New to this Blogging Thing...

Okay,

I'm new to this blogging thing. I gave it a go a few times in the past but always gave up; in those cases I used it as a journal to spew out my teenage angst. I've got back and read a few of them - gosh I was a dork! Anyway, this time I am using it as a record keeper and as a method of gaining people's response to my writing and experiences.


I am at a precarious point in my life; this is my last semester as a graduate student entering a field that is in pretty rough shape: education. Currently teachers are being used as a scapegoat for many a student failure - most schools are in hiring freezes or heading in a downward spiral, and many teachers at retirement age are choosing not to retire because of the lousy economy. Either way, from the sounds of it jobs are few and far between as I enter this job market.

This is not a  reassuring feeling, if you know what I mean. The real world is sounding more and more like a scary place than a place of promise.

Also as a 4th semester graduate student, the majority of my friends have also graduated and moved on to bigger and better things; I am finding myself feeling lonely for the first time since my freshman year. Unlike other programs on campus, we do not have cohorts and our graduate classes move independently of each other. I have a few friends in my courses but many of them either live far from campus or have a spouse and kid's at home.  I have plenty of acquaintances, but few very close friends close by.  When I think about it, it places a tight, clenching feeling of isolation in my stomach which is stupid, since I know I am not alone...I just feel like I am.

On a lighter note, I have started research for a novel. I have been writing creatively for years - I really started doing it religiously when I was in sixth grade. But I never have really completed a piece that I was truly proud of. I get to a point, writers block hits, and then I usually start something else. I am going to use this blog as a sounding board for that and see what happens in regard to that. I know the topic is going to be something about angels. I have been doing a lot of research on these creatures; they are more complex than I originally thought.

In regards to the title of this blog, it stems from the idea that everyone has an angel watching over them, and a trail of feathers is left behind them to remind them of their past and guide them toward the future.  I hope that what I am doing with my lives will eventually send me in the right direction to a happy, love filled, and self fulfilling life. 

-- S.A.