Here comes the sun

The Omnivore's Dilemma

2010-07-22T19:45:00.000-07:00

Because I know you are all so interested in my mediocre book reviews, I'ma do another one, but much shorter than my previous post, because if anyone even bothered to read the whole thing, I'm sure they hated the book by the end of it just because blog posts are not supposed to be long, duh.

But anyways, shortly after finishing In Defense of Food, I dove into The Omnivore's Dilemma, which is actually a prequel, but because I'm nonconformist I does everything howz I wants to. I will say a few things - it's an easier, more engaging read than IDOF. It also makes you feel a lot better about eating anything.

I also appreciated this book because it's written by someone who loves meat. He loves meat even after assisting in the slaughter of said meat. The trend of late has been, if you care about the environment, you'll stop eating meat, and cheese, and eggs, and honey, and ice cream, and everything else that tastes good. Dry oats and grass-flavored hummus for everybody! Instead, Pollan encourages his readers to educate themselves about the meat that they eat - where it comes from, how the animals were raised, how they were slaughtered and butchered, etc, and then to make personal decisions based on that information. In fact, in the third section of the book he actually goes out and hunts for, kills, and assists in the butchering of a wild boar he prepares for a meal. He makes the implication that it may actually be most socially and environmentally responsible to eat wild game that you have hunted, although he is quick to admit that this is not realistic or even possible for everyone in the US to start doing.

Also interesting is his exploration of what he calls "Big Organic"; companies that, while remaining technically 'organic', have fallen into all of the same bad habits as the big corporate farms and packing plants over which they're claiming superiority. So while we may get warm fuzzies from shopping at Whole Foods, in reality the products may bear almost the same carbon footprint while costing twice or three times as much. So, y'know, business corrupts, big business corrupts absolutely. And all that jazz.

I hope this is shorter. Still, probably only two people will read this. And those two people may have already read the book. Or at least seen Food Inc. But I don't write for attention and comments!

Ok, maybe I do. :) Love you guys!

Time hurries on

2010-07-16T07:31:00.000-07:00

So it's been a while, eh? I promise that's not because I killed all my plants. They are, generally, in fine health. :) Some are beginning to fruit, and some have already yielded food for me, so I'm feeling pretty good about that. Unfortunately, my camera is in the shop, so I have no pictures to share at the time of this post. I hope to remedy that soon! At that time, I will also share the stati (status, plural, right?) of my dear friends, my plants.

But, I want to talk about one of the books I brought up when I started this phase of my blog. The first one I read was In Defense of Food, by Michael Pollan. While parts of it were a big arduous and preachy, I appreciated his message a lot, and I'm trying harder to live by it. Here are a few of his points, which, honestly, are from the last chapter, so if you want to read the book but find yourself short on time and have little patience for the ethos of the whole thing, just read the last chapter. It's where the rubber hits the road.

- Don't eat anything your great, great grandmother wouldn't recognize
If a food has been invented in the last 75 years, it probably isn't food, it's a food product. And processed foods, while deLICious at times, just aren't all that good for us, even, and perhaps especially, if they claim that they are good for us. My recent favorite: those halloween pumpkin candies now have a special claim on them saying they're "made with REAL honey." Honey is ingredient number 6 on the ingredient list, right before "artificial flavor."

- Stay to the periphery of the supermarket, and when possible, get out of there entirely
Nearly all of the whole-est foods at a supermarket can be found around the outside, whether it be produce, dairy, meats, or fresh bread. While I do stop to get breakfast cereal and canned tomatoes at this point, I am definitely working hard to confine most of my purchases to 'periphery-fare'. ALSO, this past week I was able to visit my local farmers market in the park down the street, which is what Pollan means by getting out of the supermarket. I looooooove buying things from the farmers market, and I hope that, wherever I end up in life, I will be able to continue to support local farmers in their hard work.

- Add new species to your diet, especially plant species
This is a bit of a challenge for me, because I am a little picky. It's more of a challenge for Tim, because he's really pretty picky. Especially about vegetables. But I've had these turnips in my freezer for a while, and I just haven't been able to figure out quite what to do with them. I've also got a big bag of lentil stew frozen that I made and couldn't eat all that fast, but didn't want to throw away. So I'm waiting for some type of inspiration to take on those two species. I've never eaten rutabaga, or beet, or mustard greens or swiss chard. I have yet to try an heirloom tomato. I've never seasoned anything with summer savory or tarragon or marjoram. I'd say I have lots of frontier to explore yet.

- Eat wild food
Now this is something I can get behind. I've been a bit of a forager for quite a while, because, hey, it's free! Last weekend Tim and I were walking in a state park and passed huge stands of wild blackberry and raspberry, and we're thinking about going back when they're a little riper. When camping with my family, I would harvest wild mint and oregano and add them to our foods, whether it made sense or not. I've eaten game a few times and have rather romanticized visions of returning to the Little House on the Prairie way of life. Of course, this is crazy, but if it's wild, you know it hasn't been given pesticides or antibiotics or growth hormones.

- Pay more, eat less
Now this is something that I have a hard time with. I looooove to save money. When I am old, I will keep a little coupon wallet. BUT. Pollan's point is that, since Americans have come to put so much value on saving money on food, the food itself has lost its value. Other cultures around the world spend, at minimum, 12% of their income on food. Many of them spend much more than that. Many spend all day working in order to procure meals. Americans spend between 6 and 10%, and we're proud of it. But all this saving has meant that food has lost its nutritional and even emotional value for most Americans. So maybe we should pay more, because good food is worth it.

- Eat at a table
This is a challenge for me simply because my dining room table has become a receptacle for all sorts of junk that doesn't go anywhere else in my apartment. Clearing the table is a bit of a pain. But by sitting down at a table, and not on the couch or in a car, I give myself time to enjoy my food and those I eat with. It has helped to have Tim over here quite a bit for dinner, because then I have someone to talk to while I eat. But I still find myself, when I am alone, tending to migrate toward the couch or computer while I eat.

- Cook food, and grow your own
It was nice that he ended with this, because if there are two things I like, they are growing food, and then cooking it. I am pretty good at both, although I must say that living in Chicago instead of Arizona makes gardening a LOT easier. Things just grow here because they want to, whereas in Tucson every day I can hear the plants gasping to themselves, "hang on, just hang on..." until the end of June when they all just give up and surrender their dried out husks of bodies to the withering sun. And I loooooooove cooking, especially when I can use my own home-grown food. It nearly brings tears to my eyes every time I cook something that's mine, that I nurtured from start to finish. Maybe that's a bit over-the-top, but it's true. :)

So, in short (too late), In Defense of Food is a fascinating read. I haven't been able to NOT talk about it with everyone. It's true, just ask people I talk to. I talk about food all the time. And now I talk about REAL food all the time. So if you get the chance, go to your local library or borrow it from a friend or, if you have to, buy this one and get yourself thinking about these things, because they are really important, to us personally, to our society, and to the world we live in.

For love of dirt

2010-04-14T15:07:00.000-07:00

The classroom next to mine is the homeroom of my colleague Mr. D, who's worked at Roseland forever, and is much loved by his former students, although his current ones are not quite ready to remember him fondly quite yet. :) He's a wonderful man, although he has a bit of a rough exterior. The subject we do connect on, though, is gardening. He and I were talking about the lettuce and radishes he has coming up in his yard, and his eyes began to sparkle talking about the wonderful salads they had for months off of last year's harvest. Feeling my face light up as well, I remarked that my spinach were looking ready to put in the ground too, and he advised me to do it soon, which I plan on doing. (Friday, methinks. For some reason I have a hard time gardening on a school day. At least so far. I expect that will change.) It's just so delightful to share a conversation with someone who feels the same way about how dirt smells. And how the green of a brand new plant pushing out of the ground is the most beautiful color in the world. And who appreciates a sunny day not simply for the tanning opportunities or the change from rain, but because of all the photosynthesis it will enable.

Speaking of, one of my favorite things about leaving the house early in the morning in Spring is the fact that, when I leave the house, I smell dirt. Have you ever smelled dirt? Good, rich, dark, garden dirt? It's intoxicating. There are few scents I enjoy more. Of course, the mixing in of manure, fertilizer, compost, plant food, and coffee grounds contaminates the experience somewhat, I'd imagine. I was a little disappointed this morning that the air smelled more like manure than dirt, but I suppose it is max-your-lawn time. But really. Dirt. If you have access to the good stuff, smell it. Or just walk through the garden section at your local big box store. Or bury your nose in a bag of potting soil. Or whatever. But do it, and thank me.

Living Color

2010-04-12T20:15:00.000-07:00

One of the lovely things about Spring is that there are all sorts of lovely things growing up around my house that I didn't even have to plant. These little purple things are a volunteer tulip-type thing that actually just grew up right out of the lawn, although I'm not sure how you get an accidental bulb flower. But lovely, regardless.

Also purple in the backyard right now are violets. They are EVERYWHERE, literally a weed. I've actually had to dig them out of the plots I want to garden because I know they will crowd out any plants I put in there. Growing up in Tucson, we had a scraggly violet patch that, against all odds, came back year after year with its cheerful little purple blossoms. I love having it back here, and welcome it as a weed to fill in the cracks in the sidewalk!

The next two pictures I consider a study in urban botany. I think the chain link sets off the flowers pretty dramatically! Walking around the neighborhood lately, I've decided that my favorite flowers are daffodils, so I was thrilled last year when these popped up in the spring and flowered! They came back this year, and I am glad they did. Also, obviously, there are some tulips back there too. I really love the color on these ones. I'm not sure who planted these guys, there's only one of each plant, and they're back by the alley, where not many people, aside from myself, can enjoy them. I dunno, whatevs. :) I'm happy about the situation.

Whenever I see tulips, daffodils, and the like, I have to restrain myself from telling the nearest hapless individual about monocots, and how they differ from dicots. (See, it's an issue of numbers of petals and stamens. And leaves. But enough of that.) I don't know why that stuff stuck with me so clearly from grade school, through high school, and into college and beyond. That and categorizing leaves based on shape. What a nerd, sheesh...

I will post more on my own plants soon, but these lovelies have been a part of my joy for the past week, so I thought I'd share :).

As promised!

2010-03-18T15:51:00.000-07:00

I have little spinaches! Everything else is still holding out on me, but I'm not tooooo worried. Outside, there are lilies and tulips popping up through the hodgepodge of last fall's foliage. The grass is greening up, and a tiny purple flower surprised me with its presence in the backyard when I was taking out the garbage today.

This weekend, I'm planning on digging up my garden spots, which is always an adventure. There are 120 years worth of trash buried back there, so digging around involves a lot of sorting. :) I'll take pictures if I find anything fabulous, like a chamber pot or Native American remains.

Motherhood

2010-03-16T16:50:00.000-07:00

We have green! It's not much, but one of my spinach seeds has sprouted. :) Pictures soon, when the light is better! Hooray!

Meanwhile, my reading has fallen to the wayside, since I actually have to work at work again. But Dave, I promise to write about "In Defense of Food" soon.

Morning has broken like the first morning

2010-03-07T06:04:00.000-08:00

After not posting a blog entry for over 4 months, I am rejuvenating, revitalizing, reviving, and otherwise starting to blog again. This time, I have a theme, as suggested by a few Facebook friends. And I always do what I'm told on Facebook. :)

I have seeds planted! Yesterday morning, with the sunlight glinting off the piles of melting snow in the backyard and the air shimmering in the heat of about 45 degrees, Tim and I planted 66 starter pots. Gently pressing seeds into the soil and covering them up, we smiled as we listened to the joyful cacophony of raucous bird sex going on in the enormous blue spruce behind my house. It's not quite spring yet, but those boys and girls were not wasting any time.

Because I know you're interested, the seedling count goes like this:

20 Carrots
8 Spinach
6 Beans
4 Sugar Snap Peas
4 Summer Squash
5 Basil
5 Oregano
3 Cilantro
4 Parsley
2 Sage
2 Rosemary
3 Thyme
^ How nerdy am I, to get excited over a Simon and Garfunkel herb garden...

I did garden a little last summer, although my attempts were largely thwarted by an extremely anti-plant Golden Retriever. But the survivors really surprised me with their persistence. I had one cherry tomato plant grow to be about 5 feet tall, and it yielded tomatoes from July through October. My other tomato I believed to have been completely uprooted, but it held on and grew three large, juicy tomatoes for me anyways. My little pepper plant gave me several perfect little bells, and I loved admiring the dainty white flowers that it put out first. The relative success of last summer has inspired me to try again this summer, even though I have to be out of the house in July. My other source of inspiration has been the work of a woman who, though I've never met her, I feel like she and I would be friends. Probably a lot of people feel that way.

I know I'm totally behind, having only read Animal, Vegetable, Miracle this past week. For goodness sake, I think my MOM read it over a year ago. But I didn't have a copy, or a library card, or disposable income... But I did finally buy it (with a Barnes and Noble gift card, thank you so much Renee!), along with two Michael Pollan books, The Omnivore's Dilemma and In Defense of Food. I'm sure those two will find their way into conversation here too, but that's for a later time. I was able to blaze through AVM on two train rides downtown and finish it thanks to the ample free time afforded teachers during standardized testing. While reading, I found myself longing to join with Barbara Kingsolver's family in taking pride in growing my own food. I began to wonder how upset my landlords would be if I dug up the lawn in back to make space for more gardening. I did searches for heirloom vegetables and found some neat ones, although I ended up planting pretty standard varieties. I seriously considered making my own cheese. I considered how noisy chickens would be in the city. Then I began wondering if living in the country really could be for me, even though I've always considered myself to be a city girl. As I type this, it makes me blush a little to observe how impressionable I am. Although sometimes I'd like to be, I can't BE Barbara Kingsolver. Nuts. But I am planning on continuing as a customer at the neighborhood farmer's market! And, Lord willing, I will grow some of my own food as well, even if it means knocking on the front door in August and asking my former landlords if I can pick my tomatoes out of their backyard. :)

For now, though, I have my rows of dirt, haphazardly labeled, soaking in the late winter sunlight as best they can. My little biodegradable pots of promise.

Grace like rain

2009-11-21T13:30:00.000-08:00

So, I haven't written on this blog in a while, so I'm not sure I can claim to have a tone for this page. But if I did, I would say the average tone is cavalier, and a little trite. But I want to break from this a little and share two instances of extreme grace that I experienced this past week.

Monday morning on the way to work, I called my parents just to tell them about the developments regarding the pipes leaking in my basement (another story, and not a HUGELY interesting one). While talking with them, I ran straight through a red light. Didn't even see it. But the cop that was waiting at the corner sure did, and pulled me over butt quickly. I hung up with my parents immediately and pulled out my license and registration, thankful that I actually had those on me, although still unsure why I had been pulled over. I suspected it was because it is now illegal to drive and talk on the phone in Illinois without a hands-free set. The lady cop came to my window and asked if there was a reason I'd run the light. My eyes got wide and I told her no, I just completely missed it. She took my information and I sat pondering just how much this ticket would set me back, getting more and more worked up. When she came back I was in tears. She gave me back my information and must have felt bad for me - despite it being a fine morning before this event, I didn't have makeup on and was wearing my glasses - so she informed me that I was obviously distracted and needed to calm down, and she was sorry she couldn't do more for me than let me off and advise my job that I'd be late. She probably thought I'd been dumped or suffered some sort of loss. I guess I'm kind of glad I look so disheveled in the mornings, now... But anyways, grace when I could have gotten a ticket for running a light and another one for being on the phone. Also, my mom, that same morning, saw an accident at her bus stop in which someone ran a light and t-boned a car coming through the intersection, so it could have been a terrible terrible morning. But I was blessed with a lesson and grace.

THEN, Tuesday night I was up late helping Tim with a paper. Late as in I didn't get home until 1:45ish. I am usually in bed by 10:30 if I can help it. Overnight, my cell phone died, which serves as my alarm, so I didn't have an alarm go off at six. Due to my sleep schedule being severely thrown off, my internal clock didn't go off either. When my coworkers tried to call to find out why I wasn't at school at 8, they couldn't get through. I woke up at 9 AM when one of my coworkers and friends came to my house and began ringing my doorbell, calling my name, and banging on my door. I flew downstairs and opened the door to see a huge look of relief on her face. When I didn't show and they couldn't reach me, they feared the worst, and I really scared everyone at work, as well as a few friends and my sister whom they had called as well... They were so happy I was ok that I think they were disinclined to give me a hard time about sleeping through first period. Plus my students were fabulous - when they heard the situation, they immediately made a prayer circle and prayed that I was ok, then showed the principal how to do devotions, and afterward made little groups to plan how to raise money for our World Vision Christmas gift. I was so pleased I nearly cried when I got in. Grace, again, from my students, coworkers, and especially my boss.

I don't deserve grace much - I'm still ungrateful, disobedient, unpleasant, and selfish a good deal of the time. But God is faithful, and I hope that this week has taught me a few lessons. And hopefully next time I'll be more apt to see and be thankful for God's daily show of love and grace for me, rather than waiting until extreme times catch my attention.

Thanks for listening? Love love...

I'm down like the economy - Lil Wayne

2009-09-30T19:12:00.000-07:00

So, probably in not posting for a couple months, I've lost most of my readers. And there weren't toooooooo many of you to start. But it's ok.

School's going way better than anticipated, and I'm so thankful I could laugh and cry at the same time. There are mealworms growing up in my classroom, assuming they don't all die before they pupate and turn into beetles. I'm still disorganized and messy - a year of experience hasn't actually fixed that problem. I'm living alone in my house, I have a television on order, and only recently re-got the internet. I'm considering getting a dog, but I talk myself out of it every time. I have about ten pounds of apples in my kitchen I need to cook/eat, and about fifty more cherry tomatoes on my plant out back that I'm hoping won't freeze before they turn.

