Bah stupid insomnia bug has bit again.

My floor finished our mural in the lounge today. I'm quite happy with the way it turned out.

Played with some photographs I took recently, updated photo blog, surfed for a bit... gonna try to go to sleep...

Have a good Thursday.

If you have yet to check out WWDN then you should at least see his Photo Blog, which is filled with some rather amusing pictures. This is where I found out about photo blogs, a free service available here.

Also, has anyone else had this problem when posting - after clicking on preview your post I find I need to change something so I go back, change it and then post. The result is two or more posts on my blog... Maybe I'm hitting the back button on my browser instead of "re-edit" /ponder

I experienced a wonderful honor last night as Henry Oertelt, a man who survived five concentration camps during the Holocaust. He is a charming man and spoke for three hours of his experiences growing up in Berlin. I bought his book, An Unbroken Chain and he autographed it to me. I also got one for my parents. I am very glad I got to meet him and listen to him speak. He is a remarkable man.

Psst Renee... this is my baby :)

So I was woken up this morning at 6:50am by an extremely loud, very rude, buzzing... yes the fire alarm was going off, and it was one of my residents! As soon as I opened my door I could smell burnt bacon and I heard a series of curses coming from the kitchen, she was extremely upset at herself. The RA's did their thing and as we were wrapping up with the paperwork I felt a searing pain starting behind my left eye. It got worse and by the time I got back to my room I took two pain killers and grabbed an ice pack, praying for sleep. It hurt SO bad. It was sort of like a sinus headache, but worse. The entire left part of my head, face, throat, neck was throbbing :( No fun. I slept until 10am and by then it was gone, but my eyes are still blurry. Strange.

I find myself with many options for this summer. I am torn between wanting to stay in beautiful Minnesota, needing to earn!��5{�������� spend time with my family, debating on whether or not to take summer class(es). I'm not really complaining mind you, I am very happy to have choices, and so many of them at that. I realize I am very blessed. However, it is putting a bit of strain on me, as I always struggle to make the right decisions, fearing failure, knowing I only get one chance. I feel somewhat confident that whatever I choose will work out...

I've pretty much chosen, but a massive problem still awaits it's solution - how do I get all my stuff back to Texas?

How about this choice?

Wooty-woot-woot!
It works, now I can post my own pictures!

Testing... 1...2...3...

Oh yes and D and I introduced ARHD friend to YATTA!!!

I had an awesome day!

I woke up around 10, sleeping in was quite nice. Read some of Lirael. Went shopping for a bit with my bestest bud. Came back home and read some more of Lirael. Found out through WWDN that I can have my very own PHOTO BLOG for free! Set that up and it's AWESOME! Went to Feast of Nations put on by our International Student Office - great dancing, music, comedy, food, & fun! On the way back home an ARHD friend asked me what I was doing tonight... I told her reading (Lirael) and she invited me to come play games with her and a fellow RA. So we went to his room and chatted, played Phase 10 (remarkably similar to Aya's family's Shanghai) and silly stringed each other. I also got my very own secret handshake with the D-man! Good times. Now I have to unwind and go sleepy-sleep. Shouldn't have drunk four cups of coffee at the FON.

Finished Sabriel last night and was not disappointed.

Went out to Applebee's tonight to celebrate a friend's 23rd birthday. Had fun, there were seven of us neatly packed into a booth. Yummy food, good company.

I'm almost done with Sabriel and OMG! It's really, really, REALLY good. I can't put it down. It's killing me that I have about 10 pages left, as soon as I'm done here I'm going to finish it up and then this weekend I'm going in search of the sequels, of which there are two, Lirael and Abhorsen. I'm really excited about Lirael as there is a DOGGIE in it and you should know by now I'm obsessed with puppies! And apparently Abhorsen brings the previous two together... honestly I only scanned the short synopsis for the books on Garth's website. I want to be surprised. I bet I'll like them since I love the way he blends the real-world of old with his fantasy realm. Yep... definitely need to make a stop at the book store this weekend.

New Angel tonight... one of the final six :( It's a sad thing, but I guess each great show finds it's end :( I'm happy to see they are bringing back several of the major characters from the show's history: Connor, Darla, Lindsey, etc.

I'm sitting in class listening to someone present how to do iMovie, which I know pretty well, I've done several and I've even taught it and helped many other people edit their movies. Needless to say I'm a lil bit bored, but it's ok, I have been throwing my two cents in every once in a while ;)

On the plus side, I found a place to search for jobs in Colorado.

Word of the Day: Recalcitrant

Discovered this word in Sabriel by Garth Nix. I'm reading it for my YA Lit. class and since it's a series I have the feeling I'll be reading the rest soon... I'm really enjoying this world he has created.

Hmmm...

Welp, I got up early and baked some bisquits for a couple of guys who were headed home over this Easter weekend. I then worked at the front desk for two hours. Afterwards I had my one-on-one with the hall director and for our meeting we went out to the Humane Society where he searched for a cat (or possibly dog) to surprise his family with. Unfortunately, the cat he chose was being spayed next Monday, so he can't bring it home until Tuesday.

I was wearing purple bunny ears this morning - in celebration of the holiday of course!
He told me where he would like for us to go... then hesitantly asked if the bunny ears would be going LOL I asked him if he was embarassed to be seen with me in public while wearing them ;) I got to tease him about it, since when he saw me he asked if my Playboy auditions were today :P
(seriously disturbing... I just looked up the word elves under Google's image search...)

BTW the ears are back on.

Have you ever had "One of those days..."

I'm actually not. It's been pretty good so far. I taught in El-Ed PE again today. I had a bunch of stations set up and the kids were divided into five groups, 3-4 per group. As they went around, playing at each station, I had the music going. I encouraged them to make up their own activities with the equipment provided at each station. At the end they all said they had fun and I know I had a blast. The next person who taught was doing t-ball and I stayed in the "dugout" as the head cheerleader. They really got into it. I let them choose the team names so we had the POPCORNs and the ARMYs! I cheered equally loud for both teams.... I wonder if I'll still have a voice for my presentation tonight.

I'm working in the computer lab now, just finished my self-eval for today's teaching and my book report which is due tonight. I still need to finalize what I'm going to say in my report tonight...

I'm going to Fargo in a couple of weeks to watch Aya present a speech! Woot! Her mom, her and I will all hang out in Fargo for the weekend, with her brother and sister-in-law. I'm really looking forward to it. Time-away!

I have made my final list of who to invite for my graduation party and there's like 60 people! I know not everyone will come, but it's just amazing how many people/friends I've met/made in only three years. I hope I haven't forgotten anyone... if I have hopefully I'll remember between now and then.

Psst... Renee! I need your address so I can send you one ;)

Has your day been a DRAG?

Mine's gone pretty well. Plus I just found out I don't have to work tomorrow - which means my eleven to eleven day has just been cut to five to eleven = WOOT! I'll actually be able to get some work done.

To Do:

Read some of Monster for YA Lit.
Do book report for YA Lit.
Prepare book talk for YA Lit.
Prepare lesson for PE Methods
Buy Cap & Gown!
Buy & start on invitations for Grad party

Aya ROCKS!
Thanks for getting my pages working and aligned!

/dance
/party
doo doo doo!

Renee is it still doing the weird jumpy thing on macs?

:)

For you Renee...

I've changed my blog format, again! I can't get the archive page to look or work quite right, but I think Aya might be stopping by later today..
/wink

/grrr and comment thingy isn't working... hehe ok it's still buggy

I am really enjoying the Dancing Scooby! He is awesome!

The light at the end of the tunnel...

