I don't know if this is a valid excuse to throw out there, but I have been taking classes to get my Master's degree in Teaching. While this does not take up all of my time, it does make me feel like anytime I spend doing anything other studying is wrong. I do understand that other pursuits are not wrong, but I still feel guilty for some reason.
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| The book is as exciting as this picture. "Hey, let's stand around and talk!" Somebody SHOOT someone. PLEASE!! |
This may not be a good thing. I actually have a list of books that I call my Bucket List Books. It is my gargantuan list of books that I have to read before I die. It had over a thousand titles on it when I started and I have since added to it. I started this task because of a book I came across in the library one day. Some of them I have enjoyed, but there have been several I have had to fight my way through. Now that I have this added guilt when I am doing anything besides studying, I don't know that I will read for fun ever again. At least, not until I graduate. Of course, then I will have to read boring book reports written by acne-ridden adolescents about a book that I found boring to begin with. Since I plan to be a math teacher, the books will be even duller than usual. Math books, although educational, do not make for very interesting reading. Although, sometimes the word problems can be pretty entertaining.
Amanda had three older brothers. One day they sent her into town to buy them an apple. Since apples cost 30 cents, they each gave her a dime. When she reached the store, she discovered that apples were on sale for 25 cents. She purchased the apple and returned to her brothers. She gave them the apple and the 5 cents in change. To thank her, they each gave her a penny. Since they each gave back a penny out of their original dime, that means each brother contributed 9 cents.
9 x 3 = 27 30 - 27 = 3
Because there was a nickel back for change, which Amanda gave to her brothers, and they each gave her 1 penny out of the nickel, there is only 2 cents left. Where is the extra penny?
This is the same reason I have not been blogging much lately. I get up in the morning thinking I need to post something, but then realize that I really should be doing school work. Once again, my good intentions are turned towards learning about cognitive development and why some kids can't make friends. Considering how much I am paying for this and the amount of debt that I will be in once I am finished, the therapy should be included.
Once again, I am pledging to
Oh wow, I have no freaking idea where the penny is - but I have a bowl full of them on a table near my front door, you can have the whole thing. No, really, what am I supposed to do with a bowl of pennies?
ReplyDeleteOne of my eyes veered off in a slightly different direction the entire time I was in grad school from reading so much, Every. Single. Day. When you are stressed and frazzled and trying to keep up your gpa, things like blogging, leisure reading, and pretty much everything else fall by the wayside.
I look forward to reading your posts, whenever you can fit them in!
Thank you. I really do want to keep up a regular schedule. I think I am going to have to get into a regular routine to make it happen.
DeleteOne of my old professors said his greatest fear about getting old was that he wouldn't be able to read all the books he wanted to before he died.
ReplyDeleteMath teacher... high school? You know there's an awful lot of grading to do. Gotta find a way to work in your blog somehow :)
Good luck! Grad school is very time consuming.
I wanted to be a history teacher, but I was told I would have a very hard time finding a job. Math is one of the most needed positions and it is one of my strong subjects. So far, my studies have only taken me to educational theory, adolescent development, and assessment techniques. I haven't seen any math yet.
DeleteI don't post with any kind of consistency either. I'm not a grad student. I'm just capricious. Don't sweat it.
ReplyDeleteThank you. Apparently, I end up feeling guilty either way. I feel bad if I haven't posted in a while and I feel bad when I am blogging instead of studying. Maybe I just need to sleep more.
DeleteTime management is so hard. I have a stack of books on my shelf and on my "digital" shelf via Kindle. They'll all get read at some point, I tell myself.
ReplyDeleteBlogging is a job of its own. No idea how some people can do it three times a week or even three times a day :-)
I keep meaning well. Plus, I figure it will help with my writing if I write more often. It just never happens the way I intend.
DeleteYou never need to apologize for not blogging. I think it shows an active, healthy real life, personally.
ReplyDeleteThank you. I never want to do this instead of live. However, I do want to set some goals. Maybe I am too hard on myself.
DeleteGrad school, wow! I try to blog twice a week and it is difficult, of course I draw my own pics, but still GRAD SCHOOL! This was an amazing read, but don't stress yourself:)
ReplyDeleteTracie
crackyouwhip.blogspot.com
Thank you. I exaggerate a bit in my blogs. (Don't tell anyone) But I do feel a little guilty. Thanks for the props. I just followed your blog to get you closer to your 5,000,000 followers goal.
