In other news...

Ballet politics are the same. Childish and annoying.

Nutcracker is in performance now. So that means a lot of schlepping over to UNLV for performances. D is adorable in her silver princess gown, but keeping her hair curled is a booger! Also, she got about half the rehearsal time as the other girls because she is the ONLY one NOT in A or B casts and RH-N never bothered with her--but she seems to be doing pretty well for learning by watching. Petty beotches think they were clever, but OOPSIES! D has proven once again that she is more than up to the task despite them.

D wrote her contest essay for the NBT (I'll post it later). The prize is a month's paid tuition, some academy store credit, a small check and tickets to the Black and White ball next month. But I am sure she won't win... I don't spend enough money there to buy her a victory like the likely winner's parents do. In fact, most of us have private bets as to who will "win" and we all have the usual suspects names in the hat. Besides, her essay was not all full of BS about lightness and ethereal thoughts and kissing ass vicariously. It was an honest assessment of how she feels when she dances even when she is treated like crap, so you know that went over really well.

This year, her last performance is Christmas Eve, so most of Winter Break will be resting time for her--except for catching up on homework and finishing a book report. School is a nightmare for D because she cannot keep track of her papers and she ends up getting in trouble for not turning in her work--even though she does it. She is the only person I know who can lose an assignment in the five feet between her desk and the teacher's. At least, after the quarter ends, she will be put in another math class so that she might get better attention (her current math teacher has decided D will be her scapegoat this year and has made life hell for D).

Oh, yeah--I found out today that D's "grandmother" died in the Spring without ever meeting the grandchild she wanted from J. Despite his lies over the years that she never wanted to see D, the awful truth (as I heard it) is that he never told her D even existed. So two people were cheated out of some extra joy. I also hear that J and F are divorcing now. Eventually, I will get to hear why, but I have my suspicions.

Finally, I hope made S very happy because I found the perfect Christmas present for him. After this last month, he needed something cool and I think this was the schitz! Enjoy, my friend!

Clicking like mad! The great Hannah Montana ticket battle!

Well, Hannah Montana fever hit Vegas this week with the announcement of Miley Cyrus' shows at the MGM. The tickets went on sale at precisely 12 PM local and Ticketmaster was overwhelmed by 12:01. I had someone on another computer, also clicking furiously in an effort to score the golden tickets as an early birthday present for D. I kept getting bumped, the other person's had tickets but then the system released them just as the CC was being processed... Then the two shows came up as sold out. WAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

But then... Just as one sad little Diva was about to cry, a third show was posted. Clicking again madly, we scored decent seats on the floor. YES!!!! Just for S & G, we tried to get another set of tickets for speculation and found that even that show was gone in less than five minutes.

So now, for at least a few minutes, D has bragging rights like crazy. That is, until I sell them because she still doesn't want to do her homework. Yeah, I'm mean like that.

Oh, yeah! Someplace in all of this...

I GOT TO GO TO HAWAI'I FOR UNION TRAINING!!!

It was only for a few days, but it was HAWAI'I!!!

It was good training and I have a lot of good information for our local to use. I didn't get a lot of down time, but I made the time to go to the beach and watch the sunset. It was raining in the distance, but even that was picturesque.


Yes, there were hula boys with muscles and tattoos in all their island goodness!

Of course, the assmunches at the place where I work had the overwhelming need to call me constantly for piddly stuff. And, of course, I put in for overtime. Ruin my last day in Hawai'i, will they?

Just about to contact the ACLU

Today was another rehearsal for "Nutcracker". The kids had to be there at 9:00. Party scene didn't even get to start rehearsing until almost 11:00 and RH-N didn't let D rehearse--AGAIN!!! D is the only one who is not in A or B cast, so she didn't even get a single run-through. Since RH-N ran most of the main dances over and over, there should have been a chance for D to rehearse each dance at least once. The part of Russian Princess #2 is being filled by three girls--D and two others. One is in A cast and one is in B. D is in C & D. So she was the ONLY party scene girl who didn't get to rehearse.

