moving forward

Writing the first drafts of my syllabi today as the primary focus/goal for the day. The morning was spent at a music class with Petra, the second to last of such an educational series. She's really starting to get the hang of group activities with other kids her age, so it's kind of a shame that we're probably not going to continue with the music class even after we return from our US visit (coming up very soon).

There's going to be a lot of changes for the next school semester starting in September, my first two classes to be taught literally an hour after our scheduled arrival at the airport for one. Then I'll be teaching four more classes the next two days, and that's my teaching load every week until end of December. I fluctuate between feeling stressed/excited/grumpy/challenged/interested/clueless/panicky/competent pretty much across all the ranges within an hour on the hour when I consider all the work that must still be done. Feeling like a not-obvious-until-it-becomes-obvious freak in Taiwanese society gives an extra pop to this particular emotional bouquet.

Stay calm and keep scheduling...

Still wondering how childcare for Petra is going to work out. Also, this will (it better) change my sleeping habits so I won't feel so tired and strain my eye so constantly during daytime.

c'est la vie

Tried to swim this morning after a long hiatus. Arrived at the gym entrance to find everything closed for maintenance until 13:00. This is after I forced myself to get up from bed instead of sleeping in, motivating myself with how much more worthwhile 30 minutes or so of exercise would be, and debating for 10 minutes in my head about whether I should run (since it's not blisteringly hot and muggy today) or swim, as I only had time for one or the other. Decided to swim in the morning.

Is this an example of irony? Allegory of my life choices? Either things seem tinged with regret and disappointment.