foundational colors<\/a>. Then you added a few other choices in more daring colors. (Yes, I researched all this at length.)<\/p>\n\n\n\nAnd so you finally acquired something of a personal style. It is very individual. It evolves over time. It is an evolutionary process not unlike that of tennis racquets or firearms for me. There have been hits and misses. I made clothing purchases which were disappointments and others which weren\u2019t. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But don\u2019t get lazy, Richard. Don\u2019t take the path of least resistance by making the most convenient and comfortable clothing choices, even if the result is underwhelming. Take the extra time and effort to look as good as possible, especially (but not only) at work. In short: don\u2019t be a slob.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Often during the school year you get so exhausted you are happy to get any clothing put on at all before you arrive at work. But with a bit more planning and design you can be (relatively) well dressed. Dress consciously. Don\u2019t just pick up whatever because of fatigue or a lack of time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Listen Richard, you are never going to be a fashionista, or even think all that much about clothes, but still\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
CLASSICAL MUSIC<\/h3>\n\n\n\n Try to set aside 45 minutes uninterrupted to listen to a piece of classical music each evening. Put your phone away and focus entirely on the music. Do not allow your mind to be distracted. The music and only the music. Relax.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You have been listening to this music since before you started playing tennis, which is saying something. Listening to it again and again over the decades gives you a feel for it which only grows with time. Enjoy!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kick the girls off the flatscreen TV and soundbar, if need be. You can have the home theater for this 45 minutes nightly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
NO NEWS AFTER CHECKING IN ONCE<\/h3>\n\n\n\n Everyday you read the New York Times<\/em>, Wall Street Journal<\/em>, Ventura County Star<\/em>, and a few other more niche publications. In fact, you read them several times a day. So here is something new to try: read the news once per day, and then let it alone until tomorrow.<\/p>\n\n\n\nWhen it comes time to die, will you regret not having read enough of the news? Or not having listened to enough beautiful music?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Really, Richard?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Think about it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So those are some goals for this coming year and onward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And I am in a better frame of mind than when I started this essay. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
This morning I was feeling blue about going back to my classroom and dealing with another school year. I had come to feel trapped, stuck, and bored in semi-seedy Ventura. And the heavy lifting of parenting needy teenagers \u2013 driving my daughters to their unending list of soccer obligations and everything else \u2013 won\u2019t get any easier for several more years. That won\u2019t change. It is unavoidable. I can\u2019t change my life too much in the short-term for complicated reasons. But I can change how I approach and think about my life, until such a time as I can change it up.<\/strong> I have strategies to cope with what I cannot change. This does not mean the unpleasant aspects of the current reality disappear. Those realities when encountered cause me to experience angry “hot thoughts” which threaten to set my heart rate soaring and then afterwards to sink my mood into my shoes. But when I take the time to think it though honestly, when I write it all down and weigh the evidence soberly, I appreciate the fuller picture. I see the nuance.<\/p>\n\n\n\nAnd I feel better. I have hobbies and interests to keep me occupied, in addition to work and family obligations. I have some control. I have a plan. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Like I told you: almost always my head rules over my heart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So I\u2019m ready for the new school year, I think.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Wish me luck.<\/p>\n\n\n
\n
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n \n\n\n\n
The Geib family is read for the 2022-2023 academic year!<\/strong><\/em><\/center><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n
Richard and his girls!<\/strong><\/em><\/center><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"So in a few short weeks I will go back to work in my 28th year of teaching. My classroom will be full of new students ready for a new semester. And it will be my 23rd at my current school. All of them in the same classroom, no less. The same 70′ by 50′ physical space. So I sit down this morning to think about where I am, what I am doing, and how I might want to make adjustments. If I don\u2019t take this deep inventory soon, I will be too busy to do it. So here it goes. I apologize in advance for the unavoidable length of this essay. I moved out here to Ventura County for work in 2000, and all in all I do not regret that decision. But that was 22 years ago. That is a long time to be doing the same thing in the same place. I looked back at my notes from six years ago and I am seeing some of the same complaints about my life: I am stuck, same ol\u2019 same ol\u2019, etc. Many of