Being the Nucleus

[Student 1 karate kicks in the air while waiting in line after recess]
Student 2: Stop it!  You're gonna kick me!
Student 1: I don't have to listen to you!
Me: Stop.  I need you to get yourself settled and out of recess mode.  And you do have to listen to me.
Student 3:   Because she's the nucleus! Boom!
Me: What he said.  I'm the boss.

Science metaphors on the recess yard?  My job is done here.


This week has been ridiculous.  I've been working 11+ hour days for the last week to prepare sub plans, to grade everything I can in anticipation of grades being due shortly after I return, and to get things copied and planned early so that I don't return to a shitstorm of work next Tuesday.  Because there is nothing worse than returning from vacation only to suffocate beneath mountains of ungraded exams and papers that have not yet been copied.

Surprisingly, all of this time at work has actually been highly efficient.  Normally, I procrastinate grading at all costs and do everything else instead until I literally can't wait any longer, but I didn't this week.  I suppose that in work-heavy situations, I kick into hyperdrive.  Here are the paper piles I left for the sub.

I'm Type A.  Case in Point.

Simultaneously, I have been grappling with the decision to buy or walk away from this house into which I've been investing time, money, and emotion over the last 3-4 weeks.  After multiple conversations with multiple people, including daily chats with the realtor and a thirty minute conversation with my parents yesterday, I have decided to buy the house.  It may be a little bit of a money suck at the beginning, but I think that in the long run, I'll end up saving money by buying, especially since I expect the house to significantly increase in value between the turning of the neighborhood and the renovations being completed.  There are still four more weeks before I close, but that's okay because I will need the four weeks to get the house appraised, line up bids and contractors, fill out loan paperwork, move around funds, and generally acclimate myself to the idea of being significantly less financially liquid.

I also have to remind myself that there's plenty of things that could go wrong between now and Halloween, and between Halloween and some unknown time in the future when I sell this house.  Because while I may be the boss of my class, and on top of my work, being a homeowner (it seems) is really a game of "When will the next thing stop working?"  Murphy's Law is the nucleus.  I'm just a measly protein, a small piece of the puzzle.

Unsurprisingly, I suppose, I kind of wanted to write about all of this, even though I don't technically have to according to the nonexistent bylaws of the 30 in 30 challenge.  I guess it helps me process.  Maybe it's not the end of the blog as we know it?