Marvelous Madison

Let it be known that I have now finished two whole semesters of my graduate degree! Yay! And as far as I know, I am doing A-OK. Of course, my testing and evaluation of ELLs course is somewhat up in the air. The course was online, and since I received no feedback from my prof, I had no idea of how I was doing. Then it was time for the final project, which I was grossly underprepared for. I just don't think I got enough from the prof, the readings, and the online "class".

The assignment was to create an entire testing program for English Language Learners in a school. Some people had it easy because it they were already in a school working, they were allowed to write about the system that they work with. Those of use not currently teaching ESL in a school (which, if I were, why would I be taking this class???), had to make up a school, make up a student population, and create an entire program from scratch. It is a good thing that my school and students are fake, because I don't want to screw anyone real up too badly. Anyway, even though that class has been over for a month, I have heard nothing from the prof, nor have I received any grades back. At all. None. Not even from the little reflection I wrote the very first week of class back in June. Anyway, I'm a little freaked out.

So now I am just doing stuff around the house for my family until my next semester starts up again in a few weeks and work starts again at about the same time. I should be beyond busy in just a few weeks. Yay!

I went to visit my boyfriend in Madison this past weekend to see his new place. He moved into a house with two brothers and lucky for me I like them. The house is rather spacious, although they need to give it a good scrub down because it is pretty dirty. Joe and I went to the zoo, which was pretty awesome, especially for a free zoo. They had rhinos, giraffes, seals, tigers, orangutans, penguins, etc. We also went out to the Sundance movie theatre opened by Robert Redford, and that place was neat!

We say "Paper Heart" and it was cute. My favorite was the interviews with the people, and I got a kick out of the puppets. The theatre has assigned seats, which is weird, but kind of nice. Also, it has a rooftop bistro and you can get bottles of wine, cheese plates, spaghetti and meatballs, hummus, fish and chips, etc. to eat on the roof or take into the movie theatre with you. We had popcorn and I had a root beer and Joe had a Spotted Cow, but I am pretty sure next time we are going to go crazy and get a meal or some appetizer that would be ridiculous to eat at a movie.

Next weekend I'll be going out to the cabin with Joe, Dani, Linnea, Kyle, and Andrew. Unfortunately, Derek is unable to make it. It should be a good time with the canoe, crokinole, mad libs, and movies.

I'm Alive!

Although I am too lazy and tired to write what I really want to write, I thought I'd post something anyway. So instead of hearing about my fabulous classes, the soccer tournament I reffed, the soccer game I just came from where the parents scared the beejeezus out of me, or my 4th of July trip out East, you just get a few sentences to know I'm alive.

Really, the fact that I am still functioning on some level surprises me. These breathing issues are really taking a toll on me, and I keep getting tired. Also, the stupid meds make me feel all hopped up and shaky. I know that I should just be happy that I can breathe without gasping, but I'd like to be able to do that and not shake and sleep and not feel all foggy. I guess you take what you can get, though.

In other news, I have mailed my friends' engagement party invites. The date for the party is now set in stone! Yay! Now I just have to get the rest of it together! I know I'm bringing the main dish, Joe is bringing the drinks, and Linnea is bringing dessert. Andrew, bless his heart, can't make it to the party because he has rehearsal for a play (up in Alexandria) but is coming to help me clean up afterwards.

Crokinole World Championship! And GHOSTS!

So (quite) a few weeks ago my brother, my boyfriend, and a co-worker of my boyfriend packed up the car and drove from the lovely Midwest to exciting Tavistock, Ontario. "Why?" you might be asking. "Where's Tavistock?" is another good question. I'm going to pretend I didn't hear the person that just said, "Who cares?"

We travelled the many, many hours to Tavistock for the Crokinole World Championship. And it was an adventure!

