Let it Snow!

Okay people. Here's the deal: I want snow!!! What's the point in living in New England if you don't even have snow by NOVEMBER 28?!?!

I know, I know, all you fellow New Englanders are screaming at me now (inwardly, if you happen to be in a more public place): "What are you thinking?! We're going to have plenty of snow, loads of snow, TOO MUCH snow before you know it! Stop tempting fate!"

But I'm starting to get anxious. What if it didn't snow this winter? Can you imagine? What if I was forced to move to (gasp) Canada or something to get my snow fix?

Sometimes you don't know you're an addict until the addiction is removed. If we don't get snow I'm going to have serious withdrawal symptoms. I mean, the fact that moving to Canada even crossed my fingertips is a tell-tale sign.

Anyway, the point is, I keep seeing snow globes, and snow flake cut-outs, and snow stickers, and snow storms on tv, and I look outside and see fall, fall, fall. Let's have a little winter!

Now, I'm not being an extremist here. You'll notice I said a "LITTLE" winter. But whatever it is, I'm feeling a little desperate.

Let it snow let it snow let it snow!

(Ya, ya, first big blizzard you'll all be inwardly - or outwardly - berating me. You superstitious readers, you.)

Happy Thanksgiving... and Merry Christmas Season!!!

I am thankful for a wonderful year! God has blessed me immeasurably, most noticeably in the deepening of my relationship with Him and in my teaching. But also in an awesome summer. And of course the amazing people in my life! Thank you, friends and family, for enriching my life, for encouraging me on, for being the world's best people!

And NOW, since it's the day after Thanksgiving, it's time to start in on CHRISTMAS celebration!!! YIPPEEEE! The day after Thanksgiving is one of my favorites - especially at that moment when Dad puts on our family's favorite Christmas CD (An Old World Christmas). And Dad was out putting up our Christmas lights, so when sundown hits the Christmas season will be here big time!

(Back to the Thanksgiving theme - I'm thankful for Danny, who just came jogging by here and stopped to chat for a bit. "Here" being my car, which is parked outside Gerry's where I'm pirating his high-speed connection. My brother is so awesome, and he makes me laugh so very much. He and Andrew and Brandon - they are the three kings of laugh-provoking - at least as far as I'm concerned. Anyway, just wanted to add that little spontaneous 'thankful-for.')

So ya, opening day of Christmas season: HURRAH!!! May it be a blessed one for each of you - and full of the reality of what it all means: Emmanuel - God with us! Amazing truth.

:)

I almost never turn my laptop off. I just flip the cover down and it goes into hibernate, or standby or whatever it is when the screen goes black and then you have to hit the power button to get it to come back to the screen you left it on. Anyway. Last Friday night I decided to turn it off. And as I was clicking on the buttons to do so, into my mind flashed the paraphrased verse, "There shall be a Sabbath of rest for the computer of Andrea." Hee hee hee. It still makes me laugh! My subconscious is hilarious. I guess that wouldn't be my subconscious, actually, since it dawned on my consciousness. Well, whatever it is that puts funny ideas into my mind out of the blue is hilarious!

Then, driving home from school yesterday I was listening to NPR (I don't have a CD player right now, and was sick of sports radio; i.e. I was desperate, okay?). Apparently there is an NPR program called "Open Source." Instantly the whatever-it-is-that-puts-funny-ideas-into-my-mind suggested Open Sores as a possible alternate title. Quite appropriate, if you think about it.

I am going to kick myself. I had a third hilarious thing to relate and now I can't remember it for the life of me! Grrrrr. It's probably just as well, since I'm sure these things are much funnier to me than they are to anyon

I REMEMBERED IT!!!

Okay, so you know how I'm just finishing teaching Macbeth and am in the midst of teaching Hamlet? Well this morning I was driving to work and thought, "Ay, this likes not me." This likes not me?!?! Um, I think you mean "I don't like this," Andrea. Snap out of the Shakespeare talk!

It reminds me of the Calvin and Hobbes in which Calvin and his mom are going back and forth in Elizabethan language for awhile, and then in the last frame you see they're watching some such movie together, which is totally captivating the mom and totally revolting poor Calvin:)

Ahhhh, I love Shakespeare.

