I’m in Albemarle, NC this morning, getting ready to hop in the shower and then go talk to FBLA kids about online learning.  This is an event that I try to hit yearly, though now that I think about it, I don’t think I was able to make it down last year.

Thompson and I went over to Lake Badin yesterday when I got here, and just tooled around on his boat for about three hours.  He tried to do a little bit of fishing, but mostly we rolled around the lake from dam to dam.  He knew the stories behind most of the really grand houses on the lake– who lived there, how they made their fortunes, who blasted their country music on Saturdays.  Later on, we got on our laptops and watched Monday Night Football.  Despite having bragged about attending many a trivia night– and winning some– in Charlotte, Thompson failed to present even one trivia question that I could use tomorrow night.  (Sadly, participants will be stuck with more of the same kinds of questions I usually ask.)

We talked on the lake about the Thompsons’ goals for five and ten years down the road, and I started thinking about the fact that I haven’t quite set any of those goals for myself.  I’ve been enjoying where I am, sure, but I had something ahead of me for so long, and just recently, I don’t.  I go back and forth about publishing my own work (a side of poetry that I don’t really care about), I go back and forth about how and when I want to pursue getting back into teaching (so I guess I do sort of have a goal, I just don’t really know how I want to pursue it).  I’m happy in my current job but hit my tenth year there in September; I think I could do it for five more years but after that I feel like I probably ought to leave just to see what else is out there.

Driving through Siler City on the way here, I noticed that probably 1/3 of the retail spaces were empty.  I’ve been hearing how bad the economy is but all that dread has seemed like something in the future, somehow.  Not when you drive through a community like Siler City that has been crippled by our current economic conditions.  It made me think long and hard about running for local office one day; I’m not the greatest mind in the world, but I think I could do some good.

I may have some goals before too long.