Spring Meetings

It isn't quite spring yet, but I have completed one fourth of my "spring" meetings as a facilitator. I know that many homeschool boards do their second meetings a bit later in the year, but my board has us do them in March and April (and those of us with many families inevitably go into May for various reasons: sick kids, vacations, injuries, etc.).

So far the meetings are going well and only two families have had to rebook because of ill children.

Highlights:

Small siblings who want to be involved and show me their books or how they are learning letters and sounds.

Children's writing assignments, full of humor, suspense, and fun. These include book narrations, stories, essays, plays, and graphic novels.

Children who are so pleased with how far they've come in math or reading.

Sharing favourite books with children and finding that we like some of the same stories.

Getting more book recommendations from children.

Being able to encourage parents who are doing a great job teaching their children.

Long bus rides that are perfect for reading!

I am very thankful for my job. I really enjoy it, I get to hang out with children and hear what is exciting them, and I get to help parents as they teach their children. I also like the flexible schedule so I have time for other work and to serve the church family. I am so very blessed.

Almost Done

I've finished 7 weeks of home education facilitator meetings and I have about 2 more weeks to go (a bit longer since one meeting is going to be May 6th and one is unconfirmed because someone in the family has pneumonia, but for the most part there are only 2 weeks left). I tell myself that it's only about 2 months twice a year that I'm really, really busy, but that still seems like a lot when I'm in the middle of it.

Part of it is that the rest of life doesn't stop for those few months. I still have Sunday School and history class and Wednesday morning homeschool kids and all the regular stuff of life. It's usually moderately busy anyway; it just gets really, really, really busy now!

On the plus side, I have summers off (except for a bit of tutoring to keep me from getting bored). Of course, I have a list of projects for summer, but I'm ignoring it for now!

Just a couple more weeks and life will slow down again.

Sunday Stuff

Pastor Mike preached today about unity in the church. It was good; he was talking about how all believers are already united in Christ. He also showed how unity cannot be based on shallow beliefs, but needs to be based on the truths of Scripture. It was encouraging, and it helped me understand how the bond of unity with some people I know can still be strong even though we disagree about some things (mostly to do with how the church is run, and a few other non-essentials).

Canada Day was a lot of fun. I spent time with friends I haven't seen in a few months (some even longer), catching up on things, laughing, and eating. I was only intending to go for an hour or so in the afternoon (we were celebrating an 80th birthday), but ended up being invited for supper since I'm considered family. In the evening, I went to see the fireworks with a family from the church. There are fireworks close to where we live (I could probably have watched some of them from my balcony), so we got to celebrate and get home before midnight. It was a really good day of fellowship and fun.

Next week is one of the busiest at work. It's the first week of summer break, and everyone will be getting schedules sorted out and such. The good news is, it's only a week (or two) and then things settle into summer routine.

Here is a hymn to start your week off well.

The Things I Didn't Say

A lady called work last week looking for some information about our programs. She has received a flyer for a free assessment and wanted to bring her child in even though she knows that we're really expensive. I explained that it's "free testing upon enrollment" which means that she pays for the test and when she enrolls we apply the fee to the tuition. She seemed okay with that. Then she asked about our prices. I explained how it worked.

Her response, and I quote: "Those are hooker prices."

I did not say, "And how exactly do you know that?"

I really had nothing to say, which was okay, since she kept talking about how expensive we are. Then she asked if I knew of anyone else who was cheaper.

I did not say, "Seriously? Are you asking me to recommend our competitors to you? Does that sound like a good idea?"

I simply said that I didn't know about other places.

She finally decided to come in for the assessment. I told her that I could hold the test spot for 24 hours and she had to come in to pay by the following evening.

Is anyone surprised that she didn't come in to pay?

From the Children

I was doing a comprehension assessment with a grade 1 child yesterday. He read about children getting ready to go on a field trip and then I asked him some questions.

Question: Why would Mrs. Brown tell the children not to push one another?

His answer: Because if they were shoving they might accidentally hit the ejector button and the person would go in the air and float back down.

Official answer: So no one would get hurt. Accept other reasonable responses.

I accepted his answer as a reasonable response.


This morning we were talking about snakes in Junior Church during colouring time. One student insisted that all snakes are poisonous. I corrected that (and told them they should never pick up a snake anyway unless a grown up tells them it's okay). Another one told me that snakes stick out their tongues and lick you and then you turn into a snake. He insisted that it happened in a cartoon. I insisted that it never happens in the real world.

