vacation

i don't have to go back to work for 17 whole days!!!

this is a glorious, glorious feeling.

a new perspective

the past few months i've felt myself slowly descending from adulthood into some weird state that i can't really describe. i used to cook on a regular basis. last week i ate brownies for dinner. i used to pack a normal lunch for myself everyday. at one point in november, my lunch bag contained microwave popcorn, a packet of instant oatmeal, and m&ms. i used to exercise. i haven't been to the gym since may. i used to go to bed at a normal hour. i haven't been to sleep before 2am in weeks. i used to keep my stuff in order. right now, you literally cannot see the floor of my bedroom. i used to be responsible. now i blow my work off all the time.

i was starting to feel like all the giant leaps into adulthood that i had made over the past two years were disappearing. i'm still making sure that my bills get paid on time and that the oil gets changed in the car, sure. but my whole attitude was a little off from what it has been. then, tonight, adiya shed some light on the situation,

"you're a student again. things always go downhill when you're a student."

and she's right. things changed when i started classes in june. and they changed in ways that haven't happened since i left grove city. i don't eat right, i don't sleep enough, and the thought of taking time out of my day to go running just makes me cringe. maybe now that i know the problem, i can slowly start to bring myself back into the world of responsible adulthood.


but i will always be nocturnal...

on the eighteenth day of christmas...

...i realized that christmas is in one week.

and i'm not done shopping.

yikes.

DONE!

i survived my first semester of grad school!!!

[insert happy dance here]

study hall

you know it's going to be one of those days when you look up from your desk and have to make your sophomores put the filing cabinet back together...


...and to think, i've got friends with normal jobs.

paper of doom

grad school is sucking away my will to live.

20 pages to go...

first graders + sweater vests = adorable

tonight was the school christmas concert. i played piano interludes, which went way better than i thought it would. due to the age range involved (k-8th grade) the concert itself was a combination of cuteness and unintentional hilarity, with a side of way too long thrown in for good measure. for some reason, each of the six groups performed about 4 songs, plus nine solos. (i kept looking over at the poor 1st grade teacher, who seemed to be in shell-shock from trying to keep five 6 year old boys amused, quiet, and marginally still for an hour and a half.) it was pretty much your typical small school concert, complete with lots of christmas carols, first graders in sweater vests, parents with video cameras, reindeer antlers, a middle school concert band with a very subjective sense of timing and key signature, and a 6 year old who got so excited during the "stomping part" of the song that he missed the steps and fell off the stage.

my job may be time-consuming, but at least it's interesting...

only me

i somehow managed to injure my shoulder while teaching U.S. history. not lifting anything. not carrying things. not even writing on the board. just sitting there teaching. at the beginning of class i was fine, by the end of class i could barely lift my arm above my shoulder.

my life is so strange.


on a happy note, i finished one of my grad classes today! all i have left is the monstrous paper and i'm done for the whole semester. that will be a lovely feeling. unfortunately, however, i realized this afternoon that interim grades are due tomorrow, and i haven't graded anything for three weeks. oh well. it'll all get done somehow.


i also learned that all it really takes to reduce my stress to a manageable level is animal crackers and guns'n'roses on the radio.

sixty-seven years

while he is nowhere near being at the top of my list of favorite presidents (yes, i have a list), i do have to admit that the man knew how to give a speech.

Yesterday, December 7th, 1941 - a date which will live in infamy - the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan...

But always will our whole nation remember the character of the onslaught against us. No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the American people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory.

I believe that I interpret the will of the Congress and of the people when I assert that we will not only defend ourselves to the uttermost but will make it very certain that this form of treachery shall never again endanger us.

Hostilities exist. There is no blinking at the fact that our people, our territory, and our interests are in grave danger.

With confidence in our armed forces - with the unbounding determination of our people - we will gain the inevitable triumph - so help us God.

[FDR, 8 december 1941]


man, i love world war ii.




(this post in lieu of a "happy pearl harbor day" message, which my sister informed me was a little morbid.)

on the fifth day of christmas...

...i made traditional danish christmas tree ornaments and dressed up in a kilt for my 8th graders.

i always love a day where you can spend time making craft projects and justify it as part of the curriculum.

i also managed to convince one of the 8th grade boys to wear the kilt. it was priceless. we took yearbook pictures.

on the fourth day of christmas...

...we have a christmas tree! go us.


- examples of darcy's ornaments: harp, french horn, white house christmas tree
- examples of laura's ornaments: tap dancing moose, anthropomorphic m&m in a santa hat, green aluminum pickle

surprised, anyone?

on the third day of christmas...

...i finally gave detentions to the chronic offenders in 7th period study hall. they just pushed me a bit. too. far.

also, as to why i'm suddenly posting regularly again. the answer is easy: i am supposed to be working on either a) my huge project due tomorrow night, b) my 20 page paper due in 10 days, or c) lesson plans. and we all know how good i get at procrastinating right before something major is due.

on the second day of christmas...

...one of the 70something matriarchs at my church declared that she is going to start praying that i will "find a man".

you know the type. efficient. no-nonsense. widowed. million grandchildren. makes her opinions clearly known at meetings. runs the kitchen. single-handedly cooks enough turkey to feed the entire congregation at the thanksgiving potluck. in the church every time the doors are open. when she prays, things happen.

one of those. she told me to "go ahead and start planning the wedding shower, because he's on his way".


heaven help me.

on the first day of christmas...

...i got my car back.

my alternator decided that this past weekend be a GREAT time to stop working. (do you realize how hard it is to find an open, non-busy mechanic the saturday after thanksgiving at 2:00 in the afternoon?) considering the car is ten years old and has close to 170,000 miles on it, i should probably just be surprised that it hasn't outright fallen apart yet, but the whole situation was still rather annoying. especially since i found a mechanic, they figured out what was wrong, had the new part ready to go, and were going to be able to get it finished before closing on saturday, and they went to take out the old alternator annnnnnnddddd...the bracket that attaches the alternator to the engine snapped off. and couldn't be repaired. or a replacement found. until monday morning.

so today i had the privilege of forking over a ridiculously large amount of money to get my car back.


also, while on the subject of old things breaking, about a week ago my gcc computer finally decided to call it quits. after nearly 6 1/2 years. most everybody else got a new one right after graduating, but not me. i put up with that thing until it absolutely refused to go on living. fortunately most everything was backed up. and my new computer has wireless internet! (yes, i know that the rest of the world has had this for five years. it's still exciting.)