edit request

OK, I need everybody to jump into your "way back machines" now and try to remember having to write when writing simply didn't come naturally to you or when you were really getting your pre-adolescent wordsmith wheels underneath ya.

I'm trying to come up with a writing checklist of sorts for a couple of summer school students of mine (boys; about to enter 6th grade, very reluctant writers) and I'd dearly love to give them some guidance without 1) forgetting something important, or 2) trying to over do it by including way too much information (which, unfortunately, is my tendency).

So please, please, please, tap into your 70's era schooldays memory banks and help me slodge through these nerve-wracking checklist tweaks.

************************
PROOFREADING CHECKLIST-INTERMEDIATE

Content – how well did I write?
□ Did I remember to write only what I was told to write about?
□ Did I organize my ideas and information carefully … ?
• by listing the events from beginning to end [OR]
• by listing the facts from least important to most important [OR]
• by coming up with a set of questions then trying to answer those questions with good research [OR]
• by coming up with a main idea and then using good supporting details and descriptions to explain that idea
□ Did I select useful words that would help my readers understand what I’m trying to say, AND capture their interest AND hopefully create images in their minds?
□ Did I use plenty of well-researched information? [from other books, encyclopedias, magazines, the internet, etc.]
□ Did I check to make sure all my facts are correct?

Format – how does my writing look?
□ Did I choose a good title?
□ Did I include my name and the date?
□ Did I number each page?

Mechanics – how well did I follow the rules of writing?
□ Are all my paragraphs indented?
□ Did I capitalize words correctly?
□ Are all my words spelled correctly?
□ Did I make sure each sentence was complete and made sense?
□ Did I make sure every sentence had the same verb tense?
□ Did I use correct ending punctuation as well as all other punctuation?
□ Did I use quotation marks correctly when including someone else’s words?
□ Did I include a proper bibliography if I borrowed someone else’s work?

***********************
For any and all assistance, my appreciation knows no bounds!

attitude adjustment

I'm over my grouse ... thank goodness!

It's amazing what beautiful, no humidity, high 70's summer weather can do for one's disposition ...

plus a lovely long walk in said beautiful weather.

I just need to somehow get my head screwed on straight, start to buckle down and finally get ready for the next three weeks of teaching summer school.

I just hope the weather holds ...

it may be the only thing keeping me from going crazy!

ta-ta for now ;)

bloggedy blog blog blah!

I have less than motivation, less than enthusiasm, less than gumption
to get up and go.

It must be the dog-days of summer now ...
so I'll simply say, "bow-wow-wow".

Regardless of my mental state,
I have summer school to plan and prep for --
call previous year's teachers; look over potential materials; make a sensible schedule,
etc.

but I don't want to.
I want to mope around
and feel lazy,
and feel useless,
and feel stupid
because that's how I feel right now.

but I want to be energized,
engaged,
creative,
productive,
successful ...

but right now,
I'm none of those things ...
and maybe
(I'm guessing here)
that my funk may stem from
knowing
that more than likely
I've never been one of those wonderful things
and most likely
never will ...

compost, man
I'm feeling like a pile of compost ...

reading, riding, and relaxing ...

and obviously tons of recreating ... with no time for writing.

I've been terribly blog-lite as of late, but I hope that the upcoming grind of tutoring and teaching summer school will motivate me to start writing and conversing with you all again.

In the meantime, (if you can believe it!) I'm off to our special own nirvana--Lake Wallenpaupak--with the boys for the rest of the week ... Pos and eldest daughter are slated to join us over the weekend.

While there (and as long as I can manage it!), I plan to continue reading, relaxing and of course recreating!

desperation over time ... or with a little wine [take your pick!]

And I quote ...

"Wow, is it possible! You're actually blogging!!"
[Pos verbally flings from the far corner of the living room]

"Yes, smartass! I'm actually taking cerebral synaptic functions and putting them into dedicated keystrokes ... and if they make absolutely no sense ... well, then you can blame the three glasses of red wine I had before sitting down and attempting to be coherent in front of computer!!"

Just know, that some of us can fold laundry inebriated ... can clean up after a dinner party inebriated ... can make love inebriated ... but only the biggest goonbas among us can fool themselves into believing that they can type [spell, use proper grammar, make literary sense, etc.!] while inebriated!!

It's really a damn shame what a little red can do to one's mind!

;)

lessons learned

I'm finally back ... THANK GOD!

I've never been more overjoyed to get back to my own home, to my own family, and especially back to my own bed!

The delirious homecoming I received from my dog was a perfect representation of how I was feeling when I opened that front door and walked inside.

And because there is SO much to process and possibly blog about, I've decided to do my usual bullet statement summaries of the more salient and memorable moments of my return home:

• To go home means to drink more (and I'm talking copious amounts of beer, wine, and frozen daiquiris!)
• There is absolutely NO way to romanticize or minimize the shittier aspects of your culture and heritage ... they're still shitty!
• I had to go into a smoke-filled, skanky bar to cash my mother's weekly work check: that's how the working poor do it down there.
• I think I've filled my second-hand smoking quota for six years.
• I've enlarged my carbon footprint times 25: where I'm from, you can't get from point A to point B in under 30 minutes, it just ain't possible.
• The kindest and nicest black people there are still treated like dirt (or less than dirt, like they don't even exist at all)
• Working poor rednecks are some obnoxious sons (and daughters) of bitches.
• Dealing with crazy relatives (especially during a death in the family) makes you want to drink until you fall down
• Never count on getting anything (and I mean ANYTHING) from said crazy relatives when it's time to divide up the dead relative's effects; those crazy people think all that miscellaneous shit is their due!
• I never counted on crying so much (and crying for some of the most unforeseen and emotionally rending reasons)
• The stupid adage "you can never go home" is bit too pertinent for me
• I'm constantly astounded by how much control I have and don't have over others ... and it really freaks me out!
• I'm never, ever more glad to have what I've got
• I need to practice a more consistent mantra of "I have everything I could ever want; my life is good!"

Well, that's all I got right now. I'm still trying to reenter back into my real life and all the acceptable craziness that that entails.

But stay posted ... I'm sure to do more processing of my trip home in the days to come.

home bound

It's already been a whirlwind summer ... and we are not even through June.

I drove 11 1/2 hours to Oak Island, North Carolina--without Pos: just me and the kids--to make a last minute vacation happen with family and friends.

It was a blast! The weather was great, the kids had a great time and the gin and tonics were superb!!

Then five days later, I drove another 11 1/2 hours back home. I think if I never see I-95 (and that godawful loop around D.C.!!) I won't be sad.

And then I'm home barely 24 hours when I get the call.

My granddad is finally passing and my mom is absolutely distraught.

I'm torn: #1 I want to go and support her and my sister. #2 I've already said my goodbyes to the lovely old man last year: I don't want my last memory of him to be that of a unrecognizable shell. #3 I want to be here, with Pos and the kids: I don't want to experience the gamut of emotion that's sure to greet me when I get there.

But I'm going. Today. And I'll be gone for a whole week. Not knowing what to expect.

My granddad passed away last night. He quietly drifted off, in his own bed, with his eldest daughter at his side.

I'm going home to be with my family, but I just know that I'll be torn the whole time I'm there. Deep down, and true to my nature, I simply want to be in my own home with my own family grieving in my own way.