Adrenaline rush

So scary this morning...I almost hit a deer with my car. I was driving down the interstate at 75-80 mph in the left lane and there was a car in the right lane ahead of me. Suddenly I see something come out from in front of his car--he hit the deer with the left front end of his car (it came from the right side) and it was literally flying through the air toward us (my carpool buddy was with me). It landed on the ground in front of me, I braked and swerved, and was lucky enough to miss it. Scared the living daylights out of both of us. No coffee necessary this morning, I'm running on pure adrenaline.

There are some other developments in my life that I don't want to blog about, and I'm not sure I'll have much to say for a while. Please bear with me.

And I was starting to like it here.

I'm beginning to worry that I'm going to have to move come November 2nd...after all, I keep saying that I'm going to Canada if W wins this election.

It's cold up there.

My students just did Channel 1's mock election, and the country's teens voted for W. This does not bode well. All the states in the middle went red.

Hello? Is there anyone out there who can still think straight? Or has this whole country fallen prey to this administration's nasty tactic of "if we repeat it enough times or give it a good name, people will think it's true"?

Cleaner Skies...No Child Left Behind...Weapons of Mass Destruction...and the list goes on.

Guess I'd better start buying long underwear.

Testing, testing

Ah, yes. The dreaded Iowa Tests of Basic Skills.

I never thought I'd have to hear the phrase again. You know the one I'm talking about.

"Read the directions silently to yourself while I read them aloud. They say..."

Now I'm the one saying them. I am trying SO hard not to adopt a sarcastic tone when I read this stuff! I have to read it word for word, and it's awful. I even have to make the kids read the sample problems. "Look at problem S1. What is the correct answer?" Pause. "Yes, that's right. C is the correct answer because Becky loves her dog. C is marked as the correct answer on the answer sheet."

AAARRRGGGHHH!

What color is the sky in your world?

'cause I think mine is about to turn green.
I bought two things I thought I never would.
Knee-high black leather boots (well actually fake leather, the real leather ones were all too small for my calves)
and...
a brown leather jacket.

The world has officially ended. I have become fashion-conscious.

Playing the numbers

Another week down.
7 of 40, 17.5%.
Didn't go too badly, actually, despite the appearance and disappearance of the bizarre health problem-o-the-week. I'd been having trouble breathing as deeply as normal (off and on) and it got worse on Wednesday. I went to see the doctor and they ran some tests--all normal, which is good. The doctor thought it might be some inflammation of the connective tissues surrounding the lungs and ibuprofen seemed to help. Of course, the placebo effect is always a possibility.
Not that this has anything whatsoever to do with the high-stress job I am now experiencing.
Yoga instructor, anyone?
I'm also thinking there's a possibility that I inherited some form of panic disorder from my mom and that these symptoms are mild anxiety attacks. Fortunately, if this is the case, it's very manageable with medicine and therapy. We'll have to keep an eye on it and see. I'm going back to the doctor in 2 weeks to reevaluate.

Stress relief is coming...I signed up for a 10-minute chair massage every 2 weeks...someone arranged for a massage therapist to come into school and do this! It only costs $7.50 per session, which is SO worth it.

But I made it through another week, and that's what really matters. I'm still alive and so are all my students. Happy weekend!!

Made it!

I made it through the week...(week 6 of 40, 15%!)...through September (month 1 of 9)...and through the other teacher's absence.

Saw that graph again at a new teacher/mentor meeting the other night. Actually September starts the "survival" phase..."disillusionment" doesn't come until late October-early November. Survival is a good term for it.

TGIF. I'm going home.