Update on Life

Life's been busy, that's for sure.

The record store didn't have the mewithoutYou disc yesterday. I'll have to check again tomorrow.

A man in the car next to me at the stoplight tonight was brushing his teeth. A man in a different car next to me had a really bad hair cut, as in weird random patches shaved bare on the side.

The casinos in Bethlehem open tomorrow night. It's transforming the city. There are all sorts of ways to discuss the opening of a casino in one's place of residence. Morality and weird justification of greed (ie: gamble for charity nights) aside, I'm a bit opposed to the venture for two reasons.
1. I was perfectly content gazing at abandoned steel factories. And now that Sands is basing the entire existence of its business on the success of this very casino, I think we ALL would much rather gaze at abandoned steel factories than an abandoned glitz-house a few years down the road.
2. It simply doesn't fit the town. Bethlehem has had a really great independent spirit that has been gaining momentum in the past few years, whether it be in art galleries or restaurants or small businesses. To overshadow that with this is simply a shame. But glitz and sleaze simply isn't compatible with the city's personality.
3. Ok there's a third reason. It's going to lengthen our commutes to Coopersburg and Hellertown by 10 minutes each.
But it's here, so oh well. Time will tell what it brings.

So, I might as well announce it. Last week, I was named Teacher of the Week by the morning show on a local radio station. Yes, me! My kids nominated me. They were super excited. So I was visited by the DJ yesterday (even though my week ended yesterday) and got a little trophy and some prizes and whatnot. It's ironic and humbling timing, because I'm pretty sure this has been my crankiest week all year. But voting for teacher of the quarter starts Friday--don't worry, I'll remind you then--and if I win that, I get $1,000 that I believe has to be spent on my school. From there, I would get put in the running for Teacher of the Year and who knows what that holds in store.

I'm remembering just how miserable the last few weeks of school can unfortunately be. Our school tends to cram in as many projects and tests and events as possible, so everyone's feeling pressure, and everyone's on each other's nerves. It's never a nice way to finish out, and there's all sorts of tension in wanting to create a pleasant sense of closure before saying goodbye. You take one day at a time and do what you can, realizing not all of it will manage to be squeezed in before the last day.

I just hope I can finally finish my Physics movie before the last day. Good grief!