Ten Points

1. Syriana is really, really good.

2. This is probably something I shouldn't share, but I've spent a considerable amount of time this week on this website. It's all about celebrities and how they died. It's pretty fascinating.

3. For some reason, I had this dream last night that I died. Hmmm, I wonder why. See #2.

4. This is the second year in a row in which I've watched the premiere of American Idol. I've never watched another episode of it. It holds my attention for a few minutes, and I might laugh at someone really bad, then I get a little sickened by it. Still, it's going to be the buzz in the school tomorrow. I hate reality TV.

5. I've missed 24, again. I figure if I miss the opening episode, I'm lost for the season. I'll have to rent the DVDs of this season eventually. What a great show, but one I can't really commit to right now.

6. I'm wallowing in self-pity a little right now.

7. I was just invited to an Oscars party. I think the big ones I still need to see are Cinderella Man, Hustle and Flow, Brokeback Mountain, Munich, Walk the Line, Match Point, The Constant Gardener, Grizzly Man, A History of Violence, and Good Night, and Good Luck. That's a ton, I guess, but I have seen a lot of the contendors - Capote, Crash, The 40 Year-Old Virgin, The Squid and the Whale, Syriana and King Kong. Actually, that's not that many. I have my work cut out for me.

8. I called in to the radio yesterday, during a segment about Houston schools offering teachers bonuses for getting high test scores from their students. As a teacher who works two jobs to make ends meet, I'd certainly appreciate more money. However, this is a terrible way to do it. And I wish it was a way to do it, because there are certainly times when I wish crummy colleagues could be booted out, or, me, as a good teacher, could be rewarded for it. However, this is not the answer, at all. I wss very nervous when I called, and I stuttered.

9. I still don't have heat downstairs. My heating bills are going to be awesomely miniscule this winter. The new landlord has to replace the entire furnace, a job that will cost her up to $10,000. That would have sucked.

10. Apparently a classroom on the third floor will be mine soon. As soon as it's not condemned from the black mold that is there. They're working on it.