Pre-Painting

Let me preface this by saying my house, and the previous owner, are both a little funny. And not funny ha-ha. In the year and a half I've lived here, I've discovered some bizarre facts. Like there is no ventilation over a large, commercial-style gas stove. Or in the bathroom...

Also, the door handles appeared to be somehow permanently attached. And one row of ceiling lights in the kitchen appears to have no switch or way to turn it on, and I haven't even dared to investigate the chimney yet.

All that to say that the idea of taking down wallpaper is more than a little scary. I took down the curtains in my bedroom and found a giant 2X4 holding them up with giant nails (is that normal?). The curtains in the living room were nailed to the wall, nary a curtain rod in sight. So, when I decided that the pink wallpaper had to go in the living room, I thought better of it and revised my statement--the pink in the living room has to go.

So today I'm taping it off, and tomorrow will likely be the day of reckoning. I'm planning to paint over the wallpaper, much to the dismay of many clerks in paint departments who have already looked at me disapprovingly and scolded. But, I like the texture in the wallpaper, and it really seems like it could be the least destructive route.

The pink wall tonight. Hopefully there will be a subtle but beautiful yellow wall to post tomorrow.

Cow, clearly dismayed by the blue painter's tape. I think she was worried it might interfere with her food.

No TV Day 3

I just read a comment on my last post, and it got me thinking about the rules I've created for myself for lent, and some ulterior motives.

Let me first say that I've thought about giving up TV a few other times, for other reasons. When I decided to go back to school, I thought about giving up cable for financial reasons. So I turned the TV off for a day to see what it would be like, and ended up just turning it back on. And every time I read something about how wise and educated and otherwise people are who don't watch television (slightly tongue-in-cheek), it crosses my mind.

So giving it up for lent isn't really all about lent. And it's probably Christian guilt, or wanting to make systems and rules up for something that really should be about something else entirely, I'd like it to be about just one thing, wholeheartedly. It's not.

And really, it's not even that big of a deal. At least I feel like it shouldn't be...seriously, a bunch of posts about what happens when I stop watching TV? It seems a little melodramatic when I look at it that way. And then I remember that none of you is being forced to read this, and I do feel like writing about it, so yeah, here it is.

Anyway, it's day 3 without tv, and my house is remarkably silent, in a good way. I haven't found some massive amount of extra time yet, but it does feel like some degree of freedom. And I did sit down and actually read the Bible yesterday, so there's that. Overall, I'm guessing at the end of it that I'll be proud of myself (warranted or not) for having done it, but I won't cancel the cable. Perhaps I'll come out of it just a little more moderate.

Ashes

So it's Ash Wednesday, and I have the cross in ashes on my forehead. Actually, by now it's more of a round smudge of ashes, but that's what happens when you have bangs. My church had a combined Ash Wed. service with other area Presbyterian churches, and let's just say the imposition of ashes and communion took a while. It might have been that there were nearly 400 people there, plus some confused pastors, and a choice of intinction or tiny plastic cup. The elderly lady next to me made me laugh. After the row in front of us was re-routed from the front to the back, while the usher made wild arm motions for them to return to the pew from the side, the woman leaned over to me and said "Well now, those Catholics can sure do this fast, but with us Prestbyterians it takes forever." And indeed, it did. The service was a little over an hour and a half, even with skipping another forever long bell choir song and the prayers of the people.

And now it's lent. I've never given up anything before for lent, and I'm thinking it's because it's not a strong tradition in the Christian Reformed Church. But for this year it seemed like a good idea to me, for a bunch of reasons. So, as of tonight the plan is to give up TV for lent. It's something I've thought about for a while, and this seemed like a good impetus. So I'm not sure if that dilutes the lent-ness of it, but there you go. Also possibly diluting the lent-ness of it is the fact that I've made rules about it. It's only an at-home tv ban, so as not to impose it on others, and I'm exempting TV I watch while using the elliptical trainer. Otherwise I'd be giving up both exercise and TV, since I really can't bring myself to work out unless my mind can also be occupied. I'm also still watching Netflix, be it movies or TV programs. Just because.

