I think it’s time for me to cut back! I definitely am involved in too many activities, and my workload has become nearly unmanageable. My stress level is too high as well, which is likely part of the reason my back has been so bad–and it is slightly better after four days of rest but it still has a long way to go. Who knows what the heck the stress is doing to the rest of my health?

Some of my regular activities include:

> writing, editing, and publishing VISIONS OF PARADISE bi-monthly
> editing Fei Fei’s Tibet book
> researching my immigrant book
> writing fiction
> practicing guitar daily
> teaching!!!!!! (the most time-consuming task of all)
> being math department head (also a very time-consuming job)
> director of Iron Hills Conference Math League
> advisor of PHS Math Team
> advisor of PHS Asian-American club
> steering committee member of Morris Area Math Alliance
> vice-president of PTHEA, and editor of district newsletter
> editor of PHS newsletter FACULTY VOICE
> steering committee member of TARGET TEACH PARSIPPANY
> co-advisor of PHS student newspaper
> co-editor of National Fantasy Fan magazine

I don’t intend to give up any of the first 7 activities, which means I need to find a way to slip out of some–all?–of the subsequent 9 activities. I hate to leave people in the lurch though, which I guess is part of the reason I have taken on so much, but I fully intend to try to find replacements for some of those activities. My term of office in the PTHEA expires in another year; perhaps I should refrain from running again? Or maybe there is another math teacher anxious to become Math Team advisor, which would get me out of the IHC job as well. Both of those would be considerable time-savers for me. And hopefully sanity (and health) savers as well!

To be continued... (hopefully ☺)

CURRENTLY LISTENING: THE BEST THAT I COULD DO, John Mellancamp's best songs from 1978-1988, containing a lot of really good stuff. I hope he plans to release a followup edition real soon now.