First of all, crossing the border at Sarnia was interesting. As we crossed the border, the Canadian folk ask what us American folk were planning on doing in their fair country. We told them we were visiting friends (true). They wanted to know where, how we met these friends, where we would be sleeping with these friends, and did we really go to McGill? I don't think the woman cared for us much.

Naturally staying with my college roommate's family was delightful, as usual. They stuffed us full of amazing food and told many fascinating stories. They are such nice, generous people. I'm surprised they keep putting up with us!

The Crokinole tournament in Tavistock was an all day thing. It was like a celebrity where's Waldo though, and we all got really excited every time we saw somebody from the Crokinole documentary. Oh look! There's Willard who makes the crokinole boards! There's the guy that lets the guy from the village come out to his house to catch snakes! There's the people that play with cues! It was pretty funny to talk to people, and since the name tags say where you're from (apparently I'm from Madison, WI and Max is from Rosemount, Michigan), lots of people approached us. There was a couple from Ireland, a guy from Italy, and another guy from England. The guy from Ireland was really intense and kept calling over the referees, which was kind of funny. And I actually got to see Brian Cook play and see other people play with cues. Joe, Max, and Jake all played in the recreational division and came out right about in the middle.

Also in Tavistock that day were the garage sales. Some of these garage sales were downright hilarious with nothing but Babysitter's Club books and Married with Children DVDS, or tires, a broken leaf blower, and a woman watching it all from her rocker. Some of the garage sales were pretty good though, especially the one in the United Church parking lot. I got a really pretty embroidered hand towel for my mother, and Max got a set of dishes for 5$. The thing about the dishes is, we bought them in Canada, brought them back to the states, and in August we'll bring them back to Canada so he can have them in his apartment. It's not the best thought out plan, but whatever. We also got a free crokinole board at the church garage sale. It's in pretty bad shape, but we think we can fix it up and take it to the cabin for some outdoor crokinole fun.

In typical Lucky Max fashion, he spent 5$ on raffle tickets at the tournament and won a brand new 225$ crokinole board. He's pretty excited, and we played on it the other day. We're spreading the word of crokinole to college age kids in MN, and Max will be taking his board back to Kingston in August. We also bought an "experienced" board for our father, which he seems to like.

If the adventure up to Ontario was uneventful, the trip back was quite the opposite. We planned on heading back an afternoon earlier than originally planned and camping out somewhere along the way. It was rainy though, and my cough was acting up, so we stopped in Sarnia to look for a cheap hotel instead. We ended up staying in the best Motel 8 ever. The guy in the lobby was awesome and there was a vhs in the room and they had videos at the front desk. It was just crazy and funny at the same time.

The next day we completed the drive back. We saw some signs for the Busy Bee Flea Mall, and we tried to find it, but we were terribly unsuccessful. We ended up in Lawton, MI where we saw a really cool old building with a sign saying it was an art gallery and gift shop. I thought, "Cool! Local artists and original art!"

We pulled over, but a lot of the parking was for Marines only, soldiers only, etc. Jake thought it was a joke, but Joe and I convinced him that it was very serious and we better find a place to park without some of these signs. So we did. Then we went to the "art gallery". It was clear it was under construction, so we tried to walk right by and circle back to the car. No luck, though. One of the guys working with a saw inside saw us and called us in. He wanted to give us a tour of the historic building. Turns out it used to be the city hall and court house back in the 1800's. There was a secret room, they told us about the documents they found, and told us a little bit about past use. Then he took us up to the gallery so we could look down, and that was pretty awesome. But this is where the ghost stories started. It was interesting, don't get me wrong, but I was wondering how long it was going to take to tell all these stories. Then he started talking about how he had the ghost experts from Kalamazoo in and how they confirmed the place was haunted and he had pictures. Then he asked if we wanted to see the pictures.

