Exubérante Flauto

A conversation from class:

2012-02-01T20:48:00.002-06:00

TAG Student: Ms. S I want to write a report for our radio show about James Bond.

Me: What? The ornithologist?

TAG Student: Huh? No, the spy. What's an ornithologist?

Me: It's the study of birds. Well, the requirements of this assignment are that you do a report on someone who is real. Ian Fleming got the name for James Bond the spy from an author of book about ornithology I'm not sure what information there is about James Bond the ornithologist.

TAG Student: ... Maybe I should pick a different person...

Something quick...

2012-01-03T17:34:00.003-06:00

Dan gave me a Wii for Christmas and his family gave me a graphics tablet... I have several pictures that I am working on right now, but this is what I drew this afternoon while I watched TV.

This is Watson hiding behing my Wii console. Because, with cat logic, if it covers more than 40% of your body, you must be hidden... Right?

Also, I want elections to be over, because I am tired of all the political ads.

Happy caucusing, if that's what you're doing.

PostSecret

2011-12-10T23:26:00.001-06:00

Well, I'm not married and I definitely don't have children... But I hope for this all the time. <3 <3

To the stupid people of the world:

2011-10-22T21:41:00.002-05:00

.... Particularly the Stupid Lady with her Stupid Little Kid at the Sumner Movie Theatre at the 7pm showing of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2...

You know who you are.

If your child needs the entire movie narrated to them to explain EVERY SINGLE THING that is going on CLEARLY your child is TOO YOUNG to be seeing this PG-13 MOVIE!

I am not sure you are aware of how close you came to creating an altercation in the movie theatre. Police probably would have been called.

This is the first time I've seen this movie and not been emotionally moved by the actions on screen BECAUSE I WAS SO MAD AND UPSET AT YOU FOR TALKING THROUGH THE MOVIE.

ESPECIALLY DURING THE SCENES WITH NO MUSIC AND NO DIALOGUE.

How stupid and discourteous can you get????

The movie cost $0.99. Spend the other $8 you would have paid at any other theatre and get a babysitter. Or don't go to the movies. It's as simple as that.

Also, why are you taking a child who is not old enough to understand what is going on, or have an awareness of why they should NOT TALK IN A MOVIE THEATRE to Harry Potter of ALL MOVIES???

I have many other nasty things to say, but I would not be surprised your child is already going to have nightmares. I hope you don't get any sleep.

To paraphrase the television show Firefly:

There's a special circle of **** reserved for people who talk in a theatre...

Wednesday is done. Check.

2011-09-28T16:54:00.004-05:00

Well. Today's inservice was like a mini Band Banquet if you know what I mean. Blech.

In other news, I won $100 from Wal-Mart to spend on things for my music classroom! That actually *IS* exciting!

Also, it amuses me that since two of my friends from New Zealand have wished me Happy Birthday (think 17 hours ahead) on Facebook, which has prompted two other friends (who live in Iowa) wish me Happy Birthday too. LOL! A little early folks. Not til tomorrow.

Also, if you read this and live in Linn County, Iowa, VOTE! (In November.) Don't let Iowa go the way of Wisconsin. I really like having collective bargaining rights for my teaching contract. Among other things.

Soylent Green is People...

2011-09-26T17:15:00.012-05:00

(Dan and I are discussing the recent and upcoming changes happening on Facebook. This is sort of the "abridged" version. Dan deleted his account yesterday. I am in the process of doing so - I'm working on transferring my photos.)

Me: It's hard convincing people that the world is not going to end if you don't have Facebook.

Dan: I know.

Me: It's the random-interval reward system that makes it so powerful. It's an endorphin release! People think the world revolves around them and will check the site to gossip, spy and engage in other attention-seeking behaviors. The world survived before Facebook. It's really just a World-Wide Backyard Fence, and people love to gossip. Mark Zuckerberg and his cronies don't really care about the people who use the site.

Dan: No, they don't. I believe you're right.

Me: Zuckerberg knows that people are addicted to Facebook and may gripe about the new changes, but will ultimately accept and put up with whatever changes he decides to implement. He could do anything.

Dan: What creeps me out is that Facebook is still privately traded. It's not a public company. They are able to do all these things that would not be accepted if they allowed the public to invest in their "company."

Me: It's true. Zuckerberg is counting on people thinking that the internet revolves around them. By subtly requiring people to share more and more personal information as time goes on, what's to stop Facebook from requiring a credit card number to "verify your account" 5 years down the road? Remember when they used to have that "security screen" that "required" you to put in your cellphone number for "security reasons?"

Dan: Oh, absolutely! I never put in my number, I always got out of it by clicking to another menu.

Me: Me too.

Dan: This is a really good explanation of what Facebook is: Think of Facebook like a store. YOU are actually not the "client." You are Facebook's inventory and the actual clients are the advertisers that you throughout the site. Facebook wants you to share as much as you possibly can because that inventory will interest more advertising clients and make them more money.

Me: You know, you could write a really creepy dystopian sci-fi novel about a future where people are addicted to social media, which is really being monitored by the government and the people who are not participating in the social media are shunned and ostracized.

Dan: They already have. It's called Nineteen Eighty-four.

Me: .............. Oh my gosh...

Dan: So yeah. Your idea is so good, that it's already been done, over 50 years ago.

Me: ... You're right. George Orwell predicted Facebook...

Dan: Yep. Facebook is Ingsoc, monitoring you through the telescreen of what you post online and share, whether you know what you're sharing or not.

Me: ................ Oh my gosh............. OH MY GOSH! FACEBOOK IS BIG BROTHER!

Dan: Yep.

Me: AHHH!!!! I AM REALLY CREEPED OUT RIGHT NOW!

Dan: I was too! That's why I deleted my account for a second time. The only reason I was holding on was because I liked seeing that I was in a relationship with you!

Me: Well, *I* still know I am dating you. And that's all that really matters... The idea of "Facebook Official" doesn't have the same weight as it did 6 years ago.

Dan: No, it really doesn't.

Me: And you know, if people want to know about my life, they can read my blog, or follow me Twitter or email me, or call. Facebook has lost my business.

Dan: Mine too.

Me: ..... I am still really creeped out........ Oh. My. Gosh....

Dan: I know. I know.

... Fo shizzle???

2011-09-08T12:01:00.003-05:00

Student: Ms. S you should get a record that you don't like and be a DJ when we play freeze dance. *makes the scratching record "wahp-wahp" sound*
Me: I dunno. I don't know how to DJ. I'm not sure if I'm cool enough.
Student: Well, you're cool enough to be our music teacher! I think you would be a good DJ.
Me: *laughs* Okay, well, we'll have to see, but if you think so, then maybe.

While stargazing...

2011-09-06T16:30:00.005-05:00

This past weekend Dan and I went to Galena, Il and had the opportunity to stargaze. Our B&B supplied each room with 1050 binoculars to look at the stars and had a really nice telescope which we used to view the moon and Jupiter.

Dan downloaded an app on his iPhone that was a dynamic star chart. You held it up to the sky and it showed you want stars, planets and constellations you were viewing.

Dan: Sarah, do you have the binoculars?

Me: Yeah, I'm looking for Pluto.

Dan: I told you before: Pluto is a ba-jillion million miles away! YOU CAN'T SEE IT WITH BINOCULARS!

Me: MAYBE I CAN! YOU'RE NOT THE BOSS OF ME!

Dan: *laughs* No, I'M not, BUT PHYSICS IS!

Me: *laughs* That's going on my blog.

Today at school, during lunch...

2011-08-27T00:23:00.004-05:00

Kindergartener: Ms. S-- why are you pretty?

Me: I don't know... Why are YOU pretty?

K: Well, it's school picture day! I wanted to look beautiful!

Me: Well, it's school picture day for the teachers too! And that's why I look pretty.

K: Oooooooooh. Okay.

Also, I wanted to ask, "Wait. You mean I'm not pretty all the time?" but I knew that sort of question was a little over this student's head. When I relayed this exchange to Dan he laughed and said, "No, that would be the sort of question you ask ME."

Sometimes, kindergarteners are adorable. :-) The student was basically asking me why I was wearing makeup.

On a poor choice of shoes...

2011-08-24T17:51:00.003-05:00

Choosing to wear the pair of shoes that always give you blisters is like going back to an old, failed relationship. You fall into the trap of thinking "Well. Maybe this time will be different." But it turns out, it's not. In the end, they still both rub you the wrong way and you get hurt.

I promise there's no simile to my actual life here. I honestly just wore a really cute pair of shoes to school today and ended up using about 20 bandaids (they kept falling off!) throughout the day to try ease the blistering. My heels are raw. I ended up lining the back and inside of my shoes with masking tape to survive the rest of the day. :-P

BUT this saying just came to my brain and I had to share it. Sometimes I feel clever.

On being mostly German...

2011-08-21T21:37:00.003-05:00

Me: Hey, Dan, want a gummi bear?

Dan: Sure! Hey, these are good!

Me: I know. It's the Haribo kind. They're the best.

Dan: It's true. Those Germans sure know how to make the good stuff.

Me: I know! Look at me!

Dan: *laughs* Well-played. I love you.

Me: I love you too.

Hair

2011-08-10T09:08:00.005-05:00

Expectations:

Reality:

Stop the Bus. This is not the future I wanted.

2011-06-30T09:45:00.008-05:00

I am taking a break from studying because I need a place to vent.

Why hello blog. It's been a while.

Currently, I am in the midst of taking 4 online classes from Drake to earn my Talented and Gifted endorsement. Tripoli has offered me a full-time position if I get this endorsement and begin teaching elementary TAG. These 4 classes amount to 7 credit hours and take up 80% of my time. (The rest --- 5% is sleeping, 5% is other activities like eating, running or seeing Dan. 10% is working - waitressing and my retail job.) I need 1 more credit to move over on the pay ladder and 12 credits total to achieve the full endorsement.

I'm frustrated for several reasons.

1. This isn't the summer I wanted. I am studying all day. I'm only a part-time student and I feel I had more free time when I was at Wartburg being a FULL-TIME student. I don't really understand why that is.

2. I am also studying for an endorsement that I do not plan to teach for the rest of my life. Don't get me wrong, I like what I'm studying! It's very interesting, and I'm excited to see what I can do with teaching TAG, but I also just need a full-time job. I'm tired of working two jobs so I can afford my bills. Barely.

3. I'm starting my 3rd year of teaching and I'm still not teaching in a classroom setting that I want. I want to teach band. 5-8, 5-12, 9-12 it doesn't matter. I feel like that dream is getting farther and farther away the more I teach elementary music. Granted, I am putting limits on myself in terms of location. I don't think it would be practical to apply for a band job too far away from Waterloo/Iowa City. Moving is expensive (and a pain) and I don't want a band job that I'm going to have for a year, get married, and then have to leave. All that doesn't mean I'm any less frustrated with my situation. I want to teach band, why is that so hard????

Also, money. Or lack thereof.

Right now I pay about $700 a month in student loans. That is minimum payments only and not counting any other bills. Just student loans. If I did not have those 2 other jobs I would be sunk. I don't have a savings account, I have nothing to "fall back on" if I encounter a sudden emergency expense. (Fact: I'm still paying off Watson's $700 vet bill from last September when his urinary tract became blocked. Even animal ER care is expensive.)

Real life sucks.

In short:

I'm in a teaching job where I do what I like 90% of the time and what I love 10%. (Big difference, although I always work to give 110%. My students and school district deserve nothing less.)

I have very little funds to do anything "extra." In fact, I just put a hold my Netflix account. I haven't had time to even use it this summer. I might just delete it.

My student loan debt is so overwhelming. Dan assures me that when he gets an actuary job we'll be able to pay off my loans without a problem. But that's like, 2 years from now. Maybe more. Also, what if he finds something else that he loves instead? I want him in a job that makes him happy, regardless of the paycheck. It's hard for me to put my debt worries aside while he is still in school and not sure what his future job will be.

What prompted all of this is an article I was reading about student loan debt. (Warning: Depressing)

One girl, who is $140,000 in debt wrote:

Like many, I had no idea what money meant when I was 17. My family is not wealthy. I simply didn't have the information or knowledge to know what it would be like now.

Granted, this is less than what I owe, and she racked up a lot of loans due to Hurricane Katrina, but her sentiment about not having a sense of money is absolutely true. My experiences at Wartburg have made me who I am and given me some very awesome friends. I certainly don't regret that. I wouldn't trade those things in for anything. But I do wish I had looked into finances a little more when I was applying for colleges. Or started a savings account specifically for college when I was in high school. Something.

My freshman year of college at Wartburg, tuition + room/board was $27,315.

My senior year it was $34,315.

This coming year (2011-2012) it will be $39,110.

That's crazy. And I will say that yes, I did have an academic scholarship and a music scholarship, but neither amounted to a full ride. My freshman year the difference between Wartburg and ISU was $4000. (Between Wartburg's scholarship $$$ and ISU's $0,) But tuition goes up. Scholarships do not.

This quote is from a guy who is $80,000 in debt. A figure closer to mine.

I take full responsibility for my decisions, and believe me, I'd like nothing more than to "grow up" and pay my debts, but the truth is -- I feel like I spent my loans on a future that I simply did not receive.

I absolutely feel this way. I understand I must repay my loans. I take responsibility for my actions and choice of education. But I also feel that I am repaying money for a future that I have not received.

This is my blog and I can be egocentric.

I feel cheated.

Do you hear that America, Iowa, Wartburg, the economy, and the various banks that hold my student loans?

I. Feel. Cheated.

I also feel that I am being set up for failure. Between the amount of debt I am trying to pay off, budget cuts, job layoffs, and me. How the heck am I supposed to succeed? How am I supposed to pay off my car? Afford an ice cream cone now and then? GET MARRIED?

How can I make it through when I run a deficit every month? A deficit that is made up of necessary bills, not pleasurable spending. How can I go out and do positive things for society, donate to charities and volunteer when all my time is taken up with studying so I can have a full-time job SO I CAN AFFORD TO LIVE and in the mean time, working 2 other jobs (3 total, but hey, it's summer) to make ends meet?

Really, when you look at it: a teacher's salary vs. the cost of earning an education degree is ridiculous. It is totally absurd!

America. You are asking me to sacrifice too much.

Stop the bus. This is not the future I wanted.

As per my usual...

2011-05-31T14:48:00.004-05:00

It's that time of year again, folks....

TIME FOR A NEW HAIRCUT!

Yes, that is pink! :-D I wanted to do something fun and different for the summer. Since I don't have a show to do, I don't have to worry about drastically changing my appearance. I love it!

To do list:

2011-05-02T11:58:00.004-05:00

~~-Finish applying to Drake for Grad School~~
-Register for classes for Gifted and Talented
-Figure out financial aid
~~-Go over budget for May~~
-Fill out form to get my standard teaching license
-Complete job applications
-Do laundry

Heart Containers for Japan

2011-04-04T17:31:00.010-05:00

Below is a link made by a new friend of mine, Ted. Ted is the best friend of my boyfriend Dan. Both of them are huge video game fans and really enjoy the original 80s games. (I think it has something to do with them growing up with them, or something...) Ted is this brilliant artist (he recently had an art spread in the magazine Nintendo Power) and computer programmer. After the major disaster in Japan, Ted designed this site to help raise funds for disaster relief through the Americares Foundation.

Click the Link!

(Haha! I love nerdy jokes...)

The Master Sword from Ted Martens on Vimeo.

It's supported on both PCs and Macs! w00t!

Triforce for EVERYONE!!!

Public Service Announcement:

2011-03-10T19:45:00.002-06:00

Dear readers,

I have just made, cooked and ate the most delicious meatball of all time. It was so good that I felt I must share what I did with you IMMEDIATELY.

