Tomorrow being my birthday (number 32 for those of you who are keeping track), I am prone to nostalgic thoughts. This year has seen some serious ups and downs.
Work is the same as always, great students, nightmare co-workers, and the occassional smattering of amazing friendships that manage to endure despite the constant stress of mismanagement. As the last year of my contract comes to a close I am stunned to find the same people making the same flubs and fuck-ups as always and still the administration seems to turn a blind eye, laugh complacently and shrug their shoulders as if they were harmless and not the detriment to the school that they really are. It is, as my husband points out, one thing to be useless, but it quite another to be a liability...when the latter is the case, someone has to take measures.
Misinformation. Poor information filtering. Communication breakdowns. E-mail usage abuse. These should not be common attributes of leaders. And yet they stay, snuggly in their offices, over spending and under performing, and driving everyone around them as batshit crazy as they are.
On happier news, my child has become a real live boy. He is a star. He is currently dead into make believe and he does an excellent impression of the following: Cats (cooool cat, that is), Tyrannusaurus Rex (Raaaahr....I'm a Sauuuurr), Doggies (ruff ruff) and a cowboy (look out if you ever need to look for something on the floor, you might as well strap on a harness and Saddle...YeeHAH!). He is also an excellent artist, but he's more into body art than painting paper:
In sadder news, my father in law is getting sicker and sicker. The cancer is spreading and my husband has never been so sad. I wish I could whisk him away to Scotland right now and we could be there happily forever, but alas, he feels he has to wait until our contracts are done and we have tied up our loose ends here. I think his heart will heal when he sees his dad. So at the end of this year it's off to Scotland, for a while. I am looking forward to seeing his family and watch Benjmain get to know his cousins, but I'd be a liar if I didn't admit I am dead nervous to mesh my lifestyle with my inlaws...we are so so different.
So tomorrow I turn 32. Half-way to 64, will you still need me? Will you still feed me?