So what were we going to say? No, sir with a saw, we don't want to see your stupid ghost pictures? So we said of course!, let's see the pictures of the ghosts. Here's where he told us that we had to look at the pictures on his phone in the light first and then go into the "dark room" to see the ghosts actually in the pictures. Here I started panicking a little bit, thinking no way am I going to die in the "dark room" of the old city hall of middle of nowhere Michigan. But it turned out the "dark room" was the bathroom that didn't even have a doorknob and had a hole in the door that let in some light. That made me feel a little better, but then he told everyone he was taking us to see the ghost pictures, and I though for sure these other men were going to jump out and scare the crap out of us. That didn't happen either, though, and it turns out the guy was very sincere. Anyway, totally interesting, really weird, and a little crazy. While we never made it to the Busy Bee Flea Mall, it was totally worth the stop, and the people of Lawton, MI were very nice.

One down, many thousands of dollars left to go

Hooray! Yay! Wahoo! Woohoo! Yippee! Yeehaw! Bada-bing, bada-boom! And all the other sounds of excited celebration!

I have completed my very first semester of my graduate career! I am now 10 credits closer to being a MN licensed teacher and a person with an MA. As if that isn't exciting enough, I am also done with GED 7875: Schools and Society!

On the last night of this hellish class, we had a potluck. While most people brought either desserts or veggie trays, there were some substantial parts of a meal, and there was a few hot dishes. (Clarification: I do not mean "hot dishes" as in casseroles. I mean "hot dishes" as in food items that are meant to be served above room temperature.) All of the food was placed on the table in the front of the room. Then, we were told to sit at our tables, and the prof began to speak really slowly and boringly about things we already covered. Also, he really wasn't giving any information, more just reading questions we had written and then saying "yes", "no", or, my favorite, "it depends". This is really not helpful at all. Worst of all, he was standing right in front of all the food.

For an hour we listened to this man talk uninformatively to himself as we watched our food get cold. During this hour of torture, this man had the nerve to comment on our attentiveness. He mocked our blank stares, ignored our glares, and seemed unable to interpret our absent clicking of pens, eye-rolling, and audible groans.

We did eventually get to eat, but by then the food that was supposed to be hot was cold and the food that was supposed to be cold was room temperature. I love samosas, but they are really not meant to be served cold. In fact, they are rather nasty cold. I tried to eat one anyway, because the poor man that brought them was so excited to share with us, and he had gone through a lot of trouble to bring them to us hot.

I guess it was a good thing no one brought ice cream.

Fortunately, it is over. And don't even get me started on the lecture my Exceptionality prof gave me on my "feelings". Apparently I am not allowed to feel that my peers are disrespectful. Even when they are. Apparently, it is not appropriate to judge people by their behavior. Well GEEZ! Ok. I'm done.

Now, happily, I have 2 1/2 weeks before my second semester starts up. And I'm sure that will be delightful.

Coloring and Pasting my way to a Graduate Degree

So the Education Hall of Fame speech went pretty awesomely. I said almost exactly what I typed last time, and said it in a really corny-on-the-verge-of-out-right-sarcastic enthusiastic tone of voice with winking and eyebrow raising. I really pulled out all the stops for my lucky classmates. As for Mr. E.D. Hirsch's suit that I was supposed to make out of that piece of light blue paper....Well, since I'm not such a great artist, he ended up wearing a cross between a ladies suit and a leisure suit. His hands looked more like claws than anything, and his shoes were a delightful shade of brown, with perhaps a little more heel than I meant. I guess the shoes really were appropriate for the outfit, however. I tried to make him a really awesome shirt and tie to make up for it, but the markers didn't really cooperate with the colored paper, and he ended up with a purple and dark purple striped tie over a dark yellow dress shirt. Ah well.



For those of you wondering what ever happened about the Crokinole movie, I did find it with the help of some nice Crokinole Enthusiasts from the Toronto area. Thank you again to them. My boyfriend loved the movie, so he says, and in two weeks when I drive out to visit him, we're going to watch it together. After that, I'll write a very stimulating review.



