The new Carnival of Education is up now, over at the Education Wonks. Click over and find out what’s going on in the world of education. We owe it to our children to keep current. Those who don’t, can’t complain.

The semester is over for me, and I don’t go back until after Christmas. I can relax and enjoy the Christmas lights, and I can do some of the planning I just didn’t have a chance to do, before. Our budget is nonexistent, so there’s very little shopping in store, but I am going to do some Amazon-surfing and maybe some Ebay-window-shopping.

I do have to put the grades into the computer and configure the final averages. The program we use will allow me to enter all the grades as percentages, and the spreadsheet thing lists them all as percentages, but the program won’t average them. It just gives me total points, so I have to divide the big number into the small number for each student. I’m sure Blackboard has a button to push that would do this for me but so far I haven’t found it, and I’m afraid my numbers will all disappear if I explore the options too thoroughly. Don’t laugh at me; it’s happened before. Schools purchase software, just as they purchase everything else, according to the lowest bidder, and we get what we pay for.

Today’s test that I was so in a wad about last night? It went off without a hitch. I ended up with an essay test (the kind that really separates those who know from those who had planned to wing it) and the last two students were finished within two hours. One student finished in less than a half hour and she still did well. Good student. Speed isn’t always an indicator, but this time it was. I had another student who finished in about forty minutes and DIDN’T do so well. Life is full of choices.

My favorite question was #12: What is the difference between knowledge and wisdom? Explain.

I got some really good stuff for that one. Great stuff.

I was going to relax, have a sandwich, and watch Going My Way, but Best In Show was on top of the stack and as I looked at the films I was seized with a desperate need for a Christopher Guest ensemble fix. Geniuses. Absolute geniuses, every one of them. Not living next door to them, and not being their best no-talent friend who gets to hang out with them anyway, is killing me sometimes. I suffer from Guffman Envy.

This time of year, I am completely obsessed with the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. Their Christmas music is so good, so differently good. . . . well, there are no words. Check out these videos. Oh, and don’t forget this one. Such style. Such quirky, whimsical style. Such classy, different arrangements. I love it.

Then, my beautiful Belle gave me Il Divo and Diana Krall, so I gave her the book I was going to give her for Christmas after I read it myself, but now she gets to read it first.

Ah, Christmas. Everybody’s house is beautiful with a glowing Christmas tree in it. Driving down our country road is like watching a widely-spaced Norman Rockwell infomercial. Which would be somewhat creepy, admit it.

Does the husband of one’s niece have any kind of specific geneaological title? Enquiring minds want to know. Enquiring minds also want to know what the big hairy deal is with all these people supposedly obsessed with Brangelina and K-fed and all these other celebrity couplings who will, apparently, do anything for PR, including breed. Who cares? I mean, ultimately, who cares?

There is no candy in this house. We’re both diabetic, but even so.

It’s almost 2:00 in the morning and I’m still up doing little thises and thats and I haven’t even BEGUN to finish reading that book so I can write that final exam so my students can take it tomorrow afternoon.

I had sort of hoped to find a test on the internet. But after frantically entering every keyword I could think of, I got nothing.

Tomorrow is going to be a long day. That’s because it’s already started. I am not going to bed tonight. Again.

It’s a really good book. I’ve read the first four chapters, and I loved it. Why can’t I get motivated tonight? Tomorrow is the last day of school for the semester, for crying out loud. I get to sleep in on Thursday morning!

Okay, as soon as I finish this post, I’m going in there and start. As soon as I finish this post, and maybe play a few rounds of Bookworm.

Would someone please come to my house and make me get up and go in there and get to work?

Also, I love to see my Christmas lights from the road. I really should turn off my computer, because it’s thundering like crazy out there. I guess the weather doesn’t know it’s December.

This is ridiculous. I’m out of here.

I’m feeling it now. The Christmas spirit, that is. I’m feeling it.

I watched White Christmas tonight on my new $25 dvd player, and it was, as always, beautiful. I’ve got all my Christmas movies on the top shelf; tomorrow night, I’m going to watch Going My Way.

I will probably watch Love Actually every other night. It’s been my favorite movie for several years now. I watch it all year long but I feel justified during December.

When it was still in the theater, Mom and her Red Hat friends went to see it. That night, my phone rang.

Mom: Jane! You are NOT to go and see that movie.
Me: Mom? What are you talking about?
Mom: The girls and I went to see that new movie with Hugh Grant and it was PORNOGRAPHIC, that’s all I can say about it, it was PORNOGRAPHIC.
Me: Hugh Grant was in a pornographic movie? I thought he saved that stuff for his personal life.
Mom: What?
Me: Nothing, Mom. Why do you say it was pornographic? What’s pornographic about it?
Mom: I’m not going to go into details. I’m just telling you that it’s pornographic and you are not to go see it.
Me: Okay, Mom, I won’t.

And I didn’t. We have no budget for the theater now.

But I bought it on dvd, used, from Amazon, as soon as it came out. I understand why an older person might call it pornographic, but heck, her warning just made me want to see it all the more.

I’ve been that way since I was a little kid. The best way to get me to want to do something was to forbid it.

To me, though, it’s not porn. Well, maybe that one part. But most of it is just one incredible story after another. Besides, how could a movie with Hugh Grant, Colin Firth, Liam Neeson, AND Alan Rickman be totally bad?

Mmmm, Snape. Snape and Professor Trelawney, together at last. Colin. Mmm, Colin.

However, I am probably the only person on earth who absolutely hated Hugh and Colin in those incredibly boring and senseless Bridget Jones movies. Blech, she was sooooooo stupid.

Hugh Grant really plays the same character in all of his movies (himself) but much of the time it works. With Bridget, it didn’t. But then, nothing did, in my opinion.

Christmas movies. And I have been wrapping presents! And packing boxes to take to the post office! Yay!

I’m worse than a child. I love this time of year.

I also have to write one more final tonight, to give tomorrow at 2:00, so I really should be starting that, or at least reading the rest of the book so I’ll know what kind of questions to ask, but I’d rather do this, and then I’d rather wrap some more, and then I might watch Going My Way before I go to bed, if I go to bed. Maybe I’ll watch it while I’m writing the final.

Or maybe I’ll just crank my Christmas music up and groove on that while I’m working.

Yes, that sounds like a plan.

HEY. Get on over to Patriside’s blog and sign up for the incredible New Year’s Mixmania!

And then go HERE and nominate your favorite not-famous blogs for a BOB award!

Then kick back and watch a Christmas movie, or listen to some tunes.