Hey 🙂

Just a check in to let you know where I’m at and how things are going since we haven’t touched base in the last week. If you’re a TL;DR kind of person, let me sum up: I’m really tired. My brain feels exhausted, and creativity is a struggle. But I feel light at the end of the tunnel and still plan to update Mon – Wed & Fri this week for the Phillies’ west coast trip. September 22-October 3 is a toss up due to a bathroom renovation.  

Okay —

I’ve been struggling to adjust to my new schedule at work. I was definitely spoiled last year with a double period off and only having my own classes, even if 7 classes was a lot to deal with. This year, with the addition of a third course to prep, a homeroom to manage, and a study hall to run, I’m struggling to get things done at work. I constantly feel like I’m scrambling, then lunch hits, and I can’t even bring myself to do anything productive. In study hall, I get some things done, but it’s not easy as I manage the bathroom/nurse/list and check ins from students who don’t have me this year.

And then Friday, we had a sort of scary situation at work. They did a “hold” security announcement, which is just — lock your doors, don’t let kids out, and keep teaching. This would be fine since the kids are used to drills — but my classroom and the media center are the only rooms that face the front of the school and we got a front row look at six cop cars racing up the drive with lights on, sirens off, and coming into school with guns drawn.

And then they left, and the hold was over, and we were expected to just go about our day. Naturally, my class and those kids in the media center told EVERY one they knew, but we’ve had no news about what happened. Normally, we get something — but it’s been silence from admin. And the city. Which….is weird.

Anyway, it was just one of those weeks. I struggled to do anything when I got home, even little things. We had Back to School night a week early, and my sleep schedule was all off. But I felt better as we got into Thursday and Friday, and managed to get some work done, so I feel better about this upcoming week 🙂

Thanks for your patience. Those of you who’ve been with me the last six years know September is the hardest month for me, and it never seems to get easier.

I’ll see everyone on Monday!

Update Link: You’re Not Sorry – Part 36

Every year I manage to repress just how mentally and physically exhausting the first week is. It honestly feels like a blur.

Work Updates

Some good news — I did actually feel like the classes themselves went pretty smoothly — I’d prepped the right amount of content, and I’m mostly ready for the upcoming week (some slides I have to finish up). The only challenges really came from aministrative things — we have a new bell schedule, then we had a pep rally schedule, so that was a lot. I have a home room this year — and the new schedule split it into a 5 minute segment in the morning and 5 minutes at the end of the day. So that’s 5 minutes to take attendance, check IDs, dress code, and take phones for 30 seniors, half of whch I don’t know. And then study hall where kids don’t have to report on the first day if they have gold cards, even if you don’t have the gold card list yet — I’ve got 30 kids in the first study hall, then 27 in the other — again, half of which I didn’t know.  I felt ridiculously overwhelmed the first few days.

It’s sort of under control now, I think, but it was kind of crazy for the worst part of the week to have zero to do with my actual classes, lol.

September Writing

Right now the plan is to update Flash as much as possible over the next two weeks because we have finally have a date for the bathroom remodel — they’re starting my parents’ house on Monday, Sep 8, and that means I’m going to be the week of Sep 22. I’m a little irritated — I was hoping it would be sooner. Because I’d taken Oct 3 as a personal day for the Taylor Swift album release, and I’m really hoping we’re done by then. I’m also really hoping we can make arrangements for the toilet to be the last thing ripped out because I only have one bathroom and no family lives closer than 10-15  minutes away. I feel like I’m going to be spending ninety percent of my time at my parents and commuting 25 minutes to work and to feed the cats. I’m happy to get my bathroom redone, but man do I wish it was any other time of the year.

Luckily for all of us, the Phillies have their last West coast trip next week with games starting at 10PM, so we’ll have some daily updates, at least until September 22. I’ll see what happens once the remodel gets underway. If they can leave the toilet in place for most of the time, we should be fine, but if not — well — we’ll see, lol.

Planning up todate on Tues/Thurs this week, so see you then.

Update: You’re Not Sorry – Part 35

I really need to get myself together, lol. I’ve been building Google Sheet files to help me track important information about my students (gradebooks, IEP/504 info, etc.) and one of my colleagues asked if it would be possible to do attendance and participation in one file, and the way she wanted it done made me curious, so of course, you know me, I jump in and went down a rabbit hole — did I have time? no. Did I do it anyway? you bet. Anyway. I’m about halfway through, and it was easier than I thought it would be, but I have to stop and actually finish my last bit of prep for tomorrow.

