writings of a walking contradiction

So, part of my responsibilities include walking some of the kids two blocks down to the local library so they can have fun with the Anime Club that meets up every other Monday. Today was their Halloween party, and it was actually more fun than I thought it would be.

First, the kids had a pumpkin decorating contest. The finished pumpkins were named Taco, Sally, and Eduardo. (Eduardo won).

Then, they all had a mummy wrapping competition where each team wrapped up one of their members in rolls and rolls of toilet paper. Two of the mummies were kinda straggly looking, but the last was, by far, the neatest and tidiest little mummy I've ever seen. XD

After that, was the costume contest. The winner was the person who made the rest of the kids scream the loudest. Not fantastic news for my headache. But the finalists were Batman, Rose Tyler (complete with an itty bitty sonic screwdriver XD), and Susan Death from Discworld. I had a really, really, REALLY difficult time deciding which costume to vote for. (Rose Tyler won).

Last, the kids watched an episode of something called "Soul Eater". Don't ask me. I have no idea.

And then I spent twenty minutes teaching all the kids different card games. All in all, fun times were had.

It has been a while since my last post, so I thought that now would be a good time to post a few updates about what's going on in my life now. Also, this is going to be kind of an exercise in identifying some positive things that are happening to me.

I started my new part time job in the middle of February. I am an assistant tester, administering a test to see how well school children (kindergarteners through seniors in high school) who have a different language spoken in their homes to see how well they are learning English as a second (or third) language. It's been fascinating and also a little boring. For one thing, it's giving the same test over and over (and over and over and over) again. On the other hand, to see all these different students who speak so many different languages (Arabic, Bosnian, Vietnamese, Samoan, Spanish, Portuguese) and to see that sometimes they speak something that you don't expect. Like the adorable blonde haired blue eyed boy in third grade who speaks Chinese.

I also have an on again off again part time job assisting a local artist who speaks English as a second language. She's Iranian American and I help her with her correspondence and grant writing and other things where her unfamiliarity with the English language is a hindrance.

I've made some headway on my NaNoWriMo novel with editing it and writing more. It's probably never going to see the light of day, but it's invigorating to know that I really can accomplish something of this magnitude. I'm also planning on finally sending some poetry out for publication in the next few weeks so we'll see how that goes.

So, anyway. That's where I'm at. And now, I feel much better about my life so my bad mood can go screw itself.