Tuesday, May. 18, 2004
A night in DC, posted at 2:04 p.m.
Epiphany in Baltimore has moved to epiphanyinbaltimore.blogspot.com I believe that the last day of school is exactly one month from today. Teachers stay until June 25th, but I think the last day of finals is the 18th for students. Like last year, the school system tacked days onto the end of the year to account for bad weather, but they tacked on the days only for teachers, not students. It's weird. I'm not necessarily complaining, as it makes my job a little bit easier in some ways and allows us to really dissect the year and evaluate our curiculum, but it's a bit crummy that the kids will not have instructional time at that point.Today was decidedly mediocre. I met up with Dave and Danielle at The Flying Scotsman, Danielle's restaurant, last night in DC. First, I drove over to Tyson's Corner to pick up Dave, then over to the restaurant. I left Baltimore at 4:30pm and didn't return until midnight, and the alarm came really quickly this morning. It was great to have a little high school reunion, though, and I also really happen to like Danielle's fiance.
I abhor driving in DC. Not because of the traffic, but because I just think it's an unfriendly, disorganized city. I always lean on the fact that the beltway encircles the city, so no matter where I am, I can just keep driving and driving and eventually I'll hit the highway and I'll be able to get home to Baltimore from there. That can take hours, which I've done before, but last night I just couldn't. I got some directions leaving the restaurant, but ended up having to ask some guy on the street for confirmation as I was driving. The guy was really funny and started explaining to me where to go, then he made like he wanted to open my car door for him to get in and help me get to New York Ave, and thus the BW Parkway, since he lived out that way anyway. I'm a nice guy - much too nice and trusting at times - but I'm not about to let a stranger from the street get into my car. So I said no thanks. I still felt guilty about it afterwards, though. Sometimes,I'm just too damned nice. I know that if the guy ended up robbing and killing me, I'd probably be a candidate for the Darwin's Awards.
By the way, that's one of my worst fears. To die in a stupid way. This is what makes me always wear my seatbelt, no matter what, because I don't want to be called stupid. Well, that, and the fact that my statecop dad brought my sister and I to a junkyard and showed us the splattered brains and dried brains of someone who hadn't wore their seatbelt in an accident that he investigated. Woah, I still remember that. Very effective. I don't think you'll ever catch me without my seatbelt.
Today wasn't a very good day in school. I had a student leave my classroom and slam the door on the way out. There's always a wave of shock when that happens in my classroom. It stresses me out and I hate it.
Progress reports are due in an hour - back to work.