OUT OF OUR MINDS

TOP TEN BEST PARTS OF BEING ALIVE IN MY. . . . SHOES:#10 WORK: WAL-MART TIRE & LUBE EXPRESS AND TEACHING, PART III:
I wrote this last year, but it’s still basically true.
Nearly all of my waking hours are spent in a frenzied rush – I wake and get ready as fast as I can and am out the door as fast as I can (typically between 6 and 6:30) – I race to work as fast as I can, typically arriving at school about two hours before my first class begins – during that time, I race to get as much planning, preparation, and grading done as I possibly can (the more I do before school the less I have to do after) – in the mornings I teach three classes at a junior high (8th and 9th) after which I have exactly one hour to load up and make the 30 minute drive across town to one of the high schools where I teach 10th and 12th grade English – classes end at 4:00, after which I race home and try to productively divide my time between my family, work and myself – on Saturdays it’s the same drill (7-4) only at Wal-Mart’s Tire and Lube Express – working there is therapeutic b/c it’s very busy [I change tires and oil all day as fast as I can (and my average times are minutes faster than all of my coworkers) and then I go home] – it’s cathartic b/c it’s the opposite of what I do every other day: I don’t have to think; I don’t have to be nice; and I’m not responsible for anyone other than myself – on Sundays I sleep a little later, go to church, clean and organize the study, take a nap, go to Bible study, try to get ready for Monday and then it all begins again – I suspect that this sort of routine is not abnormal – I suspect that all of you have as much or more happening in your waking hours – in as much as this is the case, I think we all must be out of our fucking minds