Testing 1, 2, 3

Aaron found this beautiful little widget that let's me publish blogs straight from my dashboard.  How awesome is that!  Course, I can't change my font to arial... but I'll get over it.  The convenience of this widgit rocks!!

The adventures of Flat Stanley

Our apartment is home to a new guest: Flat Stanley. For those of you who don't know, Flat Stanley is my neice's Kindergarten project. He's a colored paper cutout who is sent all over the world and then reports back to the Kindergarten class, replete with adventures. That being said, Aaron and I took him downtown and did all of the touristy things that we were too self-conscious to do without him. The real kicker is that instead of just printing off pictures and writing a little ditty, I am creating a PowerPoint movie (essentially). I have nearly spent 24 hours working on this project, and it's only been 3 days since we took the pictures. No one will ever know how much time and sweat went into all of the trivial animations and sound effects... and no one except my mum will ever really appreciate it.... but oh well. I'm a tech nerd and am enjoying myself, so meh.

Fizzled

So the longterm sub position for Germantown High School didn't work out. By the time I was able to reach her, she'd given the job to someone else. Which, seeing that she was never there any time I tried to contact her, is rather surprising. Oh well. She talked to me a bit over the phone and was surprised to hear that I already had my masters, asked where I'd gone to school, etc. She said that when the district starts to suffle teachers around that she'll keep me in mind. *shrug* We'll see.

After Aaron and I went to Nikki's for dinner last weekend, I had 3/4 of a chocolate cake that I'd made left over. Since we had just finished eating the last one I'd made for Valentine's Day, I had Aaron take the new one to work. I therefore buy my friends with desserts even though I rarely see any of them. Also, a new nurse there commissioned me for a carrot cake, which although wasn't on the menu, I agreed to make. I need to put the finishing touches on it today and then take it in. I was supposed to use marzipan to shape little carrots for decoration... but no stores I went to had ever heard of it. Ah well. An ugly little cake... not my proudest creation. Hope it at least tastes ok.

In case you've noticed that my quote at the top of the page has changed, let me explain. As most people who know me can testify, Aaron and I are big anime fans, especially InuYasha. I've spent the last few days downloading and singing InuYasha songs since I've run out of episodes and movies to watch and have already beaten Naraku on the PS2. Anyway, "Dearest" is my favorite InuYasha song, and after spending 5 minutes singing it and bawling my head off (I'm such a softie), I decided to share the lyrics with you. So here you go: the first 3 verses and translation.

Romaji Lyrics / English Translation

hontou ni taisetsu na mono igai subete sutete / It would be nice if we could put
away and throw out
shimaetara ii no ni ne / everything except what really mattered, but
genjitsu wa tada zankoku de / reality is just cruel.

sonna toki itsu datte / In such times,
me o tojireba / I see you laughing
waratteru kimi ga iru / whenever I close my eyes.

itsuka eien no nemuri ni tsuku hi made / Until the day I reach eternal sleep,
dou ka sono egao ga / that smiling face willt
aema naku aru you ni / have to stay with me without fail.

I've got to saw though, the lyrics themselves don't do justice until you can hear them sung by Hamasaki Ayumi. Now, go my minions and download this song! And watch the series and movies! Hey Ashlet - all of the InuYasha songs are on your computer now, just search iTunes for anime or InuYasha and you'll have all of my favorite anime songs. Be nice to all of my songs and tell them that I miss them!

Checking In

I don't really have much to say; nothing exciting is happening around here at all. There haven't been many subbing jobs lately... so my days are boooring.

I've tried to reach Germantown HS about that longterm sub position, but I can never reach the woman I need - she's either out of the office or not at school that day. Very frustrating.

So I subbed last Friday at my first public school down here. I can only pray that the rest of the subbing isn't like that one. I find out upon arrival that morning that the regular teacher - a veteran of 20+ years - had had to take 2 personal days because the students (6th graders) was so terrible. I won't go into detail, since I try to block out those memories, but suffice to say that I had to call in the principal to come down and set the kids straight. 3/4 of the classes were great, actually... but that last class was a complete terror. Out of 25 kids, 20 had no respect for either themselves or others, no expectations of themselves, and no fear of punishment (at least any that I could offer). Not a good combination.

Kinda makes me hesitate about the GHS sub position, if that ever comes about.

