posting at September's end

"It's a half an inch of water and you think you're gonna drown...that's the way that the world goes round"

Guess that sums up my life these days lol. Panic attack after panic attack over the minor details of all the things that I have in the works. I'm seriously needing a mental vacation from work today so I thought the blog might be a terrific way to start that. Here's a pic from the car wash real quick......

Back in late August, Tanner was with me at school one evening and met Mrs. Leese, my piano accompanist (aka my best friend in the world right now). She was completely charmed by him and she told me she wanted to give him a "scholarship" to her studio and teach him piano lessons. We jumped on that for sure. She has been teaching piano 50 years and she's a sought after teacher by all so he is very lucky to get in with her as a teacher, MUCH LESS on a scholarship. So far he's been doing very well. I know the 2 of them have a good time together, I can hear them joking and laughing from the other room.

I gotta back track over 2 weeks here to think of what all we've done. But we got to go to Brooke's birthday gathering last week which was fun. Her grandma Nancy and her Aunt Judy were there to visit. I have not seen them since way back and that had not seen any weight I had lost yet. So they were commenting a lot on how great I look, etc. I haven't heard that in a LONG time so I enjoyed it lol. Nevermind that I've gained back around 20 pounds in the last several months lol.

Band is still going well, gonna be playing somewhere soon.

A couple of weeks ago our kitchen sink stopped up. We tried messing with it here and there, running a snake. Running another snake. Using all kinds of stuff any time we had the chance to fool with it. But nothing worked. Couldn't find anyone who knew to do anything that we hadn't already done. So we figured we were going to have to call a plumber. And I was broke until the 30th. So we sat like that for about 3 weeks I guess lol. The sink would drain, but VERY slowly. Over hours. So I guess it wasn't as bad as it may sound. But it was still bad. Then last weekend Rusty's dad called and offered to come help him take a look at the pipes in the backyard. As in dig them up. Bless his soul. That was a heck of a job. But it was indeed where the problem was. It was SO clogged up that Rusty and his dad just decided to cut it out and replace it rather than try to unclog it. The clog was several feet deep on the inside, and it was big chunks of white powder with maybe some grease and stuff. The more I looked at it, the more I was convinced it was the powdered Cascade I use in the dishwasher. Incredible. Since then Rusty has said that guys at work told him that they've seen that before, Cascade will do that and you should use liquid dishwasher soap instead. So - now we do!!!!




I finally got the DSL and phone line ordered. The modem and all came in today but I just don't have time yet to mess with it. I hope I get to it this weekend.

I guess most anything else I have to say about anything I've been doing is all work related. Because I haven't done ANYTHING but work. And I've come to notice that no one really wants to hear about all that lol. The "week off" we are getting in October - well, I'm already planning rehearsals for that week. There is SO much to do for that Madrigal Dinner and we just aren't moving fast enough. We just finished up a cookie dough fundraiser and made only about half as much as I had hoped. But it's still something. So now I need to find probably two more fundraisers to do in October. 24 kids still have not brought in their choir fees. And I had to give up $400 to put a deposit on the musical we're doing in the spring. It's just money money money all the time. I need about $1500 more dollars to complete the concert wear order. I just keep going forward as if it's going to happen. Like, if I believe it will it will or something lol. Guess that's all we can do.

And I guess this is my post this week. Halloween's a comin'. Thank goodness, I like Halloween.

Message from the front

So much has happened and has been going on that I think I'm just gonna make a list or something about each family member to get it caught up.



