Oh So Tired

Whew... All I can say is that next week is going to be a LONG week... not because school is going badly or something, but just because I am tired after only 2 days of school!

The schedule always takes some getting used to in the beginning of the year. Yesterday, my feet were killing me at the end of the day. Today, it is my back, for some reason. It just keeps hurting more and more as the day goes on. Right now, I have one of those heating patch things on it now, and I just took some ibuprofen, so hopefully that will help.

Today was also a good day at school. I got a lot done, and had my first 7th and 8th grade classes of the year. The 8th graders are going to be a challenge once again, but I am starting strict. I dove right into assigning seats and explaining my rules and expectations. They didn't seem happy about it, but who really likes rules. I don't care anyway, it's my class, my rules. I am not going to have my class turn into the attention show from certain students like last year. I already had to give one demerit. I gave it to someone who received several from me last year. Every time he gets one, he argues with me, and I would argue back. This time, I just ignored his arguing, which made life a lot easier, and I kept my cool. I plan on keeping this up--I think it will make a much easier year.

The rest of my classes were good too--no major problems. The nicest thing so far about the start of school is my car rides. Having the Zen has allowed me to listen to stuff that I haven't heard in years. In the beginning of the week, I was doing a "random play all" from all 3500 songs. At one point, I was listening to the stupid Queen Latifa (sp?) version of "Cell Block Tango" from Chicago. That inspired me to listen to the soundtrack from the movie, which put me in a showtunes mood. So, I've been spending the last few days listening to the complete Les Miserables. 3 CD's worth, so it took some time to get through it all. I was obsessed with the show when I was in high school, but I don't think I completely got the story line, so it was neat to hear it again. The only problem was, I don't think I've ever cried so much from listening to music. I forgot that most of the major characters in the show die tragically. And setting a sad death to music just makes it worse. I'm driving to/from school bawling when Fantine... Eponine... Gavrosche... Javert... Val Jean (I think I got them all) die--hoping none of the passing motorists notice. I gotta find something more upbeat to listen to next week.

After getting home from school, Meggie and I had a delicious dinner... homemade cheesesteaks with sauteed mushrooms. Then, we stopped by my parents, so I could endorse the loan check for my sister, and then went to Sam's (had to pick up a couple of things), and then Wal-Mart. We ran into Cathy (a friend of Meg's), and her husband, John, who is a band director at a local high school. He has a small staff, and needs help, so he invited me to come and help out if I was feeling like I wanted to do some band stuff one night or two. I might take him up on it. Right now, I am definitely NOT missing marching band. If I were doing band, I would still be at a football game right now. I would not have come home from school, and I'd probably have a practice and/or a competition tomorrow. I never had any problem with this schedule in high school/college, but now that I am getting older, it is definitely not for me. It's funny, because I always wanted to be a marching band director. I think that is because, in my high school, marching band was the pinnacle organization of the music department. It made sense to me that marching band-directing was a high-ranking position. I have since learned that people can have meaningful, successful careers as middle and elementary school band directors. And, you can do this, and still get to have weekends. But, if I get bored, I might call up John and ask if he needs help. It would be neat to be the extra guy that comes in to offer advice.

So, after talking to Cathy and John, we finished up our shopping, and then got home. After this, I'm going to bed. zzzzzzzzzzzzzz....