teacher life - "tails" of cafeteria duty

Hello long lost friends!

Although I am not a very consistent blogger, I feel like this past stretch has been extremely long.  I have officially been sucked into the vortex known as the "teacher life."  I am too pooped to whoop, and I am seriously loving it.  I have poured myself into work about as much as I can, and am having to schedule days where I leave early (read:  on time.)  I can always find something to work on... something to grade... something to organize... a lesson to plan.  At times I am just worn out, and I know "worn out" has the scariest potential to lead to "burn out."  And I am refusing burn out.

One of the best/worst parts of my job is Friday morning cafeteria duty.  I work at a school with a student population of 4,000.  We have two buildings, each with their own cafeteria - or commons area.  On Friday mornings I head to the South Commons to stand guard and make my presence known.   I am pretty sure most students think I am one of them.  It's key to wear my teacher ID on these days.  Even then, they probably just think I am a student who has hijacked a teacher ID.

This is one of the best parts of my job because I get to spy on a bunch of high school kids in their element.  I am fascinated... especially by the clothes they wear.  When I was in high school, I made a fashion (under)statement by rocking WAY too many graphic tees, a pair of Pumas (which I still own) and a pea coat (which I also still own, but don't wear with the Pumas anymore.)  I had a super-short flipped out Flying Nun sort of haircut, that I thought was cute.  I wasn't highly fashionable, but I didn't leave the house with a tail or looking like one of Snow White's seven dwarves.  My parents would have put the damper on that pretty quickly.  It was almost a battle when I left the house in a spaghetti strap top to go to a Sugar Ray concert one summer.  (This just keeps getting better!)

But that's what I see on Friday mornings... tails and Seven Dwarves/Smurf hats.  Sometimes I see tiger tails.  This makes sense to me... the high school mascot is a tiger, so a tiger tail is fitting on spirit days.  But I have also seen wolf/fox tails.  Just hanging out the back of some pants, like they have belonged there all along.  Don't get me started on the Smurf hats.  Apparently this is a legitimate fashion trend right now.  All I know is, no matter how great the girls have bobby-pinned them to their heads, "no hats" means "no hats."  Not even if you are wearing it as a quasi-hat.

Let's not forget the morning where I saw a young lady in a Catholic school-girl get-up.  I immediately started singing "Hit Me Baby One More Time," and wondered if these kids even remember that music video.  I have seen a return of the 90's with two separate occurrences of acid wash jeans and one flat top hair-do.  I see a LOT of two-toned hair.  Black and blue... purple and blonde.  Really any color combo will do the trick.

But the thing that baffles me the most are the sagging skinny jeans.  This is popular with some of the young gentlemen right now.  I really don't care to see the 6 - 8 inches of boxers hanging out the back... just call me crazy.  :)

Friday morning cafeteria duty is one of the worst parts of my job because it's like life-guarding 2000+ sharks.  They do have the potential to bite back.  Thankfully it's only once a week - and gives me an incentive to get out of the house early enough to swing by Starbucks for a Friday morning treat.

I have almost made it through my first semester - just 12 school days left, and it's time for Christmas Break!  I am still so thankful for this amazing opportunity, and truly feel blessed... tiger tails and all.