first day back at school...

I don't think I have too much to say today, but a quick update anyway...

I'm currently reading Flags of Our Fathers (the one that was made into a movie), and it's really really good. I expected that, yeah, but I was also sort of hesitant to read it, mostly because I knew it would be a tearjerker. And sure enough, I'm about 200 pages in and I've already had a few little teary session, but not too bad. The story is about the photo of the soldiers planting the flat at Iwo Jima, which is, I learned, apparently the most recognizable and famous photograph of all time. Surprising. Anyway, the books focuses on the real soldiers who planted that flag, their lives before, during, and after the war, and, presumably, though I haven't read it yet, how their lives were affected by being immortalized in such a dramatic way. The author is the son of one of those men, which adds an extra lump-in-your-throat element. Anyway, it's great, and I'm learning more about the Pacific campaign of World War II than I ever knew before. (Fact: I really don't remember much at all about WWII.) I've got about three more days on that book, then I'm moving onto the one Tim chose for our first book club session, The White Boy Shuffle. I've wanted to read it for awhile, so it works for me. We're just going to talk about books we've both read, passing back and forth one copy, because we're cheap, and the selection of English books leaves something to be desired anyway.

Today was the first day of my New Organized Life. It's almost over, and I have to say, it went pretty well. I can't imagine I'll stick to all of these systems forever, but if at least a few things become habit, my life will be far less hectic than it was in the beginning. I'm starting the process now of training myself to sit down at the computer and do something every day at a certain time, so that I can be ready for NaNoWriMo in November, when I'm going to write 50,000 words. I also took that piece of advice from Real Simple and only checked my email three times at work today: morning, after lunch, and before I left. It was... not as hard as I imagined it would be, and it definitely made it easier to focus on the lesson planning I was doing and not get distracted. It's sad, because it's one of the few times I can Google chat with people in the States, but I've just got to use my time at school as wisely as possible so that I don't have to worry about lesson planning outside of school, and I can focus on things like writing and my TFA application.

So today was my first day back at school, and I did, in fact, have to teach. I'd sort of half-assed my lesson planning all weekend assuming that there might be some sort of opening ceremony, as my other co-teacher mentioned, but then there definitely wasn't. I got there shortly before 1st period started and saw that the schedule was normal and I had to teach 1st grade 2nd period an as-yet unplanned lesson. No problem. I slapped something together about the future tense, as requested, and we had an extended "How I Spent My Summer Vacation" slideshow for 15 minutes in the beginning. Luckily my special 2-hour after-school class didn't happen, so then I had the rest of the day to get caught up, which I'm glad to say I did. I'm pre-planned for tomorrow's two lessons, and on schedule. Let's see if I can maintain that high level of productivity and efficiency for an extended period of time. I did it for at least a month last semester.

Every semester that I was working during college, I would always create these elaborate schedules in Microsoft Excel, with work, classes, exercise, study, and even free time scheduled in and color-coded. And... then never worked. I'm not sure I even ever made it through a single day as planned. (It was usually the study time that was foregone, in case you were wondering.) But something about intensely desires schedules and lists, is desperate to become a creature of habit, so I'm giving it another try. Blogging every day, doing the Purpose-Driven Life devotional everyday, working on my TFA application... The crucial thing this time is that I tried not to over-schedule myself, or rather, not to give myself too many things to do. This is hard, as I have a somewhat over-inflated image of what I can reasonably complete in 24 hours, but, at least so far, this time is different. It also helps to have a lot less distractions (i.e. a lot less friends?) So like I said, it seems off to a promising start, and if even 30% of my new plan sticks, it'll be exponentially better than before.

I went ahead and slapped together my application for readmission to UCF and stuck it in the mail today. It was actually a deceptively simple process, which leads me to believe I did it wrong. Two pages, including a little biographical info, a few questions about my felonious past, and a signature. I'm worried about the bit about making sure I still qualify as a FL resident for tuition purposes... I haven't lived in Florida for a year. But I guess I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. Also, I only have to take one class, I think, so if I had to pay out-of-state, it would probably still be worth it to get my degree. (So I say, but then again, I don't know how much more out-of-state actually is.) Proud to have that to check off, though, and they say that processing the application only takes 10 days. I'm not sure how I'll hear, but I'm just looking forward to securing my spot in that one class. It could be quite a process, knowing the English Department, but I'll fight my way in somehow.