Speaking of which, the teacher with whom I share my room thinks Shakespeare's plays were written by Sir Francis Bacon (HA!). The students got us into a minor confrontation on the subject (which I totally won, by the way... I think), and this fellow-teacher told me he had been reluctant to broach the subject with me because he knew how much I loved Shakespeare and "it would be like telling you I saw your boyfriend at the mall with another girl."

Well actually, sir, this wouldn't bother me because it obviously wouldn't be true, just like it's not true that Shakespeare's plays were written by Bacon!

Case closed.

Post over.

(That was fun!)

Some Sabbath Thoughts

It has been impressed on me over and over in the past several months how intensely personal the Christian life must be.

Last February, when I was in GA with Diane, Uncle Dave had a wonderful mid-week meeting along these lines. He talked about "the secret place" - that hidden place in which our souls commune with God. And he talked about the white stone given to the overcomer, on which a name is written that only God and the overcomer know. He connected the two ideas, hypothesizing that the relationship we form in secret with God is the basis for that secret name, as if the name captures the essence of the relationship between that soul and God. I love that.

It made me think of C.S.Lewis' "The Four Loves" in which he talks about friendships, and how, when two people are friends there are three identities: friend one, friend two, and the relationship between friend one and friend two. Fascinating thought. So with God. The relationship I have with God is an entity totally unique from any other entity.

And as I prayed, a few months ago, for revival and vision in the church, I realized so clearly that in praying that way I wasn't praying for a church that had incredible Sunday services in which everyone was crying and shouting hallelujahs and never disagreeing about anything. I was praying for individuals to catch a fresh glimpse of Jesus, and follow after Him with their whole hearts - totally in love with Him and desirous of His will. A church of individuals whose eyes are fixed on Jesus. And it was very real to me that in praying for revival in the church, I needed to start with praying for my own relationship with God to take on new and vibrant life.

And since those thoughts started percolating in my mind I've run across SO many Oswald Chambers quotes along the same lines. (And I will now take this opportunity to HIGHLY recommend the Oswald Chambers one-year Bible: "My Utmost Devotional Bible." So good.) I know it's hard to read quoted work sometimes, but believe me, this is well worth it!

"It is not sufficient to know that God has redeemed the world, and to know that the Holy Spirit can make all that Jesus did effectual in me; I must have the basis of a personal relationship to Him. Paul was not given a message or a doctrine to proclaim, he was brought into a vivid, personal, overmastering relationship to Jesus Christ... Paul was devoted to a Person not a cause. He was absolutely Jesus Christ's, he saw nothing else, he lived for nothing else."

"Abandon in the profound sense if of infinitely more value than personal holiness. Personal holiness brings the attention to bear on my own whiteness... The holiness produced through the indwelling of the His Son in me is a holiness which is never conscious of itself. There are some people in who you cannot find a speck and yet they are not abundantly blessed of God, while others make grave indiscretions and get marvelously blessed; the reason being that the former have become devotees of personal holiness, conscientious to a degree; the latter are marked by abandonment to God. The only way to be kept cleansed is by walking in the light as God is in the light."

"The battle is lost or won in the secret places of the will before God, never first in the external world... That is the way abandonment begins. Every now and again, not often, but sometimes, God brings us to a point of climax. That is the Great Divide in the life; from that point we either go toward a more and more dilatory and useless type of Christian life, or we become more and more ablaze for the glory of God - My Utmost for His Highest."

I started writing this post without knowing where it would go... But I probably should have guessed

It is not Kimberly's birthday anymore. It is, however, parent-teacher conference day! And consequently, since I had only three conferences, I am home from school waaaaay early. I love conference day!

There are some incredible parents at my school. I haven't had to deal with any of the "oh my child is an angel - the bad grade must be your fault" types. They are supportive parents, and great to work with. Hurrah for Christian schools!

I came home with three video versions of Macbeth. I will be watching them for a large part of the afternoon, deciding which version will be best for my kids to watch. My life is so hard.

I had my students write out what they thought of Macbeth, and 3 out of 4 of them hated it. Hm. The class is four 9th grade boys, so it's not like it was my upper level or anything. But I was still surprised. (Boy #4, by the way, got an insane amount of brownie points for liking it!) Who hates Macbeth?!?! Part of me was sad, because if I had taught it better they might have liked it better. And part of me was annoyed because of my suspicion that one of the boys' very negative attitude influenced the other two. Grrrr. I sense an attitude peptalk/lecture coming up!

