Hi-Ho, Hi-Ho, It's Back to Work I Go

Realizing today that I have to return to work tomorrow after being on Thanksgiving break. In truth, I have not had a full day at work since Friday, November 19. On Monday, November 22 I had a meeting at Central Office which allowed me to take the full day off of work. On Tuesday, November 23, I ended up getting sick and vomiting within the first two hours of work. I got sent home. We had the rest of the week off for break. It has been a nice break and most relaxing.

Here is the problem...today I have found myself having anxiety attacks throughout the day as I thought about returning to work. Why? I have no idea. I just don't want to go back to work. It is a feeling that has happened more and more this year. However, I am also not one to ever give up. I will go back to work tomorrow with a smile on my face and a positive attitude for the kids to see. It is what my students need.

There is hope. We only have three more weeks of school before we are on Winter Break. (Yes, that is the official title of break. It is no longer called Christmas Break. We have to be politically correct for everyone.) The students have to give me three more weeks of hard work and we will be half-way through the school year. That means two solid weeks of instruction time, then we will use the last week for review and benchmark testing. It will be a marathon sprint to the end, but we will make it. LOL.


In other news...


Tonight I turned on some Netflix (I love that I can now get Netflix through my Wii.) and started selecting movies to add to my queue. One of the movies I selected was Pedro. It is a biographical movie about Pedro Zamora from the Real World : San Francisco.

I remember watching The Real World : San Francisco when it premiered on MTV in 1994. I was sucked in to it. I couldn't help but watch it week after week. Pedro made that show more real than any other since then. What courage he had to have to (1) be openly gay on American television and (2) be the first openly AIDS infected individual on television. For once in this world, there was a human face and voice for AIDS...It was Pedro.

Tonight was not the first time I had watched this movie. I sat on my couch when it premiered on MTV last year. Something hit me tonight and drove me to tears. There is a scene near the end of the movie when Sean (Pedro's partner) brings over the tape of the Real World episode in which Pedro and Sean hold a commitment ceremony while in San Francisco. Pedro's eyes were fixed on his dad who had previously not accepted Pedro's relationship with Sean. As his father watched the episode his eyes filled with tears. It was the first time that he understood the love Pedro had for Sean. Then Pedro's father looks over at him, crying, smiles, and nods his head as though he finally gets it. Something about that scene was so powerful.

The scene I mentioned starts around 6:10 in the clip below. 

Who knows? Maybe I am just becoming an emotional sap. Maybe I am just becoming overly-emotional. Believe me when I tell you that is a huge leap in progression for someone who hides his emotions most days.

I am off to grade more papers and get ready for another week of school. Hope everyone is doing well.

Take care!