ER. . . you let me down

I have been a fan of ER since its premiere episode in 1994 and the days of Dr. Greene (Anthony Edwards), Dr. Ross (George Clooney) and of course Dr. Benton (Eriq LaSalle), who you may know as the prince of a jheri curl activator empire from the movie “Coming To America.”  Eriq LaSalle was the only major Afr-Am character who wasn’t a nurse.  He was pretentious and quite arrogant, but he was a good doctor.  After he left we didn’t really have a Afr-Am doctor who was as good and who stuck around the way he did.

There were a handful of supporting female characters who came through.  There has always been Afr-Am members of the nursing staff, two of whom have been on the show since the beginning and are still there right now as I watch.  Omar Epps was around for a handful of episodes; Don Cheadle played a career-changing, intern in the early stages of Parkinson’s disease, but he wasn’t around long either. 

There was an intern named Gallant who was Afr-Am.  He of course dated the Indian doctor, Neela, but it was cool.  He was around from 2001-2006 leaving b/c he was in the military.  His character is eventually killed overseas, so he never returns.  He came onto the show one season before Mekhi Phifer’s character Dr. Greg Pratt. 

I’ve watched Pratt grow from being a pretentious, arrogant, stereotypical black man with a chip on his shoulder, into a mature, stable and excellent doctor.  Truly a role model for black kids who live in poor situations, but want to become something unexpected.  He was the reason that I kept returning week after week, when they turned Noah Wyle’s character into the rich, oblivious snob that his character had previously always hated.  Tonight, ER let me know, b/c they killed Greg Pratt. 

This was the first episode of the final season ever, season number 14 or 15 I think.  At the end of last season two main characters, Mekhi Phifer and Maura Tierney’s characters got into an ambulance that exploded.  Today, they let us know that the two of them were okay.  At least that is how they wanted it to seem.  His condition got gradually worse until at about 10:45 he was pronounced dead and his organs donated.  We find out about 5 minutes later that he was going to get the position as Chief of Medicine over the ER.  CHIEF OF MEDICINE!!  That means that he would have been the HNIC for real!!  I’m so disappointed.  I know that they want to start this season off with a bang, and continue, but did you have to get rid of the only major, positive black character.  I love Dr. Pratt and they didn’t even let him finish out the show.

The only saving grace is that in 2 weeks Angela Bassett will join the cast.  Hopefully she’ll be around until the end.

A lesson to be learned

I haven’t really been blogging b/c as far as I’m concerned there’s nothing to talk about.  I don’t have any children or a husband to laugh at.  I’m not dating, I’m not really hanging out with anyone at all.  I go to work, come home and do it over and over again for 5 days.  Saturdays I hang out at home alone, until I decide to go to my parent’s and hang out with Mom.  Sundays its church, supper with the cousins and then back home again.  That me, week after week.

I also don’t blog b/c once in a while ExH somehow enters a conversation I’m having with someone.  If they aren’t my parents then its me informing someone that we aren’t together anymore.  if it is my parents then its them telling me about another irresponsible thing that he’s done.  I don’t write about those b/c I think its gossipy, but I guess I shouldn’t care b/c this is my blog and I can say whatever I want.  Plus I don’t see S&M everyday anymore and they’re the first ones I would have told these stories to.  So here are the latest two installments.  Maybe some soon to be divorced man will read this and learn a lesson.  The lesson to be learned. . .

When getting a divorce take your soon-to-be-ex-wife’s-parent’s information off of your documents.

Installment #1
Years ago, we changed ExH’s address on his driver’s license to my parents address b/c a couple of pieces of mail that had been sent by the DMV, did not get to us.  They were mailed to his father’s house, since that was the address on his license, then but that correspondence was misplaced, or something like that.  Well, my mother’s track record for informing you of when you get mail at her house is impeccable so we changed.  Now the price of that is her policy that if it comes to her house, and it seems urgent or like it has a deadline, she will open it and tell you what it says. 

In August he received a letter from the DMV that was labeled urgent.  She opened it and told me to email him letting him know what it said.  Basically it was informing him that he had two weeks to show proof of insurance or they were going to suspend his driver’s license.  Now he had had a little trouble proving it before b/c his car was still in my name and I had to fill out something saying that I had given it to him.  But that had happened weeks before.  Why hadn’t he shown proof of insurance yet??

