Goodness, the end of the school year us coming right up.

We had the first of two days of parent-teacher conferences today. Ms. Lead Teacher cried a bit during the conferences with the parents of our graduating sixth graders-- "They've grown so much! They're going to do so well next year! I'll miss them so much!" I passed her a tissue or two. She's a funny one.

Tomorrow is a conference day, too, and Monday is Memorial Day, so I won't see my darling students again until Tuesday. After getting through next week, the Monday of June 3rd kicks off our final week. The final week holds such tantalizing events as graduation, the elementary talent show, an in-school dance party or two, and the elementary picnic. Basically, we're not really in school that last week. So, really, we only have a week of school left before we're just trying to keep them from combusting from excitement. Bring it on.

Of course, I have two weeks of work after we release the kids from the regular school year, but I'm pretending that those weeks don't exist. (The first week is a teacher work week. The second is a week-long day camp about plants that I'm co-teaching.)

I'm itching to sweat, wear shorts, and walk all over the place. I'm vaguely trying to drop a couple pounds that I seem to have put on over the winter, but I suspect that walking lots and maybe farming some should take care of that without my having to think about it much

I might be fending off boredom in Chimacum, WA for a few days a week in July. I decided to be proactive about my boredom battle, so I sent an email to a farm there about working during those days. It's a cute little bed and breakfast/farm with a couple dogs, a few goats, lots of chickens, and website that screams "I have almost no pictures because I was designed in a place with slow internet." Maybe I'll learn about chickens and goats and plants and stuff.

Summer, summer, summer. I am ready for you.

OkCupid fail of the day:

"If ur feminist r u a domme?"

That was the whole message. And, shockingly, it's from someone who's an 85% match with me. How did that happen? I have no faith in this system anymore.

I have a dear friend in Olympia, WA. (Hello, dear friend!) I went out to visit him over my spring break. I plan to head his way again for a month this summer. He's coming here for Memorial Day weekend. We talk on the phone almost every night, which is wreaking havoc on my sleep schedule. (Three hours worth of time zones, as it turns out, is a big difference.)

Last weekend, he went on a trip for a few days and was out of cellular range. When he returned to the land of reception, he informed me that his work for the week had been cancelled and that he was considering heading out to see me for the weekend, seeing as he was already traveling and had a hankering to keep going.

And so he appeared here Wednesday evening and stayed on until Saturday around dinner time. There's nothing like a spontaneous visit to make a girl feel special/wanted/all warm and tingly.

I got a (totally unwarranted!) parking ticket when I picked him up, but it was worth it. I took him to work with me Thursday, where I deposited him in the pre-primary room so he could play with the two-year-olds; he lives with a one-year-old and seemed a bit out of his league hanging out with my fifth graders. I took Friday off, which blurred into Saturday. We went to my favorite Korean restaurant. We sampled too many things at my favorite bakery. We read aloud from The Hero and the Crown for hours on end. (I have been reading it to him over the phone for a few weeks, but in person is always better.) We walked a lot. We had dinner with my parents, who talked politics with him while my eyes glazed over.

I deposited him at the airport yesterday, and it was a funny sort of farewell. I was sad to see him go, but he's coming right back on Friday.

I had been planning to spend this weekend getting my room and house ready to receive him, but then he was here early. I told him he should imagine his two visits to my home as a before and after piece. Immediately after dropping him off, I ran errands I have been meaning to run, and I fell upon my half-finished home projects with gusto. At last, I have dyed those things I meant to dye, put away those things I meant to put away, found a rug, bought a box fan for my window, etc. There's nothing like the promise of company to get the house in order. Maybe I'll even take pictures soon so that you, dear reader, can also enjoy the fruits of my labor.

I took my camera to school today. I can't, of course, show you pictures of the kiddos, but I can show you pictures of my work. I've made a few materials, posters, etc. for the classroom that I thought might be worth showing off. And here they are:

(Click on any image for a closer look.)

Biology materials:


Animal cell model. Air- and oven-dried clay, cake pan, clear paint, wire, paper, laminate, and glue.


Animal cell model with key, so the students can check their work.


Diagram of transcription and translation. Paper, sharpie, watercolor, laminate.


Diagram of transcription. Paper, construction paper, glue, black pen, laminate.

Reading/writing posters:


Writing workshop process poster. Poster board, sharpie, watercolor, laminate.


