three days down, 186 to go

i have successfully made it through my first three days of school. i went through my syllabus and classroom rules, etc, and by the end of it, i'm pretty sure all my classes thought iwas the she-bitch from hell, which made me happier than it probably should have... after that we did an activity with the poem "Desiderata," which is a really positive-type of message. i was afraid all the students would be too cool for it and would boo boo all over it, but it went over fairly well for the most part. it bombed pretty hard with my sixth period class, which is my remedial class, so i guess we'll be working on poetry quite a bit in there. i think it's a pretty straightforward poem, but most of them jsut didn't get it. i'm a little concerned about that, because it means we have a lot of work to do to get them ready for their proficiency exam. i'm doing practice exams in all my classes for the next two days, which means that i'll have two days to plan and do some grading, but then i'll have a whole bunch of essays to grade over my three-day weekend. interestingly enough, that doesn't really make me want to jump for joy.

i'm hoping i can get down to the strip or freemont this weekend since i don't have school on monday. there are a couple of other new teachers at my school, and i might see if they want to go with me. they've both been down there, but hopefully they'll want to go again. the less exciting part is that they're both guys and one is married while the other has a girlfriend here in vegas, so it would be third-wheelville for sarah. if anyone is free this weekend and would like to fly to vegas and see me, i wouldn't shoot the idea down. i'm wanting to join a church pretty soon to meet some other people there.

i've already made $.75 in my swear jar. here's the thing that just cracks me up: when they swear and i tell them to give me a quarter, they do it. no arguments, no questions asked, no surprise or distain. they just reach in their pocket and give it up. or they ask the person next to them. and when i see their phones (which are verboten in my classroom) and ask for them, they just give it to me. in chicago i had the same method for dealing with those two problems and it was always a battle to get a cell phone or a quarter. these kids obey so well. they've definately been brainwashed.

my department chair has a sign hanging on his dry-erase board with a picture of christopher walken that says "christopher walken for president." anyone who knows me very well knows that i think christopher walken is the scariest man alive (followed by jack nicholson at a close second) and the thought of christopher walken as president could possibly give me night terrors. HE'S TERRIFYING.

my eighth period class thinks i am hysterical. they laugh at every lame joke i come up with. it could be that they're just a really easy crowd to please. or it could be that by the time i get to their lesson, i've done it seven times before that and my jokes are really solid. i think we all know that the former reason is more likely.

there are three girls in my seventh period who laugh at me. this doesn't upset me, because i can buy alcohol and get into casinos, and they are basically on the fast track to waking up next to a stranger after a frat party their first week of college, but they annoying thing is that they hold up their binders and laugh behind them like that stops the sound. i really just want to look at them one day and say, " you realize that i can still hear you right? i don't care if you think i'm stupid? and you all have the exact same haircut and wardrobe? seriously, if you're going to laugh at me, wait until after class and do it in the hallway so it doesn't interrupt my class." of course, if they complain to their parents, that might get me in trouble...

it's supposed to cool off this weekend and get down to 96 degrees by labor day.

anyone know what happens on labor day??? the CSI week-long marathon begins! that's right my friends, for the whole week after labor day, spike tv shows nothing but CSI for seven days. it is a great country we live in.

dishwashers are the best thing ever invented.