It's the Most Ridiculous Time of the Year

At this time last year I was blasting Christmas music 24/7, to and from school, and putting up icicle lights in our apartment window, and imagining how unreasonable it would be to get a Christmas tree for our apartment. For whatever reason, I can't get into it this year. Not yet anyway. I feel like it's because I have no time to think. You'll notice that with my sparse blog posts, I don't even have time to procrastinate anymore.

And that's because soccer is in full swing. Our first game is on Tuesday, but we have practice every day, and since Varsity has already begun their games, on their game days, I have to run JV practice by myself - and let me tell you, after a seven hour teaching day, that never sounds fun. This is especially the case because I have recently come to the realization that these boys have never really been coached the way we are trying to do it. They are obsessed with scrimmaging and shooting, and they just plain don't see the importance of running a structured practice. The first couple days were rough. Plus, I'm beginning to understand that my teaching and coaching personalities need to be different, because the kids respond differently in and out of class. It's quite a juggle for those students that I have both in class and on the team. I predict that we'll get blown out of the water in the first game or two and then they'll start to realize the importance of getting down to business. Classic movie setup.

This addition to my schedule is made particularly challenging because we have to share the field with the girls' soccer teams, so our practice can't start until 5:30, so I have been staying at school every day until at least 7:30. Varsity practice starts at 7:15 and on some days I'm asked to stay after to help - which I find very difficult to refuse for some reason - and I may not get home until after 9. Let's just say that my hours of sleep are dwindling.

In all, life right now is crazy stressful in that there aren't enough hours in the day, but I think we all agree on that front. The sacred place left in which I can actually relax and think is the bathroom: either on the toilet or in the shower. Thank goodness for our seemingly unlimited supply of hot water. Outside the bathroom, my apartment is a mess - so much so that I am ashamed at the way I am living. But I'm totally living in the something's-gotta-give mode right now and things like bedroom cleanliness and healthy dinners have gone out the window. My only motivation to keep going is the thought that things will be so easy when soccer is over. I love it, but I swear I die a little each day because of it. There must be some study somewhere concerning the connection between lack of sleep and years off one's life. I should be their case study. In the meantime I hope the Christmas spirit picks up!