And that's what's on my mind right now. That, and that it's definitely fall. I really love this time of year. I like putting on sweaters again, and watching the leaves turn, and kicking through piles of them on the way to my car. I like that it's cold enough that I want to eat soup every night, because I really like making soup. And it's a great excuse to use my Crock Pot.

This is probably a boring post, and it's 9:30 and I'm considering going to bed. But such is my life lately! I think I love it. :)

Hot for Teacher

2009-08-11T11:01:00.000-07:00

So, I bought some rats. Their names are Venus and Serena Williams and they look like this. They're cute and kind of nibbly, and they love eating Cheerios and peeing on my hand. It will be interesting to see what happens when they come to school, because most people aren't favorably inclined toward rats. In the meantime, it is my (fairly easy) mission in life to ensure that these two ladies never come into contact with my other baby.

This is Paris - I don't know if I've ever posted a picture of her, but here she is, and she would looooove to end up in the same place as the Williamses. So, for the next few weeks, my house will be just inches away from an episode of When Animals Attack. It could be exciting, but hopefully not. :)

Speaking of crazy wild animals, I start teaching in two weeks. Whoa, dude. I found out today, also, that I'll be adding 3rd grade science to my schedule three days a week. So far I have no idea what that will actually mean in terms of contact or work involved, so I hope it's a grand old time. I do really like third graders, and they really like all things science-y, so it should be a good situation. So plop that on top of 6-8th grade Science, 6th and 7th Bible, and 6th History, and I'll be a busy one!

Ok, off to go buy a dead mouse for my live snake and some chewy things for my live rats. And maybe some house plants. Love love!

Sometimes love comes around and it knocks you down

2009-07-27T06:41:00.000-07:00

So, while I was in Arizona, and developing since I returned here, my youngest sister is in the process of making herself largely vegetarian. This is a decision she has come to all on her own, based on research and predictions about the damage that raising animals to eat is doing to our environment. While I don't see myself joining her ASAP, I've agreed to some solidarity with her by no longer buying beef and pork products, limiting my meat intake to poultry and fish, at this point. And I'm impressed with little Deborah. She's really taken what she's learned from her classes, her reading, and her experiences, and turned it into action.

I'm sort of wondering when I stopped caring about things like that, again. While I was in school, social justice, environmental issues, political and economic debates mattered to me! I would actively look for ways to learn more and/or do what I could to make things right. You don't get to be co-leader of Justice Matters for nothing! :) But then I graduated, started working, and essentially lost a large part of it.

There are moments when I feel that familiar swelling of desire and hope for tomorrow - talking to Deborah about being involved in a community garden at Calvin, seeing my students begin to understand and take ownership of the concept of recycling, reading the stories of friends who are offering valuable services to people in far away lands, listening to the black grandmothers at church give tearful thanks for the graduation of their grandchildren from high school, making a meal from locally grown foods - some out of my backyard.

I realize that, as a middle school teacher, I am (or have the potential to be) an instrumental and valuable part of the network of people around the world who are actively seeking to make it a better place. I went through this over a year ago, but I feel I need to keep reminding myself that teaching children, not to mention underprivileged children in a rough part of Chicago, is no less cosmically important than digging wells in Africa or immunizing children in South America or rescuing slaves in Bangladesh. Maybe the problem is that it is, by and large, so very thankless. But then I get frustrated with myself for needing thanks. Why do I feel like I need a pat on the back, or a thoughtful gift, or a good word put in to my superiors?

I'm here because this is where the action is. At the risk of sounding hackneyed, these kids are on the front lines of an all-out war being fought in their city and in their culture. Ironically, fighting on these lines with them, I have become deeply embedded in a culture that could care less about things like becoming a vegetarian because meat's bad for the environment, or whether or not these peaches were grown organically and locally. Maybe that's the real tension here.

Maybe I'm not revisiting my post-college identity crisis, maybe I'm just coming to terms with the fact that I am trying to be equally a part of two different cultures: the culture of my students, with its hyper-sexual beat-based music, intimate family values, and love for Flamin' Hot Cheetos, and the culture of my sister and much of my college experience, with its organic/local/homespun emphases and global vision for change. In reality, both of these cultures want to see the world become a better place. Absolutely, right at the core, I believe that my students and my sister have the same vision.

I'll keep you posted on my mission to become one of the first hip-hop hippie chicks. I sort of ignored it last year, but I think it might be my destiny. :)

I've got toooooo much clap clap time on my hands

2009-07-15T08:55:00.000-07:00

Another classic rock title, this one a little bit more obscure. No cheating this time. I'll write you a tribute in my next blog entry if you can get this one, simply from your outstanding knowledge of early 80's music (hint).

But for real, I haven't done much since I got back. I'm becoming way more into CSI and its offspring than I would like to admit. I've done a little bit of cooking/baking, but hardly enough to say I'm using my time well. I'd tend my garden, but I've only got one monster tomato plant and a kind of piddly pepper plant, so watering those takes about 45 seconds. I spend a lot of time blog surfing. Not even anything good. So I am resolved to use the rest of this summer in a much more productive and cosmically beneficial way. Keep me accountable to perform the following:

- Get some exercise. I've got a wedding in a month and a half that I have to look smokin' for. I'm thinking muscle toning five times a week, plus a few good walks a couple times a week, which can be facilitated by...
- Getting downtown. I'm a quarter mile from a train that takes me into the heart of downtown Chicago, one of the primo downtowns in the country. I've got free access to pretty much any and all museums with my teacher ID, and Katy has informed me that I need to spend some quality time in the public library. Check and mate.
- Find somewhere to live. As of my understanding right now, I have no roommates and nowhere that's planning on me to stay as of the end of August. I need to amend one, if not both of those situations...
- Expand my culinary repertoire. Right now I'm decent at making about six things. I'd like to improve upon the quality and quantity of my recipes. Creative suggestions?
- Read, damn it. I haven't really pulled out a book for pleasure since high school, and now I've got all this time. Katy suggested some Barbara Kingsolver, which I am in the process of obtaining, but I'd be happy to receive other recommendations for books to tantalize my medula oblongata. (I don't think that's right at all, but fortunately no one else took Human Anatomy and Physiology who reads this...?)
- Simplify. I have quite a bit of stuff, which is typical for a teacher. We tend to regard anything and everything as a potential teaching tool. But I've got loads of crap that I'm sure I could get rid of. I also need to review my expenses and figure out why I've stopped being able to save any money. Both of these actions will make it easier for me to move, when the time comes.
- Prepare for this coming school year. I made it through my first year, which is about 3/4 of the battle, I'm told. But I have a lot of planning, praying, and self-evaluating to do in order to help myself be an all-around better teacher than I was last year. Readysetgo!

So, there it is. I think part of my being able to accomplish this will mean avoiding the television. I think I will only watch ESPN for the rest of the summer. That will inspire fitness and provide some athletic entertainment, right? Right.

It's been such a long time, guess I should be goin'...

2009-06-27T15:03:00.000-07:00

That's right, kiddos, break up the routine with a little classic rock lyrics title... Name the band and get a snuggle!

So it's been about a month since I last posted, but my current mood echoes the mood of my last post. Namely because I don't have to really work again until August. And that's just awesome. Pretty much everyday between now and then is Saturday, and I even get a paycheck all summer, so that's reeeeeeaaaaaallllllyyy sweet. Salary ROCKS.

My last week of school actually kind of sucked, but it was such a long time ago and I just don't want to think about it. I do miss my kids and my Chicago culture, though. Who knew that even Tucson, Arizona would have too many white people in it? I miss my peeps...

This past week, for a drastic change of scene, I decided to join my parents and sister camping up in the White Mountains, in central Arizona. Despite what many of you assume about my home state, Arizona is home to pretty much every type of biome ever invented, and so we spent five days up at 9000 feet among the mountains, fir trees, robins, lakes, and anything else that might seem about as opposite the blistering desert as possible. It was a lot of fun - I haven't been up there with my family since high school, but I still fell right back into the old camping routines of not washing hair, loading and unloading canoes, and tripping and falling while hiking so that I could boast a number of scratches and bruises upon returning home. I built my first fire all by myself, too! IN THE RAIN. It was pretty awesome.

In addition to my already cultivated wilderness skills, I also applied some more recently developed skills of a culinary nature. While hiking, I harvested a little wild mint and oregano and added them to a sweet and sour chicken stirfry I concocted using carrot, pepper, and celery sticks, canned chicken, leftover pineapple, cranberry juice, and some ketchup packets my mom brought along for some reason. I also built a strawberry chocolate shortcake trifle out of ingredients I'd prepared at home. The last day we had pulled pork on buns, slow cooked with other random condiment packets that were tossed in the cooler. All in all, I was very satisfied, feeling a little like a combination of Bear Grylls and Bobby Flay, but with a WAY cooler personality, and a lot less testosterone.

I'm going back to the Chi in a couple days - I have lots to do, including planning for next year, organizing all my crap from this past year, tending a garden, and finding somewhere else to live, or someone else to live with, or both, or possibly neither. If you know of anybody in the Chicago area with a place to rent or a need for a roommate, let me know. It's weird, and I've told a few people about this, but this is the first time I've been back to Tucson and been sort of impatient to return to where I came from. Tucson was always home throughout college, and, of course, while I lived here the year after college. But it's not anymore. I'm not sure Chicago is HOME either, but it feels like where I belong for now. I'm not sure I'm comfortable with that sensation, yet, but it's the way it is.

Anyways, time to go.... do something else, I guess. Name the band if you want a snuggle.

Little shawty's fire burnin' on the dance floor...

2009-05-31T12:00:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow starts the last week of school!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have no idea what I'm supposed to do with these kids for the last few days - apparently everyone else is collecting books on Monday. So what happens to the rest of the week? I don't know...

So I'm going to sit here with a snake around my neck, drink this nice cold beer in my hand, and not worry too much about it. That's all. :)

Matthew 6:34 - "Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."

Today, my trouble shall be to decide whether to dig into the big pot of chili I just made right now, or wait until Sara and Brian get back from premarital counselling and eat with them, 'cause we're a family. Decisions, decisions.....

I love all of you who read this. All of you. With all of me. :) Love love love love

Kiss me through the phone

2009-05-16T06:23:00.000-07:00

Because, no, Dave, I'm never out of song titles. No. Never. I'll even stoop to Soulja Boy if I have to, but I will never be without a title again!

A quick one, but I wanted to announce, officially, that I was offered a contract to stay and teach at Roseland, and last week I signed it and turned it in, so, Lord willing, I'll be back to get my butt whipped some more next year!

I'm pretty sure that I'll be whipping lots more butt than receiving whippings, though.

Because I'm told that's how teaching works.

If people were lying to me, oooooooooo, I'ma be piiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiissed...

But I'm sure they weren't. So Roseland, prepare to be rocked next year. Word.

Snakes in a Dash: The Riveting Sequel to Snakes on a Plane. Still starring Samuel L. Jackson

2009-04-30T16:15:00.000-07:00

Soooooooooooooooooo, I have a story. It's a true story. Some of you may have gotten wind of it already. But it's one of the most bizarre things that has ever happened to me, soooooo I'm sharing it with my blog audience of about 5.5 people.

Yesterday morning I woke up, after having some weird dreams, and got dressed in my sister's fiance's CATS shorts and my Arizona hoodie. It was Jersey Day at school, and that's the best I could do. On my way out of the house, I grabbed Paris, my snake, who had been snoozing at home after eating the biggest mouse ever two days earlier. I wrapped her around my neck and my roommate/fellow teacher were off to school in my Volvo.

As I was driving, Paris began to slither down my arm, toward the steering wheel. Before I could really stop her, she wrapped herself around it a few times, then turned back to look at me, feeling rather self-satisfied. I warned her that it might be a bad idea to be there, but she didn't listen. She hardly ever does. Things didn't get bad for her until I had to crank the steering wheel around to pull into the school parking lot and park. As I was doing that, her head got bumped a few times and I could see she was getting mad, but was too dumb or distracted to do anything about it.

I parked and went to grab her, but realized that in her irritation, Paris had decided to retreat to a less bumpy place, namely, down the back of my steering column. I didn't even know there was a hole, but she found it, and, to paraphrase my roommate, gave us the middle finger as she disappeared into my dashboard. I panicked, a little.

I rummaged around in the back of my car until I found the special screwdriver that loosened the screws that keep my dash together. I undid the bottom panel in time to see Paris's tail disappearing into a hole I could not reach into. Now I really started to panic, but it was time for school to start. My snake was in my dashboard and I had no idea how to get her out.

I taught the whole day in a paranoid haze, feeling like a mother whose child has gone missing. I didn't tell my students, because I knew they would lose it and want to spend all of their class time pulling apart my car, piece by piece. So I soldiered on, worrying and fighting back tears.

In the afternoon, one of the guys who works as a janitor at Roseland came by and said he heard I had a 'dashboard problem'. I tossed him my keys without even saying anything back and he and the other janitor, both of whom are BIG fans of Paris, proceeded to disassemble my dash. There are positives to working in a sketchy black neighborhood :) They also showed me how easily my radio pops out of my dash. Good to know, in case I need to steal it.

But, despite all their work, my snake was nowhere in sight. I decided to drive home, despite being unsure whether driving might squish, twist, or otherwise mangle my missing pet. I parked my car, ran an extension cord out to it, and plugged in a heating pad, defrosted a mouse, plugged in a lamp, and crawled under my steering wheel to do some more looking.

On my back, prone, with one arm shoulder deep in the inner workings of a volvo dashboard, I saw her underside resting comfortably on some insulation way up inside the dash. Using some pruning shears, I chopped up that insulation and ripped it out, hooking my finger around a snake that I could only assume was probably still irate, hoping she wouldn't bite me toooo hard. After a few tugs and lots of vocal affirmations of love, heat, and delicious rodent snacks, she let go and tumbled onto my face. She didn't even bite me. Probably promises of rodent snacks did the trick. What a mercenary.

But, girl and snake once more reunited, after I'd spent all day imagining grisly images of mechanics pulling her mashed body out from the grinding gears in which she'd become entangled, I broke down and cried. Sobbed and sobbed. My mother called me during my breakdown and, hearing me, assumed that Paris was dead until I could brokenly affirm that I'd just gotten her out and she was fine. Then I punished her by putting her in her carrying case for several hours, because she looked far too pleased with herself when she came out of that dash. Not an ounce of remorse. So into solitary confinement she went.

This morning I was very happy to show her back off to the Roseland community whole and unscathed. Needless to say, today was a WAY better day than yesterday.

Maybe that's not a great story, but it was a big deal to me. :) The hazards of being a snake owner, I guess. Moral: Don't let your snake get wrapped around the steering wheel.

This is my Father's world

2009-04-22T20:06:00.000-07:00

I'm taking advantage of the last few hours of Earth Day to write briefly regarding a recent frustration of mine.

I'm done with people, even jokingly, but mostly seriously, trying to debunk the whole climate change/global warming situation. An acquaintance on Facebook recently cited, as his status, a Fox news article about how the Arctic ice shelf was actually growing, rather than shrinking, and that these liberal bastards are just trying to freak out us hard-working Americans with their environmental scare tactics. Every time someone makes a wise-ass comment about how this recent cold weather in April is actually disproving global warming, I want to punch him/her in the scapula.

Dude. The environment. We affect it. The human race has been pumping bad things into the environment at never before seen levels for the last 200 years, without any consideration for the consequences. When we destroy and dirty our planet without thought and care, we directly violate God's command to us in the Garden of Eden, to care for the earth. And subdue it. But, contrary to popular belief, subdue does not mean suck dry.

And suppose all us quasi-liberal hippie types are wrong. The world isn't in serious trouble in the next 100 years. Praise God! BUT, how dare they. HOW DARE THEY act as if we are doing the world a disservice by asking that people be conscious and responsible in the way that they use resources and care for the world we've been given. HOW DARE THEY mock people whose main goal is that Americans, especially, consider that we are not the only people that have ever or will ever live on this planet. That what we do now has implications for the future. That it is not unnecessarily inconvenient, even, to reduce, reuse, and recycle.

Can you tell this is semi-important to me? Maybe more than it should be. But I'm tired of it. Rightist reactions like that just keep pushing me left.

Whatever.

Time for a snack and bed.

Miss Independent

2009-04-03T17:13:00.000-07:00

Ahh, another Friday night.

Survived another week of the manic clown show that is my life at Roseland. We're four school days away from Spring Break, which is, I am almost positive, THE LATEST SPRING BREAK EVER. I'm ready to tear my eyes out, then grope around blindly until I find each of my students and tear theirs out, too. I can't blame them for being antsy. At the ripe old age of 24 1/2, while I'm teaching, I'm mentally concocting elaborate plans to sneak out and give myself a two week break instead of one. Most of them involve multiple costume changes in which I wear mustaches, absurdly out of place porkpie hats, costume jewelry, and floppy shoes, whilst attempting my best Flemish accent. All of this is ridiculous, of course, when trying to escape an all-black school in South Chicago. I'd have more luck trying to pass myself off as Kanye West.

So, Brian (my future brother-in-law) and I are extra pumped for our plans for tomorrow. It was his birthday on Thursday, so we're going out to Golden Corral (oh HELL yeah) for lunch, stuffing ourselves with as much buffet food as possible, then coming back home to veg for the rest of the day and watch the Final Four. Anyone else who wants to can feel free to join in.

Yesterday I co-chaired my first ever Science Fair, which, while satisfying and successful, made me perhaps the most tired I've ever been. I don't even think I did much that was really very difficult or demanding. But I woke up this morning with back spasms and a tender sciatic nerve, which made me feel like an overweight 55 year old man. Part of it was probably the mental trauma of trying to explain over and over and over that the theme of the fair was The Invention Convention, and that, for this reason, I was not going to display four different versions of a vinegar and baking soda volcano. Seriously. I tell the classes specifically that volcanoes are not inventions. Still had them turn them in. Along with two kids who turned on a mini light bulb with a battery, and one who demonstrated that adding salt to water makes an egg float. I told them I'd let them know the day I got word that they'd invented volcanoes, electricity, and buoyancy. My biting sarcasm is wasted on these types, however. Ah well.