So I'll just add my little exhortation here (warning: preaching to the choir coming up!). Be one of those people who makes things go. Go into whatever you do, especially if it involves a group, with a positive attitude. It makes such a difference for everyone else! And it's scary how much one bad attitude can poison a group.

In other news, I'm reading Hamlet with my older group, and they're loving it! And, what's more (perhaps) they're understanding it! I was so overjoyed yesterday when the whole class was laughing - really laughing - at Polonius and his way of talking. Yay! Way to understand Shakespeare's sense of humor! That class is so awesome.

And while I'm in the midst of Lit updates, since I guess that's what this post has turned into, my 7/8 girls told me yesterday that Jane Eyre is the best book they'd ever read in a literature class. HURRAH!!!

Man, I love teaching lit.

Happy Birthday KJ!

Today is Kimberly's birthday!

I, for one, am so glad she was born. She is a wonderful sister and friend - a wonderful girl. And here she is, away from home for her birthday. And she's having a great day! I talked to her on the phone and she was so chipper and happy... she is amazing.

In fact, she's been amazing throughout this FL business. Who would have thought the youngest would go so far away? But she has been thriving! I can't even express how proud of her I am. She is forging her own way - being so responsible and grown-up - and she's having fun doing it! She is taking college maturely - even going to a professor's office to chat about how WRONG he had been in class. The two had tea together and talked for an hour or more. She's doing good work, she's learning, and she's enjoying it. And I'm SO IMPRESSED!

That's not all that impresses me about KJ - add to the above her response to God, her courage, her poise, her beauty, her sense of humor, her ability to make whatever she's doing a party:), her friendships, her intellect, her just plain old awesomeness!

So happy birthday, Kimberly! I love you!

EXTRAVAGANZA!!!

Melissa here...back from semi-retirement, once again glad that I glommed onto Andrea's blog instead of creating my own. But this week was rather momentous for several reasons, so here I am.

Numero Uno: I got into my very first real car accident yesterday. Yay! How blogworthy! Ugh. I was on my way to class and got stuck in traffic -- the kind where the car in front of you moves up 10 feet, then you move, then they move, then you move, then they stop moving, and then you keep moving. Just took my eyes off the road for a second, and WHAM! Suddenly the rather large pickup in front of me looked a whole lot larger, and my brain slowly registered the fact that this was no slight tap of the bumpers. Thankfully the guy in the truck was fine -- in fact, he was incredibly nice ("don't worry about it... these things happen."). There was just a slight dent in his bumper and some cracked undercarriage parts. I was also fine, besides my crumpling nerves. Unfortunately, my nerves were not all that was crumpled. Waaaaah! The truck's bumper was high enough to pretty much take out my lights, grill, and the front of my hood. It looks like my car was punched in the face -- a very sorry sight. A situation like this creates such a helpless (and utterly stupid) feeling! One second before, the hood was shiny and intact; then suddenly it wasn't. Surely there must be a way to go back that tiny amount of time and make it go away. But sadly, life sure doesn't work that way. So I was left to feel foolish and shaken up, and then get rescued by so many heroes: my mom (only a few minutes away at the time), the nice truck guy, the cop (um, actually he was a little annoying), Uncle Dave, who got me over to the shop and hooked me up with new wheels in no time (sure is nice to have connections), and my dad, who got home that night and flooded me with love and immediate forgiveness (and a few exaggerated [I hope] estimates of how much it would cost to repair the thing). Such undeserved grace! I really am very thankful that it wasn't worse. It reminded me of how easy it is for such things to happen, and how much protection God really provides on a daily basis. And boy howdy, I was so careful on the way home it felt like it was my first day with a driver's permit.

