Johnny/Giant Girl is Sick
Jan. 30th, 2008 10:47 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lydamorehouseI'm not sure I could be more bummed. Last night when I peeped in at Johnny/Giant Girl and South Africa before heading off to Loft class, I noticed that Johnny/Giant Girl has developed two... I'm not sure what to call them... bumps? tumors? on his body. The weirdest part is that they're huge (compared to the size of his body, anyway,) and they seem to have developed over the course of an afternoon.
The saddest part is that I'm absolutely certain that discovering those bumps totally threw off my teaching.
I have fourteen students, and I'm going to have to talk to the Loft about our location. Currently, they have us all in a room upstairs that has the funkiest set up. The tables are in their usual circular set-up, but there's no centrally located blackboard/white board. They have both a white and a black board, but they're on the wall that is one of the two longest edges of the rectangle that makes up the room. So a large group of the students have to sit with their backs to the board, and it's not like the chalkboard is in the center of that area... it's off to one side, the far side, closest to the door. That's probably hard to visualize, but trust me, it feels WRONG. Plus, I don't know if it was my own dampened enthusiasm or the acoustics in the room, but I felt like I was screaming into the void last night.
And not making a whole lot of sense.
I tell myself that the students have signed up for twelve weeks. Even if they went home shaking their heads after last night's class, they're bound to give me another chance before dropping out completely. Fortunately, there were a number of people I knew from the previous semester's class, so I suspect they'll hang on.
Bleah.
I think between freaking out about Johnny/Giant Girl and Shawn's immenent departure (she left this morning at 6:00 am for Indiana), I just wasn't up to full potential.
This morning was rough too. Shawn woke Mason up to say good-bye, which I totally understand, but meant that he was up at 5:45 am and wasn't going back down. This is one of the only true flaws my son has. He doesn't sleep nearly enough, and once he's up, he's up for the duration. But, I managed to get him fed and out the door and to school on time, despite all this commotion and -30 (F) wind chills. I even went to work out.
Then I changed Johnny/Giant Girl's tank. The only information I could find last night for a possible cause was "dropsy" which is basically fish cancer. It can be brought on by bad water conditions or old age. Given that South Africa seems perfectly happy and healthy, I suspect the latter with Johnny. There's no cure for dropsy, if that is indeed what is wrong with him, but the only up side is that it's not likely that it's caused by a diseased tank.
My attempts to help fish have all been such utter failures that my current plan with Johnny is just to wait and see. I thought frequent water changes and lots of kisses might be a good place to start.
sigh.
The saddest part is that I'm absolutely certain that discovering those bumps totally threw off my teaching.
I have fourteen students, and I'm going to have to talk to the Loft about our location. Currently, they have us all in a room upstairs that has the funkiest set up. The tables are in their usual circular set-up, but there's no centrally located blackboard/white board. They have both a white and a black board, but they're on the wall that is one of the two longest edges of the rectangle that makes up the room. So a large group of the students have to sit with their backs to the board, and it's not like the chalkboard is in the center of that area... it's off to one side, the far side, closest to the door. That's probably hard to visualize, but trust me, it feels WRONG. Plus, I don't know if it was my own dampened enthusiasm or the acoustics in the room, but I felt like I was screaming into the void last night.
And not making a whole lot of sense.
I tell myself that the students have signed up for twelve weeks. Even if they went home shaking their heads after last night's class, they're bound to give me another chance before dropping out completely. Fortunately, there were a number of people I knew from the previous semester's class, so I suspect they'll hang on.
Bleah.
I think between freaking out about Johnny/Giant Girl and Shawn's immenent departure (she left this morning at 6:00 am for Indiana), I just wasn't up to full potential.
This morning was rough too. Shawn woke Mason up to say good-bye, which I totally understand, but meant that he was up at 5:45 am and wasn't going back down. This is one of the only true flaws my son has. He doesn't sleep nearly enough, and once he's up, he's up for the duration. But, I managed to get him fed and out the door and to school on time, despite all this commotion and -30 (F) wind chills. I even went to work out.
Then I changed Johnny/Giant Girl's tank. The only information I could find last night for a possible cause was "dropsy" which is basically fish cancer. It can be brought on by bad water conditions or old age. Given that South Africa seems perfectly happy and healthy, I suspect the latter with Johnny. There's no cure for dropsy, if that is indeed what is wrong with him, but the only up side is that it's not likely that it's caused by a diseased tank.
My attempts to help fish have all been such utter failures that my current plan with Johnny is just to wait and see. I thought frequent water changes and lots of kisses might be a good place to start.
sigh.
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no subject
Date: 2008-01-30 05:42 pm (UTC)I'm sorry to hear about it -- but you never know, fish are weird little things. Maybe he'll get better on his own; there's no telling. But I know how you mean about being thrown off by it. When Howard was sick (last year around this time) I completely wigged out. I'd only had him for a few months, and I was convinced that I'd killed him.
Class
Date: 2008-02-01 02:53 pm (UTC)Truly, the class was not that bad. The room sucked and that had a lot to do with the whole feel. Not only the blackboard arrangement, but the fact that we were in a fairly cozy room last semester and this time there is a huge space on each end of the tables. You used to have a wall right behind you, visually backing you up. Now you have this big echo-y space and that's hard to fill. And I'm guessing you felt the same way, with the same sort of empty space behind the table that you were facing into. Also, the late comers were no help what-so-ever, as they interrupted just as you were getting into your stride.
Having said that, the class itself was fine. First classes are always a bit awkward, but once the interruptions stopped, it did start to flow and feel better.
For my part, I do need to offer you an apology. I did not mean to preempt you when I asked if anyone was going to submit next week. I just thought you had forgotten and since we're short of weeks as it is, I thought I should bring it up. I am so sorry if I offended you or stepped on your toes.
Take care of yourself and your family; that's the most important thing. The class will work out just fine in any event.
Michelle