Trying To Work

So, my computer can't access the website I need for all of the schoolwork I am supposed to be working on this week. I'm off of work thanks to Old Man Winter, and I am enjoying my snow days but the paperwork is not getting done. So, I've been forced to make hand-written notes and hope that when Friday comes and we have school again (Since classes have already been closed on Thursday) that I will be able to sit down and transfer all of my data and get the job done.

In the meantime, I've been dusting off a few scripts to submit in the weeks to come. And I realized that even though scripts have been selected/produced before doesn't mean that I can't re-submit them for different companies. There are a few script that I would love to see staged again.

ICE

No School Today! An Ice Storm has blanketed everything in a layer of ice. It's eerily beautiful. The branches glisten. The trees creak. Then a breeze passes by and fragments of ice come thundering down to the frozen ground. Branches have fallen to the ground. Some trees have snapped and pulled down power lines. All day long we have sat inside and listened to the sounds of the blowing wind, snapping branches and melting ice. We're trapped in our house; unable to get out of our neighborhood. Stranded. (Not really. But we really like being so secluded today.) It's a pretty romantic Valentine's Day.

In Over My Head?

Maybe I was spoiled. Maybe I didn't realize how good I really had. It's possible that I didn't appreciate things to the fullest.

Waiting tables. Serving cocktails. Shipping & Receiving boxes of 'product'. Various other odd jobs over the years that didn't really amount to much. I worked my shifts then went home without a care in the world. There were no consequences. If I messed up - well, I didn't really sweat it.

Oops, I messed up your order! You said medium-rare not medium! I Am So Sorry!

Oops, I thought you said Miller Lite!

Oops, I must have forgotten to order your dessert .This one's on me!

Oh, to go back in time and have a job where the worst that could happen is you upset some poor yuppie who asked for a 'half-decaf, half skim, room-temperature latte with a couple shots of cinnamon syrup, and a dab of foam... I said dab! It is so hard to find good help these days!'.

As it stands, I have been at my job for 3 months and I am swamped with paperwork, taking classes to get certified, and am responsible for deciding upon and implementing the educational objectives for four young men whom I hardly know. I will decide their next year of instruction. Me. This guy right here. Oh, did I mention this is my first time teaching?

I'm still getting used to the work hours! Cut me some slack!

The Note

She doesn't pass notes like all of the girls I remember from my school days. There's no secrecy. There's no attempt at stealth whatsoever.

She stands and crosses the room. The professor continues with her lecture; I think the teacher learned to just ignore this troublesome student.

She steps to my desk and I look up into her wrinkled eyes. She's somebody's mother - probably somebody's grandma. She's an educated black woman and she's gonna let everyone know!

She hands me the note, and waits for my response. It's the middle of class and she wants an instant reply. The note says

I'm an old rocker. Is your hat the group?

- My hat is emblazoned with an AC/DC logo and a few thunderbolts.

I tell her yes it was the group. She says, "I thought so. I'm an old rocker myself. You should see my Black Sabbath collection."

She returns to her seat, and the teacher lectures on.

You Learn Something New Every Day

Here are a few things I learned tonight in my Reading class.

1. There is something worse than 'Too Many Cooks In The Kitchen', and that is 'Too Many Teachers In A Classroom. (My class is comprised of all teachers, and a few of them feel the need to try and out-teach the course instructor.)
2. Put Teachers in a classroom environment and they will spend their time complaining about the status quo, and trying to show others how smart they are.
3. Repeating a fact or statement one Millisecond after it is announced by the teacher does not, in fact, prove that you possessed the knowledge beforehand, no matter how many times you try it.

Here are a few things I knew before tonight's class but would like to comment on.

