1. My old apartment is almost bare, and my new one is nearly looking like something livable. Furniture goes tomorrow.

2. My first year of full-time teaching is officially over! Some takeaways:

3. It took me a while to figure out what I could actually ask of sixth, seventh, and eighth graders, and I’m still not quite sure. One reason I’m looking forward to teaching high schoolers is that I know I can demand more of them.

4. I really should have been stricter and less accommodating to them.

5. Organization is key! I constantly felt under the gun this year, which made it very hard to plan ahead or create any kind of coherent curriculum. Next year I intend to have my classes all planned well ahead of time so that I don’t run into the same problem.

6. Meanwhile, I have two months and change of summer vacation! My plan is to use that time to focus on my other job, which has been sadly neglected for the past couple years as I’ve tried to stabilize my living situation. More on that as it comes.

7. Re-watched My Fair Lady the other night for the first time in a very long time. There’s lots to say about it, but for now I’ll just note how much fun Audrey Hepburn was as a performer. She’s one of the most elegant and beautiful women ever to grace the Hollywood stage, as well as an accomplished dramatic actress, and yet she could mug and ham it up with the best of them.

Her extreme beauty makes her comedic takes all the funnier, as there’s an added element of derailed dignity to it. Seeing this finely featured, aristocratic lady bugging her doe-eyes in sudden mortification makes the whole thing twice as funny.