welcome

* please excuse the references to musicals. I don't know what came over me. I just couldn't help myself, somehow. if you read this and don't know what I'm talking about, just know that you are one of the lucky ones. *

I spent the day after I took the new job cramming as much of my old classroom as I could into U's truck.. I wanted him to skip work to help me move, but he couldn't get away. (or so he claimed...) I drove it to my new school 20 minutes down the street, on the other side of the freeway, as it were. and the tracks. turns out the trolley's just a stone's throw away, and is compelled to make that "clang, clang, clang went the trolley" sound each time it goes by, which is every 15 minutes during the day and every 7-8 minutes during peak hours that include the early morning, which coincide with the first two hours of school -- normally the most productive time of the day. and they really do go "clang, clang, clang" which I'd never really cared to think about before.. the first 10 or 12 times, I registered vaguely, "oh, this school is by the trolley." but now that I've heard it 20 or 30 times, I'm thinking, why don't I find a good sized rock and see if it really is just a stone's throw away? I'm thinking, how am I ever going to get used to or somehow cover up that sound? I'm thinking, please, please, please, let me never get a headache while I'm here. I'm thinking, no wonder this school has an API score of 1 -- who can think, much less learn or take a test with that incessant CLANG CLANG CLANG CLANG CLANG CLANG CLANG CLANG CLANG

in any case, on my arrival I was greeted, for lack of a better word, by B, the custodian. something tells me that B's the kind of guy that likes to mess with folks, especially folks like me -- innocent-looking, a bit high-strung, the kind of folks you can get a good rise out of..
"hi, I just wanted to ask -- do you have a dolly, like a rolling cart around here..?"
he looks around out of the corners of his eyes. "look, if you're trying to do something like this, you really ought to go talk to the custodian about it first, but if you ask me, I think he's lookin to shoot you, so if I were you, I'd just turn around and go the other way..."
"hmmm." I nod thoughtfully. "all righty. so, is there a dolly around here that I could use, please?"
"well sure, there's one right over here." he gestures towards an L-shaped something that's entirely smothered in duct tape and I realize there are wheels on the bottom of it. "don't overload it."
"right. thanks... oh, and do you have a ladder around here that I could use?"
"man, you just never quit, do you? what are you tryin to do, here?"
"I'm just trying to move in as fast as I can.."
B, in his own time, gets out the ladder, shows me how to use it -- make sure it's flat and level, move it from place to place.. shows me how to lock and unlock the doors, shows me how the lights work.. apparently, he believes that without these careful explanations I will be left falling from the ladder, standing in the dark, locked out of my own classroom. even after he finishes, I know he's never far, because periodically I can still hear him shouting faintly, just as I'm about to put a tub full of books on the dolly: "don't overload it..."
a few hours later I'm ready to head back to the old classroom for another load, and B comes by to see me off.
"all right, then.. go on.. and you don't need to come back here, neither.. you can just stay back there where you came from." he shuffles away, shaking his head.

ah... H School is already starting to feel like home. I think I'm gonna like it here.