Ball Suckin' Week or Bitchfest '05

Where do I begin? I swear I don't teach in the hood.

Yesterday during fourth period, a group of boys were laughing in the corner. When I asked them what was so funny, as boys do, they quickly gained their composure and swiftly game me an unconvincing, "Nuthin'." This happened again, and again, "Nuthin'." I looked down and up again toward them quickly to try to catch them, and I got a laser pointer in my eye from one of the kids. I was not injured, more annoyed.

I walked over to the boy who shined it in my eye and demanded the laser pointer. Suddenly, nobody knew anything about a laser pointer, and I was crazy. Each boy in the offending party all looked at each other and had no idea what I was talking about. So I said, "That's fine. I'll get the principal and VP involved." I walked over to the door, which was propped open and slammed the fucking thing shut so hard that it shook the whole building. As I turned around, one boy said, "Mr. Walsh, the laser pointer is on your podeum." I grabbed it and another boy said, "What are you going to do with it?" I said, "Probably break it." He said, "You can't destroy my property." I said, "Okay, so the laser pointer is yours then." Silence. "Mr. Walsh, do you curse?" I responded, "Sometimes." The boy asked, "What kind of car do you drive?" "Why?" I asked. "Would you curse if something happend to your car?" I responded, "Now you are threatening me. I'd quit while I was ahead if I were you."

I brought the laser pointer to the principal's office at break, really not thinking it would be a big deal. Apparently I was wrong. The VP said that it was assault when he flashed it in my eye, and that I need to sign a statement, so I did. Flashforward to sixth period when another teacher came into my room and said he was covering for me and that I needed to go to the office. When I get there, the fuckin' cops are there asking me if I want to press charges, did I ever feel as though I was threatened or that there was a gun pointed at me, how far do I want to take this, etc. Not really being interested in ruining lives, I denied the charges and told the VP to handle it. To make a long story short, one boy is suspended until the last day of school and another is suspended until next Tuesday (the longest our district can suspend a student is 5 days and the shiner got 5 days).

On top of all of this, I have heard nothing from any job that I applied and interviewed for. The one I really want, my dream job, hasn't called me back either. Needless to say, I am stressed. I will be in a bad place if I do not get a job offer from any of the avenues I persued, and I am not kidding. I think staying at school until 9:00 three nights in a row hasn't quite helped either, but there are so many fucking papers to grade before Monday... Fuck it. I need a beer.