Tuesday, November 18, 2008

I Know. I'm Weak...

I have lost all sense of grown-up behavior.  I do not have any ability to understand how actual adults live.  I am now enmeshed in a world where people have schedules that are somewhat "less" than average.

This is the first Tuesday I've had to go in to school and teach small people in two weeks.  (I use the term "small" somewhat loosely, here.  Most of the kids in my class are bigger than I...)  Between having election day off and then Veteran's Day, I've sort of lost my momentum.  Frankly, I was rather miffed when the alarm went off this morning.  It seemed most unfair to expect that I work for five days in a row with no breaks or nuthin'.  

I stomped into the classroom (only a teeny bit late today, thank you very much) and proceeded to my desk.  Next to it, I noted my calendar and some scribbles on the box representing "tomorrow."  I was elated to see that I have a meeting at 12:30.  I will have to leave early and go be with adults for the entire afternoon.  Well, now there's a nice surprise!!!

The fact that this meeting is for the purpose of reviewing paperwork so that our school district might pass its upcoming Special Education State Audit did not occur to me until later.  I was just jazzed to see something of a break in the routine.  

I won't even be able to knit while I'm there.  This is one of those "hands on" sort of events.  This is probably for the best since I am in the Repairing The Damage Done Through Ripping Back For The Second Time stage of the dishcloth (with sleeves) knitting.  I doubt that any of my colleagues would care to be around me for this.  

I also failed to notice that there is a late afternoon meeting right after that and that I will actually be working a longer day than is usual for me.  Further, I didn't even bother to take into account the upcoming absence of one of my staff members tomorrow.  I'll be leaving the little darlings with the one remaining Teaching Assistant.  That probably won't go well.  In fact, I suspect that it will all go rather badly unless there is some sort of divine intervention.  

And I'm 99% sure that I don't qualify for one of those right now...

Yet, I don't seem to be at all daunted by these negative aspects.  I remain firmly entrenched in my Happy Place when I consider the idea of a shortened work day.  It matters not that the work day is in no way shorter than it was before.  I see nothing at all wrong with my having taken a longer work day and made it into a fake shorter one.  

I'm hopeless.  I am not a real adult.  I'm just an overgrown kid who still thinks she is not quite ready to be on her own in the world and that more "practice" is needed before she can do what the big people do.

I shared this insight with the resident felines.  The Big, Fluffy Kitty seemed very disappointed in me.



She felt that I deserved a shot from her Very Scary Fire Eyes.


The Absurdly Gi-normous Kitty didn't seem all that distressed, though.  Of course, he was a little bit busy at the time.



He was preoccupied with trying to locate his feet...



I'm going to go pick out an outfit for tomorrow.  It's going to be a Day Off sort of ensemble.  I'll maybe even wear my Really Comfortable Jeans.  I like to think that this will help to maintain the not-really-working illusion for me for as long as possible.

The AGK, however, is going to have to face reality.  Because he certainly can't face his own feet these days...

SA

10 comments:

sheep#100 said...

Yes, wear the comfortable jeans!

Anonymous said...

I say whatever gets you through the day is fine. I'll think good thoughts for the lone teaching assistant. I suspect her day will feel a lot longer than yours.

Anonymous said...

I'd like to wear my comfortable jeans tomorrow too, but I no longer own any comfortable jeans.

Anonymous said...

So, AGK, how's that diet comin' along?

Knitting Linguist said...

See, *this* is what teaching jobs do for those of us who are terminally in search of the not-work experience. You never know when the schedule will get all changed up and give a sense that work is not really work (even when it is really work). Maybe this is why I like Academic Senate meetings so much, even though they're really fairly awful three-hour meetings...

Kath said...

Tell AGK I said locating teh feets is mucho importante! Feets are what get you from the nap place to the food place to the stinky box place and back to the nap place!

For what it's worth - I pity that teaching assistant. Maybe bring her special treats?

Mia said...

there's a kid in all of us still :)

I'm trying hard to talk myself out of calling in sick when I'm totally not. And i'm also thinkin' that really wouldn't go so well the day before my yearly evaluation. I wish i could wear jeans :)

Donna Lee said...

Oh yea. Go with the jeans. I save them for the days when I have to go into work but really really don't want to.

Cursing Mama said...

I wanna wear jeans.......

Luna said...

Awesome Very Scary Fire Eyes!

Hmm... the verification word is gultr. Is your blog telling me I should feel guilty (or guiltier?) for blogging instead of working??