i'm supposed to be printing up business cards. really all they're going to be are little slips of paper the size of business cards, because i cannot afford to print real ones. so i'm using (do NOT laugh) broderbund's print shop deluxe, and am sifting through lots of tacky PSD graphics to spruce it up.

five more days of work. already it's over -- we spent a good part of friday digging through the dirt outside the library for insects to feed the poor frog. things are falling apart, but not in a bad way. sometimes when all you can do is throw up your hands and sigh or laugh, they crawl into your lap and tell you they're ready to work again.

and k-park, the other job, will be over over in five days. it's over! enjoy what time is left, right? not really. people still want to quibble over stupid things like where the pizza party pizza is going to come from and what the extra money should be spent on, who stole the yo-yo's, whose job it is to clean up what mess. then there's the mother of the autistic boy we all love but are all so tired of chasing (literally) and repeating ourselves to and getting bitten by. we've been working with his mother all year more closely than we've ever worked with any parent. she sends back an eval that notes we are not trained professionals (trained in what? tackling? bite evasion? violent tantrum-stopping?) and gave a lukewarm grade for staff performance. then there's the boss, who's been my problem all along, who is simply an asshole the way a dog is a canine. he just, fricking, is. there's no changing the fact, and no reason to want to.

i've almost reached a zen-like understanding of his existence. very nearly.

my mom wants to know what i'll be doing with my summer, then. personally i don't see what's wrong with reading novels, chiseling away at my own fiction, babysitting, working on my freestyle and helping Eugene's Brother with the yard, but she's threatened me with ceaseless housework if i don't get a job or take a class. i must admit i do need money and lots of it if i'm to buy the laptop and then have any sort of fun at all in vegas, not to mention have some kind of stash for the fall when i will be living in another city, but i don't want to be cooped up behind a desk or checkout counter or god forbid teaching a bunch of seventh-graders how to divide double digits. not for the whole summer. please god no!

okay, i'm being immature. i need money and i have no experience robbing banks, so i might as well get a job. i seriously need a break from the classroom and i can't work in an office (i got a very nice offer for the latter, but i recognize an invitation to suicide when i see it.) that leaves retail or food or something illegal (i'm talking under the table, not anything disgusting). my cousin once made a thousand bucks putting labels on boxes of tea bags. she watched tv the whole time. that's what i'm talking about.

back to square one. (which was what?)

The House is fine. i like the swings. we ate on the picnic table tonight. my mom and brother helped me rake and water the yard. they're very concerned that mrs. s will find her lawn all brown and her plants all dead when she returns from italy mid-month.

anyway speaking of jobs and money and the future, although i wasn't necessarily talking about the future, also included in the conversation i had with my mom on what i should be doing with my summer was a side discussion on Eugene's Brother and his many skills. basically i think he is good at a lot of things and therefore will not have much of a problem, career-wise, once he is finished being formally educated and gets certified to do this and that and whatever it's useful to be certified in, in his field. i also think he's proven that he would make an excellent elementary school teacher. but he has this one hobby that you might even be able to call a passion, which could be developed (i think) into a successful business. it combines science and art; to be sucessful you definitely need an eye for natural beauty as well as extensive knowledge of your material. also a competitive attitude, because, well, that's what a healthy business calls for. E's B has the eye, the knowledge (and the means to increase it) and definitely the attitude.

so i better get to bed bc tomorrow it's back to the kids, or should i say back to the potato bugs because the frog did not eat the crickets i bought it (for $3 and now i want to return them). like i said, it's pretty much over. we're already wound down, and now we're just dragging ourselves through the final week. but this is supposed to be the fun part, so i guess it's not so bad.