Quote I am digging right now

Beginning today, treat everyone you meet as if they were going to be dead by midnight. Extend them all the care, kindness and understanding you can muster. Your life will never be the same again.

~ Og Mandino

You can tell I need a vacation

Today at lunch in the teachers' lounge some of the teachers were poking fun at a student who they just found out has a girlfriend.  "I guess there is someone for everyone," one of the teachers said.

It took all my energy and food being in my mouth to not say something along the lines of "You should have known that since all of you are married and you are mostly jackasses, assholes, jerks, and people I can't imagine being with a woman in a relationship.  So yeah, there is someone for everyone."  I had to leave the room after I finished chewing that bite because I couldn't stand to listen to them go off about kids, teachers, and life in general and I also didn't have the patience to put together a way to go off on them in a way that would have them shut up real quick and rethink before they speak bad about stupid shit.

The guy across the hall usually plays music between classes.  For a time it was Miley Cyrus "Party in the USA".  For about a month now, it has been holiday music.  I can't stand doing hall duty between classes because of the music.  I don't go to stores after Thanksgiving (though now they are playing it before even that holiday) because I may have to suffer through that music.  Now I have to suffer through it for 6 minutes after each class.

And he plays it loud.  Real loud.

Very glad for short days the rest of this week and next week.  Super glad there are only 3 times during the next few days that he will be playing that music since there are only two classes each day until the break.

Looking for life directions

Since Thanksgiving day I have been thinking of what I would feel like on this day.  It is the anniversary of when my uncle came off life support and passed away last year.  Yesterday I kept hearing his laugh in my head.  I also think about how not much has changed in my life in the past year. 

Today I am trying to figure out what I have done with my life.  I am at a point where I am really trying to figure out what I really want, where I really want to go, and what I want to do in order to make those wants come to be reality.

For some reason, coming up with some specific wants and desires is kind of hard for me.  I can make some generalities about what I want -- happiness, a good pair of pants that fit in the ass as well as the waist band, a good family of my own, to live in a safe place, to live in a city where I can walk to and from various places for necessities and fun stuff, the list goes on -- but for some reason I am quite general about where those things will happen and how they will come to be.

I don't usually make new year's resolutions, but I feel like this one is necessary.  I need to figure out what I really want and how I am going to make those things happen. 

My birthday is this Saturday and by the next birthday, I want to be on the road to achieving my goals.

Wordless Wednesday: Be careful on Facebook

Today's edition is hilarious... Facebook Snafus on Huffington Post.  Thanks to Kid Sis #2 for the comedy.

Here is just one of the funny examples on the page.

I'm so excited and I just can't hide it

No, this is not a tribute to Jessie Spano of Saved By The Bell.

I love to sleep.  Most nights I don't get enough sleep.  I usually stay up later than I need to doing things that I don't really need to be doing or watching movies like The Shawshank Redemption, which I have seen numerous times, but love and can watch many more times.

Last night I went to bed around midnight.  Woke up today around 5:20 - the usual time.

I left at my usual time to head for work - around 6:15.

The interstate (Highway 40 to locals) officially opened this morning.  It took me 22 minutes to get to work.

That is about 15 minutes less than usual.  Which means, I can now sleep about 15 minutes more in the mornings.  I was so excited driving out here that I didn't even get to enjoy the new route.  The singing, shouting for joy, and rush of it all (plus the fact that it was still pitch black) all made it hard to take in the scenery.

Maybe on the way home.

Off to start my day full of children, the Russian Revolution, and the Enlightenment.

No reason for AIDS to be spreading as it is

Another day for the world to briefly think about the disease that is ever increasing its scope in the world despite the fact that it is highly preventable.  World AIDS Day 2009.  It is sad that so many people continue to spread this disease; it is sad that so many in young age brackets are transmitting this disease without realizing what they are doing.  It is sad that many schools and parents do not feel it necessary to teach young people about safe sex practices, and then when they go ahead and have sex or perform oral sex or have anal sex (which are not considered sex in many minds) despite their promises not to or the special rings on their fingers, they are not in the know of the simple latex protection they can use to help prevent AIDS and many other STDs.

Some statistics for you...

Right now there are :

• 33.4 million people living with HIV worldwide
• 31.3 million adults
• 15.7 million women
• 2.1 million children under 15

In 2008 alone -- new HIV cases:

• 2.7 million people
• 2.3 million adults
• 430,000 children under 15

In 2007 there were 2 million total HIV-related deaths.

You can get some ideas about what you can do (besides just wrapping it up and getting you and your partners tested) on this World AIDS Day site.  Respect and Protect.  I remember a line from Michael Franti's Spearhead: I know these things and these things I must know 'cause it's better to know than to not know!

If you are in the Saint Louis, Missouri area, you can learn more about the St. Louis Effort for AIDS.