Okay, so that's not the main reason I'm posting. You probably all skipped that first part anyway if you saw there were pictures below. I'M ONTO YOUR GAME! Man alive, people have no attention spans these days. Anyway, on Monday I officially signed the next 3 semesters of my life away to the art department. BFA FOR ME!!! (Bachelor of Fine Arts, to those who see only in IM-ese and thought I was saying Best Friends Always or something). I had to apply to get accepted into the program, which will theoretically lead to a studio art degree rather than the more generalized B.A. I had to gather my best pieces from current and past classes and present a portfolio for the faculty to review. Lil scary. But, hallelujah, I got in! And I got some positive feedback from my professors and even from a couple of the awe-inspiring senior painters... that always feels good. I really can't believe I've gotten to this point. Basically God has opened door after door over the past couple of years and gently shoved me through them. Suddenly here I am in my junior year, hardly knowing what happened, with a goal and the means to reach it (or at least head in that direction). I'm amazed at what God has done. I still don't know what the final result will be, but right now I'm grateful.

I know several of you more far-flung friends (FFF)have been wanting to see some of my work, so I figured I'd post a few pictures. They came out a little dark and oddly sepia-toned, but you'll get the idea.

First, here's my studio, in all its cluttered splendor. I thought about cleaning it before I revealed it to the world, but that wouldn't really be a true picture, now would it? Notice the spectacular lighting, thanks to the magic of the traveling A's (all these pictures actually came out quite dark, so illuminate times 10 in your imagination).

Here are a couple of drawings from last year. They're done with ripped paper textured with ink and charcoal and such kind of thing. Anyone recognize the above image? (hint: place)

And here are some of my paintings. The first one is, um, a still life with bottles (thanks to Uncle J, who happens to dig up some really cool ones).

This is Uncle L.'s skull (uncles sure are popping up a lot in this post). Not literally his, of course, but he happened to have an extra one kicking around that he let me borrow. At first it was a little freaky being locked up in the cellar with this thing (especially since that was before the days of spectacular lighting).

And here's one from this semester. We've been working on quicker, more gestural stuff a lot.

And that's all for now. Thanks for listening.

A Good Revelation for a New Englander to Have

Guess what I just realized this year: I really love autumn! (I was going to say I love the fall, but I was afraid that could be misunderstood...)

I've always been a spring/summer girl, myself. How could I help it? Weather getting warmer, flowers blooming... no school. But this year I have been struck over and over again by how beautiful the fall is.

There is the foliage, of course. I've noticed the beauty of the leaves repeatedly. But it's not just that. There's something bracing and invigorating about the briskness of the air, for instance. Maybe intense is the word I want. Everything feels sharp and alive. It's a very different kind of alive from that alive feeling of spring... but it is an alive feeling none the less. And this quality of the air makes the nights so clear. Like the night has come into focus.

Also, there is an amazing blueness of the sky that autumn has more than any other season. The contrast between leaves and sky can be breathtaking.

And now, even after the leaves have all fallen, I still love the season. The air is getting that Christmas tenor to it. I take a deep breath and think of the warmth of the Christmas season. No doubt about it, I am a new convert to this fall business.

And it probably helps, too, that fall is no longer "I have to go back to high school" time, but rather "I get to start teaching again!" time:)

Portland Head at Sunrise

I found this picture on line and thought it was astonishing. I love the breaking dawn - the way the darkness is giving way before the light.

It's coming, friends...

hgjlk

Climax Reached!

NOTE: Those who have not read Jane Eyre should NOT read this post!!! Instead you should go directly to the library, check the book out, read it cover to cover, and then return and read this post.

I have been holding my breath since September 12 or so (which is a very long time to be holding one's breath - that's got to be some kind of record), when I started reading Jane Eyre with my class. I was paranoid lest someone spoil the surprise for my students!

I distinctly remember the how surprised and horrified I was the first time I read that book: the feeling as if all the wind had been knocked right out of me, the total shock and dismay, the sense of going through that darkness with Jane, thinking nothing can possibly work out right now.

And I really wanted my students to be able to remember a similar feeling! With the accompanying feelings that come at the end of the book, of course. But my wishes for my kids were in constant peril, as chronicled below:

September 14: Headmaster walks through the classroom, sees the book the kids are reading, and asks "Oh! Have you reached the part with the locked up woman yet?"

September 30: I realize that the high school students have read this book several years ago, and that they love to give away endings to each other...

October 15: Headmaster's son (the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, Marilla!) asks one of my students if the ex-wife has showed up yet. (Fortunately I'm able to later assure said student that headmaster's son had it all wrong - thank goodness for monosyllabic prefixes!)