Rad Reads poster, for students and teachers to post 3x5 book reviews. Paper, sharpie, glue, laminate, staples.

Classroom organization:


"Let's play" poster, for announcing the cooperative game every Monday. Paper, sharpie, glue, laminate, dry erase marker. (Don't worry, it was an EXCITING version of Hot Potato.)


Class ambassador sign. Paper, sharpie, glue, laminate, staples.


Visual work record, clock option, for students to track how much time they're spending on what. Created using Microsoft Office.


Followup assignment board, to keep having a mixed-age classroom with flexible deadlines sane. (It's emptier than usual here.) Bulletin board, string, paper, sharpie, thumb tacks.

Teacher Work Showcase:
Back story: I set up a spot in the class bathroom where Ms. Lead Teacher and I can display our artwork, because we felt that displaying it in the classroom proper would draw attention to ourselves unnecessarily. But, y'know, we still want to put our work up somewhere. The bathroom seemed like a good compromise.


Overview of showcase. (Small watercolors on left are Ms. Lead's. All the rest is mine, including the title.)


Sugar skeleton. Paper, pencil, colored pencil, sharpie, laminate. This was a "finger work," something to do with my hands during a listening activity. I wanted to model spending a long time on one finger work by continuing to add more details/complexity.


Vertical line. Paper, pen, laminate.


Virtues shield. Construction paper, glue, laminate. We are having the students make shields that represent the virtues they think are strongest within themselves. This ties into our character education and social studies curricula. Here is mine, to serve as an example for the kids. It shows my enthusiasm (star), idealism (hills/horizon), and determination/purposefulness (path).



I like art projects.

This morning, I woke up and thought to myself, "I should go to the DMV and renew my license today!" (This is what I think while I'm still in bed? Clearly, I've gotten boring.)

I ate breakfast, grabbed IDs and a couple books, and headed out the door.

The DMV I chose to patronize is in a mall. I hate malls. Luckily, it was 10-something on a Saturday morning when I arrived, so parking was easy and the place wasn't mobbed. Still, I could feel my shoulders creeping up toward my ears. I walked into the DMV about half an hour after they opened. There was a line, but it moved pretty quickly. I sat down and filled out my form. I pulled out my book: Storey's Guide to Raising Poultry. (I finished the book about rabbits last night. On to birds!)

Let me tell you, reading about raising poultry while sitting in a DMV at the mall is a surreal experience. Almost as surreal as reading about permaculture while lounging on the deck of a cruise ship, which I've also done.

Got called to the counter. Answered a couple questions, smiled without showing teeth for the camera, paid my money, and I was on my way. Whew! Glad to have gotten that over with. Now let's get the heck out of the mall-- OH! Wait, what's that over there? ...

BACKSTORY TIME: At Twin Oaks, there was a thing called Commie Clothes. It was like a library, but for clothing. Any member could wander in, browse, grab a few pieces, and leave. When finished with the clothing, said member could deposit it in the laundry bins and it would be washed by one of the lovely Commie Clothes workers. Through Commie, I realized that I have a fondness for H&M. Their stuff tends to fit me well. I like the look. And, as I discovered when I left TO and started having to pay for clothes again, it's pretty cheap. I never though TO would help me form a brand loyalty, but there you have it.

... It's an H&M! Alright, alright, fine, so I decided to stay in the mall for a bit. I wandered through the store. I contemplated buying swimwear. I tried on swimwear and decided it looked terrible. I did buy a couple miniskirts and some tank tops, though, because summer's coming, and I like to look cute. (The other perk of summertime is that I don't have to dress "appropriately" for the kiddos. Miniskirts and tank tops, ahoy!)

OK. NOW it's time to get the heck out of the mall. Cool. I'd parked outside Macy's, so I headed Macy's-ward and eventually stepped out into the sunshine. Hmm. It looked a little different than I remembered, but maybe it's just because there were so many more cars now.

Where was my car? No, really, where was my car?

I wandered up and down a dozen rows or more, frowning and periodically pressing the red button on my key that is supposed to make my car honk. No luck. After 15 or 20 minutes of this, I called my parents to a) discuss plans for the weekend and b) very coolly ask for tips for finding one's car in a massive parking lot.

As it turns out, there are two Macy's at this particular mall. Why? Why would any mall need TWO Macy's? I guess I'd gotten a little turned around in the H&M and headed to the wrong one.