DeleteI'm a grad student and a full time employee and full time single mom so I get the whole "when do I get any FREAKIN ME TIME?!?!?" feeling. Just do what I do -- forgo sleeping. Makes you a little snarky, but gives your blogging a real edge. ;)
ReplyDeleteI am a full-time single dad and WAS a full time-employee until a few weeks ago. So, now I am unemployed which gives me much more free time, but much less income. Basically zero. I occasionally do the little sleep thing. It lasts for a few days and then I hurt someone. I have to learn to pace myself.
DeleteYou know what? Money is highly overrated. I was married to a successful man that had us living in a 6 bedroom house with a pool in which I did not need to toil nor trifle. Flash forward to the umpteenth night in the ER getting another injury stitched up when I said "F. this!" and my children and I (literally) fled with the clothing on our backs and $17.24 in my pocket. Today we live in a two-bedroom apartment while Mommy earns her PhD, works as a university professor/toadie/researcher and we've never been happier. Is money tight? HELL to the yeah. Are my children and I safe from abuse? Indeed. Am I learning things that will help my son and other children with autism? Every day. It's totally worth the lack of sleep. ;)
ReplyDeleteWow! Sounds awful. Sorry you had to go through all that. I will be fine as long as I can pay my rent, electric, etc. I just need something to sustain me until I finish my degree. Then, hopefully, I will be able to find a job in my field.
DeleteIt sounds like you have done well. Congratulations on fixing your circumstances and being there for your kids.
Oh, dude, I am the master of procrastination. Also the master of multiple reading. Here is a trick to get through a boring book that you feel you MUST read. (Don't tell anyone, and I certainly would never admit this to my friends, but...) I keep a book in the bathroom - where most people keep a magazine or two. You only read a paragraph or two at a time, but voila! - the book is finished and you didn't even notice it!
ReplyDelete...and you will be guilt free because you will only be reading when you HAD to - for other reasons - step away from your homework for a few minutes!
(also - how do you strikethrough? I can't find it in my font options.)
Procrastination is DEFINITELY a problem for me. It always has been. I wrote a paper about it in high school and even mentioned in the paper that I hadn't started the assignment until the morning it was due.
DeleteI have never been a bathroom reader, but I may have to try that.
In blogger the strike though is to the right of the
B I U options.
Click this link for a visual.
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-0Jj-EP2w8Bg/TyAY_v6QUnI/AAAAAAAABUM/eHa9xpQaIug/s0-d/Strike%2BThrough.jpg
Wow. You sound a lot like me. Teaching, planning lessons, correcting students' work, also studying and working on papers for teacher training college, reading books I want to read for the sake of reading, and then the ones I must read for college. Oh, and don't forget having a life of my own!
ReplyDeleteIt sucks, really, and I know how you feel, but then I wonder is all this stress really worth it? Procrastination is a bitch.
Life gets busy really fast. I long to be done with school so I will have more time, but then being a teacher does not provide more time than being a student. I guess staying busy keeps me out of trouble.
DeleteBRETT!! Nooo...keep reading A Tale of Two Cities. It gets better, I swear. I loved that book (and I am pretty sure it took me a whole summer!)
ReplyDeleteThank you. I will finish it. I just don't know how long it will take. However, Dickens is much better than Dostoyevsky.
DeleteSorry. The self-sacrifice at the end was endearing, but I still didn't like the book.
DeleteI definitely second Monster Librarian. But if it's any consolation, I LOVE Dickens, yet when I first tried getting through ToTC I gave up about 1/3 of the way it. It wasn't until I saw the musical version of it that I thought, "Oh...THAT'S what it's about!", went back and read it, cried at the end, and now consider it to be one of the best books ever written. Go figure.
ReplyDeleteI may need to start over and concentrate on the story. Once I decided I hated it, I just started buzzing through it to get it done. I am sure I have missed part of the story.
DeleteYou for got the 1/3.
ReplyDeleteI have a list just as long, of books I have started and not finished. I can't even tell you what the last paragraph of your blog is. I have the opposite of procrastination. I have no problem starting things. I really have to push myself to finish things. They say there are 3 kinds of people in the world. People who come up with ideas, people who implement ideas, and people who sustain, ideas. I'm an implementor, I can get things started and started or built well, then I'm ready to move on. I can take someone elses idea and run with it, improve it, make it a reality, when all they have done is talk about it for the past few years. Then hand it off to someone else to keep it going. I don't even know who "they" are, but that's what "they" say.
Keep up the blogging, you're good at it.
Kyle
Well, thank you. You may have gotten that from Dad. The unfinished bathroom from our childhood will be forever burned in my memory.
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