Notes from the other side.

Vagina Monologues weekend has come and gone. It's always a crazy, busy, wild, energizing, liberating experience, but this year was especially so in every way.

Exactly which monologue I was doing and exactly what I was wearing to perform it drifted to the background until perhaps two minutes before I went onstage. I had been lounging around all day in, essentially, my underwear--a bustier and stockings fitting of "The Woman Who Loved to Make Vaginas Happy"--but in a few more seconds, I would be in that underwear in front of a crowd of hundreds, if not a thousand or more. Whoa boy.

I took my deep breaths, did some stretching, and reminded myself of what I wrote in a letter at the beginning of the entire VDay 2010 process: Go big or go home.

One more breath, the lights went out, the audience cheered, and I went big.

At the same time that I was in the moment, I was able to watch the moment, detached, just thinking, This is your senior year. You made it. Who'd have thought? And then, a simple (slightly wicked): Enjoy it.

Did I ever.

I'm still riding some sort of strange, big high today, several days post-show, and can't quite figure out why. Maybe I've crossed some thick line of liberation this time, one I can't find my way back over, and will be forever condemned to speak my mind without a blush, a shudder, or an apology. At least, I hope so.

It's still Saturday in here...

David Mead -- Sleeping in Saturday

Sleeping in Saturday
Lazy winter sun
Creeping in through the blinds
Darling, let it come

So nice to see you again
Feels like a long time, but then
We'll pick up where we left off again.

Perfect day-before-Valentine's music on that aforementioned lazy winter day. It's even sunny out today.

I love my work.

Love, love, love it.

Yesterday, I:

*Chatted, joked, and taken an Italian test with a lovely lady and her personal assistant, fulfilling my responsibilities as a proctor. She told me our university has a power soccer team--how cool is that?
*Investigated the vagaries of APA style with a writer on her first research paper at the tutoring center.
*Assisted with homework and set up a personal work calendar for a brilliant younger gentleman (who just needs a guide to consult sometimes as he finds his own way through middle school).

I have the best jobs in the world, I am totally convinced. Great that all of these are teaching-related, too; after a depressing reading for class on Monday, I was really anxious about my career choice! Fifty percent of new teachers leave education within five years. Most of them cite frustration, underappreciation, and very low pay when compared with peers who had the same amount of training. I'll admit that I worry about my classroom becoming a box; I want to teach, I love teaching, but I take very poorly to low status and stagnation. Yesterday was just what I needed after that reading: reassurance that it isn't stagnant, that teaching changes every day, and it is a career you can excel in. (One of my bosses offered me a new position--essentially a promotion--completely out of the blue! Hard work gets rewarded...just gotta keep that in mind.)

Another reading from the depressing book is due Monday...better bookmark this entry and come back to then!

Coming back.

It's been a while, but I really do need to stay in this habit. Maybe with the backlog of cool things that have happened in the past few weeks, I'll be able to keep updating regularly? Fingers are crossed. I want to take this project to a year. Call it my New Year's Resolution, only a month late. (better late than never, right?)

So, that makes item no. 1 on the resolution list; other items include:

1. Write.
2. Read--for pleasure, not just for courses.
3. Keep balanced between school, work, play, and soccer.
4. Spend time with friends in my final semester.
5. Attend two Spinning classes every week. (Related: find gym in hometown.)
6. Give people the benefit of the doubt.
7. Start going to church regularly again, and investigate the faith on my own.
8. Maintain a Sunday brunch date.
9. Gradually work up in soccer, and be okay with going slow. There's kind of a lot on my plate.
10. Choose happiness.