Trapped!

Tenerife Sea :: Ed Sheeran
Rainy Zurich :: The Fray
Wherever You Will Go :: Charlene Soraia
Skinny Love :: Bon Iver
Warning Sign :: Coldplay
Foreigner's God :: Hozier
Syndicate :: The Fray
(Overture :: Sleeping at Last)
Paradise :: Coldplay

This is the playlist that my favorite Pandora station played for me today after school. I had about three leftover tests to grade, and test-grading is the only time I really listen to music during my work day, so I turned it on "just for a minute." 

.....

And then, NINE SONGS LATER, I finally walked out of my classroom and went home. Every time one song was close to ending, I'd start to pack up my things, ready to go home. But then the next song would start, and I'd think, "Oh! I love this song!" And I'd stall a little longer. I was trapped! Held against my will!

And this happened for nine songs, or about 30 minutes. Thirty minutes of wandering my classroom and tidying random corners and Googling random questions and writing random sticky note reminders and planning random bits of random upcoming lessons. All of this was stuff that didn't need doing today. Or maybe even tomorrow. Or maybe ever?

If you're wondering, the song that finally broke the chain was a Meghan Trainor single. I have no clue how she landed on this particular station, but I walked right out on her (sorry Meghan).

Tomorrow I have a first period prep period, and considering how very little I left myself to do after this afternoon finally ended, I think I might just take an hour long nap under my desk. That's a good use of paid work time, right?

And since I loved this playlist like crazy, I made an on-demand version via YouTube. I added a few other songs that I've fallen in love with because of this same Pandora station. You can listen to it here:




Ugh why do I just love all of the best music? We may never know, but now you can love it too. Enjoy!

A non-comprehensive list of things in which I believe

I believe in miracles.

I believe in comfortable clothes. Skirts, mostly.
I believe in names (but not for inanimate objects).
I believe in optimism.
I believe in a thing called love.
I believe that multitasking is a myth.
I believe in sunsets.
I believe in data.
And I believe in personal revelation.
(Really, I believe in listening.)
I believe in my students' ability to understand and to succeed.
I believe in learning from others. 
I believe in infinity.
I believe in explaining why you've posted a video because unless it is under a minute, I probably won't watch it.
I believe in the plants-over-pets movement (it's possible that I'm the only person who believes in this).
I believe in good food.
I believe in luck.
I believe in moving your body, every day, in some [small] form of exercise.
I believe in the power of music.
I believe that we will win!
I believe in positive reinforcement.
I believe in frugality.
I believe in me.
I believe in God.

N.Y.C.

MATT: AS SOON AS I SAW HER I LIKED HER. I met her the first week of school, but we started dating in November. So it’s been going on six months. We’re very happy together.

EDEN: Our first date was the Empire State Building. He comes up with the best dates. On Easter, we went to Central Park and went row-boating.

MATT: We went ice-skating at Rockefeller Center. We’ve gone to Coney Island, in the pouring rain and freezing cold. I’m pretty good at trying to come up with really cool date ideas and then they fail. When we were new to New York I was like, let’s just get on the subway and get off at a random stop and explore an area. And so we just get off the subway, and we have no idea where we are — I still don’t know where it was.

EDEN: And we just got right back on the subway.

(Pics are mine. Story is from this article. Vacation was in May of this year.)