Hey Bloggerverse! How’s everyone been?

Me?

Influenza A.

It sucks.

Now, I’m not sure it was the flu, but two weekends ago, I had a fever of 102, a nasty cough, runny nose, aches, and pains. I was miserable that Saturday and Sunday, took Monday off (I never take sick days, too much work), and spent most of last week just trying to survive. This week, I’m still coughing, though not as much. I feel so much better and yet, my body is telling me “HA!”, so I’m not sure what to do!

However, it’s been a while since writing, so I thought I’d write about 5 things going on in my life.

  1. Our basketball season is abruptly over. We got told “your services are no longer needed” by our team as they “found” a new coach. There’s much more to this story, but we’ve learned our lesson and probably won’t do any more coaching outside the season. It’s a sad end to that part of our career, but trust is a big thing, and once it’s broken, it’s hard to repair.
  2. The Iowa Women’s Basketball team, wow! They went through a really tough period finding their identity. They lost four games in a row, getting down big to the teams, only to suddenly find a spark and come roaring back, then to lose in the end. Their coach commented that they were very close to finding what they needed, and boy have they ever. They’ve won five in a row, one of which was against the #3 team in the nation. They’ve got their confidence back, and they are playing with a joy I’ve not seen this season. It’s good to see them peaking at the right time, with tournaments coming up soon!
  3. Education is exhausting. I’ve said this before and will say it again. My wife and I struggle right now getting ourselves going. True, it’s been an awful winter, cold and blowy, gray and bleak, but even knowing we are past the darkest time of the year, it’s tiring. Working in a school with a ton of immigrants, it’s hard because there are so many stories about the kids when they leave. So there’s the guilt of being tired, then the guilt of feeling like you aren’t doing enough. Couple that to a governor and state house who truly do no care about the plight of rural kids or kids in general, it’s exhausting coming and leaving school.
  4. I’m struggling getting into the Slice of Life Challenge mode this year. My notebook is empty and the words have been a struggle. I hit a big wall last year in the middle and felt like a failure all through April. We’ll see what happens over these last two weeks. I miss writing and miss seeing the words on my screen. Much of this comes from the last three years of school, stress, unhappiness, and that feeling being unfulfilled and alone. We’ll see what March brings.
  5. The more I learn about the Kendrick Lamar and the Super Bowl Halftime Show, the more I realize just how little I know about our country. At first glance, it was good. I’m not a huge fan of Kendrick, but have heard his music before and not been turned off by it. But as I look into him (he won a Pulitzer Prize!!) and all the symbolizm in his performance, the more I truly believe he’s pulled off one of the greatest halftime shows in history that will be looked as “average” by most of us. Social media has really opened my eyes to the experiences of other watching this and the joy it brough them. We all can learn from his experiences, his lyrics, and just the passion that has for his craft.

So, it’s not quite midnight, so I’m right on time! Thanks for reading and happy Slice Day! 🙂