Tyler - we went and got his test results and they say he is a for sure narcolepsy/cataplexy guy. As 100% positive as they can possibly ever be with the types of tests they are able to give. And that we can continue experimenting with medications and mixes of medications to try to stop the cataplexy from happening often. But that we can never stop it happening completely. Kinda depressing. But we're going to not look at it in a depressing way. We're looking at it as just something we're going to have to work around. Like needing contacts or something. Dr. says people with narcolepsy drive all the time they just have limitations on their licenses about how long that can drive at a time and that they need to be on meds, and such. But he wants us to wait a bit longer on the license issue. Tyler has been a good sport about it. But he does get down about it sometimes and believes he will NEVER be allowed to drive. His grades are good this year so far, and no problems with teachers. He's hanging out with people he enjoys even if it's not necessarily what I have in mind for him to be doing. But we've decided to let him be as he is for now. Because the main point is that Tyler is happy, pleasant, mostly optimistic, and lots of fun to be around these days and we are so thankful after the last year or so of his life when he felt so miserable, alone, and isolated and SLEEPY. He's gotten medicine to help him see the world in a better light and has found friends who enjoy hanging with him in spite of any irritability and hangups he has over his illness. For once in the last year or two I am seeing him happy again, and seeing him feel like he is a normal teenager. All he wants to be is a normal guy in the background of a normal setting, but wants people he trusts to be with him at all times. And Tyler is someone who is always going to transcend himself above what any or everyone else thinks his life should be. And although sometimes my heart breaks for him in daily decisions he makes but at the same time, I'm ALWAYS proud of him. And often proud of his reasons for making such decisions even though I may not always totally get them. So, basically, things are ok with Tyler right now. It's just a matter of getting the drivers license I guess. And a matter of mom (me) coming to terms with his individualism!!!!!



Anyway. Tanner is doing wonderfully. He is so in tune with peoples' needs and wants, so intuitive. He's definitely one of the sweetest people ever born. He and Brooke signed up for band. Tanner is playing trumpet, Brooke playing saxophone. They're tooting along these last couple of weeks trying to learn to play. They'll be awesome in no time! I think they are both doing well in school so far too.

Rusty is doing well. He's still being pretty supportive and understanding of all I have to do so far. That's good, for him. He's about the same as he always is otherwise, happy go lucky Rusty!



Me - well, I'm just run flat ragged. I can't finish one thing without somebody throwing the next thing on me. Myself has disappeared and I don't expect to see her til May. I absolutely can not cope with my job, house, and family all at one time. I can do two of them or one of them. but I can not keep up with all 3. I have to learn to, or somethings gotta give. I'm working so hard at school this year, it's really wearing me out! How tiring could being a choir director be?????? Well it's tiring, nerve-wrecking, stress-inducing, life-consuming, and every other thing like that. It's mainly because I"m building a program from the BOTTOM up and I want to demonstrate some MAJOR, IMMEDIATE results to the whole community. I want people to say...........hey, now VHS has someone that's actually DOING something!!!!!! Tyler and Tanner have actually been trying to help me out some just because they feel sorry for me lol. Bless their hearts, they really do take notice of how hard I'm having to work. But it's just not been quite enough yet. They can only do so much, bless their hearts, but I appreciate and see everything they do. I have to preach so much all the time at work, I have to BEG kids to bring in MONEY. I have to start fundraisers and pray to God they go sell the stuff so we meet the minimum order. I have to beg and PLEAD for them to pay their choir fee. I have to collect all this money and keep it in separate accounts and do tons of paperwork on every penny I take in so it will always be more than obvious where the choir money goes. Fundraising never ends. And we did a car wash today that went well. But I lost a Saturday at home. But we made $263.00 which was far beyond my expectations. Rusty came out and stood watch over me just in case any kids brought other kids of shady character that I didnt' know and gosh knows what might have gone on, etc. But everything went very well. I was still glad for his watchful eye though lol. I still don't know what to expect with these teenagers. I have a Madrigal Singe Feaste to begin planning for RIGHT NOW and I have no clue what kids I can count on to help me with it. I think I"m putting my kids and my nephews and neices in it somehow. I have to have kids I know will show up! The tickets will be $25 per person and I gotta sell 175 of those to pay for the cost of the auditorium and the catering. Yall Vicksburg people, PLEASE buy a Singe Feaste ticket, you'll love the show! As soon as we start working on it. We're doing a Rock Band tournament for a fundraiser here in a few weeks. That will be FUN!!!!! And hopefully profitable. If anyone knows of a good fundraiser PLEASE let me know asap. I need to raise around $1800 more dollars right now. Ugh! I have my irons in too many fires and probably just need to vent. Most of my job worries all have to do with $$$$$$$$$. It's tough enough to try to manage my own personal family budget. In the last month I've forgotten the cable bill twice (once I tried to pay it when I'd already paid it 3 days before and forgotten I did it) and the water bill once and who knows what else. But trying to manage the many and varied choir budgets is definitely difficult, even with the very little amount of money I have to manage! lol Basically, I just need the district to give me a $10,000 budget and I'd be fine.

