I woke up this morning feeling my usual old -- achy, slow -- but not otherwise ill in any way self. Sleeptime had been a festival of endless changes in body temperature, but, you know, that just comes with the territory. I made myself eat breakfast as well as drink the atrocious cup of coffee my machine produced today (gotta run a little vinegar through that sucker tonight) and came to school. Before I even got to the office to sign in, I ran into another teacher, a woman I adore, it so happens, and whom I rarely see so early in the day. Seems she puts on a bucket-load of perfume in the morning. Who knew?By the time I got up to the library in exile computer room, bad things were happening. First came the knife-in-the-sinus headache. A few minutes later, when the same lovely teacher came up to ask me a question, my ears blocked up and hearing became something of a poignant memory. Then, first period, a biology teacher came in with her class. (We've been very popular with the bio and chem teachers lately, who give their kids computer-based projects to do since their lab rooms won't be ready until the new library is, next month.) This teacher, however, didn't just give a project and supervise, she taught a lesson.
And it turned out that my ear problem was blocking out many tones that I usually hear, such as the kids' voices, which turned into a murmur to me, but that this woman's voice was coming through loud and clear, like a fireplace poker stuck through my head. A voice that was reducing me to a quivering mass. (Picture the post-Slim Whitman martians in Mars Attacks!) I took my hearing aid off, but I could still hear her. Then I had the good idea: I would take my journals that I need to catch up on for book ordering, get a cup of coffee, and sit in the faculty room for the two periods she would be in the computer lab, and work there.
Then I had the bad idea: I would get a cup of regular coffee, in the hopes that it would help the headache. Note to self: don't do that anymore.
But my two periods in the faculty room were terrific. It was quiet, and I had pleasant company, and I got lots and lots done. Unfortunately, I also had the shakes for a couple of hours. Bad, bad, bad.
I felt better after lunch. So much so, in fact, that I took the bold step of knocking on the door of Mr. My-Door-Is-Always-Open -- the door was open -- and innocently asked if he had a timeline for the library opening since I have a class starting a project that could really make good use of some of our books. (True.) And before I left, he had offered to take me on a walkthrough TOMORROW AT 1:00! I'm so excited I could just plotz. He indicated that this would be my opportunity to ask him a lot of my questions, too.
Let's just hope I can hear the answers.
