"It seems to me, once in your life, before you die, you ought to see a country where they don't speak any English and they don't even want to."

My day from 6:30 AM-9:30 AM

Sometimes I think of Our Town and the message of the precious beauty of each day of life. Sometimes I feel it. This morning I woke up. Thank G-d. My throat hurt, out of no-where. I took some Airborne and something called No Time For Colds. It seems to be working.

I had a nice shmooze with my friend who drives me in at seven. I don't remember the details but I always enjoy the tone. We arrived at seven thirty, at the same moment as a colleague whose wife is recuperating from major surgery. It's a privilege to see someone so even keeled and strong. Said colleague noticed something in a piece I published, a personal revelation that I didn't realize was there. I was sure I hadn't written what he said I wrote, right up until he showed me the words in print.

Teaching is rich with decisions and ramifications. A few of the boys I take davening attendance for were late. One of them asked to speak to me after davening to tell me that he's not ready for the test that he was supposed to take on Wednesday. I told him that if he'd be more invested in class he'd be more ready for the test, but the acoustics may have been bad, that or there was some other reason why he had trouble hearing me.

I lent my spare pair of tefilin to my friend and driver so he didn't have to turn back to get his. After Shacharit ended I wrote a poem inspired by the Monday/Thursday tachanun and stayed after to show it to a colleague as we removed our tefillin. - An announcement was made at that time that everyone had to evacuate the Shul except one class which was to stay. So we finished with the poem fast and my colleague went to the teacher's room and I went to my classroom to be there early and ready when the students came in. I'd written variant versions and wanted this sensitive colleague to help me choose, but the jury is still out. Two kids during first period needed Torah Guidance at some point so we set that up for later in the day.

The main lesson for the first period class was a comparison of the two versions of the aseret hadibrot in the Torah. the Ibn Ezra has a very modern sounding view and we talked it out. That takes us to 9:40.

It's now 6:20 and I'm still at work. I met with nine kids for Torah guidance, taught four periods, and submitted two completed recommendations. Each of those activities is fibered and full, but I don't have the energy or time to write It all out - not that anyone's asking me to. I'm pushing on with my duties - lessons to prepare, review sheets to write, and and and.

Miles to go before I sleep, and hopefully at a decent hour there will be miles to sleep before I go, and start all over again.