Back into the mall, which was by now oozing with polo shirts, acne, and credit card debt. Back out into the sunshine, where I found my car in short order.

The moral of the story, kids, is that malls are terrible and designed to trap you inside them forever, where they will slowly transform you into an Abercrombie mannequin, except that you'll be fat from the frozen yogurt and Subway sandwiches.

My afternoon/evening:

-Leave work. Walk home through the woods.
-Arrive at home. Putter about for a little bit, then work myself up to going for a run. Decide to stop by library beforehand.
-Go to library. Bump into a first grade student from my school, who is amazed at how many books I am getting. (30! They're for the kids.)
-Stop by work, where Ms. Lead Teacher is still hard at work. Deposit books. Receive many thanks.
-Go for run in cute neighborhood.
-Return home. Walk up to door, greeted enthusiastically by neighborhood kids. They ask, "Joanna, Joanna, will you sing today?"
-Play guitar and sing for the kids from my window.
-Decide it's a gorgeous day and I'd like to hoop. Take hoops and mp3 player thing outside.
-Get mobbed by kids, who quickly beg the hoop off of me. I run inside to fetch my spare, which also makes the rounds. I show off, because I can.
-Meet a mom, who leads me by the hand to her house around the corner. She introduces me to her husband and cousin, invites me for dinner on Saturday, and spends ten minutes showing me pictures on her phone of the amazing-looking food she has made. She also asks whether I am married and seems to be making plans for me involving her brother.

Yes. Yes, yes, yes. This was the cutest evening ever.

Spring is here, spring is here! The birds are singing, the flowers are blooming, and everything is lovely. The kids are itching to get outside, and I can't blame them, but they're getting a bit cooky all cooped up in the classroom, and it's enough to drive a teacher crazy.

So! For Wednesday's writing workshop, I kicked us all outside for a lesson on freeverse nature poetry. The kids took a couple minutes to settle into it, but they all produced something, and almost everyone was inspired to share their work when we came back together. I declare it a success.

On Friday afternoon, we went out for a trail hike. For a second there, I thought one kid had broken his leg, but he turned out to be OK. My heart may have stopped briefly. He just let out such a WAIL. Hoo boy.

Ms. Lead Teacher took all the sixth graders to New York City Wednesday-Saturday for Montessori Model UN. She has lots of stories to tell, but I'm going to focus on my half of the experience. I stayed behind to be the solo teacher with the 3rd-5th graders for Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. It was a stressful few days, but I think we got some decent work done, and it was an interesting glimpse of what those kids will be like without the current sixth graders around next year.

I slept until 11:00 or so on Saturday, which just goes to show how stressed/tired I was. Yeesh.

Sunday (that's today!) has been all about projects. I went in to work for a couple hours to catch up with Ms. Lead. I jury-rigged a screen for my bedroom window. I planted a wee herb garden out front. I officially live here now: I've planted something.

I am vaguely working on making major life plans, like when/where I'll get my Montessori training and whether I want to be trained in elementary or primary. I don't actually want to write about what's happening in my head around that; I just wanted to let you, dear reader, know that that's up.

Another little thing:

Although I'm not using the social side of it much these days, I'm still logging my workouts on Fitocracy. I went for a run yesterday.

Fitocracy gave me a badge for running a total of 200 miles since I joined in August.

That's a lot of time on my feet. Well done, feet.

"Shoot. I still have to write about spring break. Dang. OH WAIT, and I have to write about the camping trip the whole elementary program went on last week. But, wait, no, I really just wanted to write about this little thing, and now I'm intimidated out of updating at all."

That's been happening.

So here's a little thing.

The weather has been ah-MAZE-ing for the past week or two. Because I am a hippie or something, I like to celebrate this marvelous weather by sitting in my window seat and playing guitar with the window open. The neighborhood kids are enthralled. They dance on my lawn. They applaud every song. They shout questions at me: what's my name, am I married, am I a "real" musician, etc. They great me enthusiastically when I walk home from work and ask whether I'll play for them today.

One of them has been leaving tulips in my mailbox.

I feel like I live in an enchanted place.

I leave for Olympia in two days! How exciting. Did I mention that I'm going to Olympia for spring break? Well, I am. Clearly, I needed to pack for a week-long trip in the middle of unpacking all of my things into my new place.

