the nightmare is over. don't get me wrong, there are a number of students that i enjoyed, but my 8th graders were particularly difficult. not that i totally blame them - 4 teachers in the space of 2 or 3 months could make any kid crazy, and a lot of these kids were already nuts to begin with. tough nuts, the lot of them, and many decided my grades wouldn't count. they're in for a nasty surprise come report card time. a lot of them departed with "i will now that i don't have to see you again" when i wished them a good summer break.

i seriously hope that taking over this class and doing a pretty good job of it despite the challenges will open a door for me in the full time position department. even if i end up teaching language arts instead of the possible writing class, it would make the whole mess worth it.

beyond all that, it took all weekend to grade my papers - the last set of grades after 3 of the classes ended up with finals instead of being able to see a movie were sent to the regular teacher at 11:30 tuesday. wednesday i covered one small class of esl speakers for about 2 hours (broken up through the day), cleaned up the classroom, and inventoried furniture and larger equipment. other teachers had to go back today, and again tomorrow, for post planning - inventory, clean up, classroom moving, turning things in, and so on. but i'm free. makes the check smaller, but right now i don't mind. i seriously need a break from that place.

i'm not letting this experience sour me on the whole teaching thing. these kids were a special case. the situation was a special case. i know that. teaching isn't my first choice for a career, but it works. and the subbing helped me to see what group of kids i work with best and enjoy. so all in all, this has been a very good 6 months for me. learned a lot. made a friend or two. got paid and kept us in a home. all good stuff. now to hope someone hires me and i can get into the georgia tapp program and teach under a provisional certificate.

which leads to some very good news indeed! i passed my praxis I with flying colors, bells, and a few streamers! reading: 185 (needed a 176); writing: 179 (needed a 174); mathematics: 182 (needed a 176)!!! and my total score was 20 points over the required composite! in a few weeks i take the praxis II. going to have to cram a little more than i thought for that one since the class took over my life these last few weeks and left me with time for not much else, but i'm hoping i can get the study guide i'm working on finished and go from there. tomorrow i pick up ink to replace the 2 wonky cartridges i currently have so i can mail my new application for a certified position to the county by saturday. all i need for the tapp program is a job offer and it's the only thing up in the air since my praxis II scores won't be in until july. the timing is a big concern since the word is i need the pII score to get the job, but i need the job to get into tapp, and tapp is enrolling now. without tapp, i have to look for a program on my own and the search so far hasn't been very encouraging. managed to get it down to 2 universities that offer certification programs and at least 1 is 2 hours away. the other unis offer masters of ed degrees, which is not what i want.

really, all i can do now is hope that the good luck will continue and everything will work out so i can get into tapp. course, if it doesn't, i'm sure god has a plan and a reason, but still, tapp would make it so much easier, particularly in the transportation department.

in other news, kitten is going through a hard time with her uncle at home. he really is an a$$hole. linnorm does try to stand up for her, but uncle is really being a $hit. she's supposed to come out for 3 weeks this summer, and i am sooooooooooo looking forward to it. i miss my girl, and that military stuff is going to keep us apart for quite a bit, assuming it all pans out. the girl has to pass one more math class or she won't graduate. not quite sure how that will affect her enlistment as of yet.

i spent my first day of freedom cleaning up and organizing my office. i haven't really used it in the last 3 weeks, but it became quite a disaster as things got stacked there in passing each day. i also caught up at dii and bombarded my very quiet members with 'let's get busy!' kinds of messages. the plan for my 2 months of freedom, assuming i get the whole 2 months (the first classes for tapp may be midsummer, so we'll see), is to write and get back into the swing of things subbing wise. plus i have my other kiddos, so we'll probably watch a few movies together, take a walk or two, and stuff like that. in a couple of weeks, saxy and i plan to take them all to see revenge of the sith. saxy i probably won't be seeing much of. mcat has promised him a lot of full time and over time kinds of hours, so he'll be pretty busy with work most days. good thing too. without my check, he's got to keep us breathing through the summer.

best news of all: the cold is finally moving off. thank god.