I learned something today and that is that when my bosses tell me to "come in when the roads are safe," he and she really mean, "come in right now." After I got the call, I fell asleep for another three hours, waking only to field the Boy's semi-panicked phone call after he accidentally ate part of a muffin paper. They had assumed me lost or in a ditch when I finally sauntered in around lunchtime. No, I am definitely not the administration's fair-haired girl right now.
Of course, it doesn't help that The Angry Parent phoned the school today, asking how his child could've possibly failed. I'm preparing a package right now; with yellow highlighter for the assignments the student didn't turn in and pink highlighter for the assignments the student did poorly. It's vindictive fun for the whole family!
Once again, the worst that could happen is that I get fired. Then, of course, I could go off the mood meds. This is what I tell myself.
Let's see, when was the last time that I wrote in this journal? Yeep, January 30th. Okay, let's start with the new classes.
It's going to be a much easier semester: instead of 3 new preps, I'm re-teaching 2 advanced classes and starting one new general class. No more senior kids who hate reading & writing: yay! A new crop of junior kids who hate reading and writing: boo! Re-teaching the 2 courses has been a dream so far, as I finally have the chance to apply what I learned the first go 'round. Of course, I've only taught 2 days...but I have a reasonably good feeling about it so far. My feeling may have something to do with preparation; for the first time in months, I'm walking into my classroom with lesson plans and a good idea of how to jazz them up on the fly. This is a very good thing.
As for their personalities, I'm pleased to report that they're curious little monkeys and reasonably good at paying attention so far. I wonder what it'll be like when we're through the honeymoon.
My upcoming trip to Holland is progressing well. This weekend my parents came by the house to pick up my passport application. They stayed long enough to start screaming at each other, and left a tonne of bad vibes in their wake. Although I was alone and unable to find anyone on the phone, I decided to go out anyway, as the thought of spending another minute in the house made me want to rip out my hair by the roots. So I got dressed up & headed down to where nobody remembers my name.
Found Ale* at the Garden, and spent the next 3 hours alternately dancing, smoking, meeting new faces and trading confidences with Ale*. By the time I was ready to go home, I had scored several regular cigarettes by trading away the remains of a pack of Colts, and managed to leave the Garden just $3 poorer for a bottle of water. Bored while driving, I lit up again: my second cigarette outside of a social situation. It was disturbingly comfortable. I feel myself edging into the territory still occupied by my parents, who have been smoking and quitting in sequence for the past 30 years. It seems like such a small thing; giving up meat & booze loom far larger and I wonder why I worry about the occasional cigarette. The problem is that it's becoming a regular fixture of my weekend rather than an infrequent indulgence, which means that it's probably past time to stop.
"Yeah. I've tried heroin. A few times, yeah. Yeah, and ya know class? What I'm really trying to do now, is I'm really really really trying hard to cut down on the number of times that I try heroin [pauses] in a day. "
- dave foley, playing a highschool teacher
Thanks to The KitH transcript site.
Still not losing weight, but I'm not giving up hope yet.