1 lb of hamburger

Paprika

Italian Seasoning

Worcestershire Sauce

Dried onion

Minced Garlic

Parmesan Cheese

Cheese Cubes of your choice. I used Colby Jack.

(Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.)

In an appropriately sized bowl mix with your hands the hamburger and everything on this list EXCEPT the cheese cubes. Mix everything until you think "well, that looks like enough." Get a cake pan, or casserole dish... Something oven-friendly. Take the hamburger and the cheese cubes and form the meat into balls AROUND the cheese cubes. Put them in the pan cook in the oven at 350 degrees F for 15 to 20 minutes.

1 lb of hamburger makes about 6 meatballs.

IT IS SO DELICIOUS!

Maybe my brain is a little bit crazed on this Atkins Diet, but I was surprised and impressed at their amazing taste. :-) Yum!

Bon appetit!

~Sarah

Do you remember brushing our teeth out the window in the snow?

2011-02-03T22:41:00.003-06:00

Dear Rachel V.

I was reminising the other day... And missing you an awful, awful lot and this song came up on my iTunes...

... Do you remember when we both laid in our beds that one night, Freshmen year... And you said "Someday I hope to find a man who will love me like this..."

I miss you... A lot...

Mushy post? Oh, yes.

2011-01-16T13:40:00.010-06:00

"I just spent $500 on books for school. I would have much rather spent that on diamonds for you... I'm sorry. Can I appease you with some ice cream?"

"Haha, it's okay. School books are important. Yes, you can take me out for ice cream. I haven't decided what cut I like yet, but lucky for you, the ring-styles that I like are on the less expensive side."

"Sarah, that doesn't even matter. You pick whatever you want. Just tell me."

*blushes* "Okay. I love you."

"I love you too."

Boyfriends and Christmas...

2010-12-25T22:04:00.006-06:00

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope your day has been super happy and filled with love and peace and that warm-fuzzy feeling that comes with being super contented. :-)

This Christmas has been really one of the best, I think. I feel like I might say that every year, but I really mean it this year... Everything that has happened has just been really wonderful and meaningful. Very happy and significant.

I really feel so blessed this Christmas by knowing Dan. We've been dating for almost 5 months and the time has flown by. This relationship has far surpassed any of my past experiences. It just blows my mind--it really feels like I've known Dan for a really long time, and yet I was only introduced to him this past July. Even just the topics we've talked about have surpassed any previous conversations either of us have covered before. We definitely agree that we both fit into each other's short, medium and long-term/lifetime plans. Now that I've met him, I can't imagine my life without Dan in it.

Having met and fallen in love with Dan I feel like I have used up all the luck that I was ever to acquire for the rest of my life. Any "luck" that was going to cause me to win door prizes, raffles, BINGO games and the lottery have all been dumped into one "pot" and cashed in to bring Dan into my life. Absolutely no complaints here. :-)

Did I ever post what Dan got me for my birthday? *looks through archives* No? Oh, my gosh!

Okay.

So, at the beginning of September I went up to Minneapolis to visit Rachel V. and we went to the Renaissance Festival. While there Rachel and I found this awesome costume/haberdashery shop. Rachel found this awesome green tricorn hat and I found this brilliant top hat with a teal hatband and peacock feathers. We both looked AMAZING in those hats and on a whim I sent a picture to Dan, who agreed that it looked really good on me. Rachel was able to get her hat, but since I had just needed to purchase 2 new tires for my car, I knew it wouldn't be a smart buy.

Almost 4 weeks later, I am at Dan's parents house and he has my birthday gift and can hardly sit still in anticipation of me opening it. It was this beautiful round box and I jokingly commented that it was a hat box! I opened it and stared in disbelief.... There was The Hat. The hat that I tried on at the Fair and could not afford. This hat! I asked Dan how in the WOLRD he found this hat and he said he Facebook-messaged Rachel V. who in turn put him in contact with the owner of the shop.

But it gets better. (I think so, at least.) Dan said when he called the owner of the shop, and described the hat he wanted to purchase, the owner knew exactly which one he was talking about. Unfortunately, they has already SOLD the one I had tried on. BUT they offered to MAKE ANOTHER ONE just for him! So, not only did I get this AWESOME, AWESOME "Mad Hatter" top hat, that somehow looks FABULOUS on me, but Dan had it CUSTOM MADE.

Needless to say, I wore that hat the rest of the night, and still wear it as often as possible. I love it! (I wore it to school on Halloween and one of my kindergarteners came up to me a said "Ms. S. come here and give me a hug! You look BEAUTIFUL in that hat!")

So, with Christmas coming about Dan and I were talking, and we both commented on how we were trying to "find something" to top The Hat. (No pun intended.) Even though we both understood that we didn't need to try and get something to surpass the awesomeness of The Hat, but we both felt that we had to... I don't know how to describe it. We both were like "this was such an awesome gift! How are we ever going to be able to top that?"

Well, Dan certainly did...

This year for Christmas, he bought me a piano. A 76 key, electric CASIO piano. It has 570 different sounds, it has MIDI recording capabilities, 180 rhythms, reverb and chorus digital effects. I can also plug in a microphone or my iPod and it has multiple recording capabilities.

I unwrapped half of the box and then swore -- saying something along the lines of "Are you kidding me?!" and Dan just smiled and said, "Merry Christmas, it's your's." I stood there in absolute shock for a couple more seconds as Dan proceeded to explain all the super-awesome-nifty things the keyboard did. And then I kissed him. A couple times in a row. To the point where I had to tell him to shut up and properly kiss me back because HE GOT ME A FREAKING-PIANO FOR CHRISTMAS!

Carol (Dan's mom.) told me that he was playing the keyboard at BestBuy while they were out shopping and commented on how it had a really good sound and excellent overall music capabilities. (He should know, he has perfect pitch and 2 different keyboards at home that he uses to compose music.) and said that "He just had to get it for me." Then Dan added that he "Just wanted to get me something that would help me with my music teaching and something that I could play and enjoy and make music as much as I wanted."

Then I just proceeded to stammer and flail around and kiss Dan as I tried to process the fact that my super-amazing boyfriend just gave me a piano!!!!!

But, really the awesomeness doesn't end there. Prior to the piano, I also opened a very touching, meaningful gift... Dan drew me a super awesome picture of a cartoon representations of us. A giant lion next to a red-headed pirate on a white background, with the promise to draw and add to the picture as the years went on and we continued to pass significant milestones. Dan is a great artist and I have never experienced such a personal and meaningful gift. It's matted and framed and everything. I love it and can't wait to hang it up in my house.

For Christmas I got Dan a picture frame that I covered in quotes about being in love and being with people who are important and being happy and fulfilling life-dreams. I also got him a Redwall Cookbook by Brian Jacques (Redwall is Dan's favorite book series.) and a coffee mug of Henry the VIII and his Wives---who disappear when you pour in hot water. I got the mug as a joke, because I know Dan would enjoy it and he was asking for the TV series The Tudors for Christmas and that is all about Henry the VIIIth.

I feel so lucky and blessed to have Dan in my life. He spoils me. Spoils me. I know the gifts he gave to me were made and selected with great care and affection, as were mine. We also both knew that there was no need to buy each other gifts... But we still wanted to... I feel so spoiled. I am so in love!

I still feel like Dan is the best Christmas present I could have received this year.

Every night, I thank God for my wonderful Family, and my fantastic Boyfriend. I also pray for God's blessing and guidance in all of our lives.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Super cute...

2010-12-23T12:49:00.007-06:00

Hello Everyone! Christmas is only a day away! I found this video, and it is quite possibly the cutest thing I have seen in a very long while... :-D Enjoy!

November Vlogging Project!

2010-11-10T09:31:00.003-06:00

Okay, so I'm kind of behind in updating this thing.... Mary and I are vlogging back and forth for the month of November. I am the Tuesday vlogger and she is on Thursday. Our channel is TwoDifferentFaces. You should follow us!

Here are our videos so far:

In other news, the Tripoli HS production of Grease was this past weekend and it went REALLY well! The show came such a long way! I'm so proud of all of my students! I was a lot of fun! I also got to spend a lot of time with Dan this weekend and Rachel D. was up visiting. It was AWESOME!

And Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 comes out in 10-FREAKING-DAYS!!!!!! AHHHH!!!! :-D

"... And anyone who stayed there long enough and inhaled the witching vapors was sure to become imaginative..."

2010-10-10T23:09:00.006-05:00

Dan: I like Ichabod... He's such an interesting character. He's not the hero, but he's not the villain. He's just... Ichabod.

Me: It's true. He doesn't save anyone, he doesn't do anything evil. He's just.... There. But he's significant. A significant colonial American. Like if you saw him walking down the street you would take note of him.

Dan: Exactly. I love how open his character is to interpretation. He was really fun to play.

Me: Do you want to know what I think happened to Ichabod?

Dan: What?

Me: I think instead of being whisked away by the Headless Horseman at the end, I think Ichabod left and escaped Sleepy Hollow. And started chasing after a little red-headed German girl who makes better cherry pies than peach.

Dan: *laughing* You know.... I do think you're right...

Living on dreams and spaghettios...

2010-09-14T23:37:00.003-05:00

"... But who would want a dreamer,

When her dreams can't leave the ground..."

I know that if I wasn't teaching at Tripoli again, I probably wouldn't have met Dan... And I am so incredibly grateful that I *DID* meet him and that we're dating. He makes me so happy and I can't believe my luck. Thinking about of all the things that could have happened this summer that would have changed this path... Frankly, scares me... And I can't describe how inexplicably happy I am that Dan is in my life.

But that doesn't mean I don't want to teach band.... I want to teach band so bad that sometimes it hurts. There have been several instances where I have avoided things that remind me of how much I want to teach band. Because it hurts.

Band on Fridays are my saving grace. If I didn't get to teach band at all, I just wouldn't be me.... I don't know how to explain it...

.... I just keep pluggin' away, because there's nothing else I can do right now... Teaching and working 2 other jobs. Trying to do my best as a fish-out-of-water in my general music classes.... Waiting for Fridays to come around when I can once again be in my element.

Someday, someday, someday...

Dear Diary...

2010-08-16T00:47:00.002-05:00

Today I took my boyfriend to the Iowa State Fair. He had never been before and we both had a really good time.

We went to see Mallory Lewis perform (daughter of the late, very great Sheri Lewis) with Lampchop and Hush-Puppy. The best part was went Mallory picked Dan to come up on stage and dance with her and Lampchop during a song.

Afterwords Dan bought me (and one for himself) a Lampchop doll and we had them autographed. <3 And then Mallory Lewis found out that Dan writes music and said for him to find her on Facebook to help her write some songs for her act. And she was serious.

We also saw the butter cow, the animals and ate lots of delicious fair food.

And then we didn't die on the drive home.

It was a good day. A very good day. A wonderful send-off to the summer in fact!

*siiigh*

P.S. Dan beat me in the game of Cows and Dead People: 5 to 2. Next time I will win.

"Tie your shoesies and chase your bluesies away..."

2010-08-12T03:21:00.005-05:00

Who's gushing and giggly?

That would be me.

"Everything happens for a reason." And I see things now that I didn't see before... I like this new reason to be in the area.

State Fair this year is going to be awesome!

Blog Every Day in August... Wait, what?

2010-08-09T23:44:00.003-05:00

Okay, so I totally failed at the initial blogging something each day during the month of August... In fact, I have not blogged for almost a month, which in itself is also pretty lame. I'm sorry. I did recently change the template for my blog, so if you read this on something like GoogleReader, be sure to check it out!

Joseph came and went... It was so much fun! I really believe that our cast made magic every night on stage... Everyone worked hard and the audience response was wonderful! Rachel V. I've been infected with the theatre bug! I am sad that the show is over, but I am really thankful that I got to be a part of it. I made a lot of new friends! I can't wait for next year!

I've seen Inception twice. Once with a bunch of people from Joseph, and the second time with my friend Dan. I caught a lot the second time. I don't want to post spoilers here... So I won't. But it's good. Really, good. So go and enjoy an intellectual movie!

I'm at Tripoli again this year. I applied for about 30 jobs and had 7 interviews, but no dice. I'm too young. At least I have a job, I'm not complaining right now. I wanted to earlier last month, but I refrained. I started putting my classroom back together today, and I have a better idea of how I want it set up and structured. We'll see where this year goes.

It's kind of hot and humid here in Sumner. Watson is feelin' it. I'm feelin' it. I'm missing the A/C of home.

Yesterday I was a baking fiend and I made my very first fruit pie. Dan was coming over for dinner and a movie and I knew his favorite pie was cherry. So in the sweltering heat of my house I made a cherry pie. Using Bing Cherries, no less! It turned out really good, and it was suuuuuper tasty! Dan said it was the best cherry pie he had ever had, but I don't think he was being very objective.... :-)

Dan is coming over again on Wednesday. He has to go back to his apartment in Iowa City to work on some music he's composing for the production of Sleepy Hollow that is happening at the Oster Regent Theatre in Cedar Falls. Also, this coming Sunday we are going to the Iowa State Fair together! Dan has never been, so I'm excited to show him the fair. I really can't wait for the delicious fair food! Like a deep-fried Snickers bar! Plus, Mallory Lewis (Sherri Lewis's daughter) will be performing at the fair with Lambchop. Dan and I are totally going to that show and I can't wait! :-)

I have this last week of freedom before I have to be at in-service on August 16th. I am going to miss staying up late to watch Craig Ferguson every weeknight and sleeping in till 9am.

Oh! And today's date, when written in the American abbreviated way is in numerical order... 8-9-10. I only noticed that because I had to pay some bills this afternoon.

So there's a bit of an update... How was that? :-)

"I’m a find, I’m a catch And a very gifted bowler!"

2010-08-09T03:42:00.001-05:00

...Now I know, he’ll appear,
Cause there are rules and there are strictures,
I believe the storybooks I read by candlelight,
My white knight, my knight and his steed,
Will look just like these pictures!
It won’t be long now, I guarantee!...

I haven't been happy and giggly like this for long time. :-)

Downtime leads to thinking...

2010-07-07T23:42:00.006-05:00

When an attractive man can sing, his attractiveness increases 1000%

Bleh.

I have finally gotten back to the point where I'm tired of being single and I miss having a boy in my life. Joseph rehearsals are winding down, shows are starting and my downtime is increasing. Which provides for lots of thinking and sitting by myself with my cat.

...And while I can name dozens of people who I know are single just like me, the people who stand out in my brain are the people who are/going to be married...

Watson doesn't like to cuddle. Plus my house has no a/c. Who would want to cuddle when it's so humid outside?

Kaylee: Everyone's got somebody. Wash, tell me I'm pretty.
Wash: Were I unwed, I would take you in a manly fashion.
Kaylee: Cause I'm pretty?
Wash: Cause you're pretty.

LOOK LOOK LOOK!!!!

2010-07-04T00:54:00.007-05:00

THIS IS THE SHOW I'M IN!!!!

IT IS FANTASTIC!

IT IS SPECTACULAR!!!!

YOU SHOULD COME AND SEE IT!!!!!

The best time to see me is at 0:18 during the Rock and Roll number. I'm on the left, top inside. :-)

AHH! SOOO COOL!!!!!

Btw, you can get tickets and info here.

I will clean ALL THE THINGS!

2010-06-19T15:02:00.002-05:00

Yes, exactly.

CLICK HERE (rated PG-13 for language)

This is what I feel like. Especially now as I procrastinate mowing my lawn. :-P

A post in 4 parts....

2010-06-08T23:03:00.007-05:00

1. I looked AWESOME on the last day of school!

Tripoli has no air conditioning, and it was HOT... So I went for a dress instead of slacks and a blouse. Many thanks to Amanda M. for giving this dress to me! I love it!

