Much like the hump in the week, we all must forge ahead.

I made an infinity scarf for the Sisterhood. It was literally an arm-numbing experience. But I ran into a snafu and while dealing with schoolwork, decided to thread the stitches onto a wrapping paper holder (or an empty toilet roll for giants. I’m in the middle of revising my fractured tales series, so you can imagine I’ve got creatures on the brain. But I digress.)

Cut to me waking up from a power nap the other day (i.e. zonked from a full linguistically educational day) and I went to turn on the light. I knocked the thing over, which had been perfectly fine for the last nine days.

POOF! Goodbye, scarf. Hello, pile of… well, yarn.

The tangled heap could still work as an unraveling blanket of sorts–art imitating life, mayhaps? However, I chose to take the high road–without cussing–and took it as a test of my resolve.

YOU DON’T MESS WITH MY ZEN.

It’s twenty frakkin’ fourteen, people. I’m all up in the calmness and serenity. To reverse a phrase: What is undone CAN be done and done, once more. I’ll get her that scarf if I have to staple gun the thing to her body.

*ahem*

Calm.

Serenity.

In other news…

WRITING:

H.O.M.E.W.O.R.K. <– Yeah. That’s still happening. On a regular basis, too. Geez, these academics like their consistency, no?! LOL

I’m still loving it.

Tomorrow, I’m jazzed–complete with jazz hands–to tuck back into non-academic but writeriffic homework for my writing workshops. That also means I get to focus on Aaralyn’s Song. My hope and intention is to work on WIPs for the majority of the day and finish off with my online academic coursework.

READING:

To that end, I only took a couple hours to decompress after my first French exam before tucking into the readings for next Monday’s class. I started a study group, keener that I am, and it’s going well, with three fellow classmates. A fourth will soon join. I’m bringing them to the dark side via tutoring. LOL I had three group sessions last week and this Friday will make two for this week. So help me if these girls aren’t fluent in SOMETHING by the end of the semester.

Mini YAY/BOO moment:

YAY: I’ve got another pre-approval and six invitations to read upcoming books on NetGalley. The titles are right in my happy place: MG adventures, adult mysteries and thrillers, some fantasy, as well. Awesome books I’m looking forward to reading soon.

BOO: I only progressed a handful of new pages on Austin Dragon’s Thy Kingdom Fall. Why? Because I’m a nimrod, or however you say nimrod in French and/or Mandarin.

Lots of YAYs to a really big BOO. I know studies come first but this galley should have been finished before the Christmas break. You know, before my December went on an extra spin cycle. My fault for clicking all those ‘READ NOW’ buttons. It’s soooo easy to do. The clicking, I mean. The reading requires more eyes than I’ve got, at the moment. I’ll make the necessary adjustments and MAKE TIME TO READ. It’s important for the brain. Want proof? Read this.

NETWORKING:

Okay. Time for aforementioned promise of gushing. Specifically, a little ditty I mentioned in Sunday’s post. I’ve been having as many blasts as one could have tutoring fellow classmates in foreign languages. A certification course in Behaviour Intervention that I’m aiming to acquire won’t become available until the Fall. That’s why I’m taking short courses/classes in the meantime but each class has to have a purpose. Languages are an asset and make sense, regardless of my chosen profession.

While I wait, there is a course to teach English to speakers of other languages that could have me certified in as little as a month. I’m already doing something similar and enjoying it. I might as well get serious in an industry that has a high demand and good hourly pay. I don’t want to waste any time twiddling my thumbs, especially the ouchie one, so I might as well put my noggin and the rest of me to action.

LEARNING:

I believe I did well on my first exam. I think the thing with languages is the constant review, repetition, and practice both oral and written. I’m benefiting from the study groups as much as the others are. We each learn in our own way. Fortunately, Mandarin class, so far, is all about speaking and pronouncing the words and tones correctly. We don’t have to worry about writing the characters. From previous experience, it’s both tiring and time consuming. I easily got hand cramps. It is necessary, though, and I’m ready for the challenge. I’m just glad that I don’t have to do that concurrently with my French workload.

You’ll be pleased to know that, for now, I’ve decided not to take Spanish in the summer alongside French Level 2. But I’ll revisit options–or sanity–closer to April. Insanity or not, I’m happy to be in the midst of achieving a life-goal. I’d rather not say ‘bucket-list’ because there ain’t a bucket big enough for my dreams, baby!

Here’s something that will maybe convince you to become a polyglot-in-training, like me. Who doesn’t love a cerebral incentive to go with their higher learning?

Until then, I’ve got a lot of writing and reading to do. So if you’ll excuse me, there’s a bump I need to get over before continuing on this journey.