Murphy's Law

Things that you don't want to happen when your best friend from Colorado is visiting for one afternoon:

• steady, heavy rain - I'd been hoping to go to Pretty Color Lake or Small Glacier Lake for a nice walk. We settled for wandering around campus and the cemetery in the rain (which turned out to be rather nice after all).
• having to run to the bathroom multiple times while on campus - "Uh, why don't you wait here in the hall while I pop into the bathroom. Again." Not fun.
• two huge zits - Since I went back on the pill in March my skin has been much improved. I'm blaming the oral presentation I had to give in class on Monday night for the eruption of these two monstrosities. Needless to say, between the rain and the zits, not so many photos were taken.

You know your friendship rocks when none of this matters though, as long as you're together.

Desktop Meme

Mary tagged me for this meme. Not only is it fun, but I learned something too. I'd never used the print screen function before! The photo I use as my background was taken by BerryBird. Isn't it gorgeous? I only use two or three of my icons.

Tagging: NSLS, Electronic Goose, Marni, Beth, and DancingFish. And anyone else who wants to play...

Study Break

Who could resist taking a walk on a beautiful day like this? Not me!

I usually prefer leaving the road to hike through fields or woods, but since I could hear gunfire I elected to remain on the road. Even though some trees were completely bare, there is still little color to speak of.

Bullets of Bad Mood

• My lawn desperately needed to be mowed so I thought I was being productive by getting that taken care of early in the day. Unfortunately, although I got the lawn mowed, I've been unable to do any schoolwork at all on account of the post-mowing head congestion.
• Because of that I am in miserable mood. I keep wondering why I am doing this to myself, and how I am possibly going to get through all of it. Most days I feel increasingly stupid and incompetent.
• The interior portion of my construction project is essentially done. I spent hours last night vacuuming the newly installed carpet and cleaning the new bathroom. Today I hit Target for some essentials, like a trash can and bath mat.
• I have a classmate who is constantly pursuing me, which is doing nothing to ease my stress levels. I haven't the time, energy, or interest to be bothered.
• In fact, I can't be bothered with much these days.
• All I really want to do is watch TV and sleep.

Highs and Lows

I went to my suburban placement today, which I love. The more time I spend there, the more sure I am of this decision. The teachers and administrators are extremely welcoming and encouraging. The students are, well, teenagers. In my two sessions there I've already had the chance to observe three teachers and three different levels of biology. It's fascinating and a thoroughly inviting atmosphere.

In class tonight we had a guest lecturer in to talk about assessment. He was so condescending and offensive that I wasn't able to get past that to take away anything of value from the two and half hours he lectured at us, yelled at us, and implied we're all a bunch of idiots. I wanted to throw something at him and walk out. He, all by himself, made me not want to be a teacher at all. What a pompous asshole.

I think I'll go drink my Woodchuck, watch some TV, and try hard to not let him sour my great experience this morning.

Email Question

When I receive an email from a friend or otherwise I try hard to answer all questions and pose additional ones if relevant. It seems as though this is not the common practice. My friends often ignore my questions altogether. Should I assume that the topic doesn't interest them or that they simply can't be bothered? Or is this technique normal, and I'm actually the odd man out with my behavior?

A Case of the Mondays

Apparently I wore my teacher clothes for no good reason today. When I got to my first classroom today the lights were off and the door was locked. I went back to the main office where I was informed that the 8th graders had gone on a field trip.

Fantastic. Now I will have to take time off work to make up these missed hours. I will also have next Monday's hours to make up on account of Columbus Day.

It would've been nice had someone mentioned the field trip when I was there last week. Surely these things are not so spur of the moment that a little warning would've been impossible.