Guess what? Monday begins the big Ph.D. adventure for me . . .

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A friend of mine asked me to do him a favor that fell on a weekday afternoon in October, and I discoved that I couldn't give him a clear answer on whether or not I would be available.

"Why not?" he asked, rather innocently.

I then began to list all of the things I was involved in this year, and he was so amused he told me to write them down so he could keep them straight . . .

A Partial List, submitted Humbly by your Author, in Reasonable Expectation of Sympathy, of his upcoming Yearly Schedule:

1. Teaching 8th grade English (six classes instead of the usual five; I am a mercenary willing to give up planning time for cold, hard cash);

2. Graduate school (at present, four nights a week for an hour and a half a pop);

3. Varsity and JV Academic Team head coach (practicing three afternoons a week, two hours a pop, with tournaments on ten Saturdays from 8AM to 3PM);

4. Co-chair of the SACS Steering Committee for GACS (responsible for school re-accreditation; writing a big old accreditation paper AND meeting at least twice a month somehow . . .);

5. Teaching an adult Sunday school class at church (and all the activites that go with it);

6. GACS football team statistics (an old promise to a friend . . . I will be attending every football game, even the away games . . . this is every Friday night in the fall.)

7. Assistant with GACS textbooks (this means I have delivered a ton of textbooks from the textbook "dungeon" to the classrooms -- I also am the first person consulted in the JH to fix problems with textbooks);

8. Czech Republic Mission Trip (taking 20 kids out of the country over Spring Break);

9. World Vision Club Sponsor (facilitating our JH kids to serve the poor and disadvantaged in other countries);

10. All of the duties, responsibilites, and stresses that come with being a JH teacher.

I tell you this not only to elicit your sympathy, but also to beg you to teach me to say "No." I've got to start saying "no" to people and not expect that they will hate me . . .

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More later . . . kids are coming back from lunch!