Electronic Fast

Last week I decided to make up for my lack of a lent this year. The idea was that I would limit myself to only 3 hours of "escapism" time every week. No internet. No random iPhone games. No books. No TV. Nothing.

This, I decided, would help me re-prioritize my time. I would exercise more. Clean more. Cook more. Generally do more things that I like, or need, to do.

It worked the first week, at least to the point that I have an organized, relatively clean house. I say relatively because the kitchen remains in a constant state of needing to be cleaned and my office needs serious work. I'm not even including Gerd's office, which I'm not touching (really, although it's so tempting). Honestly... I even baked fresh bread.

Note that last week my husband wasn't home. Somehow it's easier to do things when he's not here, even though he's really a supportive kind of guy. Even with the amount of stuff I got done, Friday night killed the fast. I gorged on online HGTV episodes until I couldn't stay awake any longer.

This week I tried again, but the rain has been my enemy. I couldn't HELP but read a book. I mean, what else should you do on a rainy day (never mind the stack of mail that needs to be sorted, or the basement could be tidied, or the bathrooms could be cleaned...) Today is supposed to be Stammtisch, but I just don't want to.

What I want to do is continue to surf the web. Somehow I had a random thought to look online for my high school. Guess what, they have a list of faculty. Most of my most memorable teachers are still there. Most, not all, but enough to wax nostalgic. I even saw a youtube performance by the band...we were way better.

It's actually a bit surprising that I'm sucked back into the world of electronics. I had a wonderful day. I woke up after a (yes, really) 10 hour night of sleep. I took my herbs, which seem to be working. I feel like I'm coming out of a fog. The school day went fabulously, and while I won't claim brilliance, all the lessons went well and students were focused. It's just that when I came home I just drained. The thought of using anymore energy did not appeal. I was tired of being peppy and cheerful.

Just do it anyway, right? Drive through the emotion... But why? I don't NEED to do anything. I have no little ones forcing me to put a nice meal on the table or ensure the house won't foster plague type bacterias. Why NOT relax and do nothing? Would I really be happier if I forced myself to do something? I'm not really sure. I've got to tell you, it's pretty interesting to return to high school for an evening (even if it does make me a bit melancholy...boy do I wish I had been more of SOMETHING back then). Thinking back is like watching a really painful yet funny movie, like American Pie.

So what teachers are still there:
Ms. Armstrong, Drama coach and English Teacher
Mr. Stinson, Math teacher (who actually got me to understand algebra enough that I can teach it...despite no training in teaching algebra :)
Mr. Niemiec, Band teacher (thank goodness they now have a separate orchestra teacher)
Mrs. Ottoman, Drama, but she was the best English Comp teacher ever
Mr. Catt (NOT my favorite history teacher, I'm pretty sure he sent Jacob Huck to the principals office for refusing to read round robin from the textbook)
Ms. Chandler (WAS my favorite history teacher, and responsible for me choosing International Relations as a major in college)
Mr. Steckler, Okay, wasn't really a memorable teacher to me at the time, but I do remember him.
Ms. Sherman, Now department chair. I still remember her Spanish idioms.

So if you're reading this, and you still have connections to the area, this probably isn't too surprising to you. For me, I haven't been back to the high school since 1996, and haven't thought about the teachers (except perhaps once or twice in passing) since about then. In fact, I rarely open my year books. I did so today, and was surprised by the lack of signatures on my junior and senior yearbooks. Did I really have so few friends? Maybe that's why I haven't gone back down memory lane before now....

And now I'm going to go back to my fast. Maybe. After I figure out whatever happened to that old abandoned house on Lantern Road.