The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly...

Everybody’s life has good aspects, not-so-good aspects, and things they would rather forget about totally. Here are some of the high and low points of my own life:

The Good...
>I have a wonderful family which is in the process of growing a bit larger (and, hence, a bit more wonderful);
> I love teaching and interacting with my students, especially in the Math Lab, and with some of my fellow teachers. This is perhaps the most fulfilling aspect of my life;
> I love reading, especially science fiction and historical fiction, but also history. After decades of reading, books still thrill me as much as they did when I first discovered them;
> I love writing, both fiction and nonfiction, and the positive feedback I get for my magazine, my blogs, and columns is very gratifying;
> I have a half-dozen good friends and another small group of former students who have become friends, all of whom are very important to me, and who make my life much richer and very satisfying;
> Through my writing, I have dozens of acquaintances whose occasional contact is rewarding. I also have several dozen former students who maintain periodic contact with me and whom it is always nice to hear from.

The Bad...
> Writing fiction has always been one of my greatest pleasures, and selling fiction has always been my number one goal. The fact that I have not done so in 30+ years has not deterred me, but it has become apparent that I cannot teach fulltime and concentrate on writing fiction enough to have any feasibility of selling it. Thus it has become apparent that eventually I must retire from my greatest joy in order to concentrate on my primary goal;
> With the exception of those students who have become friends, all my other former students drift away from me when they graduate college. Thus I can expect a window of 4-5 years of contact with most former students after I retire;
> Not everybody I know is a friend or even an acquaintance. I suspect I am like most people in that I know a handful of arrogant, self-indulgent people whose lives revolve around themselves and who irritate me nearly every time I have to deal with them. Life would be a bit happier if I did not have to deal with those people at all.

The Ugly...
If you are reading this, you probably know me personally, so I will let you decide what is ugly about me. You think what?? Gee, thanks... :)