Tuesday, September 28, 2004
The flea market was great! Although I feel guilty now for spending as much as I did, I got some really awesome deals. The lady I usually buy from was really excited to see us (us being Mom and I) since she didn’t see us last month. We keep in touch though and she calls me when she gets stuff in that she knows I’d like. That huge Cheer Bear cuddle pillow in the picture was only $5 and it’s brand new…they usually cost about $16. I got a “new” vintage Hugs since mine was missing the hair tuft and ribbon (my old one will go on my For Sale page). I finally got a talking vintage Secret Bear!! He was the last one I needed to complete my “vintage” collection. I still need the vintage Loyal Heart Dog, Harmony Bear, Proud Heart Cat, Playful Heart Monkey, Noble Heart Horse and all the other UK exclusives but those are wayyy too expensive. Maybe when I’m rich LOL.
I also got a Murky Dismal, Posie sprite, another Rainbow Brite pillow case, the vintage Care Bear cloud car, 3 vintage mini PVC’s, a “new” 6 inch vintage Grumpy Bear (mine had pulls on the emblem so I gave that one to Eenan since he wanted it), and that Strawberry Shortcake blanket in the background…Mom got me that one :). It’s beautiful, with no flaws what-so-ever. There were so many more things I wanted, like some Strawberry Shortcake dolls, a Strawberry Shortcake thermos, and two Popples I don’t have…but I had already spent enough. I was even contemplating selling all the things I bought since I felt super guilty for buying so much but Mario said not to. He’s so good to me :).
After we finished browsing around the flea market and dropped Mom off at work, we stopped by H-E-B and Mario bought some fajitas and catfish. He bar-be-cued, I made the rice and beans and we sat down to eat with the boys. The fish was SO GOOD! I’d never had fish like that. It’s like, cooking and seasoning food comes naturally to this man. I bow at his feet.
Yesterday, Monday, we dropped Eenan off at school, then dropped John off and Mom and I went to talk to his counselor, or the attendance clerk. They sent in a letter that John had 6 unexcused absenses…which was total bullshit. John was enraged, since he never skips class and always does his work. He had a follow-up appointment with the dentist and we went for nothing because all John did was talk to the dentist on the phone. Supposedly, they tried getting a hold of us. Sure.
John told me he didn’t want to be late for 1st period, because he had Calculus. While we’re waiting to talk to someone, a boy comes in and tells the other lady in charge that his mom got a phone call and that he got a report that he was absent the whole year so far to some class he didn’t even have. He tells me his mom was furious with him and I tell him John’s dilema. We wish eachother good luck and then they call us in. We all decided I’d be the one to talk, because I’m bitchy and just won’t take crap from anybody, and Mom kind of just nods and doesn’t “fight back”. And sure enough, I had the pleasure of talking to an asshole of a man. He kept making it seem like it was John who was skipping. I told him no, that John was a good kid and he wouldn’t do anything to jeopardize his credits or graduation. He printed out a paper showing that he didn’t just have 4 absenses for that class, he had a total of 12 and about 6 more for his 6th period class. I told him nope, no way…there was no way he’d be skipping. I showed him his schedule and progress report and told him John didn’t even have the teacher that was posted there. As if he didn’t hear me, he tells the runner to go get John from his class. She comes back and says, “He’s absent today”. I tell them, “I just told you…he doesn’t have that teacher! And there’s no way he can be absent because we just dropped him off. We came from his dentist appointment and he didn’t even want to be late. He said he had calculus first period.” They start searching for another calculus class and tell me there is none. That he’s got to be skipping. He says, “A lot of kids say they’re going to class, yet they really aren’t.” I tell him “He wouldn’t skip. He’s a good kid. I want to get this cleared up because I don’t want him to have to go to court, lose a credit or not graduate because of someone else’s mistake. He hasn’t been absent to those classes.” He says, “Well, if he does have this class, and he has 12 absenses, then he already lost the credit for that class.” It’s like I just wasn’t getting through to that man. They were having a meeting with all the parents at 9:30am about the kids’ attendance (hmm…wonder why?) and he told us to come back and he’d personally help us unravel the problem. Then he says, “We’ll take your brother out of class so he can tell us what the problem is. That’s if he’s even there.” OMG I could have smacked him! The nerve!