2. I got a haircut! It's smashing and wonderful! I love it! It's pretty short and perfect for summer!

3. Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat is coming along nicely! I'm having so much fun! I get to do a little dancing and grooving during the 50s rock Pharoah's Song and everyone gets to dance during Go, Go, Go Joseph and the Mega Mix part at the end.

Rachel V. you're right! There's TOTALLY a section at the end from Jesus Christ, Superstar. Awesome. :-D

Here are the SCHEDULED shows:

-Fri, Jul 9 at 7:00 PM
-Sat, Jul 10 at 7:00 PM
-Sun, Jul 11 at 2:00 PM
-Thu, Jul 15 at 7:00 PM
-Fri, Jul 16 at 7:00 PM
-Sun, Jul 18 at 2:00 PM
-Tue, Jul 20 at 7:00 PM
-Wed, Jul 21 at 7:00 PM
-Thu, Jul 22 at 7:00 PM
-Sun, Jul 25 at 2:00 PM
-Wed, Jul 28 at 7:00 PM
-Sat, Jul 31 at 7:00 PM

We already have on show sold out, so I didn't include it on this list. You can buy tickets here.

Here's a list of POSSIBLE shows. Meaning, they will add more shows if ticket sales are favorable:

-Wed, Jul 14 at 7:00 PM
-Sat, Jul 17 at 7:00 PM
-Sun, Jul 18 at 2:00 PM and 7:00 PM
-Fri, Jul 23 at 7:00 PM
-Sat, Jul 24 at 7:00 PM
-Sun, Jul 25 at 6:00 PM
-Tues, Jul 25 at 7:00 PM
-Thurs, Jul 29 at 7:00 PM
-Fri, Jul 30 at 7:00 PM
-Sat, Jul 31 at 3:00 PM

These dates are obviously not listed yet... I copied them from my schedule.

4. Instead of Blog Every Day in April there's going to be a Blog Every Day in August... I'm toying with the idea of doing an "every-other-day-video-blog" ala Brotherhood 2.0. But I don't want to do it all by myself. Anyone out in cyberspace that reads this blog willing to coordinate something? Let me know...

Social Networking told me I didn't get the job...

2010-05-27T14:32:00.005-05:00

Facebook is continuing to increase its level of things that are annoying.... It has definitely lost its luster and excitement compared to when I joined in 2005. I'm not sure I'm going to delete my account, but is there a way to turn off the newsfeed?

I don't want to know who is also interviewing for the same job. I don't want to read that someone accepted a job where I also interviewed... With the date of their announcement posted a day before I received the rejection email. I can't fault that person for being excited and happy that they have a job. I'm just frustrated with how the school in question handled the situation.

Social networking is a blessing and a curse. (And this isn't just about Facebook's stupid changing privacy policy. Read this and this to see my point.) It's nice to catch up and connect with people who you haven't heard from in a while... But...

I've decided that Facebook is not how I want to find out about things. If it's important or significant, you should contact me outside of Facebook. Mary, you have a new boyfriend? Freaking-HELLOOOO??? WHY did I JUST find that out on Facebook????? Leah, back in March of 2007 you became engaged and you didn't CALL ME??? You let me find out on FACEBOOK??? I was your roommate! (Yes, that still irks me.)

Past actions aside, (because I'm guilty of some of this too) that will no longer be the case. My important announcements will not be made on Facebook. I'm not going to announce if I have an interview, I'm not going to say if I have a new job. If it's important for you to know, I will call, text or write it here. This is my little space on the interwebs. Don't expect it on Facebook anymore. I'm frustrated with the apathetic connections Facebook is creating, as well as the gossip, drama-filled "look at me" environment of the newsfeed. Not to mention the "interest specific" advertisements that DRIVE ME CRAZY!!!

*siiiiiiigh* Facebook is dumb. I'm going to go pack up my classroom.

It's not even June yet...

2010-05-24T22:08:00.006-05:00

First of all, I am reliving my freshmen dorm experience. It is very hot inside my house. I went and bought another fan today... It helps a little. ALL the windows are open and the blinds over the big picture window are drawn. Tonight there is no breeze. Watson is panting. You know it's hot when a cat pants. I've been leaving the fan on for him, to help move air as well as leaving out extra water and giving him access to the bathroom, since the bathtub stays pretty cool.

This weather also reminds me of when I worked at camp, and how humid, hot, sticky and uncomfortable that all is...

Also, the microwave my landlord had with the house died. It shot blue sparks and then set a bowl of chocolate chips on fire. All in 45 seconds. So in addition to my new fan, I have purchased a new 900 watt microwave. I hope it makes popcorn better than the old one. There's an ulterior motive to purchasing a new microwave so soon... (Because I really don't have the funds to spare) my only other method of cooking/warming up food is my stove and/or oven... Uhhhhhhh..... No.

Something else is I have landed a small roll in Waterloo Community Theatre's Production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. I have a small, small chorus part... But my rehearsal schedule... Is insane... I literally have rehearsal scheduled from Tuesday, May 25th to the last show on July 31st. AND practices are scheduled on average from 7pm to 10:30pm. Now, that is the BLOCK of time that is set aside... Each week we get a specific schedule that tells us WHAT is being rehearsed and WHAT specific time each cast member/group needs to be there. But still... I have something every night... And I miss every Friday and Saturday night rehearsal because I waitress... Which is of COURSE the night they schedule a dance scene that I get to.... Um, stand in.

.... I'm not complaining..... It's just different. And I'm new, and in theatre you have work your way up and show what you can do.... So by-golly! I will do my best and work hard! Rawr!

... And probably get a lot of summer reading done....

It looks like I won't get to visit home for a long time until August... :-( Unless rehearsal gets canceled.

I'm sorry Jessica! I'm not purposely ditching you!!!! Now I feel I can legitimately join the Facebook group "I can't, I have rehearsal."

Tomorrow is my last day teaching for the year. Wednesday we have in-service and then I am done... Done with my first year of teaching... How weird is THAT to think about???

Rachel D. comes back from England on Wednesday! It looks like she's been having a lot of fun! She graduates on Sunday! YAY!!!!

Jessica and I just want and saw Alice in Wonderland! IT WAS SO COOL! I really, really, really liked it! I really enjoyed all the references between real life and Wonderland. :-) Johnny Depp is brilliant and I looooooved the Cheshire Cat's luminescent stripes. I do find it amusing that comes on DVD next Tuesday and I just saw it in the theatre.

Oh! And next week I am the music director for Immaculate Conception's week-long VBS program. I need to also finish up stuff for that...

Busy, busy, busy...

Well, I'm going to go to sleep... Or just lay there in bed and melt away...

A coversation over Thin Mints

2010-05-16T22:00:00.003-05:00

Me: Do you want some cookies?
Jessica: No! I'm trying to loose the weight I gained over finals week!
Me: But we went running today! That means we can have cookies!
Jessica: No, I need to go running and NOT eat cookies.
Me: But these are Girl Scout Cookies. They don't count.
Jessica: Okay, pass them over. *eats cookies and smiles* I hate you.

Jessica is staying with me for 5 weeks while she does her first round of pharmacy rotations. I think we're off to a good start! :-D

It's coming... You can't stop it... Water waits...

2010-05-13T17:03:00.005-05:00

So it has rained in Sumner pretty much since Sunday night... Last night we had a fantastic thunderstorm! And it rained some MORE! This morning it was foggy. Bremer, Black Hawk and the surrounding counties are under a flood warning. Below is a picture of behind my house...

That's my garage there on the right. The water is about knee-high at the deepest. I know this not because I measured it, but behind my garage is a little skate part-thing and I just watched a bunch of stupid kids try to ride their bikes through the water. The water came up to the center of the bike wheel, and when they FAILED at trying to ride down the skate ramps on the bike they lost momentum and had to get off their bikes. THAT'S how I know it's about knee-high. The stupid kids stayed out there for about 5 minutes and then left.

And no, Dad. I have not checked my basement. Maybe I'll check it tonight. Or maybe I'll make Jessica do it when she comes on Sunday.

And I just saw more stupid kids ride by my window on their bikes. The looks of excitement on their faces tell me they are going to play in the water. And these kids are wearing shorts. WHAT IS WRONG WITH PARENTING THESE DAYS????!!!!

Also, no phone calls about jobs yet. It's been two weeks. :-P

A short little day maker...

2010-05-11T21:38:00.003-05:00

So today in fourth grade we were learning some basic rounds---One Bottle o' Pop, Down by the Station etc... And I was having the students sing along with me plunking out the melody on the piano. We got done and I finished playing and one my students puts down is lyric sheet and looks at me and says, "Wow Ms. S--! You're like.... I dunno... the QUEEN of playing the piano!"

And he wasn't patronizing me... I don't know what it was about me playing one handed... But if that's what it takes to impress a student I'll take it. The genuine comment definitely made me smile though... Because I very frequently wish my piano skills were better. I feel like I'm limiting myself as a music educator--at least right now when I'm teaching elementary music. That and guitar. Guitar would be helpful too.

Tomorrow we are learning THIS song:

Next week we are studying THIS:

Happy Mother's Day

2010-05-09T21:09:00.004-05:00

Soooo it's that time again... I should blog and update everyone else on my life. My crazy, crazy busy life. Not that it's any busier than anyone else, but sometimes all I want to do is bum around and not blog.

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY MOM! I love you! :-D

Today I mowed the lawn, planted flowers (forget-me-nots, poppies, daisies, inpatients, and four o'clocks) I also planted two tomato plants and then promptly covered them with ice cream buckets so they won't be hurt by the frost.

I finished about 6 and ate some buffalo wing pizza that I got from work. Did dishes. Boring. THEN I moved all my computer stuff (printer, external hard-drive etc) to the desk in my living room... And set up my WIRELESS ROUTER! *cue epic music* It took a couple minutes, but I got everything working myself... Until I tried to change the name of my network... Then I messed it up and had to brave tech support... I called and only had t wait about 5 minutes. They were playing Mozart on the waiting music, so it wasn't so bad. 15 minutes later, my network has a new name, a different password and is working just fine!!! YAY!

What else... Oh, I had a performance with the Sumner Community Theatre! The play was called The Visitors and I played Mary, a twin. (My twin sister was also called Mary. We were labeled as Mary 1 and Mary 2 in the script.) It was sooo much fun!!! My character kept spiders for pets and believed in ghosts. We had three performances and I got to wear some awesome glasses:

Here's a picture of the Cast:

Um... What else... Oh, there are 12 days of school left!

Rachel D. is gallivanting off around England... You can follow her escapades and that of her class here on their YouTube channel.

I am going to audition for the Waterloo Community Theatre's production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat! I'm excited! I just want a part in the chorus--nothing big or crazy... I'm going to audition next Sunday. Wish me luck!

Currently, I'm reading Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dawn of the Dreadfuls. It's not *as* good at the first one... But it is a prequel, and I am entertained, so it's okay. Next I want to read Mr. Darcy, Vampire.

Speaking of vampires, CBS (is it CBS? Or ABC? I don't remember...) Is starting a new TV series called The Gates, which is about vampires... and the guy from The Prince and Me is one of them. Yeah... I'll watch...

OH! OH! OH! OH! That reminds me!!!! I can watch TV shows now!!!! Julie from the restaurant where I waitress had an extra digital converter box, so she gave it to me! Now I can watch Castle, NCIS, The Mentalist, Big Bang Theory, Craig Ferguson, and Doctor Who (on PBS). I missed TV a lot........ :-)

Watson is growing and getting into something everyday. He's discovered the joys of looking out the window and when he's not sleeping, he thinks he is entitled to looking outside as much as he wants, whenever he wants. Which poses a problem when I'm trying to sleep.... Because sometimes he chirps and whips his tail back and forth.

I have more stories, but I need to get to bed... I'm sleepy. Good night all!

Gotta vent...

2010-04-20T22:02:00.005-05:00

I hate sitting around in rehearsal and doing nothing. I hate it. Especially when the delay is caused by things that SHOULD have been taken care of OUTSIDE of rehearsal.

Like putting gels in the lights.

Or building stage extensions...

... Then taking 20 minutes AFTER the stage extensions are "built" to go get some furniture for stage!

And THEN trying to figure out WHO is going to run "special effects" when over half the cast is backstage and doing NOTHING. It's not rocket science--and why wasn't this plotted out beforehand?

I can put up with missed cues. Missed cues happen. Missed cues are a part of REHEARSAL----which was SCHEDULED to start at 6:30. We did not start running the show until 8pm.

*bash head here*

I don't know the whole part of the story. I don't know why the the risers weren't ready before we got there. I don't know why we didn't have furniture there already. I do know that the set, lights and props DON'T just "magically appear" and the people running them have a lot that goes into their job..... But I ALSO know that there is a time and place for installing gels, getting props and building stage extensions.... And during time scheduled for REHEARSING is NOT ONE OF THEM.

We haven't even practiced curtain call. In the time we sat around at rehearsal tonight... We could have run the show twice. And I'm not joking.

I am so glad we didn't do make-up tonight. That would have been even worse.

I realize that the director is human... And that this person has lots to coordinate and work with and run... And plenty of other things to make sure run properly... But to have over half the cast sitting around.... Doing nothing for over an hour and a half... The least that could have been said would be to come back later.

I try very hard not to waste the time of other people, so it's very frustrating when my own time is wasted.

Bleh. I'm tired and I'm grumpy and I have to be at school early tomorrow for a make up lesson. We're taping the show tomorrow night. Hopefully, everything will be ironed out and the show will run smoothly. I have make-up call at 5:30pm.

1 in 5 chance...

2010-04-20T09:05:00.001-05:00

Back to the proverbial job application drawing board.

sings A man's gotta do, what a man's gotta do.....

2010-04-07T16:38:00.003-05:00

Back when Windows 95 was the latest software.... My family had an Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade computer game. It was pixelated and awesome. You made Indy go around, collect things, explore, rescue his dad and defeat the bad guys.

This morning Amanda M. posted this AWESOME link on my Facebook wall....

8-bit Doctor Horrible (Act 1)

Doctor Horrible written as if it was an old-school NES game!!!!

And while it is super-crazy-spectacular-nostalgically-awesome by itself......... It does make me miss the old Windows 95 Indiana Jones game...

Whoa... It's March? Really?

2010-03-09T17:46:00.005-06:00

Jessica was complaining the other day how I never update my blog, which gives her nothing to procrastinate with, forcing her to call me several times a week... So, here I am. Posting something for Jessica to read.

Ironically enough, Jessica called as I was typing this note.

I dunno how much you'll be seeing of me around here this March. I am working two jobs, directing the senior play at Tripoli (Get Smart, March 26th!) and acting in the Sumner Community Theatre production of The Visitors (April 23-25!) I have a elementary music concert coming up (April 15th) and an honor band to attend. (April 17th.) I also help out with the bell choir at St. Paul's Lutheran in Sumner.

I'm probably going to go crazy, but you know. It keeps me out of trouble.

So that's the long and short of it... I have found some good YouTube videos that are worth sharing...

Dispite the awkward screen capture, this brings out the true hilarity of the formula most Hollywood trailers follow...

March is Music in Our Schools Month. Support the Arts!

I haven't seen this movie since it was in theatres, but this shot-by-shot live remake of the original animation is really super super super AWESOME!

This is mostly for Mom... I don't remember if I ever posted it on her Facebook wall or not... But it's pretty cool. I like Thomas Jefferson! He is ROCKIN'!

Pass the medicine...

2010-02-27T00:02:00.000-06:00

Coughing so hard you throw up sucks.

Relaxing at home...

