What an odd day!

Today is productivity++ day. Already completed: writing my classroom management reflection for practicum seminar and I have found a book for practicum and one to use for my music lesson. Goals for the rest of the day: finish writing music lesson, write model building lesson for science. Oh yes, it will be good. Amazing, even. My horoscope said so. No joke-- I got my oil changed this morning (my horoscope also said that I didn't have to tell anyone how much or how little I've spent on a purchase. Holy expensiveness, Batman.) and read my complimentary copies of the Cap Times and The Wisconsin State Journal. Both horoscopes said that it would be a good day for me and that I would be productive. It must be so, then.

As I biked into campus this morning, I thought several times of an old lady that I met once at the post office. We were stuck in line for at least half an hour, as there was only one employee working at the desk and there were tons of people waiting to mail things. I made some observation about post offices to the lady and we talked for the next half hour. I thought of this woman twice today-- once when Cat Stevens came on my mp3 player. Cat Steven -> Harold and Maude -> Cool old ladies. That's the train of thought. Then I thought of her again when an old man passed me on a bike and then slowed down and started talking to me. It had the potential to be creepy, but he just seemed nice and talkative. We were biking from about the same area and as I turned off on Mills Street to go to the library, I yelled after him, "Have a nice day!" I also waved at some old people that I see almost every time I bike, around Hammersley. They always walk together on the side of the street and wave when they see me. Old people. I like them.

When I got to campus, I passed some protestors at the coal plant. No Coal, their signs stated. Alright, that's a legitimate cause. Then they came into the library and wanted paper to make more signs. There was actually a plethora of regular sized scrap paper lying around, so I gave them that and some markers. I helped a cause. Kind of. They seemed like the kind of people who'd protest just for the thrill of protesting something, instead of the kind of people who would protest because they're really against coal. And I mean, geez, the university's got lots of signs up about conserving energy. What more can they do to cut down on their use of goods? (Sarcasm meters: turned on, please.)

I think that I bike with a bit of road rage, directed at people who are mostly trying to be nice. Or those who are oblivious to my presence and nearly kill me. A woman was turning right and I was biking behind her, noted her right blinker and slowed down so that she could turn ahead of me without endangering my life. What does she do? She stops and stares at me. Smiles. Waves me along. At this point, I've already come to a complete stop. I look at her. Wave her along. Mutter, "Just go. Come on." As I have already stopped, it sucks more for me to start going again while she's waiting for me to go rather than just having her go and I continue on at my own pace. She was just trying to be nice, though. I'm kind of a jerk. I talk to cars a lot. I feel the same way as a pedestrian. I don't know how I feel about bikers and pedestrians as a driver, though. I try to treat them the way that I'd want to be treated. I don't stop unnecessarily.

I had my third student teaching cooperating teacher observation Friday. I'm looking forward to the last one, as I'm hoping that I'll be able to make a good decision about things at that point. Right now, Chavez is at the top of my list, Elm Lawn in Middleton (aka White Town, USA) is second (good kids, good classroom, absolutely no diversity, possibly crazy teacher?) and Muir is third. I didn't like her at Muir very much at all. I don't think we'd mesh. I'm really hoping that the third grade in Monona that I'm going to see next Friday will be good. I've never been in a third grade classroom and I'm thinking it could be a nice point in between the older kids that I love to chat with and the little ones who love school oh so much. I think I could get a lot of good ideas for curriculum that I could modify either up or down a level when I start teaching for real. But fourth and fifth graders are pretty amazing.

I taught my third lesson to my kindergarteners Friday. I kind of kicked ass. What happened? Did I finally become comfortable with the idea of kindergarteners? Or perhaps it's the lack of sleep and over-caffeination that seems to dominate my weekdays. I find myself strangely more able to talk with people in these situations and also more confident about my abilities in everything else. Maybe it's just me, though. I'm feeling pretty amazing today and I slept quite nicely last night. I am still rather caffeinated, though. I can't help but drink a lot of soda. DC will be my destruction. Of my teeth. Or something.

I know what I need to do to not get terribly out of shape and gain back any weight that I've lost in the last year and a half. It's kind of tough to do it, though. It's mostly the exercise thing, I think. Or actually, I don't know. Last time I went to the gym, I weighed myself and even though I felt pudgier, I didn't actually gain any weight. Perhaps I just need to start going back to Core Crunch so that my stomach can be oddly hard again. My pants feel tight today. But Chipotle is so delicious. (I'm planning on making a pie next week as well.)

Jumping from topic to topic is super cool. Oh yes. It is. The picture above, by the way. Is where I'm sitting to ponder these points. Even though this has been a really long entry, I actually haven't wasted that much time writing it. I feel a bit accomplished about that fact. This second picture is another one that I took a few weeks ago of my desk back in technical services. Well, not my desk. But the technical services desk. And that tray in the picture that says "New Periodicals"? It's overflowing right now. That's what I get for thinking that there wasn't enough there for me to do this week to warrant coming in to do it. Thankfully, next week is going to be insanely busy (but probably not as busy as I think, as it never seems to be) and I will be pressed to find the time to actually come in and process all of the journals that have come in and are waiting for me. Maybe Thursday night, though. Or Wednesday. I think those nights are still free. I can drink Diet Coke, chew gum, listen to music and process academic journals. It might prove to be relaxing.

Okay, I'm going to go heat up my lunch of leftover spicy sausage and rice casserole. I was thinking this morning that I should bring some by for Zac later tonight. We'll see how late I end up working on this science thing. I should get to work. Oh yes, I should. Because the library, although it is an away game day and had the likelihood to be more busy than it has been in weeks past, is obviously dead, as I have been able to sit here and type uninterrupted for as long as I have. Okay. Getting to work. For real.