Holiday Newsletter
Happy Holidays to all my friends across the Atlantic. May it be a time of peace, joy and relaxation for you all.
I haven't updated in a while - it's been a fairly eventful time, in both good and bad ways. Here goes:
I am officially going to Stratfrord. News of my MA acceptance has just come through. I start in mid-January with a long weekend at the Shakespeare Institute, the first of three making up my first unit on the Shakespeare and Theatre course. It's an awesome challenge and I'm grateful to everybody who inspired me and cheered me along the way, from Mr Tennant downwards.
In other news....
My son's situation is deteriorating and there are no easy answers. He's been to see a consultant who is recommending pyschotherapy. Tom's inability to get out of bed before lunchtime has no obvious organic basis, though his allergy and medication problems certainly affect his quality of sleep.
The school's been helpful up to a point. They take the attitude that he should get in every day at 9.00am even if he goes straight to the medical room and collapses. Now we have medical support and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome is one of the hypothetical diagnoses, they may be a bit more flexible.
The problem seems to be Tom's huge anxiety over the mountain of work he is missing, and his academic performance in general, which has amounted to a kind of school phobia. We've been here before but this is by far the most serious episode with the worst potential consequences.
It sounds cliched, but honestly all we can do is take things one day at a time. We can't really plan anything involving him. Even his proposed ski trip and our Christmas vacation to New York City are looking uncertain at the moment, since if he really can't change his sleep pattern we can't take him across too many time zones, and in any case we may not be able to get insurance cover.
So I may wind up watching "The Next Doctor" on Christmas Day after all, while DH and DD take Manhattan. I'm very laid back about it. There are an awful lot of people out there losing their jobs before Christmas, and at least I'm not one of them.
My own job in the school library is secure until the end of March at least. After that, it's anybody's guess what'll happen, but it won't be the only thing in my life. Though of course, if they had to let me go, I'd be sad for the children who enjoy the work I do.
And we must take the current as it serves, or lose our ventures.
Well, this is sounding like a holiday newsletter and I suppose that's what it is. My total lack of enthusiasm for Christmas preparations seems to be matched only by my inability to write anything DW related. There are just too many other things going on. I've had the latest DWM in the magazine rack for two weeks and only opened it once for about five minutes.
I haven't updated in a while - it's been a fairly eventful time, in both good and bad ways. Here goes:
I am officially going to Stratfrord. News of my MA acceptance has just come through. I start in mid-January with a long weekend at the Shakespeare Institute, the first of three making up my first unit on the Shakespeare and Theatre course. It's an awesome challenge and I'm grateful to everybody who inspired me and cheered me along the way, from Mr Tennant downwards.
In other news....
My son's situation is deteriorating and there are no easy answers. He's been to see a consultant who is recommending pyschotherapy. Tom's inability to get out of bed before lunchtime has no obvious organic basis, though his allergy and medication problems certainly affect his quality of sleep.
The school's been helpful up to a point. They take the attitude that he should get in every day at 9.00am even if he goes straight to the medical room and collapses. Now we have medical support and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome is one of the hypothetical diagnoses, they may be a bit more flexible.
The problem seems to be Tom's huge anxiety over the mountain of work he is missing, and his academic performance in general, which has amounted to a kind of school phobia. We've been here before but this is by far the most serious episode with the worst potential consequences.
It sounds cliched, but honestly all we can do is take things one day at a time. We can't really plan anything involving him. Even his proposed ski trip and our Christmas vacation to New York City are looking uncertain at the moment, since if he really can't change his sleep pattern we can't take him across too many time zones, and in any case we may not be able to get insurance cover.
So I may wind up watching "The Next Doctor" on Christmas Day after all, while DH and DD take Manhattan. I'm very laid back about it. There are an awful lot of people out there losing their jobs before Christmas, and at least I'm not one of them.
My own job in the school library is secure until the end of March at least. After that, it's anybody's guess what'll happen, but it won't be the only thing in my life. Though of course, if they had to let me go, I'd be sad for the children who enjoy the work I do.
And we must take the current as it serves, or lose our ventures.
Well, this is sounding like a holiday newsletter and I suppose that's what it is. My total lack of enthusiasm for Christmas preparations seems to be matched only by my inability to write anything DW related. There are just too many other things going on. I've had the latest DWM in the magazine rack for two weeks and only opened it once for about five minutes.