2002-03-11
Exhausting Day, so far, posted at 12:13 p.m.
Epiphany in Baltimore has moved to epiphanyinbaltimore.blogspot.com It's only noon, but it's already been a long day.I got to the gym at 5:45am, which was fifteen minutes later than my goal but still not bad. However, I was surprised to see a crowd of 50 or so people huddled outside the door, waiting to get let in. Whoever was supposed to unlock the door did not show up. I honestly wasn't too upset by this at first; I figured they would be there in a couple of minutes, and I could rest for a bit more (Sunday nights always seem to be the toughest to fall asleep during; I was up halfway through The Practice, and didn't fall asleep until 11:30 or so). However, no one showed up until 6:30, so 45 minutes of my day was spent waiting in the parking lot for the Bally's employee to show up.
At least I'm still thoroughly engrossed in Richard Ford's The Sportswriter. I think the book is a bit overlong, and my opinion of the narrator/main character has changed a bit (I used to find him profound, now my opinion is verging on annoyingly detached), but Ford is a great writer. His style is simple, but there's so much truth within it - Ford has a way of illuminating a common human condition with a well-turned phrase that makes my spine tingle. I've read most of the book on eliptical machines, so I haven't been able to highlight phrases as much as I usually would.
Despite my admiration of the novel, I can't wait to get it finished, so I can move onto something else. The book is long,and I think books at around 250 pages match my attention span better than this beast of one. I had thought about moving on to the Pulitzer-Prize winning sequal of The Sportswriter - Independence Day - immediately after I finished, but now will be moving on to something different. I've got tons of books I want to read; I wonder which one I'll choose. Right now, I'm thinking about The Sun Also Rises. I've never read any Hemingway except for The Old Man and the Sea, and was always sort of turned off to him because I've read intereviews of him that really paint him as an alcoholic, big-game-hunting idiot, but the novel has been sitting on my shelf now for years, and it's short, and Ford mentioned it in The Sporswriter and made me want to read it. Maybe I'll love it. I also really want to read a book by Toni Bambera, because we're adding her to the summer reading list and I've never read her. Others on my upcoming list: Possessing the Secret of Joy, (I tried reading it, and didn't like it. That was a long time ago, though, and Marcia's description of it on Saturday night reignited my interest), The Color Purple (I haven't read it in years, and want to remember why I loved it so much), and A Prayer for Owen Meaney (I've never read anything by Irving before, and this is Teri's favorite book). We shall see.
Anyhow, the gym guy finally got in to unlock the doors. I decided that it would be more beneficial - since I only had an hour - to do all cardio instead of cardio plus weights. I spent 60 minutes on an eliptical machine, burning 940 calories. It felt great, even though I'm paying for it a bit right now. I'm sore as hell!
My kids did not start working on their drill quick enough for me this morning, so I punitively collected it for a grade. That pissed me off, having to do that. They're apparently figuring me out a bit, that the purpose of beginning-of-class drills are just as much a classroom management tool (so they sit down and shut up so I can take attendance and other stuff) as it is a learning tool. Everything they do is useful - I don't give busy work if I can help it - but it's not always exciting. Especially now, with this objective pronoun stuff we're doing. If I hear, "It's right because... I dunno... it sounds right" again, I may scream.
We did start To Kill a Mockingbird, and the kids seem into it so far. I enjoy oral reading, and so do the kids, so we spent 20 minutes in each class doing it today. This is a good thing, because I'm losing my voice for some reason, which is making the day tougher and more exhausting.
I hope baseball practice goes quickly this afternoon. I need a nap. Marcia and Nick are on this college visitation trip today, and I'm missing hanging out with them today. I'm also profoundly jealous of them for getting to go (to Boston!), but that's another story altogether.
The best part of the day? My principal - who I rarely talk to - coming up to me and asking me if I've lost weight. That's cool.
Yawn. I've got to go make some copies.