Since all of you unlucky souls have to work over the summer, and because I have nothing better to do, I figured I would do my civic responsibility and summarize the major changes in Virginia law that were officially enacted today. I mean, lets face it, the last thing any of you need is another arrest on your record, so pay close attention, class. These are some of the major changes to our Commonwealth’s laws beginning July 1, 2008:

• Animal Cruelty Laws Toughened – In light of the Michael Vick trial (discussed on cVillain HERE and in countless other threads), Virginia has decided to get tough on the punishment of animal abusers. Beginning today, attending an organized animal fight will be a felony. It will be also be a felony to use any substance or equipment to enhance an animal’s ability to fight. Cockfighting as a sport is now officially illegal in the state of Virginia as well.

• Mental Health System Reform – In the aftermath of the Virginia Tech shootings (Parlie honored the rememberance of that horrible tragedy here), the General Assembly passed legislation to change the way the state identifies, monitors, and treats the mentally ill. To facilitate the proper treatment of mentally unstable individuals (and so they are unable to purchase firearms), new laws will help improve the exchange of mental health records. »Read More

I was thinking about a poll that was once conducted on this site about how many cVillain readers actually live downtown (which I cannot find in the archives for the life of me). The results showed that most of this site’s readers don’t actually live downtown, which is the scene that this blog revolves around. Now I will tell you that when I moved to Charlottesville, I knew nothing about this city and not a soul that lived inside it. I looked at a lot of different apartments in a lot of different locations, but as soon as I saw the downtown area, I fell in love.

What’s not to love about living downtown? The mall is social epicenter of this wonderful city, and it exudes a unique and dignified air with its countless number of fantastic food and drink options. Not only that, but I could get as drunk as I wanted and never had to call a cab (which is apparently iffy in this town). I felt like I was part of some hip and trendy crowd that always knew what the new black was. Whenever I had friends over, they all agreed how cool it was to be living in downtown Charlottesville.

After spending almost a year living downtown, however, I have noticed a few drawbacks to my seemingly perfect existence:

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Summertime is right around the corner, and public school teachers around the country are rejoicing. It is the time of year when we finally look back at the nine and a half months of blood, sweat, and tears, and realize that it was totally worth it. While older teachers have families to attend to during the summer, a younger teacher like myself truly gets to live it up. While my friends have to get up early and go to work on these beautiful summer days, I get to sleep in and do pretty much whatever I want. Many of my friends seem to think that it is unfair that I get paid to do nothing for an entire summer. This is because they don’t quite understand what teachers have to put up with during the school year to earn their time off. While most teachers I know (myself included) love what they do for a living, there are always a few students that will drive even the most composed teacher nuts:

The Kid Who Always Asks To Use the Bathroom: I am a teacher, and because of that I am equipped with a built-in lie detecting device in my brain. I can tell the difference between a kid who actually needs to go, and a kid that doesn’t. If you’re asking me twice a day, every day, it isn’t any easier to fool me, buddy. This isn’t the Lotto…more plays does not increase your chance of winning the bathroom pass game.

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