Seventeen days late in replying. In many ways, that is as appropriate an update as anything. I went from hobo to oh-no! in a flash. Thanks for asking Harvey. A summary would be good for me right now.
So yeah... I prematurely (and unbeknownst to me) retired from teaching and drove around in the Chinook for the better part of four years. Worked at provoking stories (and fixing up the effing truck) in places great and small: Quartzite, Big Sur, Glacier Nat'l Park, Padre Island, this really cool road in Utah, New Knoxville, Eloy, Mount Nebo, etc. ad infinitem - and then across the sea to a rock that really changed my life. Newfoundland. Marvelous terrible place. Amazing people. The Chinook never left. Stored it in an abandoned elementary school (ironic) on the west coast of the island and have been going back to visit it. Summer home on wheels.
Once I realized I wasn't going back into the traditional classroom, I decided to retool my teacherness, not being satisfied with leaving it behind entirely. Ended up going into an education doctorate program. Pain. More pain. Lots more pain. In the middle of that I did a pretty cool descriptive and theory-building study on (meaningful, unschool-like, one-to-one, co-participatory) writing interactions between college students and fourth grade kids. Piles of data, much of it very rich. I'm in year five and (please god) a couple months and about 200 pages shy of finishing my dissertation: Cultivating the Inclination to Write.
Totally lost interest in writing for awhile (yeah, my colleagues really enjoy THAT irony). Cruising and cranking pretty good now though. But I must say, I'm SO finished with the school thing (in my practice and my own tired life). Have no clue what I'm going to do when I finish (not exactly true but easier to think of it that way right now). May return to being a hobo.
I've been a very bad GreaseSpotter (not to mention housecleaner, call returner, grocery shopper, mail opener, checkbook balancer, etc. - oh yeah, and I bought a house with my best friend and thought I could actually do major remodeling and go to school - ah, those were the days - unbridled optimism). For awhile I was reading and not posting, but then all the academic reading I had to do made me eschew all but essential reading, and now, frankly, I hate reading altogether. Temporary I hope.
Paw and I talk on the phone frequently so the only regular GS I get now is straight from the horse's mouth. A few years ago we stopped talking about it ALL the time though. Terrific shift. Exceptional guy. Another long-standing best friend. I miss GSness, still have it in my bones. Had to crowd pretty much everything out into the margins though (except for learning how to cut, bend, and weld steel on mandatory dissertation-free Saturdays - very therapeutic).
So it's readin' writin' and remodelin'... and now, mostly just banging on the keyboard, making a case for the "Neglected R".
Any home remedies for carpal-tunnelish elbow and thumb mojo would be greatly appreciated.
Ok, that's all I got...ceptin' I can relate to much of your trek and much of your academic odyssey adventure.
The occassional quick scan and once-in-a-while drive-by posts is the most I can do, but there are some spoonsters I am always happy to think about, and on rare, serendipitous occassions catch in chat.
Having lived thru writing theses and dissertations and the quest for accumulating all manner of other letters of wackitude, (b.a, ma., mfa, abd, phd) the one that dogged me most, was mla...you know, the one...the rulebook of all academic format and folly. Anal wordsmiths. They would all perish in a simple backyard wilderness, but manage to detail their end with proper punctuation, ibids, obcits, and other so whats.
I am a tiki hut bartender in south Florida...lol...I feel like Secret Squirrel on a covert life mission.
As for the carpal-tunnelessness of the elbow...get a longer straw...then you won't have to lift the margarita to your saltless lips while you kick back.
Keep your keyboard dustless and your inkwell full, grasshopper...you never know when you may lose power.
I'm an APA girl actually (so much social science jazz seems to lean thataway rather than MLA). Worse, I love that crap. The ibids and punctuation are so much easier than claims and warrants. Eesh.
I plan to spend some time driving around California in general and PCH in particular this summer. It will be my first visit to the Golden State and I am very much looking forward to it.
I'm assuming Big Sur will be on the itinerary? It's a must. I can tell you about this secluded outdoor shower (right below PCH!), where the water comes straight out of the mountainside (and is heaven to drink). Famous writers have gotten naked there! (okay, uhhh maybe that's a little weird but...)
There are some bodacious turnouts in Big Sur. Places you could live for months on end (well I could, anyway). Oh man, to be able to go there for the first time again... You'll have a blast.
(Yeah, there's some, on the southeast coast especially I think. There's even a whole little island that IS part of France, right off the coast of Newfoundland. Imagine that. Zut alors.)
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pamsandiego
Seventeen days late in replying. In many ways, that is as appropriate an update as anything. I went from hobo to oh-no! in a flash. Thanks for asking Harvey. A summary would be good for me right now.
So yeah... I prematurely (and unbeknownst to me) retired from teaching and drove around in the Chinook for the better part of four years. Worked at provoking stories (and fixing up the effing truck) in places great and small: Quartzite, Big Sur, Glacier Nat'l Park, Padre Island, this really cool road in Utah, New Knoxville, Eloy, Mount Nebo, etc. ad infinitem - and then across the sea to a rock that really changed my life. Newfoundland. Marvelous terrible place. Amazing people. The Chinook never left. Stored it in an abandoned elementary school (ironic) on the west coast of the island and have been going back to visit it. Summer home on wheels.
Once I realized I wasn't going back into the traditional classroom, I decided to retool my teacherness, not being satisfied with leaving it behind entirely. Ended up going into an education doctorate program. Pain. More pain. Lots more pain. In the middle of that I did a pretty cool descriptive and theory-building study on (meaningful, unschool-like, one-to-one, co-participatory) writing interactions between college students and fourth grade kids. Piles of data, much of it very rich. I'm in year five and (please god) a couple months and about 200 pages shy of finishing my dissertation: Cultivating the Inclination to Write.
