Thursday, November 08, 2007
Wendy's A-Ha Blog
So, I'm tired, and I think I'm getting this viral croupy hooha that Lexi has and so I'm beginning this five hours past the time that I told you to begin looking for it and fifty-six minutes after I told you to stop looking for it. So, you may never see it, though only three of you have noticed that it's not already there, at least, only three of you have sent me any notification of your awareness that it's not there yet. But, well, that's another story. And now I'm going to try, while Lexi is on her early-evening-peak of feeling good before she comes crashing down into a pile of snot, vomit and wailing, to write for you. Right now, she's sitting behind me pretending to tickle me and banging her head (hard) against my back and using my pony tail like, well, like a pony mane. I might not get far.
So, now you know that teachers can have bad days too. Which is why I generally try to be pretty accommodating about your (often made up - wink wink) reasons for not doing whatever it is that you don't do for my class. We're all human, and we're all grown-ups, so there's no point in pretending like I'm above flaking out. Hopefully, dear god, hopefully, I make up for it with my ingeniously enlightening, funny, and deeply meaningful teaching style.
Well, enough of that. I thought I'd just blog for you. And you can comment on it. Tell me I've full of it, boring, whatever.
I went to Iowa on Thursday, as you know. It was for a writers' conference called NonfictioNow. And it was effing amazing. Really. But I was worried about leaving my husband and Lexi for four days. Four days! But that's another story.
I've been to lots of these academic conferences and a few writers' conferences. They're usually mostly places where you get to see a few heroes (in my case, Mark Doty, Ander Monson, Deborah Marquart, Robin Hemley, etc., etc.), hang with friends you haven't seen in a while, and drink. Drinking is the primary activity.
But that's another story altogether.
I've been having a hard time getting a groove on the book that I'm writing. That's partly the fault of y'all, what with all the papers you turn in (how dare you!). But being in Iowa, around writers who write stuff I want to read and who want to read stuff I write, gave me a new lease on life. Seriously. It was an "a-ha" experience. The kind of experience that sends you to the computer for hours, during which you don't know that hours have passed. It was so awesome.
So, what I want to know from you is for you to tell me (us) about an "a-ha moment," the moment where you knew what you wanted to be when you grew up, where you knew what you wanted to study, where you knew you were in love for real and for the first time, where you knew that you are, in fact, more like your mom than you ever wanted to be. Something like that. Write! Right now.
So, I'm tired, and I think I'm getting this viral croupy hooha that Lexi has and so I'm beginning this five hours past the time that I told you to begin looking for it and fifty-six minutes after I told you to stop looking for it. So, you may never see it, though only three of you have noticed that it's not already there, at least, only three of you have sent me any notification of your awareness that it's not there yet. But, well, that's another story. And now I'm going to try, while Lexi is on her early-evening-peak of feeling good before she comes crashing down into a pile of snot, vomit and wailing, to write for you. Right now, she's sitting behind me pretending to tickle me and banging her head (hard) against my back and using my pony tail like, well, like a pony mane. I might not get far.
So, now you know that teachers can have bad days too. Which is why I generally try to be pretty accommodating about your (often made up - wink wink) reasons for not doing whatever it is that you don't do for my class. We're all human, and we're all grown-ups, so there's no point in pretending like I'm above flaking out. Hopefully, dear god, hopefully, I make up for it with my ingeniously enlightening, funny, and deeply meaningful teaching style.
Well, enough of that. I thought I'd just blog for you. And you can comment on it. Tell me I've full of it, boring, whatever.
I went to Iowa on Thursday, as you know. It was for a writers' conference called NonfictioNow. And it was effing amazing. Really. But I was worried about leaving my husband and Lexi for four days. Four days! But that's another story.
I've been to lots of these academic conferences and a few writers' conferences. They're usually mostly places where you get to see a few heroes (in my case, Mark Doty, Ander Monson, Deborah Marquart, Robin Hemley, etc., etc.), hang with friends you haven't seen in a while, and drink. Drinking is the primary activity.
