Where have you been?

Since January, I’ve been missing in action here. I tried my best to keep things from going dormant, but my time got taken away from me for the last few months. Hopefully, I can start to turn things around, but I still have more to do outside of the internet before I can come back full force.

So, Where Have You Been?

My friends know that for over the past decade, I’ve worked as an English teacher and Tennis coach for my full time job. I’ve always tried to find time to work on the site or write a story when I could, but unlike the past few years, I haven’t had a chance.

I’ve been lucky enough in the past to have assistants that have been able to drive a school bus. We have three tennis teams (Freshmen, JV, and Varsity levels). While we are in season, there are three tournaments during the week, one for each team. To limit my time out of the classroom, I would designate my assistant to take the freshmen, I would take the Junior Varsity, and we would both travel with the varsity.

This would allow me more time in the classroom. Tournaments last all day. In fact, during the spring, I would leave my house around five in the morning to go get a bus; I would be lucky to return to the bus barn by five in the afternoon, as most tournaments would put me home after 7PM. Most varsity tournaments go even longer, getting me home around nine or ten at night.

This year, while I had the best assistant I’ve ever had, he didn’t have a license to drive the bus. So I had to drive to all events. This put me out of my classroom three days a week, with extra long hours.

So I haven’t had much time to write. I have written a little bit and I have posted a poem or two, but everything has been so scattershot, that I haven’t had any extra time to dive into any writing projects.

I knew this would be a rough time of the year, but I thought I would be able to get more written and worked on the site.

I was wrong.

I have half an article written for my home for the holidays series, but the time has come and gone. Luckily, I got the most exciting part of the series published when I did.

Where Are You Going

This is my last year coaching tennis. I have a two-year-old at home and another son on the way. While coaching has been in my life since I attended high school, it takes too much time away from my family. I don’t have time to work on things I’m passionate about, or even the simple things like taxes.

I made the decision to resign from coaching back in December. During that discussion, the chance to get out of the classroom came up as well. While I need a job to help support my family, I’m looking for a chance to get out of education, like many seem to be doing — but that’s a story for another day.

That said, I’ve been working on getting some training as a digital marketing specialist. In fact, I should finish up my certification this week.

I am looking to do more content writing, as well. I’m supposed start writing for a company called Make Use Of inside their Mac vertical (I’ll be writing articles about Mac computers). So if there’s something you’d like to see on that front, recommend it. And of course, I want to continue to write stories.

I haven’t ruled out a return to the classroom, but I am excited and scared for the future. With two kids at home and a family depending on me, I feel the pressure is on.

The Future

So that’s where I’ve been. I’ve been working or with my family. I’ve been trying to create a future that allows me more time at home with my family and allows me to be creative.

I hope to continue posting and linking to all the work I’m doing. I have a few stories stirring around in my head. I’ve gotten to play with some new toys (I have a the new Apple Watch Series 8 and AirPod Pros 2)

But I also want to thank you for reading this. The bounce rate on my website is very high, so one thing I need to work on seems to be creating more engaging content. I hope to do that and keep you as a reader. But thank you for your support if you have gotten to this point!