I still haven't had any definite word on my future at Roseland, but based on complete hearsay, I may still have a job for next year. We shall see. It would be the decent and professional thing to do to let us all know before Spring Break, I say.

Speaking of professional, I actually kicked one of my kids in the butt today. He was NOT moving fast enough for my taste. And it was Freestyle Friday (translation: out of uniform Friday) which always makes me feel a bit feisty. I'm not above whipping a marker at a smart ass from time to time either. Maybe I'll retain my job just in time to get fired. I hope not. I'd better be more careful...

I'm hoping that this next week will finally bring Spring in its fullest expression, rather than tantalizing us with 60 degree temperatures, then snowing on us. Nothing lamer than a chilly Spring Break.

Time to find some foody leftovers. Chikin' TendRz, here I come!

Let it Rock

2009-03-21T18:00:00.000-07:00

And now, a random list of things I'm thinking about:

Man, I love March Madness
Those bagel chips I just made smell delicious
I have no idea what my classes are going to be doing in my classes next week.
Shoot, I have parent teacher conferences next week
I hope I haven't upset any parents in the last two months. If I have, I don't know about it, which makes it even more dangerous...
This may be the only time in my life that I cheer for Texas, but... Hook 'em, Longhorns! Beat those Duke pansies.
I reeeeeeaaaallly love March Madness.
Know what else I love? Star Wars. Return of the Jedi is on Spike. Oh Lando and Han...
I want a muffin.
Good thing I just made muffins.
Is it lame that I'm home alone on a Saturday night, watching Star Wars and basketball while composing a blog entry?
Probably.
Meh.
Note to self: Don't forget to buy a spare tire.
Note to self: Avoid all potholes, spiky objects, tire slashers, and other potential poppers until you buy a spare tire.
Crap, I still haven't fed my snake. Hang on, Paris...
Texas needs to step it up. Coach 'em, Rick Barnes!
We need to look into the technology required to build space ships that look more like George Lucas's and less like tin cans with Bic razors taped to the outside.
This is probably getting boring, I'd better finish. And feed my snake. And bake those cookies I've been meaning to bake all day (double chocolate oatmeal! I'm excited)

Goodbye and love you, if you made it all the way through!

So Damn Beautiful

2009-02-21T20:51:00.000-08:00

So, after waiting a long time, I'm finally in the midst of watching the movie Max Payne. I don't know what it was about the movie, but from previews and a general love for Mark Wahlberg and his bad-assery, I felt I needed to see this one.

I'm about 3/4 of the way through, and still have very little idea what's going on. Lots of shooting, lots of mayhem, and a mysterious serum that's being drunk by a guy who looks like Billy Zane. But he isn't Billy Zane. I wish he was Billy Zane. W. T. F.

And for some reason Jackie from That 70's Show is a sexy assassin.

But I still love you Marky Mark. I always will. I can't help myself.

Reid, I feel like this would have been a move better left to watching drunk at The Loft. It's up there with Southland Tales for me. But it's ok, there will always be more. Undoubtably.

There's an icebox where my heart used to be

2009-02-05T16:16:00.000-08:00

I think the cold is finally getting to me, after my fifth year in midwestern winters. I've taken to blowdrying my bed under my covers before I get in so it's toasty warm (and mildly damp, for some reason). Awesome? I've also started wearing leggings under everything. Dress pants. Jeans. Skirts. PJ pants. Dresses. Everything. I'm pretty pumped about the thought of 50 degree weather that's been promised for Saturday.

Also, I'm doing an animal of the day with my seventh grade while we study Kingdom Animalia. So far we've done the pangolin and the Venus Flower Basket. I look forward to many other animals too! Suggestions would be welcome!

Shawty is a killa'

2009-01-17T20:56:00.000-08:00

It's almost 11 PM and I'm exhausted from a long day of doing mostly nothing (although I did get all of my errands run before 10 AM and I made applesauce and homemade chicken noodle soup today) but I wanted to share with whoever still reads this thing my experiences of last night.

I chaperoned my first middle school 'dance' last night. Basically, it was my job to watch the food and make sure my students didn't take too much fried chicken, spaghetti, juice more defined by color than flavor of fruit, and flamin' hot cheetos. Stereotypes are for the weak-minded, but they exist for a reason...

I spent my evening watching about 50 black kids stand around a half-lit gym and sort of sway to music being played from a boombox with a microphone set up in front of it. Every once in a while a brave kid would bust a move for a minute until our principal got to him/her and ended that business right quick. I heard about 125 times that this party was 'wack', because everyone told me at least twice. I just sorta shrugged. It looked pretty wack from my chicken-guarding post. But the brand new, 24-year-old teacher is not going to get up and start shakin' it to get things going when the principal is yelling at kids to stop dancing and go play pictionary instead.

But really. If they're blasting Lil' Wayne, Ne-Yo, and Beyonce over the 20 year old sound system, are you going to want to shake your ass, or have your classmates try and guess that you're drawing a stack of pancakes? The answer is pretty clear to me. I guess administration has to figure these things out on their own...

Who am I, after all, to tell them how to run their school?

I ate a whole box of Mac n' Cheese last night

2008-12-08T04:25:00.001-08:00

Maybe that's nothing, but my body didn't agree. I had weird dreams all night.

We've got two weeks until Christmas break. Count 'em. Two. I'm so ready for the break, but even though it's just two weeks, it's two of the most challenging weeks ever, the worst probably being the two weeks before the end of the schoolyear. These kids are totally gone on pictures of XBoxes and new shoes dancing in their heads. I wish that meant that they were always daydreaming, but no it means they're always talking about what they're going to get. But it's ok, we'll make it. They may cry and I may too, but we'll make it. :)

In other news, our house is mouse infested. Our landlords made no mention of this problem when we signed the lease, so it's a bit of an unpleasant surprise. For several weeks now, we've had mice devastating our pantry, chewing through box and bag to get at every dry good possible. But recently they have migrated to our living room, where there seems to be a family living in our fireplace, and upstairs into the bedrooms as well. Being a science/animal person, I don't mind so much, aside from the loss of non-perishable food and the stank of mouse doo everywhere, but my roommates have taken to letting out high-pitched screams whenever one shows itself, which is pretty frequent. It feels sort of like a really awful and lame horror movie is acting itself out in our house. For a plot twist, one of the roommates moves out, leaving the other three even more outnumbered and financially stretched. They're DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMED!

Oh yeah, and one of our roommates is moving out.

This reads like a big bitchfest, which was not my goal. We have had some beautiful snow, and I've taken a couple walks in it. Lake Michigan in the winter is impressive. I'm also in the middle of crocheting a few things as gifts for my family because we're doing the Advent Conspiracy thing where Christians are encouraged to spend less money and time on the commercial aspects of Christmas and instead to put that time and money toward spending quality time with family, making or forgoing gifts, and donating the money you save to people who need it way more. I am looking forward to having our first ever family Christmas in which we won't have to be out the door by 8 to make it to church, so we can sleep in some and enjoy a nice long breakfast after opening presents.

I hope you all have the opportunity to enjoy your Christmas and New Year. I'm planning on enjoying this break more than I have ever enjoyed any Christmas break. Love love and peace peace.

Lunatic Fringe

2008-11-15T12:15:00.000-08:00

Is it bad that most days I'm pretty sure the only sane creature in my classroom is a snake? For real. In this past week I had one of my kids grab a girl by the neck (and her mom wanted to press charges), another student got himself stuck inside his locker, a girl slashed a boy with a broken test tube (by accident, but whatever), another joker started screaming for his mother when the (well-announced) fire alarm rang for a fire drill, and half my seventh grade science class exposed themselves to salmonella yesterday. I hope they are safe but it would serve some of them right to get sick.

Anyways, I'm looking forward to Thanksgiving in Milwaukee. Not a middle schooler in sight. Excellent.

Just be me, you, and the dancefloor

2008-08-30T11:17:00.000-07:00

Hey, guys.

Sorry it's been a bit, I've been pretty preoccupied with getting started in a new life. Moving is a bitch. :) So is starting a new job. So is getting around in Chicago, which we have to do a fair amount because we live nowhere near to anything as valuable as a department store or grocery store or combination grocery/department store. But I'm happy to be here.

I have three days of school under my belt, and it's been a lot of work. I've basically been yelling for the past three days, given out several detentions, and frowned quite a bit. I hate/am bad at doing all those things. My students are good kids, but they're rowdy as hell. I'm going to have to put a lot of them in detention before they get it, I think. But I've been encouraged by the staff and many of the kids I've gotten to know a little bit so far, so I still have high hopes for this year!

Our neighborhood is pretty rockin'. I'm living in historic Pullman, a neighborhood in Chicago proper, which dates back to the 1880's when the railroads were still the only way to get things around. We're in one of the rowhouses that some of the workers lived in, and the ruins of the old railcar factory are just across the street from us. There's a lot of community building going on here now. We've already been to a block party, we've been invited to yoga every saturday morning, and on Monday there will be some people doing historical re-enactments of Eugene Debs and other historic local union figures to commemorate Labor Day in the park across the street, complete with picnics, live music, the works. There's a farmer who brings his fruits and vegetables to that same park every Wednesday. It's fun and pretty weird. It pretty much always smells like pot (marijuana) and our sixty-two year old neighbor keeps telling us that because we're young we should be having a lot more sex - that's how he did it and he wouldn't change anything. But I like it a lot, and I think everyone should come visit me.

Also, I bought a snake, her name is Paris, and I think she's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. I'll get pictures up when I can.

Love all of you. If you're in Chicago ever, let me know!

My kind of town

2008-06-14T10:01:00.000-07:00

I'm moving to Chicago! You heard it first here! Actually you probably didn't. At least some of you. But I've been given the middle school science position at Roseland Christian School on Chicago's South side. Yes, it is kinda ghetto, and no, I'm not going to become a White Sox fan. I get to teach there next year with one of my best friends, who will be a third grade teacher. I'm really excited about moving to a new place and getting into public transit and things. I've also already begun romanticizing about how my students are going to plant a garden in the middle of Chicago's South side and the community will come around the kids and stop hating each other and the Roseland neighborhood will be a beacon to the world of love and harmony. Or something.

That's really about it. This is huge news for me, but it's pretty simple. I hope the rest of y'alls are doing well! Tell me what's new with you. :)

Vengeance from the grave

2008-05-11T21:47:00.000-07:00

At the risk of sounding like everyone else in the U.S. right now, regarding cinema entertainment, Iron Man kicks ass. Major ass. Above is the only line I can remember from the Ozzy song, which obviously gets much further into the story of Iron Man than this movie does. Or maybe the Oz man is just crazy.

No Kansas City. The school where I was hoping to go finally got back to me, saying they'd filled the position, and not with me. I sent a quick email to another school there which had posted an opening, but it's apparently just not meant to be for me next year. So now I wait to hear back from Korea, New Mexico, and a new school I just talked to in Chicago. Chicago would be an awesome location with regards to friends and family in the area, and I already have visions of the community garden I want to plant at my inner city school. But I do have a tendency to get ahead of myself.

My church is meeting on Tuesday, regarding voting to shut down. I do think it's the best thing at this point. I feel really badly for my parents, though. True, I grew up in this church, and once it's gone I'm no longer a member of any church (aside from the Church, of course), but I'm leaving soon. A very high percentage of the social interaction my parents have revolves around church activities or at least friends made at church. That seems to be sort of what happens after you get out of the school loop, I guess, unless you work at a place that really enables you to make meaningful, long-lasting friendships. But Mom and Dad have a bit of an uphill struggle with regards to figuring out what's next for them. I'm praying.

I get to go to Chicago this weekend! My sister is graduating and since she's not coming back home after grad, we're all going out there to watch it happen. I could care less about the ceremony, but the prospect of getting out of town and seeing new things and different people for a while makes me virtually dizzy with glee. Despite living in a city of almost a million people, I'm getting pretty bad cabin fever. Probably doesn't help that the temperature today got up to 97.

It's so crazy to think I've been out of college for a year. I think I know less about what I want now than I did then.

All I want is to have my peace of mind

2008-04-20T18:25:00.000-07:00

In my recent attempts to redefine myself, which have included getting bangs, joining a gym, doing my laundry every two weeks (rather than every three), and learning how to maintain my own vehicle, I also got myself a new phone which also serves as an MP3 player. So now I'm one of the cool chicks at the gym with her earbuds in as she sweats away on an elliptical machine. But the joke's on everyone else. I'm sweatin' to Boston, Regina Spektor, and The Black Eyed Peas.

I'm still working on jobs for next year. Right now the one that's acting most interested is the position with Rehoboth - I interview again with them tomorrow. Apparently this one is going to be more formal? I'm nervous. But I'm still holding out for the KC job, and Justin Van Zee has recently offered me an opportunity to take my business to Korea, so we'll see what happens. As I sit here in my bedroom and sweat under the influences of a swamp cooler because it's already 95 out here, I'm coming to realize that I really can't stay in Tucson forever. Love love love LOVE the place, but it's not somewhere that people come to do great things with their lives. It's more of a place where people come for a while and figure out what great things they could be doing with their lives, then go do those things elsewhere.

This morning my church had a meeting to decide what our future direction should be. We've gotten to the point where there aren't enough members to really financially support the church, but more importantly we the members are divided on how this church could move forward, and so no progress has been made in several years. My parents project, and I tend to agree, that there really isn't a happy ending. Most likely we will have to close our doors and walk away with our heads up, unless people decide that it would be better to continue to drag ourselves along until we're forced to acknowledge the truth and give up, with a last rattling breath and death twitch.

My parents and I were talking about it with some friends over lunch today, and it is remarkable how relatively ineffective the Reformed denominations have been in Arizona. It's obvious in CRCs in Phoenix and ours in Tucson, in the fact that there are not any other expressly Reformed churches in Tucson, in the fact that most Presbyterian churches are simply absorbing each others' leftovers, rather than bringing in new believers, in the limited impact the Reformed University Fellowship on the university's campus is having, in the fact that most graduates from Reformed colleges are not going to Reformed churches down here... It's a little puzzling, because, and one of our non-Reformed friends said it this afternoon, Reformed theology is a huge comfort. It's solid and well-organized and Biblical. But Reformed denominations are working on making themselves completely irrelevant in a world that is becoming more and more like Tucson, Arizona. Everyone is moderately transient, multi-cultural, self-involved, and lonely. The Reformed churches have nothing for these people, even though Reformed theology holds a great deal for them. It's sad, but at the same time it's a challenge to the young (in age or in heart) of this tradition to find new ways of making a Reformed perspective in life matter to the people they have around them. Where to start? I'm not quite sure yet.

I'm going to go fix myself some creamy potato soup I made myself yesterday because I'm either sick or have allergies from hell, and regardless I feel like shee-yet. Then maybe I'll pour myself a giant rum and Dr. Pepper. Who knows! The sky is the limit.

Two lost souls swimming in a fishbowl

2008-03-26T07:30:00.000-07:00

One of my students has me returning to my roots and really appreciating Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd again. She's an unusual girl, as her other fave bands include Insane Clown Posse and The Cottonmouth Kings. Whatev.

Applications continue for me. Yes Mel, I did apply for a job at Rehoboth, and it's funny that they would grill you on me, because we really don't know each other at all. Hmm. I had an interview with the school in Kansas City on Monday and it went REALLY well. That's got to be my number one right now. It's exciting and scary because if I were to take it, they're actually working on starting a high school, so I'd only have 9th graders, and the next year 9th and 10th graders, and so on. I'd basically be building their science department. Crazy! But awesome? We'll see what happens with all that.

My sister and her bf from MI were in town for Spring Break last week and we did all sorts of Tucson stuff. Things I learned:
- I just can't like baseball. Spring training games are pleasant, but not interesting at all.
- I also can't tan AT ALL. Reference above spring training game.
- My medical billing job really is as boring as I think it is. Taking a break from it was heaven.
- To someone who hasn't been here before, experiencing the Sonoran desert is as exotic to them as the Nicaraguan rainforest was to me. I forget how different it is down here. Sahuaros, diamondback rattlesnakes, and javelina are my peeps.
- I will never have a good NCAA tournament bracket. I pick all the wrong upsets.
- Some DJ produced "The Grey Album" - a mix of The White Album by the Beatles and The Black Album by Jay Z. It's actually really good.
- Spring Break is a lot more awesome when you're still in school.

Word to all you out there who are ready for a change.

I wanna make love in this club

2008-03-04T18:51:00.000-08:00

In the spirit of Lent, the season in which we find ourselves, I thought it appropriate to title my latest post in accordance with Usher's latest single. So hot right now...

I'm in the middle of skipping Bible study at the moment in order to send out emails of inquiry to different schools regarding teaching next school year. Locations about which I am inquiring? Timothy Christian School in Chicago, two Westminster Christian Academies - one in Kansas City and one in St. Louis, Calvin Christian in Escondido, CA (that one's for you, Dave!), and international schools in Cambodia, the Czech Republic, Guatemala, Hungary, Mauritius (which I cannot find on a map), Mexico City, Nicaragua, Tanzania, and Thailand. I don't really know what I want yet, but I'm pretty sure it's not in Tucson, so I guess I'm looking for somewhere else to wander. I'm kinda hoping that what I want is in Prague, because that would be THE coolest. But I'm excited and terrified regardless of what is going to happen.

Jeffy, Manhattan Christian was hiring too, and I thought that might be a little close to you, but I decided that I wasn't ready to be buried in small town Montana. Unless we decide to fall in love and get married, since we both want to be in love. I could be down with that, but let me know soon, before MC hires someone else! :)

Speaking of marriage, I helped one of my best friends get married a couple weekends ago, and decided that maybe weddings aren't as horrible as I've held them to be for the past 10 years of my life. Renee's was short, sweet, meaningful, and fun. Plus I looked positively fierce in my bridesmaid dress. Fierce = hot, in case you were confused. But anyway, Renee and Brandon were so low-maintenance throughout the weekend and created an environment at their wedding in which all of us there could really celebrate their love and enjoy each others' company. Plus, I hung out with her last night and she just seems so happy... So yay for love and marriage, when done right.

In other news, I still really don't care about the presidential elections coming up. Does this make me a bad American citizen and a little less of a responsible adult? Probably. Don't tell anyone important.

Oh, I've decided as well that if teaching really doesn't pan out, I want to open up a bakery/restaurant/coffee shop and call it @thebakery and serve people all of the food I've been learning to make deliciously. Seriously guys, I just made some beef stew this weekend that is so excellent I can hardly believe it, and I'm resisting the temptation to take a break and try making some blueberry muffins rather than continuing to apply for jobs. If any of y'all (Katy, Steph, whoever) are interested in joining this enterprise (not the Enterprise, Reid, though you are also welcome to join that I guess) I'll keep you posted on my post-college identity crisis.

Love and kisses, and in all seriousness be mindful of this Lenten season and what it signifies!

Squeaky swings and tall grass

2008-01-28T06:44:00.001-08:00

Remember that scene from a particular Family Guy episode, when Peter, Cleveland, Quagmire, and Joe walk into a karaoke bar and sing "Don't Stop Believin'", and the whole town is drawn into their musical aura, because, let's face it, who doesn't love that song, especially when it's sung by amateurs? Well, I lost my karaoke virginity to Steve Perry and the rest of Journey the other night. It really is a magical song to stand up and sing in front of a bunch of drunks.

I've been finding myself really lonely of late, in a weird way. Not because I have nothing to do and no one around to care about me. I love my roommates, and they love me, and we spend a lot of time together. My parents are in town and wish they could see me more often. There are plenty of other people in town to spend quality time with, and I do that. I guess I'm missing spending time with people I simply can't spend time with, due to distance. I also wish I could be with those I care about who are lonely because they don't have too many people around who care about them. That hurts me the most, knowing that a friend is in need and being unable to do anything about it.

I'm also lonely for certainty. I miss knowing what's coming next. Not in a mundane sense, but in simply in knowing that I am working toward a goal, rather than working toward finding a goal to work toward. I had that through school, working toward getting a degree and moving on with the rest of my life. Now I'm neck deep in the rest of my life, but don't really have any idea what the rest of my life is about yet. I know this isn't a new feeling, not even to my own experience, but it's really hit me hard in the past few weeks. Being neck deep in anything and not having a plan for either getting out or submerging is an uncomfortable spot. My recurring fantasy of late has been finding a way of becoming independently wealthy somehow (inventing a new cookie, finding a cheap way to implement solar power, starting my own indie band) then spending the rest of my life on a beach in Sonora, Mexico, teaching the children of Mexico how to be marine biologists so together they can save the Gulf of California.

I also want a boyfriend. I said it. Lame and far too typical, but true.

For this week, however, my main goal is to examine myself in the light of Ephesians 4:17-32, confess, and seek to change the things in my life that passage brings out. And maybe work a bit harder to stop ending my sentences with prepositions, which I've done a LOT in this post, and probably none of you really care about.

Shine on you crazy diamond

2008-01-06T18:01:00.000-08:00

Like, whoa. It's been a while guys.

I'd write an update regarding what's been going on with me, but really nothing much has changed, and reading life updates are really boring, so on to the interesting, witty reparte...

Shoot, I don't have any. I guess a survey-type entry will have to suffice.

Last night I went to one of the diveyest dive bars ever, which was of course equipped with karaoke equipment. I was bummed because I wanted to sing, but didn't know what to do. So, for all of you fun kids out there, next time I go to a karaoke bar, what should I sing? And how intoxicated should I be? And on what sort of beverage? Maybe that will keep you busy.

I'm also interested to hear peoples' thoughts on the Iowa caucus. Why, for the life of me, they consider the opinions of Iowans to be representative of the rest of the country, I cannot imagine.

Stephie, I wish you the best in Meh-hee-ko. Maybe maybe maybe I will be fortunate enough to join you down there at some point.

Time for tea!

The sky is burning

2007-10-24T07:33:00.000-07:00

So, not sure how much news it's making in the rest of the country, but the San Diego fires are a big deal right here right now, mostly because most people in Southern Arizona consider San Diego their home away from home. But anyways...

On the way to work this morning I flipped to JonJay and Rich (KRQQ, Reid!) and they had on the phone one of the big dj's out of San Diego and they were asking him what was actually going on there and what everybody here could do to help - a noble gesture, to be sure, but these guys are so stupid, I'm sure it was a marketing ploy by their manager. Regardless, the SD dj was describing the horrors of these fires going on around San Diego, saying it was like something out of a movie, how 650,000 people have been asked to leave their homes, how people have been living at Qualcom Stadium for a few days, blah blah blah... Then this guy had the balls to say that "there has never been anything like this, the devastation is just unbelievable." and that, "more people have been evacuated from San Diego than were evacuated because of Hurricane Katrina." I wanted to punch a hole through my dashboard. Serves me right for listening to 93.7.

Yes, the loss of 1600 homes is a serious thing, and I feel for the families that are losing their property. But, people, for real. It is insulting to the victims of Katrina to imply that their tragedy is overshadowed by Southern California suburbanites losing their too-large and too-expensive houses. One person has died in this fire. Very few businesses have suffered. San Diego will be FINE in two years. Many towns hit by Katrina will NEVER recover. @#$&*^#!....

AND, as for something like this never happening before, just because you are an historical idiot doesn't make you allowed to claim that before. Chicago, London, San Francisco...all cities more economically pivotal in their time which were utterly devastated by fire and, in San Francisco's case, earthquakes.

Maybe this is boring to everyone else, but it pissed me off right good. Now I suppose I should work, since I'm at work.

I got King Kong in the trunk

2007-10-12T09:35:00.000-07:00

A new post! Hooray!

My neglect of this blog is mostly due to my lack of Internet for the past month, at least Internet that works with blogspot. Both of my roommates' computers freak out when I try to access this site. So that's my excuse. :)

I'm in Kansas City right now, visiting friends I made while student teaching, and it's making lonely for everybody else I love who doesn't live in Tucson or KC. If I could afford the time and loss of pay, in a heartbeat I would jump in my Volvo wagon and tour the country, visiting California, Washington, Montana, Colorado, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, Tennessee, Virginia, North Carolina, and then Florida, but probably only so I could go to Disney World. And the Everglades.

It's hard for me to think about, but in all likelihood the career choices I've made and am desiring to make will make it very difficult for me to see some of my friends ever again. If I go overseas or bury myself in an urban ghetto I will be doing what I believe God wants me to do, but potentially doing it alone. That's scary to me. I'm reading The Irresistible Revolution by Shane Claibourne in which he talks about what it means to be a radical, and therefore real, Christian, and it makes me tremble with excitement (and a lot of conviction), but that can be a lonely life. I know God provides, but somehow I'm having a hard time convincing myself that what He provides is best for me.

I suppose it's a matter of priorities. If I want to see you all again, I will make a point of doing so, and I needn't worry. Maybe I'm just feeling this way because I slept in until 11 and I'm feeling philosophic while there's no one else around to share it with except Sebastian, my chocolate lab friend. Aww, here he comes now...

Lovin' time!

To do (for the rest of you):

2007-09-13T22:18:00.000-07:00

See the movie Once. Don't ask questions. Just do it.
Make me brownies.
Watch Once with me while eating brownies.

Chickity check yourself before you wreck yourself

2007-08-28T11:27:00.000-07:00

My parents and youngest sister Deborah are gone this week, getting Deborah settled in to be a freshman at Calvin College. It's been harder for me than I thought, partially, I think, because I'm imagining Deborah doing all the fun, go-to-college things while I'm realizing that I will never do those things again. Dordt starts classes tomorrow and I won't be there. It's not a devastating reality to me. But it is a strange one.

Watched part of a movie last night titled Lightspeed. It's a comic book movie, the character created by Stan Lee, whose successes include Spiderman. His successes do not include Lightspeed. It's not so much a bad movie as it is a dreadfully boring movie. Goodness knows I've loved me some bad movies, but boring movies are the worst. Especially when I'm slightly buzzed and irritatingly impatient.

It's also been four and a half months since I've graduated, and though I've found good employment, I have made no further attempts to figure out what's happening after this year with me. I think I still want to go overseas and teach, or something of that nature. At least I think I think I do. But my motivation to get that ball rolling is nonexistent. Possibly I'm impeded by limited Internet access, but I don't really think that's it. Perhaps the fact that I'm making money right now is coaxing me into a complacency with what I do, even though I'm sure I don't want to do this for more than a year. I think I'm also a little afraid to simply pick up and leave for a year, since I've invested a lot of time, work, and love into people and projects here in this country. But when I hear about things going on elsewhere my heart burns to be a part of an experience like that. Dunno. Despite it's being Scriptural, the idea that "the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak" seems rather cliche. For me, I think it's more that my spirit wants to be willing, but my flesh is lazy.

I wish there was a farmer's market close to my house. I would buy fresh produce weekly, pile it all into the basket on the front of my bike, and ride back home smiling merrily. If I had a bike.

This post has been brought to you by my stream-0f-conscious thought process. My apologies.

We could be so good together...

2007-08-10T14:45:00.000-07:00

This post is titled in honor of Reid's mother, who loves The Doors. I've been listening to Alice Cooper's radio show on weekday evenings, which he broadcasts out of Phoenix, and I'm becoming a bigger and bigger fan. Still don't like his music, but I like his style.

So, big news in my life #1: Melvin died this past Sunday, an event which I anticipated as I was watching him the night he took a turn for the worse. Those of us who worked for him and, I believe, his family as well were ready for him to go, since his last month of existence had become pretty miserable for him and, to be honest, fairly miserable for us, too. He was a solid, albeit somewhat stereotypical Christian, and I'm sure he's having a much better time these days. This also means that I get to sleep at night, which is great!

Big news #2: Started my tutoring job this week. It's a good job and I like the kids I'm working with, but it's also stressful beyond all reason as they've dumped about 10 students on me to work with for 6 hours a day, each of them needing a fair amount of personal attention. Once I get used to the system, I'm sure things will get easier, but for now I'm really savoring the time I have in which I am not working.

Big news #3: Went out for teppan yaki the other night, which is the Japanese dining experience in which they have a flat skillet-type surface on which they cook your food right in front of you, with lots of juggling of knives and spatulas and several fire explosions. It was pretty awesome. You should try it sometime.

Tomorrow I'm going to pick peaches. I'm pumped for that because I love peaches. And picking.

I miss people that I don't see every day. Namely almost all of you that read this.

It's a five o'clock world when the whistle blows

2007-07-19T13:00:00.000-07:00

I got some jobs! Hooray! If I have a successful phone call this afternoon, I will top out at three. As of now, I have two - caring for my old man Melvin, again, and working with a medical billing company. Working for Melvin is about the same as it was before he fell, except lots more not-sleeping, and working for the medical billing company, so far, means talking into a phone headset and typing my fingers off trying to keep up to date on insurance claims. Still not sure I know what's going on there, but they're friendly enough.

If I can talk to someone this afternoon, I'm looking at getting a job as a tutor/teacher for an agency/school in town, working 24 hours a week. I'm really hoping it works out, as I really connected with the woman who runs the agency and I would like to utilize my teaching skills while I am currently waiting to see where they bring me, ultimately.

Speaking of teaching, I got my primary teaching license yesterday. It is crisp and white, with a shiny gold seal on it. Very official.

Back to jobs, if I can get this third one, I'm looking at working solid 65 hour weeks. Sounds fairly innocuous from this side of things, but I have a feeling I will be getting exhausted. However, that is 65 hours a week with nights and weekends mostly free. Which is awesome.

Lastly (?) I'm moving in with some friends from high school in a month-ish, out of my parents' house. I'm excited about it a lot, mostly because we have decided that everything we eat in the month of September will be grilled. Any fave recipes would be greatly appreciated.

This post reads like I'm on crack. Or maybe the July monsoon heat/humidity is driving me slowly crazy. Or maybe I haven't had a cookie in a while.

Goin' to the chapel

2007-07-12T17:44:00.000-07:00

I love my parents. Today they celebrate their 27th wedding anniversary, and just yesterday they were snuggling after they both got home from work and my mom turned to me and said, "Bethany, I love your dad so much." Priceless.

It's easy for me to take my family for granted. Comparatively, we are a bizarrely functional island in the midst of a vast dysfunctional sea. Many, many of my friends have parents who are separated, divorced, or not happy together, so to have been brought up in such a contented, trusting household is an amazing blessing. My parents have been a shining example to me and my sisters, as well as to our church family, their coworkers, and even the friends I bring home. And it's not because they coexist in a "Leave it to Beaver" type lifestyle. Both work 9-10 hour workdays, which meant we were in daycare a lot growing up. They come home tired, sometimes cranky. But they are so willing to give to each other, which makes them so compatible. Maybe I will never be in a relationship like that, but it's nice to know that, should the opportunity come, I've got a great example in my parents.

Here's to you, Mom and Dad. Happy 27th Anniversary, and many more, Lord willing!

In other news, I went to go see Transformers. It wasn't AMAZING, but it was pretty rockin'. And it's raining outside right now. Not men, but hallelujah anyways.

Better grab an umbrella, I make it rain...

2007-07-03T09:39:00.000-07:00

Today's post is brought to you by Fat Joe and Lil' Wayne. And the letter M.

No West Nile. Bummer, eh?

My mom and I were talking last night about the immigration bill that was just shot down. She is more inclined to be skeptical about it than I am, since I am more inclined to be 'liberal' than she is, but even so, we agreed that whoever rose up en masse to defeat this bill, it wasn't people from Tucson. In fact, according to our Sunday newspaper (I've taken to loving the newspaper, by the way), an online group called Grassfire.org is claiming that they are responsible for shooting the bill down, flooding the offices of members of Congress with images of "the scarlet letter of amnesty". Guess where they're based. Oh, that's right. Small-town Iowa.

I really hate that people on both sides of the political spectrum treat this as a black and white issue - conservatives hate the illegals and liberals love them. What those of us in Southern Arizona are able to understand, and I believe John McCain saw this too, is that what is being argued back and forth are people's lives. Small town Iowanians don't read in the paper every week about dozens of people dying in the desert because they were willing to give everything up for a chance to have a better life. I am not calling for open borders, but I am asking that the American people forget their petty political squabbles and have a heart.

What do we do with illegal immigrants? I'm not sure, but I believe Christians, especially those of us so near the border, need to figure out how to love them.

In other news, the monsoon is supposed to start this weekend. Who's excited? This girl.

And I bought Chaco sandals last weekend. This pretty much forever destroys my hopes of becoming a badass with a heart of gold, but now maybe I can be a hippie without the marijuana.

East side walk it out...

2007-06-25T12:45:00.000-07:00

While I can't say I'm surprised, I am a bit dismayed. The one job I did have, providing overnight care for Melvin, a very elderly man, has been prematurely terminated. Melvin fell and broke his hip, landing him in the hospital for some time.

When I began to tell other people this, the general response I got was along the lines of, "well, that sucks. Where are you going to get money now?" After getting this response several times, I got so upset that I stopped telling people. Seriously, the issue at hand is Melvin, not my paycheck. This poor old man has seriously injured himself, and is in the hospital now. At 88 years old, I sort of expect that this may be the beginning of the end for him. I called to check on him this past weekend and the girl I talked to says he is not healing well because he is terrified that his family has left him in a nursing home. If he isn't able to start calming down, I'm afraid he really will just give up and die.

I have learned so much about care for the elderly from working with Melvin and his family. This man is almost 90 years old, but he still enjoyed tooling around his house, loving his cat, feeding the birds, and watching The 700 Club. In his prime, he was one of the head professors of the University of Arizona Ag Department. Several of those of us who work with him know that he's still pretty with it. However, his daughter and some of the other caretakers seem to have given him up to dementia, so they treat him like a child, which he obviously resents. I don't doubt that he's anxious about what his family is going to do with him at this point, since they've been less than totally supportive the past few years.

I like to think that I'm pretty active in promoting social justice for people who are unfairly treated. I'm especially good at protesting injustice thousands of miles away. Working with Melvin, however, has enabled me to see that there are likely hundreds of elderly people in Tucson who are neglected, misunderstood, and mistreated, because, hey, they're going to die soon anyway. While North American society may not have the horrible civil wars, class conflicts, and famines that many in the rest of the world do, we certainly do not have time or space to deal with the elderly, or the homeless, or the disabled, or anyone else who is similarly unable to contribute. It's amazing that in other parts of the world, a family may not have food to eat or a roof over their heads, but they have the time and energy to care for Grandpa, or a crippled cousin.

Humbling, really.

In other news, my mother is speculating that I might have West Nile Virus. That's kind of exciting! If it turns out to be something else I will probably be a little disappointed.

They only wanna do you dirt'

2007-06-19T11:16:00.000-07:00

It's Get-A-Job Tuesday! Hoooray! Because Get-A-Job Monday didn't work out so well. I anticipate there will probably also be a Get-A-Job Wednesday. Word.

I know it's ridiculous to do so, but my frustration with attempts to find meaningful and productive employment have made me wonder (just a little) what was the point of getting a degree. I don't need one for the jobs I'm looking at, and in fact I missed out on a lot of work experience while I was in school. Boo. I'm not sorry I went to school, I guess. I'm just really upset at my lack of job-finding skills.

