I'm on wonderful, glorious vacation. I am dreading going back, as much as I like teaching. I can't believe I am almost through the first semester. There is a chance that budget things could happen which might make it so I don't have a job next year. I really hope that doesn't happen. With nineteen new teachers I am not sure how they go about deciding who gets cut. I assume that a lot of us have the same hire date. I don't know how that works. Hopefully that won't happen. It was supposed to be sort of a guaranteed three-year budget, but it might not work out that way.
Vacation has been great, and tomorrow I am going to be going up to visit my father with my brothers and sisters. I have presents for everyone (I really spent a horrible amount of money this year on presents. I don't even want to know how much, but I know it is well over $300.00. Maybe even $500.00? UGH!) I hope that they like them. Having that many new family members makes Christmas all the more expensive. Not that I'm complaining.
I feel like I haven't spent enough time relaxing. I also have no New Year's plans, but I'm starting to not care. I know we will go out to dinner, but I don't know that I want to go out afterward. It used to be that that would be the most horrifying thought. The nice thing, though, is that on Tuesday we are going to have sort of a faux New Year's with Mark and Elizabeth. They both have to work, and we usually spent New Year's together. So we are going to get dressed up and go out and have fun. I hope it will be fun, anyway.
We already exchanged gifts with them. We got them the Trivial Pursuit pop culture dvd edition, and I got Elizabeth a care bear. I am dying to play it. They got us a bunch of stuff to make alcoholic beverages (rum, hot buttered rum mix, egg nog, pina colada mix) and Elizabeth got me a $20.00 gift card. I felt bad that we didn't get them more, because they went sort of overboard on our gifts. I used the gift card to buy Michael Moore's book, Dude, Where's My Country? and I am so excited. I had it on hold at the library but I am something like 300 of 500. I knew it would be a while. We watched Bowling for Columbine last night, and it was the first time for Justin and Jason. They were SO into it, which made me really happy. They also wanted to talk about it for hours afterward, and it was nice seeing how Justin really is more liberal than I thought. I know that he is liberal, but then he will bust out these viewpoints sometimes that are completely abhorant, in my opinion. So I felt good about his reaction to the movie.
Speaking of presents, I was really spoiled this year. I got SO many DVDs, including The Lion King, About a Boy, Chicago, Steal Magnolias, Bend it Like Beckham, Peewee's Big Adventure, Bowling for Columbine, and Antwone Fisher. I also got four Polo Sport shirts (I am on a Polo Sport thing. I know, I am so superficial and name-brand loving.) Justin gave me some shoes that I sort of don't like, and a wallet. He also got me the Mariah Carey Christmas CD, which I have wanted for a long time. Mariah Carey is so tacky, and I love/hate her, but I can't help myself. I also got jewelry and some other stuff. Justin's parents got me a yoga mat and ball, which was topped off by Justin's mom telling me that now I have to exercise. Ouch. She doesn't mean it like that, I know, but...We actually had both my mom over and Justin's family and everyone had a pretty great time. I was surprised at how well it went. I think the lemon drops and rum spiked eggnog helped. We didn't even have to cook because my mom and Justin's mom made everything and brought it over. We handled dessert, which consisted of a frozen pie and ice cream. It was still really good, but we felt sort of like lazy-asses.
Anyway, everyone really seemed to like their presents from me, and Justin and I have been having a pretty good time over this vacation. Jason is moving back here soon, so he may be staying here for a short time until he finds an apartment. I think it will be fine because he is very unobtrusive and doesn't talk much. He is also a good motivator for Justin. Hopefully they will find jobs QUICKLY. I know Justin is running low on money. I don't know how he made his financial aid last this long. Apparently, they are going to do something for him since they really screwed him this summer and he didn't get any financial aid while in summer school, when he was supposed to. So he might get more money even though he is done with classes (?) Anyway, I'm sick of worrying about it. He has been without a job for a ridiculous amount of time. Oh, and supposedly he won't move out if we break up because of him not getting a job. Um, yeah. I'm supposed to move out, even though I am the one that got us this apartment. I'm the one whose name was screened for the lease. I'm the one who has a job and can afford the rent by myself. I'm the one who needs to live here because it is right by my work. There is no reason why he needs to stay here. So, let's hope that it doesn't come down to us breaking up (we had a fight about this hypothetical situation), because I think it might get ugly. I don't want to break up at all, but I also want to be able to respect him. I don't know if I can do that much longer.
At some point this vacation I actually have to do some work for school. Ugh.
I finished a great book. Couldn't Keep it to Myself is edited by Wally Lamb. Basically, he started doing writing workshops at a women's prison, and then he put together and published some of their autobiographical stories. They are wonderful writers, and I am amazed by how much abuse these women went through. It is a definite must-read. I also read The Devil Wears Prada, which was entertaining but about what you would expect. I had it on hold at the library forever, so it was nice to finally get it.
Even though I mentioned that fight, Justin and I are doing pretty well overall. He just seems so content to not work and not really concentrate on getting a job. And that bothers me, not just because of the obvious money concerns, but because it says something about him as a person. I know he is afraid of getting stuck doing something he doesn't want, but he really doesn't have the option to be choosy anymore.
I made homemade tomato soup tonight. It was good, but sort of disappointing because it was nothing like I imagined it would be. At least I am trying things out. I got a recipe from Martha Stewart so I am going to try that one next time. If there is a next time.
I'd better get off of this thing. I'll try to be more interesting next time.
