Justice

I just got three tickets to the tony bennett concert tonight for free that normally would have cost me 115 dollars each. It all evens out in the end.

Some things aren't right

So, through this whole ordeal, I have definetly learned that the most difficult virtue is that whole "turn the other cheek" idea. Essentially, that it is really hard to not be angry about everything that happened. I thought that since my initial reaction for the first month wasn't anger at all, that it would be smooth sailing from there. But now, two months later, I find myself forgetting the compassion and sympathy and being more self-pitying and angry.

But now, I'm actually just really annoyed at how the justice system works. I get a call from the District Attorney telling me that I need to bring down "his" documents that I still have - his social security card and his birth certificate - because he wants to move to nevada where he has family, and any large property such as his guitar. Apparantly, his lawyer said that he is willing to do a property exchange.

What the f*** is that all about? This isn't a divorce! This isn't something where I should have to negotiate! The stuff that I have is crap that he left behind because for months he just wouldn't get it out of my place. I didn't commit a felony. He is the one charged with burglary! I dont understand why if he is saying that he has it, and he very openly is saying that he gave the ring to a friend for a 20 dollar loan but he can get it back if he wants to, why there is any sort of trade going on at all. Granted, I dont want his things or his documents, and in fact have been very annoyed that I have had to keep them in my apartment for two months, but it's just stupid to me. I had a thousand dollars of debt on my credit card because of him, and I have to make sure he gets his 300 dollar guitar back?!! So that I can get the ring back that he ADMITTED he stole from me??!!

Im sorry..... I dont mean for my internet audience who normally sees only my softer side to see all this anger, but I have to get it out so that I can be thankful for thanksgiving. It just doesnt make sense. It's like Im being treated like I am equally at fault and we both just need to play nice. Ridiculous. Oh well. A lot more things could have been taken that would have been even more irreplaceable. I heart new york.

Welcome to 1995

Since I moved, and for some reason it takes two-three more weeks to transfer my DSL than it does to transfer my phone (which took like half a business day), I am back to having dial-up only. Its okay though, my computer missed dial up. You know, the computer that I have is still the same one that I bought the first weekend of college. We went to McCall, came back, and that night I left and went to Idaho Falls to buy a computer with my mom there. Same one... 5 years later. All I've changed on it is the ethernet card and added some RAM. Oh, and Ive gone through 4 monitors. But for a Compaq, it has held up surprisingly well.

Lazy Americans

Ok... seriously, America. Already, many of us no longer cook our own meals at least half of the times that we eat. We take elevators instead of one flight of stairs. We drive two blocks to go to the grocery to buy a loaf of bread, instead of walking there because we don't want to carry it home. We shop online, talk online, and for some people, even make love online. (not me though, so don't ask) But, this is too far.

As mentioned on Mike's site, a man has opened a website where one can remotely fire a rifle for target practice. His hope is that he will be able to use the site for online hunting, where people can aim the real gun and shoot real animals all from the safety and comfort of their own cushy computer chair that their fat a** can kill some animal without ever even risking being infected with a little poison ivy or even, God forbid, having an asthma attack! I think this is an atrocious idea.

Underwood, the site owner, has offered as an appeasement a rule that to shoot the gun, the person must be physically on site to shoot at an animal. He says that disabled hunters could then still experience hunting, and an attendant would fetch the animal.

__________________________
His argument:

Berger expressed reservations about remote control hunting, but noted that humans have always adopted new technologies to hunt.

"First it was rocks and clubs, then we sharpened it and put it on a stick. Then there was the bow and arrow, black powder, smokeless power and optics," Berger said. "Maybe this is the next technological step out there."
_______________________________

No, I think the next step is for something that will spoon feed me and brush my teeth for me. Oh wait, they have the electric toothbrush. Still, I think nature needs to remain natural. It is one thing to integrate technology into hunting and guns for safety reasons, but this goes too far. I hope nobody takes this seriously.


For the full article:

cnn.com Remote Hunting

Quote of the Day

This is off of the Vital-T Flavor of VitaminWater.

"Is it just us or was sex in the city just a younger version of the golden girls? think abou tit. four single women, looking for love, gossiping, and group hugging. (just switch the big apple to boca and cosmos to metamucil and it's pretty much the same."

hehehe... as far as I can see, the biggest difference is a lot less nudity (thank god) in the golden girls.

Im a New Yorker!

I did my most thoroughly authentic New York thing today.

I had an audition at ABC with an executive producer!!

