Back to School (kind of)

Well, the first day of classes is not until next Monday, but we began our first day of “preplanning” this week. More on that later in this post.

Let me first acknowledge that it has been a while! I am happy to be back blogging. Since I did not blog over the summer, I will give a short recap now:

I participated in my first professional musical, “I Dream” (www.iDreamInAtlanta.com). Jasmine Guy directed it, and the cast and creative team were phenomenal. The orchestra and crew were stellar as well. For the first time in my life, I was able to wake up and do exactly what I love the most (sing, act, perform, etc) daily. There is nothing like it. I have often talked about what it would feel like to do what I was most passionate about every day, but there is nothing like finally having lived it. During June, we rehearsed 6 days a week (Tuesday –Saturday 10am – 6pm and Sundays 2pm - 8pm) until tech week, which was usually 11-11 or 12-10. Including previews, we did 30 shows. During a full week, we performed 8 shows, Tuesdays – Sundays, with double shows on Wednesdays and Saturdays. We had a blast on stage, we acted a fool in the dressing rooms, and we took the craft and the show seriously. We closed this past Saturday, and I already miss the routine.

However, as my principal put it in his welcome back letter to the faculty and staff that I received on Saturday, “The time for blissful rest has come and is now gone.” Now, I may not have been resting this summer, but my work was definitely “blissful”; therefore, if I can speak candidly, it is true that I was not necessarily looking forward to returning back to school after singing, acting, and dancing on stage (not to mention tossing pool sticks around!). There was also another problem: I had not seen 6:30am in two months…not cool.

I arrived at school today with a few types of greetings: (1) Good morning, Mr. Seegars! (2) Hello! (3) How was your summer? Welcome back! (4) OMG, WHAT IS THAT ON YOUR EYE?!?!

Pause. Let me explain.

A few weeks ago when the show began, I used some eyeliner in order to make my eyes “pop.” After two days, my eyes got a little irritated, so I stopped using it. I kept wearing my contacts for each performance, but my left eye started to get irritated and I could feel it itching sometimes. This past Wednesday, my left eye started to get a little puffy. I woke up Thursday morning and, BOOM, there was this swollen redness over my eyelid. Not good. I decided I would put a warm compress over it, and I planned to wear only one contact (in my right eye) for that night’s show. Over the next two days I tried other therapies, including cold compresses, eye drops, and a stye ointment from CVS – I also did the final four shows with only one contact lens. Each morning I kept waking up to more “booms” in the form of a swollen red eyelid, until finally I woke up this morning and it was like BOOM BOOM BOOM! The eye was itching, burning, and hurting.

So, yes, I arrived at school with this deformed eyelid and a few people saw fit to comment on it. That, however, was not a problem. The worst insult came from a friend in my cast who claimed I had syphilis in my eye (it’s only funny because it’s not true). Anyway, I felt horrible. After spending a few hours trying to find my boxes (my school is in a different location this year due to renovations, but I’m sure there will be a post dealing with that later), I felt that it was a better use of my time to go to the doctor and get my eye checked out.

I went to the doctor; he came in and looked at my eye for five seconds, touched it for about five more, then told me that I in fact did have a stye, but that it was also infected. He asked me a few questions about my life (straight/gay, single/married – pretty routine after two months in show business), and after about 5 minutes, I was on my way, armed with some new eye drops and instructions to rub baby shampoo on it and resume the warm compresses.

On another note, I saw some of my students today, and my heart absolutely melted. I know it will be a tough year, but seeing their faces reminded me of why I must throw my entire self into my work this year. To quote my principal in his welcome back letter once more: “I hope and trust that you enjoyed a restful, peaceful summer break and that this restful period has prepared you to inspire, encourage and motivate the young people who will be entrusted to you on August 9, 2010.”

Rough times will surely be ahead, but I am looking forward to a year of mutual inspiration, encouragement, and motivation with my students and colleagues.

Time to go put a warm towel on my eye.