BrianFauth.com

Well, that was a month of posts. Every day a new entry, for thirty-one days straight. I’m surprised I made it, actually, but I’m glad I did. Even though sitting down every night to write these meant I was putting off time to just “relax”, I found the daily habit to be relaxing in itself. And now I have a nice document of a typical month in my life. As you can see it mostly involves teaching and being sick.

Way back on October 3rd I wrote about being sick all the time and here it is a month later and I’m as sick as I was then. I’m on a second antibiotic after a second doctor’s visit and today my cough was absolutely terrible, that full-body one that comes from deep down the throat. I’ve been up since 4:00 in the morning, and I seem to do that a lot lately. Out of the past 31 days, I probably had five or six days of “real” sleep. I’m a mess.

I’m going to halt the daily writing on this site now, but I hope to keep it up on a more consistent basis, maybe two-three times a week if I have anything interesting to say. Overall I had good readership on here, although all the commenting takes place over on Facebook. But it was nice to have people reading and enjoying them. (Something strange is happening with Facebook’s publishing format, though, and I can’t tell if people are noticing that I’m writing these as much. Oh well. Never watch your stats counter, they say.)

Anyway. There it is. Tales of students old and new, and Halloween costumes old and new. With a minimal amount of grumbling.

I’ll be back in a day or so with a reflective piece about My Favorite Night in Dublin from last year. Yes, still thinking back on the times spent Over There. Can’t help it.

Thanks again for those that have been reading. It means a great deal when I see that old “Like” indicator next to a post I just wrote. Nice to know you’re out there, as this can be a lonely job.

Now onto my own version of NaNoWriMo, where I attempt to get some serious work done on a play or two. And I’m more than ready for Daylight Saving’s Time to end, just so I can get an extra hour of sleep on Sunday. Plus, I’d like my morning commute to work to not look like this: 

See you soon, everyone…

It’s Day 22 out of 31 for this Write-A-Post-Every-Day Challenge I set myself. Nine more to go, then I’ll take a short break, but I’m hoping to continue writing on a more regular basis. The purpose of this was to develop the habit and discipline of writing every day. November is NaNoWriMo, and while I’m not going to try and write an entire novel in a month, I do want to get back to some theatre pieces I was working on last year, which were set aside once I stopped the wandering. So for fun I thought I would devote November to some serious work on whatever I’m calling the new thing I’ve still got rolling around in my head.

I’ve had people mention here and there how much they’re enjoying these posts, and while they certainly aren’t grand prose or earth-shattering observations, they’ve been fun to write, so thanks to everyone who stops by here every now and then. I always felt that blogging, and even Facebook and Twitter, can and should be the great chronicle of the everyday folk, a vast and intricate story of Us. But so few post stories these days, and even the other sites are increasingly just a succession of “Hey, here’s a link to a website I sort-of read.”

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The weather turned very cold last night, and it was supposed to get down below freezing for the first time since last spring. (It was May 13th, actually, according to this site.) I finally broke down and turned on the heat, but it didn’t run much. I live in a townhouse, with homes on either side of me, and it seems like a pretty well-insulated place. (For those just joining the story, I moved into this place back in early July, while I’m currently renting out a different townhouse that I own to someone else.)

When I left for work this morning I decided to do a little test, and set the thermostat for 62 degrees, just a few degrees lower than it currently was in the house. I wanted to see if it would get down that far during the cold, wet day that we had. I figured I’d come home and it would maybe be at 63, tops. This place holds its temperature pretty well.

I stayed late at work grading journals and answering emails until around 6 or so, then drove home in the last light of the day. Walked into the house and immediately checked the thermostat.

70 degrees. But I still had it set for 62 degrees.

So…I’m guessing this place is really well-insulated.

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Here’s something fun to close out the day. This is my nephew at Phillip’s Park in 2007, when he was around two years old.

Here he is back at the same park, staring out of the same playground apparatus, six years later, aged (almost) eight.