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....