A Week Without Worry

My friend Anita got me to thinking what I would do if I had an entire week to myself - without the thought of having to go back to work on the eighth day, without the stress of the "shouldas," without the phone ringing off the hook. It reminded me of what she used to tell me when I was going through rough times (many times over), which basically boiled down to the advice that if I took care of my personal yearnings, explored some hobbies, read a few books and played a few dusty video games, that I would feel better for having taken care of myself. Given that week, and assuming that I cannot involve anyone else in what I do (though I would most certainly want my beau and my Anita alongside), here's what I'd do:

1. Write a short story. I used to write all the time in high school and at the beginning of college, and used to be fairly good at spinning a cheesy yarn. The advent of college and graduate papers - and now constantly having to grade them - has kept me from this passion.
2. Go camping. I've been yearning to spend some time outdoors lately, in communion with nature and her sounds and smells. I am always most at peace when I am most connected with the environment or have access to natural wonders, which is why I feel that Arizona was, in so many ways, a great fit for me that I chanced upon at the wrong time.
3. Go hiking. Related to number two, hiking is great exercise and a way to be in contact with nature at once. I took myself hiking in Birmingham a few months ago, and really was able to relax at a level I rarely experience.
4. Play some old school video games. I've had a hankering to pull out the old Amiga 2000 the last few months, and I just haven't made the time (or room) to do it. I miss getting lost trying to save the Lemmings.
5. Read a few novels. Among the new ones I have yet to read (Harry Potter 6), I've wanted to reread a few of the classics (A Tale of Two Cities, Les Miserables, The Count of Monte Cristo, Confessions of Felix Krull). They always spark my imagination.
6. Make a sinful dessert. And eat it all. I've had a craving for chocolate and cherries lately, and though I don't necessarily need them together, both would be nice additions to my post-meal enjoyment. I attempted to satisfy the cherry craving the other night by brining along a Wal-Mart cherry pie to a friend's house for dinner, but since all people who shop at Wal-Mart are apparently suffering from insulin issues, none of the pies available contained any sugar. Point of advice: Pies need sugar. Don't buy a sugar-free pie and think that the taste will remotely match the sight.
7. Sleep without worrying I might miss something. I'm always starting awake thinking that something is going on that would be more fun than laying in bed, no matter how cozy I am in the sheets.

The wonderful thing is that I don't need to have a full week off to do any of these things, and have managed to chip away at a few of them every now and again. I feel better each time I indulge myself, and must work harder to treat myself mentally. These things are activities I have always enjoyed, and ought not be forgotten.

Supper Club Haikus

Charming guests
Witty as ten hens
Good gay boys

I love a good drink
Margaritas, if you please
Please don't lick the rim

Save your Wednesday nights
Meet us for Mexican food
Share your funny tales

(Okay, so I'm not so good at Haiku)

Salty chip
Dipped in picante
Burns my lips

(Hee hee... I'm done now!)

Two Bobs Vila

We've really done a number on the house! After virtually buying something from each department of Lowe's, with plans to return yet a few more times for finishing touches, there is nary a room left in our house that has gone untouched by our Vila-esque hands. After installing a new fluorescent fixture in the currently-under-renovation laundry room and seeing the marked improvement over the old fixture that had been retrofitted with compact fluorescents (they had to be left dangling when the old globe wouldn't fit over them), we decided to do the same replacement in the other two rooms where bare bulbs hung: the kitchen and the office. The difference is amazing!

The new exterior door, screen door, and interior laundry room / den doors were supposed to be hung this weekend, but the rain outside prevented us from doing it. Instead, we came up with a plan for hanging the new vinyl shutters (to replace the rotting wooden ones) and actually did tear down the old 80s style vertical blinds in the living room. We replaced them with very classy plantation blinds and will go in search of a valence at Wal-Mart the next time we go. You didn't think that we could do all of this butch housework without thinking about the queer details, did you? ;-)

Keeping It in the Family

At our "Supper Club" last night, we got into a conversation about adoption, and it got me to thinking about the reality of it all. My partner and I are currently on an adoption wait list - well, he is, since the state doesn't recognize me as anything other than a roommate - and are edging closer and closer to the top. Things will happen when they are supposed to; I'm in no rush to start a family.

