The Last Week

Thank God! We're done with summer school on Wednesday. I am starting to wonder, though, if I should have been a truck driver. I hear they make good money. People really leave them alone, for the most part. When they're done working, they're done. There isn't anything to plan, to grade, to worry about.

We're going to do Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery" today. I HATE this story. It makes me angry.

We're also going to do a sensory response on "Paris Street; Rainy Day." The painting, I think, is perfect for this.

I am really worried about how I am going to grade the Research Papers for the 2nd semester group. I anticipate that they will be just awful. I know, though, that at least 2 of the 7 will be, at least, readable. Susana is doing her paper on the Trujilo dictatorship in the Dominican Republic. Erik is writing his on Master P. No matter how much I can't stand that "gangsta," Erik has proven to be my surprise for the term. We started out rough, but then ... he has just surprised me and proven to be a pretty good writer. Smart kid. Too bad he just doesn't seem to be headed in the right direction. Prayer. I think I will have to pray for that kid. He might just surprise me in this, too.

Feeling good -- for 38 with MS. Lia's tail is all better after the whole "swimmer's tail" incident. Who'd've thought?? God, I love those multi-contraction, non-words.

John and I are, hopefully, doing lunch next week. Oh, and I called NIU today -- not too late for me to get financial aid for the Fall term (that I am going to have to take because I don't have a damned job, yet).

Oh, I really need to follow up with East because they supposedly have a position open in their PLATO program. Rumor has it that it's a totally cush job and that it will probably lead to a real teaching job. I'll try, anyway.

Gotta go and teach in a few minutes.

Afterthought

This is for Jeff (since he had so much trouble finding the post for which he was looking) -- July 16th. In this case, the birthday when I spent 4 hours at the emergency vet (and $300.00 -- good thing I had that veterinary pet insurance) with my dog who has, get this, "swimmer's tail" (she's better, today, but I won't let her swim again until at least this weekend).

School Daze

Only 6 more days of summer school. I may be more excited about the end that is in sight than the students. When I'm done, I'll post more.

Bunch of Rambling

I have been on Avonex for 6 weeks, now. It's going well. I haven't had anything I'd call a side effect, yet. This makes me worry, a little - as stupid as that sounds. If I don't have any side effects, is it working? I've decided that I will tell myself that it is working very, very well. This way, maybe my body will believe it.

I have been teaching at WCC (the East High kids) for 2 weeks. I am always tired. I did, though, get a little break. By the end of the first week, my first block had 10 kids and my second block had 20. WCC, in its infinite wisdom for which it is so well known, decided to bring the 2 kids who were taking the Sugar Grove class over to the Aurora campus. Their teacher came with them. Ben. Coincidentally, his last name is Peterselli. Even more coincidentally, his classroom at Wheaton North is right next to Linda's classroom (you know, the woman who gave me the tickets to the Globe when I went to London -- she was a customer of mine at HD and then a classmate of mine at NIU).

So, the first block class we teach together and take turns planning for, and we split the second bl0ck in half. Shortly thereafter, I lost 3 of my students to absences (they only get 2 and are dropped automatically on the 3rd absence). This leaves me with only 8 students of my own and 10 students that I share with Ben. This is much, much more manageable. The small class size has helped me get control of some of the students that were previously out of control. I think ALL of my students are passing right now and only 1 of them is getting less than a C -- weirdly enough, he is one of my "good" kids. I think he just is too lazy to complete the homework in class with the rest of the class -- I mean, they have time to work on the homework in pairs during class, and then I go over the "right" answers with them. The only real effort the students need to make is to get their butts out of their chairs and put the homework in the damned folder I leave on the front table -- and for crying out loud, they have to pass the folder to take their breaks! And we wonder why our society is falling apart.

Cat is in DC for that month-long study at Georgetown for the fellowship she won. Shane went to join her for the holiday weekend. Guess who gets to babysit Philly? No, Jeff, it wasn't Joe! And they paid me a whopping $20 for the 4 days I have to drag my ass over there. Hmmm. I shouldn't complain, I know.

Doug brought Amber over on Saturday. She was with us about 12 hours. I took Lia and Amber out to the pool around 6:00 and got in myself for a little bit. Amber jumped in and swam all by herself! This was very exciting for Lia who has needed a pool buddy.

Joe bought a house. He should be closing on it and moving in within about a month. It's a cute little tri-level in downtown Oswego (kind of by Traughber). I guess that Janelle, Doug, Mike and I (note the absence of the Oxford comma, there -- I mean, we're in the U.S.!) are going to pitch in together for a gift card to Target. Between what I have, what my mother got for Doug that he's not using, and what Joe has, himself, he really doesn't need much outside of things like toilet paper, garbage bags and laundry soap.

Mom and Dad are trying to refinance again -- this might be enough to save them, but I sincerely doubt it. If I could just get a damned job, we could fix all of this -- I could fork over everything I make aside from a litttle to pay off my loans, etc. Actually, if I could just win the lottery, everything would be okay for them. I heard a rumor, though, that in order to win the lottery, you have to buy a ticket. Is that true?? No wonder, then, that I haven't won yet!

Well, I'm pretty early for school, today, so I decided to kill some time by posting. I still have about 45 minutes, but I want to check my e-mail. Happy 4th!