"She's Claire from the block, don't be fooled by the rocks that she got." ~ my cousin d.j.

I seriously don't know if I can make it through these last few weeks. 'The block' is getting to me. I'm just so absolutely exhausted and drained and burned out that I can't even think of any more adjectives to describe my current state. I need something to change. I need school to be over and I need the temperature to drop and I need to get a good night's sleep. It has reached 100 degrees the past two days. I have no air conditioning in my classroom. There are 24 of us crammed into that room all day, and we are miserable. Yesterday and today were so awful I can't even describe it. I think I sweat off 10 pounds. You have no idea how hot it gets in there. I end up drenched in sweat even before homeroom is over. The kids keep whining and complaining and refuse to do any work, and I don't blame them. The heat is beyond stifling. Some schools in NJ and Connecticut and some private schools in NYC have been closed the past two days because of the heat, but not us. All the kids and I are so cranky that we haven't stopped yelling at each other. We can't help it. I hear myself yell and hate myself for it, but I'm just so tired and sick of their nonsense that it's difficult to do anything but yell. I come home and feel dead. Today I came home and had to type up 23 mystery stories. I got to 40-something pages and then stopped; I just couldn't do any more. I still have to write my lesson plans for tomorrow. And I don't want to do anything but curl up next to the open fridge. My dad just called and I had no energy to talk to him. I hardly ever talk to my dad, and when he made the effort to call I could hardly say anything to him. I got off the phone and cried because I felt so bad about it. Going to bed won't even make me feel better because I have no A/C and my apartment is almost as hot as my classroom. I really, really need a break from everything. And I need this weather to cool down. And I need to get my act together. I've been having lots of ups and downs lately, so hopefully tomorrow will feel like an 'up.'