things that have made me happy recently:

-the cleansing, peaceful feeling that comes with the sound of pouring rain

-the rain cleaning off my car a little

-staying at the Fairmont for a science teachers' conference in San Jose this past weekend and getting to play in the pool by myself (no one else was there b/c it was too cold)

-seeing some old friends

-Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

-old students from last year who visit and want to be back in my class

-a really yummy Cuban dinner

-the fact that the clock in my car is 12 minutes fast and that it takes me exactly 12 minutes to get to school in the morning. i have my ETA as soon as i start up the car. incidentally, i just noticed that my bedroom clock is 15 minutes fast and it takes me exactly 15 minutes to get up and out the door. (i didn't plan either of those - my clocks just get faster and faster and i never reset them.)

-receiving my credential in the mail! woo-hoo...all done!

-friends who forgive my moodiness last week

-running on a treadmill (a shocker considering i'm not into exercising...at all)

-spending time alone (double shocker... usually i'm so people-dependent)

-winning this week's fantasy football match-up - it was close

a blessing in disguise?

hmm... all my life i've complained about my terrible cramps each month. some people can't sympathize because they're boys and some can't because they just don't get them. but cramps are not pleasant... i get the ones that start in front - like someone is taking a pickaxe and poking hard in random places on my abdomen - and also the ones in my lower back that feel like a 200 lbs. person is jumping up and down on that sensitive area of the body. yucky. and that feeling continues for about 4 days unless i constantly medicate myself by overdosing on advil.

this month, though, the pain wasn't that bad. BUT i've never been so moody in my entire life. by golly, after several moments of great annoyance at the randomest people and even more crying fits (some unprovoked by anything at all)...i've come to realize that i'll take the physical pain over the emotional anyday. at least with the first, i can medicate. the 2nd kind just seems pure evil, but it is teaching me to pray pray pray because nothing else can fix it.

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yesterday, two of my honors kids got in a fight during class. they're usually pretty good kids but while working on a group activity, one wasn't pulling his weight and the other got increasingly annoyed. It escalated to the point where one pushed the other pretty hard. As a result, that boy was knocked over in his chair sideways and landed into my leg. He promptly got up and started pummelling the other guy... but when i raised my voice, they both looked up startled. I sent these 2 7th graders to separate corners of the room and made them stand there for 10 minutes. Good kids as they generally are, they actually stood there facing the corner (most of my other students would not have done that). It all got settled peacefully when i talked to each individually, but now i have the ugliest bruise on my leg. i just noticed i. it's black and big and one of the first injuries in years that wasn't caused by some clumsy accident i did to myself.

there was no point to that story except to say that it taught me that i've come a long way in understanding the kids i teach. i didn't freak out, i didn't bring in outside administrators to handle the situation, i didn't unduly punish them. I know now that they act impulsively and most of my kids don't have bad intentions. Talking to the first year teachers around school, i remember oh-so-clearly how much i thought my kids were FREAKS at first. most adolescents are - and when you have 38 of them all together, they get more so. but so far, this year has been a breeze. i take each period in stride and try to come from their perspective. i anticipate their needs and when unexpected things happen, we work together. now, if i could only get the hang of understanding grown-ups, life would be so much easier. =)