I'm Dreaming of My Winter Break, With Every Paper That I Grade ...

My winter break begins December 15 and lasts until January 21. Over the break I will:

Added 12/09:
See the new Bond movie.
Read some more about Barak Obama (run, Obama, run).

Lounge morning after morning in my silk pjs, with coffee and a croissant on a tea tray near my side and NO STUDENT ESSAYS anywhere in sight.

Make uglies from clay. Last time I did this was in Mrs. Farnsworth's fourth grade class – it was the best art activity ever!

Daydream, wonder and worry about the ‘07 baseball season. Jason Schmidt has left the Giants’ bull pen – he defected to the damnable Dodgers. Will we have a closer? Hell, will we have a pitching staff that’s worth anything? Will Bonds stay or will he go?

Play The Clash as loud as possible and wait for some cranky neighbor to complain.

Make New Year’s cards from the cut-up scraps of old Christmas cards. Who knows if I’ll even send one – it doesn’t matter.

Play my CD with Dean Martin singing “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” over and over – until I never want to hear it again (or a cranky neighbor complains).

Spend an afternoon reading (some novel that I have absolutely no intention of using in any class I’ll ever teach) and napping on Ocean Beach. I’ll bring a thermos of hot cocoa, my favorite cuddly blanket, some apples, and a bag of dog treats to share with any four-foot that comes along.

Listen to Handel’s Messiah, especially the part with “Unto us, a child is given.”

Write some very bad, very cliché erotica.

Walk 4 miles a day. Lift weights three times a week. Drink a glass of champagne every Saturday night.

Sign up for salsa lessons.

Never ever set the alarm clock.

But until then, back to paper-grading!