Love

Nobody gets more Valentine's Day presents than teachers. I swear. The entire back seat of my car was full of presents. Is, I should say, since I haven't managed to bring most of it up to my apartment. I just don't know what I'm going to do with the fake flowers [I got real ones too; those I brought in], trinkets, porcelain roses, and many, many candies and cards. 

I am sick of thinking/talking/writing about elementary school. Spring break is exactly one month from today. To say I'm counting the days would be an understatement. More like counting the minutes...the seconds...

I have a problem - my cat. She's very cute and sometimes I enjoy her company, but she's starting to drive me mad. She destroys things, makes noise at night, and causes evil, evil pain to my arms and legs with her claws. I think the only way I can keep her is if I get her declawed and she suddenly becomes uninterested in doing anything at all except sleeping and lying around. I didn't want this cat because I didn't want the responsibility, and now I'm stuck with her. Sometimes I think I should just get rid of her now before I get really attached. The thought of her being around ten years from now, which is likely since cats seem to live forever, is annoying. I don't want to be tied to an animal that requires daily care. So...disregard all the bad things I said about her...she's lovely - anyone want a cat?

I went to Shreveport last weekend. I "gambled," a term I'll use loosely since putting quarters into a slot machine isn't really a gamble. It's a safe bet that you're going to lose. I'd only lost $20, but was coerced into feeding a slot machine another $20 on the way out, bringing my total losses to under $50 which isn't bad at all considering all the free alcohol I drank. In fact, I'm pretty sure it just about evened out.

Needless to say, I did not want to come back to Dallas and teach school today, a day that 95 percent of the city was off from work - every school in town aside from these %$#@ Edison schools (I teach at one of the seven Edison schools in this district) was closed not only today, but Friday as well. I'm beginning to think that I've been suckered. The extra money and signing bonuses sounded great when the school hired me, but working until July is going to be a nightmare, especially when most of my friends will be getting out of school in late May. I shouldn't complain though - six weeks off in a row is still a hell of a lot more than most people get. 

Geography Lesson

I have no idea how to answer the questions the children are asking me about war with Iraq. They started asking all these questions yesterday, so we got out the globe to at least see where Iraq is located.

We passed Columbia, and here's the conversation that followed:

Student: I know everything about Columbia.

Me: Really? What do you know about it?

Student: I know that all the cocaine comes from Columbia.

Me: Ummmmm (unable to respond to this due to shock)

Student: I also know that if you sell cocaine, you can make a lot of money.

Me: Ok, but if you sell a lot of cocaine, you'll also go to jail for a very long time, harm others, maybe get yourself hurt...Why do you know all this stuff?

Student: My...um...neighbor...um...[realizing he should shut up]...I don't know. I made it up.

Again, these kids are eight years old. You should be very scared for the future of our country.

Tax Dollars

To any Dallas-area people reading, here's one to file under So Where do the Tax Dollars Go, Anyway?:

For two weeks, we have had no heat in our classroom. The majority of the school (built in the 1930s) is on a huge, beastly heat/AC generator that is controlled by the fools downtown. My room and the one next to me, however, share a small heater that's controlled in my classroom.

Two weeks ago today, it stopped working. Our maintenance people reported it to the headquarters downtown, and were basically told that the prospect of us receiving a new motor [that's what's broken] this school year was remote. I mean, please! These are little children we're talking about, trying to learn, trying to study, trying to take the !@#@$ TAKS test, and they're forced to sit in a room that is as cold as it is outside all day long. It's going to be, what, 38 for a high today? We can pay the superintendent half a million dollars a year, but we can't buy a stupid motor so that my students don't freeze?

Next week we have parent conferences, and if the heater isn't fixed by then, I'm going to try to get the parents to go downtown and complain. The last thing the district wants is 20 irate mommies at their offices screaming at them.