Dance-Around-Your Apartment Playlist

Sometimes - oftentimes - usually - I like to listen to loud music and dance around like a fool when I am feeling stressed, happy, excited, tired, hungry, have to do homework, have to clean the house, should be doing work-work, and pretty much all other conditions you can imagine. Below is a good playlist to blast while procrastinating and actually doing a little bit of homework and house work. It is necessary to shake your hips, jump up and down, shimmy, and probably wave your arms around while singing along. 


Sweet Pea - Amos Lee
This is a good warm-up song. It isn't too fast, and there isn't a wide vocal range. In addition, it is pretty mellow, so your neighbors don't really know what is in store for them.

That's Not My Name  - The Ting Tongs
 I enjoyed this song when it was on the radio a while back, and now it is on my Wii Just Dance game. Go ahead and judge, but it gets me moving on nights I would rather sit on the couch and stare at the wall. This is a good song to do some awesome finger shaking. That's not my name!

I Write Sins Not Tragedies  - Panic! At the Disco
 My poor neighbor has heard me sing this song quite often lately, as I like to blast it while doing anything laundry related - folding, sorting, putting away, looking at, etc. There is a lot of jumping, moving from side to side, dramatically reciting the verses with gesticulations, and shouting the chorus. Of course, you can do what you please in your apartment.

You Spin Me Round (Like a Record) - Dead or Alive
 Here I recommend singing at the top of your lungs while swiveling your hips. This one works well for doing dishes, since you can continue using your hands to NOT break your mugs and plates.

Man or Muppet - Jason Segel and Walter
 Another good one for a dramatic interpretation, "Man or Muppet" requires a loud, broadway singer voice coupled with wide, sweeping motions of the arms, and occasional spinning.

Kangaroo - Kyle Andrews
 I know he is probably saying "picture" in the first line, because contextually that makes sense, but it really, honestly sounds like he is saying "fiction". This is just a good head-bobbing, bouncing around song, which fits the title, really. Also, he is spelling the word 'kangaroo', so don't waste any time trying to figure it out and singing random letters. Not that I did that the second time I heard this song while reading a text book on pragmatics.

Tequila -The Champs
Because sometimes we just need a drink, but can't have one. Plus, who doesn't like yelling "TEQUILA!"?

End of the Line - The Traveling Wilburys
 It's alright ridin' around in the please, livin' the life you please. And you know what? I am doing the best I can, and I am lending a hand. And it IS alright even if they say I am wrong. I don't know who they are, but it is alright. This is just a good song. I highly recommend, especially if your spirits are feeling a bit low.

All The Same to Me - Anya Marina
I like anything that gives me an adult excuses to sing "e-i-e-i-e-i-o". For some reason, I enjoy listening to this while cooking.

9 Reasons I am an Honest-to-Goodness Adult

The fact that I need to write this to prove to myself and others that I am, in fact, a real, true, honest-to-goodness adult, should indicate to you that it has recently been implied or insinuated that I am not.

1. I pay my bills, and I pay them on time.
2.  I take care of myself, the cat, and the fish just fine. We all eat, live in mostly clean and orderly habitats (mine, partially shared with the cat, is the messiest), and are healthy.
3. Despite the fact that I hate doctors, I schedule, attend, and pay for the various doctor appointments necessary.
4. I have a real job with benefits, etc.
5.  When I go grocery shopping, I don't just buy cookies, ice cream, and pizza. No, I cannot claim I do not have ice cream for breakfast occasionally, but for the most part, I try to eat real meals.
6.  I have a savings account. This is not intended to one day pay for my undergraduate degree. What now?
7.  I am comfortable doing things on my own, such as seeing a movie, going to an art show, attending a concert, etc. if that is what would make me happy at that particular time. Sometimes it is because no one else can or wants to go with me, and sometimes I go solo because I just want some time to do what I want to do at the speed I want to do it.
8. Sometimes, other adults come to me for advice. Granted, it is almost exclusively regarding work, but that means I am at least viewed by some other adults as a professional, and professionals must be adults, right?
9. Because I said so, and I am an adult!

I Love Cookies

I really didn't want to do my reading for class tomorrow.

