...about a bike ride
I rode my bike down to Barnes and Noble in Murray to look at some art magazines and art books for school. It was awesome riding my bike, as usual. Except for the old lady who alsmot hit me in the intersection. I had a green hand and everything! I was halfway across and she comes zooming through her right turn, not even stopping at her red light and I had to stop short. My tires was literally inches away from her car door. I said, "Shit!!" very loudly while I was braking and despite my brush with death, I have to laugh. The look of horror on her passengers' faces. You could tell they probably were like, "Oh my God, you almost hit that person!" Anyway, so that was fun.
I got a new craft book. Because I'm awesome like that. And me and Michelle decided we should start a crafty night. Because we are awesome like that! I also got this book called Destroy This Journal. I've seen stuff like it before but I thought this one might be kind of fun. It's one of those guided journals that gives you instructions on each page but the pages in this one say stuff like "burn this page" and "take the book into the shower with you" "spill coffee on this page" etc etc. It might be kind of fun. Because as we all know, the destructive impulse is also a creative one. And I need some kind of jump start. I have not made any art in a few months now. Sometimes, I just get these dry spells, either because I have no time or no ideas. They bug me but I have never really found a way to stop them from happening. I have a period of time when I am in a creative frenzy, drawing and sewing and all kinds of stuff and it's great and I love it. And then it stops and I do nothing for a while. I have gaps in my art journals that are sometimes years long. I just have to be in the right mood, I guess. And I'm not always in the right mood. Like now. Oh, ps, I did finish my grading today so I can read and do art this weekend if I want to. I stayed after school and forced myself to finish. I did leave until it was done. Which meant I left about 5...on a friday and was the only teacher left in the building. It was me and the janitors. I realized this when I graded the last paper and stood up and stretched and went to the teacher's lounge to refill my water and peeked into the parking lot and saw only my car out there. That was probably one of the weirdest feelings I have ever had. I booked it out of there after that. It was just weird to know that I was the only teacher still at school. Ok, honestly....it made me feel a little bit like a loser. Yep. I usually stay at school until about 4:30 but I have never been the last car in the parking lot. But at least my grading is done. I have to get my short story unit all planned but that wont take long because I did one last year so I will just use most of the stuff I made last year.
Note C: "Dear J--, I can't live without him. I love him so much. He is gone forever but he did not want to leave. His parents drove him away. In his eyes, he said I love you but in his mouth he said goodbye....J-- you are the only one who sees through my fake mask of happiness." That is the short and sweet version.
The other ninth grade teacher had her baby today. And she is going to a different school next year. We have become friends. It makes me sad.
I went bowling with my brother on Tuesday and it was so much fun. I bowled a 157, which is the highest score I have ever had in my whole life. I had like five strikes. It was awesome. And I am going to go again next Tuesday. It's rad. It's my brother and a whole bunch of people from his church that go. So, I met a lot of really cool people. I talked to this guy for a while who is an air traffic controller at the airport. What a crazy job that would be! I can't imagine having that much responsibility.
So I found this blog community place where they invite artists to document a day in their life. And it was so much fun to read and see. So I decided to do this myself. Document some days in the life of me. Just for posterity sake. I can look back and say, oh yeah, that's what it was like when I was 27 and in my second year of teaching. I am going to go look for my camera so I can start tomorrow. With a day in the life of my typical Saturday Red Lobster-ness. Yikes.