Tonight's Poet Corner: Introspection
Hello, everyone. We've made it through a full week of March. My Yearbook class has one more deadline to go. My English students are waist-deep into Lord of the Flies now, and I'm pretty sure half of them either don't like it or haven't actually read it.
I actually think I'm coming down with a cold. It's funny - in my entire first year of teaching at my new high school, I've never called in sick. Come to think of it, I don't think I ever called in sick at Fusion Academy, either. Sure, I took vacations and needed days off, but they were requested way in advance, and I had time to write sub notes. But I've never called in sick the day of when it comes to a school job.
I'm not sure whether I should chalk it up to good health or work ethics or both. I think one part about being a teacher for me is being present. I've always liked consistency in my work, both as an educator and a writer. But I guess I also like consistency in my life. Consistency in schedule, consistency in workload, consistency in diet, all that.
Of course, the way my brain races leaves me feeling anything but consistent. In truth, I've always sort of warred between taking a risk or going on an adventure, versus settling down and being comfortable in a community I love being a part of. I don't take astrology seriously - as in, I don't rely on it to tell me who I am or what my future holds. But I do find some of the stuff in horoscopes to be really interesting, at least in conversation. Technically, I am what you call "on the cusp" - as in, my birthday falls in between the signs Gemini and Cancer. Gemini, of course, feels super appropriate - I am an identical twin, after all. But Geminis are often seen as adventurous, while Cancers are homebodies. And I definitely feel some emotional tug-of-war between the two.
There's a memory I have of returning home from my study abroad program in Ireland, and I remember how homesick I wound up getting before heading back to California, despite how beautiful the country was and how much I enjoyed my experience. Sure enough, once I got back, I was restless. I would drive out to a gas station down the freeway from my house, buy a bottle of water, and drive home - just so I could be traveling and going out and about. I suppose, for me, that balance has to be struck as much as possible. If I'm stuck at home, I'm going to want to wander. But if I wander too much, I'm going to want to go home.
I wonder if renting an RV and going on a cross country trip at some point would be up my alley. I don't know - I'd like to explore more of the continental United States. Anyway.
On a final, somewhat unrelated note - I've been a little disappointed in OneWord lately. Most of my readers come from Facebook, so they may not have noticed, but if you're a reader of mine from outside my small circle of friends, you've probably spotted quite a few N/A's for my OneWords lately. In short, the website just isn't being updated frequently anymore - like, at all. There were two full months in which the webmasters didn't miss a single day, but I crunched the numbers, and this is what I found: Last month (February), there were twelve days in which no new word prompt was provided - that's almost half the days in the month. And so far in March, I've only been able to submit three new OneWord blurbs in nine days. It's really something.
Now, here's the thing - I'm not entitled to anything from the people who run the OneWord website. Hell, I even got an email and a free Amazon gift card from them because I respond every time a new word is put up! I'm not angry or attempting to whine about the situation - I guess I'm just disappointed. I love doing the OneWords and posting them on this blog for all of you to enjoy, and honestly, I sometimes get new readers for my blog because of my OneWord responses. So whatever the reason might be for such sporadic updates, I hope it improves, and I'm happy to help out if needed in whatever way.
...I mean, I don't have any experience in website work or coding, but hey, you know, I never touched a DSLR camera before last year, so...I can learn!
And with that, I think that's enough rambling from me in this introspection. Time for me to shower up and get to bed so I can shake off this bug before it gets any worse. Rest is important, especially when I'm launching into my final deadline week with my students starting Monday!
Have a great night and a great weekend, everyone.
I actually think I'm coming down with a cold. It's funny - in my entire first year of teaching at my new high school, I've never called in sick. Come to think of it, I don't think I ever called in sick at Fusion Academy, either. Sure, I took vacations and needed days off, but they were requested way in advance, and I had time to write sub notes. But I've never called in sick the day of when it comes to a school job.
I'm not sure whether I should chalk it up to good health or work ethics or both. I think one part about being a teacher for me is being present. I've always liked consistency in my work, both as an educator and a writer. But I guess I also like consistency in my life. Consistency in schedule, consistency in workload, consistency in diet, all that.
Of course, the way my brain races leaves me feeling anything but consistent. In truth, I've always sort of warred between taking a risk or going on an adventure, versus settling down and being comfortable in a community I love being a part of. I don't take astrology seriously - as in, I don't rely on it to tell me who I am or what my future holds. But I do find some of the stuff in horoscopes to be really interesting, at least in conversation. Technically, I am what you call "on the cusp" - as in, my birthday falls in between the signs Gemini and Cancer. Gemini, of course, feels super appropriate - I am an identical twin, after all. But Geminis are often seen as adventurous, while Cancers are homebodies. And I definitely feel some emotional tug-of-war between the two.
There's a memory I have of returning home from my study abroad program in Ireland, and I remember how homesick I wound up getting before heading back to California, despite how beautiful the country was and how much I enjoyed my experience. Sure enough, once I got back, I was restless. I would drive out to a gas station down the freeway from my house, buy a bottle of water, and drive home - just so I could be traveling and going out and about. I suppose, for me, that balance has to be struck as much as possible. If I'm stuck at home, I'm going to want to wander. But if I wander too much, I'm going to want to go home.
I wonder if renting an RV and going on a cross country trip at some point would be up my alley. I don't know - I'd like to explore more of the continental United States. Anyway.
On a final, somewhat unrelated note - I've been a little disappointed in OneWord lately. Most of my readers come from Facebook, so they may not have noticed, but if you're a reader of mine from outside my small circle of friends, you've probably spotted quite a few N/A's for my OneWords lately. In short, the website just isn't being updated frequently anymore - like, at all. There were two full months in which the webmasters didn't miss a single day, but I crunched the numbers, and this is what I found: Last month (February), there were twelve days in which no new word prompt was provided - that's almost half the days in the month. And so far in March, I've only been able to submit three new OneWord blurbs in nine days. It's really something.
Now, here's the thing - I'm not entitled to anything from the people who run the OneWord website. Hell, I even got an email and a free Amazon gift card from them because I respond every time a new word is put up! I'm not angry or attempting to whine about the situation - I guess I'm just disappointed. I love doing the OneWords and posting them on this blog for all of you to enjoy, and honestly, I sometimes get new readers for my blog because of my OneWord responses. So whatever the reason might be for such sporadic updates, I hope it improves, and I'm happy to help out if needed in whatever way.
...I mean, I don't have any experience in website work or coding, but hey, you know, I never touched a DSLR camera before last year, so...I can learn!
And with that, I think that's enough rambling from me in this introspection. Time for me to shower up and get to bed so I can shake off this bug before it gets any worse. Rest is important, especially when I'm launching into my final deadline week with my students starting Monday!
Have a great night and a great weekend, everyone.
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