The Best of Times

I'm a happy teacher. Not only is school starting tomorrow (yes, I truly am excited), but I'm also listening to the concept recording of a new musical - "A Tale of Two Cities." I ordered the CD months ago, left town and when I came back, the CD wasn't there! So I e-mailed the production with a complaint and they took quick care of it - and even invited me to tour the theatre next time I'm in NY! Hmm.... Now I have to figure out when to go. I hope the show doesn't close soon, because if it does... Christine - you make have an overnight guest! :) I missed "The Woman in White"... I don't want to miss "A Tale of Two Cities."

Lots of stuff is going on. So it's time for yet another catagorized list...

1) Running. Marathon training season has begun! Actually, it began while I was in DC, but I'm just now participating. I rejoined my running group yesterday, and they were up to 7 miles. Gulp. I ran 4 in Central Park three weeks ago, and 5 in Maryland 3 weeks prior to that. The last time I ran 7 miles was in February or March. But I was bound and determined to finish all 7 miles, despite my lack of really running. Hell, I used to run 6 miles every other day! So I started... and finished. I did a lot more walking the last mile and a half, but still finished in less than 1 hour and 45 minutes. The miles I did run were better than the miles I ran last fall, so I'll be in better shape before the half marathon. And I'll be running the Surfside Half Marathon. Unfortunately, Houston sold out three months earlier than it did last year and I didn't make it. It'll be the first time in 4 years that I won't run it, which upsets me terribly. But I have been wanting to run Surfside for years, so I just might as well do it this year! But the race that I'm going to focus on now is the Space City 10-miler in October. Last year I was in no conditition to run it at all (it was my first race since my knee injury, and ran it after training one month for it... after a 6 month hiatus from running) but I finished and won't dwell on my time - I was just happy I finished. This year, I won't necessarily dwell on time as much either, as long as I finish 10 minutes earlier than last year. :)

2) Rodeo. Yep. Rodeo season has started. Bring on the meetings!

3) School. I'm so freakin' excited. I love my job. I may complain, whine, etc, but I really enjoy teaching. I've worked really hard these past two weeks (early, before I was even supposed to start) and have accomplished great things - lesson plans for a month, my room has been set up for a while, I made all of my handouts for the first month, etc. I'm ahead of the game and my stress level is relatively low. So since I finished early, I've been being the good "Buddy Teacher" and SLC leader and have been helping out my fellow teachers. Plus I really like the new teachers and have been hanging out with them - yes, I'm gaining a social life again! Plus one of the new teachers is also my new neighbor - he lives below me (not in the dead man's apartment, but the other one) and we've been hanging out almost daily at one of our apartments, drinking beer, playing the guitar and talking teacher stuff and theatre.

Bring on the kids!

Cheers!