Because I'm Awesome (#10)

After working out to Just Dance 2 with my Wii (because working full time, being a grad student, and trying to maintain a social life and romantic relationship have made it difficult for me to make it to the community education wellness and fitness classes I like), I decided I needed a snack. Originally, I had a craving for ice cream, but the rain all day today, which persists even now, has made my apartment rather chilly. Since I refuse to raise the heat, and I actually have milk in my refrigerator that is not two weeks past expiration, I decided to make hot chocolate on the stove.

Now, for a single 20-something, I will admit that my kitchen is fairly well stocked, as far as cooking utensils go. However, I am also an elementary ESOL teacher, and I have brought a number of my personal cooking supplies to school to use as props in teaching certain units this month. This means that I have my spaghetti pot and my le creuset available. Please keep in mind that I have a le creuset because I lusted after them insatiably at William-Sonoma for a long time, and finally snagged a black one on super clearance a couple of summers ago. I feel pretty highfalutin right now.

So I am making this hot chocolate in the le creuset using organic sugar and organic cocoa. This is not because I go to the store and only buy organic things, but because I try to avoid shopping at Hy-Vee and only shop at Trader Joe's now. When I go to Hy-Vee, I buy convenience food, most of which goes in the freezer. When I go to Trader Joe's, I plan meals, spend less money, and generally eat healthier. It seems, however, that another bonus is that there are a lot of times when organic is the only option.

And so I plan on enjoying this organic hot chocolate made in my le creuset on this rainy evening, curled up on the couch with my Cookie Monster skin blanket. I almost feel like it is necessary for me to get out the step-ladder to get down one of the fancy porcelain tea cups given to me as a gift to complete the entire activity.

Who says I can't be fancy-schmancy?

"Game of Thrones" Boyfriend of my Dreams

The last couple of weeks, I have been reading "The Game of Thrones". I am enjoying it quite a bit, though progress is slow since I am a student and full-time teacher who is also trying to have a social life. Over spring break, I managed to get a couple hundred pages under my belt, while stopping every once and a while to watch bits of the first season of the HBO series with Mr. Sturm. We also cooked, ate food, and played games, etc., so don't worry that all I did over spring break was Game of Thrones related.

A couple of nights ago, I had an interesting, surprising dream. As it turns out, I was madly in love with Tyrion Lannister, "the imp". In my dream, it was not the Tyrion from the HBO series, but rather the Tyrion I had created in my head before watching any of the series while reading the book.

Tyrion and I were madly in love, though our love was forbidden, and just plain dangerous, for many reasons. First off, he is a Lannister, and clearly as a daughter of a much lesser lord, I would not do. Also, I was betrothed to someone else - a knight in fact, who had neither a face nor a name that I can remember. Perhaps most importantly of all, however, Tyrion was a wanted man by Catelyn Stark and her whole clan, so I spent a good deal of the dream trying to hide and help protect my beloved Tyrion Lannister.

Needless to say, I considered taking a break from the book after this dream. While I am not reading nearly at the rate as over spring break, I have decided to continue. If I am having weird dreams, might as well continue reading and get them all out there. It is interesting that my dream-boyfriend from the book, however, would be Tyrion. Perhaps it is because of his wit, the fact that I love an underdog, and I often feel like he is a good person who is just trying to get along in a swamp of politics, dealing with the loyalty of his disaster of a family.

Ah well.

Louisiana Purchase: A Scam

Teaching elementary students is actually an ongoing education process. Sure, I think it is my job to teach them, but let's be honest. I learn just as much from them.

The other day, in fourth grade, we were discussing the Louisiana purchase. The textbook and test emphasize the importance of this purchase, from the French, because it doubled the size of our country. Since I constantly go "off-script", I felt it necessary to point out that France was really quite far away, and there were already people living on that land that were not informed of this transaction. When I asked how the French could sell this enormous bundle of land without really owning it, one of my students blurted out:

"The Louisiana purchase was a scam! Whoa! What a big scam!"

Since I had to turn around to disguise my laughter as a cough, it was very fortunate my co-teacher held her composure, requested the student to define "scam", then defend his claim. We both accepted it as valid.

The Louisiana Purchase: A Big Scam