Gonzai Gallery

My brother and father both went to the same private Catholic high school, and my brother is talking about sending the nephews there. But I'm not so sure about this idea, especially after driving past the school today. They have a giant LED sign out front which today shouted a welcome back to students for the second semester. The problem? They spelled 'semester' wrong. Riiighht.

The same community college where I took my veterinary assistant courses has released its spring catalog. Very limited language classes, which figures as I was thinking of taking Spanish, but plenty of...ghost hunting. Demonology. And how to become a clown. OK then.

http://www.ccbcmd.edu/ceed/classes/le_hobbies.html

So far I have:

1 Gaming tonight
2 A meetup of an internet group in Alexandria, VA tomorrow. Bear in mind it's supposed to snow tomorrow morning
3 Gaming Sunday afternoon
4 Mom wants to look at houses Sunday afternoon and there's at least one I'd like to see
5 Last class of the program is Monday night
6 Mom is hosting bridge club Tuesday

Things with no particular time attached include: review/prep for last class, cleaning the house for bridge club, grocery shopping for same, grocery shopping for me (I have nothing to eat at the office), a full DVR and a lot of laundry, going to the gym and oh yeah, some sleep would be nice. And that's just what all I know about.

Meep. Something's gotta give here.

I report for the clinical internship in 3 hours. Theoretically, at least, the guy who's supposedly running this has punted me 3 times already, but now I'm assigned to someone else. Someone presumably more engaged in the process. I'll find out, won't I? But at this point I'd be thrilled just to have a schedule in place and know what and when I can or can't do things for the next 4-5 weeks.

Class is finally finished. I didn't do too well on the final, there were a few things that never came up in class that were on the final, and the instructor is being really uptight on semantics ('sitting' is not acceptable; only 'sitting position'). And we had a Westie in class who wanted my attentions during the test; writing with one hand and petting with the other probably wasn't the best way to go. But I definitely passed it and I had plenty of points going in.

Meanwhile, we were told the clinicals would be assigned first come first served based on when all paperwork and registration was submitted. Of the 14 people in the classes, one person had everything in. Guess who? Yep. So I got the clinical assignment I wanted, five minutes from the office. Mwah ha ha!

Today wasn't as bad as it could have been, though. We had visitors. Munchkin the high-stepping chihuahua and Kya the gimpy pit bull. We trimmed their nails :) I didn't do so hot in the 'restraint' demo (it's hard to do standard restraint on a dog barely bigger than your hand) but I rocked the nail trimming. And I have two new doggie friends.

Final next week. I get my Mondays back. At least for a couple weeks.

Except that I swear most of my classmates are coming to class drunk. At the very least, they're coming to class stupid and flaky and determined to stay off-topic and beat dead horses all night, including the dead horses they beat LAST week. I'm exhausted and ill; I don't want to spend the whole night there listening to them whine. I really don't want to listen to the one girl, who is receiving food stamps and student aid, proudly announce she's buying a $4,000 puppy. Gawd.

Gaming did not go well today (main road to gaming was closed, no parking anywhere nearby and then there was the very bossy person problem), which in turn forced me on an unsuccessful quest for edible food in a dubious neighborhood filled with trash, then we couldn't get the TV to work so we could see the Ravens game, then we wished it still didn't work so we didn't have to watch the Ravens game (really guys? Seattle? really?) and meanwhile I managed to get waxed at all games and then fell asleep trying to study for tomorrow's final. I give up. I go to bed. Maybe I stay awake for the final.

Home now from Euroquest, four days of games and serious humbling and social graces or not, as the case sometimes was. Besides the Can't Stop and Lost Cities wins Friday, I won exactly one game - a Stone Age match Friday afternoon. That was it for me and winning. After Thursday, I couldn't win a Wild Card game for anything and after Friday I couldn't win, period. I somehow squeaked into the Stone Age semi-final (I was ranked 16th and they took 16 players) and finished 3rd in that, for a 12th place finish overall. I didn't beat 25th or so in anything else, and that finish was in Ra, which I played solely to kill time. I was absolutely destroyed in Ticket to Ride & Dominion. Good thing there were no crows around and my ego isn't invested in winning.

Meanwhile, I met up with old friends and made many new friends, including one who came to EQ from Romania. Yes, Romania. Of course, she also wiped the walls with me at every game, but we had fun. (There was also an attendee who came from Israel to play. I'm not sure but they're crazy...) Taught a few games to people, including some of the younger set, and hopefully convinced some folks to join in with the GCOM fun. Of course, had to deal with one obnoxious yo-yo all weekend including consecutive games on Friday, which left me unsuccessfully begging the GameMaster to please put this jerk at another table, I already spent two hours trying not to strangle him. Apparently there was a lot of 'please don't make me play with Jason' going around the whole room. I behaved financially, eating economically (Subway/McDs/7-11) and buying a whopping two items, a Christmas present for Jack and one item for myself. Shouldn't have done that, but darn it, I need some level of treat.

Tomorrow I get to work on the expensive requirements the class just dropped on me (background check I have to pay them for, a tetanus shot and a copy of my high school diploma) plus an MRI on the much-pained shoulder and the class itself. But tonight, yes, it is: Sunday Night Football, Ravens at Steeler. Oh yes.

LET'S GO RAVENS!!!!!!

And naturally it decided to get started while we were in the supermarket. So we came out to rapidly falling and blowing snow landing on sleet and ice. By the time I had the groceries loaded in the trunk, there was almost as much snow in there as bags. Then when we got home the side stairs were completely iced, unloading the car was distinctly unamusing. And Roxie won't go out in such weather. Sheesh.

Meanwhile, I went to the library looking for material for the report I have to write for my class. Came up empty - none of the books had anything related to canine parasites. I have plenty of sources I found online, but no print things. And I'm reminded of why I don't miss school. I'm having a heckuva a time actually getting started on writing the report. I have the info, but actually writing the sucker is another thing. I need to at least have a draft done tomorrow, as I'll be at Euroquest most of the week and can't work on it then. Yippee.