My formula

Tolga's phone alarm isn't loud. It's musical, in a cell-phone-ish way. Vibrating and soft music together. It's what we've been waking up to. That and another alarm on by my head. And my phone. He got up at 3am, I got of at 3:30 and brought him to work, I went to bed at 4am, got back up at 6am, found a job and I'm not sure what happened after that because suddenly it was 7:30 and I was late. I was eating a bagel, drinking coffee, checking due dates on the library card and somehow I fell behind. How and why I do this, I do not know. I was annoyed at 3am when Tolga woke me several times to get us when it only took my ten seconds to put on clothes to drive him there, but I was admiring his discipline as I was racing to work.

I didn't exactly race. I took back roads because of rush hour traffic and the back roads turned out to be slow roads. I called the school when I was three blocks away to say I would be late, and little did I know it would take me another fifteen minutes to find my way to the right door.

And to think I used to call myself resourceful.

I found myself on one way streets passing a bunch of magnet schools and museums and community centers with little signs that I couldn't read fast enough. I finally parked in a lot next to a car that had plates and junk glued all over its body as 3D art. I made my way through the maze of non-traditional hallways (the building used to be owned by a corporation before Saint Paul schools took it over), eventually arriving at Capitol Hill, home of the cougars.

I was the Physical Education teacher today, and I was directed up to a classroom. I walked into an empty room, did a quick glance around for lesson plans or instructions, and then flagged a student down to help me find the gym. The Assistant Principal was monitoring the class and she handed me a pile of keys, telling me, as she was walking out, to ask for help if I needed anything. I immediately asked for help in finding her office and lesson plans, to which we found and I eventually began teaching.

Gym is fun. I used her whistle and thought afterwords that it might not have been a good idea if the teacher was out with the flu. ..

I had to teach a health class as well, which didn't go as well because the video we were supposed to watch didn't work.

It all gave me a pretty bad headache by the end of the day.

late = stress + unknown variables = headache.

Check.