Rear-Ended!

So I was driving along yesterday near the airport when suddenly, in front of me, blocking the entire right lane, is a car at a dead stop. People, this is a 50 mph zone! The car in front of me slams to stop, and I, fortunately, make it, too. The idiot behind me, however, didn't, which is something I can actually understand. He didn't pop me hard, but obviously I'd been hit---and then the asshole took off! He was in a white, older Lincoln and I'm assuming he either didn't have insurance or was driving on a suspended license (major surprise, huh?) Who I'd really like to hurt is the white trash woman who was stopped dead in the right lane and actually caused all this. I spoke to her briefly--she tried to get the license # of the car driving off---but she was stopped because she was following her boyfriend and things had flown off the back of his truck and they were stopped to pick them up. I was kinda in shock--not hurt, just pissed. I did drive on down to a safe spot and called the cops but of course there's little to no chance they'll ever catch the idiot. So now I'm left to decide whether or not I should turn the claim in to my insurance and watch my rates go up (thanks, asshole!) or hope the damage is actually less than $500 so I don't have to involve the insurance people at all. You can't really tell there's much damage--just the muffler is bent and there's a small dent in my back door. It's just the principle of the thing. What is wrong with people? You go along minding your own business and then, bam! And we really can't take another financial hit now. I'm just really down about all this.

Adding to the books read list...

And here we have the books I've added to my Read in 2006 list so far this summer, plus ratings (out of 10)..

31. Hidden Honor by Anne Stuart (5/28/06)...7/10
32. Gone With the Windsors by Laurie Graham (6/3/06)....9/10
33. Sweet Ruin by Cathi Hanauer (6/7/06)...6.5/10
34. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (6/11/06)...10/10
35. A Famine of Horses by P.F. Chisholm (6/14/06)...6.5/10
36. Bad Twin by Gary Troup (6/18/06)....7/10
37. Queen of Babble by Meg Cabot (6/19/06)...7/10
38. 700 Sundays by Billy Crystal (6/20/06)...8/10
39. Plain and Simple by Sue Bender (6/24/06)…5/10
40. A Lady Raised High by Laurien Gardner (6/26/06)….7/10
41. Regency Charade by Margaret Mayhew (6/30/06)…7/10
42. Welcome to Temptation by Jennifer Crusie (7/2/06)…7.5/10
43. A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray (7/8/06)….8.5/10
44. Treason by Meredith Whitford (7/14/06)…9.5/10
45. Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen (7/16/06)….8/10
46. Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin (7/16/06)…7/10
47. Disobedience by Naomi Alderson (7/20/06)….7/10
48. Twilight by Stephenie Meyers (7/22/06)…9.75/10



I cannot say enough good stuff about The Book Thief. If you haven't read it, do so now! Awesome, awesome. And I kept up my tradition of reading a classic this summer, having finished off Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen. Every time I read Austen I wonder why it's taken me so long to read another one. Love her writing!

Twilight has turned out to be one of those books I'd like to immerse myself in---interesting storyline and characters that have crawled into my soul to live. The writing itself isn't outstanding (Edward chuckles wayyyy too much) but there is something just so compelling about the story that I've found myself thinking about the book numerous times since I finished it Friday night.

I tried to read Alentejo Blue for review and had to pitch it halfway. If someone tells you this is a good one, ignore that person. There was no one in the story I cared about, and the odd things each character had wrong were just so....yucky. It seemed like an author trying to be pretentious for pretentiousness-sake. I don't do well with those.

I'm currently reading Rebel Angels by Libba Bray (the sequel to A Great and Terrible Beauty) and it's okay so far (77 pages in). I like how Bray writes. She knows how to pull you in. I'm also reading The Thirteenth Tale for review and can't decide what I think of this one yet. It's come highly recommended so I'm hanging with it, hoping it picks up a bit. Not bad, just not what I was expecting.

~taminator40

The Dreaded Email....

Oh, no, I just received the dreaded email...my principal has decided it's time for him to start sending out his weekly staff emails. I am so not ready for summer to be over! Not sure why he thinks we're needing to be updated on the latest copy of the schedule (which will probably be updated again so why get upset now?). Why can't I get excited about going back to work? I read emails on teacher-lists about how excited some teachers are, planning a new year and going to workshops and I think, why not me? Maybe it's because I enjoy sleeping late or I have a life outside of school. I am NOT excited about another teacher who is joining the related arts team, I know that for sure. Arrgh. I'm going to have to work hard to maintain my sunny personality with this one, I know that.

My biggest accomplishment for the summer is the band website. I do like it, if I have to say it myself. I worked really hard on it and I hope it's accessible. Here's the url:

www.johnovertonband.org

Hannah's excited about band again this year and Katherine is looking forward to being at my school. I guess I just like the freedom to do what I want when I want. I hate being overscheduled.

On that happy note, I will now upload a picture of my beautiful family to share.
~taminator40