Damn it, I will post something if it kills me

[vaznetti]

...and it isn't going to kill me.

It is great to see so much posting on DW these days. I haven't deleted or locked my LJ, but I also still haven't logged in to the new TOS, so I can't crosspost at the moment. But anyway, deleting what's there does seem counter-productive, although it was all imported here not too long ago. I spent a while looking at old fanfic and realized that I have vast quantities of stuff that never made it on to AO3, and I should probably get onto that. Much of it is still on my old personal website, which I can't even remember how to update. Ah for the days when we could all crochet our own websites!

I feel out of touch, although I read things here all the time. It is hard to talk about myself, or about what I think about things. Sometimes I feel like there's something actually weighing down my tongue to keep me from speaking, and there is something similar going on with writing as well. What do I have to talk about? I don't really know.

Here is a sample of what I have to say for myself these days, so you can all see what you've been missing. Spartacus passed into the second swimming level yesterday, a year after starting. This happened only because I needed to change his class -- it turned out that they were keeping his group together to move up as a whole class, and he was perfectly capable of moving up before this. Why am I grumpy? Because the class has two older children (S and a girl about his age) and the rest are about 3 years younger than them. So he could easily have been moved up months ago if they'd bothered to push him along a bit, instead of holding him back, and it's actually been bothering him that he's taken so long to move up a level. Physical things don't come easily to him in the first place, and it really upsets me that this was made to seem even more difficult for him than it was.

(Also, these classes cost money! I feel vaguely scammed. And my thoughts on how long he will need to stick with swimming classes have definitely changed because of this.)

Perhaps it will not be months before I update again, who knows?

Comments

[rozarka]

Poor Spartacus. :( It's not hard at all to understand that he felt anxious, or that you're upset that he could have been made to feel better about it and his teachers didn't bother. I hope he does feel better about it now.

I've had two who didn't do so well with the phys.ed. things too, and G. in particular struggled with swimming. So I know just how worried kids (and mums) can get about this stuff and I really feel for you both.

Don't take months to update again! *hugs* I've had a really hard time posting too, and now weirdly it seems a bit easier just because I've moved from LJ where I've felt so tongue-tied, and DW is more of a blank slate? And I like to read your posts about Spartacus and life and anything on your mind.

[vaznetti]

I think he just didn't understand why it was taking so long to move up to the next level, really. I didn't either! It's probably just as well that they made this change, because I had checked his progress online and realized that he had only advanced 2% in the whole last term! And then they just announce "oh, we'll move him up a level, his teacher says he's ready" They clearly could have moved him on last term!

As you can tell, I'm still griping about this!

I will try to be more present. I do read all your posts, even though I never comment on anything these days.

[rozarka]

I'd gripe too! And yeah, ack, I hear you on the reading everything and not so much with the commenting (or posting).

[monanotlisa]

Ah, that is so annoying for you and for the boy! I'm a huge fan of encouragement in sports classes; it literally took me going to another country for two years to know I could absolutely rock my sports classes...it was just a matter of how they were done.

I still think even people like my sister, with a NO SPORTS attitude, could probably have been led to a place of happiness about physical activity, if only she'd had better PE education, in particular teachers paying attention to a. girls and b. kids who aren't naturally athletic and/or graceful when in motion.

I miss you, girl. Please update! :)

[vaznetti]

I feel terrible, because I do read all your posts and never comment on anything! I don't think I even congratulated you on your wedding, or sent you best wishes or anything! Congratulations! Best wishes!

Spartacus is objectively not very good, but actually enjoys sports if there's even the slightest encouragement -- in fact the reason that we had to switch the swimming class was to clear space for a set of football training sessions. (The gender issue is another matter -- team sport for girls in Britain is really not very well provided for, I think. There is a street hockey club at his school that girls play in, but they don't seem to play football etc. And this is primary school!)

[malkingrey]

It's good to see you posting here. Also, my sympathies to Spartacus, from one non-athlete to another.

[vaznetti]

Maybe it won't take a whole year to get through this level!

[antiqueight]

Well, while it may not be often either of us posts, it is always good to hear from you.

I swing in and out of the habit. Now that everyone is moving to DW I will try to be more present!

[vaznetti]

It's good to see you posting as well! Maybe we can both be more talkative!

[thistleingrey]

Hello, good to see you! Glad Spartacus has now moved up--the artificial ceiling is very frustrating, agreed.

I manage to keep myself posting by giving myself themes, though it doesn't always work. For "reading Wed" this week I ended up not posting but cleaning up half a draft stuck in Evernote, since I haven't read much during the past few weeks, either. :/

[vaznetti]

Yes, I like reading your posts about books and knitting. I tend to think of things to post but never really get around to writing them down (for example, about this TV show we've been watching, callecThe Last Kingdom, which not includes the highly entertaining adventures of Aethelflaed Lady of Mercia -- she is about to run off with a Dane. Apparently this is not historically attested, who would have guessed?)

[thistleingrey]

And I for my part like reading tv posts, despite my infrequent direct watching.

the highly entertaining adventures

Heh, that sounds pretty great. One of the texts I've worked on shows linguistic strain in trying to retain a descriptor, lady of the people (þeodene lefdi, choose your favorite orthographic variant); thus there's a MS with "crazy lady" (as in wode) and one with "Woden's lady" and a few with "dear lady".... I love her multivalence in texts--I mean beyond that particular exercise in textual crit!

[adafrog]

That's too bad about swimming class. Of course it would frustrate him to be kept behind.

[deslea]

Another non-athlete here chiming in in sympathy for Spartacus. It's good to see you around again!