Goals check

I've pretty much sucked at several of my goals so far. I have been reading more. I started a book called Heatby Bill Buford. It's a personal history about how he tried to become a chef by throwing himself into all these crazy kitchen jobs. It's quite good. I haven't done much else - save one thing - yet, and I'm blaming Jterm, which is this intensive three week course thing we do at my school that basically becomes a giant time void if you are teaching one. But I did get this note written for Facebook, which I'm counting as part of my 'collecting my thoughts' goal. And now if I post it here, it will be like it's part of my 'blog more goal too'. Yea for double duty.

Correspondence is my downfall. I suck at keeping in touch...with anyone. Facebook reminded me of this the other day when I was friended by a grade-school friend who, while she only lived down the street from me for most of high school, I never really saw past 1994 (Kim - I suck for that).

In fact, over the last few months, I've been friended by oodles of people I haven't been in contact with since college or high school or grade school or CCD in the second grade. It's been great to see what's happened to everyone. To look at where people ended up, how cute their children are, how much more fascinating than Indiana their lives have become. However, when it comes time to actually catch up with anyone, I some how get a mental block and end up sucked into a Buffy the Vampire Slayer marathon or looking up odd facts about C.P. Cavafy on the internet or changing the laundry or anyone of the many time-voids in my life. I hate this trend.

So, I'm writing this note with the intent of 'catching up' all of you kind enough to say hey recently. If you've wondered what's happened to me since grade school, read on. And if you have a second shout back. I'm going to try not to suck at responding.

Ch. 2 - High School

Much to my parents' chagrin (they never really got over me not going to Marian), I graduated from Thornwood High School in 1998. Overall, it was a relatively un-scathing experience. I think that I learned a fair amount, and only really managed to piss off my freshman English teacher, Mrs. McNaughton, who was convinced I was a closeted hooligan who would never learn to spell. At the end of it all, I gave a very cliched speech at graduation in which I read from Robert Frost's "The Road Not Taken", a poem I now realize is grossly misinterpreted.

Ch. 3 - College

I attended Butler University in Indianapolis and vacillated between majoring in music education and English for most of my time there. After my first private trumpet instructor told me I should find an instrument I was better at (I'm paraphrasing loosely), I took stock of my options and decided that majoring in creative writing would yield endless job opportunities and riches beyond my wildest dreams. Or maybe I just liked it better. Either way, I graduated with a poetry emphasis in 2002, having met my partner Suellen by falling down in front of her during marching band practice. At least I got something good out of all those music classes after all.

Ch. 4 - Post-college

Frustrated by the lack of people wanting to hire a poet with little experience at anything, I decided to continue life as a student. That's not entirely true. Suellen was nice enough to take a crappy job in New Hampshire so that I could go to graduate school and really focus on writing. While I liked my work at the University of New Hampshire, the east coast eventually proved to be a bit too far from home - and too expensive - for us. I took an overload of courses to finish early, and after an expansive job search by Suellen, we ended up back in Indianapolis, where I began my luxurious stint as a urine drug screen collection scheduler. Jealous? You should be. Apparently studying with the man who went on to become the Poet Laureate leaves one highly qualified to say "Come in at 10 and piss in a cup". Who knew? Luckily, I started teaching night courses at the community college, and eventually landed my current job, which leads me to ...

Ch. 5 - Post-post-college, or current life

Now I teach English and creative writing at University High School, a progressive college prep school in a suburb of Indianapolis. I live with Suellen on the outskirts of Indy in a house that cannot stay warm enough this frost-bitten winter. This past September, Suellen gave birth to our daughter, Parker Alyse who keeps us very busy and very tired. I love teaching, I love my family, and yes Mrs. McNaughton, I never did learn how to spell.

So that's what's happened to me in the last 14 years. I wonder if Buffy is on..