The time is coming for graduation. I cannot believe I will be finished with the classes part at least - I still take one online during student teaching, but it's not the same. I actually did it. Barring any unfortunate occurances I will have a college degree as of December 1, 2004. EEEP!

I've been chatting online with a friend who lives in the next dorm. He's a hoot!

*grin*
Yes... we went to see Hellboy again... great special affects, funny at the right times, a dash of romance mystery of sorts, and KITTENS!

:)

/love Hellboy & Ron Perlman he's a big teddy bear :) and I mean that in the best possible way. I remember his Beauty & the Beast days and what a cute kitty-beasty-thing... never thought he was that beastly though.

I really enjoyed this movie... I went to it with an uncertain feeling. I had never heard of the comic all I knew was what I saw in the previews and that it had Ron Perlman in it = reason enough for me. I am glad I went to see it. :)

Semi-gross analogy incoming...

I've been lying in bed thinking about grief. It's an odd thing, extremely painful and yet you can't touch it or even point it out. There's no miracle pill to get rid of the pain, no limb to chop off, there's nothing inside of you they can cut out. It's buried deep inside of you, somewhere around the heart-lungs-throat region. In my experience (17 years) it never goes away fully - it's like a chronic scab - it heals over partially, but if it gets bumped hard enough it flows again. An intangible wound. I don't know if that makes sense, but it's the best I can do at 1:20 am.

/mourn

/weep

Ruh Roh!

We went out to dinner with her mom and a girl from Aya's floor to celebrate Aya's mom's b-day. Then we took her to her sister's house while Aya, the girl from her floor, a girl from my floor, and myself went to the dollar store and then met up with two more friends to see SCOOBY DOO 2: Monsters UNLEASHED I must admit I had some serious doubts about this one. I was afraid they would have tried too hard and messed up Scooby *gasp at the thought* but it was actually pretty darn funny. Proving further that I should not listen to critics -> because we practically never agree.

I'm almost afraid to look at Aya's blog after tonight. I let loose a couple of very memorable quotes... I'm blaming the 1/2 a migrane I've had all evening/night... my brain hurt and that's why things weren't coming out quite right. Honest.

Sleepy time - enjoy your weekend!

I'm having a hard time today. Grief is a funny process and the nightmares really aren't helping. They're so real and the powerful emotions they evoke don't go away once I wake up. I still feel my heart beating fast, the pre-tearing, clenching feeling in my throat... Result: I start my day in a funky/depressed state. The one last night was pretty bad. I don't know how to stop them, but I need to figure something out before I go crazy or just start balling in a class. It's to the point where I don't function well during the day and I've broken down in tears twice today. UGH! It's so frustrating. Some days I'm fine, almost good as new. I think this is what frustrates me the most. I called my mom this morning and talked to her about it = first breakdown. She said I behaved similarly when my grandmother died. The funny thing is I remember breaking down as soon as my parents told me there had been an accident - before they told me she was hurt - my kiddy senses tingled and I knew it wouldn't end well. I remember crying and crying until I thought I'd never be able to stop. Then at the funeral I was all cried out. I honestly don't remember anything after that... for quite a while. I don't remember how I dealt with it afterwards.. which seems odd to me since I was 8 years old. Maybe I blocked it all out, I have a tendency to block unpleasant memories... don't we all?
This time I cried when mom told me and then I had to pull it together to make it back home. I cried a few tears off and on and then during the funeral I lost it. I had to run outside because I couldn't breath and I just let it all flow. I've cried off and on since then with intermitent days of okness = FRUSTRATION.
I don't know if I'm behaving acceptably according to the grieving process, but it's how I am dealing with it. Maybe if I'm still this way in a couple of months I should go see someone. At this point I think there's a healthy dose of home-sickness contributing to my state.

On a happier note, I found a Cool Link.

And for future/current teachers: For Kids.

Word of the Day: Chapeaugraphy

Careful what you type...

I accidentally typed in: www.aspene.blogpsot.com and boy was that not what I was looking for :)

Minor annoyances:
I'm upset at a certain local "bust"ing video chain who has on their calendar that they would get The Singing Detective yesterday and they didn't have it then. I went back in today to return the ishy CITH and they said they probably won't be getting it :(
/grrrrrr

/sigh

Ugh, just watched The Cat in The Hat and I was not impressed :( sad really, I was hoping it would be good. I went to the video store to find The Singing Detective but got TCITH instead. I don't know much about The Singing Detective, except what I've seen on the website trailer, but I like musicals and this is sort of one, plust it has some great actors in it. Hopefully it'll be better than TCITH.

Word of the Day: Beau Coup - "Chiefly Southern U.S. adj. Many; much: beaucoup money."

HA!

I treated myself yesterday - Aya and I went out to Perkins for a big breakfast and then we went shopping. I bought a GameBoy Advance SP and a few games, then we headed over to see her mom and grandparents for a while. I think I spent pretty much all weekend hanging out with Aya... making up for our non-existent vacation and not really getting to party-harty on her birthday.

Saw a couple of movies on Friday:
Dawn of the Dead - Trippy to see the little girl from Avonlea in a freaky movie, I know she's done other things, but I hadn't seen anyof them.
Taking Lives

Couple of creepy movies... first was Aya's choice and second had looked interesting to me. I still want to see a few others, but I'm guessing I'll have to wait for them to come out on video/dvd.

LOL
I just saw a funny quote. It's kind of bad, but oh well: Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines. I can see a deeper meaning.
Don't get me wrong I love eagles, they're majestic creatures and whenever I see one I stop to bask in their beauty.

Thanks for posting the link about trees Renee. I think it's interesting to see how many "tree cities" there are, whether they do indeed act as such.

Word of the Day: Unkempt

I ordered a ring today... it's my "college ring" though you'd never know it. I opted for buying a beautiful ring instead of a clunky ring with lots of writing which I will wear for a year or two max and then stuff in a jewelry box. And yes... I ordered it from John Christian and the design is named..... Aspen! Ironic, yes?

I watched a good movie last night Good Boy. It was really quite cute and great for dog-lovers, which I am. There was one part when I was laughing so hard I was crying. Loved that!

Off to teach 4th & 5th graders a PE lesson.

LOL I was just called Voluptuous!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AYA!!!

Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone!

I love helping people figure out computer problems. When they get what I'm saying or when I figure out how to solve a new problem... It's a good feeling to help someone and for some odd reason I have a knack for computers.

I ran into Renee today /wave Renee. Was good to see her, it had been a LONG time.

Grief-wise, I'm doing a lot better than I was, even since Sunday. It's helped to get back into my daily routine. Plus all my friends have been so supportive and sympathetic. I'm getting better at not being shocked when I realize I'll never get to see my grandfather again.
I decided I'm going to start a journal for him.... a scrapbook of sorts. I can add pictures and stories, things I remember, how he used to call me "Hun" and the monkey face he made that always made me laugh, his goofy sayings like: "It'll feel better when it quits hurtin, I've had worse things than that on my eye and I didn't even blink." When I would ask where we were going he'd reply "All to pieces..." When I would be looking for someone he'd say they were "Up on the housetop flying a kite." He was a character! Yep... I have so many memories of him, much more than I had of my grandma who died when I was 8. I'm really glad I had that extra 17 years with him. I want to remember everything I can about him.

I had forgotten how much pain you could be in, without having any physical malady - the heart-wrenching pain which comes from the loss of a loved one.
When Aya and I reached Miles City, MT I called my parents to let them know we’d made it that far and found out my Grandaddy had been rushed to the hospital. The next morning my mom called to let me know he had passed away. I had to pull myself together and drive back 6 hours to Fargo, ND where I caught a plane for home. I was so afraid I wouldn’t make the flight and without Aya’s help I wouldn’t have. She helped me keep it together.
It hurts more than I can express. My only comfort comes in knowing he’s with my Grandmommy now and he is no longer in pain. Being with my family has helped, but I leave for MN Sunday morning. Hopefully returning to the routines of my school and work schedule will help to ease the pain.

