Tuesday, Mar. 04, 2003
Baseball season starting, posted at 5:54 p.m.
Epiphany in Baltimore has moved to epiphanyinbaltimore.blogspot.com This is the time of year when I am so busy that my head spins. I am spreading myself a bit thin, with concerts and coaching baseball and house concerts and new roommates moving in and friends coming from Michigan this weekend, but they are all things that I enjoy.I am so excited about Gale and Erin's visit this weekend. We are going to have a blast! I realized that I have not been drunk in 2003 yet, and Friday night may have to be the night.
Baseball is still the day's highlight. I had to go late today because I had a meeting with my principal, and that went fine. I ran out to the shoveled off tennis court where the team is practicing, and am greeting by a bunch of "Hey, Coach"es and handshakes. I got to hit ground balls for the first time since last year; the bat felt great in my hand. I love how the kids have grown so much since last year. Many of them I knew only from baseball, so I haven't seen them much in the academic year. A lot of the boys had a growth spurt, and one kid looked like he put on at least 20 lbs of muscle and a new sense of maturity and leadership. It's great to see kids grow like that. Practice was so much fun. I sort of stood off to the side taking notes (little did they know I was mostly just memorizing names) and looking stern, then hit ground balls and laughed a lot. Baseball and dirty snow seem incongruous, but they were just fine together today.
There are 30 kids trying out, and only 20-21 spots available. Cuts will have to be made. I am also quite concerned about the three kids who tried out last year, were cut, and now are trying out again. How much of a blow to the confidence would it be to be cut two years in a row? I'm not sure if I could do it.
Baseball is sapping up all of my after school time, and I always strive to get my students' essays back early. I had an in-class essay yesterday, and returned them all today. Still, it was quite a project to get them done. I forget how much time coaching requires. And now my department head sends me this memo: Hi Epiphany � I�d love it if you could possibly do the interviewing committee for new hires � we really do need you as a freshman teacher representative (and with the perspective of someone relatively new to the able and able to answer questions about extracurriculars � do you have a schedule of when the games are this spring? It�s early enough in the process that I can avoid those dates. . She's great, and her really wanting me on the interview committee makes me feel good. But I'm strapped for time as it is. I'll say yes, though.
Otherwise, life is very good. I will sleep very well tonight; let's hope I can make it all the way through 24.