Monday, Mar. 01, 2004
First day of baseball season, posted at 8:11 p.m.
Epiphany in Baltimore has moved to epiphanyinbaltimore.blogspot.com The first day of baseball practice went as well as can be expected. I'm very happy with it. I had about 35 kids show up for my 20 spots, and discovered two stud ninth graders who pretty much earned spots with their performances today. I was very nervous about heading up my first varsity practice (I've been Assistant Coach for the last two years, and that pretty much meant that I did whatever the head coach needed me to do, not much else), but it worked out.I hope I can keep the plates spinning for every practice. Baseball practice is very tough with 35 kids. Imagine what batting practice looks like - a lot of standing around waiting for the ball to be hit to you. With only one person in charge, I'm sure I will struggle with keeping everyone active and motivated. Right now, I have the impending cuts to keep kids motivated. I hope I can maintain it.
My biggest fear is the kids who are returning, who probably know that I'm faking it a lot of the time up there. I'm not as sure about everything as I try to seem to be. I think I did a good job today of appearing as confident as I sounded; let's hope that can continue as well.
It was so nice to get out there on the field. It was about 60 degrees today, and just a great day to be outside. The ping of the bat on the ball and the smell of sweaty baseball glove leather reminded me why I enjoy coaching so much. I love being out there with the kids. I'll admit, I also like the power I have out there. It feels good to be called coach.
Again, it was a good day today. I'm having practice tomorrow even though we don't have school (it's Election Day), so hopefully some kids will not show up and basically cut themselves. My co-workers todya called me Charlie Brown because of the perpetual cloud that seems to be over my head. One colleague had an eye problem today and another one had to take her car in for service. In both cases, they both said it was because they had been hanging out with me too much lately. But I'm hoping it's all over with now. After all, it's March.
Other good, or at least interesting, things that have happened as of late:
1. I waited on a woman at the restaurant over the weekend who told me that the Baltimore Sun should do a human interest story on me, the untold story of the city teacher (the second job, the eye surgeries, the $39,000 in student loans, the daily worry about layoffs). She says she's going to call them and tell them about me. I doubt if anything will come of it, but she made me feel good. A good antidote to bitchy guestbook Eileen, I guess. (You're right, Yajaira, I do dwell on the bad ones.)
2. Watching the Oscars elicited little of the pleasure as in previous years (I don't think LOTR deserved to sweep, as I think the second one was better than the third one. Plus, I've been having such vision problems this year that I can't really go to the movies), but I enjoyed certain parts of it (the Sean Penn victory), and I'm ready to have a better 2004 movie viewing year.
3. My days in the classroom continue to be terrific. I feel like I'm in the "teaching zone" right now, with everything falling into place and my kids getting a great experience with To Kill a Mockingbird. I'm still calling home like crazy to make sure everyone stays up on the reading. It's working; it's amazing how even the kids who normally don't work hard are working their asses off. Cuz I am really working their asses off right now, but in a good way.
4. No new layoffs today, as far as I know. I am hoping really, really hard that I make it through until May.