My reaction to it so far is weird, if you can evaluate your own reactions to things. This morning and afternoon while I was thinking about it, I kept racking my brain to see if there was something coming up where I would NEED my TV. And then I thought how strange that was...what would constitute a TV emergency? I couldn't really think of anything. And already tonight I realize how often I reach for the remote without really thinking about it. I'm going to have to move it or I'll just accidentally turn it on. And one of the reasons I think I often turn the TV on is that living alone I sometimes get this eery feeling that everyone else on earth has ceased to exist if I don't hear, talk to, or see someone for a while. Thankfully there is still radio and internet to assure myself that indeed there is still life on planet earth other than me and the kitties.

So yes, I will probably be blogging more in the next 40 days, at least if I can continue to give up TV. We'll see. In the meantime, I'm making a list of alternate activities, some of which include actually reading the Bible daily, something I mean to do but don't, cooking more often, a few crafty/sewing projects, reading, cleaning out closets and getting some clothes to the thrift store, painting a pink wall in my living room, and we'll see what else I can come up with.

Although some of this post probably sounds flippant, I'm interested to see what taking lent more seriously might do. On the bulletin for tonight's service was the phrase "worship devoutly," and I like that idea. Maybe lent is a good time to try to make that happen.

Cow's first attempt at PhotoBooth

Interested...

Not so interested...Neither is Princess, who is sleeping in the background.

Away From Her

I just finished watching Away From Her, and wow... I was kind of dreading it. I picked it, I did, but it wasn't really something I felt like watching tonight. So instead I put in August Evening, the other DVD that Netflix quickly and efficiently mailed me this week (this is a new thing here in the boondocks of the Midwest).

But it sucked. The description had intrigued me--an undocumented worker (good), tragedy (good), and a touching portrait of love and loss (good). However, I put it in and it was just slow and boring. And the camera was shaky. I'm not sure if they were trying to be artistic or what, but I get motion sickness quite easily, and paired with a boring first 15 or 20 minutes, I turned it off.

And then there was nothing on tv, and nothing good TiVo'd, and it was only 7:45. So, dragging my feet, I stuck Away From Her in. I was hooked instantly, and on the verge of tears throughout nearly the whole movie. It was good, very good. More about love and loss than August Evening could ever be.

Things One Can Enjoy

Crazy clowns...my latest creation at cake-decorating class. They lack what all my crafting lacks--precision. I like the idea of being crafty, and I like the process, and even sometimes the end product, but the precision is not my thing. So you might get a crooked blanket, a knitted something with holes, or a wonky clown cupcake. Just know it was made with love, and I had fun making it for you.

Here are some other things I've been enjoying lately:

• The Current from Minnesota Public Radio. I've been working from home two days a week, and the Current has been my companion. Good stuff.
• New music from the Current--particularly Let It Be Me and Turn Your Pretty Name Around.
• Big Love--I started watching it before, and I think I stopped when it was taking forever to get the discs. But now there is a Netflix shipping facility in my city, so we are back on good terms.
• The First 48. I am more than slightly addicted.
• The Larynx. Seriously, it's awesome. Vocal folds in action are an amazing bodily function. If you don't believe me, check out the animation.
• Podcasts. Since I drive an hour to and from school 3 days a week, podcasts are necessary and seem somewhat indulgent. I don't particularly love Disney, but some of my friends do Mousetalgia, and it's interesting even for non Disney devotees.

I guess that turned into a media list. That's okay. I wish I could add some books, but I haven't read much for fun since vacation. Then I read Animal, Vegetable, Mineral; Cane River, and A Thousand Splendid Suns. This week I picked up The View from Garden City from the "new fiction" section of the library. There's something about a book with an exotic location and women in headscarves to lure me. I'll let you know how it is.

As of Late

So school is still fun. Mostly. I really am enjoying the classes, but let's just say it's no Monterey Institute. I really miss the atmosphere there, especially the professionalism and the unique relationship between faculty and students.

