I Made it through a Day of School

For tthat matter, it can be said that I made it through the day without incident. My friend told me that the teachers talked in all my classes about not staring at me or causing me to feel self-conscious.

Lunch was a different situation, because I don't suppose they could convene the entire student body to tell them not to stare at me. No one said anything rude, though, so it was OK. I sat at the table where my friends usually sit. I noticed the tables on both sides of me were filled with large males I recognized as being mostly football players. It made me a bit uncomfortable, as the plagiarist had been on the football team before the incident and before the expulsion proceedings started.

I don't know how long an expulsion hearing takes, but it's not a quick procedure, as the Board of Trustees are involved, and the plagiarist's rights of due process have to be observed. His parents are now claiming he has a learning disability that must be considered. If plagiarism were his only offense, they might have some basis for their claim, but once he came into the bathroom, exposed a part of his body that should not have been exposed, then kicked me hard when my physical response of throwing up altered his state of arousal, almost any claim they'd care to make regarding learning disabilities is moot. And, most importantly. it's preserved for posterity, courtesy of one of the girls. His parents are now trying to claim that because videotaping is illegal in CA schools without express written consent of parents, the videotape is out as evidence. I don't think their objections will hold up even in his school case, but the rule against videotaping in schools has no standing in his criminal case, so all they're really doing is buying time, for which they're paying an attorney by the hour. I believe the district pays a flat fee for representation, so I don't think they're actually costing the district anything by coming up with bogus motions to jam up the works.

Anyway, it made me slightly uncomfortable to be surrounded by this guy's former teammates until an assistant coach came over to my table and told me that they were there because the head coach had told them that if anything at all were to happen to me, they would pay for it in the form of extra conditioning. They decided it would be safer to surround me than to sit wherever they normally sit and hope no one was stupid enough to throw food at me or trip me. It probably would have been OK anyway, as thugs and
"mean girl" types aren't really the norm at my school. It's fairly seriously academically oriented.Most people are more worried about getting into Stanford or Cal than about harassing anyone. The thug and his bimbo friends were in the minority. It's not totally a preppy school. Theew probably isn't a school in the nation where there aren't at least a few mean kids, with my ex-prom date being among them, but even the jocks are usually trying to maintain decent GPAs.

I was able to hobble from class to class safely enough. Someone must have emphasized hall safety, because other students mostly gave me space. Teachers were, if anything, too nice to me. While this is hardly a thing about which to complain, I really want to be treated normally. There's not really even time to address that this week. When I come home for one week out of each four, and when I come back for good, I'll have to try to find a way to make it work.

My statistics teacher gave me a test, which I assumed was a maek-up test, during that class period. As it turns out, it was a comprehensive end-of-the-year final. One extra credit question was included, so my score on the test was 105%. I think the teacher did this more for himself than for me, but he told me that I didn't need to worry about assignments for the rest of the year, but that I would need to do a final project, which could be done easily enough wherever I am. He gave me a card with his email address and told me to email him once I have a proposed topic, and that I should probably email him weekly with project updates after that.

After school today I went with the choir director into a small recording stufio. We recorded full accompaniments and individual parts for about thirty different songs. The director plays well enough to plunk out individual parts if the kids aren't getting it. We'll try to arrange it so that I can be free for the fall and winter concerts. Any other performances and final rehearsals my mother will cover for me. We're not sure about the pay situation, but since I am a classified employee of the district and I opted for salary protection due to disability, I'll probably receive something like 80% of my regular pay. If the district tries to stand in the way of my salary protection compensation, the director said that I can charge far more than my usual hourly rate for the recordings, which took nearly six hours to make. Also, my mother can charge for her services, which she ordinarily wouldn't. Either way, I'll come out of it financially OK.

I can now take four steps independently on my weak leg. The scar is looking pretty good. The other scars on my leg -- the ones from the infection lesions that look like large cigarette burns -- are fading with the use of Mederma. A dermatologist looked at them while I was still in the hospital, and he thinks they'll fade completely, and probably within a year. In any event, nothing about my scarring should be noticeable enough that it will subconsciously affect the judges' scoring of my dives.

I realize that this post has been incredibly uneventful to the point of being boring. I only wish my readers could comprehend just how truly wonderful it is to have a boring life right now, even if only for a short time. Next week it's off to the loony bin. My mom gets really upset when I refer to it in that way, but it is what it is.

Sayonara.