It’s amazing how my mood changes when I am feeling better.
Random thought: Bob Costas is interviewing Sean White (snowboarding Olympian just in case you have no idea who he is), and I think Sean White looks like my brother-in-law…Kevin could totally be him for Halloween one year.
Anyway…I had a really rough few days this week. I didn’t feel well because of my cold. I didn’t feel like eating. I didn’t feel like doing anything. I was lonely at home, and when I’m sick and lonely, I’m miserable. I don’t know what I would have done without my dogs. It just sucks coming home to an empty house. I feel like kids would be a distraction and make the time apart easier in some ways. I know it’d be challenging because there would be more to do, but it would be so lonely.
So how have I decided that I’m at 80-85%? I’m using way less Kleenexes, I can sleep, and my head is way clearer. I even made dinner, cleaned the kitchen, and did some laundry tonight. I’m still using Kleenexes, still taking meds, and my female stuff still SUCKS…so until all of that is resolved, I won’t be at a 100% and I won’t be back at the gym. I just don’t want to push it. I go to the doctor to get an ultrasound on Monday, and it sounds like they may try to push back when we start trying again. I’m so tired of it. I feel like Mark and I are never going to have a baby…that news and phone call definitely made the loneliness I felt worse.
Other interesting news of the day…I think I’m officially hired at Regis as an affiliate instructor! I found out last Friday that I passed round one of their orientation process, and now those of us who will be teaching are entering phase two of three. Since I received HR papers, including my W-4 and I-9 to fill out today, I’m thinking that I’m a paid employee unless I majorly screw up or blow off the class. In the next week and half, I’ll be covering a multitude of subjects: how to introduce myself to my class and establish credibility in an online forum, Ignatian Pedagogy (which I researched thoroughly while I was at Webster and know a lot from SLU), and how to create an active classroom of higher order thinking in an online environment. It should be interesting. I *think* that the obnoxious lady from round one (who made sure that we all knew she went to Norwich and took their online program) was cut. She definitely presented what I think will be a challenge in my online teaching: how do you effectively manage a classroom? If a student in my normal classroom tries to dominate the class, there are many things I can do to stifle her and to let others have the opportunity to share. When it’s all about postings though, how do you stop someone from doing that? This lady commented on EVERYONE’s posts. She had something to say about EVERYTHING. And she was a know-it-all. She knew the web-based program that Regis used well and definitely overstepped her bounds numerous times with the guide. I hope I get some answers to how to manage my class…that is one challenge of online learning and teaching.
So I guess that’s all for tonight…I have sleepy pups, so I think that means I am going to go upstairs and call Mark for the night. I have my last day of sleeping late for a while. Thank goodness for the PG County late starts…it’s definitely helped me get better! Yay for Friday…I just hope that between Regis stuff and grading tons of literary essays I can stay busy and avoid getting sad and lonely. In six days, I get to see Mark in Albuquerque. YAY!
