who invented taxes? arghghh! i hate paperwork. it's report card season now too. i just spent hours in front of all my record keeping stuff and my laptop typing in grades. what a waste. all my parents know how their kids are doing. i talk to them regularly and send them informal progress reports periodically. in fact, who invented paper?!? i hate paperwork. i also went through a year's worth of receipts writing down all the stuff i spent on classroom materials and resources. it's around 15% of my entire salary. considering i give my parents more than 50% of my salary to help support them, i think i live off a pretty good chunk of change. i was kinda shocked to think about all that, but really, what is it that i do? my life revolves around my work. that's why i can afford to stay at school til 8pm, don't got a family to take care of. and i just need money for rent, car (already paying for my second car... gave my first car to my mom), food, and other basic things. no kids (my students are my kids!). when i shop, i buy things for my students and classroom. for all you teachers out there, u know what i'm talking about: target, big lots, 99c store, ross... can u contain the excitement?? i haven't even shopped for clothes for myself in... i dont' even know how long. i know it's been within a year at least. kind of embarrassing, i have all these socks with holes in them, and when i go to other people's houses and take off my shoes... eep. maybe i'm kinda overdoing it?

anyhow, even if i wanted to spend money i don't even have the time. i have afterschool tutoring, auditing a class at ucla, have a reading group i started up, meetings afterschool for the various councils i serve on, students and families to visit at homes, chinatown collective business on weekends, in addition to soccer on select weekends with some community organizing folks (anyone else game?), and various conferences, rallies, underground/radical shows to attend and support, fundraising events to attend, big corporations to boycott (which, in turn, means gotta scope out the mom and pop shops), and the list doesn't end.

ahhhh~ back to the kind of life i've always known... nice and busy! =)