Alfred A. Montapert
So this is my first blog entry. And I have to apologize in advance. I may update sporadically, I may abandon this out of the blue, or I may just keep going. I'm not sure which would be worse. I'm guessing most people's first blogs are far more interesting than this one. I'm not going to go through the process of introducing myself right now. Anyone reading this who doesn't already know me can get to know part of me through reading what I write, the rest will follow.
I've never blogged before, but I recently re-read a diary I had religiously kept for 2 years about 10 years ago, and I barely recognized myself in the words I had written. I'm a very different person than I once was, and still I'm constantly in motion. What I'm hoping is that I can continue to make progress, hence the title of the blog.
So, what movement has there been today. I instructed a class across town this afternoon. My job is about 50% instructing, and I love it. I trained as a teacher many years ago, but the job itself didn't suit me.In the time I spent since then I took every available opportunity to be involved in development, but not until the last year did I decide to focus on it full time. So I get to stand up in front of classes and train people in their jobs, both knowledge and skills, and the rest of the time I get to design training solutions. Teaching is tiring, for those of you who don't know this. I never realized it until I did it. It takes a lot of energy out of you to convey messages with high enthusiasm, in order to convey that interest to the listener. Those great teachers we had, the ones that we could see that loved their subject, and taught with energy, they went home tired at the end of the day. I can't claim I'm teaching anything that gives quite as much job-satisfaction as helping children acquire knowledge, but I still get a lot of job satisfaction out of it.
The other great bonus of teaching today is that I had the time to read on the way there and back. I don't have a car, I don't need one with my lifestyle, and I can always rent for a weekend trip or whatever. So I take the train to quite a lot of my teaching sessions. I'm travelling against the peak flow, so I don't have to worry about not getting a seat, so I can sit and read, or listen to music, or both, peacefully. Today I was reading "Her Fearful Symmetry" by Audrey Niffenegger - she of "The Time Traveller's Wife" fame, a book that I loved. This one has me hooked, but it has sat around in my bag for a few weeks, and I had forgotten how much I was enjoying it. It is set in London, a city I once vowed I'd never live in, one that intimacy had bred contempt for. I've been away from England long enough that I'm filled with possibly a misconceived notion that I would enjoy it more than I would have once thought, and books like this certainly make it easier to love.
So now you know two things about me - I read and I teach. I'll add one more, because I haven't quite run out of steam yet. I play computer games. I've done this most of my life, and when I started it used to be unusual for a girl, or at least the girls I knew. Now I know plenty of females who game. I currently spend a big chunk of my free time playing a MMO (massively multiplayer online game), which I have done on and off for the last 3 years. Ironically my significant other also plays computer games a lot, but different ones - he doesn't play MMOs. I'm blogging while I'm logged into Lord of the Rings Online (LOTRO) - which is the MMO I play, and I'm not "doing" anything, but I'm sitting watching people I know and people I don't know chat away, and watching in case someone wants my help doing anything. MMOs often get a bad press from those who don't play them, although this is nothing compared to the bad press that they get from some who do play. I got into playing LOTRO because it was set in this world that I had lived in through books and later films, and I got the chance to spend some of my life there. Now, I have got to know some of the other people who spend time there, and I count a number of them as good friends. I used to sometimes be embarrassed by this, that my friends somehow existed virtually, the same way some people get embarrassed about meeting their significant other on a dating site. The fact is, these people are real, and I'm communicating with them, and we are sharing our lives, and I'm proud to count some of them as my friends.
Anyway, now I'm finally running out of steam, so time to answer my 4 questions, and then I will leave you all alone for a bit.
What currently has my attention?
Given I'm not living in the UK any more, and have no plans to return in the near future, and I'm not an amazingly political person, the current UK election has me strangely fascinated. There are 2 new things - live TV debates for the first time, and the "3rd party" is actually in second place in the polls. It has the makings of a bit of a change from the past, and that interests me.
What is currently annoying me?
I'm currently in a sort of a fight with the SO about golf. He golfs, and I don't, which isn't a problem for me. What is a problem is when we have lovely weather, and we can't do something at a weekend because he is golfing.
What am I looking forward to?
We are going back to England for a vacation at the beginning of June. It is going to be in a cottage with the rest of my family - mum & dad, brother and sister and assorted spouses and nieces and nephews. For some reason I was thinking a lot about it today.
What did I learn today?
This one is easy - I learnt how to blog.
So long for now
Jo
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