In other news, I have to make a poster presentation on Wednesday about The Primal Teen by Barbara Strauch. It was a pretty good book considering it was all science-y and stuff. I enjoyed a lot of the analogies between rats, chimps, and teenagers. While the book did an awesome job of describing the development of the teenage brain in layman's terms and even explained some of their crazy behavior, it offered little on the side of, "So, what do I do about this?" and "My kid got a DUI while drag racing tractors inside the old abandoned barn that in sinking into the swamp and was caught with 40 pounds of crack in his front pocket. I know his brain made him do it, but what should I have done?"



Anyway, so for my poster I needed a giant picture of a brain. And I drew one! Yay! If you stand really far back and know that it is a brain, it almost looks like it might be a brain.....that a second grader made. Still, I'm going with it.



I also had to scrapbook a page for a mock yearbook for my literature circle presentation. We read The Freedom Writers Diary (which I would not recommend) and we have to give a stupid creative presentation on it. Since it is a series of diary entries of high school students over their four years at a California High School, we decided to make a year book and each talk about a year. It's a great idea! The only thing is, everyone else in my group is a scrapbooker and good with artsy fine motor skill activities. Needless to say, I had to have my mother help me put it together so it turned out at least somewhat aesthetically pleasing. Actually, I think it turned out pretty fan-frickin-tastic, so I'm pretty proud.



So it seems in order to get my graduate degree, I have to go back to 4th and 5th grade where everything is an art project. I can deal with this, except all of my peers now produce artwork at the adult level, but I never got any better after the age of 11. In fact, I think my younger sister could provide better artistic props for my projects and presentations. Bah!

Education Hall of Fame Assignment

So apparently I should be proof reading these things, because while I was reading some of my past entries, I realized that I make a lot of mistakes. Sometimes I leave out words or repeat words. My favorite is when I start one sentence, then end it with an entirely different sentence.

It isn't so much my inability to proofread as it is laziness. I already have to proof-read my school work. What do you want from me world? HUH? But seriously, I'll try to be better about it in the future. Not now. In the future.

In other news, I made a "campaign poster" for Madeline Cheek Hunter for my Schools and Society "Education Hall of Fame" assignment. It is kind of lame, but I am proud of my subtle "7" motif. You see, she came up with the 7 step lesson plan. It was freakishly hard to find a picture of her. It turns out that there is a romance novelist with her same name, and all the pictures online are of her. Bummer. I did manage to find one small kind of blurry one, and that is the one I pasted to my little poster.

Now I have to go write a campaign speech nominating E. D. Hirsch to the class' "Education Hall of Fame". I don't even really like essentialism. Cultural literacy my foot!

I'm thinking of something along these lines, although in all honesty I have just been goofing off so far. Here's what I have (and no, I did not proofread it!):

"It is an honor to have the opportunity to nominate my close friend and esteemed colleague, Mr. E. D. Hirsch, to the Education Hall of Fame! My friend, Mr. Hirsch, combined Jefferson’s idea of the common school and the ideals of Horace Mann to create his model of the essential school system.

Mr. Hirsch believes that all children, regardless of race, religion, ethnicity, or gender can be successful as long as they have a good base of general knowledge. Mr. Hirsch believed that students need to be literate and have a command of a vast vocabulary because, just as Thomas Jefferson believed, America is a democracy where even the common man has a say in the political and economical decisions of the government.

We the people want our population to be as educated as possible – to know facts and vocabulary. Because learning builds on learning, a culturally literate America is a strong America."

We have to incorporate this piece of paper into the speech as well, and I am thinking of turning it into a little suit and gluing a picture of his head on top and pretending like it is him. Of course he'll be like 8 inches tall, but whatever.

I should go ACTUALLY write this speech now. Boo to that.