October 23: Fellow-teacher says, "Oh the person who laughs wasn't Grace Poole!" (And then, much to his credit, he realizes the students haven't read that far yet and adds:) "It was the butler!"

October 24: I mention to my high school students that we're about to get to the climax in my Jane Eyre class. They cannot stop joking about giving the story away. I impress, very deeply, the fact that I do not wish them to do this. I think they understand. But I can't be totally sure.

October 25: I read aloud the chapter about the wedding at last! The students are shocked, and questions fly so think and fast that I can't even finish the chapter. Incredulity and understanding hit all at once. SUCCESS!!!!!!

I begin to breath again.

October 26: The students are still incredulous, and keep giving Jane not-quite-morally-sound advice about what she should do (here's a new one - "They should just put Bertha out of her misery! And then they should get married!" A short but interesting - and slightly disturbing - discussion about euthanasia follows). We get to the end of the period and the wails of anguish when I say we have to stop are enough to persuade me to get permission to read more to them during their lunch period! Five of seven (the five girls, surprisingly enough) opted to stay.

What a fabulous success! I can't wait to finish the book now...

This Just In...

Salad is more palatable if eaten with one's hands!

Perhaps part of my deep loathing of salad springs from my inability to get the stuff onto my fork.

Sadly, conventions of acceptable societal behavior may put a damper on my latest discovery.

The Two Happiest Teaching Moments of my Life

The first of the happiest moments of my teaching life came last year, sometime around the first day of school, right after my first class, when I realized, "I LOVE this! I was MADE for this!"

The second of the two happiest moments of my teaching life came today. I was talking with the headmaster, whose son is in my senior class. They had just gone down to PA for a college visit. The headmaster said, "Andrea, have you heard what my son's been telling people? You're not going to believe this. This is going to floor you. We got down there to PA, and the people asked what he was thinking about going into. And he said Literature."

!!!

Let me try to tell you what this meant to me. I was awake in the night, two and a half years ago, wondering what in the world I was going to do with my life. I realized that teaching was all I could see myself doing career-wise. I had discovered how much I loved literature that semester. And I couldn't imagine anything better than being able to stay immersed in it all my life, and passing on that love to other people. That was what I wanted to do with a teaching career: inspire others to want to find the beauty I had found - show people the possibilities and the richness there.

When my headmaster told me that news, my cup was full! THAT is why I had become a teacher. And I realized in that moment, very concretely, that that vision I'd had was being realized. What an amazing moment!

The Jane Eyre Mystery

I'm teaching Jane Eyre to my 7th and 8th graders, and I'm having a ball with it! The following tale is based on a real class... We just read the chapter in which someone sets fire to Mr. Rochester's bed. We got to the end of the chapter, where Mr. Rochester tenderly thanks Jane with her hand in both of his, and then I started asking the questions. "What is up with this Grace Poole character?!"

You should have HEARD the hypotheses that flew about thick and fast. We started with the more expected:

"Maybe she's crazy!"

"Maybe she's evil!"

"Maybe she knows something about Mr. Rochester, and if he fires her she'll tell everyone, so he can't get rid of her."

I write blackmail on the board.

And THEN...

"I know! She didn't really do it - the other servant, Leah, paid her to go by Jane's room and laugh and then leave, and then Leah did it!" (Motive? Um, no.)

"It was probably MRS. FAIRFAX (the very docile, ordinary old housekeeper), because she was distantly related and maybe she would inherit Thornfield!"

"Maybe Mrs. Pool has someone locked up in the attic!" (Miss Murray laughs in what she hopes will be perceived as a how-cute-of-you-to-be-so-far-wrong way, and not a nervous how-in-the-world-did-you-hit-upon-that way.)

"Or MAYBE Mrs. Pool is really Celine, the French dancer, Adele's mom, that Mr. Rochester used to love. And she's pretending to be crazy and she's so good at it Mr. R doesn't even know it is she!" (Actually, none of my kids would say "it is she." sigh.)

"It was probably Pilot (the dog)."

"It was the wife of the guy Mr. Rochester shot in the arm long ago, and she's come back to get revenge!"

"No, guys, it's always the person you don't suspect. It was probably Mr. Rochester himself!"

