It is now February, and interesting time of year on the road and in the classroom. I'm placed in 11th and 12th grade AVID and U.S. Government classes, respectively, and couldn't be more excited to start the year. But alas, the year has started, and I have not been able to teach yet. And like those awkward moments at the start line, waiting for the gun to crack/whistle to blow, the more time you wait, the more the nerves grow.
I've always enjoyed being thrown into a challenge completely unprepared, more or less. One of the things about mental toughness, you really have to familiarize yourself with feelings of being uncomfortable. Individual progress, on the road or in the classroom, only occurrs when you push yourself through moments of discomfort, confusion, stress and even pain. Being stuck in the chair in the back of the room, with 35 students starring at you, wondering who you are...well, it's not ideal.
Howard Zinn has passed on. There really isn't much more to be said other than the simple fact that humanity has lost a person who truly cared about people, and who wanted to make the world a better place. I'm very excited for his last major work, a DVD based off of 'A People's History' to be released.
Training and studying have been going well. I haven't stopped reading, not once. More recently, I've been able to finish up Ed Blum's book 'Reforging the White Republic.' I miss him as a professor; quality human with funny jokes and amazing research.
As far as the open road, the long training miles with some close friends have brought me to a fitness level that I couldn't imagine...unfortunately, that fitness level is not good enough. Must. Ride. More. The first real collegiate racing of the year kicks off this Saturday and Sunday with the UCSD Boulevard Road Race on Saturday followed by our Red Trolley Criterium on Super Bowl Sunday. It'll be nice to see how I've progressed.
Pacelining out in Borrego, repin' the Aztecs.
No comments:
Post a Comment