There is something about the first snow of the year...

all is silent, all is holy...

I heart my "admissions counselor"

And yes, he actually is an admissions counselor, but someone using the quotes seems appropriate, and hearting him is definitely sarcastic.

I got a voicemail from my "admissions counselor" today that instead of the afternoon registration date I had picked and asked off work for, I would need to come that morning. Since I didn't submit an ACT score with my application, I would need to come in to do the compass test, which would place me in the appropriate math and writing classes.

Now let's preface my reaction by saying I didn't really sleep much last night. I'm not sure if it was after effects from the sedation dentistry earlier in the week, or the fact that the cats were throwing a circus in my bedroom, but I got up feeling more than a wee bit crabby.

So when I heard the message that I had to take a placement test to know which ENGLISH CLASS to put me in, despite having a BA in English and an MA in teaching English, and having already explained to my "admissions counselor" at least 2 or 3 times that I'm only doing prerequisites for the MA SLP, I was a wee bit pissed off.

I tried to call him back, but he was not answering my call. So I e-mailed him, and probably with a little too much edge told him I will NOT be attending the morning orientation, and that I don't believe I need to take a placement test, and that I do not intend on taking any classes other than communications disorders classes, and that he could probably assess my math and reading abilities from my transcripts and if not I could fax him GRE scores, but I do not have my ACT score report from a billion years ago...

And he wrote back and said "You are all set to come in for the afternoon session. Since you already have a bachelor's you will not need to take the placement exam."

Wow. What an admissions counselor!

Feeling Crafty

Every once in the while I get the urge to be crafty. It often ends up in a massively screwed-up project, but lately I've been able to actually finish a couple of things, and like the results.

The first was changing out all the hardware on the dressers in my bathroom. You may wonder why I have dressers in my bathroom...well, as I've said before, the lady I bought my house from was crazy, and there is really no explanation for a lot of it. This isn't terribly hard to understand though--one was used for the sink, and the other is just storage. But, I've never been thrilled about the hardware on them, so last week when we were in Minneapolis I bought some new hardware, and put it on last weekend.

Before:

After:

I also have been looking around for a new camera strap, as the one that came with the camera is itchy and generally uncomfortable. Then, I found this tutorial for making a slipcover for the strap.

So I headed off to the fabric store, and came home with a deal--all the fabric you see below (2-3 yards of each) for $20!!! The light green/purple one is even upholstery fabric.

Since my camera is black, I decided the red and black print would look good as a camera strap slipcover.

Here's how it turned out on its own:

And here it is in use (thanks to PhotoBooth)

It turned out pretty decent, I think. It's a little tighter on the camera strap than I thought it would be, but I think it's going to work.

Books and Baby Names

First, a short rant. People, what is with sticking a "y" or two in every single baby name? Seriously, the letter "i" isn't good enough anymore? Too old fashioned? I've been checking a hospital baby roll today, waiting for the appearance of a colleague's baby, and every time I check it, I'm annoyed by all the names with random "y"s. Here's just a short list of the ugly "y" names from the last few days of babies:

Lyncoln
Aryannah
Aryiana
Aaliyah
Darryn

And there is one poor little baby girl whose name is Peterline. The worst part? Her father's name is Peter. I know, it's not a "y" name, but that poor, poor child.

So I'm not finished yet with Acedia and Me, but it's not really been a very good before you go to bed kind of book. It's more of a middle of the day book, and I don't really have much time to read in the middle of the day. So I'm thinking I might save it for the plane at Thanksgiving.

I did read Bound by Sally Gunning and really enjoyed it. It wasn't the best-written book I've ever read, but it was a page turner. It's about indentured servitude, and little did I know Toni Morrison also recently wrote A Mercy, on the same topic. I'm on the wait list at the library for that one.

Right now I'm reading The God of War, which I heard about on NPR. I'm probably about halfway through, and am really enjoying it. I've realized over the past years that I usually pick books with female narrators, but this is an exception. The main character is a young man, I believe somewhere around 6th grade. He has a brother who has some sort of developmental disability, and a permissive mother. I'm not finished with it, but it's promising.

