Saturday, July 5, 2008

More Speeches - Have Mercy!

Today I gave up four hours of my Saturday to work on preparing nine students for a big speech competition. Four tortuous hours of listening to more speeches, on top of the six hours I spent doing almost the same thing yesterday! The difference was, today I was not grading students. I was instead teaching them how to pronounce words properly, coming up with cute gestures to make their speeches more entertaining, etc. And guess what - I'm doing the same thing next Saturday! I'm wondering if Xanax will help...

When I got home, I dedicated some time to packing for my Philippines vacation. I leave in three weeks, but I'm going to be so busy over the next few weeks that I decided it would be wise to get some of the packing done early. Thanks to my wonderful parents, who mercifully sent me a package of clothes from home, I now have some nice summer things for my trip (and for now, as well). Since I've lost weight, none of the pants that I brought with me fit anymore, so I was getting worried! It's wonderful to once again have some clothes that fit!

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"Passage—immediate passage! the blood burns in my veins! Away, O soul! hoist instantly the anchor!
Cut the hawsers—haul out—shake out every sail!
Have we not stood here like trees in the ground long enough?
Have we not grovell’d here long enough, eating and drinking like mere brutes?
Have we not darken’d and dazed ourselves with books long enough?

Sail forth! steer for the deep waters only!
Reckless, O soul, exploring, I with thee, and thou with me;
For we are bound where mariner has not yet dared to go, And we will risk the ship, ourselves and all.

O my brave soul!
O farther, farther sail!
O daring joy, but safe! Are they not all the seas of God?
O farther, farther, farther sail!"

~Walt Whitman, "Passage to India"