Inauguration Station

Prior to the election, my dear husband had mentioned that, should Obama get elected, he would want to go to DC for the inauguration. Why not? It is only about an hour's drive from our house. I briefly considered the idea and then remembered a few things:

1) DC in January is cold
2) I don't like cold
3) There would probably be quite a few people there
4) I don't like a few people, let alone a LOT of people

So I told Mike that if he wanted to be a crazy person, he could do it solo. I would watch the inauguration in the cozy warmth of the inside.

As time went by (and Obama actually got elected), Michael came to his senses and decided he was going to stay home too. I was originally supposed to work on Tuesday, but quit my old job. I was supposed to work on Tuesday for my new job, but my lovely school board granted us the day off. So I found myself with some time to kill Tuesday morning prior to the swearing in and decided to go the gym.

Maybe it was the physical exertion, the extreme difference between the cold outside and the warmth inside or just plain craziness but, it seemed to me, as I was sweating away on the elliptical and lifting weights for an hour and a half, that there was an unusual uncanniness between the music playing on my Shuffle and the inauguration festivities taking place. For example:

Song: "Beautiful People" by Marilyn Manson
Image: The Bush "dynasty" entering their cars.
Analysis/Relevant lines"The beautiful people, the beautiful people,
It's all relative to the size of your steeple,
You can't see the forest, for the trees"
Plus, I get so angry when I dwell on the past eight years, I might as well dye my hair black and call myself Marilyn Manson

Song: "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" by Green Day
Image: Bush (and Obama) driving down Penn Ave.
Anaylsis: Need I say more?

Song: "Numb"/"Encore" by Jay-Z/Linkin Park
Image: Obama
Analysis/Relevant lines: "Don't know what you're expecting of me...put under the pressure of walking in your shoes"

Song: "Steady as She Goes" by the Raconteurs
Image: Hillary Clinton
Analysis: 'Nuff said

Song: "Take on Me" by Aha
Image: Jimmy Carter (is he prancing?!?) down the red carpet.
Analysis: Actually, this one's just weird. Sorry. But man, he's spry.

Song: "Getting Away With It (All Messed Up)" by James
Image: Bush family again
Analysis: Pretty self-explanatory I think

Song: "Mr. Brightside" by The Killers
Image: Joe Biden
Analysis: I actually don't know what this song is really about, but it did seem fitting-does that man EVER stop smiling?

Song: "Superman" by Laslo Bane
Image: Michelle Obama and children
Analysis/Relevant lines: "I can't do this all on my own...I'm no Superman." All I can say is damn right. I think my work schedule is tough on my daughter-bless that woman for trying to keep things normal for her children.

Song: "Sunny Side of the Street" by The Pogues
Image: Obama
Analysis: Seriously-it just started playing when they flashed his face on the screen. Not making it up.

Song: "I Can't Get You Out of My Head" by Kylie Minogue
Image: Rick Warren
Analysis: Not sure there is any relevancy? Another perplexing one....

and finally I turned off the Shuffle. For one, the great Aretha Franklin came on and I knew she would be the only commentary/song analysis I would need. Second, I had to finish up on that cursed ellipitical so I could hurry home and watch the swearing in of Barack Obama, our 44th President, with my family.

And finally, there was one last song to cap the day. It consisted of Tilda singing, at the top of her lungs:

We gotta a new President!
His name's Bok Obama (sorry, she can't pronounce it yet-give her time)
We gotta a new President!

Rinse and repeat a coupla hundred times (as usual). But my, on this occasion? What a beautiful chorus it was...

Car Talk with 'Tilda & Jamee

A change of jobs means I am spending a lot more time with Tilda in the car. 

Call me a horrible mom, but this is NOT a good thing. 

For one, she asks a question every 20 seconds. Which would be somewhat tolerable if each and every  question didn't start out with:

"Mommy? Mommy! MOMMY?!?!"

If you don't respond within a split second, this refrain repeats itself until you do respond. Which would be slightly tolerable if the questions were not repeats of the questions you had answered just moments before. As in:

"Mommy? Mommy! MOMMY?!?!"

"Yes, Tilda?"

"Who drew this?" She holds up a printout that she had colored in only hours before. 

"Tilda drew that."

"Oh!"

20 seconds later...

