Ending an Extended Absence

Hello friends,

I apologize that it's been so long since my last update. The primary reason you haven't heard from me in so long is that I was without internet access from Thanksgiving day until Wednesday evening. Since my return to cyberspace, I've simply been negligent to post something new. Here's a few written snapshots of what I've been up to in the last ten or so days:

+Over the past six workdays, I substituted for a developmental kindergarten teacher. DK was a interesting place to be. It's my understanding that this class was originally created to give those kids with lower IQs or other learning disabilities an extra amount of care and attention to get them ready for first grade. However, this developmental kindergarten class is a disparate mix of these types of children with those most often labeled as "special." Three of the seven children are just that little bit slower than your typical kindergartener. The other four children consist of two autistic children (one of which truly does live in his own little world), a Hispanic boy who's essentially mute speaking neither English nor Spanish, and a little boy named Kyle who has Downs Syndrome and leukemia.

The classes went fairly smooth. I had much more fun than I had headaches. The only real problems I had were with Carl, a boy with an IQ so low he consistently confuses circles and squares and struggles to trace dotted lines. Carl decided on our second day together that he was really going to test his limits by yelling at me and then hitting me several times after I put him in time out. His actions landed him the distinction of being the first "special" student I've sent to the principal's office.

I also have several interesting Kyle stories. Unfortunately, most of them require me to act out his maneurisms so they can't be told here. One that can be shared happened just yesterday. Kyle had a rough day on Thursday. He was out of school the entire day receiving various treatements, including chemo and a spinal tap. The pain medication he was given Friday morning led him to act out quite a bit, whereas he is usually one of the best behaved students.

One thing that always amuses Kyle is to go limp like a noodle and force his caretakers to pick him up off the floor. And though the smile he gives you as you lift him is adorable, the whole affair can become annoying after his fourth or fifth straight refusal to stand. The truth of the matter is he knows better, so the regular teacher and the paraprofessional of the classroom will put him in time out every now and again. After Kyle had staged his limp noodle act for the second time on Friday, I felt compelled to send him to the time out chair. That gave him the distinction of being the first terminally ill student I've ever punished.

+A week ago Tuesday, the latest Killswitch Engage album came out. This band is definitely one of my favorite "new" bands on the scence today. I put new in quotation marks because the band has been around for nearly a decade although they've only emerged into the mainstream over the past three years. I also picked up their concert/documentary DVD last weekend, so I have been enjoying all manner of KsE material the past couple of weeks. I'd recommend the purchase of their albums, but I don't know that most readers of this blog would even entertain such a purchase. So I'm content just to testify that I love this band.

+Starting late Thursday night, I began feeling a bit under the weather. My energy continued to flag throughout the school day yesterday. And now I'm in a situation where it hurts to swallow anything. The silver lining here is that I have no fever, nausea, or body aches so I think I can rule out strep throat or mono. Whatever I've got, it's been kicking my butt the last thirty-six hours and all I've really done is sleep poorly, drink many fluids, chew food into a fine paste, and watch most of 24, Season One on DVD. I can only hope I'll be back in good health before Monday morning when the new workweek arrives.

That's all I have for now, friends. Again, I apologize for taking so long to update this blog. Enjoy the rest of your weekend.