My holds list at the library still includes Jhumpa Lahiri's newest collection of short stories, Unaccustomed Earth. I'm hoping I might also have it for the Thanksgiving plane ride. 3 and half hours from MSP to SJC gives you a lot of reading time. Which reminds me, is anyone else coveting a Kindle? I first saw it on Lois Lowry's blog, and I love it. So many books in one small space! This would make packing for vacation so much easier and lighter. I would never again be over the pound limit on my luggage because I had to bring 5 or 6 books for the week. I'm sure there are flaws and it might be better to wait for 2.0, but wow, it's awesome.

Oh, and one more thing I'm enjoying--JJ Heller. I downloaded her album for free, I think from Jeff's blog, and I love it too.

Good times with the nephews at the Mall of America

Reading the Mall of America coupon book while waiting for our food at Tony Roma's. Mmm, free onion loaf!

Making sure the Gap doesn't have any gum stuck to the bottom of its sweater tables (when we were in the middle of the trip from hell last Christmas, he chewed gum off the bottom of an airport seat)

Making nephew try on embarrassing clothing...Aunty B strikes again!

Blurry but obligatory self-portrait, with breadstick.

I have to go shopping for five more hours, oh no!

So I'm happy about the election, unhappy about the snow (it's snowing), and shocked at a girl I met this week. She's 19, and while I was explaining that for our program she would have a physical and an HIV test, she looked at me and asked me if HIV is hereditary. I was shocked...I said no, and explained that it could be possible for a mother to infect her baby when it was born. She looked at me again, and said "well, then, how do you get it?"

Seriously? I wrote to a friend about this and asked where Pam Stenzel was when this girl was in high school. She went to a Catholic school, but still...are we just not teaching young people about HIV transmission anymore? Or is she an outlier?

So I explained briefly about bodily fluids and blood transfusions (she didn't know what they were), and when I was done, she looked at me and shrugged her shoulders and said "Well, I hope I don't have it!" Me too...

Election Day!

I've said it before, and I'll say it again--I love election day! I love the excitement of it, and really wish it were a day off of work. If it wasn't on a Tuesday night, I'd love to have a big election party with cocktails and...well, cocktails.

But, I have to say, the voting experience in SD is somewhat lacking. I wrote about it on primary day too, but until I started listening to the results tonight, it just didn't put me in a festive mood.

When I live in Iowa, voting happened in a real voting booth. You walked up to the voting machine and pulled the curtain, and felt very much like the great and powerful Oz. You had levels to pull, curtains to open and close, and it very much felt like an event.

When I lived in North Carolina, there was a line to stand in. I'm not usually much for lines, the the comaraderie was very cool. People were lobbying across the street, and I think we voted electronically. Again, it was an event. And both Iowa and North Carolina gave out "I voted!" stickers.

But voting here was not so much the same...There was a small sign that said "polling place" outside, not even as large as a realtor's sign. There were no lobbyists, only old ladies checking names and IDs. The most disappointing part is the paper ballot. Basically you get a clipboard, go into a pseudo desk cubicle, and fill in bubbles like you're taking the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills instead of voting for the president. Oh, and no stickers.

So although I still love election day, election day in SD leaves something to be desired. Maybe next year I'll hand out my own stickers.

PS--When I lived in CA, I voted absentee...lest you think I neglected my voting duties.

PSS--One of my coworkers has never voted, and she's nearly my age. For shame!

I kid you not, here's what I saw painted on the side of a somewhat dilapidated van today while driving home for lunch:

Obama = Trader

(I laughed out loud)

This kind of sums up how I'm feeling about the election at this point:

It just seems like time to put this up again. Listen and be annoyed.

I'm pleased to announce...

So I thought that being accepted to an undergraduate program would be somewhat of a formality, and indeed it turned out to be so. I got my acceptance letter in the mail today, along with a USD Coyotes (what a mascot...) car static sticker, and a certificate of acceptance.

A certificate of acceptance? I don't think I got one of these the first time I went to college...is this the new thing? Do people really hang these somewhere? It seems kind of sad to think of a high school kid somewhere with a bunch of these pinned up around his room.

Anyway, everything is rolling for me to start classes in the spring. I actually was notified of my acceptance by my admissions counselor Chris earlier this week in an e-mail. Last night I filled out the FAFSA (probably in vain), and today I sent in my deposit.

I'm afraid that going back as an undergrad. is going to make me an annoying non-traditional student who needs to tell everyone she's already graduated from college once, and grad. school once. But the school also seems confused about my status. Here's the letter they sent:

Notice how the checkmark for status is on a line next to nothing? I'm not a freshman, not a transfer...just....there, I guess. I found that odd.