And then came the crowning moment of the class:

"I know. Guys, I know. Mr. Rochester just did it so he could have an excuse to hold Jane's hand." (Gales of laughter. Order never restored. Teacher laughing too hard to try. Class over.)

The Really Real

This week I've run into a few negative interpretations of religion.

In a tv show two people were discussing prayer. One said we thank God for things not because it does anything for Him (the speaker didn't even believe there was a God), but because it was good for us to express that feeling of thankfulness. Hm. The other said we thank God for things because we don't want to be squished like bugs. Nice.

Then, in bloggerdom, I saw a comment about religion being something man has created because of his own ego - he wants to think his ego can connect on with something that will last forever. Cheery.

And I just want to scream "PEOPLE! You're MISSING SO MUCH!!!"

All week long, since last weekend's awesome experience with the Holy Spirit, I've been thinking about how wonderful it is to dwell on the things that really matter - the things that are really REAL. It is so good to focus on the things that are high and lasting and right, instead of being absorbed with the trivial and temporary.

And I was thinking about other people who don't even know of this whole realm - the realm that is so much more real and lasting than what they see around them. My prayers for the removal of the covering (aided in inspiration by Craig's comments about being a prayer warrior even in the little prayers) have taken on new life. How dreadful to go through life without experiencing reality! It's as if a bunch of people are walking around with only half of their lungs, so that they can never breath deeply. It's like unsaved humanity can only see in black and white, or have no taste buds, or something... only so much more so. There is SO much MORE!

I breath in, deeply, the air of reality. I rejoice that God has allowed me to see Him and His truth - and I pray it out to the rest of humanity. I want them to break through the thin veneer on which they live their lives, and fall into the rich depths of what life is really about: the REALLY real!

God is huge - He is everything good - He is the meaning - He is the purpose - He is the most real reality. He has set up the world to be enjoyed in this context: that He is GOD! So let's live our lives in that context - experiencing all the good He has given us in this life - and looking forward to the time when what is really real is all we see, and the trivial, superficial, and transient are gone forever. And let's believe for others to get the reality too!

Praise the Lord for TRUTH!

Sept 30, 2006

By now you’ve probably read, on Craig’s or Derrick’s blog, about last Saturday night’s outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Here I am at last, with teacher training tomorrow and thus no lesson plans tonight (!), to weigh in on the matter.

It seemed to me a time of great import. It was a unified surrender of self to all that God has for us. It was a joint outpouring of our desire for God, for vision, for His highest. It was a time unlike any I’ve experienced before, in terms of being with a group of peers seeking God in that way. I found myself real and open, uninhibited, as I talked to God, despite the fact that so many others were listening. That was the Holy Spirit.

And I believe God heard us and is answering. Actually, I think we were the ones who were answering His call. But when we called to Him in response, He answered us and worked and is continuing to work, continuing to call us higher.

And I want to go. What else is there? What else would we possibly want to waste our time with except the highest and best – that for which we were created.

And I’m anticipating great things. God doesn’t work at random – everything He does is moving us toward that final goal of history. What happened that night happened for a reason. God prepared us for that, and what happened was preparation for something else… I keep thinking about the impact a group of people totally committed to God and to His will could have. Who knows what God has planned?! It is as if He is building a force for something. And I’m in.

I don’t know what it is, exactly. All I know is that I want to be totally His – totally surrendered – totally taken up with Him. And He'll do the rest.

Of course, emotions don’t last and the high fades. But the truth of the matter continues on – the vision is still there – the desire to deal only with what’s real remains. Whatever I do, I want to be close to Him, and furthering His Kingdom.

And that’s where it starts. As we give ourselves to Him, He can use us. So, readers, I encourage you to think about what really matters, and give yourselves again to His cause. It doesn’t have to be an emotional thing, even – just a conscious assent to His will is incredibly powerful. I am praying for new life all over the Kingdom – for an entire church with the passion to be His and only His, to see Him and only Him, to pursue Him and Him alone.

I believe this is possible, and that, if and when it happens, the power of such a movement will be immeasurable. So let’s turn to God and see what He will do! This is what really matters.

Across the Sea

I am sailing, I am sailing,
Home again 'cross the sea.
I am sailing, stormy waters,
To be near you, to be free.

