Pick me! Pick me!

I am so excited! I just applied for a summer fellowship with the Industry Initiatives for Science and Math Education. They place teachers to work for "high-performance work sites" for the summer, with the goal of teachers taking back to their schools knowledge of what students will need to know for the workplace. If I'm selected, I would work in the corporate world for 8 weeks on a project, and get to spend 10% of my time designing a project for my classroom, using what I've learned from the summer experience. And, I'd get paid!

I'm really hoping to get a fellowship doing curriculum design. Some of the sample jobs were things like working for Adobe to create teacher training workshops on using Adobe software in the classroom. I would absolutely LOVE that. I'd get to learn something new about computers (yes!), and design curriculum (yes!). I know my inner geek is coming out, but I really hope I get a great fellowship. And corporate experience will definitely look good on my resume.

Oh, and the cat has nothing to do with this post. I just like it when cats do "cat eyes," where they slowly blink their eyes at you. It seems like some sort of zen acknowledgment of you.

Visual Aids

I have been prompted by Donna's blog entry to add a visual aid from the Chuck Close exhibit.

An Oustanding Description of Adolescents

This morning I've been reading "Meet Me In the Middle" by Rick Wormelli. In it he quotes Carol G. Freeman on surviving adolescence:

"These are the years in which they learn how to interact with the world around them. At times they will lie, cheat, bully, and make you want to volunteer them to test bungee cords. However, keep in mind that they are a work in progress and may be super-gluing their tongue to thier locker one day and organizing a recycling effor the next. Therefore, we must view thier indiscretions as opportunities for growth. But we must make it absolutely clear that we place a high value on respect and be prepared to stand by this priority."

Well said. Especially the super-glue part.

little earthquakes

I think I felt a tiny earthquake today, around noon. I suppose it could have been aircraft taking off though...

Post-O-Rama

I guess I just have a lot to say today.

This weekend was a fine one. Yesterday I went to the San Francisco MOMA with some friends, and then to another gallery with amazing photographs of fire in landscapes, at least that's what I think you would call them.

The MOMA had a Chuck Close exhibit which was really cool. I hadn't ever thought about artists as having very strategic, mathematical processes for creating their art, but Close must've spent oodles of time planning out every tiny bit of his paintings. They had some of his studies and grids on display that show exactly how he would map out a photograph to turn it into a painting. I can't imagine spending all that time meticulously choosing colors and patterns getting the effect he wanted. I think it's amazing, but I never really knew that artists were so logical, as flippant as that sounds. I always imagined that you started a painting, and it sort of evolved as you went, ala Bob Ross.

You learn something new every day.

Oh, and we watched the Olympics after the museum. I also learned something new from Mr. Bob Costas--the Olympic games are the civic maypole around which we dance. No, he really said that. And there was something about olympic pixie dust...

Is this because you were home-schooled?

I almost forgot we had another moment with the previously home-schooled kid this week.

My 8th graders are supposed to be using their class time as of late to take notes for their research papers. Becky and I have given them pretty specific guidelines, with 6 essential questions they're trying to answer. We've talked about how to take notes, done some examples, and talked about how many notecards you should have to answer each essential question.

So early in the week I announce to the kids the deadline for finishing their notecards. As I talked about it, I repeated our expectations that they should have approximately 3-4 notecards per question. (8th graders HATE ambiguity)

Previously home-schooled kid raises his hand and says:

"Um, if the information I've been taking on my note cards, from all the books I've read, have nothing to do with the questions you were talking about, what should I do?"

I looked around the room, because often the other students can see how difficult it will be for me to answer this kid without being openly facetious, and sure enough, a few were watching to see what would happen.

To give myself time to think, I often repeat the kids' questions. So I say "So, what you're telling me is that the information you've been gathering for the last two weeks has nothing to do with the questions we've asked you to answer?"

And straight-faced--"Yeah."

Me: "Ok. STOP! Don't write down anything else that has nothing to do with the assignment, and focus all of your energy from here on out on answering the questions that were given to you."