Basically most of my stress and problems stem from the fact that EVERY SINGLE THING I DO is for the FIRST TIME. NOTHING I do is something that I've been through or experienced before. I can't even make predictions based on previous experience because I have NONE. And no other choir directors at my school before me have done ANYTHING to speak of, and have left no track record or anything that I can use as base knowledge. Every single day, every single lesson, every single project, is TOTALLY NEW AND UNEXPLORED TERRITORY. My plans might be totally successful or might be a TOTAL FLOP!!!!! There's no way to ever know!!!!!! Ok time to stop talking about it.



We're still doing band each week. Couple of nights of week in between that time that I get home from work and that time when my head crashes against the pillow. Somewhere in between those moments we're accomplishing band rehearsals. And they're going ok best I can tell. I think we might play somewhere soon.

It's been 6 weeks into school. And I believe I can say I've been a basic success at work. People are talking and it's all good from what I can tell. But I'm in serious need of a vacation, and I haven't even gotten to the DIFFICULT parts yet. Geez! I've kind of gotten the feeling, or the "hint", that I'm not doing as well as I should be on making guys tuck their shirts in and making kids keep their cell phones put away. For GOD'S SAKE!!!! So I've had to become meaner than I want to be in the last week. Either that, or I get myself in trouble. But the kids are taking it pretty well. I explained to them that I'm going to have to become tougher on shirt tails and cell phones and that's just the way it is. And anyone who chooses to continue with shirt tails out and cell phone usuage (texting) in class is just making a choice for trouble and can only blame themselves. Gosh. As if I don't have tons of more important things to tend to. But I gotta do like they say or else. Apparently I got back on the topic of work. So, moving on again......

Ok let's see what else. My video camera broke this week. My kitchen sink stopped up and we still haven't gotten it fixed. Mom has cooked dinner on Tuesday nights several times in the last week and it's been AWESOME! She cooked last Sunday as well. Hope she knows how much we've appreciated it. Because since school started I don't cook on week nights. The kids know how to make frozen pizzas, egg rolls, pot pies, sandwiches, and so on lol. Tanner and Brooke have been hanging out a lot together and enjoying each other's company. I wonder sometimes how many days in a row it would take before they got sick of each other. Dusty and Cody have been over several times. Terri is doing well, she passed her nursing exam!!!!

WEll I'm hoping by the next post I can be less self-absorbed lol. Sooner or later all this newness is going to wear off and my job will be just another day, another dollar. But then I keep thinking back to the choir director at our other high school in town telling me......."I hope you realize that from now on you have NO LIFE". I'm willing to accept that for just this one year. But I can't do it any longer than one year. After this year, I must be able to have a life in addition to work. If not, then I'm going to have to change to something else!~ Be a cashier at Wal Mart or something! lol.......(do cashiers make much???? If so, I'll go NOW!!!!!)

I'm going to just post this now so I can go on to view the lakehouse blog and Brandon and Christie's blog. I totally enjoy reading everyone's blog and I'm hoping and wishing that everyone in the family will someday have one. Susan needs to post more than every July lol. I apologize for my blogs being so self-involved these last couple of posts but sometimes it's my only venting place lol. I'm going to aim to have more pictures and/or videos for the next post. I have a really awesome group at school that I think I can record. Plus Brooke and Tanner and Tyler and Kyle and Blake and who knows what all. As for this month, my camera has pretty much sat on the shelf. But next time, I'll have something. While I'm thinking about it, come hell or high water I am going to Dustin's wedding. I'll find a sub or whatever I gotta do but that's something I want to be at. I enjoyed Brandon's beautiful wedding and will do the same at Dustin's. I don't do many weddings, but that's one I'll be at!

Hope everyone has endured the hurricanes. I know Alabama/Georgia hasn't seen much of anything to speak of, as far as I know. We've had a bit here - last week as well as today and the next few days. Nothing major, no Katrina's or anything lol. But, here's to surviving the remaining days of hurricane season 2008!!!!

I'm waiting to see new pics of the lakehouse. And new pics of babies. I'm ready for May/June and the first lakehouse trip of the year where I can lay on an air mattress and say to hell with the world!!!!!!!!

