Lost the Routine

I don't know what it was about being sick for two weeks, but I just can't get back into the swing of things. I had such a good routine going before I got sick -it was the best online semester yet. Maybe I need something to really shake me out of this blah state. Like a mountain climb? One of our mountaineering friends invited me to climb Mt. Hood in a couple weeks. I know I could do it, but I can also think of a hundred excuses not to. Maybe it's time to stop the excuses and look for some reasons why I SHOULD start doing more things. Oh, on that note, we're going snow caving this weekend. So when you're all snuggly and warm inside your homes think of us out in our shovel-carved hole in the snow. Yee-haw.

Brilliant Epiphanies

So... I don't know if it's the returned onslaught of wintry weather, or the typical "I'm-ready-for-spring-and-sunshine" blues, but I've been a little blah lately. Yesterday I had so much homework to do that I decided to take a nap. By 5:30 p.m. I decided I had worked (slept?) long enough, so I turned to other activities to make me feel more productive. And thus had some brilliant epiphanies that can only be experienced when going about the mundane routines in life...

#1) Cooking dinner: I love trying new foods! In my pantry was a package of Vietnamese spring roll wrappers from last year's visit to an Asian food mart in northern Virginia. And thus, my first attempt at making spring rolls! Served with steamed broccoli, meat patties, seaweed, and sesame rice crackers, they at least passed as a meal. But I think I would prefer learning to prepare ethnic dishes from members within their own culture...

#2) Washing dishes: I love unloading the dishwasher! Why is it so satisfying to put all the clean plates, bowls, glasses, silverware, and tupperware into their respective places around the kitchen? I wonder if it's because I so appreciate organization...

#3) Exercising: I love being sore! It means I've finally awoken those muscles which have attempted to remain hidden from motivation for so long. Pilates, even over three sessions, has built up enough soreness in my abs as to make laughing painful...

#4) Paperwork: I love organizing! Oh, so I guess that answers my wondering from Epiphany #2. Maybe I'll never actually DO everything on those lists I wrote out, but hey, at least they helped me FEEL ever so industrious. And I really like throwing things away - like all those receipts from purchases months and months ago... 

Time

Wow, it's March. Already!? If my outdated and undone lists and schedules weren't enough to make me think it's still January, then this snow is. I could have a full-time job shoveling our porches and driveway!

Time management has been a big issue with me lately. I have never had such a hard time getting my schedule under control and getting everything I need to done. But between all the responsibilities, chores, and activities going on, I go to bed every night feeling as if I just didn't get enough done. Isn't strange how much of our obligatory stress is self-imposed? Do you ever wonder if you just did nothing, if the world would even notice?  

Connections

How interesting that several of us in this writing group have been sick and recovering within weeks of each other. Like Allison and KTO, I too finally feel as if I am recovered from a horribly long and exhuasting sickness. I have all this new-found energy, and yet somewhere within those two weeks of being sick I lost the momentum I had in school and can't get it back. Poo. Do any of the rest of you find yourselves writing in this blog just to get your mind going before tackling other school assignments? To be honest, I didn't think this blog would help me much as a writer, but I am beginning to see more connections within my own writing process. And though I still don't know how I'm going to "teach" writing, I am more capable of identifying with the various stages and challenges of writing.

COLD

Brrr, hello COLD! It's so beautifully blue and crisp outside now, with sunshine that makes every color pop. But frigid. And Scot wants to sleep outside tonight! I told him I'd join him, but just because I know I can always come back inside if/when I freeze into an ice cube. If nothing else, dealing with the cold will get me in the mode for our planned snow caving outing next weekend.

Hey, guess what, I got the research paper done. It "only" took 10 hours! My brain was fried last night, but I still elected to study for my next Praxis test and read a compilation of first-person narratives by "GBLT"s. Homosexuality is an issue that I just don't know how to deal with. I know it's probably not politically correct to even talk about it here, but it's on my mind. I usually push this issue out of my mind, since I can never come to an easy resolve. But I'm not naive - I know I will have to address it in the classroom. Respect is really, really important to me, so I want to establish respect in the classroom and be able to discuss any issue with respect. How best to be prepared?