Things to be thankful for...

As of today, I've been married to Michael for a year and a half. That's a very good thing.

He brought me roses. They're beautiful and made my difficult day a little easier.

Ben's coming today. I don't think he planned it this way, but I like to think of it as an anniversary gift and Christmas gift and (what the heck?) birthday gift all rolled into one.

I really like my new massage therapist. She's kind of like a counselor and she makes me feel good about me.

I think, maybe, possibly, I'm less dizzy today. (It's really more of a wishful, hopeful, than a for sure thing.)

Only two more days before I fly home. Not drive, fly. Huzzah.

I'm planning on playing Boggle for my students' final exam. This will be more fun than an exam. At least I think so. And they probably will too, since it's for bonus points or something. I haven't figured it all out yet, but it means I don't have to grade a test.

I can see the light at the end of the tunnel: I'm closing in on finishing grading these book reports.

Those are very good things.

There is no subject.

I want to go home. My mom's ginormous Christmas tree is up. Actually, it's only 11 feet this year. Dino thinks it's too small.

Plus it's been really foggy here for the last three days. This does not lend itself to me feeling good about life.

And today I just want to cry a little. Mostly frustration. What is it about plagiarism that is so appealing to English students? Anyone have ideas on what to do about this issue? I have at least six plagiarised papers. That's not good, folks.

I made cookies this week. They're good, but I'd rather be home.

Funny that I still think of my mom's home as home. Really, I should grow up soon.

A week from now, after a week of testing (but not for me, I'm not giving a final.) and packing and Ben being here for a visit, I'll be home. That sounds nice.

I wish you could all see how crooked our little Christmas tree is. It makes for good times.

No, thank you.

Today I had my students journal about one of their heroes, or someone they admire. One of my students wrote about me. I don't know whether she was kissing up or being serious. Either way, it felt really, really nice. Especially after the last couple weeks of difficulty.

Who knew?

Ah, yes...

Since my computer will not allow me to either read or post comments on anyone's blog, I will now respond to Katie's book selling story with a story of my own. A favorite story.

I took some music history class at Union. It was badly taught. I realized this pretty quickly into the class. We watched a lot of videos and didn't learn much from the lectures. I had already purchsased the book for said class, and it was too late to return it for the full refund. I didn't take the book to class. I got an A- in the class. I could have gotten a 100% in the class if I had taken it out of the shrink wrap. Especially because he gave open-book quizzes and tests. But I decided that it was worth it, just to make the point, and because I'm ridiculously stubborn, to not unwrap my book.

So on book sell back day I sold back my book still in the shrink wrap. I didn't get any extra money back or anything, but I like to think of it as a moral victory.

The end.

My brain is fried

This week I want to quit my job. Everything is too frustrating and too hard. I yelled in class. For seriously. More than once. Why will they not listen? Today's classes actually went better. This is in comparison to Tuesday's classes, after which I nearly cried. So better is used figuratively.

My students have a rough draft a paper due tomorrow. It's basically a book report/analysis. I had them talk about the book in their journal today. About ten of them have not started reading it yet. The final draft is due a week from today. This is all very discouraging to me.

And yet, most of my students claim to like me. If this is true, then why do they insist on being so disrespectful? Then, the students who cause the most disruptions come up to me and ask me if they can have extra credit to bring their grade up. I try to gently tell them that maybe paying attention in class and turning their work in would bring up their grade. And that I give quite a few chances for extra credit every week, but they do not take advantage of it. That would probably help their grade too.

If Tim is reading this, Happy Birthday.

Testing, 1... 2... 3...

I'm singing special music for church tomorrow. I'm pretty sure I'm doing Labor of Love. I'm really nervous. I think I haven't had a special music since graduation. That was a long time ago folks. And to be perfectly honest, this song is not in my best vocal range. But I'm going for it anyway. These people don't know what my best vocal range is, so they won't know it's not my best. Then maybe they'll never ask me again. That would be good and bad.

I remember a time in high school when I no longer got nervous about special musics and solos because I did them so often. I even had a whole vocal recital of about eight songs that I sang all by myself. Not nervous. College and real life changed all that. I'm out of practice.

Other than that the plans for the weekend are going to a camp somewhere pretty close to here to see John and Wendy. Talk about camp next summer and old times. They're having a big Adventist camping convention there. So all the camp bigwigs will be in town.

Also I'm planning on getting the Christmas tree. Very excited.

Also, I really like this win, lose or draw thing we've got going. It's fun, even though I'm no good at it.