It's over, it's over, it's over...

Well that's it! I'm officially done, and have been for about 2.5 hours. I'm just chilling at home on the couch, waiting for some colleagues to call, and then we are going on a pub crawl. Oh man, I haven't been on one of those in eons. I am looking forward to this.

You know, I've been looking forward to summer vacation forever now, but now that it's here, I have a bit of a sense of melancholy. I don't know why. It could be that the end of an old year signifies the eventual beginning of a new year which means change. I'm the type of person who is always resistant to change... Today I had to say goodbye to coworkers who are retiring, switching schools, etc. etc. and I guess that has me feelin' a bit sad. Plus, I got my schedule for next year and I'm not so sure about it. I actually get to teach a senior course, and I'm a bit excited about that, but I'm not sure about a couple of others. I also think that deep down I'm gonna miss a lot of the kids that I taught this year, especially my grade 9s, and I won't have them next year.

Anyway, as I ramble, I guess I'm feeling that typical feeling when you end something and it's just done. There's no fanfare, not anything really and you feel a bit let down because you were so excited for whatever to be done. Plus, I think I just have to get into the swing of vacation. My life is tyically ruled by bells, and I gotta get used to no bells for two months.

Last summer I didn't feel this way so much because the day after the last day of school, I hopped on a plane to Australia. Moral of this story: go on big trip at the beginning of summer to avoid end-of-school-year ironic melancholy. Had to throw the word ironic in there because I think it's so ironic that I'm feeling down at the beginning of the vacation I was counting down for.

On that note, I'd better get out the door for my pub crawl. To quote Homer (Simpson), "To alcohol the answer to, and cause of, all of life's problems!"

Oh yeah, and happy summer ya'll.