Installment #2
Yesterday my parents received a phone call from L- H- which was the apartment complex that I had been living in with him.  They left an urgent message for my mother on the voicemail and as soon as my dad heard it he called my mom.  She was quite confused that it was urgent b/c she knew that I hadn’t lived there since December 1.  When she called she was if she was his aunt b/c it looked like that was what was written in the “relationship” box.  My mother was still listed as his emergency contact.  She told them that she is his soon-to-be-ex-MIL and the woman said “Oh! You’re C’s mom.”  Well they were calling his emergency contact b/c he owes them a month’s rent and they are trying to be nice.  They hadn’t seen him in a while, he wasn’t returning their phone calls and they knew that he still had stuff in the apartment.  They are getting close to evicting him and just putting the stuff out on the street.  Long story short, my dad called ExH and ExH called my dad back.  ExH is in VA somewhere and it is true that he has stuff still in the apartment.

What’s going on?  I don’t know his side of the story obviously (and I hope he doesn’t take that as a hint to inform me b/c I really don’t care), but I can tell you what it sounds like.  It sounds like nothing has changed.  Not keeping up with your car insurance, or at least not making sure the DMV has the right paperwork; not paying all of your rent, and then just abandoning your stuff there.  That sounds just like the same irresponsible man I married.  Its over 5 years later and he still hasn’t learned.  As much as I hounded him about keeping up with paperwork, following through with important tasks and being financially stable and he is still making mistakes.  He used to accuse me of nagging all the time, but clearly I didn’t nag enough for him to learn anything.

I’m not worried about the apartment coming after me b/c my name hasn’t been on that lease since December 12, so all I can say is oh well.   At least my stuff is straight.  I pay all of my bills on time and my savings account is growing and growing.  My life is looking up and up!

really?? here?

(post 3 of 3)

We danced at a women’s church conference tonight.  The venue wasn’t a church it was the conference center which is like renting out a ballroom at a hotel.  We didn’t have a room to change in, so we changed in the bathroom.  Just before it was time to perform we all put our stuff by the phone booths that were right next to the bathroom and covered the purses with our large garment bags that hold our dance clothes.

When we came back from dancing (we were gone maybe 10 minutes) two of the girls went to change clothes.  Kay came back with tears in her eyes b/c her purse was gone.  She just started 9th grade so it was kind of traumatic for her.  We all go over to help her look for it and my aunt notices that her purse is gone.  Now my aunt’s purse isn’t small.  Its like the size of a large tote bag, so you can’t just tuck that in your shirt and leave.  Well then we all notice that all of our stuff this thrown all around.  Our bags were opened and clothes were thrown about.  My cousin’s wristlet was missing too.

One of the other dancers called Kay’s phone and I called my aunt’s just to see what would happen, if someone would pick up.  2 of the girls had gone back into the bathroom and they’re talking while one of them changes when they hear something ringing.  Sure enough it was Kay’s phone and Auntie’s phone.  They purses were in a stall behind the toilet.  My cousin’s wristlet was found in one of the trashcans.  The only thing we found missing was the $20 that Kay had in her wallet.

We assume that the person who “tried” to rob us worked there b/c they put the wristlet in the trashcan like they were going to be able to come back for it later.  The women who were running the conference, who of course don’t work there, gave Kay $20 to replace what was stolen from her b/c they felt bad even though it wasn’t their fault, which was really nice.

It just goes to show you never know.  We were performing for the Lord and someone was trying to rob us.  That person won’t know what hit them when God chastises them.

My new school

(post 2 out of 3 today)

My new school is pretty okay.  The teachers and faculty I’ve met so far have all been very nice.  One of the custodians new me when I was little b/c she sang in the church choir and one of the teachers is my step dad’s cousin.

Let’s see if I can list the differences.

1.  I’m used to being told automatically anything that I need to know about the way things work.  I don’t have a mentor, there’s no monthly new teacher meeting and they didn’t review any of the policies/procedures during are teacher week back.  Everything I learn, I learn trial and error or I over hear someone and then ask about what they were talking about.