2010-02-22T17:40:00.004-06:00

NWN YSDE, ZF V DAK F GKSRYC BB 5YW OIAQL GWSSIYZ GJABQ FCL YAQ H TWFQYCF FXSX VTL QY AILT GF QKG BW AILG, N LWLLQ OALJ ALQWW IWH.

*bang head here*

Q BNZB FVID LYWYLMJ CVJ...

And steampunk makes an appearance at last...

2010-02-03T19:32:00.005-06:00

This morning I had an awesomely fantastic dream... That for once (in the history of my awesomely fantastic dreams) was not about Doctor Who.

There wasn't much *to* my dream... I mean, it had no plot... And it was actually borderline a really terrifying nightmare... But it was COOL!

So in my dream, it was around the turn of the century... Very Victorian-esque. And I was living in London... Which was suffering from an invasion of...

Wait for it...

Vampires.

Not the sparkling, 21st century revised vampires... Or the futuristic "turn into creepy bat-things if they don't have human blood to drink" -kind.

No. I'm talking about an army of Bram Stoker, Gothic romance type vampires... Invading the city of London. Ready to consume ALL. No one is safe.

Not even me.

Oh, sorry... I suppose I should mention my profession...

In my dream I'm a vampire hunter. I guess a pretty good one, even though in my dream I am wearing the epitome of Victorian-era ladies fashion. (Bustle, corset, petticoats, the lot.) I have crossbow and a little suitcase of wooden stakes.

And I live in a posh apartment and also have a highly successful, vampire hunting boyfriend.

Who happens to be Hugh Freaking-Jackman.

I am not kidding folks. I had a dream that I was a vampire hunter in Victorian England, and Hugh Jackman was my boyfriend.

Rest assured that the almost-nightmare part was in no way a result of my relationship status. It was due to the impending DOOM of the invading vampires. It was one of those "wait for it to jump around the corner and SCARE you" -type dreams. I just never got to that part. Because the theme from Lord of the Rings started playing on my phone and I woke up.

Also, I feel you should know:

-I have only seen League of Extraordinary Gentlemen once, 4.5 years ago.
-I have never seen the movie Van Helsing. What put Van Helsing into my brain was THIS post on "Not Always Right" and I thought: "Wait. Hugh Jackman is in Van Helsing??? Since WHEN?! How did I miss this???"
-I also have never read Dracula. Or really seen any of the Dracula-related movies.

Subconscious brains do weeeeeeiiiird, but sometime awwwwwwwwesome things!

Feeling nostalgic...

2010-02-01T23:19:00.004-06:00

It's snowy nights like these that fondly remind me of freshman year.... Opening the window in the bathroom (the one with the broken lock and no screen) and leaning out over the heater with Rachel V. while we brushed our teeth together... There was something kind of novel about hanging out a window at 12am, watching the snowfall... The cold made the toothpaste extra minty. :-)

And who else brushes their teeth while hanging out a window? :-)

A clever response and a broken appliance...

2010-01-30T10:39:00.004-06:00

Don't you love those moments where you somehow manage to have a brilliant comeback? I do... :-)

Last night, when I was working at the restaurant, I was walking back from carrying an order out to the bar section and there was a customer who was asking his buddies if he could tell a joke, and they all were not letting him tell it. I don't know if the joke was dirty or in ill humor or what, but they weren't gonna listen to it. As I passed by this person, he asked me if he could tell me a joke. And I looked at him and said no thank-you, and kept walking, but he continued and asked me if I had a sense of humor...

At this, I stopped and looked at him, raised my eyebrows and replied:

"Not yours," and I went back to the kitchen.

As I walked away, the guy's buddies hailed my answer as "awesome" and one they've never heard before and heckled the guy for getting shot down so well. As I reached the kitchen I could hear him yelling for me to get back there, so he could tell me the joke.

Not a chance. :-)

Not bad for someone who can barely talk over a whisper, no? :-)

THEN. When I got home at 10:15pm I noticed that my house was exceptionally cold... Colder than it usually is when I turn the heat down to 60 when I leave.... And I discover: My furnace is not working. In fact, it's blowing COLD AIR throughout my house! (The temp read 48 degrees INSIDE. Brrrrr!!!!)

So I checked and made sure I had hot water, I checked my gas stove and made sure I had gas-- they were all working, so I figured it had something to do with the mechanics of my furnace. I called my dad like 3 times, and mom 3 times and the house once. Mom was at work and Dad was AWOL. (Although, later it was discovered that he was at the gym.) I can't get a hold of ANYONE. So at 10:40 I finally get the courage to call my landlord, who (thankfully) was still up and able to come over...

AND FIX MY FURNACE! *whew* It took like, 10 minutes tops. The heating plug---or something like that---had gone out... Which he said is typical of Amana Furnaces, so he keeps a couple extra just in case... So he replaced it, and I have heat again!!!

Which, I feel I cannot stress enough, is very much appreciated.

Now the next thing I would like would be to have my voice back and get over this blasted cold.

Preconceived notions....

2010-01-27T19:40:00.008-06:00

Person: So Sarah, you teach elementary music? That's wonderful!
Me: Thank-you, I enjoy it!
Person: So do you play piano?
Me: No, not very well.
Person: Well, do you sing?
Me: No, not really. *laughs* Not if I can help it.
Person: Well then, what DO you do?
Me: ........

This is an actual conversation I had with someone. They were not trying to be mean or rude, they were just trying to figure out my job and my talents. But they err by making the generalization that all people who teach music can sing and/or play piano. And I was polite and friendly and explained that my main instrument is flute, and someday I want to direct a band, but I'm certified to teach K-8 general music as well as 5-12 band, choir and orchestra. My current job was my only offer, and I'm working hard to do my best with what I have. I'm always learning something new, and I'm always working to improve. Whether it's playing the piano, matching pitch with my voice or even classroom management. And my students always find ways to make me smile and keep me on my toes. :-)

And to talk a bit about this sort of music major generalization: those of you who know me, and those of you who are ALSO music majors, know that not everyone who studies music can sing (and I mean, to sing in a manner that is pleasing to the ear. Everyone is physically CAPABLE of singing.) Music majors who CAN sing or play piano.... Or even BOTH are all amazing, and their skills help them! But just because someone can't sing, or play the piano doesn't mean they lack the ability to teach. Or lack the ability to perform fantastic music by some other venue.

:::::bang head here:::::::

This post stems from a circular conversation I had this evening trying to explain that even though I teach elementary music, I do not play piano. Specifically, I do not play piano well enough to accompany soloists, choirs or church cantors. I guess this is a difficult concept for people to understand. I can play the right hand well enough to assist my students in learning the music. But I am NOT going to play the piano at the concert. Nor will I play the piano in church. Yes, to study music in college, I had to pass a piano proficiency test, but that is really nothing like trying to play the accompaniment for concerts and church services. And that test was almost THREE years ago!

Would my job be easier if I COULD play the piano? Yes, definitely YES. But just because I am lacking in this particular skill does not make me any less qualified to teach music.

What do I do?

I teach students how to listen and find the similarities between Holst's Planets Suite and John Williams' score for STAR WARS. I teach students why flutes and saxophones belong to the woodwind family even though they're made of metal. I teach students to know what I mean when I listen to music write AABBCCABCD and I teach them how to find the pattern without my help. I teach students Italian. I teach students the difference between singing, singing loud, talking and shouting. I teach math. I teach spelling. I teach history. I teach current events. I teach responsibility. I teach problem solving. I teach etiquette. I teach coordination. I teach students how to read a new language. I teach students how to recognize high and low pitches. I teach students how to MATCH high and low pitches. I teach students to sing in unison AND in parts. I teach students how to listen and identify individual instruments. I teach students how to describe what they hear and how that makes them feel and why music is important. I teach students to listen to music and try to figure out the story. I teach students how to work together.

I teach in a classroom where I often equip every child with their own individual noisemaker... And with the cooperation of my students, I take chaos and show them how to turn it into music.

So I just try and pray for patience and understanding when I struggle with people who appear to judge my ability to teach music simply because I can neither sing nor play piano well enough to volunteer and help in the community. I wish these people could see that even though I lack these two gifts does not mean that I am any less qualified to teach music.

I didn't become a music teacher for the money. I became a music teacher because I love music and I can't keep that love to myself. I want to show others just how fantastic it can be.

You'd be surprised at what I can do... And all without any great piano playing ability.

Mac & Cheese deliciousness...

2010-01-25T19:58:00.006-06:00

Okay, so once again a decent blog post is high overdue. I have things to say, it's just that when I come home from work, it's more tempting to play some School of Wizardry on Facebook (curse you Mary for getting me hooked!) and then watch a movie. Or try and catch up on TV via the interwebz.

So I'm back at school now. Unfortunately we have yet to have a full "normal" week of school. Due to weather and MLK day Tripoli, like many schools in Iowa have yet to complete a full week of school. We got out at noon today and I fulfilled my customary "rest of the day off" routine -- check out movies from the library and stop at the grocery story for things I'm need, like milk and hamburger. (I'll get back to that in a minute.) This afternoon I wrote a lesson plan and watched How to Loose a Guy in 10 Days. Tomorrow school is already delayed 2 hours. Which doesn't affect the time I go in to school... NORMALLY. Unfortunately tomorrow happens to be the day I re-rescheduled for the morning meeting for the senior play. Yes. It was the third time I've rescheduled, due to weather! How crazy is that???? :-P

Last week we had a half day on Monday because of MLK day, Tuesday was a delay, Wednesday an early out, Thursday a delay and Friday was the first full day of the week. Oh, and in case you didn't notice, or you read this and you're not from Iowa, it was FOGGY all last week! I saw the teeeeensiest bit of the sun this afternoon, through the clouds, but that doesn't count. Tomorrow is SUPPOSEDLY going to be mostly sunny. But we'll see.

Okay, so last Wednesday, in a fit of nostalgia I decided to try and make some homemade macaroni and cheese. I had some bow-tie noodles and a bunch of American cheese to use up... I *thought* I could make some like mom used to make. Well. I was wrong. In a very disgusting and bland way. I managed to eat ONE bowl and that was it. Which posed a problem. What do I do with the giant bowl of the REST of it??? I have no money, I shouldn't throw it away... So I stashed it... And thought of how to put it INTO something to make it at least palatable.

And I succeeded. In fact, the concoction I have made turned out to be incredibly delicious! (And I am feeling very smug about this...) I did a layer of tostitos chips, then the failed macaroni, covered with salsa, then hamburger then shredded cheese.... And my friends... It is sooooo gooooooood! I'm glad that I didn't throw it away!

I've started my 5th bag of Brach's Conversation Hearts, just in case anyone was wondering... :-)

Watson is doing just fine. He's still a turd, but he keeps life interesting. Especially when he does things like talk to the toilet (it wasn't even running) or staring at the wall while touching it intermittantly with his paw. (Both true.) I took some really good pictures of him last night, but for some reason my camera is refusing to upload them. :-P Rachel V. stopped by two weeks ago, on her way back to Minneapolis and she had her cat Pippin with her, so it was a fun/interesting time watching Watson and Pip interact. Pippin is 4 months older than Watson and you can tell he's going to be a big cat. But Watson is definately louder than Pippin, so in the end they were pretty evenly matched. By the end of the night they were getting along fairly well and we didn't have to keep an eye on them 110% of the time. That weekend Emily came up and stayed too and after we picked up Rachel D. we all went and saw The Princess and the Frog, which was SO FUN! I really enjoyed that movie! The villain, Dr. Facillier was so delightfully creepy and entertaining. I love 2D hand-drawn animation!

Movies I am excited for:
Toy Story 3
Alice in Wonderland
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1
Eclipse
Robin Hood
Iron Man 2
How to Train Your Dragon
Percy Jackson and the Lightening Thief
Disney's Rapunzel

Stuff I'm interested in seeing, but leery:
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
X-MEN Origins: Magnito
Shrek goes Fourth
The Sorcerer's Apprentice
Voyage of the Dawn Treader
The Hobbit
Spiderman 4

The next full day we have off from school I am going to try and marathon Lord of the Rings again. :-)

Well, there ya go, folks! Consider yourself updated!

You know it's time for bed when...

2010-01-24T00:19:00.004-06:00

You think:

Hey, someone should start a Netflix-type-thing, but instead of renting videos to watch, you could get books to read!

... And then you reminded yourself that it's called Interlibrary Loan, and is available at every public library in the history of ever.

Good-night all.

Reason I love my Mom #98836221

2010-01-08T22:55:00.003-06:00

Because of:

Of course she is referring to this post. It kind of describes the event lightly---but at the time I was really annoyed. You would be too if you were in a cow field on a humid 95 degree evening, with mud, swamp water, blood and cow poo on your clothes... And then had to die and fall into the arms of someone who was also dirty... And being a jerk.

Wow... That seems like such a long time ago...

And as my Aunt Melissa says: The S------------- side of the family doesn't get mad. They get even.

That makes me laugh. Because sometimes it's true.

Beware! I am a demonic wing'd squirrel of fury! GRARRRR!

:-D

I love you Rachel V.

_______________________________________

Edit: Evidently it was someone else.... I'm now trying to remember the incident.

Responsibilty kills... Or at least stinks.

2010-01-03T22:31:00.003-06:00

Maybe I should rename Watson "Tylenol PM." Tylenol for the pain and annoyance that he causes and PM for POOPING MACHINE...

Hello 2010...

2010-01-02T14:04:00.004-06:00

Good-bye David Tennant.

*sigh*

Wow. Just wow.

No spoilers here.

But I feel so emotionally drained... I must have been bawling for the last half hour of the episode.

Now my eyes are all red and my nose is even more stuffy.

It was hard watching it alone. But it would have been harder to try and avoid spoilers.

... He was *my* Doctor...

2009-12-25T16:53:00.020-06:00

Merry Christmas dear blog readers! Have you had a good day? Filled with family friends and, if you're in Iowa, SNOW.

Christmas has been going well here in the Clear Lake Schnoebelen household too. We got up at 7am (Which is the earliest we're allowed to wake up. Stephen initially had his alarm clock set for 3am but mom caught him.) We sorted and open presents this year. I got a lot of useful things and I wanted and lots of fun things... Like glass canisters for flour and sugar, salt and pepper shakers, a little light-up Christmas tree decoration, a miniature dulcimer pin, a garlic press, an 8" frying pan, the 5th season of the TV show House and those glow in the dark planets and stars, amid other things. :-) Thank-you one! Thank-you all!

Here are some pictures. Mostly of Watson enjoying the crinkly paper... Oh. Did I mention it? Dad said that I could bring Watson home to stay for the holiday so I wouldn't have to board him. Isn't that CRAZY? But I'm grateful, so thanks Dad!

Here you see Watson looking slightly confused at the surrounding gifts...

But he loves crinkly paper. Here you see Mary exploiting this love.

This Watson diving among the crinkly carnage.

After presents I made Christmas pancakes! And they weren't Christmassy just because I was wearing a Santa hat and had a pancake with a Christmas tree. I substituted eggnog for milk and added cinnamon and nutmeg. They were good!

Here is a close-up of the tree-pancake. :-)

And here is Stephen eating it. Mom and Dad were surprised that he ate it. Mom said Stephen refuses to eat pancakes unless they contain chocolate chips.

Mary says: Look! I am so awesome, I have gathered the sparkliness of Edward Cullen and trapped it in this ball! (Matthew got one of those rubber bouncy balls with glitter in it...)

I gave everyone homemade cranberry eggnog muffins and Mom accidentally left hers out... This picture was taken AFTER we pulled it from under the couch. Sneaky, sneaky Watson had been having a snack.

After Matthew and Daniel finished shoveling the heavy, very slushy snow, we built a Calvin and Hobbs-inspired snowman...

