FRANKIE SAY RELAX

Ok, when you need to relax, here are a few suggestions that you or may not have thought of:

• Watch BAD teacher movies and yell at the screen when they make teaching look easy. My personal picks: Dangerous Minds, To Sir With Love (actually good), Take The Lead, Lean on Me (also Good).
• Pick out a fancy recipe and go for it! Even if it turns out horrible – it is fun.
• Take a float trip down the Mississippi (there are places in the Delta to rent kayaks and canoes).
• Day Trip out-of-state! New Orleans/Memphis?
• Sign up for NETFLIX. It is AWESOME!!
• Go to Wal-Mart (blech!) or another store, and buy yourself a present.
• Take photographs – especially of the Delta (Its BEAUTIFUL…really).
• Go to a museum.
• Plan your Spring Break early.
• Carve a pumpkin.
• Go to the STATE FAIR (this week!).
• Buy a bottle of wine and be SUPER snobby about it.
• Read a book NOT related to school in any way.

Wow, my list looks like a poor version of one of those awful Dos/Don’ts lists you might find in a Cosmo magazine. YIKES! Truthfully, last year I would invest in large portions of food and episodes of Grey’s Anatomy/Big Love almost every day. It was horrible! My advice when you need to relax after school: be active. I know that sounds weird, but teaching is so draining, that unless you re-fuel and energize yourself, you will feel yucky and tired from 3:30p.m. until bedtime. It is helpful if you can find an activity that you enjoy which requires you to be more active than sitting up.