{"id":531,"date":"2020-08-10T06:54:31","date_gmt":"2020-08-10T06:54:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ottercreations.org\/MH\/?p=531"},"modified":"2020-11-08T18:36:49","modified_gmt":"2020-11-08T18:36:49","slug":"i-have-been-awol","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ottercreations.org\/MH\/i-have-been-awol\/","title":{"rendered":"I have been AWOL"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Anastasia<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

It started with a family celebration, my daughter got married, all her friends came to celebrate and cheer her on and show her and everyone else what love is… <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And then we came back to the COVID-19 crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I feel like I’ve been in suspended animation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Its not that we have stopped doing things. Or that the Coronavirus “stay at home” mandate means we have been isolated and alienated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In fact, we have texted and messaged and called each other more than ever, and for the silliest of reasons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In fact, I’m fortunate that the whole COVID-19 disruption has not<\/em> <\/strong>meant I’m not working.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have a schedule to maintain. Students to meet. A syllabus to observe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

And still, I feel like this, being at work… -><\/strong> -><\/strong> -><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Invisible, and yet oddly exposed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We were definitely not prepared for distance teaching. And I’m one of those who enjoy playing with tech and software. But for teaching? I’m old school. I like direct connection and improv, I like to doodle on the whiteboard to explain things and demonstrate proper handwriting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I like to see my entire class all at once and see my students interact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But that wasn’t the end of it for me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The adapt-to-distance was multiplied by trouble-seeing anything, and so I was forced into a pause-everything period. Nothing too serious, normally, just your run-of-the-mill cataracts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Of course, like everything else, the problem and stress was multiplied by the COVID-19 situation, and for a while I wasn’t sure I would get help. But all’s well that ends well and I have my eyesight back. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the funny side of things, I’m still feeling “reversed” — I need reading glasses, but I must take them off to watch TV or to drive — exactly the opposite of what I’ve been used to since I’ve started wearing specs at 10 years of age.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not something to complain. Just something to be amused by, among the things life throws at you. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Remember to laugh at the little things, right?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But it’s not like I’ve just sat in my armchair and done nothing, waiting to go blind. That would have been sad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There were crafts, and dogs, and other weird summer things. I just couldn’t type and post, you know…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It doesn’t mean I’m my sweet sunny self these days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is anyone? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Forgive your loved ones when they snap at you, so they may forgive you when you snap at them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It started with a family celebration, my daughter got married, all her friends came to celebrate and cheer her on and show her and everyone else what love is… And then we came back to the COVID-19 crisis. I feel like I’ve been in suspended animation. Its not that we have stopped doing things. Or… Read More »I have been AWOL<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[9],"tags":[24,23,3],"class_list":["post-531","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reflections","tag-24","tag-life","tag-updates"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ottercreations.org\/MH\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/531","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ottercreations.org\/MH\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ottercreations.org\/MH\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ottercreations.org\/MH\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ottercreations.org\/MH\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=531"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/ottercreations.org\/MH\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/531\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":551,"href":"https:\/\/ottercreations.org\/MH\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/531\/revisions\/551"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ottercreations.org\/MH\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=531"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ottercreations.org\/MH\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=531"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ottercreations.org\/MH\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=531"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}