Hey everybody. As you may have noticed, I just don't update this thing very often anymore. Mainly it's because it cuts into my weekend. I can't write updates from the balloon store so that leaves me with my weekend, and lately I've been doing things with my weekends. But, as luck would have it, my back went out so I'm not at work at the moment. I feel bad having my back go out again. I don't want the nice folks at the balloon store to think they hired Greg Oden.
On the bright side of things, I'm watching the ASU vs Temple game (March Madness: Catch It!) and writing in this blog so aside from not getting paid for the day, it's a win-win.
As I mentioned before and as I'm sure you all know, I'm taking the seminary teaching classes at the institute. I have no idea how this all will turn out for us. Some days I feel like a sure bet and other days I feel like there's no way I'll be getting in. You know, standard overthinking and paranoia. I have only spent one day teaching so far (I'll get two weeks to teach at the end of the semester and that's when they'll decide whether or not I get to move into the next phase) and although I did get some really good feedback from the teacher whose class I was teaching in, I have been obsessing for a while over the things I could've done better. I really want to get back in the classroom and show that I've learned a lot since my first teaching experience, but I guess my two week teaching assignment will be right around the corner (late April and early May).
It's funny because I had sort of forgotten about the fact that I told people I might want to be a seminary teacher back when I was in high school. I think I was mainly inspired by the fact that Brother Greer was as sarcastic as I was and yet he managed to be a seminary teacher. After I got back from my mission I thought I might want to be a seminary teacher. Mainly it was because I had no idea what I could do with my life and the only thing I had been doing over the previous two years was teaching the gospel and seminary was the only way I could think of to teach the gospel and make money at it was to teach seminary. Coincidentally, not knowing what to do with your life and not wanting to come home from your mission are two of the worst reasons to get into seminary teaching. I'd like to think that over the last few years I've gotten my reasons right. It can't just be because you don't know what else to do. You have to really have a desire to teach and be smart enough to know that it isn't as much about you as it is the kids you can influence. If I've learned one thing in my studies thus far, it's that teachers have less to do with effective teaching than you could possibly think. A good teacher knows when to stop talking, when to listen, and when not to get in the way of learning. Those are all things I still need to work on.
So as we get closer and closer to the day when ASU stops paying me for not working, we get a little more nervous. We have a lot of plans in the works to get some supplemental income going, but a lot will depend on whether or not I'm moving onward and upward in seminary teaching. We'll see how it all shakes down, but there are a lot of question marks out there for us. At the very least, our lives have been so much better since I got laid off. I don't think either or us would trade the last couple months for anything.
I wish I had more to report on. There are a lot of things going on right now, and a lot of them are too personal for me to write about them here. As much as I have hope and faith that I can move on to the next phase of seminary teaching (which is kind of like an internship) I still know I have a lot of work to do. I have a lot to learn and a lot of bad teaching habits to break down. I just have a whole lot that I need to do. So because I have the time to do it, I think I'll end this entry now and go get a little something done today.