October 20, 2015
My new online home
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October 19, 2015
As the bell tolls
I just had a management meeting where a topic of discussion was the Angelus bell not ringing properly at noon each day. This meeting is made up of four monks and five lay people, and it’s held in the rather dimly-lit monastery board room at a heavy wooden table at 3:15 p.m. on Mondays. This is a very serious meeting in a very serious location. (I’m just setting the stage here, people.) We discuss any number of things, including student activities, maintenance issues, accidents, upcoming events, recaps of past events, and ideas for improvements. I usually pick up a task or two in these meetings; today I volunteered to be the Sign Czar. (Because I am stupid.) I never know what’s going to come up at these meetings, and usually something makes me laugh, despite this being a very serious meeting in a very serious location. Today it was the Angelus bell. Only because I got to hear a monk describe the misbehaving bell much like how people experiencing car troubles talk to their mechanics.
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October 18, 2015
Highlights. And laundry.
A volleyball match, a football game, Mass, laundry, and a new writin’ machine. That was today.
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October 15, 2015
But I neeeeed it
At open mic the other night, I was chatting with a fellow writer when lo! I was asked to join a weekly writing group.
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October 13, 2015
Junk Patrol
Today at work I had to inform the new Director of Student Life that I was putting him on Junk Patrol. This week is Spirit Week, designed to get students pumped up for Homecoming Saturday. Student Council typically assigns a theme to each day of Spirit Week, which is really just a blatant attempt to get as many dress-down days as possible. Yesterday was Hawaiian Shirt Day. Friday will be School Spirit Day. Today, however, was Lumberjack Day. Everyone was to wear their finest flannel, and many obliged. Even faculty and staff got into the spirit. This place was a walking LL Bean catalog.
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October 8, 2015
I’m famous now
My alma mater emailed me today, which is nothing special because the J-School is nothing if not adept at steady communications. This time, though, I was surprised to find myself right there in the headline photo! Check it out!
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October 6, 2015
NaNoWriMo
Last year I wrote here about NaNoWriMo, which is National Novel Writing Month. Basically, it’s a whole bunch of word wranglers from around the world getting together and committing to put 50,000 words down in one month. 50,000 words is the average length of a novel. I couldn’t commit back then, having never even attempted to write a whole book. Now, I’ve attempted it, and I think I’d like to attempt some more. I am maybe halfway through my middle-grade novel, and although I feel a bit stuck I would like to tackle something new. Maybe flush out the ol’ pipes. I have a few ideas for this new work, and should probably get an outline going. I didn’t outline the first book, and wonder if that’s where I got into trouble. I waded into the tall grass and couldn’t see my way out. I was, with that book, for lack of a better term, a pantser. That’s what writers call those who write by the seat of their pants, sans outline. This works well for me with the blog, but I can see the benefits of being a plotter when it comes to a whole book.
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October 2, 2015
Cold fries
After years of relegating the little local weekly paper to the recycle bin, I cracked one open a couple weeks ago. What did I find? Gold. Sheer gold. What have I been missing all these years? Besides knowing more about what’s going on in my community and the surrounding towns*, and the crossword, I have discovered my favorite section: Area Crime Reports.
Today’s paper had this gem:
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October 1, 2015
If I retired
I have decided that it’s in my best interests, and therefore the interests of my family, if I retire from working. You see, I can’t get everything done that I want to get done, and it’s mostly because work gets in the way. If I’m working, I’m not reading, writing, or photographing. If I’m working, I’m, well, working. And that isn’t nearly as much fun as reading, writing, and photographing.
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September 29, 2015
Miscellaneous Pets
Zoe’s school is hosting a Pet Blessing this week for the 4th and 5th grade classes. Students and their parents bring in one family pet to be blessed in a ceremony held in the back yard of the youth house. She’s been talking about this since Kindergarten, so it’s a pretty big deal. Let me clarify the bringing part: students go to school and meet their parents, who have toted the family pet from home, at the youth house. The children do not take their pets to school that morning, which I think would be awesome. Especially since by 4th and 5th grade we’re trying to instill personal responsibility.
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