Him: "Oh, okay."

Me, internally, but really wanting to say it out loud: "Is this because you were home-schooled?"

Heart of Darkness

Here's a good kid story, or at least mildly funny.

Two kids in one of my 8th grade classes have been arguing over a pencil for a few days. Everyday M comes in and screams "L took my pencil!" Yes, this is the balls boy. So today the argument went on and on. She says he let her borrow it, he says she stole it.

Anyway, I was sick of it, and said "Well, M, if it's that big of a deal, go talk to the principal about it."

And he looks at me and with huge eyes says "But she has a heart full of darkness!"

So I say "Yes, and so do you and all the rest of us in this room."

And he counters with "Yeah, but hers is pitch black!"

I'm not sure if the humor in that comes across, but M's voice is sort of like what you would imagine if Cookie Monster was human. In real life, it was hilarious.

Bon Bagay

I've decided to go back to Haiti for a visit in June, and so I've been catching up with some people I know there. I've been surprised to find so many of them have websites now. I've been reading them lately, and they've sort of re-oriented me into thinking more humbly.

Here is a great blog, written by people I don't know and have never met. But, the expatriate community there is so small I'm sure we have friends in common. Their blog is a good intro. to life in Haiti, and they're from MN so they feel like family. Their blog gives a lot of the details of the daily trials and tribulations involved in living and working in Haiti, and some good visuals as well.

To the Least of These is the website of missionaries John and Jody Ackerman. Their daughters went to Quisqueya when I taught there. John was the doctor for all the teachers, and always brought us fresh bagels from the Baptist Mission. They're the definition of good people.

Here's another blog, from Phil and Lonnie Murphy, also missionaries in Haiti. Their son David was in my very first class, although from the pictures he's way old now, probably in high school. They're very into sustainable agriculture in Haiti. I remember my friend Charity saying that Phil would bring suitcases of soda cans to Miami to recycle them since facilities weren't available for that in Haiti.

And last, but certainly not least, my good friend Charity's blog. Charity has been working and living in Haiti for way too long, maybe 5 or 6 years. She and I were roommates the year I was there, and she is definitely what kept me sane. And helped me to have some fun. She's the one I'm going to visit.

If anyone's interested, there are some good books set in and around Haiti as well. My favorite is probably The Comedians, by Graham Greene. I stole (borrowed?) this from Amanda, and never gave it back. Sorry, Panda! Anyway, it gives quite an accurate feeling of the desperation and fear that exists in Haitian life. Another favorite is Breath, Eyes, Memory by Edwidge Danticant. She's actually written quite a few books that give a glimpse into Haiti. An interesting, but long read is Song of Haiti, the story of Gwen and Larry Mellon who set up a hospital in the central valley of Haiti.

Hey! That's my uncle!

As I was scrapbooking today I had the tv on, and was watching a program called "The Ebay Effect" on CNBC. As I was watching, I saw this guy who looked familiar, and it turns out it was my uncle! He was at some Ebay convention (he's appearantly a Powerseller), and he was caught on camera.

Super Productive!

I love President's Day weekend. Usually when we have a long weekend from school I spend a lot of time in pajamas and don't get anything done. Not so this weekend. I have been productive, and crafty! Yes, I can be crafty at times. Here's what I've accomplished:

• Cleaned the entire apartment--picked up, vacuumed, dusted, etc. And if you know me, you know this is a feat in itself
• Scrapbooked! Every once in a while I get the urge to make something. When I was little it used to happen on Sunday afternoons, and so my mom would end up with some bizarre earring holder. Now, I scrapbook. Just to clarify though--paper, pictures, and occasionally cutting in circles and/or ovals. No stickers. Ever.
• Cleaned out the fridge
• Bought and potted plants. I'm hoping they live.
• Went to the library, both the largest one west of the Mississippi, and my newly re-opened neighborhood library
• Framed pictures that have been waiting to be framed for months and months
• Compiled my tax information for my tax guy
• Returned movies that have been waiting to hit the mail for weeks
  

It feels good to have a list. Not that anyone else should find it interesting. :)

It's a Dutch Bingo small world after all

This morning at church (PA CRC again) I ran into a girl I knew in high school. Actually we didn't really know each other as such, but we knew who each other were. She's from Rock Valley, and her family goes to the same church that my brother and sister-in-law go to. Anyway, she sat down in the same row as me, and after the initial weirdness of "You look really familiar...are...you...Kristi De Ruyter?" we got it figured out.

