caesar, rest now. i killed you not so eagerly as i killed myself...

It's spring here. It was 80 degrees yesterday, 70 degrees the day before, kids were itchin' to get outside and teachers were itchin' to get home. I'm enjoying having the windows open and a bike almost ready to ride (there's a slight problem with the left brake line).
This whole week I've been getting the discs for Veronica Mars Season 1. I got hooked on this show cause it comes on after Gilmore Girls, but I hadn't watched any episode before Season 3. So, I put 'em on my Netflix. It's actually really good and even David got into it a little bit. I always though it was more for teenagers, but she makes a lot of references like GG does and it's almost noir-like (similar to the movie Brick, which I loved, but not as noir as that...). I've enjoyed that as well as finally finishing the reading of Julius Caesar. Amazingly, I think 80-90% of the kids liked it (but we are all glad to get a break on reading Shakespeare). We had some fun times with that play. I think they enjoyed my silly reenactments and paraphrasing. We had a few moments of "Friends? I think not! More like lovers!" where a few male students were all, "Um, I'm sorry... were Brutus and Cassius... y'know? No homo, guys. No homo, I'm just wondering" that caused laughter and discussion. Oh, and they loved Act V, where everyone kills themself (or has their servant hold a sword to run on to). As we were reading, a few heads snapped up as the actor is dying (very corny) on the tape with a "WHAT?! DID THEY JUST KILL THEMSELF, TOO?! WHAT IS WRONG WITH THESE DUDES?!". I loved it-- at least I knew they were paying attention. Now, we watch the movie, they finish projects & do presentations on them, review like crazy & take a test on it, and (in 9 school days--since we're all counting down), spring break comes our way. I've been staying after Tuesday-Thursday to try and get some kids to finish up work they've missed (there's been some illnesses going around and a rash of suspensions because we've been in school for weeks straight) and also start them on their projects and (next week) studying for their test. I've noticed a lot more drive in them recently, I don't know if it's because it's the second semester, what we're doing in class, the weather, or the fact that I've been able to stay after school more to help them, but it's nice.
Besides watching Veronica Mars, finishing Julius Caesar and so on, I read and finished Into Thin Air. It was great! Mount Everest & the people who climb (or try to) it are incredibly fanscinating to me. Now I'm reading The Mother Tongue. I finally went to WBG's library--it's really, really nice. It almost feels like a cottage in there 'cause it's got the same type of look, windows and a loft! I've also been trying to finish up #2 of The Alison Transmission (my zine). I've been kinda tired recently, so I haven't been very motivated beyond watching DVDs and reading the books I got from the library. I need to start getting ready to teach a unit on a research paper (very new for me), but I'm gonna use spring break to get that done. I've worked my butt off keeping ahead for this Caesar/Shakespeare unit and now I'm tired and counting down the days to a break. I have no clue what I'm gonna do for spring break. My originial plans were scrapped due to lack of funds. Ah well.