Sloth: The Man with the Hammer

[Sloth the Enduring]

Wednesday June 29, 2022

 

Crap. I didn’t mean to disappear again.  
 

I have a bad news dump up ahead.  Feel feel to skip ahead to my next update.  
 

School happened; the last day was Friday. There was a tragedy in the last weeks and it made an already stressful time almost impossible.  
 

This year was awful for a wide variety of reasons.  It was as hard as the year that almost drove me out of the profession - and it did drive a surprising number of our teachers out. 
 

This year hit different though because:

- I have a strong support system at school.  I probably always did, but I’m a more grateful person now and I noticed it and I tried to show my appreciation to those people.  

- If you’ve been here forever many of my early challenges included a positivity aspect because I was a grumpy ass curmudgeon.  They’ve paid off and it allows me to absorb more before I’m affected. 
- I’m more able to redirect the students in a positive manner. My students all loved and respected me even when they weren’t able to regulate their behavior.  
- I am world’s more social now than I ever was before.  I certainly wouldn’t say I have extrovert energy though. I don’t know why this helped.    
- Which led me to have happy hour Fridays with my fellow staff on my patio the last few weeks of school.  We blew off steam and commiserated.  
 

This week:

Friday I was at a wake and I thought my allergies were bad.  
Saturday I was coughing and Mrs. Sloth made me test before the funeral.  It was positive of course.  I went and got an official test and the rapid test was negative.  I figured the home test was more likely to be false and ignored it. 
Monday I went in to jury duty. In the afternoon my slow test came back positive.  So I have Covid again.  This time is a whole lot easier than the first time.  I am also on anti- virals.  
Tuesday I had a Zoom meeting with a judge and lawyers and I’ll be on a trial next week.  I also finished up the last of my school paperwork.  I figure I can ignore school until August.  
Wednesday - laid around all day.  Watched some bike racing and some Star Wars animations. Tried to read.  
 

Thanks for believing in me and supporting me.  I know not to promise, but I’ll try to be present again. 
 

Peace out. 

[Stronkey Kong]

Glad you're back... again. 

[Elastigirl]

Glad you are back! Hopefully you feel better quickly

[Scaly Freak]

1 hour ago, Sloth the Enduring said:

Thanks for believing in me and supporting me.  I know not to promise, but I’ll try to be present again. 

 

It's good to have you back, whether for a long or short amount of time.  

[aramis]

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

Hugs friend. Proud of you.

[Marauder]

Dude, you were always a funny grumpy ass curmudgeon though.  

 

Im sorry to hear about the second round of Covid.  That is brutal.  I hope you have a smoother and less complicated time with it.  Hugs.

 

Reading anything good?  

[Rooks]

18 hours ago, Sloth the Enduring said:

Wednesday June 29, 2022

 

Crap. I didn’t mean to disappear again.  
 

I have a bad news dump up ahead.  Feel feel to skip ahead to my next update.  
 

School happened; the last day was Friday. There was a tragedy in the last weeks and it made an already stressful time almost impossible.  
 

This year was awful for a wide variety of reasons.  It was as hard as the year that almost drove me out of the profession - and it did drive a surprising number of our teachers out. 
 

This year hit different though because:

- I have a strong support system at school.  I probably always did, but I’m a more grateful person now and I noticed it and I tried to show my appreciation to those people.  

- If you’ve been here forever many of my early challenges included a positivity aspect because I was a grumpy ass curmudgeon.  They’ve paid off and it allows me to absorb more before I’m affected. 
- I’m more able to redirect the students in a positive manner. My students all loved and respected me even when they weren’t able to regulate their behavior.  
- I am world’s more social now than I ever was before.  I certainly wouldn’t say I have extrovert energy though. I don’t know why this helped.    
- Which led me to have happy hour Fridays with my fellow staff on my patio the last few weeks of school.  We blew off steam and commiserated.  
 

