Summer Teacher Travel
This week I finally flipped the coin to see where I'll be going for my first summer off as a teacher.
At this point my plan is to explore within the United States in June and abroad in July.
This July 2018 I will be traveling to Iceland.
Next year's coin flip will now be between
Croatia v Machu Picchu
As I mentioned last week I need to sort out some thoughts on football.
Last month I learned that 87% of all people who play football on whatever level have CTE to some degree. In the games current form I cannot support something that entertains me while knowingly damaging someones brain without the hope of repair. I know the players could break a leg or shoulder or whatever and that is part of the risk of playing a contact sport but damaging the brain is an entirely different animal. It cannot be rehabilitated, unlike a bone or a ligament.
If I am going to no longer support football at any level then how am I going to exist in this city. Columbus is a college town with tall buildings...more specifically, a college football town. The whole city stops during Ohio State games...all of my friends love football...everyone who wants to be social during the autumn will want to go to a place that has football on.
I don't want to lose my friends, and I don't want to be that guy that ruins the fun...but at the same time the evidence is very incriminating and I'm not sure I can just shrug my shoulders and say "meh they know the risks and they are getting paid millions/scholarships" Do I go out to bars with games on but refuse to support the game through merchandise and tickets? Do I boycott the whole thing? I don't know but I'm also not sure why the game hasn't been halted by the Surgeon General and the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps with all of this new evidence being published. After January football will be done for nearly 7 months giving me plenty of time to wrestle with this.
The last week of December was my first week of winter break. During that time I had a holiday house party, drove up to Wauseon, hung out in Chicago with Travis, Brian, and Dain, drove down to Columbus for a night, then I headed to Asheville with Tem Friday December 29th. North Carolina with Tem was nearly perfect. I think the only thing wrong was the weather. An Arctic chill has been covering the United States for the past two weeks. It is still persisting today. I would have liked it to be in the 50s or so during our time. It made our afternoon hike turn into a 30 minute trudge through a cloud surrounded by frigid winds covering the plant life in gorgeous ice and snow.
But the trip was our first real vacation together. 5 hours in a car to North Carolina, trapped in a tiny cabin together after that, then a day spent together in Asheville and the mountains...nearly four straight days completely stuck with each other...and I wanted more... I didn't feel like I wanted time away from her. I didn't feel like I needed space or we were on each other's nerves. I just wanted the weather a bit warmer so I could build her a fire outside and hike around more.
Who is this woman? What is she doing to me? I like being around her...I want her in my life more.
I don't know how I feel about this.
I liked hiking with her as her braids froze.
I liked making her laugh in the Biltmore as I pretended to use the audio tour as a phone.
I liked cuddling up by the fireplace with all the cabin's blankets and pillows.
I liked talking with her and learning more about her relationship with her family.
I liked trying wines with her after the castle tour.
It was a very good trip and I'm still in shock we didn't fight or need some space to ourselves. That's definitely new for me.
After the tour and tasting at the Biltmore we headed for Cincinnati. She even powered through that 6 hour drive like a boss. No stops to stretch her legs, no stops for the restroom, not even to eat...just for gas and then back at it. We met up with Alan and his new girlfriend Jami. First we went to one of his friend's house for a bit. The house was teaming with children, six in all I believe. It was the Baird house. Around 11:15 or so we jumped in a Lyft and headed to 16-bit for midnight.
Exactly one year ago that night Alan and I headed to 16-bit while Brian stayed in with Mara. That night I was drunk and messaging Tem. It's strange to think about where we all were one year ago.
Fast forward to this NYE Tem was with me and Alan had Jami in the same bar getting the same t-shirt now with midnight kisses and Brian all the way in Seattle. Mara randomly at the bar with us. 2017 from bookends.
It was one of the best years of my life. Here's to 2018 being even better.
Oscar Isaac - Never Had