You know, it's strange that my job offers me so many perks, and yet, there are so many drawbacks. Yesterday was a really tough day that capped a really tough week. I was working with some curriculum that my students weren't used to: strike one. I had a bad falling out with another student that got really emotionally heated, over something really stupid: strike two. The third strike? My third (and consequently last) supervisory observation was yesterday. The class that was being observed actually went rather well. I had good control of the class at the beginning, transitioned really well into the day's activity, and for about twenty minutes, the observer stayed back, eyes glued to her computer, while I circulated the room answering questions. Things were going pretty smoothly. Then, for no apparent reason, the observer puts down her compie (you could literally hear the snap of the glue) and leaves. Just leaves. So, I'm secretly, deep down, freaking out because I thought I had done something completely wrong. Five minutes later, Claudia is back. Then she asks me what I'm doing with the next block. It's a study hall, so I'm thinking 'debriefing' so that I could finally get the cycle of supervisory hell over with. Then she tells me that she doesn't want to debrief, but wants to pop in at a 'random time'. Random time? WTF? She meant to tell me that she had a set time to 'drop in', which is a terrible way to do a supervisory observation, in my opinion, and then she TELLS ME when? Whatever. In addition, one of the kids in that class told me afterward, point blank, that she's not learning anything, that she learns better through lectures and other associated traditionalist tools-of-the-trade. Go figure that educators, on the whole, dedicate 90 percent of their time trying to AVOID lecturing. Yeah, it's been rough. But, there's the good news. Our April break starts in about two weeks, and I'm looking forward to some road trips: Orono; Nantucket, possibly; Connecticut; a few other places. I'm looking forward to a day when I can clean my classroom (yeah, teachers use their vacation time for that). I'm looking forward to an 8:00 alarm as opposed to 5:00, I'm looking forward to a break from my kids. Best part? My classes shut down the week before, so that everyone can present their Senior Presentations. All I have to do is sit on panels and work with my advisees. It's gonna be a sweet two weeks. Bought a new car three weeks ago. I've been cruising around in my Scion xA like it's a Lamborghini, but I don't really care. It was a present to myself for getting ever closer to the close of my first year. Besides, my Geo was falling apart. Rusted through on the rocker panels and about to eclipse 178000 miles. I sold it to one of the other physics teachers for 200 bucks. Shannon and I are loving married life, but she's definitely not liking working for the corporate devil. Every day, we find out a little more about health insurance than we ever wanted to know. It tends to get a little gross, so we try to ban work from conversation. It usually doesn't work. So, that's life...going well, but still stressful. Stressful enough that the crick in my neck wants to stay, and that I am starting to wake up feeling the absence of caffeine. Yet another sign: I'm officially joining the ranks. ;)