...but it just don't work on you

That's how the chorus of Got My Mojo Workin' ends:

I got my mojo workin'
but it just don't work on you

Muddy Waters was one of the masters of mixing self-depricating lyrics into songs that have become anthems of virility and power. After listening to Muddy shout "I got my mojo workin" three times in a row with the band echoing the line, I'm not sure anyone really lets the punchline sink in. At first it sounds like a proclamation of male prowess, but in the end it's a song of lament and lost love, like a lot of blues songs.

The "it just don't work on you" part is what I've felt like for a couple of weeks now. It seems that so many promising things have come and gone so quickly now that I feel like I'm on a downward slide.

1. I interviewed for a teaching job that sounded incredibly promising: a half-year position in a high school, full salary and benefits, and lots of time to prepare. It's not often that I come out of an interview feeling like I had a job in the bag, but I really felt like it this time. A week later I found out that I didn't even make the second round of interviews.

2. A girl I was interested in is evidently not as interested as she thought she was, and she fell off the radar a couple of weeks ago.

3. The new job is really not working out and I'm seriously considering an exit strategy.

The job is the worst part right now, probably because it's also the most stressful and time consuming. Once again, I was thrown to the wolves to survive on my own. While I'm forming alliances an friendships with other teachers, it is not yet turning into anything that I would count as an improving work environment. The kids are beyond disrespectful a lot of days, the administration is slowly becoming less and less supportive, even slightly combative, and I am so stressed that I'm having to concentrate awfully hard on enjoying what little free time I have.

I need two things most right now: a couple of good, healthy meals, a good back rub from someone who cares (I'm partial to blonde girls, but the blonde part is negotiable), an extra day or two of rest, and a couple of good days on productive projects. Lord knows there are enough guitar projects in the basement to keep me busy for a while.

I need to recharge for a bit, focus on some me stuff, and then go back at it. Problem is that I had to pick up a Sunday job to help pay for the trip to Chicago for my Grandmother's 90th birthday party, so there's hardly enough time for the minimum amount of rest now.

Perseverence. It will pay off. That I'm sure of.

And I know we don't end sentences with prepositions.