Mom left to work with Noelia and I told her I’d give her the details after I got things fixed. Mario, Jaylen and I ate breakfast, then around 10:45 we went back. They sent us to the attendance office, then to the library. There were other parents in line before us…all there for the same reason as we were. Out of all the parents there, only one of them had a son who really wasn’t attending class. The man we were talking to had the audacity to tell this other lady, “A lot of the times girls skip classes because they have some sort of problem. Maybe they’re on drugs…or pregnant…” I couldn’t believe my ears! He could tell her this in private. He’s making the poor woman have a heart attack, and he doesn’t even know the real reason why her daughter’s skipping or if she’s even skipping at all! I was really pissed, as was Mario, that they don’t even give kids the benefit of the doubt…he didn’t even think that it could possibly be a counselor’s fault, or the computers messing up (they did after all have a virus in the attendance room’s computer–the reason why we were at the library). He talks to another lady…now this one’s pissed. She tells him her daughter is a great student, she’s never absent just because, she’s in all sorts of extra cirricular activities, and that she doesn’t get home from school till 7:30 because she’s so involved. The man of course says there’s many reasons why she could be skipping. The daughter gets there and the man practically screams at her asking, “Tell me the truth? ARE YOU SKIPPING OR NOT? Because I have the computer right here, and I can check if you are or not.” She looks terrified and says, “No sir, I’ve never skipped class! I mean, I’ve had absenses but my mom knows about them. They’ve all been excused.” He asks her if she has the excuses and she says, “Well, no I turned them in to the teachers.” Duh mister. It’s not like they get to keep the excuses. He then sarcastically says, “Oh yeah? Well, let’s check last year…let’s see what kind of record you had…” He brings up her file from the year before and it shows she had 33 absenses for her 8th period. Again she says no, that she didn’t skip. I then hear that the same exact teacher/class they’re accusing John of skipping is the one that’s showing up for that girl too. I then interrupt the man and say, “Don’t you think it’s maybe the teacher who has the problem? Maybe she’s not taking attendance correctly? Or maybe it’s the computers?” John gets there and he tells me again he doesn’t have that teacher, that he has another one and that’s the one he’s had since the 2nd week of school. He also says it’s weird and that they changed his schedule to the class they’re accusing him of skipping just that day. How convenient. I’m still arguing with the man and Mario chimes in saying, “There’s over 2,000 kids in this school…and I’m not pointing fingers or blaming anyone, but don’t you think there’s a margin for error??” The man shuts up and says for us to go to the lounge and he’d meet us there since they needed the computer in the library. When he gets there, he looks a bit embarrassed and says, “I just checked on the computer, there aren’t even any absenses showing up for John anymore”. I feel like rolling my eyes and tell him…”See, I told you my brother wouldn’t skip school.” Turns out that the bumbling morons in charge of scheduling gave John TWO 1st period classes…the one he was being accused of skipping and the actual one he was taking. They didn’t even know the teacher he had was a pre-calculus teacher. The man starts saying something about John maybe having to make up some work and I say, “Woah, wait a minute. You’re telling me HE’S going to have to make up work when this isn’t even his fault?!” The man says, “Well, I’ll get this taken care of personally. You won’t have to transfer to that other class…I’ll make it so you stay in this one. I’ll get it taken care of by the end of the day. I don’t want to say ‘yeah, they’ll take care of it’, then the counselors don’t do anything and I end up looking like an ass.”
We all thought the exact same thing, “Too late…”. I swear, I think the reason he helped us out so much was because he wanted to prove us wrong–he wanted to prove that John really was skipping. I had my doubts…I started thinking, “What if John really is skipping??” But I gave him the benefit of the doubt because he wouldn’t lie to me. And if he did, I was already planning how to hurt him. I’m just glad that’s over. Stupid school. I feel bad for the kids who’s parents didn’t even bother going and getting the facts straight. The kids can’t even talk to their counselor without having to sign a waiting list! Can you believe that?? John and that man told us about how on the first day of school, there were 200 kids sitting in the cafeteria because they didn’t have a schedule. Pure chaos. They need to get some kind of system going on in that school…and soon. Grr.
Welp, gonna go update some pages and junk. Gotta get some more coffee…Zzzzzzz…Greymatter is ruining my entries after a few hours. It removes the emoticons and and the music & mood fields…does anyone know why it’s doing this and how I can fix it?!?
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