Incarcerated

Deskwarming definitely feels like being locked up.  

Last year deskwarming didn't seem to bother me as much.  Or at least I don't remember this crushing feeling that I am getting this year.  Last year it used to be a sigh of relief, a break from the - I'm not really sure what it was a break from, because in all honestly this job really isn't too hard, there are moments of stress to be sure, but on the whole life is good working here - deskwarming was just a nice way to have your day uninterrupted, mulling over facebook, watching a movie or two and just passing the working hours in your own company.

But this year?!  Eeee gads!!  It's rough!!  Perhaps that's because I've had very few days of deskwarming.  Yes, I deskwarmed every Thursday, but the build up to Thursday and even Friday following is full of classes that kept me working till well after lunch (which sounds silly to say, but most NETs finish before lunch).  

It's been a busy, full year!  But now the race has ended and instead of doing my cool down I just sort of sat down. 

Sat down to face 56 hours* of deskwarming laid out in front of me.  That, without any exaggeration, is a prison sentence!  Literally, I am forced to endure the limited confines of my desk and classroom longer than Lindsay Lohan, Paris Hilton AND Nicole Richie combined faced behind bars. There is no justice in Hollywood nor is there at Daepyung Elementary School.

Ok, ok the last part is a bit of an exaggeration.  There is justice at Daepyung.  I am allowed some freedoms.  

I can spend hours on the computer - going through Facebook, looking at various sites, browsing online stores, watching what movies I can find on Youtube...

I can read my Kindle...

But what if the 4 walls of my classroom get to be too much and I want to step outside?!  I can.  I just have to stretch the full length of my chain out and drag the weight of its restrictions as far as the front steps of my building.  Freedom!!  

I tried to sit outside last week when my 56 hour marathon started.  My Vice Principal found me and asked, in a tone that seemed as if he were concerned for my sanity, "What are you doing?".  My Principal saw me and asked, "Are you sun tanning?".  So you don't want me out here?  Back to my desk.

Following that failed attempt, I tried to get involved in other ways.  Ways that didn't take me past the threshold or leave me by my lonesome.

I heard singing one day - a sweet melody drifting up from the floor below - and followed it.  I found my favorite 4th grade class singing 'Puff the Magic Dragon'!  It was so sweet!!  Their little voices were so precious, I just wanted to stay and listen.  But I was shooed away.  Told to go to the 4th floor and listen to the other 4th grade classes try to break glass with their plastic recorders.  No thanks.  Back to my desk.

 

I have now finished 32 hours of my incarceration.  Here's hoping the next 24 go well enough to leave me with some functioning brain cells to pull off my summer camps next week!

 

*My 56 hour deskwarming marathon started Thursday, 7/12, and continues till this coming Friday, 7/20.