, and you think that maybe he's not so bad. Like his crush on Blair- my heart was breaking for him. In the past few episodes, we've learned that some awful girl named Georgina is coming back, and Serena is very upset. Georgina obviously has some dirt on Serena, and last night Serena told Blair that she'd killed someone. Chuck has been so sweet in covering for her and helping her out, even if his ways are a little unethical. It's interesting that she hasn't confided in Dan, her boyfriend, who is the only all-around nice guy on the show who's not caught up in the drama. Scenes

-Go tubing -Visit the art galleries in my neighborhood -Go to the beach -Achieve self-actualization -Make cheesecake -Find my birthfather -Ravinia -Ghost hunting -Take a yoga class in Millenium Park -Mars Hill -Go whitewater rafting -Play tennis regularly -Take a park district class -Make cherry limeades like the ones at Sonic -Cubs games -Get involved with the block party -Go on the gangster tour -Trip to Alton -Read the Giver companion books -Go to some kind of professional conference -Build my classroom library -Personalized Guess Who -Finish the quilt my grandma and I are working on -Hike on the Appalachian trail A lot of these things are from last year's list that I either didn't get to or want to do again. I'm having trouble thinking of things this year, which has never happened before. Suggestions would be appreciated!

I just realized I haven't blogged in like, a week, so I figured I better write something. There's lots going on. Yesterday was my last day of grad school. My ARP was accepted (and I got an A), so I officially have a master's. I start my next program next week. I did file a police report on C. I talked to the nicest detective about it yesterday. I think the deal is that I can't press charges unless she threatens to kill me, but that's fine because I didn't want to press charges; I just wanted it documented. C. missed work again yesterday, bringing her up to 17 absences this school year. How ridiculous is that? She is 5 above what we're allowed. I went to DC's again on Saturday and finally learned the Sweet Home Alabama dance. I'm having a little trouble with the hip rolling, though. I wish Rachel was here to help. I tried to make an appointment with a professional matchmaker because I thought that would be so cute, but it costs $3500. I ca