I asked RH-N why not. She hemmed and hawed about why, but you know--she just whined about time and how she had to do what she could. I basically told her (and JK later) that people don't know who is in what cast and they are paying the same amount for tickets no matter what. She just rolled her eyes and stomped off. JK wanted to go back to the day D left class to throw up after he made the girls do 50 reps of crunches followed by 50 reps of sit-ups and leg lifts. I asked him what that had to do with rehearsing for a show that opens in two weeks and of course he had no answer either. I told him the same thing I told RH-N: they want to complain when D messes up, but then they don't let her rehearse, so of course she isn't as prepared, therefore she messes up and then they bitch again. I also repeated the thing about the ticket-holders paying the same price no matter who is dancing. I know it will get back to VS-K because he cannot help but tell his missus.

My kid isn't there as a "Future Dancer" charity case or on scholarship. I pay the same freakin' tuition as every other parent does for their child and I expect that she get the same treatment. I am not in the mood to hear all the ephemeral crap about "art" and "grace" and "the soul of a dancer" as an excuse for discriminating against my child. And that is what I am seeing--they know D has neurological issues and therefore not "perfect" enough to be in what is fast becoming an exclusionary environment.

Why do I keep her there? Because they were supposed to let the girls start pointe in August...! Now, JK keeps putting the girls off and they haven't done anything with pointe since observation week (and that was only for the parents' benefit). I am seriously considering other dance studios--mainly Fern Adair, but it is too late for this year. If she does switch, Adair's girls get to dance with the Moscow Ballet when they do The Nutcracker (in Henderson every November). I also understand that they aren't as assholish about their students actually having lives outside of dance.

Besides, D is of the mood to prove them wrong. She even wants to write an essay for their silly contest about why she loves dance. I might just help write that one. Let's just say that I could open some eyes with it. Unfortunately, I expect that the silly beotch will "accidentally" lose D's entry. I am still trying to figure out why the receptionist was proofreading entries. Makes me wonder who ghostwrote the pre-selected winner (one of the usual suspects, no doubt).

Another fun day at the NBT

D had to miss rehearsal last week because she had an audition in LA (unfortunately, she didn't get the part). So this week, instead of catching her up to speed, the "beotch" in charge of the party scene made her sit out the whole damned rehearsal and watch. This woman (RH-N) is the same one who was teaching D's class last year and managed to be absent for so long that the girls missed out on starting pointe when they were supposed to. She also left them less than prepared for the transition to the crazy plans VS-K has in mind for the NBT. But it is supposedly all D's fault because she isn't "prepared". In the meantime, how in Hades is D supposed to learn if she is sitting in a corner and not allowed to participate? Doesn't that sound like they are TRYING to keep her from learning so they could put her out? How stupid is that?

I complained to the principal and her reaction was that little 10 and 11 y/o girls are responsible for learning their own choreography. Basically I was told that if D doesn't get another 11 y/o to teach her what she missed, she cannot be in the production. BULLSHIT!!!!

I am sorry, but we are talking about children here. They are not going to the Kirov School and to assume they are is really stupid.

The woman is there because she and her husband are best friends with the Artistic Direct on the professional company side. There was NO "international search" or even an attempt to advertise (and I looked, believe you me). BS just waited till VS-K's contract was over at her previous position. Then he sprang her on everyone like she was the result of painstaking screening and all that jazz.

I don't think they want the lawsuit I am about to spring on them if D is not allowed to dance. It has nothing to do with her not knowing the choreography (she does), but because RH-N doesn't like D and has decided to use this occasion to hurt her. Isn't it nice that they waited till they got a shitload of money out of me to "discover" AFTERWARDS that D shouldn't have been in their first-year Youth Company?

You know, I may call and request an appointment with Nancy. It's her baby-let her hear how it is being abused in the name of "art".

Oh, and on the stuck-up Japanese front--D told me this afternoon that one of the girls in her class was talking to her when H walked by and shot the girl a dirty look. The girl said "Sorry, H" and left D to go join her. H did the same thing the other day in front of me when A.T. was chatting with D. In fact, she pulled A. away and whispered loud enough for me to hear that she wasn't supposed to talk to D if she wanted to stay friends. AND I have on film where H and her little friend R are playing around during class when D is not. So much for the "H is a good girl. She doesn't play around in class. She concentrates every minute." Poor little victim Y-mommy is still playing that "D is evil and H is perfect" crapola. Sheesh! I wonder if I should post the video for Y to see and make sure that H loses her alleged private lessons with Ms. E.

