Five Lessons Learned and Five Favorite Things

Again, I am adopting the premise of this blog post from the ever-inspiring [willingly, or not ;)] Amelia Pontes.

Five Lessons Learned:

1. Sometimes you need a break. A break from responsibilities, a break from someone you see daily, a break from being cheerful. No matter the situation, sometimes you just need a moment, or two, to do what you need to do. I’ve had a cold for the past week, and coincidentally it has landed on a week filled with plans to write a complex essay and interviews to conduct. I needed a break. And I took one. I had time to rest, catch up on fun reading, decide what I wanted to accomplish in the last few weeks of school. It was delightful (beyond the cough and congestion- yuck!), and now I’m ready to get back to work: full force ahead.

2. Teaching comes at a price (this one is pretty small). I suppose this is just one small down-side of teaching (which has many positives), and I’m sure if the situation had been slightly different, I wouldn’t have been so embarrassed. Sick me decided that I needed to go out and get lunch yesterday. I had hurriedly gotten ready, and was not looking very put together when I pulled through the drive-thru at a local restaurant (mismatched clothing, crazy hair). To my surprise, one of my old students was working at the window. I tried my best for the small chit-chat, but I was very embarrassed that I looked so awful, especially since she was used to seeing me in professional clothing. Maybe I shouldn’t have been embarrassed, but I was. Note to self: Teach in a town other than where you live or be prepared when going out in public.

3. If you can’t fall asleep, read a book for class. I realize not everyone is taking classes, but any informational book that is outside of your interests should work. I’ve sat down three times to read Roger Fowler’s Linguistic Criticism, and each time I fall asleep after 20 pages (or less). Why must professors select the most tedious materials? I know there is interesting research out there. Find it!

4. Growing out your hair sucks. Yes, sucks. I couldn’t even spend time finding a better word for it. It just sucks. The awkward pieces that flip in weird angles from hitting your shoulder. The inability to put it into a ponytail. SUCKS!

5. Forget UK/US size conversions, just measure yourself! I relied upon the UK/US size conversion chart a little too much and was too lazy to measure myself. Now I have a couple of items that are too big, and I will have to return them to Evan’s and reorder new ones. This means more postage. This means I lost my great sale. Ahh, darn you laziness. You have bitten me in the butt again!

Five Favorite Things

1. Burt’s Bees Lip Balm with pomegranate oil. Mmm, never did my lips feel so fine.

2. Falling for the scarf that’s on clearance for $3.65.

3. Ella Fitzgerald.

4. This blog post by Danoah: Worthless women and the men who make them. (Although, I do not believe it is solely the male gender that generates these feelings.)

5. Going through old family pictures. These ones are Halloween themed.

2 of my siblings (there are 4 of us in all + 2 brother-in-laws) I’m on the right.

Me as a ballerina, I suppose :).