Going back to school has also affected me in some other strange ways. Like hoarding...every time I go shopping now for groceries or household items, and find a good deal, I feel like I should stock up while I'm still getting a paycheck. I try to estimate how much toothpaste I'll need for 3 years, or how many bags of $1 frozen peas I should buy...now that I have a deep freeze stocking enough food for three years seems more reasonable.

I also cancelled my gym membership and paper delivery, but the one thing I can't bring myself to cancel is cable. Sure, I was an English major, and a teacher, which would make you think I should be against the television, but I'm not. Maybe it's because we always had cable growing up...I don't know. It may be on the delete list when I figure out what kind of part-time job I can get. We'll have to see!

In about a month I go to transfer registration, and I'm sure I'll have lots more to share! For now, you can congratulate me on being accepted to college. :)

I find this PostSecret postcard strangely comforting.

Stuff and Things

My favorite title for a blog post has to be "Stuff and Things" because it covers so much. Here's what it's covering tonight:

This weekend I had a day of joy. That's the only thing I can think of saying to describe it. On Saturday I took four of my students to an ESL conference. I can't say I was terribly excited about the day, but I knew it would be good for my students. As we pulled into the parking lot at the college where it was being held, I wondered for a moment if I might see someone I knew there. I doubted it, and went in.

We arrived a little late, even having left at 7 AM, so when we walked into the first workshop it was a quick dash to find open chairs. I sat down and tried to concentrate on the activity being described, but since I was sitting squarely in the middle of the room, I wanted to take a better look around the room. I like to see everyone else during a class--I almost always side on the edge of a room. So I looked around, and saw 2 of my classmates from graduate school in California! It was such an amazing surprise. I'm not entirely sure what the rest of the workshop was about, being too busy wondering about them and their lives, etc. It turned out that there was another one of our colleagues at the conference too, so it ended up being a really great time of catching up and reliving a few memories.

I described it, maybe not so successfully, to a friend as being a "feast day." What I meant is that moving back to CA when I did felt like a feast...I was surrounded by an incredible community. And moving to SD has often felt like famine, at least when I'm not spending time with my family. Relationships take a long time to build, and it's been hard to find people I feel like I have things in common with. So seeing my classmates was one of those feast days, a day when I felt like part of a community again.

Another topic covered by "stuff and things" is that my plan to go back to school in January is moving along. Currently my application is being reviewed, and they will have a decision about my admission in a few weeks. Really? I sort of thought the whole application thing was a formality, at least the undergraduate part. Ah, well, hopefully they choose wisely.

A funny moment, also covered by "stuff and things," happened to me today at the library. I had a few minutes to kill before participating in a focus group about the cars classified section of the local paper (earned $25-whoohoo!), so I stopped by our friendly public library. I browsed the new books, hoping for something to jump out at me. Nothing did, so I read a few dustjackets and picked one that looks okay. I brought it to the counter, and after scanning my card the librarian wanted to confirm that I had cancelled my hold on a recipe book for ricecookers. Feeling compelled to share too much information in a retail-type setting (a side effect of living in the midwest), I told her that I had decided to purchase the book instead of borrowing it. She said "Yeah, there are just some books you have to have." And then, the great part of the story, is that she lowered her head a little and leaned in, a sparkle in her eye, like she was telling me a very intriguing secret, and said "I have a lot of books about cat behavior." She made my night.

The Church

I just got home from church, and it was so good. I'm having a hard time pinpointing exactly what I want to say about that, but it's something along the lines of feeling a deep appreciation for finding a place where the Bible and God are central, but it's a community of people who are committed to being honest with one another, discussing ideas openly, and disagreeing with one another. I'm sure it happens other places too, so I'll just say I'm blessed to have found it.

Yay for SLP!

So right now my college class is evaluating me...hope it's going well. Anyway, I can't be in the room, so I'm spending a few minutes here in my office. (My keys are safely in my pocket for the remainder of the night)

Today I shadowed an SLP (Speech and Language Pathologist), and it was awesome. She works with people with disabilities, and does mostly adaptive technology and "speech stories," which are pictures that tell a story or a schedule. Very cool. It definitely confirmed that it's something I want to pursue. I'm not sure I'd want to work in the setting she does, but we got to talk about a lot of different aspects of the job, and it sounds really cool. Hooray for SLP!

