Thread Drift

I feel honored, but weird. It didn't feel as weird when I had drinks with another former student, who also teaches 7th grade Language Arts, but in a different district. In fact, she had applied for the job at my old school, but the other former student got it.
I found this out, in a very funny FB thread, where the social studies teacher on my former team commented on a menu item at a local restaurant. The current former student, LA teacher stated the conversation was very weird and out of context, just at the same time I posted that this was such a typical conversation for this group. Then, one of the people who had the position in between us stated that's because we are all "weird." This was seconded by a few others, prompting me to state that I miss their sense of humor, because therapists do not have the same sense of humor, or even *any* sense of humor.
Just a testament to how I still feel connected to these people after 11 years, and obviously that a) we imparted our weirdness to a lot of our students and b) you have to have a certain sense of humor to be a middle school teacher. I guess also, the fact that this is a "looping" team, where we had our kids for 2 years made us way more like a family. Certain families chose this experience for their kids and it usually was a great match.
I smiled a lot the whole day after this exchange!

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Originally Posted by emily_in_nc

I hear ya, Crankin. You know what makes me feel old these days? I turn on the TV and nearly all the news anchors are younger than me.

Sigh...I remember when everyone on TV (other than kids) were older than me, and now I notice how young everyone is. It's depressing! :(

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It feels weird, that I'm a....great-aunt. Of a baby boy born to my oldest nephew (31 yrs.) and his wife last year. I actually haven't told anyone at work. Every month, I learn of work colleague who casually mention their parents....in late 50's or mid-60's. Meanwhile I'm 59.

Guess what makes me feel old yet honoured:
This fall in Vancouver BC there will be an art gallery exhibit and lecture/workshop that will honour the first leading Asian-CAnadian magazine, Asianadian promoting literary and visual arts by Asian-Canadians..from late 1970's to late 1980's. I wrote an article for the magazine and was also volunteer for 5 years before magazine died. We had paid subscriptions from across North America. The magazine was formed because artists and writers were tired of being muffled /overshadowed by non-Asians.

this was before my cycling life. :) It was heady to be at the forefront of something new and "radical" at the time.

How about when your doctor appears to be 12 years old? I swear my dermatologist is Doogie Howser!

Bump.

Retirement is great but I'm having horrible issues with the company medical. They are continually miss billing me for it. Thought I got it squared away but nope and with this last statement, here we go again.

If I don't stop getting mail from AARP I am going to explode. I can't stand anything about a group centered on old people. It's been 15 years, give it up!
My big big birthday is in 2 weeks. Not really looking forward to it. I have never minded birthdays, but after getting my Medicare card, it felt awful. Well, I don't actually have to use it or buy the supplemental stuff, since I still have private insurance.
The whole age thing pisses me off. People have preconceived notions of what older people are. Like the song says, I think I'll die, before I get old.

Wow, this was all the way on Page 3 behind a bunch of Spam. I've been away both from this board and from cycling for a long time. Life and injuries have gotten in the way. Last summer I was all ready to take it up again, then I injured my wrist at work and that has been a long recovery.

As the weather improves and I think about taking my slow, comfy hybrid out to doodle around the neighborhood, I remembered the days when I was in here all the time. And wondered how everyone was doing. If anyone is still checking in, I'd love to hear your news. Wishing everyone safety and good health in these very strange times.

We're good. Knot is back at work. Don't know if you knew she was diagnosed with stage IV colon cancer in October '18. So about 9 months of chemo and recovery from chemo which was no fun lemme tell you. And then 2 surgeries which technically were 3 surgeries. After all that now she's NED. Doctors don't say remission, cured or recovered anymore. They say "No Evidence of Disease". In other words "We can't find it anymore" :rolleyes:

She had several weeks where they had her working from home which would have been ideal for us. She's healthy, I'm healthy, we're both off work. She could have done conference calls from anywhere, even the beach "Uhm, yes, boss. That is a fake Zoom background. I'm in my living room, really! :cool:" But we are staying safe at home.

Oh, no I had not heard about the cancer. But I am glad to hear you are both doing well now!

