Random things...

I've not been doing well since Christmas. I'm not a sickly person, in the least, but I've been hit with two stomach bugs and two colds. And I think I'm coming on to my third cold. My throat hurts and I'm all bunged up. The kicker is that my back hurts -- as I might have mentioned before, any time that happens, I'm ill.

I hope my co-workers don't think that I'm some sort of skiver. I have been off a large number of days, more than I have ever been when I was at any other school in the US. I guess the thing is that the older I get, the more unwilling I am to go into work, barely breathing. I've learned, the hard way, that my health is the most important thing and it must be protected. The other thing is that since I'm resource, it's easier for me to be away. I probably wouldn't have taken half the days if I was a classroom teacher.

***

I'm living side-by-side with irony right now. It's hil-air-ee-ous!

As I've expressed to you, this volleyball season has been tough going on me. This is mostly due to being the captain. I don't really have any power. I'm there for the coin toss, that's it, at least in the mind of my coach. Now, if he was off playing a game, I would be the one making the substitutions, calling time-outs, giving pep talks, etc. But I have no say with the girls. They never listen to me. Really. It's like the things I say are just to make noise. Yak-yak-yak, hoo-wee!

Anyway, that whole issues been getting me down. Subsequently, I haven't been as vocal, with criticism or praise. I mean, what's the bloody point if they are just gonna do whatever the hell they want to, y'know? I get frustrated in the games because it seems the girls lose concentration easily and need someone to always pick them up, give them reminders that they are playing a GAME. Pick ya damn self up, cos nobody picks me up when I'm down. I get five shite passes in a row and nobody says a damn word. No 'Sorry', no nod of the head, nothing. But I'm still supposed to go, 'It's ok girls! We can do it!' while I'm still out of breath from running for their sliced pass and wiping blood off my knee from when I fell. So, yeh, I'm quiet, cos if I say anything, I might go off.

So Saturday, a girl on the bench said that she noticed that when my head went down, so did the other girls. Some of the other girls echoed in: when I stopped making noise, the other girls did also. This was said to be during Tuesday's training, in which I was having a bad time (mostly because my coach let another, non-setter set most of the training and everyone was giving her props for her great sets -- grrrr): when you get down, so do the other girls.

Super. No pressure, right?

Right in the middle of Ironyville, eh?

Learn to talk British!

Bunged up - congested, as in with a head cold
Skiver - a person who skives; from the verb 'to skive', meaning to try to avoid (used when talking about avoiding work, school, etc.)