The Muffin Room

Why is this blog called The Muffin Room? It all comes from my high school days. There was a class of students who I believe were Special Ed kids or maybe they had some types of developmental disabilities. These students had a classroom in which they baked muffins to sell to the rest of the student body. There were blueberry muffins, chocolate chip muffins, and (I think) banana nut muffins.

We called those kids The Muffin Kids, and their classroom was The Muffin Room.

One day, The Muffin Room caught fire. I think one of the ovens overheated or something. Everyone was concerned, but then an announcement came over the loudspeakers: "SRHS students -- do not worry. The fire has been put out and the muffins will still be sold."

No mention of the students. Never fear. The muffins will still be sold.

On the cover of the next issue of the school newspaper was a muffin with smoke curling from the top.

That has always stuck with me as one of the most ridiculous things I've ever experienced.

BTW, if you like to read, some of my friends have turned me on to GoodReads, which is a social networking site where you can write book reviews and read reviews that your friends have written. Here's mine:

Shoes

I hope everyone in the world has seen this YouTube clip.



Like Kelly, I looooooove shoes. When I was in China, all my (clothing) shopping experiences were marred by the phrase, "For yooooou? No, you size too biiiiiiiig. We no have clothes for yooooou."

Dejected, I turned to shoes.

Today I was doing a little back-to-school shopping, and, once again, found solace in shoes. They have been a constant in my life. I have at least two pairs that I've owned since high school. This is not to say that I keep all my old shoes. I love cleaning out my closet, and I'm pretty good about eliminating shoes that just don't work -- even if they're expensive ones I haven't worn much.

But having size 6 feet ensures that, in most parts of the world, at least my feet won't be criticized for their size. If only my stomach would comply, we'd be in business.

Speaking of YouTube, I've posted some of the video clips we took in Mongolia and China. Here's one, of the Naadam horse race we caught in Arkhangai:

Celebrity Obsession

I go back and forth about celebrity obsession. On the one hand, I love juicy gossip, and it's a lot more guilt-free when it's not about someone I personally know. On the other hand, I hate using any mind power on people who shouldn't even be celebrities in the first place (Nicole Richie, Paris Hilton, the Olsen twins, stylists-to-the-stars...).

This one in particular is extremely tough because Wino's actually talented (unlike those listed above) and I am a huge fan of her voice. But she just makes it waaaaaay too easy to stare in disturbed awe at the mess she continues to make of her life. Same story with Blohan, in a way, because she was actually good in Mean Girls, and now she's a total disaster. It's fun to watch, but it's really just sad.

I'd rather watch people who don't deserve to be famous take the hits.

A Different World

I thought it would feel really weird to be back home. I expected to have all kinds of culture shock (driving! diversity! George Bush!) but it hasn't been as strange as I'd expected. It seems like I never left, actually, especially since I came right back to work.

This isn't a bad thing necessarily. I do feel rested from my trip and it isn't like I don't know I've just spent two months in Mongolia. It's just a lot more anticlimactic than I'd anticipated.

Hopefully I won't have a panic attack on Monday morning when the kiddos arrive.

Back Home

After hours of flying, I made it back home to San Francisco. At first I was overwhelmed, especially because my room was not left in tip-top shape by the subleaser. But once I got everything in its place, it started to feel like home again.

Now it's back to work. I've already gone in to school two days this week and it's starting to feel routine. The kiddos come on Monday, and then there's no turning back.

I'm sure I'll have some crazy stories once I meet this year's batch of lovely youngsters.

BTW, Mongolia pictures are here.