The end of the spring semester means three things: sundress, sandals, and cookies on the last night of class. I know I wrote about this back in January, but at the start of every semester, I marvel at how different the end of the semester will feel, and how quickly it will seem to have passed. In August, when I’m sweating and lithe, I know that when the class ends I’ll be freezing cold and carrying four pounds of autumn baking weight. In January, when I am freezing cold and moving slowly, I know that in May I’ll be full of energy and wearing a sundress and sandals.
Also, I know that I’ll know more stuff, and that is always exciting.
So, tonight endeth my first grad class (the web design certificate wraps up in two weeks). It has been wonderful, and I get to celebrate with a weekend of teacher training, which is way more fun than it sounds. During the two hundred hour training, I looked to the weekends with a mix of excitement and dread because they were so draining. During this training, I look to the weekends as a retreat, a temporary, movable ashram. Though I am absolutely loathe to engage portmanteau, it works here: a flashram. And I can’t wait to get back into my yoga routine. Last night I ordered books on hip opening postures, pranayama, and traditional Chinese medicine. I am ready for summer.
As I sit here in my sundress and sandals, thoroughly over-cookied, I am thinking about what I have accomplished during this crazy bonkers year so far:
1. Finished my first grad class.
2. Generated one story that is a draft or two from being ready to submit, and lots of other seeds of stories to work on over the summer.
3. Publicized a novel and short works contest that received double (at least for the novels) the number of entries it did last year.
4. Publicized a conference that doubled its attendance over last year.
5. Finished my web design certificate (ok, in another two weeks and half a project).
6. Finished two -soon to be three- of eight weekends for the 500 hour teacher training.
7. Grew this blog by 110 posts and another dozen or so regular readers.
8. Heard John Flansburgh say “fuck” on stage.
9. Perfected my tahini chocolate chip cookie recipe – rave reviews in class tonight.
10. Misbehaved on seventeen Tuesdays.
Hell of a year so far, I’d say.
Edited to add: How could I forget? #11. Published my first smut!
