ESY, SCA, and many more acronyms, oh my!

---ESY----
As a special education teacher, my life is inundated with acronyms. At the moment, I'm an IA in an ESY program. That's Instructional Assistant in an Extended School Year program. Long story short, it was a very very busy school year workload-wise and I wanted to work this summer, but take it relatively easy at the same time. I'm not going to launch into my "according to the school system being a SPED Teacher is more about dealing with legal paperwork than actually teaching" rant since it's the summer, but being an IA means I get to focus on helping kids and let the teachers deal with all of the legal documents.

It's great. The teachers I work with are all stressed, but I get to put in a good day's work and then head home with no baggage. Sure, the pay is half of what I could be making, but I don't want to burn out before the school year starts. Last I heard, there's still a 50% burnout rate within the first three years in my profession (though I wonder if the recession had dropped that a bit).

Today was interesting, because I got pulled to be an emergency teacher. One of the Cat B teachers called in and couldn't get a substitute, so the principal re-tasked me when I was signing in. He knew I was normally a teacher, and he needed someone certified to run a class. I had a great day of teaching kids how to tell the difference between a dime and a nickel. Admittedly, it's not something I'd prefer to do over the long haul, but it was a refreshing change of pace.

---SCA---
I dropped by a weapon's practice again yesterday. The Pennsic Wars start this weekend, so most of the regulars were absent (probably scrubbing armor and getting ready). Basically, the Wars are the equivalent of the playoffs and championships for the SCA on this side of the Mississippi. Thousands gather for over a week of battling for territory and revelry in rural Pennsylvania. The loser gets Pittsburgh.

There were only two people practicing when I arrived: the Baron and Ragnar. I talked with the Baroness and another member while the combatants bludgeoned each other, and when they were done Ragnar gave me a run down of the basics of sword and shield combat. He told me that if I showed up next week (when everyone else was out of town) he'd bring some loaner armor for me to clank around in. I just have to bring my own nut-cup (sharing is not caring when it comes to those).

While we talked, the Baroness and a new arrival started fencing. There's not as much running around and loud, potentially bruising thwacks involved (which lowers my interest level), but it can be neat to watch. There's much less movement than one would expect from a lifetime of movies and television, and when the fencers have an open hand they have an interesting habit of trying to grab their opponent's blade.

---Writing---
Currently, I have my flash-fiction piece submitted, and my first BTech story is still awaiting a response. I haven't submitted my flash-BTech story as I'm not sure it's ready to my standards yet. It's really not likely to get picked up (I've never seen them publish any flash-fiction), but I still want to feel like I combed over it before I drop it in their queue. I'd hate for them to start rolling their eyes whenever they see my name in their inbox.

As for my 'novel.' I'm 18k words in. I combined all of the 'acts' into one big word document and put in a few 'intermissions' between the acts. I feel like Act 1 flows well, but I'm worried about things bogging down in Act 2. I leave a lot of gaps in the first act to make the action flow, and I'm trying to fill some of them in so it's slower by nature. I've thrown some comedy in, but when you re-read a joke multiple times it doesn't seem very funny to you anymore. Hopefully, my readers will find some of the jokes funny even if they've been demoted from 'laugh out loud' to 'mild grin' status in my opinion. I could montage and skip more, but I'm trying to build mystery and characters while supplying some answers and setting up the main plot line.

---Keeping up with People---
Between Carrie's pregnancy, chores, fixing things around the house, and work, I feel like I've been having trouble keeping up with people. I've managed to maintain communications with some, but nowhere near as many as I used to. Being married takes up a fair amount of time, and go figure that being married and having a baby on the way takes up even more time. When the little tyke is born in December, time is going to become an even rarer commodity. Please have patience with me if I seem to drop off the face of the planet from time to time.  Thanks!