Tuesday, March 23, 2004
SOFTLY, SUMMER APPROACHES
I have begun to feel the need to return to blogging lately. I don't know...maybe to clear my head. 8 more mondays until the last day of school. I can do it. I can do it. Just breathe in and out...one day at a time. Soon, I will be free.
I started to blog about work, but I just can't do it anymore. I'm sick of talking about it, so I'll move on to something else.
Let's see....
Well, my 10 year high school reunion is coming up (this summer- July). I have been to the 5 year one, and it was so-so. I suspect this one is going to be super duper. The only problem is that it's going to be in Pennsylvania. ?? of all places! I would consider going, buy the guy I am seeing- let us call him Mr. S for now- wants to go to New York during that weekend. Before I met him, I had already planned to go to New York for the summer (see my earlier blogs) but it just so happens that he has a family reunion coming up, and it would work out for us to go to New York together.
I don't care where I go this summer. I just want to go somewhere. I plan to make a shitload of money teaching summer school (I'm a glutton for punishment), so that I can take a nice little vacation. I wouldn't mind going alone, but Mr. S and did have a good time together in Disneyland, that I wouldn't mind taking another road trip with him.
Last summer was my very first time to understand what it means to have the summer "off" as a teacher. Everyone thinks that teachers have it so easy- we get national holidays, Christmas, and summers off (don't forget Spring Break). When people make such comments I want to sucker punch them. They clearly don't get it. Teachers bust their asses for 180+ days a year, work almost every weekend, work late almost every night, take home work in the evenings, work/supervise/ chaperone all sorts of extra curricular things, and we DO WORK DURING THE SUMMER. I, for one, do my llong term esson planning during this time. I clean my classroom, I photocopy all kinds of handouts for the first few weeks of school, and I research new things to use in my classroom.
But don't get me wrong...it is nice to know that on any given day of summer I can wake up late if I would like to. That makes up for all the days I had to wake up at 5:00 am and stay up until 11:00pm with nothing but work in between.
It feels good to sit at home on a warm summer day, munching on a popsicle watching Jerry Springer if I wish. That makes up for all the days I have wanted to watch something interesting on TV but couldn't because I had a meeting or Parent Teacher Conferences.
It feels good to eat my lunch/dinner at a slow, even pace- without having to supervise 100s of kids eating, shoving, and cutting in the lunch line; without having to run to the photocopy room to photocopy that assignment for speech class before the bell rings; without having to hear other teachers bitch about this or that in the faculty lounge. I can eat at home- with my feet on the couch, or above my head if I wanted to.
The part I love most about summer is the warm evenings. I can go anywhere! I'm free. I can go out for drinks at 9 pm on a Tuesday. No work the next day! I can take a road trip at the drop of a hat. I can play my guitar until 3 am if I wish. I love renting 4 or 5 foreign/indy movies from Blockbuster at a time and just selfishly indulging myself.
I can go as long as I want without brushing my teeth.
I can sit around in my pyjamas.
I can take a nap several times a day.
I can workout!
40 days left....40 days left....40....40....40....
I have begun to feel the need to return to blogging lately. I don't know...maybe to clear my head. 8 more mondays until the last day of school. I can do it. I can do it. Just breathe in and out...one day at a time. Soon, I will be free.
I started to blog about work, but I just can't do it anymore. I'm sick of talking about it, so I'll move on to something else.
Let's see....
Well, my 10 year high school reunion is coming up (this summer- July). I have been to the 5 year one, and it was so-so. I suspect this one is going to be super duper. The only problem is that it's going to be in Pennsylvania. ?? of all places! I would consider going, buy the guy I am seeing- let us call him Mr. S for now- wants to go to New York during that weekend. Before I met him, I had already planned to go to New York for the summer (see my earlier blogs) but it just so happens that he has a family reunion coming up, and it would work out for us to go to New York together.
I don't care where I go this summer. I just want to go somewhere. I plan to make a shitload of money teaching summer school (I'm a glutton for punishment), so that I can take a nice little vacation. I wouldn't mind going alone, but Mr. S and did have a good time together in Disneyland, that I wouldn't mind taking another road trip with him.
Last summer was my very first time to understand what it means to have the summer "off" as a teacher. Everyone thinks that teachers have it so easy- we get national holidays, Christmas, and summers off (don't forget Spring Break). When people make such comments I want to sucker punch them. They clearly don't get it. Teachers bust their asses for 180+ days a year, work almost every weekend, work late almost every night, take home work in the evenings, work/supervise/ chaperone all sorts of extra curricular things, and we DO WORK DURING THE SUMMER. I, for one, do my llong term esson planning during this time. I clean my classroom, I photocopy all kinds of handouts for the first few weeks of school, and I research new things to use in my classroom.
But don't get me wrong...it is nice to know that on any given day of summer I can wake up late if I would like to. That makes up for all the days I had to wake up at 5:00 am and stay up until 11:00pm with nothing but work in between.
It feels good to sit at home on a warm summer day, munching on a popsicle watching Jerry Springer if I wish. That makes up for all the days I have wanted to watch something interesting on TV but couldn't because I had a meeting or Parent Teacher Conferences.
It feels good to eat my lunch/dinner at a slow, even pace- without having to supervise 100s of kids eating, shoving, and cutting in the lunch line; without having to run to the photocopy room to photocopy that assignment for speech class before the bell rings; without having to hear other teachers bitch about this or that in the faculty lounge. I can eat at home- with my feet on the couch, or above my head if I wanted to.
The part I love most about summer is the warm evenings. I can go anywhere! I'm free. I can go out for drinks at 9 pm on a Tuesday. No work the next day! I can take a road trip at the drop of a hat. I can play my guitar until 3 am if I wish. I love renting 4 or 5 foreign/indy movies from Blockbuster at a time and just selfishly indulging myself.
I can go as long as I want without brushing my teeth.
I can sit around in my pyjamas.
I can take a nap several times a day.
I can workout!
40 days left....40 days left....40....40....40....
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