surprise visit from boo boo. so so happy to see her. at the pace my life is going ... i feel like i may never see my friends again. happy camper i am for the impending donkey konga fiesta this coming monday!!!!!

turned in my first set of grades. i can hardly believe the first six weeks of school are over. i'm doing grade conferences with my advisees right now, and i gotta say, maybe it's the nature of being in school too long, but my powers of diplomacy are fast receding (like jason alexander's hairline in "shallow hal.") i used to be able to say at least a few nice things to each kid ... but one of my grade conferences went something like this:

"dude. you're failing all four of your classes. and if you can't meet me half way and at least try to do a modicum of work, i really can't help you. so either you put your ass in gear, or i'll be calling you 'freshman' again next year."

yikes. not exactly what you call gracious, but hopefully it does the trick. one of my kids from last year accused me of this: "damn, miss chiu, you are FIERCE this year." i found that rather flattering. you wanna play hardball with miss chiu??? step up and bring the heat, baby. BRING IT.