Tomorrow I Fly

Flying home to Pittsburgh for the holidays. This will be Jay's first introduction to my entire family. Up until now he's only met my sister Karlyn... Should be interesting all around, I think.

And I have almost finished all my christmas present making. I just have to finish off the piece for my parents and I will be ready to roll. Or at least to pack...

Wheee!!!!

Visitin'

Yesterday morning I went to the school where I will be student teaching starting in January. I didn't actually get the chance to observe the classes that I will be teaching, but I sat through three of her other classes. The first two were okay, but the third? Little snots. Rude, disrespectful, barely listened to her... Then she asked me to get up and speak to them for a few minutes at the end of class... they listened for all of thirty seconds. One little hootchie mama calls out at she's leaving "See ya, whatever your name was."

My god. Do these kids have to work so hard to be cool that they can't practice the most common of courtesies?

That said, in her other classes, there were at least two of three students who were very interested in the language and several who had questions for me about studying French and living in France as a student. So... not a totally bad experience, and I know I shouldn't be quite so appalled at the third class's behavior, but...

The snow is a comin'

So, Jay says that we are going to get hit with a storm right about the time I'm supposed to leave work. Brilliant. Now, the plows are very good about keeping I-80 clear, but if it starts dumping an hour before I leave and doesn't stop for four or five hours... not going to happen.

If it is snowing like that, he wants me to stay up in Park City for the night - either at the hotel or at my friend Kelsi's place. I have to be back up in town for our group meeting Monday before work anyway. I just hope that Terry doesn't have any problems driving up for her shift, since she's the one to relieve me at 11pm.

Damn snow.

(Actually, I love the snow for skiing purposes, it just sucks for driving in.)

Argh

So many things to do...

Must finish family christmas presents by Monday.
Need to continue with revisions on Revival.
Should finish off two more crits this weekend.
Want to keep working on Retribution.

Also, before leaving on the 22nd, I MUST get rid of this awful sore throat and ear ache. Gah.

More on the weekly theme

That would be Sleeplessness, of course. Somehow I find it depressing that it's not quite 6pm here and I've already been awake for more than 12 hours.

I use the term "awake" loosely.

On the subject, but in a different vein...

Between the time I was 11 and 15, my parents had the master bedroom in the basement. My bedroom was in the attic (3rd floor) and my baby sisters were right below me. Naturally, the walk up one floor to my room was a lot less scary than going down two floors to my parents. During these years, I learned to wake instantly when high-pitched voices whispered my name from the hall. Or at least to wake enough to lift the covers and let the munchkin of the moment crawl up with me.

Did I mention that I had a twin bed? Not large. And very small children, particularly the youngest, can somehow command sections of a bed totally disproportionate with their physical size.

So during this time I also learned to sleep in uncomfortable positions - smack against the wall, with knees and elbows in my back... I think that's why I have no trouble sharing a bed now.

Just a thought.

Edited to add the "NO" that I forgot

Not a morning person

There's something about waking up before 7am that just makes my whole week become a blur. I've started back to work and have been on the morning shift. Since I have a 45 minute drive up there, I have to get up at least an hour and a half prior to my shift. When the shift starts at 7am, this means I'm waking up at Oh Dark Hundred Hours.

Definitely not my preferred time of day. However, might as well be at work while I'm semi-conscious instead of being semi-conscious at home and totally alert at work...

The hardest part is not letting myself take an afternoon nap after I get home. Soooooo sllleeeeeepyyyyyyy.

Back, I think

Only got 2 hours sleep at Jay's Mom's house in New Jersey on a bed that had feather pillows. (I am mucho allergico to feather-o pillows.) Having not slept with feather pillows for a long time, I had forgotten how miserable said action leave me. Sneezing sneezing sneezing.

Also did not sleep on the 5 hour plane ride. Have been home for 3 hours. Very tired. Fading fast. Promise to be interesting sometime in the future.