Hahaha it's been so long

Wow new years resolutions....you set them, try not to break them and try to LIVE in the process.

I am learning a lot about myself during this process.  I told you at the beginning of the year that instead of trying to change other people or the environment I find myself in, I am using this year to work on nothing but myself.

I wanted to blog daily the journey simply as a tool to share with others who might need some hope and/or inspiration as I am not perfect, way old, and trying to learn new things.

The first thing I learned is that there are going to be days that I can not or am not able to blog everyday.  Time simply won't allow.

Working on my doctorate (seems like F O R E V E R) , two months away from my physical training exam from the National Academy of Sports medicine, taking violin lessons in a studio where there are 12 year olds that are farther along and much better than I am at the present moment.

I am still going to blog about progress and lack of progress so that I continue to share.

What I really need is to write a great novel and by a remote cabin where I can write further good books and do lots of delicious reading.

I have only gotten off my vegetarian quest one time two days ago.  It was 7:30 p.m. and I had not had dinner yet.  I went to a place in Tulsa that is VERY FAMOUS for their charcoaled hamburgers called "Goldies".  It was wonderful.  It was exactly what I need for that evening.

I am sorry I have no funny or sharp quips for today. 

I broke through the fire and did practice my violin.  I am finding that there are many areas in my life that I will have to break through.

One of those will be tomorrow when I make my first attempt to exercise on a consistent basis.....why am I sooooooooooo incredibly bad with consistency. 

Goals are GREAT when you set them ....horrible to carry them out.

It is Sunday eve.  I am done with Violin.  I need to read about the educator who is next on my paper Piaget and then Montessori.  I also have to get caught up on the video sessions of my ladies Bible Study "Missing Pieces".

In my daytimer I have set (hand drawn) little columns for this week to help calculate how much time I exercise, practice violin and how much time I devote to my homework and what I eat.

Next Sunday evening I will post the recap.  Good or Bad.  I know this, sometime soon I need to start drinking WATER and taking some vitamins. 

I love teaching, but it has gotten harder, I want to eat right, that is more expensive.  I need to find my energy, energy energy, right now...that is VERY LOW.

God Bless and thank you for reading.

Well Well

I am sorry that it has been several days since I have blogged.

Until I have a secretary, on days when there is limited time I can do, what I can do.  On a positive note I took care of a lot of students and now officially have 3 labs going

1.  Pre AP Chem'ers are creating their own periodic tables. (yes I bought poster board and 25 glue sticks)
2. My AP Chem'ers are doing oxidation reduction titrations (yes, I bought an electrical griddle to use as a hotplate for that one)
3. My Environmental Science'ers are doing a predator prey lab (yes, I bought dry kidney beans and popcorn kernels for that one)

I am in awe of how Oklahoma can go from -10 windchill to a 72 degree day within a 7 day stretch.

I have violin lessons tomorrow and have not practiced in a long time.  I did that today and my oh my I need to practice way more frequently.

I have homework to do on my research paper regarding educational systems and of course reading in my sports medicine book before my physical training certification exam in March.

I made goals for myself this year and am doing what I can to reach them.  I am learning how to maintain goals even when life throws itself at me.

WHATEVER YOUR GOALS ARE DO NOT GIVE UP...PUSH PUSH PUSH

First day back and answer to questions

Wonderful Wonderful....

After two weeks of not setting my alarm today was back to reality.  Our student population is rather high in our classrooms and for some reason today, our first day back, a lot of them did not show.

I kept my daytimer open and kept on track with keeping notes...crossing off my "to do" list.  It was WONDERFUL and I encourage ANYONE who has never kept a "to do" list.  It is very effective and made for a very productive day.

*** kept up with all students and their papers
*** delivered all new information in a professional and timely manner
*** kept my notes accurate in my daytimer to make sure all objectives were being met
*** got myself ready for tomorrows classes.

I am very honored to say that I applied with the American Chemical Society for a charter to have a high school chemistry club.  The charter application got approved.  I received a letter today that we are the first charter in Tulsa.  YEAH.  Proud to do this with the American Chemical Society.

I also have the honor of field testing some biology/chemistry kits from Carolina Biological.

What a wonderful time and I am truly happy.

I had several people ask if I am still "continuing" the vegan goal I had at the beginning of the year.  The answer to that is yes.  I am feeling good.  I have not hit the "fire" yet.  Believe me, when I do you guys will know.

Here is exactly what I ate today

8:45 I had two oranges and a glass of coca cola

10:00 I hade some protein drink (Shaklee "cinch" drink)

12:05  I had a veggie wrap and a glass of coca cola

3:20 I had another orange

5:21 I had a "sonama" veggie wrap at a restaurant called "Camilles" along with a house salad with rasberry vinegrette dressing and some rasberry tea to drink.

On the way home it is still cold, I dropped by a convenience store I bough a medium size hot chocolate.  Yes, I know hot chocolate isn't "vegan" as there is milk in the mix BUT it tastes good and right know I wanted something WARM to drink.

