Trying to read a note somebody wrote

Third day of the new job at Prestigious.

Today, the schedule was utterly empty. My team had no assignments. I met with the vice-head, and she gave me, in addition to the previously mentioned folder of goal-oriented projects, two bits of information. One, that I should walk around the school when the schedule is empty, looking for rooms that need help. (The other teachers, as I've mentioned before, weren't doing that, but she wasn't too worried about it, saying that they were taking a well-deserved rest after a couple weeks of non-stop activity before I arrived that left no time for breaks.) I now have a better idea of what the schedule will be like; the free time is an anomaly and not the norm; tomorrow looks pretty full. The second thing the vice-head told me was that they're looking for someone to put in a pre-K room for the rest of the year, and it'll be either me or my teammate SBT. That would be sweet if I got that position, but since it's only my third day at the school, I'm not terribly sanguine.

So, basically, I spent the day wandering around helping the other teachers and giving breaks. Except for the fire drill, the severe weather drill, and the faculty meeting, which was spent assembling gift baskets for the needy. I was in my friend T-Bone's daughter's room again today. When she sees me, she tells proudly to anyone listening how I'm friends with her daddy and I've been to her house, but then in the next breath she'll turn to me and say, "I don't remember you."

***

After work I went to dinner with Friar, Palfrey and their baby boy. I told Palfrey that if I get my contract renewed, I'll try tob get her hired there too.

My father's not doing very well, but neither my mother nor I can tell if this is because he's still taking something or just because he's going through a rough detox. My mother is a spectacularly ungenerous creature who doesn't seem to possess empathy, which doesn't make their interactions very functional. My father says he wants someone to look after him, and I feel guilty that I'm not doing that. I have this new job and my own life to lead, but then, I do owe my parents a vast amount (not money; morally). I can't just leave them to spin into dotage. Thus the guilt.