As of last week, I am no longer a teacher. I'll spare you the blow-by-blow (Unhappy Teacher Micah vs. Idealistic Always-Wanted-to-Be-a-Teacher Micah) of how this came to be -- because, despite all the mental anguish that led up to this point, I am quite happy not being a teacher right now. Really, ridiculously happy. So happy that I'm tempted to get up early just to enjoy a full day of not having to work.
But the best part? The best part is that I'M STILL GETTING PAID! Until the end of July, I'm making the same amount of money for doing NOTHING that I was making for allowing middle school students to sap every ounce of physical and emotional energy I possessed. That's right.
I spent the first week of my new-found freedom being a housewife. This was perhaps the most domestically productive week of my life, as I organized every space in our house (including the garage, which had previously never even occurred to me) and cleaned most of said spaces. There were even a few nights that I cooked things for dinner.
This week, however, I have wised up and am no longer calling myself a housewife. Now I am unemployed. Though this label sometimes carries negative connotations, I'm regarding those with an "I'm rubber, you're glue" attitude because, as mentioned above, I'M STILL GETTING PAID.
And I get to reap the psychological benefits of the unemployed label by completely absolving myself of any responsibility whatsoever. I don't have to feel bad if the bathroom that was sparkling last week is kind of not very clean this week. That overflowing hamper of dirty clothes? Gee, it's a shame nobody around here is a housewife. But on the off chance that I actually do perform some task that makes our house a more pleasant place to live, I can congratulate myself shamelessly. Good for you, Micah -- aren't you ambitious! You should go play on the Internet and eat spumoni for the rest of the afternoon!
True, it's a little embarrassing when someone asks what I've done today, and I have to rack my brain to come up with something that's a little more socially acceptable than NOTHING! SWEET, GLORIOUS NOTHING. And true, this will probably get old after another week or two. Or twelve. I'm sure the motivated, achieving part of me will start to get restless one of these days.
But for the moment -- this is the life, baby.
Like a waterfall in slow motion, Part One
1 year ago
8 comments:
I'm thrilled that you are so happy. Let's do coffee some evening????
I think you're pretty good at housewifing, teaching, and unemploying.
How will I know when you've updated so I can come and read the goings on?
ohh i like the new blog. very grown up and sofixtikated. i have two comments:
1. i remember quitting teaching and getting paid that last summer. but unlike you, i started working in june and was actually getting two paychecks at the same time. booyah.
2. but now i earn nothing, i am supposedly a housewife, though if you come to my house this week you would think that absolutely no adults live here, and perhaps no humans, only three dingy loud animals.
Steph, you are a SAHM, which has completely different expectations for the cleanliness of your home than being a housewife does. That's what I think, anyway. And I'm an expert, you know.
To Ashley and others:
Now you can subscribe to this blog such that new entries appear in your email inbox. Click the link in the right sidebar. I hope I did this right -- I thought I was fairly tech-savvy until I started trying to make this sucker fancy.
Okay, I tried the email thing, but you'll have to update before I know if it worked.
My friend and I are watching SYTYCD together and her posts are even more in depth than mine. It's just a fun thing to do during the summer, and there really are some amazing dances. Hopefully we'll get to go see the live show sometime in the near future.
I'm so happy for you! Even though I haven't quit teaching (hopefully this will happen sooner rather than later) I completely identify with your unemployed self.
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