I have decided that my official non-denomonational, publicly-celebrated holiday this year is "Winter Break! WOO!" because I have been looking forward to this time off since September, and Christmas and Hanukkah are really just nice little accents to my time off. I have until January 3rd, and am looking forward to some pretty hardcore relaxation, ( Read more... )

Friday was the official end of the quarter, which means that I have a pile of grading to do. Literally; five inches of paper to grade. I am starting to turn into a crazy person about grammar; now it makes me a little twitchy to write or read anything even vaguely grammatically incorrect. I have a brand-new John Irving novel sitting in the living ( Read more... )

Okay, coming from Maine, that might sound more serious than it really was, but come ON. It's only October; even pretty, fluffy monster flakes just should not happen this early. It hasn't gotten heinously cold...yet...so that's a bonus ( Read more... )

I had this crazily intense dream last night about either living in or visiting a kind of cute downtown area that was positively riddled with zombies. The town was a bit like if Northampton, MA, and the Old Port in Portland had a baby, but it was a little less nice than either, and the recession had decidedly hit it hard. Those shops still in ( Read more... )

I'm working my way through an upper respiratory infection...which worked its way into my ears...and having a surprisingly tough time both kicking it and getting myself out of a stupid funk. I feel amazingly inept as a teacher. Today was sort of a bloodbath, and while I both maintained control and managed to make the classes vaguely worthwhile, my ( Read more... )

Work is kicking my ass. I feel like I'm getting better at it, but I still end every day more wiped than an operating room floor. Sleep is intermittent, and made more complicated by weird outdoor temperatures and Ryan's increasingly nocturnal sleep habits. My birthday was kind of a massive disappointment, but Ryan tried hard enough to make something ( Read more... )

I think that making it through my first week with kids practically eating out of my hand is about as good as I could hope it to be. I've gotten some great feedback from parents, started (hopefully) positive relationships with some kids who have really struggled with English in the past, and started to get my sea legs regarding the daily life of ( Read more... )

I am putting off doing my homework. Yeah, I'm that awesome. I need to read a pretty short play this weekend, and I SHOULD start putting together stuff for my 10th grade CP kids (that level between honors and remedial), but I just don't wanna. In fact, I am pulling procrastinatory stuff like I did in college. Think about it: if you get out of the ( Read more... )

I feel like I am going to explode, implode, melt down, disintegrate, become catatonic, or - as a charming alternative to all of the above - simply lose it and start running around with my pants on my head. School starts tomorrow, and I have NO idea what I'm doing. Honestly. I do not feel even vaguely prepared, and I have been procrastinating ( Read more... )

First off, I am typing this on my brand-spanking new school-issued MacBook. He is sexy, sleek, glossy-white, and I have named him Paolo (after one of my favorite educational theorists <---dork). I love that new computer smell...mmm...and it is even awesomer going in to the Mac store to look for hard cases (got one for a third of the price online) ( Read more... )