The first 4 weeks of school

Well, pretty much as expected, school started like the equivalent of a hurricane hitting directly on our house. I do have to say that after all the stressing I did about the new job, I have been doing it 4 weeks now and I enjoy it more each day. Everyday I get a little more comfortable in what I'm doing and that makes it that much better each day. I knew I just needed school to start and I'd be ok. Sometimes the dread and worry is so much worse than the actual event. I actually started writing this blog after the 2nd week of school and have come back to it in the 3rd week, 4th week, and now we're into the 5th week of school. So there are probably areas where my reference to time will be off. And there are NUMEROUS things I've left out due to complete brain overload these days. But here we are!


Even though I realized that this new job would require a lot more time being put into it..........I still underestimated just HOW MUCH. The more time I spend and the more work I do, the more I realize how much MORE I need to put into it. It's going to be a busy year. It's just so much stuff. So much planning and researching and gathering of materials and talking to this person, that person, all the PR and begging various people for money and time and ................ whew. You really have to be constantly thinking about it and staying on top of things, and that is not something I'm an expert at doing so it takes a LOT of effort for me! lol. Let me get to the home stuff.



Mom and Tyler did the sleep study thing in early August and I think they had a good time lol. I know Tyler did and probably mom as well. I envied the "away" time they were having, as I was getting ready and experiencing my first day of high school at that time. We won't hear anything I guess until the first few days of September when we go back to see the doctor for results. But Tyler was able to get back on his medicines after that day and he has been super ever since. Still having the spells. But not sleepy ALL the time or depressed and irritable. Tyler has come down with some strange allergy of some sort that we can not find the source of. It mostly flares up at night. His computer died so he has been using mine in the new music room. I think it's possible there is something from that new carpet that is making him allergic. If it were cats, surely he would have been doing this months ago. But as of yet we have not figured it completely out.
>>>update - we went today for the sleep study results. The doctor said that they are as conclusive as they can possibly be that Tyler does indeed, for sure, have narcolepsy. He says that the best we will be able to do is to control the narcolepsy and to make the cataplexy less severe. Basically, there is no medicine that will stop cataplexy completely, only things that will make them happen less often. So we're toying with adding a medicine to what he is already on for awhile and see what happens. He will get his license one day, but will likely have driving restrictions. And he'll probably never be able to be a truck driver or a pilot for a living. BUt otherwise, he's normal! lol. He also gave us some allergy prescriptions so hopefully we can get all that under control too.

Tanner and Brooke got started to school. They are in the same classroom! They were thrilled. I hope they are behaving. So far I have not heard anything bad from the teacher. But he tells me that sometimes they get in a little trouble for talking and stuff. If you can imagine that.





Last week, or week before, or some time............we had a small storm and another tree fell in the back yard. Story of our lives. But this one was OH SO lucky. The new storage building we have is real close to a magnolia tree that we have in the back yard. Somehow this really tall tree broke and fell EXACTLY between the storage building and the magnolia tree. We had our new riding lawn mower parked between the storage building and the magnolia tree also. AMAZINGLY the tree fell exactly between the building and magnolia tree, with the branches falling all along the sides of the lawn mower but none of them touching it. We've GOT to be living right. I first thought the tree must have hit the roof of the storage building and then slid off to the side. But there is not a single mark on the storage building, not even a scratch on a shingle. The lawn mower has a slight scratch on it but not even a dent. If that tree had landed even an inch in either directions it would have destroyed something or other. Unbelievable. Somebody was watching out for us. But we had to go buy a chainsaw and Rusty and the kids spent all last Saturday sawing on the tree and throwing the pieces over the fence.




