There’s a quietness in my soul that I haven’t felt since December. Many things are coming to an end very soon: the first year MAT cycle, the students’ school year, and my curriculum class. My favorite part of any task has always been when it’s all said and done and I have achieved closure. The best part is how well I sleep when I don’t have a bunch of small things keeping my brain up at night. I do a lot of problem solving in my sleep, but when there are no projects due or papers to write, my brain takes a break.

It’s odd that I don’t mind that the closure of one chapter always brings the opening of another. I mean, in about 3 weeks or so, I’m going to start another leg of this race that is more challenging than the one I just finished. I guess I like the page between chapters. You know, the one that has been left intentionally blank. In that little section, there is nothing to lose and nothing to gain. Sometimes, that’s the best place in the world to be.

I turned in my massive MAT portfolio on Saturday (somewhere in the neighborhood of 380-400 pagses). It represents an entire year’s worth of teaching, reflecting, teaching, and re-teaching…It feels so good to have that out of the way. Now, all I gotta do is survive one more observation and finish my curriculum framework. This time next year, I’ll be fully certified and get a nice raise. The upcoming summer, fall, and spring are going to suck, royally. If I can survive one more year, though, it’ll all be worth it.

I don’t know what’s in the water, but the kids were very cranked up today. I guess Springtime does it.

I now have a wireless Internet connection in my humble rental. Granted, it is a wireless connection to a dial-up connection, but I can go anywhere in the house and surf. I’ve taken advantage of it mostly while lounging in my new recliner or kicking back on the couch (also new!). If only I had a toilet built into the recliner…

Cans of my favorite carbonated beverage, Pepsi now comes in 14 oz. cans. THE WORLD IS COMING TO AN END! Cans of pop have been 12 oz. for a very, very long time. Our standard pop machines won’t be able to dispense these bastardized cans. We must put a stop to this! If we don’t, the evil soda companies will start making us use Canadian money to buy stuff out of their machines…Click here to sign a petition to end the sale of 14 oz. cans of pop.