Sadly, I do too! I'm at work now and can't keep up with my own nonsense posts, LOL!!!

posted by mrgrooism at 2:38 pm (EST) on Jul 24, 2008

I know hehehe...

It's hysterical...I love it...laughed myself stupid for an hour or more...

posted by Severn at 10:18 am (EST) on Jul 23, 2008

Agree! Such silliness, I really needed this, LOL!!!

posted by mrgrooism at 9:45 am (EST) on Jul 23, 2008

Cool. Why'd ya move? Didn't like it hear? I actually live in the Martinez/Evans area. Where'd ya move to? if you don't mind me asking?

-Shane

posted by shanereads at 9:47 pm (EST) on Jul 21, 2008

I see you've read "True Evil" by Greg Iles. He has a book called "24 hours", they made a movie about it called "Trapped" w/ Charleze Theron & Kevin Bacon. It's a great book! Might want to check it out.

Just a suggestion
- Shane

posted by shanereads at 11:39 am (EST) on Jul 21, 2008

Nope, sorry. Worth a shot, though, huh? No bother, always ask away!

posted by mrgrooism at 10:52 am (EST) on Jul 21, 2008

I've been only been "certified" to teach since 1998 (or is that "certifiable"? I get so confused.) My certifications are English 6-12, Social Science 6-12, with an ESOL endorsement (300 hours of ESOL classes!). I am halfway to my Gifted Endorsement, which is also 300 hours in my state/county. But our school board, bless their tiny little hearts, has decided to close the Gifted classes for the forseeable future, to everyone who doesn't teach at Pineview School. Sarasota County has what I believe is the only public school for the gifted (IQ test results of 130 or above) in the country. So unless I have my principal bring some pressure to bear, I am shut out of those classes. Right now I'm taking some reading endorsement classes, which makes my principal very, very happy. I am getting some good ideas out of the classes, so I'm not totally bored out of my gourd. I don't know whether I'll pursue the GE, if only b/c now that I teach at Sarasota Military (which, again, is the nation's only public military academy -- we're pretty much a regular high school -- I could bore you to death with the wonderful things that make us the best place to teach in the country, but I won't unless you ask) I'm pretty much guaranteed the gifted kids anyway. We're such a small school, thank the gods of education,(and I pray it stays that way), that every teacher usually teaches only one subject. So I'm THE US history teacher. I get them all at our school -- the EH kids, the ESOL kids, the ESE kids, and the gifted kids. And I love it! I've taught AP US history for the past three years, but we didn't have enough kids willing to commit to it this year, which is kind of a relief for me. It was an awful lot of extra work, and AP classes really require an intense commitment from the kids themselves, as well as the school. Our school didn't entirely commit to the course (I only had the kids for 18 weeks instead of the usual 36), and I ended up doing double duty for the same pay. It was a rather frustrating experience for me. I'm looking forward to taking a break from it. Besides, I'm about to become an active volunteer for the Red Cross (hopefully driving the ERV itself, and at least being on call to help man it one week a month) so a slightly less intense prep/work load sounds good to me right now.

I have always loved kids -- more than most of the adults I know, actually. Wherever I've taught, my classroom is always the one crammed with kids at lunch time. I haven't had a lunch period to myself since my second year of teaching. But that's the way I like it. I've also sponsored more clubs than I can easily remember -- and I'm sponsoring Writer's Circle again this year. Anyway, as our school year down here gets ready to start up again, I'm getting back in the mood. I've had a glorious summer, reading voraciously whatever I pleased, starting up two blogs, and getting back into the swing of writing (nonfiction) again, after a longer hiatus than I care to ponder.

Aside from that, I am a long-time divorcee (since 1993), mother of three adult children, two of whom are out of the nest, at least temporarily, and "into" volunteer work and reading. I am a dog person, and currently have 3 canine babies -- one of whom is my buddy, Tucker, a rescue and a loving daily reminder of the best decision I ever made. I also am tolerated by a fairly aloof cat -- whose attitude towards me rather depends on how much she wants a kitty treat. She's also a rescue -- she was quite literally washed up on our driveway as a kitten, five years ago, during our last really rainy summer.

More than you wanted to know, I'm afraid! Tell me about yourself, please.

posted by RachelfromSarasota at 8:21 pm (EST) on Jul 20, 2008

What do you teach? I loved the optical illusions page you posted on a Green Dragon thread. I just couldn't find the man's face in the coffee beans until one of the other posters (severn?) pointed it out. It was driving me crazy! I am going to try it on my eldest daughter, who's an artist, when she gets home from her "starving artist" job tonight. I look forward to meeting you at DragonCon. I probably won't wear much of a costume, but my daughter is going to paint me a dragon t-shirt. (She just doesn't know it yet.) She also does awesome face painting -- really cool stuff. Halloween is my favorite secular holiday, so I do like to dress up and "play pretend" when I can. I was Medusa last year at the school where I teach in Sarasota. At the Con I'll probably spend at least one day in face paint -- my daughter uses the good stuff so it doesn't itch or flake away.

posted by RachelfromSarasota at 5:08 pm (EST) on Jul 20, 2008

I like spiders.......from a distance! :-P

posted by fleela at 10:56 pm (EST) on Jul 10, 2008

You're welcome! My July 4th was uneventful. I saw no fireworks and I studied the whole time.

posted by GeekyBlackGirl at 9:34 am (EST) on Jul 10, 2008

Did you enjoy your July 4th?

posted by GeekyBlackGirl at 4:15 pm (EST) on Jul 9, 2008

Hey, all the interesting people I know have interesting libraries, at least in here anyway, LOL!!!

posted by mrgrooism at 8:30 am (EST) on Jul 9, 2008

Hey GeorgiaDawn -

Had a stressful weekend because I'm a tennis fan and my "boy" Roger Federer lost. Other than that, yes a nice weekend. My daughter comes home Friday after 27 days at camp, so I'm REALLY looking forward to this weekend!

karenmarie

posted by karenmarie at 6:21 am (EST) on Jul 8, 2008