november 19, 2001. We learned 3 things last night: Never pull the oven rack out and leave the broiler pan sticking out of the oven unsupported. Sooner or later the rack will pivot & dinner will go flying. Then you will scream "f**k!!" a lot. All chicken broths are not created equal i.e. powder is not as good as canned. I forgot the third thing. But it seemed important at the time. My first day in the schools is over with. (Now there's only 23 to go!) It was an interesting, if tiring day. My teacher is responsible for 2 sections of English, 2 sections of Social Studies and 2 sections of Personal Development & Relationships - what we used to call Health in less enlightened times. Unlike last year, in which I taught a maximum of 3 80-minute periods a day, this schedule contains 8 40-minute periods that are all different sections or subjects. The constant content juggling wore me right out...or maybe that was the stress when I learned I'd start teaching on Wednesday. Canadian geography, heavily dependent on the textbook, but it still gives me the heebs. Oh well. I have to start teaching sometime. It's a lot like pulling off a bandaid/getting into a pool: if it t'were done, t'were best done quickly. It's a nice school, full of happy noise and bright student artwork. The halls seem to belong to the students (in a good way) and are completely unlike the undecorated academic tubes of my last school. Lots & lots of kids, and there's a greater pep in 'em than the lackadaisical highschool students of last year. Good news, I suppose, although I seriously wonder if I have the pep to meet 'em. (I suppose that's the exhaustion talking.) At least our introduction was a positive thing. Today one class finished up presentations on songs, and while I had pessimistically expected to suffer through the entire 45 minutes, I was surprised by their tastes. One child brought in Jimmy Buffet, another John Prine, a third Great Big Sea singing a miner's song. One girl brought in "Ironic," which allowed me to make a language lesson out of the inappropriate use of concept in that song (i.e. the most ironic thing about the song is that nothing in it is ironic.) It was much fun, including the part when the girl casually stated that the song came out "a long time ago." I think I managed not to wince. My strongest memories of "Ironic" occur in the Ferg common room, which surely was not "a long time ago." But later I pondered the distance between 20 and 25 compared to the distance between 7 and 12 - I don't think I've changed all that much since the song came out, but I'm sure they all have. (Smile.) Ponder further: I'm teaching kids who were born the year Dirk & Stacy graduated from highschool. Woo woo! this time 4 years ago: Ah, the might of the intellectual. My social life pales into insignificance before my new-found ability to analyze the crap out of 19th century novels.