Whirlwind

Well, there's Week 1 in the books. I'd say I'm off to a good start.

I certainly didn't finish most of what I thought I should this week, but then, who could? The first week of school is always brutal, and, as I told my new boss, Mrs. Principal, today, I'm very, very hard on myself. "So am I," she replied.

That's good and bad. On the one hand, it's not cool to be so hard on oneself. On the other, it does rather raise the bar towards excellence. At least I have weekends for balance.

It was a good week. I like my kids. They're a young group, leaning mostly towards the younger half of high school. I'm okay with this, because, if I can engage them and excite them about choir, they will stay. They're friends who are currently still in junior high will want to join them. The program will grow. It just takes time, and remembering to water the roots.

My piano class is fun--I have too many kids and not enough pianos, but we're working on it. Today, a few kids left early for activities, so I sat at a vacated piano. "Are you going to play for us?!" one kid said excitedly. This prompted most of the class to take their headphones off and look at me. I smiled. "Nope! I'm going to play for me." To a chorus of "Awwwwws," I put my headphones on and started playing Fur Elise. Several bars in, I realized the room was very quiet. I paused and looked up. Across from me, T., a mischievous freshman, was grinning and holding the jack to my  headphones.

"Oh, good grief, you all could hear that?!"

My class started clapping and woohooing. An advanced student said, "That sounded great, Ms. Cooper!!" I laughed and looked at T., with an evil grin. "I'm so going to do that to YOU during your first play test." He just laughed. It's only day 5 and they already know I won't do that.

I have absolutely passed out every night this week, even though I'm reading a book that's hard to put down. My body simply decides it's time to sleep, and the Kindle eventually shuts itself off. A little while later, I start awake, turn off the lights, and properly go to sleep.

My To Do List is only going to get longer, but I feel up to the task...especially once I get this weekend in. I have nothing scheduled, except a long run (I'm up to ten miles!) on Sunday. I plan to do laundry and clean the bathroom tomorrow, but not much else. I'll do a bit of planning for the week ahead, but I also just want to relax as much as possible. Sit and chat with my parents, read, maybe watch my DVD of "To Have and Have Not" (rest in peace, Ms. Bacall).

On Monday, I'll hit the ground running again, refreshed. Bring on Week 2!