12:34

I know it's been awhile since I have updated....so a quick rundown of the past few months... School year ended well. I had one major issue....as was mentioned in my previous entry, our 'team' does not work together and it is incredibly frustrating. This all came to a head when it was apparent that I didn't get the memo that all students need to be passed regardless of ability and work ethic. I am accustomed to assigning failing grades to a large number of student every year because they stubbornly refuse to do work....no matter how many times I speak to parents, administrators, etc. SO....the school MADE me create a packet that was supposed to replace all that missing work so that I could prove to someone...I don't know who....that I had done all I needed to help them 'succeed' for the year. I fought this tooth and nail but still ended up having to do it....I was disgusted with myself and the system for a good few weeks and it still leaves a bad taste in my mouth. As much as I hate to say this though, only like 6 kids did the HUGE packet that I created and for most of them, it still made NO difference whatsoever and they still failed for the year. This may sound harsh coming from a teacher but you have to believe me when I tell you that I worked my BUTT off trying to get work from these kids....but they just truly believed that they would not fail. Sorry....learn your lesson now in middle school and don't wait until you get to high school. I'll leave out all the parts where I was the only teacher with the majority of these kids failing because other teachers changed/faked grades to avoid what I dealt with at the end of the year. Yup - public education. Thanks 'No Child Left Behind'. Thanks. Anyways....we opened our pool and have pretty much spent the last week or so sleeping in, floating around getting sunburnt and tipsy, and getting caught up on our favorite shows on Netflix. The reason for this entry stems from the last entry - the infamous time that seems to catch my eye so often. 12:34 This particular time happened to be in the AM instead of in the middle of the day. I was on (and still am, thank you AmtrakConnect) the 66 Northeast Regional Train to Boston....finally. My husband and I decided to go to Maine for a 'Big Trip' this summer since we aren't working. After spending countless hours planning the trip - hotels, rental cars, etc, we finally arrived at the station to catch our train. Yet....fate had another plan in store for us. Thanks to a very recent and dangerous storm that had moved through the area, the train station had NO power and a freight train was blocking the station because it couldn't go anywhere thanks to a huge tree that had fallen on the tracks and was currently being cleared. Shit. Of course, my husband HATES it when plans he makes don't work out so we sat on a bench in the station for 2 hours, working on our patience skills. They finally decided to put us on a bus to Washington DC where we could catch our next train (hopefully) and thanks to it being freaking 7:30 at night, there was barely any traffic so we actually made it there in time to catch our train, which ended up being delayed anyways. By the time we got comfortable and settled, my hubby had passed out (that man can sleep ANYWHERE) and I was left sitting in the semi-dark watching the lights of DC and then Baltimore cruise past us. My phone, right before it died, said 12:34. What will the rest of the trip have in store for us? I am hoping a shower at this point because it's now 7:30 AM and I might (MIGHT) have gotten 2 hours of sleep. Maybe. Hubby slept the whole way....so he better not be in a bad mood. And we still have to make it to Portland....we have to transfer trains in Boston, which I am thinking is going to be a stressful adventure since we have to go across town (does anyone want to explain this to me?) and grab a cab....hopefully. It was pretty 'waking up' to the inlets of Connecticut though. Train is stopping....let's see what's going on....