The weirdest part of this is that although we weren't friends at all in high school, and her experience of Western was probably much more positive than mine, we have lead quite similar lives since then. She's a travel nurse, moving to different cities with nursing shortages. She's lived in about 3 or 4 different places since college, and spent some time in the Dominican Republic.

We had lunch together after church, and got to talking about N'west Iowa. We both agree that we appreciate a little more diversity, but I think we differ on whether or not it's okay to not really acknowledge or want to know about parts of the world other than N'west Iowa. I somehow feel that it's just plain wrong, even if just so that those who live there permanently can be more accepting of people different from themselves, even those in their midst. She seemed to think that it was fine if they want to stay in a closed community, but that for her she wanted something different.

A few months ago I heard something that sort of changed my mind, or at least softened. Wiseman Josh asked a question (at Christmas maybe?) about if everyone is so worried about the whole world, who's going to be paying attention to and taking care of the local community...a good point I think.

And to think I was feeling ungrateful when I left for church...and then I'm smacked in the face with blessings.

Can I sleep now in peace?

Preface: About a month ago, I stayed home for a morning from school to work on a teacher inservice on curriculum that I was leading. While I was working, I decided to bake blueberry muffins. I preheated the oven, and about 30 seconds after I put the muffins in the oven, the smoke detector started screeching. I freaked out, called maintenance, and Guillermo, our maintenance guy, came and pulled out the batteries. Right now, the smoke detector from the kitchen is sitting on the kitchen counter. I'm counting on the fact that there is one in the bedroom, and sprinklers everywhere, to save my life. Anyway, I have a fear of fire alarms...I set one off at my condo. in Charlotte last year after some broiling gone bad, and then it was connected to my home alarm system which meant ADT called me and sent firemen, you get the idea...

So tonight I'm checking my e-mail one last time before bed, about 11:30pm, when a fire alarm starts screeching. I know it's irrational, but I first thought that somehow the fire alarm in my kitchen (dismantled on the kitchen counter) somehow could work without the batteries and was getting revenge on me. Then I saw flashing lights outside. Someone set off the alarm for the entire building, giving me flashbacks to my senior year at Dordt College when fire alarms went off when 1) someone set his fart on fire, and 2) someone decided to grill through their window.

I opened up my door, only after other neighbors in pajamas did so, and there was a woman above me (out of my sight, but talking with a neighbor across from me whom I could see) apologizing profusely. Her explanation was that she was trying to find her keys, that she had the wrong key...This didn't work for another neighbor either, who pushed the issue saying "Yes, but how did you set off the alarm?" The woman said something about how that happened in the parking garage. I don't quite get it, but whatever.

So now I have a list of a few things I know about these neighbors, all of which add up to an interesting picture:

• They have set off the fire alarm in the parking garage, and blamed it on not finding the right keys for their apartment...um, yeah.
• They have a bumper sticker on their Jeep that says "George W. Bush is a Muggle"
• They occasionally work out together in the morning at our complex's gym, and the guy wears these Docker-type shorts
• They create the only noise I've ever heard here from another apartment--the springs of a bed, usually on Sat. and Sun. morning.
• They have pissed off most if not all residents in our building, and probably Guillermo.

Can I sleep now in peace?

Long Weekend...

We have today and Mon. off of school for President's Day. And since I love nothing better than coffee in my pajamas, this morning was wonderful. Let me re-phrase...not coffee inside my pajamas, but drinking coffee while still in my pajamas. Today I didn't actually get dressed until 4pm, and like Kristin, I love that.

