I had a birthday! I turned 26 last week and now I feel sort of ancient. It's okay. I consider myself lucky to be young and single. It's fun.
I had a great birthday. On Friday my yearbook staff threw me a surprise birthday party. I was actually surprised and it was really nice of them. They gave me a "PMS Mobile" sticker for my car (My license plate letters are PMS, not by choice but coincidence. It's funny). Yeah, I can't tell if they like me or just like to make fun of me. Oh well, the gesture was sweet none the less.
My mom came down for the weekend with some of her girlfriends. We shopped at Mistletoe Mall here in Gunnison. I got a cute hat again this year. I'll put up pictures, but I can't find my camera cord anywhere. I loved the girl time and I even stayed in budget.
I drove up that evening to go to my niece's baby blessing, but in the middle of the night got really, really ill. I couldn't go to the blessing in my condition so I drove home. I took Monday off of school. Throwing up in front of my students isn't my idea of fun.
Otherwise, things are good. I've started going to a Zumba class and it is about the funnest thing I do all week. I really love it. Also, for all you Potter nerds. You better believe I bought my midnight showing tickets already. Long live the nerds. I'll post again when I can find that dang cord. :)
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Vent via Blog
I'm not one to be super vocal. I mean I stand up for what I believe in, but I rather take a back seat in order to avoid confrontation. I didn't use to be that way. In fact, I used to be a brat sometimes, sharing my opinion even when unwanted. I grew out of it and thought it was maturity taking place, but really it was me conforming to become a non-pot stirrer. I think it's a sad thing, but not that uncommon. Somewhere in my education I was taught to keep my opinions to myself and then I'd likable. After four years of teaching, I'm learning that being likable isn't the only thing that matters. Giving a damn does.
Each day I walk into a class full of students who couldn't care less. They'd rather be texting or facebooking, or blogging . . . or gaming, or watching some form of media (most of those verbs didn't even exist when I was a teenager and I'm young). They don't care about government or education or human rights. Granted, they're teenagers, but I remember knowing things in high school. Maybe I was above average, but I don't think so. I remember watching the news and knowing that CNN is a news channel and not an abbreviation for Cartoon Network. I knew why my parents chose to be affiliated with the political parties they chose. I remember having discussions with my brother Bret about a million things in preparation for my own debates. I remember seeing the world through a critical eye.
I was at a speech meet this weekend and one of my extemporaneous speakers asked me what a Democrat is. I can't tell you how shocked I looked, but I could tell you that she was shocked I was shocked. In what arena of life would she have ever been expected to know what a Democrat stands for or believes in? Who expects her to care or know? The only eye my teenage students are looking at the world through is a lowercase i. If they can get it through an app on their iPhone or iTouch, they know it. But what kind of filter is that?
An entitled one. My facebook status today is "why does this generation of teens (or is it everyone?) feel so entitled to everything? 'What's in it for me?' 'If it exists it should be mine.' 'Do this for me because then it will be correct and the way you want it.' Shut up and work for something! Then maybe life will have meaning . . . That I can't do for you." Harsh, maybe. But lately, all I feel is drained when I get home from school. I used to teach and work in a place with imagination and creativity. Now sometimes I feel like the only one with an imagination left (hyperbole, not actuality). Where did we lose it? I feel like blaming teachers, parents, Hollywood, the media, and whoever else could be culpable of taking away the life force of the growing generation. But really, that's the problem isn't it? I want to blame everyone but the kids. At some point this is their fault. If they don't care about doing homework, guess what? That isn't my fault as a teacher. If they are under some illusion that the world will give them everything they ever want just because they feel it's their right, then good luck. Learn that lesson the hard way. (though I know some of them won't. We are making it easier to get something for nothing.) And maybe it isn't just teenagers. Maybe we are all social loafers looking for the easy way. If that is the case then I say to you world: Shut up and work for something. Then maybe life will have meaning. And more importantly, maybe our kids will learn to give a damn if we do.
Each day I walk into a class full of students who couldn't care less. They'd rather be texting or facebooking, or blogging . . . or gaming, or watching some form of media (most of those verbs didn't even exist when I was a teenager and I'm young). They don't care about government or education or human rights. Granted, they're teenagers, but I remember knowing things in high school. Maybe I was above average, but I don't think so. I remember watching the news and knowing that CNN is a news channel and not an abbreviation for Cartoon Network. I knew why my parents chose to be affiliated with the political parties they chose. I remember having discussions with my brother Bret about a million things in preparation for my own debates. I remember seeing the world through a critical eye.