And...this morning I was called upon to unlock a room for the Junior/Senior High Sunday School class. I found my keys and went to the room to find the entire class standing around outside. I asked if anyone had tried the door and they told me that someone had. Then I tried the door. It was unlocked. Someone needs door-opening lessons.

Gearing up for Summer

School is out today or tomorrow depending on the school. The students are excited and the teachers are excited and I'm bracing myself for summer.

Summer is good. The sun shines for long hours, it's warm, there are flowers, and it's a great time to drink iced coffee. Summer at work, though, is a bit more challenging. The students are there all day: 10-2 and 4-8. I get a bit of a break in the middle to catch up on stuff. Some centres are open 9-1, 1:30-3:30, and 4-8. I have no idea how they cope with no down time (yes, they get 30 minutes twice a day, but between students who are picked up late and students who leave early, that's not really any time).

So far summer is looking very quiet this year. There aren't a lot of students coming during the early times, which is odd. Usually evenings are quieter. We haven't had a lot of calls about new students yet either; usually that's started by now. It's left us wondering what is happening out there and if we're going to get swamped next week. Usually the first couple weeks of July are wild with testing new students.

I am considering reading comprehension skills for some parents. These would be the ones who haven't returned their summer schedules despite a May 30th deadline, the words "I need the schedule even if your child is keeping the same schedule in the summer" and regular emails. The other parents are the ones who get the schedule and ask to come from 2-4. Is it really to difficult to understand that we're closed then?

Right now we're waiting to see what summer will bring. Will it stay somewhat quiet, or is everyone waiting until the weekend to start calling?

Saturday at Work

Work is going fairly well lately. I haven't been working very crazy hours, and I actually got off early today. I only had one test, first thing this morning, and was done with the test and conference by 12:30. Normally on a Saturday, I test at 10, 12, and 2, so the days are a bit longer. I had all my reports updated and entered by 1:30 (for both centres), had answered emails and adjusted schedules, and was generally good to go. In fact, the only reason I didn't leave by 2 (when the students leave) is that we had a staff meeting scheduled at 2.

I have a great staff. When I let them know last week that there would be a meeting today, their response was to make a sign-up sheet for snacks at the meeting. A couple of them finished teaching at 1:00 (thanks to some cancellations and no-shows) and headed out for coffee and more food.

My little guy who came in for a test is rather interesting. He's 6, in grade 1, not too bad except for his sight vocabulary. The main issue is that they're going to be away from school for over a month in the new year because of a wedding in India. Anyway, it was his expressive vocabulary answers that interested me:

Me: Tell me about "knife."
Him: It means you fight.
Me: Um...tell me more about knife.
Him: You use it if there's bad people.
Me (trying to get an answer that shows up on the list): What do you do with a knife?
Him: You kill them.

(For the record: there's nothing about fighting, bad people, or killing on the list. I was going for stab or cut by the end!)

Then....

Me: Tell me about "envelope."
Him: It's a fruit. You eat it.

So work is good and the students are interesting!

What's Happening

I asked my Sunday School class what we're learning this year.
Them: Turning the world upside down!
Me: Yes, and what do we use to turn the world upside down?
One of them (while the rest hesitated): Oh...that world-tilting gospel book!
Me: Noooooooooooo! (Imagine it said with dismay and despair) We use the Bible, people!

Of course, this is the same class with 2 students who wrote that Adam and Eve sinned because of Satin.

I should be working on my essays right now. I'm not (obviously). One of them has to wait until I get more commentaries from my pastor. In my world research = call pastor to see what he has! I'm enjoying that essay. It's on the concept of light through the Bible. I've finished the Old Testament portion and next week I'll write about the New Testament. I can't say everything there is about light because the paper is due by the end of the month and there's a LOT about light in the Bible! It's been fun and interesting and encouraging to research. The other essay is less interesting.

Today at work I had a call from a parent. Her daughter has a test tomorrow and she knew it was too late to cancel her class with us, but she wasn't sure if we could help. The child attends a Christian school and the test was for Bible class. I quickly set her mind at ease!

Our public library has changed its policy on renting videos. We used to be allowed to check them out for only one week, but recently they changed that to 3 weeks. This will make me happy when I finally make it to the head of the line for Doctor Who: The Complete Second Series. Until then, I wish it was only one week! On the plus side, they have acquired three more copies since I placed a month ago. At the same time, I'm number 36 on 12 copies (which is like being about number 3 so it isn't all bad).