I started off the long weekend last night by watching March of the Penguins...I wasn't as excited about it as I had hoped. The penguins were unique, and the babies adorable, but it just left me with too many questions. Like why don't they just live by the water's edge instead of trekking back and forth all the time. And I would imagine it'd be warmer by the water's edge as well. And I had heard some sort of hubbub about the fact that penguins are monogamous, something about Christians using that as evidence for some sort of assanine theory, but if you listen closely, Morgan Freeman makes it clear they're only monogamous for a year. Which is sort of like hanging around till the baby's born, then taking off. What about child support?

Anyway...I'm glad for the time off school. I've been feeling sort of mean and aggressive lately, so it's good I'm not with the children. I understand road rage now though. Something that made me feel less mean was buying a charming "nursery bath wrap" for a colleague's newborn baby. I love any baby clothes with hoods that have ears. They rock.

Frosty

Today was a frosty winter day, at least by CA standards. Here's how I know--I came to school and the kids were scraping frost off the picnic tables to make "snowballs." Actually, it was more of an ice ball. They had no experience ever being pelted by a compacted ball of ice, so it was pretty amusing to see them throw it at each other. I've also acclimated myself. It felt really darn cold even though it was only in the 40s.

An Observation

In my 7th grade classes we're watching an episode of the Twilight Zone. It's called "To Serve Man," and it's about an alien race that comes to earth. They have this book, and the earthlings decipher the title, which is "To Serve Man." They think the aliens are there to altruistically help them, but they figure out eventually that it's a cookbook.

Here's my observation about the episodes though--we've watched two now, and television watchers in the sixties were definitely more intelligent than tv watchers now. Here is a smattering of the vocabulary I've heard in the first few minutes:

incisive
Euclidean geometry
felicity
subsequently
perusal
"shake hands figuratively with a Christopher Columbus from another time"
altruism
insurrection

As an English teacher, I find it sad that language like this is now scarcely understood, much less used in mass media.

Sweet

M, the boy with the balls comment, came into class today with a new haircut. I said "Wow, M has a new haircut." And he looked at me and said in a very loud/loss of hearing voice "I feel like I have a mullet. I'm never letting my dad cut my hair again." And it was true...

I think I heart Victoria

Yes, it's Valentine's Day. When I woke up, I was just not feeling in a Valentine's mood. Actually, I just didn't feel like being nice to anyone, much less lovey-dovey. I also hate the fact that V-day means people give each other gifts because they should. I think that the gifts would actually be much more meaningful at other times, when you're not expected to do it.

Being in the foul mood that I was, I didn't wear a shred of red or pink today. Instead, just a black and white skirt and a black button-down shirt. My kids actually said "You look like a real teacher today! That's weird!" I don't quite get that, but whatever...

So I walk up to school, not yet having had breakfast (running late), and I see a real cheery mom who says "Miss De, where is your red? Or pink?" And she's grinning from ear to ear. I quickly debate whether to tell her I'm wearing red underwear (I'm not) or to just laugh. I chose just laughing, it was easier. So the day goes on, and my kids all have cupcakes and doughnuts and other stuff I'm trying to stay away from. But, as the day goes on, my heart softens. A few kids gave me really nice Valentine's cards, and even though they weren't real heartfelt messages, they did go out of their way to give a teacher a card.

With a softened heart I was walking toward my car when I saw the same mom from the morning...ugh. This time she says "Oh, still no red?" Uh, I was supposed to change during school? And so finally I fess up and say "Well, I'm just not really big on Valentine's Day." And she looks at me and says "Oh, well, I was starting to worry about you." WHAT? For not wearing red or pink? Gee whiz, golly.

But, tonight, I found someone I can heart. Her name is Victoria, and she's my new hairdresser. Perhaps Amanda is the only one who's heard the extent of it, but my hairdresser woes the last few years have been harrowing. But Victoria rocks. My haircut looks very similar to the picture I showed her, and she got the color right. Plus, she's nice and not so super chit-chatty. I heart Victoria.

