Thursday, January 03, 2008

Christmas Break update

Ok, as the saying goes, my eyes were bigger than my stomach.

At the beginning of break, I had all these things to do and accomplish. I read a grand total of 24 pages in Little Women and haven't picked it back up. I asked Amy, it's one of her favorite books, if anything actually happened in the book. What is the plot? She said, "Stuff happens to this family."

"So there's no plot? Nothing the main characters have to accomplish before the end?"

"No, it's just about a family."

That failed to intrigue me anymore. Not the book's fault. Amy told me that there was no evil dark side in the book, or any huge battlebots, no creatures, no space travel. She was ribbing me but she was also pointing out that my taste in books is sometimes crap.

Then I started reading The Prisoner by Disch as I found one in the paperback stacks at the library. I also started reading the first Harry Potter. I'm about 100 pages into both. I like reading two books at once. It gives me a chance to "change the channel," as it were. Like a comic book series. One 22-page monthly comes out, I read it, put it down, and read another one, waiting for the next installments. Two-part tv shows and series too. I like serials, which is one of the reasons I am liking Stephen King's The Green Mile. I found the six original, separated installments at Goodwill. I have read the first two, waiting to pick up the third when I finish something else. I don't think I would even have started The Green Mile if I got it in a complete addition.

So I probably won't finish Little Women before break. But I have done lots of little fun things that are good for me, for recharging my batteries. I have watched plenty of Doctor Who on the Netflix Watch Now. Played with the kids. Generally fooled around.

See, that's what Christmas Break for a teacher is really for. Recharging the batteries. I took an hour yesterday to look over the upcoming Romeo and Juliet lesson for the freshmen and Macbeth for the seniors. I still have to look over a basic plan for Speech class. To get out of seventh period study hall, I am taking on second semester Speech class, basically adding another prep to my day. And only for like seven kids too. That's all right, anything to get out of that seventh period study hall.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

How's Little Women coming???? Here it is mid april and the dust is still on the jacket. It is refreshing to see that a man with a Master's in Lit reads battlebots but can't make it through little women because there isn't a fight scene. Maybe there is a sneak attack from a deranged battlebot from a vampire infested Mars right at the climax...........but you will never know butthead!