The good, the bad, and the ugly

First off, Sergio Leone movies are really good. I never thought I'd watch a western movie and enjoy it, but all of his that I have seen are pretty freaking good. And the musical scores are so on point with what is going on that it is truly mesmerizing.

Back to business. It's been a while. A lot, and yet, so little has happened in the past few weeks. So I will sum it up simply.

The Good

• School rocks all ass. I know that as the year progresses you will get tired of me mentioning this and tired of me comparing it all to my previous employer, but I cannot help it. I feel so much more at ease with everything. I have a whole office set up to make copies for me so I don't have to sit in the copy room and wait for the Spanish teacher to make 80 copies of a 40 page packet before school on a Monday morning when everyone and their mama is trying to get ready for the day. I also have people who are teaching the same subject so I can borrow ideas from them which means that I have less planning time.
• The big kicker is that I GET OUT OF SCHOOL AT 2:13. Despite the school being hella far away (about 22-34 minutes depending on traffic -- can't help but time shit like that, I am a track coach, it's what I do), last Friday I was able to leave school, pick up KBO, and still get my Happy Hour on before the old school bell had even rung to dismiss for the weekend.
• I was appointed head coach of the track team -- boys and girls. Nice. But comes with some problems I will address later.
  
• The weather also has been amazing the past little bit. It has been so nice that I have reverted back to wanting to run in it. It's been about 5 years since I was a regular runner, and I am by no means ready to go out and do a half marathon or repeat intervals at a decent pace. But it feels good. So far I have run about 3 times in the past two weeks. Getting out of school early and having basically a whole day left before I go to bed is definitely aiding in my desire to get moving. I know, nothing stellar, but it is a big step for me. Hopefully soon when people compliment me on my physique I can actually say that, yes, I do still work out.
• They Olympics are over so I can actually get things done now. I don't know what it is about those games. The channels must put crack in them. What else could explain my desperate need to watch whatever sport (besides baseball, softball, and basketball) they were showing even though for the next four years I will never watch said sport again. I even watched the opening and closing ceremonies. Though, the opening one was the day after the first day of school and I was so exhausted that I was falling asleep during the ending of it. I tried so hard to stay up and watch the lighting of the torch. I managed to see a man running in the air and started to think that that must be the beginning of the torch lighting, but then I blinked and when I opened my eyes, it was 45 minutes later. I have yet to see what the lighting of the torch looked like, but I have heard that it was truly amazing.
• Currently watching The Black List an HBO documentary I heard about on News and Notes on Friday. Forgive me for being ignorant, but I had no idea Slash from G n R was part black. Check out the show. Good interviews that aren't really pushing any sort of agenda. Al Sharpton made an excellent comment about how the "thugs" of today are the Uncle Toms of this day and age -- they entertain the stereotypes that whites have developed about the black people of America. Other interviewees: Kareem Abdul Jabar, Serena Williams, Chris Rock, Keenan Ivory Wayans, Colin Powell, Mahlon Ducket, Suzan-Lori Parks, Thelma Golden, and many more. Read a review from The Washington Post here.
  

The Bad

• I am still not able to sleep at a decent enough hour for a person who has to wake up at 5:30 in the morning. I am still up until around 11-12 each night. Though I did start taking melatonin, which is the best non-prescription sleep aid I have ever taken.
• It's official. I have become a softy. I am now apt to cry at the slightest thing. I cried in parts of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (the first one, the second one was not as touching), I teared up during the first dance at the wedding I attended this weekend in Tennessee, I have been thinking about something in the car on the way home from work (it is such a long ride) and started to tear up a bit. I almost cried when Lolo tripped up in the hurdles during the 100m hurdle finals. It's really annoying. I never wanted to be this way. But, I guess, that's life.
• As the new head coach of the track team, my entire coaching staff is men. Older men. One of which is really pissed that he isn't the head. The two sprint coaches are very stuck in their ways, which based on what they have said they do, are not ways conducive to athletic improvements. I have to find a way to tell them that they are wrong and that I will take over a lot of stuff without making them feel really bad or without making them despise me. I also have another assistant coach who seems to not like the black kids or coaches on the team (at least that's the word in the halls). We'll see how it all plays out.
  
• I seriously wanted to back slap this woman the other day at work. I was in the copy room by the entrance door getting my papers ready to hand over to the copy woman. Minding my own business. Feeling good about not having to copy the stuff myself. This heffa crept up right by my shoulder and then screamed super loud, right in my ear, HEY to the copy woman (who was at that time only about 15 feet away from the screamer. She screamed so loud, so close to my ear, that my first reaction was to hit her dead in the head with either my papers or my hand or both. I decided against either of those.
• Not working with my excellent colleagues any more is still getting me down. It was really great how I just came in with two excellent people who I still consider great friends, and had room and desk neighbors who I feel were not only excellent teachers and worked well with the students, but also were good listeners and friends when needed. I was able to find these people almost immediately at the other place, but with this school being so large, have not found any one up to par.
  
• Last Friday I got an email around noon from some one at the school about a happy hour after school. But it wasn't going to be until 3:30. Excuse me. Were they serious? Who waits until over an hour after school to grab a drink. I guess the good thing is that working here, you don't NEED a drink at the end of the week. You kind of just want one, but not because you are over stressed. But, I did send an email to the writer of the message today asking about that whole scenario. He said the next one would be earlier.
  

The Ugly

• Since I have been home so early, I have been able to watch Oprah. It still annoys me to no end how she interrupts her guests incessantly, but she has some good people on there. A couple weeks ago she had Suze Orman on the show. She was talking with couples about their lack of financial knowledge. It really amazes me how many people there are out in the country who keep trying to live beyond their means. People who constantly feel the need to keep up with the Jones' or the Shaniqua's that are around them. There was a couple on the show who said they were $3000 in debt each month. They had two homes, three cars, and just lived ridiculously. The woman said that her entire monthly salary went to paying for child care. Which made me wonder why she doesn't go ahead and quit her job and take care of the spoiled kids on her own. The real kicker was this: the two shit birds went to buy a car and the dealer convinced them to buy a second car that same day. WHO DOES THAT?! How financially stupid and just plain gullible and easily convinced of shit are you that you can be negotiating the price of a car and the dealer can convince you to buy a second car. And they were all SUVs so you know they were more expensive than they could afford. The man is steadily buying Wii games because he feels they are an activity he can play with his wife. Bitch, talk to each other. Play chess. Go for a walk. Suze told them they needed to sell all their stuff, they probably haven't. They probably are going to buy a third house they cannot afford and hire a gardener that they really cannot afford instead.
• This is in the ugly section not because it is horrible, but because it is truly hilarious and such a great moment for those who despise Fox News the way I do. A great way to end this long post: