Hiking among Giants

I've been substituting for a single teacher for two weeks now. I'm not teaching for her on Monday, but I am teaching. Yay!

Friday we took some of the students hiking in the rain. Oh my Goth. Perfect weather for me as the cold and rain kept the bugs and pollen away! I love the look of green on gray days and I love the rain. Yes, to me it's only beautiful outside when it's very overcast.

We live on the edge of a vast forest. Part of this forest include small cliff areas like this one. It was a gorgeous hike and I actually felt better after it. However, the next day wow I was so incredibly exhausted, beyond reckoning. If I had been on my own it would have been a more spiritual experience, but maybe my husband and I can go out there soon on a rainy day.

Corp Goth

As Morticia would say "Black is such a cheerful color"

I don't see a lot of people using this term anymore, but corporate goth is the type of fashion I have for work. I've been working professional jobs since 2003 and when I'm not working in an IT setting I'm teaching. Luckily because of this fact I have a fairly wide variety of clothes suitable for a business setting. I've hit deep sales for these items or the thrift store.

Right now due to my health, and really for the foreseeable future I can only do temporary freelance IT work or substitute teach.

Subbing is turning out to be the best job I've ever had. Working at the special education school means a lot to me. I think my personality is the perfect mix of mellow and spontaneous to work with students who have autism or ADD.

Stripes. It's like adding color in my mind.

I've been called in a lot, which makes me really happy. It also means that my neglected corp goth wardrobe can see the light of day (ha, instead of the dark of night as most goth clothes go).

At some point I'm going to make a video about it. I've noticed some people are taught that they won't be able to find jobs while maintaining the fashion they love.  Some of this is probably coming from parents and professors, but things have changed a lot, even in the nine years I've been working professionally.

For instance, I obtained a Master's degree and taught while having pink hair, purple hair, tattoos, and stretched ears. Sometimes I wore more sedate business type goth outfits and sometimes wilder stuff depending on my mood and the state of my health. None of it seemed to make a difference to my students.

I guess my point is that there is a way to dress the way you want to. Sometimes you do have to adapt for your job, like I need to keep my tattoos covered while teaching, but there's always a way to stay true to your sense of fashion and have a job.
                                             

One of the hair colors (ha, or two as it were) that I had while teaching college courses.