I'm sure my MTC family has noticed my absence from Gorean life, aside from the occassional board posting or guest appearance in camp. I've been so busy that I even forgot to drop a few lines to let everyone know what's going on -- and for that, I apologize.
Many of you know that I was hired as an English teacher at a very large high school in Delaware. Although I am very grateful for these past ten weeks of employment, the position has posed a few unforeseen challenges. Arising at 5:45 to shower, dress, and make a nearly one hour commute has been a huge adjustment for my biological clock, which has been used to getting up at 10 a.m. and going to bed at 2 a.m. for many years. Now, when 8 p.m. rolls around, I am nodding off over my students' papers; and coming to camp after everything else in my day seems almost unthinkable. And if I did come to camp -- well, things get rolling right around 10 p.m., right when I need to get offline. I know me, and the temptation to stay just a bit longer... and just a bit longer... and just a bit longer still... would leave me with three hours of sleep and a zombie-fied and miserable day after. I can't afford to sleepwalk through a day of teaching, not when the administration is still evaluating my performance and deciding if they will invite me back next year.
Then there's the challenges of the job itself. I was hired three weeks into the school year, so I missed all of those handy-dandy teacher orientations. It's taken me a few weeks to acclimate to the various school rules, both spoken and unspoken; to adjust to all the little ways my students try to take advantage of a new teacher; to recognize and tolerate the many quirks and foibles of my co-workers; and to deal with various technological mishaps, from my teacher's laptop not networking properly, to the administration forgetting to log me onto the grade-reporting server until one day before 1st marking period grades had to be reported.
As for the grade reporting? That was week before last. I thought I might just lose my sanity before THAT week was over... which resulted in my immune system simply shutting down last week. I ended up horribly flu-stricken and missed a day of teaching over it, only to come back to the chaos an inept substitute had left behind.
On top of all that, my grandmother's Alzheimer's is getting... pretty advanced... Keeping her under control and my grandfather in good spirits is a daily struggle. Then there's motherhood, the duties of married life, the need to maintain friendships with "RT" people...
So if I'm not around much, or seem to be absolutely scatterbrained when I am, please deal with me. And then there will be the times when I am in camp quite a lot, just to distract myself from an absolutely overwhelming "real life." I'll likely be ignoring house work and paper grading to do so, but I need those occassional in-camp times just as much as anything else in my life...
And that's a wrap...