ANYWAY.

This is your last scheduled update until next Sunday.

That does not mean I won’t update. I have no way of knowing how I’ll feel until we get into the week. I think I’ve done enough preparation that the first week should be easier than it was last time. But it’ll be my first year teaching three separate courses, and who knows if that will make me more tired?

So, you can either sign up for emailed updates, join Patreon (for free!) and I’ll make sure to post over there if I update, or check the site around 6ish every night (I can almost guarantee I won’t update any later than that) just in case I pop in with a surprise.

But next Sunday, September 7, is the first day I’m promising an update.

See you when I see you 😛

Update Link: You’re Not Sorry – Part 34

Tuesday is so much closer than it should be, lol. I keep wondering what I’ve forgotten to do since I feel mostly prepped. Like I’m sure there’s something. And I don’t know how my kids are going to manage homeroom with our lockers in a different wing, but well, that won’t be my problem since I’m not the crazy person who gave me a homeroom in the first place.

Haven’t really had the bandwidth for any writing projects other than flash at the moment, but I’m hoping that will shift as we get into the school year and I’ll have my prep periods. I would really like to confine doing any work at home to the mornings on weekends, but we’ve met me, lol.

See you tomorrow for our final update. *cries*

Update Link: You’re Not Sorry – Part 33

Hello 🙂 I was feeling okay on Wednesday, but Thursday was a really long day at work and by the time I got done, I was just exhausted — and I still had a few things to prep for next week (I have an Honors section of French II, and they’re reading a different book, so it’s double the work to prep book days). I did that Friday morning, and by the time I needed to start thinking about my writing, I was just completely fried. I set up the posts and everything, thinking I might try to push through but it just wasn’t happening.

I do plan to update tomorrow and Monday, and I don’t see a reason why that shouldn’t happen.

But just a reminder: I do try not to make promises about update schedules in the first few weeks of school, but if I say I’m going to be here, and then I don’t show up, it’s almost always because I was just too tired, and I don’t want to post here without a reason. Every time I update this blog, my WordPress installation sends out about 500 emails to the subscribed readers.

I’m trying to get into the habit of updating the General Chat over on my Patreon which just sends out notifications to anyone who wants them, and doesn’t rely on my hosting service.  It’s free to join Patreon for that chat and for other features. (and then of course, there’s upgrades).

Anyway, school starts Tuesday. Updates will happen when they happen. If you’re worried whether or not I’m alive, you can also check out the social media. I’m @crimsonglass on Twitter where I freak out daily during Phillies games.

Update Link: You’re Not Sorry – Part 32

Happy 26th anniversary to the Liason fanbase! Crazy how long we’ve been around. Let’s hope by #Liason27, we’ve got something to be excited about! (I mean, I’m still riding high on Sam being DEAD and JJ breaking his contract to leave early)

Staff development week is almost over, and I’m happy to report that the majority of what needed to be done is completed, and the only things left on my list are going to be finished tomorrow or are outside my control (no paper in the copy room, but they swear it’s coming any day now, lol). Tomorrow’s our last day of staff week, then a four day weekend.

I feel sort of ready for next week? I mean, the classroom is done (other than my posters, I was defeated by cheap scotch tape), supplies unpacked, and next week is prepped other than student copies. But you know, the second those kids walk in, chaos will ensue. Plus, they gave me a homeroom this year when I have no lockers near me. My poor kiddos will have lockers in C-wing on the other side of the school, have to get to me in D-Wing, lock up their phones, and then go to their first classes and homeroom is only five minutes long this year. Should be interesting.

The plan right now is to update every day until September 1. We’ll talk about September when it gets here 😛

See you tomorrow!

Update Link: You’re Not Sorry – Part 31

Apologies for missing yesterday. My schedule ended up being a little squeezed, and then I had an appointment in the afternoon that ran longer than I thought it would.

I’ve posted a preliminary schedule for this week in the sidebar to the right– if I do update, these are the times that I would do it, so basically around the same time every night. The only update I’m guaranteeing is on Friday. I’m not planning an update tomorrow just because it’s the first day back. If I feel up to it, sure, but I’m pretty sure I won’t.

I’ll likely be taking the entire first week of September off in the sense that I’m not scheduling anything. If I pop up with an update, great, but if I don’t, well, that’s how it is.

