Blogaversary

So today is my first blogaversary. In retrospect December 27th seems an odd day to start a blog but I guess it makes sense for an academic. My life rotates around an academic calendar and it is during the in-between times that I tend to reconnect with my other sides.

It some ways it is hard to believe it has only been a year. Much has happened in that year and somehow I've grown accustomed to an open chronicle of my life. Although I hate "highlight" shows on TV, I'm going to try a month-by-month teaser recap. Below are the titles and a few lines from some important posts:

December 27, 2007 -- My first post ever

Beginnings

Where to start? I suppose an introduction is in order. Something along the lines of "Welcome to my blog?" I've never been one for elaborate greetings or farewells. I'm the type of person who prefers to slip quietly into a room rather than make an entrance. A smile and nod of acknowledgment are more my style than a boisterous "Hello, how are you?"

January 25, 2008--My first comment ever (from the amazing Dr. Bad Ass - thank you so much for starting me off!)

Protecting Time

What with the new year and new semester, there has been a lot of talk in the blogworld about schedules. People have been busy creating schedules and figuring how to keep research or writing time sacred. I came up with my own variation on a workable schedule and I've been trying to stick to it.

February 7, 2008--This is the first time I really wrote about what it feels like to teach and made personal connections for myself between my academic life and my martial arts life.

Why I Teach...Tai Chi

So there have been a number of posts in the academic blogging world on why people teach what it is they do teach. Reading these posts and their resulting comments, I can't help but spend some time thinking about why I teach at all and why I teach what it is I do teach. Profgrrrrl has a particularly interesting one up today that covers a lot of my feelings on why I teach (or rather why I enjoy teaching) my academic classes. I don't feel the need to add much more to that subject here but would rather discuss why I teach tai chi, which provides nothing for my career and brings me no money whatsoever.

March 12, 2008--My first photo essay post, where I outline my pizza-making process

Pizza...Or How I Spend Spring Break

I love to bake (much more than I love to cook) and baking bread is probably my favorite. Since it's Spring Break this week I figured I had time for "Make Your Own Pizza" night. The name is a misnomer as I do most of the making. B assembles at the end and Boy prefers me to do everything.

April 16, 2008--The importance of this one speaks for itself
Grief

Last night I found out that my Sensei has passed on. He had just turned 70. He suffered a stroke right before I moved down here. The last time I saw him he was in the hospital and I was pretty sure it was our final visit.

May 9, 2008--The beginning of my on-going bad-pet-owner-neighbor saga (quick update--two of the kittens from this litter are now pregnant)

Kittens

Our next door neighbor has lots of cats and one small dog. It seems she doesn't spay her female cats and they have frequent litters. At the moment she has two litters just 3 weeks apart. The moms are very protective, as you would imagine, and they appear to be co-parenting.

June 15, 2008--One of my few posts devoted to the wonderfulness of b

Father's Day

It's Father's Day. b will be spending most of it driving Boy to a far away airport so he can go visit his (biological) Dad up north. Seems wrong, don't it? b never gets a Father's Day with Boy and, since both of our fathers have passed, the day pretty much goes unnoticed in our household. So I decided today warranted a post on fathers in general and on b as a father in particular.

July 4, 2008--This post continues to get more hits than anything else I've ever written

Random Learning

Yesterday I went to a seminar with a friend at a local organization. I thought the seminar was going to be about this, which looked very cool and interesting. However the three speakers addressed related but different topics. All of the speakers were from India (at least originally). Two of them discussed their work with Indian women (and sometimes girls). One of them was an artist who does art workshops with women and children as a means of empowerment. Her art, print work, is based on the ritual art of kolam.

August 20, 2008-The day that will live in infamy

We're Off

to the Land of College.

Wish me luck.

September 12, 2008--My teaching philosophy, of sorts

Creating Critics

The semester is still kicking my a$$ but my undergraduate class appears to be going well. They've been writing some great journal posts, talking up in class and today a colleague told me that one of them called me "terrific." So that felt pretty good.

October 6, 2008--Pumpkin makes her debut

Hate Me If You Will...

...but I just not a huge fan of children. Don't get me wrong, I don't lure them into my candy-covered home and stuff them into ovens. In fact there are quite a few out there in the world that I'm fond of, especially the ones in my family. What I mean is I don't go ga-ga over babies and I don't immediately get down on my knees to play with toddlers. I don't try and engage every child I meet in conversation and I don't think they're all cute...not even the babies (I mean most babies are but there are a few butt-ugly ones in this world).

November 1, 2008--Still hurting

Empty Nesting

Angel has always done things in his own time. If he wasn't ready to go it was murder trying to get him out of the house but if it was someplace he wanted to go--he was out the door like a jack rabbit.

So that was my first year blogging, folks. I hope you have enjoyed it as much as I.