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LuLu's Land of the Fey

All the news that bores the pants off anyone who cares.

Saturday, August 16, 2003

Oh, the insanity

School starts Monday. I spent the better part of this week vainly attempting to get my shit together so that when the lovely little buggers come into my room next week, they'll have something to do. Alas, the blasted virus grabbed hold of my school's (as well as a good portion of the rest of the world, from what I hear) computers so we couldn't log on at all. So basiclly, I spent the week sifting through the stuff I left on my desk and the surrounding area back in May when I said, "I'll be coming in to work on this during the summer."

Right.

I haven't even unlocked my closet yet. I'm afraid to. I remember that there is a lot of crap in there. A lot. The woman who had my job before me was a very nice older lady who was on the cusp of retirement. She was only at the school for a few years--three or four at the most. While I appreciate that she cleaned up a lot of the mess that the woman before her left (apparently it was pretty nasty, from what the kids say), she had some peculiar habits. Her most alarming one, and the one that I'm still dealing with to this day, was hoarding. Unfortunately, she hoarded stuff that is of no use to anyone with an iota of sanity left. She saved these little (7x2.5x2.5 inces, approximately) boxes that were big enough to hold a few pencils and nothing else. She saved these little plastic cases that opened up and did Goddess knows what. And somehow, she had about twenty copies of about ten different posters, all the same size, all laminated. It's as if she wanted to wallpaper the room with these ten images but never got around to it.

The year before I got to the school was her last year before retiring. She didn't order any supplies that an art teacher might need--paint, brushes, paper, silly stuff like that--because she knew that in a year she was leaving and she didn't want to leave any unwanted supplies for the next teacher (me).

Erm, thanks. I have to wonder what she did for her own class' materials?

So I get to the school, I have little to no paints, and the paint I do have is that stank tempra stuff that makes me ill when I smell it. My brushes are in a state since apparently the students have never been shown how to care for them. My paper closet is a joke--almost empty, except for that funky manilla paper that rubs off when you erase it. I've got a little glue, but not enough for a whole year. Very little clay, but that's ok since my kiln is dead and even if it wasn't, I don't have any ventilation system for it.

But I have lots and lots of little boxes in my closet. Yay.

So the long and short of it is this: I spent the year getting supplies as I needed them from Art Club funds. Finally got around to ordering a mess-load of supplies like paint, paper, wire, etc. at the end of the year when I knew what I was going to want to use next (this) year. Claimed I was going to get my closet cleaned out this summer, once and for all.

And then I didn't do it. In my defense, I did move this summer, so it's not like I sat around the whole time doing nothing. Perhaps I will get a student or two to stay after school with me a few days next week and get some extra credit for helping me throw away crap.

Oy.

Oh, and I finally got my webpage updated. I have projects from the whole school year on here, but the most recent stuff is in the Art History section (the Renaissance project), the Activities section (field trips and goofing off), the Beret Club, and the Awards Ceremony. Go and look. Or don't. Whatever. I did my part.

Now I'm off to enjoy the last two days of my summer vacation.

.: posted by amy 12:08 AM