And I think being a teacher is making me more irritated by small things at school. Particularly in one class. We do online quizzes in that class probably once a week or so, and the professor chooses the nit-pickey-est things to ask about. And since it's online, you can't really ask for clarification, or write something extra to explain your answer. For example, this week she asked us a true/false question about whether a hearing loss can be classified as one of three types: conductive, sensorineural, or combination. Well, in class we talked about conductive, sensorineural, and mixed. Since I couldn't ask her, and therefore went with the knowledge that "combination" is a synonym of "mixed," I said true. And I got it wrong. Which changed my grade on the stupid quiz from a B to an A. And when I asked her why it was wrong, if it was just the word "combination" instead of "mixed," she said that it was, and if I said "combination loss" to an audiologist, they wouldn't know what I was talking about.

First, I would give an audiologist more credit than that, and assume they could figure out the meaning of the sentence despite the lexical choice. Second, I normally would be annoyed but maybe not quite so anal, except that my acceptance to and funding for the grad. program will be decided by my grades this semester. I cannot get a B in the introductory course to the field I'm studying, particularly if it's because of picky little things that don't really matter. Of course, that's my opinion.

So there's that. And then there's my anatomy and physiology course, which I'm thoroughly enjoying. Last week we made a larynx out of an empty soda carton, and it was pretty cool. The teacher really goes out of her way to make the content comprehensible, which is greatly appreciated. My hearing science class is less deadly than I thought, and we have our first test tomorrow, we'll see how that goes. I did get a "Great!" on my research paper proposal, examining the effect of auditory integration therapy (AIT) on children with autism. I have no idea what AIT is, but I'm excited to find out.

I've also done a few observations for school, which have been REALLY interesting to me. I saw one of a kid with autism who has echolalia. Randomly during the therapy session he would repeat lines from movies or books, or things his teacher said in school. I also saw an auditory brain stem response test on an 18 month old, some pretty cool stuff.

Apart from school, I'm taking a cake decorating class. It's...interesting. I think the teacher is definitely in it for the money though. During our last class she never got up off her chair, but watched us practice, and then looked at our cakes and said they looked good. Oh, and she told us all about how one of her best friends is cheating on her husband, and now the husband found out and she's supposed to go out with the friend for a flauta after cake class. Which explains why she hurried us along...I forgot to take a picture of my cake, but it was just okay. I'm pretty sure I can improve though from just practicing a bit. I think this week we make crazy clown cupcakes, which may be more picture-worthy.

So, I will go now and review the formulas I need for tomorrow's test. I think I have them all...T=1/f (time or period equals 1 divided by frequency); f=1/t (same deal, reversed, or inversed or whatever), and wavelength=c/f (wavelength equals the speed of sound divided by frequency). Wish me luck!

PS The scary formulas from the hearing science textbook have not yet shown up in class. I'm hoping it will stay that way. My teacher has mentioned that she's bad at math a number of times, so I'm crossing my fingers that we'll skip most of the math and just get the "concept."

There haven't been many posts lately, but there isn't much to say. Unless you're intersted in hearing about the membranes and cartilages of the larynx. Actually, that might be a good learning tool for me.

I suppose there is stuff to talk about, I just don't really have the time at the moment. I'm studying the larynx, of course. And today I did 3 interesting observations (interesting to me), which I may write more about later.

Basically right now I'm in school and enjoying it, and it's kind of taken over my mind space. In the past 2 weeks, I've left my flat iron on twice, something I can't remember ever having done before. I'm attributing it to the fact that I'm always thinking about school...in a good way.

More later. Until then, seriously, check out cakewrecks. And my particular favorite-naked mohawk baby carrot jockeys. Oh, and pray I don't burn my house down with the flat iron.

Have you seen this?

Have you seen this?

cakewrecks

Wanna See a Larynx?

One of my professors shared a link with us today in class, and I think it's pretty cool:

The Larynx

You have to click on start, then choose a view of the larynx. It doesn't really matter which one you choose. The cool part is the video--way on the lower right. It's actual footage of someone's vocal folds as they speak. My professor told us that the left vocal fold is paralyzed, which accounts for some of the strange speech sounds. Pretty cool, in a nerdy kind of way.

So my department at school has a student lounge for students who are majoring in DCOM (communication disorders). It's nice because it's close to my classes, and has a microwave, computers, etc, so I spend a bit of time there inbetween my classes. But there's this group of really loud girls in there someday, who seem to have nothing academically-related to do, and therefore talk about getting wasted on tequila shots and how much they hate being in school (one of my pet peeves).

