Behind on everything, including blogging this week. I started this post on Saturday night then decided to apply for a grant on Sunday so, you know, am now two days behind. I’m leaving the beginning as is and posting about the first three days here. Gonna get it in right before midnight again, I bet.

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Welp, nothing to get me out of a non-blogging run like a challenge. In this case, K. E. Ogden’s December de Novo reflection series. The purpose:

To start the year off fresh, I always take December to reflect and document. For 31 days take a look back, not just the serious stuff but some fun stuff too.

Say less, as the internet peeps say.

(You will also not be surprised to learn that I will also be participating in A Month of Faves again this year, starting tomorrow yesterday. The most wonderful time of the year, indeed.)

At any rate, today’s December de Novo prompt (Dec. 1):

“Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue.” These can be experiences, objects, emotions etc. What fits these categories from your amazing 2024?

Something old – My sabbatical is over, so I am back at work. (Work = tale as old as time, amirite?) While I would go on sabbatical every year if they let me, I do enjoy being back in the classroom and interacting with students. Another old thing about work is that I did a primarily online schedule and am remembering why I prefer being in the physical classroom. Besides interacting with students, being in-person means less time on the computer which means less strain on my eyes. Being online means the exact opposite. My eyes were tired on day one, alas. Also! I had finally (finally!) gotten my classes set up so that I was doing most of my grading during class and, welp, that just cannot happen when one is teaching four online courses.

Something new – Since I already blogged about going to Greece, I am going to keep talking about work. Right, so I also did two (two!) new things this semester, my first one back (do not recommend). First, I taught a comp class that meets only one day a week for four hours. On top of that, I introduced my brand! new! curriculum! that I developed over my sabbatical in all my comp classes.

It has been a learning experience, to put it mildly. First, for the four hour class, planning it was a bear because it didn’t match up with my twice per week schedule because, you know, once a week. I explained to the students that if our class had met twice a week, I would have time in between sessions to figure out what skills/concepts I needed to review but, you know, I only had a half-hour break in the middle of our class to do that, so a lot of it was on the fly. (Also: new curriculum.) Anyone who knows me knows that I am not opposed to teaching on the fly. But every week? That was too much.

As for the curriculum, the short version is that my students interview an elder and then do a bunch of assignments related to that, including the major assignment at the end of the semester, which is to create a picturebook based on the interview. Lessons were definitely learned and notes for what to do differently next semester have already been made. I’ve also already talked to my Friday class about what worked and didn’t and where there were gaps that could have been clarified, so that was good.

Also, I let one of the textbook companies convince me to use their online platform, and that sucked. It was supposed to make my teaching easier. (It did not make it easier.) The students didn’t mind it, but they also didn’t care for it, if that makes sense. I was annoyed from the beginning because one of the features they tout is online quizzes to check understanding, and I still wound up having to write my own quizzes anyway because theirs were terrible. So, yeah. I won’t be using that again.

On top of all that, I taught the mystery and crime fiction class online for the first time as well. It has been years (years! We’re talking in the before times years) since I taught that class so I had to figure that out as well.

Something borrowed – Keeping the work thing going, my something borrowed was definitely my friend’s setup for her picturebook class. My project is different, but I definitely yoinked some of the readings she assigned and changed some of her assignments to fit my own. All good teachers steal as we know, but credit must be given where credit is due.

Speaking of which, I basically just used the format I use for my online children’s lit class for the mystery fiction class, and I got most of the assignments for that class from other people as well.

Something blue  – I can’t think of anything blue, in color or spirit, except for the fact that Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf discontinued their red velvet hot cocoa (which I wrote about in depth yesterday).

Hahaha omg as soon as I finished that, I was scrolling through my phone and found this photo of a quiz result about turquoise. In September, we had a huge discussion about whether or not turquoise is blue or green, all took the quiz, and then my friend renamed the group chat “Turquoise Gate.” So yeah it was that serious. So yes, that’s my real something blue.

