I Am Not A Human Being

My job is my life. The fact that mine is a job that doesn't end when the final bell rings or when I step off campus is both a blessing and a hindrance. There are typically two views that occupy my mind when thinking about my job - (1) work isn't even really work, it's just something I do (good) or (2) work is so much that it leaks into my real life and there's no way to prevent it from doing so (bad).

To my luck, the past 10 weeks of the school year have been the former. Followers of the teacher blog have read the happy posts with happy sharing and happy anecdotes. Happy (:

But the latter still exists. A key goal of my school year is to maintain balance. I'm allowing my students to affect my life more than they have in years past, but I make sure to have my fun too. An afterschool trip to the movie theatre, dinner and drinks out with a friend, cooking with a friend, throwing a BBQ for the Laker opener, long sessions of reading before bed, weekend shenanigans, etc, etc.

But, the physical resources of the human body only carry you so far. And this job is the type that gets you exhausted. If you're thinking "bullshit, every job is exhausting." I argue: be on stage on a daily basis to teach, motivate, and facilitate while meeting the individual needs of 100+ 14-15 year olds 5 days straight at a time. (Their energy is something different, I tell you.) Throw that on top of the hours needed on day-to-day lesson planning and grading. Throw that on top of the over-arching unit planning and direction you must provide for your classes. Throw that on top of the meetings with parents, colleagues and other responsibilities you've stepped up to do for your school. Throw that on top of the mental resources necessary to handle nightmarish students that you can't get out of your head. THEN, tell me otherwise. Last Friday night, I was in bed and asleep by 10pm.

There's no way I'm still in Oakland 4 years in without figuring a lil' something out, and I am definitely a happy camper right now. But last week, three weeknights straight I skipped out on fun lil' afterschool activities out of exhaustion. Hoops? Too tired. Poker? Nah, need to sleep early. Pumpkin carving? ::Audible snores:: My body is losing - it's catching up to me.

Last night, I said "Eff all that, I'm a winner!" and went into the city to catch the Giants grab a trophy for their fans. This morning, major sore throat so I called in reinforcements. First. Sick. Day. All. Year. (Sad.) I need a find a way to get my body to cooperate w/ my mind even better.

Balance, Mr. G. Balance, Ian. We'll make it happen.

--

I'm going to stop apologizing now whenever I feel too full of my self in these posts - F*ck you guys.