Speaking of my new place, it's been great so far. I am completely moved out of my old house, though I don't think I can say yet that I am completely moved into my new one. There is a lot of home-making left to go. Photos coming eventually, along with plans for a house-warming occasion. I should set a date for that.

I have been incredibly busy. (Is this even worth noting anymore?) Work has been busy busy, and I've had something planned every evening for a couple weeks now. Check this out:

Last Monday: Yoga and pole classes.
Last Tuesday: Sitting group.
Last Wednesday: Cabaret performance at Signature.
Last Thursday: A first date! It went well.
Last Friday: Teacher work day = pack to move. My friend Ryan arrived in the evening.
Last Saturday: MOVE ALL DAY. (Thanks Ryan!) Fitocracy meetup.*
Last Sunday: I did something after Ryan left. What did I do? I don't remember now. Shoot.
Monday: Yoga and pole classes.
Tuesday: Sitting group, complete with a great discussion.
Wednesday: A second date! It also went well.
Thursday: (Very early morning meeting with a parent. After a date. Blech.) Tech rehearsal at the Shakespeare. Fascinating! Wallenstein looks like it'll be a great show, if a bit depressing.**
Friday:  A third date, kind of. More of a hangout than a date. Lots of drunk people in a bar that smelled like varnish. It went well enough.
Today: Professional development seminar on Writing Workshop at 9 AM. It was awesome, but I wish that I could have slept more.

*OH MY GOD THE FITOCRACY MEETUP. We went to West Virginia to see a wrestling match. The match was on the independent circuit, which makes it more legit than pro wrestling, evidently. It was hosted by Primal Conflict Wrestling. PRIMAL CONFLICT! So surreal. I decided at the beginning that I would have a good time, and it worked, but... I was in West Virginia at a wrestling match. What? And then I had dinner at Applebee's with a ton of internet people, because Applebee's evidently has cheap drinks. You know what Applebee's doesn't have much of? Vegetarian food. It was a fun evening, but going to West Virginia to see grown men slam each other into folding chairs is not something I ever thought I'd do.

**Favorite lines from the tech rehearsal:
-"Bailey and the murderers, we're going to be fiddling with the lighting cues for this scene. Murderers, just be ready."
-"Those helmets hide your faces. I need to see your faces. Take the helmets off. Damn, now you look... you need something."
"Michael, we have chainmail hoods downstairs. We're sending someone for them now."
-From my father, the military history buff, too quietly for the staff to hear: "They didn't have chainmail during the Hundred Years War."

Here's a shocking piece of news: I don't have any plans tonight, other than doing laundry and maybe watching a movie for the first time in a couple months. I intend to go to bed early.

Entertaining tidbits from the classroom:

-One of my students, after a lesson on DNA replication, wrote a short story titled "I, Nucleotide."
-When asked to write a descriptive narrative of the experience of a character in a painting, one student methodically went through each of the senses to tell me what that character saw, heard, smelled, etc. Upon arriving at touch, he wrote, "I have nothing to hold." It seemed very profound. (Something like this: I see the gray sky. I hear the wind in the grass and in the leaves of the trees. I have nothing to hold.)
-Friday was International Day at school. Each classroom was a continent, and the students researched and presented on countries from that continent. (Except our classroom, which was ancient civilizations. How does that make sense?) Every student gets a passport on International Day, which they get stamped as they travel from room to room. Being fond of bureaucracy, I decided to make my students apply for theirs. I dressed up in a vest and tie, and I made myself a card-stock badge that said "Official Passport Official." They filled out a slightly doctored version of the U.S. passport application. I discovered that some of them don't know their parents' names, how to spell their own middle names, or what "emergency contact" means.

My decadent evening. In this retelling, I will count the number decadent instances.

I got off work and drove (1) home, with a quick stop at an ATM. Why did I need cash? Well, I decided a couple days ago to buy a table (2) so that I would have somewhere to eat when I move. I found a lovely dining room table (with a leaf and everything! 3) on Craigslist, and the owner of it even agreed to deliver it here (4), which means I didn't have to borrow my parents' car. He was cute (5). He insisted on carrying everything (6). He requested less money for the table and delivery than the ad stated as the price for the table. (Not decadent, I guess, but certainly awesome.)

I worked out. This is sort of anti-decadent, but whatever. It's part of my evening.