On the Up Beat

Not that anything has happened yet, but things are ever so slightly looking up for my job prospects. I have subbed at Lausanne the past two days in the same classroom, thereby getting to know both the students and the teachers of that grade fairly well. Not only do I seem to have gained the approval of that department (in addition now to other Lausanne depts), but I learned that high praise of myself has circulated around the schools and into the ears of a few people with sway. Of course, this is all fine and dandy and depends entirely on the spare chance of an opening. Still, whether this year or another, when a Lang. Arts position does appear, I feel fairly confident that my name will be near the top of the list, of candidates, that is.

And, when I got home, a message from the Vice Principal of Germantown High School awaited me - saying that they have a long-term English sub position, and am I interested? What surprises the heck out of me is ... how did she get my name and information? I haven't subbed a day in the county public schools yet (first day tomorrow) and have never even set a foot inside GHS halls. Not that I'm complaining, don't get me wrong. Just surprised. Of course, I'm sure she called other people as well. Who knows, the job may be suicidal for all I know.

... I'm not pessimistic, I swear. I'd just prefer to be prepared for the worst. Either I'll get a pleasant surprise or at least be prepared. We'll just have to wait and find out!

So yeah, my first day in the public school sector. Scary! I've been warned that some schools are great, others are nightmares.. wish me luck!

Love Actually

What a fantastic movie, really and truly. I cried twice and laughed until my brain hurt. Everyone out there should immediately go watch the movie; or else. My heart is still too full from finishing it only seconds ago... I can't begin to do the movie justice.

On other notes, a Mr. Flat Stanley has come to live with Aaron and I for awhile. Poor chap, was flattened by a bulletin board apparently and is now at the dispossal of my neice's Kindergarten class. His objective is to mail himself around the world, embark on wonderful adventures, and then mail himself, pictures, and information back to his rightful Kindegartner. I plan on using him as my excuse to do all of the touristy-type things that I haven't done yet down here. First on my list is going to the MLK Jr. memorial here in Memphis where he was shot. After that I don't know where we'll go.

Speaking of MLK Jr., a fantastic guest speaker was at Lausanne where I subbed today. A Rev. Samuel B. Kyles, I believe. One of the three persons on the balcony when MLK Jr. was shot. Not that this unfortunate proximity automatically makes him a fantastic speaker on it's own account, but he most certainly was just that, an inspiring speaker. What stuck in my head was how close I was to history at that moment in the auditorium. All my life I've heard about Dr. King, and his assassination, but today, for 50 minutes, I was within a stone's throw of history made real. Textbooks and documentaries are one things, something that doesn't exist in my frame of living; yet there stood a man, parent of a Lausanne student, who with corny jokes about his age and poignant metaphors from Langston Hughes (a dying dream is like a broken-winged bird that cannot fly) turned history into a breathing, dreaming reality.

Valentine's Day and Snow

So, tomorrow's Valentine's Day. You know me though, I've forbidden Aaron from spending too much money. I made him dinner Friday evening since we were snowed in, so that was his gift. It was gouda-stuffed chicken and sides with a two-layer chocolate cake for dessert. I decorated the sides with heart-shaped Gobstoppers which made it look festive. We used an old Christmas gift card at Best Buy to purchase X-Men II, Love Actually, and Final Fantasy X (a PS2 game). So thanks, Lucy, for our Valentine's Day presents! We're going to the Macaroni Grill this evening after we take care of car insurance, assuming that Aaron gets home in time for the latter.

Memphis finally saw snow this past Friday, horray!! I was subbing at Lausanne, and when it started to snow, the entire 8th grade wing shut down, went outside, and played in the snow. Snow of any kind is a rarity here, but to have such a heavy snowfall with 4" accumulation is just absurd; even the teachers were out catching snowflakes on their tongue. It was such a blast! Of course, the driving around here wasn't improved by the flakes. Nobody knows how to drive anywayelt , alone dealing with slush and ice. Nor does it help that the county isn't equipped to handle road care, so every street with pure slush. Think Nascar on ice. I have to give credit to most people here though, the majority drove slowly and carefully, with only a few jerks who insisted on cutting you off without warning. The real problem was the country bumpkins with jacked up trucks who think that just because they can crush a car under their bumper, they can drive as wrecklessly as they want, regardless of snow. I really wish this state would pass a law forbidding jacked up vehicles. All they are good for is haphazardly compensating for wittle winkies and crushing small cars. But back to the positive - isn't the view from our deck absolutely beautiful? If you look in the nearest tree branch, there's a grey squirrel trying to stay warm and dry.

