2012 in Review

Can you believe it’s 2013 already? Not only that: it is now the middle of January. The first month will be over before you know it. On top of all that, my son will be two! Wow. Most of my readers know that regardless of how much or how little I write in my blog, every year I commemorate the previous year’s passing by making my observation on what I think the year held. And this year is no different. I have no choice but label this year as the year of matrimony for me personally. Practically everything I did in the year 2012 was in preparation for our wedding, starting with the open house we attended in January. From there, it was the ordering of napkins and cake servers and invitations. Even though I suffered the minor setback of buying a dress for $149 that I didn’t even use, it all worked out in the end because I ended up financing my dress, shoes, and accessories, and getting the look I really wanted. My husband and I had a lovely ceremony aboard the Odyssey by Spirit Cruises in Washington, DC, with a beautiful brunch cruise on the Potomac River. We had around 100 guests: a just-right size for my taste, even though we were originally supposed to have only 60 guests. My hubby pulled out the monetary stops at the end to make sure our wedding day and honeymoon were something that I would not forget. But for the year of 2012, I would have to label it a year of pairs. It seemed like one event went hand-in-hand with another. Natural disasters abounded in the year 2012, and they dogged the heels of one another. June 2012 saw an unprecedented storm called a derecho that swept from the Midwest to the east coast, cutting an 800-mile swath across North America. The lack of precipitation throughout the year caused a record drought, killing hundreds of crops. July saw the flooding of the southeastern U.S. while other parts of the U.S. suffered a record heat wave, making outdoor conditions unbearable. From June to August, western wildfires burned across Colorado and Oklahoma. In addition, over 800 tornadoes were confirmed. Finally, in terms of natural disasters, Hurricane Ernesto ravaged the southeastern U.S. while Sandy battered the northern east coast, obliterating the Jersey shore. All of these events happened in conjunction or right behind one another. Tragedy struck the U.S. in the forms of mass killings across the country, the most memorable of which were the Colorado movie killings and the Newtown killing of 20 children. There were 14 other mass killings in the United States, making the death toll from those killings 88. These tragedies also seemed to follow each other closely. Now there is talk of more gun control and more mental health regulations. Let’s hope this is the case. Finally, the year lost a plethora of celebrity legends in music and film, and they each seemed to happen in pairs as well. The year started with the death of Etta James, whose song “At Last” is still played regularly on the radio. Not long after, the world was rocked by the death of Whitney Houston. We will no longer hear the voice of 60 Minutes icon Mike Wallace. New Year’s Eves from here on out won’t be the same without Dick Clark; America lost both him and Don Cornelius, host and producer of Soul Train. I can remember watching both American Bandstand and Soul Train back-to-back as a child. Both Chuck Brown and Donna Summer, whose music moved a generation in go-go and disco, respectively, were lost the same week. The Andy Griffith Show lost both its star and Goober.The year also saw the deaths of Moesha and The Parkers star Yvette Wilson; Ernest Borgnine; “Self Destruction” rapper Miss Melodie; Welcome Back, Kotter’s Robert Hegyes and Ron Pellilo; crass comedienne Phyllis Diller; colossal actor Michael Clark Duncan; and Jack Klugman, one half of The Odd Couple among others. There was another high for this country as President Barack Obama was re-elected into office. Now it’s time for him to take the gloves off for his last term. The end of 2012 saw the government struggling with the looming fiscal cliff. Of course, there were residual effects as many Americans found their checks reduced because of increased taxes. Overall, even though the year of 2012 had a great deal of highs for me personally, I was devastated at the overall loss that the United States suffered.

Me at 40-eve

As many of you know and some of you are discovering, 2013 will be my 40th year, and such, I am compiling a list of things I want to accomplish to commemorate this year. I will admit, I gleaned the list idea from my compadre, who herself is turning 50. My major undertaking is reading through the Bible in one year with the One Year Bible, which provides daily readings from the Old Testament, New Testament, Psalms, and Proverbs. I would also like to reduce To-Be-Read List. The problem with my current selection is that the list grows far faster than I can read! That is the constant curse of an avid reader who just happens to work in a library. Too many times, I'm either swamped with reading student papers, or I get distracted by another book and end up not finishing the last one. I'm currently in the middle of finishing at least three books. That brings me to the next major undertaking for the year, and that is my challenge of completion. Disney XD Channel has a show called "Phineas and Ferb" where the title characters try to think of constructive activities to do during the summer. Phineas starts almost episode with "Ferb, I know what we're gonna do today!" In that same spirit, I am going to come up with a task each day that I will endeavor to complete by the end of the day. Too many times, I find myself doing several tasks and leaving just a small fraction left. The task that I complete can be large or small, personal or work-related, as long as I complete it by the end of the day. Ironically, today's goal of completion is to complete this list. But that's not all I want to do this year. I want to really get serious about my health and drop 40 pounds by the time I turn 40. Finally, I want to start going on more excursions. Some things I'd like to do this year are go to the Spy and Newseum, visit the MLK Memorial and some others, visit some wineries, a casino, and attend a sip and paint workshop. Some of these I can do with my family, and others I can try with friends. I think that's it for now; wish me luck!