In more embarassing news, I think I may be the only educated person in the country who has no interest in the upcoming elections. I have little knowledge of those who are running, I'm not even sure what the issues are. I know names but not faces, except for John McCain, who I'd vote for automatically at this point because he's my senator and Reid says he's not half-bad. I like to think that I'm uninterested because, in the grand scheme of things, the differences between U.S. presidential candidates are so insignificant compared to other elections running around the world, that it doesn't really matter, the same things will happen regardless. But, really, it's probably more because I'm a bit lazy. And my internet sucks so I'm disinclined to spend a lot of time internet researching. I need some inspiration.

Methinks I might find it listening to Justin Timberlake.

Will you still need me, will you still feed me?

2007-06-11T10:20:00.000-07:00

So, no job yet. I appreciate the input by all of you guys, especially how it all conflicts and makes things even more confusing for me. Awesome. It's a good thing I wasn't counting on all y'all to tell me what to do.

The one job I do have is killing me. I worked 28 out of the last 36 hours taking care of my old guy. I've slept about 6 hours in the last two days. Last night he was yelling at someone (demons? Muslims? Democrats?) in his sleep, and I got to listen to it for two hours because I have his baby monitor right next to my head. It's also a little rough because he is completely deaf, so I am unable to communicate to him that I already know how to do things, so he explains everything to me two or three times like I'm stupid. I got blamed for doing the laundry wrong, even though I wasn't even in the house when it happened. So I got a ten minute tutorial on clearing the lint guard in the dryer.

I shouldn't complain. It's a good job. But sometimes, when I'm sleep-deprived, it sucks.

On a more cultured note, I am looking for summer reading. Currently, I'm reading The Present Future, which details several issues which are causing the Christian Church culture to become increasingly detached and irrelevant. It's good, lots of food for thought. Any other things I should read? Otherwise, I may be stuck with getting all of my summer culture from Mythbusters, Iron Chef America, and Futurama.

Just trying to keep the customer satisfied...

2007-06-05T10:22:00.000-07:00

So, it's been a while. I suppose if I do intend to keep in touch with those of you on here, I ought to post a bit more frequently. I suppose.

SO. I need a job. Something that pays more than minimum wage, preferably. Here are the options I am looking at right now:

- GEICO insurance claims adjuster - Basically, I would look at accidents called in and decide fault, as well as how much to pay out for these accidents. Since I have a college degree, I don't have to do the entry-level stuff, even though I would prefer to...
Ups - $17.50 an hour, within biking distance from my house
Downs - lots of decision making, corporate work environment, and my interview wasn't stellar

- US Postal Service Mail Processor - I really have no idea what this job would entail, but I thought I would give it a go. Who doesn't like mail?
Ups - $17-20 an hour, within biking distance from my house, government benefits
Downs - government job, probably pretty menial, also can take 6 months to get hired

- Bookseller at Barnes & Noble or Borders - I'd work the salesfloor, shelve books, help people out, and get to be around books all day.
Ups - being around books all day
Downs - pay only slightly above minimum wage, farther away from my house

- Overnight care provider for ancient guy - I'm actually already working this job, so it doesn't really need to be included, but I did anyway.
Ups - $10 an hour, including time when I'm sleeping, overnight so I can work another day job
Downs - not a whole lot of sleeping gets done, he's deaf and really fundamentalist, lives about 15 miles away

- Barista at locally owned and operated coffee shop - Since I feel that working for Starbucks would be catering to the Man, I can sleep at night when considering this application. And it helps to prepare me if Mrs. M and I open Just Coffee.
Ups - within skipping distance from my house, makes me a barista
Downs - pay only slightly above minimum wage

Any input or suggestions for other opportunities for employment would be MOST welcome. I have loans to start paying in a couple months...

Love Today

2007-04-09T17:44:00.000-07:00

This is me getting tired of student teaching. I'm ashamed to say that I'm getting tired of my kids, of putting together lesson plans, and even kind of tired of my cooperating teachers. This is me ready to graduate, I'm thinking.

March Madness was not as awesome as it started out to be. Nothing more boring than my two least favorite #1 seeds fighting it out for the final, and my all-time least favorite team winning for the second year in a row. *mumbled cursing*

I'm starting a unit in American history on the Progressive era, which is not in the least innately interesting. I'm hoping I can convince the kids to stay with me by showing them Newsies. Nothing says history like Christian Bale dancing around, throwing newspapers everywhere, and kissing girls that aren't that cute. I'm sure he looks back on that movie with fondness these days...

Sarah got me hooked on Mika. mmmm love that Eurotechnopop.

I'm hot 'cause I'm fly....

2007-03-23T16:38:00.000-07:00

When I arrived back in KC last week, it was definitely still warmer than IA, but not by much. This week has been different. It started out soggy, but has dried out the last couple days, and today spring just absolutely exploded in Kansas City. I swear, the grass turned green overnight, trees are budding/blooming, it's still 50 degrees at 7 PM. I'm loving it most definitely. Arizona is a great place to grow up, but there really is nothing like watching the seasons change, which doesn't happen in Tucson.

Spring also means college basketball is in full swing. March Madness has officially started, and it is officially awesome. I'm running a little less than 75% accurate on my bracket, but some of my teams I have going all the way are in trouble right now. Oh well.
It's sort of sad, but I mostly have to watch these games by myself. My roommate could care less, and there's another guy in the complex who would watch them with me, except he also wants a date, so I'm avoiding him.

Speaking of dates, I have never been so sought after in my life, and it's unnerving... This guy who's a sort-of neighbor and friend of my roommate asked me out to a movie, which I turned down, and then on Sunday the same guy from church (see...four posts ago?) asked me out again. The claim is that, if you don't find someone in college, it's harder to find someone after, but I've definitely had more guys interested in me off campus than I ever did on it. WEIRD.

Once, I watched a movie called "The Wild Wild World of Batwoman." It was TER-rible, but delightful at the same time. I'm going to spend this weekend dancing nonstop in a frivolous, 1960s fashion.

All things go, all things go

2007-03-08T14:47:00.000-08:00

I finally caved and got the new blogger, although I think I was forced to. It just happened. I have a sneaking suspicion that the new blogger is run by the man. It's hard to stick it to the man when he runs your blog. Unless you use...........code? Or Jimi Hendrix lyrics? Or are those the same thing?

I'm back in IA for the week, and it's freakin' cold here. That's all I'm going to complain about. Otherwise it's been great seeing people and doing stuff and talking about how I still don't want to face the future. I like people here.

So in my conversations here the past few days, I think I'm beginning to recognize the reason for my hesitation to start moving forward (by doing important things like filling out applications and sitting interviews). My problem is that I love teaching students, and I love the relationships I am able to develop with them, but I do not particularly like schools. It's part of my general aversion to institutions, I guess, but I hate the politics and bureaucracy and kowtowing to administrators who do not make good decisions on things and dealing with other teachers who are annoying or intimidating or just plain weird. So my options are to either find the perfect school which will let me do things my way, for the most part, or to do something else for a while, until I lose my wild-eyed idealism and settle for something that pays slightly more than minimum wage. Gah! I'm really struggling with the extent to which I can live by the promise that "tomorrow will take care of itself" while still being responsible to use the mind God gave me to make decisions and step into the unknown with purpose, rather than stumbling into it backwards.

P.S. If you don't know what a kowtow is, look it up. It will help flesh out your world history knowledge and give you something in common with one billion Chinese.

We roll tonight...

2007-02-20T14:19:00.000-08:00

After a nice three-day weekend (thank you George Washington!) I went to bed and woke up this morning feeling almost sick with anxiety about being observed and evaluated by my Dordt supervisor in classes today. It didn't help that I had wasted the entire weekend with completely un-planning-related activities, so I felt highly unprepared. Waking up at five helped me be more prepared, but I was still nervous. My roommate prayed with me, which did help some, but my true inspiration came as I got into my car and turned over the ignition. Blasting through my much-abused speakers came the sage words of Angus Young, "FOR THOSE ABOUT TO ROCK, *FIRE* WEEEEE SALUUUUUUTE YOUUUUUUU!" I actually laughed out loud for joy, it was like they were singing to me. The wonderful thing about common grace is that sometimes it manifests itself as a beautiful sunrise, or an uncommonly long green light. And sometimes it manifests itself as AC/DC. Am I being heretical? I don't think so, but call me out if needs be. My evaluation went really well, by the way. I was so thankful. :)

I'm excited to meet these dwarf hampsters that I understand are now living in my apartment. But not as excited as I am about my roommate here getting a dog! Woo! I love dogs a lot. As long as they weigh more than 35 pounds and don't have smooshed up faces. And aren't annoying. Which apparently this dog is not, since he's a chocolate lab.

On the way home from school I decided that "Thunderstruck" is on my top five songs I need to hear performed live someday list. I'm going to have to decide what the other four songs on that list are, now. Ideas?

I'll be back on campus in two weeks!!!!

Take another look at the world right now

2007-02-14T15:10:00.000-08:00

Today is the 95th birthday of a particularly excellent state. A state with world-famous sunsets (which Texas does not have). A state with a world-famous great big hole in the ground. A state with a nationally famous college basketball coach. A state with heart, and a state with soul. Viva Arizona!

That being said, today really blew some major chunks. For starters, we were basically the only school in the Kansas City metro to have school, everyone else was closed for icy road conditions and frigid temperatures. The icy road conditions affected my ability to stop at a particular stop sign as I ran into the back of the car in front of me, and the frigid temperatures affected my bare legs as I got out of the car in my skirt and struggled to stop shaking enough so I could write down my name and number for the woman I hit. Happy Valentine's Day.

Then I got to school, late and in a rather bad mood. I was greeted upon entering the building by a disgusting array of chincy Valentine's Day paraphernelia available for sale by the principal's daughter. I swear it was sort of like the money changers in the temple, I wanted to weave together a rope and start swinging, although much less out of righteous anger than bitterness at the way my day had started. My freshmen were in an equally bad mood, but they manifested it by intentionally being the biggest bitches possible. I don't know why they thought messing up my class would get their point across to the principal, but they went to it. I was still so flustered from my accident and being late that I didn't really have it together enough to start handing out punishments, so I resorted to asking the class to quiet down ever minute and a half. I'm such a pansy. Happy Valentine's Day.

During lunch, the senior boys I usually eat with got in a food fight that nearly manifested itself all over me, and yet one of the guys, who somehow got my cell phone number and was texting me all day, still could not understand why I didn't want to be his valentine. My real reason: he's just not that cute. Happy Valentine's Day.

I was at school until almost 4:30 trying to get grading done, and now I'm home trying to figure out what I'm doing with my classes tomorrow. Jonny (NO H, SO THERE) is working the bar at the restaurant where he works from noon until 10 PM, so no fun times for me tonight. Oh well. It's probably best, since there's a lot for me to do. Happy Valentine's Day.

I'm contemplating getting into the cooking sherry in the cupboard. But not really. I miss you guys with whom I'd be having fun tonight... I even miss you guys with whom I wouldn't be having fun tonight. Such a bitter post! I hope I can replace it with something better soon.

Happy Valentine's Day.

It gets so hard to walk away

2007-02-06T04:27:00.000-08:00

Ok, yes, the rumors are true. As of about the middle of last week, I have a boyfriend down here. For those of you who didn't hear the rumors, the same is true, but it's just a complete surprise. His name is Jonny, he's tall, smart, funny, athletic, and a goof. He also just found out that he has about a 50% chance of requiring brain surgery in the next few weeks. Awesome. So if you would pray for him, that would be excellent.

Ahh, 6:30 AM, an hour before I need to be at school. Student teaching has reawakened the morning person in me. I like waking up at 5:45, getting ready while drinking my peppermint green tea, listening to Bright Eyes, then dashing out to my car where I shiver as it very slowly defrosts. MOST satisfactory. Then I annoy my kids in homeroom by being chipper and cheery while they stagger in looking like extras from 28 Days.

My history unit has gone well, I give a test today which will tell me if it actually went well or if the contented understanding I read in students eyes was really a glazed stupor. Yesterday, however, I did have the strange experience of feeling that I was being remarkably boring, and there was nothing I could do to fix it. Bad times. I felt badly for my kids.

I'm really sorry I can't go to L'Abri. I had such a great time with it last year, but I'm starting up three new units in my science classes in the next week which will be much more complex than my one history unit... I know, you don't want my excuses. You guys will enjoy yourselves without me. But I'll miss being there. Boo. I'll also continue to miss drinking with all y'all, and valentine's day crazies with a few of you, and being continually inundated with interesting new applications of my last name...

Time to blowdry my hair! Wheeeeeeee! Grace and peace.

Goodnight my someone...

2007-01-29T16:32:00.000-08:00

Last week, I had the pleasure of walking into my apartment building and being greeted by the heavy aroma of pot. Even after living most of my life two hours from the Mexico border, I'd never had that happen before. Weird.

I'm teaching this week, for the first time. An American History unit on the decade before the American Civil War, and today started out pretty well. Sophomores are kind of bitches, though, so I'm hoping it continues to go well.

Yesterday I think I got asked on a date by a guy at church. I've talked to him once before and he's terrible at conversation. He's also shorter than I am and scruffy. So he's automatically not a major find. But being as generally bad as I am at turning people down, I think I left the door open to go with him to see the Dead Sea Scrolls while they're in Kansas City. Crap. How do I keep doing this?

Also, confession times with Bethany K:
Last night I watched THE event of Professional Wrestling: the Royal Rumble. It involves thirty professional wrestlers entering the ring one at a time every minute and doing ridiculous things in order to throw each other out of the ring until one man is left standing. It was the funniest fourty five minutes of my life. And I think I'm in love with John Cena.

Kiss me and smile for me

2007-01-19T21:13:00.000-08:00

This was an interesting week. I shall divulge:

Monday: Martin Luther King Jr.'s Birthday, observed. Meaning school was not in session. I celebrated my heritage by taking two naps, walking to and from the grocery store, and thinking about doing productive things.

Tuesday: I have to admit that this was my first ever snow day! Since Dordt never cancels classes and Tucson never needs to, I'd never gotten a day off school that wasn't scheduled before. Because the roads were so icy still, apparently, school was closed for the day, but I didn't find that out until after I arrived there at 7:30, dressed to kill. But then I went back home and did many of the same things I did on Monday (see above).

Wednesday: Funny mostly because while I was working on trying to get the Internet to work at school, one of the senior students in the room asked me if I would go to the Valentine's Banquet with him. Naturally I said yes, on the condition that I come completely drunk and inappropriately dressed. Oh, and I watched American Idol for the first time ever that night and wanted to tear out my own uvula for doing so.

Thursday: Almost exclusively boring, except I accidentally watched The OC and as punishment my dreams were full of freaky, disjointed half-stories about wild animals and carnies and such that I could publish as absurdist theater and make $10. I woke up feeling like I'd been stomped on by spiritpeople.

Friday: Found out lots of inside information on many of the students I'm working with, some really sad stories, and I'm nervous/excited to work with these students and, hopefully, have a positive impact. I also got into an in-depth debate with a couple of kids about the NFL playoffs and just how terrible the Bears actually are, except for Urlacher and the rest of the defense. Then I went out shopping alone tonight and spent an hour wandering around World Market. I think I want to live there. And I think I want a wok, real bad.

I finished Lauren Winner's Real Sex, and it was really excellent. Highly recommend it, and you don't only have to be a girl to read relationship/sex books. One of my favorite ideas, talking about chastity and the concept of fasting:
"The unmarried Christian who practices chastity refrains from sex in order to remember that God desires your person, your body, more than any man or woman ever will. With all aspects of ascetic living, one does not avoid or refrain from something for the sake of rejecting it, but for the sake of something else...for the sake of union with Christ's Body."

grace and peace

Outside it's America

2007-01-12T14:46:00.000-08:00

Just finished my first week of student teaching down in Kansas City! Since I'm no longer in close range of any of those of you who read this, I've decided to post more frequently, say, once a week? Deal.
This week was largely uneventful, as I just sat around and observed from a comfy chair behind my desk. I already get my own desk, although one of the drawers smell like a cat puked in it, so that's not awesome. One of the teachers I'm observing is a crusty, ex-Marine Vietnam vet who hates socialism and furry little animals, but I like him anyway. The other teacher, in Biology, is more normal and thereby more boring, but we'll get along fine, I'm sure. I'm sure that by the end of this year, however, I will have completely had it with pantyhose/tights, because I've had to wear them every day. Lame dress code... Although by the number of sophomore guys checking me out in the hallway, I think I must look good. :)
I love Kansas City. L-O-V-E it. All y'all should come down and visit me sometime after I get the whole driving system figured out. But don't come this weekend, because there's a quarter inch of ice covering everything. Arizona driver + icy roads = bad things. So I'm limiting myself to walking trips only until it's safer. Or until I run out of beer. Whichever comes first.
ALSO, I want you all to swear the following oath, hand over heart and everything:

I, (your full name), will not let Bethany develop a Southernish accent. I swear to do everything in my power to prevent her from saying "Missourah" and "ain't" and other such Southernisms. However, if she starts talking like St. Louis rappers (I like it when you do that right thurr...), I will buy her ice cream. So help me God.

Thanks guys. I love you all and miss most of you!

Hit 'em hard, let 'em know who's who

2006-12-02T22:13:00.000-08:00

I've been mocked, slapped, and incredulously gaped at for admitting this to people, but for those of you who don't know yet, I am an avid sports fan. I spent 5 hours today flipping from the Illinois/Arizona game, to the UCLA/USC game, to the Duke/Georgetown game (blast Georgetown for falling apart and losing in the last few minutes...), then to the Arkansas/Florida game. Of those four games, only one of the teams I wanted to win actually won. Fortunately, that team was Arizona, so I didn't have to remove my trachea with a pickle fork.
But I do really love sports, particularly basketball and football. I love the rules of the games, I love identifying with and hating players and coaches, and I am even rather emotionally effected by game outcomes. If any of you share my passion, I'd love to watch a game with you, although I warn you that I am prone to swearing, shouting, and tears.

