January 2008 Archives

So, I love the Shins. And I am in a big Gilmore Girls period of my life. So imagine my surprise and delight when during a Spring Break trip to Florida, Rory Gilmore went to a hot club with Paris Gellar, and THE SHINS were playing at the hot club! I realize that there is nothing nerdier that I could blog about, but man am I delighted! Also delightful? Rory Gilmore on spiked punch! Episode sublime.

Now that I think about it, today has been delightful from start to finish. At six in the morning I got a call from my principal that the roads were too icy for the school busses so we were put on 2 HOUR DELAY which is more exciting than getting the day off because it goes so fast and we don't have to make it up a the end of the year. When she told me about the delay I said "woo woo!" Later in the day she sent out an email to the whole staff with the subject line "woo woo," and she told everyone that I said it. So then all the other teachers, when they saw me in the hall, said "woo woo!" I thought that was very funny. The kids were jazzed and the day flew by.

AND, while the day was flying by, my new fancy teacher-desk arrived! Up 'til now all I had was a lousy small desk that had prolly been in the classroom for 35 years. It was so small my knees were always getting bumped and the surface was cracked and peeling. So I asked the custodian (remember her? the frog catcher?) if there were any other teacher-desks around the building and she said no. But then she offered to check around some of the other schools in the district. And through the facility services grapevine she found a big (BIG) oak desk that is in wonderful condition and she had them deliver it to my classroom today. It's like four times the size of my old desk. The kids got so excited to see it. They all crowded around it and crawled underneath it and even pressed their cheeks to the surface, which was still cold from the delivery truck. The nice thing about teaching six year olds is that they will match your enthusiasm for anything, including office furniture. Delighted!

My friend Amanda is coming to visit on Thursday. We used to work together at a pub in New York, and she gave me some great connections when I moved to Ireland. I haven't seen her in three years, and I can't wait. We are going to be drunk for 4 days.