Today was yet another computer workshop. This one was at our middle school, so at least I didn’t’ have to travel hither and yon to get there. It didn’t start until 9, so that gave me time to have a meeting with the woman who may well receive the "Nastiest Parent of the Year" Award. This is quite a feat, in that there is stiff competition out there.

But even the Pink of Perfection agrees with me. She happened to have been in our inner office, so she could hear what this woman was saying.

Basically it boiled down to the fact that her child is the only important child in the building, and that it doesn’t matter that I have several children who have to be tested before him, all that should be dropped to accommodate her.

Very ugly.

She left out little tidbits of information that I had gathered beforehand, though. Like she is never home to help or supervise this kid. That he is capable but doesn’t give a hoot about schoolwork as no one checks up on him at home. And this year he has two demanding teachers who won’t put up with his nonsense and are making him work his hardest.

Sounds as if Mom isn’t into accountability. She also wasn’t interested in hearing that just because we were testing this child didn’t mean he’d end up with special ed services. She didn’t want to hear that in order to be on an ed plan there needs to be a learning disability. She wants us to take over what she fails to do.

I was happy to escort her out the door.

The workshop was to learn a program that the system has paid huge money for, but that the teachers don’t like. It’s very difficult to manage it, especially in a one-computer classroom. We do have the media center, but that means the teachers have to specifically eke time out of the day to get their classes down there, and given all the other things they’re expected to do, that isn’t an easy task.

I doubt this thing will ever fly. It also requires time that the teachers can design an individual program of studies for each of the kids in their class, assigning and eliminating pieces of the program that they might want the kids to do.

I don’t’ think the teachers have the time and energy for all of this. I know I don’t have the time to deal with it, and I’m afraid that that might be what they have in mind for me. Only eight of us were trained today. Odds are that I’ll be expected to do something with this.

Then I discovered why they don’t give teachers longer than 20 minutes for lunch. If we were allowed to go out and have real food like the rest of the world, we’d sleep all afternoon.

We went to a local Chinese restaurant that had one of those buffet setups, and sat together, chatted and relaxed, and had a splendid time.

Then we went back to school, and I thought that I was going to just fall sound asleep. The woman at the terminal next to me kept threatening to kick me, especially if I started drooling. Wouldn’t have surprised me if I did.

The stuff we were doing was dull, the library we were in was stuffy and I was seriously fighting the urge to nap.

I managed to stick it out until we were able to leave at 3. Long day, without much use, as far as I can see.

I liked not having to go to rehearsal tonight. I went to Best Buy and got a bunch of Christmas CDs for myself. A couple of cheap ones and Burl Ives singing "Holly Jolly" and a slew of other songs. I didn’t need them, but they give me pleasure and I hope will put me in a ho-ho-ho kind of mood.

I got an impersonal e-mail from Michael thanking me for the box I sent him. For some reason I’m feeling hurt and irritated by him lately. I’m sure it’s just me, but he has been very distant for the last two weeks and I don’t like it.

I think I’m sort of testing him, and at this point he’s failing miserably. When I don’t hear form him for a while I always send an "are you o.k.?" kind of message. I want him to do the same. So far he hasn’t.

This disappoints me.

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