Booming resumed, sleep remaind just out of my grasp for another hour last night.

Now I'm up, but gonna need a BIG cappacino to keep me going today.

Excited mentally bout trip though :)

Time to check people's rooms, pick up Aya, and hit the road!

Have a great Spring Break All!

Hmmm 2 am and still not asleep... what's wrong with this picture?

Speaking of, went to see Hidalgo tonight with Aya and one of my residents. I was very pleased with it, but then I LOVE horsies! And kudos to Viggo, the man does look wonderful on a horse.

So tired... had to go downstairs and ask someone to turn their music down at 1:20am and still here random boomings from their bass. Wish I were sleeping, long drive tomorrow. /sigh

Got a new camera, lil baby one like Aya has to take random digital pics. Quality isn't that great, but love the way it distorts pics! It's abstract-y. Gonna have fun with it.

Hmm... booming seems to have stopped. Dare I try again to capture the blissful, yet elusive, REM cycle?

Aya and I are leaving tomorrow for the mountains! We'll be back next Saturday night, so no blogging for a week.

I still have The Little Mermaid song stuck in my head, so I broke out the cd and I'm listening to it now.

Oops Aya's here... blog ya later!

I love my life.

Frustrations abound but all in all I am unbelievably fortunate. I have family I love and who loves and cares about me. I have friends that make me laugh, care for me, and with whom I can share the ups and downs of life. Plus, I love the surprises that come my way. You never know who or what is going to surprise you... uhm thus the surprise part... but anywho... I find it refreshing. Like when a male friend starts singing Part of Your World from The Little Mermaid out of nowhere. Learning someone's a big nerd who you thought totally wasn't. Doing really well in a class you thought you were doomed to fail. Having the opportunity to go across the world to a beautiful country, having the opportunity to learn first-hand about them, and getting school credit for it! When you find someone who, after five minutes with them, has your face hurting from smiling so much.

Yep. Life is great, wundervoll even! Hundreds of little blessings we recognize and millions we don't.

Today I feel: Exhausted!

I didn't get to sleep until after 4am and I had to get up at 8:30 am.... 4 1/2 hours of sleep doesn't cut it for me, I need my eight or I get cranky. Lord help anyone who grumbles at me today, they may find their "Momma" to be a bit grumpy, too.

If I haven't explained before I have been dubbed the dorm "Momma" by my fellow RA's. It happened sometime around late Nov. during a staff meeting. We were writing positive postcards to each other and one of the guys said I was very motherly.... well it took off from there. They assure me it's a compliment in the - "Sweet, caring, looks after us all" way and not the "Nagging, annoying, go away and let us grow up" way. So I just smile and answer when the words "Hey Mom," "Momma," etc are uttered.


Link of the day: Drawings with funny sayings

UGH!

I was having trouble getting to sleep... again... but I finally passed out about 1:30-1:40 am.... just in time for a 2 am wake-up-fire-alarm! After getting everyone out, locating the problem, getting everyone back in, and filling out the paperwork... I came back and now I can't get to sleep again /whimper
Maybe if I stare at the computer screen for a while my brain cells will get tired of working overtime :/

Oh, and I have a song stuck in my head.... hehehe it's a good song. Reminds me of one that a friend keeps singing...

Picture: This is what I feel like right now...

Trying something...

Pain, sleep, and Scandals & Life...

I woke up in the middle of the night from the pain in my wrist... this is a new event, one I hope won't be repeated. I'm a very sound sleeper, so that should tell you how much it was hurting. I woke up almost crying, I could feel the tears about to spill out and my throat was clenched. I moved it around, it popped a bunch, then started feeling better and I went back to sleep.

Aside from wrist-issues I've been doing better about getting to sleep at a regular time... no more 2 am's.

Aya posted some links about Colorado and Scandals... ish.... It doesn't bode well for my attending the school, but then again I know that every place has its problems...

I haven't made any official decision as to where I want to go to grad school. I'm not even 100% sure I'm going to go. I've got over a year to decide :) First comes: Graduation, Summer, New Zealand, Italy, and then who knows :)

"Acheeewwwwwww!"

/eyes Aya suspiciously

I've been sneezing all morning and I'm all snuffly.... Did you share your germs with me? Sharing is a good thing... but not when it comes to germs.
/sigh

Oh well I'm still on a high from finally knowing I've been placed in New Zealand. I can't wait to contact the people at the school and find out which grade and where I will be living, etc. So much left to do and so much left to find out... YEY! The excitement never ends.

Aya and I spent most of the day Saturday planning our Spring Break trip where we will be checking out:
Boulder, CO
Ft. Collins, CO
Bozeman, MT

And who knows... maybe Aya will fall in love with one of them and she'll decide she'd much rather go to the Rockie Mountains than England ;)

I've found a place to host comments, though I'm having trouble working it into my template.

MOVIES

Scooby Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed looks pretty funny!

A handsom man from Australia --- Hugh Jackman's new Movie! Should be interesting... and if nothing else he's drool-worthy ;)

Horses! It's about time for another wonderful action movie with lots of HORSES! /love horsies! Thanks to Viggo I think there's one coming soon!

One I really want to see but will have to wait til it comes out on video because I live in a rinky-dink town (that I love) but they don't show all the movies that come out... In America.

And one more which I'll probably have to drag Aya to - kicking and screaming - Jersey Girl.

hehehe
I dunno Aya... I'm going to have to go with Grease because he used my favorite song.... although I like to ride chickens sometimes. But honestely, major kudos for using the word dirigibles in a song.
Some of them are pretty naughty... his sense of humor is warped :)

Oh yeah, one more thing, this Independent Woman is going to NEW ZEALAND!

There's a certain sub shop with a disturbing new ad campaign... some find it scary, others humorous. I found an article on msn in which there is a link to the creators site.

I've also been researching the town I'm going to in NZ. It's just outside of Wellington, on the north island and it's a costal town - woot! It looks beautiful and I can't wait to contact the people at the school. I'm lucky to have found out so early, from what I had heard I didn't expect to find anything out until July!
WeeeeEEEeeeeEeeee! Life is good :) Life is great :) Life is something to appreciate :)

Wahoooooo!

I just received confirmation of placement in New Zealand and another email with the dates of my time there. I'll be in NZ for 14 weeks, 12 weeks of student teaching with a two week break in the middle in which I'm free to travel!

I've been so giddy all day I could barely sit still in class.

:) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :)

Today's Mood: Ecstatic!

Today's word describes somebody I recently met to the t... Word of the Day: Overzealous

This weekend's staff selection went well. I had as much fun on Sunday as I did on Saturday, minus a minor injury I sustained while eating a carrott. Yes, only I could injure myself in such a way. Maybe I'll find someone who finds my klutzyness irresistable?
I can hope...

I stayed up way too later last... er this morning, despite my tiredness, to finish a YA book I had started yesterday: Ella Enchanted. I must admit when I first started reading the book I was not THAT impressed but it did capture my attention enough to keep me up until 1:30am. The problem is I figured out halfway through the book where the author was going, or at least I thought I had it figured out... so I had to keep reading and yeah uhm it was a vicious cycle... but enjoyable. Kinky? Vicious and enjoyable ;) Anywho, I recommend this book if you're into YA lit. It was funny and enjoyable and apparently being made into a major motion picture.