-Gavin Sutherland










And, doubtless, unto thee is given
A life that bears immortal fruit
In those great offices that suit
The full-grown energies of heaven...

But thou and I have shaken hands,
Till growing winters lay me low;
My paths are in the fields I know,
And thine in undisover'd lands.

Tennyson, In Memoriam, XL

My Latest Games...

After having two people from school comment on my driving (specifically my tactic of weaving about through various lanes of traffic on the highway), I decided it was time to do something about it. One never knows when one will be spotted by someone from one's work world. Sigh. So recently I've been playing this game called "patience." It's actually quite entrancing! Finally I begin to understand children's attraction to The Quiet Game. I always assumed they were just a little too, um, immature to realize that the game was merely to keep them from driving adults crazy. But they may be on to something. It really is entertaining to spend time doing something contrary to nature! I calmly drive down the road, sticking with one lane, and shaking my head and sighing condescendingly about that young hot-head who is weaving about through lanes of traffic trying to save himself one extra minute. These silly impatient drivers. Someday maybe they will be as mature and peaceful as I am, serenely gliding down the highway.

The other game I've been playing is the "be more like Danny" game. It's great fun. You pretend that you have the work ethic of your older brother, so you work like a slave all week on lesson plans and essay grading. The reason this is a game is because you're pretending that you're doing the work in order to be as good a teacher as your brother, but really you're doing it because you have absolutely no choice - the amount of work is the bare minimum for survival now that you are teaching this many classes.

In other news (lest we forget) I LOVE TEACHING!!!

Okay, who told the Chinese?

It's so nice having TJ home - it means we eat Chinese food more:) And last weekend, I got a fortune cookie that made me reflect on deep life truths. Or deep life questions, rather. Like, who told the Chinese about me? Which of my friends and relations is the mole?!

My fortune was "You will find yourself in a position of dignity in the end." HA! You keep trying to be grown up and dignified, but we fortune cookie writers know that you are fighting a losing battle. You?! Dignified?! (giggle giggle) But hey, don't worry. You might be dignified by the time you DIE! (If you're lucky.) (more giggles)

Today one of my students told me that her mother said I bring sunshine to the school... you can hear me all through the halls. Oh. Great!

Well, here's hoping for that dignity in the end...

Confrontation? Not Today!

This morning I got a text message from one of my student's moms (the one who really befriended me last year - I love her!), saying she was sorry to bother me, but she needed to ask me a question.

Uh oh, I thought, here it comes. Her daughter had not completed her summer assignments, and I had told her that she could either tell her mom she was starting the semester with three zeros, or I would have to call her myself. From the text message I surmised that the daughter had told the mother, the mother was upset, and the mother wanted to talk me into some kind of excessive grace or something.

But I texted her back and told her she wasn't bothering me and to go ahead and ask. She texted me back: "[re: the logic puzzle I'd given her daughter in class the day before] Who really did steal the art picture, Charlie or Bill?!"

Hee hee hee. I was vastly relieved and told her it was Charlie. How cute!

And now, with that lovely segue into the subject of school (HA! What else do I ever blog about during the year?!), I am happy to report that things are going fabulously. Last night I was reflecting on the difference between this Friday and last Friday. Last Friday I was a mess, worried about the work load, hating the prospect of Rhetoric class, sure I would never survive. (Incidentally, when I start feeling like that I love quoting "The Princess Bride" at the part where Westley and Buttercup are about to enter the Fireswamp and Buttercup says "We'll never survive," in that beautiful English accent. Hm. Obviously I can't be too despairing if I am still quoting TPB... Oh well. It was pretty despairing for the likes of me.)

This Friday I came home wicked tired, but also happy with how the classes had gone, how I'd handled them (I felt so good-teacher-y because I went the extra mile, in trying to explain truth, validity, and soundness in my logic class, by bringing in a diagram and a visual aid made with legos!), and how the future looked. That talk with my headmaster made such a difference, as did getting further into the groove. I'm going to have to work hard, harder than last year, but not nearly as hard as I envisioned (burning the midnight oil - not a moment's free time - all that jazz). It's going to be okay, thank the Lord!

And this week, I had many of those moments where I thought to myself, or even said aloud: "I LOVE TEACHING!!!"