Lifetime Learner

I'm not quite finished with law school yet. I have some finals to attend to, but I sat in my last law school class yesterday. Anna and I have an agreement that this will be the last schooling that I do for a while, so I'm out of the school setting for a while it seems. After 13 years of K-12 and 9 years of post-K-12 education, things are going to change:

1. It is going to feel weird to miss out on student discounts at the movies, symphony, etc.

2. I must abandon the mindset that I can eat anything I want to because I can't afford to eat the right things.

3. Also, I will miss the graduate student ethos: making gross over-generalizations and nit-picking everything in society because all you have is time to kill.

It's been good to know you, schooling. Thanks for the memories. Still, I will not abandon you. My new profession requires, by its ever-changing nature, that I constantly learn new things. I love it. Even beyond that, I don't want to ever hang up my sweater and tie. I'm making a public promise here on the blog that I will keep learning about new things--not with the curiosity of a passing observer but with depth and vigor. Here are some thoughts of a few places where I'd like to start:

1. Because I can't renounce academia, I want to read more "campus novels." I read Lucky Jim several years ago, and, since then, I've read a few other higlights from the genre (most notably Richard Russo's Straight Man). As time goes by, I'd like to read a lot more of these books and explore the similarities/differences between them.

2. I would like to learn more about the history and craft of stained glass. It would be my first entry into the visual arts, which I've neglected for my entire life.

3. As always, I'd like to pick up new and interesting musical instruments. I really, really, really want a glass armonica and a tenor guitar.

There it is, a commitment. Hold me to it, dear readers, and feel free to join in on the journey. If there's anything you're currently exploring or would like to learn about, put it in the comments. We have a menagerie of experts (in various fields) that read this blog, so you might even get a note on a good place to start.

[Note--Posts during the next two weeks will likely be more sporadic. Don't worry about us; we're wrapping up with school and packing up a house. We'll be living in Cincinnati as of May 5th. Maybe I'll make Anna write a post about the move and her incredible organization techniques.]