There I willingly dive
Into the shadows of my mind
To navigate the labyrinth
And consider what I find
Sometimes I tiptoe
Through the field full of mines
Other times I rush blind
Ignoring all the signs
This chaos is real
And perfection is out of reach
The lessons I have learned
Are now my turn to teach
inspired by this post at Spinning Visions blog
Today I’m feeling:
Like I’m heading towards exhaustion. After pushing through exercise this morning I felt a bit better but I can feel that the extra energy I had last week from exercising is not here this week. It could just be that there are no students here to help me maintain a little anxious tension in my thoughts and body but I also need to think beyond that. To feel inspired regardless of what the rest of the day holds ahead.
Today I’m grateful for:
The new Quizizz AI that makes it easy to take a text and generate questions from it. Life is getting easier but does that mean it is getting better?
The best thing about today was:
Feeling inspired. I got lots done writing-wise at House this morning and then figured out some good lessons for my grade 10 kids and as I mentioned above, using the new AI tool has made it easier.
And despite my comment this morning about nearing exhaustion, I was still going, adding work to those lessons at 9 pm after a couple of hours of enjoyable guitaring that I had earlier contemplated skipping.
What was out of your control today and how did you handle it?
I had accidentally closed a file on my computer that was a document of quotes that I wanted to write about but can no longer find the document now that it’s been closed! It’s easy to find books of quotes but I obviously had this one open because they meant something to me but I can’t even remember where it had come from. A minor frustration in the scheme of things.
Something I learned today?
I noticed Momo was a little quiet yesterday and messaged her to see how she was doing. Scrolling back at previous messages I saw that she hasn’t been very happy this semester and is struggling to make friends in her new class. She said she missed Porpieng and Baitong since they moved schools and what I hadn’t considered was when she said that they had been in the same class for nine years and that she never practised making new friends in that time so she thought she was lacking some social skills. I always thought of her as a friendly outgoing person and I think this feeling caught her by surprise.
What skill would I like to learn?
I hope I’m not at the point of learning old-man skills yet. I don’t think I want to play chess or bridge. I still feel like I want to learn to surf. I loved bodyboarding back in my 30s and I know the thrill. I never progressed to surfing though. That time may have passed.
I’m still developing skills in guitar, Thai language, and classroom management amongst other things so I have plenty to be getting on with.
Growing magic mushrooms might be a cool skill to learn!
What’s one thing you made this year?
I made a ton of poetry but that is not something new. I made plenty of messes, but again, nothing new. I made some happy students, a lot of lessons and new student friends.
I made mistakes, though hopefully they are reducing each year.
But what did I make that is something new?
I think it was this year that I made a booklet with all the blog entries from 1979 and sent one to Hayden and another to Sharon.
I also made a notebook with a quote for every day of the year in 2022 that I sent to Hayden.
I made a grave for Kim Chi and as I write this it brings tears but at her grave, I feel pleasant as I pick out the grass to allow the other things to grow there.
One thing I didn’t make is any food. Shoving meals into the microwave or shoving potatoes into the oven does not count.
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