Slacker!

I am one! I know it! The last month has been pleasant, though uneventful. And, the things in my life that are happening that would be remotely interesting to any of you, I don't feel like talking about . . . because they just come with a lot of mixed emotions and uncertainty.

Teaching continues to astound me. The politics of academia slowly jade me. I feel like I am running out of energy. Perhaps I just need a vacation (there's one around the corner!), and perhaps I need a real change. I'm not sure which. The politics are everywhere. They never go away.

At any rate, I love my students this semester. I have invested in 3-4 of them beyond the classroom (meaning I give them free voice lessons, spend hours outside the classroom working with them on things they need to know). I feel like our department does not work as a team (and yet we have a weekly faculty meeting - go figure). I don't know what my colleagues teach in their classes, and they don't know what I teach in mine. So, we don't know where we contradict each other. And I cannot assume that I can build off of anything my colleagues teach. It is troubling to me. On the other hand. No one looks over my shoulder . . . ever (besides those two binders I have to hand in to the dean every year, and the once a year classroom observation by the dean and the chair). I can teach anything I feel like teaching whenever I feel like teaching it (this can be very stimulating and lead me to all sorts of random research). I can put whatever spin I want on a class. For instance, I teach "musical theatre workshop." I use this as a performance studio because if I don't, there'd be no possible way I could put on a musical in the spring. BUT, if I wanted to, I could use this to teach the history of musical theatre, to teach design for musical theatre, to teach about the composers of musical theatre, to teach how to write a musical. As long as it pertains to musical theatre, I can teach it. That's a vast spectrum. Same with Acting - choose whatever methods you want. Choose anyway that you feel like it. It is really freeing and stimulating, though, I sometimes question if it is in the best interest of the students. On one hand it is, because I am constantly trying things out, figuring out what works, and adapting my teaching accordingly (which is not true of some teachers in my department I suppose). On the other hand, it is not necessarily great because some of my colleagues teach the students about only one style or very limited ways of doing things; and there is nothing to regulate them and say, "well, we want to make sure the students get exposure to this and this and this and this."

Anyway, this entry is really only a babble.

In other news, I am thrilled to announce the pregnancy of my brother and sis-in-law in Denver!! I'm so excited to be aunt second time over. "Little N2" is already a beautiful little peanut of around 8-9 weeks!!!

Finally, I have given up Diet Pepsi. I have noticed for years, but sort of more on a subconscious level that when I drink Diet Pepsi, I wake a little, but it makes me feel head achy and queasy. I decided I MUST make myself like tea. I went to the store and bought about ten different flavors of tea and lots of honey, and I am doing pretty well. I am not craving Diet Pepsi, feel much healthier, and have found a fairly vast number of teas that I DO like (though I keep the tea bags in water forever and ever and ever because there never seems to be enough flavor (one of the issues I had with tea to begin with). I definitely feel healthier!!!