You would think with the alimony and child support she is allegedly sucking out of her poor ex, she would buy a clue. But then I hear the money is not as good as she claims... If it were, Y would have sped out to buy both her girls a video Nano because D has a regular Nano. That is how she is. Interesting to note that H is wearing some of mummy's clothing and that little sister is now wearing Target instead of Nordstrom and Macy's. The place is better than Wisteria Lane when you want to get the dirt on some of those sad women there. I think the women who actually work and have lives are better off and more stable, that's for sure.

The war goes on

Y is still playing out what a sad victim she is of the mean old trailer trash mommy who mad her feel inadequate. She has her little court of brittle Wisteria Lane clones who hang onto her every word as if they were gold. But you know what? Some of the cracks are showing. Y is not that special and a lot of people are starting to see that. Her divorce made her some enemies and I know of at least one secret about her and her "perfect" life as a single parent that would destroy her oh-so-perfect reputation.

Stoic little performance artist that she is, she forgets that not all people are fond of Kabuki theater. The grey hairs are showing and the designer clothing is wearing thin. I notice the kids are dressed in Target more than Macy's now and the trips to Starbuck's are less frequent. Wonder how long before she starts dipping into the girls' trust funds?

Class Wars, continued

Well, the "rich" bitch who continually makes a big deal about everything being so cheap is a hypocrite and a liar as well.

I tried to talk to her about her older daughter (and her best friend) doing things to get my daughter in trouble in class. She turned it into a tirade about how perfect her little angel is and how bad my child is. She turned every point into an indictment of my child's behavior. You know, I never thought that my child was beyond reproach, but DAYUM!!! H is a spoiled brat who allegedly is going to come into a trust fund when she is older and Y brags all the time about how her girls will never have to work.

Basically, the issue is that H and her friend R whisper and play around when Mr. K's back is turned, then point to D when he turns around so guess who gets in trouble? I will be the first to admit D does her share of playing, but she is NOT the only one. Mr. K told Y that H is not "misbehaving" and that is all Y heard. She missed the part about all the girls having to be called down at one point or another. I asked Mr. K to separate the girls as best he could within the limits of what he has planned for the class as a whole because I am tired of D crying at the end of every class because the damned little "princesses" are making her life hell.

Y told me these wild stories about how D was always hitting H on the shoulder in class and how she supposedly put her foot up on C's shoulder and wouldn't take it down. Amazing that the TEACHER never said a word about either incident and you would think he would notice someone's leg propped on the shoulder of another student. Then she told me that she heard D during the Spring Concert last June (behind a curtain and in the middle of a 120-decibel madhouse) clearly say that "Ballet stinks. Why are you doing this 'shit'?"

So why not mention it then? Or sometime during the dozens of other conversations since then? She wanted to make it out that I was bringing D up wrong or that I didn't have people to talk to and so was making things up to stir the poop.

To add the pee topping to the poop cake, she dragged all the girls from the class together and put them on the spot about H making it clear that if those girls were nice to D, she wouldn't be friends with any of them. Of course they all told Y what she wanted to hear because I don't believe any of them wanted to be in the middle. The ones that looked like they wanted to say something different were effectively shut up by Y gloating over all the room that she was "right". Poor D wanted to confront them about how mean they have been, but then Y started yelling at me and all of the girls scattered as quickly as they could. D ran into the bathroom crying. I chewed out Y for not letting D ask H to her face why she was so mean to her. Y got all stupid and told me I was never to talk to her again and got all ridiculous about how I was nuts.

I caught up with Mr. K and asked him why he lied to Y. He told me what he told her and obviously she didn't hear anything past the first sentence. As I said above, he allowed that ALL the girls get called down. He also told me that they did discuss D's issues before letting her into the Youth Company (yes, she made it in) but that they also saw something in her that made it clear she had what it took to succeed (with some molding).

I let him know that there was a whispering that H and R (and I think their mothers) think getting D in trouble would get her kicked out and R in. You see, R sucked at the audition and didn't make it into the Youth Company. You should have seen the scene her mom made, crying all over the place and checking the list over and over to see if she missed R's name. She was also pointing to some names and moaning that R should have made it over this or that girl. Mostly, she pointed and bitched in the general vicinity of where D's name was on the list.

Y seems to think that her girls have minds of their own and would never hatch such a scheme, but I know better. Girls at this age want to impress their parents and can pick up on the hints EVEN IF NOTHING IS EVER OPENLY SAID. If H and R think they would make their moms happy by picking on D and making her out to be the bad guy, they would pick at D 24/7/365. AND they would get their friends in on the game! That is what girls do.

