Everything else: rest of the airport.

The two are not connected except by a train that’s outside security.  First of all, this is really, really stupid, on account of the airport would be severely fracked if not actually shut down if anything happened to that train.  Second, it makes me have to go through security an extra time to get to my connecting flight, whenever I connect through O’Hare on an international itinerary.

The problem with this is, when I go through security, I want to get smart.  I restrained myself from saying these things, but that was quite the effort to repeat.

TSA: Take your shoes off.
Avrila: That might be a WMD violation.

TSA: Any sharp objects?
Avrila: Do butcher knives count?

TSA: Has anyone else had access to your baggage?
Avrila: (option 1) My shrinks, but they haven’t been able to do much about it.
Avrila: (option 2) Well, there was a friendly darker-skinned fellow with a towel on his head…

TSA: Has anyone given you anything to carry?
Avrila: Just a clock with some extra wires.

Avrila: (general comment) Defend us, oh thou great defenders of freedom, from four ounce packages of exploding toothpaste!  And thank God you’re here to stop all those terrorists who can’t open Ziploc bags!

Again, I don’t say these things.  Because I know that would be dumb.  But must they really require me to restrain myself twice?

This particular pest control professional seemed to be just barely out of kittenhood, as well as accustomed to crazy tourists (probably they usually come bearing gifts of fish and chips, but an ear rub was also accepted).

The other day, Dad decided that I need a week or so in Wales this summer (and who am I to argue?). So he wandered over to Expedia and pushed the button…and then things got stupid at the travel site.

Then, on my way off the beach, I decided it’d be fun to see if I could go back and forth across this one shallow little river that runs down the beach to the ocean, without getting wet. Well, I got wet; now my shoes are all squooshy. And I have to wear those to drive in, back to Monmouth, tomorrow. I wish I’d brought my sandals.

I took a few more pictures; I think I’ll be able to finish off the roll tomorrow, one way or another. I wish I’d brought my camera, though–it’d be so much easier to rub people’s noses in the coolness of my spring break, that way.

I’m not going to say I’ve never forgotten to cut up 6-pack rings at home; I can’t think of a time when I didn’t do that, and I don’t even get 6-packs that often, but it could’ve happened. But at the beach…where you’re looking right at the big wet thing that animals swim in and get strangled by 6-pack rings in…it takes an extra special kind of stupid dillweed to leave stuff like that out, in that context.

Bad news: I forgot my fricking camera.

On the good side:

• Students are showing growth, from what I can tell, on their post-tests
• Latest order from Fry’s shipped
• The two classes I found will get me my middle school math endorsement
• Countdown to spring break dipped below 200 hours
• The online class where I thought I was gonna have to knock myself out to get a B…the professor e-mailed me to let me know I have an A so far. How, I don’t know, with all the stuff I’ve posted late, but maybe she cares more about quality I guess
• I had my 3-way conference today…either “meets objective” or “making satisfactory progress” on everything!
• I’ll be at the beach before too much longer
• It’s almost spring
• Starbase Indy is going to be over Thanksgiving weekend again; so, pending money (which I’ll almost definitely have this September), I’ve got plans!

But on the bad side:

• Because it’s almost spring, disgustingly-happy couples that hang all over each other while crossing streets and make me want to yell “get a room!” are out and swarming
• I can’t find any version of the online class I want (semi-need) to take this spring…and there used to be at least two options open to me, I thought…
• I still have to decide which is worse, having calc 1 this summer in the middle of a 4-hour block of classes and having to run back and forth to a different building for it or having it online
• WOU’s being a PIA about the practicum part of finishing up ESOL there…so it’s either talking OSU into it or paying WOU for three credits to rubberstamp me and hoping they’ll go along with the placement I already have for spring (and let me start the process for that late, since I probably won’t get my ESOL Praxis results until after the term starts and they still require test scores for everything there)…oh well, finishing everything at OSU would be my preference anyway.
• The cats are definitely tearing holes in the carpet; I’ve got to find a way to repair those and train the animals a bit

All in all, quite a decent day.