Insomnia

I just love these nights in which I dream of something completely weird, wake up, think about it for a the next few minutes, then forget entirely what was the weird thing to begin with. Now, I'm wide awake at a quarter to five in the morning, head buzzin' and my gut achin'.

It's probably a nice combination of sun and bad food from yesterday, as I drove back out to the lonely reaches of South Dakota to visit old college friends and participate in once again the South Dakota Fantasy Football League, using Yahoo! Fantasy Sports for the second straight year.

This is probably my fifth or sixth year in playing with the same group of guys that I've known from college. During draft days, it is usually the only time I get to see them all, catch up a little bit, and find out who's got the most kids (or who is pregnant again). It's crazy!

I spent the afternoon yesterday golfing 18 holes with Rick, a die-hard Chicago Bears fan who's had himself some setbacks in terms of cheering for the wrong team. He's already brain-washed his oldest son (who's probably 4 years old) in thinking that the Bears are the best team EVER. Ashton would parade around the house, wearing his #8 Rex Grossman jersey, constantly demeaning the Vikings whenever he could. It was downright funny as hell when he would point and say, "The Vikings stink!"

Sitting here, I'm probably just a little nervous about school starting tomorrow. It'll be my Third and Final Year in teaching in this school district and who knows where the path will lead me next. Luckily for me, I've already been networking a little bit, getting my feelers out there and finding what the job market is in store for me, but overall, I'm not too worried.

I've got some short-term goals laid out for the rest of 2007 and hopefully I can achieve most or all of them before the year is out:

• Loans: This fall, I should have a couple of loans paid off once my football coaching check cashes in, bringing relief to my already-strained-budget. I will also have taken care of my Sony Handycam (the digital camera I used for my CPI project).
• Football: Hopefully, I can win at least one scrimmage against an opposing team this year in 8th grade football. Again, not too optimistic (we'll be running through our offensive playbook vigorously on Tuesday and Wednesday), hoping that our kids can find some motivation to actually play the game of football (and show up for practice).
• CPI: I really want to start a new, original project -- complete with screenplay and actors who are willing to donate the time. This'll be tough and difficult to accomplish, but I though the same thing with "The Owl Garden" documentary. With school starting tomorrow, my time to sit and get things done are greatly diminished.
• Keep on Rockin': Last fall, I was miserable due to the personal crap I went through, but this year, I had one of the best summers that I could remember. It's all just going to carry on over through the school year (although I'm sure I'll be bitching about my job quite a bit) and hopefully I can finish my school year with a positive outlook when I look for another job.

Today is going to be rough ... the clock's just past five in the morning and I already see a nap in my foreseeable future. I might just head back to bed for a little bit, take my Labor Day nice and easy, and get ready for the Third Year.