I am so ready to out Y for the hypocritical little bitch she is. She is trying to keep it secret that she is divorced because Japanese women lose face when they lose their husbands. Gee, I wonder why she lost hers. I suspect she is living off her parents as they have money to burn (or so she intimated in the past--back to the trust fund story...). I do know one thing about her situation, but I promised not to say anything as it is someone else's secret to tell. Let's just say, she isn't that far up the scale from me and has a helluva a lot of nerve telling me how common and low she thinks I am.

So now it is open warfare. I am sure she has been on the phone and on the computer all afternoon telling R's mom and whoever else thinks she still is "hot stuff" what a bitch I am. It's all crap and now D is determined to prove them wrong with ballet and with her acting. I will laugh my ass off when D makes it big and those same little brats and their moms start kissing up to her. She has my permission to act like Julie Smith (aka Julianne Moore) and say mean things about the Academy and her classmates if she ever gets on talk shows. I know--it isn't mature, but if it makes D feel better and gives her motivation, I have to make this one allowance.

There CAN be nice days

D and I went to Six Flags Magic Mountain yesterday and had a nice LONG day together without arguments, fighting or D running off when she is confused.

I even got her to go up to the top of the Sky Tower and into the Log Jammer ride, although both had heights that worried her. She is very proud of the fact she faced her fears and did some fun things as a result.

Class warfare in the halls of dance

As I have indicated before, D takes classes at the local professional dance company (there's only one, so you look it up). She has been going there for five+ years (along with the three years at Gretchen's before that) and has progressed through the levels as required. Well, this year it may be different because of the new principal at the Academy.

The new principal is a graduate of the Kirov Academy in Washington, D.C. and wants to turn the local dance academy at "The Money" (aka Summerlin) into a Kirov clone. She has already changed the class structures, fired all the company dancers who were teaching classes (there are now LESS teachers than before) and requires a mandatory training program for the students as if they ALL planned to join a dance company when they grow up. If they do not indicate that desire, the students are relegated to a general ballet "training track" where the instruction is not as good and the girls are not pushed to the limits of their skills (some look downright sloppy when you see them perform; their training is treated as "casual" because they are supposedly there "just for fun"). So what if they all do not go into some professional company for $200/week (what they pay locally) in the Corps du Ballet? They are learning skills, healthy habits and grace that will serve them well their entire lives.

All this restructuring is bad enough, but the final straw is going to be the Youth Companies. The big event every year is "The Nutcracker" performances and the students look forward to their chance to dance with the company. In years past, all students were allowed to audition for the show and it was pretty fair all around. THIS year, this is not going to happen.

The new plan is to make all the students who want to dance in "The Nutcracker" audition for a Senior or Junior Youth Company from which the cast will be chosen. The kicker is that the students are then required to commit to one of those companies for the entire year! They will be required to give up every single Saturday from September to June, dance in every performance showcase the adult company requests and are not going to be allowed to miss more than three days total, even for school or family functions! Our children will be worked like galley slaves for the year and we have to pay even more fees!!!

For the Company commitment, the parents are going to have to PAY either $250 (junior) or $300 (senior) upfront for the dubious privilege of allowing their children to be exploited by the company. The only kids who *may* not have to pay are those in the "Future Dancers" program (free ballet for girls from "at risk" schools). Their will be covered by grants, gifts-in-kind and tax money. "The Money" is talking about how reasonable the cost is like it was just another pair of shoes or a trip to the Strip. OK, nice for them...

The problem is that those kids who are NOT in Future Dancers or do NOT have parents who pay more in taxes than I make in a year before taxes are being winnowed out. Ever since the dance company moved from the more egalitarian location on Flamingo to "The Money", the trend has tended to be toward catering to "The Money" and telling the rest of us to fuck off. The scaled tuition based on number of classes a week has changed to a set fee based on class level. There are so many extra expenses because now the principal is requiring specific brands for shoes, leotards, etc. and of course, they are only locally available at the Academy Boutique (with, to be sure, the appropriate "profit" markup for the house). Oh, and with the extra required classes, we are going to get hit for a minimum of four costume fees at $80/costume right at Christmastime.

Then there is the process they introduced to exclude girls from scholarship consideration if they aren't popular or have connections. The auditions used to be open to ALL students and are now "invitation/approval only". That means that a lot of girls with talent were not and will never be considered because the teachers now have to recommend them for the auditions--"pets", anyone? Scholarships are now pretty much given to those girls invited to audition, even when they ALREADY GET FREE TUITION via Future Dancers!!!

