I must be in grad school because I'm tired.

On the good news front, I am learning to organize my time and set boundaries.

One of the professors that I had last semester for literacy is pushing -- like being an overbearing conniving butt -- to get me to take on tutoring at a school that would be an hour away from home. Um, too damned far for $9/hour. I sent him the following snippet via email and bcc'ed my advisor to cover my copious butt.

Additionally, I love working with kids and obviously, I love teaching. However, I am not really able to add extra time (to tutor) to my schedule this semester beyond my GA-ship and specifically, I am only taking 2 classes because of that. My son is struggling, as I indicated, and his needs and the needs of my family come first. I may have time in the summer, as well as time next fall, but I am in the middle of a strenuous IEP process for my son to get him the supports he needs to be successful in school. I am also taking him to a pediatric neurologist because he is having symptoms that indicate that the medication he is taking may be having an adverse affect on him or may be bringing out some level of pre-existing condition such as Cerebral Palsy or Tourette's. Nonetheless, this is a stressful time for me and my family as we struggle to find what is best for my son; a lot of my time outside of work and school is being used to work with and for him.

He's still pushing. Nuisance.

What's worse is that I have been taking the ticket on that guilt train. I love to teach and I wish I was doing that rightthisminute, but if I don't get all this other stuff done, I'm going to end up stuffed in the nearest loony bin. I'll be the one drooling in the corner while I make my lips buzz and start and stop the buzz with my finger for the pure joy of listening to the temporary cessation of the raspberriness. I may even end up with my son in their writing program this summer. He needs as much help as he can get and they have a "writing camp" that I know he'd benefit from.

Of course, if I do that, I better find him a chess camp.

Oh, and MY WORD, martial arts are expensive. We went to this place in the big town (30 minutes away) and checked out this place we'd heard about. Russell seemed really interested, but wowsers, they wanted $99/month with a $200 deposit and a year contract. The money alone was daunting, but then the class times were a complete conflict with my school and family schedule and would have meant spending even more money for the whole family to eat out. If we lived in town, I might have considered it, but we don't. It'd be tons of time away from home -- driving, eating, etc. Mike and I discussed it late into the night and we both said,"Not right now." The problem is that I will be in school in the fall and I have to complete specific requirements to get my licensure and I don't have tons of control over some of those class times, but I still need to take them. I don't want to have to start and then stop this stupid thing if they are going to hold a $200 deposit over my head.

I can get swim lessons for $27/month. I could arrange to do it on my nights off from school and then while he swam, I could work out. Because the scheduling works out nearly perfectly, I am calling tomorrow to see about setting that up for the Bear.

Yep, I think we're doing that much cheaper thing.