The Lull before the Storm

It’s Monday, and I reached a critical realization while I was reaching for my flashdrive: I have Nothing To Do. This is not to say that I don’t have Things To Do: the hodgepodge pile of unsorted papers and books are strewn over my desk, the papers waiting for me to decide where they should be filed (undoubtedly File 13 is where much of it will end up) and the books begging to be read or reshelved. I have some emails to send to students concerning next semester classes, and I also have final exam papers to print for distribution. I also have mentally dedicated myself to finishing my own novel. Unfinished thank you-notes from my wedding gifts stare at me, mocking my feeble attempt to send them out before the Christmas holiday. As a last resort, I even pulled out my Kindle to finish romance novel that I have previously read at least twice (drat you Julia Quinn for being such a good romance novelist). As for the work, I find myself reluctant to DO any of it. It’s abject laziness at its best, and I choose to defend that laziness with the knowledge that in less than 24 hours, I will be consumed with busyness as I try to grade research papers and final exams and submit grades before the surprisingly short deadline of 48 hours after my final class. I have been in this pleasant lull for the majority of the last week, having come back from Thanksgiving break with the knowledge that only one class requires a whole lot of effort. They are set to turn in their research papers tonight, and I will more than likely play a board game with them, then send them on their merry way with some stress relief and their final exam. Then maybe I’ll feel the urge to kickstart my week. In the meantime, I will just sit here and stare at The Things I Should Be Doing, then read a book. Or not.

The Day!

After much anticipation, I have finally compiled one of our wedding albums. Click here for the update.

Free photo slideshow generated with Smilebox

The Doldrums of Wedding Withdrawal

Without warning, today I had a sudden onset of boredom—that persistent need to just to DO something. Unlike other times, this sudden burst of boredom isn’t due to any true stagnation. After all, I’m still working full-time at the library, teaching three English courses, being a mother to my soon-to-be twenty-month-old son, and acclimating to my new role as wife. In truth, I think it’s more the opposite of lack of activity. I can best ascribe it to going through some type of withdrawal from all the wedding plans that were made during the course of this year. I have this need to plan! Or at the very least speculate about planning, and impart this overload of knowledge that I gained from my personal foray into the world of all things wedding. And while it feels great to talk to the latest bride-to-be that I know is walking down that aisle, I don’t want to feel like I’m foisting myself upon her as some newlywed Desperate Housewife. So I decided to pimp myself out to the world wide web and look for some freelance writing work that provides not only some accountability as far as imposing deadlines, but one that others can read (a little money wouldn’t hurt, but it is the least of my motivations at this point). Why should I not exploit a talent that I already have (writing) into a new venue? Being that guest blogger for Adorii (formerly WedCoupon) only whet my appetite to move on to other things. And with the miracle of technology, I can work virtually from anywhere. Another reason getting a paying freelance job would be nice would be because I would be adding some writing experience to pad my CV should a full-time appointment come up. But like the money, for right now, it is not my primary motivation. I’ll talk more about other ways in which I seek to enrich my life later.

