Tuesday, August 28, 2007

and i want a pony

I love having this teaching job, but I haven't been able to set up my classroom until today - yet when I got there, people were painting it and the furniture I would be using was all over the building. And what I wanted to move into the room was discouraged because they're going to clean the carpets this week. Now, I am grateful for the fresh paint & clean carpets, and having access to extra furniture is a boon.
But I WANT IT NOW. I have only this day! Wednesday we leave for Gold Beach, which is six hundred miles away at the California border (perhaps I exaggerate), and won't be back until late Friday. I was having internal panic - I need to set up my room, I'm already missing technology classes and Open House and fun team-building stuff. And I'm the new person, so asking to get in during the weekend seems crazy. But developing an ulcer while I'm supposed to be enjoying a family vacation seems crazier, so I asked and was generously given access to the building after hours (when all normal people are not at school). Only a true geek would be excited about this, no? I don't care. It's not my classroom until a Cowboys poster and picture of Gael are lovingly placed, along with a mugful of pencils that will be lost and/or stolen by week's end. Then there is the setting up of my new iPod speakers, arranging the desks, creating file folders, labeling turn-in trays, hanging calendars, putting out pictures of my family (so my obsession with hot movie stars is not so terribly pathetic), rearranging the desks, organizing supplies, writing a welcome message on the board, logging in & out of my very own webpage...It never ends. The insanity, that is. But I love it.