Knob Creek and Coke

I had a really enjoyable evening  the other night with my BF. I introduced him to Knob Creek whiskey and Coke. He usually drinks Captain and Coke, but he said a switch may be in order. We really hardly ever drink, just the odd occasion. He doesn't like beer at all. This was a problem for me, since I love it, but it works out nicely... I drink the beer, he drives the car. :)

I'm down to my last 3 concert (praise Jesus!) and actually got some Cmas shopping done. I am pretty sure my brother's wife is going to give me a hard time about the book I got my brother... The Ultimate Man's Survival Skills book (or some similar title). Ladies... this book is effing awesome. If you need a present for a man you don't hate, get this.

Now for some mild bitching: the friend who manipulates me (and everyone else shw knows) has struck again. She called to see if I could come over for two quick rehearsals at 6:45 yesterday. I said sure, I'm not busy, so I went. I played both rehearsals, then when the student's parent came to get the last kid, I'm patiently waiting for my payment (cough cough, pretend to search for something in my purse while waiting, cough some more)... she says to the parent "Oh this time is for free, you don't need to pay since it was only a quick rehearsal."

WHAT!!?!?!

I spent an hour and 15 minutes over there. Quick rehearsal, my flabby ass. I reminder her of this, quietly, and she says "don't worry, I tell you later what is story." (She's foreign.) I wait. Student leaves. I ask what's the story: she says, we already had 4 rehearsals and she just doesn't feel right asking the parent to pay for a 5th rehearsal but he really needed it. So since SHE didn't charge him for the lesson, neither should I.

This is the kind of crap that makes me want to change my phone number and tell her I moved. So I gave up my one free night for free. Damn her wiles.

XBOX stuff: On Braid, I finally got 6 of 8 stars, only to find out you can't get the 8th one withoue having the 7th, which you can't get if you have solved the puzzles. So I start the game over, thinking the Stars would still be there... nope. I started over FRESH. Ugh. Luckily I like the game well enough that it was fun to play it again. I'm also redoing Castle Crashers with my BF (acheivement whore... gotta have 'em) and trying to finish off Limbo. Just need one more achievement! I played the Deathspank T.O.V., which I find far more tedious than the first one. Too bad, the first was wonderful.

Work stuff: As some of you may know, I teach orchestra at a junior high. This is exams week, and of course I had to prepare a written exam for my class. EVERY exam I always put in a trick question. About half the kids know this (because they're 8th graders and have had me before, knowing I'll do this), but still some forget. This time I buried a dummy question a little more than halfway through the test. It says:

32) Answer only the odds and turn in your exam.

However, the INSTRUCTIONS at the top of the page say "Please read over every question before beginning to answer the exam." I also stated this three times, out loud, before the exam began today. Of 22 kids in my first class... ZERO got it. Of 17 in my next class... 1 got it. JEEZ! Kids don't follow instructions these days, and there's your proof. Heh heh heh.. I had some mildly irritated kids when they saw that dummy question. I see their heads snap up and then they glare at me or laugh and I just smile. Some are frantically scrubbing away answers, and I had to tell them, too bad, you alreayd got half way through the test, you have to keep answering. I love these little tricks. One of the perks of being a teacher. Another perk: tomorrow is my las tday of school til Jan 4!!! HOLIDAY!!!!!!!!!!