The new Pepsi

Hi all! Today has been surprising. I had to work essentially 9-5 today because today is Wednesday, which in Nick's Liquors #8 language, today is delivery day. We get about half of our deliveries every Wednesday, including most or all of the liquor. This also means that on Wednesdays, I get to see my uncle Nick, who is currently the Nick in Nick's Liquors :). Mostly this is an ok thing for me, unless I am doing something screwy or wrong at the time when he is visiting and evaluating. In that case, he has to play the boss card and not the uncle card and scold me. When he was here today, I was in a crazy mood because I was still going nuts about the dream that I had in the previous post, and so I was jumping up and down and making Erin, my boss, laugh.
There was a time when she and I were talking and laughing like crazy, and Nick happened to notice, and I have to just write down exactly what was said:
Nick: What are you guys on?
Erin: Nothing.
Me: Pepsi!
Nick: I used to drink Pepsi, I never got like that!
Erin: This must be a new kind.


Also, since I was off yesterday, I told Amy and Erin my crazy dream, and both thought it was funny. Chris, our Miller sales rep, also heard the dream, and thought I was crazy.
At the beginning of the dream story
Chris: Did this really happen Megan, or is this a dream?
Megan: This was a dream.
Chris: Oh good, because if this was a real school, I want my daughter to stay far away from it.

After the dream was told
Chris: Megan, you've gotta stop drinking before you go to sleep!

Upon hearing that I don't, in fact, drink that much
Chris: Oh, well, maybe you should start drinking before bed.

weird dream

I had a weird dream last night. I dreamt I had a teaching job, which is weird enough :), but in the school, there was a classroom that wasn't a classroom, but a doctor's office. It was a cosmetic surgeon, and he was offering a sale on nose jobs. I contemplated, but they didn't have anything I liked.

Overwhelmed

Overwhelmed is kind of the emotion I am feeling today. It was pretty much an all day emotion. I had my therapy session today, and we talked about how I should be more assertive towards more people in my life. My doctor did say that I had been assertive toward my life with my dad and moved out of his house, and apparently, I shouldn't stop there. future events hopefully will help me out with this.
After work today, I went to class and the overwhelming started right at the beginning. First, because of my lateness to register, I didn't get some messages from my teacher. and so I couldn't do the problems that were due today. But that's ok because we are not going to hand them in until next week. We then began the lesson. This whole class confuses me. I don't understand what is going on. The class is middle school math, but when I was in middle school and high school, I was in remedial math courses, so I have not been exposed to pre calculus, trigonometry or calculus work, but that's what it sounds like to me. Hopefully, this feeling will not last long.

Crazy Monday, Lazy Tuesday

Yesterday was crazy. It was the start of the new semester at IUN, and as of 9am when I started my work shift yesterday, I had not registered for classes this semester. My original plan was to work my shift until 3pm, and then drive to campus and talk to someone at the educational department and ask them for advice on which classes to take. You may be asking, why didn't I ask my advisor these questions. Well, when I heard the news that I wouldn't be student teaching, and I would have this semester open, I emailed my advisor, and left her a message at her office. Neither of these were returned by her. As I was getting ready to leave work, I thought I should try my advisor again and see if I couldn't get ahold of her. Well, luckily, she answered her office phone this time. Apparently she had not gotten my email or my message, so I had to explain to her why my semester was open. I thin asked her if we could move my last elective class to this semester rather than in the summer, and what are my options for the elective class. She stated that there was one class that was mostly online, except for a few Saturdays, and it was about the curriculum for preschool students. that sounded interesting, and I believe I had taken something similar to that before. However, when my advisor told me about the other class, a middle school math class, she got excited. There was a teeny time constraint though because it was supposed to start at 4pm that afternoon, and it was already 3 30. She was determined though. She was saying, "How far are you from campus? Can you come right now? You should really take this class, I can tell the teacher You'll be a little late!" I was a little overwhelmed, but I agreed to choose this one, and I set for campus, which luckily was about 20 minutes away, so I got there on time. My teacher is nice, and excitable. she seemed happy about everything and she was full of energy. We already have math unit plans scheduled and due. I chose to do an elementary geometry unit, which could be fun and challenging. I'm just glad that I don't have to waste this semester, and not take a class when I still have one to take.
One point about the class yesterday was that even though I was paying attention to what was on the syllabus, I was enthralled by this guy's shirt. He sat in front of me, so I could only look at the back, but it featured the scariest part of The Shining movie. If you've seen the movie, the scariest part in my opinion was when the kid, Danny comes across the two dead girls, and they start talking to him! The back of this shirt had their pictures and what they said. I only saw the front of the shirt for a little bit, but there was too much writing on it for me to read in that instant, and an online search has not shown me a duplicate. I want his shirt!!!!!
After school last night, I went to Melissa's, and played with her WiiFit. When I left there around midnight, it was snowing, and nobody had plowed anything, so the drive was kind of rough, but I made it home safely.
I had the day off from work today, and I just thought I would stay home and get some stuff done, like laundry and cleaning. Also here, I can do my own WiiFit. I've reached my weight loss goal for the last two weeks on my wii Fit, and I set up a new one for the next two weeks.

