Friday philosophizing

Today was day two of our mandatory three-day exam period. The purpose of this exam period is not to test our students' intellectual growth, but rather to keep them away from "runnin' the halls"-- otherwise, the absurdity of having EVERY single subject test for three straight days would be, well, more noticeably absurd.
The anxiety and restlessness was palpable-- when exams were turned in (which by day two become glorified worksheets to all of us) the antics were loud, the protests slightly nastier than usual. My favorite student (he of the long-ago bathroom pass confrontation, now a reformed expert on Lord of the Flies) was stoned and kept giggling and swearing he "forgot" everything he'd learned.
I felt reduced to near first-week-of-school humiliation and antagonism. I have come to expect this on stressful days for my students, but it still stings: I test them, they heap revenge at my feet. To top it off, I arrived in my room, latte-laden, to find my bathroom pass had gone missing, which brought before my eyes the possibility of humiliation before the top dogs.
All in all, a tough day... my back hurts, i am tense and irritable, and i have two days of exams and a project to grade by monday. But as my brother, a teacher too, wisely said: you survived this, you can survive anything. so that's the attitude i hope to adopt.