"You gotta cry without weeping, talk without speaking, scream without raising your voice. You know I took the poison from the poison stream, then I floated out of here. Singing...Ha La La La De Day, Ha La La La De Day, Ha La La De Day." ~u2

I (barely) survived my first week as a teacher. It was a little crazy. During my multiple orientations, people kept telling us that being a teacher is the hardest job in the world. They weren't lying. In fact, I can narrow it down; being a middle school teacher in a NYC public school is the hardest job in the world. I love my kids, but they get restless pretty easily. I don't blame them; today we had four periods of ELA, and two of those periods were the last two periods of the day. Needless to say they were pretty wired by the end of that. At the end of the day when it was time to go home the dean stepped in and put them in their places. They're scared of him. They're a handful, and it's not easy to find enough stuff to keep them busy and on task all day. It's hard when they mostly sit in the same room. I have one kid who's really smart (he's the only one who passed the ELA test last year), but he must have ADD or something (I haven't gotten their IEPs yet so I don't know). He cannot sit still. And he's always talking. I feel like I'm yelling his name in between all of my sentences. He's a sweet kid, though, he just always has to be talking and moving. They're all sweet kids, they just don't like to pay attention.

I'm glad it's the weekend and I'll have some time to rest. Yesterday I had to take a break from school-related stuff, so last night I went to a screening of some of ABC's pilots. Three-and-a-half hours of TV was a nice relaxer. They showed Pusing Daisies, Dirty Sexy Money, Samantha Who?, and Big Shots. Here are my grades:

Dirty Sexy Money - A. This show was my favorite; I definitely want to watch it this season. It's got an amazing cast (Peter Krause, Donald Sutherland, Billy Baldwin, Samaire Armstrong, Jill Clayburgh, and more). It's very well done. The writing is great, and I especially loved the music. Mark my words, this is seriously the show to watch this year.

Samantha Who? - B+. I have a soft spot for Christina Applegate, who's the star. She does a good job with the material. Melissa McCarthy (Sookie on Gilmore Girls) is in it as well, and so are Barry Watson, Jennifer Esposito, and Jean Smart. It's about a woman (Applegate) who wakes up from a coma with amnesia and quickly realizes she wasn't such a great person before. Now wants to take advantage of her opportunity to start over.

Pushing Daisies - B. There were many times during this show when I didn't know whether I should laugh or not. I couldn't help it, though; it was funny. At first the concept was just a little too weird for me. It got a little better when Anna Friel came onscreen. Then it got too sentimental. So many people are raving about this pilot that I'm surprised I didn't like it more. There are a bunch of people calling it the best pilot ever, and I don't quite understand why. It's not bad, but I don't think it's the best thing ever. I'll watch it when it starts to air, though, and give it a fair shot.

Big Shots - B-. This show gets bonus points just because of all the hot actors in it. It was introduced as "Desperate CEOs," which is a good way to describe it. It's got an all-star cast consisting of Michael Vartan, Dylan McDermott, Josh Malina, and Christopher Titus. Too bad they're not working with the best material. Rob Thomas (genius creator of Veronica Mars) was hired recently, though, which means it should get better.

I'll leave you with a picture of me with Christina Applegate, whom I wish the best of luck in her return to television.