another 10 days...

Wow, time is really flying here.  The weather finally warmed up a little and then went straight to hot (85!) but should settle back down a bit for a while, I hope.

School has been incredibly busy: chem labs for my 8th graders.  I love the curriculum, but it is a lot of literal running around, and I barely have time to breathe.  One issue this year is many absent students, all of whom have to then make up the lab at some later time.  I ran make up labs three days in a row during lunch this week!  That was too many.  From now one, only Tuesdays and and Thursdays!

Thyroid medication wise, I guess I'm OK?  I'm doing well staying on top of work, although I have a pile of labs to grade this weekend -- unavoidable, they just finished them! But I have used Google Forms for two tests with essay questions and they make grading so much easier!  I'm having my TA's set up the quizzes and tests for me, so all I have to do is review them for corrections and put in the point values.  Then all the unambiguous questions are scored for me, and when I grade the essays, the form does all the addition for me, too.  It has saved me a tremendous amount of time!  I'm excited about that.

The relationship to thyroid meds may not be clear: the point is, I'm having no trouble concentrating or keeping up with my work.  If anything, I'm doing better than I had in the past, and it doesn't seem like extra effort, but I'm good at deluding myself about these things, so who knows?  All I know is that I'm actually able to relax more during evenings and weekends because I'm more productive when I'm at school.  All that's to the good. 

Not so good?  My digestion is still screwed up.  It has been worse, true, but it does seem to be taking forever to straighten itself out.  I'm taking one Imodium every 5 days or so, so it's not like I'm surviving on medication, but it is annoying. The probiotics don't appear to have any effect, either. More not good: warmer weather has me bringing out different clothes a whole bunch of which don't fit me because I gained so much weight over the holidays (well, really, October through January).  I'm slooooowly taking it off again (finally below 150! yay!) but it will be a while before I can wear the capri pants I lived in last summer. 

What else?  DH and I went to a fantastic concert of the ASU Symphony last Saturday.  Honestly, I was only going to check them out to see if it was worth it go later in April when they play Mahler's Symphony #2, which is my favorite symphony.  The answer to that question was a resounding yes!  Last week's program, from their website:

The first half of this concert presents two thrilling new works by living American composers: the other-worldly Sinfonia for Orbiting Spheres by Missy Mazzoli (Chicago Symphony Composer-in-Residence) and a world premiere performance of a new concerto written for the ASU Symphony Orchestra and Saxophonist Christopher Creviston by Carter Pann (2016 Pulitzer Prize Finalist in Music). The concert closes with Dvorak’s joyous, Bohemian-inspired Symphony No. 8.

Sunday, DS2 and I went to an educator preview lunch performance at the new-ish Medieval Times restaurant up in Scottsdale.  Between the dinner (lunch) and the performance, it was close to 3 hours, and it was... I don't really know what.  Weird, I guess I'd say.  It reminded me of the jousting and tournaments they have at the Ren Faire without the dust and heat and sunburn that you get when you do that.  (You're sitting in an air-conditioned arena, basically).  Also, the 'castle' is set in 14th century Spain, and the horses are all the beautiful and extremely well-trained Spanish horses that look tiny compared to the chargers they use at the Ren Faire.  In addition to the knightly contests, there's a bit of scripted goofiness (obligatory), a falcon flight, and several dressage performances showing off the horses' skills.  I didn't dislike it but I didn't exactly like it, either: I can't imagine going back, but I'm still glad I went. 

So last weekend was lovely and I was kind of sailing into this one thinking it would be nice to have another one just like last week's, but I have that pile of labs to grade, and we have nothing planned.  Perhaps I can find something somewhere... Next weekend, DD will be home for her spring break, so we're thinking about the Ren Faire on Sunday, and I have off both Friday and Monday as a sort of mini-spring break (I'm skipping the professional development on Friday, it's optional, and I need the break!)  Hey, maybe I'll have time to read a book?  DS2 has been pestering me to start Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series while we wait for Brandon Sanderson's next Stormlight Archive book.  It's either 10 or 12 volumes, but at least I know it's finished!