RIP Jean Bassett

I wrote about this incredible woman in my blog on November 27. This teacher has had cancer since September 2009. About two weeks ago, I learned that the tumors in her brain have grown and that she was in hospice care. I still thought she had about 2 more months to live because I know she is such a fighter. I learned a little later that she was in a wheelchair because she couldn't walk. I knew then that the end was near. I found out this afternoon that she passed away either this morning or last night. She was only about 50 years old. She has three kids that are a few years younger than my brothers and me. She was a 2nd grade teacher for a number of years. As I said in my first post about her, I met her through my internship. She was the first teacher I ever worked with. She is one of the reasons I remained in this profession. She gave me a book at the end of that year. I just pulled it out today and read the message she left me. "Shane, all through life, enjoy what you do and do what you enjoy!" -Mrs. Bassett. So simple yet so profound. The book she gave me is A Short Guide to a Happy Life by Anna Quindlen. I read it when she gave it to me. I'm going to read it again tonight or tomorrow. I have a simpler solution to life a happy life than this author does. Live the way Mrs. Bassett lived. I never saw her without a smile on her face. She had such a passion for everything she did. When I worked with her my senior year, I saw the love she had for each of her second graders. I know that when people die, people always say that he or she was an inspiration to everyone. Mrs. Bassett really was an inspiration to everyone! As stated previously, she fought for her life when she found out she had cancer. She didn't give up. She could have given up and died 4 years ago when she was diagnosed. She lived her life to the absolute fullest and then some. She cherished every moment spent with family and friends. I feel honored to have known her and worked with her. Her simple message will keep me fighting to get a teaching job because I know I will enjoy that. What's the point of life if you don't get to do what you enjoy? Thank you so much Mrs. Bassett for everything you have done. We have lost an amazing person way too soon. RIP.

Ideas

Where do ideas come from? How do authors come up with ideas for their books? I've always been told that you should write about what you know. That makes perfect sense. Why would someone write something about something they don't know? I guess they would do that if they were interested in researching a topic. Ideas come from life experiences. I came up with the idea for this blog post tonight while I was thinking about what to write. I came up with the idea to write about ideas. I know, I'm strange. I wrote two books about kids in school and a book about a grocery store because that's what I know. Everyone has their own ideas about many things. People get their ideas and opinions based on what they learn on a daily basis. That's where teachers come into play. Teachers teach topics that hopefully get kids' brains thinking. You have to tell people your ideas because you never know, you could have the idea for the next great book, invention, or you could come up with the perfect way to end the nations debt! If you think you have a great idea, don't be shy to let the world know it.

Cleaning

I started cleaning my room today. In May, we are getting new carpet in the rooms upstairs. Therefore, I need to take everything out of my room. The people who put the carpet in will move my furniture out of the room. However, everything needs to be removed from all of the furniture so that they aren't liable for anything. It's also easier for them to move everything if there is less in it. I guess it makes sense that I'm cleaning my room around Easter time. The dust bunnies in my room have great-great-grand bunnies. It's disgusting! I'm still sneezing many hours later. I only scratched the surface of what I need to do. I still have so much junk to look through. On the bright side, I get to go through my things and see what to keep and what to get rid of. I've decided that once I pack everything up, I'm moving out because I don't want to unpack it all in my room again. I'm kidding. I have no plans to move any time soon. I'll continue to clean my room and pack up my things during my week off. I can't think of anything else I'd rather be doing over my last break until summer!

Emotions

How many emotions do we go through on a daily basis? It's quite interesting when you think about it. You can be happy one minute, angry the next, and sad three minutes later. I'm guessing each person probably has dozens of emotions everyday. Happy, angry, mad, excited, shocked, nervous, anxious, thrilled, scared, overwhelmed, stressed, exuberant, etc. etc. etc. Unless you hold grudges, you typically aren't angry the entire day. If there was a death in the family, then you probably will be upset all day. It's okay to smile even if you are upset and grieving. I find it strange that we can go through all of these different emotions in a day. That makes for an exhausting day. You don't have to be physically tried to be drained. When you have many emotions throughout the day, you will be wiped out. When I do well in poker tournaments, I am exhausted when I'm done. Poker is mentally and emotionally draining. Emotions help decide how we make our decisions throughout a day. They are part of the reason we come home with no energy at night (unless we are kids!)

Energy

It's amazing how much energy little kids have. I see them come in to school running when they should be walking. They talk nonstop when you tell them not to. They are always bouncing around from place to place. They can hardly sit still. This goes for the older kids too. They seem to hit their burst of energy at the end of the day. In the morning, they drag themselves to school and go through the motions. After school during newspaper club, they are very noisy and full of energy! If I had half as much energy as these kids, I would probably get so much more work done than I already do. I wonder if they have this much energy at home. I'm guessing they do. What do their parents do when it's time to put them to bed? I think the younger kids run out of steam eventually and fall asleep. When I was a kid, I don't remember having that much energy. Maybe I did. I can't remember what I did yesterday. How am I supposed to remember 15-20 years ago? I'm pretty sure that when I get a teaching job that I'm happy with, I will be able to match, if not double the energy the kids have. They will be blown away by my enthusiasm for teaching. My goal is to get them the best possible education.

What Motivates You?

Tonight, I cannot answer that. I have no idea what motivates me right now. The more I apply for teaching jobs and never get a response back, the more frustrated I get. It makes me want to stop applying. Do I? Of course not. How do I keep going? I have no idea, I just do. I guess I'm intrinsically motivated to keep going somehow because I don't have a choice. I guess I could quit and give up. What good would that do me? Clearly I am too smart to give up my 5 and a half years of education to quit. How can I remain motivated when I never hear back after I apply somewhere? Can't you at least tell me no? Then I would have an answer. If I have had even one interview for a teaching job, I would be motivated to keep looking. If I had that interview, then I would know I'm close to being good enough to get a job. This time of the year, there are very few jobs to apply for. However, I still manage to get more and more frustrated each day. When will my big break come? I don't give up on teaching because I'm not a quitter. I keep fighting and pushing because that's all I know how to do. On a much lighter note, It's all my parents fault I can't get a job. If my mom had given birth to me maybe 4-5 years earlier, I'd more than likely have no problem getting a teaching job. Patience is running out. My big break needs to come soon!

No Internet

Last night, I didn't write in this blog because we didn't have Internet at home. I could have written on my cell phone using 3G. However, I have already used 65% of my data for the month. I only have 200MB of data allotted to me for each month. My paying period ends on April 9th. That means I have 2 weeks to only use up 35% of 200 MB. I don't want to go over or they will charge me a lot more! Therefore, I couldn't go on Facebook or play any of my games on my phone last night because I didn't want to use any data. I shockingly wasn't shaking from withdrawal without the Internet. My mom was another story. I woke up this morning (always a good thing) and there is still no Internet! I'm writing this blog at work. Shhhhh, don't tell anyone. I know I've said this before, but it's truly amazing how reliant we are on the Internet. My mom grew up without Internet. Now she can't live without it. Interesting... Maybe when I get home today, our cable/Internet company will have fixed the problem!