catch up

geez this has been a busy month.

A lot of stuff has happened since the last time I wrote, and I'm not sure I can even remember it all, so here are the highlights:

The 5th period fight I talked about in my last post wound up being a huge ordeal. Apparently one of the students involved told the other one that he planned to bring a gun to school the next day to shoot him in the head. By the time I heard the whole story my entire 5th period was on edge that day wondering if anything was going to happen. But my little terrorist never showed that day. I put in a police report, and was the 3rd teacher to do so about that kid that day. He apparently also told another student he was going to slit his throat. By Thursday afternoon that week, the kid had been arrested. Its a federal offense to even make statements about doing something like that on a school campus. He is now in DAEP, which is basically where we send our childhood felons to school.

I have a new boyfriend, and hes a swetheart. His name is Colby, and I'm getting to be pretty crazy about him. He's 25, 6'2, and lives in Amarillo. He has a culinary arts degree, as well as one in nuclear medicine...but he doesn't work in either field. He does websites for a bunch of car dealerships in the area, takes pics of the cars on the lot and uploads them to the sites. He is also a movie addict, he owns more movies that I think I have ever seen, which is nice because he almost always has something for us to watch that I haven't seen before. I think this one might just be one of those nice guys I've heard about all my life.

Last night was the 12x12 exhibition at the Amarillo Museum of Art. I made a raku platter with a copper handle for the auction, but as of last night no one had purchased it. They typically strongarm their patrons into buying everything though, so I'm hoping that someone will decide they want it. It was a fun night, Taylor came along as my date. I love getting all dressed up and going out there for shows. Plus, I had a lot of friends with pieces for auction last night, and several more who just came out to the show. Theres a lot to be said for free food and an open bar. Unfortunately they didn't order nearly enough food to feed everyone- the table was picked clean before we made it over there. We wound up going to dinner at the restaurant that catered the show, everything smelled so good. By the time we finished dinner I was so exhausted I thought I wouldn't make it home before I fell asleep. I rolled in about 10:30, and was in bed by 10:45.

Being a teacher wears me out.

Giddy Grins

This has been a great day, despite all the things that went wrong during it.

I went on a fantastic date last night, and I haven't been able to wipe this giddy smile off my face all day. It almost happened once, when my 5th period very nearly got me to cuss today. I was mean for a little while, but they were being such punks. I yelled, and told them I didn't want to hear one person speak for the rest of the class period, a whole 5 minutes. You could cut the silence with a knife, they were staring at me most of the time too. I think they thought I might fly off the handle any minute. I might have if they hadn't actually gotten quiet. My hands were shaking that entire time I was so angry with them! Impressively, as soon as lunch started (the next period) I was so over it. I was back to grinning again.

7th period didn't make me angry, but one girl did tick me off a bit. I only let her see it for a second though. One of the other teachers brought her to my door, after I had let her go to the restroom a while before. Apparently he had caught her in the stairwell making out with a kid from one of my other classes. Geez. I pulled her out in the hallway and told her that "I know your boyfriend is cute and all..." and she stopped me and said "Hes not my boyfriend". I almost lost it, the mean face was gone. I just laughed and said "you can do whatever you want on YOUR time, but when you tell me that you're going to the bathroom, thats where you better go."

My date last night was amazing. We had planned on just having coffee, but we were both starving when I got into Amarillo. He suggested we go to Marty's (and I had no idea he was suggesting such a nice restaurant), and he treated me to steak. We sat and talked for hours. He has a degree in culinary arts, and I can't wait for him to cook for me. I'm pretty taken with him. We're hanging out again Wednesday, and I hope I'm still just as giddy Thursday as I am today.

New Car !!

I drove home to Abilene yesterday to pick up my new car! Its a 2008 Honda CRV, in red! It is truly a thing of beauty, see for yourselves:



Its a happy little vehicle, and it wants really badly to drive fast- so I'll have to be sure and set the cruise control so I don't get any tickets!

I also finished up my op art from the last post, and did another one. I'm pretty pleased with the result.

Spirit Week

Geez this has been a rough week emotionally.

I've been running myself ragged this week. I've been sick since last sunday, and I still have a cough that is sticking with me. I'll probably have it until next summer hits the way its going now. My kids have been doing 1 and 2 point perspective, and some of them just haven't been catching on- they call me back and forth across the room to help. I haven't had a moment to sit down during the day all week. Most of them seem to really be getting the hang of 2 point perspective though, so maybe next week will calm down a little.

All this week was spirit week at school, and we've had dress up days every day. Monday was hat day, Tuesday was cowboys and Indians, yesterday was my personal favortie to watch- Old people day. My kids came in with grey hair and wearing robes and slippers. I even had a few old men with canes. Today was Green and Gold day, and I spent part of every class period painting kids faces (Fun!), and tomorrow everyone is supposed to dress up nice.

I started doing Op Art with my art II kids today, and I think I may have hit on something they will actually take their time on and enjoy. They all seemed interested today at least. The pic up top is a shot of the example I am working on for them so far. That seemed to get their attention, for once.

Tomorrow is Homecoming, so it promises to be complete insanity at school tomorrow. I hope we can still get something done in class. The game will be fun, we're playing Plainview. I think I am going to volunteer to help the drama teacher paint faces during the first quarter and then hang with her for the game- its her birthday tomorrow.

I've gone back and forth this week between getting a new car, and not, and finally getting it again. I'm driving to Abilene on Saturday to pick up my new red Honda CRV! Yay! I can't wait to pick up my new baby!