Tonight, while giving the Writing Proficiency Exam...

a student named James asked me what I would like to do when I graduate.
I said, "Maybe work for a publishing house...."
He said, "Like the one that gives away a million dollars?!"

Yeah, maybe I will be Ed McMahon's personal assistant, genius.

Some photos from the Austin trip...

Ashley and me after Maria's show.


Ashley, me, Maria Bamford (funniest female comedian ever), and Shannon.


Miss Maria Bamford and her groupies, making some crazy faces.


Photo taken at Star Seeds Cafe after staying up all night with Shannon. This is us in a state of ultimate delirium.

Everyone knows...

Over My Head (Cable Car) -- The Fray

I never knew
I never knew that everything was falling through
That everyone I knew was waiting on a queue
To turn and run when all I needed was the truth
But that's how it's got to be
It's coming down to nothing more than apathy
I'd rather run the other way than stay and see
The smoke and who's still standing when it clears

Everyone knows I'm in
Over my head
With eight seconds left in overtime
She's on your mind

Let's rearrange
I wish you were a stranger I could disengage
Just say that we agree and then never change
Soften a bit until we all just get along
But that's disregard
Find another friend and you discard
As you lose the argument in a cable car
Hanging above as the canyon comes between

Everyone knows I'm in
Over my head
With eight seconds left in overtime
She's on your mind

And suddenly I become a part of your past
I'm becoming the part that don't last
I'm losing you and its effortless
Without a sound we lose sight of the ground
In the throw around
Never thought that you wanted to bring it down
I won't let it go down till we torch it ourselves

Everyone knows I'm in
Over my head
With eight seconds left in overtime
She's on your mind

So, it's official...

Mederma for Kids commercials scare the hell out of me.

I'm in my element, baby...

So, my heart found Christmas...it was wonderful.

As was New Year's. My brother and sister-in-law came down from Indiana and stayed for a week. It was good to relax and spend time with the family. I saw a few movies with the women in the family: The Family Stone and Rumor Has It. I enjoyed both of them. I love seeing movies. I should go to the theater more often...there is something magical about it.

Anyway, I am now focusing on my thesis and wrapping up my time here in Abilene, and more specifically, Hardin-Simmons. I am working on and off as a substitute teacher. It's is kind of exciting because you never know where you will be. I realized today that one could write some of the best short stories ever based off the conversations between a group of middle school girls. It is insane what they talk about. I know I am not that far out of middle school...just about a decade...but things really have changed. People are not making it up. Today I worked at Mann Middle School in athletics. We played tennis...badmitton...that's what I did all day. On Thursday I work at Cooper, teaching debate and theatre arts. That's a little more "up my alley". I am kind of excited about it, and it beats sitting around working on something (my thesis) that I am not getting paid for.

Well, nothing is really going on besides the thesis and the occasional subbing. When school begins at HSU I will have more work coming my way, which will be nice. I am more motivated when I am busy. I would like to be working pretty much all the time and having to squeeze my thesis in. I think I would get more work done that way, when I know I only have a set amount of time to work.

I will write again soon...when I have something blog-worthy to talk about.

I hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas and New Year's, and that you got some quality "family time" in.