2002-09-18
Beginning of the year busy-ness, posted at 3:33 p.m.
Epiphany in Baltimore has moved to epiphanyinbaltimore.blogspot.com It's been an exhausting week, the kind of week that hearkens make to my first semester of teaching and reminds me why all teachers feel underpaid and underappreciated.I haven't had many free moments lately, and all that I have had has been spent on things I need to do: things like catching up on grading, which has already turned into a task that seems like it won't ever have an end. I still don't feel like I'm back in the swing of things from the summer, and my 7th period is turning into a class that feels like a battle every day. At times, they make me act like a patronizing babysitter, which sucks because being mean is so not my personality.
Yesterday was such a bad day that I decided to abandon my morning plans of staying at school until all my work was done and instead worked a little, pouted a little, and shoveled miniature oatmeal cookies left over from my house concert that I'd brought in for the department office into my mouth.
At that moment, I realized that a big part of my stress and yesterday was my lack of getting into a schedule as of yet. I'm not working out regularly, and working out only tends to work for me if I am doing it at the same time every day. When I arrived home, I made up my mind to get back on my schedule (I hadn't been to the gym since a raquetball game with Mikey on Friday) and start that night. I decided to go that night to get a headstart. But not until after a much-needed nap.
When I awoke, my roommate Rob was home, and was in a good mood. He grabbed a guitar, and began playing it and singing to himself in the living room, as he often does. He's pretty talented. Anyhow, he began to play the chords of a song I recognized, but couldn't place... then he started belting out what I should have known it was in the first place - Bruce Springsteen's "Glory Days." My favorite Springsteen song. He sang it through the first two thirds, but forgot the third verse. I'd been sitting in anxious audience, so I dashed for my CDs and found the lyrics and fed him lines as he sang. At the end, he did somthing that totally cheered me up. You know how Springsteen, at the end of that song, starts yelling to his band, "Alright Boys! Keep on rocking now! Yeah! Keep it going boys!". Well, Rob did it, despite the fact that he was completely alone. He was giggling throughout; it was one of the funniest things I'd seen in a while - totally spontaneous and we were both almost rolling on the ground in laughter after he had finished.
This lifted my spirits to no end, and I headed over to the gym after that. It was something of a late trip, but I was able to sweat away the rottenness of the day and blow off some stress. It was great.
My attempts to get in touch with Hugasoul were unsuccessful, which was a bummer because I still feel the need to gossip to her about the house concert before it dims from memory. But it's also a busy time of the year for her, and I can totally relate. I feel a little like I'm burning the candle at both ends right now. Gale returned my call from Friday or so, so I did get to talk with at least one Michigan friend last night.
I went in to Bally's again this morning, and was pleased that the effects of the morning workout have not dimmed - I still feel like the morning flies by on a cloud, I feel like I'm ready for taking on the world, and I just feel damn healthy.
I've already spent more time on this journaling than I should have today. Gotta get my room ready for a possible observation tomorrow. Rumor has it... (My breath of fresh air new supervisor watched my class for the first time today; she said it went well, even though I didn't really think it did. Kids are getting too comfortable, too talky. But anytime I get to have a "soda" vs. "pop" discussion with my students, I'm happy.)