Chris scares me when he gets into these moods. Literally scares me to the point that I get afraid to say a word to him out of fear that he'll go off on me. I don't think he knows how bad it makes me feel.

I can't decide if the reason why I can't sleep is because Chris's mood or because I start a new semester in roughly 4 hours.

First and foremost, HAPPY NEW YEAR! 2009, you sucked ass. 2010...so far so good, but it's only night 3.

New Year's party was EPIC. I heard some stories from when after I left. I chose a good time to leave apparently.

Purposely did not tell my manager at IKEA when I got out of school for the break so that he would not schedule me during the week. It has worked pretty well so far. I'm really enjoying the many days of waking up mid-afternoon knowing that I do not have to be anywhere within the next hour. Sleep, you've been good to me. <3

My break has mostly consisted of hanging out with Larson. Lots of movie watching, music playing/listening and sleeping in. Yep. Fun times. As I write this he's playing Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 while I'm jacking around on the internet on his laptop. I love lazy days/nights. Good thing I have a little over 2 weeks left of this. =)

Oh yeah...DFW had it's first white Christmas in...EVER...so that was awesome. I wish that could happen every year. But Texas being Texas next year it'll probably be 70 degrees on Christmas. Lame.

The catalog shoot that I did in early December I think went pretty well. I've only ever done stuff like that for other students and not professionally so I was just a eenie weenie tad bit nervous the whole day. I head back from Shaun and he said that everyone seemed to like the images I gave them. I can't wait to see the final product.

Uhhh I don't have much else to say.

--Good luck
--Thanks! :-)
--Your amazing. You can do it!

That was via text this morning in preparation for my Spanish exam. ::deep breath:: Well here goes nothing...

Instead of reading for Spanish, I wish I was lying in bed with you.

As the signs say in the photo lab: THE END IS NEAR HERE!

I'm one paper and one final away from being done with this semester. It's so hard to find motivation to get this done.

I had my final critiques today. In Photo & The Web, I received a lot more positive feedback than expected. I thought it was rather boring, but on my way to class I got a couple ideas of how I could push it further. Paho thought those ideas were good, but alas I only thought of them the day of critique. In Alt, Kathy liked my project. It was incomplete but I had showed 10 of the 14 images that are going in my book which was plenty enough. After a nap I had printed the last 4 and I hope they came out. Van dyke dries down a lot and when my prints were wet they seemed a little dark. I'll make the call when I go pick them up later tomorrow. Oh and I plan on giving it to Brennan as a birthday/Christmas gift so I'm going to take pictures of it for my portfolio before I do.

Wow my mind is everywhere right now.

The house has been partially decorated for Christmas. We're trying to get some lights up before the party this week. Fun times.

I've been seeing Chris nearly everyday. Each of the times we've hung out has been the highlight of my day. Although I have been uber stressed this week, he's been able to get me to relax, laugh and enjoy myself. :-)

--You poor thing.
--Hmmm?
--You can't get your mind off your work.
--::groans:: I know.

Alright, I need to get to work.

I'm so burnt out right now.

I don't care what you people say.

He makes me smile. I feel happy.

Isn't that all what anyone wants?

I may have a "date" for the IKEA Christmas party next week. Call me old fashioned, but it felt so weird asking that it made me nervous enough to start rambling a little bit. Hopefully Tuesday night stays clear for him. I haven't been to the Christmas parties in the past, but my coworkers have always had fun at them and now that I'm actually good friends with some of these people, I feel I will too. Jesus, I'm all giddy thinking about it. =)





Holy shit. Heather Graham is on this episode of The Outer Limits. And she and some other scientist dude are staring at like an adult-sized embryo. Fucking weird.

