This here's a catch-all, since I haven't been meeting my goal of posting once or twice a week. [ahem]
Thanksgiving: Lovely time with parents, sis, and cousins (3) and cousins' kid. Somewhat scaled back; not as many casseroles as usual. While I missed some of said casseroles (and plan to make one of them myself this week, I miss it that badly [ahem]), it felt good to be a bit more moderate. We spent less time in the kitchen, more time hanging out and talking, and the post-dinner consequences were much less painful -- satisfaction versus stuffed.
School: Well, I've done no -- NO -- grading this weekend. Let me make myself clear. I've. done. NO. grading. And I am gonna pay dearly. I'm already behind in my AP class, both in schedule and in returning papers. My sophomores have finished a novel (bless Mockingbird), and they've done an absymal draft of a wretched paper that I dread even to read much less mark up with revision advice. I was supposed to decide this weekend how to triage this disastrous paper, and I am no better now than I was on Wednesday afternoon (except better fed and more rested).
I cannot make myself grade at home anymore; this year is apparently a rebel year. I spent this weekend eating, watching movies, decorating for Christmas, cleaning out my constipated closet, watching TV, watching nieces/nephews, taking a real-age survey (my 36 is actually 43 [sigh] -- exercise, flossing, and better nutrition, anyone?), and reading.
Madeleine: As desperately as I want to attend the memorial service this Thursday at Cathedral of St. John the Divine, I have come to terms with the fact that it would be financial folly for me to fly across the country just now. However, it is important for me, personally, to commemorate this her birthday and passing into the next life. She is too important to me -- to my development, my thinking, my sense of God and mystery. Therefore, I shall take Thursday off and conduct my own memorial day of reading, poetry, writing, reflection. It is a compromise, but I am satisfied with it.
Other news: My lifelong partner and I are making more than just ephemeral "someday" plans for moving. We crave a place with beauty, clean air, a dedication to nature and preserving our God-created environment. We want out of the concrete jungle. And we are making more than just a pipe dream. Planning is good.
Sunday, November 25, 2007
Sunday, November 18, 2007
ancient (?) history
Saw this on another blog and figured I'd take a stab at it. Gives me something to blog about, because what's going on IRL would take too long to write about tonight.
What were you doing ten years ago, twenty years ago, thirty years ago?
Thirty Years Ago:
I was six, which means I was in first grade in Original Racecar State. I went to Patriotically-Named Christian School, and had Miss T as a teacher. Looking back now, I realize she was probably only in her twenties at the time; she seemed so matronly. I remember earning colored foil stars in my speed-reading drill book. I remember walking for recess to the sort-of park, down the street from the church which housed our classrooms; Miss T would occasionally amuse our single-file first grade line by surprising us with a skip after every few steps. This was especially amusing given her generous proportions and voluminous shawls and extreme age (to us). My family would move westward in two years.
Twenty Years Ago:
I was sixteen with nary a thought of driving (didn't get my license till I was 18 and Mom made me). I was a sophomore in Ghetto Christian School (dubbed as such because it really was located in a scary part of town), and it was my first year at "real" high school; my junior high was a throwback, extending through 9th grade. I had made the JV volleyball team (thrilling) and was enduring the pain of geometry. I met the girl who would be my best friend for the next ten-plus years. She introduced me to the 'evils' of alternative rock music and the joys of deep philosophy (best expounded in the wee smalls).
Ten Years Ago:
I had already been with my life partner for nearly two years -- ok, a year and a half. Three years out of Local Christian U, I was whiling away my time as a secretary at Company that Cuts and Cooks Trees. It would be three more years before I came to my senses and went back to school for my teaching credential. I had enjoyed discovering the beauty and logic of Anglicanism for about five years, but Young Upstart Anglican Church was set to implode a few short years later.
Wonder what the next ten years will bring.
What were you doing ten years ago, twenty years ago, thirty years ago?
Thirty Years Ago:
I was six, which means I was in first grade in Original Racecar State. I went to Patriotically-Named Christian School, and had Miss T as a teacher. Looking back now, I realize she was probably only in her twenties at the time; she seemed so matronly. I remember earning colored foil stars in my speed-reading drill book. I remember walking for recess to the sort-of park, down the street from the church which housed our classrooms; Miss T would occasionally amuse our single-file first grade line by surprising us with a skip after every few steps. This was especially amusing given her generous proportions and voluminous shawls and extreme age (to us). My family would move westward in two years.
Twenty Years Ago:
I was sixteen with nary a thought of driving (didn't get my license till I was 18 and Mom made me). I was a sophomore in Ghetto Christian School (dubbed as such because it really was located in a scary part of town), and it was my first year at "real" high school; my junior high was a throwback, extending through 9th grade. I had made the JV volleyball team (thrilling) and was enduring the pain of geometry. I met the girl who would be my best friend for the next ten-plus years. She introduced me to the 'evils' of alternative rock music and the joys of deep philosophy (best expounded in the wee smalls).
Ten Years Ago:
I had already been with my life partner for nearly two years -- ok, a year and a half. Three years out of Local Christian U, I was whiling away my time as a secretary at Company that Cuts and Cooks Trees. It would be three more years before I came to my senses and went back to school for my teaching credential. I had enjoyed discovering the beauty and logic of Anglicanism for about five years, but Young Upstart Anglican Church was set to implode a few short years later.
Wonder what the next ten years will bring.
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