I hope that makes sense.

I pray eating mostly plant based foods will make a difference in my energy level and my health.

I have a wrinkle above my lip I am wanting to go away and I have some dry skin I would like to see get more healthy. 

Today is our first day back to school.  I am tired.....I am not sure I will be practicing my violin tonight or reading my National Acadamy of sports medicine book.  I am sleepy and the warm hot chocolate did NOT help wake me up.

My problem however is I DO DO DO DO DO need to read my book as my physical trainer certification exam is March 2nd. 

Thank you for reading my blog.

In the words of that great philosopher Scarlett O'Hara from Gone with the Wind  "Tomorrow is another day"

A life of balance

My blog will be short today.

I learned something profound.  I found out that if something is powerful it can be communicated succinctly.

Balance.  Live  a life of balance.

I am a school teacher.  In Oklahoma it is very light snow with the most teeth hurting jaw numbing wind chill's.  We did not have school today.  I was perusing the sites  some of the other neighboring school districts as I wanted to see what their plans might be for tomorrow.

One of the school districts had on their home page a very interesting paragraph regarding their schools mission for their students.  They called it the 5 A's of success.  I won't recite all of them but basically as a school they were "encouraging" the students to be balanced in academics, arts, athletics and activities (social).  It was so interesting to me because it seems to me that we sometimes focus on only one of those, usually not all of them.

As a teacher and a thinker I have to how I have to have visual analogies as that is how I think and process information. 

Here is my analogy
Think of the four A's above (I did not list all 5 A's for purposes of my analogy I need 4) as the tires of an automobile.  If one of those A's is "overinflated" as a tire on my car it puts pressure on the other tires.  The ride is rough.

For me, I am strong in academics, have always loved school and am an avid reader.  This year as you  already know from my prior blog postings that I am taking violin (what this school would consider Arts) and am studying to get my license to be a physical trainer (what this school would consider Athletics).

There is something to having a balanced life.

I will be blogging all of my journey.

There was not much conflict today as I have to get ready for school tomorrow and I am eyes glued to the TV for the BCS NCAA national championship football game.

I pray this "have a balanced life" story resonates with someone or that you might find it creative and productive food for thought for your life.

Jamie

Helping others

There is a wise saying, it is not mine and I am very sorry I don't know who did but it goes like this...."when you help others, you also end up helping yourself".

On a personal note I see many areas where I need to do more for other people.  The quote says help people not change people.  For me this is provoking as the whole point of me starting this daily blog was the fact that this year I was going to work on myself and not try to change others...the only power I have is over myself.

Today was a bitterly cold, light snow filled day.  The kind of cold that actually hurts you teeth when you go outside.  A wonderful day to reflect.

By changing diet, changing social situations I am finding out more and more about myself.  Today I realized that I love to write.  I also realize how much food affects my attitude.  I know that sounds funny but it is very true.  I hope by sharing this that someone out there finds the same thing.

In my classroom I have an aquarium of baby trout that are being raised and come April will eventually be released.  It is amazing to have watched them to go from eggs to babies.  Their blind faith in me to take care of them and their ability to not stress truly impresses me.

I am undergoing my violin lessons so that I finally learn well how to play that beautiful instrument.

I also enrolled in the National Academy of Sports Medicine Physical Training program.  I am three months from taking my physical trainer certification exam.

Yes, I am working on my doctorate in science education. Hard yes, but I am learning so much.

I am sharing this personal journey.  I pray this shows you that you are never too old and don't ever think you "can't" do anything.

I wish I had made a lot of better decisions in my long ago.  I am sorry for some of the heartaches I have received at the hands of others, but I am thankful that I was able to turn them into "directions" that God had for my life.

2014 is now 5 days old.  I pray you are working toward your goals and dreams whatever they might be so that you will have a truly wonderful year.

Handling dissappointments and bias

This is that wild time of year when playoffs happen.

In a year where I determined to blog daily as this was the year that instead of trying to change everyone and everything I decided to work wholly on myself.

I found out something very eye opening and that is how serious I take disappointments.  I cheer for a school (university) that is not in the lauded conference by the sports media as they know nothing else.  I am not sure if it is marketing dollars but I know it is not based on facts.

My team lost.  My stomach is still in knots and my jaw sore from the grinding of my teeth.  The game was close.  Sometimes this makes a game even harder to take.  Probably no different than when a team loses by one point.

I realized that the reason we didn't win and the reason for the lack of respect is that there are things that must be done better.  In a world that is full of "good" athletes, musicians, orators, writers, ect...sometimes you have to simply be better.

The lesson that it taught me was that it is even MORE necessary to be better.  There are athletes that are in the NFL that work hard and have a very rigorous schedule.  This is exactly what I started out with this year about going "through the fire".

Hard work, dedication and sweat.  We simply can not get away from that.

