Rain in the Southland confuses me. There’s the cozy-come-inside aspect, the nostalgia-for-the-East-coast aspect, and the just-plain-wtf,-Cali? aspect. Today as we drove in Steve’s car, he turned on the vents for a sec, and it smelled just like a subway tunnel in DC or NYC (or, I guess, SF). This was on the way to a restaurant he’s been insisting we’ve eaten at before, although I knew I had never been there. Once inside, I confirmed that, yep, this was noplace I had ever been. But it is somewhere I’ll go again. Cheesy spinach ravioli mmm. This week is wearing me down. It’s been a while since I had to get up every single day and go to work, and that’s part of it. Takes a little adjusting. But mostly it’s the grading-end-of-the-semester-stuff, planning-for-new-semester-stuff on top of orienting to a new job (in happy news, I’m making amazing progress in learning 100+ names). The teacher for whom I’m subbing had a baby girl on Thursday. She named her Ella Josephine. Her students are so excited you’d think this kid is something they birthed themselves as a student body. Adorable, these teens. And so smart and mature, too. They truly are “young adults.” And they have super creative brains. They are not the kind of students who respect someone just because she is the “teacher.” When I sense moments of respect, I cherish them. I’m loving working with them.