lalala

Pretending that I don't know anything about traveling except the trip that is in less than six weeks, lalala....and getting anxious and excited for christmas to get here already.

On Monday, I was out of the building all day long, with two other teacher friends, at a seminar in the city (related to one of the things I agreed to do, extracurricular-like). It was an absolutely gorgeous day, and we got to be out and about, between the sunny blue sky and the...dirty sidewalks. Heh. I really love when the day has something different, like a meeting and especially like a field trip! Whee! What a way to spend a Monday, eh?

Sadly, that made for an awkward Tuesday. It felt like Monday to me, and only one of my classes had actually done the lesson that I plastered all over the damn place (the other two classes went to different places, so I guess I can't get mad at a lazy sub this time; nevertheless, it's frustrating). Plus, it was a half day because of afternoon conferences.

I had a double period with Class 3, who were behind anyway. We spent the entire time going over the book's practice t*est, reviewing the steps to answering questions, identifying skills in questions, and even summarizing paragraphs. It was not exciting, but I was really proud and happy with the students: they hung in there, lots of participation, and they were actually into it. They showed a lot of comprehension and it really seems like it will help them and change their strategies. What a relief! What a great class!

I spent the two hours off quickly setting up my room and then working on grading papers. I didn't go out to lunch or hang out with my teacher friends; I got some work done. Hurrah, me!

The conferences went very smoothly. I saw perhaps 25 parents, and there was no rushing or chaos or backups. And, since this quarter all the students passed, most with 3s and 4s, the conferences were pleasant and quick. I tell you, what a difference a year and two honors classes make!

I left school at 2.30, and went home to do...nothing, as usual. I really don't know how I waste seven hours a day at home and have nothing to show for it. But the television and computer are nearly totally responsible. Tee hee. Obviously I don't really care, because I *still* have not caught up on homework for one of my classes.

In fact, since I was so lazy yesterday, I told myself that I would come home today and get to work. .... Yeah, right. Not so much. See the post below for the main distraction.

Today was a confusing day for me. I can't remember what day it is. Other than that, I proceeded with the lesson I'd planned for Monday. Of course we didn't finish it, so we'll continue tomorrow. It involves further question skill identification, then reading stories and passages (a random shipment of H!ghlights magazines came in a few weeks ago, and they had some good stuff in there), and then creating mult!ple-cho!ce AND short-response questions, using the skills. Bwa-ha!

When we finish that tomorrow, the groups will trade questions and answer them, and we will discuss good and bad things in short-response answers.

On Friday, I will hand back one of the recent assignments that I graded as an long-answer, we will discuss how to do things, and I'll probably have them compare/contrast or otherwise analyze some stories from the magazines.

And then it will be the weekend, hallelujah. Then we have yet another unusual week and an extra-long weekend. My teacher friends and I are hoping to have a game night! I'm excited because I love games and my teacher friends are a lot of fun.

Lately, I've been getting a little antsy (uh, see the post below?) and I have been missing my little one-day mini-road trip adventures. I think I only did them a few times, but I would pick a direction and a possible destination and then start driving. Only a few hours, but I got to see some new places.

The first time, I wanted to drive to Leavenworth, because it's a cute town and I hadn't been there since a brief stop in freshman year of college (1997-1998; damn!). However, I drove for what felt like forever and wasn't even in Index yet, and I saw a turnoff for some park. I stopped there and took a wee hike to a lovely stream in the middle of the forest. I had lunch at a picnic bench and it was pretty and relaxing and I wished I could have stayed longer. But I drove home.

Another time I drove to Mt Rainier, or somewhere near there...and it was closed. Oops. But still, an adventure. I walked a couple paths near the closed-off gates at least.

My last day jaunt, at least that I remember, was when I decided to drive south. I think I was going to head for Portland or something, but I saw the exit for Aberdeen and Ocean Shores. I thought, "hey, I haven't been there before! Ooh, let's go there!" So I did.

When I finally got there, the sky was gray and stormy (it was March or some other unflattering, off-season month) and I had no idea what to do. First I went to the beach, since that's the big thing out there. It was pleasantly windy and kind of yucky, but I found a spot to sit and just hang out a bit. Watched the other beachgoers dig for clams and ride fourwheelers, and I remember watching a tiny bird running along the sand, fascinated by its roadrunner legs going a million miles an hour, yet leaving perfectly patterned tracks behind it.

I uncertainly drove around a little bit and decided that I was quite hungry. So I went to this old-school pretend-fifties diner and had a lovely plate of french fries and a chocolate milkshake.

After that, I was bored and I went home. Because I'm unimaginative like that. Though honestly, there's not much to do in a tiny beach town in the middle of nowhere, in the winter.

But just taking an afternoon for myself and telling myself that I get to go on a little adventure, was freeing, and it was exciting, in a silly, small way.

I miss that little excitement.

So Thanksgiving weekend I hope to find it again. I'll probably visit Wallingford and Fire 4's labyrinth, and I'm not sure what else. Staying overnight somewhere would be a new and exciting twist. We'll see.

~~~

Oh my god! I'm watching ANTM (because I'm silly like that) and my dream came back to me! I was at work (my old office job again, but like I'd left and come back again), and everyone hated me. They talked and complained about me when I wasn't there. In fact, someone forwarded me an email of these people bitching about me and my horrible personality! It was just awful and humiliating and I had no idea what to do. However, since I'd already left before, I didn't really care too much. Hmm.