Last SAturday I had to go to a meeting in Jackson and the kids SERIOUSLY needed a visit to the eye doctor so they can see at school. So I had to get Rusty to take them. He needed an eye doctor visit himself anyway. So, surprisingly, he was agreeable to taking them and didn't even fuss. Actually, he's been quite helpful and understanding lately since I've been so busy and preoccupied with work - have to brag on him. So he took them to the eye doctor. Tanner has been begging for contacts so I told him to see if the doctor thought he was old enough. When I finished with my meeting I met them at the doctor's office right as they were finishing. Apparently the doctor said Tanner could try contacts. So Rusty and Tyler went home and I went to get all the contacts. They gave Tanner contacts but they wouldn't let us leave with them until Tanner had put them in his eyes himself and then taken one out and put it back in. And there I was, a total dunce on contacts, being the one having to help him. Brooke was with us too since she was spending the night and all. Getting Tanner's first contact in was a TOTAL ORDEAL. We tried and tried. I held open his top eye lid and held his bangs back, that was all I could do. He would pull down his bottom eyelid and try to get the contact in. We had watched a video on how to get them in so that was the only help we had. After about 20 minutes he finally got the first contact in - purely by accident. The second contact didn't take quite as long, but it wasn't easy either. I thought we were good to go but that's when they told us he had to take one out and put it back in. Geeeeeeezzzzzzzz. But he went in there and got one out and back in just within a couple of minutes. I think by the time we got finished with the whole ordeal, Brooke and I were totally glad that we don't have to do the contact thing. We then went shopping in Wal Mart and TAnner read every single sign he could see during the whole shopping trip. He was amazed at being able to see. He lost one by the next day and we had to wait on the boxes that we ordered to come in. We got them Wednesday and he started trying to wear them to school. We started early the first day trying to get them in and spent about 20 minutes on it. But we seriously needed to leave for school by that time so I told him he was just going to have to take them and see if Papaw could help him get them in. Somehow Papaw did help him get them in and he wore them to school. I think he had to remove one at some point that day for some reason or other, then got it back in. He wore them on Friday as well and kept them in all day. So I think little by little he's going to make it to where he can wear them with no problems getting them in. I hope so.

Back to the work thing.....my piano accompanist has been the biggest help to me. I think maybe I mentioned her last time? She is 71 years old and more energetic than I am for sure. She has helped me out so much, and supported me and encouraged me. I don't think I'd be making it without her. She has told me how glad she is to have me and how she is going to tell the principal, the superintendant, and everybody else how terrific I'm doing. That in itself has been inspiring. Then yesterday (Friday) my boss finally came down the hill to observe what was going on in my classroom and he seemed pleased. My accompanist got up and went over to talk to him. When she came back she told me that he said it was just AMAZING the difference in what I was doing and what he had seen done previously. I totally needed to hear something like that lol. So I guess things are going well so far. I still have a lot of work to do. But so far, so good. WC has a choral department of 160 kids. I have 54 kids. So I guess you can say I'm starting from the bottom in building a program. But that's ok by me I guess. 54 kids this year in a 4A school of 1150 students, I can only go up from here! I had a meeting of parents last week about various things and they were supportive also. They were just thankful to have someone that was putting time and effort into the program and couldn't wait to see what I have in store. It was uplifting for me also. I just have to keep pushing forward and studying and planning and obsessing and whatever else I gotta do to make it a successful year.

In fact, Mrs. Leese brought me a copy of an email that she sent to our superintendent. She said it was the first good email she's EVER sent him. And this is what she said:

"I just want to tell you that the last two weeks that I've spent in the choir room with Tracy Gardner have been the most pleasant that I've had in the last 6 years. She's one of the most organized teachers I've ever known. The dates for every concert or any other function of the choir have been on the calendar since the first day of school. She's choosing music that the students are excited about and teaching it in a way that is fun and in a totally professional manner. Her voice is never above a conversational tone and, because of that, the students are giving her the same respect. I'm just amazed at the change in the complexion of the choir room. Thank you that you "cared enough to send the very best"!

Sincerely, Mrs. Leese"


Organized. Me. I had to chuckle when I read that. But I guess in comparison to my home and personal life, I am probably organized at work lol. I'm too afraid of what might happen if I don't plan well or if I don't stay organized lol.

But, ike my boss last year told me.............when you're coming in behind someone who did not do a very good job, then ANYTHING you do is going to be AWESOME!!!!! I'm thankful for that much.

Band is still going well. We've had a hard time getting together lately, seems somebody always ends up having to do something else and so on. But when we manage to get together we're doing well. I have not had any time to put into it whatsoever. Luckily I learned most everything this summer while I was off.











