May has been such a busy month, and now, with my first year of college teaching behind me, I feel like I can finally breathe. Those last few weeks of class and grading and submitting final grades pretty much put everything else in a backseat position. And it didn't help that this is also a really busy time for my marketing communications/PR job in K-12 education, either.

Luckily, I've now had a few days of rest and relaxation, and I feel like I'm ready to tackle some "other" projects that I haven't had time for in many months. I have a lot of reading (school- and non-school-related) that I want to make a priority this summer, as well as some (non-blog-related) writing projects. It might also seem a bit weird, but I want to concentrate on music a bit this summer as well. Many of you know that I've played piano for many years and also love to sing. I really haven't spent a lot of time practicing either of these skills in many years, and I really miss them both. When I sat down at my piano to play the other day, I felt like I was suddenly my true self. Getting caught up in everyday responsibilities easily keeps me from taking the time to fully appreciate and play music myself, but I want to re-capture that brief feeling of completeness that consumes me when I'm making music. An added bonus is that music tends to be a natural "feeder" into any type of creative writing I've undertaken, so I'm hoping the two will work together in my favor over the next couple of months.

I hope that each of you is also able to take some time doing the things you are passionate about during the summer. Here's to some deep breathing, all around...

-Em

I don't have anything very exciting to write about this morning, but I feel compelled to take a break from working to organize a few thoughts and catch everyone up on what's been going on with us.

First, we found out this weekend that the cycle discussed here and here was unsuccessful. The incessant rain this weekend felt like an appropriate depiction of the sadness we felt. We spent a lot of time cuddling and crying and truly letting ourselves feel the pain, which although it may sound pretty depressing, was probably good for us. For those of you wondering, "Wow, another failed attempt at conceiving. How long are these two going to keep at this?"-- I don't have an answer for you. For now, we will probably try two more cycles before my doctor will need to force my body to take a break from all of the fertility drugs. If we aren't successful by then, we will need to re-evaluate our situation at that time, the same as we have been doing these past few years as we've reached other milestones. We appreciate everyone's thoughts and prayers as we continue to work through this difficult time. That you are all out there rooting for us and wishing us well means more than you'll ever know.

In other news, I am now past the half-way point in my second semester of teaching two university-level classes: business writing and technical writing. I learned a lot last semester that I've been trying to immediately apply this semester, and I'm learning a whole slew of new lessons this semester as well. Basically, I'm pretty convinced that I'm learning more than the students are at this point. I have joined two other professors this semester to work on a translation project between the U.S. and another university in Italy. Although the final outcome has yet to be seen, I am hoping that my technical writing students will gain some experience in working within an international team, as such skills are so integral in today's workplace, and also with preparing instructional texts for the translation process (definitely not as easy a task as you'd think).

In my other job, I'm keeping very busy as well (thank goodness). As with most other people right now, I am worried about my job. K-12 educational funding in our state has been recently cut, and we are still waiting to see how it will impact my regional educational services organization. I am still loving the variety of projects I get to work on, the creative writing I get to do, and seeing how the publications we produce make a difference in the school districts and community, so for now I will just continue to be thankful for the job I have and hope that I'll be able to keep it.

Last night, we went out to dinner with a colleague of Drew's who is visiting from Germany. We had a great time at the Japanese steakhouse talking about the differences between languages, dialects, and cultures. We haven't mentioned the possibility much to people up until this point, but ever since Drew spent time in Germany and France last fall for work, we've been discussing the possibility of someday becoming ex-pats. Of course, right now wouldn't be a great time for it to happen. With owning a house, three cars, two dogs, and me being on so much medication to control my PCOS, we are not exactly in a flexible enough state to pick up and move overseas. But, it is exciting to discuss the possibility. And, if adding to our family does not work out the way we'd like it to, the five bedroom house with the big yard starts to seem a little unnecessary to keep. Drew's boss has told him that if he ever gets serious about the prospect, just let him know. I think the opportunity might be there, if we find ourselves in the position that we can take it.

Finally, my dear husband generously bought me a new toy this past weekend. I have been "following" this electronic reading device since it was introduced in 2007. At first, I had mixed feelings about it. As an avid reader and someone who has always been emotionally attached to the physicality of books, the device, at first, seemed like "the beginning of the end." Now, however, my feelings have changed slightly, though I must admit that a small part of me feels like a traitor who has joined the "dark side." "What will become of the publishing industry and libraries if I support the development of these devices by purchasing one?" I used to think. But, as with anything else, if you can't resist change, you must embrace it. So, I guess I am choosing to embrace it now, as we have seen the "writing on the wall" for publishing of late with the consolidation and closings of so many newspapers and other media outlets who are also going "paperless."

Also, when we calculate out how much we'd spent to buy additional bookshelves (ours are currently beyond capacity), as well as how much I spend on my Barnes & Noble membership and books each year, the numbers spoke for themselves. Once the device pays for itself, we can also feel good about the fact that we'll be killing fewer trees. And, the "techie" features such as text-to-speech, bookmarks/annotations, a search function, and a dictionary look-up aren't half-bad, either. I'm excited to give it a try, though I know I probably wouldn't have bought it for myself. (So, thanks, sweetie. )

Have a great week,
Em

I haven't posted about our Christmas, anniversary, New Year's, or how my first semester of teaching ended, I see. As you know, the last several weeks have been difficult, and now, looking at them here from the other side, I mostly marvel that we made it through without any major casualties at our house. I guess sometimes that's all you can really hope for, right? To survive?