And today, I had to seriously stifle myself so I didn't laugh out loud. They must be in their final semesters, because they were talking about moving up to Sioux Falls. One girl must already have an apartment because she was telling another girl that she should rent a condo near the first girl. But the second girl didn't want to--she wants to rent a loft downtown Sioux Falls. And here is what she said about it: "I just want to live in a loft in downtown. It makes me feel like I'm in New York City!"

Um, wow. It almost sounds like a Redneck joke...You know you're a redneck if...

Here's what I did tonight--babysat! We mostly watched movies in our pajamas, but we also threw a football into a laundry basked for a very long time. It was fun, as evidenced by the smiley picture of me and my nephew. Not so fun? He has stitches. I am eternally grateful it didn't happen at my house, but he jumped off of the couch at his house and hit his eye on the corner of a coffee table. You can kind of see the stitches way on the right side of the photo. Ouch!

Hmm...

Yesterday was not a great day. It wasn't horrible compared with cancer, famine, etc., but compared to the other days this week, it wasn't great.

I had it planned to drive down to Vermillion to observe an evaluation for central auditory processing disorder. It's something I encountered a little bit as a teacher, and I was really excited to learn more about it. But I got there, and it was cancelled. So I drove 2 hours on a day I didn't have class for nothing.

When I came home, I started working on the dinner I was preparing for friends who were coming over that night. It was baked potato soup, and I thought that by peeling the potatoes before baking them, I would save myself some time. Now I'll stop here to say that I'm good at improving in some settings...public speaking, on tests, etc. Home and garden? Not so much. The peeled potatoes turned into rocks, and I had to go get more.

I also baked a cake. Lately I've been praised prodigiously for my cakes. And since the metal 9X13 was dirty, I used the glass pan. Oops. It took way too long to get the middle cooked, and the sides were chewy, and generally not so good.

But, the best was yet to come...as the soup was coming to a simmer, I went to use the bathroom. And there was a horrible stench coming from the bathroom...kind of like someone getting a perm, but grosser. And there was food coming out of the shower drain, covering the shower floor. And guests were coming in like 15 minutes...and this was my only shower...

Let's just say having friends over was the saving grace. We had a lovely dinner, a field trip to the hardware store for stuff to pour down the drain, and some just okay cake. And today I called my new friend, Mr. Roto Rooter, and then went out and bought a trap to catch hair before it goes down the drain, and I vowed not to put any more potato peelings down the garbage disposal.

Random

I was messing around with PhotoBooth tonight, and realized after taking a few photos that the T-shirt I'm wearing is the dorm t-shirt from my freshman year at Dordt--East Hall 97-98. I'm not sure why I bought the t-shirt, as I spent very little time there, and moved after 1 semester, but I have to say that it's one fine t-shirt to have lasted 11-12 years.

I thought it was just the diaphram, a pair of lungs, and an air tube!

So I believe this is probably going to turn into a school blog. You know, just like it turns into a baby blog when you have kids. So if you're cool with that, stick around. If not, well, you can request a topic and we'll see...

Tonight I started reading my textbook for next week's speech science classes--basically anatomy and physiology. And after about a half hour or 45 minutes I decided to peak at where the end of the chapter was, and it kept going and going...it's 84 pages. Seriously, I knew there were a few parts, but I was thinking probably 5-10 parts. Whoops. But in most ways I do like the challenge. I like having something concrete to learn because at the end I can say that I know all the ribs, all the types of vertebrae, parts of the lungs, and a bunch of stuff I haven't read about yet. It's easier to define than say, reading a great novel and saying what you've learned. Though I still love to read...

But yeah, being back in school brings up a bunch of anxieties that always happen at the beginning of a semester. Like the speech science class I'm reading for--last week the professor put up an outline for the previous chapter. That's the material we went through in class, and it was in less detail and breadth than what is in the textbook. So I'm thinking that we'll be tested on what she went over in class, or will we? But I really don't want to ask her either, for fear of looking like I'm trying to get out of work or being lazy.

Speaking of which...I forgot to mention in my last post that I am shocked at the behavior of some of the other students in my classes. For example, in my speech science class we were doing a partner activity, and being the old lady, I didn't have a partner. I turned around to see if there was anyone else partner-less, and there was a girl behind me who had her headphones on...during class. Seriously? This isn't a general ed. requirement...what was she doing there?

