Number Games

Some days are longer than others. Today was one of those days that was supposed to be awesome...it's Friday, after all, and ended up being really long and made me try to remember why I ever switched my college major from interior design and architecture. Let's take a look back at today.....

4:30 - awoken by cats fighting over who was going to sleep on my legs
4:33 - dozed off
4:38 - awoken by cats demanding breakfast
4:40 - trick cats out of my room and lock them out
5:15 - alarm goes off, snooze is hit
5:24 - alarm breaks in on strange dream in which I am already awake and getting ready for school
5:28 - feed cats, watch weather channel to discover that it will be cold and getting colder
5:40 - check SITS
5:51 - get ready for school when annoying Comcast man comes on
6:20 - leave for school (in the dark and rain) while cats curl up in MY warm bed
6:45 - in a meeting
8:30 - done with meeting
9:00 - 1st period 5/19 kids did their homework. I explain that 50 minutes of class, multiplied by 5 days a week, multiplied by 20 weeks of school equals 5000 minutes of your life that has been wasted by your inexplicable inability to turn in a 2 sentence homework assignment, which will inevitably lead to you failing my class.
9:45 - put head on desk and think longingly of snow days and chocolate
10:30 - 3rd period 4/28 kids did their homework. I realize that the aforementioned math problem will apparently be a part of the lesson plan today.
11:15 - 4th period 2/29 kids did their homework. I mentally scream inside for the entire period while discussing the effects of the Black Death and wonder what would happen if 4th period was struck by the Black Death. Immediately.
12:00 - lunch - bookended by emails to parents
12:40 - 5th period 8/20 kids did their homework. I am somewhat mollified.
12:42 - I tell Matt to pay attention
12:43 - I tell Matt to sit up
12:45 - I tell Matt to stop making fun of student presenters
12:46 - I tell Matt to pay attention
12:48 - I tell Matt to get off the floor (where he is laying)
12:51 - I tell Matt that he cannot use the bathroom
12:53 - I tell Matt to open his notebook
12:54 - I tell Matt to use his pencil
12:55 - I get Matt a pencil
12:56 - I tell Matt to stop interrupting the student presentations
12:59 - I start ignoring Matt
1:20 - 6th period 7/30 kids did their homework. I am again annoyed.
1:23 - student presenters laugh their way through their "presentation," clearly indicating they wasted both their time and mine
1:25 - I count to ten in my head. Three times.
1:26 - I tell Daniel to stop making fun of student presenters
1:27 - I tell Daniel to pay attention
1:29 - I take a shortcut and start ignoring Daniel
2:03 - I make all children leave my classroom before the bell stops ringing
2:04 - I take deep breaths and count some more
2:06 - run down to the copier to copy the study guide for Monday
2:12 - back up three flights of stairs to pick up the study guide I forgot
2:18 - back down to the copier which is now out of paper
2:20 - get paper from the secretary
2:28 - back up three flights of stairs with my copies
2:34 - I fill out no fewer than 9 behavior plans
2:40 - back down to the office to drop off the behavior plans
2:43 - back up three flights of stairs
2:46 - write email to nurse about suspected abuse
2:55 - shut down computer
2:57 - turn computer back on because I forgot to take roll
3:15 - pack up and go to gym to keep score for four basketball games in a row
5:15 - game is stopped due to water pouring down the gym wall under the basket
5:20 - game resumes
7:05 - wonder what would happen if I put down the timer and walked out in the middle of the game (game 3??)
7:45 - game is stopped due to water pouring down the gym wall under the basket at the OTHER end of the gym
9:30 - begin wishing for the electricity to go out or the flood to get worse...anything to be able to go home
10:05 - nearly begin weeping when game goes into overtime
10:25 - buzzer rings, FINALLY
10:25.05 - I leave the gym at a high rate of speed

I realized that I spent almost 8 hours working at these games...which in normal people land, is a FULL DAY OF WORK.