5 Things To Do While Taking A Break General by Joel Wagner - May 19, 2008July 1, 20103 There come times in life when we need to find something to do. There come times in life when we need a break. There come times in life when we need to cut back some things so we can find that perfect place. This is one of those times for me. With the end of the year approaching, I am so busy with school and concerts and trips and contests and planning and everything else that goes along with it. In addition, I am playing trumpet in a mariachi now, so that is starting to require individual practice time as well as rehearsals and gigs. Plus, I have been doing quite a bit of preaching in church lately too. So something has to give. The decision is that it will be the blog and most of my electronic life. At least for a few weeks until school ends the first week of June. What will change? Nothing will change as far as you are concerned. You just won’t see any new blog posts from me except for the Scott Walker Comics I have already scheduled. I may also be signed up for the Carnival of Education next week. If so, then I’ll do that as well. What will change for me is that I will stop checking blog stats, I will stop checking Google Reader, I will limit my time Instant Messaging, I’ll only check MySpace and Facebook on weekends. Basically, I will use my internet for banking and email. I will skim through comments that people leave on the blog. I plan to do a wrap-up of the year the first week of June, and then continue with the Blogging Revolution Project again the second week. Sorry for any inconvenience this may cause. I need the time. :) 5 things I’m doing with my free time As I’ve written before, I don’t like to waste breaks. But I need some down time. So what I’m going to do is: Catch up I am way behind on housework, emails, sleep, reading, and tons of other things. I am going to use these next three weeks catching up as time permits. Clean up Not only with I catch up with housework, but I’m going to get stuff ready to sell or give away. Cut down Though I won’t spend much time with it, I know that my Google Reader list is way too big. So I will spend some time trying to trim down to 20-25 blogs on there. I will stick with blogs that are useful, profitable, interesting, or enjoyable, and all of the blogs must not post too much each day. Get out Mariachi is making me go and be social. That’s good. I went to see a movie with a couple of friends last weekend too. Great stuff. I’m going to try to do more stuff away from home. Slow down I also need to add some more relaxation time into my schedule. So part of the plan includes relaxation. As I catch up on reading, I’ll also catch up on listening to my iPod and closing my eyes. Haha. See also More Links: Wednesday Website #3So what about you? What are some things you love doing when breaks come around? Joel WagnerJoel Wagner (@sywtt) began teaching band in 2002. Though he had a lot of information, his classes were out of control. He found himself tired, frustrated, disrespected by students, lonely, and on the brink of quitting. He had had enough. He resigned from his school district right before spring break of his second year and made it his personal mission to learn to be a great teacher. So You Want To Teach? is the ongoing story of that quest for educational excellence.
My break already started as of Friday! I spent Saturday cleaning the house. Then a group of us went over to a nice restaurant in a neighboring town and ordered good food. Sunday I installed a new operating system on my Linux box, went to graduation, and then finished the Linux project. Today I need to go down to school and finish my cleaning project there. I got a little too ambitious on the last day of school! Later this week I’m heading down to Spearfish, SD to spend a few days away.
I don’t get a “summer break,” (I’m not a teacher) but here are my five things. 1. Exercise. So wonderful. 2. Read for fun. I just read: The Female Brain (Briezndine), I’m currently reading: Breaking the Spell (Dennett), and next will be: The Elegant Universe (Greene). 3. Household chores, general upkeep, and organization. Getting rid of things I haven’t used in the past 2 years. 4. Dates with my husband: movies, video games, eating out. (What movie did you just see Joel?) 5. Hang out with my dogs. I can sit on the couch and pet them for hours.
@Waski_the_Squirrel, @Betty, and @Fermi – I’ve been totally clearing things out of my house. I am on a trash can frenzy as I go around the house. It’s awesome. Plus, I have been learning to play golf, playing trumpet in a mariachi, and just plain getting around to being social and doing stuff with friends again.