E.L.O. – Mr. Blue Sky

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Sun is shinin’ in the sky
There ain’t a cloud in sight
It’s stopped rainin’ ev’rybody’s in a play
And don’t you know
It’s a beautiful new day hey,hey

It’s now the rainy season in southern California, and while in past years I’ve certainly experienced the occasional downpour, and perhaps even the occasional system (i.e. two or more, like equations et. al.) of storms. Yet nothing in my past 5+ years in Los Angeles have been like this past whole week, where it has been raining, pouring, and even hailing, since Monday. Five straight days of this madness has been simply incredible and upon ending the week, I simply found myself literally exhausted, which I completely attribute to the weather (I’m sure teaching middle school has nothing to do with it).

What was really interesting was to see how quickly my kids adapted to the weather. Usually, when it rains, the kids (who, in our mostly open campus, are literally outside during lunch or between classes) go nuts, getting themselves soaked in the downpour, making the concept of “solving linear systems of equations by substitution” a bit challenging. Yet, by about Wednesday, as the rains continued, the kids definitely chilled out a bit (perhaps because the novelty of being cold and wet had worn off), making our classroom experience much more pleasant. Yay!

Yesterday, after school I counted an L.A. first for myself. Talking with a colleague in the parking lot, I noticed my breath, which, while invisible in the southern California climate for the previous 5 years, now became abundantly clear. I could see my breath, something that has never before been possible.

Now as today has significantly brightened up, the view of the mountains is amazing (I can see snow caps from Wilshire Blvd.), and I’m looking forward to a pretty green winter