I took a bath (7) with vanilla epsom salts (8) while reading (9) and listening to music (10). After soaking for a while, I exfoliated or something with the yummy-smelling sugar scrub I got for Christmas (11). In case you're curious about my reading, I started on In Defense of Food, by Michael Pollan, which I've been vaguely meaning to read for years. Did I mention that I live and work within walking distance of a library (12)?

OK, so that last one's a stretch, but I'm at least eleven instances of decadence and it's not even 8:30. Just imagine-- I could have some hot cocoa, or watch a movie, or go to bed early, or...

So many options (13)!

Today was a snow day. I have spent it being lazy, for the most part, but I did manage to squeeze in enough productive time to finish a series of watercolors. Mixed media? I don't know what to call them. Pencil, colored pencil, and watercolor pieces. They've been languishing for weeks now, and it was satisfying to wrap up a project. They're a gift for a friend. Each is a letter, and the four of them together spell "Maya." The recipient said he'd frame them, which would be cool. I don't think anyone has ever framed my work before. Well, I've framed my work before, but that doesn't count.

I've also been passing my time by poking around at interior design stuff, both in books and online. This is how I vent my excitement about moving. Sometimes DIY bloggers make me want to learn how to be handy, but then realizing that I don't know my way around Home Depot deters me. This project, however, seems accessible even for me! Aren't these just the cutest little kind-of-industrial stools ever?

Let me tell you about last weekend.

I started Saturday off right by being a docent at a historic home. I used to give tours there when I was in high school, but I hadn't been back in ages. They were desperately in need of docents for this event, and I signed up. It was much as I remembered it-- not surprisingly, the history of the house hasn't changed significantly in the past few years. I like old places with worn wood floors.

Saturday evening saw me hooping at a spin jam in Takoma Park. It had a pajama party theme. It's been too long since I hooped with other people. I made a couple tentative connections, and I may soon be hooping with other people on a regular basis. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

(By the way, I don't think I ever followed up on how that hooping gig went a couple weeks ago. It was fun. I ended up being in the crowd rather than on the stage, but that's OK. I got to lead a parade. Here, have some pictures, courtesy of Brightest Young Things. There are a couple more here, too.)

Sunday, I went to see a play at The Studio Theatre. It's called The Motherfucker with the Hat. It was heavy, powerful, realistic stuff. The run has been extended through March 24th, and I think it's worth seeing if you're in the DC area. It's full of unhappy people trying to sort out their lives and messing each other up in the process. I don't think I cried-- its sadness was chronic rather than acute. I wanted to give the main character a hug, but he probably wouldn't have wanted one.

I picked up my new glasses yesterday. I started wearing them today. The kids noticed.

"Ms. Joanna, what happened to your eyes?"

They're so tactful.

These glasses are more noticeable than my old pair, that's for sure. They might even be a bit hipster-ish. I decided to be funny when I got dressed this morning by pairing my new glasses with my skinniest pair of skinny jeans. I think I'm the only one who got the joke.

Notable events of the week:

-I don't remember which day this happened, but I kind of quit Fitocracy. I was spending a ridiculous amount of time on there. When you realize you're spending more time sitting on your butt staring at a fitness site than actually doing fitness activities, it's time to take a step back.

-Monday! Yoga. It was good. The instructor has a weakness, and it's that she sometimes forgets to have us do our other side. Doing only one side of Dancer felt terrible. Otherwise, I feel strong and flexible and awesome.

-Tuesday! I skipped sitting group for the first time since I started going. I meant to go. I was right across the street. I had arranged to meet up for dinner with one of my fellow sitters before the group started. We met. We ate. We realized we were 15 minutes late, and that the sit that day was only supposed to be 20 minutes because of this weird lecture series. So we just kept hanging out instead of meditating. We were at a fancy cheese place, and MAN macaroni and cheese can be amazing with high-quality ingredients.

-Wednesday! I got my TB test checked for work. I know you were all sweating this one, but you can chill-- I don't have tuberculosis! No consumption for me. After that, I went to a hip bar in Falls Church that serves only grilled cheese sandwiches and beer. I was on a delicious cheese streak, I guess. My grilled cheese had saurkraut with it, and it was magnificent.

-Wednesday at work! DUDE, the kids went a little crazy. Super stressful. We had to send a couple of them home, and Ms. Lead and I need to talk about follow-up and possible class-wide changes.

