When Things Are Good, Newton's First Law Is Your Friend

2005-05-19 - 11:44 a.m.

You just have to pretend that the Third isn't coming at you eventually, too. (One of the times one wishes they'd forgotten all of their high school physics).

Malraux gets into town in 5 hours. I go to work in 2, but I only have to work for an hour and a half today, if you don't factor in drive time, (tutoring gig). Rainbow Brite and I are in the final stages of working out a visit made possible by a very positive career change on her part, (coming to see me is part of a well-earned interim celebration/vacation for her). Layla visits in July. My AP certification course is in Georgia, which means the school bankrolls a trip to see my folks and my sister for the 4th of July. It's been a hell of a lucky streak for me lately, and I haven't even mentioned a lot of it.

One thing I did just mention, though, is that I get to teach AP. In my first year teaching at the new school. AP European History. How frickin' cool is that? In my field, in my concentration within my field, at the highest level of high school studies. And for those who don't know, AP ranks just under Special Ed, Spanish, and Gifted as the best things you can put on your resume as a teacher. Good for the career, good for the soul. Speaking of, here's the rest of my course load for the year- I'm very happy with it, since it looks like big fun all day, (plus some cherry coaching gigs as the year goes by).

9th Grade Humanities- a 2-hour joint-taught class with the most senior member of our faculty, (and a great guy, as I'm fortunate to be able to say all of our faculty are to date). We teach a Lit course surveying everything from the Stone Age to the High Middle Ages, globe-trotting all over the place as we go. At the same time, they get a history course that corresponds to the Lit in terms of timing and theme, (or probably more the other way around, since the history course was in place first, and we're putting together the details on the Lit now, (which is my bag, with the senior man taking the history, which he's taught for years)). Could not be cooler.

Government- gotta love it. I get to teach it at a not-somewhere-we-stash-the-basketball-coach level, so it won't have bonus questions on the tests like "who's on the quarter," like when I took it.

Econ- to be taught at a high enough level that though it's not an AP course, the kids will have a shot at it if they want to take the exam anyway. Man, are the ambitious kids in the high school gonna be sick of me by the end of the day...

AP Euro- I've already had the kids ask if I'm one of those teachers who "actually makes us work, and assigns homework." Yep. Between me and the history guru they already had, we're going to turn out some competant folks in the ways of Clio.

Lit Magazine- I get to work on editing/creative writing for an hour and a half every day! I plan to shanghai Paradox's lovely girlfriend's Dad at some point this weekend to get a few tips, (my appologies for not bothering with the research to look up her d-land alias at the moment- I should be cleaning the apartment before Malraux arrives as it is).

So 6 courses, (Humanities is 2,) several of which I get to map out from the ground floor. And I get to coach both semesters. AND I get to spearhead the haunted house the high school builds for the middle school kids to go through for Halloween.

So yeah, whatever good karma I had coming is definitely balancing itself out.

Whenever I think about it I end up looking like Jack Nicholson in the 1989 Batman. Which I saw on the Spanish-language station recently. Not the same, but in its own way quite compelling. Right up there with Boxeo as my favorite programming on that fine station (there's actually 2 or 3 of them on my local non-cable TV reception right now, and damn it if the stuff they show in overdub isn't consistantly better than anything I can find in English; I'm going to have to have to start hanging out with the Spanish teacher so I can appreciate that stuff more, though that might spoil the bizzaro effect that I find so endearing to watch a few minutes of it now).

Enough digressing, (though it is probably what this page is best known for, on the patently false assumption that it is "known" for anything).

Music for the day: "The Boys are Back in Town" by Thin Lizzy. No, I never thought I'd recommend a Thin Lizzy song, (not that there's anything wrong with them, per se, as a matter of fact they're fairly decent,) but regardless, it's Graduation Weekend back at the ol' Alma Matter, and I fully intend to celebrate in rigorous fashion with the re-united crew. So the song works on many levels. Well, no, just one very superficial one. But it still rocks in a silly and straightforward way. And that is all that we require of you, dear reader.

My apologies for the obscure reference there. And my even greater apology, (the actual, sincere kind,) if you caught it.

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