Resume boosters

I wish my current post could offer as much debauchery and gluttony as the last one. Nope. This one is just about the fact that school has resumed. No debauchery or gluttony. Just agony. I almost think it would be healthier for me as a teacher if there were no breaks of the 2-week winter break variety. It was so painful this morning looking at that clock with the 5:00 staring me in the face. I swear when it went off I heard evil laughing from NPR's Melissa Block. For some reason, I can never sleep the night before the first day back to school. I took a Tylenol PM and I even had the BF with me, two of the three key ingredients for the perfect night's sleep (the third being pinot grigio, which, believe it or not, I do have enough restraint not to drink on a school night). Nevertheless, I found myself awake for most of the night. It was balls. I relied solely on adrenaline to get me through the day. On my ride home from work, I kept slowing down at stop lights (not a popular move here in Chicago) hoping I would hit the red light so I could catch a quick nap while I waited for it to change. (My logic: They'll beep!) I think I did pretty good at work though; no one would have known how miserable I was, unless they interpreted the black turtleneck, black slacks, black boots and black rimmed glass as mourning, which was in fact how it was meant to be interpreted. I had this awesome fake-happy thing going on all day. "Oh my god! How was your trip to ____________ (insert exotic locale here)?" The older I get, the more effectively I can fake happiness. You know the episode of Seinfeld where Elaine is really pissed that George and Susan get engaged, but the she fakes being happy for George when she runs into him at Jerry's apartment? I'm like that these days. I can be weeping bitterly on my car ride to work (not uncommon) and then walk in the door and put on a bright phony smile for my least favorite freshmen students. I might add this to my resume.