Friday Fragments, Finally!

Better late than never, right? Here are my not- so- fragmented thoughts for the week... visit Mrs.4444 with your own fragments.

***Come back readers! I have heard crickets chirping on my blog all week! Was it something I said- or didn't say? Whatever it is, please know that my husband will soon be back to work. I am finally sitting in a quiet room without Dora in one ear and Rocky in the other! I can now resume my manic bitching and complaining... so on with the show...

***My husband goes back to work at 3PM this afternoon- I'm not sure if I will make it till then- pray for me.

*** He has been off since Monday. It has been a true test and because I like a challenge, I called Charter Cable today, my internet provider, because my e-mail has not been accepted as valid for my bank, Twitter, and Facebook messages. I think I deserve a medal for only using the words "piss", "fuck" and "shit" once and not going postal on their asses! I'm expecting a thank you card from them.

***My e-mail dilemma has been going on for about a month. It started with "invalid e-mail" messages from Twitter, then Facebook. I didn't do anything about it because I knew what a dork I would look like explaining to them that I'm not getting my DM (direct messages) sent to my e-mail from my Twitter and Facebook accounts. (I actually did call one time a couple of weeks ago and mentioned that I wasn't getting Twitter messages and she said, "mam, I don't know what that is." And I said, "It's a social network." Then she said, "you mean, like My Space?" And I was like, "NO! I'm NOT a loser! It's a, uh, networking tool for my, um, business." Then I realized I actually WAS a loser!)

Then, this morning, after gouging my eyes out from doing my online banking- I opened a message from my bank that said they, also, were unable to send messages to my e-mail account since it was invalid. Finally, a legit reason to contact the fuckheads at Charter, once again! The first 2 times- they wouldn't help me since I use my Charter e-mail through Outlook Express- what kind of crap is that???

Eventually, I pulled out the profanity, big guns and the "let me talk to you supervisor, DellaLishia!" The supervisors were actually helpful and didn't dismiss me and did some 'reconfiguring' of codes. Still. doesn't. work.

***Yesterday, I was driving to the mall, to try and get my head on straight, and my cell phone rings. I was pissed off because I was in the middle of listening to Howard Stern playing a clip of Margaret Cho talk about her sexual escapades because, apparently, she lost a bunch of weight and is a big bisexual ho-bag slut, now.

My husband: "You're not going to believe this one! The school just called."
Me: "OH GOD- what? "

The Principal says my son had been caught listening to his i-Pod in class and the teacher took it away and the songs had lude and explicit lyrics. I need to come up to school and pick up the confiscated i-Pod and we will discuss his consequences.

First, you will need to know that we moved to this school when my son was in 5th grade. Our last school, also a Catholic school, LOVED him! Never had any problems, got good grades, and the teachers and students all adored him.

The first week at our current school , he started getting "infractions". Silly stuff, if you ask me. He said "that sucks" when told they weren't going to get a recess, and basically just talking. At first, my primal instinct was to defend him since this was out of nowhere! After about 5 infractions and a detention, I was beside myself and didn't know what to think. I made arrangements to meet with the administration and the "5th grade team". One teacher, clearly, was not fond of my son and bashed him left and right. There was one teacher that couldn't fathom what problems he could be causing due to his good behavior in her class and one teacher that defended him because he was new to the school and procedures. I ended up breaking down crying during that meeting making a complete fool of myself and left with no closure, just more confusion!

I am very tough on my son. I expect a lot out of him. He does his chores, is good with his sisters (most of the time), and does his homework. He is no angel, but frankly, his biggest offense is talking back to me and sneaking corn chips up to his bedroom. He knows right from wrong and is a decent kid and a NORMAL 14 year old boy.

So, now in our 4th year here, my son has been labeled "the bad kid". He gets infractions weekly, some that the teachers admittedly give him by mistake because they blame him since he's near, but they never take them back! His grades and his confidence have suffered greatly at this school, he can't make a move without being reprimanded. I have been told by SEVERAL different people in this parish that these teachers 1.) have a problem with boys and 2.) 'mark' a few boys as scapegoats for every offense. I now believe it.

So, back to the i-Pod... I, personally, download ALL music onto his i-Pod- only the clean lyrics (the only cursing he needs to hear is from my fucking mouth, right?) We have one computer -and it's a desktop- in the family room- that I usually monopolize! If he needs it for a class project, I am only a few steps away in the main traffic area of our house.

My husband spoke to the Principal, not me, he is clueless does not know about the i-Pod or the computer and just assumed my son's guilt. I knew better and made a detour to the school to give them a taste of my mind. About explicit lyrics. While I'm listening to Margaret Cho talk about "ATM sex"- look it up- the irony is delicious!

I walk into the office with a swagger, pretty confident that I was right (I won't lie, there was a touch of worry and doubt, thinking he may have snuck to a computer and downloaded NWA, in which case, I would probably have cried- AGAIN!) I am buzzed in after another mom of a 'marked' boy leaves - IN TEARS- our boys have been the brunt of a lot of blame together and I really felt her pain!

I sit down at the Vice Principal's desk. He picks up the i-Pod and flips the VIDEO i-Pod towards me (my son just has a Nano)- cue gloating and HUGEMONGOUS SIGH OF RELIEF- "that is NOT my son's i-Pod!" He seemed rather confused why my son would be taking the blame for this. I explained to him our delinquent journey through this school (the VP is new to the school this year). How he has been reprimanded for "talking back" when declaring his innocence and "being a snitch " when denying part and pointing fingers at WHO actually did the offense, so now he just shuts up. I waged how the teacher PROBABLY didn't even ASK if it was his, just made an assumption (I was right). I told him he needs to look into the unfair treatment of some of the boys in the school. I was passionate and emotional and didn't curse once- I think another medal is in order!

I walked out of the office with my chest held high and could hear roar of cheering crowds in my head! When my son got home, I asked him how long he listened to this i-Pod? The boy had just leaned over and said "Listen to this" and put the ear bud in his ear and that's when the teacher caught my son! Discipline should not be played like a game of Hot Potato! My son is NOT a criminal- talk to him!

*** We St Louisans are beaming with pride today. Why, you ask? Because BusinessWeek.com has declared our city #2 on the list of America's Unhappiest Cities!

Here's how we stacked up in the standings...
Overall rank: 2
Depression rank: 13
Suicide rank: 22
Crime (property and violent) rank: 1
Divorce rate rank: 18
Cloudy days: 164
Unemployment rate (December 2008): 8.2%

I was wondering what the hell was wrong with me all week? Thank you Business Week! Now, we're even MORE depressed!!!