About Doctor Who: I blame Firefly. I think it's a gateway TV show. I was perfectly happy avoiding science fiction until someone convinced me to watch Firefly. I loved it. Then I thought I should try Doctor Who since the same person recommended it. Now I'm hooked. And honestly: I watched the first series (with the ninth doctor) and it was sometimes beyond strange and sometimes freaky and frightening (and that one episode made me cry) and I had no idea why I was watching it and I couldn't stop watching. And now I want more. Although I watched an older episode on Netflix (in Canada there are only a few older episodes available) with the fourth doctor and the whole time what I really wondered was how his companion kept her hat on. It seemed glued to the back of her head.

And on the same note, a couple weeks ago I was going through some old email folders and stumbled upon a geek test that someone had sent me. I tried taking it again. I am very sorry to say that I've gone from about 8% to almost 15% geek since I first took it. I'm still in the "geekish tendencies" stage, but once I hit 15% I'll be a full-fledged geek. It worries me. In my defense, I was promised cookies for coming over to the dark side.

And that is a bit of what's happening in my mind this evening!

Why I Consider Changing Careers

Me: There's an "e" on the end, and it makes the vowel say its name. Try this one.
Him: (looking at "kite"): kittie

And again...
Me: Remember: there's an "e" on the end and it makes the vowel...
Him: Say its name.
Me: Good; now try this one (showing him "cube").
Him: Ummm...cubbie.

And it goes on and on and on until....
Me: Okay, lets do sight words. Remember this one (showing him "done").
And every. single. time. despite repeated times practicing how to say it, he gives it a long o sound. Yes. This is the only time he remembers and applies the silent e rule.

And another time:
Me: What is a sunflower?
Him: A flower.
Me: What is is daisy?
Him: A flower.
Me: What is a pansy?
Him: A flower.
Me: What is a bluebell?
Him: A flower.
Me: Good. So what are all of these?
Him: Ummm...I don't know.

And they wonder why teachers snap eventually.

Unique Math

Let's start with a word problem:
Sally is on a road trip with her parents. She is making a list of all the different state license plates that she sees. So far she has seen 27 different state plates. How many more of the 50 states does she need to complete her list?

My student knew to subtract, but since the 27 came before the 50, she tried to do 27-50. Then, finding that she couldn't subtract 2-5, she borrowed from the ones column. Her final answer was 76, and she at least saw that it didn't make sense. Still, she maintained that she had done the work correctly.

I laughed and laughed at her unique math (she laughed too). This is the same student who insisted that 130 divided by 8 was 1 with a remainder of 780.

In fact, for a while all her long division was done on the "find an easy number to use and accept a huge remainder" method. Which means that she did 39 divided by 7 and got 2 remainder 25. While this is technically true, it's very bad math.

Another student was introduced to the concept of right angles. It confused her because she then wanted all other angles to be wrong angles. When I explained that there are also acute and obtuse angles, she was really lost. Besides this, if she was looking for right angles and picked one that wasn't a right angle, her answer was wrong. The angle, on the other hand, was not known as a wrong angle.

I don't know why I try to teach them math.

Moving

We moved to the new centre on Wednesday. I'm very, very, very happy to be moved. It was lovely on Thursday to walk into work and it was so quiet, so peaceful. There was no lawyer, no lawyer's people or receptionist (although the current one is nice), and no lawyer's incense (that's what makes me happiest).

The moving part was somewhat stressful. I clashed with one of the head office people over packing and unpacking. We can both be control freaks, only I tend to be more relaxed and don't show my control issues at work very much. For moving though: I wanted things packed a certain way so that I could unpack more easily. I was trying to keep as organized as possible. Then, when unpacking, I was trying to stay as organized as possible. I also had ideas about how to set things up (there were fewer issues here as she wasn't part of it and the others either agreed, helped decide when I wasn't sure, or let me try my way and then saw that it worked pretty well; after all, I spent weeks dreaming about this). Anyway, this other person is used to being in control and I think that finding me insisting on overseeing stuff and not backing down surprised her. I know it upset her. I tried to be as diplomatic as possible, but it's a challenge with someone who is used being in charge and suddenly isn't.

