New Excitements

Well, it's the new year, 2011. Can't say it feels any different. I realize that as I get older, each new year kinda blends into the next... maybe it's the fact that there really isn't anything too different, or it just reminds me I'm getting old. Whatever the case, it's no biggy for me.

During break, I ended up writing a pretty extensive entry explaining all the reasons I actually kinda liked the movie "Valentines Day", but after looking it over, decided against posting it. Just know that my expectation for it (to be an overly cast-hyped pile of crap) was pleasantly exceeded and there were some little nuggets of truthfully goodness to be learned.

School has gotten back into the swing of things again and the first week was like a taste of teaching heaven. I think the kids were really bored at home, because they were focused and excited in all the learning. It just blew my mind. Of course, this week had to roll around and some of the kids went back into old habits so it's been "fun" trying to get them out of it.

Last night I was looking up sources for next week's social studies lesson (I'm gonna tie in the Industrial Revolution with the stirrings of the Civil War) for the kids to investigate, when I found this AWESOME site that compiles sources for different topics. Unfortunately they're upper middle school to high school level, but it's ok, I can modify! I was so pumped it actually surprised me. Back in undergrad, I wouldn't ever imagine getting pumped about educational resources, back then it was all about games, beating people in competitions, and girls. Not necessarily in that order.

It's funny how little things like that show how your job really starts to infiltrate your very being. Even when I come home, I find myself thinking about situations that happened at school, work that needs to be graded, ideas for future lessons, meetings I need to prepare for, so on and so forth.

It happened so subtly I didn't even notice it until last night. I guess that's part of the "working professional stage"; you no longer compartmentalize your life into all these different cubbys but everything kinda merges into one "life". As I become more accustomed to this new lifestyle, my prayer is that everything I do will be motivated by the right Reason.