Engage!

I'm currently listening to the history class discussing bullying and oppression in America. ("We need to improve America because it is the promised land." "It is not the 'promised land' for all people, because people are still oppressed..." "We see inequalities in test scores between different races...")

The trip to Boston left me sleepy. Not only were our days jam-packed with awesome activities, but we were up pretty late. On the two nights we were there, we got back to the hotel at around 10:30 PM. Kids then had about an hour to shower and dress for bed, while teachers came around with their cell phones, with a snack, to take back the cell phones,  to set their alarm clocks for them, and finally to turn off the lights and tape the doors. We then sat outside their rooms for a while until it quieted down considerably. We got to bed by midnight, and then were up gathering children as early as 6:45. I got home sleepy.

Actually, I got in the car sleepy. Getting home took another 6.5 hours of driving through constant downpour, including a 15 mile stretch of the Jersey Turnpike that took 2 hours to pass. I couldn't quite run that fast, but it's close enough. It was tough.

I got home Friday night hoping for a quiet evening at EMS. Nope. Nothing thrilling, but we had calls at 9PM, 11PM, and 2AM. Just evenly spaced out enough to keep me awake all night. Yuck. On the  bright side, I learned how the charting program works, so now I'm just as responsible for paperwork as everyone else.

I grumpily drove home Saturday morning and got right back in bed for a few hours. I only got up at 10:30 so I could get in a run before it got too hot. Bad choice. It was too hot already and I was too tired. It was a slow, painful 7 miles.


I came home in time to take my car in for service. The car had been leaking--that is, water was puddling up in the back seat for no good reason. I wanted to get it checked out. I waited for an hour while they checked out my car. I was then told that they didn't know what was wrong, but it would definitely require expensive repairs of water damage, that I should probably call the insurance company.

Great. Wonderful. I crankily drove home, while talking on the phone with the insurance company. Fortunately, my crankiness was soon to be cured in a big way...[to be continued]