I'm trying to figure out how to put my imood back on my blog. Until then I'll just post it:

Today's Mood: Anticipatory

First day of RA Staff Carousel process is done! Woot! It was actually prety fun. I chose to do the group part today where I sat with eight other RA's and watched the groups perform in teams and it was really fun. Tomorrow I've chosen to do the two-on-one interviews where another RA and I ask questions of an applicant. I just hope I don't get tired of asking the same questions over and over :)

I'm tired, but content.

Word of the Day: Mollify

Have you ever really wanted to blog something, maybe just to vent... but you can't, for whatever reason? Yeah... me too.

We have RA staff selection this weekend. Translation: All day Saturday and Sunday interviewing and observing candidates for RA positions for next school year. It should be fun-ish, as most RA things are, just there goes my entire weekend :(
/mourns the loss of her weekend

I've been having the oddest dreams lately... and nothing I can post because they involve people I know. Nothing bad, mind you, just wierd stuff happens when the subconscious takes over. Not going to bother trying to analyze them... think they're just the result of a tired brain :)

Here's something I haven't done in a long time...

Word of the Day: Diabolical

Pictures of the Day: Puppy1 & Puppy2

Found on this site

LOL
*falls off chair laughing*
Wowsers... I had no idea... I mean they do tease me about being the dorm mother... but this... hehehehe

What Famous Leader Are You?

LOL
I've never even seen it....

What Classic Movie Are You?

Working out a few bugs, but so far I'm really liking my new blog format.

Baby was so cute and one of Aya's cousins spent the night at my dorm.

I've tried to apply for Italy three times now and I can't get the form to go through. I emailed the people and she emailed me back that she would put me in touch with their tech person. I'm not going to give up. I WILL go to Italy!

I am the queen of procrastination.


We're going to see Aya's new 2nd cousin today. ::heart:: babies!

I'm working on another color scheme and design for my blog. I was actually getting tired of the purple! This mint green isn't much better ;)

During last nights RA Staff Meeting we drew pictures of each other. Steve had us pick someone, at random, and draw them on a piece of paper. Then he held them up and we had to guess who the picture was of and then the artist had to confess. It was a fun activity and two different people drew me. One drew me with huge feet *cough* and a skirt (which I never wear) but I looked "motherly" and since everyone calls me "Mother" everyone knew who it was. The other picture had me holding a ball of yarn, this was really funny to me. I always bring my crochet with me to meetings so of course everyone knew it was of me :) I thought it was cute.
Again I was reminded of how much I love my fellow RA's.
There's the "Class Clown" who's always an inch from getting in trouble because he's being too rowdy... marking me with pens or smacking me, etc. The "Terrible Twosome" who also make trouble by stealing things from me, ie: my scarf last night. Their sense of humor is a bit off... sometimes they're funny, but usually they're mildly annoying - all in good fun though. And now that an RA from last year is back in Linden they've got another conspirator. She encourages them! Yeesh, just what they needed, more incouragement. There are the quiet ones, and then the one who is always asking questions. And our ring leader, the "Boss Man." What a group :) ::heart:: RA Family.

I've been feeling homesick already. This is very unusual. Usually I don't get that way until a few weeks before I go home. I think it's really a blend of emotions about ending my time here. I am looking forward to having my parents come up, finally, and see where I've been living for the past three years. I'm looking forward to graduating and a summer of luxury in the northland. And I'm especially looking forward to going to New Zealand. What I'm not looking forward to is having to leave this wonderful place, school, home... I've made so many friends here and Aya's family has taken ahold of a huge chunk of my heart. There are definitely going to be tears when the time comes for me to leave.... probably end of July. *sigh* /love MN

I have been thinking more about grad schools. This one is on the top of my list, followed closely by CSU, U of Colorado, and Montana State University in Bozeman. All three states are places I love to be and I know people here and in Bozeman... well my dad's friends are in Bozeman... but I'd have connections :) Of course I've always felt at home in Colorado too. So many options! What a wonderful life I'm leading. I have so many choices and so many great choices, just the choosing part is hard. I'm still wanting to stay in New Zealand or possibly Australia to teach for a year or two. If that doesn't work I'm going to look into going to Italy for eleven weeks to help a teacher over there perfect their English.... Weeeeee!

Almost a month since my last post.... Wowsers.

A lot has happened since then. :)

School is going well, but too quickly. I can't believe I'm graduating in three months. To prolong my return to Texas I have decided to stay in MN this summer. I'll go back for a week or so when my parents come to move me back, but I'm coming back up here asap. I don't want to go back to TX during the hottest time of the year. Aya's mom said I can live there again this summer, so I'm very excited. I love MN summers.

We had an RA staff retreat two weekends ago and OMG what fun! We went to a resort about two hours from here and rented out two giant cabins. We had a meeting which lasted about 4 or 5 hours and the rest was play time. We cooked together, swam, played air hockey and pool, played Taboo and an interesting card game called BS. I love my fellow RA's, they're great people, so funny, so much fun to be around. I wish we could do this retreat again. I'm going to miss them all so much.

Last night one of the dorms had a Bachelor/Bachelorette Auction. The proceeds went to their hall council and St. Judes. Aya, another girl, and myself wound up bidding on two guys who went up together. I knew one and the other I've seen around. Aya also got another guy *cough* but at least she's sharing ;) I have no idea what we're doing but it should be interesting.

I'm still on my crocheting kick. I've done four scarfs and I'm working on a blanket now. I don't know why, except that it's kind of theraputic - very relaxing. I love to do it in the evenings to relieve stress.

Time to get to work. Blog ya later.

Yummy!
I took a nice long walk from Janelle's house to our downtown area where we stopped at a tea and coffee shop. They give free samples and I fell in love with this coffee... Kona and it's delicious, so I bought some :)

Been back for a week now, had classes and work and such and all is going well. Need to clean my room though, it's not organized!!! eeep! crisis! hehe that's what I get for doing a rush job on my unpacking ;)

I've seen all my family now, including my "little" cousins from Alabama. The oldest, Caleb, is 13 and almost an inch taller than me! I saw him and my jaw dropped. He's gonna be a big one! They're all so cute and seeing them again made me miss them even more. The younger ones, Stephen and Daniel are such cuties. They've all changed so much in the last two years. I'm thinking about taking a trip to Alabama next summer to see them for a while. I only got to spend four hours with them on Friday and that just wasn't enough.
I also saw my grandfather who's in the nursing home. That was very, very hard. He fell and broke his hip about a week before Christmas but he was out of the hospital and back in the nursing home when we saw him on Saturday. They had his leg in traction and he was in a lot of pain. He recognized us and was very happy to see us. They had just given him two pain pills and after about thirty minutes he was pretty out of it. We left for a while and when we came back he was flying high but still kind of out of it. I must say though, I'd rather see him out of it than in pain. That was unbearable.
All in all I have to say it's been a really good Christmas. I have no plans for New Years, I'll probably just hang out here with the folks... safer than driving around the metroplex at least.
Hmmm I'm stalling... need to start cleaning out some of my old junk to make room for my new acquisitions I've acquired in MN.... It'll be interesting to see in May if all my stuff fits into two rooms and a closet ;)

Oh! On the way down to see my grandfather we stopped by the breeder we got Bear dog from and she said she's about to breed a couple of her dogs and the pups would be born in March. We put in a request for a male and put a down payment... does that seem odd to you? Putting a down payment on a house, car, bike, etc... that I can see.... but a dog? Just seems odd to me, but then I tend to see dogs as partially human *shrug* Anywho, we're getting a puppy!!!!!

