Preludes And Nocturnes

I’m going back to work tomorrow having not been there for almost two weeks.  One week of break, one week of just feeling like ass.  I still can’t hear and I’m kinda anxious thinking about trying to teach when I’m still feeling so out of it.

But, I’m ready to get back to some kind of work.  I think I like working.  Weird, eh?

And staying home too much makes me get all moody and contemplative about big life decisions. This is never really my friend.  Being motivated is good, but being all “what is my purpose in life” and “nothing means anything” isn’t good.

So here we come to the random things I think I want to do.

1. Go to Scotland and do a PhD in something.  No, I don’t know why Scotland. This means selling the house, giving up my ‘job’, and making my mom move with me.

2. Do a PhD here in Education.  Specifically I am thinking about specializing in post-secondary education (ie: a PhD in teaching at college/uni) or curriculum studies.  I’d need to find a job at the college since the uni won’t let me work once I become a student of theirs.

3. Do some Master’s courses in Education here. They’d be free and I could keep working.  Might work out well since I wouldn’t get into a PhD until 2012 at the earliest.

4. Move to Vancouver (see most of the issues around #1) and start the schooling to be a midwife.  I don’t *actually* know if I want to be a midwife.  I think I would.  And I think I’d be really good at it.  And I think there is amazing demand.  But totally freaky and outside my comfort zone.  For the record, my sister Julia really likes this one and keeps sending me links to info on Midwives.  In particular I’d like this because we need more “normal” midwives out here.  In this area there are two midwives and they trend more towards the “eat your placenta after birth” kind of midwives.  I’d go more for that “hey, you want a cool chick to help you deliver who will support you in going natural OR having some of them awesome drugs?  I’m your lady!”  Quickly followed by “anything your body uses as a filtering organ and then knows well enough to push OUT of your body after birth isn’t something you should eat.”

Yeah, well, that’s my brain dump for this week.

In January I read More Money Than Brains: Why School Sucks, College is Crap, & Idiot Think They’re Right by Laura Penny.

Thought it was well done. The title is misleading, her main push is that north american society is anti-intellectual and how politics, the right and the left, etc all have these conflicting messages (education is the most important issue… but then when highly educated people try to talk we sneer at how they think they’re soooo smart). She traces the problems for society in taking an anti-intellectual approach and how it is getting worse.

Needless to say, I thought she was bang on. Plus she was funny. It read more like a smart blog rant than a book.

And I’ve just finished The Prowler by Kristjana Gunnars. It is a postmodern non-prose meets non-poetry meets non-novel. I have mixed feelings about it. But it is a quick read. It is either really good.. or it is full of crap. You know what I mean? Like those times you’re watching performance art or at an artist’s showing and you just think that maybe it is great. Or maybe it is just pretending to be something smart.

Yesterday I started Margaret Atwood’s Cat’s Eye. I don’t know why I haven’t read this yet. Silly me. But I’ve started it.

Oh yes, and I’m crazy ill. If you aren’t on Facebook (why aren’t you on Facebook?) then the gist of it is my whole body is wiped out and pissed at me and I have a stupid double ear infection and burst eardrum and now he’s worried I might be getting pneumonia.. so I’m supposed to take it easy. So I am. But I’m rather tired of being sick. I hope spring is coming and this all just clears up RIGHT NOW!Подаръци

Ha! Screw you Mark’s Wearhouse!

See, Freedman Shoes understand that in January you take all your winter books and put them on sale.  Then, you also say “hey, if you buy two sale items the second one will be another 25% off” so people buy up all your stock.  And feel happy.  And feel they got the deal they should get when buying boots in January.  For about $30 more than the Mark’s boots, I got these two pair of boots.  One will be my  WINTER winter boots and the other pair are my transition (aka not horrid outside) boots.

See, these ones are so beautiful and soft and no big lining in them so I wear them all day at work and love love love them. But I also got ones that are meant to keep me warmer and be in the snow.  All around win.