I've probably mentioned it before, but the Olympics usually manage to help me realize that seemingly-insurmountable obstacles to success are probably really not all that hard to manage. Mostly, you just have to make the right decisions, and, well, keep workin'. Lindsey Vonn strikes me as a whiny little ditz, but others involved in the Olympics are pretty cool to me. I like snowboarder Shaun White's overall style as a person, and I think the Canadian women's hockey team, with their much-ballyhooed incident over cigars and Molsons on the ice, was probably more being chastised for being "un-Canadian" than truly unsportsman-like. I doubt if anyone would view it badly if the men did the same thing in the wake of their (potential) victory. And after several of Team USA Hockey's "miracles on ice," (1960 and 1980 most notably,) I think this should be the year for the Canadians to take the gold on their home ice. As for me, well, "working the wrinkles" out of my life is still going to be a long process, but I made one decision that, at least for the time being, seems to have helped me be able to save a fairly sizable sum; I cut up my debit card. There are probably people out there who are looking at this with some amount of horror, but I'll tell ya what; when you have to think about having cash, and not having the option of just "whipping out the plastic," it's amazing the number of things you start to think twice about. And the difference it can make in your outlook, and the way, well, I view things anyway, is like night and day. I've never been very good at saving money, or a lot of the other financial basics, so perhaps this is just how I need to operate day-to-day. And since my bank is one of the ones that recently merged with another bank, come April, I'll be getting another debit card from the new bank anyway. Although once I get the new one, I still don't plan to carry it in my wallet, I'll just keep it around for emergencies. So it's not a total shut-down here, just kind of a breather, I guess. An opportunity to start to get it together. Again. I think I've actually gotten some lucky breaks in that whole arena, and although I've still got a lot of work to do, I consider this to be a step in the right direction.

Speaking of steps in the right direction, although I have at once whined greatly about how little American students seem to educationally "want it," but how much I love doing what I do, I think I still have some choices to make. Lately I've been considering if it wouldn't perhaps be in my best interest to make my long-term educational more focused on Speech Pathology than Education. Between English Language Learners, stroke patients and other medical-need individuals, and a certain amount of the special education population, it would seem as though the possibilities are indeed out there. On top of that, no one will ever "want it" more than a person who has either had language skills and lost them, or who never had the English language skills of a native speaker to begin with. Which is, to a certain extent, what it comes down to; in the immortal words of Don Henley, "How bad do ya want it?" There are instances where I'm just tired of beating my head 'til it's bloody trying to pre-empt the typical student's social exigencies. The idea of coming to school is not to do so because you got an iPod Touch, or a new Hollister t-shirt. I was pretty much a reject myself in school, I've been thinking that perhaps some element of just being a teacher and "getting on the other side," so to speak, would alleviate some of the pain I experienced growing up. Ehhhh, a little bit. Having done what I've done for the last few years, (and what I probably will for more, at least as long as the economy in Michigan holds together somewhat,) has helped me deal with the pain and anger I felt over all the things I haven't been able to teach my own children over the last several years. It's a biggie from my male perspective. Although God knows, as any children do, I'm sure mine have been watching me, even from their far-off outpost. They can see almost everything, I'm quite sure. And I guess I can be proud of the fact that, at least judging by who they are, I haven't been sending out the wrong signals, at the very least. So I am somewhat proud of being able to at least be a good example as a person. Not perfect, by any means, but I ain't done yet, either.