Giant Monkeys, Talky McTalksalot, and William Shatner

Happy Tuesday, Matt Smith.

Sometimes, at the end of a year, I find it amusing to write sentences like, "This is my last Tuesday in the Twin Cities before next year," or "This is the last night of the year that I'll eat leftovers from the fridge in my own apartment." Sure, they don't mean much, but it sure does feel good.

However, here's a list of some things that DON'T feel good:

1) Kids who talk too much. (Sometimes, kids who talk at ALL.) This week, I'm working at a "magnet school" -- this one attracts the "gifted and talented." While I, as a child, was labeled as such, at the time it did NOT mean that we were entitled to say whatever was on our minds whenever we felt like it. Apparently... now it does.

2) Muscle strain. While no explanation is really necessary for this, I suppose some details are in order. Today, I worked in a classroom with very little space to spare -- lots of chair-desky things, a big teacher's deak, tons of homemade cardboard and construction paper models of unrecognizable objects, and one quite large table in the center of the room which was covered with a nifty little quilt. So we weren't left with a lot of room to work with. The teacher offered to move the table, but it seemed like it would be a big hassle as she had stored a number of large heavy-looking boxes (holding God knows what) underneath it. We said we'd work around it -- no big deal -- and she jokingly told me that I could stand on it if I wanted. I said, "Really?" She looked at me, semi-incredulously and said, "Oh. Sure." So of course, I did. Jumped on and off the table about 30 times over the course of the day. Did stupid things to ensure the amusement of the children, making quite certain that I could use the table to prance about on. All of this proves that I'm INSANE, that the children would NOT be amused, and that I'm terribly, woefully out of shape.

3) Being kicked in the head. Although this didn't actually occur today, I'm fairly certain it's not something that would feel particularly pleasant.

4) Being cold. Minnesota is very cold. Too cold, in fact, to snow. So cold that the humidity on the inside of my car is frosting the INSIDE of my windshield. So cold that my snot -- my own 98.6 degree snot -- freezes after I spend two minutes outside. Minnesota is frozen snot cold, and it doesn't feel good. Pittsburgh's frickin' Habana compared to this crazy place.

I think I'll make tea now.

Over and over again,
Meredith