Matthew went in after we started on the middle section because he was cold. But Daniel and I carried on!

Here is the snow-cannon we built to go with the snowman.

Here's Daniel with our creation...

And here's me! :-D

Here's the view from the back.

All in all, we were pretty proud of ourselves. Unfortunately, these pictures don't show (other than on our coats, etc.) How HARD it was snowing! It was really coming down! From the windows it looked really Christmassy and pretty. But outside the snow was wet and not the best to work with.... It was 35 degrees out, after all.

Stephen got a bunch of Tom and Jerry cartoons, so we've been watching that all day, and they just finished. Now Philomena, Mom, Daniel, and Mary are watching VeggieTales: The Story of St. Nicholas.

Dinner was delicious! We had ham and mashed potatoes and snicker salad and sweet potatoes. Mmm-mmm! So good!

After dinner we played the game Snorta, which was fun. In the game everyone playing draws a little animal figurine, a small barn and gets a stack of cards. Each person chooses an appropriate noise for their animal which everyone must memorize. Once everyone chooses a sound the animals must be hidden in the barns. Then you go around the table, each person taking a turn flipping over a card. If your card matches someone else's, you must make the sound of that person's animal before they do. If you win, the looser takes the cards. The goal of the game is to get rid of your stack first. We only played one round, and Matthew won.

So yeah. :-) That has been our Christmas. :-) I hope everyone else has had a good day! Tomorrow I will probably go see the new Sherlock Holmes movie with some of my family. :-) I can't wait!

Now, I'm off to end my day by wrapping up in a blanket, turning off the lights, and watching the Doctor Who Christmas special. *siiiiiigh*

Happy Christmas Eve...

2009-12-24T22:50:00.005-06:00

Most people at this time of the Christmas season are jittery with anticipation. Whether it be the coming of Jesus, for Santa to come, receiving or giving Christmas presents, spending time with family, cooking/eating etc.

While I *am* excited for Christmas to come, I am jittery for an entirely different reason.

This year's Doctor Who Christmas Special.

I knew it was coming.

But I didn't want it to arrive.

Do you remember this post?

David Tennant's last episode as the Doctor airs in the UK tomorrow and in the US on the 26th.

GAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH....

:-(

This is distressing. He's *my* Doctor. No one can be as good.

Matt Smith has some crazy-freaking-huge sneakers to fill.

Blizzard report...

2009-12-08T23:31:00.004-06:00

This is the window in my kitchen. It overlooks the roof of my garage, which lies about 4-5 inches below the window ledge. As you can see, the roof of my garage has accumilated quite a lot of snow.... I can only imagine what the roof of my HOUSE looks like...

I hope my garage doesn't cave in...

...I hope my HOUSE doesn't cave in!

Snow day continued...

2009-12-08T21:16:00.000-06:00

No school tomorrow either. YAY!

Snow day!

2009-12-08T14:56:00.007-06:00

School let out at 12:45... YES!

Now I am going to:

~~Wash dishes~~
Keep Watson from destroying my house
~~Bake cranberry eggnog muffins~~
~~Write my Christmas list for Grandma and Grandpa~~
Watch (not in any particular order, and not all at once):

~~-Tinkerbell~~
-Atonement
-Doubt

Read (also in no order):

-Breaking Dawn
-A Christmas Carol

~~Make a delicious chicken salad for dinner~~
~~Shovel (again)~~ -Gave up.

Today I bought my first snow shovel. I feel as if a milestone has been reached in my life.

ALSO, if you have not started following the Doctor Who ADVENT-ure calender, do so NOW!

And because of the wonderfulness that is the DW ADVENT-ure calender, I have the happiest desktop EVER!

1st one done!

2009-12-03T22:12:00.005-06:00

Tonight I had my first ever concert! And it went really really well! I directed about 200 or so K-5 students in a 40 minute concert and it went fantastic. Really smooth. All the music played, all the mics worked. YAY! :-D

It still amuses me though that the first concert I ever directed has also been the first elementary music concert that I ever have attended... :-)

The next concert is in the spring, and I have a nice little break before I need to start thinking about that. At least until January.

Whew! It's over and it went great!

Also, IT SNOWED TODAY! I really kind of excited about that, because it looks beautiful. Even though it made the roads bad.... I told mom she shouldn't come, so she turned around and went back home. (She was about to Mason City.) What was ESPECIALLY cool about the snow was that driving home, it started to snow again and I had my brights on and it looked like I was driving through hyperspace, like on STAR WARS.

Okay. I have more school tomorrow. And I was there almost 12 hours today. So I'm going to bed.

An imagined dialogue...

2009-12-01T19:39:00.003-06:00

Me: *sees Watson eating my couch cover* Oi! Watson! Stop eating my couch!
Watson: *pauses and then stretches* Huh? Youz talkinz to me? I iz not noming... *catches sight of tail* AH! THERE IZ DAT THING ON MAH BUTT! I willz get it this time..... Nom-nom-nom... *proceeds to wrestle with tail*
Me: *goes back to what I was doing*
Watson: Ah-HA! Dat fold of fabric looked at me goofiez! I will show it!!!! RAWR! *begins to chew couch cover again*
Me: WATSON! NO! *graps "Kitty Corections Bottle"*
Watson: AHHHH! SPRITZING WATERZ OF DOOOOOOOOM!!!! *runs away*

But who's counting? Oh, wait.

2009-11-22T23:19:00.006-06:00

It's been a year and I'm starting over. I don't need to think about last year. I don't need to go back and review all what I was thinking and feeling and blogging. I'm not gonna lie, it's hard not to see that time as a waste or a failure. I guess I can only say that I learned. I suppose that is what is important.

I feel that my heart is finally my own again and my standards are higher than before. I have a better idea of what I want in a man, although I'm afraid that he doesn't exist.

It's like what I tell Jessica... It's just me, Watson and my imaginary boyfriends up here in little Sumner. And she laughs. But she knows what I mean.
_____________

I know that I am a strong, confident woman who is not perfect. I know I can't do everything by myself, although I often insist that I can. I've gotten over the idea that just because one relationship ended does not mean that I am unlovable or not attractive. It's just a matter of time. I just keep reminding myself that it has to be in God's time, not mine.

*sigh*

An update inclulded a breif blip on Doctor Who and Twilight

2009-11-22T11:38:00.007-06:00

Ack.... It's been ages since I've blogged... Sorry!

I'm just pluggin' away. Remember the cold I mentioned Thursday November, 5th? Well, I still have it. The week after the musical my chest became full of disgusting gunk and I lost my voice... Which made teaching MUSIC CLASS really difficult. Luckily it was a short week and I survived. My voice is back now... But I have a ridiculous stuffy nose and I *still* have a cough. I had to buy yet another box of tissues because the one I bought yesterday (even though they were Puffs) made my nose sore because I had to blow it so much.

Also, after almost 3 months of searching I found a second job! *whew* I was really getting worried. It's a waitressing job, on Friday and Saturday nights at a little locally owned restaurant in a nearby town. This past Friday was my first night and it went really well. It's just a manner of learning different procedures and memorizing the menu. But it's not hard at all. I had one table ask me if I'd gone to school for restaurant management and they didn't believe that it was only my second night. (Previous waitress experience FTW!) So hopefully the money I earn from that will help me start to pay of those pesky pesky student loans. (Btw, I found the job through an ad in the paper... How lucky was that?)

Watson is doing well. I took him to my Uncle Greg S.'s last week for a check-up and to get neutered. (I have two Uncle Gregs on my Dad's side... Just to clarify.) Watson is a little over 3 months now and weighs about 4 pounds. He fell in the bath again Friday night. Which makes Bath:3 Toilet 1 Watson: 0. He's doing really well though. He's very cuddly and likes to lay in my lap whenever I'm at my computer.

Going to Iowa City last weekend was a lot of fun! I was there longer, so I got to see everyone! Grandma was babysitting some of my cousins, so Friday night Grandpa and I ordered pizza and then I went with my Uncle Doug to a play rehearsal that he was directing with the help of my cousins Katie and Anna, their younger brothers John and Paul were in the play. Afterwords I went to their house and got to see my Aunt Nancy and meet their dog Kipper. Evidently he's kind of crazy, but he was pretty quiet when I was there, just chewing on a bone.

Saturday I went shopping at Coral Ridge Mall with my cousin Marie. She helped me pick out some really nice clothes. (On our way to the mall we saw a rainbow!) I got a pants suit for $30 at Kohl's and I was really excited. I also found some nice tops at Kohl's, Old Navy and Maurices. Afterwards we went back to her house and she made 18 dozen monster cookies with her friend Liz... And they were really good! They gave me a plate of them. :-) The kitchen was kind of chaotic, so I watched the rest of the Hawkeye vs. Ohio State game with my Uncle Greg S. What a game! It was so good!

Sunday I went to mass and was very amused by one of my little cousins who insisted on wearing her dress backwards and was wearing rubber rainboots with it. It was cute. :-) After church I stopped at my Uncle Greg H and Aunt Marcy's house and had lunch with them. Then I went to my Uncle Tom and Aunt Melissa's where I played checkers with my cousin Kolbe and lost! But it was a good game. :-) I also got to see their dog, Daisy. My Aunt Melissa says that Daisy is the only one in their family that will do what he says. (LOL!) Then I swung back to my Uncle Greg S and Aunt Aunt Val's and picked up Watson. Finally I stopped by Uncle Doug's again to say good-bye and then went back to Grandma and Grandpa's. I got to eat some of Grandma's yummy hamburgers. :-)

I made it back home about 6pm, no problems. Watson was glad to be back. :-)

This morning after church I made a delicious Sunday morning feast! I made hashbrowns, scrambled eggs, sausage and bacon. And of course a cup of PG tips to go with it. Everything turned out great! It was so good! :-)

Today Rachel D. and I are going to see New Moon. :-D We are both excited! I got an awesome voicemail from Jessica on Friday.... She went to the midnight premiere and said it was great! The voicemail was awesome in the fact that it was rambly and very much Jessica and I could tell that she really liked the movie and at the same time, was really tired.

Tonight I have a bell choir performance at St. Paul's Lutheran Church. It should go really well... I play C and D on the treble staff. And sometimes C#.

I have my first concert of my teaching career on December 3rd! It is coming up really close! It will be kindergarten through 5th grade... In total, about 203 students. And we have about 2 class days left to practice for it. Ahhhhhh! :-O 5th grade band will be playing too. It will be nice when it is over... Then I can breathe...

Oh! OH OH! OH MY GOSH! DOCTOR WHO! The latest special, The Waters of Mars..... SO GOOD AND SO CREEPY!!!! I watched it at school after the school day was done because I didn't want to watch it at home by myself! Really, that special was really well done, I thought... But now there's only ONE left and he'll regenerate!!! :-( :-( :-( There will be much muchly much much fangirly tears. It's airing on BBC America in December... But I'll still be here in Sumner, and I would feel weird watching it at Jessica's house... Because I know I will cry and Jessica won't be there because she will be in China, and her parents would probably be weirded out.

This week is only a half week at school. I'm coming home to Clear Lake on Wednesday! :-D YAYAYAYAY! It will be fun!

Okay, I think that's a good enough update for now... I need to take some more phenylephrine. My ears are getting plugged up. And then I'm off to see New Moon! w00t! Go Team Edward! And if there is ANYONE around me on their cellphone, or reciting the movie as it's playing I will punch them in the face.

Some things I learned from Seussical...

2009-11-08T11:44:00.004-06:00

That I actually DO know how to do make-up, even though make-up is really all about experimentation.

I have gained "coolness" points for knowing about Call of Duty and Nazi Zombies, how to play the card game Egyptian Rat Screw and being able to quote Harry Potter and a various array of Disney movies at the drop of a hat and rocking at Apples to Apples.

Being able to sew both by hand and with a machine came in handy more than I ever thought it would.

Being the assistant director also sometimes means you're part of the pit, providing sound effects and turning pages for the piano player.

Students will almost always rise to the occasion, but not necessarily when you want them to.

Sometimes you just have to be mean to get the point across.

But more often than not, just let frustrations slide and don't be afraid to laugh.

Very often you will have to dance and move and look like a goof to get other people to do the same.

Usually, it's easier to look sad and upset for long periods of time than happy for a 5 minute scene.

Let students have the chance to tell you that something isn't working.

No talking backstage is a MUST!

Making lists of props, scenes, blackouts, costumes and choreography will help you in the long run.

Student cellphones are banned during the show and belong in the cellphone bucket. Plus they mess up the wireless mics.

Unfortunately rude people in the audience will still use them no matter how cute and Seuss-like your pre-show cellphone announcement is.

Where an actor is looking and directing their line can either make a scene really awkward or perfect.

If your line is supposed to rhyme, it's harder to improvise if you can't remember what you're supposed to say.

5 reprises of the same song can get confusing!

AND

Don't ever forget or underestimate power of the willing suspension of disbelief!
_______

The show last night was fantastic! There was dancing! There was lots of singing! The crowd was really responsive and everyone had a wonderful time! Well done everyone!

A blog in a series of numbers.

2009-11-05T23:09:00.009-06:00

1. I think I am getting a cold. I can *feel* it. In my throat. It doesn't help that I sang an entire musical today. I am exhausted. Tonight I made a frozen pizza. Watched Dr. Horrible and then dozed off.

2. Watson fell into the bath again. This is the second time this has happened, not counting the time I threw him in after he jumped into the toilet. I have a picture which I will upload later. This makes Watson: 0 Bath water: 2 Toilet: 1

3. This is an ad that Facebook decided to show me just a moment ago:

Double Wartburg Track and Field mate?!

4. Seussical the Musical is this weekend! Here's some pictures that were posted on the event on Facebook. The students have worked so hard to put this on! Miss Bailey and I are so proud of them!

"Biggest Blame Fool" (Wickersham Brothers, Horton the Elephant, Sour Kangaroo, and Bird Girls)

"Anything's Possible" (Cat in the Hat and Jojo.)

"The Circus McGurkus"
(The Cat in the Hat)

5. I bought Watson a chew-toy thing so he will maybe leave my hands and shoes alone... And it's a little rooster that makes a cockadoodledoo sound whenever it moves. I am beginning to regret my purchase. It's starting to feel like A.) I've somehow moved to a farm and it's perpetually morning. Or B.) Peter Pan has moved into my house somewhere....

Okay, that's all! I'm off to sleep and fight this cold!

In which something I wrote is mentioned by a minor YouTube celebrity...

2009-11-01T19:08:00.005-06:00

Okay, so I follow this guy named Alex Day on YouTube, because he makes some pretty funny videos, he's a Nerdfighter, and he happens to be the guy who started Time Lord Rock. He's part of a band called Chameleon Circuit.

Last week he made this video:

In which he talked about Nerdfighter personal ads. And I thought. Okay, I'll post a comment. Just for fun! :-) Why not?

So I did:

If you don't want to click on the picture, this is what I wrote:

Nerdy day-dreamer is bored with ordinary life looking for that special someone to help make her life extraordinary. Must be willing to do crazy, adventurous things that vary from building forts in the living room, learning how to make homemade rootbeer and reenacting scenes from Lord of the Rings while hiking in the country. If you love STAR WARS, Harry Potter and Doctor Who we will get along great! Must enjoy an eclectic selection of music, Broadway, live theatre and unintentional awkwardness.

Yesterday, Alex made this video:

And I was just watching, thinking that all of those were cute, and awesome and funny... AND THEN HE READS PART OF MINE! Out of the 2,017 comments, he picks part of the ad that I came up with to read! Which I think, is pretty freaking cool! (I'm at 1:16, just FYI.)