In other news, yesterday was World AIDS Day. What did you do about it? I admit that I didn't do anything, aside from tell other people it was World AIDS Day.

I'm into having sex, I'm not into making love - 50 Cent

2006-11-10T06:53:00.000-08:00

A friend suggested that the only way I could rejuvenize my blog would be a post about "love making". I pointed out that I know everything and nothing about love making, so it would be a boring post. He thought it sounded intriguing. To keep him from drowning himself in cheap whiskey and tear, I'm recounting the conversation, but not posting about love making.

Is it ok that, after spending three and a half years working toward a teaching degree, I don't think I want to teach? I got my assignment on Wednesday, and I'm down in Kansas City, teaching science and history to kids in an "urban" high school, and I don't have a place to live, yet. Freaky. Maybe I'll be the shabby, sort of smelly student teacher who doubles as a drifter and mumbles convoluted political innuendos under my gin-soaked breath. Maybe. I think every Christian school needs one of those.

Anyways, I don't think I want to teach in the US. Maybe outside the country, or maybe I'd rather work for an organization which works at community development, of which education is a part. But after all the unit plans, explanations of my double major, focusing events, discussions on cognitive development, and classroom observations, I don't like it any more. I know it's totally cliche to have a crisis of identity your senior year of college, but I'm having one anyway. Sometimes the Man just gets you down.

I dunno. Maybe I'll just sit around and wait for the Apocalypse, since Jeff's so sure it's coming soon, anyways. Rather than deal with issues, I'll wait for the world to end.

P.S. Is it weird to anyone else that it was 80 degrees on Tuesday and there are two inches of snow on the ground this morning?

A moment, please

2006-09-06T14:25:00.000-07:00

Even though I never once watched his show, I feel that I need to join the rest of the world in saying goodbye to Steve Erwin, the Crocodile Hunter, killed by a stingray this week. As an aside, I think being killed by a stingray is actually pretty cool sounding. Better than heart disease, cancer, or drug overdoses, which will likely do in the rest of us. Morbid, yes. True....? Maybe?

In other news, I'm back in IA after an extended summer vacation due to the wedding of a very dear friend. I've already gotten three tickets on my new car from Dordt security (because they wish they had Volvos), fallen down the Southview stairs (because my flip flops are slick), had to change my schedule twice (because I have to be done by Christmas), and gotten into a fistfight with Carl Zylstra once (because he enjoys a good spar as much as I do).

I also love being the Gen 300 TA, because I can make the lives of Reid and Ross a living hell and get paid for it. Works for me!

Listen to the rhythm of the falling rain....

2006-08-16T08:35:00.000-07:00

I love rainy mornings. They make me want to wake up early and get to wasting my time right away. Lightning keeps striking around the neighborhood and my backyard is a lake. Monsoons = the best.
Reid and I got to hang out while Sarah was here, which involved drinking diabetes juice and watching the original Batman movie. It's all we could come up with after a half hour of thinking and complaining about how most of us just wanted to go to bed. But it was still delightful.

Things to do before I get to come back to school:
- buy a car - I will have great difficulty driving back to Iowa in twoish weeks if I don't.
- paint my room - mostly white, with one blue wall, but I really need to cover up all of the feet smudges and booger marks left on there from my growing up years.
- read a bunch of books - as a part of the independent study I decided to do to avoid having to take 23 credits in order to graduate in May. I'm way behind...
- get back in shape - there's no way I'm walking back on campus without looking totally sexy. How else am I going to score a hot guy in the senior scramble?
- Wrestle a grizzly bear. Or Jude Law - the grizzly would be a challenge, possibly helping contribute to the getting in shape mentioned previously. Or possibly contributing to a full body cast and getting my face ripped off. Jude Law, however, is a pansy, and would go down without much of a fight. But then maybe I could step on his not-attractive face. Word.

Whew, lots to get through! Hold on Iowa, I'm coming soon!

Go hippie, go wit' it

2006-08-07T08:57:00.000-07:00

Sarah Slegers is in town, which is delightful, although the thing we've done the most so far is take naps. Which is ok with me. Tonight, hopefully, Sarah is going to meet up with Reid and Everett to go see some independent film type movie, but unfortunately I have to work, thereby missing the sexy party that will surely ensue.
Another interesting story: after a week of unusually heavy and constant rain, my mom, sisters, and myself were startled to hear a very loud *CRACK* coming from our backyard. We could not place the noise at first, but then I noticed that our hot tub was coming up out of the ground. My dad says its water pressure from overloaded pipes and saturated earth, but my thoughts? Zombies. Everyone knows they live under hot tubs, and why wouldn't they come out when their homes are flooded in order to terrorize the not-yet-dead? So far, they've only victimized other people, leaving us alone because we were so good as to host them, apparently. I was going to show you a picture, but digital camera pictures and dialup do not mix.
Sarah and I were talking about how we're going to miss those of you who left/graduated after this past year. We expect multiple visits, because what else do you have to do, now that you're out of college?

It's hard to argue when you're making perfect sense

2006-07-13T10:00:00.000-07:00

Words to the wise:
* Don't drink spot cleaner on a dare, even if it advertises itself as "non-toxic". It will make you want to vomit on the guy who dared you. Yes, this is from personal experience.
* Don't try shoplifting from Rincon Market. You will be led away in handcuffs. Never fear, this is not from personal experience. I watched some lady learn this the hard way yesterday, after she jacked the last of our tamales.
* Always look busy or cruel on the bus, otherwise you will be hit on by drifters, preteens, and other women.
* Appreciate the music of Snow Patrol. It will make your life better.
* Read with the intent of educating yourself. It's helped me stay sharp this summer, and everyone loves a quick wit. Or maintains a bitter jealous hatred of quick wit.

Ok, that's enough of that. I went to go see the second Pirates of the Caribbean last week, which I did NOT like (yes, I said it), but I had to laugh because the number of pubescent girls, and guys, dressed like dirty pirate hookers was incredible. I wanted to run around screaming and slapping people, just to make them realize how stupid this all was.

In other news, pray for India. I have a friend on a missions trip there right now, and I pray that she's safe. But over 200 dead in those bombings is an atrocity. Pray for peace and justice.

Y'all gon' make me lose my mind...

2006-07-06T10:41:00.000-07:00

Ah, the joys of Tucson bus-riding. After getting monsooned on during the walk to the bus stop, I froze in the AC, but at least it helped me dry off before getting to work.
For the half-hour ride, I was treated to a complete, obscenity-punctuated dissertation on the reason for gang warfare by a guy who was yelling about it to the guy next to him, loud enough for the entire bus to hear. He talked about how some guy had roughed up one of his fellow gang members, and how he was going to kill that guy, because you need to stick up for your brothers. My favorite line, however, was this, and I quote: "Those guys? F---, they ain't got shit! Now, me? I got shit." The whole ride I was really uncomfortable and kind of sick feeling, but that made me laugh out loud. Damn, it feels good to be a gangsta...
Does anyone else hate the Fourth of July, just a little. Or more than a little? I do, except I admit I'm a sucker for sparklers...

My heart knows me better than I know myself, so I'm gonna let it do all the talking

2006-06-20T15:23:00.000-07:00

Hey kids.
Big news - I got a cell phone.
Yep, that's right. Now I'm always accessible. 520-784-3908.
If you are a creepy person I don't know and you try this number, I will find you and stomp you in the uvula. They will never find your body. You've been warned...
If you are a friend with my best interests in mind, feel free to call. Verizon calls are free, and otherwise there's nights and weekends.
I also really want jicama right now.
And I miss Nicaragua.

I'll hold your heart when times get rough

2006-06-14T07:10:00.000-07:00

Dear faithful readers -
Just so you know, this whole not-posting for over a month thing was just to test you all in your love for me. You all pass with flying colors, and I sleep well at night knowing that I have sixteen comments on this last post.
I actually haven't posted in so long because I wanted to be able to say that I got a job, and it's taken me this long. I don't know how the rest of you do it, but it took me a month to find a job in this place. &%$!@#&$.... Anyways, I'm working at a deli, making sandwiches, scooping potato salad, and dishing up casseroles. I may also get two more jobs in the next few days, one as an overnight care provider for an elderly man (which makes me a wonderful person) and one as a cashier in a pet supply store (which makes me desperate for funds).
I'm also in an early morning math class for the month of June, which sucks with a capital SUX. It's three hours of class, with two hours of homework, four days a week. Poop.
Anyways, enough about boring things. Let's talk about exciting things that have happened since we last talked:
- I had two separate conversations about phallic symbols in the space of twelve hours, neither of which I started.
- I worked yesterday with a guy who reminded me of Goldberg from the Mighty Ducks movies. Except he wasn't funny.
- I went iceblocking, which is always awesome, except when all of the grass is dead.
- I have become the Trivial Pursuit champion of the world.
- I witnessed a knife fight at a bus stop on the way home from church.
- I babysat a dachshund puppy, who was the cutest thing ever, but he kept pooping on my carpet.
- I egged Reid, Seth, and Everett's house.
- I talked to Rachel Palmer about being engaged.
- I talked to Tony Blair about being Prime Minister.
Some of these are lies, but I'm not telling you which ones. The truth is stranger than fiction. Love you, kiddos. Now I have to go to class.

And goodbye makes the journey harder still...

2006-05-09T09:03:00.000-07:00

To whom it may concern:
I am home at last! And in the spirit of High Fidelity, I will recount the events of my trip and arrival with a couple of top fives.

Top Five Crappy Things about the Drive Home
1. Being deprived of performing the Heimlich maneuver on a kid who was choking in a Wendy's in Colorado by some guy who thought he was the man and told me he would handle it.
2. Sleeping for an hour and a half in the fetal position in the passengers seat, surrounded by truck drivers, then getting up with the sun and back on the road.
3. Almost getting lost in Las Vegas, New Mexico, which is a dirty, dirty town.
4. Rush hour in Denver after a Rockies game.
5. All of the pretty scenery was in the dark by the time we got to it.

Top Five Awesome Things about the Drive Home
1. Peter, Paul, and Mary - they're going to be my activist theme music from now on.
2. John Piper sermons
3. Watching a prairie dog waddle across the road in front of me, though I was going 80 mph and could have squoooshed him.
4. Having a story to tell about this one time when I almost did the Heimlich on some kid who was choking.
5. A Mighty Wind - the Soundtrack

Yes, now it's time for me to get a job, get registered for summer classes, and somehow afford a car.
"How many ears must a young man have before he can hear people cry?" - PP&M. Oh folk rock.

Boys speak in rhythm, and girls just lie

2006-04-28T15:43:00.000-07:00

I was lame last night and got myself all pumped up for an all nighter, being sure to complain about it to a bunch of people so they'd feel sorry for me. And then, at 2, I got tired and went to bed, failing to accomplish even close to everything I was supposed to. Sigh. So now I have to do it this weekend. *self pity*

I just purchased myself another ID card, because I grew tired of waiting for mine to be sent to me, and it turns out that, as of this morning, I had over $214 in declining meal plan money left. So I treated four people and myself to lunch at the grill this afternoon, and I've still got like $180. So if anyone on campus wants any sort of food this upcoming week, let me know, because I've got the hookup. I want to squander this fortune, rather than letting the college take it from me quietly. So this means 'tornadoes' every night all week. Maybe twice a night. Or cheeseburgers for breakfast. Awesome...

This afternoon, instead of doing work on my papers, I made Jello jigglers, because we've had jello sitting in our makeout closet since forever. I'd forgotten how much I appreciate a well-set jello jiggler.

Does the end of the schoolyear seem more surreal than anything to anybody else?

The angel opens her eyes

2006-04-22T07:25:00.000-07:00

I was rebuked for not posting in a long time. So, instead of standing up for myself and asserting that I have too much to do to waste my time with posting, I'll just cave in and post.
I took one of those online, very empirical and conclusive quizzes to assess my personality, and it turns out I'm an idealist. No big surprise here. That's most likely why I hated the stigma of doughnuts in the Justice Matters tent this past week - don't bribe people to participate with doughnuts! They should care about these things because they are important, not because we're giving them tasty treats! Anyways, I think that's why I'm also struggling this semester. This semester, more than any other, I have felt very much that I'm just working for a grade right now. I'm not in it to learn, to better myself, and to enjoy the knowledge I'm gaining. I'm just in this to keep my grades up so I can keep my scholarships so I can continue to afford to go here. And not only am I an idealist, I'm an idealist in the Education department, which means I am now living a teacher's worst nightmare. The last thing teachers want is for their students to be performance-driven, working only for the grade. So it's frustrating for me, and I don't know how to snap myself out of it at this point in the game. Sigh.

On a different note, here's a picture of me and my sisters on our trip to Michigan this summer. I love my sisters, and I miss them a lot. Sara is thinking about spending most of the summer in New York with a friend, which I think would be a great opportunity, but it would also be sad.
On a final note, I helped the kids in my lab kill chickens for dissection on Wednesday, and it was pretty awful because one of the chickens refused to die, even after being swung around in circles by his neck (an attempt which got me covered in chicken sh*t). So the kid grabbed a dissecting knife and chopped its head off. It was pretty graphic and violent, but at the same time entertaining. Is that twisted?

Hello Ohio

2006-04-07T19:19:00.000-07:00

Tonight I am home alone. I've been told that being home alone, doing homework, on a Friday night is a sure sign of losership, but I'm kind of enjoying it. I'm listening to Over the Rhine right now, in honor of Katy. Before that, I listened to Carbon Leaf, in honor of Rachel. And before that, in honor of hundreds of years of Spanish tradition, I listened to Carlos Montoya lay down some sweet Flamenco guitar tracks.

This upcoming week is Passion Week, which is my favorite eight days of the year. No kidding. Better than Christmas, better than the first week of summer, better than Spring Break. Not because it's necessarily ice-cream-sundaes-and-balloon-animals fun, but because this week is so important to the Christian faith. While I know I should be thinking about these things year-round, the Lenten season and especially Holy Week is when I refocus, remembering the agony Christ suffered, but even more the glory He claimed and promises me through his resurrection. I don't let myself get bogged down with the debate on campus about having Good Friday off, because I can observe Holy Week while I'm in school, and (not to slight the beliefs of anyone who reads this) I think that too frequently this debate is voiced mostly by people who just don't want to have school any more than they have to. But I am excited about this upcoming week, and I hope that you will all be especially mindful and reflective about the life of Christ and his sacrifice which assures us salvation and eternal life.

On a somewhat related note, during Praise and Worship the other night, I sang the line "Jesus, you're all this heart [referring to my heart] is living for." I sang it once, then couldn't sing it anymore, because it's not true. I live for many other things besides Christ and His Kingdom. While this is something that is worked out through sanctification, is it something that we can really sing? None of us will reach that point in this lifetime. I don't know, any thoughts would be welcome.

The tone of this post is more sober than usual, for which I do not apologize. But if any of you need some zany observation or experience to make this a complete blog-reading experience, In zoology the other day, when my students were dissecting fetal pigs, I felt something on my shoulder and turned to see a somewhat distorted pig face smiling at me. One of the students had completely skinned his pig, taking the skin off in one piece, and was displaying it like a hand puppet. After a little internal freakout session, I told him he should become a taxidermist. He responded by saying he wished he could tan the skin and make pig leather out of it. He was dead serious. Oh Iowa.

2006-03-31T23:25:00.000-08:00

Things I learned this week:
- there is such a word as co-opetition, a combination of the words competition and cooperation, and I don't think that it is actually possible. In fact, I kind of expect the word to implode from internal contradiction, eventually.
- I have a "gang-bangah butt", according to Sarah. No ghetto bootie for me. Nope. I'm straight up gang-bangah. Word to all my boyz.
- there is someone on campus with all three Nickel Creek albums on his/her iTunes, and I love him/her for it.
- I'm much worse at pool than I thought I was.
- I apparently have a high tolerance for very little sleep. As evidenced by my being up for no reason at 1:30 AM after getting about 4 hours of sleep a night all week.
- Katy and I are funny, funny kids. Because our ed psych brochure had pictures of Richard Gere and Jennifer Grey (the actress from Dirty Dancing and Ferris Buehler's Day Off) on the cover and a clip art picture of a cactus inside with the caption "Discipline Plan(t)". Probably we aren't funny at all, but it sure seemed like it at the time.
- I am once again in love with college basketball. Nothing like a #1 seed being upset by an #11 seed in the Elite Eight to get your heart pumping.
- Neo-Marxism is really different from the original Marxism.
- there is nothing so boring that a well-placed exclamation point cannot liven up. (!)
I think I'm rambling now. I must be tired. Night, munchkins!

Jesus walks with them...

2006-03-24T21:45:00.000-08:00

I find this picture kind of ironic because I hate pirates. But ninjas would never let there be lame wooden statues of them standing around San Fransisco, so my options were few.
This part of the semester is always really lame, because it's all work with the only thing to look forward to being saying goodbye to everyone. Hot. I still have two papers way overdue that I keep thinking about but not really working on. I blame my tuberculosis. Is that acceptable?
Tonight was our home concert to wrap up our two weeks of Choir Tour. I had a great time getting to know some people better and learn to really appreciate them, but I also had far too much time to learn how much I really dislike some of the dipwads (for you, Kathlyn) in our choir. I think that makes me a big jerk, but there's something about being ill and confined to a bus that makes me really know how to hate some people. Especially people with fluffy, digusting blonde afros or young women desperate to score a man any way they can. On the bright side, I'm one half of the Championship Rook Team. Still undefeated, which means it's a good thing that I am NEVER playing Rook again. It was the trip of a lifetime, but I'm glad it's over and I have my own space again. Here's to introverts!
And now I'm going to hit the hay, because I have to be up in not too long to set up a Saturday morning lab test for my sunshine children in my Zoology lab. Oh happy ones, how they will love this test!

