i accidentally showed up for work half an hour early this morning...apparently i did an incredibly good job of psyching myself out last night, because by the time i left this morning, i really believed i had to be there by 10, and not half-past. and once i figured that out, i had only one thought: i could have slept for another half hour. because i played taboo at ali's house for the last time last night, and despite all my wonderful intentions, i didn't make it home until after one a.m. so i drove around for half an hour, and then i went back and had...the health and safety training. the most painfully boring hour you'll ever spend, covering your "right to know" laws, proper handwashing techniques, blood-bourne pathogens, and anaphylactic food allergies. yay.

on my way out for my half-hour drive this morning, i drove through a flock of grackles. one of those flocks straight out of the birds. wave upon wave of shiny black birds filling the lawns and the trees. it was awe-inspiring. i wish i'd had a camera; it always seems as though i'm caught unprepared for the more amazing spectacles of my life. just watching all those streamlined black forms following each other effortlessly. each following the paths of the others. the flocking instinct is fascinating. humans can't even navigate a highway system without smacking into each other, and these birds can evade predators in mid-flight. i didn't even come close to hitting one. several of them, however, bombed my windshield. way to go, birds.

tomorrow i have to be to work by 7 a.m. i don't relish the prospect, though i suppose i'll get used to it after a while. in some ways i imagine it'll be nice. getting there before everyone else, doing the little things. writing the schedules on the marker board. turning on all the lights and opening the blinds. feeding the hermit crabs. they're the class pets. at least, we're fairly certain we have hermit crabs, because there's an aquarium with shells around it, and the food is gone in the morning. so they're more like the class imaginary pets.

i'm not certain i like my boss; she doesn't strike me as someone who would want to work with children. and apparently it's incredibly difficult to keep people working in the preschool program; i wonder if there's a pool going to see how long i'll last? but i love being in the room with the kids, and i really think that as long as i don't have to spend much time with Boss Lady, i'm going to have a ball.

time to sleep already?! -beatpoetgrrl

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