Ha. :-) That made me really happy, and nerdy and excited. I told Rachel V. I could make a really good Patronus right now, and she said yeah, or I would be able to fly. :-)

Seuss, Teaching, Malapropisms and Watson

2009-10-27T21:40:00.018-05:00

So I finally have a moment to blog, seeing as it's a much more decent hour--9:40 as opposed to 11:59... So as I try to keep Watson from eating the couch and climbing into dresser drawers from the underside, I shall write.

First, first, first: Happy Birthday Matthew!

Second, I have been kept super super SUPER busy being the assistant director for Tripoli's production of Seussical. This play is SO MUCH WORK! I'm not *complaining* I am *stating emphatically* because I am having a lot of fun! We're finalizing props and getting sets and their related changes and trying to deal with kids who are sick. Lots of crowd control. But I think the show is coming together really well. :-) The showtimes are Nov. 6th and 7th both at 7pm in the HS gymnasium. Tickets are $4 for students and $5 adults. I'm excited to see it with costumes and all... I choreographed all of Oh, The Thinks You Can Think. :-D

Teaching in general is going really well. I mean, nothing ridiculously exciting. We're in the middle of "Hallowe'en Week" and tomorrow I start my lesson with the 4th-5th graders about the song The Erlkonig. It's really cool and creepy! The 2nd-3rd graders just finished acting out a story to The Sorcerer's Apprentice and the Kindergarten and 1st grade did a sound story to the book The Little Old Lady Who Wasn't Afraid of Anything. It was a lot of fun! :-)

This Friday Emily and Rachel D. are coming over and we're going to have a girl's night! I don't know exactly what we'll do other than watch movies, cook food and play with Watson. Saturday I have a 1st year Teacher's Conference all day and Sunday I have rehearsal from 1:45 to whenever.

That means I need to do lesson planning for next week THIS week... Since I won't want to do them on Sunday like I normally do and I obviously don't have time on Saturday. At least I can legitimately start practicing for our elementary Christmas concert next week!

And the piano in my classroom FINALLY got TUNED! And it sounds SO MUCH BETTER!!! My *kindergartners* could tell that it was out of tune. That's how bad it was.

Okay, so this just came up on mugglenet.com... WANT. That would be SO COOL!!!! (In case you are confused, it's the audition schedule for the Harry Potter theme park that Universal Studios is build. I wish I had $$$ and TIME to go do that!)

Okay, so this is random, but as I'm typing this I'm listening to Pandora... My Alan Menken radio station to be exact... And do you ever have one of those moments where you FINALLY get a pun, or a particular joke or specific play on words? Well, I just had that... "Zero to Hero" was playing, from Hercules, and there's this line that always sounded to me like "Now who's rich and famous, he can tell you what's a Grecian urn." And I always thought... "Yeah... What IS a Grecian urn?" and then I think of THIS scene from The Music Man. (Side-note: don't watch into Shipoopi... It gets painful.) And then I heard Zero to Hero today--just now-- and heard that line THIS time understanding the "urn" should be "earn." :-P But this isn't the end of my malapropism, dear readers. The REAL line goes like this, since I've now looked it up:

"Now nouveau riche and famous
He could tell you
What the Greek'should earn."

Oh, Disney... Sometimes I don't know what to think about you and your clever and often misheard lyrics.

Okay, what next... Haha, maybe... Watson? :-)

He's getting so big! If I'm home long enough, he will actually calm down and cuddle a little bit. Saturday we watched The Ghost of Girlfriend's Past and he slept curled up on my chest and purred and it was nice and warm. Tonight we watched The Secret Life of Bees and snuggled :-) In fact he's curled up in my lap right now. We haven't progressed to him sleeping in my bed yet... He's still too crazy and I wouldn't get any sleep.

Even though he is starting to cuddle, he is still a little turd sometimes. He loves shoes. LOVES them, and I don't really know why. Because he isn't really specific. He likes the shoelaces on my tennis shoes, and the leather on my ballet flats and the squishy-foam of my flip-flops and my fuzzy slippers. Sometimes he doesn't even attack them. He just holds them or curls up on them.

He's kind of nibble-y on me too... Like he'll try to initiate play by biting my hand, but it's never hard and he's never punctured skin or he'll tackle my leg and I have to shake him off. We're working on stopping the nibbling. I hope it's just a phase.

He *IS* getting better about jumping into my lap with out his claws extended, which is nice.

I took some pictures of him, which was hard, because he doesn't stay still for very long...

He's actually asleep in this picture. Be impressed.

Lasers on! Check!

This was taken right before he started trying to attack the camera.

And then ONCE in a BLUE MOON! He stays still long enough for me to get a beautiful picture of him! :-D YAY!

I love Watson! And I can't wait for the Sherlock Holmes movie! :-D

Note: The sleeping picture was taken last Saturday, the rest were taken today.

A surprise, and people who think they are smarter than me...

2009-10-22T23:48:00.005-05:00

Hello, this has to be quick, because I need to get to bed and it is considerably later than I intended...

1. Surprises:

Tonight I was getting ready for a bath. I won't go into the details, other than... Tonight Watson jumped into the toilet, pre-flush. My hand was ON the flusher and I hear this "blooop" and there is my cat. In the toilet. Stupid, stupid cat. So I picked him up, and put him in the bath tub, which was conveniently filled with water that was for ME... But what else was I supposed to do? So I put him in the tub, which rinsed off the bits of him that came in contact with the toilet water. This obviously made him even more wet and very unhappy, but I told him he deserved it.

So then I had to get new bathwater and take MY bath while Watson fussed about being dripping wet and tried to dry himself off.

Needless to say, I didn't feel very sorry for him.

2. People who think they are smarter than me:

Mainly, some of my students. In two specific areas: Music, Harry Potter and quite often where those two subjects coincide.

And I know it sounds self-centered and over-confident, but really. Don't even go there. I have been reading Harry Potter since before most of them were born... Yet, they seem to think they can argue with me saying that Greig's In the Hall of the Mountain King is from Harry Potter, and that the track Double Trouble (which *IS* from Harry Potter) is from the 4th movie. No. Double Trouble is from the 3rd movie and the text is taken from the Scottish Play. Greig's In the Hall of the Mountain King was written as incidental music for the play, Peer Gynt and premiered in 1874.

Um, no. You're fighting a loosing battle kids. Especially in these two areas.

Okay, that's all I have to say. Watson is trying to run off with one of my shoes. I must stop him and go to bed.

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

An introduction...

2009-10-11T21:54:00.008-05:00

Hello everyone!

I got my new kitteh! I've decided to call him Watson! (In the end it was between Watson and Maxwell--because when he purrs really loud it sounds like when you make coffee...) He is a big trouble maker and likes to talk. He can purr really loud and likes to pounce on things that do not really exist. :-)

I went down to Iowa City this weekend to have him checked out by my uncle who is a vet and Watson has a clean bill of heath! My uncle said he found him to be friendly and easy to handle, which indicates that he came from a good family and has a good personality. :-)

It was also good to see some of my cousins, uncles and aunt and my grandparents. :-) Grandma made a delicious lunch and Grampa and I watched the food network and had Chinese for dinner! Grandma went to the Hawkeye football homecoming game with some of my cousins and Grampa and I watched it at some of my cousins' houes. (1st half at one, 2nd half at the other.) Like I said, it was good to see everyone! :-) (And Iowa WON! YAY!)

Oh, and it SNOWED yesterday! And it even sticked for a little while!

Okay, that's all for now... Here are some cat pictures! :-)

Watson asleep in my lap...

Watson on the go....

Eating his bed...

And drinking his water...

Also, it's important to remember that if you spray your hands with the "no chew" animal deterrent spray, so your cat will stop biting your hands in play. it will still taste bad 2 hours later when you forget that it's there and lick yogurt off your fingers...

My birthday and my kitten....

2009-09-29T17:28:00.003-05:00

Hello All! Today is my birthday and I am now 23 years old. I feel the same... Just like I do every year. Although, I'm tired from teaching. My family all mailed me cards and sent me a bouquet of flowers to school which was a nice surprise.

I was going to make avocado feta salsa tonight for dinner, but I forgot to buy feta and the grocery store in Sumner does not carry it. :-( Oh, well, I'll have to save it for another time. I bought some ice cream and rented some movies and I'm going to cook up some chicken and make a salad and just chill. :-)

It's also fairly cold in Sumner. I just turned on my heat. My thermometer says it's 64 degrees inside and 52 degrees OUTSIDE. I slept with sock on last night.

I haven't decided on a name for my cat yet. Daniel suggested Hobbes, but my cat isn't orange, which would have been cool. Mary suggested Sylvester. Dad suggested Lawn Dart. BUT I stole a picture of my kitteh (and it's litter mates) from Facebook. Geri had posted one. Unfortunately, my cat is on the bottom of the pile... So you can't see it very well... But, it's better than nothing! Enjoy!

Three short stories...

2009-09-23T23:24:00.005-05:00

These are the short tales of 1. The Correction I Made to the Sumner Library, 2. The Amazing Gender-Changing Kitten, and 3. The Cricket in My Ceiling.

Story 1:

Today I further cemented the fact that I am a nerd. I went to the library today, and while browsing the animal section, locating books about cats I came across a book that was all about cheese, and was mostly cheese recipes. At first I thought maybe it had something to do with mice, but that was before I saw all the cheese recipes. Then I thought it was placed on the wrong shelf. (After all, the 636s--animals, were very close to the 637s--cook books.) but no. The catalog number was a 636. So what did I do? I took it to the front counter and explained to the librarian that this cheese cookbook has been assigned the wrong catalog number by some mistake and did not belong in the 636s with the other books about animals. (I also re-shelved 4 books that were out of place, but I didn't tell her that.)

So that was my good deed for the day.

Ooooooh, Vogel Library... The things that I never had to do [shelf-reading] that are yet instilled in me...

Story 2:

I found out that my kitten is a boy. So I have to nix all the girl names I was thinking of and switch gears. (I was pretty set on Calliope too!) So far I like:

Watson
Holmes
Samwise
Merry
Prospero
Laertes

Feel free to add in your own suggestions or discuss what you think of my list so far.

I also found out, through extensive internet research, that my kitten is what they call a Lynx Point (or Tabby Point.) I mean, it's not a full bred Siamese, but still, that's kind of cool :-)

Story 3:

Last night there was a cricket IN MY CEILING! (I have a drop ceiling in my dining room.) And at first I thought it was the fridge whirring or something. But no. It was stupid cricket. It also took me a second to actually figure out where it was coming from.

I didn't have any bug-killer spray, other than this wasp/bee killer stuff, but I didn't want to spray that in the house for a cricket. So I used hairspray. And for an hour I would spray hairspray into the space between the real ceiling and the drop ceiling in hopes that I got the stupid bug. After each time I did this the bug would be quiet for about 10 minutes... Just long enough for me to think I got it. Finally, as I was drowning in aerosol fumes, and after talking apart almost half of my drop ceiling, looking for this thing, I FOUND IT. I managed to move the right ceiling panel and it dropped to the floor, where I proceeded to stomp the living daylights out of it.

I don't like bugs.
______________

And those are the stories of my library nerdiness, my boy kitten that I thought was a girl, and the cricket that taught me how to take apart and put back together a drop ceiling.

Birthday List... Updated a little.

2009-09-17T16:38:00.006-05:00

Okay, my grandparents where wondering what I wanted for my birthday, so here's a list:

A kitchen utensil rest. (You know, those plate-like things that you set spatulas and spoons on... And no. I don't want to use a plate.)

A desk.

Any kind of shelving unit.

A water filter, that you attach to your faucet.

A big stirring spoon and another spatula.

An electric hand mixer.

A carpet sweeper.

A couch slip cover.

Floor lamps, hanging lamps, pretty much any sort of lighting fixture.

A subscription to the magazine Mental_Floss.

A cookbook... Like one from Better Homes and Gardens or Betty Crocker.

A coffee maker.

A small teflon-lined frying pan.

You can also view my Amazon.com wish list HERE, to get an idea of what other things I would like.

This whole thing is subject to change, but not until after my birthday.

Fireflies...

2009-09-16T22:54:00.004-05:00

Check out this video on YouTube. Mary just Facebooked it to me, and it is super cool!

Also, I was sick yesterday and I couldn't go to school. I managed to take care of myself. My stomach didn't hate me as long as I didn't move and stayed laying down.

So I watched Gone with the Wind. Although that didn't solve the problem 100%, it did make it better. That is a looooooong movie!

Today I was well enough to go back to school and teach, although I was tired. After school I went shopping with the chorus teacher at Tripoli for costumes for Suessical and we ate at Perkins for dinner, and it was my first real meal since Monday night. Yay food!

Now I'm back home and ready to go to bed.

Time Lord Rock revisited...

2009-09-12T00:11:00.002-05:00

I forgot about this....

Shoot. I should get to writing some of these songs... Allonsy is already finished... But that's the only one....

Kids say funny stuff...

2009-09-11T23:26:00.005-05:00

I should mention here, for the sake of being preserved in this blog, and the bowels of the internet, and for the entertainment of all who read this blog...

On Wednesday, one of my kindergartners was trying to get my attention... And was having trouble remembering what it actually was... So he came up with the closest thing he could think of... In terms of long words that begin with the letter S....

And suddenly, my name changed to: "Mrs. Sandwich."

I have heard many variations of my last name... But I must say that "Sandwich" is a first. It was all I could do to keep myself from falling over the floor laughing. It was very very very funny, and very cute!

I did remind him of what my name *was* and he was like "Oh, yeah..." and then asked his question using my correct last name.

LOL, now I kind of want to use it as perhaps my alter-ego.... Mrs. Sandwich.... (Anyone remember this book?)

Numbers...

2009-09-09T23:48:00.001-05:00

Happy 09-09-09!

That is all.

Weekend well spent...

2009-09-07T22:34:00.006-05:00

... I guess.

Overall, I would say yes.

Rachel V. came Friday night and that was really cool to see her! :-) I cooked up some Chinese and we watched No Reservations and had brownies for dessert. Then we watched YouTube videos for another 3 hours. :-) It was awesome!

Saturday, Rachel V. left about 8am, so that left me the whole day to get stuff done. So after Rachel left, I went back to bed for another hour or so. Then I got up, had breakfast, unpacked while watching Pan's Labyrinth (weeeeird movie...) and then went drove around to see if any of the local banks were open. Negatory. So I only had enough money to do two loads of laundry, but I made it work. Then I went to church and after that I got a call from Rachel D. who told me that some good-for-nothing turd-face stole 2 loads of her laundry from the washers in the laundry room. LAME!

Not cool whomever you are. Not cool.

Saturday night I cleaned and then unpacked while watching Phantom of the Oprea.

Oh, yeah. I've resolved that I will not allow myself to get a Netflix account until I have watched all the movies that I own. Except for Peter Pan. I lent it to someone freshman year of college and it's never had a disk since. This is mostly a ploy to extend the time before I actually DO get a Netflix account... Mainly, after payday. I should rent some DVDs from the library too...

Anyway! Sunday I unpacked some more and then went to school to do some lesson planning. I got most of it done and came back and kind of took a break. Mainly, ate dinner and watched The Mentalist. :-)

Today I also spent most of the day at school finishing up my lesson planning and getting all the supplies and materials ready that I need for my lessons this week... And I did a new bulletin board, which is pretty sweet, if I do say so myself. :-)

Next week is going to be all about pirates, since next Saturday is International Talk Like a Pirate Day! (And Rachel D.'s birthday, AND Hermione Granger's birthday too...) It will be fun! I can't waaaaaaaiiiit! :-D

While I was unpacking tonight, I came across two of the three movements to the composition my class did for our 20th Century Music Class. Called "Ed i colpi del portello ma abbastanza non duro" (And the door slams, but not hard enough.) We called ourselves the "Serialist Killers" because it was a composition that used serialism. Ha! Puns! :-) Good Memories!

