On Leaving ...
Oct. 26th, 2017 04:54 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
suenicornI have finally gone and done it - handed in my retirement plans and my request for two terms of long service leave, which has built up since 2008, when I took a term. So on Janusry 29 next year, I will wake up at six a.m, smile and turn over to sleep at least another two hours. I have a very good superannuation fund, one that guarantees me a pension for life that will enable me to keep up my lifestyle.
I have been putting it off and putting it off, just one more year, but now my campus, including my comfy, well-set-up library, is going to be torn down and rebuilt over around two or three years. And I probably wouldn't be able to run the library, though the other teacher librarian is also going, much to the joy of the administration, who can't wait to save the money on two experienced teacher librarians. If I can't do library, well, there's plenty more to do, like investigate that course in archaeology at Latrobe uni - if not next year, then 2019. Get on with my writing and finally meet the deadlines for anthologies. Maybe I can do school visits at last. And go to a Worldcon. A SCBWI conference. I have a comfortable amount put away for the occasional indulgence. And enough to pay my bills.
But it will feel strange, when my school moves on without me. And I'll miss the kids. I've run a book club for years - they won't have one next year, though Imhave arranged for someone else to do,the Premier's Reading Challenge, which I did for the first time this year and found far simpler than I'd expected. I will sign up for a library agency if possible - time to dust off the resume. No more classroom teaching, though, if I can avoid it, too draining to the creativity, because you gave to throw it all into your classes, but as I need to keep my VIT registration for now I will maybe volunteer at a local school as classroom assistance. We'll see.
My mother is needing support now, and my sister has been doing most of it, because I've been working. Next year maybe I can take on another day, two...
The world is out there, waiting for me.
I have been putting it off and putting it off, just one more year, but now my campus, including my comfy, well-set-up library, is going to be torn down and rebuilt over around two or three years. And I probably wouldn't be able to run the library, though the other teacher librarian is also going, much to the joy of the administration, who can't wait to save the money on two experienced teacher librarians. If I can't do library, well, there's plenty more to do, like investigate that course in archaeology at Latrobe uni - if not next year, then 2019. Get on with my writing and finally meet the deadlines for anthologies. Maybe I can do school visits at last. And go to a Worldcon. A SCBWI conference. I have a comfortable amount put away for the occasional indulgence. And enough to pay my bills.
But it will feel strange, when my school moves on without me. And I'll miss the kids. I've run a book club for years - they won't have one next year, though Imhave arranged for someone else to do,the Premier's Reading Challenge, which I did for the first time this year and found far simpler than I'd expected. I will sign up for a library agency if possible - time to dust off the resume. No more classroom teaching, though, if I can avoid it, too draining to the creativity, because you gave to throw it all into your classes, but as I need to keep my VIT registration for now I will maybe volunteer at a local school as classroom assistance. We'll see.
My mother is needing support now, and my sister has been doing most of it, because I've been working. Next year maybe I can take on another day, two...
The world is out there, waiting for me.
no subject
Date: 2017-10-26 10:20 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-10-26 10:49 am (UTC)Maybe I'll just come to WA anyway, afterwards. I have friends there and there are places in and around Perth I haven't seen. Or maybe I can head down to Busselton again and stay a bit longer this time. But I will try to see you if I do come. I think of you every time I drink from my lovely mug. It is not only pretty, it's big enough for me to have a satisfying cuppa or cocoa!
no subject
Date: 2017-10-26 11:12 am (UTC)