"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...