first day of school

which means i didn't sleep last night. it's nice to have some constancy in my life: i've never once slept well the night before the first day of school. i had trouble falling asleep, then almost got up at 3am because i thought it was time to get up. luckily i glanced at my clock before i got out of bed.

so, we are on a standard schedule this year, which means there are six periods and i see each period every day. which is odd. i've only ever taught on a block schedule. it's weird to think that i'll see all of my students tomorrow, and i saw all of them today, and i'll see all of them every day.

so, the highlights of the day:

when taking roll in my first period class, i asked if anyone had any nicknames they wanted me to use, and one kid asked to be called "sexy." i told him i would, but every time i said it, i would roll my eyes, use air quotes, and make a face of disgust. i said that if he wanted to have his self esteem ruined by me, i would be more than happy to call him "sexy." he decided to stick with zack.

in third period, someone offered to sell me drugs. ritalin. i just stared him down until he felt about the size of an atom (i know it's a strange analogy--blame my roommate) and he just stopped talking.

third period is going to require a little crushing--they're chatty and i want to smack them a lot.

i had a new record today. i kinda keep track of how long it takes for someone to admit that they can't tell when i'm being sarcastic--a girl in my american lit honors class asked today. first day. that doesn't inspire much faith in her academic ability.

one of the kids who drove me crazy last year, and who left my class in throwing a tantrum on the last day of school last year (he'd plagiarized his research paper and i gave him a bad grade as a result) dropped my class immediately after it was over. now there are just two more that i REALLY want to get rid of. there are an additional four or so that i kind of want to get rid of.

i think that's it. i'm gonna go to bed now. i'm sleepy. it's amazing how one night of crappy sleep will mess you up.

today is august 24. day 13