After going to the input meeting on Tuesday night concerning Option 3, it seems as though roughly 2/3 of Plano parents/students/former students/faculty are against Option 3. The vast minority of the group are the supporters of Option 3 which is coming predominantly from the Schimelphenig Middle School area since they are getting exactly what they want by not having a split feeder school. But from those supporters I did not hear anything concerning the nearly complete disintegration of the East side cluster in order to give them this. On the other hand, those against Option 3, mostly from the East cluster obviously, stated facts about how it will negatively affect not only the East side but the other clusters as well. Everyone is selfish but from what I witnessed, the East side is not only concerned about their own students, but they also expressed concern about the district as a whole. I may be biased but I was giving the supporters a chance, but I still did not see a strong enough defense of Option 3.

Oh and the lack of communicating the information about this realignment and possible magnet/academy school was a major concern of the parents. The only way these people knew about it was through the teachers whom had mentioned something to their students whom in turn mentioned something to their parents. I remember one guy saying that the only reason he even was there was because his 13-year-old had told him the night before about it and that his son was angered by what was being proposed. I also remember one lady near the end of the 147 speakers saying that she came into the meeting fully supporting Option 3, but by the time it was her turn to speak she had heard enough reasons why this is a bad idea for the district as a whole that she could no longer agree with it. She, I'm sure, received the wrath of the supporters for she was sitting amongst a group of them.

There was another meeting for Spanish speaking people and 22 people spoke. Only ONE was for Option 3.

If the school board votes in favor of Option 3 on the 15th then all I know is that all hell is going to break loose in Plano. Since I'm in Denton I'm trying to get former Plano East alumni all over the country aware of what is going on back home and get their opinions. I'm really trying to get people to email the board to voice their opinions since they are currently not in the city, some have siblings still in Plano schools, trying to gain an either an undergraduate or graduate education at the current moment in time. I was fortunate enough to live close enough to actually attend the meeting. Originally I was going to speak, but since I only became aware of this within the past few days, I knew for a fact I myself did not know enough information to voice an opinion without making an ass of myself. So these past couple days I've trying to read up on it as much as I can to create a valid argument that would be taken seriously.

One thing that's for sure is I will be following very closely all the discussion that is currently taking place leading up to the final vote on the December 15.

Douglas Otto, please don't allow this to be the biggest mistake of your career by letting it pass. Also please don't let this the final thing you are known for.

Plano ISD Board plans for revised feeder plan and choice academy

The Plano ISD Board of Trustees met in a regular work session on Tuesday, November 17, to discuss the feeder alignment process. Having met within their board sub‐committees during the previous weeks, the trustees are pursuing study of the following plan and are seeking additional community input before their formal vote scheduled for December 15.

Referred to as 'Option 3' at the work session, this plan gaining consensus among the board, proposes to convert Williams High School to a 9‐12 grade academy program opening in 2012. Enrollment would be placed by a lottery system and open to students throughout the district. Williams High School would complete the academic year in 2010/11 and then close to be re‐purposed to accommodate the new four‐year concept. It would reopen in the fall 2012 with new programming in place. Considerations studied for the new programs at Williams High School include an early college high school, new tech high school, STEM Academy or Custom Plano ISD Academy which translates to possible tracks of study including medical, teaching, technology, forensic science and criminal justice with clear paths for postsecondary readiness.

With this new plan, the Board of Trustees is considering aligning Jasper High School and Shepton High School with Plano West Senior High. This would include a choice option zone for parents of students attending Schimelpfenig Middle School. As students at Schimelpfenig register for their four‐year high school plan in eighth grade, they can declare their intention to attend either Plano West Senior High or Plano Senior High as juniors. This declaration is mandated by UIL regulations. The plan also aligns Clark High School and Vines High School with Plano Senior High. Bowman Middle School would be aligned to Clark High School in this option. Similar to the situation above, this would include a choice option zone for parents of students attending Bowman Middle School. As students at Bowman register for their four-year high school plan in eighth grade, they can declare their intention to attend either Plano East Senior High or Plano Senior High as juniors. Finally, the plan aligns the new McMillen High School with Plano East Senior High.

