Unmitigated

Spin Cycle: Stress and Relief

I haven't done a Spin in awhile, and I thought the topic of stress was right up my alley. Jen at Sprite's Keeper is out hostess...

Click the button for more Spin Cycles.

So, yeah, stress. It's there. I live with it, daily, but I am getting good at it. I traded in the stress of teaching for the stress of worrying about the household budget minus my teaching salary. Turns out that was a good deal. The last year I was in the classroom, the stress started to make me ugly. Not physically, you know, I'm still just as cute as a button, just emotionally. It began to make me impatient with the children, which I had never been before.

Stress made me VERY cranky in meetings, which was a step beyond just dealing with all the garbage that meetings include. I have never been very good at doing things by committee, and everything in a school district is done by committee. 

The initial cause of my back pain issues was physical, but stress exacerbated the pain to a surprising degree.

So this won't be a total downer of a post, let's talk stress relief...

A good cup of coffee

Photography

Blogging and commenting!

Crossword puzzles and 12 X 12 sudokus

Bookstore trips with the girls

Stand up comedy

Going to the movies

Digging up dandelions from the lawn

Naps(!)

Sunshine and warm weather

Reading

Listening to Jim Dale read Harry Potter stories

Going for walks with Ellie

Going for walks around the neighborhood with my Buddy .

Room 234

I don't know what got me started thinking about Room 234, but it popped into my mind one day last week and I've been thinking of it ever since.

Like every other kid, I started high school feeling like I didn't belong. As Louisa Alcott so aptly stated it, I went through life with my elbows out, pushing and irritating my way through. Life changed when I found Room 234.

One day, I sat in class with two guys I was classroom pals with. You know the type. Crab about the teacher together, wave in the lunch room, but that's as far as it goes. Until I heard them saying lines from something, and I knew it wasn't time for the school play yet.

Did I mention this was the start of my senior year? Yeah. Late bloomer, here.

Anyway, they were saying these lines, and I asked what they were talking about, these two sophomores. "We are in a multiple together," one of them told me. WTF?

Turns out a "multiple" was a multiple reading. Three to seven people in a group who perform a script without actually acting it out. There are rules. Strict rules, about times and movement and added singing, etc. 

I was interested enough to go see the coach of the forensics team (NOT Quincy, M.D., competitive speaking), who was always glad to take on another kid. And take me on he did. I was immediately asked to be in a different multiple reading that was just starting rehearsals. There were three coaches, we came to know them as Mickie, Pete, and Torg. All three still teach. At least two of them are still involved in debate, speech, or drama. I should point out that they were all in their mid-twenties years ago when they coached us, just starting out and being paid an absolute pittance.

People, I found myself there. I found my HUSBAND there. And some of the best friends I have ever had. We were a bunch of really smart geeks, who wore suits on Saturdays for tournaments, and stayed after school for HOURS to practice, gladly. This was my crowd.

Room 234 was Pete's room. There was a radio booth in the corner with file cabinets containing scripts and debate research articles. My favorite was the little card file entitled, "Millions will die." This was a debate strategy. A way to suggest that whatever the other side was promoting would kill millions or have some other catastrophic consequences.

That year, we decided to do a "roast" of a team member every week, and spent time in Room 234 planning and making lists and song parodies. How I missed it when it was my turn, I will never know, but it was one of the happiest moments of my life when I realized that people liked me enough to spend that kind of time on me.

The story I remember most from Room 234...I went through a lot of emotional turmoil in high school. Who doesn't? But this was enough that my grades went from A's and B's to D's and F's. The sort of thing where, if you saw it today, you would worry that the kid was planning suicide. That kind of emotional turmoil.

Anyway, when I got my report card, I knew I couldn't take it home, so what did this brilliant geek do to destroy the evidence? That's right, go into the radio booth, open the window, and hang the burning report card outside the window. Until I heard, "Mr. Shaheen? We smell smoke!"

Shit.

And Pete, forgetting that I had gone in there, came busting in, to see me sheepishly holding the last ashes of my report card. "Hi! Sorry! Just me." I think poor Pete aged about ten years in that minute. (If you are missing any hair, Pete, allow me to apologize).

I learned a lot on that team. I learned that being one of the 'popular kids' didn't really matter. I learned how to stand up in front of a roomful of people and talk. I learned that sometimes, even if you have a 104 degree fever, if people are counting on you, you take some Tylenol, suck it up and do it anyway. I learned that a teacher who listens to you and understands your silly teenage woes is a gift.

This is for Mickie, Pete, and Torg, and Gene, and Tom, and for all the other teachers out there like them. What you do, how you behave around the kids, is everything to them. And they remember you for it.

Thanks. 