This week:

Friday I was at a wake and I thought my allergies were bad.  
Saturday I was coughing and Mrs. Sloth made me test before the funeral.  It was positive of course.  I went and got an official test and the rapid test was negative.  I figured the home test was more likely to be false and ignored it. 
Monday I went in to jury duty. In the afternoon my slow test came back positive.  So I have Covid again.  This time is a whole lot easier than the first time.  I am also on anti- virals.  
Tuesday I had a Zoom meeting with a judge and lawyers and I’ll be on a trial next week.  I also finished up the last of my school paperwork.  I figure I can ignore school until August.  
Wednesday - laid around all day.  Watched some bike racing and some Star Wars animations. Tried to read.  
 

Thanks for believing in me and supporting me.  I know not to promise, but I’ll try to be present again. 
 

Peace out. 

 

Couple thoughts.

1. This didn't really read like a "bad news dump". Sounds like you reflected on things and realized you have a lot of support and are better handling things today than in previous years. That's good news! COVID and tragedy resulting in a death is never fun, but there's some good in there.
2. I love the concept of the Happy Hour with co-workers. Good on you for doing that. IMHO people are just getting worse at actually planning meet-ups and doing socialization. Whether it's caused by social media, or introverted-ness or just because we can all so easily fill our time with whatever garbage we want, I don't know, but I'm learning more and more that if I want to see people, I'm the one that needs to make it happen because my circle of friends just sucks at scheduling anything.
3. Regarding the tragedy, I'm sorry my friend. My condolences (assuming since you said a wake and a funeral). 
4. Super bummer on the COVID again. Hopefully you have a quick recovery. 
5. I'm both dumbfounded and sort of glad I've never been called for jury duty of any kind in my 21 years of being an adult. That said, did the judge make any mention that if you have COVID, you shouldn't be part of a jury? Or are juries fully remote these days. 

[Sloth the Enduring]

19 hours ago, Stronkey Kong said:

Glad you're back... again. 

 

Thanks again!

 

19 hours ago, Elastigirl said:

Glad you are back! Hopefully you feel better quickly

 

Thanks!  I don't feel too badly.

 

18 hours ago, Scaly Freak said:

 

It's good to have you back, whether for a long or short amount of time.  

 

Hah.  I can't quit you;  I'll always be back.  At least until Spezzy shuts me down.

 

17 hours ago, aramis said:

 

This GIF always makes me happy.

 

8 hours ago, Tanktimus the Encourager said:

Hugs friend. Proud of you.

 

Thanks Brother.  Your support was instrumental in those early positivity challenges.

 

7 hours ago, Marauder said:

Dude, you were always a funny grumpy ass curmudgeon though.  

 

Im sorry to hear about the second round of Covid.  That is brutal.  I hope you have a smoother and less complicated time with it.  Hugs.

 

Reading anything good?  

 

Hah.  I can't promise I'm still funny.

 

Thanks.  It is a million times easier this time.

 

I don't have anything new around here.  Mrs. Sloth just gave the revised version of "Neverwhere"by Neil Gaiman; I love urban fantasy.  I am also rereading "The Last Lecture" by Randy Pausch.  Professor Pausch had terminal cancer and this lecture is life advice for his kids.  I read it 10 or 12 years ago and I wondered how it would read with 10 more year's perspective and having gone through all of this.  Here's the lecture:

 

 

1 hour ago, Rooks said:

 

Couple thoughts.

1. This didn't really read like a "bad news dump". Sounds like you reflected on things and realized you have a lot of support and are better handling things today than in previous years. That's good news! COVID and tragedy resulting in a death is never fun, but there's some good in there.
2. I love the concept of the Happy Hour with co-workers. Good on you for doing that. IMHO people are just getting worse at actually planning meet-ups and doing socialization. Whether it's caused by social media, or introverted-ness or just because we can all so easily fill our time with whatever garbage we want, I don't know, but I'm learning more and more that if I want to see people, I'm the one that needs to make it happen because my circle of friends just sucks at scheduling anything.
3. Regarding the tragedy, I'm sorry my friend. My condolences (assuming since you said a wake and a funeral). 
4. Super bummer on the COVID again. Hopefully you have a quick recovery. 
5. I'm both dumbfounded and sort of glad I've never been called for jury duty of any kind in my 21 years of being an adult. That said, did the judge make any mention that if you have COVID, you shouldn't be part of a jury? Or are juries fully remote these days. 

