Bladder Spasm, Kisses, and The Global Financial Crisis

Wow, what a title. I just thought I couldn't ignore the kidney stone drama I've been experiencing. It's been a whole load of fun. It's been about three weeks since I had my first stone and since then I've had a double J stent and I've had a double J stent removed. The whole thing was a great way to learn about the amazing technology associated with medical advancements and to learn more about the necessity of certain pain killers. The double J stent I had was installed (a funny way of saying that) to prevent swelling after removing a kidney stone. I was glad to see her go (the stent that is) since it hurt to bend over to tie my shoes and it really hurt to deal with disrespectful teenagers. So it was gone as of 9:30 AM but she left my bladder or something in spasms. It was as if I was passing another kidney stone. So, it was more percoset for me and a nap with a heating pad. The offending doule J stent is pictured below.

Do not be deceived by the friendly looks of these suckers. They are one big pain in the....kidney.

In other news, my students are buckling under the Mrs. Pete Pressure. I've had several heart to heart conversations with students where I raise my voice to a very loud volume and use very sharp words and angry statements to convey "my heart." The results are almost instant...obedience. It's kind of rough having to get really passionate and angry to get results from students. I wouldn't do it if it didn't work. I was feeling pretty bad about being so hard on kids and demanding better results from them. Yesterday, I stayed late to get some work done. One of my more difficult female students stopped by to get some extra help and blew me some kisses for all my hard work on her way out the door. It might sound wierd but it was really funny. I think she was trying to make me laugh and show her appreciation at the same time.

And finally, I can't help but talk about the Global Financial Crisis. You really should go over to amalah and check out her hilarious commentary on said crisis. I know I'm not any kind of economic genius but I'm a little confused about all of this. If the whole WORLD is in some kind of economic crisis, can't we just decide to change the rules? I mean didn't we, as a world, make up the rules to this silly financial game? Didn't we assign values to the lumps of gold and silver we found beneath the earth's surface? Isn't it just like monopoly at this point, can't we just give everybody some more of that flimsy paper cash? I'm not naive enough to think that this isn't really complex. I'm just thinking that we as a human race created this mess and I'm just a little confused why we can't untangle it. Is it just me (or the percoset) or does this seem like an easy fix?