Praise be. :)

So in his speech today, the president announced a new plan to work with states to allow going in school to count as "looking for work" with state unemployment agencies. As those on unemployment know, going to school is considered to interefere with your job search, so if you go to school (even evening classes), it can and usually does make you ineligible to receive UI benefits. You can go through their retraining programs if you fit into a fairly narrow set of qualifications, but even then you don't get UI, you just get help with tuition and such -- it sort of replaces UI, but it's still not very much.

Here's the story in the P-I.

This would mean that someone could, let's say, return to college and admit that they have done so without putting their benefits at risk. In fact, it might make them more likely to get Pell Grants, or at least to accept them if they do. I can't tell you how much this cheers me up. It's a good thing.

Music!

Today is an emo, alternative day, so I will post an emo alternative song that I've become pretty fond of. It tells a great story. The band is Airborne Toxic Event, and although their video is good, it didn't allow embedding, so I grabbed this live performance instead -- which is pretty damn good, despite an unfortunate decision to color-coordinate in burnt orange. The 80's called. They want their stage show back. (In the official video, the woman plays the violin or viola... couldn't tell offhand which it was).

Whew.

I have a frightening tendency to use sound effects to title journal entries. Has anyone else noticed this? Hmm.

Anyway. Today I finished one project for contract stuff, but not the one I wanted to have finished. Still, one down is one down. I did a load of laundry and a load of dishes, which doesn't really scratch the surface of what needs doing, but.... *shrug* Oh, and I went up to school and got an add code for the Honors Seminar for Fall. I suspect that the one I chose is at a time that's going to make the rest of my schedule a real pain, but what can you do?

I followed up on talking to the Seattle Drum School guy (inspired by iamnikchick and her awesome daughter Kate) and ended up getting guitar lessons for Will starting next week with some financial aid, which is understood to be a temporary thing for now until employment returns. I'm still paying a little, primarily out of guilt and a desire to not be a total sponge. Will has been impressed with the knowledge that he has to work at this or it goes away -- we're not taking their assistance for him to goof off. He can decide it's not for him, that's fine, but that's something else entirely. His teacher's name is Bob. This should be good.

I was feeling down, so I decided to do an early Mother's Day (since Sunday is crowded everywhere anyway) with the boys and we went out to eat. This probably wasn't smart on my part, but I don't care, damn it. We went to Geraldine's Counter. I had the roasted vegetable ravioli, and then apple-pineapple crisp with a scoop of ice cream for dessert. Yes, I am evil. Thank you for noticing.

Will gave me a card he made, which says "Happy MOMy's day." on the outside. On the inside, it reads:
"I love my mom because she likes to Help me learn Looking, talking, everything from right to wrong."
It's purple, with red hearts on it. Yes, I melted. What do you expect?

Then we went to the used bookstore and picked up a couple of used books for the boys. Then we came home, and I opened an LEO account with the UW Career Center (it's used to store Letters of Evaluation for the purpose of getting into grad school or getting work with an academic institution). Then I knitted another four lines on my lace scarf, which I hadn't touched in ages. Then I posted this.

That is all.