Fall/Winter Tidbit

My hair is getting longer, maybe even long-ish, and there's one big benefit for the winter--it keeps your ears warm! Just thought you all should know that.

My Shadow

I'm so excited about tomorrow. No, it's not that I heart Columbus Day, or Native American Day as it's known here in SD. Although neither of those is bad....well, maybe Columbus Day is bad if you're a Native American, I don't know...

But I'm excited because tomorrow I'm going to shadow a Speech and Language Pathologist, which is what I'm going to be going back to school for. The person I'm going to shadow works with adults with developmental disabilities, so I'm really interested to see how that goes. I'm afraid that doing this though will make the last 2 and a half months of work go even more slowly. Oh well, what are you going to do? I found out I'll be going on a work trip about a week and a half before I leave my job, so that ought to be fun.

Since I'm sure many, many of you are eager to know more about speech and language pathology, I'll give you an update after tomorrow. Oh, and after I teach my class tomorrow night and then go to sleep, exhausted from teaching intensely about the sheltered instruction observation protocol.

More later!

Some bullet points

Nothing coherent tonight, but here are some bullet points:

• I am officially disillusioned with Obama. I'd like to still think he's a little better than the rest, but he's pretty darn close to being just like all the other politicians. Maybe Nader should get a better chance next time around.

• I drove around most of rural SE SD today, and one school I stopped at was having Spirit Week. There was a poster in the hall of all the spirit days, and one caught my eye--"Cowboys and Indians Day." For real. And the description under the day was hilarious--"Remember the game Cowboys and Indians? We dress like them."

• I spent at least an hour and a half tonight picking up sticks from my front yard. More like twigs, mostly. Do you know how boring and irritating it is to pick up thousands of twigs from inbetween rocks and grass and plants? Grrr. It also tore up my hands. I should've known I'm more of a townhouse/condo girl. I need to find a neighbor kid to be a stick picker-upper. I've probably scared all the kids off though. A few weeks back someone rang my doorbell, and I knew it was one of the neighbor kids because they had been playing outside. So I outsmarted them. I knew they would come back to look if I went outside or to do it again, so I stood by my front door. As the little girl from next door came whipping around the corner, I was standing right there. I opened the door and asked her if she needed anything, and she said no. I asked if she had rung the doorbell, and of course she said no. I think the teacher voice/look worked because she hasn't been back since.

• I am not buying any Halloween candy this year. Last year my hopes and dreams for handing out Halloween candy were dashed when only 1 little kid came by. Never again. This year it's dark and blinds for anyone who tries it.
  

The Dark

This darkness is going to kill me. Not the metaphorical darkness either, but this dang getting dark in the middle of the day business. Seriously, I looked out on the lawn and thought about mowing, but it was already dusk at 6:45 tonight. Driving home from the grocery store at 7:30, it was pitch black. And for some reason, it just doesn't feel right to be all up and about doing things when it's pitch black outside. It makes my body think it's time to curl up on the couch under a blanket. Bah!

On the topic of darkness, I've been reading Kathleen Norris' latest book, Acedia and Me: A Marriage, Monks, and a Writer's Life. I like it for a couple of reasons. The first is that I can relate to the restless, always wanting change part of acedia. I get that. I also like it because it lets the reader in on things that were just sort of thrown out there in her other books. She mentioned her husband's breakdowns in other books, but you really get to know it here. Perhaps I'm a little too nosy, but with this one it feels like you know what was really going on when she wrote the others.

Since a trinity of topics usually makes something better, I'll come up with a third. Did you know that on Blogger you can have followers? And I have one! How cool is that?

Note to self: Do not ever leave keys on your desk at your adjuncting job and close the self-locking door. If you do so, you will have to use a student's cell phone to call campus security since with all the construction you can't find a public phone. Campus security will tell you they don't have a key for faculty offices, but they will try anyway. They will come and try their one magic key, but it will not work. They will tell you that maintenance has a key, but they won't be on campus until 11pm, which has you arriving home at about 12:30 AM. You will need to call the dean who gave you her home phone number, but who is now in Tennessee. You will then try the head of the department whose pod so graciously houses your office, but he will not be home either.

Then, miraculously, one of your students will know an emergency maintenance number and will dial it for you. You will talk to an understandably grumpy man who is 10 miles out of town but will ever so slightly grudgingly come back to let you in to your office. Your class will cheer when you return with your purse and other belongings, and you will be much, much more careful next time.