21 Sept 2016

 Thus begins the stream. 15 minutes of writing, with few to no stops, hoping to clear away dust on my brain, and maybe uncover some buried gems?

Had a hard time getting out of bed, this morning.. kept snoozing for 3 hours. Got me worried about getting my laundry done. Still, I got it started...

Headed off to tutor a friend, and had to resurrect my tutor's hat - lots of questions for the student, in the hope that they can construct a method for attacking the problems. there's a trade-off between being a "guide on the side" or a "sage on the stage". With the first, I can get very frustrated, but it's much harder to gauge where the student is at, with the second.

Hoping for the a-ha moment, tutoring, when some method clicks into the place, and seeing the student's confidence blossom as they begin to work the problems independently. Their method may not be exactly like my method, but I must be careful on passing judgements as to which works better...

all in all, i think the tutoring went well. i saw some progress, and that's always good.

found out that my second student of the day has been home sick this week, so they had to cancel. Some relief there, as I still have not got a great idea of tackling what sounds like their math anxiety. certainly, their math frustrations. This was good, though, as it gave me a chance to finish my laundry... my sheets were in desperate need of washing, stinking like they did of sweat and dirt...

Changed the washer/dryer loads, and went to eat at Buffet Palace. May have been spending money that could have been spent elsewhere, but i've feeling nutritionally deprived by my meals of late. I was craving veggies, but i ate sushi and fried foods instead. *sigh*

got home, and found that I had overloaded the dryer. Took out the clothes that did get dry, and restarted the cycle. Proceeded to hop on the laptop and crank out answers to 41 surface-probing questions. a little fun - been a bit since i've done one of those chain icebreaker posts.

then i went to an AA meeting, and chatted with an old AA friend. I had also been chatting with another friend before the meeting, while answering those questions. got home, and chatted with house mates. some level of connection felt in all that...

I did not have to work my regular jobs today, which was a welcome relief. I have been working at one or the other of the two, every day, since Monday, August 29. Ironically, that was my birthday. Unfortunately, the shifts have still been short, and I've been too exhausted to prepare my own food, so I've been eating out at the cheap Mexican restaurant, Arranda's, quite a bit. I'm making some headway on my back rent, but not quite as fast as I'd like. ...and a past due credit card has been calling me, incessantly. It even interrupted that first student's tutoring session today.

Yes, I would like a job that pays more than $10 per hour, and has a flexible schedule. I imagine I could make ends meet at $20 per hour, 24 hours per week... It would be very nice to keep my board gaming alive and well, and maybe some role-playing games, too...

I told myself, write for 15 minutes, but the timer went off, two paragraphs ago. So, I will stop now, and see what happens when I publish this...