Ten Things Tuesday

Random Thoughts Edition.

I’ve got a ton of things rolling around in my head today, so I’m giving you bullet points.

• Yesterday is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. MLK has always been my hero, and I have all my life been sad that I was born too late to actually see the man. Alison, over at What If This Is As Good As It Gets, posted an entry on Sunday about the MLK Day of Service, which is something I’m ashamed to admit I knew nothing about. I’m learning, though, and I plan to be a driving force in making sure people at TCC and the health club know about it NEXT year!

• I’m ruminating about trust lately. A friend of mine, who will remain nameless until she writes about it herself, has been betrayed in a big way. This is causing me to reflect on the ways we treat each other in general, and how important trust is in any relationship. I’m not sure where I’ll go with all this thinking, but I suspect I’ll have to write about it at some point to put it all in some kind of order for myself.

• Speaking of writing, I’m working on an essay about Robert Lewis Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde for my literature class. I decided, when I gave them some essay questions last week, that I’d do one, too. It’s been a while since I’ve organized my thinking about a piece of writing into essay form, and I think it’ll be an interesting exercise, both for me and my students, to see how I fare in the attempt. I’ll post my effort here later today sometime.

• Speaking about organizing thinking about reading, the Dark and Stormy Book Club has been reading Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro. Our podcast happens this Saturday at 8 a.m. Eastern time.

• Eighteen-and-oh, Folks! I don’t care that a lot of haters are talking about asterisks, the Patriots didn’t cheat their way to a perfect season. Sunday’s playoff game wasn’t pretty, by any stretch, but it’s still a W. Oh, and Joe Buck sucks at football, too. (photo credit, NYTonline)

• My back is better, but I’m still not back to good yet. I’m down to about a three on the discomfort scale, and I’m still really careful about how I move. I taught my step class Sunday without a step, and I modified a lot of the yoga class, too. I told Mr. Chili that he’ll know my back is better when I shave my legs – I can’t reach my shins in the shower yet. Neither can I manage laundry baskets up or down the stairs. Bleh.

• Our taxes went up significantly enough to change our mortgage payment amount to cover the escrow and I had to adjust the automatic payment amount to cover the increase. Now I’m even less thrilled about having to buy city-sanctioned trash bags, and am noticing with renewed clarity of vision what a crappy job the city does plowing the roads and filling potholes.

• I’ve added someone new to my blogroll. Go on over and check out Doc. You won’t be sorry – that man tells a great story (Gerry, I think that you, in particular, will like him a lot – and he you).

• The fifth tour of duty for Yoga National Guard is this weekend. I’m really hoping to be well enough to participate fully, though I can modify most of my participation if I have to. I’m going to have to spend some time with the anatomy book before Friday, though; I’ve honestly not given much thought to YNG since last month’s go-around because of all the swirl and activity around the holidays.

• Beanie’s follow-up appointment with the endocrinologist is next Tuesday night (they schedule the follow-ups in the evenings so kids don’t miss too much school). I’m going on the “no news is good news” plan – I’m betting that if they’d found something dire from all the test they’ve run, someone would have been in touch by now. I’m still convinced that there’s nothing wrong with the child – that she’s just going to be petite – and I’m betting that Tuesday’s visit with her doctor will confirm my Mommy Intuition. Check back next Wednesday for the news.

Happy Tuesday, Everyone! Stay warm!