Subbing 15

Today when the phone rang at 6:15 in the morning after staying up past one working on homework, I was just not too thrilled to hear it. And when I had put in my I.D. number and PIN, the job it offered me was teaching kindergarten all day long. I groaned. Pictured Arnold Schwarteneger getting his butt kicked by a bunch of them, giggled, tried to imagine myself doing any better, stopped giggling, continued thinking for maybe another six and half seconds, then hit the button for turning down the job being offered. I just didn't have the energy to face a room full of energy like that.

I got out of bed and went over to the computer to see if there were any other offers on the website. Before I could get logged on, the phone rang again. High School! English! Jackpot! Because even if the teacher leaves substandard plans, I can always give them a writing assignment to keep them quiet! Yahoo!


I got to school about ten minutes before the first class started. The lesson plans were simple and clear. When I told them the assignment, they didn't complain or anything, they just got busy. The second and third classes were in the computer lab. They wanted to chat with each other, but not much. I squelched it anyway, made 'em slave away. It was awesome. Fourth period was her planning period, so no students. And it is the lunch hour, so I had an hour and a half for lunch! I drove home and ate a turkey leg! It was mucho deliciouso, thanks for asking!

The afternoon was even more relaxing: newspaper for one class, yearbook for the other. In both, a student took over, guiding the class or individuals through the day's work. There was some casual conversation, but mostly they worked. I think that Lawrence High School has a good journalism teacher, because those kids were excited about what they were doing.

I spent most of the day reading a book or working on my own homework. I finished up what I had started the night before, and now I only need to get it typed up and looking neater. My lesson for the day is this: make kids work hard all the time, and they will just do it.

No, that's not the lesson. The lesson is: Working two jobs kinda sucks.

No no, that's not it either. Maybe it really was the first one. I seriously had absolutely no problems today. One very important lesson may be this: GET A JOB IN A HIGH SCHOOL, ROB!!!!!!! And only spend time with kindergarteners when it's not your job to make them do school work.

After school I went to El Mezcal, a local Mexican food restaurant, to top off the tank before heading to Wal-Mart for a five hour shift. Good food. Happy Rob.

So yeah, I was out all day making money. It's just after midnight, making it early Tuesday morning, and I haven't really seen Maxine since Sunday night after work. If I had to do this every day, I'm not sure how long I could maintain my sanity, but this is really only typical of my Mondays and Fridays, and only until summer vacation starts. Which, judging by the weather forecast, is a long way off.

Believe it or not, there are things on my mind other than subbing. Wal-Mart generates lots of interesting ideas, many of which I am reluctant to post on the Roblog. At least, not until I'm ready to quit. Maxine is continuously doing new stuff, picking up new behaviors, causing new problems, bringing a serious amount of joy into our lives. Horyon's seamstress work is developing nicely, if a little slowly during the past month. Our Christmas tree is still set up, and Horyon has suggested leaving it up until next Christmas. Yikes. All of these things are banging at the doors of my mind to be let out in detail, but the landlord of my head keeps pulling down my eyelids and telling those noisy ideas to go stir up their ruckus in front of someone else's brain.

And so, Goodnight.

Rob