Payday came and went the other day. I had signed a new contract with an additional 1200.00 on it for being "head choir director". I guess head of that dept. Some schools may have more than one director or other workers in the choral dept I guess. But I wasn't going to complain for sure. By the time I got some money, I had crashed my computer as well so I had taken Tyler's wireless card out of his to make mine work again. So when it all came down to it, Tyler's computer had a damaged hard drived, a destroyed cd rom drive, and NO wireless internet card to connect it to the net. Getting his going was not going to be cheap. I paid nearly as much as we paid for the whole computer. I don't know how that happened that I did it that way. But we bought a new hard drive, a new wireless card, and pulled a cd-rom drive out of an old computer and pieced it all back together. Had to load windows the least easy way, had to get the drivers for video and audio cards and all kinds of other stuff off the internet for his computer. And finally after a few hours, it would play the darn video game that is the source of all this aggravation in the first place! Today is day 3, and so far no complaints or crashes and I'm crossing my fingers. We paid $300 for the computer. And I just put $170 into it. I should have just got it fixed under warranty but I can't leave things alone! And I get started checking them out and cross that line where warranty won't cover it anymore and then there I am. But now I have my own computer back to myself. And the first thing I did was try to find a way to get my yahtzee game back on there without paying for it again by looking for a cheat code to put in and so on and so forth and to make a long story short I got a virus on my computer. The kids thought it was funny that there was a virus on MOM's computer and that MOM is the one who did it. I didn't even waste time with trying to fix it. I just said to HELL with it and wiped the whole hard drive!!!!!!!!! And started from scratch. Took an hour or two and I was done. Beat the heck out of 4 or 5 days of trial and error troubleshooting.

GUSTAV - Didn't do a darn thing. Thank goodness. I really didn't feel that I had the time in my life for another Katrina right now - yeesh! Today is the day that Gustav is hitting us, hit LA yesterday. And really, we're in a good spot I guess because we have a lot of rain and some wind gusts. But I'm sitting here with power, cable, internet, and all the comforts of home. We didn't have to go to school today just as a precautionary measure. So I even got a nice little day off that I needed to spend some time with myself! And to post my blog! ANd I better click on "post" right now or I'll have to change the title again to the first FIVE weeks of school......

Ah well. For a bit of humor.

Top 10 things I've learned in my first 4 weeks of high school:

10. 95% of teenagers, regardless of how good they seem, will LIE LIE LIE LIE LIE LIE LIE LIE. I used to get so irritated in the last couple of years when teachers and counselors and principals wouldn't take my kid's word for anything, or even MY word for it. It didn't take long for me to see why. 2 days, max. Teenagers will lie. They will tell good lies that you can hardly recognize are lies. They will tell really bad lies that are OBVIOUSLY lies, and will continue to insist they are the truth. They will lie for no reason. They will lie for each other. They will tell the same lie repeatedly even after you've proven it's a lie. They will tell lies to make themselves look good. They will tell lies to make themselves look bad. They will lies to make the story sound better, or they will lie to make the story sound less than what it was. They will lie about the color of their shoes without any reason, or any prompting to do so. They will lie about what grade they are in, how old they are, what their name is, you name it. Lying is one of the main tools they use to achieve their number one goal above all things which is..........DRAMA.

9. The law of the state of MS requires that a person be 18 years of age or older before they can get a tattoo. Apparently the laws are different for gang members and street thugs.

8. In a class of 27 students with 2 of them being white, black students are considered a minority.

7. From what I was told in 3rd period: "black folks hair and rain do NOT mix, aight?" I did not realize that it was such an issue. But any day it rains, my black students totally DESPISE me and the fact that my room is down the hill. They act as if I have somehow designed the building and chosen my room just so that they will have to get their hair wet. Any other day they're pretty cool with me.

6. Students who are serious behavior problems in 3rd grade.........simply don't improve. There's just not a lot of hope I guess.

5. The cops in the school ARE indeed neccessary. As a parent in the last couple of years I thought that was maybe a bit much, or just a big "show". But.....yeah......they are needed. I"m thankful to have them personally.

4. If I call the principal on the phone, he will come down and escort each student up the hill with an umbrella when it is raining. That's what they try to convince me of anyway. I can SO see myself calling and bothering Mr. Reed to come and escort students one by one up the hill. They SO think I was born yesterday lol. God help me if there are many rainy days this year. Those days are ROUGH.

3. Teenagers make excellent actors because they practice drama EVERY day. EVERY MINUTE OF EVERY FRIGGIN DAY.

2. Gum chewing is suddenly the most aggravating, irritating, most serious offense in the world to me. I can not STAND to look out and see somebody singing and chewing gum at the same time. If I'm ever in the insane asylum I'll be in a corner mumbling about gum chewing. It's making me MENTAL.

1. No matter what the problem, what the situation, no matter WHAT!!!!!!........teenagers are much more fun to teach than Kindergartners........hands down. Overall, I'm having a blast so far. Everything, so far, beats having someone wet their pants or being flipped off by a 5 year old. It's new territory and I love it.