I hardly give it a thoughtuntil my wife heads out of the housewith a tub of red vines for the drum line info table where herstudents will entice the 9th gradersinto joining indoor percussion. Then, I give it a thought. This is the fourth school yearin a row that I have not reportedback to workContinue reading “#588: On Not Going Back to the Schoolhouse on the First Day of School for the 4th Year In a Row”
Tag Archives: retirement
On Finding a Routine
Embarrassment of riches: retired guy has enough time on his hands to do any thing he wants, has a list of such things at the ready, and yet, some of the things he wants to do he doesn’t do–or, more accurately, doesn’t do enough of to satisfy his own self-critical assessment of his productivity. HeContinue reading “On Finding a Routine”
On the Third Day of 2025. . .
. . . I rose again out of bed and came downstairs to begin the day. I found my way to the meditation cushion this morning, but circuitously and late. One of my projects for myself post retirement (going on the third straight year and still not yet mastered) is the development of a routine,Continue reading “On the Third Day of 2025. . .”
#493: On Approaching Two Years of Retirement
It’s not all gravy. I mean, there’s a lot of gravy,but it’s lumpy in spots, maybe too salty here and there. I have yet to develop a routine, for example. I meander into each day, like a drifter in my own life. I have more time to think about pain, where its coming from,what aggravatesContinue reading “#493: On Approaching Two Years of Retirement”
#491: Some days you just don’t want to write . . .
I Some days you just don’t want to write. You get up and you try to meditate,but something is wrong with your dog and sheis harassing you non-stop while you sitand you find yourself angry, cursing inbetween deep breaths in and out. And the promptfor today is uninspiring, the list of brainstorms you made for sonnets runsContinue reading “#491: Some days you just don’t want to write . . .”
Mindfulness in 2023: A Reflection
It has been five years since I have written one of these end-of-the-year reflections. I’m coming into this one after rereading what I wrote in 2018. In the intervening half a decade, I must have been just too overwhelmed by COVID and the ending of a career in education to be bothered to do aContinue reading “Mindfulness in 2023: A Reflection”
#468: My first year out of a long steady job . . .
If my memory serves me on this lovely spring morning (finally!) I have prefaced almost every single one of my (so far) 27 sonnets for the month of April with a little bit of prose–some context, some notes about process, some observations about the craft of sonneteering. Today, I may have some notes on thisContinue reading “#468: My first year out of a long steady job . . .”
#459: However, there are things I truly miss . . .
Here’s the second poem in today’s sonnet trilogy. (II) However, there are things I truly miss.Not the rat race of it, the perpetualFrantic pace, the bureaucratic bullshit,Pendulum swing of best schoolhouse practice; Not the bells of it, slaving to schedules, clocks,And calendars, the battle between plansAnd grades, always decisions about whatTo neglect out of pure necessity; NotContinue reading “#459: However, there are things I truly miss . . .”
How I Know I Need To Start Meditating Again
It has been almost a year since the last time I meditated on a regular basis, or frankly, at all. In my last year of teaching, in the same school I taught at for 32 years, in the first year back to in-person learning after the COVID-19 shut down, a group of teachers and administratorsContinue reading “How I Know I Need To Start Meditating Again”
Who’s Counting? Another One
Once more with feeling. Do that to me one more time. Once over. Once bitten. Last time around. Last dance. That Morrissey lyric: “This is the last song I will ever sing. No, I’ve changed my mind again. Goodnight, and thank you.” I’m not changing my mind. It’s too late for that noise. Babe, I’mContinue reading “Who’s Counting? Another One”
michael jarmer 