Oh, and school mom? Here's my red for today.

Today was the Pinnacles trip. I'm exhausted, but I wanted to post a few pictures. Pinnacles is about a 2 hour drive from here, so we packed a picnic lunch. Then, we hiked to the caves, a pretty easy hike. The caves were narrow at some points, and very dark. Actually, the ranger told us "Flashlights required!" After the caves we had to hike uphill a bit, which I despise. I only like hiking toward something good. Unfortunately there weren't many animals, although John did hypothesize whether or not lions would have an easier time navigating the caves than humans.

Bring on the Bats and California Condors!

Yea! Tomorrow I'm going to Pinnacles National Monument with some friends, and I'm hoping to see many good animals including the Townsend's Big-Eared Bat, and hopefully a Condor or two. Jen and I were sure we saw Condors in Big Sur a few years ago, but alas, Brian was right--they were not condors. However, tomorrow there's a good chance. Appearantly they've been breeding and releasing Condors at Pinnacles to bring back the population.

I'm usually not so outdoorsy, but being back in California encourages me to get out. Oh, and the fact that we're not hard-core hiking, more like hiking lite. We're mostly going to see the caves and animals, and to picnic. I'm hoping to come back with some kickass pictures to post here. I'm a little nervous though...the last time I went hiking, in Haiti on my birthday, I lost my camera in a gigantic, beautiful basin under a waterfall. I'm still not sure if our "guide" dropped it or stole it. I'll have to go easy on the drinks before hiking.

A Matter of Taste

My DVD player as of late has particular tastes. It has refused to play some DVDs, and completely accepts others. Here is what I have found thus far.

It likes:

• To Have and Have Not
• I Am David
• The first half of Anne Frank
• All the Real Girls
  

It does not like:

• The second half of Anne Frank (Hannukah to the end)
  
• Control Room
• The Dreamlife of Angels
  

Ah!

I almost forgot, I had another school dream last night. This time I saw all of my students from Haiti. They were at some conference, and I was overjoyed to see them. In real life I don't feel all that attached to them anymore, but in the dream we loved each other.

And tonight I realized that if I compose posts in Firefox instead of Safari, I can use cool features like bullet points and colors. Whoo-hoo!

1. Go
2. Me!
   

Just the Highlights

Jon Stewart was right. I was watching an episode of the Daily Show tonight when I came home from school, and he was talking about the birth of his baby girl. He said he used to think the song the children are the future was just a trite song, and now he understands that it's really a threat...

Today Becky and I took 35 8th graders to the public library downtown, via public transit. The library is amazing--the largest west of the Mississippi River, with 9 floors I think. 98, or maybe even 99% of our children were AWESOME on the trip. Some should never be let out in public, or at least not with today's behavior. Here are some of the highlights:

• While riding light rail, even after the 4th or 5th time we stopped and started with a jolt, the kids still acted surprised that they would be thrown around
• One boy, M, after being thrown around, actually shouted "Aw, I just smashed my balls!!"
• Same boy, after the balls episode, stood up to get off the train and whacked a smallish woman with his backpack. He apologised, but the look on her face said he would never be forgiven
• From outside the library there's a skylight that looks down on a study area. Our kids hung out above it, and noticed there was a guy studying organic chemistry. The kids actually composed a song about organic chemistry to sing to get the guy to look at them. It sounds a lot like the "in the year 2000" song from Conan O'Brian's show.
• Someone "accidentally" pushed the call button on light rail and surprise, surprise, the conductor answered. doh
• M thought that his library card was "pickpocketed" from him. He came up to me and Becky and said "Ah! I lost my library card." We said "oh, really?" not a bit surprised. "Yes!" he said, "I was walking and this guy bumped into me and it was gone." Of course, the man took nothing else, not his wallet, etc., just the library card.
• One of our previously home-schooled kids set off the alarms as we were leaving the library, and he had to go back and re check out the millions of items in his backpack, while the time before our train home quickly slipped away. Appearantly he didn't check out his books right (self check-out). Somehow, when stuff like this happens I always want to ask him "Is this because you were home-schooled?"
  
