New Summer Plans?

So I learned today that my summer plans will likely be drastically different than I had anticipated. I was informed that my former temporary summer employer was going to be unable to bring me back this year. What consequences does this have?

This means that if I am not able to find either a new, full-time position by June 10th or something for the summer at the least, I will be on unemplyment. This does open me up to far greater job search/job search travelling possibilities, so in that much I am excited. It will also give me a greatly needed chance to investigate grad school further and have actual meetings. To sum up the situation, I guess I would say that I am far more excited about the positive possibilities this creates for me than otherwise. Maybe, just maybe, I might actually get to work on a real website of my own...

I would like the chance to travel more, and if I had an opportunity this summer I would certainly take it. So far 2010 has been quite woeful in terms of travelling compared to 2009 (which I think holds the record, so it may be unfair to hold it against).

In other news, a little over a week in and with a month to go, I am greatly enjoying my new reponsibilities at work. I truly appreciate the consistancy, which is a positive departure from the normal subbing scene. It's great to work with an old-time acquaintance in the last month of her career before she retires happy. I enjoy the kids everyday, and I am not lying. They may be smart-mouths some days, they may challenge me, confuse me, and sometimes get me irritated. Through it all, they can and do continually make my day better. Life has many challenges, especially if you are a kid in a sometimes disadvantaged situation with no outlet for his/her emotions. For the past several months I am beginning to see the 5th graders begin that awkward emotional and psychological stage a young person enters as they prepare to leave one "age group", and graduate to another. Middle school awaits them and they can sense their time as "true" kids is vanishing fast (as so often does in our times, children become adults sooner and sooner). They will certainly have that stage as they leave the eigth grade for their freshman year of high school. They will have an even more prominant stage in their fading months of being a senior in high school. For some, (hopefully more than not) college will lie ahead. For others, the workplace will be their destinations for the time being. You may say, "Pete, that's a decade away!", well trust me my friends that decade goes by far faster than any of us EVER concieved. Hold fast to your youthful spirits, they may be what keeps you sane the rest of your life.

Come June 11, I will truly miss these kids.

Oh, and on a side note, I have now been a college graduate for three years. How scary of a realization is that!

Goodnight, and few good tunes from the Kenny Wayne Shepherd Band to send you home...