So it's taken me this long to post...I don't know why.  I have been on MySpace and Facebook for quite awhile now, and this seems so different...in a good way I'm sure, but I just don't know all about it yet. 

Today was a pretty good day teaching, but I was bummed out at stupid crap that you have to deal with working in a public school.  I'm bringing in a cool guest artist (kick-ass double bass player) to work with my cello and bass orchestra kids, which should be a good thing.  But, setting up a field trip, just to go to another building in the district seems to be incredibly difficult.  Who knew you would need permission slips, Epi-Pens, asthma inhalers, a first-aid kit just to go to a school less than 10 miles away?  I can understand if we were leaving school grounds and going to some off-site place where there wasn't already a nurse or something.    It's amazing to me how many things go on in schools and I never knew when I was actually a student there.  I swear more kids are allergic to things than when we were little.  I only knew 2 people growing up that had a severe nut allergy, and now I have 5 just in one of my school orchestras!  Are people keeping their kids inside too much?  Is it the vaccines they get?  is it the air we breathe?  I definitely also see a difference in the way people parent their children these days, and I don't mean that in a good way for  the most part.  When I have 10 year old students tell me they watch "The Girls Next Door" with Hugh Hefner, I feel like there's something f*ed up with that.  And, kids getting carpal tunnel syndrome from playing video games........But....that's where I say the cheesy thing about "that's why I became a teacher - to  make a difference"....somedays it doesn't seem possible, but I guess I have 30 more years to try.