What does it take to get a drink in this place

2006-03-08T06:21:00.000-08:00

I'm wrapping stuff up around here before heading off on Choir Tour with the Dordt Concert Choir, which will hopefully be featuring my awesome overtones, if I can get over being so congested. I would complain about the two papers I have to write yet before going, but you guys don't care about those and I decided I'm just going to email them to the prof over break anyways, instead of killing myself trying to get them in now, so I won't complain about those. I could complain about how much of a mess our house is and that it needs to be cleaned before leaving, except I can't really complain when I am a major culprit for the mess. I could complain about not being able to sleep in EVER, but I like mornings, so I won't complain about that either.
One frustration I will voice, though, is my limited knowledge. I know that I strongly support social justice and ending poverty and all this stuff. But in Gen 300, when I try to vocalize these convictions, I don't have the knowledge of how government programs or private businesses really operate, so my ideas come across sounding transcendently idealistic. I guess I shouldn't complain about this, but should get to work building my knowledge.
We have very little food in the house, so it's been kind of funny figuring out what to make for dinner every night. Last night we had cheese pizza with green onions and spinach. I could have sliced a hot dog over it, or maybe some carrots, but I decided that was just too weird. So we ate our onion pizza plain. I wonder what tonight will bring...
Love and grace to all of you. For those of you I'm not seeing, have a wonderful week and a half. For those of you I'm going to see, I'm excited!

Crimson and Clover

2006-02-25T20:45:00.000-08:00

Tonight, after an international meal featuring peanut butter soup by Katy, Sicilian Lent Bread by me, hoo-moose by Katy again, and German chocolate cake by Reid, watching Dave Chapelle and learning all about black people ("Is pimping easy?" "Hell yeah..."), we played MASH to find me a husband and a life. Yes, MASH. We are in junior high again. It was between my secret crush, Chad Nibbelink, Marcel Visser, Reid LePage, and Elliot De Wit. It ended up being me and Marcel in an apartment with a Saab, but I deemed the game null because we ended up with zero children. I can't be perpetually barefoot and pregnant if I'm not going to have any kids. No good.
In other news, I woke up at 9:15 this morning to pop the heads off of grubs looking for salivary glands to stain and squash in order to find giant chromosomes. If this sounds gross to you, you're right. I just threw up on my keyboard writing about it.
In other other news, L'Abri encouraged me, as it did Ross, Reid, and Jeff, to make a better effort at embracing popular culture in order to have a better platform from which to open dialogue with postmodern people in our popular culture. God is already there, we need to recognize Him and show Him to others who already understand the context, but did not previously recognize God as being the underlying power. That all sounded pretty amorphous. Maybe this is why I don't post very often.

In an octopus's garden...

2006-02-06T20:27:00.000-08:00

The best things ever about the past week-ish:
- Sarah has agreed to let me use her car, so I don't have to bike across town on icy roads with flesh-freezing winds beating me in the face. Oh Sarah, you sweetie poophead!
- Matt Kunnari has an album of The Streets. I like The Streets.
- I got an overtones solo for the Concert Choir tour. I am so hot.
- Despite my best efforts, I actually have some talent in the realm of pool, as in billiards, but I feel dumb calling it billiards.
- Elliot De Wit and pinatas.
- In lab this past Wednesday, I loved teaching. And the Phylum Cnidaria.
- I've started loving Coldplay.
- Andrew some-Dutch-last-name played a bass guitar routine done by the bassist from Metallica, and while my knowledge of Metallica is still rudimentary, the routine was pretty awesome. The judging for the talent show was not one of the best things ever about the past week-ish.
- A homeless guy assured me that I would be a great teacher some day as I poured him a glass of milk.
- Sarah called Katy and I "poopheads" for making up crap about Boston. It's still funny.
- I made bread by hand, from scratch, for the first time, and reaffirmed my desire to be domestic someday. Screw the Women's Lib Movement. I want to be perpetually barefoot and pregnant.

cold hard b****es

2006-01-31T16:50:00.000-08:00

Kathlyn Joy just had a moment of genius, and expressed this sentiment:
"More people should like fewer people."
I agree, Katy. There are lots of times when I don't like people, and I think things would be more realistic and less sugar-coated if we all admitted that we have trouble liking lots of people. So do we need to bother? I put to you that we do not. Take THAT Education department.

I often make "what the HECK?" faces at the students in the fifth grade classroom where I'm student teaching. So far they've handled it pretty well, but I'm afraid I might hurt one of them some day. I'm not sure that changes anything, though.

I want to go on a road trip to Vermillion, SD right now. But maybe I'd settle for curly fries from Hardees.

I'm at a place called vertigo

2006-01-25T10:05:00.000-08:00

It turns out I'm the most pathetic weakling on earth. I have to bike across town to do my sixty hours of student teaching at the Christian elementary school, and it just about kills me every time I go. I end up getting off the bike and walking about half the time. Yesterday, it was gusting at 50 miles an hour into my face while I was trying to bike up a hill, and Mrs. Zylstra (wife of Prez Z) almost hit me with her blue PT Cruiser. Then I wiped out on a frozen puddle. I like the work at the school, but getting there and back is pretty much hell. What I wouldn't give for a bike with a few more gears. More than one, at least.
Last Saturday I had the opportunity to meat Ephron, one of the guys who goes here from the Caribbean, because I was walking back from the grocery store with my bags and he saw me and offered to help. It was the best part of my day.
Question - which are more frickin' awesome: ninjas or pirates? I think the answer is pretty obvious, but I'm interested to hear if anyone else has an opinion.

New Year's Resolution

2006-01-18T06:01:00.000-08:00

Usually I don't make resolutions, because I'm bad at keeping them. I realize it's a little late to make one now, but who cares? I've decided I'm going to, as frequently as I can, wear blaze orange. It's my new favorite color, thanks to a shirt my sister didn't want and a sweatshirt Brielle left here. If anyone has any hunting gear or crossing guard wear they don't want, give it to me and it will be worn proudly.
Question: Are you wearing pink today? You'd better be!

This is the sound of settling

2006-01-13T20:53:00.000-08:00

Back in classes!
Since I've got little else to say, I'll give you the run down of classes, everyone's favorite, I know:
Historiography - This class is going to kick my butt. Keeping up with reading will be a miracle in itself, but I already feel intellectually destitute trying to keep up with what Krygsman is saying, and it's only been two classes. Plus I have to read City of God by St. Augustine and write a 4 page report by the 26th, and I don't own the book yet. Rock on.
Applied Ed Psych - This class shows promise, especially since I enjoyed my first ed psych class so much, but we haven't really done too much yet. Today we watched a movie about 13 year olds having sex, so maybe that's a sampling of good things to come!
Gen 300 - This class, I've already decided, would be a lot better if there weren't 117 other people in the class. The issues that come up are going to be important and controversial, but when 5/6ths of the class is comatose, reviving only long enough to think less of those of us who speak up, it's more obnoxious than provocative.
Medieval History - I have high hopes for this class. There's a high percentage of underclassmen, so it's not so transcendentally academic as some history courses can become. And we get to watch movies like Braveheart and Monty Python and the Holy Grail during class.
Education 267 - This class has some long, drawn-out, jargon-filled name that I don't remember, but it's basically about high school and curriculum design. Despite initial reservations, I think it might actually turn out being ok. Today we talked some about the need to turn the entire educational system upside down. I can roll with that.
Teaching Science: Methods - I am more excited about this class than I've been about any class ever! It's my first night class, which set off alarm bells at first, but after going the first time, I'm so excited to teach. The guy who's teaching is so realistic and practical, funny, and original. If it sounds like I'm in love with him, it's because I am a little. Too bad he's married with three children, eh?
Concert Choir - We are going to kick some major a** this semester. We have about 7 gigs scheduled all over NW Iowa and Omaha, plus we're touring down in New Mexico, SoCal, Colorado, and, YES, the AZ. I sort of get to go home for break, even though we're on tour! I'm excited to show off my corner of the country to my friends who have never been. Plus, we're singing some of the most amazing music I've ever experienced. Hot.
Student Teaching-60 hours - Hopefully this happens. As evidenced above, I don't have a lot of space in my schedule. Plus I don't have a vehicle, so I'm stuck with working at a school that's within walking/biking/bobsledding distance. Here's hoping! If it doesn't, I'll use my womanly wiles to persuade Dr. Sewell into letting me take History of Calvinism.
Question for this post: Can you dance, like actually dance? I sure can't, and after just watching Save the Last Dance, I really wish I could. And that I had a black boyfriend, because that could be hot.

I'd rather be a sparrow than a snail

2006-01-08T19:18:00.002-08:00

1. I am back in the States. My trip was FAN-FRICKIN'-TASTIC. I really don't know how to put it down in a post, but it was beautiful, funny, hard work, and relaxing, while also being a huge eye-opener to suffering and poverty in the third world. I will never be the same, I can safely say that much. I'm planning on setting up a webpage with pictures and commentary so people can get an idea of what I did in Nicaragua for two weeks, so I'll put that on here when it's set up.
2. There is a huge pile of dishes on the counter. I think it's been there all break, which, I admit, is pretty gross.
3. Brielle and Matt are now married. This is really happy, but at the same time sad, because I think all three of us remaining roommates will admit that Brielle was the social hub of our room. And the resident art major, so Katy will have to step up her work to redecorate our room. Maybe I can take some crayons to the walls as a way of helping.
4. It's lightly snowing here, and much colder than either Arizona or Nicaragua was even close to being while I was down south-er.
5. Classes start on Tuesday. I think I'm actually ready. I will be officially ready once I get all of my truly foul-smelling laundry done, and tackle the dishes. And register, because everyone knows that if you don't register, you will officially die at the hands of Ken Boersma.
6. I'm going to work at becoming a Metallica fan because Tom Dykstra told me to. I do what Tom says.
7. I miss my sisters. And parents.
Question: what's the big deal about New Year's Day? Every party I've been to I feel like a doofus yelling "Happy New Year" and throwing stuff in the air. Resolutions are something, but what's the big deal about making them on January 1? I dunno, the best feature I can pick out about New Year's Day is the Rose Bowl. Which is a great feature, but it doesn't have much to do with the holiday.

Flash! Ooooohhh, he saved every one of us!

2005-12-24T22:35:00.000-08:00

Heyo! Christmas break post! My sister and I decided that the proportionality of how lame a person goes up at the same rate as the frequency of his/her posts on his/her blog while on a break/vacation. Since that made no sense, maybe no one hates me yet! :) Either way, I am unlame, I guess.
I received my passport finally, although I had to beat up two mailmen and an old lady to get it. My picture is a thing of beauty, and I look forward to filling it with stamps from exotic locations like Managua, the Seychelles, and China Grove, TX. But now I don't have to worry about trouble in the airport, and there's this personal message from the US Secretary of State telling anyone who reads it that I am entitled to protection from any enemy while in a foreign country. It makes me want to find a US embassy and demand sanctuary.
Since I really don't know much about what's going to be happening on the trip, I won't post much about it at this point. I know that I leave Monday, there will be lots of rice and beans, and I may pick coffee. And I can't eat anything fresh because it might contain Malaria or Yellow Fever or Black Death or Jungle Boogie or something else hazardous. I'll fill you in when I get back!
Happy Christmas, everyone. I went on a rampage on my other blog, decrying the rape and pillaging of the Christmas celebration in the name of a materialist holiday, but I'll say no more of it here. I hope you enjoy the break, and friends, and sleep, and chance to remember that the birth of Christ happened in order that the death and resurrection of Christ might come about.
Ten thousand thank yous to Reid, who introduced me to the song detailed in the title. WHO SANG IT? If you know, make yourself heard! And in the meantime I won't be in the country. Everyone who will be at the wedding of the century, you have a good time. Everyone else, shame on us!
Kisses

Daytripper

2005-12-12T16:37:00.000-08:00

Ok, here's my second story, sorry it took so long, Jeff et. al.
The snow's a lot meltier and the roads are much clearer since it warmed up, but last week they were pretty slick yet, and I've got to cross one to get to class. So I did my usual prance across traffic to get to Renaissance and Reformation and hit a slick spot.
WHAM!
I fell on my side with unbridled indignity, bruising my hip. Then some punk-ass sophomore who drives to class pulled up to the stop at the street and began to turn right onto the street, where I was still struggling to stand. He has the gall to honk repeatedly at me, then give me the finger. I muttered things about his questionable parentage under my breath, then grabbed a chunk of ice and chucked it at his red Grand Am, and I think I dented it, but I ran off like a naughty little kid, so I don't know what he did after that. What a lousy piece of crap. At least I got his piece of crap American-made car.
I hope this story was worth the wait, all. Now my question of the day:
Is it true?

Two Stories

2005-12-06T21:09:00.000-08:00

For the final Plant Morphology lab today, the prof had each of the three of us in the class prepare a food with algae in it, as a way of engaging the subject matter, I guess. So I got all set to make these pork-kelp roll things, rehydrating an entire package of kelp and buying two pounds of pork. So at about 1 last night I was up cutting up pork and spicing it before rolling it up in kelp strips. Turned out I used less than a half pound of pork and about a foot of kelp blade, when I rehydrated about 6 feet of the stuff. So now I have five feet of kelp at my disposal. But our story takes a tragic turn when I wake up this morning to go take a test at 8. My kelp wraps needed to cook for at least three hours in boiling water, so I put the heat on low and dropped them in a pot of water on the stove. When I came back four hours later, a strange smell seeping out into the yard under our front door gave me brief warning that all was not well. Opening the door removed all doubt. Apparently the water in the pot had boiled off long before my return and the things not only burned, but apparently caught on fire, because when I arrived they were already little charcoal lumps in the bottom of the pan. And I can't forget about it, because burnt kelp smells sort of like a crematorium, at least I'm guessing so. So our apartment smells like dead people and we can't air it out because all of the windows are frozen shut.
This post is already too long, so I'll save my second story for tomorrow. The question of the day is, what to do with five feet of spare kelp? The more creative the answer, the better of a friend you are!

YES

2005-11-29T18:42:00.000-08:00

Watch this please!
Leindert Van Beek played it in Chapel this morning. I was delighted.

Excuse me while I kiss the sky

2005-11-28T13:20:00.000-08:00

Back from the WI! I had a great time, but nothing really happened, so I'm afraid I have little to report on the weekend. I got home and my house smelled of fish. It still does.
Lots to do this week. Today was supposed to be a solid homework day, but so far it's mostly a sit around and pretend to do homework day. I don't really know how I managed to pass high school with a 4.0. It's a mystery.
Someday I'm going to sit around all day and just color. With REALLY good colored pencils and complicated coloring books. None of this Precious Moments crap.
And finally, to boost my ratings and comment return, I'm going to scrap with the current desktop image and biggest desire and instead ask a question, so that people who read this can have something to reply to if nothing else strikes their fancy. Today's question: Why did Christian Bale stop dancing? He's done well for himself as the stoic and silent Batman/John Preston from Equilibrium type, but - WOW - that guy had moves. Remember Newsies? Swing Kids? Gold, solid gold.

Goblet of Fire!!!!

2005-11-17T20:01:00.000-08:00

Yep, that's about it. I am mega-stoked. Scar in place, wand in hand, and lots of homework to do while waiting. Harry Potter forever!

Getting the s*** kicked out of me by love

2005-11-13T15:12:00.000-08:00

A few nights ago there was a concert choir shindig down by the new firepit, and while parts of it were unusual, I very much enjoyed the little chat I got to have with Dr. K. We spoke of beer, grammar, coffee, and the Texas Two-step. It made my night, if not my week.
I did not pass on to the second round of NC/DC, a fact about which I harbor very little true regret, because it just took too much time and energy. I'm glad to have time again to do homework and take leisure without feeling guilty about letting down my school. Now all of the remaining contenders had better step it up and go the distance.
Tonight for coffee time I have made oatmeal brownies. I made them up as I was baking them, but I don't think they'll be as singularly odd as the "cookies"/papillion I made last time. THOSE were some weird stuff.
And now, my weekly quote from The OC:
"Do not EVER mess with Journey." - Ryan Atwood, the hottie with a short fuse and excellent music taste.

Hit 'em hard, let 'em know who's who

2005-11-05T18:22:00.000-08:00

You know what I love?
Good college football. Despite the fact that I live with a bunch of sports haters, I will step out and say that I do love some sports. Namely college football and college basketball, because I say that the professional varieties of these two fine recreational activities are basically separate sports because they're so corporate.
That being said, you know what else I love?
That the University of Arizona, which I will admit has an abysmal record on the season (I think we've won......three games?) is absolutely smearing UCLA, which has a perfect record to date. It makes me miss the days of season tickets to games with my mom, sitting up in the nosebleeds and fighting off 4 inch long grasshoppers and moths just to get a chance to shake my keys at every kickoff and cheer with every first down.
I'm sure most of my reading audience hates me right now, since I've dedicated an entire post to talking about my love of sports, but rest assured, I'll return to my typical sarcasm soon enough. Kisses all!
Current Desktop Image: A Microsoft Paint picture my sister drew me to show her rebellion and disgust at having to analyze her own urine for an introductory Biology class.
Biggest desire at this moment: To be at Arizona Stadium, surrounded by mutant insects, screaming my guts out.