2.  There’s a pep rally every Friday during football season, but instead of being during the school day they are before school from 8:15 to about 8:35.  I think that’s really cool.

3.  The teacher’s have podiums that are provided by the school.  They have wheels on them and a cubbyhole type space under the top.  I like to roll mine around the front of the room.

4.  We have Smartboards.  They’re large white boards, that hook to your laptop or computer, but they’re like a touch screen.  If you want to demonstrate how a program works, you can just touch the screen and the menus open or close and you can push a button on the side and a keyboard appears for you to touch type things.  Its like your hand is the mouse.  Plus there are special “pens” that allow you to write on the screen and erase, but you aren’t really writing on the screen at all b/c its totally electronic.  The pens are black, red, blue and green.  I haven’t used it yet, but will definitely try it out once I get really rolling.

5.  We have to give the kids a syllabus that outlines the classwork and homework for the week.  It also must include the numbers for the objectives that will be addressed.  Although I used to plan at least 3 weeks in advance, I’m not used to having to stick to it, so I keep overplanning and then having to push things back.

6.  A lot of the teachers have printers in their rooms that were given to them by the school.  I would have one, but the woman who moved out of my room, into a bigger one, took it with her.

7.  Several people have mentioned to me about how they had to have a portable for their first couple of years, that I’m lucky that I don’t and they say it like they’re jealous.  Wow!

8.  There’s a club board.  Each club has it’s own 8.5 x 11 inch space to post a flyer and the spaces are labeled so that students just look for the title of their club to check for new.  Oh did I mention that there are only like 25 clubs.

9.  Any student can ride the activity bus or athletic bus.  They just need a pass from their club sponsor or a teacher.

10.  I have my own thermostat, but it doesn’t really work well.  Only one half of my classroom gets cold.  The farther you get from the unit the warmer it is and my room isn’t very big at all.

11.  The BMW’s here actually are intelligent and do their jobs well.  Even the one who talks like a slave (lmao).

But what hasn’t changed is that I’m still a class sponsor and the step team coach.  “Just when I think I’m out. . . they pull me back in”

Well, I can’t think of anymore right now.  Its been an interesting week outside of class time.  I’m sure I’ll think of some things other.

Help, S I need you!! (or K Dence)

As usual I have about 12 IEP students this year.  At least half of them are in my 11th grade class.  This wouldn’t really be a problem, except that 3 of them are slow processors.  This has become a problem.  They can’t finish any of their classwork in the same time span as the other students.  As a matter of fact it takes them nearly 3 times as long.  Things that only take the other students 10 minutes would take them 30 if I allowed it but of course I move along anyway, and allow them to take it with them and finish in either Academic Resource (aka Tutorial) or at home. 

The three of them are very good about remembering to give me their work the next day without me asking and as one of them is a very high functioning autistic, his case manager is very on top of things and we email each other daily.  Basically right at the end of class I email her any notes that I had them copy and let her know what classwork needs to be done and what his homework is.  He spent 30 minutes copying the notes, even though I gave him a copy of my PowerPoint slides.  I couldn’t convince him that he didn’t need to write down the information that I had already given, although he did understand that he was supposed to keep the slides.

These kids are very sweet.  I really enjoy talking to them and it is clear by their response that they really appreciate my flexibility and patience in working with them.  This is why I need an assistant or co-teacher.  I can’t do it all by myself.  There are 24 other student in that room who need my help, but these 3 require 90%of my “walk around and help” time.  I can only imagine what it will be like when we start reading our novel next week and I don’t want to think about their first test.  I’ll have to assign the rest of the class quiet seat work, b/c those students definitely need a small, quiet environment for testing.  There’s no one there to pull them out for tests.  I’m worried that its going to be disastrous b/c I know that there are accommodations that they should have, but probably can’t.

Oh, speaking of accomodations, school started Tuesday and I still haven’t seen their IEPs yet.  I recieved a nice form letter from each case manager, letting me know which kids I had that were on their case load (it didn’t include their grade or period, just the kid’s names).  I think they said we should get their IEPs by next Friday.  CHS is looking better and better all the time.