There are definitely parts of Bad Teacher to which I relate.

Let me preface this post by telling you the part of Cameron Diaz' character I can't relate to: the hating teaching part. I love being a teacher, I love kids, and I (think I) am pretty good at it.

But then again, I laughed a lot during this movie, which is because there was a lot of truth to it.

First, like Diaz' character, Elizabeth, I never thought I'd be a teacher in the long term. I too envisioned myself marrying rich and never working again, wracking up large credit card bills at Bloomingdale's buying clothes and Manolos.

Second, like the perennially annoying supporting characters in this film, the public school system is filled with well-meaning but irritating educators that often made me want to put my sweatshirt over my head and nap.

Third, an extremely high percentage of public school teachers I once worked with used their hard-earned salaries to buy implants. Unfortunately they didn't perform the courtesy of scheduling surgery during the summer.

That's about where the similarities end. I highly recommend this movie for anyone who has spent time in the classroom.

Blogging: It's what we do.

I've created this blog for several reasons. First, all the freelancers are doing it. Second, for writing practice. Third, to kill time. Fourth, to catalogue strange Las Vegas happenings.

I'm heading to Nebraska next week to start my MFA program in creative writing. I'm not sure what I'm going to take away from it yet. If anything, it will be impossible for me to say that I didn't give writing a shot, and I can die knowing I followed my dreams or something like that. In any case, I imagine I'll have a lot to report during those ten days.

Meanwhile, I shop for affordable insurance, buy a smaller laptop, and try to calculate how much sleep is too much sleep for the self-employed. I eat cheaply, avoid buying new clothes, dye my hair a more serious shade, and enjoy telling people what I do for a living for the first time.

So far, so good, but I'm still getting paychecks from the school district, and will for another few weeks. I procured a job teaching college composition, and I've yet to determine whether this will prove profitable enough for the money. Additionally, I'm starting to feel some malaise because I have no daily schedule. My guess is this feeling will go away once I have coursework to finish and papers to grade.

Until then, I nap.