The Job Search

I’ve officially begun my job search with an online application to a place called Spotsylvania School District in Northern Virginia. My husband and I are relocating to Virginia within months–actually, he’s already there living on our boat during the week. I’ll be hitting the job market pretty hard, all the while writing my thesis, working on WEC courswork, selling our home, house shopping, and, of course, teaching my high school students. I should be worried, stressed, anxiety ridden, but I think I will step up instead of freaking out–the new me (Post-Combat Mils) chooses to address the bull by his horns rather than rock a fetal position in a dark corner. IT’S GO TIME!

But I digress. What I’m really trying to ask is, Does anybody have public or higher education connections in Northern Virginia?

Oh, and by the way: EDUCATION ROCKS! Filling out job applications is breezy with a beefy education. So, when you’re feeling bogged down and stressed out by coursework, remember our education is what enables us to write our own tickets. Go us!

About the Learning Record…5 questions.

I have to admit that I did not read every word of the entire site. For, after having read the Prioritizing Web Usability chapters, I was distracted by my own little usability study of the website (What I noticed: A consistent left aligned menu, meaningful link titles, long paragraphs, blue text that is not clickable, another color of blue text that is clickable, no “home” button, yet another color of blue text that is not clickable, inconsistent navigation). But I digress. Here are my questions about the actual concept of the Learning Record.

1. Is the Learning Record (LRO)  to moderated by both student and instructor?

2. Are all docs submitted via the LRO considered living docs? Or is each draft a separate submission?

3. Will we always be told when to access the LRO or will we be the masters of our own LRO?

4. Is the LRO more for a grade or for student reflection? I realize that there are elements of both aspects of the course (grades and reflection), but which aspect will be emphasized?

5. Am I oversimplifying things if I think that the LRO is an e-portfolio with a reflective twist?

Obsessing again. Or, on being productive.

So I got it in my head that if I am going to move (in the near future or EVER), I might as well purge and pack while I clean. This weekend, my husband and I managed to clean our entire basement, pack all items that weren’t thrown or given away into storage bins, label all of the bins, and stack the bins neatly on one side of the basement and/or on the heavy duty shelves that we built a year ago for the purpose of a major reorganization project. AND IT FEELS GOOD, GOOD, GOOD! Did the same with the Christmas decorations, my clothes, and my shoes. Am moving on to the rest of the house and there is nothing that can stop me. The kind of cleaning that I’m about to do should take months. I’ll be finished by the end of next weekend.

ELATION

Why Brinkmannship?

I love words, so when my students came running into our English class yelling, “We learned about brinkmanship in history today! Mr. G. told us that’s the  name of your boat,” I was both thrilled that my name was part of a legit history term and intrigued by the word’s meaning. Brinkmanship, I found out, usually refers to a willingness to push a situation (usually political or diplomatic in nature) to the point of disaster. Brinkmanship refers to a maneuver that, literally, pushes a situation to the “brink” or limit. So, is that me? Am I diplomatically or politically restless? Hmmm…not exactly. But, whereas I am do not celebrate reckless global policies, I do celebrate a healthy abandon…the chance to let go, have fun, or even just breathe. My insistence on relating to my new favorite word yielded these results: Brinkmanship describes the way I live, with constant intensity of thought and feeling. So, I am willing to go to the brink of financial disaster for that once in a lifetime opportunity to own a yacht. I am willing to push my physical limits to learn how to ride a Harley Davidson. I am willing to stay up too late making this blog that, by the way, was born just hours ago. Yes, I’m already obsessed. So, there it is. I am not a political reactionary, but I AM most certainly known to react–let’s just say that I don’t hide well. But who’s  trying to hide?

What do you mean, INTENSE?

     I mean not doing anything half way. I mean riding a Harley Davidson instead of instead of being a passenger. I mean buying a truck with a crew cab AND a long bed, because it’s the biggest truck on the lot–and bigger than I’ll ever need. I mean making a hobby and obsession: like reading. I don’t read books, I consume books. Book after book after book after book, I buy, read, recommend. I mean being a collector rather than a casual consumer: Vera Bradley loves me and Harley Davidson’s line of motorclothes and accessories could open up shop in my house! I mean laughing to the point of crying and crying to the point of passing out. I mean deep, silent reflection instead of thinking. Imean formulating plans that cannot be foiled by Zeus himself. I mean being spontaneous enough to run away and, say, live on a boat! I mean loving so hard and living so much that not even death is a frightening concept. Not diasterous, not reckless abandon, not quite. INTENSE. Oh, and liberating, sometimes.

No fear of disaster…

Not brinkmanship as in pushing the limits of a situation to the point of disaster, but BRINKMANNSHIP (With the extra “n” my last name really is part of the word!) as in my particular lifestyle: intensity in all areas of interest.