-Thursday! Got my new glasses. I'm taking care of these baby blues, except they're not blue. I also had dinner with my parents, because they're great and they feed me sometimes.

-Thursday at work! Sex ed! The kids were awesome this week. We talked about puberty. We talked about how everyone's on a different timeline, and that's OK. We also made them all say "penis" and "vagina." I was so proud of the kid who started that off. We had one girl on the spot to start-- "just say 'penis!' "-- and she was frozen. Then a kid across the table said, with a note of  exasperation, "PENIS," and we were on a roll.

-Friday! Hey, that's today. I decided to have a relaxing evening. I played guitar a bit, I poked at writing a story*, I read a bit of Pride and Prejudice in Spanish, and I browsed Craigslist looking for the perfect reading chair for my new place. P&P in Spanish, by the way, is Orgullo y Prejuicio. OyP?

-Friday at work! I started the day with a meeting at 7:00. Oof. It's hard to recover from a stressful, early-morning meeting. The Animal Farm book club was the highlight of the day. We're almost done reading it. I told the kids to bring suggestions for our next book to the next book club meeting; the two loudest suggestions I heard were either another Austen novel or something by Asimov. I work with awesome kids.

*Story. I was helping the kids to make goals for themselves, and several of them set goals of being published, entering a writing contest, etc. I thought to myself, "Hey! I could do that!" So I looked into it. I also figure it'll be great modeling for the kids to see me go through the writing process, from brainstorm to ugly first draft to ruthlessly revised and edited piece. I found a call for submissions that spoke to me a couple days ago. Tonight was brainstorming.

I have lots of updates.

I'm moving! How exciting! I found a master bedroom for not much more than I'm currently paying. I'll still be within walking distance of work, but-- even better-- my walk to work will be on trails through the woods! My life is magical. I'll have my own bathroom, which is a luxury I haven't enjoyed in over a decade. The living room is currently pretty empty and I fully intend to colonize it with furniture, decorations, and excellence. I will be relocating mid-March. I hope to provide you with pictures when I'm reasonably happy with how things are arranged.

I went rock climbing with a student a couple weeks ago. She's a nationally ranked rock climber, so it was a bit intimidating, but she was a sweetheart. I had a blast. I hadn't done much climbing before, but I think I'd like to do more of it. It's physically challenging while being social, which seems like a win-win situation to me. I think I'll head to SportRock in Alexandria within the next week or so. I'll be scaling walls like Spiderman before you know it.

Speaking of things I've been doing with students, I'm leading three book clubs. Yes, three! I probably told you about the group reading Pride and Prejudice. Well, they finished it, complete with plans to have a sleepover to watch the movie together. That group chose to read Animal Farm next. I've never read it before; I am enjoying it. Ms. Lead Teacher and I decided to put together book clubs for the rest of the class, too, seeing as the format seemed to be working well. She's leading one-- they're reading Dune, and I am jealous. I'm leading the other two, which are reading The Witch of Blackbird Pond and The Tiger Rising. Excellent books all 'round. I am head over heels in love with The Tiger Rising. If you haven't read it, I strongly recommend you find a copy and dig in. It's written for kids, so it's a pretty quick read, but there's some powerful stuff in there. Lots of bang for your reading buck.

I've also started teaching sex ed. It's a mix of being hilarious, awkward, and responsibility-overload-y. The kids have accused me of poisoning their minds, but they're tearing through their reading. (Some of them have read the entire book already!) We're only two sessions into the eight session curriculum, and we haven't hit on anything too charged yet. We've covered individuality/stereotypes/peer pressure and families/friends. Next session: puberty. I'm nervous about how they'll handle the discussion, but I think they'll pull through.

Outside of school, I found myself a sitting group. Also known as a meditation group. I've been going every Tuesday for the past month or month and a half. It feels right. I'm glad I found it.

This weekend, I headed down to Twin Oaks. I had a childcare shift with one of the preschoolers I worked with before, and I pitched in on a milking shift. I got to bottle-feed some calves and spray a whole bunch of cow poop out of the milking parlor. Outside of doing work, I got to catch up with people who know me well. I miss having people around who know me well. I have such satisfying conversations with them. Every time I have headed down to be a guest at Twin Oaks since ending my membership, I have come away with changes that I'd like to make to my everyday life and with some important self-reflections.

I am impatient to have people here who know me well.

