The Personal Front:

For the first time in nearly a year, we’ve got most of our budget holes fairly well patched. We’re living with my mom until our new two bedroom apartment comes online in mid-February so that will help on some expenses.

Now the only thing I really need to worry about is whether I’ll have all four of my projected classes as an instructor, or as few as two.

The Lifeguard Front:

I’ve received word that I will be attending training as a lifeguard instructor candidate for the 2012 Year. That does not mean that I am automatically hired for the position. I’ll still have to master the material, prove that I am capable of teaching and demonstrate that I can pass my knowledge on to teenage students. The good news is that my work as a college instructor of history should provide some insights on how to teach our lifeguard candidates. I think another strength I bring to the table is that the lifeguard training is very much like Sergeant’s Time in the Army for the Common Task Test.

More or less, you follow a script, a relatively simple one. So I am excited about that.

On the other side, I applied for a management position. I think I bring a lot to the table in that regard as well. Still, I am not taking anything as a given. It is entirely possible that I could spend next summer working as an entry level lifeguard again. If that happened, that would not be the end of the world.

Finally, as a fallback to a shortfall in adjunctland, I’ve got a line on a possible lifeguard job which might help patch a few gaps until summer. If I fall short, we’ll see about chasing after that lead.

The Writing Front

I’ve spent the last few days reviewing the material in the Warhammer 40,000 universe with an eye towards submitting some fiction to The Black Library. After a cursory review, I’ve come to believe that I can bring my strengths as a writer to bear in that marking, something I have never truly believed in the more traditional science fiction markets.

For those that do not know, Warhammer 40,000 is a property of Games Workshop United Kingdom. The universe is roughly 40,000 years in the future featuring a galaxy spanning tyranny known as the Imperium of Man, ruled by the God-Emperor of Mankind. If you want to know more, just google up Warhammer 40K on the net.

I also think I can bring my training as an historian to bear on this in a way that was often difficult in my other endeavors.

It is good to have some focus again. As an aside, I’ve already had an offer or two of assistance with swordfight scene construction. I’ve taken fencing classes and I know some basics but I’ll want to run the swordfights by someone with a bit more experience.

Also, I am giving serious thought to reconstituting Murphy’s E-Lite Reader Corps. More on that as I decide one way or the other.

Finally, I will be pushing forward with Coming to Terms, my NaNoWriMo novel project from last year. My goal is to reach at least 50K words overall and perhaps as much as 75K words. We’ll see how that goes.

The Teaching Front, Adjunctland:

Well, I am slated to teach four classes but two of them look a bit iffy. I’ve got a Tuesday night class that looks grim. I can probably sustain the loss of one class without too much trouble but I can’t handle the loss of a second. I’ll need to follow up on that lifeguard job I mentioned earlier.

I’m ready to get back at it. I’ll revise a couple of lectures that I think are particularly weak for American History 120. As for 121, I am pretty much going to leave it as it is.

The syllabus will see heavy modification again due to some issues I had last semester, particularly with plagiarism.

Finally, I am going to start issuing multiple choice chapter based quizzes, especially in the evening classes. It is the only way I know to get them to take the textbook seriously.

The Student Front: Spanish 102

I have a bad feeling that I have forgotten a great deal over the last four weeks. My plan to review daily fell apart pretty quickly. Still, I aim to do better on this round if I can. The B grade really irked me given that I was in striking distance of an A until mid-semester.

Meh.

Other Fronts

I’ve fed a bit too well over the last two months and it shows. I’ve not made it into the pool as much as I might like. However, the good news is that on those rare instances when I did make it to the pool, I was able to swim 200 to 600 yards nonstop without too much trouble. With some effort and a change in eating habits, I should be able to push my way back to fighting shape.

Otherwise, it has been unseasonably warm here in the Midwest, which is fine by me.

So it goes.

Respects,
Steven Francis Murphy
Author of The Limb Knitter and Tearing Down Tuesday
North Kansas City, Missouri

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