"Mommy? Mommy! MOMMY?!?!"

"Yes, Tilda?"

"Who drew this?" She holds up a printout that she had colored in only hours before. 

"Tilda drew that."

"Oh!"

Rinse, wash, repeat.

I have tried to not answer her, but the cries of "Mommy!" only get louder, more obnoxious and increase in frequency. And I do feel a small twinge of guilt. I have also tried to play dumb: 

"Mommy? Mommy! MOMMY?!?!"

"Yes, Tilda?"

"Who drew this?" She holds up a printout that she had colored in only hours before. 

"Oh, I don't know." (This is, mind you, the 6th installment in the epic masterpiece that is this brilliant conversation.)

"Tilda drew it!"

All three of the above conversations tend to take place in the whole of three minutes. And then it repeats on a loop. 

I escape from this 9th dimension of hell only after I drop her off at school. Then I go to my school. Where I hear "Oh, miss!" on an endless loop. Then I go to Tilda's daycare to pick her up and drive her home. By this point, she has a new artistic wonder for me to marvel at and wonder "who drew it?"

Argh.

So 3 months is bad, right?

I guess it's been over 3 months since I last posted. Strangely enough, both nothing and a ton o' things have happened since my last post.

Tilda is talking up a storm and is at the stage where she repeats everything that she hears. Which means that Mike and I (but mainly me) have had to severely curb our "language" around her. Which means that life, overall, has been less fun.

It also means that Michael, who often latches onto an annoying phrase or saying from whatever form of media has currently captured his attention and repeats it until I develop the desire to clutch his throat until his face turns purple, has been teaching Tilda all sorts of things she should probably not be repeating. Like "Why...So... Serious?" Currently, her catchphrase is "EXTERMINATE!" It makes me less than happy.

T-day was great, as usual. I picked up knitting again and am currently working on armwarmers, a purse and a magnificent creation known as Scarfhat which I am convinced that, once finished, will solve all of my problems and possibly world peace. But mainly it will keep my neck warm since I got my hair cut supashort. (How short, you ask? My brother-in-law called it lesbian-esque. In case you were wondering.)

My birthday was very nice-with one exception. My sister gave me a purplish bowling ball, which I have since named Jesus. Michael gave me a t-shirt which I love. My parents took me out for a nice dinner, drinks and it snowed. The exception? My parents also gave me a gorgeous necklace made out of 2000-year old Roman glass. Which I promptly lost. I tore apart the house looking for it, but have not found it to this day. (I think I may have thrown it away.) Being the history major I am, who loves Ancient Greek & Roman history more than anything era, the idea of throwing away ancient Roman glass is killing me.

Christmas with the in-laws was very pleasant. Tilda got to be a flower girl in a wedding. She thew the petals on the aisle and apparently promptly began to clean them up. Sigh.

But I guess the most riveting development is that I quit my job, which was making me quite unhappy. Now I know that quitting a job in the middle of a bad economy was not the smartest thing I could have done. But 1) I was very unhappy (despite being well-paid and being able to work from home in my jammies 3 days a week). 2) I got another job teaching ESL at a local high school.

This past week was my first week and it was exhausting. I have no idea what my students have been learning since they have had a slew of substitutes and I am coming in mid-year. Most of them speak Spanish and snicker when I try to speak Spanish to them. On the second day, one of them taped my butt. Some of them are big and intimidating and quite a few of them are rumored to be in gangs. A small part of me is kinda dreading returning tomorrow. But I understand this is quite common. In fact, on my second day of school, I collapsed into our teacher workroom to get some planning done and ended up staring at a blank screen for 20 minutes, my brain refusing to function. Another teacher walked in the room, took one look at me and said, "Yeah-I wanted to quit my first year too."

All teachers understand.

But overall...I am happier. My only regret is not being able to work at home in my jammies. But I was SO bored. And now I feel like my brain is working again and I face new "challenges" every day. ("Challenges" translates to "students.") We are all still adjusting to our new schedules and I am sure it will get easier. And eventually, the summer will come and it will be me, Tilda, the pool and a couple of cases of Abita Strawberry Lager. Ah, bliss.

For now, I am trying to improve my Spanish, keep my head above water and am constantly checking weather.com for potential snow days. Now excuse me while I go turn my jammies inside out.