I got soul but I'm not a soldier

2005-10-28T13:55:00.000-07:00

Hooray, I'm updating! I'm taking advantage of my illusory break that is Friday afternoon to prattle on about unimportant things in my life since, hey, I don't have a 15 page paper due until Tuesday!
Yesterday I stood with Marcel, Craig, and the Wienbergs in front of the Campus Center and gave out free hugs. People around here don't go for hugs, it seems, because I only gave out 3. But I found out that, despite the hugs being free, they made $13 off of hug-tificates. I'm quitting school and becoming a professional hugger.
Tomorrow morning I'm leaving at 5:30 with my plant morphology prof and two classmates to drive to central Iowa to check out Woodman's Hollow. We're going to spend all day taking notes, drawing pictures, and collecting samples of mosses and liverworts. Dig it. I'm so sleeping in the car. If anyone wants a moss sample, let me know and I'll hook you up.
I have to get back to making agar plates in a bit. Sometimes I forget I'm a biology major, and then when I remember I laugh a lot because I think I'm an embarrassment to the department. Oh well.
Current Desktop Image: a bunny with a pancake on its head
Biggest desire at this moment: security. Not just a sense of it, but the real thing. It is good.

Throw up your rawkfist

2005-10-10T23:22:00.000-07:00

At the behest of Sammy G., I am updating, and I'll try to be a bit more frequent. Sorry Sam.
Tonight we celebrated Canadian Thanksgiving, which is a fabulous holiday, if for no other reason, because it meant we got three kinds of pie for dessert tonight. HOWEVER it is also a fabulous holiday because my lovely roommate is a Canadian, and she's awesome.
I am so excited for Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire to come out. Like, seriously, who wants to wait in line opening day with me????
I went running tonight and it was a fiasco, because apparently after eating a Thanksgiving meal you have to wait more than two and a half hours to avoid cramping, plus I'm still a little sick so my throat was all nasty and my ears hurt. Basically I cried all the way home.
This had better satisfy all 4 of you who read this for a day or so, because it's too late for me to think of anything more clever...
Current Desktop Image: Something my sister sent me, and it's basically an inside joke so none of you would appreciate it. Philistines.
Biggest Desire at this Moment: to redo this past Saturday night. If you want details, feel free to ask. I may or may not tell you.

Gimme three steps

2005-09-23T12:15:00.000-07:00

Wow, it's been a while since I've posted, I guess. Hmmm, an update on my life as it has progressed since last y'all heard:
I am of legal drinking age. And I do it ALL THE TIME. Ask anyone!
I have become proficient at procurring catcalls from mysterious residents of North Hall. I must be sexier than I used to be.
I like Bright Eyes.
I am woefully behind in most of the reading for most of my classes. It's pretty frickin' awesome...
In lieu of gifts, most of the people I know gave me chocolate for my birthday. The thought it nice, but chocolate don't pay the bills.
I'm going to Kansas City for Tri State to visit friends, and it will be a wild party, no doubt. What happens in KC STAYS in KC.
I learned Farsee.
That's about it. Except that last one was a lie. Vaya con Dios, muchachas!
Current desktop image: definitely Billy Idol looking sexy
Biggest desire at this moment: front row seats at a Lynrd Skynrd concert. Not backstage, because they're kind of gross, but the music = sweetness

Frivolity

2005-09-11T06:57:00.000-07:00

New rule: Every grassy hill you see, you must roll down. That is all.
Current desktop image: the lead singer of The Streets (British rap group) singing over a pint
Biggest desire at this moment: cherry limeade

What the......?!?

2005-08-30T15:43:00.000-07:00

Where the hizzy did all of those ad things come from???? I thought I was all popular again when I came on the other day because I saw I had 7 comments for my last post. Then I found out they were all advertisements for really stupid things. Like, I didn't bother to find out what they were for.
Good story, Bethany.
Current Desktop Image: the lead singer of The Killers
Biggest Desire at this Moment: a 30 hour day. That's all

Leonard Bernstein

2005-08-24T22:05:00.000-07:00

So, I like school so far. Classes are actually promising to be interesting, and my social life may be more diverse and active than ever before. But it's still early in the game. Class schedule as follows, for those who might care:
MWF
9 AM - Plant Morphology with a short, funny Scottish American with a lisp. There are four (count 'em, FOUR) people in the class, and I am the only lady. Rock. On.
12 PM - US History with a short, funny German American with a squeaky laugh and a perpetual five o'clock shadow. I generally dislike American history because it is so paltry in the grand world scheme, but I think this should be entertaining, especially since he confessed he might openly make fun of people if they give wrong answers. Ohhhh, those poor elementary ed majors.
1 PM - Introduction to Exceptional Students, which is a fancy term for Special Ed 101. I think this will be extremely informative and interesting, although much less entertaining, unless I count laughing at the prof for her elementary teacher tendencies.
[still pending] Concert Choir, which is my only chance for melodic vocal edification this year. I'm hoping REAL hard that my audition was satisfactory today.
TTH
9:25 AM - Modern Middle East with a fairly Liberal Canadian. I'm sure I'll learn a lot in this class that I wish I didn't know. I'm excited. :)
11:40 AM - Philosophy 201. Nothing really to say about this one, but I'm sure it will be decent, at least.
6:45 PM - Methods of Teaching Chemistry, a class that has recently become obsolete because I can no longer get a chemistry minor. It's also my first ever night class, so we'll see how that goes.
That's all I've got for tonight, folks. Gotta rest up for Jihaads, Plato, and Erlenmeyer flasks.
Current Desktop image: The U of A Observatory (i.e. big telescope) painted up as R2D2. Teehee.
Biggest desire at this moment: a bowl of ice cream. Which will shortly be fulfilled.

Where'd all the good people go?

2005-08-17T22:48:00.000-07:00

Haha, so, this was going to be what I was going to post about a week ago, but I accidentally hit [enter] instead of the apostrophe in composing my title, and posted simply the word "Where". I feel I must review this, although you all kind of know that part. And by you all, I mean Stephenie. Because she is apparently the only one who reads this somewhat occasionally. So, I was disappointed in the response to "Where", because if someone else had posted it, I would have considered it rather compelling. Oh well, bourgeois.
Um, work today was....cool? I keep finding out that people at Target believe me to be SJ's younger sister, which is strange, and kind of cool, but mostly a little upsetting. Because I think they base their age assumptions on amounts of make-up worn to work. Poop on them.
I bought "Sabrina" (the new one) and "Waking Ned Devine" tonight for $5.50 each, along with my handy-dandy 10% discount, and I am happy. I have doubled my movie collection this summer, and I am well pleased with it. The end.
Current desktop image: some image Deborah created on Paint that is mysteriously titled: "Anna's favorite in the world"
Biggest desire at this moment: another week

Where

2005-08-11T00:36:00.000-07:00

Y'all know what the Midwest is? Young and restless...

2005-07-28T14:22:00.000-07:00

This post is brought to you by Kanye West. I'm going to Michigan, where I will play, spend, sing, chat, burn, drink, ski, laugh, wonder, walk, eat, sleep, and sweat. I'm stoked out of my mind. Oh yes, stoked.
Smile like you mean it, kids.
Current desktop image: me firing a .22. I wish it was me firing the 270 rifle, but that picture is dumber.
Biggest desire at this moment: a turkey sandwich

Love hurts

2005-07-23T23:33:00.000-07:00

Has anyone ever watched enough of the spanish channels to see some game show which bears an uncanny resemblance to that show on Spike featuring Japanese girls doing incredibly stupid things? K, well, that made no sense, but today at work some show was on that was enchantingly stupid, and we all sat fascinated at the dumb tasks humanity can persuade itself to perform.
Some guy at work has a crush on me, and he's shorter than me and already has a girlfriend. Maybe he just really wants to be friends, but he was following me around all afternoon, and squeezed in to stand next to me in a huddle, and it's weird. Poor Vidal, my smoking hot Mexican, just a few days ago broke up with his girlfriend, and I really wanted to give him some comfort and support (aka, a big squeeze), but how awkward with Kenny (I called him K-dawg one day, and I think he took it as flirting) right behind me.
Is it shallow of me to require that any guy I like must be AT LEAST 4 inches taller than I am? And weigh more than I do? I would like some feedback on this. Alas, no one seems to read/comment on my blog anymore, so maybe it's a false hope.
Jason says I'm a great shot. That makes me feel coooooool. I'll have to post a picture of me being this aforementioned "great shot".
Current desktop image: getting boring. I wish it was a picture of me skydiving. With Chris Carrerra.
Biggest desire at this moment: see above

If you wanna get down, down on the ground....

2005-07-13T23:44:00.000-07:00

Today I went with my tasty friend Jen to the mall, a place I usually consider rather on the stupid side. It was just as stupid today as any other day, but did manage to yield a pair of decent tacos for each of us, a decent movie in Fantastic Four, and a more-than-decent pair of fuzzy purple slippers from Payless Shoe Source. I commenced with wearing them around the mall for the next hour and a half because my sandals were blistering my delicate feet, earning the envy of all who happened to glance down at my elegant footwear. And Jen bought me a bracelet set that I really like. I think I'm going to have a bracelet fetish from now on. And, possibly, be a peasant skirt junkie. I really like skirts, a lot. I think they're hotter than pants or shorts, any day. So, yeah, that's about the long and short of it. Sleep tighty tight!
Current desktop image: Harry Potter in full Gryffindor regalia, in the middle of a Quidditch match. Ah, such a splendid seeker he is. Everyone excited for Saturday like me?????
Biggest desire at this moment: to be on vacation in Michigan RIGHT NOW.

Did you find everything all right tonight?

2005-07-08T23:53:00.000-07:00

Sigh, remember back when I used to post on this thing? Me too.....
Does anyone else have a work voice? Like, other than their normal voice? Because I sure do, and it's a little embarassing. Seriously, when I talk to people who come through my lane or who are walking the sales floor, my voice gets higher by nearly an entire octave. I think it's my subconscious trying to be more feminine in order to garner a higher number of Target Red Card applications from the men that come through. Or something. I dunno, actually.
Arizona is HOT. None of our four vehicles have A/C currently, go figure. So it's a summer of burned palms (steering wheel), branded thighs (seatbelts), and roasted butt (vinyl seats) for Bethany. And everyone else in the family. Sometimes I do actually drop it like it's hot.
Current Desktop Image: Harry Potter. Playing Quiddich. In his full Gryffindor regalia. He's getting to be quite a dish, he is.
Biggest desire at this moment: to have already been asleep for at least two hours. And a cool five grand.

Bring it on, Old Man Winter

2005-06-20T09:32:00.000-07:00

Life changes I am starting this week:
- daily and focused devotions, in which I will not just read the Bible, then put it down and forget it, but write down what I have learned and do my best to remember and apply it for the rest of the day.
- regular muscle building and cardiovascular exercise. Even when I'm standing and walking for 6-8 hours a day at work, I haven't managed to harden my physique at all. So it looks like I'm going to have to work at it. Dang.
- discipline in what I am eating. Turns out, during the summer I eat a whole lot of crap. So that trend needs to slow way down.
- living cleaner. I want to stop living like a slob, with a consistently messy room, etc. If I was in school, this would also include keeping my school stuff neat and orderly, but that will have to wait until I get school stuff again.
- improving my image. I admit, I will start wearing makeup a bit more often. I'm sorry if this disappoints, and it's not like I will instantly become Barbie. I don't have the features to become Barbie anyways. But, yeah, I'm going to start with eyeliner and mascara. I may also be trying more stuff with my hair. Lookout, femininity, here I come!
- living genuinely. I want to be a lot more real. I usually take the easy way out with people, pretending to be seriously concerned with the ins and outs of their lives, but as soon as I walk away, it's all forgotten. I want to be genuinely interested in and concerned with people, even people who come through my lane and have had a rough day, or are having trouble finding something in the infant's department at work. This could entail a lot of hard work, but it will ultimately make me a much better ambassador for Christ.
- eating breakfast. I will! I think this will help me out in most of the above changes. In fact, I'm going to go eat some right now.
- share the news about Tri-Danielson/The Danielson Family. Steph, and anyone else, see if you can find some of their music. It affords hours of entertainment.
So, I guess, if people want, they can leave what kind of changes they would like to make. Or they could be annoyed at this seeming self-righteousness, which was not my aim at all. This is more of an attempt to garner some accountability from those who read this. I'm doing a no-no and posting this on both blogspot and xanga, which I haven't done for a while, but I figure it's a big enough deal that most of you will forgive me some day.

I can't believe the news today

2005-06-16T10:25:00.000-07:00

For starters, Joe, I'm sorry to hear you felt abandoned at Target. I worked last night, but on sales floor. I don't always do cashier. And I was, in fact, working in the little girls and infants section, so I doubt you would have been prowling around there enough to find me. Tonight I should be doing cashier, so if you would like to buy something else, you may certainly come through my lane.
For secondsies, I was just suddenly struck by a desire to do something really and ultimately important. It's far to easy for even budding-activist me to get caught up in the hedonistic, consumer-driven society of the United States that we all love and swear by and forget about suffering that is happening not only across the world, but in our own cities by way of abuse, poverty, injustice, and any number of other factors. Yep, fire away, I'm starting to sound much less Republican than many would have me sound. Oh well.
For thirdsies, I really like the Black Eyed Peas. Like, a lot a lot. Their new CD = just as good as their last one. I very much recommend it, and it was $10 at Target last week. That has probably changed since. AND, I really kind of want to buy the new Backstreet Boys CD. Laugh if you wish, but I was impressed with "Incomplete", so I'm curious as to how the rest of it is.
There's no such thing as fourthsies.
Current desktop image: Audrey Hepburn smoking something. I don't really like her very much. *burned at stake*
Biggest desire at this moment: to avoid being burned alive while tied to a stout wooden pole for disliking Audrey Hepburn

Give me tools, give me fire. Give me that which I desire...

2005-06-08T12:34:00.000-07:00

Hee hee, my sister and a friend and I just found a box in the back o' the 'Bishi carrying the remnants of "the goods" of the Dark Ferret Society, Arizona Chapter. Good memories. My nomme de plume (lit. "pen name", so it was actually more of a pseudonym) was Walla Walla 61, and we would steal out under the cover of darkness and festoon our friends' front yards and, once, bedrooms with random crap. Sort of like TPing, but oh so much more than TPing. In fact, I only remember using TP once out of the many times. Our arch-nemeses were the Narcoleptic Turtles, who copied our idea but had better funding and supplies, so their raids on us always trumped ours on them. I wish I was still as cool as I used to be....
Current desktop image: same, so I wish it was......chenille. Like, actual chenille, not just a picture. Then I would take a nap on it.
Biggest desire at this moment: I discovered last night that there is nothing in the world quite like cold, three-day-old pasta. I want some more.

factories?

2005-06-03T12:46:00.000-07:00

My roommate is spending the summer on Boston. I think she'll have a party, even with three young kids to take care of. It sounds better than a lot of midwestern jobs I've heard of. Anna D. and I are sitting here and laughing about how people in the midwest work in factories. Not to be racist or elitist, but I totally thought factories were for illegals and the elderly. I guess factories in the MW are different. Hahahaha, I'm glad I don't have to work in one anyway, though. Give me the good ol' Tar-get any day. Although I do wish that more of my lovies would visit me while I'm on duty.
I really need to take a shower. I'm housesitting again this weekend and I really dislike using other people's bathrooms for anything. So I come home to shower. Except I haven't yet. Gross.
Current Desktop Image: Deborah's is now Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy, and I do applaud her choice. I would marry Mr. Darcy any day. And I mean ANY.
Biggest desire at this moment: To already be done with work. But no. Not a chance.

Here comes the sun

The Omnivore's Dilemma

Time hurries on

For love of dirt

Living Color

As promised!

Motherhood

Morning has broken like the first morning

Grace like rain

I'm down like the economy - Lil Wayne

Hot for Teacher

Sometimes love comes around and it knocks you down

I've got toooooo much *clap clap* time on my hands

It's been such a long time, guess I should be goin'...

Little shawty's fire burnin' on the dance floor...

Kiss me through the phone

Snakes in a Dash: The Riveting Sequel to Snakes on a Plane. Still starring Samuel L. Jackson

This is my Father's world

Miss Independent

Let it Rock

So Damn Beautiful

There's an icebox where my heart used to be

Shawty is a killa'

I ate a whole box of Mac n' Cheese last night

Lunatic Fringe

Just be me, you, and the dancefloor

My kind of town

Vengeance from the grave

All I want is to have my peace of mind

Two lost souls swimming in a fishbowl

I wanna make love in this club

Squeaky swings and tall grass

Shine on you crazy diamond

The sky is burning

I got King Kong in the trunk

To do (for the rest of you):

Chickity check yourself before you wreck yourself

We could be so good together...

It's a five o'clock world when the whistle blows

Goin' to the chapel

Better grab an umbrella, I make it rain...

East side walk it out...

They only wanna do you dirt'

Will you still need me, will you still feed me?

Just trying to keep the customer satisfied...

Love Today

I'm hot 'cause I'm fly....

All things go, all things go

We roll tonight...

Take another look at the world right now

It gets so hard to walk away

Goodnight my someone...

Kiss me and smile for me

Outside it's America

Hit 'em hard, let 'em know who's who

I'm into having sex, I'm not into making love - 50 Cent

A moment, please

Listen to the rhythm of the falling rain....

Go hippie, go wit' it

It's hard to argue when you're making perfect sense

Y'all gon' make me lose my mind...

My heart knows me better than I know myself, so I'm gonna let it do all the talking

I'll hold your heart when times get rough

And goodbye makes the journey harder still...

Boys speak in rhythm, and girls just lie

The angel opens her eyes

Hello Ohio

Jesus walks with them...

What does it take to get a drink in this place

Crimson and Clover

In an octopus's garden...

cold hard b****es

I'm at a place called vertigo

New Year's Resolution

This is the sound of settling

I'd rather be a sparrow than a snail

Flash! Ooooohhh, he saved every one of us!

Daytripper

Two Stories

YES

I've got toooooo much clap clap time on my hands