1. Pacific is NEVER interchangeable with the word Specific... NEVER! If you find yourself giving someone a Pacific example of something I hope you are talking about a peaceful gesture or an ocean.
2. If you have to have instructions such as 'Mark the third sentence of the second paragraph on page eight' repeated to you 12 times before you understand it maybe you should shut the hell up and pay attention!
3. When a teacher is making a point, it is unnecessary to exclaim, 'Right' or 'Correct' or even 'That's For Sure' after every 3 words. It is much less annoying, and time-consuming if you wait until the whole statement is finished before simply, silently, nodding your head in agreement!

(Don't get the wrong idea. There were things, useful things, that I learned in tonight's class but boy-o-boy so far the annoyances have far outnumbered the nuggets of wisdom. I also, believe it or not, have respect and appreciate several of my classmates but feel it would be unfair to name them 'Pacifically'.)

American WTF?

Simon, Randy, and Paula - how do you do it? These people that audition for you are useless!

I'm a Special Education teacher and I keep wondering if I've seen these rejects wandering the halls of my school. Mentally retarded - Autistic - Touched - something is not right! How do you keep a straight face? Is this year's competition sponsered by the Special Olympics?

Old Pursuits

This long weekend I took the time to relax, unwind and tried not to dwell on the amount of school work I have ahead of me. This is a busy time of year for teachers and I have been swamped with paperwork. I will start taking education classes in the coming semester, add that to my work case load and I'll be quite busy.
But not this past weekend. No, instead I read a Tennessee Williams play that I really love, drank some coffee and tweaked three of my own scripts in the process. It's the first time since the move that I made an effort to sit at the computer and revise my own writing. Two of the scripts I have been working on for quite some time and I am aiming to submit them within the next few weeks. The third script was just a fun little idea I had which has led me into a completely different realm than I originally planned.
Writing has been a big part of who I am for as long as I can remember. It would be a shame to let my new 'career' overwhelm that passion. I must remember to write.

It made me giggle

I was sitting at a red light when I noticed that the Chevy Astro Van in front of me had an 'Autism Awarness' Ribbon Magnet. It's just like all of the other Ribbon Magnets, except instead of a solid color it features a jigsaw puzzle pattern on the ribbon. Then I look down on the bumper and read:

My Kid Got Autism From A Vaccine And All I Got Was This Lousy Bumper Sticker!

The New Year!

HAPPY 2007!
I can't believe it's here already. Last year was busy year for us what with all of the changes we dealt with it seemed like the new year would never get here, but thakfully it has.

The holidays were good. Spent time with family, read a book that was in no way related to my job, and tried to relax. I was excited to have a 'winter break', but it, too, flew by.

So here we are, Jan 2007 and all of the sudden my job kicks into high gear. In the next week I have to gather, and organize all of my data collection on my students and their educational goals so that I can write progress reports (We don't give ABC grades), I have to rework my entire Alt Msa binder as I have made mistakes on every single objective, and I have several meetings about my students to review their current status. It's all a bit overwhelming for a guy whose getting on the job training by being thrown to the wolves.

This semester I will start back to school, taking classes towards my certification, so hopefully pieces will start falling into place and my general anxiety about fumbling through the first few months of my job will be replaced by my expanding knowledge and a sense of ease. To think last year this time all I had to worry about was pouring Sangria and learning a new wine list. It's funny for me to look back and remember the times I freaked out when I would mess up someone's drink order, or forgot to order a desert - teaching's just a little more involved, and I'm guessing the consequences are more significant.

Oh well, you know the old saying - Anything worth doing is something that you may not always feel like doing at the time, or probably were never shown the proper way to do, and might eventually look back and say 'wow, why did I do that thing that way when I should have done that thing this other way?'. (Not really sure of the exact quote.)

Gee Doc...

"... In the last month and a half or so I've moved fromChicago, started a job that I'm a little overwhelmed with, found an apartment, moved again, proposed to my girlfriend, bought a car and I've been bitten twice by the same student. It's been a little stressful."

* I was sitting in the emergency room waiting to get a tetanus shot after beeing bitten on the forearm by a student, and the doctors and nurses were a little alarmed by my elevated blood pressure.