Tomorrow's the Big Day!!!

Tomorrow I will catch a fish...

It's been forever since I have been on here, and I do apologize (to myself as well). It's not that I have taken a break from the project.  Really, it's just that I have taken a break from sitting in front of a computer and thinking of things to say for a little while.  I finished teaching an extended school year, took a few summer excursions, and took care of a couple of medical issues.  Now I am ready to get back to typing about this project, and the fact that there is only a little more than four months left...

So, tomorrow I catch the big one...

Or a tiny fish... It really doesn't matter.  The fact is, I have a fishing rod, I have learned how to cast my line, I have practiced in the back yard (the neighbors love watching me), and tomorrow I will try this LIVE.  AND I will have the camera there to document the process.  Because fishing shouldn't be calm and relaxing. It should be intense, well-planned, and documented...

For progress on the other projects, I will say there are two that will have their obligations met soon. Tom's birthday frog cake will be made in a couple of weeks for his birthday gathering (which was postponed from his original birthday), and we have a road trip scheduled when we fly to Seattle in October. So, there's a few more knocked off the list!!

In a few weeks I will be meeting with my seniors in the National Honor Society. I have a few ideas to raise money for charity, and I want to involve them in the process and teach them how to create change in their community. So, raising $1,000 should be fairly easy, and will occur before October.

More than anything, I really have to get to reading the books. I am a teacher, and I am having a hangup on reading? Probably because my stack grew incredibly large over the school year, and I have moved the exciting reads to the front of the line. So, I guess I will be reading the classics while on the exercise bike...

Just a couple more months before the big 3-0. It's crazy to think I am moving into the last leg of this project. It's also pretty crazy to think I could really pull this off. I know I have always been dedicated to my goals, but even I had to wonder if this was really going to happen. Guess I should have given my self a little more credit, eh?

Here's the list! It's getting smaller!

1. Learn to play the drums.
2. Read ten great works of literature.
3. Catch a fish. (tomorrow!)
4. Learn how to create a website.
5. Run a 10K. (due to leg issues, I am still figuring out how to work this. ideas?)
6. Learn how to decorate a cake. (July for Tom)
7. Learn 20 words in Italian.
8. Take a road trip. (while in Seattle in October)
9. Eat vegetarian for one month... and enjoy it! :-) (thinking the month of September)
10. Ride a hot air balloon. (October)
11. Fly across the country. (Seattle- October)
12. Raise $1,000 for a charity.
13. Karaoke... in public...
14. Buy and drink a REALLY expensive bottle of wine. (birthday?)
15. Get in much better physical shape- making my numbers look much better at my physical before 30.

It's Been a While...

I never thought I would get so out of the habit of writing...

The end of the school year is always busy, with paperwork and cleaning the classroom, exams and last-minute meetings.  I try to plan ahead every year, but I am always rushing around in the end.

Tomorrow is the last day of classes for the kids, and I am ready for a break!  I have been pushing hard this year, with a lot of new changes.  The divorce was final, I had a major move, a new job, and shuffling kids to school and activities.  I will consider this year to be incredibly successful- more than anything because I survived!  My activity level stayed high, and aside from the two surgeries I had a pretty healthy year (all things considered).

I am excited to have the summer to work on a lot of projects I let fall behind.  I also have a lot of work to do for my major project.  I will be reading my 10 books, I will catch my first fish, I will work on training for the race, and I will take my road trip.

Next week I am supposed to head to the mountains for a much-needed break.  I am more than excited at the prospect of reading, watching movies, and relaxing on the porch when I am not in the city meeting people.  I have been waiting for a break from this chaos, and the time will soon be mine. :-)

While thinking about planning this getaway, I thought about my patterns of photography.  I have gone through major changes in the frequency of pictures I have taken.  It seems I take more when I am having trouble with pain or with my memory.  It's almost like I feel like I have to capture memories so I don't forget later.

After my injury, I took a lot of photos.  I looked at them later, and couldn't really remember that I even took them.  It was helpful that I captured the memories, and I wondered if I had an urgency to capture the memories to look back on later.  I know I have had days like that over the past year.