Given the news lately about men in most states not being able to easily change their names at the time of marriage (all the woman does is indicate she wants to change it at the time of license application), I've reawakened to the concept that between my brother and myself, my last name will die out if we do not have biological children or adopt and pass the name down. If only American society could awaken for the first time to the idea that breaking convention is not, by default, a bad thing!

Froshty Fresh

I just love the academic cycle of life. My calendar, like it has been for so many years, is still divided into sixteen-week semesters. Some might find this stifling, annoying, or outrightly childish, but I argue that it is refreshing and helps me keep my youth(ful beauty). As a teacher, I'm lucky to have the opportunity to work with so many young people - as the number of students' lives I have touched grows well into the thousands, I take solace in the fact that each fall, spring, and summer, I temporarily gain access to help shape the minds of yet another few hundred wondering, wandering minds.

I'm very excited about this semester's EarthSmart class I'm teaching. It's the third time I've taught the course, so I've managed to work out a lot of the kinks and the "dead days" where there just wasn't enough activity. After having read the first round of the students' electronic journals, I am ecstatic to learn that I have finally made enough of a name for the course (I co-developed it in 2004 with two other colleagues) - that it has grown into itself and is no longer recommended by advisors and taken by students as a mistaken "easy 'A'". I've never been known to be an especially difficult teacher of freshman seminar courses, but I am quite a demanding one. These students will work, read, and write their hearts out for two hours of credit, but their comments at the trailing end of the semester will justify any frustration, mismanaged time, and dangling modifiers on the part of the pupil. At least I don't grade for grammar and style on student journal entries - I used to assist with the editing of a professional journal, and can be quite a demon (with angelic intentions) with a correcting pen.

So... Wanna enroll?

Two-fer

I just read my own blog... I'd avoid the mundaneness in the future, but wanted to give the new style a test! Maybe it'll be quelque chose de profonde next time! Or maybe just une petite histoire.

How can I go a new direction when I didn't have one originally?

In an effort to do a bit of writing every day or so per my conversation with Anita last night, I'm going to try it out. I can already hear the gasps - no need to comment that it's been a blue moon. I commented to her last night that I didn't often have enough thoughts to put up on web or down on paper in a day - at least not ones that are organized and sensible, and not to mention interesting to someone not me. Doubting that could be the case, Anita encouraged me to try out the daily writing thing. So... Here's my feeble-turning-valiant effort:

I spent the MLK holiday sleeping in a little later than intended, awoke to a sweet phone call from my beau, and sipped away gingerly at a near-boiling cup of freshly ground coffee - my morning mainstay. Per one of my New Year's resolutions, I am working on doing better at making time for my simple hobbies: reading, writing, gaming, and hiking. Biking should be in there, too, but I'm on a holiday from it while Jack Frost is in town. Okay, Jack Frost doesn't cross the Mason-Dixon line, but I don't feel like exercise at the moment.

I took some time and played Space Quest IV, which, after not having played it since before my college days, is nearly a new game. For whatever reason, I've been pining for the days where computer game storylines were linear and adventurous rather than the shoot-em-up'n'kill-em-all style of today. Since I can't control the world, I bought several compendia of old DOS-based Sierra games and have been playing my favorite space hero's character, Roger Wilco, over the span of the last month.

Later in the day, I drove to my beau's workplace and took him out to lunch - another of the simple pleasures I can enjoy when he's working and I'm not. Shopping followed lunch, and it was not a very productive experience. Today, I was in the selfish mindset of being able to shop for myself but not for my sister, father or stepmother, who still lack Christmas gifts. Why don't they have gifts? It's a long story - my credit card was shut off during a good bit of the pre-Christmas holiday due to my being out of the country. Ugh.

Tonight for dinner: pork chops, black-eyed peas, and possibly cornbread. Yumm....