I'm home!
Seen one set of grandparents and an aunt, some friends, put up and decorated the christmas tree and wrapped some presents. Not bad for less than 48 hours :)

Wahooooooooo!

(saw ROTK)

Just two tests left & LOTR ROTK comes out tomorrow. Definitely gonna go stand in line for that one, only problem is it's gonna be cold and snowy.... but it's worth it ;)

Lotsa stuff going on, good and bad. At the moment the bads outweighing the good, but I'm sure that'll change... hopefully at least. Somebody tipped my scales and I'm just still trying to recover.

Aya told me to write a letter to Santa, that it would make me feel better... So here goes:


Dear Santa,

I hope all is well up in the North Pole. I've tried really hard to be good this year even though it was really hard sometimes. Hopefully you're grading on a curve this year.

All I want for Christmas is for my family, friends, and critters to be healthy.

Thanks!

Aspen

When you wear your heart on your sleeve it's bound to have a few bumps and bruises.

This post is all about the Word of the Day: Septuagenarians

Courtesy of New Age Girl, by DeadEye Dick.
As heard in Dumb & Dumber.


*just had to look it up!

Warning - in a very reflective/pondering - sort of mood today.


I love life. Really I do. It has this way of throwing you a curve ball when you least expect it. Whoever said life is like a rollercoaster was dead on. It can be exciting and terrifying, it has twists and turns, ups and downs, you can't see coming. That's how my life is at least...

I enjoy many of the surprises and others leave me speechless, sad, shocked... But I never know what's coming next.

I'm wondering about taking control of your destiny... I guess I believe you can control your destiny to a certain extent. The decisions you make and the actions you take affect how your life turns out, but what other's do also affects you. I never know what other people are thinking. Sometimes I think I understand dogs better than people, at least better than men. Very confusing creatures.


Anywho.... enough of that... :)
I finished all the papers I needed to and have turned all but one in - it's due on Tuesday. There's only one week left of class and all I have to worry about now is finals - eek! I have five this semester and I'm really not looking forward to finals week. I need to start studying now, but it's Friday - my break day... I want to just relax and hang out. Of course I'm ta'ing from 8am-6pm tomorrow so I won't have much time to study then, but Sunday... yes Sunday. That is the day I will start studying ;)



Word of the Day: Peccadillo


Picture of the Day: Snow

I had a good Thanksgiving. I went to Aya's house and enjoyed delicious food and good company. Lots of both actually :) Also I had a friend over who couldn't go home for the holiday and Aya had three friends over as well.
I played a game of life, in which I came in second... hmm.. we chatted, watched Dogma and ate. It was a good day.

Went shopping with a friend today. He got a new leather jacket and some pants. He's very excited about his new jacket :)

Now it's time to get to work. I still have 8 pages of write-ups left for Monday's science class. UGH. I can do it in two hours if I just buckle down. *gets a determined look on her face*

Here goes....

Hope everyone's doing well.

Happy Birthday to ME! I'm 25 years old today.

I'm having an awesome birthday.
It started out Sunday afternoon when I had a party at Aya's mom's house. I'd invited her family and the other RA's in my dorm. There was a total of 18 people there and it was a blast! We had lots of food and yummy cupcakes with Scooby rings on them. YUM!
Last night I had some friends up to finish off the cake that came with the cupcakes and we chatted for a bit. Then I went out to see the movie Elf which was pretty good.
Today I had balloons, a card, cookies, and juice waiting for me in class. They also sang Happy Birthday to me.
I got two emails from my mom wishing me Happy Birthday and I talked to my dad for a bit on the phone.
And tonight I'm meeting some friends at Applebee's to eat and chat.
So far this has been one of the best birthday's I've ever had :)

/feels loved

I'm a very lucky person.

I had two Mondays in one week, that hardly seems fair...
We had classes as usual on Monday and then Tuesday the school closed for Veteran's Day, which was a much appreciated break. When Wednesday rolled back around though... ugh, a second Monday reared it's ugly head. Luckily Wednesdays are my short days :)

Today I SOOOO didn't want to come to class, I'm not feeling well. But I hauled myself out of bed and treked on over only to find my class canceled. My next class isn't until 2pm today so I was thinking YEY naptime! Yeah right! My classroom is right accross from the comp lab where I work and I saw a girl in there I knew from class so I walked in to say "Hi." BIG MISTAKE! I was jumped " Ohhhh Aspen Sweetie, Darling I need your help" Says my boss.... Yup.... There was this emergency and no one to work the rest of the day so I told her I would work until 1pm. /sigh... All I wanna do is crawl into bed and sleep the rest of the day, but no..... No.... Nooooo!... NO!.... hehe It's so easy to say when I don't NEED to say it or reallllllly want to say it.

Anywho, here I sit at work. /twiddles thumbs....

I'm loving Get Fuzzy. I've been reading it everyday now and more times than not it gets me to chuckle :)

My birthday is next Tuesday and I'm having a party on Sunday. Aya's family will be there, at her mom's house, and so will some of my RA friends. I want to invite Janelle too, but everytime I've called she hasn't been there :( I should call her cell! I'm hoping it'll be a fun party.

Word of the Day: Forejudgment

Picture of the Day: Sniff, Sniff

Jinkies!
Somebody out there knows me pretty well!

You would drive...
The Scooby gang's Mystery Machine. You want a car with personality, but you also need space for all your friends. That's why you drive this big van, painted with a colorful (some might call it 'tacky') design. It has plenty of room for the whole gang, and even a big dog, right in the front seat. What are you waiting for? Throw your tools and equipment in the back, and hit the road.

/bounce

My new favorite comic!

My favorite strip o' day: HAHAHA!

Word of the day: Pugilist

Practicum Week One is done. I finalized my grading for last week. Now I need to prepare for next week. My group is teaching Proabability.... eeep!

My morning class was canceled today so I'm hanging out in the computer lab until I have to go to my next class, mass communication & society. Actually it's pretty interesting.

I get to register for spring classes next monday - my last time to register for classes.... as an undergraduate. I'm beginning to consider what I want to do after New Zealand and it's looking like graduate school might be a contender. I am looking at staying in NZ for grad school or possibly a job down there... or maybe colorado grad school... so many possibilities!

Lots and lots to do. In addition to my once-a-week practicum I've been doing a week-long science practicum this week. Have a break next week, just the one-day one, then a full week of math practicum.

Have a midterm tomorrow and one Friday, then another next Tuesday.

Feeling the stress. Big time.

I can do it though. Like I told my mom today, I won't let anyone or anything get in my way. I want to graduate with honors and I will. I want to go to New Zealand and I will.

Period.

/is determined.

Hmmm... according to some site if I were a smurf I'd be Papa Smurf...

Two days, two fire drills.
Very odd.
Yesterday it was a blessing because I was running late to class and the fire alarm went off just as I was almost to class. Since everyone had to file out nobody noticed I was a few minutes late :)
Today we were in the middle of class and it went off again.
The security people are baffled. They don't know why it went off either time. The system shows a fire on third floor but there is none. Both alarms were at different times.
Odd.

Word of the Day: Phalanx
(found on the NZHerald page)

I'm feeling overwhelmed. And highly annoyed. Some people shouldn't be allowed to teach.
Enough said.

Had a fun weekend. Homecoming Game - we won. Aya's cousin Holly hung out with us for a while. And got to spend time with Aya - always enjoyable.
My floor had a pizza/game night after the football game and finished by watching Equilibrium. Pretty good movie although there was a part I couldn't watch.... <-- animal lover.

