Valerie, Call on Me

I should have known what sort of day I was going to have, when a piece of shit from my cat's ass clung to his bung-hole just long enough, as he was exiting his litter box, to drop into my brand new sandal. I was lucky I looked down while putting my foot into it, or I would have ended up with 'toe-poo' as I was rushing out the door.

Ah, my day wasn't so bad,...it was just kind of "blah." We played one or the other of my two new games in almost all my classes. 'Frog Juice' continues to go over quite well with the older kids. I have become good at explaining it. 'Chomp' continues to confuse the kids, and I'm going to try to explain it backwards from how I have been tomorrow. I got a little frustrated with my first class of talkative little kids when they, even after I got the Korean teacher to help me explain, just couldn't get it. I smiled happily at them and said very quickly and sweetly, "You guys are a little bit retarded, aren't you?" They smiled and giggled at me. Yep, thought so!

Easy now, I was just kidding.

I mentioned before I was going to go to an amusement park, Ooooo Bang Land, with the kids next Monday. I found out today that's not going to happen. Not enough kids signed up for it. I knew it was a dumb idea to go on the same trip as last year. Now, had we gone to Egypt for a camel ride, as I had suggested, the kids would have been all over that trip! I was disappointed, and I shouldn't really be. Going meant waking up at 7am, which is about 2 hours after I normally like to go to sleep, and it would have been a long hot day. However, I never get to really interact with the kids outside the classroom, so I had been looking forward to a day-trip and some fun with them. Ah well.

I asked Elizabeth if maybe she thought we could go somewhere else at a later date, and she didn't think so. She said the kids are in school Monday to Saturday regularly, and on Sunday they are resting. Not true in August, but we have "special classes," so everyone's going to be busy and tired next month.

I asked if maybe she thought we could go somewhere in the winter when the kids are on their month-long vacation, and Elizabeth said she'd asked Karen that, and was told it was "too dangerous."

I said, "What? Abominable Korean Snowman?" Elizabeth didn't even blink at that, but said "no, snow and froze water." Ahhhh. Yah. That happens as often as the Abominable Korean Snowman is sighted. It doesn't really matter, anyhow. I haven't committed to staying on past December 11th, so chances are I might not be here next January!

I haven't mentioned this before, but I have an inside cat and an outside cat. I met the outside kitty last Fall. She is so tiny I thought she was a kitten, but it turns out she is a full crown mini-cat with grown cats of her own. I named her Valerie after about the 4th time I met her on the way to work and I had a Steve Winwood song running through my head. Valerie is a mouthy little thing who recognizes me as I approach and starts meowing her kitty-head off. She follows me to the supermarket and waits yowling outside while I buy her a can of tuna. Very Mary had a little lamb, but it's Jelly has a little cat!

She's nervous around any other people, but with me it's like she can't decide which she wants more, the can of tuna or a nice head-scratch. I don't see her every day, but lately she's been waiting on the route home and ambushes me. I'm always glad to see her. This past winter when it was so cold and it looked like she had a broken back leg it pained me to meet up with her, but she's doing well now, although she's horribly skinny. Kamikaze's about five times her size.

My day ended as it started, in cat-related folly, with me slashing my knuckle good while opening Valerie's dinner. Some days are like these, I suppose, as opposed to those that are like those.

Say that last sentence 10 times fast!