I submitted grades for my first two college classes just a few days before Christmas. All of the grading of final papers, portfolios, and then calculating final grades was tedious, time-consuming, and well, crazy. I have already modified my syllabi for spring semester classes, which officially start this week, to have a little less due all at once at the end...if only for my own sanity's sake. I mentioned earlier in the semester that I had some difficult students and growing pains getting used to teaching college kids. Though I still have a lot of room for improvement, I was beyond surprised to have students send  me thank you notes for a successful semester. (I know, right? Even for the profs I really liked and enjoyed in college, I don't remember doing that, so I guess I must not have completely scarred these students for life. Phew!) As you can imagine, I have been busy planning this semester's courses ever since the last two ended (well, technically, before they ended). Have I ever mentioned that I have more respect for teachers than I've ever had in my life (and I had a lot of respect before); it really is a never-ending task.

To briefly re-cap the holidays for us (even if it seems a bit silly to be doing so this late)...

On Christmas Eve, Drew and I had our own little celebration. We made dinner and dessert together at home and exchanged the little gifts we put in each other's stockings. It wasn't much this year, but that made it even better, I think. Gift giving and receiving is so much nicer when it's about thoughtfulness rather than cost, size, or quantity.

Christmas morning, we packed up ourselves and gifts and drove down to K'Zoo to spend the day with Drew's side of the family. His older sister, Luanne, and her husband hosted this year, and it was nice having it be just the immediate family this year, rather than the whole rolicking crew of Polish relatives (not that I don't love 'em, but it takes away from the quality time with each other when that's our main get-together). Brie and Charles were up visiting from Kentucky with our nieces Mikayla, Kiya, and Kaitlyn, and Luanne and Tim's son, Lucas, we soon found out, had really come out of his shell since we'd last seen him this summer. It was nice spending time with our four little squirts. A few snapshots can be seen here.

On New Year's Eve, we both took the day off work for our third wedding anniversary. We booked the suite in which we were married at the Khardomah Lodge in Grand Haven. Unfortunately, our stay was disappointing. Although it was nice to re-visit where our small ceremony took place, the room itself was cold (and even the fireplace didn't help warm up the space much), the bed was hard, and the other guests were LOUD. We had people staying above and below us, and both were groups (one a dancing group, I might add). It did little to enhance our romantic mini-getaway. The noise kept us awake most of the morning hours, and at about 7 a.m., we looked at each other, bleary-eyed, and decided to just pack up and go home.

Though neither of us had the full time off of work between Christmas and New Year's that we used to have at our previous company, this past week was our first full week back at work. We've been getting a lot of snow this weekend, and more is forecast for much of this week. It definitely feels like early January around here. I don't have any resolutions this year (haven't decided whether this is good or bad), but I am appreciative of a fresh start. A blank slate, with many open, unwritten months ahead is always good for the psyche after another difficult year. There is potential in those empty days ahead...hope for something better.

-Em

Last night, on a spur-of-the-moment ice cream run, Drew and I heard my first radio commerical on the local hip-hop/R&B station. It is the first script I've written for this particular medium, so I was all proud and stuff. It was ALMOST like when you're a recording artist and you hear your song played on the radio for the first time...ahem...*cough*...yeah....

Almost.

-Em

P.S. I'm sorry I didn't answer your questions earlier in the week...my only excuse is that it has been a crazy one. Without getting too detailed, because I don't really talk about work here in much detail, the commercial script (well, scriptS, because I wrote a few different versions of the same commercial for different stations with different target demographics) were written at my day job in marketing communications/public relations for a regional educational organization. The commercial itself wasn't anything terribly earth-shattering (thus my sarcasm above--I'm obviously NOT anywhere in the general VICINITY of a superstar--haha); it is only running for a limited time to advertise an upcoming event and communicate key messages about one of our services (and hopefully, increase awareness and enrollment). I think that about sums it up. Oh, by the way, sis--nope, the one I was seeking your opinion on this summer was for a TV commercial that played earlier this fall on certain cable channels. Though I did some of the project management and editing of that commercial, I didn't do the actual scripting of that one. So, yes, this is officially the first commercial script that I've written by myself for any medium (radio/TV/cinema). Hope that helps clarify!

Well, since it's now almost the end of this week, maybe I'll post some pictures I took last week...because that's how behind I am on things in general. But I'm up, unable to sleep, and unable to do anymore class stuff for tonight.

In Flickr, I posted a few photos I took at the farm market last weekend, where we picked up our pumpkins, a beautiful mum, and a peck of Honey Crisp apples (yum!). It was our one outing of the weekend, as I was a mad-woman tethered to my laptop, grading papers, the rest of the time.

It's hard to believe the semester is now half over. There have been many growing pains associated with teaching these two college classes for the first time, but hopefully I'll be able to apply what I've learned right away next semester, having necessarily worked out some of the kinks and "rookie" mistakes. Despite the challenges and all of the time it consumes, teaching college students is rewarding. Sure, there are always those "bad apples" in the bunch--the kind that, when you read her first scathing e-mail message, you gasp a little, fight back the tears, and try to remember that replying right away is the worst thing you could do, because chances are (hopefully?) that not all the students feel that same way. And so far, in spite of those unpleasant encounters,  the "good apples" in the bunch do you make you feel as though maybe teaching is worth it, after all. Learning, heck, it does occur. Light-bulbs do illuminate overhead (even if, as an online instructor, you're not there to see it). Some (eh, okay, maybe one out of 44) students do appreciate your extra efforts and feedback. What an experience...I guess is what it comes down to. I'm pretty sure I've learned a lot more than my students so far this semester. I feel a little badly that they're getting the inexperienced teacher, but I'm still hoping that maybe I will have made up for that lack of experience in other ways...I guess only time will tell.

Wow, this topic made me sleepy. I guess it's time for bed. Thanks for listening.

-Em