Fake Spring Brings the Bugs Indoors

So fake spring has come to an end in Minnesota, bringing the much beloved winter back into our lives. There is this woman in my Schools and Society class from California, and one day she was chatting about how nice it was that spring was finally here. Part of me - the sadistic part - wanted to let her continue raving about the weather which would surely only get better from here on out. Unfortunately, I felt it was my duty to tell her the truth about Fake Spring.

You see, in Minnesota, the snow melts sometime around mid-March. The temperature rises to about 45 degrees F, and Minnesotans rejoice, shedding their heavy boots and fluffy winter coats. Some of us, myself included, stop wearing coats altogether. The damp and squishy ground is sufficiently disgusting so as to raise our spirits, and we began chatting with our fellow Minnesotans about the "heat wave". Many men even chose to begin wearing shorts. This is spring weather.

The thing that a true Minnesotan knows that the newcomers do not know, however, is that this is Fake Spring. The snow will melt, the sun will come out, and you may even sweat from walking outside in pants and a long sleeve shirt. A real Minnesotan knows that it is not time to pack away the winter gear just yet. A true Minnesotan knows that sometime in beginning to mid April, winter will return.

A delightful example of this: Last week I drove my car with the windows down, soaking up vitamin D (hoping to make up for the deficiency from the last 900 months or so) and feeling rather warm in a t-shirt and jeans. Today, April 1st, it is snowing. To be fair, I was a little off when trying to tell this woman in my class about Fake Spring. It actually began last night, which was technically still March. Oops.

The point is, Minnesotans know to enjoy this tease from Mother Nature. She may think she is playing a nasty joke on us, but we make the best of it. Naturally there will be some grumbling later today about the weather, but we secretly love it. If you are from Minnesota, you can deny it all you want, but I know you love the end of Fake Spring, the return of winter, and the masochistic wait for real spring.

Anyway, if you are here, happy back to winter, and if you are somewhere warm, I don't want to hear about it. I am going to enjoy my slushy white world where things have just begun to come back to life, but have been brutally frozen to death by cruel Mother Nature.

That's the other thing, see? Fake Spring lures the plants and animals out of hibernation, then ambushes them with sleet and snow, killing a good chunk of the gardens and bugs. Also, it drives a lot of bugs into the house. This means that my family will have to begin vacuuming the ceiling for those Asian beetles that look like ladybugs. These things look adorable and are supposedly good luck and all, but they just stream in through the siding and itty bitty cracks in the window, then our ceiling becomes a giant meet and greet for these things. Occasionally a box elder bug joins the fun.

Beetle #1: Hey, Sue! Isn't it great to get out of the cold and walk around upside down on this giant white surface?

Sue the Ladybug: Why yes! It sure is! That Fake Spring fools me every year! Hey look! It's Bob and Mike and Lois and Allie and Marcus and Greg and Tina!

Beetle #1: Let's all go party over by the light. We should probably just congregate in a small area and move around to make it look like we are planning something.

Sue the Ladybug: Hello Brett the Box Elder Bug! Would you like to join us?

Brett: No think you. Me and my buddies are going to crawl up into beds and nestle into blankets to scare the bejeezus out of the people that live here. Nothing's funner than seeing them scream when we're the first thing they see in the morning or when we get under the covers then crawl on their bare skin while they try to sleep!


So yeah. I am looking forward to vacuuming up Sue and Brett and Company, but not as much as I am looking forward to driving on the slippery roads again!

A Short Rant on Travel and Goldenrod

One of my best friends is getting married in a little over a year, and I am the lucky maid of honor. I admit, it is kind of fun. I get to pour over wedding magazines, check out bridesmaid’s dresses, plan an engagement party, and have an excuse to do research on various wedding dresses, venues, and honeymoon destinations. Honeymoon destinations my favorite thing to read about. Granted, my friend has not asked for my help in planning her honeymoon, and I do not have any intention of helping her. I just like reading about all the exotic places to go, where the best resorts are, and what kind of food a visitor should definitely try.

