Mercedes Sosa - Gracias A La Vida

¡Feliz Día de Gracias!

Wait--this was supposed to go on my blog for my AP Spanish classes!  Oops!  I decided to use this song sung by Mercedes Sosa from Argentina, based on the poem of the same name written by the Chilean poet Violeta Parra.  Good fit for Thanksgiving time....Might as well post the lyrics below so you can understand!
I'll have to give some thought about what I'm grateful for this year...there's lots, I just have to sort it out.

source: http://lyricstranslate.com Gracias a la vida Thanks to life, which has given me so much. It gave me two stars, which when I open them, Perfectly distinguish black from white And in the tall sky its starry backdrop, And within the multitudes the one that I love. Thanks to life, which has given me so much. It gave me hearing that, in all of its reach Records night and day crickets and canaries, Hammers and turbines, bricks and storms, And the tender voice of my beloved. Thanks to life, which has given me so much. It gave me sound and the alphabet. With them the words I think and declare: “Mother,” “Friend,” “Brother” and light shining down on The road of the soul of the one I'm loving. Thanks to life, which has given me so much. It gave me the steps of my tired feet. With them I have traversed cities and puddles Valleys and deserts, mountains and plains. And your house, your street and your garden. Thanks to life, which has given me so much. It gave me this heart that shakes its frame, When I see the fruit of the human brain, When I see good so far from evil, When I look into the depth of your light eyes… Thanks to life, which has given me so much. It gave me laughter and it gave me tears. With them I distinguish happiness from pain The two elements that make up my song, And your song, as well, which is the same song. And everyone’s song, which is my very song.

Yawn.

Back again....I've been looking at my last post thinking that I really should blog something and just haven't made the time.

Is that a good thing?  That I'm not obsessing about thyca as much?  Notice I said "as much".  It's still lurking back there in the recesses of my mind.  To be honest, I haven't felt that great since I had the whole body scan in October--back to feeling really tired again, and sometimes so tired that it hurts.  I don't know if that's fallout from October, or if it's the change of seasons, or a combo of both.  I don't care how small the tracer dose of RAI is, it has to do something to your body.  I just feel like I'm having a lot more trouble getting going in the morning--during the summer and early fall I could wake up and actually feel rested and awake.  Now, not so much.  I don't go back to see Dr. N until February, and I don't think this warrants a phone call for blood work, so I'll give it some more time.  I do sleep through the night, but I feel like my brain is constantly running.  And I need two tanks of coffee to get thru the day--one in the morning and one when I hit the 2:30pm wall.  Which keeps me up later.  Such a vicious circle.

I'm still obsessing about gluten.  Just when I start to wonder if it is really something that exists only in my head, I do this--I ate something today that has set an unfortunate chain of events into motion and my digestive system is in revolt.  On a happy note, Trader Joe's has gluten free turkey gravy, so we're set for Thanksgiving!  Now we just have to figure out the stuffing question--do we make two batches or not?  Have to think about that.  Sis found some gluten free pie crust mixes--I hope they taste ok.  My big disappointment with some gluten free products is that they are waaaaay too sweet.  I have a massive set of sweet teeth in my head, so for me to say that something is too sweet is really bad. And they tend to be high in fat.  I have a few favs, but I'm back to not working out again due to time spent in school.  Have to get that back in my schedule.

School is absolutely insane this year because someone who has probably forgotten what it is like to be in the classroom decided that the teachers had to learn two new systems this year:  an online student info system for attendance and grades, and the state's completely revamped teacher eval system.  Somewhere in there teachers are supposed to actually plan stuff for the classes they teach, right?  We are not happy campers.  It's ridiculous.  They could have rolled it out more gradually, but no.....let's just say morale is not overwhelmingly positive.  What has been positive this year are my two AP groups.  So far, awesome.  One group is quieter than the other and much more resistant to talking, but both groups have really strong foundations.  Do you have any idea how happy I am to see them actually using the subjunctive in October?  And using it correctly?  So cool.  And such a geeky language teacher thing to say, but hey, that makes my world go 'round.  It's the small things.....