As of about 8 PM EST last Thursday, I’ve been living the Summer Break Lifestyle. Other than camp and lessons, I’ve been enjoying a much more leisurely pace of living.
Summer is already filling up fast. While the first week of Minecraft Camp is in the books, I have another session next week. I’m attempting to run my Rock ‘n’ Roll Camp for the second year, but as of the time of writing, it looks like I might just have one student, so that may get axed.
Nevertheless, it’s a good time to knock out some projects, especially when I wrap up camps. I’m hoping to get back—finally!—to wrapping up the first volume of my Sunday Doodles book, which will go through the first fifty editions of the feature (over at my SubscribeStar page). Indeed, I may do the first 100 editions, as I am currently at 144. That will require more editing, but will make for a beefier book.
It’s also time to get cracking on some short stories. I’ve been sitting on one story about a guy who eats an undercooked frozen pizza with bizarre consequences; now I need to write it!
With that, here is 8 June 2021’s “Summertime Schedule Begins“:
After a long school year and a whirlwind trip to Universal Studios, I am finally settling into my summertime schedule. My History of Conservative Thought course did not “make” this summer, as I only had one student enroll (the course really needs a minimum of three students to work well), but my dance card is full enough with lessons and other obligations and engagements.
Next week I’ll be running my first ever “Rock and Roll Camp” at my little school. It will essentially be a condensed version of the Music Ensemble class I run throughout the school year, squeezed into four three-hour days. The plan is to end the final day with a short concert. I’m waiting to hear back on who is enrolled and what kind of instrumentation we have, as that will determine the song selections, but I think it will should be a fun camp.
After that it’s the return of Minecraft Camp, a perennial favorite. At last count I have either ten or eleven campers signed up for that camp, which is quite good. Minecraft Camp is the most lucrative camp of the summer, and accounts for a good chunk of my supplemental income this time of year. I missed out on it last year, as I was very sick, so here’s hoping I’m good to go this summer.
Otherwise, it’s a pretty full schedule of lessons on Mondays and Tuesdays. Once everything is cranking at full speed, I’ll have between eight and ten students in any given week, including my nearly-six-year-old niece. One of my long-time students, a talented composer, only does lessons twice a month. One of my new piano students will do two days of lessons every other week, to coincide with when she is at her mother’s house (the one with the keyboard). Suffice it to say that some Mondays I will have at least six students.
I’ll also have more time to dedicate to Lamar Town Council, and hope to work more closely and regularly with our police chief. We’re still attempting to hire police officers, but the county’s Sheriff office is helping to cover some of our weekend shifts, which helps in the meantime.
Finally, I’ll be doing much more writing (including catching up on posts from this past weekend). My hope is to get a one-week lead of posts filed on the blog, and then to shift over to writing some short stories.
That’s it for now. After several days of updates, I’ll be getting back to, you know, actual content tomorrow. It’s amazing how leaving town for a few days can throw everything out of balance, so I’m looking forward to establishing a routine this summer. Hopefully it will be restful, but productive.
—TPP
The Portly Politico 
Maybe Off Topic but, uh, any Murph stories?
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I’m going to do a piece on Murphy next week. Her birthday is 15 June! She’ll be 9.
She is doing well. When I left her this morning she was lounging like a queen on the sofa, propped up on throw pillows. She’s getting a big bath tomorrow at Petco from our favorite groomer, Cassidy, and I will probably get her one of those dog birthday cakes, haha.
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Short stories are great. You can write about literally anything and make them interesting. Audre did a segment on short stories a few weeks ago where each of you writes a sentence following on from the previous post and they can work too – in fact, that’s a tool I used in my teaching days. Unfortunately, Audre and I were the only ones who engaged with it. Though this site and Neo gets a lot of readers, it would be great if some more of them could join us on the comments too. We could get a really good, broad conversation going.
I’m currently writing number 5 by the way. I should be out in the sun at the moment carrying on with the gardening but I’m trying to give my arm a break – I have an ugly whelk the size of a golf ball growing near my elbow; it’s so large, it looks like my arm is broken at the elbow. Uncomfortable and still in the process of being treated.
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Have you gone to the doctor???
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No because I know what it is. Hot water to bring out the infection and savlon at proper intervals. I should be able to squeeze that bad boy at some point soon. It’s like having an annoying relative stuck to your arm! 🙂
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Yikes! Glad you know the course of treatment for your gnarly boil, Ponty.
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Send me the link to that one-sentence-at-a-time short story project, and I will definitely contribute. I must’ve missed it!
Yikes! Sorry about whelk. Gulp! Get well soon.
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I think Audre can probably link it in. I’m sure it was for one of her Random Observations but I can’t remember how long ago it was; maybe a few weeks?
It’s quite fun, moving the narrative in different ways, through different mediums. I thought it was a fun ice breaker when I started teaching English but the heads don’t like that sort of thing – creativity and all. ;\
Thanks. It will get better eventually. At the moment, it’s a small red Vesuvius close to my elbow. The annoying thing is I lean there when I’m writing or sitting down (that’s how it erupted in the first place) so I’m having to change my habits. Grrrr! 🙂
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Laughing out loud! You do have a way with words, lol.
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I’m having great fun at the moment writing my number 5. Unfortunately, it’s bringing back memories! Noooooo! 🙂
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LOVE that! You’re a good doggy daddy.
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Haha, thanks, Audre! I try. I’m looking forward to her getting a good bath tomorrow—just not getting her there at 7:45 AM! But that’s when my girl had available, and she’s good. She also shares my love of horror flicks and Universal Studios, so it’s always fun to talk to her.
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Mwahahahahaha! Can’t wait to read it.
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He’s a poet of puss, as it were.
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Off topic.
As I was doing the washing up and Tina and I decided what we are eating tonight, my mind obviously drifted off to food. I wondered what I might go for if I turned up at the pub starving and was offered a choice between bangers, mash and gravy or shortcrust chicken pie, mash and gravy, two of my favourite meals. I surmised to Tina that it’d be ace if you could have a pie with proper sausages cooked inside, buttery mash and gravy, even throwing in the idea that you could put bacon in it as well. Tina said she’ll try that for me.
Ah, I’m blessed. This one’s a keeper! 🙂 🙂 🙂
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Wow! Keep us posted!
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I will. She’s even talking about putting cheese in it now! Cheese and bacon and sausage in a pie. She’s perfect, just absolutely perfect! I’m going to marry her, you know, and not only because she cooks my dream concoctions! 🙂
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Yeah, dude, put an onion ring on that finger ASAP!
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Ooooh, baby… sounds succulent.
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