Teachers

Daily writing prompt
What makes a teacher great?
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My sister is an elementary school teacher. My sister in law is a middle school teacher. Most of the people in the old game night/anti-valentines crowd are educators on one level or another.

What makes a good teacher? I don’t know. I think patience is a big plus. Brains are a given. Charisma, the ability to communicate and connect with kids. The ability to handle difficult parents. I have to think that patience is probably the big one though.

Sad

We saw both kids this weekend. That was awesome. I love it when they come home. We were supposed to go to a party at their aunt’s house today. A dual graduation party for my step daughter and her cousin who both graduated from college this year. Jen and I had to miss it because we both have a bit of a stomach bug right now and… well… at the risk of TMI, neither of us wanted to be away from a bathroom for the length of time that would be required to drive to the party location. Sorry. I am actually sad about it. It’s been decades since last we went to an event that was thrown by someone on the kids’ dad’s side of the blended family and it might have been a little weird after all of these ages, but I was still looking forward to going.

That’s not what I am feeling especially sad about. What I am sad about is that Bellana is staying at her dad’s tonight and Harry just left for Vermont. Our kid time is over for this weekend. Harry will be back in a couple of weeks, but for now… we’re kid free.

That’s why I am sad.

On a slightly related note, television-wise, I finished watching the two seasons of Spaced and now I need something new to add to my huge list of binge shows. Spaced has me in the mood for British television. Both kids have watched the new version of Doctor Who, all 300 seasons or whatever it is. We’ve watched a handful of episodes together over the last year or so and… well… I just started from reboot season one, episode one. I’ll finish this show in about 20 years. Then I’ll have to find the 300 seasons of the original version of the show. Yeah, this should keep me busy for a while.

Two Weeks Down

Wow, did that ever suck.

Today marked the third workout of the second week of the Runkeeper app’s My First 5K training. Each of the three trainings this week, and the last one from week one too, have found me increasingly convinced that I am not going to be able to finish this program. I know the whole point of this is to be challenging and to increase my endurance and all of that fun stuff, but each time I go outside and for one of these walks/runs I am questioning my sanity more and more.

Today was 10 rounds of walking for two minutes and running for one. I made it through six before I had any real difficulty, but I think it was after three that I started to doubt whether or not I was going to be able to finish. Eventually I got far enough along that I knew I would finish today but the doubt transfered to whether or not I would be able to finish the next run, or the one after that.

Is my endurance and stamina increasing? Yes. Absolutely. When I think ahead to the next run knowing that the format will change to one minute of walking followed by one minute of running repeated 15 times, do I feel like my endurance and stamina have increased enough that I can pull the next workout off? No. Not even a little bit.

This could just be me being a pessimist, but I really cannot see me being able to run 3.1 miles at a time without stopping. It just feels like an impossible ask. Am I saying that come Tuesday morning when it is time for me to go outside and try week three run one I am going to say no thank you? No, I don’t think I am there yet. I don’t think I am quitting. I just think that I can see myself quitting at some point in the near future. Maybe I’ll surprise myself but… maybe I won’t. Maybe I’ll come up with something else.

We’ll see.

Why Yes, Yes I Have

Daily writing prompt
Have you ever had surgery? What for?
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You know, if I didn’t know better I would say that whoever is coming up with these daily writing prompts is basing them on my blog. That couldn’t be it, could it? I mean… really?

Have I had surgery? I’d say that about two thirds of the posts I’ve made here since May of 2022 have answered that question.

Have I had surgery? Why yes, yes I have. On May 4, 2022 I had gastric bypass surgery. A surgeon made a bunch of little incisions into my guts and rearranged my entire digestive tract to make sure I couldn’t fit metric tonnes of food into my stomach anymore.

I have lost a shit load of weight but I can’t eat M&M’s anymore so there are upsides and downsides. (That previous sentence is meant to be dripping with sarcasm, just so you know)