Not a thread hijack at all Dave, i was just responding to Kyle's post, which I thought was thoughtful as well.

Well, here I am at school, wrapping up a day. Made it through some professional development. Even felt sassy enough to bitch about it during the stupid meetings.

Attaboy.

One more day of professional development and I'll have made it through my first week back at work. My ankles and left knee are screaming. I ordered a new cane on amazon. At least the kids will make the days go faster come Monday.

Thanks for all the support, obnerds. It's appreciated more than you could know.

Keep it up, Phil - great job, mang!

Phil. You are my hero.

Welp, first day of school down and it felt good to be back in the saddle. Legs feel better than ever, I'm walking more smoothly then i was last week.

My choir kids are rad, one of my two history of rock classes could be really good or they both could suck alot. Songwriting could be great or bad, it's too early to tell, but there's more initial promise present than in last year's class right off the bat.

I'm still going to get my resume together and apply for jobs outside of teaching because my principal really torqued me last friday.

So... what marketable skills do i have from teaching that can translate into a job outside of teaching, preferably with health benefits? I'm thinking human resources might be a natural transition. Amazon has a kindle education department but all of their jobs that aren't technical seem vaguely defined.

Thoughts?

Management. Trust me. Managing a small office can be like educating middle-schoolers.

My buddy in Wisconsin who's had a pretty similar path as you (professional musician) is now gainfully employed as an instructor in a "school of rock" sorta outfit, and likes it.

First thing he did was get into the Arts Administration program within the MBA school in Madison. I got into the Supply Chain portion, you may recall, and during my time there he and I were gigging a lot and he asked about it. I told him about the program, he applied, I put in a strong word for him (hurt more than helped I'm sure) and he got in. The way that program works is that you don't pay a tuition, you go 2 years full time like everyone else, you work something like 20 hours a week every week for one of several large Arts businesses in town (performing arts center downtown is a big one). You take the same core classes as everyone else (finance, accounting, stats, all the good stuff) but you focus on running non profits. When you graduate they help place you, if you need help. Ken got a gig with the connections he made - a guy started a combination practice space / kids' rock school, and hired Ken on as some combo of Enrollement Director (making that title up but something like that) and instructor. So he helps put together each new incoming class of kids, and groups them all into little bands. Then he helps teach some of them, and after a few months they have a concert for their friends and parents where they play the songs they've learned.

He has insurance.

Still hunting for a job, but I'm having a good year teaching.

For the medical peeps. My nerves are definitely repairing themselves, but sometimes i'm getting really distracting, almost painful sensations. I guess some might just call it nerve pain? It's super disconcerting. Is there anything I can do to make that shit stop?

Also, I'm working out a lot to get strength to walk... is there anything i can do besides ice to get the occasional swelling down? An ice pack isn't the easiest thing to get or maintain in front of a class. Elevation is rarely an option.

Lastly, on the workout tip... I'm working alot on quads and hamstrings, but i could use more muscle in the glutes. I'm doing bike, treadmill, leg press, seated leg curl, leg extension every day, walking laps in the pool, trying to extend my left knee back to zero in the steam room and the whirlpool...

I just need more of a butt to make sitting less painful, and I'm not a fitness guru. Suggestions?

And I mean helpful suggestions.

Also, i have an extra ticket to the Ben Folds Five reunion, and I'd like to go with a female if anyone has any single/non-single friends in the Austin area. Right now i'm supposed to take a hot single lady friend, but she's boning another teacher here at school.

Note that the goal isn't sex, because that'd be a comedy of errors right now, I just want to feel like I'm getting towards normal, whatever that is. Getting out. Doing things. Not feeling like an unattractive gimp.

She's boning him?

Keep Austin wierd, I say. Keep Austin wierd.

Update:
today is day 21, no cane
I have an ortho appointment in early Feb and they're going to talk about taking the metal out of my legs.
I'm getting this tattoo to commemmorate my current failure at dying or quitting teaching. (sketch from the artist)

WHOA.

Nice!

Yeah, that's pretty great. Really like it, Phil.

like

Man, I work on a locked down federal computer for a year and I half and miss a ton of shit. Glad you're alive and cane free and getting badass ink.

We should get the city of Austin to have No Cane day party like Mobile, AL does for JOE CAIN DAY and whoop it up.