All in a day's work:
Walking to work on a beautiful sunny day, but it is five degrees and covered in snow.
Running to make up for leaving late, and noticing that no matter how old you grow, you will always feel like a little kid when you are bundled up and running through snow.
Feeling horror as the sound cuts on your headphones and you notice that they are no longer plugged into anything, and your iPod is no longer in your pocket, and worst of all, you just crossed the street. Going back to frantically search for your white/gray iPod in the white gray/snow and finding it surprisingly quickly, knowing that failure is not an option.
Having the battery on your iPod run out on the subway even though it was mostly full ten minutes earlier because it is simply that cold.
Teaching a class for two hours about adjective clauses ("she's the kind of person who is always there for you") and adjectives that are frequently considered to be qualities. Noticing that everyone thinks they embody every typically noble quality, and don't have the negative ones. Even the talkative ones think they are not talkative.
Teaching another class for two hours about modal verbs, finishing with those related to advice (should, ought to, had better), but only after reviewing the previous three chapters because so many people didn't come during the snow storm yesterday, and they have a final exam on Friday. Getting observed by another new teacher, and wondering if he is as bored as you were when you had to do that.
Cooking food. Reading about the world's healthiest foods and being delighted to see that everything you just consumed is on the list, and realizing the irony that this list would have been devastating for you just a few years ago.
Reading a lot about Thomas Jefferson, and learning that despite his hypocrisy as the independence declaring owner of slaves, he did try his best on several occasions to end slavery in his time by making it illegal for any humans to be born into slavery after a certain date and restricting it in new areas, and was secretly happy when anti-slavery measures were enacted in the north, but knew it was political suicide to be from Virginia and do anything more about it in his lifetime after he saw how soundly his attempts had been defeated by his southern colleagues. Also, learning that his relationship with Sally Hemings, his deceased wife's enslaved half-sister, began in Paris, where she technically had the option to become free, and could have been helped by her brother too, but eventually agreed to go back to Virginia because her "master" promised to set their children free when they turned 21, a promise which he kept. Learning from the author that, by all accounts, she was incredibly attractive, and he was stressed out, what with all the protecting his country's infancy from internal chaos and outer attacks, being involved with tons of people entangled in the beginning French Revolution, and settling a European financial crisis, not to mention having lost his beloved wife two years earlier while giving birth to a child who had just died two years later, the fourth of his to suffer such a fate. Regardless of all of that, learning that she couldn't have been more than 15 or 16 years old to his 43 at the time it began.
Learning most of this on the subway ride to Queens to run your car because cold weather and idle cars aren't a good combination. Laughing when the driver's side door is frozen shut while all of the other ones work just fine. Running the car and reading for 25 minutes. Going numb in your legs while walking to the subway and waiting for a very long time for the train to come.
Giving a saxophone player some money on the train, even though he interrupted your Mozart and Jefferson, because, come on, it's live saxophone music in New York!
Doing an SAT math test and only getting a few questions wrong because you're really tired and they were actually reading errors. Feeling better about improvements.
Writing about India.
Soon: sleeping in your own bed in your own room.
Walking to work on a beautiful sunny day, but it is five degrees and covered in snow.
Running to make up for leaving late, and noticing that no matter how old you grow, you will always feel like a little kid when you are bundled up and running through snow.
Feeling horror as the sound cuts on your headphones and you notice that they are no longer plugged into anything, and your iPod is no longer in your pocket, and worst of all, you just crossed the street. Going back to frantically search for your white/gray iPod in the white gray/snow and finding it surprisingly quickly, knowing that failure is not an option.
Having the battery on your iPod run out on the subway even though it was mostly full ten minutes earlier because it is simply that cold.
Teaching a class for two hours about adjective clauses ("she's the kind of person who is always there for you") and adjectives that are frequently considered to be qualities. Noticing that everyone thinks they embody every typically noble quality, and don't have the negative ones. Even the talkative ones think they are not talkative.
Teaching another class for two hours about modal verbs, finishing with those related to advice (should, ought to, had better), but only after reviewing the previous three chapters because so many people didn't come during the snow storm yesterday, and they have a final exam on Friday. Getting observed by another new teacher, and wondering if he is as bored as you were when you had to do that.
Cooking food. Reading about the world's healthiest foods and being delighted to see that everything you just consumed is on the list, and realizing the irony that this list would have been devastating for you just a few years ago.
Reading a lot about Thomas Jefferson, and learning that despite his hypocrisy as the independence declaring owner of slaves, he did try his best on several occasions to end slavery in his time by making it illegal for any humans to be born into slavery after a certain date and restricting it in new areas, and was secretly happy when anti-slavery measures were enacted in the north, but knew it was political suicide to be from Virginia and do anything more about it in his lifetime after he saw how soundly his attempts had been defeated by his southern colleagues. Also, learning that his relationship with Sally Hemings, his deceased wife's enslaved half-sister, began in Paris, where she technically had the option to become free, and could have been helped by her brother too, but eventually agreed to go back to Virginia because her "master" promised to set their children free when they turned 21, a promise which he kept. Learning from the author that, by all accounts, she was incredibly attractive, and he was stressed out, what with all the protecting his country's infancy from internal chaos and outer attacks, being involved with tons of people entangled in the beginning French Revolution, and settling a European financial crisis, not to mention having lost his beloved wife two years earlier while giving birth to a child who had just died two years later, the fourth of his to suffer such a fate. Regardless of all of that, learning that she couldn't have been more than 15 or 16 years old to his 43 at the time it began.
Learning most of this on the subway ride to Queens to run your car because cold weather and idle cars aren't a good combination. Laughing when the driver's side door is frozen shut while all of the other ones work just fine. Running the car and reading for 25 minutes. Going numb in your legs while walking to the subway and waiting for a very long time for the train to come.
Giving a saxophone player some money on the train, even though he interrupted your Mozart and Jefferson, because, come on, it's live saxophone music in New York!
Doing an SAT math test and only getting a few questions wrong because you're really tired and they were actually reading errors. Feeling better about improvements.
Writing about India.
Soon: sleeping in your own bed in your own room.
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