Intense Academia

So I have been teaching now for almost a full Six Weeks, and as far as I can tell, I'm still fairly sane. I haven't physically harmed any Children (yet), I haven't emotionally harmed any Children (at least not on purpose), and I still have at least three semi-dressy Teacher Outfits that I haven't even worn yet. Life is good.

Also, next week is the long-awaited Six Weeks Test. That means I get to spend an entire day watching the Students sweat it out over ridiculously hard questions about polynomials and graphing data, while I, for once, get to kick back, sit in the cool breeze and catch up on my Sudoku Puzzles. I'm really looking forward to it. For some reason, my Students are not.

In other news, since I don't have enough to do right now and I'm not really busy at all with Lesson Planning, Grading Papers, or Enforcing Detentions, I have volunteered to be the Debate Coach at School. I like Debate. In high school, it gave me a chance to be confrontational and angry without having to worry about hurting peoples' feelings (which I worry about a lot). So, I am excited about this. I was thinking I might have three, maybe four Students brave enough to a) admit they like Debate, long revered as one of the most "intense" academic events (when you use "intense" and "academic event" in the same sentence, it just gets wierd), b) want to be in an event under my leadership (Heaven knows I don't give a great example of successful leadership in the classroom, and c) actually remember to come to the meeting. I had sixteen freaking kids show up. So, I have at least four months of Intense Academia coming my way.

I can't wait.

No More Zombies in Surround Sound

This past weekend my brother moved out of the house. This is a big step for the family, as my brother has only moved out once before, and at that time he moved in with me, so it was really not AWAY from the family. This time, he is away. Kind of.

He moved to the hopping city of Sherman, Texas. Sherman is about twenty five miles away from here, and hence he has left half of his crap nestled in various corners of the house: a dirty sock here, various black and grey clothing items there, a Playstation 2 quietly tucked in the closet. But, regardless of these remains, there is a profound difference in the house. First and foremost, as my previous roommate can tell you, it's a heck of a lot cleaner. My brother is not a terribly messy person, he just leaves death and destruction in his wake. Dr. Pepper cans tossed about like ragdolls, pizza boxes that never had a chance, socks and magazines and XBox paraphenalia strewn across the carpet, left without a second Thought. He's only nineteen, so he is still in the "I cannot breathe in a neat environment" Stage of his Life. Also, it's remarkably quieter. The distant gunfire from Grand Theft Auto no longer plagues my lesson planning. The screeches of hundreds of zombies from Dead Rising in freaking surround sound no longer pierces my Dreams. It's nice.

But, let's face it, as nice as it all is, I miss the guy.

In other news, my Cats are boycotting their litter boxes. I don't know what we did to piss them off, but they are pissing liberally anywhere and everywhere they can...except in the boxes. I went to retrieve my Downy Fresh laundry the other day, only to find something very fresh indeed (and it wasn't the Downy).
I think they are trying to balance out the cleanliness of the House. Since my Brother's gone, somebody has got to leave a mess, and I think the Cats have taken it upon themselves to contribute to the previously established Disorder of the House.

I think I'd rather have the Dr. Pepper and zombies. Wardo, come home.

OOOOOklahoma!

I am ashamed I haven't blogged in almost two weeks. I must apologize to all two of my noble Readers; I will endeavor to write more.

So for Labor Day, my family went to Oklahoma for a little getaway. I know, most people try to getaway from Oklahoma, but when you're already in the magnificent Bonham, it counts as a vacation. We rented a fun little Cabin had planned many outdoor activities like swimming, fishing, and alligator wrestling. Once again, since we actually planned to be outdoors, Mother Nature decided to break the three month drought that was perfect for alligator wrestling and rain, rain, rain.

So, we ended up putting together a puzzle of a Cat on a pillow, making fun of each other (and the Okies), and watching nine back to back episodes of the Vicar of Dibley. Does life get much better? (yes, yes it does). But we did have the rare opportunity of watching an OU game in Oklahoma, and it was fun to root for the other team while everyone was wearing "F--k Texas" shirts (without the courtesy of dashes). The last time I got that many dirty looks was when I accidentally sat on the class gerbil in third grade. Ah, the comeraderie of football.