And it wasn't even payday...

Some days just deserve a comment. And, some days just don't have the grace to be payday. Fortunately, these days aren't the norm. It began innocuously enough...

It was Friday and I had everything planned for the day, so I was able to get there a little later and life was still okay. 7:30 quickly came and I was in the hallway doing my super exciting hallway duty (which usually isn't bad if I have another teacher to talk to...or the various students who believe that it is their special duty to come and hang out right in front of my room every morning). The special-ness of the day began when I noticed that a (should have been locked) computer lab down the hallway that has had a history of vandalism had one of freshmen coming out of it for no apparant reason. Somehow it had been left unlocked and for some reason students figure this out when it is unlocked. Is it some wierd high school thing that an unlocked computer lab signals fun for teenagers? Being the dutiful teacher that I am, I go to investigate and lock it, when I notice that someone has indeed "vandalized" the lab...if you would call it that. Who thinks that it is fun to take a handful of blank computer paper and spread it all over a computer lab? How bizarre (or bazar as one of my students tried to spell it).

Then came 11:59...one minute before the bell for lunch. And then came the fire alarm. 45 minutes later (45!) we were finally allowed back in the building with any hopes of actual teaching shot for the rest of the day judging on how wired some of the students were. The good news is that it was just a faulty (or tampered with?) sprinkler head. The bad news is that I stood outside for 45 minutes with whining kids...granted, 40 degrees is chilly to stand outside in for so long. One can't help but hope that that teaches the kids who are still wearing shorts to school a lesson.

Oh I forgot the fight...thankfully it wasn't in my hallway, which is odd since it involved 2 freshmen and my room is in the freshmen hallway. There is no doubt that the freshmen like to congregate in large packs directly opposite each other in this hallway. Directly opposite each other! You can barely fit through these packs one person at a time usually! Why doesn't one of the large masses of freshmen humanity just shift down the hallway even five feet? Problem solved! There's roughly only a one in seven chance that I have my classroom in that hallway. I've always been relatively unlucky.

Another fight...almost.

I subbed pro bono for the yearbook teacher during his yearbook class which is just a crazy amount of wierdness and socializing. Those fifteen kids must have enough energy built up by the end of the day that they just explode (like a blueberry when you squeeze it) and just splatter everyone around them with their teenager-ness and unfocused energy. Blessings should abound on the teacher who has done this for sixteen years.

Did you know that you can cause some painfully serious damage with a bread knife? I hath proved that it be so. Of course this happens when Ben is out on an errand (good timing again) and I'm home alone trying to staunch the incredible (to me who values every drop of my own blood and prefers to keep it collected in the vessel that is my body rather than spreading the wealth all across my kitchen) amount of blood oozing from the deep enough gash. So I have decided that paper towels are never where I need them to be, but what am I to do except hide them when I have a cat who eats paper products (most of you know by now that she has an especial fondness/sweet tooth for toilet paper)? So after a minute of running my thumb under cold water...coldness!...and the flow of blood not abating, I decided that serious times called for some serious action. I was going to have to brave making a mess to get that paper towel (at the top of the pantry because again, where else am I supposed to put it!?!). After last night, I'm even more convinced that I don't like where the paper towels are. So I've never bled enough at a time to just ooze blood onto my other hand trying to catch it all. Wooziness sets in. Just seeing my blood dripping into my other hand and then see it running down my other hand...wooziness. I get the paper towel. I get to the bathroom for bandaids, and I can't get the bandaids open with one hand. And Ben's on an errand that by this point is taking forever. After two tries, I finally work one bandaid free and get it tightly stuck to my thumb. Wooziness remains as I view the bloody paper towel and dried blood on my other hand.

The saving grace of last night? I (along with Ben's mom) beat Ben (and his dad) at euchre. They like to brag about their euchre prowess; we like to win with ours. :-)

Some days just exemplify why I consume large quantities of chocolate.