"'Yes,' said Queen Lucy. 'In our world too, a Stable once had something inside it that was bigger than our whole world.'"
--C.S. Lewis, The Last Battle
Merry Christmas!
"Personally, I have noticed that really smart people don't make their bed."
--Aunt A
And boy am I glad...long nights make for...well, not quite seasonal affective disorder, but it sure is hard to get motivated to do anything but sleep.
I've been encouraged by a friend I've been out of touch with to get my act together and since I keep getting end-of-year updates in the mail, here goes.
I'm happily ensconced, once again, in a spare bedroom in Palm Springs for Christmas. My aunt and uncle are snowbirding it here and I've been lucky to come along for the ride for the last two Christmases. We're pretty low key--I'm expecting to play dominoes, eat pizza and turkey and good Jewish deli food, sleep in, take some pictures, gaze at the mountains, go to a couple of movies. And enjoy some dry air.
This time of year is always interesting. For ten years I visited my friends S and J during the holidays but they have completely fallen apart. I haven't heard from S since he left my house without saying goodbye in October of 2005. So right around now, I really start missing him and missing them.
Let me go back a little bit. Back in June my mom got really tired of her overly educated son continuing to wait tables and told me about a teacher recruiting fair in Atlanta--the Recovery School District of New Orleans was scooping up teachers like mad and they scooped me up. I signed a provisional contract on the spot and went home to Chattanooga to start the process of selling my house, getting a Louisiana teaching certificate, and leaving the general area I'd been living for almost twenty years.
Hard stuff.
I almost didn't go pick up the moving truck. I could have gone back to the restaurant, stayed in my house, stayed relatively close to my family.
In August my friend W helped me load up a U-Haul with the motorcycle and lots of crap and the car and we drove down to New Orleans. Walked into a house with no stove, no shower door (consequence is water all over the floor every shower), no washer/dryer--all things that were supposed to be in/done/finished/functional by the time I arrived. A week after I showed up our power went out for a couple of weeks--something to do with inspection and approval and getting the power company back out to our place.
Um yeah. Power out in New Orleans in August. Not good.
We do have a stove now.
NOLA is not an easy place to live. The traffic is crazy and they can't get lines painted on all the roads and sometimes the mail doesn't come and sometimes it comes twice a day. Lots of things are disorganized.
But the food is incredible. Even gas station food.
Started school. Taught science and hated it as well as lots of other things. Quit. Now I'm teaching 8th grade English and it is a much better situation. And oh yeah, our football team won tons of playoff games and got to go play in the Super Dome.
It's been draining. I feel pretty empty. It's not just the long drive and the sleep deprivation. Some of it is giving directions to my students and having to give them again and again. Some of it is just being in a new place. Some of it is needing a little more inspiration and a little more dedication every day. Some of it is needing things that I am not going to get. Don't feel sorry for me--less is more. And I have things that you might not have. It all balances out.
But the classroom is as comfortable a place as any I've ever been. There's laughter and a little bit of learning and a LOT of being in charge. And even if I walk out of school thinking that I did a crappy job I know that the next day will be better.
I've done more travelling than I expected this year--Michigan for a cousin's wedding, Pensacola for the beach, Chattanooga for a wedding, Washington and Idaho for grandma's funeral and memorial service, Palm Springs.
Don't know what to make of it yet. Maybe it won't be anything profound when it shows up. I'm not gonna worry about it too much; it is OK to just make it to the end of the year.
"I've seen the life on this planet, Scully, that's why I'm looking elsewhere."
It's not a holiday. It's World AIDS Day.
According to UNAIDS estimates, there are now 33.2 million people living with HIV, including 2.5 million children. During 2007 some 2.5 million people became newly infected with the virus. Around half of all people who become infected with HIV do so before they are 25 and are killed by AIDS before they are 35.
Around 95% of people with HIV/AIDS live in developing nations. But HIV today is a threat to men, women and children on all continents around the world.
Go here to read messages from Bishop Desmond Tutu, DJ Tiesto, Paul Bekkers, Imane Khachani, Allyson Leacock, and Bill Roedy.