But that's another story altogether.
I've been having a hard time getting a groove on the book that I'm writing. That's partly the fault of y'all, what with all the papers you turn in (how dare you!). But being in Iowa, around writers who write stuff I want to read and who want to read stuff I write, gave me a new lease on life. Seriously. It was an "a-ha" experience. The kind of experience that sends you to the computer for hours, during which you don't know that hours have passed. It was so awesome.
So, what I want to know from you is for you to tell me (us) about an "a-ha moment," the moment where you knew what you wanted to be when you grew up, where you knew what you wanted to study, where you knew you were in love for real and for the first time, where you knew that you are, in fact, more like your mom than you ever wanted to be. Something like that. Write! Right now.
Labels: a-ha, comments, community, when I grow up, Write
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I loved your blog! It was so real. I could hear you telling me all this as if we were together in class. I hope your daughter feels better and I hope you do too. See you Tuesday.
Wendy! The same thing happened to me this Wednesday when I was playing soccer. I was like damn it I really want to play for the University of Memphis. Though that has been the only bright spot of my week! First I lost my $150 calculator and then yesterday I lost my 4 gig usb scandisk. I’m freakin losing my brain. What should I do?
I hope "enshallah" or (God willing) Lexi is getting better. I've kept her in my prayers. Everything is will be okay. See you Tuesday.
I hope "enshallah" or (God willing) Lexi is getting better. I've kept her in my prayers. Everything is will be okay. See you Tuesday.
Ah!!! that sucks! I have a tonsil infection and have been hacking and stuff, so Thursday was a crappy day for myself as well (as far as being sick goes).
Real stuff there though...
I like the fact that you're honest with us rather than blowing it off like you didn't do anything out of the ordinary (like other teachers do). I don't think I've had an A'ha! moment yet though :(...
Real stuff there though...
I like the fact that you're honest with us rather than blowing it off like you didn't do anything out of the ordinary (like other teachers do). I don't think I've had an A'ha! moment yet though :(...
Aww, I hope both you and Lexi feel better soon.
Great blog, Wendy. Like Julian said, you could've just ignored us until class on Monday, but you didn't, which is awesome. I don't know that I've had an a-ha moment that was confined to just one moment; mine are more spread out. Should be fun to write about, though. Thanks for not ignoring us :)
PS - Just out of curiosity, is our next paper still due on Tuesday, or is that getting moved back?
Great blog, Wendy. Like Julian said, you could've just ignored us until class on Monday, but you didn't, which is awesome. I don't know that I've had an a-ha moment that was confined to just one moment; mine are more spread out. Should be fun to write about, though. Thanks for not ignoring us :)
PS - Just out of curiosity, is our next paper still due on Tuesday, or is that getting moved back?
ha i love you. can you move up to 1020 next semester and be our teacher again? no that sucks about your daughter...i hope she feels better and i said a little prayer for her last night. and i definitely forgot to go back and check this yesterday between 2 and 6 because i checked my email at like 10:30....yeah thats right...after i had already walked all the way down to class. so as for attendance, you can count me, navid, jenn, and adam double because we were actually IN class. maybe that just makes us dumb for not checking our email....but oh well, we were there and thats all that counts right? but, i will write as soon as i get home tonight from dinner with my parents about an a-ha moment of mine....so don't worry, it'll be there! feel better! hope to see you tuesday!....
honestly, i forgot all about checking this yesterday. i think i planned on doing it after i got home from karate, but that never happened. haha. a real-quick 'a-ha' moment was figuring out how to get back to the 1010 screen. it got deleted out of my recent pages visited thingy and i couldn't remember the url. so i just went to yours and found it. a-ha! i guess i'll write another one that is longer for ya. and by all means, write your book. i'm pretty sure none of will mind not having papers due so you can finish it. you can grade us on whether or not we buy the book. and no catherine, you don't get a prize. haha. dangit, i just realized that i haven't been typing properly; instead i've been typing like i do on facebook. oh well. i'm too lazy to fix it. do you want us to make this a-ha moment into a blog or bring it to class, or both?