I was at a speech meet this weekend and one of my extemporaneous speakers asked me what a Democrat is. I can't tell you how shocked I looked, but I could tell you that she was shocked I was shocked. In what arena of life would she have ever been expected to know what a Democrat stands for or believes in? Who expects her to care or know? The only eye my teenage students are looking at the world through is a lowercase i. If they can get it through an app on their iPhone or iTouch, they know it. But what kind of filter is that?
An entitled one. My facebook status today is "why does this generation of teens (or is it everyone?) feel so entitled to everything? 'What's in it for me?' 'If it exists it should be mine.' 'Do this for me because then it will be correct and the way you want it.' Shut up and work for something! Then maybe life will have meaning . . . That I can't do for you." Harsh, maybe. But lately, all I feel is drained when I get home from school. I used to teach and work in a place with imagination and creativity. Now sometimes I feel like the only one with an imagination left (hyperbole, not actuality). Where did we lose it? I feel like blaming teachers, parents, Hollywood, the media, and whoever else could be culpable of taking away the life force of the growing generation. But really, that's the problem isn't it? I want to blame everyone but the kids. At some point this is their fault. If they don't care about doing homework, guess what? That isn't my fault as a teacher. If they are under some illusion that the world will give them everything they ever want just because they feel it's their right, then good luck. Learn that lesson the hard way. (though I know some of them won't. We are making it easier to get something for nothing.) And maybe it isn't just teenagers. Maybe we are all social loafers looking for the easy way. If that is the case then I say to you world: Shut up and work for something. Then maybe life will have meaning. And more importantly, maybe our kids will learn to give a damn if we do.
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Happy Halloween
Wow time flies. A lot has happened, and I can't ever seem to find the time to update my blog. It's been a tough month. My friend Kassie left for a mission to Costa Rica a week and a half ago. She's in the MTC until December. I've been adjusting to living in her house all alone, but haven't noticed much since I'm hardly ever home. Though I say that, I am missing her like crazy. She has been my best friend here in Gunnison and my confidant. Hopefully my independent nature will get me through all the silent meals and quite evenings home.
The end of first quarter is here and I'm inundated with papers and grading. I think I'll take a mental health day this week to get caught up with my life outside of school. I'm in serious need of a day to do my laundry, sleep in (my eye has been twitching and I dedicate that to lack of sleep), and clean parts of the house that need it. Plus, I haven't really had a weekend to myself since school started. I need a day to rejuvenate and rehabilitate :) Maybe that will be my birthday present to myself.
For Halloween I got to take the GVHS speech team to a tournament at Snow College. I've also been busy coaching my debate students on a volunteer basis. My public forum (I know most of you have no idea what that is, but it is team debate) team took first place at a tournament with 14 schools most of them 3a-4a schools. I'm uberproud. They make me look good :)
I've seen some family in SLC recently. I posted pictures of a picnic evening with 'smores. Also, mom and I got to watch Faye while all the boys went to a football game so we headed to Gardner's Village for some fun. To our surprise it was the Witch Weekend or something. Hundreds of ladies were dressed as witches. We had so much fun watching all the activities and participating in some of it too. Faye and I danced to lots of the music and shared some cookies. I'm thinking about making it a tradition next year. So, so much fun.
My birthday is coming up this weekend. My mom is coming down to Gunnison for the Boutique shopping weekend at Mistletoe Mall. And then sunday is Laney Olsen's baby blessing. Should be fun.
I'll tell you how the mental health day goes. Happy Halloween
The end of first quarter is here and I'm inundated with papers and grading. I think I'll take a mental health day this week to get caught up with my life outside of school. I'm in serious need of a day to do my laundry, sleep in (my eye has been twitching and I dedicate that to lack of sleep), and clean parts of the house that need it. Plus, I haven't really had a weekend to myself since school started. I need a day to rejuvenate and rehabilitate :) Maybe that will be my birthday present to myself.
For Halloween I got to take the GVHS speech team to a tournament at Snow College. I've also been busy coaching my debate students on a volunteer basis. My public forum (I know most of you have no idea what that is, but it is team debate) team took first place at a tournament with 14 schools most of them 3a-4a schools. I'm uberproud. They make me look good :)
I've seen some family in SLC recently. I posted pictures of a picnic evening with 'smores. Also, mom and I got to watch Faye while all the boys went to a football game so we headed to Gardner's Village for some fun. To our surprise it was the Witch Weekend or something. Hundreds of ladies were dressed as witches. We had so much fun watching all the activities and participating in some of it too. Faye and I danced to lots of the music and shared some cookies. I'm thinking about making it a tradition next year. So, so much fun.