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Prompt for Dec. 2 – Think back to your best meal of the year and tell us all about it!

My best meal of the year was definitely in Greece. My friend and I had been walking all day–excuse me, we had walked up and down a mountain to see the Acropolis and other sites–and were searching for someplace to eat with good and varied vegetarian options for her. We found this place near the Ancient Agora of Athens, and she ordered something, and I ordered this octopus dish. When it came out, I thought maybe I had made a mistake because part of it was bland, but then I realized if I put a little of each thing on my fork, it all came together and was delicious. I took no picture of this dish, nor could I tell you the name of the restaurant, though I could point it out if I ever walked by it again. It was good enough that we went back and had dinner there again. Definitely recommend that restaurant in the row with all the other restaurants near the Ancient Agora.

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Prompt for Dec. 3 – What was your best purchase of the year?

Okay, I am going to have to do my top two purchases of the year. I promised myself that if this prompt came up, I would only do one, but there are honestly two things I bought that make my life so much better/easier.

ITEM #1: I have accepted that I am earplugs years old when I go to concerts, so before we went to the Alicia Keys concert (whenever that was), I bought a pack of the foam earplugs from Guitar Center. However, we used them all or I couldn’t find them or gave them all to my daughter or something so I decided that mayhaps I should get some, you know, non-foam ones. Some permanent ones if you will. So I bought some Loops earplugs (which are great, highly recommend). In the reviews, a bunch of people said that the case wasn’t the best. It’s kind of flimsy, and if you drop it, it’s a wrap. I drop everything constantly, and the last thing I need is for my expensive permanent earplugs to get lost. So I read some more reviews with suggestions for case holders, and then I bought it, the absolute best thing I bought all year: an earplugs case clip (this earplugs case clip, to be exact).

My daughter was doing a performance this summer, so I went to see it, and while I was there, I was like, “Man, it’s loud in here. I wish I had my earplugs.” And you know what? I DID. Because they were right there on my keychain. I didn’t have to remember to bring them. I didn’t have to lament that I forgot them. I JUST HAD THEM. It was glorious. It is glorious. It is the actual best.

ITEM #2: I switched gyms this fall. Long story short, the Y’s schedule was not compatible with mine and also my insurance offers a reduced membership to another gym with a greater variety of hours and classes. The new gym also has a pool. And that’s where my second best (or perhaps tied for first?) buy comes in.

I joined the new gym, went to do my water workout in the pool. I tried to use their weights. I don’t know what kind of water weights they are, but they suck. So I was like, “Alright, bet, I’ll just a noodle.” They had no noodles.

But you know who already has water weights and a noodle?

That’s right. Do you know what’s cumbersome and impossible to carry into the gym along with a bathing suit, towel, swim cap, etc.? Water weights and a noodle.

I am at a stage in my life where I don’t care what people think of all the many accoutrements I require when I travel from place to place. I bring my own blocks and strap to yoga (and, after talking to my physical therapist, will have to add push up bars to that list because of my wrists) as well as two mats (one a cushy Pilates mat) because these knees are not meant to be only a yoga’s mat width off the floor. So the fact that I had to bring my own water weights and noodle to the gym didn’t deter me from doing it. I do what needs to be done.

But again, cumbersome.

Enter this bad boy, this absolutely perfect gym bag that I bought way back in January because I wanted a gym bag to carry my wet clothes in that didn’t touch any of the other stuff I might have had with me. And do you know what fits in that gym bag? EVERYTHING. The towel, the bathing suit, the flip flops, the swim cap, the noodle, the weights, the lock, and the headphones with room to spare. It’s pretty stuffed to be sure, but I know I can fit more stuff in there. The strap is long enough, and it actually has a cute pattern.

I actually took pics because I plan to (someday…) write a review of the bag because it is that good.

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And just like that, I’m caught up. For now.