Back in Black

In preparation for the new semester, I dyed my hair black again. It had been brown for a while, and though I love my natural hair, black hair gives me confidence. It has nothing to do with the gray hairs I found. Nothing. I feel strangely back to normal with my black sassy bob.

Back to school. I usually get a little nervous my first day, but today I'm all Boss Lady for some reason. I like to come in to the semester hard, like all "I expect a lot/there's a lot of reading/I can tell when you are texting so don't do it." And I think this semester I really sold it. Here's hoping I get some of the lazier students to drop.

You know what's a sad day when you are a teacher? The arrival of your w-2. Once a year, I both cringe and marvel at my ability to get by on my salary. It's meager, especially for a 31 year-old with several degrees. And with the California budget crisis (and general economic crisis) looming, I should probably be thankful I have been getting paid at all! Many people got cut from the part-time teaching pool in my department. I got one of my favorite classes (the TV class) cut because of budget reasons. So next year's W-2 should be even more of a shock. Is it worth it? I enjoy my job a lot more than I could have imagined. When I find something to use in my classes I get excited about it and take down notes. I know it will pay off one day, but at least for now it pays off emotionally. That's at least half of what you need to stay at a job.



I got my packet of last semester's evaluations, along with the sealed confidential envelope that contains my department Chair's evaluation of the evaluation. I haven't opened them yet. I got them so close to the first day of the semester that whatever is in them couldn't be used to restructure or change the syllabus, and I didn't want any of the bad reviews to harsh my mellow going into class. But I will get to them tonight and post a few choice examples, if there are any funny ones. There are almost always funny ones. So stay tuned!