With the opening of Otto Middle School, an additional feeder system was identified. Mendenhall Elementary, Schell Elementary and Stinson Elementary would align with Otto Middle. One final shift would have Harrington Elementary aligned with Haggard Middle School for the 2011‐12 school year.

The proposed feeder alignment system is as follows:

Plano West Senior High School
Jasper High School			Shepton High School
Rice MS	Robinson MS	Schimelphenig MS*	Renner MS	Frankford MS
Andrew ES	Daffron ES	Bethany ES	Barksdale ES	Rose Hagger ES
Skaggs ES	Gulledge ES	Carlisle ES	Brinker ES	Hightower ES
Wyatt ES	Haun ES	Mathews ES	Centennial ES	Jackson (W. Coit)
			Huffman ES	Mitchell ES
* Indicates a choice zone for entering into 9th grade

Plano Senior High School
Clark High School			Vines High School
Carpenter MS	Bowman MS*	Hendrick MS	Haggard MS	Wilson MS
Christie ES	Barron ES	Beverly ES	Davis ES	Aldridge ES
Harrington ES	Hickey ES	Hedgcoxe ES	Harrington ES	Jaskcon ES (E. Coit)
Thomas ES	McCall ES	Rasor ES	Hughston ES	Shepard ES
	Memorial ES		Saigling ES	Sigler ES
			Wells ES	Weatherford ES
* Indicates a choice zone for entering into 9th grade

Plano East Senior High School
McMillen High School
Armstrong MS	Murphy MS	Otto MS
Dooley ES	Boggess ES	Mendenhall ES
Forman ES	Hunt ES	Schell ES
Meadows ES	Miller ES	Stinson ES

( Maps of Plano and enrollment numbers within )

And here's what we have to say as a rebuttal:

• Equality For All Schools. Equal opportunity comes from Equal Enrollment.
• Property value is tied to cluster academic performance, which is tied to academic variety and choice, which is derived directly from schedule flexibility that is made possible with sizeable enrollments.
• Reduced enrollment will mean reduced sections for courses causing more master schedule matrix impacts, or reduced choice for students.
• Has the board consider these taxpayer impacts?
  • What is the busing impact of the split feeder program?
  • What is the cost of converting Williams HS and the impact of 1 year of down time?
  • Will we need to hire new teachers to staff Williams in its new role?
  • What amount of Williams will be unused (i.e. the athletic and fine arts facilities)?
  • What is the economic impact on the disadvantaged families near Williams who, would need to find a drive home, instead of walking, from optional after school tutoring and enrichment programs?
  • What is the projected academic impact to community academic performance for Williams' families?
  • With reduced enrollment, what is new cost per student impact from the new science wing being added to EAST? When this was passed in a bond election, where the voters not expecting full use of the facility such that the cost is distributed over a larger population?
  • What is the debt impact of this option and what plan do you have to lay off more teachers to support this option?
• Using the published numbers, from the "Feeder System Alignment" chart, the new total enrollment numbers total to (using the Choice Targets) 8236 students (2009‐2010 numbers), yet from the "Capacity Enrollment" data from Sept 1st, 2009, the actual capacity numbers total 7376. Why are you working with data that is error by 860 senior high school students?
• Using data from the city of Murphy website, it isn't clear that EAST would ever recover student population to support current enrichment levels. What are the district growth projections and where does the data come from?
• Why does the new plan put both Plano and Plano West Senior High School over their current stated functional capacity at the start of the plan? That is 111% and 118% respectively. While Plano East is at 74% of functional capacity. That's room for over 1000 more students before it reaches 110% functional capacity.
• Some of the board members were against split feeders for Clark HS some years back, why are you now for it?
• This appears to be rushed, given the previous years of study on this topic. What has changed that this needs to be forced now? Does the board realize that homebuyers in the last few years made expensive financial decisions based on public record of past PISD planning information that is now being ignored?
• Will students attending the new Academy School be excluded from district wide enrichment programs not offered at Williams, but available at the other senior high schools?