That's right... I saw this thing about ABC doing a documentary on dating in New York City, so I sent an email to the producer (Terry Wrong, also known for NYPD 24/7 and Hopkins 24/7). He wrote back and asked me to submit photographs. I Did as he asked, and he said to come by the studios for an interview. I arrived there today and he brought in another man who is on the project, who took out a little digital video camera, spoke to me about the project, and taped my interview. I am supposed to be called back within a week or so if they are interested. They even put my name on my video tape!!

I felt so cool though! I went to the main lobby of ABC and they were like, "Umm.. the TV stuios are next door." And I was like, "No, I am here to meet with Terence Wrong at extension ****." I felt so important!

If you are curious... Here is a snipet of the email that I submitted...

"I read the note about ABC looking for someone to follow around on
their dates. I live in Queens, but I have only been here for about
a year and a half. I moved here from Idaho to be a teacher. Since
I have lived in New York, I have had the worst luck with dating. I
am a very fun, intelligent, silly girl with the charisma, energy,
and open honesty of the west coast that the guys in New York seem to
find irresistable. The only problem is that the men who are REALLY
drawn to me are definetly men I don't want to date.

The longest of my relationships was with a man who was training to
be a pastor at my church. He became mentally unstable after awhile
and, amongst other things, ended up burglarizing my apartment. When
the police came to file the report, one of the officers kept
blatently hitting on me, telling me how beautiful I was and what a
good boyfriend he would be. A month later, the officer came back at
6:30 in the morning to give me his phone number. The detective
assigned to my case started flirting with me, so I giggled a little
and flirted back. One night, he called me at midnight asking to
come over and speak with me. When he arrived, he awkwardly informed
me that he was sorry, but married, and no more could come of the
friendship........."

If chosen, I would go on one-two dates a week with a cameraman accompanying me. They would also video tape me in my home. The main focus is online dating, so I can find my own dates, and choose whether or not to continue dating the person, but it has to be online initially and the person has to consent to being taped.

So, that's a little of what's going on in my life. I think once you've done your first audition, whether you relly ever thought you wanted to be on TV or not, it makes you a New Yorker.

Team America: World Police

I went and saw the movie Team America: World Police. First of all, you have to understand that since this is a Trey Parker and Matt Stone movie (South Park creators), you can expect the movie to be completely non-politically correct, full of curse words, and the occasional raunchy sex scene.

With that said, I really enjoyed the movie. The fact that the movie is done completely with marionnettes is hilarious. I do respect Parker and Stone for always being original in their choice of mediums. The way the puppets are handled adds a lot of humor to a topic which can be quite dreary. As always, the songs are amusing and catchy, though the lyrics should probably not be sung in most social settings.

So, overall, I paid 10.50 to see the movie and I did not regret it. That means its a Jenny 4 Star movie.

I got Gmail!

Yay! Im like an official computer-y person now. My new gmail account is JSurrusco. Yay for me

Veteran's Day

i didn't have to work yesterday. While i was happy to have the day off, I felt a little guilty knowing that I, and most of the people, thought little about the actual Veteran's and more about sleeping in late. A friend said that in the schools outside of Chicago, the children attend school because then the teachers can discuss the meaning of Veteran's Day and respect the holiday more than if students are not in attendance. Some people think that the states who do not dismiss school are unpatriotic. In some areas, there are parades and events, though still only a minority of the population notice their occurrence. So, the question is, which way shows more respect to the people who fight for our freedom: school or day off?

Tito in Africa

I am on the phone with Sean Smith, Tito right now. He is happy in South africa. He is living with a family outside of Mozambique. There is no electricity and no running water. He said that every morning he has to take buckets or a wheel barrow to a well and get water to bathe or wash things. He said a lot of the peace corps people don't even have that. THey are starting their summer there and he said it is already inescapable. THe gigantic cockroaches are everywhere, snakes, etc. He said that there is an actual hippo crossing sign nearby. No internet, but he has a cell phone since there are no land lines. If anyone would like to call him, he loves hearing from people, as Im sure you can imagine. His phone number is 011-27-72-062-1810. The best time to call him is 10 am - 12 pm . I will write more about it later and keep people updated as I hear about him.

Annoying Information

I was doing my paperwork for my loans to recognize that I am in the Americorps. While I was on the website, I was looking at the other deferment options. When I looked at the one for "teaching in a shortage area" it said that I was ineligible. This surprised me, because I had always planned on not repaying my loans until I retired. I called salliemae and they said that the reason is because you can only receive benefits for being a teacher in a shortage area if your loans originated before 1993 and mine started in 1999. Well. It's not an inconvenience to me right now, but it just sort of annoyed me, especially since the older a teacher is, the less likely s/he is to be teaching in a high needs or shortage area school. Older teachers move to the suburbs, so it is really the younger people that are deserving the deferment. Plus, new teachers make less money. Things like this need to be incentives to get new teachers to go to the shortage areas.