In my daughter's class, only two girls were recommended and one of them was NOT even close to the best in the class. The one we all thought should have gotten a scholarship was not even considered. The teacher's excuse? She was "rushed and couldn't come up with a proper list". WTF? She's been teaching the class all year and she didn't have a clue?!? Many of us stood there in disbelief when we saw girls whose tuition was already covered (Future Dancers) or whose parents could well afford paying for 15 or 20 classes a week without breaking a sweat being given EVEN MORE breaks. My daughter actually spoke up about it after the recommended two did indeed get scholarships because even an 11 y/o knows a screwover when she sees it.


This is NOT what ballet should be. But here, it has become so political and so kissy-face to "The Money" (the ballet company is even featured in commercials for Summerlin as if that municipality owned them) that it is hard to justify the effort to our kids when they see the same few girls getting all the leads and scholarships and preferential treatment while they see us busting ass until we break under the financial strain.

Of course, when we brought our concerns up to the principal and company head, we were poo-poo'd. The adult company's director seemed shocked that there were children coming there for classes that were NOT from "The Money". The principal was equally shocked that there are working mothers bringing their children there. She has a dream to turn the Academy into an all-day dance school (with a hefty price tag) as "the mothers will be homeschooling". No more evening classes for "those who are not serious about dance". Can you imagine the reaction of the working women in the room? We all went ballistic!

I have talked to other parents in my income bracket and we all seem to have the same opinion of what is going on. For the rich kids, ballet is de rigueur and for the poor kids, it is an entitlement. For the middle-class kids, it is fast becoming out of reach. I'm even considering seeing about getting my kid in Future Dancers so I can afford her extra tuition and all the fees. We all agree that we will keep sending our children there as there is no other professional company in the entire state. But it will mean giving up food and most extras in order to come up with the extra gas money and the fees, along with the time sacrifices because this is for our kids in the long run.

Added on the 23rd: I have enrolled D for the fall. BEFORE pointe and character shoes which I still have to get, the fees to date have been almost $400. The shoes will be another $100 or so. And there is still the pesky $300 YC fee to come up with if necessary. YIKES!!!

Gimpy (aka John) the Professional Panhandler redux

OK.

I have been out here for almost six years and I have seen this guy limping back and forth on the median strip on the corner of N and LVB for all of those six years. He is out there day and night, even in the dust storms, hoping for someone to hand him a buck or two out a barely cracked window. Because of the limp, most people just refer to him as "Gimpy".

But his real name is John. He is NOT homeless, he is not hungry and he has enough money coming in to live comfortably. But John likes meth, I am told by a former friend of his. So he needs to beg to get the money he needs to feed his habit. You can see how the drug is messing him over as he shuffles by the cars waiting for the light to change. I won't give him money, but occasionally I see a "touron" (a word I am borrowing from a friend. It means "tourist moron") pass him something.

I may get stuck at the light and have to watch him shuffle along at least four or five times a week. He has become part of the scenery. But then I have to wonder...

He gets picked up by the cops at least once a month. They keep him in jail for a couple of days and then he is right back on the corner. This kind of ties into my belief that jail time is NOT the solution for the drug addicted. They aren't kept in jail long enough to dry out and get the help they need. How can 48 hours even begin to do any good?

Meanwhile, all you see is the man limping along every day, looking pathetic and hoping to get enough money to feed his habit.

"Fairness" Vs. Expediency

For the past two weeks, I have had time to ponder the use of the word "fairness" when it is obvious that the person using the word actually means they are just taking the quick way out.

This has come about because of an incident that happened to D at her school (a magnet elementary school in LV that prides itself on its "international" affiliations and a politician's wife on hand).

To lay out the background, fifth grade at her school has a sleep-away science camp at the end of the year. The entire year, the kids are psyched up by the school about this event. In fact, it is held over their head as a threat like Damocles' sword. As it is a sleep-away event, the parents had to sign a sheaf of forms that give the school permission to seek medical aid, give medicine, transport the kids in school buses and ALL the papers said it was a school function (including the packing list for the trip, which told the kids they had to pack according to the dress code).