I'm watching a preview of what I'm going to be seeing live on December 19...except Turco best be doing better than he is now.

Back in Denton. Have yet to go to my own house though. I'm currently sitting in Misagh and Ray's new place south of 35E. It's actually the new neighboorhood next to Jose, Toy and Todd's place. (I honestly don't know who does or doesn't live in that house anymore).


They've still have some organizing to do. Usually Misagh calls me over to help her find a place for things. And then they cook me dinner. Not a bad trade off, I would say. Oh and that's a picture of Misagh's brother, Milad, in the fireplace. Her brother is the one that put that there. Haha. They have such a beautiful house. I will have to take pictures once they finally settle in. Ray and Milad are upstairs building some extra storage space in the attic. They are making a shit ton of noise.

I left Minnie in Plano. My sister just sent me this picture via twitter. I love my kitty. =)

I'm gonna miss her. My mom is making come back during the week to play with her and also to clean out the litter box.

Anyway...I have some Camera Lucida to read before Tuesday.

I always feel bad eating sweets whenever I'm at my parents' place. My dad is diabetic and because of that my mom essentially shops around his diet. The few sweets that she buys are usually intended for him in case he needs to, I guess, balance out his sugar levels. So when I grab ice cream from the freezer, candy from the bowl on the kitchen table or even pastries in a way I feel like I am stealing from my dad.

Currently I am watching Little Giants and growing up I felt like the girl in that movie. In middle school I seriously contemplated taking up football. I loved sports. I was a huge tomboy. Still a tomboy but I have my girly moments. But I often thought about doing certain things I don't like just to get the attention of a boy as girl and not as one of the guys. The thing is that I never really felt comfortable doing that so I gave up trying to act like something I'm not.

I still have a crush on Devon Sawa. He is in his early 30s now but he still looks damn good.



My cat seems to feel comfortable at this house. She is currently running around like a freak like she does back at the house in Den-tron.

Time to read for History of Photo.

Do I have to go to work tomorrow?

I am so glad that I've finally made some new good friends this past year. It takes me forever to really trust someone enough to be able to talk openly with them and I've found not just one new person but multiple people I can do that with: Stephanie, Trey, Alicia, and Taranvir are the first that come to mind. Of course Adrian, Misagh, Liz and Michael have been these type of people for years. Chris used to be someone I could talk to but that broke down.

Speaking of Chris, although we're no longer speaking, I worry for him. I look at how he's living his life and it seems like real fun, but I can't get passed the notion that it doesn't seem like he'll ever grow up, at least not anytime soon. I wish I could have my degree physically in my hands. I wish I could set my own work schedule. I wish I could be paid what he gets paid; it seems like he works a lot less hours than I do, but banks a lot more than me. I wish I had a job that I relatively liked. Actually I wish I had a job in the field of my chosen profession. (I'm shooting a catalog on December 6 so hopefully if that goes well, I can get more work from it.) I wish my weekends were free to do what I want to do. I wish I could sleep at night and not have to worry about the coming day. I just wish I had a lot more freedom than I do now. This is what he has that I want.

On the other hand, I take a second look at his life and I sometimes feel like I'm the one who is actually setting themself up for something big. I understand that college is a time in which most people let loose and begin to learn whom they really are, but once college is over I have this idea that people should stop acting so foolish and really begin to work towards what they really want. Drinking and getting high any chance you get is not the most productive in my eyes. I mean honestly there comes a point in everyone's life when smoking weed and getting trashed on the weekends becomes stupid and a hindrance. I'm such a party pooper but people need to grow up eventually. You've had your fun now take responsibility. This especially bothers me when it comes to him, because he's officially an educator. Yes, he's teaching music and not counseling his students on how they should lead their lives, but still his lifestyle has impacted his teaching. He's missed a number of lessons, because he wanted to sleep in instead of going out to Carrollton, sometimes due to his activities from the night before. Okay yes he reschedules them, but the point is he's giving the impression that he doesn't give a shit. Maybe he doesn't but he still has to do his job in a professional manner.

