something that mixes well= spray paint and teens.

i have to admit, i was slightly scared handing over 6 cans of brightly colored spray paint to a bunch of slightly crazy teenage girls. i mean, who does that? so i tell them, "paint graffiti on this paper so we can decorate for the show." at first they are shy with the paint. but all of a sudden the paint is flying and you can see the creativity flow from them. it turned out wonderfully and, thankfully, none of the paint reaches the walls of the school building of which the girls say, "you know, they are going to tear down that part of the school anyway...." a first year teacher's nightmare.

so our swing show turned out great. the students did well and i ended up not making a fool of myself in front of two sold out crowds. it was a ton of work but it was also fun to put on a show like that. so now all that's left is: solo/ensembles (including a parents recital), a concert, large group contest, the fine arts banquet, graduation, may term, memorial day, and a visit from my mentor. i guess that's a lot for two months. oh well.

so next year i'll probably be teaching hs band at my district and a neighboring district (if everything is approved). it will be a challenge and i'm not exactly sure how it will work out but that's how things go sometimes. i can't believe i'm going through whole grade sharing, the construction of a new building, being shared by another district, and in 2 years.... consolidation. wow. i never really liked change. now it's the spice of life.

i'm going out with friends on friday night for another jam at the local bar. last time i went was both beneficial for meeting people and hearing great music so i'm pretty excited. i think everyone gets pumped to go to the monthly jam. 3 more people are joining our group of 7 so we will have a large party.

i had an excellent rehearsal today. probably one of my best this semester. it was a great feeling. i had a lot of energy and i think the students responded well to me. i'm pretty sure they think i'm crazy. its nice to finally feel like i can be myself around them. i think it was good for me to hold back at the beginning of the year- i think they can now fully appreciate how strange i am.

my colleague, the choir director, said that she thought i was normal at my interview and that she was happy and relieved to find out that i'm a little strange.

i bought the new U2 album and it's pretty good. i especially like the first track on the album. the cover is really intriguing. i need to spend some time just listening to it to get into the other songs. i usually just get stuck on the first.