Exit 204. I’m sitting on a train from Sacramento to San Jose right now with no idea what to write.

I’m sitting on a train from Sacramento to San Jose right now with no idea what to write.

Someone I know just got on the train in Davis.  I would say that that was unexpected, but maybe it’s not.  Since June of 2017, I have made three round trips on Amtrak, and twice someone else I know ended up on the same train as me.  Maybe it’s just that I know a lot of people.

The Wi-Fi on the train is actually working today.

I made a list of goals for the summer, as I said I would do last week.  I haven’t made much progress on it, but that’s okay, because I have plenty of time.  I did make small dents in the total number of miles I want to run and bike before I go back to work,   I thought about doing one of my bigger goals (go to a Giants game) last week, but I backed out at the last minute on the grounds that I was better off taking some down time, starting my Teacher Summer with a week and a half of dead time, then going to visit my family (hence today’s train ride, which will be followed by a bus ride from San Jose to Salinas), then tackling my big adventures after that.  But after watching the game I didn’t go to from home, I wish I had gone, because the Giants came back from a two run deficit in the 9th inning to force extra innings and win in the 10th.

The aforementioned dead time was just the right balance of fun, relaxing, and productive.  And now I get four days with my parents, not having to worry about things like making dinner every night.

I left a pile of dirty dishes in the sink at home.  Probably not the best idea.  I hope I don’t come home to a big stinky mess.  I was going to put them in the dishwasher before I left, but there were still clean dishes in the dishwasher from yesterday.  And I literally didn’t have time to put the clean dishes away, because I had a train to catch.  Oh well.  It’s not the end of the world.

I’m now somewhere in the marshlands between Suisun and Martinez, and I still have no idea what to write about.  So I guess this is it.  This is your post for the week.  Have a great week, everyone.

Exit 203. I need to sit down and write out a list of goals.

It’s summer.  Well, not technically.  From the astronomical perspective, summer begins on June 21 at 10:07 UTC (which would be 3:07am here in my time zone in California).  But the school year is over for me, so it’s Teacher Summer.

Every year, around this time, friends ask me what my plans are for the summer.  Every year, I say something like just sit around and relax.  And every year, when school is ready to start again, I feel unaccomplished, like there was so much more I wanted to do before the school year starts.

At some point in the next few days, I need to sit down and write out a list of goals for the summer.  I don’t want to try to take on too much, but I also should include a few goals that are a little ambitious, or at least out of my comfort zone.  If I actually write these down or make some kind of formal statement that these are my goals, then I am more likely to actually accomplish them, or at least put more effort into attempting to do so.  I say this every year at the start of summer, and every year around New Year’s Day-ish, but then I rarely do.

I have before, and writing goals down has actually motivated me to do them in the past.  I was about to tell a story about a time when I made a goal for myself that was quite far out of my comfort zone, but I actually did it.  However, I then discovered that I’ve told this story before on here a long time ago, and alluded to it on multiple occasions.  For that matter, I’ve had several other posts like this where I say I need to make some goals… and then I don’t.

So, friends, start bugging me about this.  Remind me to come up with a list of goals.  I don’t know yet if I can promise that I’ll share them on here.  If I know you well, I may be willing to share them privately with you.  But the important thing is that this needs to get done.  So keep reminding me.

Exit 160. Good week.

I don’t have anything insightful or earth-shattering to write about this week.  But it was a good week.

I went rafting on July 4.  That was a lot of fun.  I had never been before.  I got sunburned in a couple of spots on my legs.

I went for a bucket-list bike ride, which would become only the fourth time I have ever ridden more than 50 miles in one day.

I attended a Bike Party.  The ride itself was fun, as was seeing how everyone decorates their bikes.  A lot of people there didn’t really feel like my crowd, and the whole thing smelled of weed and tobacco.  Will I go again (this is a monthly event)?  Possibly.  I wasn’t as outgoing as I might have been otherwise; being a new experience, my introverted side took over.

I went to a friend’s birthday party and played games.

I baked lots of cookies.

Let’s hope I have two more good weeks before I go back to work.  How are all of you doing?

Exit 159. Small steps.

I missed a week.  Sorry about that.  I’m trying not to let this time off work pass me by too quickly, and it seems like that should be a positive thing.

I don’t have much time left before I go back to work.  Almost three weeks, that feels like a long time, but it’s going to go by fast, and I already have plans for some of it.  I look at my long undone to-do list, full of major projects that most sane people could not get completely done, and I just get overwhelmed and discouraged.

What I need is to take small steps.  Come up with small more manageable goals, one day at a time, one week at a time.  And writing this post means I can check one off. 🙂 Happy Canada Day to my Canadian readers, and happy upcoming Independence Day to my fellow Americans.

Exit 155. Light at the end of the tunnel.

I can see a light at the end of the tunnel.  In a few days, I will be finished with this school year.

The end of the year is always a bittersweet time.  I’m glad to have a break coming up.  But I’m definitely going to miss some of the students.  Although their math skills left much to be desired at times, this year’s students really were sweethearts for the most part.  Of course, many of them I will still see walking the halls next year (but then, last year’s students who are finishing middle school entirely I won’t see around anymore), and there are always a few every year that I stay in touch with.

The end of a school year is also a good time to reflect.  I can look back and think about how this year went, and what I can do differently next year.  I had some ideas for things I could do differently this year, and once the school year started, and I became overwhelmed by many other changes made across the whole school, my ideas didn’t get implemented well.  It didn’t work the way I had expected it to.  So I’ll try again next year, and it will be better now that I know how this year turned out.

This is also a good time to reflect on my personal life.  I have some time off coming up, obviously, and that is the perfect opportunity to do things out of my comfort zone.  Sometime in the next few days, I’m going to write a list of goals for my summer break.  It sounds kind of clichéd, but I’ve done this a couple times in the past, and it really did help me do something out of character that I wouldn’t ordinarily do on at least one occasion.  I don’t know yet what will be on my list, and I don’t know yet if I’m ready to share my entire list, whatever it ends up being.

I often feel pressure at the beginning of summer vacation, like I have to make this the best summer EVER!!!.  And I often feel pressure at the end, because of everything I wanted to happen over the summer that didn’t happen.  I’m trying not to worry about all that and just enjoy life.