I thought of taking my camera with me on this trip, and I know I ultimately will.  My immediate reaction was that I didn't need it, because I would remember this trip.  It's funny how I always capture very sensory memories of trips like these.  Any time I can find refuge somewhere, I always absorb the experience.  I will remember the scent of the cabin, the shine of the track lighting on me when I read a book late into the night, the sound of the birds in the woods in the early evening.  I am wishing, hoping, even praying that there will be rain so I can hear the rain on the tin roof.  And the feel of a warm bath in the old-fashioned clawfoot bathtub will be the perfect way to end an evening.

I may not remember little bits of memories throughout the past, but experiences like these will be ingrained in my memory forever.  I guess that is where my "focus" comes in- I am able to see, hear, and feel the world around me like many people miss.  I have to wonder if that's a better memory, or a more open lens when it comes to evaluating the experience.  I don't create the feelings later; I just realize what is happening around me more clearly.

I promise the next post will not take 11 days...

Going off the grid...

One of my goals in this project is to take a road trip (previously named "Travel to Another Country").  For those of you that didn't follow my journey at that time, let me recap:

I had originally set the goal of traveling out of the country, but didn't have a destination in mind.  I had ventured to Europe fresh out of high school, but had never again made a leap.  Life got in the way, and I was never available to take more than a few days to go away.  Any other country needs to be explored, and I felt my lack of time wouldn't do it justice.

I realized that I could throw together a trip to another country "just because," but I really craved going "off the grid" for a while.  I needed to get out and explore the world around me, and I had plenty of places to see.  The idea of a road trip sounded even better...

So now I am looking at travel sites, Mapquest, and various tourism information.  I have a few ideas where I want to go, but part of the thrill is knowing I have time to stop where I please.  The fun of traveling without a particular destination is that you get to really SEE the world for what it is.  I love stopping in small little towns that don't even know how to pretend for tourists.  I enjoy trying different foods, talking to locals, and snapping pictures of my escapades.  I like the idea that I can be anyone I want to be when I am out on the road.  The possibilities are endless...

I am really at the point in my life where I enjoy the world around me.  I wonder what is so appealing about going "off the grid?"  I believe it is because everyone needs a temporary reset--a time when we are able to relax, meditate, and mull over our problems.  It's nice to have time to sit and think about the future, to comprehend the past, and to embrace the excitement of stopping for a taco or putt-putt golf when you feel like it.  My time to travel is approaching, and I am beyond thrilled.  This is an adventure that I have been planning for a lifetime--I have been waiting for a period in my life when I can break free and explore the world around me.  Even if it is just for five days, these will be incredibly introspective and enlightening days.  After all, I have twenty-nine years of life to ponder...

Literature, travel and language, oh my!

Well, at the end of the day today I said that I would have my list of ten books that I would read.  I went to the local Hastings, and checked out the Classics section.  I talked to a few different people, and one rather enthusiastic employee.  I explained the project, my educational and career background, and asked for recommendations in different genres.  I fully realize that there are tens of thousands of books that I have yet to read.  For a person that spent years with her nose in a book, I will be the first to admit that there are tons of books I missed.  Perhaps because I was making snow angels and paper snowflakes as well? 

I could have spent all day in this tiny section--I couldn't make up my mind! I know I will not stop reading once this project is over, so I tried not to make this decision too difficult.  I decided to pick 5 of the books today, and return once I have read a book or two.  I will also entertain the idea of further research and suggestions from friends, colleagues, and random people.  Sometimes this is the best way to get a good read. :-)

Here they are, in no particular order:

1. Around the World in Eighty Days, by Jules Verne

2. The Time Machine, by HG Wells

3. On the Road, by Jack Kerouac

4. The Origin of Species, by Charles Darwin

5. The Hobbit, by J.R. R. Tolkien

 Let it be known that I talk to only men in this discussion (as can be noticed in the above list). Since I am noticeably female, I thought this would be a refreshing change from the norm. :-)

 I have located my passport in the sea of paperwork... It expired last year.  So, I shall send it off in the next few weeks to get it renewed.  I have no idea where I will go yet, but I know I will need a passport to do it.  I am not terribly keen on Mexico, but I don't really know where else I can go on a single mom teacher's salary.  I do have a teacher's schedule though (June and July are off!).

I have located a site that teaches basic Italian conversational phrases (and more than twenty of them!).  I figure I will start there and see if I have any success.  From what I remember in my years of language classes, practice makes perfect.  So, I will do my best to throw Italian into my daily conversation... and scare the people in the small town where I live... this should be fun! ;-)