I am fascinated with travel. If you were to ask me where I want to go on vacation, I would probably start with a reasonable list, but then I’d probably get carried away and come up with a list including almost every place ever in the entire world. Heck – Who am I kidding? – I’d love to visit the moon!

What I should really do is subscribe to a travel magazine. That way, I could continue to read about awesome destinations and plan dozens of trips and vacations even after my friends’ wedding when I can’t really be seen carrying around wedding magazines anymore. Well, not in public anyway. The thing is, I’m afraid if I read these travel magazines religiously and start to really plan out these trips on paper, I may get a little carried away. Sure, right now I can list about 100 different places I would like to go, including a few activities I would like to partake in at each destination, but if I actually really plan out details, then I’ll really really really want to go.
Anyhow, that’s my dilemma on the travel situation. I would like to go everywhere and do everything, but due to a lack of funds, I do not have the luxury to travel when and where I wish. Ah well. Someday when I am a millionaire from teaching elementary ESL, I’ll retire at age 35 and spend the rest of my life have one big world adventure.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!

I make myself laugh. At least I know that because travelling is a priority for me, I will make the time and effort and save the money to make as many of my dreams come true as possible. Lucky for me, my significant other loves to travel as well, so if we ever end up permanently and legally stuck together, I know he’ll not only come with me, but encourage me to do whatever and go wherever I want.

But back to the original issue at hand. My friend used to have the wedding colors of navy blue and cream with green accents, but because she has picked a venue with a lot of browns and yellows in it, she has decided we will clash. Now she is considering dressing us bridesmaids in goldenrod, except she refuses to call it goldenrod. She describes it as exactly the same color as goldenrod, but don’t call it that because that sounds yucky. Ah well. My other best friend is beside herself. As Minnesotans, we are appropriately pale from lack of sun, even in the summer. She is afraid that the goldenrod dress will not only 1. Be hard to find, 2. Never be able to be worn again, but 3. Will make her (and us other two) look sallow and sickly. Now I like me some nice yellow, but I agree that this color will be harder to find on our own, especially since we need to match each other color-wise, and I am not going to be able to get as much use out of a goldenrod dress as a navy one. Watching my one friend try to convince the other friend that if she wants navy, she should go with navy because it’ll look just fine is pretty funny.

She’s the bride, and I’ll wear the color she picks out, but I am wishing and hoping that she goes back to navy. Cross your fingers folks.

Topaz the Hungry Horse

So I went to New Mexico with my family to visit some family. Of course I only went for the weekend since apparently graduate students do not get spring break, but you can bet my family will be sorry to hear about all the damp, cold, drizzley weather they have been missing out on here in balmy MN.

One of the highlights of the trip was when my dad, my sister and I went horseback riding along the banks of the Rio Grande outside of Albuquerque. My sister had a horse named Spot. Spot was named, I can only assume, for his dozens and dozens of little brown spots. Spot was a smaller horse that knew the trail rather well. He did not run, he responded to my sisters confident, if perhaps misleading, directions, and he kept pace with the group. My sister had a wonderful time and claimed that Spot was the most beautiful horse ever.

My father rode a horse named Beauty. Beauty was mostly black but had a little bit of auburn color around her legs. Ernesto claimed she was gaited. I don’t even know what that means, but my father claims that Ernesto was mistaken. A woman who has been taking private horse riding lessons also went on the tour with us, and she was rather jealous that my father got to ride Beauty. This woman had to ride Cotton Candy, a rather large horse that I could not find a problem with. Then again, I know nothing about horses. The point is, my father rode the much coveted and well behaved Beauty.

