"black friday" it's called, the day after thankstaking. well, i tried to give it a go. was at the mall for about an hour. MAN, people get MEAN and RUDE during holiday shopping! i didn't like being there, just wanted to check out what was so special about that day. wasn't on a mission or anything, just nonchalantly walking around seeing if i might run into some good deals. well, found a couple. literally, just two things for myself. =p i was looking hard for gifts for other people. i'm set so far as my class is concerned. just need to wait for all the things to be delivered. got them mostly the same things as i did for my kids last year: pencils, erasers, sharpeners, scissors, glue sticks, crayons.. my mom is getting them pencil boxes. and i got hte holiday cards already! trying to not be such a procrastinator this time around so i can concentrate on the curriculum through december. parent conferences are this week, and i have a feeling that the turn-out will be good this year. =) we shall see.

benji's high school reunion was interesting. he had only about 150 seniors in his class. that's quite small, considering my class had about 400-500. the weird coincidence is that his high school was also WHS, like mine, and both our school colors were yellow and brown. O_o strange. well, now i know what to kind of expect for my own reunion, which is coming up in some years. that's crazy. =/ hayley will be married by then....

i ended up taking my students to watch The Incredibles. DOOD. for 5 children and 1 adult, i fronted almost $40 for the outting. plus $6 rip-off for the bucket of popcorn. i'ma go broke like that. wow. good thing the CA Science Museum is free admission. i dunno where else i'd take my students this year. it's nice to be able to fit more than 4 kids into my car. my new car is coming in handy! i guess it's not so new anymore. i just washed my car today for the first time in a month (yeah i get worse and worse), and it looks like it might rain. =/ yay

bought the tickets for my trip to philly with benji this winter break! seems like we might be doing this a yearly thing. last year was wisconsin, this time philadelphia. i'm, sadly, most excited about having my first real philly cheesesteak!! kinda "cheesy" huh. hehehhee...! sorry, i'ma sucker for puns. while that trip will happen the first week of january, looks like my family is making plans for the end of december. road trip to vancouver (#4 for me, first for my family). i'll be very happy to go back there again. =) but... gotta prep for both cities by buying some warmer clothes first... *shiver* i so cold right now...

"ms. stephanie," aka steph aguon, has been coming into my class to volunteer every friday. i think that's so dope! and i just hand her things to teach. hehe. well she's gonna be a teacher next year anyway, so she might as well get the practice. she actually had her full day of teaching just last week! muahaha... because my roommate is off-track, i asked him to sub for me last friday while i had to attend a conference. so even though he was officially the sub, steph (all three of us are good friends) was the one who did the teaching that day. anyhow, she already knows my kids. it was definitely an interesting day. i think she learned a lot. she's very good with the students, has good intuition, good frame of mind, but unfortunately she's in the teacher ed program at USC! ewie!

she also came with us on our field trip to the zoo! if i could figure out how to post pictures on my blog, i would. my kids are great! i'm going to make holiday cards this year, which i wanted to do last year but didn't. =p and i went shopping for their holiday presents this year! wheee!! i spent over $60 so far, and i still have more things to buy them. =)

hi john, i know you're reading this! *wave* i still have yet to visit your little one. if u visit mine, i'll visit yours!

this thankstaking weekend will be a busy one. waiting for dinner tonite.. mmm... and tomorrow i'm taking out some of my kids to watch a movie! i'll let em pick when we get there. it be either The Incredibles or Spongebob Squarepants Movie. personally, i prefer not to support disney movies, so i hope they'll pick spongebob. anyway, they'll probably get to see the incredibles via bootleg like they do every other movie that comes out. on saturday i accompany benji to his 10-year high school reunion! what an old fart. wait, mine's just 4 years away. and the scary thing!!... the other day i was talking about how i'm in my early 20s... then had to stop and correct myself and say mid-20s. O_O wahhhh~

in the faculty lunch lounge yesterday:

some woman sub: can i ask u a question?
me: sure
her: how is it that asians are so thin?
me: (i don't have a change to answer yet because she adds...)
her: is it the diet?
me: (still can't answer because she asks...)
her: is it the garlic?
me: (now i'm thinking... #1, she asked the WRONG girl. #2 i'm trying to bite my tongue because she was really nice but, man, truly uninformed. so i just say...) mmm, well i know a lot of asians who are not thin
her: really??
me: yeah, a LOT
her: the asians i've seen are always so thin
me: *shrug*
her: cuz i've been trying to lose weight for a while now, but i don't know what it is
me: um.. i think it has to do with genetics
her: really? u think so? genetics?
me: yeah (i just want to leave it at that)

so i did a good job of not blowing off at her. i could have, but didn't. i'm amazed, though, that she expected me to speak on behalf of my entire race. that all asians have the same kind of diet. and that we all use garlic.

on a much more fun note, my class along with all the other first graders at our school are going on our first field trip to the LA Zoo!!! so exciting!! ANDDD... stephanie aguon is coming along! AANNDD.. when i'm out for a teacher seminar next friday, my roomie jimmy and steph will be there to sub for me! woo hoo!! so lucky =) i'ma have big plans for them... muahahha....

VOTE TOMORROW. america needs your vote. i think i will do absentee voting from now on. it's so much more convenient. =) god save us should bush steal (literally) the election again...