Apparently, I'm Still in the Race!
And there are no pitstops...
I feel like I’ve been waiting for things to calm down for years. April was insane, and it flew by in the blink of an eye. Back in February or March, when I found out that the Quad Cities Beer book was going to be released in August, I thought, but that is so far away! Someone told me “It will be here faster than you know it.” After how fast April flew by, I know how true that is.
April was full of good and bad. Just as I imagine May will end up. I have continued to be busy af and nonstop running and behind on everything! I started a part-time job at a pet store in April, and worked there for about a week and a half before calling in and quitting. I had too much going on, and adding the long shifts there wasn’t in my time budget, especially after I got a short-notice freelance project to do for the local newspaper. I probably didn’t have the time to do it, but I squeezed it in and managed! I didn’t want to turn it down, and I really, really enjoyed doing it! I got to interview ten area nurses who were honorees for the 2023 Heart of Healthcare in conjunction with nurses week. It was a special issue in the paper!
I spontaneously accepted a different part-time job - less hours per shift, and only two nights a week and every other Saturday (or two Saturdays a month). The job is super laid back too; just my speed. It doesn’t pay much and only pays monthly (I will get paid for the two weeks I worked in April on June 1st or 2nd)… so those things are not ideal, but at least it’s something. I can at least be available for kids to message if they need, and I can do other work while I’m there.
I’ve been spending a lot of time focusing on promoting the Quad Cities Beer: A History book! Also, attending a lot of craft beer events! The pre-order links are up, and I’ve also set up on Square to take preorders for locals or to ship to people who don’t like to shop from the big stores. I’m super stoked about the book, and I am anxious to share our work with the public! It was such a fun project!
Publication date: August 7th
Release party: Wake Brewing, August 12th 3pm
Preorder links:
Like and follow the Facebook page, Instagram, and I’m starting to put things on TikTok as well… just have been focusing more on Facebook and Instagram (otherwise I will get sucked into watching a bazillion TikToks LOL).
ONE LAST WEEK OF SCHOOL!!! I’m not sure whether me or the kids are more excited about this. I’m so over getting kids up and ready for school. And not being on time. Ever.
Speaking of things I’m so over… Plagiarism and ChatGPT… This shit takes so much time away from students who are actually wanting to learn. During my last class, I had 8 students that I gave an incomplete grade. 4 were legit reasons, and 4 were due to plagiarism or AI issues with their final submissions… I didn’t want to spend two hours filling out paperwork to report an “academic integrity incident report” for all of those students (it also requires documentation), so I gave them an incomplete and an opportunity to resubmit work. One student, in particular, re-submitted a different plagiarised paper… I spent the time to send all of those students information and links on how to not plagiarize a paper…Information on how to properly write an academic paper… And this one student’s third submission was a 100% flag for AI… So, I spent the hour filling out all of the paperwork only to have the academic integrity office state that they couldn’t corroborate that it was 100% AI generated and to grade the paper… To say that I was pissed would be an understatement. I absolutely flash-composed an email that I did not send. God, I want to. But, I also don’t really want to get fired. Maybe some people should just buy a degree… I’m so burned out on that!
I have great plans for the summer that include making my boys do yardwork and taking some kids to the Y! And doing a bunch of things that don’t require money!
It’s a holiday weekend!!! I’m so glad there is no school on Monday!
I hope you all have an awesome holiday!