I'll be leaving for vacation tomorrow, so I want to send wishes out for a few birthdays I'll be missing during the coming week:

Very happy birthday wishes to ladycat713, razycrandomgirl, and elisane!!!

I wish each of you the best of everything on your special days! *hugs*

Wishing a very, very happy birthday to both jebbypal and sandy_s!!

I hope both of you lovely ladies are having a wonderful day! *hugs*

Real life has been crazy lately - though not in a bad way. But it's caused me to be offline for a few days. As a result, I missed a birthday so . . .

A very happy, happy (belated) birthday to elektra_lyte!

I hope your special day was wonderful, sweetie! *hugs*

Wishing a very happy birthday to timeofchange!!

I hope you are having a wonderful day! :)

It was sad enough to hear of Farrah Fawcett's passing this morning, but this . . .

Michael Jackson has died of cardiac arrest at the age of 50.

Regardless of what he became later in life, he was truly one of my first favorite performers of all time. Another supremely talented star, with an all too tragic end.

May he rest in peace.

ETA: Larry King just made an excellent point: by next week so many people are going to make the tabloids explode with their horror stories and "newly revealed" scandals about Michael Jackson. For the brief time that we have between now and then, it's best to remember him for the good things that he did - he was an undeniable talent and gave so much to the world of music.

Wishing a very Happy Birthday to hurry_sundown!!

I hope you have a wonderful day, dear! :)

Firstly, happy Father's Day! I know this applies to very few on my actual flist, but many of you have a significant other who is a great dad, so best wishes to you too!

My father and I ran a 5-mile Father's Day race this morning. It was a nice course - though he was pushing the pace a little! Still, it was great to finish the entire thing with my dad.

We begin our official marathon training tomorrow, too, since I'm now out of school and can run every day. Dad got the wonderful idea to start off with "The Wall." (Yes, it's a hill - however, calling it "The Wall" is a little more appropriate.)

Fun times! :)

"Oh, Daniel-san, you first time beginner luck."

I still have two days of in-servicing to get through, but the students, they are done!

Summer, how I waited for you!!!!

Sometimes I think I won't warm to the students in my current school the way I did in my old one. The sheer size of all the classes takes some of the personal touches and intimacy away. But sometimes I think they are every bit as sweet as my former students.

As we were preparing for final exams, I chatted with the kids about random things. I told one group in passing that I was disappointed to not be going to the New Kids on the Block concert two nights ago. (NKOTB had been my first concert *ever* and I had really been looking forward to being among those screaming, fangirling 30-something women who still remember their crushes on Joey McIntyre and Jordan Knight from twenty years ago.) Sadly, it coincided with my cousin's high school graduation, which I needed to attend.

One of my students, who was going to the concert, came in the next day with a wrapped gift for me. The little sweetie had bought me a t-shirt at the show! (Apparently she had collaborated with another girl, and both were very adorable and excited to see my reaction.)

Sometimes, the students drive me crazy, but other times I love my kids a lot.


In another (though related) story, the guy I've recently been seeing was also at the concert. (He was working though - he was reviewing it for the newspaper.) I find it interesting, however, that instead of me ditching the guy I'm dating to spend an evening with my first crushes, the guy I'm dating ditches me . . . to spend and evening with my first crushes.

Weird.

The Stupid. It burns.

California woman sues Quaker Cereal for misleading consumers into thinking that "Cap'n Crunch Crunch Berries" is made with real fruit.

Seriously? A person is willing to admit to being *that* gullible? I mean just look at the box!

As if that wasn't bad enough, the woman claimed to have been misled . . . for four years!! So she had spent years eating the stuff! (Even a person making up a lawsuit hoping for a big payoff has to realize what kind of idiot this claim makes them look like!)

Then, even worse, add in the fact that "Crunch Berries" in general have been on the shelves for over 40 years! Which means, in nearly half a century, no one else has made this mistake.

The woman clearly has bigger problems than what is in her cereal.

Best quote by the judge who threw the case out: "As far as this court has been been made aware, there is no such fruit (as Crunch Berries) growing in the wild or occurring naturally in any part of the world."

*shudders at the stupid*

Wishing a very happy (belated) birthday to spark_force!

I hope you had a wonderful day yesterday, dear! *hugs*

Tomorrow begins the first of two final exams weeks. (Seniors first, then underclassmen next week.) I am *so* done teaching at this point; it's been a very, very long year for some reason. We're still there until the 19th, but like the man says: "In my mind, I'm already gone."

The new season of "Bridezillas" starts tonight, and that's always good for a laugh, so I'm shutting the brain off for the evening.

Had a very fun evening last night hanging out at a Scranton bar with "David Wallace." (Andy Buckley is in town to participate in the first of the Office Tours they're holding here this summer.)

What a down to earth guy!

Oh. My. God.

I just finished watching the Man vs. Wild special with Will Ferrell.

*That* was probably one of the funniest things I've ever seen!

Very, very happy birthday wishes to the lovely hayet!

Hope it's been a wonderful day so far, Zaki! *hugs*

Wishing a very happy birthday to hobbituk!

I hope you've had a wonderful day, dear! :)

Okay, I used to watch Land of the Lost all the time as a kid. So at first it was actually kind of exciting and nostalgic to see it again for probably the first time since then. (There's been an all-day marathon on Sci-Fi to promote the new Will Ferrell movie.)

Seriously, flist. In all my recollections, I simply don't remember there being such poor acting, so many reeeeeally bad special effects, and so much . . . banjo music. (Because nothing says fleeing from sleestaks and sockpuppet dinosaurs more than banjo music!)

And yet, like a train wreck, it's been virtually impossible to look away.

Regardless, I'm still pretty psyched about the new movie.

Apparently the Three Wolf Moon T-Shirt is one of the most popular items on Amazon.com right now.

And no wonder. Look at some of those reviews!

"Within the first hour after donning the Three Wolf Moon Shirt, I was mistaken for Chuck Norris. Nuff said."

Hee!

I actually managed to write a few new pages for this over the weekend! Yay! So to celebrate, here is the end of Chapter 11.

I always really liked parts of this chapter, although there are still some segments I'm not quite as thrilled with. I'm still working through it so please excuse any mistakes, as I'm still un'beta-ed for now.

Enjoy!

Previous installments are here.

( Out of Joint Chapter 11 - Part 3 )