I thought I’d just pop in so you all knew I remembered I had a blog. I know blogging is dead and all, yet I still read blogs and have a blog, so it’s probably sort of like classical music in that sense.
College started up, and I have several wonderful new students as well as my returning students. I absolutely adore some of the students I teach and I’m looking forward to a great semester. I’m sorry I had to leave some students at the other school I’d taught at for 4 1/2 years, but my schedule is much more manageable without that job…it’s hard to quit things, isn’t it? In any case, it was super weird and a bit emotional returning to my studio there for the first time since before the pandemic: I distinctly remember leaving and being excited for Spring Break and visiting my friend April in Atlanta, and then…never returning.
My early morning school job officially starts up next week, and while I’m a little nervous about the early mornings, especially as the days get shorter (it’s so hard to wake up and drive to work in the dark, for instance), I’m excited to get back to it. My overall schedule is easier than it was last year, even with actually commuting to my college job, and I think it’ll be a good semester.
Wednesday night: My parents stopped by overnight on their way home from a road trip. They were here for about 12 hours total as they wanted to get back on the road and get home. They ended up having some car trouble along the way home and the part their car needed might have been a year long wait or more, so they ended up buying a new car, which seems a bit crazy, yet, they didn’t have any better options at that point. We were able to admire their new car and chat a bit.
The weekend was fun: pizza and wine with friends on Friday night, and then most of the day Saturday and Sunday I spent at a Suzuki Workshop (Suzuki Principles in Action) in person at SIUE (in Edwardsville). It was a good learning opportunity, a course about HOW to teach, not what to teach, and I learned quite a bit. I have a follow-up assignment to do over the next two months, which involves recording myself as well as answering some questions/short essays. I’ve spent most of the pandemic trying to further improve and educate myself as a teacher, and it’s been really fun, learning. The more I know, the more confidence I have that I’m doing the best I can for my students.
Sunday night I cooked this: Skillet Shrimp and Orzo. I really liked it! I had been getting tired of cooking before I made it, but I think sometimes when I’m tired I just don’t want to cook, not that cooking is in itself tiring. I made myself put together a meal plan for the next two weeks.
And then yesterday was off, Labor Day! We were going to go for a hike, but ended up getting lazy and just hanging out around the house more. I sort of regret that I didn’t get out and about, but it was a bit hotter than originally predicted and I’m just so ready for fall weather. I think I was run down from the workshop in addition to just not wanting to deal with people or hot weather. It was a nice relaxing day and I didn’t work at all, other than a couple tiny things.
I do belong to two unions, and have mixed feelings about my union membership (one union is great, has gotten me raises, the other…not so much) but firmly believe that collective bargaining is on average, a good thing, and that workers make the world work and deserve way more than they and we actually get.
I haven’t mentioned books in awhile, so let me end with some books I’ve read recently:
Books I’ve loved: The Girl with the Louding Voice by Abi Daré, People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry, Golden Girl by Elin Hilderbrand, The Authenticity Project by Clare Pooley, The Jetsetters by Amanda Eyre Ward
Books I’ve liked: The Nobodies Album by Carolyn Parkhurst, The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave , Libertie by Kaitlyn Greenidge, House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune
Nonfiction I enjoyed/learned from: The Pandemic Century by Mark Honigsbaum, A Mighty Long Way: My Journey to Justice at Little Rock Central High School by Carlotta Walls Lanier