Friday ramblings

The first week back at school was relatively uneventful, in a busy sort of way. It felt very easy for me to slide back into teaching and any week where I'm pretty much left to do my thing is a good one. I'm not saying that my job is perfect, but knowing that my colleagues trust me to do a good job is important. I'm pretty sensitive to this, I guess because my father was such a demanding boss (and dad) and I never felt that it was okay to do things my own way.

Looking back on the times when I worked in more structured environments, I can see a pattern where I'll put up with a certain amount of second guessing (a manager would probably call it "oversight") but then will eventually unhinge myself emotionally from the job. Once that happens, I have a tendency to act in, let's just say a not totally professional manner. I hesitate to put any of these kinds of things in print, but I'll note that I got fired from a copy shop (like a Kinkos) because some woman kept trying to bargain the price of a printing job down. When she gave up on that approach she asked, "Would it be cheaper to print it on half a piece of paper?" and I replied, "Well technically, ma'am, there's no such thing as a half piece of paper, There are only smaller pieces of paper." She did not like that response.

Of course, you might say, "Well you're not exactly Mr. Professional to start with," but I don't totally agree. I know I can be silly and irreverent, but I take what I do very seriously and have high standards for the quality of teaching that I do. It's possible to be serious without being solemn or glum and it's possible to be serious and funny at the same time. Little kids do it all the time. Little kids are always completely serious and they do all kinds of ridiculous things.

Speaking of kids, my own younger kid is now learning to drive and did her first drive in the snow today. It was almost shockingly routine. First I made her speed up on a side street and then slam on the brakes so she could see what happened. I teach a kind of mellow, keep yourself out of trouble driving anyway (I know that's very unteenagerly and I don't think my other daughter is a mellow driver but she's not a mellow anything) and I told her that driving in the snow is just like regular driving except you can't expect the brakes to stop you or the steering wheel to turn you. The car's going to go wherever its momentum takes it, so keeping the momentum appropriate to the situation is essential (I know, I think way too much about this stuff). There were some good things about going to college in the snow belt and driving in bad weather's one of them.