No Complaining Thursday

"If only we'd stop trying to be happy we'd have a pretty good time."
-- edith wharton

i like this quote because it makes me think about how i've been handling all this stupid job crap. i've been spending the better part of the last six months looking ahead, planning, focusing on the future and just generally trying to make myself happy by finding the Perfect job in the Perfect place. and what i'm realizing is that by trying so hard to get it right and make my life what i think it Should Be, i'm ignorning all the things that are my life, Right Now. so i really like that i'm doing no complaining thursdays again - i'm finding that it's kind of fun to think about the little things that i usually take for granted. i have to admit that sometimes i feel a little weird on thursdays - too much Happiness! or something, like a pink blog is just around the corner. but it's only one day a week - i think that's ok, right? i make up for the schmoop on other days i'm sure.

so without further ado (??, adieu??), let No Complaining Thursday* the Third begin:

something that makes me happy is: the awesome email i received yesterday from a former student of mine at the extension school where I used to teach Cell Biology. the email said:

Last night at during break in my Gene Expressions and Pathways class I overheard two guys talking about other classes they had taken. One of them volunteered that the best class he ever had at this school was Cell Biology which was so much better than all the others it 'blew him away'. When asked if our current teacher taught it he said, "no, some gal from [TNU]."

(TNU = school where i was a grad student and then where i taught for three years). then about 20 minutes later i received an email with a cool job posting from the chair of the search committe for the position where they hired three people and i was the fourth candidate. she had previsouly said really nice things and so i asked her to to keep me in mind if she heard of anything that sounded like a good fit for me. and she actually did that!

these emails make me feel like i should still be teaching and that i deserve a job in science education - and that's a rare thing for me these days.

so that's my non complaint. what's yours?




*for any newcomers, i started no complainign thursdays a few years back when i was grumpy all the time and decided to exercise my positive thinking muscles at least one day a week. there's no official relationship to Phantom's Wednesday Whining, just a happy coincidence :) anyway, it worked then and i certainly need it now, so i'm bringing it back.