Friday, October 5, 2012

Four Day Weekend!

First of all, this four-day weekend was very necessary.  I have finally hit the first year teacher downward slope.  I won't go so far as to say it's a spiral (let's not be dramatic), but the honeymoon period is over.  When they yap in class, I don't say something sweet like, "Let's remember to be respectful."  Well, okay, I do, because respect is important, but I WANT to say "Shut your yap".  I tend not to, but the urge is so much stronger.  Likewise, the urge to not grade things is also very strong.  That's the beauty of a 4-day break, though.  You recover your strength just long enough to keep grading and going.

Having said that, everything is still moving by at a pretty fast clip.  Just yesterday school was starting, and in the blink of an eye it will be halfway over.  October is a busy month for me.  I have a whole bunch of stuff to do, from grading an ungodly amount of reading questions, quizzes, and essays, to working on prepping my kids even more for AIMS, to going to Oak Creek next weekend and to going to California two weekends after that.  Plus, we have to plan for Halloween.  That, in and of itself, is going to take some time.  I really need to think about it.

Once October's over, November and December literally fly by.  There's hardly any time before Thanksgiving, then no time at all before Winter Break, then it's back to the grind.  But the grind is so much better because there's a light at the end of the tunnel.  Yes, it's stressful, but in April once the AIMS are over, it's basically fun times and smoooooooth sailing.

Currently, I'm just trying to enjoy a book and fix my garden up a bit.  I basically killed my tomato plant, in between forgetting to water it as much as it needs and then the frosts and the onset of real fall.  I have a new set of sprouts in a baby pot I need to bring inside so it doesn't die in the next week, but I at least made a try of everything this year.  Next year will be better because I'll be able to get a real start, in the spring.  Maybe I can even try squash or cucumbers!

I have two books I'm reading right now: Under Wildwood, by lead singer and songwriter of the Decemberists, Colin Meloy, and The Mysterious Benedict Society, by Trenton Lee Stewart.  The illustrator for both those books is Carson Ellis, Colin Meloy's wife.  Naturally, they are sort of two peas in a pod type books.  So far, too, Under Wildwood is much better than the first book in the series.  It's much more exciting and the action starts much more quickly.  It took 300 pages for me to get interested in the first book.  I'm only 120 pages into this one and I'm really enjoying it.  I know I said I wanted to do some more adult reading, but I take it back.  I want more fun reading.  I haven't been having fun with the adult books I've been reading, though I really really need to work on Bleak House.  I want to actually finish it by the end of the year, and since I am part of the ensemble in a local production of A Christmas Carol, I figure I should probably be reading that, too.  Then, there's the bit of Welsh history I'd like to read, the Mabinogion, which the book we're reading in class right now is based on, in large part (The Book of Three, by Lloyd Alexander).

With all this reading to do, I really shouldn't be sitting here blogging and watching sleepy British murder mysteries.

But I like blogging.

Can I go live in England for a bit?  The greenery is really lovely.

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