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Originally Posted by NbyNW

Oh, no I had not heard about the cancer. But I am glad to hear you are both doing well now!

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Yeah. We're glad too. :)

She's gotten interested in music. As of now added 2 ukuleles and a guitar to the stable. We're about to have the same storage issue with them as the bikes. :p

Hey, hoping everyone is ok. Haven't checked in here for a looooog time.
I'm still alive and kicking, waves and hug to anyone who even remembers me... best wishes to you all. Remembering the good ol days on this TE site. ;)

Haven't been riding my bikes in a couple years, but was doing a lot of contra dancing before the pandemic hit, and now I do a mini trampoline session in my living room to try to not totally become a blob.
Today's election day. sigh....
:cool:

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Originally Posted by BleeckerSt_Girl

Hey, hoping everyone is ok. Haven't checked in here for a looooog time.
I'm still alive and kicking, waves and hug to anyone who even remembers me... best wishes to you all. Remembering the good ol days on this TE site. ;)

Haven't been riding my bikes in a couple years, but was doing a lot of contra dancing before the pandemic hit, and now I do a mini trampoline session in my living room to try to not totally become a blob.
Today's election day. sigh....
:cool:

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hmmm. ?

So much happens in 15y. I hope everyone is well.

I get notifications when there is a new post in this thread. Such interesting memories!
I'm doing fine. I'm now 70 (!) and still have my custom Luna bike which i have not been riding, and also have my blue Rivendell Rambouillet, which i am preparing to sell. :-( ...that makes me sad but I just can't justify continuing to keep two expensive bikes 'just in case' I start riding again.
Two years ago I buckled down and managed to lose 50 lbs that had slowly crept up over the years, now i am a healthy BMI (still gotta watch what i eat). I'm doing fitness walks, gardening, also contra dancing regularly, which is quite a workout (typically a dance is 2.5 hrs and 16K steps).
Hi Kit, I hope you are doing well.

Hi! I am. I'm almost 40! Isn't that just crazy after all the old wild times in the TD?

All this time later, I've been a radiographer for the past 12 years, which seems crazy. Went through some wild stuff but thankfully survived it all mostly unscathed, went a number of years without a bike to my name, barely riding my motorcycle, but am currently *completely* rebuilding a Cannondale F7 I found on FB marketplace for a steal.

I bought my home in '19 and have a modest but very comfortable little life with a couple cat-tatoes and my long distance partner.

She is currently working at QBP bike warehouse in Lancaster, PA but hoping to move out here in the next year or so. We don't want to rush anything and are taking such pleasure in our very writing and poetry heavy connection. She's everything I ever hoped for and more than I imagined for myself. She's a wild and adventurous artist, roller derby player, world traveler, and bikepacker.

She's injecting a lot of life and adventure into my temporarily banal little existence and it's so welcome. I finally reminding myself of who I was when I was here all raucous and rowdy in the Drift.

I wonder if anyone else will see this?

Losing Team Estrogen as a business and a meeting place for women in sports was a small tragedy. I've not seen anything even close in its wake.

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Originally Posted by BleeckerSt_Girl

I get notifications when there is a new post in this thread. Such interesting memories!
I'm doing fine. I'm now 70 (!) and still have my custom Luna bike which i have not been riding, and also have my blue Rivendell Rambouillet, which i am preparing to sell. :-( ...that makes me sad but I just can't justify continuing to keep two expensive bikes 'just in case' I start riding again.
Two years ago I buckled down and managed to lose 50 lbs that had slowly crept up over the years, now i am a healthy BMI (still gotta watch what i eat). I'm doing fitness walks, gardening, also contra dancing regularly, which is quite a workout (typically a dance is 2.5 hrs and 16K steps).
Hi Kit, I hope you are doing well.

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Cheers to you on your accomplishments! Contra IS a serious workout!

re: your bikes and new hobbies--I find the tension between the careful archiving of memories for the sake of nostalgia and the drive to move forward and explore/experiment is such a challenging one to hold gracefully. It sounds like you're doing well and cultivating good and fun things though!

It's good that the Luna can patiently wait for you, though. ❤️
We all need someone to hold space now and then. 😊

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