What happened this week:
School started again! When things feel too depressing, I just have to walk into a classroom and greet the students to feel like maybe there’s a glimmer of hope for us as a species after all.
Whoa! I never knew much about Frederick the Great but man, what an interesting guy! He was raised by a sick, abusive father who used to humiliate and beat him in public for failing to conform to his austere, militaristic ideals; Frederick used to have to hide his philosophy books and music because his dad would confiscate them. At eighteen he finally had had enough and hatched a plan with his BFF to run away to England where he planned to live in exile. Unfortunately his dad found out (BFF’s older brother ratted them out) and threw Frederick in PRISON. Threatened to execute him. Can you imagine? The King of Prussia threatened to execute his oldest son and heir, the crown prince. But he apparently decided it would be more effective to execute the BFF and make Frederick watch. JESUS. Anyway, I’ve checked out a couple of Frederick the Great biographies from the library and I’m excited to find out more about this extraordinary man.
New semester, new routine. It’s funny how deeply engrained the rhythm of school is. (And of course I’m back on it!) Every fall feels like an opportunity to reflect and refresh and restart, which is awesome! This fall I’m looking to reformat my writing routine and my exercise routine. In terms of writing routine, I want to be more intentional and aware of my regular writing practice and habits: do better at tracking word count, note what environments are more conducive to productivity, note how and when I read peak performance so I can do better at replicating and nurturing those conditions. In terms of exercise routine, well, at the moment i barely have one. I try to do 20-30 minutes of yoga 4 days a week, at home. And that’s a start. But it doesn’t feel rigorous enough. I need to find some classes that I can do in a sustainable way. Currently I’m looking at starting up ballet again (although ugh, it’s going to be so hard after a year off) and maybe trying something totally random, like horseback riding! We’ll see.
Happy Friday!