OH!! And I have found EVERYTHING that I have been missing. My Bible and devotional books were in some plastic drawers, where I had packed them... And my 3rd Harry Potter book was where I left it.... Underneath my open copy of the 2nd Harry Potter book.... Derrrrr. :-P Oh, well. At least those aren't lost anymore. Now if I could only find the fixture for my medusa lamp...

Also, do you know what is annoying??? Buying a 2-pack of 9 volt batteries for your two smoke-detectors... So you can be safe and all. Installing them. And then unpacking and finding an unopened pack of...... 9 volt batteries. Gah. :-P Oh well. My TV remote takes 9 volt. I'll just have to save them for that.

Okay, tomorrow I have school again. Let's hope this week goes better than the last. *crosses fingers*

Halfway found...

2009-09-03T22:01:00.005-05:00

Okay, so I found another box of books that I had been missing... I forgot that I had moved some of them around because they were too heavy to lift when they where all in one box. Oops.

BUT!

I'm still missing my Bible and my 3rd Harry Potter book. And some daily devotion books. WHERE ARE THEY???

Sometimes I wonder if I'm making any progress unpacking... And then I look at the growing pile of boxes on my porch and garbage bag full of paper-junk and conclude that, maybe I am just a little bit...

Tomorrow Rachel V. is coming to spend the night on her way home. It will be fun! Now... To clean up the house a little... Hmmmm....

Two nights ago, Geri texted me a picture of my little kitten! IT WAS SO CUTE! :-D I can't wait to see it when I go home the weekend of the 11th. (For Jessica's BIRTHDAY!) It's small and fluffy and has light markings like a Siamese (called seal point) but not the body structure of an oriental cat. Mom told me, that Geri told her that sometimes it purrs really loudly and really random times, like it can't control itself yet. Evidently my kitten is the biggest of the litter and was the first to open its eyes. The picture was soooo cuuuuuute..... Ahh! I can't wait to see it!

Mary said I should name it Boombox. But I said no. I will have a better name for it. Geri is pretty sure it's a girl. So far I like:

Rosalind
Rosamund
Calliope
Sylvia

Thoughts?

Nerdfighter video of dorkiness...

2009-09-02T22:45:00.001-05:00

I know, I know, I'm really silly and dorky and all that. But it was a lot of fun... And it all makes me smile, no matter what. :-)

And, I have an ugly couch, no?

Punk Music is a joke, it's really just Baroque...

2009-09-01T18:56:00.005-05:00

Happy 356th Birthday to Johann Pachelbel! A composer we all know and loooooooove! The "original one hit wonder" famous for composing Canon in D.

Remember this??? (with THIS?)

Aw, good memories... :-)

In other news, there was a DEAD MOUSE on the floor in my classroom today!!!! :-O I went and got the secretary because I didn't know what to do... There is nothing in the staff handbook that talks about dealing with dead animals.... So the secretary got a plastic bag and I picked it up and tied the bag and threw it away. (The secretary was totally creeped out... I was just like... Um, what do I do??? lol... Yay for camp!)

Yeah. It was an exciting day...

Unpacking...

2009-08-31T20:57:00.003-05:00

ALRIGHT.

I'm missing:

Harry Potter and the Prizoner of Azaban, PB American Edition
Dealing with Dragons, Calling on Dragons and Talking to Dragons, all by Patricia C. Wrede
My Bible (Pronounced bib-lee... jk... PG-13 btw... the clip.)
A couple daily devotional books

My Bible and my Harry Potter book were JUST there when I moved in!!! WHERE DID THEY GO????

I just set up my bookshelf and organized my books and for real... I'm MISSING SOME! :-(

LAME.

I'm a baaaaad bloggerrrrrrr!

2009-08-31T18:24:00.003-05:00

Hello all! So I have a million things to do... But this little voice keeps nagging at me "blogbloglbog" and this is way past due... But it's really hard to sit and blog when I just want all the unpacking to be DONE! :-P At yet here I am... Haha!

So.... Well, I have interwebs now, so no more going to the library. I also have finally invested in an external hard drive, so soon, (hopefuly) no more slow computer! It's still finishing up backing up my system, even though I started it YESTERDAY morning at, like, 11. :-P

Teaching at Tripoli is going well. I'm learning and the kids are learning and there are days that are better than others. But that'll happen anywhere. Today the schedule was a little crazy because it was picture day. Today was one of those lessons that looked good/cool/fun on paper, but when implemented in the classroom just kind of wimped out. So now I'm thinking of what to change/improve on for tomorrow's kids. Today I had the school lunch and did not die. :-)

Also I have a cold. Saturday night, I thought it was allergies, so I took one of my last allergy meds and it got better. BUT it was back Sunday morning, so I took the LAST allergy med, but that had no effect... And by the end of church my nose was plugged. (And yes Rachel V. I have been taking vitamins and working on getting good sleep.) I've been drinking lots of fluids. (Amanda M. the Treasure Island mug makes one awesome cup of PG Tips!) Today when I got home from school (which was also interesting because the right side of my nose is all stuffed up, and my left ear is plugged.) I stopped at Sumner Pharmacy and bought both allergy meds AND pseudoephedrine-that-is-not-pseudoephedrine. So hopefully that will help.

I also stopped at the Sumner Gazette and subscribed to their paper, so I will get "happy mail" and not just bills.

Saturday I went shopping with Rachel D., which is when I bought my external hard-drive. I also bought some shelves, which I put together last night, all by myself! I felt very accomplished, since the instructions specifically said it was a TWO person job. Which is probably why it took me 3 hours, but, hey it's put together and in place, all ready for me to load it with books and other things! I also bought a trendy little filing box so I can stop using my dining room floor as my sorting/storage area.

Like I mentioned earlier, unpacking is going slowly but surely. I took a box of clothes to Trinkets and Togs on Saturday and I have a partially full box of various knick-knacks that will be heading that way too. I really wish I had a desk.. I should probably go garage-saling to see if I can find one.

The weekend before LAST Rachel D. came over and helped me paint my kitchen. We had a slumber party and unpacked/went through some of my stuff. We had a lot of fun looking at my old artwork from various ages... (Not just HS! Or even MS! We're talking 5-year-old masterpieces...) One of my favorite being a picture of a stick person with bumps all up and down each leg, and the caption reads "This is me, with lots of knees." It reminds me of this picture Stephen drew for me my freshman year. :-) I have that picture hanging on my fridge as I type. It makes me happy! :-)

OH! Oh, oh oh!!! I'm getting a CAT! :-D I'm really excited! A at that belongs to a friend of my mom's, who's deck I stained this summer, had a litter of kittens! She said I may have one! :-) They were born August 15th, so sometime in October they should be old enough to move to a new home. There's 3 kittens, two black and one cream/Siamese point. I'm hoping the Siamese is a girl, b/c that's the one I'd like. I'm trying to think of names, but so far nothing too exciting. I think it'll help to see the kitten... And not just 8 hours after it was born.

Um... what else... Oh, I am the assistant director for Tripoli's high school musical! We are doing Suessical and I am excited! It should be a lot of fun! The HS choir director (also a Wartburg Grad) is the director and we just finished casting it last week. I don't know when rehearsals start, but I'm really excited for this show!

Okay, is that a good enough update for now? LOL! Hopefully I'll be able to start updating on a more regular basis!

Quick, quick, quick..

2009-08-26T19:34:00.003-05:00

Ahhh! I have so much to catch you all up on!!! But I'm at the library with very little time left, let alone enough time to write a decent post.

Keep your fingers crossed that the Mediacom man comes tomorrow after I'm home from school. Then I will have interwebz.

Moved out, moved in, 3 days until school!

2009-08-14T23:17:00.002-05:00

Hello everyone! It's been 14 days since I last blogged, sorry... Things have been so crazy! I am in Clear Lake for the weekend, which is why I have internet access... I don't have anything hooked up at my house in Sumner! I'm also writing this on my parent's new HP desktop... Because I forgot the power cord for my laptop in Sumner. :-P

Well, like I said things have been so crazy these last two weeks! I am almost 100% moved over to Sumner. I just have a couple boxes that are too heavy for me to lift on my own and some knick-knacks around the house. I wish I could say that I am unpacked at my house, but alas, I am not. I've unpacked my clothes and my dishes... And that's about it. I also still need to finish painting the Kitchen--Everything else is done! Then I can start putting up pictures and posters! :-) Oh, and Christmas lights.

So I've had 2 official days of work put in as the new elementary music teacher at Tripoli. I've been working like mad all week trying to get my classroom in some order, since literally EVERYTHING was moved out when my room got new paint and new carpet. It looks really sharp! :-) There's been lots of sorting through instruments, putting away random versions of music-themed BINGO and decorating the room and bulletin boards. It's fun, but as always, I wish I had more time. I also need to work on lesson planning. I think one of the important things I've learned in the past two days of orientation/information/planning is that my job is Kindergarten through 5th grade General Music *AND* 5th grade band. I just thought it was k-4 general music, but the buildings are set up differently, so I get to do 5th grade general music too. :-)

I'm really excited for the whole thing. Nervous too, but excited. I've met a lot of really nice people at the school, and everyone I've talked to, including the elementary Principal and the Superintendent have been extremely helpful. I also have a really good mentor, who teaches 3 classrooms down from me. :-)

Okay, I am falling asleep at the computer... Sorry for being so short, but hopefully I'll post more tomorrow. I said I would take Daniel to work at 8am, and then I'm going to FINISH staining a deck.

Fifteen books...

2009-07-31T18:41:00.005-05:00

Don’t take too long to think about it. List 15 books you’ve read that will always stick with you. First fifteen you can recall in no more than 15 minutes.

1. Harry Potter, by JK Rowling

2. Chronicles of Narnia, by C. S. Lewis

3. The Dark is Rising Series, by Susan Cooper

4. The Enchanted Forest Chronicles, by Patricia C. Wrede

5. The Lord of the Rings, by J. R. R. Tolkien

6. 10 Apples Up on Top, by Theo LeSieg

7. Small Pig, by Arnold Lobel

8. Norton Anthology of Music: A History of Western Music, by J. Peter Burkholder, Donald J. Grout and Claude V. Palisca

9. Twilight, by Stephanie Meyer

10. Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, by Mark Twain

11. The Little House books, by Laura Ingalls Wilder

12. The History of the World in 6 Glasses, by Tom Standage

13. Ella Enchanted, by Gail Carson Levine

14. Frankenstein, by Mary Shelly

15. Grandpa's Teeth, by Rod Clement

I tag... Anyone else who wants to fill this out too...

House Pictures! (Click to make them bigger.)

2009-07-30T20:24:00.019-05:00

Okay, this is what I have for now... In terms of pictures of my house. I have more, but they're along the lines of "this was here before I moved in" and not very interesting.

The outside of my house. That's the front door and the side door on the right. It's yellow, but it looks kind of white in this picture.

This is the porch, filled with all the stuff we brought to begin cleaning. The lady who owned the house before me had her own beauty parlour and this was where it was. I don't know why she used red all-purpose outdoor carpet. Or why she carpeted it half up the wall. (Which you can't really see in this picture. But yeah.)

This is my living room, looking through to the dining room and kitchen. The chair and TV will be hauled out. I'm ditching the pink curtains.

Part of my kitchen. The window looks out to the top of my garage and the city garages and skate park.

My teeny gas stove. It's kind of cute. To the left goes to a random room. It was damaged by the flood last year. That's also where the other not-working bathroom is. We think it used to be a garage. The side door is in there too. Before you get to the random room, if you turn right, you will descend into the creepy basement.

These pics are from yesterday:

Jessica pouring the paint for the living room. It's called "warm shawl" but that isn't very descriptive. It's a sea-foam green color.

It's my house, so I got the first honors of starting the whole process. I rollered and Jessica did ALL the trim!

Ta-dah!!!! 6 hours later, it's done and looks BEAUTIFUL!

Jessica wanted to paint the bathroom herself, and not let me see until it was done. This was the picture she took of the action. :-) The bathroom color was called "iceberg" but it's more of a light aquamarine. (And it dries a little darker than it looks in this picture.) I really like it!

I don't have pictures of the dining room color, but that is in the process of being painted a lovely sunflower yellow. (Called "carried away.") I suppose I'll have to take some of those and post it too. :-) The kitchen and the two bedrooms are going to be painted white. Boring, I know, but the kitchen actually doesn't have a lot of real wall to paint. A lot of it is plastic counter-like stuff. And since you can see through the house from the living room to the kitchen, that'd be ANOTHER color I'd have to coordinate. And white bedroom walls. Well, let's face it. They're going to be covered in posters anyway. Especially the bedroom I'm taking... Which it's vintage wood paneling. Joy. :-) Posters will be EVERYWHERE!

Upon discussing the utter creepiness of my basement with Jessica, I have decided to act like the Dursleys and treat my basement like Harry Potter. Translation: Maybe if I ignore it, it doesn't exist. Hopefully I don't have to go down there... Like. Ever.

Okay, I'm exhausted... Time for bed!!!

Guess what, guess what???

2009-07-28T23:26:00.007-05:00

I have a place to liiiiiiiiiiive!!!!! I've been praying so HARD! And yesterday, while we were looking at a bunch of other places my mom ended up randomly talking to the right people and found me find a place!!!!!!! :-D

I am renting a little house in Sumner, Iowa. It's yellow and it used to belong to a little old lady. It has a creepy basement. But other than that, it's kind of cute. And it's 10 minutes from Tripoli, where I'll be working.

The house has 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms (although one doesn't work yet. The water is shut off on that part of the house), a living room, a kitchen with a small gas stove and a fridge, 3-season porch-thing, and a small lean-to garage. My landlord said he would provide me with a microwave, a lawnmower, and a washer and dryer. He has also provided me with some random kitchen utensils that he had, and figured I could use, including a brand-new wok and a lovely red teapot! He is also going to re-shingle the roof of the garage and has helped fix one of the doors to the working bathroom because it didn't shut. He is also working on touching up the paint on the outside of the house.

My family and I, including Jessica, are helping fix the place up a little. My landlord said I could paint the inside whatever colors I'd like, (as long as it's not something dark or ridiculous) and he'd pay for the paint. That's what Jessica and I are going to do tomorrow.... Paint, paint, paint! Today mom and I cleaned. Mom vacuumed and shampooed the carpet, and cleaned the working bathroom. I spackled all the holes in the wall.... THERE WERE DOZENS OF THEM! This lady was crazy about hanging things on the wall with GIANT nails that were meant to NEVER come down EVER. So I spackled and spackled and spackled. And then I unscrewed all the outlet covers and air vents and dusted for cobwebs. Like I said. Tomorrow we paint.

I have pictures, but I need to find the cord for my camera. It's gone missing...

Another bonus about my house is that it's right in front of the city garages where they store the snowplows and stuff.... And my driveway is part of their parking lot... So when it snows, I'll literally the first person plowed out! :-) I'm also one block from downtown and 3 blocks from the local library. AND the movie theatre in Sumner is $0.99. Major WIN!

A major LOSE is that we need to start going on mouse patrol and plugging up holes and stuff before it starts getting cold... Like, normal "it's getting to be winter" -cold. Not "50 degrees at night during the end of July" -global warming cold. There is no "evidence" of mice, other than random little bits of steal wool shoved in random places. And the house is old... Like... Built in the 30s-40s I think. (Aka.... creeeeeepy basement. Did I mention it has a crawlspace?)

Okay, that's all I have for now, aside from posting today's XKCD comic, which seems to be about perfect. Timing-wise anyway! :-)

Children of Earth...