"If you don't have a valentine, come anyway, and maybe you'll find one"

HeHe. Hi all. The title is an exert from the church bulletin this morning. Apparently, the youth group at my church are going to put together a valentine's dinner for the adults in the church. There will be an italian dinner, dance lessons, and babysitting available. Tickets per couple are $25 dollars. It kinda sounds like a really cheap prom to me. And just like my prom, I sort of have a date, but he will not be here to go. So if I go anyway, will I maybe find a valentine anyway? :)
I had a day somewhat planned, but I guess because it was somewhat planned, it fell apart. Yesterday, I talked to Melissa, and she stated that since today was Sunday, and I had the day off from work and would be in Munster anyway to go to church, why don't I stay in town and we can hang out. That sounded fine with me, so I got up early this morning and drove to church, and when that was done, I got in touch with Melissa. However, she had said that she wasn't expecting us to hang out during the day, and she had made plans during the day with her boyfriend Benjamin because supposedly he was leaving for an extended stay in Ohio tomorrow. I told her ok, and I would stay in town for a little while longer. Later this afternoon, we got in touch again, and she said she and Benjamin were going to see a movie at 5. I decided to just forget it and let them spend their day together. So I went home. I'm not mad exactly, don't know how to feel, but that's pretty normal.
I work 9-3 tomorrow, then I have to go to IUN. Have I mentioned that I am not student teaching in the spring anymore on this blog, not sure. If I did, I am sorry I am repeating myself. I ended up not passing one of the tests I took in November, and so I cannot student teach until I pass it. The next test date is in March, and I am already signed up to take it. It's just that now I have a semester that is completely wide open, and I have one more elective class to take. I have been trying to get in touch with me advisor to ask her what are my options, but she has not answered my emails or phone calls. So tomorrow, I have to make a trip to IUN and see if I can ask someone in the education department this question. Wish me luck.
Well, now I feel kind of depressed, so I am going to close here, goodnight all.

#2 Claudia and the phantom phone calls

Ok. Here's the second installment of the babysitter club series, and the first one that is in Claudia's perspective. The book starts with Claudia doing her homework. Claudia does not like school very much, and so she does not get good grades. I can relate to that because I did not like school and so I did not get good grades either. She also has an older sister named Janine that Claudia describes as a certified genius. This also makes Claudia feel inferior, and I can also relate to this. Although during school, the person I felt inferior to was my younger brother Nick, but it was for the same reason. While rereading this book, I was reading what Janine was saying in her genius state, and now I can understand what she is saying. I did not when I first read it. An example of her genius talk is this exert from the book. "Yesterday morning, all I did was go, "Janine, it's cold out. Mone wants you to close your window before you leave for school,' and you know what she said? She said, 'I find it fascinating that in our society we attempt to regulate the temperature of the environment rather than our bodies. It's so much more difficult and it's highly inefficient. Primitive peoples and peoples in various other societies existing today tend toward the mere addition or removal of clothing, while we invite the use of heating units and air conditioners.' See. Kind of difficult the first time you read it, but all she is saying is that people should put more layers on or take more layers off instead of running the heater or air conditioner.
The babysitters hear about the serial burglar known as the phantom phone caller that is commiting crimes in nearby towns. This person calls a home, and does not say anything when the person answers the phone. then, when the family goes out for the evening, the person robs their house. This causes the babysitters to , in my opinion, unnecessarily panic because they think that just because this person is in nearby towns, that he or she will come to their town of Stoneybrook. They are so freaked out that Kristy decided to call an emergency babysitters club meeting. In this meeting, they come up with ideas to protect themselves. The weirdest and possibly stupidest one is this code system that if one babysitter thinks there someone prowling around, they will call another member and ask if they have found some ribbons or something like that. They practice, but they keep screwing up, which would probably mean that they are going to screw up when they do this in real life. Kristy also decides to bring the record book to school to find out who has babysitting jobs everyday. They also decide to not tell their parents anything about the phantom phone caller because after all, they are twelve year olds, and they can handle burglars on their own.
the other important thing in this book according to Claudia is that she has a huge crush on Trevor Sandbourne, who she is convinced doesn't know she exists. While she is at school, she sees Trevor in the hallway, and crashes into a boy named Alan Gray, who is an enemy of Kristy's.
Claudia babysits for Jamie Newton and proves herself irresponsible by letting her fears of the phantom caller overrun her by not answering the phone when it rings and putting her and Jamie in danger by investigating a noise. Claudia then babysits for Nina and Elenor Marshall, and she receives a phone call where she answered and no one was there. This makes her scared and jumps at every little sound, but nothing big happens.
Kristy babysits for Karen and Andrew Brewer and she also gets one of those calls, and she is scared, but nothing happens.
Mary Anne babysits for Kristy's brother David Michael, but the phone does not ring. Stacey babysits for Charlotte Johannsen, and the phone does not ring when Stacey is there. There were two things worth mentioning that happened when Stacey babysat. The first one is she and Charlotte are watching tv, and Stacey mentions checking out MTV, which I thought was funny. I would hope that in 1986 when this book was written, that MTV would still be playing music videos, and not mostly idiotic tv shows. The second thing that happened is that there is a thunderstorm going on outside, and Stacey and Charlotte finally settle on watching something on tv called spook theatre. My question is if you were thinking about a phantom caller burglar and there's a thunderstorm outside, why would you choose to watch spook theatre? That would make me more scared.
Mary Anne finally tells her father about the phantom phone caller, and he does not allow her to babysit anymore until the phantom is caught. Why hasn't he, or any other adults for that matter, ever heard of the phantom phone caller? Don't they watch the news or read the paper?
Claudia is still determined to get Trevor to notice her, but bad luck is in her favor because as she is walking past him a lunch, someone bumps her, and part of her lunch lands on his lap. She is completely embarrassed, but at least he knows who she is.
Claudia and Kristy babysit for Janie and his wild cousins, and they get two no answer phone calls, then they hear noises and see a shadow outside. Claudia calls the police. The police arrive with the prowler, and it turns out to be Alan Gray! Alan was calling Krity to ask her to a dance that was coming up and she happily accepted. Claudia began to realize that Alan was the one that was calling Kristy, so who was calling her.
While she was on a babysitting job, she got her answer. It turned out the be Trevor Sandbourne that was calling to ask her to the same dance.
At the end, it is discovered that the phantom was captured, so it turns out to be a happy ending for everyone and everything.

