| Favorite Journals (All links open in a new window.) Abeyance - Doesn't everyone think there is something else out there, something that will make their lives grand and exquisite and perfect in every way? Not necessarily the dream job or all the money in the world or a soaking wet Mr. Darcy greeting you at the door when you get home. I'm talking about an active pursuit, something that fills your soul, satisfies you to the core, something intangible, undefinable. (con'd...) Anyone's Any - Excerpt coming soon. Bad Hair Days - Excerpt coming soon. Celluloid Eyes - I feel like there's a story somewhere in here, in stuff that's been happening lately, but I can't tell exactly what that story is because I need to see the next plot point first. I have no idea when the next plot point will occur. You know, my life would be a lot easier and happier and cooler and more normal if I would stop viewing it as though it were a screenplay in progress. This is not a movie, Jette. This is a life. (con'd...) Change Over Time - I swear that you need combined degrees in psychology, sociology, civil engineering, and astrology to figure out how to arrange kids in new combinations. There are so many things to keep track of - which kids work well together and which don't, who needs to be close to the front of the room and who doesn't, who would be kind to Beatriz rather than make fun of her speech impediment, who would get Pascual all riled up and who would calm him down, which pairs of kids have already been together and which haven't - along with making sure there's a mix of gender and academic ability and race and grade level (fifth versus sixth) at each group. (con'd...) Cutting through Fluff - Got a new toy! It was a . . . Palm, which should serve to satisfy any geekiness yearnings I may experience while on vacation next month. I've been whining to anyone and everyone about how deprived I'll be without a computer while doing the "Total Tronna Experience." I even asked my boss if I could use his laptop and got this response: "Get a grip! There's life outside of computers." Is there really? Not in my realm of existence. I swear e-mail is my lifeline, whether it be support groups, discussion lists or newsletters. I'm an information junkie -- can't get enough of it. And the Internet has become such a natural extension of almost everything I do, both at work and play. Give me a search engine and stand back people. (con'd...) Epiphany in Baltimore - One of my favorite aspects of teaching is channeling students' unique, unabashed personalities and opinions into thoughtful, clearly expressed ideas and well-defended arguments in their writing and speaking. I need to incorporate more class discussions in order to achieve this. If literature is taught in a way that promotes understanding without murdering pleasure, it can charge our senses and prompt conversations about ethics, race, gender, history, and culture. I hope that eventually my classroom truly does this. (con'd...) Footnotes - One of the drawbacks of falling in love in midlife is the wistful [and utterly futile] feeling that washes over you, occasionally, of Having Missed Something Important. It's a little bit like walking into a movie theater twenty minutes into the main feature: you've missed the opening credits, the storyline is already unfolding ... and even if you bribe the projectionist, he isn't going to stop and rewind the film just for *you.* Discovering your heart's one true love -- at the same time you're discovering gray hair in unspeakable places -- means that you'll never know what your Significant[ly Older] Other was like when they were in the full bloom of youth. (con'd...) Guileless - My hands are traitors, turncoats, the little Benedict Arnolds of my anatomy. They're unruly little bastards and never seem to behave. But I'm working on them. Maybe someday they'll actually do what I tell them to. (con'd...) Iridescent Dreams - Every person has a talent, whether it is being able to give someone a warm hug to being a nuclear physicist (yes that is a talent!!). Its just taking the time to explore and discover who you are and what you can do. No one said that life is easy or that it comes easily to most. Sure we are all envious of those people who decide to do something and are fantastic at it on their first try, but those people also do not know the satisfaction of struggling to learn something and the total satisfaction that occurs when we achieved the unachievable. (con'd...) Jen Fu - excerpt coming soon  Mawomba - Excerpt to come soon Nobody Knows Anything - Excerpt coming soon. (I'm so excited to find out that she's back! Hers was really the first journal I found, and I immediately found one of her entries that all journalists could relate to.) Notes to Myself - excerpt coming soon. Perspicacious - Somtimes everything is right in front of us and we refuse to see it. Blindness comes in many forms, I suppose. Today my eyes were opened in a number of ways. Primarily, and most importantly, they were opened to the rhythm of the world around me. (con'd...) Planning a Sky - This is the first day of my thirtieth year. Everyone keeps saying that this is when it all starts - this is when it really gets good. Ten years ago I never would have believed them, but now it's much easier. It helps that I have a life filled with women who have crossed the milestone before me, and who are now turning back around to show me that this is, indeed, just the beginning. Again, as I have said before: I feel like I'm just waking up. (con'd...) Random Rain - Although I remember little blinks of events, fleeting photos of people and things in my mind, that happened before that day, I always think of my earliest memory as Danny and that hot summer day. It was the first time I'd ever seen a dead person. It was the first time I ever saw my mother cry. (con'd...) Sense of Non - It wasn't until I turned ten years old that my Duchess leaped out of my dreams into spectacular reality. My parents successfully purchased an abandoned Victorian farm house, built around the turn of the century. I wouldn't care until later that the house did not have any indoor plumbing and that the only source of heat was a beat-up wood stove. All I cared about was my father had promised if we ever moved onto some acreage, I could have my heart's desire, and this old place came with its very own pasture - perfect for an Appaloosa mare named Duchess. (con'd...)  - I was in this van with these 4 guys that I've never seen in my life. I think one of their names was Sam. And the whole back of the car was filled with soup and I was down on the floor, slurping it up with my mouth.(con'd...)Supposedly Sane - Excerpt coming soon Sweet as a Biscuit - This is, of course, idiotic, but it's all part of my personality. So much comes easy to me that if it suddenly doesn't, then I give up immediately. I have, as I have said before, quite a sense of entitlement, which means that I am under the impression that I am a person who does not fail or do things badly ever, unless, you know, I can tell an amusing story about it. (con'd...) TranceJen - Closet monsters prey on adults, because adults are meaty, tasty, and fatty; and also because they are dumb enough to leave the door open out of pure ignorance and a feeling of superiority. Adults sleep with legs and arms hanging haphazardly off of the bed. Adults leave closet doors open wide all night long. Some adults truly believe that monsters are not real, and therefore leave themselves open to the worst kind of cruel carnage. Not this sucker. No way. (con'd...) Wondering in Aliceland - Personally. I'm a little torn about exactly what I want in life. I'd like to always be able to say "no regrets". But I get a little caught up in precisely what that means. Does it mean that I should live for now, leaving no desire unquenched, and thus not have regrets about the things I failed to do? Or that I should live for tomorrow, making choices that cannot allow me to regret doing things that I should not have done? (con'd...) 50 Degrees North - Shapes formed and reformed in seconds. I watched an angel become a dove become a sweeping crescent moon. I watched a flower bloom and become a cresting wave. The shapes pulsed and throbbed, a vortex of movement and color directly over our house. [p] Wave after wave of light showered over the night sky. We considered driving out of the city to find darker skies, but it was late and I was cold. Besides, I was spellbound by the sky above me, and didn't want to miss a second. (con'd...) Journal Reviews The Real Diary Critic The Peer Review Miscellaneous Teaching - an online venue for teachers and teachers-to-be Favorite Journal/Diary Rings and Collaborations (*disclaimer - I am not necessarily a part of these, but I do enjoy reading them.) On Display - focus on strong writing skills, followed closely by design The Word Goddess Ring - for women with online journals that, besides their journalistic content, show a certain flair & knowledge of html If... Project - monthly questions to examine thoughts, memories, values, and beliefs I am a member of Random Acts of Journaling and Recently Received and Dear X 
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