Ups & Downs

"It was the best of times."

I feel unstoppable.

My book is now in Israel being translated!

I'm set up as a vendor in Los Angeles Unified School
District, and now I'll be able to sell my book to all
LA schools! They will be able to purchase from me from
the larger money account that they have for vendors.

I just jumped into an acting class last week at Santa
Monica College when my poetry performance class was
cancelled at the last minute. I've never acted before,
but I'm really growing fast in this acting class and
liking it a lot. After my first performance someone
said I was "brilliant!"


--//--


"It was the worst of times."

I just got placed on "stand by" as a substitute teacher.

I was breaking up a fight in a crowd between two 4th grade
girls, and after the fight one went to the office and
complained. She said that I grabbed her too hard when
separating the fight.

They wrote me up, and I got an inadequate service report.
This was my second of the semester.

Its a valuable lesson for me, you see I've never really
been trained in the proper way of breaking up a fight
like that, and it was a pretty ugly one.

In the heat of my reaction to stop a fight, I should
never cause harm to prevent harm even though my intention
was to prevent these girls from hurting one another.
I know this.

Still now, and for the next 6 months, I've been pushed
down to the end of the substitute list and it will be more
difficult for me to get jobs.

Anyways, I'm grieving over it, looking at my options,
and wondering exactly how I'm going to pay my bills
these next 6 months.

I guess I can always do some tutoring and sell books so
its not so bad, but I do feel stunned for what happened
not only for myself, but for the potential damage
something like this could do to the mission that
I've dedicated my life to.

i.e. Reality check.

I apologized to the girls and the school, and I still can't
quite believe this happened to me.

I am only human after all, but still I thought
I was past this.

Nevertheless, now that its been done, I can only accept
it, learn from my mistake, and pray that God sees me
through life's inevitable trials such as these.

I pray, and dedicate myself through my work, to the same for you.

Love,
Seth