Two and a Half Weeks Later

It's been over two weeks now, and I'm still chillin' in the hospital. Positive spin: I get to eat that amazing hospital food that I featured in my last blog entry; all social engagements must take place at my bedside, which is convenient for me and immensely inconvenient for others; I have lots of time … Continue reading Two and a Half Weeks Later →

Hospital Food and Ticking Boxes (Highlights of My Current Existence)

Nine days in to my current hospital stay, I feel well enough to waste some of my limited computer time blogging when I could be, oh, e-mailing my mother (sorry, Mom) or taking care of business (sorry, business). I don't, however, want to burden my brain or readership by blogging about anything serious, so instead, I will focus on something happier: … Continue reading Hospital Food and Ticking Boxes (Highlights of My Current Existence) →

EMU: It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane, It’s a Long and Unpleasant Hospital Stay!

It looks like I have a tentative date—or date range, anyway—for an admission to the Epilepsy Monitoring Unit at a hospital here in Toronto. Yay! Yay. Yay? Ugh. I have, as I’ve probably made evident, conflicted emotions about this. On the one hand, it has to happen eventually, and I’ve waited a long time for … Continue reading EMU: It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane, It’s a Long and Unpleasant Hospital Stay! →

Stretches: Unreasonable Expectations and Consolation Prizes

So, as many of my Facebook friends (hey guys!) among my readership know, I'm now entering day five of a seizure-free stretch. I at first attributed this amazing development to the annual kickoff of my almost-daily trips to Menchies, but yesterday I got my froyo elsewhere, so there might be—shocker—some actual medical explanation for it. … Continue reading Stretches: Unreasonable Expectations and Consolation Prizes →

Happy Purple Day! (And an Ill-Conceived Children’s Book Idea)

When my brothers and I were kids, we tried to convince my parents that there should be mythical gift-bearing creatures associated with non-gift holidays: the Thanksgiving Rat, for example. With this history of attempting to cheat my way into extra toys, I casually suggested to my husband this morning that there should be a Purple … Continue reading Happy Purple Day! (And an Ill-Conceived Children’s Book Idea) →

Special Skill(s): Reflections on Worst-Case-Scenario Thinking and How Teaching Is Taking Over My Life and Brain

It’s Reading Week, the toned-down, much-colder, Canadian version of Spring Break and a much needed few days to focus on things like not obsessively planning lessons and figuring out who I am as a person when I’m not making PowerPoint presentations. I’ve settled into a bit of a groove now and started to remember why … Continue reading Special Skill(s): Reflections on Worst-Case-Scenario Thinking and How Teaching Is Taking Over My Life and Brain →

“Frazzled University Instructor with Epilepsy” and PowerPoint: A Love Story

Until three weeks ago, I was adamant that I'd never use PowerPoint as a classroom tool. As are many things I pretentiously reject, it was perfectly acceptable for other people, but I was happy with chalk and, you know, my voice. More to the point, I hate change and am technologically inept. And then I … Continue reading “Frazzled University Instructor with Epilepsy” and PowerPoint: A Love Story →