Well, here we are again—another summer vacation, which means another school year in the books.  This past academic year was not nearly as taxing as the one that came before, but I am always amazed by how exhausting teaching can be, even though I have lived it for over fifteen years now.  March through May are always a mad dash, and then—as I have noted many times before—everything just… stops.

Not precisely, though.  I’ll do my annual Minecraft Camp next week.  Dr. Fiancée and I are also in the depths of wedding planning.  And I am looking forward to my annual visit to Indianapolis to see my older brother.

Every year I think about what I will do with the time, and every year I find that I fail to meet the breadth of my ambitions.  I do want to put in some more work on Offensive Poems: With Pictures, as I think that could be a fun project and might actually move some copies.  Otherwise, I’ll do some more digital composing.

One thing I am looking forward to is the return of the afternoon nap.  Goodness, how I love a good siesta!

With that, here is 30 May 2024’s “TBT^2: Summertime Schedule Begins“:

Not to rub it in or anything, dear readers, but today marks the first true day of my summer vacation.  Who knows how I’ve started this auspicious day?  Perhaps I lounged decadently while sipping coffee.  Perhaps my dog is licking my feet.  Maybe I’m still asleep—gasp!

Well, it’s an interesting little dip here—this extended weekend, of sorts, before I start my summer camps next week.  I always relish this transitory moment before camps begin, as it’s a good chance to decompress.

Whatever I end up doing, maybe I’ll finally get some work done on my planned third book, Offensive Poetry: With Pictures.  I largely abandoned the Sunday Doodles book, but perhaps I should revive that old chestnut, too.  I’ve got all summer to figure it out—mwahahahahaha!

With that, here is 9 June 2022’s “TBT: Summertime Schedule Begins“:

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.