Art as promised

Okay, here's the art as promised. I don't think this is actually a dianosaur, there are lines coming out of the nose, so it's probably a dragon, which as we all know is a close cousin of the dinosaur. Enjoy!

Note to self: Spend time with self

Got to go running today. Yippee! I'm on Holiday Break, because I'm a teacher, and my son is on holiday break because he's a student. He's old enough to stay by himself for a while, like long enough for me to go for a run, but I feel kind of guilty leaving him here by himself. Though he doesn't seem to mind that much. He just draws his little pictures and comics and stuff. He's really into this Jurassic Park/dinosaur phase right now. I'll put up a copy of one of his drawings as soon as I can, they're pretty cool.

But wait...Could it be that I am helping him to be the kind of self-contained person that I am not? Wow, wouldn't that be great? I don't mind being alone, but I really do need to have the radio or TV on or to be using the computer or something most of the time. I think as a kid, I didn't mind hanging out by myself, since I never got much of a chance to do so. But now, as an adult, just sitting and thinking lets in the worries and self-analysis that I really don't want to think about. Probably why I have a hard time getting to sleep-- lying there in quiet is the only time I can't drown out my brain with external noise.

Sunset Photo

This photo was taken yesterday around 4:30 pm. I was on the road to Hurricane Ridge in the Olympic National Park. The water is the Strait of Juan de Fuca, the city is Port Angeles and the mountain in the distance is Mt. Baker.

If you're feeling dull...

If you're feeling like everything is lame, dull, lacking something, you need only look at the Partyka website to see that everything is going to be all right. There are creative people out there who do wonderful little drawings that aren't necessarily going to appeal to everyone and her sister. I mean, Chicken Little is cute and everything, but life is complicated. Can't drawings be about something other than superheroes, or little kids with friendship problems, or dysfunctional workplaces? Blech! so boring.

Here's a link to the Partyka comic of the week;http://partykausa.com/weekly/. This week's is a warning about the effects of alcohol. Good advice at this time of year. Especially if you're feeling dull and gray. Don't have a drink, write in your blog instead, it'll make you feel better.

An e-mail from eponymous

Checked my work e-mail this morning and I had a message from someone with my name!

"Hi, my name is ______, I was doing a search and typed in my name and found you...." I'm not sure if this is spam, but I answered it briefly anyway. I'm suspicious of when someone contacts you out of the blue. I know that if you get spam, you're not really supposed to respond to the address to say "remove me from this list", because that just tells the spammer that yours is an active e-mail address. But this one seemed pretty innocent and came from someone with an e-mail address containing her name (and mine).

New blog here

I'm the author of Teaching English 91 a blog about my newby teaching experiences. But I felt that the focus of that blog was becoming too narrow, since all I got to do was complain about things like students, administrative practices and lack of work. This new blog, Pleinairist, will give me a chance to figuratively let in some outdoor light and air, as a true Pleinarist should.