On time! (barely)

Long slow exhale. whew. We actually got through the book in the 4 weeks planned, so everyone finished and completed their reflective projects by the Christmas holiday. "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time." It didn't look like it would be accomplished for a bit there, attention spans and the lure of an upcoming holiday being what they are. But they did it. It was great to have so many say, "I can't believe I actually finished it! It was so long!(223 pages)" or "This is the first book I actually finished! Well maybe the second." It feels good to have a group so unfamiliar with success in reading feel successful. They even expressed some great insight into the meaning of the book, some things I hadn't thought of.

Of course, intelligence and mental handicaps are a central theme, and they all responded to it in a thoughtful way. Many of them really see Christopher as a hero, and the world is the "crazy" one, not him. He's just a brilliant boy in a crazy world (and family), although he is eccentric. Time for a well earned break kids, enjoy the holiday and I'll see you next year! Peace

In Over My Head!

Unbelievably, my application to speak at the American Conference on Irish Studies National Conference next March was accepted! I am invited to present my research on Yeats in New Orleans. From the looks of the website, it's a pretty big deal, with some famous thinkers and artists attending. The working title of my paper is "The New Island: How W.B. Yeats invented Cyber-Space." I'm too surprised to even think about it more, but it should be a blast. Peace

There's No Place Like Home

I can't believe it, but it looks like I'm going to buy a house and become a real Bakersfield resident. Last week Grace and I went out looking at houses, and put in an offer on a house on our first day. I was always kind of freaked out about the responsibility of owning a house, but it feels right this time. The problem is that this is a short sale, that means that the owner couldn't pay his mortgage and the bank took his house away. Now I'm trying to buy it from the bank. It's hard to work with the bank, they are slow and sometimes they won't sell it and you don't know why. Grace and Dazzlyn will be super disappointed if we can't buy it.

This means I'm a central valley guy now. I never thought I would settle down in one place, but I guess it's time. I have a good job, and it's comfortable in Bako. I hope that wanderlust doesn't kick up again though!

On another topic, I got accepted to present a paper at the National American Conference on Irish Studies in New Orleans in March. I still can't believe it. The conference looks like a big deal, with lots of famous thinkers in the field, so I still feel like it must be a mistake that they let me in! I have to get working on my research again to come up with a big idea. My working title: "The New Island: How W.B. Yeats Invented Cyber-Space."
Peace