Braydon

Meet Braydon: yearbook geek of the decade.

Well, of the past three full years and to the end of first semester, at least. Braydon took photojournalism as a freshman, then joined the yearbook as a sophomore. He currently is a fifth-year senior. We know each other well.

To start, every year I give out silly awards and Braydon wins the "Best at Hovering" award. Everytime I freaking turn around, THERE he is. This wouldn't be so bad, but to be blunt: he has personal hygiene issues. He is a stinky boy some days.

Add to this his overall "nerdy" attire and his poor economic home situation, and you have one helluva kid. He is a computer whiz, although he has to keep his together with duct tape at home, it seems. He's always cobbing together a working machine from crap. He also glommed onto our online yearbook software like a pro; and he teaches the staff like Pi used to -- not very well. Braydon is actually a little better than Pi, but social skills aren't either of their forte's. Plus, they both stunk up the computer lab on certain days.

I need to talk to Braydon about his stench. He is in my room like 3 hours a day, and Friday he really stunk up the joint to the point where other kids were commenting on the smell of the lab. He's a sweetheart; so this won't be easy.

Especially since he's now done all my work on the ladder for yearbook. Over the summer, he assigned pages and reduced the book 4 pages, which helped. Then, on Saturday he assigned all the people and deadline dates AND wrote up a document splitting all the deadlines in an easy-to-print format for grading and such. He's going to split it up by people, also, so we know who is supposed to be just sitting around.

So, I praised him online yesterday in an e-mail and a private instant message on gmail. I've given him the title of co-Adviser also, with Adviser privileges online. Now I'll give him a lecture about washing his ass, and everything will be peachy keen.

Another example of the glamorous life of a public school teacher, plus another example of how diverse the kids I love appear to be, but how they really are all the same. All they need is a laugh and some gentle guidance, and they will bark like puppies for you.

So hover away, Braydon. You've learned my job very well by hovering for 4 years. You're gonna make me look good once again, and I love you for it.

Friday Morning Musings

Why is it so much easier to wake up on Fridays?

Is it because the weekend looms large? Is it because of some magical aura that surrounds the day? Whatever the reason, I'm DAMN glad it is Friday today.

This week has been productive -- or I've been productive. I've organized my classes well and they are operating like a smoothly oiled machine. (Exception: the study hall from hell last hour. I had to actually yell on Wednesday when they were acting like animals instead of young adults.)

The yearbook is supposed to be delivered this week, but I haven't seen it yet. It better get here by next Friday, which is Homecoming, so I can get rid of the last years' seniors books while they are back visiting. I pray we didn't make any huge errors, like "pubic school" instead of "public school" or a cutline identifying the wrong student in a photo.

Of course, I won't hear anything positive about the book, I only get the negative. Last year I got a nasty call from a freshman cheerleader's parent about why they aren't in the book. Well, we have a policy that we only cover Varsity sports, which didn't go over well with the parent because "those freshman cheerleaders work their rear ends off." Sigh.

I work my rear end off and I only get bitched at. Kids go out of their way to point out the errors in the book, but where is the love?

Anyhoo, Fridays rock and I shall survive. Time to get my ass in the shower, or I'll be late to school, which at this point, can get me fired. I'm just one false move away from the unemployment line since my "censored" incident last year -- it's in my permanent record and everything.

Maybe it was easy to wake up today because I passed out around 7:30 PM last night. AHhhhhhh, the glorious life of a "pubic" school teacher.

School Year Update

In true retrospective style, I will fill the reader in on the first three weeks of school.

I ROCK.

My students also rock. I feel like I know my shit now. AND IT FEELS GOOD.

Hope this isn't more foreshadowing, because I just, not 30 minutes ago, burned the final copy of my book for the publisher. I have the first amendment lawyer in my corner, or in my bookmarks, so I can get proper representation as a citizen of this country.

I keep wondering how this second in the Thresholds series is going to end, also. It's like my department chair said -- I am playing with fire. But dammit, this is me. This is my life. And since the fire I'm not letting life pass me by. I am participating in it fully.

And this means getting out the creative aspect of my twisted persona. Maybe my story will inspire other teachers to try to excel in the midst of chaos. Maybe my story will touch one other person who hasn't been able to label their depression. Maybe the damn thing will make one person laugh.

Anyway, in spite of the fact that I don't have HUGE stars this year like Steakboy, Jedi and Pi, I do have kids with motivation and talent. I've trained these new editors, and they know their stuff well -- as a team they can function and produce and I'm not worried this year much.

I still will lose money in yearbook, and Mike will have to bail me out. I still will be selling chocolate instead of surviving only on ads in newspaper. But I have a bounce in my step and an appreciation of my colleagues and students. Couldn't ask for more.