Been a while, hasn't it. It's been all too easy for me to get forgetful or whatever. Computer games are a time sink: no matter how much time I put in, I could always put in more if I don't make myself do otherwise.

So, the last couple weeks in brief: I finished subbing pretty uneventfully. One kid is probably mad about getting a 50 on an important project, but he committed blatant plagiarism, so I had to do something.

As I said, I wasn't interested in teaching before, and after having had a little experience even with only the easy part of the job (designing lesson plans, lecturing, grading, dealing with discipline and special ed - I had to do little or nothing of all those), I'm still not interested in teaching as a long-term profession. However, I am sort of... curious. Because there's stuff I learned at Fair Haven, but too late. All kinds of stuff about how to deal with people, and how to lecture and what one should and shouldn't assume. The biggest example of what I'm talking about is just that I graded those Powerpoint presentations really leniently because there were things I didn't realize I should have taught them, or decisions that got made at the last minute because I had to think hard and get advice. And now that I have learned stuff about how to teach (those subjects and just in general as well), the school year is over.

I've gone through two graduations in the past week. My sister graduated from high school last Saturday, and my twin cousins graduated today/yesterday. Saturday the 20th. (I can never figure out how to talk about the date when I'm writing at like 1 in the morning.) Their respective parties were fun. And between both the parties and the family reunion that starts next week, I'll see more of my family this month than I do most years. Fun. Hopefully they won't...

Well, I started to write "hopefully they won't get too annoying" or something equally trite, but it's not even accurate. When family gets on each others' nerves these days, I usually respond by leaning back and laughing at the show. It rarely affects me. Other people get annoyed. There are no shortage of things that set me off, of course, it's just that they don't share my last name. I do run the serious risk of getting bored, though. What the hell are we going to do in Quebec City for a whole week? When/if that happens I'll either nod absently at the same advice my aunts and uncles have given me for six years, or I'll just act very antisocial by trying to catch up on my reading despite constant interruptions. Come to think of it, that would probably be even worse than being annoyed. But on the other other hand, at least it's a change of scenery. Getting away from my games would be good.

That brings up a question I've asked myself before: why not just get rid of the games? Because I've found more than once before that the problem is not games but procrastination. Playing games of some kind or another is less expensive and space-consuming than going out and buying a novel every time I have a little time to kill. And I'm looking for a job, but still, nothing would prevent me from having some free time in my life.

I should get to some self-improvement, though. Polish those stories to sell, plan out some more of my Fantasy Novel Epic, go to the gym... There's no time like the present.