This Just In . . .

. . . Nicholas Cage still looks like a douche.

Spring break has been pretty successful. Amelia and I are spending a night out this weekend (in beautiful Jacksonville!) but for the most part it's been days at home trying to find stuff to do. In actuality, there has been plenty to do. I've reseeded the lawn, bought a lawnmower (I'll test it out later today when the grass dries), graded a whole lot of tests and essays (Still have like 40 more, unfortunately), enjoyed my new PlayStation 3, caught up on "Heroes" (still good parts and terribly cheesy parts), read/finished 3 books (I hope to get in A Lesson Before Dying still this weekend), and just generally enjoyed not having to go to work. As my sister and fellow-English teacher Beth pointed out a couple of weeks ago, teachers really do need the vacations, or we'd all go crazy and start slapping students, so don't tell us our jobs are easy because of all the vacation time, thank you very much. Besides, given the hours I put in during the week (nine hour work days to begin with, plus usually an hour or so at home in the evening and a typically four to six hour grading day on the weekends) and the meagerness of my paycheck, a few days off are kind of like part of the compensation package in my view. It's a rewarding job, but make no mistake, it wears you down.

But enough about how teachers are undervalued. Here's what I have decided I need to work on lately. Multitasking. I have a buddy who is a successful lawyer, is in a band that he frequently tours with, writes his own music, reads constantly, and has the ability to stay up on every movie and tv show ever. I don't understand this. When I asked him how he was able to get it all done, he told me multitasking was the key. As we chatted (online), he was also writing a song, watching a tv show about Druids, and reading like four other websites. On the one hand, amazing, because I struggle to do anything simultaneously, and some of my hobbies (gaming) preclude me from doing multiple things at once. On the other hand, I am lazy, and doing twelve things simultaneously sounds kind of crazy. But I have a couple of friends like that, and I think this is the difference between what makes them impressive and makes me kind of low achieving. I have the ability to do a lot of that stuff, but when it comes down to it, I spend more time just chilling in front of the tv than being productive.

So. I'm going to try and change that. I've got to get back to writing, so I'm going to try and set aside an hour or two each day to write. I'd also like to work on photography a bit more. I think I have a good eye, but I never take the time to go take pictures. I realize this isn't actually multitasking, just making better use of my time, but we've all got to start somewhere, right?

After all, look at Nic Cage. That guy took a promising career and, with real focus and dedication, flushed it down the toilet to do a string of terrible, terrible movies. If he has that level of commitment, why can't I?