Well, in the two weeks before the trip, my daughter started getting harassed by her teachers. Every perceived "bad look" or "disrespectful" action was turned into a big deal--the incidents were mostly where a teacher or other student accused D wrongly of doing something and she spoke up to defend herself. Apparently that is a bad thing at her school. So is standing on a ball court when calling someone out, it seems.

The Friday before the camp, I had gone to the school to warn the assistant principal that some of the kids were planning to entrap and get D into trouble somehow (the little monsters were planning it the night before IN FRONT OF ME and one of them even mouthed off to me!!!). I was promised that she would be watched and protected by this same AP. Alas! That was not the case at all.

At recess that Friday afternoon, D was invited to be the judge in a game of tetherball. When she called one of the little brats out, the girl ("A") refused to leave. She then told D that "when the ball hits [her], it would be an 'accident'". Then she spiked the freakin' ball into D's face!!! She followed that by a kick to D's leg (a real no-no to me because of D's dancing). D ran to the AP who was supposed to be looking out for her (but was hanging out with another teacher) and told her what happened. The other girl figured out she was going to get in trouble and messed up her own clothing and then accused D of hitting her, too. But she freely admitted that she hit D first, no matter what else resulted. No matter! BOTH girls were banned from the camp without the principal being consulted or the other parent having a chance to come in. Then the AP left a chickenshit voice message apologizing, but still banning both the girls "to be fair". Total BS!

I went to the school first thing Monday AM before her class was due to leave and had a confrontational meeting with the principal (nice lady-NOT!!!). She was pissed because I was making her late for a meeting and she didn't want to discuss it. Then the beotch had the nerve to say that D instigated the fight (not there was any proof there ever was anything but A attacking my kid and then lying) because she "was standing in front of A and didn't move"! WTF is that kind of logic?!?! Then she pulled out a bunch of alleged incident reports that neither D nor I had ever seen before and said that she would have kept D from going for any one of those reports.

As for the reports: one was for D supposedly being disrespectful to her GATE teacher (the one who allegedly keeps adult type magazines in his desk--when reported the response was "Oh, no! Not at our school! We don't have those kinds of teachers here!") when he accused her of doing something she wasn't doing. Another was when her keyboarding partner started messing with the controls and the music teacher told her to stop and D said it wasn't her. Piddly shit, to be sure, and not worth more than a note to me (which I never got). BUT it was already known that just one report would keep a child from going to camp and a lot of teachers used those reports to keep kids they didn't care for from attending. Yeah... Really "fair", huh? She was holding the reports "just in case" she "needed them". Again, WTF??? She as much as told me that she was going to use something, ANYTHING to keep D from going. To add to the Bitch Quotient, the idiot woman had the nerve to tell me that it really wasn't a school function anyway and she could control who got to go anyway. So what was with all the forms with the school district logos and official letterhead all over the place that they made us sign?

The favorite word tossed around at the school is "investigate". Every incident must be investigated. Investigation is usually on the level of "Who did it?" "X did." End of investigation. No independent collaboration, no checking the tapes, nothing! Or, in the case of D and A, not even that was done. My daughter had the other girl's shoe prints all over her, quite visible from across the room. When I asked if they checked the other girl for similar marks, I was laughed at and told I watched too many crime shows. When I was teaching, it was standard practice to examine EVERY kid for evidence. Apparently, there was nothing to see at the time. Later, A had a tear in her shirt and claimed D bit a hole in it. It wasn't examined closely to see if it was a tear or cut, but they took A's word for it and said D did it. No proof, no witnesses, but that didn't matter. It was easier to be "fair" to the girl who assaulted my child by taking her word for it that my daughter bit her shirt than to be 100% certain. Expediency over fairness!

And what about the alleged "knock down-drag out"? With teachers and the AP on the playground, wouldn't you think that someone might have noticed that there were children fighting? Especially if there was clothing-rending and yelling? Not a single adult saw any altercation! And, of course, the surveillance cameras are not trained on the playground as it would mean they would be liable if there were a tape. My daughter had to go get the AP, crying all the way, when she got hit. But D was alleged to have been capable of tearing a shirt at the same time. PULEEEZE!

What I really take umbrage with is the portrayal of D as "a danger to others". I was told that to my face. My child had only one other referral in the four years the school has been open for fighting and that was when she was being choked by a bigger girl and she bit the girl to get free. Unfortunately, the girl was the daughter of a favorite substitute teacher and they wanted to keep the momma happy, so D got in trouble.

