A sign of things to come...

At this very moment, it is 11:11 pm. I just finished throwing together my second lesson plan for the day. I'm rather pleased with the first plan that I put together, I think that lesson will go over well. My second plan, however, feels like a last minute assignment that I reached my limit where the marginal benefits have approached 0 and I'm not going to squeeze any further utility out of it by spending more time on it.

In other words, I just put stuff together, and I'm done.

It's really scary how much this attitude reminds me of college. The only difference that I feel right now is the fact that by the time I finish writing this short entry, I'll have to be waking up in 5 hours. Not that the length of sleep is much different from the college days, but it's the time of day. 5 am is brutally early - it's still pitch black outside. Or at least as black as the LA lights allow it to be. And what's even more depressing is the thought that the summer solstice has already passed, and the days are getting shorter. What little light there is in the morning is only going to be decreasing from here on out.

But the good news is I'm done. The plans were only rough drafts anyhow, so I figure I can put some more serious thought into them over the next day or two, and make the final drafts when I've had some time to stew on the ideas. We have our first actual summer school class next Monday, with our first real lesson taking place next Tuesday. The plans that I'm putting together right now are for Tuesday and Wednesday. And since these plans that I will be turning in in 9 hours are only rough drafts, I have plenty of time to improve them.

It was a great feeling as I walked down the hall to the printer, to see all of these other perfectionist TFA'ers hard at work on their plans, knowing that I was on the downhill slope. I know many of them are going to stay up MUCH later than right now. In fact, I'd be willing to wager that I'm on the front end of the nighty-night crowd. But I know my bottom line, which is I don't operate very well on little sleep - 5 hours is already pushing it, less sleep would be catastrophic.

So good night TFA - enjoy what few hours of sleep you might get tonight. As for me, I'll perfect my art after I'm well rested. At some point I really am going to get my entry on why engineers will probably make the best teachers; this entry has some elements that really deserve further attention. On another night.