My birthday is coming up this weekend. My mom is coming down to Gunnison for the Boutique shopping weekend at Mistletoe Mall. And then sunday is Laney Olsen's baby blessing. Should be fun.
I'll tell you how the mental health day goes. Happy Halloween
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Octombre
One of the reasons I like living in Gunnison comes from the laid back attitude. We don't have the rush of a city, only the rush of our many responsibilities keeping us busy. The last few weeks of my life have been busy. Nothing really substantial on their own, mostly just school stuff in fact. I have been coaching a few debaters. I got three students to sign up for Lincoln Douglass (the debate I did in high school). I am finding out that I am out of practice, but still know how to speak my mind. I might try it more often.
Kassie and I started taking a Spanish class at the high school. Our local teacher teaches once a week for eight weeks (just in time to get over for basketball season because he's the coach). Already we've learned a lot. In fact we read the first chapter of the Spanish Book of Mormon and we were able to understand it with just a little help from the English version. Exciting!
Kassie is also 10 days away from leaving on her mission. We're both freaking out a little about what needs to happen before she leaves, but we're working through it. I got her to help me clean the garage yesterday. It's beautiful. Recently the edges have been creeping closer and closer to our cars. We had to squeeze in and out of vehicles, and my bike was parked outside. I'm happy to say there is plenty of room for all now, even the bike. I was really worried about cleaning the garage by myself. There is no way I would be able to put everything where it goes because I don't have a Brown gene to know where everything should go. We spent the rest of the day inside. Kassie went through enough mail to last a life time while I did laundry, cleaned the fridge and microwave, and got bedrooms ready for the Brown family coming next weekend for Kassie's farewell. We cleaned from 9 to 9 and it shows. I woke up this morning a little sore and it took some time to figure out why. House work sneaks up on a person that way. We only have the basement left and I'll feel good about living in the house alone after all is clean. That means I'll only have my own messes to deal with I guess. I'll finally see just how clean or cluttery I really am, but mostly I'm going to miss Kassie a lot. Though, I'll leave my ode to Kassie blog for latter. I still have 10 days to figure this out.
School is going well. The speech team, yearbook staff, and creative writing and arts club are keeping me plenty busy. I hardly have time to grade any papers, but somehow I assign them anyway. This year is going pretty well. I somehow worked it out for my reputation to change. Instead of being the young, fun teacher, I've turned into the teacher who expects a lot- a reputation that takes years to build. I'm pretty excited about that change. It means people are finally taking me seriously. I feel good and we're a quarter of the way through almost. Plenty of drama is yet to come my way I'm sure. I'm sure I'll post pictures from Kassie's farewell. It will be my last photo opp. Until then . . .
Kassie and I started taking a Spanish class at the high school. Our local teacher teaches once a week for eight weeks (just in time to get over for basketball season because he's the coach). Already we've learned a lot. In fact we read the first chapter of the Spanish Book of Mormon and we were able to understand it with just a little help from the English version. Exciting!
Kassie is also 10 days away from leaving on her mission. We're both freaking out a little about what needs to happen before she leaves, but we're working through it. I got her to help me clean the garage yesterday. It's beautiful. Recently the edges have been creeping closer and closer to our cars. We had to squeeze in and out of vehicles, and my bike was parked outside. I'm happy to say there is plenty of room for all now, even the bike. I was really worried about cleaning the garage by myself. There is no way I would be able to put everything where it goes because I don't have a Brown gene to know where everything should go. We spent the rest of the day inside. Kassie went through enough mail to last a life time while I did laundry, cleaned the fridge and microwave, and got bedrooms ready for the Brown family coming next weekend for Kassie's farewell. We cleaned from 9 to 9 and it shows. I woke up this morning a little sore and it took some time to figure out why. House work sneaks up on a person that way. We only have the basement left and I'll feel good about living in the house alone after all is clean. That means I'll only have my own messes to deal with I guess. I'll finally see just how clean or cluttery I really am, but mostly I'm going to miss Kassie a lot. Though, I'll leave my ode to Kassie blog for latter. I still have 10 days to figure this out.
School is going well. The speech team, yearbook staff, and creative writing and arts club are keeping me plenty busy. I hardly have time to grade any papers, but somehow I assign them anyway. This year is going pretty well. I somehow worked it out for my reputation to change. Instead of being the young, fun teacher, I've turned into the teacher who expects a lot- a reputation that takes years to build. I'm pretty excited about that change. It means people are finally taking me seriously. I feel good and we're a quarter of the way through almost. Plenty of drama is yet to come my way I'm sure. I'm sure I'll post pictures from Kassie's farewell. It will be my last photo opp. Until then . . .
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