room fulla squirrels

Today I went to a school I used to sub at all the time back in the day. Because it had been over a year since the last time I was there, things seemed vaguely different, and the kids were all bigger than I remembered. There were a few new kids, and a few old ones that I had forgotten, but I saw a lot of familiar faces. The best part of that really, was being able to see their progress-socially, academically, and behaviorally. It's a group with a lot of needs, so it was very pleasing to see so many signs of growth and progress.

On the other hand, everyone under the age of 18 seemed really worked up, uncooperative, and cranky, and everyone over the age of 18 seemed really lethargic and cranky, so it was an interesting day for yours truly, and definitely a multi-coffee day. I got a lot more defiance than usual, which is always much more comical with children than it is when you have teens on your hands: Don't want to wear shoes? Fine, no recess for you, I'm not crying/not sad. I'll just wait it out.

I have to admit though, that even cranky kids have moments when they're cute.

Speaking of the uncooperative, I got stuck behind the slowest driver in all of Portland and could not pass for miles and miles. It's pretty frustrating to be stuck behind someone who insists on going 25 mph, and not be able to do anything about it. This is the reason why sometimes I prefer teen drivers to elderly drivers. They're both bad, but in very different ways...

I finally got my badge, so no more sticker badges for me! I'm a real person now. Well maybe...there's no proof yet!

This week's been pretty weird for me, and I'll be pretty relieved once Friday's over. I need a break, which is pretty sad when I acknowledge the fact that I had Tuesday off due to veteran's day. Sad indeed.