I’ll see you guys when I see you.

Update Link: You’re Not Sorry – Part 30

Well, we’ve reached the end of my summer vacation, my last Friday before work begins. (I mean I’m being dramatic, I have off next Friday, but that’s DIFFERENT it’s not SUMMER VACATION).

I did manage to finish all my textbook and student assignments for the entire month of September this month, and out of everything I have to do for classes, this is always the biggest hurdle because it really can’t be done anywhere but at home, and once the school year starts it’s so hard to find the time. It’s not as much as I’d hoped to have done, but I’ll take it.

I’ll be updating again Saturday and Sunday for flash, but nothing on Patreon. I’m so sorry — I have a birthday party AND a doctor’s appointment tomorrow afternoon, so flash is already squeezed in on Saturday as it is.

I can’t believe summer is over. Rude.

Update Link: You’re Not Sorry – Part 29

After today, there are only THREE updates left until our summer binge (and my vacation!) ends. I am not ready for 6 AM wake up calls. I’ve been trying to get myself back into the swing of it, setting the alarm for 6:30 but I literally just turn it off, roll over and sleep another 45-60 minutes. I’m gonna be a very sad girl on Monday.

I’m looking at the next few parts that are planned, and Sunday isn’t going to leave you with an evil cliff hanger (well, not in my opinion). Remember — all next week, updates for me will be optional as I get back into a 7-3 work schedule and do the final prep tasks to be ready for classes on September 2. I obviously hope I’ll update a few times, but I may only manage one or two. Phillies play at 6:45 or later every night, so I may try to get one in just to keep myself up, lol.

I can’t believe it’s almost over!

Update Link: You’re Not Sorry – Part 28

The rare day time game when the Phillies don’t make me sad! We just swept one of the best teams in the American League, woot! Put me in a great mood. (Sorry to any Mariner fans, they seem like a nice team).

We are in the final days of summer, and my schedule/class list got posted. Some good news — I’m only teaching six sections of French, not seven. Two French Is, Three French IIs, and 1 French III.  My piece of bad news is right now, my program enrollment has dropped — I had 104 kids across two levels of French last year, and this year, I have 20 less kids coming into French I. I’m going to have to plan some serious propaganda pushes in the middle school.

Some mild good news — instead of getting bathroom duty for that extra period, I get two study halls, each 20 minutes long. I get to stay in my room and it’s pretty basic, so it’s like an extra prep period. I also get to have it with juniors so I get to see a ton of my kids from last year who didn’t move on to French III or from my original seminar class, including a fellow Phillies fan, so joy! I also have a homeroom this year, which means, bleh, I probably have to administer standardized testing and do crappy stuff like write up kids for dress codes and maintain custody of cell phones.

Some even better news is how they distributed my schedule — I teach four periods, then study hall, then lunch, then two classes, then I finish on a prep. I get to have all three levels in the morning, and for the first time since I started, there’s a chance my eighth period won’t make me want to resign on a daily balance. (RIP to my Kings of Chaos).

I’m still sad about the enrollment numbers, but there are schedule changes allowed, and one of my best French kids who works so hard ended up on the French III list this morning, and then this afternoon, a student who SWORE to me she was done with French — she came back to me, lol. So I went from 11 to 13 kids in that section. I’m holding out hope that two more of my previous students join so that the girl who rounded out their trio won’t have to make new friends this year. Peer pressure, B. I’m rooting for you.

I am cautiously optimistic about the upcoming year. I worked really hard to get a ton of material prepped, the first two weeks are basically done, and I’m on my way to having September fully prepped by the end of August. But we’ll see 😛

In writing news, I’m working on the Watch Me Burn revisions (now titled Out of the Woods). The overall story won’t change much, but I expect the largest changes to come in the first half of the story. Now that I know who my killer is, I’ll be reworking most of that storyline. I’ve done some psychology deep dives this week into wounded narcissists, which was fun, haha. And I also know how I want the characters of Lucky and Sam to finish the story, so I need to go back and rework their material to fit it better, and integrate Patrick and Robin a bit better. But if you were happy with the overall story, you’ll still be pretty satisfied here. I’m finalizing the timeline today, then taking apart the first draft to decide what scenes stay, the structure of chapters (since timed flash sessions didn’t always ascribe to my typical chapter structures), and the scope of the work to do. That’s supposed to be done by the end of the week, so I’ll have more info then.

See you tomorrow!