Life is love to me. To love is to appreciate life. I appreciate the life I have, everyday of it provides me with an opportunity to make it better. I can experience something fascinating, learn something I didn't know, gain a skill, widen my perspective on the lives of others. I love life. I don't have any illusions about life being all poodles and strudels, that is a naive mistake that will only lead to disappointment. And the challenges in life are a testament to the metal of a person. So I love life no less for being difficult. In fact, I have come to a point in my life where I embrace challenges. I know that I will get the gift of being more capable on the other side any mountain I traverse.
My days from September to June pretty much run as follows. I get up at 5am. I do 100 push ups and 40 pull ups. Clean myself off, dress and head to work. Gotta get from Astoria to the Bronx by 7am. That'll give me 1 hour to get some prep work done before the students are let up at 8am. Then I teach all day. Walk into my classroom, and you'll see me engaged with a student. I teach English to inner city Freshman, which pretty much means I'm dealing with literacy issues. After a long day I've got choices: (1) go to class and work on my second masters one day a week, (2) go to the open mic one day a week, (3) exercise one day a week, (4) stay late doing lesson plans and grading one day a week, (5) homework for my masters one day a week. The weekends are for exercising, more homework, more lesson plans and grading, wine, whimsy, and wholesale fun. These are all things that I like to do. I enjoy.
I believe in pushing yourself, enjoying life, and finding love in life. I can't stand complaining for no reason or no effect than being vocal. Teaching is my way of dealing with what troubles me about the world. I would sing out loud while I run, if it wouldn't be totally rude. As it is I lipsink for an hour. I enjoy feeling physically capable. I get a jazz from the spoken word and the written word. When Sartre smashes Camus in his retort, I actually giggled throughout the entire letter. I don't find any great value in the material. It's nice to have, but material possessions say nothing about the person. The stuff I have-- music, books, art supplies, journals-- enrich me, provide the opportunity for transmutation of those ideas. I love respect. I think humility often takes more strength than being prideful. Courtesy just makes common sense. I'm often underestimated by people who don't know me, that I get from people who do. I don't believe in boxes, even the ones I unconsciously construct. I live my life as a role model, who would I want as a teacher. So I read things that threaten to scramble my brains. I face challenges with a smile and a wink. I seek those things I have no clue about as of yet. I appreciate people.
Why am I here on this site? I meet people. I'm not a social leper. Finding someone is not the problem, finding the RIGHT someone is the issue. I want a relationship in my relationship, as well as chemistry. I want to forget to breathe when I see you, and breathe easy when I think of a life with you. I want to grow in intellect together. Learn the world together from hut to temple/ backwater river to distant ocean shore. I want to be in awe at the strength of how good you make others feel about themselves. I want to marvel at your tireless passion for what you can create and imagine. I want to feast on your hunger for life as manifest through your curiosity regarding nearly everything. I want to think that the world is blessed having a vivacious creature such as yourself taking it by the neck, popping the cork, and drinking from it until the foam runs down your chin.
UPDATE: Update March 1st, 2012: The dreaded Quality Review is a thing of the past: slayed it like a vampire [the Whedon kind.] Just saw Kronos at Carnegie. Got tickets to see Kristin Lee play gypsy violin music in April. Trying to find a good reggae concert.
