Crash and Burn?

In the month (almost) since I've had the energy to check in here, life has gone on . . . and on. . . and on. The flu has struck and laid me low, including three days away from school. Grad class has held two sessions. The plumbing at home has stopped up. The weather has been ridculously cool for August / early September. My mother had her 84th birthday which went uncelebrated by me, at least. My students settled down. My work load increased. And I've been tired. So very, very tired.

The flu caused both humiliation and vast seas of misery in my life -- it all struck below the waist, so the less said about that the better. The indignity of my repeated bouts of desparation should only exist in one's imagination. I'm still unable to eat. Chicken soup has been the staple in our house, along with huge, chilled bottles of 7-Up.

Labor Day was spent trying to recover from the flu but I was so dehydrated by that time, that even tepid water caused a bad reaction.

The kids at school have been great. They listened as required to Obama's education speech, even through all the technical difficulties we had accessing it. They have helped me survive in the classroom this week, even though I've barely been able to stand up straight.

I love collaborating in Physical Science and only wish I had the energy to do it justice. The teacher is so encouraging and positive and never makes anyone feel stupid, no matter how many times he has to explain how to figure out atomic structure.

I hate departmental meetings. H A T E! Nothing is more soul stealing than an hour spent making smart goals and trying to decide how to weight gradebooks. This is the first year I'm stuck in them -- and after only a couple I feel bowed with the weight of every dry tome Herman Melville ever wrote. Bah!

Inside the walls of my classroom, though, life is pretty and harmonious and riveting. I just wish that school politics and community building and departmental expectations could be eliminated.

I have four huge projects due for my grad class but except that they are to be presented creatively, I think they can be completed within the timeframes allotted. There is a fair amount of reading along with class, but the text book is not awful (damning with faint praise, I know).

I've watched every episode of NCIS from the beginning of the series. I'm now watching Crossing Jordan. I tried Stargate but, honestly, except for Eureka, sci fi is just not my bag. Luckily, every once in a while Joan of Arcadia is repeated on A&E (I think) and I've got them all recorded, too. I love my DVR. I love a good TV show.

Until my energy levels come back up, I probably won't be around here much. But I'll be thinking about writing. Too bad we don't have an apparatus that can just record thoughts . . .