And You Thought They Hired You to Teach

Vampire Lishe, Pash't & friend

... but you also become an interior decorator, computer data person, psychologist, and -- after all is said & done -- the "guide on the side." Right now, most teachers have no computers in their classrooms; the district, in its wisdom, hired an outside company to remove obsolete computers. Now it's true that many CPUs are dinosaurs in tech terms, but anyone who's worked in public education knows that if the equipment leaves the building -- it won't be replaced any time soon. Since we post attendance and grades on the "student data system," next week -- and subsequent weeks -- will be quite interesting ... I may have to return to the old overhead projector, unless the library -- sorry, media center -- can check out one to me ... I hope the media center has lots of ink cartridges, because those of us without printers will be printing our student data, roll books, and more on their machines.





Enough kvetching about school ... This is year 35 -- and the more things change, the more they stay the same ... we'll make it, unless the TEA changes the rules that determine our school's rating.

The featured dolls are a Vampire Lishe & Pash't, taken in front of Mar's manga library. Ariadne, the vampire Lishe, is a Dollfie Dreams doll that Joy bought long ago ... she's our bad girl in the picture stories that will appear soon. Our friend in Oklahoma enjoyed the story in which Mar's boy Jace strays from his magical lover Catsandra for a tryst with Ariadne; Catsandra turns the rat into a rodent and her cat awaits his supper ... Pash't is our mascot doll, an Obitsu with a OOAK look by Joy. Pash't often travels to the out-of-state conventions ... not overseas (yet), but who knows where this kitty girl may roam? These two dolls are reasons why the "resin snobs" reluctantly allow 60 cm Obitsus into their hallowed halls; for anyone unfamiliar with the on-going debate on what defines a ball-jointed doll, most collectors agree that a BJD should

• have a fully jointed body -- neck, shoulders, elbows, wrists, waist, knees, ankles
• usually be strung; Obitsu dolls have "mechanical" joints
• have changeable eyes (Pash't breaks this rule; Obitsu does have an eye-hole head)
• usually wear different wigs
• Some collectors insist that BJDs should be made of resin, not plastic -- but Volks manufactured the Lishe, so mainly purists insist on this "rule"

The editor of Doll Costuming pointed out that many of the 19th century antique dolls fall into the BJD catergory ... although I'm not sure whether most Armand Marseilles dolls had jointed bodies in the same way that Asian BJDs do ... I recall a cloth body with compo or porcelain arms, legs & head. The "newborn" babies definitely do NOT fit into this category ... although they seem to be the latest DIY doll fad. Sorry, I just don't see the appeal of multiple versions of bald-headed, squinchy-faced infants -- and don't get me started on the ones that have been tinted slightly purple in order to duplicate the "just born" look. If I can get my hands on my grandfather's christening gown, I might buy or make a reborn in order to display my great-grandmother's handiwork; other than that, I shall leave the babies to the ones who adore them.

The big bison summons me back to SHS ... Meetings are so much fun!!

Dance Quote -- "We should consider everyday lost in which we don't dance." -Neitzsche