Totally lost interest in writing for awhile (yeah, my colleagues really enjoy THAT irony). Cruising and cranking pretty good now though. But I must say, I'm SO finished with the school thing (in my practice and my own tired life). Have no clue what I'm going to do when I finish (not exactly true but easier to think of it that way right now). May return to being a hobo.
I've been a very bad GreaseSpotter (not to mention housecleaner, call returner, grocery shopper, mail opener, checkbook balancer, etc. - oh yeah, and I bought a house with my best friend and thought I could actually do major remodeling and go to school - ah, those were the days - unbridled optimism). For awhile I was reading and not posting, but then all the academic reading I had to do made me eschew all but essential reading, and now, frankly, I hate reading altogether. Temporary I hope.
Paw and I talk on the phone frequently so the only regular GS I get now is straight from the horse's mouth. A few years ago we stopped talking about it ALL the time though. Terrific shift. Exceptional guy. Another long-standing best friend. I miss GSness, still have it in my bones. Had to crowd pretty much everything out into the margins though (except for learning how to cut, bend, and weld steel on mandatory dissertation-free Saturdays - very therapeutic).
So it's readin' writin' and remodelin'... and now, mostly just banging on the keyboard, making a case for the "Neglected R".
Any home remedies for carpal-tunnelish elbow and thumb mojo would be greatly appreciated.
Pam
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MATILDA
hola mi amiga, come esta usted? Muy bien, yes?
El burro es muy importante en Espana.
Ok, that's all I got...ceptin' I can relate to much of your trek and much of your academic odyssey adventure.
The occassional quick scan and once-in-a-while drive-by posts is the most I can do, but there are some spoonsters I am always happy to think about, and on rare, serendipitous occassions catch in chat.
Having lived thru writing theses and dissertations and the quest for accumulating all manner of other letters of wackitude, (b.a, ma., mfa, abd, phd) the one that dogged me most, was mla...you know, the one...the rulebook of all academic format and folly. Anal wordsmiths. They would all perish in a simple backyard wilderness, but manage to detail their end with proper punctuation, ibids, obcits, and other so whats.
I am a tiki hut bartender in south Florida...lol...I feel like Secret Squirrel on a covert life mission.
As for the carpal-tunnelessness of the elbow...get a longer straw...then you won't have to lift the margarita to your saltless lips while you kick back.
Keep your keyboard dustless and your inkwell full, grasshopper...you never know when you may lose power.
All my best to you pamalamba.
X
M
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pamsandiego
Heya ~!
I'm an APA girl actually (so much social science jazz seems to lean thataway rather than MLA). Worse, I love that crap. The ibids and punctuation are so much easier than claims and warrants. Eesh.
Nice to hear from you!
(Longer straw - lol)
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A la prochaine
you forgot to mention you a canuckster along the way
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polar bear
Newfoundland eh? Now you're talking. Great place.
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pamsandiego
Yep, screeched myself in by taking a walk along the tickle in fifty knot winds. While it was snowing.
It doesn't get anymore Canadian than that. :)
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Sushi
Does this mean then, you're doing your own shopping now, Pam?
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pamsandiego
Oh you're too funny, Sushi!
But no way. Vons.com baby. Somebody else has to lug all that crap in the house for me.
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Lifted Up
Well, one of my all time favorite handles is still around!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Lifted Up
Yea, I know, there's a real person behind that handle!
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Lifted Up
Well that's a lot better than getting it from the other end.
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Lifted Up
Oops. Thought about what I just said. No disrespect meant, Paw!
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pamsandiego
Hi Lifted! Funny little conversation you're having with yourself there.
Great to hear from you!
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oenophile
Hi Pam,
Good to see you again.
I plan to spend some time driving around California in general and PCH in particular this summer. It will be my first visit to the Golden State and I am very much looking forward to it.
Robin
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pamsandiego
Robin!
Right on! Road Trip!
I'm assuming Big Sur will be on the itinerary? It's a must. I can tell you about this secluded outdoor shower (right below PCH!), where the water comes straight out of the mountainside (and is heaven to drink). Famous writers have gotten naked there! (okay, uhhh maybe that's a little weird but...)
There are some bodacious turnouts in Big Sur. Places you could live for months on end (well I could, anyway). Oh man, to be able to go there for the first time again... You'll have a blast.
Great to read ya,
Pam
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A la prochaine
Pammie...
I just reread my post here and I looked like I was on SCREETCH... I missed a few words there.. I sounded like too much of this ---->
was happening.
OK... pardon my ignorance but I have to ask...
"Yep, screeched myself in by taking a walk along the tickle in fifty knot winds. While it was snowing.
It doesn't get anymore Canadian than that."
what's the 'tickle'???
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pamsandiego
Ala Kazam!
It's where the bay (in this case, Bonne Bay) gets narrow for a stretch, between two land masses. Have no idea why it's called that.
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Sushi
Well, Pam, I understand there are a lot of "French" people up there.........
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pamsandiego
You got something against the French, Sashimi?
(Yeah, there's some, on the southeast coast especially I think. There's even a whole little island that IS part of France, right off the coast of Newfoundland. Imagine that. Zut alors.)
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doojable
So is it a "French Tickle(-r)"????
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Sushi
Far be it from, uh, MOI, Dooj.
I was going for a crude joke about French 'ticklers'.
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doojable
Mais oui! je aussi!
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GeorgeStGeorge
I think it's actually "Moi, aussi." if I remember my college French. "I, too" would be correct in English, but "Me, too" is proper French.
George
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pamsandiego
Oh man... I'm slow, Sushi. French tickler. Hello!
Je estudie Francais pour huit ans, mais vous would never connait it. J'aime parle Francais hybride.
(Plenty for George to fix there, lol.)
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