Well, ATDP is over for me. Today was the last day of AIC. I felt as if the kids learned a lot and had fun, so it was a success.

I suppose I should feel happy that my life will be less hectic. It’s been a really stressful six weeks. Instead, I feel sad and a little empty. Because those precious 12 days brought me so much joy.

I wouldn’t call teaching my calling, though. On the last day, I told my students to go build cool things. Building cool things can bring me just as much joy as teaching. It’s a thrill, and it pays more.

Although I’m feeling sad now, I enjoy the seasonal element of ATDP. I’m the kind of person who needs to do different things, to exercise different parts of his brain. I don’t have a single calling because I could never do just one thing for the rest of my life. I also like the ATDP students in particular because of how dedicated they are. I liked teaching writing classes, but advanced programming is so much more fun because all the kids want to be there. No one is there because their parent wanted them to be there.

I’m also a little sad because I may not be able to do it next year. I’m getting married shortly after ATDP, and this really ate up all of my life. I wouldn’t have time to help with the wedding planning if I had to teach and work. I guess one alternative is to write my own PHP/MySQL/jQuery book so I wouldn’t have to spend time on lecture. I’d also need rubrics and TAs, so I wouldn’t have to do all the grading. Hmmmm. Is this feasible?

What’s next? My life is more free, but I want to use that time wisely. It’s time to get back to art and philosophy.