Old Dog, New Tricks

 Here we are in mid-January, and I have not blogged much, hmm, or at all. My other resolutions are going better - diet, art, etc. I have been working on a huge painting - a commission for my cousin's new house. It should have been rather simple, but of course, I have complicated it. I painted the background first and had it looking fairly well. I was pleased. My son and DIL both thought it was really nice. Toby thought it was too bright for my cousin's house. So, I touched it up. No, I screwed it up. I have painted the background about 3 or 4 times now. I think it will be okay, but it was pretty irritating. At least I am getting some brush time in :)

Then I did something really crazy. I took a little job for the spring semester at Cameron University, Duncan campus teaching Art Appreciation. The regular teacher broke her leg and cannot teach this semester. I know the teacher through CTAC. She is a very good artist and often shows her work with us. I guess the Cameron folks were desperate for someone to take her place, because I am not fully qualified. But for one semester, I guess they decided to let that slide. I started on Jan. 11 teaching on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9:30 to 10:45. That seemed simple enough. I like kids. I like art. I like teaching.

The first week (two classes) went well enough. Although, I struggled getting my thoughts gathered and figuring out what I want to teach - there is just so much art stuff - so little time. Ha! About the time I was getting a handle on my thoughts and reigning in my ideas and making lesson plans, I got an email saying, due to the sickness going around, we were going virtual until Feb 1st. If I wasn't panicking before, I was now. I had already been worrying about using Blackboard (college software) to do grading and such. I also was working on using Power Point to make slide shows for class. When I told my sister that I didn't know how to use PP, she made terrible fun of me. Like am some sort of old dog trying to learn a new trick. Now, Cameron was expecting me to Zoom with my students. Overload! Out of my comfort zone!

Fortunately, Cameron has a great IT man, Bill. He is very patient with me. And I did do my homework and watched some videos on using Zoom and Blackboard. So, this past Tuesday was my first Zoom. It went pretty well. I told Bill, the IT man, that he would have to help me again, because I would probably forget all that he taught me. Actually, today went even better. I certainly don't have it all down yet, but I can do so much more than I thought I could. Stretching me! Although I am doing okay, I don't really like this virtual stuff. I would much rather interact in person with the students. That is the joy of teaching - being with kids, getting to know them, seeing their reactions to things, etc. 

I am behind on my pottery making, but hopefully I will get about 20 cups put in the kiln this weekend. Between my commission and teaching, I feel a little pressure. But it is what it is. There's no need to make myself crazy. It will get done when it gets done. My little art student, Alayna, posted on Facebook that she was not going to be able to complete some of her commissions, because of school, work, and piano practice (she wants to be a concert pianist, and she is really good). I thought she was very smart to pare down her commitments. What should I pare down?

All is good on the Lazy B. Toby and I are staying well. My son and his family are going through covid stuff, but they seem to be okay - maybe a little stir crazy.  Jesse has also been sick some, but then it is cold and flu season.  Toby's ankle is healing well. He is able to walk on his boot/cast now. He still rides his scooter most of the time. Tomorrow we go to OKC to see his doctor. 

Toby's mom used to say, "The hurryier I go, the behinder I get." Yep, that would be me.

One more little funny thing: last night I was texting with my brothers and sister. We were laughing and making fun of some of the food our parents made us eat. Chicken ala King was our least favorite food. My brother said it was either that or SOS. Of course, we laughed at how you either ate it or got a spanking. Finally, my little brother said, "On the bright side, I never remember being without. We always had the old snacks from Taystee Bread. They always had dinner and always provided and loved us. We had great parents, Weird, but great. I mean, damn, look at the 4 of us!"