October 24, 2010
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The Daily News
1 So...a return to normalcy, at least for three days.
2 I really didn't realize how INCREDIBLE the Giants journey to becoming the National League champions had become.
3 The Giants, indeed, win the pennant!
4 <sigh>
5 And life as we know it gets put on hold.
6 Too bad. TOO good!!!!
7 I STILL spent at least six hours grading papers and preparing lessons this weekend, and I'm STILL hopelessly behind!
8 Yeah, but yeesh...
9 I have worked in professional baseball my entire thinking life, and I have NEVER seen the like of this. Some of the best games I've ever witnessed occurred in the past three weeks.
10 Just amazing, and I'd LOVE to say that it interferred with my grading, but I truly don't think so.
11 I simply don't think so.
12 I have deliberately stayed at work 'til 4:30 every day making it all happen on that end.
13 Every single weekend I have worked hard, because I believe in working hard.
14 Yes, I fudged on a lot of Giants' games, but that was AFTER consecutive ten-hour work days.
15 You pay for me.
16 I deliver the goods.
17 It's that simple.
18 It's just that a trip to the World Series is addicting as all get out.
19 Some may call it TORTURE.
20 Yesterday I actually watched a half a movie.
21 Moving on, Part the First: In a way, it's fun reading students' papers, especially when I'm going down Halloween Lane.
22 Yesterday, for example, I came upon a student's paper who talked about Edgar Ellen Poe.23 Where do you even START with THAT one?
24 I usually read things like that aloud to a room, or to DN readers. They all appreciate the moments, and there ARE moments.
25 Moving on, Part the Second: That's what ALSO counts.
26 So here we are.
27 The week of Halloween.
28 Last week I had so many coincidences that I couldn't keep up.
29 This week, so far, only one, but it's a tad amusing.
30 First, I rested yesterday after fighting off whatever cold is going around. As a teacher, I can't afford to be absent for even a single day. I find that a blanket and a movie does wonders.
31 And gallons of orange juice.
32 I took advantage, and pulled out the six thousand reams of paper that needed grading. I try to keep them all organized by class, and by alpha, but they still stack up, and it can get disorganized by a dog, or a cat, or a fan that fights off October mugginess. Anyway, anything can disorganize papers. Doesn't take much.
33 Occupational hazard.
34 ALSO, in my eagerness to get home early on Friday, I left paper clips and rubber bands at home, so they got even more disorganized.
35 At some point I knew I had to get at least a temporary fix to that challenge. I had papers in every room of the house. Finally at around 5 p.m. I decided to challenge the rain and light winds and get to Walgreens, the nearest store around.
36 Surely they would have paper clips.
37 When I got there, I couldn't even find the office/school supplies area because of Halloween. Walgreens. I swear.
38 I finally found the area, and all they had were millions of little boxes with little clips, certainly not large enough for industrial strength grading.
39 I ran across a three-pack of reading glasses. All week I have had to ride with a pair that bent. You know, when glasses take a fall, and you lay them upside down, and one end sticks up higher than the other?
40 Yeah, that. And because they're cheap, I see myself bending them around my head, as though they are swimming goggles. Never works. Try to lay them upside-down and bend them down. Never works. They'll always be crooked, it's just a matter of how crooked they'll be.
41 Now my job has me in front of people for five hours, and then some. I look ridiculous with crooked glasses. Fortunately, I had ONE straight pair that I watched over with my life.
42 Anyway, I bought one small box of those useless paper clips, just in case, and bought the three-pack of glasses.
43 Purchase of the week.
44 I put a pair on, and looked like Clark Kent.
45 Haha.
46 I had already organized all my papers, but they slipped and slid all over the place. I zipped them into a gym bag, and figured I could get to them today.
47 I then walked out to the garage for something or other, looked at my work bench, and lo!
48 There was a zip-lock bag with tons of large paper clips, of various colors, sitting right there on my bench!
49 I looked up to Heaven and once again thanked Mom for being there.
50 Life's litte moments, I swear to you.
51 Well, it's Monday early, like 4:30 a.m. I've put in six hours of sleep and a half-hour of insomnia. I'm already behind.
52 So that's about it on this rainy Monday.
53 Fly low.
54 Peace.
~H~
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