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.