HORNS UP:

*Hooray for customer service in Texas! Every time I call a business in Texas, I'm taken aback at how friendly - the friend of a friend offering me a glass of tea kind of friendly - people are. I called an alumni relations office at my alma mater a few days ago, and my heart went pitter patter when my phone answerer found the information I needed and wished me a nice day with a smile in her voice. It's sad that this gets a mention on Horns Up (and yeah, it's kinda been a slow week in the good-things-happening-to-me department), but so many people in New York are just nasty and apathetic.

*When I find a song I really like, I don't download it or buy it on iTunes. Instead, I listen to it over and over on Youtube, often while trying to tune out the cheesy photo slideshow or anime montage some doofus on the internet has set to it. Sometimes it's hard, and I know there's a better way. Still, I Youtube it. I'm the worst kind of ignorant and cheap, I guess.

This embarrassing admission is meant to segue into the fact that I like Kanye's West debut album, The College Dropout. I listened to it when it came out pre-Youtube only because I was part of a shared music network with every person in my college dorm. And back then I listened to it frequently. This was the Kanye who was still shaky from the car accident, tired from singing through the wire. When I joined the New York Public Library, I requested the album, but later got an email explaining that the cd was AWOL. By this time, Kanye had contracted elephantitis of the ego, so I wasn't too upset.

At the fabulous John Legend concert, a dj opened by spinning some old Kanye. I was digging it again. So now I'm Youtubing it. I really like the reflective indignance of "Spaceship."

*When Cade was away I played. Well, grocery shopped, walked around in the spring-like weather, and read. I also added a new Diane von Furstenburg skirt to my collection, bringing my total DvF count to three. It was $9 at a thrift store and in perfect condition.



HORNS DOWN:

*It's spring...or not. It was in the seventies yesterday. It is currently sleeting. Powdery snow is piled everywhere. Ice menaces anyone trying to commute.

When I saw the ice cream trucks emerge last weekend, along with the street vendors and Large Neighbor on the front steps, I really thought spring had arrived. Don't get me wrong. I like snow, I really do. I'm just ready to leave the house without a down coat. I'm ready for the slight sting of sunburn, not sleet, on my cheeks.

*I awoke early on Sunday hoping to escape the Daylight Savings demons. I deemed the mission successful Monday and Tuesday. By Wednesday, I started putting two and two together. Could my brain be throwing itself against my skull's mooring each day after work, my spirit shrinking and growing tight as a chicken heart right off the spit, because I'm freakin' tired?

Apparently so. I fell asleep around 7:00 last night, woke up at 8:19, and went back to bed at 10:00. When I briefly woke up, I couldn't remember my name, where I'm from, and found I could no longer walk. This never happens for me without some sort of anesthesia...or on spring break in Mexico. I felt great this morning, but am feeling exhausted now. Zzzzzz.

*I've stayed at work late the last week for parent-teacher conferences. My school requires long conversations with each parent, and each teacher has ten to eleven students, so it's all very manageable. Or it would be if all parents would give a damn and show. Or be considerate and show on time. I've seen a lot of tears during these conferences, and a lot of promises from parents that their kids will be scared straight into a life of turning in homework, not losing materials, and getting to school on time.

Yeah, right.

If that were the case, maybe then I'd be able to stomach the thought of another year of teaching, of conducting these conferences, of feeling like the only person in my students' lives who actually values education.