Part of the issue is that D has a 504 plan for her ADHD and PBPD (another parent I know is going through the same issues, so it isn't just D, BTW). The school, priding itself on its "elite" status, really doesn't like to deal with 504s and IEPs or anything that doesn't exude perfection. They don't like to deal with the paperwork or the special accommodations or 1:1 instruction, so they pick on the kids. It is far easier to single out the 504 kids as "troublemakers" and punish them constantly for anything they can, hoping the parents will pull the kids and the school wouldn't have to deal with them anymore. That's why the principal went to mandatory uniforms--she hated keeping track of the regular dress code.

Sadly, D didn't get to go to the camp at all (even though I gather Mr. H--the region supervisor--had told the principal to let the girls go and punish them some other way). D spent three days in a class with a sub doing worksheets and having the other kids alternately making fun of her or blaming her for getting A "in trouble" even though A attacked D to begin with! The other kids also spread the story around that A was minding her own business and D just walked up and hit her for no reason. The same little monsters who have been picking on her all year have been given carte blanch to make the last few days miserable for D and the administration of the school are being "fair" by allowing it to go on because my child is ALWAYS wrong, no matter what. I have tried to get her to go to an adult when she has a problem. It doesn't help when her teacher (more on her later) tells her to stop being such a tattletale.

A note about the other girl: I was told what an angel she was and how she NEVER got in trouble. Uh-huh! This girl has beaten up just about every kid in Safekey. Still on school grounds and contracted by the school district, right? So it is still a school thing, however obliquely, as far as I am concerned. Yet, despite the fact that Safekey went to the school when D tossed a pencil box at me and I yelled at her, I was told that Safekey had nothing to do with the school and visa versa, so A's fights there meant nothing. But D gets referrals? Like I said...

I didn't get the money for camp fees back, either.

Work, work, work

OK, if I am such a fuck-up, then why am I now responsible for a buttload of stuff needed to open a new facility? Oh, I know why! The idiots in charge changed the timeline and instead of three months, I only have one to do it all.

It's hometown, but not "home" anymore

Just got back from vacation "back home" and frankly am very happy to be back here in my own house. It was nice to see people and to hang out with friends, but in the end, it was catching up on gossip and then what?

I did get some paperwork I needed--like D's birth certificate and copies of the court order for the support. I couldn't get the CSR paperwork because some bitch there made a big deal about having to "sanitize" the file so I wouldn't see any personal information about J. Give me a freakin' break here! I think I have more than enough "personal information" to last me a lifetime and probably more than that beotch will ever have in her little folders. I ended up having to fill out a form requesting the information and hoping that they will let me know how much they actually expect me to pay for the sanitized copies. I mean, this includes the DNA test, so how are they going to sanitize THAT?

Anyway, D and I had lunch with S on the Friday before we came home. J chickened out at the last minute--he "just isn't ready". It's been 12 years, counting gestation!!! So when WILL he be ready? About the time he needs a blood transfusion or a kidney? If/when D becomes famous? S and I discussed some hard truths about the man. S has to stand up for his friend, but I suspect even he is starting to figure out that J is way past the age to be pretending to be footloose and fancy-free.

On top of that, S tells me that J's mother is dying. OK. So tell us all--did J ever bother to tell her that she has not one but two granddaughters? Has he ever shown her so much as a picture? It sucks in so many ways that the woman who really, really wanted grandchildren was cheated out them for so long and may in fact die without ever getting her wish. It's just another example of his fundamental self-absorption and selfishness. Only now he's letting his mom die in ignorance to protect his own promiscuous ass!

The best note is that I went by my alma mater, showed D where I went to college and introduced her to two of my old professors that are still teaching. And I DO mean OLD. One is still teaching her stuff at nearly 70 and the other is close to retirement. But that doesn't mean that I still wouldn't consider "doing" him in a New York minute!!! I scared the poo out of him when I insisted on hugging him goodbye instead of just shaking hands. I pointed out that I am nearly 50 and we are way past the professor-student crapola. I did pick up a few alumni souvenir type things--the license plate frame, a t-shirt, bumper stickers. As much as I HATE the word "alumni" when used for a singular, I will still put the damned frame on my car because I paid enough money back in student loans to earn the right!