Plus, there was the regular stress of moving: days spent packing (and not getting other work done) and then unpacking (and trying to get other work done). I ended up very, very tired and stressed and gave up on finishing stuff. Thursday I did my best and then left. I'm off until Wednesday. I'm not sure that taking a couple days off right after moving when things aren't really settled at work was the best idea, but I already had plans for the weekend (and we were supposed to be moving a couple weeks ago). At the same time, I really, really need the break.

The new centre...it's bigger than the old one. My office is way bigger. In the old one, after 3 people it felt crowded. In the new one, I can fit at least twice that. The teaching area has 2 more tables than the old one and it still isn't as crowded. I have a little alcove that we're not really using yet (it has a computer table, but no computer so far). There's also a large storage room that is big enough to double for a staff area (for coats, fridge, microwave, etc.). The whole centre is really, really nice, and new, and clean, and it makes me very happy.

Thoughts on Inspirational Videos

Here's the thing: my boss is big on "inspirational" videos. We watch them at meetings and he used to send them around to inspire us during sales competitions. I am not motivated by videos (I am also not motivated by competitions, but that's another story). Actually, the last time he sent a video during a competition, it was of some guy singing opera, one of those "who would expect such an amazing voice from this guy" things. I told him that I was suddenly motivated to become an opera singer. I'm sure it's just coincidence that he stopped sending around videos after that!

Now I get that there are people who are motivated by videos. These are the same people who got upset when some fast food restaurant had an ad making fun of vegetables and people who bring them to parties, because, as we know, everyone makes diet decisions based on commercials.

This is what actually bothers me: a lot of these inspirational videos have to do with people overcoming terrible odds to do even the normal things in life (also, Rick Hansen going bungee jumping). It seems wrong to use them to inspire me to be better at sales. I think that it cheapens them somehow. Use them to help inspire people who are undergoing life altering challenges of some sort. They need to be inspired to keep going when life seems to be too big to handle.

Inspirational videos, posters, talks...none of them work on me. There always seems to be a disconnect between the talk and the real world. That some guy can overcome great physical handicaps to do great things has nothing to do with my sales record and I can't make them fit. I always walk away thinking "what does that have to do with anything?" Plus, I always get the feeling that someone is trying to make me feel guilty about not doing something or being better at something. I don't like feeling that I (and my emotions) are being manipulated.

Which is not to say that I don't like to watch the occasional inspirational video. I just don't like to use them and I don't like people using them on me.

Stuff

I know, I know. But I'm done the final paper, so I should find time to write again.

Work has been crazy, but I have hired another teacher and he starts training tomorrow. I still need one more, but this one at least can do math. I think I'll train him in reading and writing as well so I have a useful teacher. He can also do high school math and science, which I desperately needed. I have sent email to a couple other potential teachers, although I'm pretty sure one thinks we don't pay enough. The other was applying to other, full time jobs; if he gets one of those, he definitely won't work for me. Still, one is good.

My Sunday School class were all angelic today. I figure I have a week or two of good behaviour before the fear of serious discipline wears off!

Life will continue to be busy, but I will try to find time to write. I want to write. It just takes a lot of energy that I don't always have right now.

Busy, Busy

Work is busy, but only for another week or so and then the kids go back to school.

School is busy, although it's a bit lighter than other years. There's enough to keep me busy but not enough to overwhelm me.

So...since life seems to be manageable starting in September, I've gone and added to it! Because a break would be a bad thing, right?

This year I'm writing my own Sunday School material. It's based on my Worship and Wisdom class so it's not entirely original. Still, it will take some work to turn 5 days of school into 30 lessons. I'm contemplating making worksheets to take home. The advantage is that they will have something to bring home and remember what I taught. The disadvantage is that it means more work for me!

I also made the mistake of admitting to the elder that I have time to read now since I don't have any reading for school. He asked me to write a book review for one of the books I recently read and then handed me another book to read and review again.

The problem is that I most enjoy the Sunday School and book review work, which means that the only stuff I could give up is the stuff I most want to keep!

On the plus side, I can share some of the book review material here and save me the trouble of thinking up original stuff every week.

Update

Life is crazy (that's my excuse for the once-a-week posting)! It really has been a wild week at work with a couple very, very long days. I've also been doing a pile of homework which will go on nonstop until June 28th; then I will have a week off, a week of school, and then more work until October 27th. I may post more regularly after that!