This is Jan 4th and my 4th day to blog.  I will be making many changes and I simply can not promise it will all be pretty.  What I can promise however, is that going through the fire will purify.  The dross will come off and the gold come forth.

It is time.

It's time to control emotions

My blog today will not be as long as the others.

Emotions.  In the past they have ruled my life.  Emotions cloud my judgement, affect what I say and cloud how I feel.

I went into school to get ready for my students as school is set to resume on Monday (unless snow occurs). 

It hit me personally how much I have let my emotions rather than sound judgement overtake me.

For those of you that think before you act and contemplate before you speak I envy you and I honestly covet your control.

As this revelation was hitting me and I noticed in the reflection in the computer screen that my eyes were wide eyed like a deer, I realized how much this has affected so much of my past.

The Bible declares that "he who rules his tongue, can rule a city".

Nuff said.

TAKE THE TIME TO CREATE THE LIFE YOU WANT ....2014 day TWO

Isn't it amazing what elements will try to hit you on all fronts when you make the decision to truly change yourself.

For some reason I feel like I am learning a lesson that I should have learned a long time ago.  It was my weakness in not being able to say no and my weakness in always caring what other people thought that has even brought me to this point. 

Don't get me wrong even though there was both pain and happiness I don't regret one moment of it because it made me who I am today.

It is obvious that if you want different results for your life, you have to do something different than you have ever done.

I came across a quote on facebook (which is a great place to go if you ever need lessons in philosophy, hahahaha).  The quote was "IF YOU DON'T TAKE THE TIME IN CREATING THE LIFE YOU WANT,  YOU WILL EVENTUALLY BE FORCED SPENDING YOUR TIME IN A LIFE YOU DON'T WANT". 

I am so emotional I always "thought" I knew what I wanted.  Sometimes it happened, sometimes it didn't. 

I learned that you can not make people love you and I also learned that God is totally in control.

What is standing between me and my goals for this year is an intense, blazing fire.  This is a fire of routine, a fire of apathy, a fire of fear of my own success.  Whenever I have tried to make changes before, I have made it as far as halfway through the fire, but never all the way THROUGH the fire to the otherside where my goal awaits. The pain that comes from change is never easy.

This is the year that I will change this.  I am the only one that can do this.  As I said in yesterday's blog..this is year is about working and changing me.  I can not change anyone else.  If I want to change my world, it has to begin with me.

As of January 2 2014 I wanted to state my first change.  Going Vegan.  I will not give my beginning statistics because there are too many numbers to fit on a page.  I am choosing vegan because the people look younger, have more energy and radiate the very health that I covet.

I already know at first it will be easy, exciting, I will be smiling and feeling great.  I also know as I step in the fire I will grimace, have a pounding headache and probably want to scream privately in the bathroom and grab the kitchen table screaming and yelling questioning what have I done to myself.

This much I do know, BEYOND a shadow of a doubt.  I know what I want to look like and I know chemically and nutritionally what it will take.  It is simply a matter of me doing it.  Because I am so opposite of where I need to be, yes the change will be drastic and I will account my journey on this blog.

I am only concerned in that this is not the only change I need to make in my life

Thank you God for guiding my life and even thought there was heartache, it was only Your way of guiding my life.  Protecting me in ways I do not even know.  Thank you for giving me the strength to not only go through the fire, but even as the 3 Hebrew children you are present with me while IN the fire.

This is Jamie and this is day two.......................

January 1....New Beginning...Again....

You know, sometimes there are things that simply can not be explained.  The path of life that you thought you wanted ended up not being at all what you planned.  Whether this is a "protective" measure or whether it is meant to be a "guiding" measure I can not answer.

In the great philosophical words of a former colleague but still a great friend of mine "I never let what I don't know affect what I do know".  What I do know is that my world is hurting.  People are wounded.  There is a great disparity in our economic caste and our educational system with no equity.  The media gets more tainted and more blatant with lies.  It is officially to the point where what is wrong is actually considered right.

I am blessed to have had both good and bad occur in my life because I believe that is what has formed me into what I am.  What is so funny is, I can not tell you how many times I have started something, only finding that I was not able to complete it.  How many mountains have I conquered only to find myself back at the very same mountain again.

This new year brings for some people resolutions, for some a desire to simply make it a better year than the year before.

I just need to let you know that I promise, this year...that I will work on myself.  This is the year that what was cloudy for me will now become clear.  As I work on issues that help make me sharper and more powerful I pray that this will bring me the boldness and the strength necessary to help address issues in our culture that need changing.

I can promise you this, there needs to be a lot more righteousness.

But all that can happen ONLY as I work on myself because that is where it has to begin....SO begins this blog...and so begins this year of discovery.

Jamie Quote for the day:  Work on yourself and everything else will fall into place.  Changes around you will only happen when you work on and change yourself.

Happy New Year to everybody, wherever this blog happens to find you.