So YOU get to hear about them all! Isn't that exciting?? And let me tell you, there's a lot of crap up there between school, weather, exercise, food, and on and on. So here goes :)
This weather sucks. Yep. It does. I don't care if "we live in Michigan in April, what did you expect?" or anything else. What a total piece of dung this spring has been. So far in April, according to local weather the other day, we have had 17% of available sunshine. We usually have 52%. What that means is that if it's daylight hours and the sun should be out, it's usually out 52% of those hours. Not THIS spring. 17% is all we've had so far. (Full disclosure - today was a beautiful day. But cold.)
So you know what? I rebelled. Yep, I showed that shitty weather. I didn't even exercise more than twice after we got home from spring break. (Where the weather also sucked.) I won that one, didn't I? I actually got in my car one day after school and totally blew off the gym for the day. Because it was crappy weather. And I didn't even care. (In case you're missing this, the gym is actually indoors and impervious to weather. I was just being pissy.) Sigh...
My monthly bike mileage also sucks. Lots of things here, some weather, some time, some just like the above examples. It's been a struggle to get motivated! Yay, let's go outside in the rain and cold and ride a bike! Or better yet, let's go into the dank basement and do it! And Georgia, what a great state that was to ride in. Actually it probably was; we had one half-decent day and I rode 20 miles. The second day we wandered around UGA's campus in the cold rain. Reminded us of Michigan...
I haven't hit the weights enough, either. This one is actually not totally avoidable. I've been dealing with some tendinitis issues in my shoulder. "It's pretty common in guys your age," says my doc. I hate him. Tall, skinny, good-looking. Younger than me... (Actually he's a really good guy and I'm totally kidding here. But you get the idea.) My somewhat poor conducting stance has caught up to me, and the repetitive stress on my rotator cuff tendons has brought on some pain issues. So physical therapy for a while. I can still lift, but I need to be cautious. (By the way, did you see the affected area I mentioned? The rotator cuff. Drives me crazy when people think it's the rotator cup. Anyway...)
Body issues aren't just for teen girls any more. I have a lot of conversations with students. About a lot of things. And I can tell you that there are very few people in the world that I inhabit that are completely happy with themselves. So if there's one thing lately that has gone well, it's that I've had a couple talks about body issues with a couple kids. And they're kind of surprised to find out that I'm not happy with myself, either. Here's a very cool ad from Dove that anyone who has ever had self-doubt about their looks should watch. It's worth the six minutes:
My job is still pretty cool. I enjoy most aspects of my work. The kids are awesome, especially when I can engage them in the topic we discussed in class today, which was about what we're going to do with all the kids next year - we'll have 200 people in the band and they need a place to be. And it was cool to hear kids talk about how much they appreciate the sense of community we have built in the band room over the years. And it was also cool to hear an awesome question from a senior who wondered where I wanted the band to go from here, and another senior who suggested that maybe smaller communities could be established within the bigger community and we could still have the magic. (OK, he didn't say "magic." But still.)
And during one of my "I'm skipping workout today, nyah, nyah, nyah" afternoons, I re-connected with a kid with whom I'd sort of lost touch. And it was a moment (over an hour, actually) that was well worth giving up pumping iron for.
Know what sucks, though? Hearing from people who have never set foot in the classroom since they were in school that I and my colleagues don't know how to teach and don't care about anything but our paychecks. Mostly politicians. From one party. But this will not get political, so I will move on.
There have also been moments this month when I wonder if this is what depression feels like. I don't think I'm depressed, in the physical sense of the definition; I think about how awful it would be to feel this way all the time and not be able to really do anything about it. And I know that the weather and related circumstances can have a big effect on this. So welcome to April in Michigan this year.
So there you go. It's been a month to remember, as they say. I don't think they actually say that, though. And in reality it's one I'd just as soon forget. So May is coming up (in less than a week! holy cow where is the year going???) and with that will be warm weather and more riding. (And junk food at Tulip Time - if you think I'm giving that up then you really don't know me at all...) And some May flowers. And they had better be darn GOOD May flowers. If April showers bring them, then we are in for some amazing frickin' May flowers. Dude. Ridiculous weather.
Anyway, see you later. Time for me to get back at it. Suck it up and get on the bike. And back to the gym. And maybe a re-start on the better food idea; that was going well for a while:) Have a good one!!
