Fridays Cause Tensions, so today I head to NYC for a day

One of Beauty's requests is to see NYC, so tomorrow morning we head to the Big Apple to get away from Connecticut for a day. I'm always up for that adventure, simply because I like to be where life is booming, large, and alive. No, I don't like to stay their long, but I do like to visit here and there. I also love showing the city around to people who have never been, in the same way Gina Amaro hosted me when I was a student in 1993. I was young, a junior in college, and we had so much fun.

Yesterday, a friday, was rough and I need 24 hours with my mind on something else. Anyone who teaches knows what this is like. In the summer I go non-stop, all day long (a throwback to teaching high school). I joke all the time that I can't wait until the school year begins in the Fall so I can relax. I am serious about that. I always remember, however, that teaching high school was 100 times more work - a different kind of work - a more exhausting breed of work. Yes, my job now is stressful now and non-stop, but the mischief is caused by me and what I think is best. I still have 85% less students. Instead of teaching five classes a day, five days a week for five hours, I teach two classes a week for a total of six hours. In other words, I teach approximately one high school day a week. The rest of the time is spent in meetings where people discuss how much work they have to do. If they're not discussing their work, they are creating more work others to do.

I'm not sure what labor is more satisfying and purposeful. The verdict is out on that, although I do like having more autonomy and and time to plan wisely than I did as a high school teacher.

I'm ranting. Why? Because I deserve to every once in a while and my brain is fried.

Today, though, lady liberty.  I will be more focused tomorrow.