Texting Trouble

So, seven weeks into my dating relationship, I have learned a few things. Not many things, but a few. One thing I am POSITIVELY sure of is this: texting fosters arguments.

Really, texting is the main source of conflict in my relationship. And the bad thing is, neither of us intend to cause conflict when we text. I'm convinced the trouble is with the mode of communication.

The miscommunication usually occurs when we're discussing something serious. We never have a problem when it's light chit-chat. But when it's serious, there often are two or three or even four ways that the receiver can interpret a text. For some strange reason, the receiver tends to interpret it in a negative light. "Huh? What do you mean you don't know? You must not care about me AT ALL!" Then it's hard for the sender to straighten it out, because usually the sender has no idea where his/her text went wrong.

Another problem with texting is the time lag. So say my boyfriend asks me something serious, and I shoot off an answer. Then maybe he doesn't text me back for 15 minutes. I'm thinking, "Did I just seriously offend him? Does he think I'm an idiot? Why doesn't he answer me!" Then I get more and more anxious until I get another text.

Well, I got really tired of it. Really tired. I got so tired of it, that I told him how it made me feel, and we agreed not to discuss anything important by text messaging. If I feel like I'm getting anxious and confused, I ask him to put off the conversation until we can talk by phone or in person. When we talk about it that way, it's a whole lot easier to catch any miscommunication before someone's (usually mine) feelings get hurt.

What do you think? Does texting cause problems in your relationships, or does it work for you?

Last Days of Freedom

Here I am again, whiling the last days of summer plumb away. I have five more days of freedom.

So, you ask, what are you going to do with your five days of freedom? (Well, if you didn't ask, I'll just pretend you did.) And I answer this way:

1. I'm going to see my boyfriend. Yes, I have one now, and yes, it is still kinda new to me, but really awesome.
2. I'm going to work in my classroom. I am teaching at a new school this year, and there is a lot to do to get it together. So, yeah, I'm going to spend some of my last days of freedom working. :(
3. I'm going to sleep late. I don't know what else to say about that. I hate getting up at 5:30 and that is what I'm going to have to do for the next nine months. I must take this last opportunity to sleep in.
4. I'm going to make a really awesome slide show about myself that I can show to my students. I might have to make stuff up.
5. I might join a gym. A friend has been bugging me about it for weeks, and I really need to. I might then have the motivation to actually exercise.

Is there anything else I really oughta do?

Neat Boxes

Being human is, above all, massively confusing.

I feel like my life should be neat and well-ordered, but like my shoe rack, it seldom ever is. Just when I have things packaged into labeled Rubbermaid tubs, something comes along that defies my labeling system.

I used to think that these quirks were outliers, events that had no bearing on the direction of my life, events that could be ignored or tossed aside. But as I get older, I realize that these quirks come along on a fairly regular basis.

So here I am, repackaging my life for the dozenth time. Guess I won't pack it too tightly.

By the way, I have internet service again. (Yay!) Maybe I will do a better job at keeping up with my blog now.

Random Blog Topic Generator

I'm sitting here at the coffee shop, feeling bored because Hannah is filling out job applications online, and I have checked, rechecked, and triple-checked my facebook.

In order to have a topic to write about, I had to use a random topic generator. I found it on this web site: http://www.blogtap.net/blogtopicgenerator/ . (Warning: the page has a horrible design.) Here is the topic I was given: "Favorite Type of Dog." Favorite type of dog? No way! That is the most boring topic ever! Let's try again.

Next topic: "Italian Art." OK, wasn't Michaelangelo Italian? And did he paint the Sistine Chapel? And that other Teenage Mutant Turtle, Leonardo, he painted a woman who people say is smiling, but she isn't smiling very much, in my opinion. That's all I know about Italian art. Let's try again.

"Making Up Lost Time" is the next random topic. How does one make up for lost time? Is that even possible? I try to make up for lost time fairly often, but I usually just get mad at myself and stop talking to myself for the rest of the day.

How do I waste time? It varies. Right now is a good example. The internet offers innumerable ways to waste time. Television is similar. In either case, I might not be very interested in what I am viewing, but I don't want to bother doing anything else.

In fact, I believe the main reason I waste time is that there is something I am supposed to be doing that I really really really^2 don't want to do. Things like cleaning the bathroom, flossing my teeth, and writing lesson plans fall into this category. These tasks are so unattractive to me that I would rather watch "Doc Hollywood" on TVGN, even with the commercials.

In conclusion, lost time can never be made up. A person can only make wiser decisions in the future. And don't skip the floss.

Christmas Vacation

Christmas vacation is the best vacation of the year, because it is too short to do anything really productive, but long enough to feel relaxing. And since it's in the dead of winter, I don't feel bad about sleeping late and doing nothing. Still, I managed to do a few things.

• I attended two family Christmases: one with my dad's family, and one with my mom's family.
• I participated in my church's Christmas program.
• I ALMOST finished the dress I started sewing before Thanksgiving.
• I paid one bill.
• I wrote one card.
• I taught the 3rd/4th grade class at my church's three-day Winter Bible School. (Yes, we are weird.)
• I made vegetable soup, butternut squash soup, and muddy buddies (aka puppy chow).
• I bought Christmas gifts for my dad (I drew his name this year), my grandmother, and my nieces and nephews.
• I bought a pair of boots for myself. (Isn't this what Christmas is about?)

Mainly, I tried to relax and enjoy the extra time I have to spend with my family. We don't have to actually be DOING something, we can just be together, right? That's what I think.

P.S. Butternut squash soup is not very good.

Life As I Know It

It's a rare moment when I am not feeling rushed, and now is one of those moments. I'm hiding in a coffee shop, where no one knows me. It's an hour and a half before I have to be anywhere. They're playing calm music. (Is it not strange that places whose main function is to sell a stimulant are usually quiet and calm?)

I'm currently working as a music teacher at the elementary school in my home town. Since I'm not certified to teach music, I am taking music classes at Harding University. So not only am I doing a new subject, at a new school, with new grades, but I am going to class two nights a week as well. It was a bit overwhelming at first, but I think I am getting used to it now.

I will post again next time I can string two thoughts together.

Update

Yeah, I haven't updated my blog in a while, and for good reason. I canceled my home internet services since I am moving (I hope) in a few weeks.

The place that I'm moving to, well, it doesn't have DSL, and internet is only available through satellite. (Doggone expensive, too.) I'm still debating whether I will get home internet, phone internet, or no internet. A lot depends on how much I am making when school starts again.

Which leads me to another update, which is not an update. I still don't have a teaching job for the next school year. It's not that I haven't tried, it's just that I've tried and failed. My back-up plan is to be a full-time substitute for the schools in the area. Maybe that will give me an edge on getting an actual position for the 2011-12 school year.

Still working on my house. The sewer's almost done, and I have primed almost all the walls and painted half the ceilings. It's slow, but it's moving.

After having no internet for a month now, I've realized something. I always blamed my time-wasting on my facebook/blog-reading addiction, but that was not completely fair. Technology of any kind is not necessary for me to waste time. In fact, I think that maybe I NEED to waste time in order to reset my brain. That's my current theory, anyway.