Saturday, May 24th

A week in review. I started off the week in a very good mood. Within 2 hours, I was in a bad mood. And by Tuesday, I was feeling angry and burned out. E-CLAS(a early elementary assessment) was due, but then another deadline was added. I started the week eager to get out of the building about 4PM, but by the end of the week, I was repeating previous patterns(left late, crashed at home, morning rush, and the cycle continued).

Wednesday was a wasted evening of calling parents who only seemed interested in money. I called Squeak's parents. Squeak is a relatively quiet (but an excessive) talker. He also does annoying things in a quick quiet way, then argues about anything and everything. He'll argue if I yell, he'll argue if I ask politely. Anyway, my phone call to his mother about his behavior, and lack of focus, and lack of pencils was quickly conferenced to his father(3way calling). The conversation was about the dollar I took from Squeak. Nice parents. Both seem to have that "we know our kids can be a handful/no nonsense" attitude. They also seem to understand why I took the dollar from Squeak(it was out and he was using it to disrupt my lesson), but the conversation kept going back to the dollar.

The phone to Princess Beady's mother was basically the same. Her kicking, crawling, cursing, and calling out took a backseat to mother's concern for the refund I told the kids that I would give to anyone who did not go on a trip...even if it meant that I would have to take the money out of my own pocket. The money was all...all the mother wanted to talk about. Even though I was disgusted, tired and fighting a cold, I stayed to change my bulletin board. See attached photo.

Thursday was "Family Night". To avoid insulting anyone, I will pass on a couple of observations. Summary:

During Family Night, the school is opened for the families of the students that attend. Faculty is asked but not required (which is nice) to set up a table to inform or entertain the visitors. Since I'm usually in the building late, I volunteered for the set up committee. My plan was to finish up my E-CLAS reports. However, knowing that the building was opened late had the opposite effect...I fell asleep at my desk, so I didn't get the reports done. About 6:15PM, I was awaken to the sounds of kids running through the hall -- no one was suppose to be on the second floor. Since I was up, I did my usual Wall Flower Routine at the party in the gymnasium (alternating between holding up the wall and wandering aimlessly). One the teacher's church had a food table, so I bought an order of lasagna, a brownie topped with cake frosting, and BQ chicken wings. The lasagna was cold, but good. The brownie was good also. I saved the wings (Actually, I am about to heat them in the microwave after I finish this blog entry). The food was good but expensive, or I'm just being a cheapskate.

Back to the party. One incident. One 5 or 6 year old went thugging through the hall. Quick summary(according to an eyewitness):

Baby Thug jumps a smaller boy with glasses. a couple of girls stop him, so Baby Thug attacks them. One against two, the kid was not too bright. Since they beat the snot out of him, he spent about 15 minutes (this is where I came in)seeking out revenge, with mommy trailing behind like a broken record, "Baby what's wrong. Why are you so angry?" Obviously, someone has been cutting anger management classes, or skipping his meds.

About 7:30PM, I see AP2 packing up her table, so I offered to help. I ended up moving boxes to the closets, and helping the custodial staff move the tables and chairs, and helping to sweep the floor. My plan was to just show my face and leave, but I got carried away with being Mr. Helpful. I was a bit annoyed that people (visitors and staff) didn't feel the need to move while I was moving tables and chairs. Mrs. K (the nice, but extremely talkative kindergarten teacher) got in my way ...twice. First, she was trying to take off the students' artwork that she must have offered to decorate the walls. Me trying to lay the folded tables against the wall was not an incentive to move...she had to have her students artwork. Later, me holding a box saying "excuse me, heavy box" also wasn't an incentive to move. Once she starts talking, it is difficult for her to stop. She is a very nice person, but just way too talkative. Oh, the box wasn't really very heavy, but it was the principle of the situation.

Friday, was a relatively okay day. I was worried that the computer teacher/tech guy would be closing shop early. Last year, the computer lab was closed sometime in May. He already sent out a letter requesting the return of all borrowed laptops because he has to start getting the computers and the computer lab ready for summer storage. Since he is the main/only tech-savvy person in a low tech environment, his position is cushy. Second only to the music teacher. The tech guy is the go to guy for a piano player for assemblies and graduations. Recently, I think AP2 (who is in charge of scheduling, but a bit lower on the admin hierarchy) must have been flexing her admin muscle. Lately, she has been scheduling out of classroom teachers to do more classroom coverage. Good for her!

Friday was also the due date for the E-ClAS reports and completed bubbled grids. I had been carrying around the E-CLAS materials for the last couple of weeks, telling myself that I would do it when I got home, only to not even touch my granny cart when I got home. I did end up finishing about 7PM. I was in the Bronx waiting for my train north about 8:30PM. I had an order of beef lo mein (very greasy) for dinner. When I got home, I had a pint of Haagen Daz ice cream (telling myself that I will start exercising next week).

Today (Saturday), I slept most of the day away. Well, that is about it. I wasted another Saturday. Tomorrow, I will be joining a group movie/dinner event, we will be seeing the new Indiana Jones movie "The Crystal Skull". I think about 25 people will be attending. I signed up about a month ago. A part of me does not want to go, because I am still a bit drained from the cold I have. Also, I need to get organized and clean my apartment.

Completion Date - Saturday, May 24, 2008 8:12PM
Post Date - Friday, June 20, 2008, 12:51AM