Hot for Teacher (ing)

Hi!

See? I am posting again. And not too far from when I said I would! Not too bad, eh?

And here is why I am posting. I love teaching. But first...

I have multiple stories from the break, but I am afraid there is not enough memory in my head nor room on this page to recount them all. So in lieu of such long-windedness, I will give summary shout-outs. These are, as I am well aware, pale ghost-like approximations of full accounts. But I have a lot to say, so shou-outs it is.

1) My nephew Liam is still aweseome. He has more hair than I have, has a vocabulary centered around the word CAT (like most Chandlers) and now shows empathy for other children. Ask my brother Will about this. Its a cool story.

2) My brother Peeg and sister-in-law Stacy still live in far-away Japan. But my sister Liz got to visit them recently, and I vicariously enjoyed it quite a bit. For coverage, see their blogs.

3) Tonya and I went camping. I love camping. In fact, you might say it is a close friend of mine. As soon as I can get them, I'll post pictures. That will be story enough.

4) My parents gave me perhaps the coolest watch EVER for Christmas. Check it out:
http://post-dispatch.readervalues.com/?sectionpath=1&pageid=336

5) Various family and friends were seen, and much fun was had. It was a great break.

Now, back to the teaching.

Today it occurred to me that I am a third generation college instructor. My grandpa taught engineering at Auburn, and daddy teaches communication at Jacksonville State. My brother Will and sister-in-law Meghan are also teachers. My brother Peeg is training to be a teacher, and mama has taught numerous classes in church, especially at RCIA. In fact, most of my family has at one point or another expressed interest in teaching. And let me tell you why... getting paid to talk to other people about cool stuff is perhaps the most awesome job in the whole f-ing world besides perhaps playing two-guard for the Celtics or being a rock star. It really shows you the pieces of your own profession that are easy to forget... the stuff that got you hooked in the first place. And watching others get excited about it for the first time keeps it fresh. I know I have been wavering on what I want to do now for almost a year, very heavily in the last few months. But I can say this: whatever I end up doing, its going to involve teaching. And also rocking out, if possible.

I hope everyone is well.
Peace,
joe