Thursday went well at school. My two most difficult classes were the ones that were negated by the "field day" and assembly. My students faltered on the "field day", they were supposed to design a poster for their advisory (they ended up calling themselves 'The Red Cups' and everyone signed it). Secondly they had to answer some questions about their school and for that they did well. I was suprised that no one knew the nurse's name. Their third task was to all (but one actually you were supposed to have 15) stand on a queen sized sheet and flip it over without anyone's feet touching the floor. They worked together and the natural leaders took over. They did it in about 4 minutes which I thought was pretty impressive for their first and only try. The winning group did it in 28 seconds or something ridiculous like that. They, however, had been practicing for weeks, were led by an ex-army officer/teacher, and only had 8 students. So I'm still proud of our 4 minutes!!!
The assembly was okay. It was a little too rehearsed, and the format was used and worn out. They bent steel rods and tore license plates, smashed blocks with their heads, etc. One of them told a too long sappy story about a kid that he couldn't save when he was a cop (he made reference to a summer spent training at Quantico, but wouldn't come out and say FBI - I guess that means he didn't make it ROLF). Their message was that God's power is more powerful than anything physical, but they couldn't say that, so there really wasn't an obvious message. They did spend a little time (with a funny skit) encouraging the girls to respect themselves and say no to sex. No emphasis on the boys, but I guess they know it's a lost cause LOL. They gave out flyers for their full version at a prominent local church. Whatever.
Our last principal had extremely tight control of the school, but allowed/unofficially encouraged a seemingly constant breech of church/state separation. At the time I felt it was oppressive and annoying. I'm agnostic and get VERY tired of religion being pushed in my face, especially at school which is supposed to be a 'safe place' from that sort of thing.
Our current principal is the exact opposite. The performers did not bring in the God angle, which I appreciate more than words can express, but his reign is far from absolute and more and more his voice seems to be lost in the mess. Those above him walk over him, and those below him ignore him. That is assuming that what he says is really what he means, and often I get a feeling that this is not the case. In my romance novels, they always make reference to "anger flashed across his face and his eyes grew hard" or something similarly silly. My principal is one of the few people that I've ever actually seen that happen to. When I was in his office earlier this year (for something that was humiliating and entirely my fault) I saw his whole face change for just a split second, and I knew that what he was saying and what he was thinking were radically different. He was saying good things. Ever since then, I've just tried to keep my distance and haven't really trusted him.
Anyway, Friday was okay. My two mostly senior classes were empty, but for baseball players and those not going to prom. I declared 'Silent Day' as a preventative measure in my seventh period. The last two Friday's have been horrible. DQ#1 got a DT for talking and spent the majority of the class in the hallway for constantly arguing. In all I gave out 6 DT's. Oh, this is great, I explained just after the bell rang why we were having a silent day to the entire class. DQ#1 came in about a minute late with a pathetic excuse (I forgot to give her a second DT for that). She said "Why are we having a silent day?" in her most irritating tone. I said, "If you were here on time, you'd know" and just went on with the lesson. It was very satisfying in the moment, it sounds kinda lame now LOL.
I fell asleep Friday evening watching TV and didn't get to go to prom (I woke up around 10). I was very upset with myself for allowing it to happen. Hopefully I'll see lots of pictures over the next week. :(
Went to see Star Wars on Thursday. LOVED IT!!! Best of the new three, without a doubt. It's funny that my husband sees action and not drama and I see drama and not action. Either way we both thought it was great. We are going to go see it again in a few weeks when the theatre is not as crowded and we can stretch out and relax.
Let's see what else? Had a fever blister break out. Abreva cleared it up in about 24 hours as opposed to the usual 12-14 days before I dropped the cash (it seems so expensive, but now I think it's a bargain LOL - I guess you get what you pay for)
Yesterday I rented a power sprayer and cleaned all the siding on the side and back of the house. I couldn't believe what a difference it made. I also cleaned the deck and stained it (though I did a horrible job, hopefully it will even out over time). All in all it took about 6 hours and my right arm is VERY sore - I don't know why my left is not b/c I tried to use them both equally. I had to keep the sprayer about 2 inches from the siding/deck to get it clean. I also planted some new flowers around. I'm thinking of starting a vegetable garden and also planting rose bushes. Need to do research and find a place where Danger can't destroy them.
Was planning on going to a Red's game today (got my free teacher tickets), but apparently they are playing the Indians today and it's a big deal. Freebies aren't valid today and the stadium is sold out. I couldn't find three (papa-in-law was coming too) seats together anywhere, even the $200 seats. Oh well, maybe next weekend.
That's all I got (and I think it's enough anyway)!