What I LOVE About My Son—Updates

The last time I wrote about my son was roughly a year ago, and he has undergone so many changes since then that I felt it was only necessary for me to talk about the updates to the myriad reasons I love my son. I am no longer lugging him around. As of now, he is a fully walking and mostly running individual, who can go up and down steps with relative ease. This of course causes us to now close those gates we installed to keep him from falling down the stairs. Twice since he can freely roam the house, he’s been downstairs with his Pop-pop holding deep conversations. His eyes still continue to fascinate me as I see them absorb new knowledge every day. He’s become quite the mockingjay (those who have read The Hunger Games will understand this reference). Lately, he’s taken to mimicking the sound of snoring (admittedly, mine) and of sneezing (he does his own little fake sneeze). I no longer have to hear many grunts associated with the rudiments of language because my dear son is now in the full-blown stage of acquiring language. He can now say mama, thanks, go and map (from watching Diego and Dora), can count to ten, recite some of his alphabet, and one my personal favorites “tickletickletickletickletickle!” I very seldom any longer have to worry to worry that I am feeding him too slowly, since he can now feed himself with a fork and a spoon. He has a mouth full of teeth now and gets them brushed daily. He is also on solid foods now, and even though we tend to stick to his favorites (macaroni and cheese, Chef Boyardee, and grilled cheese), I am happy to say that he still loves green beans and broccoli, and that we can generally get him to eat anything, except solid meats and as I’ve just found out, cooked carrots. While he’s still pretty quick to go from mood to mood, he has learned the dreaded terrible two fallout move, which is actually one of the few things I DON’T love. The whole decision to just stop moving or cooperate in any way is frustrating, especially when I’m carrying a purse and a diaper bag and trying to hustle us out of the door. I will say still most of his problems are solved by food or sleep and that he no longer needs to be burped. I’ve actually figured out the mystery of whose lips his more closely resemble, or in general who he favors more, and the answer (at least in my mind) is me. But I now have discernible proof. My dad dug up an old toddler picture of me at roughly Ayden’s age, and when I showed it to Lane, he thought I’d plastered a plait and a dress on Ayden and snapped a black and white photo. Someday, I’ll post the two photos side by side so that the rest of the world can see. My love affair continues.

Course Building

Okay, I know it has been POSITIVELY FOREVER since I’ve been on here and there are scads and scads of news to catch up on, but all of that will happen in due time. Today I’m here to talk about the life I lead with one of my many hats and that is as an adjunct professor. I actually love what I do. There is something both rewarding and fulfilling about educating young and young at heart minds about the English language. First and foremost, I love the eloquence of language, and if I just remember that this one of the reasons I teach I will never get bored. But as much as I love teaching about language, there is always more to the profession than standing in front of the class and lecturing. There is the inevitable lesson planning that goes into each session, and naturally, course building. To me, it can sometimes be tedious bureaucratic fodder, but at other times totally necessary. Most of this takes place in the weeks before the semester and into the first few weeks of the class. This semester, it seems as if the course planning part is bearing down on me more than usual. There are a couple of reasons for this. First and foremost, the main problem has to be that college teaching is such an autocratic process that the slightest squelch on a teacher’s creative freedom weighs down like shackles. For example, the syllabus. Ideally, I would like for my syllabus to be a single sheet, front and back. Realistically, my syllabi over the past six years have gone into the ten-page realm with all the college and departmental requirements that have to be included on them. One of the things I will have to experiment with is font size, and the other idea I have is to make the entire syllabus newsletter style (I may try this approach in the spring and see how it goes over; the adage goes that it is better/easier to ask for forgiveness rather than permission). The other area in which I find myself struggling is with Blackboard this year. For those of you who don’t know, “Blackboard is a web-based program that serves as the college’s online classroom” (that’s straight from my syllabus that I came straight from template syllabus). Recently, one of our new librarians who sits one of our many (again with this word that I find I am having trouble typing correctly [thank God for Spell Checker!]) bureaucratic committees, this one designed to bring a core standard that is “consistent for students.” While I am getting used to this environment, it’s throwing me for a loop because I now I can’t just copy my old courses into a new one; I have to create a whole new course design which falls within the parameters of what the committee has set. Granted, the full change doesn’t go into effect until next fall, but if I have a jump on what’s already coming down the pike, why not start the change now? That way, my life will be all the more easy when the actual transition comes and I can copy the courses I’m developing now and only have to do slight tweaking for next year. I suppose the real reason I’m feeling harried and like I haven’t quite gotten it together yet is because I haven’t quite gotten it together yet. I went on vacation the 16th of August with no idea if two of my classes were going to make. I returned from being out of the country on a Friday after midnight (you might as well say Saturday) to find that my class Saturday had gone from 7 to 17 students in a week. Since the class hadn’t made when I left, I didn’t do a syllabus or a Blackboard Class Request Form, but I managed to throw one together early that morning along with some of my standing policies and make copies beforehand. Ironically enough, the one year I planned something in August before the start of the semester, my usual late-start Saturday class, which usual begins in the middle of September, right in time for my birthday weekend, gets extended to a full-semester class and starts before all the others. As per usual, the technology was not up and running on the first day of class in so-called “new smart classroom.” So there I was standing in front of the classroom, with what can best be described as a jetlag headache, cloggy ears and all. I muddled through and surprisingly was able to give a halfway decent lecture, only to tell them that I wouldn’t see them for two weeks since the college would be closed for Labor Day. And here I am on a Friday, still getting the Blackboard site together for my all my classes just so I can feel organized. Luckily, it’s quiet and I can get a little more done before procrastination once again sets in and I end up doing something so mundane and random (like typing and posting this blog).