Then later in the day in my Intro. to DCOM (Comm. Disorders) class there was a girl behind me snapping her gum. Loudly. The whole time. As any of my students can attest to, I'm very distracted by sounds. I can hear a phone vibrating in someone's backpack across the room. So I was annoyed. And again we had to "talk to a partner" about the reasons we use speech. She was the only one left, and so I smiled and looked at her and said asked her what she thought. She gave me the look of death and said "I don't know." Come on! This is basically a question with a billion right answers. So I offered something, I think I said to get needs met, like when babies cry. Or to ask a question. She sort of said "yeah," and looked at the floor.

It was a pet peeve of mine when I was in college that there were people who didn't want to be there, and I find it all the more annoying now that I'm older. But I'm trying to be graceful, thinking about what else might be going on in their lives right now. I don't remember the exact reference, or much about where I heard it, but once I heard or saw a quote that said be kind to those you meet, for all are in the midst of a great crisis. Maybe these girls were, who knows. Or maybe they were just being bitchy on purpose. Who knows.

So yeah, I'm loving school, but as always trying not to show it too much. I'll save that for the MA program.

Day 2

It is day 2 of once again being a student. And what a day it has been. Good, mostly.

My professors are all pretty cool, and I think (think) my feeling of imminent demise due to my hearing science may have been premature. The professor doesn't seem too disturbed that I haven't taken the prerequisite, and when I asked if there was anything more I could do to be prepared, she said I should come and see her often. That's pretty cool...she seems very into helping students.

In my speech science class we played with play-dough to practice orientation and planes of the body. That was pretty fun, and it meant that I got to talk to a few people. I am definitely still an outlier though, as I was the only person without a partner for the play dough activity. I ended up working with 1/3 of a threesome, and it worked out well.

It turns out all of my classes have 40-50 students in them, which surprised me. Some of the other students said this is abnormal, but who knows.

I'm still trying to master the campus...finding my way without a map is not my strong suit. And, there is a vast shortage of microwaves on campus for commuter students. So far I've found only 1, on the opposite end of campus from all of my classes. It may have to be sandwiches and cold items for lunch from now on.

Oh, and apparently I can also not read my schedule. I found the room for my hearing science class, and sat down in the front row. I was the first one there, but people trickled in. Something didn't feel right though. For one thing, there were too many guys. DCOM (Comm. Disorders) is almost all women, and while I sat there waiting, 3 guys came in. Then, a girl sat down next to me and pulled out a political science booklet. We figured out I was an hour early for my class. Oh well, better early than late. I think I'll have it down by Monday.

And as much as being at class an hour away by 8 am sucks, the parking was great.

Frustrated

I'm frustrated right now. I just found out that student health doesn't cover birth control. Sorry if that's TMI for anyone, but seriously...a student health insurance plan doesn't cover birth control pills? Is there another group of people who need to consider contraception more strongly?

Oh, and it also doesn't cover well woman exams. I guess preventative medicine is just too expensive. Or women are too expensive, one or the other...

And why is it that the less money you make, the more you have to pay for things? I understand that my employer was kicking in for my health insurance, but still...I'm getting quite shitty coverage as a student, and still paying probably 1/3 to 1/2 of what it cost for the kick-ass plan I had that covered medical, dental, and vision.

Just a little rant...on health insurance. Exciting, no?

There was an old lady who...

So I just finished my first day of class. It was great, and fun, and weird. I sort of forgot that I needed a binder and paper until last night, so I made the trek out into the subzero to OfficeMax, and stumped the 19 year old working there when I asked for loose leaf paper. He looked at me, said "loose leaf paper?" as if I had just asked him where they kept the helper monkeys, and then mumbled into his walkie talkie "Do we have, um, loose leaf paper or something?" Of course they did...but then I found it for half-price at Target.

I got my binder together, and was deciding on what bag to make my school bag. Not really a big deal, but I do love all the accoutrements that go with school. I couldn't decide between a messenger bag, or a backpack. A messenger seems more my age, and professional, but in the end the backpack won because all of my books will fit into it, and the messenger will likely remain stuffed with work stuff since I'm still doing that part-time.

