I mentioned last post that I was a little hesitant to participate in NaBloPoMo, but now that it’s over, I’m glad I tried to post as much as possible during the month of November. A few thoughts I had about NaBloPoMo 2024, my first attempt at posting every day (though it didn’t turn out to be every day):
-I was really excited by how many people participated this year, and I’m really glad I was introduced to some new blogs and writers. Though I didn’t get to comment as much as a I would have liked, I loved what a wide variety of things that people wrote about. I think my favorite thing about NaBloPoMo as a reader is seeing all the different ways people use blogs as creative outlets.
-I liked the challenge of writing as much as possible, but I don’t know that I liked posting un-polished writing. I’m not a fast writer, and I find my writing needs a lot of editing. I think what I missed the most during NaBloPoMo was being able to take time to craft posts. Posting things that I don’t get to marinate on a for a while felt a little rushed to me. I actually have a couple of ideas that I wanted to write about and drafted, but didn’t publish because I wanted to be able to think about them a bit more. As a result, I think my posts were more pedestrian. Which I think is fine, but I do like to have a mix of “What’s gong on in my life” and “What’s going on in my head” posts, and I think this month it was more the former than the latter, and if I’m honest, I don’t always think “What’s going on in my life” is very interesting for anyone except future me looking back. At any rate, it’s probably a good exercise for me to write quickly and more impulsively because I tend to over think things, but writing quickly doesn’t come easy.
-On the other hand, I now have a bunch of things in my “drafts” folder that I can work on a post next year when I have a break from opera and my schedule opens up a little bit. Also – I never got to the Ask Me Anything posts, and I’m actually really excited to answer the questions that people asked, so definitely look for that in the future.
-There were some posts, namely the “What I wore” and the Friday Haikus, that were easy to put together because I gathered the content all week. I used to post haikus more regularly, but have fallen out of the habit. I think I’d like to try to make that a regular post again.
-Would I do it again? I don’t know – November is always a super busy month for me at work. I didn’t get to read as much, and I didn’t journal at. all. during November. I really miss having the time to do those things. I’ve thought about maybe tackling a NaBloWriMo challenge during a month when I have a lighter work schedule, where I would have time to really write contemplatively. I fully admit there was a bit of FOMO that led me to take up the challenge, and I’m not sure if that is healthy for me. If I’m going to do it, I need to figure out what it does for me.
For those of you who are new to me via NaBloPoMo, I’m so glad you’ve visited my corner of the internet! I hope I can continue to read your words and/or you’ll continue to read mine.
In other news, another calendar page has turned and it’s the last month of 2024. Eeep! When did that happen? And since we have a three month calendar on our wall, I can see February. Which is actually kind of nice because it is pretty empty right now.
I’ve had hopes of doing some productive life admin the past couple of days since yesterday was a free day and today I didn’t start rehearsal until noon, but I’ve been unexpectedly on kid duty; the four year old’s day care is closed because the HVAC system is not working and it is too cold for the center to operate without heat. Part of me is irked by the whole thing, part of me is thankful that it’s finally gotten cold… because global warming, y’all.
Anyhow, the 5 year old not being in school has been unexpected. I mean the kid hasn’t been in school for a week, what with the Thanksgiving holiday and all. The HVAC system at the school has been in need of repair for several weeks now – actually probably several decades, let’s be honest – and there are space heaters, but my guess is that the space heaters aren’t enough to counter the center being empty for the holiday weekend. There is a lot of chatter on the parent’s WhatsApp group – the situation seems long and complicated and responsibility for the HVAC system is not clear cut. I’ve had to silence the notifications on the WhatApp group because it was getting to be too too much for me, all the BIG FEELINGS and ANGER. I get that parents are upset, I really do, but the vitriol is draining. I’m having flashbacks to March of 2020 when we we suddenly had the day care rug pulled out from under us. But I’m feeling a kind of zen settle over me about the current situation – we survived COVID, we can survive a broken HVAC system. Or we’ll pivot and figure something else out. I don’t know… maybe I’m naive. I think that a child care crisis is something that we’re shockingly getting used to. And our family is lucky that we can indeed work things out.
Luckily I was off work yesterday. I had been planning to get some life admin done, but instead I took the five year old and her friend for the day. We went to the nature center, to see the holiday train display at the Botanical Gardens, and also to the library. Then I invited a friend, who’s kid is also in the 5 year old’s class, over for a playdate and chat. There’s a silver lining if there ever was one – I’ve been missing chatting with friends, and I didn’t think we’d get to see any holiday displays what with the intense opera schedule these past few weeks. I was lucky that the daycare closure was merely inconvenient and that it gave me an excuse to do some of the things I hadn’t been finding time to do.
Today, was day two of preschool being closed. I had rehearsal, so I just brought the 4 year old along. She was actually pretty excited to come along and packed herself a bag with Magnaformers, colouring books, crayons, and stickers. Of all my kids, she is the most energetic, so I was really surprised she sat quietly through three hours of rehearsal – she just coloured and played by herself and watched the singers work.
I feel lucky that I work somewhere where no one bats an eye if I bring a five year old to rehearsal. Everyone was actually really happy to see her. The director offered to put her in the show. But you know, two kids in operas in one fall is enough for us. The whole thing made me think, though – zooming out… I think when I started out in the business, I would never have thought to bring my kid to rehearsal because I had no childcare coverage for that day. And I do get that there are jobs where it wouldn’t be okay to bring your kid. But… maybe not as many as one would think? Looking at the big picture here – what is the real cost of giving working caregivers flexibility when they need it, and welcoming a child into the office in a pinch? Perhaps affording them a bit of leeway to handle caregiving duties allows them to mentally be more present to do their job. I think having to think about who is going to care for your child while you work is a huge mental load to take on. Perhaps it’s better in the long run to give people the time and space they need to function as a caregiver and to cover for them, rather than have people distracted and stressed out about how they are going to do it all. Maybe I would think differently if I had a job that had benefits and PTO, though…
So fingers crossed that the preschool will be warm enough for the 5 year old to go to school tomorrow.
Oh, one more thing before I sign off – I was browsing through books on Libby when I came across this version of Anne of Avonlea….
What the what???? I have no idea who that woman on the cover is, but is sure as shucks is not Anne Shirley. How do people even let things like this happen? It’s as if someone was like, “Oh well, here’s a vaguely period looking damsel looking pouty. That’ll do.” Have they even read the book?
Hope you’re staying cozy wherever you are!
