February 28, 2009

1. Why can’t I find any of my pants?  And why does dressed up mean the same grey pants and a black sweater?
2. My sweet digital TV gets channel 4.3.  Do you know what 4.3 has been showing this afternoon?  LIVE coverage of the 2010 Team Curling Trails.  Hell Yeah.    They even have little drawing on the screen of where the optimal placement of the next stone would be.  Jason Smith is shooting 94% after two ends.  That’s what I am talking about Jason.  Broom that ice baby.
3. I sometimes hit fallow points in my crafting when I don’t feel like knitting or sewing etc.  This is a shame since I have two scarves promised as Christmas presents on the needles.  Sorry Mom and AB.  I’m an artist (pronounced ar-teest).  I must wait for the muse.
4. I do have an urge to paint.  Or perhaps bang pieces of tin with a hammer, but that would require the purchase of new equipment.
5. Off to dinner.  Better find my pants now.

February 28, 2009

1. My hair is not looking great lately, and this disturbs me.  I seem to have some sort of Farrah wing center part happening.  This is not “assesptable,” as Supernanny would say.
2. I went to my first play practice Thursday.  It was fun being with the kids in a totally different context.  The only strange thing is that there seems to be a lot of stage business going on during the dialouge, and this seems a wee bit distracting to me, but I think there was a certain amount of improv happening, and maybe it will all settle down.  Also, no one talks lound enough.
3. I told the kids that we could get together in my room at lunch and run our scene, and that I would buy pizza, but I immediately realized that I had made a mad proposal, becuase of course all the other members of the cast, ALL 95 OF THEM, are going to want to get in on that.  Uh-Oh.
4. And I’m in charge of  some opening song and dance number, that I need to lay my creative brain on.  It’s got to be fast, peppy, and complex enough to make those kids feel like they are a real part of the show. (Basically everyone who tried out made the play, so there are lots of extra bits.
5. Seriously, my hair has not looked right for months now, what is up with that?

February 25, 2009

1. Five sucessful services later and Ash Wednesday is wrapped up.  Things went well. It was even fun, though my feet hurt.
2. and I.
3. am very.
4. tired.
5. Tomorrow is that last night I have to work late.  Monday – Integration community celebration, last night Shrove Tuesday setup for Ash wednesday, Tonight (all day) Ash Wednesday, tomorrow student conferences.  Then EL needs some sleep!

February 24, 2009

1. Almost midnight, I’ve got a kitty resting on my arm as I type, and I need to be to bed, since I have to get up 5 hours from now for a full and exciting day of Ash Wednesday church action!
2. Pancake supper tonight.  I do love me some pancakes.  Suffice it to say that tonight was not a great weight watchers moment. 
3. I do feel like I have only eaten cookies for the past 24 hours.
4. Having two close friends have major challenges in their life, with their children, makes me reflect that I really need to be more cheerful about my circumstances.  I have a wonderful life.  I really need to quit bitching about how busy I am because people think I am smart enough that they ask me to do things.  Oh woe is me, right?
5. I am allowed of course to worry about Chris and Richard.  I sent Chris a box of pencils and pencil sharpeners today.  I say a thing on the news about a man in Kabul who didn’t send his girls to school beacuse he couldn’t afford pencils.  I know my pencils won’t lead to world peace, but maybe they can be useful to some kid or school.
6. Everytime El Presidente speaks, I fall in love with him all over again.

February 21, 2009

1. It’s all the chair’s fault.  I come home, eat something, and and fall asleep in the chair.  I wake up feeling very thirsty, think how much I would like something to drink, then fall back asleep in the chair.  It’s the saddest thing ever.
2. On the plus side, I got a part in the school play, and I think this could be great fun.  There is a Queen Eleanor, and the drama teacher wants me to play it.  I think this will be a great chance to connect with the kids in a new way.  And I get to yell “off with his head” and grab people by their ears, which is pretty much what I would like to do in the halls anyway.  The drama teacher has also asked me to take a group of about 20 and come up with some sort of song and dance number to open the show.  This could also be great fun.
3. On the other hand AM I CRAZY?  I can’t even stay awake and ahead of my work now, and Lent hasn’t even begun!  I keep visualizing my migraine medicine.  “OK, when the flashing lights start, go to your purse, open the blue box and get the little pill…”  I mean this can all be very fun, in fact it should all be fun, Altar Guild, school, plays, etc, but it is the all happening at once part that I find overwhelming.  And the fact that I come home intending to write emails and update my calendar, but instead I fall asleep in the big chair while watching the show “Supernanny” definitely complicates things. 
4. I have all the pieces for a wonderful fun life, so why does my head hurt and my shoulders feel all tense?  What is my major malfunction?
5. I saw Les Miserables again.  That show is like crack.  I even stopped by on my way home this evening, and asked  if they had any more tickets for tomorrow’s matinee.  I managed to walk away, knowing I shouldn’t spend another big chunk of money, but it was a near thing for a minute there.  I saw that show on Broadway years ago, and wasn’t at all impressed, but this production has made me see the light.  It is just such a great staging and very simply just a good time.  Even inspiring at the end when they sing :  Somewhere beyond the barricade is there a world you long to see?  I am just not sure if this means I should go sing in musicals, or help the poor.  Hmmm.  How to do both?