• My peanut butter and jelly sandwich was so smooshed and compacted it was kind of gross. However, the strawberry milk I packed was great, thanks to UHT pasteurization.

I have a love/hate relationship with field trips.

Who me, perky?

Ah, 8th grade girls. As I walked into school this morning, I thought to myself "well, if you walk into class and act like you want to be there, the whole day will go easier." So I did that, smiling and pretending I was all cheery and happy to see everyone. It sort of worked.

Then, an 8th grade girl looked at me and said "Wow, you're perky today." And unfortunately tone can't be communicated very well in a blog, but it was said with about a medium amount of attitude. And I SO badly wanted to say "Well, it's either perky or bitch, you choose." Of course, I very quickly calculated how many angry parents I would have if I actually said the word "bitch" in class and restrained myself. Instead I said "hmm, perky? me? wow....well, um, the other option is....well, being crabby. Perky is better I think."

My friend Becky said I should have looked down at my chest and said "yeah, I got a new bra. It's working well, isn't it?"

Affirmation of Baptism

I got the lowdown today on what Affirmation of Baptistm is, from another teacher at school who goes to Palo Alto CRC. She told me that they do it for younger members of the congregation who understand and want to participate in the Lord's Supper, but who aren't yet ready for the other responsibilities that come with a profession of faith, like voting in congregational meetings and some of the financial responsibilities. I like it, but thinking about this whole covenant and baptism again brings up some questions. Granted, I'm not sure I've ever really thought about it. If we affirm baptisms, and believe that God has said over these children that they are his, what if they never come to that point? Is it just like anyone else in the world who doesn't recognize thier status as a child of God? Is it different? I have no idea.

Stressed out dreams

I haven't really been too stressed out lately, just sort of burnt out about school. Colleagues have said it's the February doldrums, that every year they feel this way. Anyway, it's been showing up in my dreams in strange ways. Two examples:

1) A few nights ago, I dreamt (all the sudden I don't know if it's dreamed or drempt or dreamt) that another teacher at school was in my classroom, and yelling uncontrollably at me about the way I had taught something. I yelled back, and we ended up physically fighting in front of my whole homeroom. It was crazy--pullling hair and everything.

2) Last night, I dreamed that I at some point in this school year had an epiphany and realized that I had never finished my degree at Dordt. So, I had to go back and do 2 more classes and student teaching. I was agonizing over having to move back in with my parents, and wondering if I should keep my apartment here, etc. The really strange part is that at some point in the dream the logical part of my brain kicked in and sort of nudged me to consider that I had obtained a job and an M.A., which would be difficult without a B.A. But I still had to go back and finish school...

Then I woke up at 5:43am, and was happy that I had both my B.A., and another half hour to sleep.

Living for Jesus

Just in case you've never heard it, or need to be reminded, here is my absolute least favorite song. If you let it play long enough, eventually it'll play in a dreadful array of synthesized instruments.

Church Update

I think my church dilemma may be solved, though not without its casualties. Once I decided that I did not need to meet new friends my age at church, everything got a whole lot easier. Well, and there were only seemingly 1-2 new friend potentials anyway at the churches I was considering.

For the last few Sundays, I've been going to Palo Alto CRC. It's a frontrunner in the new church home category for a few reasons. First, it reminds me the most of Covenant in Sioux Center. The people have been friendly and welcoming, but not in a nosy or overbearing way. Actually, I think that by the end of today, every single person in the church had at some point come up and welcomed me, and told me they were glad I was there. Another reason--it has solid doctrine and thoughtful preaching. Also, there is no conspicuous Christian flag, a good sign that it's not overly right leaning. Actually, after talking to another teacher who goes there, it's probably a lot more left leaning.

I also like that there are female elders and deacons, and when we had communion this morning, everyone was invited. They had an "affirmation of baptism" which I'd never seen before in a CRC church, but it was interesting. Some of my students were actually up there, so that was great.

