During the school year, I have very little social life. This is because I have 3 preps this year (like last year!) and I haven’t been able to recycle much (any) material from last year. Which adds up to me not being able to go out on weekdays — because I’m at home making lesson plans, writing up packets, grading this that and the other, and doing all the other little things which add up. My time is like a grocery store receipt. When I go to the local Key Foods, I buy a bunch of small but necessary items (many on sale) and I go to check out. Nothing exceeds $5, but the total somehow reaches $8o or $100. I’m always perplexed how that happens. And this, coming from a math teacher! But yeah, that’s how I feel about my time also.

I have a rule that I don’t work on Saturdays. I have broken that rule — when I have a long commitment on Sunday or if comments are due — but rarely. I need this rule to set boundaries so that school doesn’t consume my life. As much as being a teacher has become central to my identity, I don’t want it to be my entire identity.

So this weekend I had a lot of work to do — grading Calculus tests, grading Algebra II homeworks, entering a ton of things in my gradebook, emailing a number of students, and creating my three lesson plans for Monday. And I almost started work on Saturday. To get a head start on the week.

But I said NO. 

Standing with defiance , I vowed to be a complete bum on Saturday, and catch up on a lot of terrible TV and Movies. (I even enlisted the help/company of a friend.) It was heaven. And on Sunday, I put on a bunch of things in the background when doing my work.

1. MOVIE: What Happens in Vegas
2. MOVIE: Made of Honor
3. MOVIE: P.S. I Love You
4. MOVIE: Definitely, Maybe
5. TV: Battlestar Galactica
6. TV: The Office
7. TV: Dollhouse
8. TV: 30 Rock
9. TV: House
10. TV: The Daily Show

Congratulations Mr. Shah. You’ve officially earned that PhD in Sloth that I always knew you were capable in achieving.