4-25-01 W 9:12 AM

I’m at Wilshire Hill. The kids are working on a lesson called “Regrouping Twice.” I’ve been trying to get through to TicketMaster for Kings tickets but haven’t been able. I don’t know when I last wrote. I think I typed fifteen minutes on the laptop here at school yesterday morning. I guess I read the newspaper. I’vbe been working with the kids to get them ready for their Stanford 9 test which beings May 8^th. They’re doing well. I’m struck suddenly by how often it is frustration that inspires me to write. These journals, everything I write, give an account of me as a petty and constantly aggravated person. That may be the truth, but outwardly it is not so, and people who know me would not describe me as petty or aggravated; in fact, they would more likely remark on the opposite: patient and gregarious. In a lot of ways, the journals are the repository of all the things I’d rather not say out loud. Life’s full of contradictions and ironies, no doubt about it. Anyway. I ran around the basketball court with the kids yesterday, trying to sweat off some flab. We had an aggravating staff meeting for an hour and half after school. We have to sign up for mandatory trainings for the new math and reading programs. Apparently, after twelve years of school, four years of college, and two years of teacher credentialing classes, I still need training on my vacation to teach third grade. Whatever. I was supposed to go to a class and to CBET to install a lock on a filing cabinet at LA Elementary, but I went with Yovaughn and Florelle to Hot Wings on Melrose. Had a couple of beers, gossiped about school. Rode my bike home. Lied about where I’d been for some reason. Rochelle had been planning on spending the evening in Orange County, but she changed her mind and was here when I got home. I had been thinking I would read and write the whole night but ended up farting around on the internet, reading news from Detroit about Fick and the Redwings. Printed some stuff to send to Mac. Called Grandma. She has a cold, poor thing. Watched “A River Runs Through It.” It’s a good movie, if a bit maudlin. It reminds me of my brother and me. I’ve got to change that file cabinet lock today. I should ride my bike.