[DOOR FLIES OPEN]

Did you enjoy Balls last night?

Tik Tok indeed.

There are two weeks to go in my school year and I think I’ve officially run out of gas. It doesn’t much help that it’s more June-uary than June. Seven of the thirteen days so far have been moist. And the baseball season that normally restores my sanity is likely to be officially cancelled by the end of next week, when it was expected to start. So there goes that outlet for my considerable rage.

The year-end meetings have begun in earnest. I’m expected to complete transition plans for kids who worked hard, and for kids attended two classes & project what they should do next year to complete graduation. (Sneak peek:  “THE SAME FUCKING THING as this year”!) The fun part is the parents who have no idea how their kid did, because they’ve been lied to all year, and then show up & demand to see the folder of work the kid has completed. I LOVE being accused of hiding or – more fun – throwing away a kid’s work, because such a perfect angel would never pull such a con. But then I pull out the attendance register – a delightfully prepared Excel spreadsheet – and it all comes clear. (Even during COVID, attendance was kept, based on “Did the student contact the instructor this week / submit homework?”)

But at least I still have a job. Given all that has gone on, I’m still pretty fortunate to have survived the apocalypse with my employment intact. The loss of International Students is likely to cost my District over 40 teaching jobs – a combination of declining enrollment & the loss of the $15,000 each of those kids brings the District. (FYI – average Int’l student fees for local private schools runs $25-35,000.) Plus, working in adult education, all the kids who failed as a result of the closed-schools issue now become my students. It’s a shame that there are always kids who fall through the cracks.

Tonight’s … entertainment?:

• NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series:
  • Baptist Health 200 – 7:30PM | FS1
    • From Miami-Homestead Speedway in Florida.
• UFC Fight Night: From Las Vegas – Eye vs. Calvillo
  • Jessica Eye meets Cynthia Calvillo at flyweight (125 lbs.) in the main event from UFC Apex in Las Vegas.
    • Prelims – 7:00PM | ESPN / TSN
    • Main Card – 9:00PM | ESPN / TSN
• Super Rugby Aotearoa: From New Zealand – with crowds!
  • Blues vs. Hurricanes – 11:30 PM | ESPN2 / TSN2
• AFL:
  • Sydney vs. Essendon – 1:30AM | TSN4

That is a rock-solid lineup of action. Might as well start pouring doubles.