Monday miscellany

Today was the faculty professional day, a re-introduction to school after two weeks of spring break; the students return tomorrow, and then we're full tilt for 9 weeks more of classes in the school year. Moments from the day:

• I had the weirdest, most tiring dream, The Hunger Games meets preparation for a bar/bat mitzvah. I think this is what comes from thinking about Exodus before bedtime; I have now resolved to cleanse my mind of all biblical thoughts before bed.
• Totally interesting morning: a lecture from a visiting scholar on bullying, including cyber-bullying. This is the sort of thing that I tend to roll my eyes about in anticipation and then often find fascinating. Pattern held today -- interesting stuff!
• It turns out that the candidate we loved turned us down, so we're now hiring for two English faculty (with some candidates coming this week and next). I'm bummed that we won't have her as a colleague, but the bright side is that I am, as always, cheered by the fact that the job market is so very different than in higher education, such that good candidates don't feel panicked about finding a good job. Hey, let me know if you think you might be interested; if you're a regular reader, you know that FGS is an amazing place to work
• I'm stealing Mean Something's idea for class with my freshmen for this week.
• I had assigned my 9th-graders the task of watching Raiders of the Lost Ark over spring break -- not for any particular pedagogical reason, but just because I was shocked to hear that most of them had seen it! So I told them to watch it and to think about the Hero's Journey while they watched. D. and I watched it tonight, perhaps for the first time since it came out, and we had such a fun time.
• Our new Mah Jongg cards arrived today! The National Mah Jongg League puts out a new card, with new hands, every year, and now we can begin playing the new hands. I realize this is of interest to few of you, but we were so excited about it that D. actually waited to open the envelopes so that we could open them and look at the new cards together at the same time. I get to play the new hands for the first time this Sunday night!
• I got on the scale yesterday, and it wasn't a pretty sight. Apparently my plan of maintaining weight has not worked smoothly; I'm afraid that I've been feeling cocky enough about my weight loss and confident enough in my regular exercise that I have felt free to eat most anything I want. And the calories have added up, such that the scale is tipping a higher number than I am comfortable with. So I'm back on the straight-and-narrow with Weight Watchers. I worry a little that I'm going to have to be on it for the rest of my life ... but keeping a lower weight is worth it, I guess. At least I have some new clothes (thanks to spring break shopping), which make me feel pretty darned good about myself and encourage the process of winnowing my food intake.
• Post-spring break, our house is sporadically cleaner than it has been in ages (that is, some rooms are incredibly clean, others partially cleaner but still cluttered), and I've taken the opportunity to invite a friend/colleague over for brunch on Saturday. D. and I have not been very hospitable since we moved here, but my hope is that we're turning over a new leaf this weekend.

I guess that's all the big news for a Monday. I'm actually quite looking forward to classes' starting tomorrow, and (I'll confess) I'm looking forward to summer more than I usually do. All good stuff.

Comments

[Rev Dr Mom]

I started WW for my Lenten discipline and I'm pretty sure I'll need to be on it forever...but the good thing about WW is that that seems possible.

And....8 pounds lost so far! But MANY more to go.

[Bardiac]

You know, I'm sore tempted to apply. But I know nothing about HS teaching, and I have England for fall semester... but sorely tempted nonetheless.

[meansomething]

Oooo, let me know how it goes! I did it with juniors--it would be interesting to compare.

I WISH we did that professional day re-introduction. It seems so civilized.

The rest of the year will fly by! Hope it's a great ride!

[jo(e)]

Two weeks? A two-week spring break? Oh, I like the idea of that.

[What Now?]

A two-week spring break really is fabulous. It gives us time to get work done and also to relax and have fun, and by the time school rolls around again, most students as well as teachers are actually ready to come back full-force.

The downside is that it's just enough time for our bodies to readjust to our preferred sleep schedule (which for most of us doesn't involve bounding out of bed quite so early), and also for teachers to get out of the teaching habit, which means that the first day back is especially tiring. But by tomorrow we'll all be back in the swing of things and much more rested than we were in early March. We still have 10 weeks left to go, so we needed to re-energize!