Had my second meditation class and enjoyed it even more than the first, if that's possible. I've started a second blog, Meditation Journal, (see the link to the right) to help chronicle my journey. Any insights, questions, observations, etc. I'm looking forward to what may come of all this!

Hello

Call me naive, but It's a strange feeling when someone mentions offhandedly that they've read my blogs. I mean, obviously when I hit the "publish post" button, I do so with the intent of putting my words out their for others to read. But still, when there is no feedback, no comments from the peanut gallery, it's easy to forget that an audience exists on the other side of my monitor. I even feel a bit shy... *awkward half-wave*

So... finally got to the substitute training session - yippee! three hours of completely obvious information. Although I wish they wouldn't have taken me on this many-moon journey, I'm just glad that I'm finally able to also sub at the local public middle and high schools.

I mailed Mom some of the hiragana that I'd written. She called me last night to let me know how surprised and thrilled she was. I just love doing little things for her because they always mean so much; she's always appreciative. I still wish I could do more for her though. She is my mommy, after all, and I wuv her. I spelled out Mom's and my full names in hiragana and then wrote the romanji (English) equivilant next to it. Of course, our names come out sounded strange and entirely foreign, but then that's the fun of it, Japanese-ing our names. :)

*yawn* All the baking today made me sleeping... time for reading in bed snuggled up next to my adorable husband!

Meditation

I'm thrilled! I have found - or should say have been found by - a meditation class I can join. This is something I have been interested in for years but lacked the resources. Luckily for me, Memphis is a big enough city to have the diversity I was looking for. Unfortunately, I have already missed the first two classes, but the teacher who contacted me has sent me all of the handouts and is glad for me to join. Even just reading the instructions mindfulness of breathing gives me an inner calm and peace; it feels so natural and right. I am glad!

Kanji no kizu!

During this, my week of unemployed boredom, I have decided to teach myself to learn Japanese. Bored, yes; unsatiable thirst for knowledge, perhaps; suicidal tendancies, most definitely. Today I dedicated 4 hours to learning 20 hiragana characters; this is less than half of the basic characters of the first syllabic alphabet. Once I master the 46 basic characters (unvoiced) of hiragana, I'll still have the basic voiced, compound unvoiced, and compound voiced.. oh yeah, and a few pesky irregular tendencies some of those characters have. And then? Then I'll learn katakana - the second syllabic alphabet. And then? If my head is still intact, I'll start learning kanji, which has no ties to either alphabet but is rather a pictographic symbology of everything under the sun! Of course, at some point I'm going to have to actually learn the language so that I can understand what on earth I'm writing/reading. But I guess I'll worry about that later. :)

Be sure to check out the link above (click on this post's title) - it's my internet-sensei. Absolutely wonderful site. Speaking of wonderful, aren't the characters beautiful?! I have 5 pages of hiragana characters - my favorites are "ki", "so", "to", and "a".

What can I say? Caligraphy in English is fun, but Japanese is just awesome!

Time fillers

I'm beginning to think that most of my days are time fillers, unimportant happenings all in a continuous line that ends with me... with me what? getting my own classroom again? having a baby? Both are things I really want, at least I think I do. I afraid that it's like when I was bored as a child - I would complain to Dad and his solution was to pick up rocks or sticks, or shut up. Of course, once I got through the first 3 rocks, I'd realize that being bored may not have been exciting, but it was at least better than work. ...this is probably just my insecurities talking. I mean, I know there'll be days when I'd rather be at home on my bum watching Judge Judy without worring about lesson planning or feeding the baby. I'm not naive at least. All this free time isn't good for my insecurities, too much time to sit and conjure all the ways I could possibly screw up... or the ways in which I'll never even get the chance to screw up.

I'm officially practicing pregnant-woman cravings, lol. I have no idea what's come over me, but I crave no bake cookies like the papparazzi crave scandal. I've tried drinking water every time I think about eating a no bake... but instead of removing the craving, I've become a water balloon with no bake in hand. Theoretically, I should be losing weight - which I desperately need since I'm at an all time high of 150 lbs!! - since I'm working out 4-5 days a week with Aaron... but nooooo... those blasted cookies have to interfere with my well-laid plans.

Wah wah for me, I know. Ok, I'll stop whinning now. Toodles!