I got to ride a blonde colored horse named Topaz. I had no trouble mounting Topaz, and I thought this was a rather good start. When Donald, one of our guides, asked if I had ridden much, I said only a few times, and not since I was younger. He gave me a worried look, then he said I shouldn’t have a problem. Donald led Topaz, with me astride, into the little corral where we could get used to being on a saddle and getting along with our horses. For the first two minutes, I thought I was doing rather well. I directed Topaz to the right, and he went to the right. Then, I directed Topaz around a barrel, and he went around the barrel, then continued straight for a pile of grass. This is where Topaz and I stayed for the rest of the “warm up” ride. Topaz was very hungry – VERY hungry. I let him get a few mouthfuls in, then I tried to do what Donald and Ernesto had told me. I pulled up on the reigns, directed him to the left, tapped his sides with my heels and said, “C’mon Topaz!”

Topaz shook his head, then reached down to get another mouthful of grass. We probably continued this activity for ten or fifteen minutes. Other horses would come and get a mouthful, then move on. Other riders shook their head at me and laughed as I bounced up and down, trying to get Topaz to move. “C’mon Topaz! Pretty horse! Let’s go!” At one point Topaz turn his head around, looked at me, and wiped his nose on my pants before going back to eating. Still, I was convinced we could make this work.

When it was time to go out on the trail, all the other horses obediently filed out of the corral and headed out. Topaz took one look at them and went back to eating. Ernesto had to come over and give me a hand, and even then, Topaz was extremely reluctant to leave. “Don’t worry,” Donald told me, “He’s a little slow here at the ranch, but he gets going on the trail.”

That was a lie.

Topaz stopped every chance he got to eat. Whenever my dad brought Beauty back to visit me, he laughed because Topaz would greet them with a mouthful of something. The scariest part of the ride was when, while going down a steep hill, Topaz bent down to get a bite. As per Katie, the third guide’s instructions, I had tightened the reins a little bit, so when Topaz bent way way down to eat, I just about slid right over his head and down the hill.

Anyway, Topaz liked to stop and eat, but he did not like to be far from the group, this meant we did a lot of unsolicited trotting. Sometimes, I’d give him a nudge to get going and catch up, but other times, he would run until his face was right in some other horses behind, and we’d stay there for a while until I either managed to steer him around or he got the munchies again. Maybe Topaz smokes pot before every trail ride, and that's why he needs to snack so much.

I guess Topaz is notorious for his case of the munchies, because the guide in front came back at one point when Topaz was behaving and asked if we had stopped for snacks a lot. When I replied that yes we had, he just laughed and said something to the effect of “Topaz likes to eat!”

Anway, the scenery was beautiful, and I took some pictures that I’ll probably post some of later. If you see a south-western-y photo, it was probably from Albuquerque. I had a good time, and it was kind of funny. The only thing is, my butt kind of hurts now.

My Klassy Life

It has been a week of theatre theatre theatre for me, and it is only Wednesday! Who knew I would lead such a cultured life? Actually, I spend most of my time reading text books about how teachers better like working with kids and not everyone comes from a "Leave it to Beaver" family, so when I become a teacher I better be understanding. When I'm not studying, I manage to fit in a lot of really terrible television. For a while, I watched one of those platinum wedding planning shows almost every night before bed. Some of those people spend about $10,000 dollars on their lighting alone! What's with that?

Anyway, back to the not so embarrassing part of my life, I saw two plays this week. On Sunday, my little sister and I went out to the Illusion theatre in Minneapolis to see The Secret Garden. Luckily, it was a musical. I won't lie. I had no idea that there was a musical version of this book much beloved from my childhood. The reason I went to go see this production was that one of my good friends is in it. He plays the spirit of dead Lt. Shaw. I know what you're thinking, because I was thinking it too: Wait! I don't remember any real ghosts in the book! But, let me assure you, it worked. The spirits managed to add some lovely harmonies as well as narrate the story. Between the delight of going into the city for a special event, seeing my friend perform, and the pretty darn good music (my favorite was "Lily's Eyes"), I would highly recommend the show. It is still playing this upcoming weekend (March 19-22), so if you need some entertainment on a bit classier side, go and enjoy. It really isn't more than going to the movies nowadays.

