Saturday, December 20, 2014

What's a Break?

First, some background...I waited a while to get my own career going. I graduated college in May and my second son graduated HS in June. Now that I'm getting my career in gear, I am also realizing that I am going to miss the time I spent with them. I still have the youngest boy at home, and he has special needs that require quite a bit of my attention, so a lot of my time goes in to making sure that he doesn't fall too far behind. One of them is leaving for boot camp in March, so I'm trying to spend as much time with him as I can before he leaves, and really, now more than ever before, I realize that time goes by so fast...

But we all know that when it's break time, amiright?

I am lucky to have gotten two classes for the Spring semester, but it is a class that I haven't taught before, so I will be spending some serious time this break figuring it out. I'm really excited that it's a hybrid class, and that I get to look at literature in 116, but I'm always a little nervous about new things. I mean, I LOVE trying new things, and if you know me, you know I will say yes to just about anything... so I'm stoked! But still, a little nervous. I have been tossing around different ideas for the Spring. I'm definitely going to be exploring epistolary texts because its something that I am very interested in and I'm hoping to get students hyped about them, too. I'm also thinking about a unit on zombie lit and what our fascination with zombies says about our society...but like I said, it's in the planning stages right now. :)

I have a pile of books that I have started...and I haven't finished. I need to read them. I mean, I want to read them, but I really just, for the sake of being me for just a little bit, I NEED to read them. I miss reading for pleasure, getting lost in the world that someone so painstakingly created for me to get lost in.

And I need to clean my house. During the semester, I feel like I'm shuffling around piles and just taking care of the day-to-day stuff. But the projects pile up. My son's walls are almost finished getting painted...My closet is almost organized...The things that have fallen apart over the last few months are almost put back together. ("Screws fall out all the time; the world is an imperfect place.") So I am looking forward to getting some of that done.

This break is a time for me to get my ish together. Sometimes, during the last semester, I felt a little loopy... (Think of the Kermit the Frog moments when he runs around with his arms up in the air shouting.) Now, I need to sit and pluck my thoughts out of the air and line them back up. That is what I'm looking forward to doing during this break....After I finish this pile of finals.



1 comment:

  1. Here's to plucking ideas out of the air. But you're kidding yourself. I suspect the "air" you speak of is a schema you've spent you whole academic career (and life) amassing. Happy reading!

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