I like that my weekends all seem to be shaping up well recently. Last weekend, Paul was in town. We hung out. We went for a walk. We sat on these concrete tube things randomly plopped in the middle of a forest and talked. Later, we met up with his brother and Heather and we all went to get some top-notch Ethiopian food. I love living in the DC area sometimes; Central VA did not have Ethiopian food. After dinner, we headed to an art show. It was put on by folks in the DC punk scene and was fairly small-- just one room. It's so refreshing to see current art produced by people who feel real. Plus, I got to see a bunch of people I hadn't seen since moving to Twin Oaks-- and they were happy to see me! Super encouraging. I've been feeling like I have no chance of plugging back into my old friend scene in the DC punks, but it looks like I can hold out some hope after all. I even got Tina's number and something of a standing invite to call and set up a hangout.

Back to work. Last week, we introduced the idea of Spotlight, which is basically show and tell with a cooler name. I tried to pitch it as a way for students to celebrate each other's talents and skills, so I'm hoping it'll be more of a, "look at this thing that I can do!" than a, "look at this thing that I have!" We'll see how it goes. Anyway. I've been surprised by how few kids have signed up to do it so far, but no one has had a negative reaction to the idea of Spotlight. We're having them every Monday and Wednesday at the end of the day, but I'm thinking we might want to drop back to just one per week.

I signed up for a Spotlight. My turn came up on Wednesday. I brought in my guitar and played a couple songs. I started with Lay me Down a Pallet on Your Floor, and then I did The Littlest Birds. I taught them the chorus on The Littlest Birds before I played it so that they could sing along. One kid is learning guitar, and he said he wanted to look up The Littlest Birds when he got home. Someone said I should try out for American Idol. (Why would I do that to myself?) I feel like I have so much potential to be a positive influence on these kids' lives. It's awesome.

Earlier on Wednesday, we took a field trip to the Library of Congress. This is another perk of living in the DC area-- there's so much cool stuff around! I'd never been there before. As it turns out, it's incredibly grand. Even the dividers between the stalls in the bathrooms are made of marble. On one hand, it's aesthetically pleasing. On the other hand... the opulence! The extravagance! Yikes. The architecture was gorgeous, and there were statues set into the walls, the ceilings, the stairs. There were mosaics. There were murals. There was gold leaf everywhere. The time and skill that went into the place is mind-boggling.

Fun history fact: the Library of Congress burned down a couple times before they had their current, mostly-made-of-stone location. After burning for the last time, they purchased Thomas Jefferson's library from him to get their new collection off to a good start-- a whopping 6000-something books. (Jefferson, of course, immediately started rebuilding his collection. That second collection of his is called his "retirement library.") His library is on display in a gorgeous exhibit at the LOC. I think it's worth checking out if you're in the area and curious about what TJ read.

Another fun fact: Jefferson was interested in religion and had several copies of the Bible, but he also had a Koran. When the first Muslim Congressperson was being sworn in, he borrowed Jefferson's Koran from the LOC for his swearing-in ceremony. How cool!

Speaking of religion (or something), I meditated earlier this week for the first time in ages. It went more smoothly than I had hoped. I would like to make a habit of it. I am trying to get in touch with a local sitting group.

Oh, by the way. Maybe you're asking yourself, "Why is Joanna updating mid-day on a weekday?" Well, dear readers, it's because I have a fever. I had it yesterday, too. Getting sick is pretty much part and parcel of being a teacher. But honestly, this year hasn't been so bad, sick-wise. I've only had to stay home twice so far, and it's already January. And this sickness isn't so bad; just a fever and a cough. I've had much worse.

Yesterday, while lounging around and huddling beneath my covers, I read Blink, by Malcolm Gladwell. A whole book! In one day! It was a quick, conversational read. (Which is sort of funny, given that it's about how we think/make decisions super-quickly.) Luckily, any technical terms that it had were already familiar because of my psych degree, so my fever brain could just hang out and enjoy.

Last piece of news: I have my first hooping gig coming up! That band that a couple of my friends are in is doing a Mardi Gras performance with a few other bands and some sideshow stuff, and I managed to wiggle into the lineup somehow. The show just got moved to mainstage at the Black Cat. I just got even more nervous. I wish I were feeling up to practicing-- fever, fever, go away!

This week's sleepy cover, featuring a feverish Joanna: 1 2 3 4, by Feist.