blech

We're in the middle of parent-teacher-athon. We had 1.5 hours last night, we have 2.5 tomorrow night, and another 2 Thursday afternoon. I had 4 parents last night, so I'm not expecting too much to come of any of this. People really just don't care about the art teacher, I have to say. Which is good and bad. I mean really, for the 9s and 10s who make up the bulk of my teaching load, the courses don't count for anything, so why should the parents care? It makes me feel mighty important though, I'll tell you that.

On a brighter and less tiring note, we went to see Taking Lives tonight, and it was pretty good. Jumpy, as I expected, but an interesting plot with a few twists. And you get to see Angelina's boobs. And Ethan Hawke's, for that matter. It takes place in Canada (Montreal), with mentions of Nova Scotia, Tracadie, Winnepeg, and Moncton. They are, at one point, actually in the Moncton train station, but not really, which was sort of disappointing, but as Grant pointed out, they probably do that all the time with US locations, we just wouldn't know better. Still neat.

I'm going to hit the hay because I have PT until 9 tomorrow night, and even if I'm not busy, it's still quite wearing. Thursday we have PD in the morning, PT in the afternoon; Friday we have PD all day, but I signed up for some interesting sounding workshops - media across the curriculum, how to start a school newspaper, and my favourite, 'dough sculpture'. That last one is designed for grades 6-8, but it sounds like a nice way to spend the afternoon, and my jr high art teacher is running it. My last PD day was a complete waste of time, so I tried to pick a little more carefully this time.

I'm plugging away at my book, I'm at the part where he's explaining how life started on Earth. Seriously, it's A Short History of Nearly Everything. Here's an sampling:

"In three minutes, 98 percent of all the matter there is or will ever be has been produced. We have a universe. It is a place of the most wondrous and gratifying possibility, and beautiful, too. And it was all done in about the time it takes to make a sandwich."

Pretty informative, and entertaining to boot. What more could a girl ask for?