Rumors of My Demise are Greatly Exaggerated

Hi, all! Yes, it's been a while, but in the interim the hard drive died on my laptop right after Inauguration Day, thus my fabulous post on freezing the the cold with 2 million other people evaporated into the ether.

Also, my social psychology class is is full swing and, while it doesn't have as much reading as my Money and Banking Econ class, I still have a lot to keep up with since it is not very intuitive to me. Or rather, the subject matter is a little TOO intuitive and I need to work on differentiating between similar types of definitions and explanations. I'm both excited by the class and befuddled by it at the same time.

My ESOL class has started up again and this semester we are using a more useful new textbook and accompanying workbook with our students. I love the new format, but it does take some getting used to. I also have fewer students in my class this semester (8 instead of 17), so we're are able to do a lot more discussion exercises and dialogue work without it taking up most of the class time.

Work at the Random Non-Profit continues to be a source of stress, as we lose more people and our financial situation becomes more precarious. Recently they instituted salary freezes at Mr. Random's Random Publication, which is worrisome, but given the state of a lot of other publications, we'll be happy with that for now.

I've also been continuing to have medical issues, which takes up a lot of karmic energy trying to get things sorted out. I've had a few meltdowns recently, due to the extra stress of not feeling well on top of all the stuff I'm trying to do. I am developing a hatred for doctors and for tests and am losing the energy to keep seeking answers, although I know there must be some.

On the plus side, I have been able to fit in a few more plays with my friend J, who continues to be quite a help in keeping my spirits up. We saw The Winter's Tale and The Cherry Orchard - branching out from the pure Shakespeare and going into other writers. The Winter's Tale was especially interesting because we sat next to the lovely wife of one of the actors in the play, whose comments and explanations added another dimension to the performance.

Also on the plus side, I've been to the Campus Career Center and started to do some work to figure out what I really want to do and how I want to go about doing it. It is a slow process, but I am trying to stick with my plans and not to get too discouraged. I am getting a bit frustrated at the pace - taking one class a semester is driving me bats - but it's the best I can do for now, since having and keeping a decent paying job is kind of key these days . . .

So that's what I've been up to since January! I hope you all are doing well?

Waving hello to you all . . .