February 16, 2009

1. Here we are once again on a holiday Monday, and it seems I have just brought my school books for a ride home and not gotten any work done.  I felt a little better when I ran into another teacher and she had put her work off until Monday and then didn’t want to do it, but she at least decided to do it, whereas I have spent most of the afternoon figuring out how to get my blackberry to stop sending me my own messages.
2. On a whim I went to an open house yesterday, and I really ought not to do that.  It was a great place, and of course I wanted to buy it immediately, but the fact that I have no savings is somewhat of an impediment.  It was nice and sunny, with a tiny back patio.
3. I try to talk my self out of these things by thinking that if I would just get rid of stuff, and paint, and redo the kitchen I would feel cheerier about my house, which is really very nice.  New living room furniture too.  Also, Kevin the Cat, who has crisis in the outside world might be terribly disturbed by a move.  I don’t think the new homeowners would like it that a large grumpy cat conveyed.
4. Last weekend was some good theater.  West Side Story at school, then Les Miserables at the Signature Theater in Shirlington.  Both were excellent.  I was so inspired I bought season tickets at the Signature.  I also went with Suzi to a behind the scenes tour of the production.  I wish, along with my coffee shop dream I could open a small performance space for offbeat, and unusually staged productions.
5. Speaking of fine theatrics I am watching Galaxy Quest, which has, among its other great lines, “Constuct a weapon!  Look around you, can you form some sort of rudimentary lathe?”

February 12, 2009

1. I think I have had some very profound thoughts lately, but of course I have forgotten them.
2. It’s too bad.  They were very good. Something about the nature of existence.
3. My student teacher is finding her way.  Hooray.  I’m getting very little done, though.  Too many distractions.
4. I haven’t written lately, because my big blue chair pulls me in and makes me fall asleep.
5. Just like right now…………zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

February 5, 2009

1. Well, it is done and out.  There was a brief moment of screaming last night when I had it, and then realized the daily people were overscheduled, so I had to fix that.  Even more screaming when I actually had it pasted into the email and someone called and I need to make some changes based on their latebreaking info.  But it.  Is now done.  Hooray!
2. Textbook adoption meetingw as interesting yesterday.  Pitches from the publishers.  Lots of free tote bags.  I’m kind of surprised some didn’t just contain cash.  Anywho, next week our committee will meet and try to come to “consensus” on a text and a secondary text.  I thought things were looking good for the book I want, but then things began to fall apart.  I am an advocate for books that represent two different approaches.  One the boring standard encyclopedic text we all admit we don’t use all the time, or even most of the time, and the other a case study based book that we all agree is well written and engaging.  I thought I had them with this arguement (I left out the word “boring”) until there began to be a bit of an argument over which of the two  boring standard encyclopedic texts would be chosen.  There was one advocate for each, and they don’t look like they are budging.  They tried to point out that we all have class sets of the good book (Not THE Good Book, that is a different class) but I really think that every student should have one.  I have one week to try to show them how the lower grade level text can be supplemented for above grade level readers (Which I totally think is possible.)  Or maybe I’ll tell them that I will agree if they hand their class set of the book I want, over to me.
3. I also will need to come up with a strategy whereby I don’t freak out an start throwing chairs.  I mean, it’s not likely I’ll do that, but it is good to be prepared.
4. Couldn’t sleep last night.  Terrible, because I loves me some sleep.
5. We did the scary workout challenge today.  30 minutes 38 seconds. 6 minutes better than last time!

February 3, 2009

1. My little student teacher had a tough class today.  Man I know what that is like.  Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, I can see through her eyes that I have been letting somethings slide that I shouldn’t, and there are some behaviors that I have grown used to, that need to be checked.  Also, of course, they are trying to ring her bells, because she is new.  which is jerky.  She will get through it.  She bounced back quickly and the last two classes were much better.
2. Meanwhile I was running aruond the building like a madwoman, trying to help the guys who are shooting a video about the anniversary of integration in Virginia.  Rounding up kids for interviews, then trying to find them a room for tomorrow, when they will shoot a panel discussion between our kids and 3 of the 4 students who integrated in 1959.  The room that would be best to shoot in has a class the period we need it, so I found him a place to go, into another teacher’s room.  Then raced back to talk to the video guys.  Turns out they need it TWO periods in order to setup. Fortunately my room is free then, but I had to go sweeten the deal with the other teacher by buying him a soda! (Nah, he would have done it anyway, but he needed a dollar!)  Then back to the other place to set up his projector and video so the displaced teacher would have it for tomorrow.  THen off to write notes for the kids who will be in said vid.  Then some random running in circles.  My groovy english teacher friend helped too, and magically we have pulled everything together, but man, what if I didn’t have a student teacher so I could do laps in the school for 2 hours?
3. Further complication is that I am supposed to be out of school all day tomorrow for a textbook adoption thing.  I am really sorry to miss this final event, and I can tell the producer wants me to be there.  I wrote to the social studies supervisor to ask if I could skip out for 2 hours in the middle.  Haven’t heard anything yet, and she can be a little tough sometimes, but I have been sucking up alot lately (on the lookout for materials and goodwill for my school, don’t you know) and it is a once in a lifetime opportunity and quite historical, and I pitched it as such. 
4. The Altar guild schedule still lurks large.  I thought I was all set and then found a person I thought was active who is apparently inactive, so I need to remove her, and redo those days.  My small comfort is that though I am supposed to have it out two weeks before the old one ends, I am still ahead of that window if you calculate that even though the last crew is listed on the 14th, the schedule actually ends on the 20th.  I know, I know, quit blogging and finish!
5. It is quite simply impossible that it is only Tuesday night.  I feel like I have been in school for days.  Monday was the big aforementioned anniversary, with guests coming to our classes, and a special assembly, and it was a great day.  Small steps lead to great change.

February 1, 2009

1. Look, this schedule just gets done when it is done.
2. This is my helper.
3. She is not so much helping as interfering.
4. I had dreams about torture.  What does this indicate?
5. Criminy.