Work hasn't been all bad. We're a franchise, so sometimes corporate comes to make sure we're doing things properly. I'm pleased to announce that my centre pulled off a 97%, so no worries about us being shut down! I also have some ideas about how to do some things better or more efficiently (the corporate lady who came to check was really nice and willing to answer questions). We also had a sale; the goal for each centre is 20% and I exceeded that. It means that my boss is happy with me, I'm happy with me, and my students are learning.

It hasn't been all work, either. Friday evening I had my Sunday School boys over for Lego, pizza, and a movie. We watched Courageous and talked a bit about responsibility, being men, and how if they grow up to be bad dads they'll have to deal with me. We also laughed a lot (mostly at each other). It was a fun evening and I'm glad I had them over. Usually I have the girls or the smaller children and my boys were starting to feel left out.

Today I taught Sunday School and Junior Church (a small class this week; there were only about 11 of them) and then I came home for a nap!

That's about it. Next week seems a bit quieter at work, but still insanely busy with homework. I'll try to find time to write!

Maybe We Need to Review the Basics

Sometimes my students aren't at their brightest.

Student 1 was having trouble with some subtraction. It turns out that when he borrowed from the 5, he turned it into a 3. Further inspection showed that he did it twice.

Then student 2 was doing a spelling test. I told him there were 14 words so he numbered his page. He was surprised when he got to the end and there was still one more word. When I checked his page, I pointed out that some people include the number 11 when they're counting.

Student 1 laughed at student 2, and then asked, "Yeah...what number comes before 10?"

Sigh. Not their brightest that night, but at least willing to laugh at themselves.

Computers, God, Trust

Last Monday my computer at work decided not to work properly. It refused to let me do anything work-related (although the internet still worked, so it wasn't all bad). I spoke first to a very patronizing tech support guy who explained to me where to find the "my computer" icon and to click on it twice...by then it was open and I was waiting. He also told me how to restart the server, the same way as you restart any computer. In the end he couldn't fix things and I felt too happy about that.
Anyway, I spoke with tech support 4 days last week (mostly letting them have remote access and then waiting for it to be fixed). By then parts of it worked and other parts worked sometimes. Friday I was off, Saturday was too busy to deal with tech support (and the parts that didn't work caused a lot of trouble and extra work for a lot of people as they helped me deal with stuff), and Sunday I was off. Monday I called tech support again and Tuesday our internal computer guy was able to come and call tech support himself (after taking about 5 minutes to figure out what was tying up my server so it wouldn't work). By the end of Tuesday, everything worked. Well...almost everything, but it only took tech support about 20 minutes Wednesday morning to fix the last glich.
I am pleased to say that for about 24 hours everything worked perfectly. By then, though, I was tired of tech support and I was able to live without the other parts for a while. Next week, I will have to deal with it again, but I'm thinking that out internal guy can come and deal with it for me.
All of these issues have left me way behind on paperwork and reports and stuff. So far, in fact, that I've pretty much given up on catching up. Maybe if I could get just one day without anything new to deal with there would be some hope. As it is, I've been working long, long days just trying to keep up and deal with tech support.

And so I have been tired and frustrated and grumpy. It's been very, very hard to trust God in the midst of wanting to yell at my computer or maybe introduce it to a baseball bat.
By last weekend I knew I was in a very bad way. I was snapping at kids and being impatient with our internal tech guy who was trying to be helpful. I was also excusing myself: I was tired and things weren't going well and if the computer would work and I could work fewer hours everything would be okay.
It isn't true though. Things weren't okay until I admitted that my attitude and behaviour were sinful and I needed to confess and repent and spend more time in prayer and less time complaining.
This past week has been much better. I'm still tired and there are still computer issues and I may never catch up on paperwork... but this week I prayed more when I was frustrated and accepted that God is sovereign even over computers and didn't take my frustration out on people or bottle it up. This week was better.

Still... I am very, very happy for a 3-day weekend.

One of Those Days

Today someone told me that I did a bad job because his child's marks didn't improve as much as his sister's had when she was in the same program. There were things I should have done better at the start and the lack of communication with the parents was my fault. Despite what the dad thinks, though, the child's marks are not my fault: I cannot do his school work for him and I cannot force him to apply skills. Still, he spent half an hour telling me how disappointed he was and leaving me feeling like quitting because I was so lousy at my job.

