Thursday, Dec. 23, 2004
We need a little Christmas, right this very minute, posted at 8:52 p.m.
Epiphany in Baltimore has moved to epiphanyinbaltimore.blogspot.com I had an epiphany this evening as I was loading my clothes out to my car. Why not just do them at the 'Rents? After all, there's nothing embarassing about a 27-year old driving across four states to do laundry at his parents' house. Nope, not at all.So that gives me a little more time to waste this evening. I have a shitload of gifts to wrap and I have this thing about not leaving a house in a sorry state (and let me tell you, the state is sorry right now), but I haven't started on either. I just headed to the bank to make a deposit of my tips over the last few nights, and then to Trader Joe's for some last minute gifts for the parents. I'm back now, and unsure if I should clean up before I wrap or wrap before I clean up. The house is so messy that I might have to do the former. But then it seems like I'll still have to clean up.
It was a good day today. I want to emphasize that. Here are reasons:
1. A former student, James, came to visit. He is now going to the University of Deleware and has a 3.2 gpa. I coached him for two years. The kid has the biggest heart in the world and not an ounce of baseball skills, and he was an incredible team leader for me last year. He would have won the Coach's Award had he showed up for the Awards Banquet. As it was, he'll always hold a special place in my heart. He came up to me and did one of those half hug, half back slap things that guys do. Hopefully he'll come back in another couple years and we can get a beer at Rocky Run.
2. I found out that the pretty little girl I had as a ninth grader who came to school very, very pregnant this year had her baby okay. I was worried because she's a little girl (under 100 lbs easy when non-pregnant) and the doctors had put her on bedrest. I hope she comes back and gets her diploma. She's a smart girl... I hope she'll be alright.
3. I read to my class 7th period. They absolutely hated it. All the other classes were having parties, and I decided I didn't want to deal with that because it had been a long day, so I read the first story from Drinking Coffee Elsewhere to them. About a half hour into it, when it was nearly time to leave, the Assistant Principal came over and said on the announcements, "Parties should begin to be cleaned up at this point." I almost went into a fit of giggles because I said, "Well, folks, we really better clean up, huh? Ha." I felt a little like a jerk but they'll forget about it after break. A few of the kids got into the story, which is a good one.
4. So, I did end up giving "Bobby" some money. $95, to be exact, which was less than I made last night in tips. I didn't want to work last night at all and begged off, so I sort of took the money that I made and figured it was just for a good cause. He's going to buy his family - the two of them that weren't murdered - some Christmas presents. He swears to me that he's done doing the dealing (without actually saying it, since he's never told me he's doing that, just intimated it) and will get a job at Pizza Hut over the weekend that a guy from his church is hooking him up with. I was thrilled that he was going to church, and just happy I could help. It just made me feel good. So it might not have been the best decision in the world in some ways, I think the benefits outweigh the bad parts. He also says he'll pay me back $20 a week starting in January. I don't really care about that, but if he does, then all the better. I'm not expecting to see the money again, though.
5. Lastly, a big public shout-out to LiveinLove, who answered my request for printing out these two unit plans the other day. Not only did she print them out within hours of my request, but she had them bound and dropped them off to me at the restaurant before I even showed up there that afternoon. I was in a supremely bad mood about being there - epiphany, embittered, imagine that - and that cheered me right up. Thanks!
Well, I'm off. I'm thinking about taking off at around 3 or 4am because the evening nap has really given me some energy. We'll see how I feel after wrapping, and what time it will be.
Happy Holidays!