Next step is updating my resume for TFA, which I'm not looking forward to, but it'll be easier than writing the essays for sure. Another piece of advice I got from that same article in Real Simple was interesting. It said that, when facing your to-do list, you should always start with a softball, something you enjoy (or at least don't hate), and can knock out relatively quickly. Then, you should jump right into the task you enjoy least. They say, and this is certainly true of me, that the hardest part for people, and especially procrastinators, is just getting started. So go ahead and start that crappy task, and tell yourself you only have to do it for, say, 30 minutes. Hopefully that's enough to help you overcome your initial aversion to it, and then at the end of 30 minutes, you might be almost done, and just want to keep going and finish it, since starting was the hardest part. That's certainly true of me. The task I dread most is lesson planning, although true--not so much when I'm just doing it. And I can get a huge chunk of a lesson done in 30 uninterrupted minutes, so today when the 30 minute alarm went off, I just kept trudging, and got it all done. This is how I was with homework too, or writing essays for school, which used to be my least favorite task. I'd spend hours and hours thinking about starting, dreading it, putting it off until the very last minute, until finally it was literally the last minute, and I'd hammer it out. Which is all well and good. It worked. I always got it in by the deadline. But... it ruined my life. I was busy looking for anything else to do to avoid working on the paper, but I couldn't enjoy any of it. I constantly felt tense, stressed, and guilty over procrastinating. Those aren't good feelings. And lesson planning can have the same effect on me... I don't want to do it, so I waste my hours at school (and not in any other productive way), then it looms over me during my away-from-school time, and it sucks. No more.

So to re-cap:
1. Do a task you enjoy and can knock out quickly first.
2. Then go ahead and jump on that task you're dreading, working on it in manageable chunks of time until it's finished.

Awesome. The only other news I have is that Naju City offered me a chance to teach some extra classes on Saturdays for some extra money. From what I understand, it's two hours, every other Saturday morning, at the Naju Beauty High School in the next town over (like 7 minutes by bus). I know what you're thinking... what's a beauty high school? Well, I don't know either. Possibilities: It's like a technical school for girls, focusing on beautician skills. (But really? In my small town, that has like... 6 high schools, that specialized kind of high school?) What I'm hoping is that it's a poor translation. Or even better, it's a school only for beautiful people. In which case, I can see why they offered the job to me. I accepted it, of course, because it's a chance to make some cash ($60 for every two hours, if I understand correctly), and I get to interact with high schoolers, which is something I've wanted. Granted, they may be girl high schoolers on a fast track to being hairstylists, but beggars can't be choosers, right? (Also, why would a technical school for future hairstylists be so desperate for a native speaker to help improve their English conversation education? How crucial is spoken English on the national hairdressers' exam? Just kidding, I don't know if there is such a thing.) But whatever. I'm up for an adventure. What else am I going to do on Saturday mornings? I asked my co-teacher what exactly they wanted me to teach them, and she said... like the same things you teach to our third graders. Their level is probably comparable. Nice.

Well, blogging and doing my devotional in Dunkin Donuts worked out pretty well tonight. I actually can access wireless internet, which I didn't know. (If I had, I wouldn't have cared so much about getting it back at home.) So if I need to look something up quickly when I'm working on my application essays, I can. But I can't connect to messenger, which is probably for the best. These Korean girls surrounding me are talking really really loud (much louder than I ever was when I got lectured), and they're cursing enthusiastically, so next time I definitely need to bring my headphones so I can tune it out. But definitely less distractions than at home (no bed). Speaking of which, I listened to the Newsweek podcast today while walking/running, and I really enjoyed it. More focused on the news than Talk of the Nation, which is what I was looking for.

So I totally lied about not having much to say, huh? Tricked you! Hope I still have something to write tomorrow. To finish off, here's a few pictures of my new ring (which I bought as a constant reminder of my awesome healthy lifestyle success, and to spur me to continue), and one of my hair, because it just looks good. I took them right here in Dunkin Donuts. I love you, Apple computer.

p.s. Here's an excellent quote from George Bernard Shaw, which I read in The Purpose Driven Life:

"This is the true joy of life: the being used up for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; being a force of nature instead of a feverish, selfish little clot of ailments and grievances, complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy."

Oh man, how long have I been a "feverish, selfish clot of ailments and grievances"? Well, that ends today.