My Students' Murals

The mural that I have all the pictures of is done with paint on the underside of a train overpass. It is about ten to fifteen feet tall and maybe 50 feet wide. There is another mural that they did on Steinway in Astoria, between Broadway and 31 Ave. I love being at an arts school!!!!

Part of a mural done by my students at Ditmars Blvd In Queens, underneath the N-W train 

Part of a mural done by my students at Ditmars Blvd In Queens, underneath the N-W train 

Part of a mural done by my students at Ditmars Blvd In Queens, underneath the N-W train 

Part of a mural done by my students at Ditmars Blvd In Queens, underneath the N-W train 

Part of a mural done by my students at Ditmars Blvd In Queens, underneath the N-W train 

My New Apartment with Katie!!! We will be moving on November 20th. We will occupy the first floor of the house, living with a Greek family that has the second and third floors. You can't see our front door because of the sun, but our window is behind the driveway 

Picture of me

Part of my photo shoot with myself after school on Friday.

Unfathomable

This is apalling to me... Really bizarre and scary...

National Guard fighter strafes school

Recovering

Today, as I was walking home, I thought about what I would have for dinner. I saw a sushi place and I thought, "Maybe I will order in Sushi later tonight." But then I got a sore spot in my heart because of memories associated with sushi, and realized that I just couldn't do it. It's funny how months after a traumatic experience you still have associations between things and a person that disable you from being able to enjoy those things again. Until a couple of weeks ago, if I listened to any Christian rock, which is probably my favorite genre of music, I broke into tears. I am finally able to handle that again though. I started playing my guitar again this week. Well, actually it is his guitar, but I played it nonetheless. I cannot make myself use my starbucks water bottles yet though.

Then, I walked past one of the many jewelry shops in my neighborhood and thought about going in and asking if they had a ring that fit the description of mine. Then I realized that they probably do because it is just a simple diamond in a plain white gold band. I would never know if it was mine.
The viola though, I would recognize. Until that moment, I had sort of thought of the viola as having just vanished into thin air. For the first time, I realized that it still exists somewhere. Someone has it somewhere, and that someone just isn't me. It may be at some pawn shop, it may be being played, but it is somewhere probably within 5 miles of me. I just don't have it anymore. That made me much sadder than when I had just thought that it didn't exist anymore.

But I am still not angry. I haven't been angry through any of this. Its been going on for months now. Everything took the nose dive almost 3 months ago, but the chaos has been more like 5 or 6 months. Everything is good now though. I have great friends, near and far, a wonderful job, and I feel safe going outside again. I don't feel like I was victimized though. I feel like someone that I cared about passed away. Basically, that IS what happened, only he is still alive somewhere. I find it hard not to call his work, just to see if he still works there, or to call his cell phone, just to see if he still has it. Sometimes I want to call his mom, to ask how he is doing, or his kids to say Im so sorry. When I spoke to the DA, I wanted to ask how he is, or if she thinks he is doing all right, but I stop myself. It's time to recover.

teacher links

I do this half for the benefit of others and half so that I can remember the links when I am at home....

environmental math site...
earthmath

My New Hobby

Either I'm idaho-sick or just a total nerd but my new hobby is to go onto Ebay and search for things with the word Idaho in them. I find a lot of interesting (okay, not really even) but unusual things. And yet I say I have no time. Actually, to defend that, the reason I have time to do these silly things is because my work schedule is one period on, one off, one on, etc. all day long so I never have enough time to actually get anything done during my free periods, but instead have 5 or ten minutes here and there.

Halloween

First of all, I saw 5 different people dressed up as naked men. What this means is that it was a nude colored body suit with man parts attached to the outside of it. I found this mildly amusing when I first saw a girl wearing it. Afterwards though, I saw 4 men each wearing the same type of suit. I thought with the guys that it was stupid.

Interestingly, the children in New York City trick or treat from about noon until 3 pm. Also, a lot of their trick or treating is to businesses, instead of homes. The reason for teh time is obviously a safety issue, and the businesses is because they can't get to people's homes since they live in locked buildings. It was an interesting difference. I think the day time trick or treating is probably better all around. Gives time for the kids to crash from the sugar high before they come back to school.