The Posters Were Five Dollars Each

Second day at the new school went much better than the first day. I have kindergarten classes! Two of them! It's been a while since I had to look over the desk and down to find the beaming little face. They're just as likely to hand you their shoe as their book, but they're so damned cute and enthusiastic that it doesn't really matter. One class has an Addison and an Edison, a Darien and a Darren, and a Jana and a Jenna, so not confusing at all. It's kind of funny how you develop a very close relationship with a very small segment of a school's population when you work one shift a week. When the first class came in, I explained that I was new and told them to correct me if I got any of the library procedures wrong. Then I outlined what I thought should happen, and the teacher at the back said "sounds like you got it down pat", but what I heard was "sounds like a goddamned plan", and I had to stop and process for a minute. As the class was winding down, I whispered to her what I had thought she said and now we're best friends.

Last week was the book fair (HI NICOLE). This is the first year I got paid to do book fair, after many, many, many years of doing book fair. I also went in on my day off to help, though, because even though it's a giant pain in the ass, I really love the book fair. It usually runs on the Thursday evening because parents come in to do parent teacher interviews and you can rake in the dough if you open for parents. The library tech couldn't stay late on Thursday so the principal and vice principal came to help me - this is not a regular occurrence. The principal is a funny, chill guy (former gym teacher). He would try to make the kids do math to figure out how much change he owed them. I feel sorry for anyone who has to do math under pressure so when he told them it was a life skill they would need out in the world, I helpfully told them "just get a phone". He found me delightful.

I feel pretty good, especially for November. I increased my antidepressant dosage back in September when I was having major extended lows, and I'm pretty much feeling the projected full effect right on schedule. I'm having a sort of different manifestation of anxiety, in that I feel like a thousand things are going on when really there are not that many things are going on (partly because my memory and focus are so iffy - thanks perimenopause - that if there are more than two things, I'm likely to lose track of at least one). But I'm happy. The kids are doing well, I'm really happy to have a little bit of work, my sister is coming for Christmas, and hanging out with my hilarious friends is really fun. If civilization wasn't crumbling around us, things would be damned near perfect.