I have road rage issues

OK, I must first admit that I hate driving in winter.  The roads in my neighborhood rarely get salted so I have been driving on a sheet of ice now for a week.  But that isn't my problem.....

I used to have a serious anger problem.  I was always mad.  Do you want to know why?  Well, so do I.  It was something I couldn't control but a way I always felt.  I can go into theories at a later date.  The only thing that really gets me angry anymore is driving.  I do get a serious case of road rage.  Here are some scenarios:

Scenario 1:  There is snow on the ground, but NONE on the road.  The person in front of me is driving 12 mph in a 40 mph zone.  Why?  Because at any possible moment it could snow.  I really wish they would have looked in their rear view mirror to see me yelling at them and calling them a "f*ck stick:"  (Oh yeah, I really swear when the rage sets in)

Scenario 2:  I am on my way to work and I have to drive up this incline to get to the stop sign.  I am the 4th car back and had to stop.  When it was time to move forward, my tires simply spun on the solid ice of the incline and I went nowhere.  I actually had to back up 30+ feet in order to get up the icy incline to slide through the stop sign.  To this you would hear the words "Dumb Ass" come out of my mouth.

Scenario 3:  I am on the interstate to work.  Unable to go above 35 in a 65 because they haven't plowed or salted the roads yet.  Some 'dick pickle" swerves in front of me without turning on his signal.  Scared the BeJesus out of me!  And my morning commute was turned from 20 minutes to just over an hour!

Scenario 4:  Some "Dip Shit" in an SUV (yes, I drive one too but not like you) thinks their 4 wheel drive will circumvent the icy pavement so you can go ubber fast and cause a 7 car pileup.  Look at you go!  I understand that the SUV makes you feel invincible, but your not and neither are those cars around you!

I could keep going, but I feel my Hulkian rage coming back.  I just hope my morning commute tomorrow will be filled with safe, responsible drivers......  I bet I swear a few times before I get there.....

Bitch Badge Has Been Attained!

You need some background information in order to understand the whole situation on this one.

If you didn't know already, I am a special education teacher. I went through school in Illinois, but I teach in Iowa. So, some things didn't transfer over as smoothly as I would have liked. (I have been teaching in Iowa for 8 years by the way) Not to mention thanks to that lovely No Child Left Behind I am no longer a "Highly Qualified Teacher" because it doesn't really recognize special education because we weren't trained in any one area. (I have high hopes things will change with the new administration coming up)

Anyway.... I have been trying to take this one particular class for 3 YEARS! It is only offered in the the Spring semester and I have been denied access twice! Very frustrating. You have to have special permission to take the ONLINE COURSE that only lets 25 people in per year. My license is up in July, I have to take it NOW!

So, last week I e-mailed the department head to get permission to take the class. Once again the answer was no. I am a special ed teacher, why would I need an elementary education class. My reply was "I have had my transcripts read twice and both times it says I need this class to fulfill my license". The reply was "are you sure you really need this course".

Here is where the bitch in me let loose. I don't like confrontation, but felt I needed to up the anti. My response (verbatim) was this: "If I am denied access to this course I will need an official letter from *** University explaining to the Iowa Department of Education explaining why I have been unable to take this course over the last three years." I felt like a bitch writing it, but it needed to be done.

My initial response to my e-mail "I am out of the office at a conference until Monday, I will deal with this matter then."

Shit, I screwed my chance to take this class again didn't I?!?

Nope. I think she didn't want to deal with me and now I am enrolled in the class. I hated to channel the bitch I used to be, but occasionally you have to in order to get what you want.

Oh, and the class consist of reading journal articles assigned and writing summaries. A trained monkey could do it, so why is it such a guarded course to take?!? So next semester my new name will simply be.... Monkey!