Random End of October Update

Mommanator has been wondering where the heck I’ve been, and I’ve been wondering that myself. I haven’t been keeping up with the blogging, but Random Kath’s world has been chugging along at full speed and I only have a few moments to catch my breath . . .

Here’s what’s up:

School: I am still taking my Econ Money and Banking class. Lots of reading and writing. Constantly need to monitor current events since the economic news seems to change every hour on the news of layoffs, or mergers, or bank failures, falling stock markets or or financial calamity. Like I said before, it’s an exciting time to be studying this stuff, but for all of the wrong reasons . . .

Teaching: I have a class of 17 this semester in my Tuesday night ESL class, which is a very overwhelming number to me. I am very happy that they keep coming back each week, but it is much harder to gauge how everyone is doing, and a lot of the learning tasks take longer since so many people need time to finish. My challenge this semester is to figure out fun group projects for people to do so that (a) they can practice speaking English to each other and monitor each other more effectively and (b) I don’t have to be standing up front most of the time and let them take more ownership of their learning.

Church: I’m on the search committee to find a new Pastor. Because I have nothing else to do. No, just kidding – I’m actually very interested in this process and I’m looking forward to helping the church figure out what it wants to be. I am a bit annoyed with some of the folks already because someone scheduled the first meeting without asking anyone about their schedules and of course it is on the night I teach class. I have made it very clear that I am willing and available ANY NIGHT EXCEPT TUESDAYS – so of course, let’s have the meetings on Tuesdays. Arrgggh! In my irritation, I said that I really wanted to be a part of the process, but if they are going to schedule the meetings like that then find someone else. So we’ll see what happens.

Job: I am formulating an exit strategy after a scare I had a month ago. I’m not going to be laid off or anything yet, but I do need to get on the ball and start doing proactive, positive things. I’ve started setting up lunches with friends of mine who I’ve worked with in the past, to get a sense of what’s out there. Once I started doing that, I started feeling better about myself and am not quite so depressed and despondent. Yay! I’m not a loser! I also need to take better advantage of the College’s career center – I may be a special case as an older student, but they should be able to point me in some sort of direction.

Grandma: She’s still plugging along at age 90! Mr. Random and I still go down to visit her every other Sunday. She’s getting a bit slower, but is still in pretty good health. My mom and dad are talking about trying to arrange a daily visitor for her, someone to look in on her and make sure she’s eating a least one good meal a day and taking her medications properly. This would be a great load off of my mind if it happens, but I won’t hold my breath. I am becoming more comfortable with the fact that I can only do what I can do and that my grandma appreciates seeing me as often as she does. If anything happens, I will know that I did my best and not beat myself up for not doing more – especially since she has 5 children and umpteen other grandchildren who aren’t coming to see her. I still have issues with my whole family over this though . . . and I’ll have to work through that as best I can.

Mr. Random: He’s doing well. He completed his *sixth* Marine Corps Marathon on Sunday, which is always awesome. He’s super sore and walking funny these days, as can be expected. The Random Publication he works for has been super busy, what with the elections coming up and all of the congressional trials. He’s going to be working all through Election night, so I won’t see him until the next morning. It will be so strange to spend such a historic evening without him but I’ll try to find something else to occupy myself with that night.

His grandmom had a fall and was hurt for a while and decided on her own to move to a group home. Mr. Random’s mom is going back and forth to help sell the house and make sure her belongings are accounted for. It is a pretty rough time, but his grandmom is happy with her new surroundings. It helps that it was HER decision . . . I just hope my own grandma will willingly make that decision at some point – she’s still being very stubborn about wanting to live independently.

My Army Sister: My sister has decided to stay in the military, which was a shock to me, but she’s going to try to work in one of the research facilities. If she does that, she won’t get deployed, which *whew!* There aren’t that many research facilities, which means there’s a good chance she could be posted somewhere in the DC area, which would make me SO happy. She also had been having trouble with her legs since she's been back from overseas, but it turns out nothing is seriously wrong, which is also a blessing – we were worried it might be MS or arthritis or something.

Culture: Goodness, I haven’t been good about keeping you apprised of what I’ve been seeing! I saw two versions of Romeo and Juliet – one all male version, one all female version. Both versions were excellently done and both had very standout performances. I also went to the Phillips Collection a couple of weeks ago and saw all 40 panels of the Jacob Lawrence’s Migration Series exhibit. You might remember seeing some his paintings on The Cosby Show. I am so glad I was able to see the full exhibit before it closed this Sunday.

What else? My friend J and I took a trip to New York City this past Saturday to celebrate my birthday. I will post a few pictures later this evening. It was one of the most fun trips I’ve taken in a very long time! We were only there for the day – took the train up very early Saturday morning and came home around 1 AM Sunday. Lots of walking around and looking like tourists. Seeing lots of sights that one usually only has seen in pictures or on TV. I loved the energy and the vibe and wish I could go back more frequently. The trip out of town was very much needed, if only for a day. I was exhausted when I got home, but in a good way.

I also took a lovely day trip to Harper’s Ferry a few weeks ago. I took a few pictures there too. It wasn’t for sightseeing but more to just drive and see the pretty landscape. The leaves hadn’t turned yet, which was a little bummer, but it was still quite gorgeous where the rivers came together.

Oh, that's right . . . Sunday was my birthday! I'm now another year older, and while there are some things I need to work on in my life, I'm pretty happy with the way I am at this stage of the game. This year, I'm going to not dwell on what I haven't accomplished yet but try to focus on what I *have* accomplished and what I'm doing now. Easier said than done, but you know, it's a goal . . .

Now it is back to the grind of work-school-teaching-church. I’m still having a bit of a struggle trying to balance everything, but so long as some fun is thrown in there once a week, I can keep an even keel . . .

So that’s what I’ve been up to! I’ve missed you all – I haven’t been blog visiting, but I’m going to try to catch up and say hi. Thanks so much for being patient and for being here and reading!

Warmly,

Your Random Kath :-)