Today someone else was angry at me because I wouldn't honor a coupon she didn't give me when she was supposed to. At the end of the conversation she used a particular insult that I haven't heard since high school and, while I was stunned that she had actually used it, followed it up with another, more common (but still inappropriate to use in mixed company) word. I said something like, "Well, this is done," and hung up on her. It was not a good experience (although the upset was offset by the shock and the thought, "Did she really just say that? Are we back in junior high?").

And my boss was upset (although mostly not with me) about the first incident (he talks really fast when he's upset and doesn't wait for me to finish a sentence and his voice gets higher) and that's never fun. And then I spoke with my sort-of boss who stays calm, asks questions to get clarification, and couches his reprimand for anything that is my fault in general terms so that it is easier to take (e.g., "We need to make sure that we..." instead of "you should have..."), but it's still not fun to know that he's incredibly busy and I just made him busier fixing something that I maybe could have handled better at the start.

But.... I think I was more upset with myself than my bosses were.
Besides, at the end of the conversation with my sort-of boss, when we had started talking about other clients and their issues, he said something about managing expectations, and I sighed and said, "Yeah, I know; I already had that lecture once today" (although not really; my boss had just alluded to it and told me to remember it). My sort-of boss assured me that he had forgotten about the context of the beginning of the conversation when he said that and finished with, "That's done," and he meant it: no matter how much I mess up, when it's done, it's done, and no one will mention it again or ever use it against me. That is one of the best things about my bosses and it's why I never hesitate to tell them when there's a problem.

Plus...last night another parent was in. His daughter had just finished her first 80 hours and they had not indicated that they were going to purchase more (although they had willingly come in to talk when I emailed them). He told me that not only was his wife going to bring in a cheque for the next 80 hours later this week, but when the child was caught up in this area, they wanted to start her in another subject as well.

And...tomorrow will be a good day, and so will Friday. Tomorrow is Bible study day, which means supper with friends and getting to be part of the family and being with the kids and then, of course, Bible study. Thursdays are my happy days. Then Friday is a day off and other friends are coming for supper with their small children (their daughter is 2 and their son is just a baby) so that will also be fun.

So, it's been a day, but one bad day in the week is not too bad really.

A Conversation

I don't know if she spoke directly from a script, lacks listening comprehension, or thought I was lying, but here is a phone conversation I had with some lady today.

Her: I'd like to speak with the person in charge of ordering office supplies, please.

Me: We don't do that here; it's all done through our main office.

Her: Okay. My name is (name) and I'm calling from (place that does surveys about office supplies) and we'd like to include you in our survey. Are you the one responsible for purchasing office supplies?

Me: We don't do that here. It's all done through our main office.

Her: Is there someone I can speak to?

Me: No; we don't purchase our own office supplies.

Her: Okay, bye. (Click goes the phone).

So you be the judge: script, stupid, or skeptic?

Another Summer Survived

Yes, I know that summer isn't actually over yet, but summer at Sylvan is done. Next week (usually Thursday) the students out here start school so on Monday we start fall hours again. This means no students during the day, just peace and quiet. It means that I'll be able to catch up on paperwork and all the little things I'd like to do (some organizing and tidying and such) that never get done in the summer. For the last couple weeks I've been short staffed and teaching a lot, so not much else has been done. Plus, I've been going home late and very tired. Next week, though, will be quieter. I'm not teaching in the evenings, and I plan to catch up on stuff and take life a bit easier (and maybe even go in late a morning or two). I figure it will help to make up for the insane hours of the last couple weeks (well, all summer really, but the last couple weeks seem the longest).

Plus....on Thursday I'm leaving for a little vacation. I plan to leave after work (and leave work early) and I'm heading to Victoria for the long weekend. I've never been to Victoria, and everyone tells me it's beautiful, so I'm going to see it for myself! I want to spend my time sleeping and reading but I've been informed by my staff that I have to do some touristy stuff or they will be very angry at me!

Tomorrow I write my General Epistles and Revelation exam. I have no idea if I'm ready for it; I've tried studying, but there's too much to learn. I think I know the key ideas, though, and it's open Bible, so I should be okay. I'll review my notes again tonight and not worry. It's an essay exam and I'm better at those; if I write enough, eventually I'll get the answer! After that there's nothing due until the first major paper on October 15th and then the other papers (on major and one only a page or two) on November 1st. That's why I'm heading away for a few days next weekend: it's quiet at work and there is no homework that I must do.

And that about sums up my life. I look forward to getting more rest and taking the time to recover before essay writing time starts. Then....I may not be heard from much until November!