Facial hair progression

From a beard... just shaved the chinny-chin-chin

Then a separation between handlebar mustache and huge chops

Handlebar-less Stache... still huge chops

Cleaner sideburns

Goodbye chops/sideburns. Luigi from Super Mario Bros?

Estoy buscando al aeropuerto a volar a Cuba... dónde está?

loving life

Riding a pretty big high right now. Probably because of the waxing half moon that I saw two nights ago... that is the part of my monthly cycle during which I am the strongest (or I think that I am!)

The end is near. Four pieces left and that is it! I imagine graduating in two weeks, delivering presentations next week and then two days before we finish. Gotta write up both presentations and then... well, that's really it. Some editing afterwards to make sure they are publishable or presentable to others.

Riding the high of future potential and the freedom that I see starting May 1. No guarantees on the job front, the home front, the relationship front. But I did some toying around in my files and boxes of stuff over the past five years. I have a lot to show for myself and finalizing my thoughts on all of that was really awesome yesterday. I am filled with a confidence and foundation on which to build a life. Hard to write out, but easy to verbally describe. I am in a good place. My last "five-year-plan" would be evaluated with gleaming reviews though much of it was not expected to be so lucky.

I am in the middle of a facial hair experiment. My hair is short and the bearded season is over... so I have been systematically trimming the beard every day. I have a sequence of pictures that I will post when the experiment is finished. I am about half way through and I have huge chop sideburns, a 1970's San Diego mustache, and a small soul patch under my bottom lip. Every time I stroll by a mirror I do a double-take and chuckle to myself. I wonder what strangers must think!

Not wanting to ride too high, I have to stay level and in the middle. But express that the "flow" is happening... I await the inevitable ebb, but hopefully that will also be tempered somewhat... and I'll go about my business... of my goal... in the middle.

This is also the calm before the storm. I got a bit to do... so I better get at it... especially if I am going to go snowboarding tomorrow...hehehe!

for wayne

here you are man!

Crazy days

I don't have much energy to write but here is a short update:

- projects, presentations, papers, reading, writing, grading, teaching, learning

This is what the past two months have been and the next one will be.

Despite the overhwhelmingness, I love being a student and I love being a teacher! Non-stop until graduation... gulp... 32 days away.

Two weeks "off" after that, but I plan to dedicate most of that time to my April gigs:

On the job front... gonna work an outdoor ed gig in early April on the Olympic Peninsula. Then filling in as a substitute teacher for a 3rd/4th grade class for three weeks during the rest of that month. Pretty stoked on these opportunities. They'll be fun... and I'll get paid!!!! Finally!

Get to cat/house sit during April too in Mt. Vernon. "Yes!" for two weeks in the farmland with quiet, birds and a wood-stove to keep things warm* (*if it hasn't warm up by then)

Then... the future is relatively wide open. I have an interview in two weeks for a 6th Grade teacher position for next school year. I'll go in with a positive attitude and be myself (and polite!) and let the winds of destiny send me away or keep me in Washington.

Looking forward to some freedom and time... It has been awhile actually. From Japan straight into grad school. Damn near five years on the run! All fun, but certainly structured. I need a framework to guide me, indeed, but I may yet get a short spell of time to clear up some projects and clean up my life a little.

I'm looking forward to a summer of adventures and personal consolidation. And I'm trying to make that the priority... not a job (necessarily) and not any major endeavors to pursue. It's true that I have lived most of my life to have a good time with relatively little responsibility... and after all this time, I am ready to get more focused. :)

First step is to reflect on my decade of young fun! Maybe I can do that in the mountains this summer....