Well, that journalling resolve went down the tubes pretty quick, dinnit?

Oh well. Things continue to chug along here at Rancho Insano, a.k.a. Mount Olympus, a.k.a. the RocketHome. The Boy has been writing tests and essays like crazy, but I've barely noticed. Our midterms went home last week, so there's been a storm of reaction, mostly from students who have done sweet fuck-all for weeks and are now about to catch hell for it from their parents. Our parent-teacher interviews went forward on Thursday night, and I have to say that it went pretty well. I mean, besides the fact that I had to look understanding, concerned, knowledgeable & professional for 2 1/2 hours straight. And that I developed some kind of sickness that evening. But other than that, it was a reasonably successful first experience.

I think the parts I like best are the bribes. One student offered me twenty dollars to be nice when his mother came in. I'm still trying to collect. Another student, one of my many ghosts (i.e. seldom-appearing students), told the class that he would be buying me a big bottle of wine to facilitate his passage through the course.

The tone of both bribes was incredibly fun. These are the moments I wanted when I went into teaching.

As for the now, the weekend has shuddered weepingly along its track. One of the worst parts of my current mental state is that the down-time always feels worse than the up-time. I look forward to my weekends with such a pathetic hopefulness that I can't help but be disappointed when they actually roll around. Today I'm trying to get my work done to free up Sunday, as it's my mom's birthday and there is a get-together planned. So far I haven't made it very far. The bedroom & kitchen has been tidied, I spoke to Scherezade at length, and I did spend a good long time answering some long-overdue email - but not a lot of school work has passed through my hands.

What makes it worse is that St. Stephen is having a housewarming party tonight, and we almost certainly can't go because I need to be here, working. I wish I were well, but more than anything, this weekend I wish I was a normal person with evenings and weekends to spend as I please.

I'm having a really bad time of it today. Please don't mind me. My problem is relativity - the bad parts seem to roll through with agonizing slowness, while the good parts speed by on hummingbird's wings.

1 year ago today: a beautiful passage on memory and thankfulness