Caravan

I'm listening to the Juan Tizol composition as I write the beginning of this post. The version I'm listening to is from Monkey Jungle, an album that featured Duke Ellington playing piano with bassist Charles Mingus and drummer Max Roach. It's probably my favourite jazz record. I like how chaotic is sounds, with the musicians' different styles playing off each other.

Anyway....

End of the academic year (June) was not unexpectedly a busy time for me. Aside from the usual testing and administrative tasks, I was also tasked with creating a "celebrating success" booklet and an end of year video. Got both done, but it meant that at the end of the day I had little focus left to write a follow-up June's blog post.

So I'm here now, twelve days into the new month. Applied for a job, went through three rounds of interviews and didn't get it. Silver lining - don't think I would have been terribly good at it.

So now I've got the summer to focus on "me" projects (as promised in my last post). Here's my public list:

1. Continue with my current regiment of two hikes a week, averaging between 22 & 25 kilometers a week. So far I've been doing good, not injuring myself or doing anything terribly silly. This needs to continue for the next month and a half.
2. Cooking at home more often, even if this means going to the grocery store two to three times a week. The last couple of weeks have been bad, and it's affected my budget. 
3. Listen to some new music. Been better about it lately but need more new music. 
4. Create new ideas for next year (including getting learners to create audio podcasts).
5. Buy and create my personal website (maybe even business cards). This will be an area where I can write and create documents, tasks, and resources for my portfolio.

That's the short list. There are other things like organize my comics but I'm less sure I'll get that done with my three weeks of scattered "vacation" time. 

Oh, saw two acts during NXNE - St. Vincent & Run the Jewels. Both were excellent, but St. Vincent was on another level. She's fantastic and it made me love her newest record even more.