Sixth Grade Wisdom

The whole staff got this e-mail from our awesome World Languages teachers, Diane M. and Laura P.

*Did you know that CANADA was a gift from France to the United States? (They also gave us the ENCHILADA!)

*Did you know that an organization that uses French and English as their main languages is SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE?

*The second largest French speaking city in the world is CHICAGO.

*CROISSANTS is the most popular sport in France.

 

LOL - Are these really the people that are going to be taking care of us in our old age???

Why, yes. Yes, they are. And soon they'll be able to vote.

If you think that's scary, check out this Best of Jaywalking from Jay Leno's last night on The Tonight Show:

Back to Work

I was back to school today, and the great thing is, every time the children got whiny, all I had to do was say, "Oooh. My back is still kind of sore..."

They would panic because they didn't want the guest teacher back, who, for the record, did an awesome job while I was gone. So they should shut the h*ll up.

There are eight school days left, and they are looking like rather a long time right now. But the good news is that for the first time in a very long time, I have been making plans for next year. The district is expanding our classroom libraries by 240 books per classroom! How amazing is that? Now I need some additional shelf space. I think I will hit some thrift stores later this week to see what I can find.

I have stacks of things I have never used, that seemed like a great idea when I was still in college. Manipulatives that don't go with our math program, for example, or overhead projector tools that I don't use now that I have a SmartBoard in my classroom. I saw what was obviously someone's educational library on Amazon. It made me think I should put some of that stuff out for sale. Oh well. I think I must be absorbing some of Husband's pack-rat tendencies. I might need it! You never know!

Soon, I'll be washing and folding the used aluminum foil like Aunt Barbara used to do. If you see me doing this, please shoot me.

Physical therapy starts (again!) on Thursday, but this is a place that treats ONLY neck and back pain. Pretty sure I'm gonna be there all summer, as their program is two days per week for 10-12 weeks. I see the craziness doctor (I'm the loon, not him) (I hope) for the first time next week, and will get some referrals from him. One, at least, for a therapist to work with me on the depression, and I am also hoping to try yoga and meditation this summer for physical flexibility and mental stability.

Both of these concepts are very alien to me. Which should make for an amusing summer. Stick around.

Cake and Accolades

Because our only gallon of milk had turned when I was ready for breakfast this morning, I was forced to eat this:

Not the car, just the cake. A slice of it, I mean. This picture was from after I had cut a slice. And I ate the slice, not this part. You know, when you have smart ass readers, it can be difficult to head them off.

The cake is called this:



which makes me think that whomever named the cake is old enough to remember Laugh-In. I like an experienced baker, but the link between the name and the cake eludes me. Anyway...

As promised, I thought I would post some of the more memorable shots from 17-year-old-Boy's graduation ceremony last night. He, and best bud, Joe, graduated from Lee M. Thurston High School, at least one of them by the skin of his teeth.

When Husband Styro and I arrived for the graduation, we parked at the elementary school next door and walked over. There were 250 graduates scheduled, each allowed to bring as many people as they wanted! Because the ceremony would be outside in the beautiful weather! In the senior courtyard! Which has three points of egress! The Fire Marshall would have dropped dead at the sight of the nearly 2000 people, let me tell you!

The two of us were the sum total of our family's representation. Joe's family numbered eleven people. There were graduates who had entire sections of people screaming for them. Not cheering. Not clapping. Screaming.

The day before the ceremony, the school district robo-call recording said, "In keeping with the dignified nature of the proceedings, no air-horns will be allowed."

Yes. That's just the sort of in which place we live.*

Upon entering the courtyard, we quickly searched the small set of bleachers at the back, so I could get up and walk if my back required a break. Since at least 50% of the crowd talked out-loud during the entire event, we decided it didn't really matter where we were seated, the night was not going to be dignified.

Oh, yes, then there were the people who got there early (or late) and decided to stand in front of the bleacher sections to have the best possible view of their graduate. Here are some pictures shot from our POV.

Here's a shot of the Vice-Principal opening the evening.

And here's one of the student speaker.

Here is the choir performing.

And here's the boy, in his seat, next to the tree.

Here is best bud, Joe, crossing the stage.



Fortunately, I got these shots of 17-year-old-Boy in line waiting.



He doesn't usually look this serious.



The tremendous speed with which he crosses the stage creates a breeze. Doesn't he look like he just took off out of the starting blocks? The principal looks like he's handing off a cup of Gatorade to a marathoner.

And finally, avoiding all eye contact (His comment? I don't do pictures):



The End.

*Apologies to Sir Paul, but I've often wondered if the lyric isn't really "(t)he world in which we're living," which would make it gramatically correct. The Language Arts teacher in me would like to think so.