Halfway Hip

Flu Music

So, I have the flu. No wonder I was so cranky for my last post. I started with cold symptoms Sunday and Monday. On Tuesday, I progressively felt worse and worse throughout the day. I knew that a student of mine came down with the flu the week before, and she and I had handed off a few things to each other, so I suspected it right away when I felt feverish. After taking Advil, my temp was still 101, so I went to urgent care that afternoon and got the diagnosis. Now that it's two days later, I feel somewhat better, but definitely not back to normal. Fever goes up and down, and I'm having a really hard time sleeping at night. Last night, I gave up trying and came out to the living room, where I happily discovered the VHI Classic was playing 120 Minutes! Even in my sickened misery, I felt giddy joy at watching some of these gems again: First up, Sinead O'Connor with MC Lyte: "Going Underground" by The Jam. Check out how fresh this would be now!! What goes around comes around! Elvis Costello's "What's So Funny About Peace, Love, and Understanding" played, too, but I can't share that with you b/c it was ganked from youtube. Boo. So, weird coincidence. I was just reading in Hillary's blog last night about her favorite album. Mere hours later, I'm watching this video, and I haven't thought about Lemonheads in years. "It's a Shame About Ray." So, not all 90s music was horrible. There was also the Pixies, whose "Monkey Gone to Heaven" was also played, much to my fevered delight. There was also "Tonight" by the Smashing Pumpkins. I have a love/hate relationship with this band, and still feel that they were waaaayyy overplayed, but this video is gorgeous. They were doing steampunk 10 years before the rest of the world was: Then, they had to go ahead and play one of the main reasons 90s music got so bad. Sony BMG disalbed embedding on this one, but you can follow the link. Actually, it's really not a bad song. Just way overplayed and then it started a huge downturn in "progressive" music that lasted til about the year 2001, when Interpol and The Strokes came along. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCgFYz7VX74 Though, to be fair, my access to true indie, underground music at that time was very limited. No more 120 minutes. No more true college alt. radio. Enid, OK didn't have a quirky little record shop. I should have paid more attention to the reviews in Entertainment Weekly, and then I would have discovered Pavement and Pulp when they were timely. Okay, 90s music ramble over. I don't think this song by The Fixx would have EVER been on the real 120 minutes. It's probably just as well that I can't embed this one, either. It's like being Rik Rolled. Really. Hearing this one, I know I've been unfair to 90s music. Oh, how I loved James!!! I don't think I ever saw this one back then, which is so hard to believe!!!! "Girlfriend in a Coma" by The Smiths. The only video I remember seeing from them was "Stop Me If You Think..." and then of course Morrissey vids. What would 120 Minutes be without a New Order video? This is the one they played last night. Mom, I swear this song isn't about drugs! Why would anyone think that?! If you're still with me, hope you enjoyed this little stroll down memory lane. Kristen's probably the only one still with me. :)

Rough

LIfe's getting rough.  My can-do attitude, which lasted throughout January and most of February, is starting to fade out a bit.  Here are few things that we're dealing with:

*Aidan's been getting into trouble more at school and at home.  For most of the first semester, Aidan had no issues at school.  Since Christmas, he's been getting into trouble at least once a week.  Hitting, name-calling, threatening, throwing things, talking out of turn, not staying in his seat.  His teacher is very sweet, and she seems very willing to work with him.  He was referred to the principal on Friday, and I get the sense that they're now starting the paper trail on him.  I know of these things well, only I never thought the "bad kid" in the class would ever be one of my own kids.  We do know that he seems to be very intelligent; it's quite possible that he's getting bored.  He's had a huge leap in intellectual development in the past few weeks.  Sentences that used to take an hour to write now only take minutes.  He started the year out reading "A" level books, and now he reads "E" level books with almost no problems.  His mid-year math assessment came back nearly perfect.  Matt and I are thinking about taking Aidan somewhere for an evaluation.  I really do think that he wants to control his outbursts, but he's physically incapable.  We've been saying for years that "it's just a phase" or that it's circumstantial (new school, Matt being gone, little bro. being born, etc.)  I think it's time to face the fact that he may need more help than just positive and negative consequences.  I've been to this point many time before, though, and the "phase" usually ends, so we don't really do anything about it. 

*It seems like one of us is sick, recovering, or almost-sick at any one time.  I had the stomach bug a few weeks ago, Evan had it, Evan's had a fever on-and-off this weekend, I had really bad sinus headache issues last week, and today I feel like I'm getting a full-blown cold.

*Matt's been gone for a week now.  Yes, we should be used to this, but he really hasn't been gone this long (with me working) since the first week of December.  When he's gone, I truly feel like I'm in a race against time to get everything done.  I hate being in survival mode!  How do single parents do it???

*We are having to scrimp & pay off debt in case Matt loses his job.  My job isn't really a guarantee, either, b/c I'm on a temporary contract here as a first year teacher.  Last week, I had to resubmit my cover letter and resume, and my job has been officially posted.  

*I have 3 classes worth of research papers to grade.

*This week is going to be crazy at school.  We have stupid math competition on Tuesday that will steal yet more time away from my Lang. Arts classes the DAY BEFORE the Writing CRT.  On Wednesday, the CRT is given during first hour, so I'll have no plan.  We also have a short lunch period both Tuesday and Wednesday, so on both of those days, I'll only have a 20 minute break all day long, during which I'll have to find time to eat.  Thursday, I have long-range planning with the other 8th grade LA teachers, which is good, but I'll have to prepare for a sub.  Thursday night, we're there til 8:30 or so b/c of parent-teacher conferences.  

Okay, now for some good stuff:

*I do get Friday off of teaching.  P/T conferences are 8-noon, and we have the rest of the day off.  

*I'm trying to plan a ladies night for this coming Friday.

*Modest Mouse is coming to town next Tuesday, and we might go if I can get a sitter.

*I have tickets for Franz Ferdinand and The Kills on the same weekend in April in Dallas.

*Research unit is over.  Poetry starts next week, and then it's Holocaust studies.

*Matt and I seem to be successfully cutting the budget.  Concert tix don't count. :)

*Matt has all of March off.  Less $$$$ but more Daddy!

*Aidan started Taekwondo this past week.  It seems to be a very firm, but a very positive place.  He's stoked about it.

*Very soon, I'll have a green kitchen.

Now that both of the boys are soundly asleep (early, thank gawd), I need to go get a few more papers graded.  Thanks for letting me get all of that off my chest.

The Killers!

My prize pic that night, originally uploaded by Halfway Hip.

I got to see them again last week! My MIL drove up to spend the night with the kids, so Matt and I escaped for the night. Thanks to the snow make up days, I now have an extra personal day to use at work, so it was a bonus all the way around! Click on the photo to see more.