Summer Resolutions

It seems fitting to change my blog colors with this post.

I doubt that I'm the only teacher who makes summer resolutions instead of New Year's resolutions. My summer resolutions tend to get done, unlike New Year's resolutions. I think there are several reasons for this. I am just coming down from an exhausting schedule, especially at the end of the year. Teachers, who quickly become accustomed to having more days off than anyone but firefighters, become exhausted by the two long, vacationless periods in the year: from September to November and from Spring Break (which was very early this year) to mid-June. The end of the year involves cleaning and often packing up classrooms, entering final grades, end of the year awards and ceremonies, and goodbyes for students, retirees, and those let go. I have several side jobs, too, and many of them end at the same time as the school year. Paperwork needs to be done, reports filed, letters of recommendation for colleagues written. This is my long-winded way of saying that one of the reasons that summer resolutions get done is that it takes some time to come down from that feeling of constant rushing, so I take advantage of it at first.

There's a weather component, too. Here in San Leandro, near the San Francisco Bay, summers are often mild, causing me to feel like doing things. Those who know me know that as soon as the thermometer hits 80, all bets are off. I am not fit for human company, unless that company doesn't mind spending time with an incoherent, sweaty and miserable lump. But as long as we stay in the 70's (or even better, 60's), I like working. Western culture, with its January 1 New Year, sets us up for failure. Who wants to start exercising or quit bad habits when days are dark and you are feeling like hibernating?

But I think the main reason that summer resolutions can get done is that summer vacation ends, so summer resolutions must end, too. So, the resolutions have to have reachable goals. The typical New Year's resolution is a rest of your life resolution. Too long. Too scary.

This is a rare summer for me, where I'm not spending much of the summer working. So far, I have eleven working days planned. That will increase as we get closer to August 19th, when all of this comes to an end, but for right now, I feel like the possibilities are infinite.

So, here are my summer resolutions. They won't all get done because it isn't possible, but my first summer resolution is to revisit this list of resolutions in late August and blog about how I did (perhaps there will be pictures!)

1. A thorough cleaning of every room in the house (including drawers and closets) along with needed repairs in each room.
2. Start the new school year with a well-tended garden that does not embarrass me.
3. Finish the quilt I've been working on for several years now (there will be a photo if I finish). It has been a long time since I've started a new one, and I'd really like to. And, PJ, I will help you start yours, too.
4. Get my backyard fence rebuilt. Parts of it fell down in a storm this year, mostly because they had rotted.
5. Walk at least two miles every day.
6. Find an activity to do that helps with strength and balance. This was going to say "buy a wii fit," but it appears that the market will keep this from happening. Our sinking economy causes Nintendo to prefer to sell them in Europe instead of here.
7. Paint my bedroom and make it feel less cluttered.
8. Go through my curriculum unit by unit, and attempt to make it more interesting to all my students.
9. Read a lot (this one is purposely left vague because I haven't picked out all my summer books yet, so I haven't decided if I'll spend several weeks on a meaty book, or read shorter books).
10. The one I'm most excited about: Build a Stickley-style trestle coffee table (N, another teacher, is kindly going to help me with this)

We'll see what happens. And I do mean "we" because another resolution is to blog at least twice a week until August 19th.