2009-07-23T01:05:00.003-05:00

OMG TORCHWOOD!!!!!

That's about all I have to say... I don't want to spoil anything... BUT OMG!!!!! IT'S SO GOOD!

AND VERY CREEPY! Rachel V. and I are watching it and all I'm thinking is: Where's the Doctor? This is really bad!!! WHERE'S the DOCTOR????

But the Doctor isn't coming... Because this is TORCHWOOD. And they can do it! Eventually.... After a lot of suspense and stuff......

Wow.... Captain Jack.... is ~dreamy~

What is it about a man in suit pants, a nice collard shirt, suspenders and a long blue wool, army-issued coat that makes him even more ridiculously attractive??? *siiiiigh*

Save the day Torchwood! I don't think my fangirly heart could survive any other way!!!

Job job job...

2009-07-16T14:47:00.004-05:00

Okay, so now I can officially announce it, since I've been approved by the school board and am now an employee. :-)

I have accepted a position at Tripoli Schools as their elementary general music teacher, and 5th grade band instructor. I am really excited! I got to see my classroom yesterday and go through some of the filing cabinets and other classroom materials that are there at the school. It was really fun, although I have a lot of work to do. I also got my keys and got to meet a couple of the people on staff.

The only downside is that it's only part time, so I will have to find a second job somewhere... Which I think I can handle. I mean, you do what you can to make ends meet, right?

Another thing that I find amusing is that I'll be living in the Waverly area again.... I just graduated from Wartburg and thought I would be getting away from the Cedar Vally area... And then... I'm back! Haha! Surprise! Oh well, at least I know the area.

But yeah, I am really really excited about this job... I get to work with the leeeeettle kids! :-D

Now what I need to do is to FIND AN APARTMENT! I *need* an apartment!!!!

I have walked on the Wibbly-Wobbly Bridge and Survived...

2009-07-15T02:53:00.002-05:00

I saw Harry Potter. ~8-D

It was very entertaining.

In fact, I think this movie is starting to get back on track... I'll even go as far as to say, well done!

Jessica and I got soaking wet standing in line, with torrential winds and pouring pouring POURING buckets of rain!

We earned those tickets gosh-darn-it! We're hardcore. Pictures later.

Now, I must go to bed.

An errant need...

2009-07-09T12:14:00.004-05:00

So, while browsing Wikipedia... Because I randomly check it to see what the featured articles are... Today they had one about bowdlerized street names in England and how they used to reflect the type of work that went on in that area. (Baker Street, Threadneedle Street etc., although those are not the bowdlerized ones...) Our tour guide at the Globe Theatre touched on this subject, but it's hard to find anything specific online.

So through my reading of the Wikipedia article, I have come across these three books, which interest me greatly. Unfortunately, I do not have the funds to procure them... Maybe someday...

Discovering London Street Names, By John Wittich

The Street Names of England, By Adrian Room

A Dictionary of True Etymologies by Adrian Room

Without the City Wall: An Adventure in London Street Names, By Hector Bolitho and Derek Peel

Don't those books sound like they'd be right up my alley? (Haha! I couldn't resist!) Perfect for someone like me who loves random facts and trivia knowledge and knowing the origins of things...

I do already have a book, that I purchased while on my trip to England, about the origins on the names of the various tube stations in the London underground. That's cool too. But it's packed away at the moment... With all my other England stuff.

... I also need to invest in a good music dictionary...

A good long update...

2009-07-08T22:52:00.007-05:00

It's been a while since I've written a decent post updating the interwebs, so I should probably do that...

The last weekend of June was Isaac and Laura's wedding. It was really beautiful, and I certainly had a good time and enjoyed being able to be there and show my support for my two friends. Everything about the ceremony was wonderful and the reception was a good time. :-) If something went wrong or not as planned I didn't notice. I got to hang out with Bre and her family for the day and it was nice to visit with them and catch up with some other friends that I knew.

It was also good to hear, in the message, that the husband should never stop courting his wife. That just because they're married he should never stop showing his love. Hearing that my brain went "ding" and it just reaffirmed some topics that I had been discussing with Jessica, Bre and the Rachels.

That Sunday, the 28th, Jessica and I had a "girl day" and we made Avocado Feta Salsa and watched the last 5 episodes of a season in America's Next Top Model. Then we watched an episode of "Bridezillas" (never again... whew!) and we topped off the day with STAR WARS: A NEW HOPE. We're watching the whole series, from episode I to episode VI... Since it's been ages since either of us have seen the original trilogy and Jessica hadn't seen all of the prequels.

Now I'm trying to get the library's copy of Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi.

On Tuesday Rachel D. came and visited and that was lots of fun! She had to take the last requirements for Wartburg's piano basic skills test, which was 1pm on Wednesday, July 1st. Wednesday Rachel and I went to Wartburg, Rachel took her piano test and PASSED! :-D Which means she will graduate on time and be able to student teach in the fall! YAY! We then had delicious Chinese for lunch at our favorite Chinese buffet and then drove home... And rented RV and Desk Set from the Library. We watched RV and then that night we met up with Jill and went to city park and walked about the carnival that was in town for the 4th to see the sights. We then all chipped in for a funnel cake and ate it while we sat by the lake. When Rachel and I got back we watched Desk Set. (I love that movie!)

Late Thursday morning, Rachel and I biked downtown for some delicious Cabin Coffee. :-) We then proceeded to bike around the lake... And which a great misunderstanding ensued. I thought Rachel knew how far it was around the lake. And she had no idea it was 14 miles and she hadn't really biked since she was 16. So when we got back, she was way tired and decided to stay another night! :-D I had rehearsal for Mason City's municipal band and after that we met up with Brett and Jill for dollar bowling and that was really fun!

On the 3rd, Rachel took off for home. :-( I tried to convince her to stay and swim across the lake with me, but she declined. We'll just have to save that for next time. :-) That night I played (in the rain) with the Mason City municipal band and that went well. It was fun! :-) I enjoy playing patriotic music, especially the Armed Forces Salute when all the people who have served our country stand up to be acknowledged when their song comes up. After the concert Mason City sets off their fireworks and I sat in my car in the rain and watched, while eating free, but very very salty popcorn.

July 4th was fun, but not very eventful... Got up and went to the parade. Came back and slept for 2 hours. Then I watched 3 episodes of NCIS (which is one of my new TV addictions... More on that later...) I met up with Jill, Brett, Anne and some of their friends for Clear Lake's fireworks and that was fun. It was a good show this year and the night was mostly clear, not buggy and cool. The only downside was that there was no wind--not even a breeze, so the smoke from the fireworks didn't blow away... It just sort of lingered, so when the grand finale started some of the smoke was obscuring the full brilliance of the pyrotechnic glory. Oh, well, it was still fun! :-)

I spent Sunday watching more NCIS. In fact, I finished the entire first season. :-)

And that's an update on most of the "stuff" that's led up to now.

Jessica and I have been exercising fairly consistently this whole summer. We go jogging almost every day. We're up to almost 2 miles, but I still can't make it jogging the whole way. If I focus, I can usually make it about 1.5 miles before I walk for a while and alternate between jogging and walking the rest of the way. I usually don't cramp up anymore, though, which is nice!

This week I've also been biking a lot. Jessica, and her mom have invited me to come along with them to Lanesboro to go camping and biking for the weekend, and they're thinking about going this weekend. I'm excited, it should be fun!

Okay, so TV shows... I've always enjoyed NCIS, but the times I've watched it have been few and far between... Mary and my parents have been way more into it... Mary even dressed up as Abby for Hallowe'en. But since we have seasons 1 and 2 on DVD I have started watching them.... AHH! They're so fun! They're so entertaining! And suspenseful!!! And it's different... I mean, I really feel like the characters are written as individuals with their own specific quirks and personality traits that really makes them believable, and how they all interact with each other makes the whole show ten times more amusing and entertaining.

Mary, Rachel D. and I all agree that we *would* say yes to date with the character Tony DiNozzo... Because he would be ridiculously fun to flirt with and seems to be someone who you could just go out with and have a good time. :-) And he's probably a good kisser. ^_^

ANOTHER good TV show that I've started watching, upon Jessica's urging, and really REALLY enjoying is The Mentalist, starring Simon Baker. Who. Is. DREAMY! And handsome and evidently from Australia! (I didn't know this until I looked him up on IMDB... He's plays an American in the show.) *siiiigh* He has great hair and gorgeous blue eyes.... :-D And of course, the whole premise of the TV show is highly entertaining too... A TV psychic working with the California Bureau of Investigation to help solve mysteries, based on his talents of reading people's body language, interpreting their inflections and interacting with them. So cool! :-)

(For the record, since I seem to be on a roll: I am also in love with Craig Ferguson and David Tennant.)

And I'm not gonna lie, I'm kind of interested in seeing what The Vampire Diaries has in store this fall on CW. I mean, it looks like a total Twilight knock-off... Which I think is why I'm intrigued. :-) Hopefully they won't claim that the French Revolution was really a mass execution of vampires... *cough* Moonlight *cough*

Oh, and speaking of the undead, I am currently reading Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith. It is very very brilliant and entertaining! I really like it! Grahame-Smith takes the original Austen text and just manipulates it and adds... Zombies! It sounds bizarre, and it is, but really, it's fiction.... And very amusing and at times very very clever! The book opens with the lines:

"It is a truth universally acknowledged that a zombie in possession of brains much be in want of more brains."

Read it! It's awesome! :-D Elizabeth Bennet and her sisters are masters of the "deadly arts" and have sworn to fight and destroy the "unmentionables" aka zombies. (It is of course, Regency England, so proper decorum must be maintained at all times. Even when talking about things such as zombies...)

Okay, how was that for an update? :-) I'm off to shower and go to bed.

Until the next!

P.S. Harry Potter comes out on the 15th! I'M EXCITED!!!!!!!!!

Happy 4th cont.

2009-07-04T16:57:00.002-05:00

This was too spectacularly good to pass up and not share:

Independence Day!

2009-07-04T12:01:00.002-05:00

Happy 4th of July!

I'm exciiiiiited!!!!

2009-06-27T10:22:00.003-05:00

Isaac and Laura are getting married today!!!!! :-D :-D :-D

Approx. 16 total applications, 5 rejection letters, 4 interviews, 2 "we've chosen someone else" phone calls, 4 status currently "unknown."

2009-06-27T00:35:00.007-05:00

And 0 new jobs posted in the last week and a half. At least.

I just want a job. A band job, teaching children.

Is that too much to ask???

I've been waiting.

And waiting and waiting...

And putting on a brave face.

But it's hard.

Especially when you see other people your age getting jobs upon graduation. I should have gotten my lazy butt in gear and put in an application too.

I also had to field my first "so, you graduated from college, do you have a boyfriend?" question. After of course, I had been asked if I had a job yet. When I replied that while, I did have a boyfriend, we just broke up after six months, I was jokingly pronounced "too much to handle."

I know this comment wasn't meant with any ill intent. But it's not really what I want to hear right now.

A metaphor...

2009-06-20T14:37:00.003-05:00

I have a small fortune in wonderful words that no longer hold any value in the economic state of my life. Like wooden nickels or German marks... The circumstances that gave them value and worth no longer exist...

... I suppose every break-up goes through this... I'm not any different...

But it still hurts.

Lunch counter mornings and coffee shop nights...

2009-06-19T21:53:00.000-05:00

Who am I fooling????

I used to be so genuinely happy.

I'm having problems adjusting to aspects of this new mediocrity of living.

Makin' my way downtown,
Walkin' fast,
Faces pass and I'm homebound.

Starin' blankly ahead,
Just makin' my way,
Makin' a way through the crowd.

And fiction has once again become better than real life.

All I see is,
All I want is tearing from inside...

Mom was right. It hurts. But is was too deep for me to feel until more time had passed... Like a bruise sustained by deep tissue... The mark doesn't show up right away....

Don't give up
Because you want to burn bright...

I understand why. I agree why... But it's hard...

"...You need to think of a memory. Not just any memory, a very happy memory, a very powerful memory… Allow it to fill you up…lose yourself in it…" -Remus Lupin, Prisoner of Azkaban.

Thinking back almost 7 months ago.... It hurts.... I. was. so. blissfully. happy....

...I just want to let go and move on. I don't want to be bitter. Or angry. But I worked so hard! It's hard for my nature to just stop and give up on something that I cared and prayed about for so long.

But it's fine, it's fine, it's fine
I mean, I'm happy
And I'm fine, I'm fine, I'm fine
It's not a problem,
It's just a challenge...

It's not denial. It's just me wanting my way. Because I'm headstrong like that.

Sun been down for days
A winter melody she plays
The thunder makes her contemplate
She hears a noise behind the gate
Perhaps a letter with a dove
Perhaps a stranger she could love..

It's hard to get back to thinking someday, someday, someday, this and this and this will happen and it will all work out and be wonderful. I just need to work on letting myself trust in God's will and in God's time.

...Because alone is alone, not alive...
___

"No boy is worth crying over, and the one who is will never make you cry."

To quote Isaac:

"The idea that there is someone important in your life, especially one you care about, who will "never make you cry" is absurd. Relationships are about getting your feelings hurt. It's about people failing your expectations. It's about you finding out when to get tougher skin and when to adapt your expectations."

It's true. And I have stupidly held onto that quote for ages and ages and ages... No more.

"...Sometimes life is about letting go and starting over. And that, as sad as it is, goes with a lot of crying."

I think.... I think I just need to keep reminding myself that it's okay to cry.... And that everything will be okay. Eventually...

Keeping busy...

2009-06-17T23:20:00.003-05:00

I had two job interviews over the past two days and so I feel like I have been driving the length and width of Iowa... Lots of filling the car up with gas. :-P

Please keep me and those two jobs in your good thoughts and prayers. :-)

I had about a 4.5 hour drive home this afternoon.... I had a lot of fun cruising the back highways of Iowa, with the windows down, listening to country music and eating sunflower seeds. I passed 5 tractors, and saw at least 30 fields of cows and 10 cemeteries. I also drove along a part of highway labeled "Johnny Carson Blvd." It was awesome. :-)

I *did* get to eat at my favorite sushi place, Taki, last night. It ended up not being so bad that I was lame and by myself. I had fun shamelessly flirting with the waiter. :-)

I have acquired a super lame sunburn and it's to the point where it's really itchy, but really tender. I hope it clears up before Isaac and Laura's wedding...

It's supposed to thunderstorm tonight... That would be cool...

David Tennant is scheduled to be at Comic Con in San Diego at then end of July.... *dies* I wish I could at least AFFORD to go.... I wouldn't even be able to see him though... The event is completely sold out already. But still... Something crazy needs to happen to bring him to Iowa. Or at least Chicago.

Jessica and I have been keeping up our running schedule fairly well, aside from the days when it rains. We've been doing about a mile at a time and today we upped our distance to 1.3 miles. Despite the 80 degree weather and noticeable humidity it was a good run. I've noticed I recover faster (like when I get out of breath) and that is nice--and a sure sign that I am getting in better shape! We plan on running tomorrow morning, as long as it doesn't rain... I am in charge of making that call.

In other news, I recommend this website: Thrift Horror! People post the "treasures" they find at their local second-hand stores... It's highly entertaining!

I have more intriguing things to write, but I feel I need to let them percolate a bit more...

My heart knows a lovely song
It whistles it all day long
If you know the melody
Please whistle it back to me…

See, I'm smiling.... That means we're gonna be okay...

2009-06-14T00:14:00.001-05:00

But it's fine, it's fine, it's fine
I mean, I'm happy
And I'm fine, I'm fine, I'm fine

Honestly:

2009-06-13T10:33:00.003-05:00

I'm terrified.

This requires a different kind of bravery.