Results of Ruminations

Having just returned from a week-long vacation to southern Utah, I feel like I ought to make some sort of note about what happened whilst away. After all, I had a fantastic experience in California and I wrote about that . But I'm hesitant to do so, for two reasons. Number One I was saddened by the fact that, of the four plays I saw at the Utah Shakespeare Festival this year, I only saw two written by the Bard himself. Both of those were...not the best I've seen. By a long stretch, actually. The two non-Shakespeare plays, Shakespeare in Love  and the gut-busting Shakespeare's Long Lost First Play (Abridged)  were superlative. The former was what you get in the film, minus the full-fledged nudity, with a bit more development of Kit Marlowe as a character that paid off well at the end. The latter was a love letter to Shakespeare in the most irreverent way possible, doing a mashup of "early drafts" of all his plays and characters, ending the first act with a wate...

I recognize that a teacher writing an essay about hard work whilst on summer vacation is potentially fraught with some hypocrisy, but there are a couple of counterpoints to consider: 1) The nature of the job is nine months in the classroom, three months out; but that doesn't mean I'm not working; 2) While this essay was written during the summer break, it can be read at any time, so its point can be derived without worrying about inconsistency. Work is Hard Peeking behind the curtain, here's what goes into a lesson when I'm at the helm: Choosing the material to be discussed Deriving a conversation about the topic Creating an activity (sometimes) about the material Finding additional resources to explain the topic Ensuring there's enough stuff to fill 100 minutes of class Build enough in the class to feel like we've made progress, yet leave enough on the table to pick up the next day If it sounds vague, it's because it has to be. There's en...

Nestled in the foothills of Provo, beneath the gleaming white Y that's painted on the face of the mountain, a water park gurgles thirstily to itself. This is Seven Peaks Water Park, a place that I have been going to, almost every summer, since I was I don't know how old (the old park, Raging Waters, falling out of favor). Now that I have children of my own, a modest budget, and ample summer time, we decided to visit Seven Peaks and swim around for a few hours this morning. As we pulled in, my boys--who were rather excited about the day's activity--wondered aloud about the parking situation. "Pay When You Leave?" asked my seven year old, reading the sign in the parking lot. "What does that mean?" "Instead of paying right now, we'll pay on our way out," I said. "How much does it cost?" he said (I imagine; this is partially paraphrased). "Seven dollars." "Wow! That's a lot!" "Yup." I gu...

This last week, my family and I went to Anaheim in order to worship at the Altar of the Great Mouse. We had a lovely time, visiting both Disney Parks for a couple of days each. My youngest is four years old and hadn't been to Disneyland yet, so it was enjoyable to see how excited he was to see the parks. We managed to squeeze in a viewing of Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 2  before the trip, so he was particularly happy at the frequent banners showing off Baby Groot. My seven-year-old was only disappointed when we went on "slow rides" (which, I guess, would be like Pinocchio or Snow White?) because he is--and I didn't know this--a roller-coaster fiend. Big thrills are big for him, apparently. Additionally, he lost a tooth while there, which not many people can claim. Lastly, my oldest (he's 10 now), simply loved the whole thing--except for leaving and when we got after him for breaking his friend's wheelchair (my son has half a heart, so we put him in a wheelch...

Like Harry Baker  (start at 1:29), I like people. This is easy to say in general, because there are some specific humans that I have little respect or appreciation for beyond the simple truth that we're all connected--the beautiful and the despicable. And considering the unflagging pessimism that louers over my heart and the tumultuous sea of depression that too often capsizes me in its troughs, this is no small thing. Indeed, it's the love of people--more than love of self--that keeps me around. That isn't to say that I am in a perpetual state of desiring suicide--quite the opposite; I don't want this ride on Earth to end, and thinking of "the undiscovered country" propels me through more of Hamlet's "To be or not to be" soliloquy than is probably healthy and a more-than-white-knuckle-grip on however many numbered breaths I will yet claim. But that doesn't mean that I haven't thought about leaving the world on my own terms. I was ...

With commencement behind me, I have a week of training, then the full summer of 2017 sprawling before me. Despite my best efforts, I'm unable to hold down school-year schedule sleeping patterns, but I do want to make the most out of my time off, so I thought I'd jot down some of my ideas for what to do for a daily routine. This is likely overly optimistic, but I figure that if I have something put down, it'll help motivate me. A little. Maybe. Anyway, here's my idea of a typical day this summer, excluding vacations and other responsibilities: 7:45 am Alarm goes off 8:10 am Get out of bed I like to silence my alarm. Sue me. 8:15 am Go for a walk/jog (unlikely)/bike ride 8:45 am Start breakfast all stinky like 8:46 am Tell the boys, likely for the third or fourth time, to put away the iPads and make themselves breakfast 8:50 am Watch an informative YouTube video whilst eating 9:25 am Shower 9:45 am Start the daily essay 10:30 am Gently (read: loudly) tell ...