You're a fun writer. I'm sorry that you're having to deal with all of this stuff.
My A-ha! moment is a no-brainer. Do we write a new blog for it or wutwut?
My A-ha! moment is a no-brainer. Do we write a new blog for it or wutwut?
I checked the blog between 2 and 6, but I didn't see anything. I knew you were busy and would get around to it eventually. I hope Lexi feels better. It sounds like your catching what she has. I've been sick too this week. Try not to get sick. See you in class Tuesday.
I just drove all the way to El Paso, tx to watch my team in the conference tournament and we're now in the championship on sunday and this is the only time I've been able to check the blog so I'm sorry for this being late. I thought your blog was very good. I hope Lexi gets better soon!
Well I guess I'm a little late doing this...but better late than never! haha... i've been sick as hell this week too! IT REALLY SUCKS!!!! But it was funny because i texted Keenan and told him that I wasnt going to class and asked him to update me on our classwork. So i texted him two hours later, and he was like, "dude class was cancelled!" And I was like haha...THANK YOU JESUS!! But hope you n Lexi feel better!
Ive been really sick the past couple of days so I finally remembered to comment on this. im so sorry Lexi wasnt feeling well on thursday, i was running a fever so i wasnt even planning on going to class so I guess things worked out well at least for me. it seems like everyone is getting sick right now. anyway, I like this "aha-moment" assignment. ive had a lot of them so the only thing that will be hard about this is picking one to write about. hope to see you in class on tuesday.
Your blog is all over the place, fitting you perfectly. I love it!! And I love it how you are so honest with us and don't treat us like inferiors who you owe no explanation to like most professors. I hope you and your daughter both get well soon. (As for me, I am still waiting on mine.) Anyway, love the post, love you as a teacher, and I am praying for you and Lexi.
sorry about that deleted comment before. I'm using my roommate's computer and didnt know she was already signed onto her blog. Im so sorry about your daughter, I know this has to be hard on your family. Well, nice blog and I'm praying for ya'll
Well honestly, Wendy, I could go on and on all about why I'm just now posting and what not, but who really cares: it's Monday night, big deal.
In regards to your "a-ha" moment, I'm really jealous of you because I have always wanted to have that feeling about writing. I have wonderful stories to tell, but never the patience to write books or even screenplays, as I'd like to do. I think that all of the "a-ha" moments I have ever had - and there have been some, just in case you want us to write a full blog about it - have been about things that I'm not going to do, couldn't do, or are only in creative areas where these ingenious moments are terribly impracticle.
I was really dense and I didn't realize I was in love until after i had already been in it for a while. But, as you say, that's another story. I'm glad you had fun at your conference and I pray that everything with Lexi is going better and that both of you will feel great this week.
In regards to your "a-ha" moment, I'm really jealous of you because I have always wanted to have that feeling about writing. I have wonderful stories to tell, but never the patience to write books or even screenplays, as I'd like to do. I think that all of the "a-ha" moments I have ever had - and there have been some, just in case you want us to write a full blog about it - have been about things that I'm not going to do, couldn't do, or are only in creative areas where these ingenious moments are terribly impracticle.
I was really dense and I didn't realize I was in love until after i had already been in it for a while. But, as you say, that's another story. I'm glad you had fun at your conference and I pray that everything with Lexi is going better and that both of you will feel great this week.
hey so i just now remembered to check this thing so i will write aobut my ah-ha moment and post it on my blog right now
ive been so busy with work this weekend. sorry it took so long to comment, but like everyone's already said- hope lexi is doing muuuch better :)
I hope you don't get sick too because it sucks when I get to class just to find out that we aren't having class. It sounds like you had fun at your writer's conference. I could definetely tell it was you writing the blog. It was just like I was in class. Anyways see you Thursday.
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