my valued co-workers have long since left for greener pastures after a decade or so at our school. There is a time to take a job and a time to leave that job, and they heeded the signs and departed after having thought long and hard about it. I have often wondered if I should have followed my valued co-workers for greener pastures elsewhere. Oh, Ventura\u2026 I saw with dismay they made an arrest yesterday in a murder which took place in a local neighborhood I often hang out in, and that there was another stabbing last night in town. This happens too often here. The City of Ventura has beautiful scenery by the beach here in Southern California, but there is a seedy aspect to it that belies its blue-collar roots. I have never liked this aspect of Ventura since I first came to know the place 23 years ago. The seaside town of Ventura has incredible natural beauty, but it is also kind of dodgy and dirty. Someone should really clean Ventura up if you want it to be mentioned in the same breath as other similar California beach cities like Carlsbad, Dana Point, or Manhattan Beach \u2013 much nicer places to visit and live. There are homeless in all parts of Ventura, and trash is left where they congregate. The parking lot next to the Ventura Pier smells like piss, and you don\u2019t want to be walking around there at night. Serious shootings with serious gangs in the Chicago or Los Angeles manner are still blessedly rare here, but stabbings minor and otherwise among the drug addicted and desperate are common in Ventura. \u201cSketchy\u201d is the word. Especially at night. I\u2019m tired of it. \u201cThe Homeless in Ventura: Frustration, Confusion, Ambivalence, Avoidance\u201dOctober 15, 2019 It is a multifaceted problem with mental health, drug addiction, and high real estate costs contributing. But the results are plain to see. Small forest fires from homeless encampment bonfires which spread out of control in the river bottoms when it gets windy are commonplace here. Drug abuse, overdoses, and mental illness. Stabbing after stabbing, usually without someone dying. One lady\u2019s murder made the news last year, because she talked about her fear for her life beforehand \u2013 take a good look at Ms. Kelsey Dillon, and you will have a face for the homeless misery in Ventura to remember \u2013 They found Kelsey\u2019s murdered body in the brush near a homeless encampment at the 33 and 101 Freeway junction near downtown. The brutal killing of one who lives in the shadows in Ventura, most likely by one or more persons who lives in those same shadows. Kelsey\u2019s murder remains unsolved. I will not hold my breath waiting for an arrest. Here is another telling detail about Ventura: the bathrooms around town are locked tight to keep the homeless out \u2013 if you don\u2019t do that, they will camp out there and try and take a \u201cbird bath\u201d in the sink, or shoot up drugs and pass out with the door locked. So the public bathrooms in Ventura are often dirty and look like a homeless encampment camped out there, because often that is the case. Often the bathrooms look like a hurricane hit them \u2013 like a war zone. Yuck. The next place I live will have public bathrooms that are clean and available to all \u2013 a symbol that you live in a better, more affluent area. You want to gauge the health of your community? Take a look at the public bathrooms. Are they locked up tight to keep the sketchy fuckers out? Do you have to get a code to get past the locks to use them? Or are they clean and used by respectful customers who don\u2019t abuse them? Without high-tech digital locks on the doors? You don\u2019t have to ask the workers for the code to get through the bathroom door security? And even with the homeless, the trash, the stabbings, the smell of urine \u2013 it still costs like $650,000 to buy even a starter house here. Why, I wonder. Is Ventura worth it? Why not sell my overvalued house (one million dollars? really?) and move somewhere cleaner and nicer? The golden age of California is far behind us and receding rapidly. I mention this to friends here and they remind me I live near the beach and pay a premium for coastal California: the gorgeous scenery and temperate climate. I get that. But something else? Something new? I am ready. Or at least I am over Ventura. I took this photo this morning August 1, 2022: There used to be a Marie Calendar\u2019s restaurant in the parking lot above. But it went out of business years ago and has been empty since. It is a magnet for the homeless now, as is seen by the trash left in the above photo. The fatal stabbing on July 25 I mentioned earlier took place about one block south of here. Trashy. Sketchy. Frowsy. Such a place on the margins attracts those up to no good who desire a place where nobody is watching and few care. There will be further crime large and small amidst the abandoned storefronts and surrounding areas. Thoughts like these often run through my head about the place I have lived in for 22 years and with mixed feelings call \u201chome.\u201d I would move if I could. I often fantasize about where I might live next. I do copious amounts of online research. My father long ago offered to give me the money to move two hours south down to Orange County where he and the rest of my family lives \u2013 where we all grew up together. In my pride, I said \u201cno.