This week I spent a fair amount of time functioning as a nocturnal therapist for troubled children - there was a boy who spent a couple of hours in the rocking chair in the staff room, comforting himself with repetitive movement, there was the girl with general anxiety problems who just needed somebody to listen to her... this all lead to me getting less sleep than usual, but I was glad I could help in some small way.

Soon, I'm going to be working in a real classroom with one of my old co-workers. I'm looking forward to it. The school is the one Alex went to for kindergarten.

We had the chimney man come and look at our fireplace, and he deemed it clean enough to light fires in. We haven't had a fire since 2002, because that last fire filled the house with smoke. In other words, it has taken us nearly 6 years to have the chimney inspected. Apparently, the problem was most likely caused by either too many logs or improper placement of said logs. The only thing the chimney sweep actually did to improve things was to put a new ember guard on top of the chimney. Now it's up to code, apparently. Oh, he also gave me his number in case I ever want to get any more tattoos, since that's what he "really" does. Reminds me of a Simpsons episode.

Currently listening to (appropriately enough): Anxiety "Bleak"