Tuesday night, the same friend I went to see in The Secret Garden got a really good deal on some tickets at the Guthrie Theatre. With over half-priced tickets in hand, we went into the thrust theatre to see Shakespeare's The Two Gentlemen of Verona. The play was reset in the 1950's and was supposed to be like a live tv show. At the beginning of the play, the director asked us to please turn off our two-way radios or any other dookickeys we had brought along. The play was interspersed with rock and roll musical numbers that had a little to do with the play....usually someone's name was in it, like Julia's or Sylvia's.

There were cameras on the set, too, and a giant screen on each side of the stage. The screens were supposed to be what the "audience at home" was seeing, and it even played old commercials between acts. I liked that the screens made it easier to see the faces of the actors turned away from me (since we were seated to the left of the thrust stage), but I agree with my friend that it got distracting at times. The experience was a little over 3 hours, which is really REALLY long, but I'll have you know, I didn't even realize it was 11pm until we had pulled out of the parking garage.

To top it all off, I go to school, which is kind of like a theatrical production. It makes you laugh, cry, clench your fists in frustration, and the characters are outrageous, yet so, so real.

The Beginning of Life: Part 3

So I've successfully made the move from Montreal back to the Twin Cities. I'm using the term "successfully" pretty loosely, but I'm ok with that right now. As far as I know, everything made it back and in one piece, but I have not even really begun to unpack. Upon returning to my parents' home, I was directed to move to the music room in the basement. My childhood bedroom is being turned into a closet and an office for my father, and the rest of the remodelling consists of adding a new bedroom for my parents. This means eventually I will get my parents' current bedroom, which is very nice. In the meantime, however, I will continue living in the basement with my stuff still in suitcases and boxes, hoping every day is the day I will get my own workspace.

I need the workspace, you see, because I am back in school. I am enrolled in the MAT program at Hamline University in St. Paul, working towards my licensure to become an ESL teacher. I am finding a lot of the education classes tedious and patronizing. It is only 1 month in, and I am already hating the word "reflect". Everything we do or say or write or watch has to be a reflection. How did that movie make me feel and why? What makes a good teacher and how does a good teacher make me feel? As one of my friends pointed out, I am a midwesterner! I do not share my feelings openly with strangers. The thing is, I am doing it, albeit resentfully.

Lucky for me, I have made a few friends who share my feelings (haha!) towards a certain class, and I have someone who understands and deals with my sarcasm. I feel confident that if something ridiculous or patronizing is going on, if I cannot think of a clever or snide remark, one of them will make one for me. I was getting a little snarky, however, so for lent I have decided to be more positive towards a certain class and more tolerant of some of my classmates, especially those who never seem to know what is going on, yet talk and talk and talk.

My tea drinking has not decreased, but my coffee drinking has increased. The Internet told me that studies have shown that young women who drink 3 cups of tea each day pretty significantly reduce their risks of a few cancers, so I feel good about this. Due to my increased coffee intake, I am trying to stick to the decaffeinated teas including Mint and Lady Gray. My curly-headed former roommate turned me on the the latter, and when I brought a box home, my father has decided that he, too, really enjoys it. He said it is one of his favorite teas now, which is amusing to me. As for the coffee, I need to stay awake during those long and drawn-out tedious "discussions" in my evening courses, and I really prefer to stay alert and awake on the drive home, as well.

My boyfriend has adjusted well to his new life in Madison, and I am very proud of him. Just last weekend I went out to visit him for his company's 30th anniversary party, and it was really nice to put faces to names. We talk to each other on the phone for a little bit everyday, and I've heard so much about these people. It was too bad that none of them really looked the way I expected, but I think I can get over it.

The washing machine is calling me now, with its incessant beeping.

In case you're wondering, Life: Part 1 would be baby - 12th grade and Life: Part 2 would be University life at McGill. Both of those parts went rather well, I think, so let's all cross our fingers for Life: Part 3.