For some reason i've been feeling horrible lately - going down, down, down. Not good. Trying to figure out if I can influence anything to push me back to the land of the living or if I just have to bear it. Oh well.

Anyway, I went to work and Alex had got a fair bit accomplished - had some recommended students return parental consent papers he'd sent home, and made up testing packets as I'd asked. I said he could go ahead with the stupid standardised creativity test (oxymoronic) but he said he'd like to see how I do it as I have a way of getting good results. That was nice to hear - he appreciates the way I work. He rounded up the children and I just laid it out honestly to them. I apologised for making them take the test, and said in life sometimes things are very important but totally stupid. The creativity test is that way. I said usually, too, people tell them to do what everyone else is doing and color inside the lines, so to speak, but I wanted them to do what no one else is doing, and be whacky and free and funny. They began tentatively but caught on rapidly. We didn't have time for the whole thing but Alex will continue with them. The test has things like, say, a branched line that a child has to use to make a drawing, but the scoring discounts certain things. If you draw a tree with your branching line you get 0 points for originality, since they think a tree is what anyone might draw. It doesn't matter if you draw a detailed magical tree in a cave inhabited by a wizard whose fingernails are emerald daggers. Tree=0. You are judged on the title. I'm not a fan of standardised creativity tests. Alan drew a pig in a cannon, though. That was cool. Cheyenne drew a devil-chicken. The test is comprised of around 30 little exercises. So that's a heap of pig cannons and devil-chickens.

I watched Kundun, which I got from the library - very good film.