How do you spell "fire truck"?

Our spelling bee was tonight. I've been working on this for a couple of months now; as a first-year teacher, this was a fairly major event to plan. So needless to say, I've been pretty nervous/stressed.

I had yearbook after school until 4:30; M.J. (the teacher doing the 3rd-5th grade one) and I ran around till 5:30 or so getting things set up, doing the sound check, etc. The first spelling bee was at 6, so another teacher and I hit the grocery store next door for "dinner" and pretty much ate our sandwhiches as we finished last-minute preparations (let's just say that my "workout" today was pretty much that entire hour and a half).

Finally, 6:00 arrives and we're doing pretty well: we're getting our contestants in their spots (alphabetical order), the audience is seated, medals and refreshments are out--we're ready to go. I had just finished reviewing the list of names (I was the "MC" for the night and wanted to make sure I could pronounce the students names correctly, since these weren't my kids). I turned to the microphone to begin my welcome speech--

--and the fire alarm goes off.

M.J. and I looked at each other like, "Are you f*cking kidding me?!" We knew what was coming next--we had to evacuate. We start emptying the entire cafeteria (with M.J. screaming to the just-alphabetized kids, "REMEMBER YOUR PLACES!!").

Here's the kicker: unless it's a pre-arranged fire drill, once the fire alarm goes off, the fire department HAS to respond. So we knew they'd be on their way. At this point, we still didn't know if it was a genuine fire or if some jackass had pulled the alarm. As we're waiting, we teachers were on our cell phones, trying to get a hold of the principal, dean of students--SOMEONE in authority who knows what the heck to do now.

So then fire department arrives--

(you just KNOW that any school event *I* plan is going to include the sentence "So then the fire deparment arrives," LOL)--

and I brief them as much as I can. They go inside, do their thing and discover that yes, the alarm HAD been pulled--one at the back of the cafeteria, in fact. (Luckily, we have cameras all over the school, including in there, so they'll be reviewing the tapes in the morning.) After about half an hour, we FINALLY get the all-clear to go back inside.

Everything proceeded pretty smoothly after that. Overall, the night was a success. We started that first bee at 6:30 instead of 6; however, since we had given ourselves a buffer window, we were still able to start our second bee at 7:00 as planned. I'm very happy and satisfied with how things went (other than, you know, the arrival of the emergency vehicles). All in all, we pulled it off. Now we get to relax until the state one next month (and there's really not a lot we have to do to get ready for that one, other than send letters home, coordinate rides, etc).

In other news, all is going pretty well. I'm feeling much better after being on meds for a few days now (and Nikki, my health hasn't been THAT BAD lately--it's just the last couple of weeks that have kicked my ass, since I've been so rundown and tired and stressed). Things with Dave are still deliriously good; in fact, for those who haven't heard, he's taking me on a getaway to the Keys this weekend for our big one-month anniversary. (Sure, there's the small matter of being stalked by his ex, but that's a whole different post.)

Have a great weekend--I know I will.