Arriving early, I searched for a parking spot. I had a moment of joy earlier this week when I got my shiny new parking pass in the mail...like I said, it's all about the accoutrements. I easily found a spot, and had a few minutes to explore...so I found my new favorite place on campus--the library. It's three floors! And they're divided up into group work, quiet, and silent. How cool is that? But walking into the library was weird...somehow the camel-colored wool pea coat I was wearing felt out of place with a backpack, and I was sure everyone was staring and thinking I didn't belong there.

And for sure when I got to the classroom. I knew I would be older than most people there...but I didn't think I would feel that old. I did. And some of the other students were really, genuinely staring at me. I first thought I was being paranoid, but no, as soon as I would look around I saw eyes averting their gaze. Weird! Seriously, I'm not that old. I was also shocked when someone's phone vibrated during class, and instead of turning it off, the girl checked who was calling. WHAT? Seriously...

So I felt more of an affinity with the professor, and tried to keep my eyes on her. It was weird, I felt more empathy about it being her first day of class in front of all these students than I did empathy for my classmates. I laughed at her jokes and had an almost irrepresible urge to help her pass out papers. I did restrain myself, you'll be happy to note.

It was the standard go over the syllabus first class, and the class itself looks very interesting. We'll be observing SLPs and audiologists, which looks cool. And she'll drop the lowest quiz and test score, so I'm hoping this will be a high grade without a ton of effort, since my other classes will require everything I have. The weirdest part of class though was at the end. She must have made a vague reference to class being almost over (I didn't catch it), and while she was still talking, mid-sentence, students starting (loudly) putting on their coats, putting their pens and books, etc. away. I was really quite shocked! My college kids didn't do that...is that a result of a public school upbringing? (Kidding)

So school is awesome. The only dilemma I have now is this...is it cool, or strange, to friend your professors on Facebook, and does the answer change depending on your age?

Better Than A Staycation

Sitting here in sub-zero temperatures and ever-present darkness, it's hard to believe I was on a tropical island last week. But I was, and it was great. This year we went to Turks and Caicos, and for the first time, rented a house for our family vacation.

It was a sweet house.

The island itself was a bit strange...it's not very touristy yet, although there is a lot of building/developing going on. It also has many extremely wealthy people, stars' homes, etc., but it doesn't really feel like a wealthy island. I guess maybe that's the appeal. Apparently Haiti and Jamaica are big influences on the island, which may explain the ever present mosquitoes, and why we lost electricity for 24 hours, right after we had bought groceries for the week. It was kind of funny to see my family's reaction, but it's hard to understand why things like that happen if it's never happened to you before.

My family isn't big into sightseeing or really doing much of anything on vacation, so we spent lots of time hanging out by the pool and the beach. I did get my brothers to come to a reef to go snorkeling with me once, and we saw an awesome stingray, swimming and then nestling himself into the sand.


This is obviously not the stingray. My camera doesn't do underwater. But, if you look closely you can see the plethora of conch shells--both on the wall, and on the pier thingy jutting out into the ocean. They were everywhere! Not being the sentimental type, I let them stay in their resting place. Others took them home to display in jars and vases.

Just pretty.

Me enjoying the beach. (And the only picture of me in my bathing suit I will ever post here)

Oops...got some water and sand on my borrowed camera lens. It was worth it.

Some neighborhood animals also wanted to join our party. This dog looks a lot like my mom's Pomeranian, so that really confused the little ones. They weren't quite sure how the dog got all the way to Turks and Caicos. The cat kept his distance, but slept on our drying out towels during the night.

Here, kitty, kitty...

My nephew also got a little nervous that the dog would drink all the water out of the baby pool.

They are also generally adorable, my nephews that is. And photogenic...or maybe it's the fact I took about 6000 pictures of them during the week.

They both swim like fish, and make funny faces for the camera.

B has also taken to using his middle finger to point at things. I love it. It's the aunt's job to encourage inappropriate behavior, right?

And perhaps a few photos just to prove I was there too...

Me and T, and my brother's pearly whites

Dinner

Me and the other nephew. Self-portraits have become our thing.

Here's where I've been, and why I haven't been writing...more to come.