So here's the deal.

I do not like being told what to think and how to think it. I imagine that is a common idea for most people. It makes sense, right? Individuality, the ability to think for yourself... those fundamentals that out nation was founded upon so many years ago?

And so, I must wonder what it is about my credentialing program that seems so enamored with the idea of telling us exactly what to do, say, think, feel, etc. Is teaching not an individual activity? Do we not all approach the subjects that we teach from a different perspective? Is that not what we encourage our students to do?

I've finished my first week of the second semester, and it only took three days (well, to be honest, I've been like this since the first three hours) for the feelings of annoyances and absurdity to come rushing back. Only now, I'm also stressed beyond imagination because I'm also planning lessons and grading and dealing with 60+ personalities.

On a happier note, my car (oh, poor beleaguered car of mine!) has a brand new tire and two working headlights! Which means I can drive above 50 and I no longer have to worry about police harassing me on my way home at night (apparently the combination of driving with one headlight in a car that has some nasty scratches-not all my fault though-and a sketchy area (the neighborhood I live in is fine, getting to it can be interesting) is all too tempting for police to pull me over and literally threaten to tow my car away). So huzzah to that!

And that is the end of that.

NKOTB is back!

Okay, back to grading.

will you love me tomorrow?

Tomorrow I will begin my fourth week of teaching. Tomorrow will also mark the day that I go back to school (perhaps for the last time? Quite possibly... although I've been known to make that remark before). Tomorrow I will call the dentist and discuss the dreaded hateful root canal (could there possibly two more horrifying words in the English language? Well. Obviously, yes. But as for tomorrow, those are it). Tomorrow I will deal with the excuses of my students, get gas, and lug my computer around with me. Tomorrow I will be gone from the early hours of the morning until the later hours of the night (damn you evening classes). Tomorrow I will see classmates who I have missed over the long (and yet not long enough) winter break.

But as for today, I am quietly sitting perched upon my bed, laptop in lap (oh how appropriate), textbooks and papers strewn out before me. Planning lessons, attempting to grade, trying not to freak out. Trying, trying, trying.