 

Thanks brother.  It's been a hard year, for everyone, but you're right I'm handling things much better than I used to.

 

I'm good at the vague come over whenever you want, but turning that into an action is much harder to remember to do.

 

This is my first time on a jury too after being on the voter rolls for 35 years.  I was kind of excited.  My back of the napkin math suggests you have about a 4% chance per year.  I was looking forward to two weeks of sitting quietly in the jury pool just decompressing after this school year, but I was pulled into a panel immediately.

 

At the panel I answered a really long questionnaire and went home.  After the positive I emailed the clerks right away assuming I'd be excused from duty, but they wanted me to do the next step by Zoom.  They asked a few questions about my health status.  For one of them I answered, "The doctor said I'll be free to be in public on Friday and I wouldn't disagree with her."  They were confused and I had to elaborate.  Fancy-ass lawyers with their fancy degrees not even knowing how to speak Minnesotan.  Anyway, the trial starts on Tuesday and I'll be able to attend in person then.  I can't say much more until it's over.

 

Thanks everyone.  Not much to report as I'm still stuck in isolation.  I'll likely have to ease back into exercise slowly so not much will happen that way for a while either. 

 

Today I sat on the patio all day, trying to figure out my paystub (the school district messed up a lot of people's final paycheck) and watching the kids in the pool from the far end of the patio.  Slothchild returns from the Boundary Waters tonight and I'm excited to hear about their adventures.

 

Peace out my friends.

[Ranger Hal]

20 hours ago, Sloth the Enduring said:

This year hit different though because:

- I have a strong support system at school.  I probably always did, but I’m a more grateful person now and I noticed it and I tried to show my appreciation to those people.  

- If you’ve been here forever many of my early challenges included a positivity aspect because I was a grumpy ass curmudgeon.  They’ve paid off and it allows me to absorb more before I’m affected. 
- I’m more able to redirect the students in a positive manner. My students all loved and respected me even when they weren’t able to regulate their behavior.  
- I am world’s more social now than I ever was before.  I certainly wouldn’t say I have extrovert energy though. I don’t know why this helped.    
- Which led me to have happy hour Fridays with my fellow staff on my patio the last few weeks of school.  We blew off steam and commiserated.  

This all sounds good, although I'm sorry that circumstances made it necessary to use it this year. 

 

Hoping that you have a quick recovery from Covid!

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

Every time I show up for Jury duty I get empaneled then the defendant cops a plea deal over lunch and they let us go home.

[Marauder]

I get called almost every year lately and then something happens.  Still haven’t seen a courtroom after 6 times. 

[sarakingdom]

On 6/30/2022 at 6:55 PM, Sloth the Enduring said:

Mrs. Sloth just gave the revised version of "Neverwhere"by Neil Gaiman; I love urban fantasy.

 

I'm considering getting back into Sandman, cuz I've recently realized I never read the last couple of books.

 

The Neverwhere miniseries is low budget, but well done.

[Marauder]

Your link got me to watch that video again. I never have read the book though and definitely should. Thanks for the reminder. 

[Chris-Tien Jinn]

On 6/30/2022 at 5:55 PM, Sloth the Enduring said:

Thanks everyone.  Not much to report as I'm still stuck in isolation.  I'll likely have to ease back into exercise slowly so not much will happen that way for a while either. 

 

 

Gosh!!  Are you going to be able to go see the fireworks?

[KB Girl]

On 6/30/2022 at 4:13 AM, Sloth the Enduring said:

This year hit different though because:

- I have a strong support system at school.  I probably always did, but I’m a more grateful person now and I noticed it and I tried to show my appreciation to those people.  

