I feel sleepy today. Maybe my body is just allowing it to happen after suppressing it for the past few months. Yesterday, Paul and I went to the mall to buy Liberto some presents. He wanted clothes, so we drove to Oglethorpe Mall. It was only about 10 a.m., but people were beginning to take up too much space. I really do prefer internet shopping. After I had bought him three pairs of pants and three shirts, we left. On the way home, Paul wanted to stop at the other mall and walk through Outdoor World. We pulled into Savannah Mall. The parking lot was jammed tight. The parking lot aisles are very narrow, but that didn't stop the SUV's and trucks from aggressively forging ahead through these tight passages, or backing out of spaces without looking behind. We walked through Outdoor World, both floors, then into the mall. Paul's true motive was soon revealed as we got closer to the Food Court. Once there, he requested Japanese food. It was almost lunch time, so I sprang for it. He got take-out, and we walked back through the mall, through Outdoor World, to the car. Actually, now that I think of it, we walked a lot yesterday.
At home, I wrapped Liberto's presents, each one in a separate box, with paper and bows. I'm a terrible gift-wrapper, with the grace of a four-year-old. Since he's still struggling with the undiagnosed pain, I was hoping the sight of cheerfully wrapped presents would boost his spirits when he got home.
He had a late afternoon appointment with the chiropractor yesterday, so he arrived home feeling much better. After dinner, he set up the webcam to phone cousin Carlos in Rochester, to wish him a feliz cumpleanos. Though they are cousins, the two of them grew up as brothers. Venezuelans don't seem to have any family boundaries; all relatives are just one big, never-ending family. As a little boy, Carlos came to live in Liberto's house for six months while his madre was ill, and the two boys shared a room. In the '80's, Carlos came to the states about a year before Liberto did. They stayed together at the English Language Institute in Mississippi until Liberto entered LSU in Baton Rouge. Carlos, who is Liberto's age less one week, is married to an older Venezuelan woman who is my age! Carlos and Yolanda live in Rochester, NY, where I spent my formative childhood years. He is an Associate V.P. for an international company and travels to Europe and South America all the time.
While Liberto was talking with Carlos, via computer, I had a call on the regular line from Gail, a woman I worked with and liked at Groves. She filled me in on all the gossip and rumors over there, giving me the names of the teachers whom the principal has selected as her targets of dislike this year, telling me who had abandoned ship (one teacher who landed a job at Armstrong made a big drama out of throwing the keys to his classroom onto her desk in a grand gesture of resignation), and just how foolishly the entire district was being managed. For example: the principal is making the teachers return to work on Friday, Jan. 2. Would it really have killed the administration to give the teachers that last Friday of the week, the day after New Year's, off? Another good one is that they've scheduled the state end-of-course test for Jan. 5, the day the students return from Christmas vacation. How's that for fine planning? As Gail said, the two weeks vacation is just enough time for everything they've learned to be erased from their minds. The first semester then drags on until Jan. 26, so the lame-duck students will have ample time to get restless and resistant to more work. In addition, the teachers have to post lesson plans on their doors every day. The Literacy Coach breathes down their necks looking for flaws in their plans. Talking to Gail also brought back memories of the sorry disciplinary management over there. What a backwards system, having to deliver a form directly to Mr. D., who was never in his office and never anywhere to be found, except as a blur running down the hall yelling, "Young man! Get back here!"
I told Gail that if there's ever an opening for an English teacher at RHHS, I'd let her know, but she said she can never leave Groves because it's six minutes from her house, and her husband is in poor health. She wants to be close in case she has to run home during the work day, and so she can be home right after the afternoon bell rings.
Last night, Liberto and I stayed up and watched a couple of Law and Orders. This morning when I awoke at 8, he was already gone. I remember hearing him moving around the room earlier, getting pills from bottles, collecting his things, but I fell back asleep. Later this morning, Paul and I went to Wal-Mart for grocery shopping. When we got back at about 1:00, we put the groceries away, and I sank into the easy chair in front of the big screen. It's so cozy here. I can rotate between the book I'm reading, a t.v. show, some internet surfing, and a bit of writing. I should be cleaning the house right now, but I feel so relaxed and lethargic right where I am.
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