more caffeine or less?

Great start to day. I was rehearsing the beginning strings class, playing piano, watching for strugglers & slugs when a coworker came in the room. Being very quiet, as to not disturb the rehearsal, he leans over my shoulder to ask if I was going to need the TV cart. I hadn't seen or heard him come in, so like the rational, low key person I am, I jump, shriek and knock music all over the area. The class is stunned, I see it was Paul, who was even more startled than I was and we laugh uncontrollably for what seems like the rest of the class period. The kids don't know if it's ok to laugh or not, so the stunned amazement remains on their faces, which set us off again. I gather my wits long enough to make a sign on bright red paper: CAUTION: CAFFEINATED WOMAN. The bell rings, as student takes his marker, underlines CAUTION twice, and leaves. When you tell your friends, and you will, please be kind.

p.s. - I have since moved my piano to include a view of the door.

beginning of the end!

What an optimistic phrase - today, not the first day of the rest of your life, but today, leading into the final 7 weeks of school. I've enjoyed this school more than any I've ever done, but really, it's time to end. I'm cranky, the kids are cranky, coworkers are cranky and there's an awful lot of staring into June, wishing a large chunk of life away. Being the proactive type - as at least I imagine myself - I've planned a specific focus for each of those 7 weeks at work, but what am I doing for those same weeks while off duty? There's the ongoing & so far satisfying corporal improvement plan. In those 7 weeks, I'm focusing on losing an additional 14 pounds and working into a 5-day-week gym schedule. I've held myself to the every-other-day exercise routine so far, so changing to 5 day/wk is a small change, but one that will be a huge challenge as the workday gets tougher, meetings become more frequent and expendable energy becomes harder to access. What's the payoff for this extra project? Health? Strength? No, nothing so useful. I want to be in the pictures we take in London. Yes, vanity. Vanity in a person so insecure she gained way too much weight to have some to throw around in the world. So, here's to vanity: if you save my life, we're pulling for you. And to the next 7 weeks - you'll pass.

Spring Break ???

I was sooooooo ready for spring break. I was a zombie-like shadow, powering myself through each workday using I don't know what. After two days of blissful sleep, I go to my first appointment with the gym's personal trainer.

Tanya - if that is her real name - smooth-talked me into ten minutes on a treadmill. Sounded safe enough, I could do that. Little did I know the rapid succession of "only 5 minutes" on three more machines from hell......twice, followed by 10 minutes back on that treadmill. Three times a week???

One of the machines makes me feel like a Kokopelli. Imagine a bicycle without a seat, body hunched over and legs pumping up & down. Who thought of this???? I don't know what its really called, but I call it yagottabekidding.

I actually went back two days later. I hit the yagottabekidding twice, as well as the eliptical, bike and treadmill. I thought it was killing me and I was actively helping. The gym as a form of suicide?

Truthfully, I am half killing myself. I'm killing off half of my weight. I'm killing off the woman who shops in the wide woman department. I'm killing off the only adult I've ever been.

So, what's the other half?