WNBP: The Other Side

It's hard to believe it's been a week since I waved goodbye to the last of my students and sent them home so for the summer.  By my internal clock, at least a month has passed.  However, I can't ignore the laws of time and space so I guess I must admit that a mere seven days have passed.  And five of them have been very, very busy.  It's over now, though and I've made it through to the other side with naught but a little fatigue.

Let's take advantage of the Wednesday Night Bullet Post format and review the highlights.

*I could have pared down the three days of teacher workshops and two days of committee meetings to something a little more palatable.


*Two days of workshops and maybe a day or so of meetings.


*That would have been nice, save for one thing:


*The mandatory restitution that comes from working over one's contracted schedule.


*Was it worth it?  Really?  Can I honestly say that the amount of work I've had to do during what should have been the first week of my summer break was an acceptable trade-off?


*Oh, yeah.  When you tally the numbers and factor in that the extra monies don't require the removal of insurance payments and whatnot...yeah.  It works out.


*To the tune of an extra paycheck this month.  


*I don't actually get "paid" to take the summer off, but I do still get checks.  They just divided up my ten month salary over twelve.


*An extra paycheck in the summer is a very good thing.


*Especially considering the upcoming auto repair bills.


*I knit furiously through Days One and Two of workshops.


*That was the Sit And Listen While We Impart Words Of Wisdom Unto Thee portion of the festivities.


*Day Three was a work day.  Since I didn't really have a group to work with, I got a lot done.


*The other humans distract me.


*Days One and Two of committee meetings were not good for knitting.  I had to sit next to Mr. Principal and didn't want to appear anything less that totally engrossed.


*Knitting would have helped.  To say we lost focus once the lunch hour passed each day would be an understatement.


*We got to work in the library, though.


*One of the few air conditioned spaces in the building.  That was nice.


*Plus they turned off all the filters on the interwebs so Facebook and Twitter were working quite handily.


*And I've gotten a whole bunch of free lunches.  Real lunches, not the cafeteria kind!


*I have been awake at the crack of dawn-thirty every day since school let out.  


*Not necessary since all the meetings started later than the regular school day.


*The Very Complicated Kitty, however, does not understand this.


*He has stuff to tell me in the morning.


*Very important stuff, by the tone of it.


*I answer him with gurgles and grunts that I imbue with interest but I honestly don't have a clue what he is saying.


*Although, if I had to guess it's probably food related...


*I finished my last meeting today.  Celebrated by buying myself a new label maker and some fancy metallic labels.


*I shall now pause for a moment so everyone can giggle and make "geek" references.


*No harm, no foul there.  I get it.  I think it's geeky, too.


*I like to label things.  


*And buying a sports car was not in the budget in spite of the extra pennies going into the coffers this month.


*I can maybe make a label that reads, "sports car" and stick it on my existing bumper.  That's about it.


*The work schedule hasn't allowed for much reading lately.  Mostly revisiting some old stuff.


*But I did pick up Four and Twenty Blackbirds by Cherie Priest.


*She wrote Boneshaker (Sci Fi Essential Books).


*This one doesn't have any zombies in it.  And it's not at all Steampunk.


*I happen to love a good ghost story, though.  And there are few settings more suitable than the American South.


*Very, very well done story.  Classic for the most part, except in the middle where the tone gets a bit lost.  But then it comes back.


*Highly recommend this one if you like that genre.


*Best Line(s) Of The Week Courtesy of Mr. Assistant Principal:

You want to show me more baby pictures?  Fine.  You can have three.  That's it.  I'm done looking at baby pictures. All anyone does is show me Baby's First Photos these days. Yup.  That's nice.  He's cute.  Next!  I can't see.  Tilt the monitor.  Oh...OK.  I'll give you that one.  Adorable and worth the glance.  You get one more and then I'm done because my kids are 14 and 17 and I shouldn't have to do this anymore.  Yeah...you should have stopped at the second one.  I'm finished now.

*C'mon.  Admit it.  You've always wanted to say that.  At least once!


*Our school is big on baby pictures whether we like it or not.  


*I am not anti-baby, for the record.  I just sometimes think I should have a choice rather than find my inbox full to the brim with JPEGs.


*Yesterday's meeting was interrupted for fifteen full minutes while some participants discussed how loudly their babies pooped.


*ACK!!!!!


*I offered to show Mr. Assistant Principal pictures of my cats.  He laughed at that.


*And promptly declined.


*I respect him more than I ever have now.



tellya!  I don't know for sure just what the plan is at this point.  Yes, I have finished the Index Cards Of Summer Organization and I think I know what I'd like to accomplish.  At least in a vague, general sort of sense.

For now, though, I am just kicking back and thinking like a Vacationing Person.  It is going to be hard to switch gears, but fear not.  Somehow, I'll manage...

SA