Non-fiction

I've been reading Malcolm Gladwell's books. I just finished Blink. I think of the three books I've read that he's written, I have enjoyed The Tipping Point the best. However, I can safely say that I've enjoyed all three. He has another one out: What the Dog Saw. I'll have to wait until it comes into the library though.

What's Blink about? It's about snap judgements and when that's a good thing and when it's a bad thing. It includes the accounts of many psychological experiments. With The Tipping Point I was able to see an immediate application to many aspects of my life. I can't say that with Blink, but I think I need to read it over several more times first.

Snow!

I looked out my window and what did I see?

I know that's a Cradle Roll song, but it popped into my head as soon as I looked out the window this morning. Everything's covered with a beautiful blanket of fresh white snow.

It will turn slushy and grey soon, but it's sooo beautiful right now. I'm very thankful that I can walk through it to work. (And also that I don't have to drive in it.)

Problems of an Introvert

I'll come out and admit it right off. I am introverted. I need to have time by myself to recharge my batteries. I love teaching and I work with around 120 really great people, but then I come home to my apartment by myself and I love it. I have to force myself to go out evenings. In fact, I carefully manage my time so that I don't have to do that too often. Weekends are really great because I have lots of time to myself, plus church where I interact with some of my favourite people.

Having said all that, this has been an atypical weekend. Friday night I went out to school for a bit because they needed some stuff that I could get for them. Saturday morning I spent the whole morning at school, helping sell bag lunches. (The Promise Keeper's Conference was at school Friday and Saturday and this is a big fundraiser for the students to prepare for Grad.) Saturday afternoon I babysat Gloria (who is a really sweet baby). Sunday morning was church. Sunday afternoon I went to Grandpa McMillan's funeral in Kennedy. It was wonderful. There were a few less than 500 people there I think. This evening there was small group (which I normally don't go to, but I caught a ride to the funeral with Ruth and Walter and they go, and it was on the way home.)

So... I'm mega peopled out by now. And tomorrow we start again with school! I guess I need to be thankful for the grace that God gives me so that I can interact with people in a positive way when I need to.

Rider Pride?

OK, I don't have a TV; I don't know what station carries it on the radio. So I keep track of the score by going to cbc.ca/sports and then checking there. It's definitely not instantaneous, but it works.

But what is it with the Roughriders consistently trying to throw it away in the latter part of the game and then in the last few minutes trying to recover? It doesn't seem to be a very good game strategy to me!

Sleep

I have a nephew asleep in my bedroom on my bed. I have a grand-niece asleep in my living room on my couch. I fell asleep for about 10 min. while she was still up, which is why all of my rubber gloves are out of the box and spread across the kitchen floor. I think she's waking up. I'd better go.

Marking

My least favourite part of teaching is keeping up to date on the marking - which means that I'm generally never up to date on the marking. I've got a lot of it to do this weekend. I'm also being auntie and babysitting for Gloria tomorrow (there's a Riders game and guess who has to go?). I'm wondering whether Gloria will be amenable to me marking while babysitting, or if I'll just use it as an excuse not to do it. It's not like you can ask an 11 month old.

Back to an old routine

I had my first piano lesson Tuesday morning at 7:15 since some time back in March when I had trouble with my hands and arms and had to quit. Now I went for lessons for awhile after that but was strictly working on theory - not playing. It felt really good to do that.

We're working on sight reading - which means doing much easier pieces than I had been playing. One of those things where you have to go backwards before you can go forwards. So I'm playing Gr 3 stuff instead of Gr 7 stuff and training my eyes to look ahead. In many ways it's the same skills I teach my students about reading - it's just that it's for reading music instead of reading print.