J24: Dear Santa

Dear Santa,

Sorry it's been so long since I've written, but I've been a little busy being an adult and whatnot. My Christmas spirit meter has been a bit on the low side this year, but maybe a good snowfall this weekend will help to change that. Since I haven't been to choir rehearsals in a while and I missed the Christmas show the other night, I can't even depend on the joyous sounds of Christmas music to perk up my holiday side.

There's not much money in the gift fund this year (or really any other fund for that matter), but I think I'm okay with limiting the commercialism of the affair a little bit (let's just hope the rest my people feel the same way). The more important things in life are becoming clearer to me, so my Christmas wish list is quite a bit different than in years past. Here it is...

What I want for Christmas:
1. D--'s radiation treatments to go well with minimal side-effects.
2. Good roads to get him to said treatments.
3. A day or two with my family in Kansas City.
4. The break to be a wonderful for the friends, colleagues, and students that have made this semester from hell a little more tolerable.
5. Strength, endurance, and tranquility.

And I think that's it. Although an X-Box 360 wouldn't be too shabby either.

~Genesis

J23: What's on your mind this morning?

Now that I've got my rhetoric class behind me, I find myself thinking more and more about the impending cancer treatments facing my husband. It's kinda sad that I've been so thoroughly focused on school that I've been glossing over what's really important. Visiting with the radiation guy the other day made me feel better about some aspects of the procedure, but has really freaked me out about others. I know it will be okay. I know that there is no need for or help in worrying. I know that I just need to have faith. It's a struggle though. I may know all these things, but it's the things that I don't that are making me it tough.

A week and a half. That's how much of first semester we have left. That's how long until D-- starts treatments. It feels like a lifetime.

J22: Poetry Introduction

Response to Definitions:
The definition that stands out to me most is Plato's "Poetry is nearer to vital truth than history." I'm not sure what exactly draws me to it. Perhaps it's the minimalizing of history in comparison (we must recall that I was once a history major). I think the key word is "vital." History is not exactly vital to life, but poetry can touch on things that are more applicable on a universal level. Hmm...more contemplation is necessary, but I need to move on to...

My Own Definition:
This is hard. Darn me for asking you to do it. I would say that my own definition is more like Hughes and Dove's definitions that consider it as being language that is distilled to its most powerful form. I generally write and read prose, but the impact of a well crafted poem moves me more.

Experiences and Perceptions:
In my early days of school I remember doing simple poetry stuff - concrete poems of a variety of forms, ya know, easy stuff. In high school I wrote poetry Moree loved (or at least said she did). I don't think they're that good in hindsight, but I don't have any of them anymore, so who knows? Ah...gotta scoot.

J21: Options 2

Options: Thanksgiving Break or Senioritis

Ah, those glorious five days off are past and it's back to regular happenings once more. My break was quite uneventful. Other than running errands in town on Wednesday and going to my grandparents for dinner on Thursday, I didn't even leave the house. The lack of excitement is probably a good thing. Lately it seems as though we have too much going on. I did get some work done (I know...it was supposed to be a vacation!). I got caught up and finished the required reading for my rhetoric class, worked on my research project for said class, and did some prep work for English II. Sorry CW, didn't get to the elective classes just yet. Luckily you get poetry soon which will (hopefully) make up for the fact I didn't have anything too special for you today ;)

I guess I'll talk about senioritis to say, "Seniors, GET OVER YOURSELF!" I know this seems like getting out of school is the biggest deal ever, but seriously though folks, it's not. At least I hope it's not. And the fact of the matter is, well, I don't really want you to leave. You're my original kiddoes. We've put up with each other the past four years and have all survived so far. So, I'm going to miss you a lot, but I'd rather not think of that until, say, April or May. When you'll really want to be outta here!

J20: Options

Student suggested options are:
1. Who is your best friend and why?
2. What are your plans for the weekend?
3. Diary of a soldier.

I think I'll tell you about a variety of my friends since their individual qualities make them "best" at something.

-My best life friend is my husband. We have known each other since we were kids and have been together for close to nine years. Wow...I really didn't realize it had been that long until I wrote it. There are a lot of differences in our personalities, but somehow we've managed to make it this long without too many problems.
-My best therapist friend is Matt W. Even though it seems like many of our conversations are circular and I rarely follow his advice, on the rare occasions we see each other nowadays he still talks to me.
-I can't pick a best work friend. Here are some of them: Mary Anne is awesome - she cracks me up and keeps me realistic. Shirky takes care of me - and that's awesome. Huck is my entertainer - he can make any day better with his goofiness. Jeremy was great as a student teacher, and is now great as a colleague. Coffee with him is always an intellectual exercise. I'm not going to say I love all the other teachers I work with (I do, at least, like them all), but I'm going to truncate this list since I think I'm holding you up...

J19: King Response

I'm glad that when you were reading the selection from On Writing you enjoyed it enough to laugh out loud. I hope you learned something from it! Since I'm doing this journal late, I'm going to pull the teacher card and not actually say anything substantial so I can move on to today's official entry.

J18: Whatever

Ah, Monday has come and with it the first work day after the time shift. I hate daylight savings time. When I woke up this morning and the light was shining brightly through the east windows I immediately sensed that I was late. Immensely late. I'm accustomed to rising before dawn, so the whole drive in to work the thought in the back of my head was, "Surely this cannot be the real time..." I wasn't assured of the validity of time until I arrived to a nearly empty parking lot. I think I understand the initial goal of starting the time change, but I don't really think it matters anymore. So now I wake with the sun, and it gets dark way too early. I guess I survive, but it seems stupid. At least it makes my classroom brighter during first block so perhaps my happy little writers are more awake than on the typical Monday. *looks around* Yep, almost ten minutes into journal time and they're all awake, and mostly writing. I always feel bad when I have to make them stop.

On another note, I made my first cherry pie this weekend for the husband's birthday. I heard rumor that it was delightful, but of course I cannot eat it (not a fat thing, it violates the cooked fruit rule). Ah, well. I guess it's time to interrupt the yahoos and see how their journals went.

J17: Short Story Freewrite (7 minutes)

Hmm...I'm not sure where I want to go with this project. I would like to develop the tale of the mailman, but like we discussed in class, there's the fear of it not turning out as good as I want (and you expect!). That's something we need to discuss more in class - that fear thing. If I'm having problems with it, then perhaps some of you are too. But back to story ideas. The funeral beginning that I read might work as well, but I feel bad that I have no idea where I originally wanted to take it (of course, that is called plotting and Stephen King seems to be against it - see On Writing). I guess I could take up where I left off four years ago and see where it takes me. Both of those ideas seem a bit unfair though. I'm anticipating most, if not all, of you are working with fresh ideas and thus I should be as well. But at the moment the spring is dry. It's hard to feel like a writer when grading, lesson planning, family, and graduate school are all taking up all of my time. Maybe there's an idea in all that. Perhaps the story of a first-year teacher trying to make it - that way I can feel like an experienced expert next to whatever yahoo teacher I create. I don't know. You might have noticed that a lot of my ideas take tragic turns. I probably shouldn't risk letting teaching take that route. Anywho...my seven minutes are up and so begins the public journals for the reading pleasure of my minions. I mean writing students (although minions does have a pleasant ring to it). See y'all next week.