Scammed

Omg. Today, I was reading this online article about this stay at home mom who made like 65K at home working through her computer advertising Google things. Sounds harmless, right? And I love making ads. So I signed up for it and they ask you for all this information to start an account, and there is a $1 activation fee. So I paid that. And then I read the instruction manual which is harder than rock and it was like, "Oh, by the way. You have 2 days to cancel or its $80 a month." So, OK. I read it, find out unless some computer nerd wants to get me started, I'll never figure it out - so I call the number that it says to call if you want to cancel. Some dude gets on, doesn't ask me what I want, just starts asking for information. I kept saying "so this is to cancel right?" "yep, yep, yep...i need this... i need this..." So then I re-give him all my crap. My username, password, credit card, address, phone number, etc. everything. "I can't find your account but what I can do for you is give the IT guys this information so they can find it and cancel it." "You have two days to do this. I have to cancel in two days." "Well I'll send them the form and they'll get back to you as soon as possible." Great. Now I'll have to go into the bank and cancel my credit card, too.

Today, while trying to be funny, a new friend of mine commented on a facebook response that Andy had left. It was like he was alive again - odd feeling.

It's strange to be lost; stranger still to belong.

Call it crazy, or call it my lack of ability to define happiness, but I'm ready for another move.; Maybe it's my unwillingness to define myself within an identity. I don't want to settle. And I can't figure out what I want from this life. So I'm just going to keep on going and won't stop.

Waiting, waiting, waiting, waiting, waiting, waiting, most of life is spent waiting, waiting, waiting, waiting,

My life is kid-lacking and unfulfilled. I need it to be next fall - pronto. This full time job of wasting time is not doing me well.

Pray I get the long-term substitute position to carry me to next fall at Glass again!

This morning I watched the sun come up over the mountains.
Just to think:
In the middle of the night, we fear this world..?

Pulled Over

I'm losing track - how many of these entries have I blogged? It must be my sixth one now. I received my first ticket last night! 1 in 6 ratio...not too shabby!

I don't even flinch anymore. Oop. Cop lights. Been there, done this. Plus, I deserved this one...so it's not like I can cry or fight it with good reason.

Tony, Travis, and Steven were with me. We just turned off 501 onto Lynchburg Expressway headed back to Brandon and Trav's. I see Brandon and Bethany up ahead and concoct this brilliant plan to catch up with and then cut off their hot, red car. Right as I was gaining in behind them, lights flashed behind me. No point in questioning, Is it me? Am I the one he's after? Because we all knew.

I have been driving 30 over on that darn highway since I first got here last July! What state has highways at 55 mph!?! That's just sick.

He pulled me over. "Obviously you know why I pulled you over tonight." I nod. "You were flyin'." My face forms a guilty grin. "Did you have anything to drink this evening?" "Oh no, we were just coming home from the dollar theater." "Are you in a rush to get somewhere?" I came up with two valid reasons, from my perspective; not so valid in his mind:
# 1. I was trying to catch up to my friend.
# 2. I come from the third largest city in Minnesota. I've learned to be aggressive in my driving. (a.k.a. we get to go at least 65 mph on our highways!!!)

-- -- Really wished I was pregnant and going into labor at this time...that gets you out of everything!!! -- --

The ultimate question: Do you have your driver's license with you?
The every-time answer: Noooo, I dooooon't..... *insert frown and fake tearful eyes*

He asks for my name, social security number, address, la-ti-da, all the normal 'shtuff' - heads to his car.

4, 5, 8 minutes later...he comes back. "I'm not coming up with anything. I've run it a few times. You have no license on file."

I was speechless. That's a new one. "Uh, I don't know...that doesn't make any sense...I've never had a problem with it before...??"

He stated he was not able to let me 'drive out of here, tonight' because it did not exist on file. Screw the dang files.

He's instantly suspicious and accusitory: "Why don't you have your license with you today??"

I explain my situation in fast Minnesotan dialect (even though I wouldn't have grabbed it anyway...never needed it before!): "Well, we were late to our movie, and I forgot to grab my purse, and it was only a dollar, so my friend was going to cover me the dollar and I pay him back so I didn't make us even more late, so I didn't go back for it.... Do you want me to have someone bring it to me?"

"How far away are you - how long would it take to get someone over here?"

"I just live up the road, _____ Apartments, I could call my roommate."

Ring. Ring. Ring. Ring. All 4 of us in the car are dialing, re dialing, continuously dialing Emma's number. She is not picking up.

Great. Now it looks like I lied about my license AND my roommate!

He comes back when a car slows behind us, "Is that your roommate?"

"No! I can't get ahold of her! I don't know why she isn't picking up!" (I know she's at home...sleeping!)

He questions me about my history, my former state and move to Lynchburg, have I let my license expire?

I explain I renewed it on my 21st birthday a while back and have not had to renew it since, it hasn't expired from that quite yet. He says that even if it had expired, it should be coming up in the system.

It was so wild being told my license didn't exist. It was like being told - "You were never born." - "You have no identity." - What a freaky feeling.

I was left speechless, with no explanation.

Most embarrasing call of my life: "Mom? Is dad there? I need him. ... Hey, dad? I'm here with a cop, and I don't have my license, do you have that number somewhere?"

Luckily, after some time dad finds it. We get the number. Cop goes to his car and back again. "You're fine." (he does not understand the relief!) I'm a real human! I have a birth certificate! I am real! I am registered! Pheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeew! "The only thing I can think of why that was happening is that Minnesota has some lock on their system with finding that information."
Dang states and their laws.

Of course, all that hassle...I get a ticket. 82 in a 55. Go figure. I haven't decided if I'll slow down from now on or not. I suppose I better since this is an actual ticket this time and not a slap on the wrist like the past five times of cops falling for my seduction.

It sucks getting pulled over with boys in your car - that's about all I learned from yesterday.

Final Decision: I'm Staying.

I'm learning to be a bitch with adults now, too. It feels wonderful.

Today after school I went with the hip hop team down to the auditorium so that they could practice their routine for the talent show this evening. We were trying to figure out where the lights were to turn them on so that we could practice when some janitor dude came in. I was still in the back end of the auditorium looking for the swith; most of my students had gone forward towards the stage to find the lights up there. I was hopeful of help and asked nicely, "Hey there! Do you know how to turn on the lights in here?" "Um, yea," he said in a debasing tone that said instead, "Obviously, freak." He continued, "But nobody signed up to be in here today, and they need to have a teacher with them." By this time, the team had reached the stage and stage lights were starting to be found and turned on. I ignored the tone, as well as being assumed a student, and informed him politely, "Oh, I am the teacher." "Then you need to be up there with them," he snippily demanded.

The only thing I hate worse than being dealt with in a tone is when people presume the worst out of my students. "Excuuuse you," with no remorse I retorted, "But they are just fine. Now, are you OK with the lights on, or are you going to make us practice in the dark?"

"Let me go ask the lady in charge of the auditorium."

"Thank-you."

...and he never came back.

There were so many responses I wanted to say. He had attacked me and questioned my leadership. I would have been up there with them if I hadn't been wasting my time on you; The only reason I am not up there with them is because I am standing here wasting my breath on you. But the truth is, the thing that mattered most of all was not that he had charged me, but that he accused my students of being poor, bad ghetto kids before they had even the time to do something wrong if they were bad kids. I have great kids. Better than you, even. You leave them alone.

This is why I choose to stay with these kids: to help them prove wrong a world that has given them no chance.

What a rotten man.

They had to shovel in MN!

What? It's December? Isn't it supposed to be cold in December?