Thursday, Apr. 10, 2003
Spring Break Goals, posted at 10:58 p.m.
Epiphany in Baltimore has moved to epiphanyinbaltimore.blogspot.com Tomorrow is the last day before spring break, and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't excited.A week off, with no priorities or travels planned, now seems very inviting. My team has four baseball games, two on Monday and Wednesday each, and I will get a chance to coach Monday's game on my own. I don't want to miss that chance. Even though I don't get paid for coaching (a fact that I hope is remembered when the time comes to find a new coach), it's become one of my favorite parts about being involved in the school. I swell on the inside when I hear "Hey, Coach," in the hallway. My grandparents are coming up on Friday, so with commitments on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday-Sunday, it doesn't make sense to go back to Michigan. Bill and I are in negotiations to possibly drive up to Boston for a Red Sox game, and that might happen (and if it doesn't, hopefully at least something will that involves leaving the city), but I'm being nonchalant about it. I'm fine with just playing it by ear.
I want it to be a productive week off, and thought it would be useful to make myself some goals before it begins.
1. Complete my professional portfolio. It was due on April 7, but all my superiors have luckily forgotten to ask for it from me, so I've been given a reprieve. It's complete and total BS, but I've got to do it. That's a day-long project, as I haven't been working on it at all this year.
2. Do yard work. I need to buy a fence for my vegetable garden so my roommate's huge dog doesn't keep walking through it and destroying my cucumbers and watermelons. I also need to mow, and to figure out if the ancient lawnmower that wasn't protected from the elements very well this winter still works.
3. Create a reading journal for Their Eyes Were Watching God and map out the rest of the semester.
4. Figure out what to do about my car. The air bags hang out and the sun roof is busted, still from my running into a curb in December when there was a foot of snow. I didn't have full coverage then, for stupid reasons, so the claim I put into the insurance company wasn't taken. They had me go to a mechanic to check out the car before putting it back on full coverage. He didn't notice or care about the air bags, so as far as insurance is concerned the car is okay. I'm wondering if I'm going to be arrested if I put in a claim and just say it happened again. Or should I not risk it and just take it in somewhere and drop a couple grand. As if I had that kind of money. I at least need to figure it out. Tonight, as I was driving, the thought crossed my mind about how nice it would be if someone accidentally hit my car, in a minor way, so I could put in the claim for everything including the air bags. Since I'm paying an arm and a leg for insurance, that seems like it would work.
5. Read at least two novels, see at least two movies. I picked up a novel at Barnes & Noble today on the spur of the moment that I had never heard of, and whipped through five chapters on the treadmill. I don't remember what it was called, and it's out in the car and I'm not about to go get it, but so far it seems like a modernized, Latino version of Catcher in the Rye, with a disaffected 1st person teenage narrator and authentic voice. Holden never got stoned, and this kid does a lot, but otherwise the comparison fits. The writer (again, can't remember name) does a good job of creating a unique voice, and the book won some sort of award for writers of color. It's good. I'm happy with myself for picking it up. I'll share with everyone its title tomorrow.
6. Figure out other goals I have.