A couple of my friends went to Colorado this past weekend to a wedding. My parents were in Taos, New Mexico and now they're up in Colorado. I'm feeling left out :(
/misses Colorado
Of course I get to go to New Zealand *BIG GRIN* *bounce* Weeeeeee!

Still feeling a bit overwhelmed with all my work for classes and I'm being naughty and procrastinating on a few things. I wish I didn't work better under pressure - maybe I wouldn't procrastinate so much. *sigh*

Bought my plane tickets (can't remember if I said that already) to go home for three weeks during Christmas. Been feeling slightly homesick lately. I really miss my parents, home, friend, critters. On the other hand I'm very happy up here and it makes me REALLY sad to think about leaving. Maybe I'll teach down South for a few years... then come back here for my Masters. I still have no clue about where I'm going after New Zealand. Really I'm hoping for an opportunity to knock me over and say "Yoohoo! What about me?" It's happened before...
Until then I'm content to search around for something that interests me and enjoy my life as it is today.

Word of the Day: Pontificate

Picture of the Day: Haha!

Busy, busy, busy.

Feeling slightly overwhelmed with class assignments and I sort of procrastinated this weekend. I did get the stuff done that is due right away though. Yeah me.

Emailed old friends today.

Listening to music while typing... slow song... need something more up-ity.
Charmed 2-hour season premiere was last night. Angel is this Wednesday at 8pm! *bounce* SOOOO excited about that... they have Spike guest staring. I can't wait to see who else guest stars!!!! weeeeeee! Long live the BtVS/Angel legacy.

Okies that's all. Lots to do. Blog ya later.

Every year you return to the dorms they "give" you a gift. Last year it was a rainproof jacket and this year we got to choose between a breifcase or a blanket. When I went in to look at the options last spring the breifcase looked like crap and the blanket looked so-so. Yesterday they came in and when I saw the breifcases I was shocked, they were leather, not cloth, and they had a calculator, notpad & holder, and pen - not at all like the sample one they showed last spring. The blankets are still so-so... kind of ugly *shrug* oh well... they're "free" *chuckle*

I'm growing grass. For my science methods class I dug around collecting dirt for about 30 mins this morning and then in class we planted some grass seeds. I hope they grow! We get graded on whether they grow or die and we have to record everything we do to them. We all split our dirt in half and exchanged with someone else, so I have to grass pots to grow.

I have been checking the NZ Herald website everyday lately and weeee.... some depressing stuff, small countries still have murdering stepfathers and such... very sad. But there is beauty to behold as well. I'm trying to stay focussed on the positive. They have some advertisements of things to do and there's a mini-article on World of Sheep which sounds like fun... I wonder if they'd let me keep the fiber I shore from the sheep.

I'm supposed to be working at the moment, but really I've just got my headphones on - listening to my music - enjoying the calm before the storm. 25 people just went out to film some stuff for making an imovie and when they come back I'll be running around like a maniac again.

I had a nice relaxing weekend - about time for one of those.

I did get some school work done and cleaned out bits of stuff to get rid of.

Watched Underworld on Friday afternoon = good movie. Also saw Cold Creek Manor on Sunday afternoon... uhm... WAY too drawn out.

That's about it. School is flying by.... Went to my 9am class this morning and there was a note saying no class today so I came back and took a little nap... now I have to go to my 11am. Not a bad way to start out my Monday :) It's a long one though, not done until about 8pm tonight.

Have a good day!

Ok... so last week could have gone better.
One of my classes required us to do a camping trip on Thursday night. We were to meet out at a park owned by the school at 6:00pm. I was there a few mins late and by that time everybody had left. So I got my stuff together and set off down one of the three paths to find them. I got a good ways down the one path and was yelling for people but nobody answered. So I headed back to take another path. I was almost back to where I parked when I ran into two other girls and so we took off down another path and went way off, yelling and searching. We got really far out and decided it couldn't have been that far off. So we went back to the parking area again and another girl showed up. We stood around for a few mins wondering what to do. Then a car of four more girls came and they were SOOOOO drunk. Add their behavior to my already unhappy disposition and I was ticked. By this time I'm SOAKING wet, I've been wondering around for 45 mins in the cold rain, yelling and honking my horn and now this. We set off down the center trail again and JUST past where I stopped, around a corner, was the group standing around. They had been in a nice dry cabin and hadn't heard me yelling. So I'm walking up with these drunk girls, carrying cups of more beer by the way, and I'm almost an hour late. The professor has decided we need to head back to a park in town with a pavillion so we can have shelter. We hike back to our cars and I stopped by my dorm to change clothes since I was compltely drenched, I wrung the water out of my hair, and set off again. (On a happy note I saw a full rainbow and part of a another one. Don't see many double rainbows. And it was a beautiful sunset.) I met the group and was about 10 mins late but at that point I didn't care and then there were some other people even later than I was. We sat on the freezing concrete, next to the windy lake, trying to have a philosophical discussion over the traffic noise (we were right next to the street), and with a homeless man smoking and possibly drunk walking around us talking to himself. Yeah... it was not fun. The professor was upset to say the least, not only was this the first time in 12 years the event had been rained out but 4 girls showed up drunk and were being obnoxious (why he didn't tell them to leave I don't know - he's too nice I guess - but he apparently had a talk with them Friday morning). UGH! Anywho, he let us go at 9:00pm because we were cold and wet and miserable. All I wanted to do was come home, take a hot shower, and go to bed. I was drinking a nice hot cup of Sleepytime tea when one of my residents came in to talk. She's really nice and it turns out we have a lot in common, but she didn't leave until 11:30pm and I passed out as soon as she left.
The class met again at 9am on Friday and when the group set off for an outdoor part at 10:30am I split off since I have an 11:00 class. I'm going to write three papers as a result of being late yesterday, him letting us go early last night, and for having to leave early today.

Friday night and all day Sat until six I was TA'ing for a class. So my week wasn't over until Sat 6pm and then Sunday flew by and it's already Tuesday. Yeeeps!

Sunday dinner was fun. I went to Pizza Hut with a few RA's their girlfriends, and two parents of the guy from India. We had a good discussion and it was fun.

Monday night we had our second RA meeting and we met out at our RHD's house which is beautiful and we played some games, had ice cream, and discussed businessy stuff.

I feel like I'm so far behind, but I'm really trying to not be. It's just that I've overdone it again this semester, even though I really planned on not overdoing it... if that makes sense.
Anywho I need to get to work.

Oh, and note to self and Aya: Angel starts again Oct. 1st.... I'll most likely be recording it. Hopefully it takes a good turn.....

Blog ya later.

Where to begin....
Obviously the past week and a half has been crazy.
I got back from Texas two Thursdays ago and started RA training the next day. Aya and I were also preparing for her brother's wedding which took place that Saturday. We missed some training on boy Friday and Saturday while we decorated and participated in the wedding. I had fun doing the music and then afterwards at the reception and dance. It's always good to see Aya's cousins. Her family has basically adopted me and so they're like an extention to my own family.
Training was insane. They had us from 7:30 am to well after nine almost every night, there were a couple we were done at 6:30pm but that was time to get our floors ready for residents. We even spent last Thursday night at a group of cabins - I slept in my car. It was so cold and the beds were so uncomforatble that at about 2:00 I finally gave up and went to my car. I would turn the car on and let it get warm for a bit then turn it off and go to sleep for an hour or so when I'd wake up with my teeth chattering and have to repeat the process. I got up at about 6:00 or earlier and waited for the rest to wake up. We spent the next day scraping paint of a couple large cabins and priming them. Let me just say this, in addition to little sleep and an already long week they had us doing manual labor... we were so exhausted. That was one of the nights we were done at 6ish and I went to bed at 8:30-9pm.
It was absolutely exhausting, but it was also fun. It was a time for us to bond as dorm RA's and I learned some interesting and valuable things, but UGH! I'm very glad I will never have to go through that again.
Training ended last Friday night and then we helped new students move in on Saturday, did check-ins on Sunday and Monday and classes started on Tuesday afternoon.
Where did the summer go? I didn't get a summer.... summer classes and work, trip to Texas to visit family and friends and help at the folks shop, RA training, and the first week of Fall semester done..... wow.