I could start on how he spends money, but there's no point in that since come February, it'll actually dawn on him that maybe he should've saved more instead of spending it they way he has. Student loans are a bitch.

Oh and then there's grad school. Oh he says he really wants to go. He's already looked into potential schools but as far as I know he hasn't really done much in actually getting the ball rolling. I believe he once told me he actually got busy on learning and hammered out the audition pieces. That's step one. And even with that he hasn't practiced as much as he could have. He essentially has 6 hours a day that he could practice on instruments out in Carrollton, but on numerous occasions he drove back to Denton to sleep instead. He later told me that most schools nowadays require a video for an initial screening process which, from my understanding, he has yet to make. Auditions for attending school in the fall start this spring. In order to audition for one of those schools, they have to approve your video. I'm not saying he won't be going to grad school, I'm just saying that at the rate he's going that I've witnessed, he won't be going anytime within the next year.

It seems like his priorities these days are finding a reputable band to play in so he can gig as much as he wants and hanging out with Phil, Adan and/or Matt on a nightly basis. Cool. You do that. If it's what make you happy then whom am I to complain, right? All I'm doing is stating my observations and my opinions on what I've seen.

But I can't tell him all this. Even if I could, it's not like he'll listen to me anyway. So because of that I'm forced to write it here. At least to collect my thoughts.

The only reason this is on my mind right now is because after dinner my mom asked me about Chris. ::sigh::

...that my parents have to be at the doctor's office at 6 in the morning tomorrow..err today...for my dad's dialysis. It's a really strange feeling knowing that dialysis is really the main thing that's keeping my dad alive and kicking. I guess that's why my mom asked me if I was helping with the cooking; she's going to be preoccupied with him for a good portion of the day.

By the way, it's 3 in the morning so where is my sister? The Pucsifer concert ended hours ago.

I can't stop watching this:

I live vicariously through people I know.

It makes me feel better about not having done anything with my life.


I should stop doing that though.

I'm becoming a supplier. The things I do for friends.




Alicia - Man, you're a dick.
Me - Uhhh....thanks?
Alicia - No, I like it! You call people on their shit whether they like to hear it or not.




Aperture Magazine makes me happy. I wish I could afford a renewal subscription.




Fewd.

I hate cleaning the toilet but I'll be damned before I ever let it get as disgusting as Chris and Phil's toilet at their apartment.

I could start my Thanksgiving a day early since I'm not obligated to go to my classes tomorrow, but I'm going to be the lame photography student up at the lab at 8am working on her project until the lab closes. But after that my break will not be anything special since I have so much work and reading to do and catch up on. Blah. I'll of course put some time in for Rock Band with the sister. \m/ \m/

Defintiely not looking forward to work this weekend.

I feel asleep doing the reading for Spanish but I read enough of Act I that I was able to discuss it in class. My paper for History of Photo is done along with the first reading. All I have left is the 20+ page reading for that class. I have until 3:30 to get it done so hopefully it's not a hard read otherwise I'm screwed.

Time for a quick food break.

(I recently got a paid account on here again and I really do miss the icons I used to have that livejournal wouldn't allow me to use anymore when I was just a plus account.)

I've decided to pull an all-nighter to get a 500-word paper and readings for history of photo and spanish done.

First on my list: Read for Spanish since that's my first class of the day tomorrow.

I need to go stock up on some energy drinks.


Oh and I'm graduating in August...not May like I hoped. I'm watching Stephanie get ready for her senior show and there's no way in hell I'll be able to do that plus take 18 hours of straight art studios successfully. I can't afford to fail a class this late in the game. So I'll be done with photo in May and probably take printmaking and another art class in the summer. Maybe I could find an internship for the summer too.