Of course every church has it's drawbacks. There don't seem to be any glaring ones here, except for 2 things that may either go in the drawbacks or points for category. First, it's really small. Maybe 75 people in the morning service...although I suck at estimating numbers. So, this evening in their once a month evening service, I counted and there were 21 people, including myself and the preacher. But like I said, I'm not sure if this is a plus or a minus. The other plus/minus is that I am by far the youngest adult there. The next oldest adult is probably a teacher from school who is I think 5 years older than me, married with babies. But, this may not be all bad. It may be good in that I can learn a lot from the wisdom of everyone there. I'm not ready to become a member yet or anything, but I definitely feel an affinity.

Oh, I almost forgot--tonight there was some time left at the end of the service, and real casually the pastor asked if there were any song requests. Two kids (who both go to my school) picked my 2nd least favorite, and my definitely least favorite songs ever. #2 least favorite--As the deer. I have not, nor will I ever, relish the idea of being deer-like. Yes, I know it's Biblical, but still. And, drum roll, my least favorite song--Living for Jesus. It's not only my least favorite because it was the Cadet theme song and therefore sung way too much, but there's something about the melody that just grates on me--it's the reaching on the 2nd syllable of living...It sounds very "Little House on the Prairie" to me. Minus two points for PACRC, or at least it's younger members.

A Squirrel's Morning

This past summer while I was working at camp, the kids in my group wrote and produced an iMovie called Squirrel Attack. It was awesome. Anyway, I was reminded of it this morning when I saw this squirrel. At first he was just sitting there, and I thought I would watch him a while. After reading Heather's post about her attack, I thought it would be prudent to keep an eye on him.
So he sat there a while on the trellis, then he decided to lay down and relax, almost like he was posing for me.
And then, strangely enough, he struck another pose which I'd like to call "bashful squirrel."
And then all hell broke loose. He decided to jump off the trellis, and scale the stucco building in a single bound. Only, he wasn't alone. The trellis is between my building and the next one, maybe three feet away. Next thing I know, he is chasing another squirrel and I can hear them scampering across my building.
As they were scampering, this squirrel appeared at my window for a brief, shocking moment. Finally, they both scampered off into the concrete forest.
Here's something I didn't know--squirrels groom themselves much like cats. If you don't believe me, just look at the picture.

A Serious Question

Not that Simpsons' knowledge isn't serious, but...

Something I'm thinking about: How do you reconcile knowing you're a totally depraved being with knowing your worth as a child of God? Does the New Testament (is that capitalized) make it so that we can stop focusing on our sin? I would love to hear what other people think about this.

Simpsons Illiterate

Yesterday in class I was giving a pretest on irregular verbs. One of the verbs was "choose," so to keep it interesting I said "I choo, choo, choo, choose you." No one got it.

Adult Responsibilities

Now, when I say adult responsibilities, I mean it as in responsibilities that must be done by people who are independent, not like adult book store, or adult activity center.

And I hate adult responsibilities. They're stressing me out. First, my condo in Charlotte is still not sold. It's been on the market since May, and nary an offer. Now, if I could move it to CA, it'd be a steal. However, sitting in Charlotte, it's brought me nothing but property taxes. Ugh. Anyone want a summer home in Charlotte?

Oh, and taxes...hate them. Last year my parents thought it was time for me to do them on my own, despite there being lots of complicated things involved. A woman at H&R Block brought me to tears, and my parents relented and had their tax person do them. Now, my parents are extremely generous and have helped me a lot, but I very rarely ask them for help. Anyway, taxes are here again, and it stresses me out. I think I've had 4 or 5 different jobs in this tax year, which sucks.

Damn, if only I had appreciated the stress free life in college. One stress I'm thankful for not having right now--babies. Now there's an adult activity that complicates life even more.

Delete, delete, delete

Later on today I'm going to delete my School Blog. I originally started it as a professional development option, and it hasn't been that useful for me. I'll try to keep posting funny kid stories occasionally here.