Oh, on a funny note: the night we were camping a lot of us hung out at the campfire and talked and I think I gave about 17 or 18 back massages, one of which was for an Albanian. The next morning he told me, in front of a bunch of people, thanks and that he slept very well last night. Of course for those not at the campfire... well... they had to wonder eh? ;)

Bear-hugging Albanians, change of plans, and other bits...

Went to my favorite Italian restraunt tonight for my last meal (in Texas). Mom, Dad, Jeremy and I had a good visit and filled our bellies. Luigi, owner, said hi, gave me a hug and wished me well. I appologized for not having been able to talk with him before and he said it was alright and he loves me anyways *smile* As we were leaving one of the other brothers gave me a hug that nearly stopped my breath, strong lil fella ;)

I received a call from my new boss last night. He asked if I would be interested in changing floors. Instead of moving to another dorm I just have to move to the third floor of the same wing I'm on now. It was a tough choice, dorm A= non-smoking, smallest dorm, lake view, movable furniture. dorm B= students older than average (23 plus), smoking, medium sized dorm, non-movable furniture, lake view. The big cincher was that Steve (boss) feels I'm better suited for dorm B because they have more of a sense of community and will be more active and I want an active floor. So, dorm B it is. Added bonus=dorm B has elevator for moving purposes :) I feel special cuz he gave me a choice of which floor I would prefer to be on. He's a good guy and I'm excited to have him as my boss.

It's always hard when I say goodbye.... I know I'll see everyone again at Christmas - or at least I hope I'll be able to, with new job I'm not sure. It's still rough. There are so many wonderful people here I love and who love me. I know when the time comes to leave Minnesota it's going to be just as bad, probably worse. I will have lived there for three years and I have made many friends. The difference between leaving TX and leaving MN is I knew I'd come back to TX. When I leave MN I'll only come back, maybe once a year, to visit. Plus I'm leaving my bestest friend in the whole-wide-world behind. Ugh. But I refuse to think about that now. Who knows where I'll wind up eventually, I sure don't.

Thanks to Aya sending me to a school link I now know that my dorm has movable furniture (only one on campus), it's the smallest dorm on campus and my floor is a non-smoking floor. Weee! I'm allergic to cigarette smoke so this is a major added bonus!

Saw a poster for the new Scooby Movie... found link and added it to this page. CUTE poster ;)

Wahoooooooooooo!
I received a call today from my RHD (Residence Hall Director) asking me if I would like a RA position this next year. The call I've been waiting for. It's one of the smallest dorms, I have a lake view, free room and board and best of all my boss is a nice guy. I'm very excited. Now I have to start making the signs for my floor as I only have a week before I go back and the day after I go back I start training.... uhm... when will I have time to move... does that dorm have an elevator? *panic* no no... too early for panicing.... hehe :)

In other news I've been going around the City visiting friends at my old job and passing the word that I will need a job next summer. They're great people and they seem as happy to see me as I am to see them. One of them was upset because he thought I hadn't come to see them this summer and he wouldn't get to see me until Christmas. =0)

Having lunch with my Aunt and Mom tomorrow to celebrate my Aunt's birthday.

Gonna go picture hunting now to find something for putting my residents names on their doors.

Picture of the Day: Sad Scooby - How cute is that?!?

Forgot the Word of the Day: Badinage

Had fun visiting my grandparents and got to see my new baby cousin. After a good visit there we headed over to Shreveport and I pretty much broke even, always good.
On the way back we stopped at the dog kennels of the lady who breeds Belgium Groenendaels and we had a good visit with the puppies. Ever since our baby Bear died two and a half years ago my parents have been considering getting a new puppy from the same people.

Been working at the shop when I'm not visiting the doctors :P
Had an appointment with an orthopedic surgeon on Monday about my wrist pain and he set me up for an MRI on Tuesday morning. I always thought those were no-big-deal and I suppose if I had been laying normally it wouldn't have been. Since it was my right wrist they were examining though, it became somewhat of an ordeal. I had to lay on my stomach, which causes me back pain, and reach my right arm all the way up above my head, which killed my shoulder and made the rest of my are go numb, except for my wrist which throbbed. Then I bent my left arm and tucked it under my head which I turned to the left. My left arm went completely numb and it took almost fifteen mins for me to regain all the feeling. (should have seen me trying to put on my left earring. By the time I was done everything above my waist was either throbbing or completely numb. BAH!
I picked up the results yesterday and took them over to the orthopedic guy and now I'm waiting on his diagnosis. Though I did sneak a peek at the report from the hospital - "ganglian cyst just inferior to the pisiform bone" which is apparently 7.0 mm in diameter. Sounds awefully big to me.... but have to wait for the Dr to tell me what he wants to do.

Waiting for Jeremy to call me so we can make plans to go see a movie and maybe catch some dinner.
Better get to cleaning my house like I was supposed to be doing all day... slept in, went on a hunt for my grandfather who took off walking and scared everyone in the family - he has a tendancy to disappear and he's 87 and it's above 90 degrees outside, lots of traffic and construction, etc... He turned up back at his house safe and sound *sigh* doesn't bother him a bit, but gives everyone else close-to-heart-attack states.

Yeah...k.... cleaning house now.

Early...
Too early for summertime...

Dad and I are heading out to East Texas to see my grandparents. Then over to Shreveport for some gambling. Maybe I'll win big so I can have plenty of spending money for New Zealand ;0)

Saw my cousin yesterday and his wife and their two beautiful babies. Parker is 2 years old now and you can tell it, he's a handful and has way more energy thans should be allowed. Chloe is eleven months old already. I had only seen her once, at Christmas. She's beautiful and has big blue eyes and a big smile.
Dad and I are going to see my Grandparents in East Texas this Saturday and we may swing on over to Shrieveport to a casino.
Sometime next week I'm hoping to meet my newest baby cousin, Rachel.

Texas is warm and sunny, and a little bit humid. Not too bad though.

First time I've ever gotten on a plane and then been forced to get off. They de-boarded the plane after letting us sit there for fifteen-twenty mins because of technical difficulties. They got a mechanic to fix it and we were a little more than an hour late getting off the ground. I ran through the msp airport and missed my connecting flight by four minutes. Waited an extra hour and a half and caught a later flight. Made it home alright. Lots of hugs from the parents, didn't think my mom was going to let go of me at the airport.

Went to see LXG today with the folks, they liked it.
Went out to eat at On the Border /drool TexMex!!!

Having fun with my parents and the critters have welcomed me back with open paws.

Word of the Day: Presuppose

Did a short three-part skit with four classmates today in front of the class. I got to play a short-tempered teacher who yells at a kid and a trouble-making class-clown who was very disruptive. It was fun to let loose and be a huge brat.
Then we watched a video from the 2001 Paralymics in Sydney, Australia. It was amazing to watch a man with no arms win medals for the breast-stroke, women and men in wheelchairs competing in chair races and marathons, and a blind men and women running and swimming their way to the end.

I got another email about New Zealand, this one had a link to a site where I found a bunch of information about student teaching abroad and it is specific to me, so when my placements are made I can see where I'll be going and they'll have contact information for me as well.

