Bookish (and not so Bookish) Thoughts

I’ve been rethinking how I include some people in my life lately- if you’re  not really present for the rough times, why would you get to be invited to share in the happy ones? Obviously there’s a hierarchy of expectations; a colleague one is friendly with doesn’t exactly need to be the same level of involved as, say a family member. I’m always so hesitant to take a stand and stick to my guns when it comes to things not involving my students, and it’s a quality I really hate about myself. I have no problem telling a kid that I won’t accept their late essay, but I let people in my personal life walk all over me. And I’m not even that nice of a person, so it’s all a bit confusing.

We surprised Sawyer with a trip to Disneyland and California Adventure last weekend, since Disney offered a really affordable three-day ticket (we still have one day left to use this spring!). It was super fun, but incredibly exhausting. We are really good at strategically timing rides and fast passes, so we went on nearly everything we wanted to, except the new Star Wars ride (we had a boarding pass, but it broke… womp womp womp). I’m really, really lucky that Sawyer is such a flexible, go-with-the-flow kind of kid, something that is partially due to his temperament, partially due the fact that he’s had a lot of practice. We clocked over 25,000 steps each day and were at the parks for a combined 23 hours and he did awesome.

Things are work are officially in a very rushed, hectic time. IB testing is in a few months and there is a mad dash to finish the curriculum, upload different assessments, and do all the normal grading on top of it all. I’ve also accepted a new, temporary, responsibility later this spring that pays well but will be an incredible amount of work, so I’m preemptively stressing (I’m contractually bound to not discuss it, but I promise, it’s super boring).

Speaking of preemptively stressing, my child already has a spot in before/after school care for next school year. I don't know what life will be like in six months and with his school starting so much later than mine I needed to know that he'd have transportation and care if we needed it. 

I am currently reading All the Names They Used for God by Anjali Sacheva and it is so so so so so good. Like three lines of “so” good. Even if you’re not one for short stories I can’t recommend this one enough.

People I can always depend on to be comforting in times of distress: my plumber, tax preparer, and good friend Nani.

My brother moved from Southern California to Kansas about five or so months ago and I officially really and truly miss him. We saw each other every like six or so weeks, but he was always up to do anything and has such a carefree attitude. My son adores him and I of course do too. I really am not super gung ho about spending my limited travel budget on a trip to the midwest, though, so I'm thinking the only way I can stomach the expense is maybe a road trip out there in the next year or so, stopping in places like Zion and Denver. Damn him for not going to, like, Montana. I'd glamp the heck out of a visit there.