D got to see her little boyfriend and they are happily sending email love notes to each other. Of course, mommy monitors each and every one. They are pre-teens, after all, and I want to make sure they don't get TOO lovey, if you catch my drift... :)

We did a day at the beach, but even that has changed. Too many condos and chi-chi little boutiques crowding out the things that made T I such an eclectic place. Now it is completely homogeneous like every other beach on the coast. :(

Dad is packing his shit up to move to Indiana, so even the first place we lived in as a family that wasn't military housing and that was permanent is now going on the market. So the only "home" isn't home anymore.

I think the next vacation there will be just me and D, playing tourist. We won't bother to tell family or certain friends we are even in the same area code. Then I won't have to deal with all the bullshit anymore about "When you giving up that job and coming home?" or "You moved but you could have found something here." Yeah, right... Where? Target isn't even hiring in my field yet. They weren't even there when I was still there anyway.

Besides, we have been out here long enough to qualify as "native" (more than five consecutive years residency and I own property).

Crazy Women/Greed

So what the hell is in the water this week?!?

First there is Lisa Nowak (http://tinyurl.com/2osrym) going off the deep end over some dipshit co-astronaut and blowing it for every little girl who wanted to be like here. WTF is with that? Like my friend with the PhD said: "Ain't no joystick in the world worth all that!" This from a woman who was contemplating jumping Stedman Graham when she met him at a book signing this week. Point is, I don't know that many FAMILY MEMBERS I would put a diaper on so I could drive cross-country to get to faster, let along some man.

So now you have a HIGH profile woman who served as a role model for all the girls who are interested in science and space--including my daughter--who went looking for Colleen Shipman ( http://tinyurl.com/3c6u9c ) to kill her over fellow astronaut Bill Oefelein ( http://tinyurl.com/2tklhf ). EWWW! Neither one of them is particularly attractive, and Nowak is a very pretty woman. A very pretty MARRIED (although just separated) woman with three kids!!!

Then they let her out on $15000 bond and an ankle bracelet? Honey, if I went looking for someone with the arsenal she had, I wouldn't be in jail. I'd be UNDER it. Rope, duct tape, pepper spray, a sledge hammer, a knife, garbage bags... Not the usual emergency car kit, by any means. Nowak DID use the pepper spray, too, so there was evidence that she knew exactly what she was up to. But her lawyer is claiming she has PTSD over the Columbia disaster. BULLSHIT! The woman had a crush on her co-worker and was jealous because he was looking at other women. End of story!

So now she has no career, will likely NEVER see her kids again and has made NASA nervous about using women in the space program. Not a very nice way to end up... :(

Then you have Anna Nicole Smith...

Pretty girl who parlayed into something spectacular, had it all for a while and is now taking a dirt nap. But was it natural or did the "husband" Howard K. Stern help it along? He WAS there when Anna's son died and he stands to inherit megabucks if he is indeed her hubby. Then there is the baby thing. Who's the daddy? That will make a big difference in how the money gets distributed.

So did she OD? Was it the flu as Howie claims? Did he let her lie there and die if she was sick?

Personally, I think Larry Birkhead is the "babydaddy" and Howie didn't want to share the potential windfall from J. Howard Marshall's estate. That case can actually still go to court on behalf of the baby, so if Anna's estate wins against Marshall's estate, whoever gets control of the baby gets control of the money. Greed makes people do stupid things (see Nowak, above).

Makes me wish I was a rock sometimes...

Can we get a moratorium on the word "alumni"?

If I see one more bumper sticker, license plate frame or t-shirt proclaiming that someone is an ALUMNI of XYZ College/University or whatever, I swear I am going to take a box cutter to the offending item! Well, not really, but I am still not going to congratulate the person on said accomplishment.

Let's get down to basics here, folks--ALUMNI is a plural! it means more than one person! The proper word for an individual who was part of any formal institutional group (not just college) is ALUMNUS (male) or ALUMNA (female). Yes, I know that most colleges are using "alumni" for individuals, but that is the lazy way out as far as I am concerned.

When I was in college, I had to take a writing exam to prove I was more than merely functionally literate. I passed it on the first attempt. Now, I hear there are people who must take it five or six times to make a minimal passing score. That is truly sad. But then, we live in a society where alternate spellings are considered quite normal. Then, when you consider that formerly fastidious editors allow the abomination of using apostrophes to indicate a plural, you just know that no one gives a damn about language anymore.

Personally, I believe that people who don't bother to use the proper words and punctuation in a coherent and organized manner when trying to present a serious argument do not deserve the attention they seek.