Word of the Day: Bamboozle

Two days and Two hours till I fly home.
(But who's counting? ;)

Plans, plans, and more plans...
I'm such an over-achiever. Or maybe it's because I'm so excited.
I am planning what I want to see, where I want to go, I know I want to stop by Australia and pick up a boomerang. I want to see some kangaroos and koalas. I want to go to the top of a few mountains see some big volcanoes. I want to go to Ashburton where my spinning wheel was made. I want to see any remains of the LOTR filming.

I could go on and on but I have work to do.

Word of the Day: Altruistic

Hmm... having some problems with font colors and size. Gonna need Aya's help I think.

I've had an intersting day. My class spent half an hour walking around blind-folded. I had to guide this guy around and then he guided me around. We both managed to keep each other from banging into anything. It was a scary experience at first, very disorienting. I'm glad I knew the building really well already, still there are a bunch of little things you don't notice normally, like slight slopes and exactly how many steps here or there, just how low the water fountains are, etc. You have to really trust the person who is guiding you. After that we headed over to the gym where there is a big indoor track with several basketball courts inside it, one was sectioned off for us. In there we played wheel-chair basketball. Keep in mind I'm a horrible basketball player when I'm standing. It was pretty fun, I only got hit in the head with the ball twice, dropped it more than that... made no goals. I was only out there for about 15-20 mins and my right hand was developing blisters. I had to sit out the rest of the time and gave someone else a turn. My poor palm... It was fun though. Both activities were fun and informative.

Word of the Day: Aggrandize

Working on a new look for my blog, obviously. Having a bit of trouble with the blogouts not showing up and the blogger site doesn't want to link to my pictures from geocities. Aya said she'd host them for me, so just need to get them transferred to her server and change my links.
I got tired of purple, can you believe it?!

On Thursay, just after I posted, I received an email saying I had been officially accepted to the overseas student teaching program. Later that afternoon I got another email saying I was accepted to go to New Zealand! I was so beside myself it was all I could do to keep from jumping up and down like a giddy child. I found out just before I had to give a workshop on how to make a website, so I had to keep my cool, but as soon as I was out of there I called my parents and told Aya. Everyone I've told has been so happy for me and supportive. It's a wonderful feeling. Even people who I don't know very well are happy for me. Then there's the people that do know me who knew something was up right away: I walked into Aya's house and her mom's like "Ok, what's the good news?" I was like "Huh? How do you know there's good news?" "Because you've got a huge smile." hehehe ok ok... so I had a permagrin, can you blame me? ;)

I'M GOING TO NEW ZEALAND!!!!

*grin*
SO much to do: passport, plane tickets, find out exactly where in NZ I'll be placed and contact them, memorize some basic NZ geography, start collecting a teacher wardrobe, and more...
Luckily I found this awesome site: Pure NZ.com where you can plan trips and it has tons of info and pictures!
It's now been three days since I found out and I'm still so excited it's hard to sit still. I told poor Aya to just ignore me when I burst out with the random "Wow!" as I do when it strikes me again that I get to go.

Went to see Johnny English on Friday, and well none of us (4) was that impressed. It was too slow and too long in between jokes. I've never been an enorous fan of Bean but Aya is, and even she didn't like the movie.

Word of the Day: Beatific

You know just because they speak English in another country doesn't mean you'll be able to understand everything they say, slang and otherwise. I was scanning the The New Zealand Herald online and found a word I had never heard of before, spate using context I was able to get the jest of it, but I looked it up to be sure. The word was used in referenct to a recent spree of arsons. In other news there is a man in a coma after being attacked and the police are appologizing to a rape victim for a bungled investigation. Guess some things are constant throughout the world.
Hmmm looks like I need to learn how to convert Celsius to Farenheit as well as the exchange rate for New Zealand money to American. Ah so much to do. Need to get my passport... Yep yep... I will be going. I'm keeping a positive outlook.

In other news... I went to see Twelfth Night last night with a bunch of people from school at the local theater. It was quite fun. I went out to dinner before hand with everyone ate at an Italian restraunt. During dinner the subject of my not receiving an RA position, but rather being an alternate, came up and a professor, who happen to have given me a glowing recommendation, overheard. He was very upset that I didn't get it. He has some sway at the University and let's just say he is used to getting his way. I wouldn't be surprised if he called somebody to complain... *gulp* It was kind of funny... but mostly I just felt all glowy that he was really batting for me and was genuinely upset I didn't receive the job. A little while later he told me I should go talk to the secretary at the Ed office and tell her he sent me to see about a job. I politely declined as I already have two jobs scheduled for this fall. Anywho, it made me feel great that he's so supportive of me. I love that. Can't have too many of those kind of people in your life. I've got my parents, Aya, her family, that professor, and some other friends... Knowing people care is the greatest compliment you can receive.

Went to see The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and it was pretty good. The guy who plays Dorian Gray was bugging me the entire movie... I knew I recognized him, or thought I did, just didn't know where from. When I got home I looked up Stewart Townsend and Hello! he was in Shooting Fish, a very good movie.

Have my midterm tomorrow.

Found out I got an A in my class from last session which raised my GPA to 3.60 = if I were to graduate now I'd graduate Cum Laude and I only need 3.70 for Magna Cum Laude. I don't know if I can make it before I graduate next spring, but I can sure try...

It seems like forever since I saw the first (teaser) trailer for Pirates of the Carribean: Curse of the Black Pearl but all my waiting and excitement was finally rewarded. Aya and I went to see it yesterday evening after we dropped Jeremy (friend from Tx.) off at the airport. It was a great movie, with a double dose of hunkyness to boot. When I found out it was over two hours long I though eek, but I made it without interruption (if you know what I mean). I think I might go see it again in the theater if I can. Defintely buying the dvd.

Probably going to go see The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. I don't know much about it, but if it has Sean Connery in it, chances are it'll be good.

Then I'll just have to wait til the 25th for Tomb Raider: Cradle of Life which I'm not too sure about. Hopefully it's at least as good as the first one, if not better.

A month later, on August 26th is the release of LOTR: 2 Towers on dvd. WOOT!

Ahhh... so many good movies coming out!


Word of the day: Avarice

A lot has been happening this summer, no wonder it's flying by.

Our friend from Texas is up and we've been running around showing him things. We went to a fireworks show Friday night and a big 4th of July Party on Saturday. Sunday we went four-wheeling and to the State Park. In between these things we've been playing lots of board games and cards: Uno, Gin, Scrabble, Risk, Clue, Trivial Pursuit, etc. I've been loosing as usual... though I did win at Trivial Pursuit *cough* and we only played one game of that ;) We've also been to see Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle and Terminator 3 and we rented Just Married and The Recruit.

My poor parents are being stressed to the max. My dad's father is in a physical rehabilitation center, trying to get him to where he can walk again. My mom has been taking her parents around town to different assisted living places, trying to find some place that will satisfy them both. They're really picky and as expensive as those places are they really can't afford to be. Our friend who had cancer had surgery but still hasn't come back to work, he works for my parents, which means they are short-handed on top of everything else. I called my mom this morning and she sounded super-stressed.

On the up-side I get to go home in just three weeks. I know they're looking forward to seeing me and I can't wait to get the stuffings hugged out of me.

I can't belive I only have three weeks left in this class. I just started this morning. That's crazy-short. The class is Adaptations and Management. It deals with children with disabilities and inclusion and such.

Word of the Day: Ambulate

Very excited to find out the Scooby Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed movie should be coming out next year. Seth Green is in it, wooters, Alicia Silverstone, Peter Boyle, plus the main characters from the first movie. Should be out sometime next year! Very good news.