I regret that I did miss ATM! I have heard about it and am hoping to watch the make-up episode tonight on UPN. Since it is their only good show, they replay it over and over, which is to my benefit.

Today, a team teacher and I introduced our EOG BootCamp. The EOG here in North Carolina is the state test that our kids all have to pass. We have decided that once a week we will dress completely in fatigues and lead kids around chanting army style rhymes about EOGs. We dressed in the fatigues today to peak their interest and it sure is working! The kids are going crazy asking what we are doing and why we look like this.

Soon I will start drilling them in class, army style. I am going to say things like, "Stop and give me twenty!"-- meaning twenty EOG vocabulary words or whatever. I think it is going to be a lot of fun. Hopefully it will give them the drive to really care about this stupid test so that they can be successful.
I am also planning on creating "knowledge granades" in some fashion that will "explode" on certain groups that they have to answer. Any ideas in this vein are welcome.

I am always happy to make a fool of myself in order to get them to pay attention.  ¶ 12:18 PM

  I feel reborn!

The coughing has mostly ceased! I slept through the night and I don't feel like I am going to cry every minute today! Yea for me!

I also had a great time at the Indigo Girls concert last night. Seeing them is always like some crazy family sing-a-long. The audience sings at least as much-- if not more-- than they do. Some people hate this, I know, but I really love it. It makes me feel a part of something cozy and nice. Instant community, which is nice out here.

The only downside was this couple next to me. They were inflamed with such homely passion that I thought they might tear each other limb from limb. If either of them was hot it would have been tolerable, but that was definately not the case. The situation was worsed every minute by the constant consumption of Budweiser. As they began to get more and more drunk, their passionate gropings became less and less accurate. I became the victim of several mislanded gropings from both the man and the woman. They reeled around and around as the music played, mouths open and searching, limbs flying about, hands grabbing. They really were monsterous. Tragically, I was mesmerized by them and couldn't look away much of the time. I just kept turning to my friend, hoping to have witnesses to my pain. But other than that, it was wonderful.

Also, it is snowing right now! It is beautiful! The only downside to that is that I am sitting in my classroom right now, thirty minutes from where I live. I worry that getting home may be a problem. But I am just trying to be positive and hope for an early release.

All in all, I feel so much better than I have for weeks that I nothing can bring me too down. There is nothing like a debilitating sickness to remind of all the good in the world.  ¶ 8:33 AM

  I am not teaching today.

Sure, I'm present in the room. I have written the focus question on the board. But I am too tired to actually teach anyone anything. I tried first period, but now it is third and I just don't have it in me.

I have them all in groups and they are supposed to be reading to one another. Some of them are. Some of them are arguing. Some of them are reporting sports scores to one another. One is making markings on his arm that look suspiciously gang-like. I just am too tired to stop it or redirect them.

I know this isn't ideal. I know I should buck up and teach something. I understand that I am wasting precious instructional time. I just can't seem to get it together.

I am even so tired that I don't feel like going to the concert tonight. I will go because I know I would regret not going. But this sickness has plumb worn me out.

Someone just threw something. I have to go.  ¶ 1:31 PM

  I certainly don't mean to jinx anything, but I think the worst may be over with this sickness. I only woke up a couple of times coughing last night and this morning I have hardly coughed at all. I am left with a very sore throat and it feels really fragile, like with one quick move I could be thrown into fits of coughing again. I am avoiding deep breaths, cold or hot air, scratchy foods, and singing along with the radio. The latter is the hardest for me.

In school news, the kids really like the folktale unit. I realized yesterday that they like it because we are primarily reading picture books-- which, for the first time this year, means they are probably reading on their level. Though some of my students are good readers, many of them are not. This unit lets them feel like they know what is going on.

The subject of karaoke has been broached for Thursday. I said yes, with no hesitation, as is my way. However, my voice will need to go through some major repair if I am to honor Bonnie Tyler in the way that she is accustomed. Right now I sound like a three pack-a-day smoker with a cold. I keep trying to tell myself that I sound sexy, but I know I sound diseased.

Tonight I am going to go see The Indigo Girls. Very, very exciting. I just love them. I very much hope that this coughing hiatus holds so that I don't hack through their show.  ¶ 7:34 AM

  I wonder how much clenching an abdomen can endure. I also wonder how many gut-wrenching hours of hacking a throat can bear before it gives up completely. I am pondering, also, this morning whether the medicine the doctor gave me is going to conflict with the codeine cough syrup I got from a friend in some kind of terrible way. The sad thing is that I no longer care. If I lose consciousness, that can only be a blessing.

How many nights has it been, now, that I haven't really slept? I can't remember anymore. It is like a coughing switch has been flipped on and I can't make it go off. I have also been lame enough to have people sleeping over the last two nights so they could share my long hours of sleeplessness with me. Luckily guest number one had ear plugs. Guest number two was not so lucky.

The upside? My Abs of Steel. I just know that I will have a six-pack when this jag is over. It is impossible to put them through so much and not be cut like a diamond in the end. At least I can pretend that is going to happen.

Pray for either a cessation of this coughing or loss of consiousness, please.  ¶ 9:54 AM