\u201d I had made my adult life in Ventura. I did not want to go back to where I grew up, thinking that going backwards was not moving forwards in life. I would choose something new to me, Ventura, and make it work. And I believed in Foothill Technology High School and working there. Now, after I see my niece and nephews get clearly better education in the Irvine high schools than they would get in the Ventura ones, I think I might have made a mistake. The better parts of Orange County are just better. The jobs there are more numerous and they pay better. There is more money and education. The area is more developed and has more opportunity. It is cleaner and safer. As a rule the nicer the locale is, the fewer the homeless. Maybe I should have moved to Orange County when my dad made me the offer. Sigh. The conventional wisdom is to move to the most expensive place you can afford to live, and enjoy the benefits. I chose otherwise. I\u2019m not sure I made the wrong decision. I just don\u2019t know. I don\u2019t know. For better or worse, I still live and work in the city of Ventura more than two decades later. I came here to work a job, and I am still here for the job. My wife and I committed to raising my two daughters, giving them stability, and a home which they could call home, even at the expense of our ability to have novelty and a \u201cchange.\u201d My daughters have lived their entire lives here and have friends and deep roots. I would not move so late in the game and ask them to start over. But if I don\u2019t like where I live \u2013 or if I have serious misgivings about it \u2013 then I should move, right? But it is not that easy with daughters in middle and high school, and myself only a few years before retirement. Ventura is not a bad place to raise kids, all in all, even if it is far from the best sort of place. And it has been a long decade and a half of child-raising and working through pandemics and other difficulties. And I have done a good job at work and at home: serving my students in my classroom as best I can, and raising my daughters from the crib on up. My best hours have been invested in career and family. I was a worker-bee on campus and an on-dudy daddy at home. For a full decade I even had a second job as an adjunct professor, in addition to everything else. (I had that second job with newborn babies at home, believe it or not.) I am proud of the job I have done during my stay in Ventura. I have given it my all. It was not easy. But I am more than a bit tired of it all. I occasionally run into former students from early in the Aughts when I started teaching at my current school, and they are already approaching their late 30s. I will have their children in my classes soon enough, if I am not careful. Jeez. This morning I reflect on all this, and I feel a bit blue. I feel trapped, stagnant, bored. I have been where I am for a long time. I look around Ventura and the raw natural beauty of the place is undeniable, but the ugly underbelly remains plenty ugly. Someone needs to clean it up. I wish Ventura would get gentrified. It has so much potential, but\u2026 At any rate, I am ready for something new. The feeling crept up on me. But there is a time to arrive at a place and a time to leave it. You stay too long, and you are at risk. Someone else will push you out the door. I engage in rationalizations with myself. Richard, you are on the downslope of the race, I remind myself. It is a marathon, not a sprint, I tell myself. It would be sad to have kept up a blistering pace only to let things go towards the end and have the entire race fall apart. So I look at the bigger-picture and remind myself that I have some six more years of this. \u201cStay the course, Richard,\u201d I say to myself. \u201cHang in there.\u201d I recognize I have to pace myself. Keep the finish line and a strong performance all the way until you get there in mind: endurance and pain tolerance, as you learned. This is the life you have chosen. Soon enough a new era in your life will open up. The last six years of your career will go much faster than the first six did, that\u2019s for sure. It is all good advice. It is my head talking to my heart. Usually when the two converse, my head has the final word. I look at my thought records from my Cognitive Behavioral Therapy journals of three and five years ago, and they say pretty much the same…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7625,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"yes","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7627","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.rjgeib.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/rich-august-2022.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9GRdY-1Z1","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rjgeib.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7627","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rjgeib.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rjgeib.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rjgeib.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rjgeib.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7627"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.rjgeib.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7627\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7689,"href":"https:\/\/www.rjgeib.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7627\/revisions\/7689"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rjgeib.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7625"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rjgeib.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7627"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rjgeib.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7627"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rjgeib.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7627"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}