#1 Kristy's Great Idea

Since this is the first post I have made in the new year, I thought I would start with the first book of the Babysitters Club series. This gives an introduction of what the books are going to be about. It introduces the four original club members: Kristy Thomas, who is president of the club; Claudia Kishi, who is the vice president; Mary Anne Spier, who is the secretary, and Stacey McGill, who is the treasurer. Since the title has Kristy's name in it, she is the narrator. Ann M. Martin makes an attempt at diversity and different families. Kristy and Mary Anne come from single parent homes, but for different reasons. Claudia is Japanese American with an older sister. Also, both Mary Anne and Stacey are only children, and Kristy has two older brothers and one younger brother.
It was because of Kristy's younger brother, David Michael, that she got the idea for the club in the first place. Both Mary Anne and Claudia were up for the idea, and Claudia brought Stacey into the club. Stacey is originally from New York, and I thought it was funny that Mary Anne was impressed with everything Stacey said about it.
The first problem arises when Claudia passes out candy at a meeting, and Stacey does not take any because she claims she is on a diet. Kristy then proves she is a big mouth by claiming that Stacey is already skinny, and then says it is not a good idea to go on a diet when you don't need to.
Another problem that arose, which I thought was pretty funny, was Kristy's first babysitting job as part of the babysitters club. It was for a new client, Mrs. McKeever, who had two "kids", Buffy and Pinky. She goes to the house, and finds out that Buffy and Pinky are not exactly kids, but St. Bernards! My question on this is why didn't Mrs. McKeever say that on the phone? I know peope who do not have children of their own refer to their animals as their "kids", but come on! Wouldn't she make that distinction on the phone!
Stacey babysits for Kristy's brother, David Michael, and meets another brother of Kristy's named Sam. Because Stacey is in seventh grade, and Sam is in high school, she develops a crush on him. What I don't understand is what Sam could see in her. I don't think high school boys would think about going out with girls in middle school.
Mary Anne's first job in the babysitters club was for Watson's kids. Watson is the man Kristy's mom is dating, and Kristy does not like him, so she refused to babysit for his kids. She had a good experience except for a run in with Mrs. Porter, Watson's neighbor. Watson's daughter, Karen, is convinced Mrs. Porter is a witch named Morbida Destiny. Mary Anne doesn't seem to know the difference between reality and fantasy and also believes she is a witch. Luckily, Watson does not believe it. So, at least one adult has common sense.
Claudia's first job was the hardest of the four. She sat for Jamie Newton, a regular client, but there was also his rowdy cousins, Rob, Rosie and Brenda. It was said that Mrs. Newton forgot to tell this to Claudia. That shows another adult that does not have any common sense to even call Claudia personally to tell her the change.
The mystery of Stacey continues to when she claims she is taking trips to New York, but Mary Anne catches her in town. Of course, Kristy has to open her mouth and confront Stacey about it. It turns out Stacey is hiding the fact that she has diabetes. When they find out, Mary Anne and Claudia are shocked and feel immediately sorry for her, but Kristy thinks it's no big deal. Truthfully, I agree with Kristy. I know diabetes is a horrible thing that is incurable, but it is not the end of the world as these girls make it out to be.
As the book ends, Kristy finds herself the only one who can babysit for Watson's kids one day, so she has to do it, and realizes, OH MY GOD, they're not little terrors as she first claims they are. They are actually quite cute. and Kristy writes a note to Watson saying she is giving him permission to date and even marry her mother. Wow. I know from experience that yeah, that's touching and nice to do, but also from experience, parents are going to do that anyway, despite what the kids might say or think.
Overall, it was a good book. Not one of my favorites in the series by a long shot, but a good starter book.
Hopefully sometime this week, I will also post #2 Claudia and the phantom phone calls.