this season's first casualty

is me!

fall arrived nearly exactly on schedule. what i mean is last week without notice we passed from summer into fall on the 21st september. i didn't even realize it until a few days later. that's when i noticed that fall weather had arrived at nearly exactly the same time! it was all hot weather and sun up till the 21st and then... the rain. it has rained magnificently in the past week and a half. what i mean is that our lawn is now a brilliant sparkling shade of green. of course nothing of that nature could be said about it during the summer; there was a delta-shaped ribbon of green (from when my dad pumped all the water out of the pool during one of the hottest weeks so far this year) running through the sea of brown that was our lawn.

of course, i'm having mixed feelings about fall. historically fall has been a "romantic" kind of season for me. romantic in the way things can seem romantic to a person who is alone. romantic as in what it's like to stand by yourself on the deck of a cruise ship and look down and watch the water glide by and then look forward and see more stars than you've ever seen. that kind of romantic. my sophomore year of high school (or junior maybe?) on a particularly difficult long run in october i remember thinking about my team as my "army" and associating it with learning about the american revolution. (because in eigth grade we had learned about the revolution in fall.) and to that i connected tea-drinking, and thus began my tradition of drinking tea every afternoon or while i'm working up at my desk.

and so far it doesn't seem as bad as i thought it would. yes the days are dreary but i have a warm bed. and a warm lap. right now i'm in bed with my laptop on my... well, lap, it's keeping me warm and helping all the aches and pains in my legs to relax away.

my whole body hurts. i have called the substitute dispatcher and requested my favorite sub (i only know one! but she already knows the kids so she should be ok. and she speaks spanish, always a plus!)

yes my class is getting a bit out of hand. i think it's because i'm too nice. but i would like to be nice and respected. well they do respect me. sometimes when i'm frustrated i'll start speaking to them in french. today a boy came up to me and said, usted sabe hablar frances, verdad? i told him that i'm taking a french course at college right now. he was like awed. it was so cute.

anyone know of some classroom management books? i need some ideas. i really like my kids as individuals, there's not a single one that i dislike. most of them are really sweet. overall i like my job. it is frustrating at times.

but sometimes you get sick and can take a day off! so that is why my health is this season's first casualty. hopefully i'll be back on my feet by friday!