Pre-Birthday Randomness

Random observations from my life:

-I seem to be physically incapable of spreading a bagel with cream cheese WITHOUT taking a bite somewhere mid-process.

-Women here use a whiny voice whenever they ask you for something in Spanish. Given my late mother's extreme disappreciation for whining of any sort, this annoys me.

-I just noticed last week that the telephone lines that run in front of my house are out of control. There are about 12 billion of them, all strung together without any sort of apparent rhyme, reason, or thought for safety.

-I wonder if there's a world-wide contest for The Most Terrible Sidewalks. If there is, I'm pretty sure Quito has it in the bag.

-I love it when my family and I exchange email comments like this:
(from someone in Ohio) "Today it got SO WARM! It was like spring. 37 degrees!"
(from me) "I 'bout froze my sweet bippy off today- it was freezing- only got up to 58!"

-Last week I got a rose from a (female...don't get excited) friend and it's still in perfect condition in its water-bottle vase in my classroom. This in spite of the fact that most of those roses wilted the same day. Maybe the hormones that fly around my classroom are preserving it?

-I noticed last week that the Kitchen Aide mixer that I bought off someone here when I arrived has a "Hobart Corporation; Troy, OHIO" stamp on it. That's where my dad used to work.

-Some of my kids seem to like me better in direct proportion to how much I reprimand them. Others are quite the opposite.

-Sitting through a middle school girls "Appropriate Touch" lecture ranks in my top ten least comfortable moments thus far. Right up there with the time two Russian guys (in various stages of drunkenness) I'd just met stripped down to their "pajamas" (aka, boxers) in front of me that time we got to share the 2 twin beds in the only bedroom in the house...as the honored guests, of course, we got the bedroom.

-Tomorrow's my birthday and I shall be 29. As a result TGIFriday's at the mall is going to give me a free dinner. This is good.

-Even though I know I should be offended at the guys on the street to whistle or cat-call when I walk by, I'm not. I can't help it. It makes me smile inside.

-Recently I began using a dry-erase marker to write the scripture verses I'm learning on the tiles on my bathroom wall. Writing on the wall makes me feel a little giddy, like I'm doing something a little bit wrong.

-I live on a volcano. Isn't that weird?

-Today I found out that the kid that I tutor in English is a genius at math.

-It's only 8:49 but I'm going to go shower and read Fellowship of the Ring until bedtime. I leave for work at 7:30 each morning, but it doesn't seem that early anymore. It does, however, make bedtime seem early.