- If you’ve been here forever many of my early challenges included a positivity aspect because I was a grumpy ass curmudgeon.  They’ve paid off and it allows me to absorb more before I’m affected. 
- I’m more able to redirect the students in a positive manner. My students all loved and respected me even when they weren’t able to regulate their behavior.  
- I am world’s more social now than I ever was before.  I certainly wouldn’t say I have extrovert energy though. I don’t know why this helped.    
- Which led me to have happy hour Fridays with my fellow staff on my patio the last few weeks of school.  We blew off steam and commiserated.

This is golden, so happy for you  but also sorry the year was so hard and that you got covid again, keeping my fingers crossed the aftermath is also waay better than the first time. 

 

On 7/1/2022 at 12:55 AM, Sloth the Enduring said:

I am also rereading "The Last Lecture" by Randy Pausch.  Professor Pausch had terminal cancer and this lecture is life advice for his kids.  I read it 10 or 12 years ago and I wondered how it would read with 10 more year's perspective and having gone through all of this.  Here's the lecture:

Oh I loved that when I saw it a couple years back. And is it reading differently with 10 years more experience? 

[Shello]

Sorry to hear about the bad news and another really rough year.  I am very glad to see you able to absorb all that support around you.   

[Mistr]

Hey @Sloth the Enduring, how's it going?

[Sloth the Enduring]

Friday August 26, 2022

 

Hello there.  

I started the summer with a couple of weeks of Covid.  It was mild, but I basically slept for the whole time.  I was given anti-virals and when I woke up from Covid the long-covid symptoms had disappeared (except for the asthma).  So my life is much easier now. 

 

I'm slowly starting to rebuild my fitness.  I've been Kettlebelling about twice a week (warm up + 20minutes work) and biking once or twice a week (~75 minutes).  That's kind of the limit of my work capacity right now.

 

The trial was a murder trial that was on the news every night.  I didn't watch, but I skimmed some articles and it is pretty amazing how much they didn't tell us.  It was about three weeks including three days of deliberations.  It was a really stressful experience, but luckily all of the other jurors were nice and genuinely good people.

 

The last week of the trial my family was away at a rented cabin.  When we rejoined as a family my positivity challenge was to really focus on my marriage.  Mrs. Sloth thought I was good husband already, but she is really appreciating this.  

 

A good friend died of cancer near the end of summer.  I was a pall bearer and at the end his sons and I and a couple of others filled in the grave (it was a Jewish service).  It was an honor to do that for him, but I was emotionally wrecked for the whole week.  I can't even imagine what his wife and kids were/are going through.

 

This was the first of two weeks of professional development.  I moved grades (to 5 (11 year olds)) and classrooms and there's a new math curriculum so I have a lot of work to do both in setting up my space and planning for the year.  I'll have a lot of support again this year because I have great teammates.  I'm starting to get excited and a little nervous about the new year.

 

I've been updating my wardrobe so no matter how the year goes at least I'll look good.

 

Peace out Nerd Friends.

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

Sorry you got sick again, but glad the long-covid symptoms seem to be gone. Sorry you had to lose your friend. I'm glad you feel excited by the new school year.

[WhiteGhost]

12 hours ago, Sloth the Enduring said:

no matter how the year goes at least I'll look good.

I am sure you will   

 

Glad the long covid symptoms are gone but wow you have had a lot going on in the last couple of months 

 

 

[Shello]

Such an eventful summer.  There were some rough spots. I’m glad to hear you have been able to fitness regularly again though. 

[Endor]

What a lot to deal with over a short time.  Major relief to get some respite from the long covid symptoms though eh? I had some too that have finally mostly receded and life looks a lot better without them. 

[Conquius]

Howdy homie.

 

Popping in to drop off some love. You don't need me to tell you that you've been through a lot. Getting some time back in the saddle always helped me process my thoughts, I'm hoping it's doing the same for you.

 

Keep the rubber side down 🤙🚴‍♂️