ms choi

i don't even know if that's her real name. and it doens't matter. what matters is that it's 9pm on wednesday night, the night before the first day of school, and i'm on the floor filling up giant sheets of chart paper with tomorrow's lesson all because of her. and maybe karma.

i once had a whiteboard. it was beautiful in it's splendor. it's magnificient glow was to be envied by the common man. as i walked into my room on the first day for teachers (two days ago), a light shined upon it, and a mystcial choir sang in the distance. and butterflies laid eggs along its rim, to birth small worm-like creatures that would soon too fly away like their bastard fathers and bitches of moms. insects. my whiteboard freed me from the nuisance of chalk, from having to erase all the damn time, from the bored colors of green and white. i would be able to splash the board with red, blue, green, brown. whatever colors i could afford. my classroom was great, with bookshelves, cpus, air conditioning, and the precious whiteboard.

then she came. ms. choi. apparently ms. choi was in my room last year and thought she would be back in the same room this year. she had left all her things in the closets (which i initially thought was trash), and had some decorations still on the walls. let her tell it, she was crying all tuesday about the disturbing news that she had been placed in another room and had to move her shit out by thursday. i tried to be accommidating. but truth be told, i didn't know what the hell was going on. later, i figured out that she was fighting to get her room back with the administrators, to no avail. tuesday was the day she pissed and groaned around the hallways, nothing more.

i offered to help her, as her new room was a hellhole. everyones room was a hellhole though, so i can't say i had much sympathy. i mean, mine had mystical choirs and all, but it was still pretty fucked up. as wednesday came though, she said nothing about the help. said nothing about the stuff in the closets. said nothing about the room. later, when i saw her, i gave her an update. i had taken the liberty of talking to the administrators myself to make sure all was ok with the room before i began to decorate. they informed me it was all alright for me to decorate and that she should be getting her things by thursday. this we both knew already. what she didn't know, though, was that furnishings in the room belonged to the room, not the teacher - including the whiteboard. and by that news she was distraught.

she proceeded to debate me for the board under the argument that "i had it last year and leased it under my name". then, "i had it for a really long time, a full year, and really need it to teach". then, "i left the board here with my other books in the closet and need to collect it so it won't be in your way. then, "can i please just have the board". all of this i responded with "no, sorry".

to cut to the chase - this mother fucker waited until i went to lunch, then crept in my room and walked out with the whiteboard.

to cut to the chase - i informed her that i was about to clean out the closets myself, and that if there was anything important she needed to get them in the next hour.

to cut to the chase - her and her helper cleaned the closets as i stoodby, refusing her requests to keep this here and that there.

yeah. i was the asshole.

there's some more stuff that i have to leave out though. a mere conversation or two in which i shared my feelings, she shared hers, we became enemies and swore bloody horridous death on each other. more or less.

at the end of the day though, i can't hold a grudge for anything. i went upstairs to her hellhole room where the mystical choir and butterfly eggs newly resided. i had to get my eraser initially. but as i saw her cleaning, i said, "listen, we got off to a bad start. how bout we apologize to each other and call it a day." i've always wanted to say that anyway. she agreed, hugged and walked away.

when i got back downstairs, i saw that the fucker had also taken my bookshelves.

so here i sit, writing out visual aids to post during my lesson plan tomorrow so that i don't waste time on a chalkboard.

i look forward to my first day.