i'm a REAL teacher now

the long nightmare is over, at least for a year or so. mason was suitably impressed by the changes i made in my classroom management and as of last friday, i have been offered not the measly one year but a two year contract. whew. good to be validated, good to know i'll be able to keep making rent....er, mortgage payments for at least two more years. i even was rated distinguished (the highest rating) in a couple of categories. excellent.

via crucis began last night at st. e's. if you're in the cincy area, you really need to come experience it - open 11 to 11 daily through saturday. i think. geesh, i guess i should check on that. though actually, maybe i should experience it myself first. wasn't in the right space yesterday. rehearsal ran long tonight. no rush - i'm sure i'll find time before it's over. aaron has good things to say about it if you're interested. we've talked about the "weight" of the space in st. e's and i experienced it again last night. definitely a thin space. looking forward to spending some time there soon.

looks like i'll be heading to kent on the 22nd. not sure who i'll get to see, but jenna and lauri have both responded. hopefully i'll be able to hook up with courtney and jen as well. could be quite the long day, unless i decide to drive halfway there friday night. will have to see what steve is up to and if angela would let me show up late and crash in the guest room. probably a crazy thing to do, but been needing my kent fix (and if we can squeeze in a trip to ray's, all the better).

finished geisha. beautiful book. sayuri is a glorious character and feels real. have moved on to the curious incident of the dog in the nighttime. about 2/3 of the way through. so wish i could use it in my classroom, but alas, they drop the F bomb way too much. ah well. maybe i could use excerpts or something.

started a poem last night - my first in a while. but my metaphors kept battling for supremacy so i think i'm going to have to choose one and start over. gives me something to do over break.

three more days. three more days.

kenny asked me yesterday what i'd been thinking about the most lately. and i said something about the compression of time and how it seems to be disappearing far faster than i can keep up. i know it's the time of year and all (plus being involved with the musical and basically working a second job at the auditorium), but more and more i reach the end of the day exhausted with no understanding of exactly how i got to the end. life is blurring and i feel i'm only getting an impression of life, not the ever-important details. hopefully next week will give me the chance to slow down, reorient myself a bit. that's the goal, anyway.

took the new-to-me lawnmower out for her first spin today. took about 45 minutes to finish the job (not counting the having to find a gas can - graciously donated by homer, my across-the-street neighbor - and get some gas to get her to work). couldn't seem to keep my lines straight - i say the lawn is off kilter. couldn't be operator error, right?

sleep calls. tomorrow is peer editing. here's hoping i don't have too many students without some sort of rough draft. they've had plenty of opportunity to get something together. still, you'd be surprised how many won't have anything. or maybe you wouldn't be surprised. i know i'm not any more.

goodnight.
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