That was a boring post.

So I've finally fallen into this whole facebook thing. Who knows--I'm so bad at posting regularly, I'm sure I'll suck at this too. Oh well. Maybe not.

So...long time no post. Spring semester seems to be even more hectic than fall, if that's at all possible. Plus I'm realizing that my priorities right now don't always include spending time on the web. But here's a brief update.

Latest Awkward Situation: This weekend, I went to see Amazing Grace, the new film about William Wilberforce, and on the way out, I realized I didn't have my keys in my purse. My purse had fallen over during the movie, so I went back into the theater to see if I could find them. After giving my sweater to the ticket lady as collateral, I got back into our theater and started hunting. On hands and knees, poking around under seats, I searched all over. Finally I decided to empty out my purse in desperation. There, in the bottom, wedged into my billfold, were my keys. I just took them out quietly, put everything back in my purse, announced to the teenagers cleaning the room that I had finally found them, and acted as if they had been right under the chair where I thought they were. I didn't tell my friends either--I guess I didn't want to look stupid.

Newest Love: I've been dating (for almost two months now--I'm about to break my own record!) my friend Clint. We dated before in college, and we've been good friends since I was a freshman in high school. Things are good. We're long distance, because he lives in Chicago (which sucks) but somehow we've been able to see each other at least once a month. He's coming to visit in a couple weeks, and I can't wait. We're pretty serious but pretty goofy. It's a nice combo.

Most Recent Aspiration: Returning to grad school. I've almost finished my application the local state university for an MA in English, and I'm getting very eager to become a student again. I was looking at the class list again the other day, and I caught myself drooling...

New Music I Like: Leeland, Sarah Kelly, Plumb's new album Chaotic Resolve

No new books as of late--I'm developing my 2007 SummerReadingList, and I have a student who wants to get together over ice cream this summer and talk about books. Her mom thinks it's cool, and so do I.

Biggest Change in the Last Month: I've decided to stay at my current job. I actually resigned from my position as music/English/drama teacher and had started applying all over. I even visited Chicago feeling 90% sure I was going to move there. That didn't pan out how I thought it would; I got reoffered my old job; I had a family offer me a free place to stay; I got offered tuition assistance for Grad school by my current job. So I said "yes" to everything, even though it meant a complete reversal of everything I thought was going to happen. God is creative and surprising, but he is always providing in amazing ways for me. He is awesome.

I think that's all. Life is good. I am happy.

Rats. I had just finished my post when everything got frozen. I'm going to be more abbreviated now:

Books I recommend:

The Heart is a Lonely Hunter (Carson McCullers)
Single by Chance, Mothers by Choice (Dr. Rosanna Hertz)
Spying on the Bomb (Jeffrey T. Richelson)
The Madonnas of Leningrad (Debra Dean)
Everything is Illuminated (Jonathan Safran Foer)

Books I do not recommend:

Shadow Baby (Alison McGhee)

Books I have heard are good or looked good at Barnes and Noble:

Swallows and Amazons (Arthur Ransome)
The Christian Mind (Harry Blamires)
The Last King of Scotland (Giles Foden)
Broken for You (Stephanie Kallos)
The Glass Castle (Jean Walls
Crow Lake (Mary Lawson)
Charming Billy (Alice McDermott)
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Betty Smith)

Music I'm currently listening to:

The Crane Wife (The Decemberists)
Too Far to Care (Old 97's)
Transatlanticism/Plans (Death Cab for Cutie)
Woman King/Our Endless Numbered Days (Iron and Wine)
Strange and Beautiful (Aqualung)
Are You a Dreamer?/Philadelphia Songs/Safely Away (Denison Witmer)
Keep It Together (Guster)
The Swimming Hour (Andrew Bird)
Song of the Traveling Daughter (Abigail Washburn)
Sundayrunners (Sundayrunners)
Summerteeth (Wilco)
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind Soundtrack (Jon Brion/Polyphonic Spree/etc.)

High Points of 2007 so far:

a new relationship (an old friend in a new light)
20 kids in my chorus elective (instead of the 10 last semester--and I have six boys who might actually want to sing!)
39 out of 44 middle schoolers want to either be in or help with the spring play (it may have something to do with the fact that it's not a musical and they get to have sword fights--I'll take what I can get)
a potential move (maybe Chi-town??)
a new job next fall (not sure where yet)

That's a lot for only two weeks. (It may or may not include some hold overs from 2006). Hope you all are well and maybe still checking this blog.

Code monkey like fritos
Code monkey like Tab and Mountain Dew
Code monkey very simple man
Big warm, fuzzy, secret heart
Code monkey like you.

This is the song I listened to this morning while the 8th graders took a grammar test. My co-worker Ron shared it with me. I think my favorite line is "Big warm fuzzy secret heart." Check it out--you can download it from www.jonathancoulton.com.

I had this whole long post I was going to write, but I decided to cancel that and simply say that work is better this week. All of last week's stress was magnified because I was babysitting for my friend's six children while she and her husband were in the Virgin Islands for a week--I got to play mom for awhile. Really, it just took me back to the days of being the oldest sibling at home with all my sisters busy and needing a chauffer. But I'm glad that I could give the kids back at the end of the week and return to my "normal" lifestyle.

I did realize more and more how much I need other people (especially those my own age) in order to get re-energized. I am an total extrovert in the Myers-Briggs sense of the word.

I think I'm also able to get through this next week at work even with all the difficulties of the past week (email me if you want more details) because I know Thanksgiving is just around the corner. We have half days Thursday and Friday this week because of parent/teacher conferences, and then we have all of next week off. We had built two hurricane make-up days (like snow-days for all you northerners) into our schedule just in case something happened, but since nothing did (hallelujah), we just get a longer Thanksgiving break (praise the Lord). Apparently this is the paragraph of parenthetical expressions (good thing I just taught that in 8th grade grammer).

I would also just like to add that I can't get enough of Ryan Adams, and that NPR podcasts are pretty awesome.

Work sucks.

I'm thankful that Thanksgiving break is a whole week long this year.

And I still haven't found what I'm looking for
It was at approximately 10:00 this morning, shortly after my first couple classes of the day, when I happened to look down and see...


Yes. One black shoe, one brown. And I always thought it was handy to have two pairs of the same shoe.

So I'm thinking about becoming a graduate student in literature. I have a hard time seeing myself as one, especially because I can't even speak in grammatically correct sentences anymore. But the thought of all that reading... I'm getting a little excited.

Here's Olive...

(third person)

It's raining outside. The raindrops are heavy and fat; when she was driving home, she thought for a second it might almost be snowing. Now she sits in her car, the engine running and the air conditioner on. The car is in park. She's only thirty feet from her apartment, but she doesn't feel like actually getting out of the car and going inside. It's been raining steadily for almost forty minutes, and she'll be leaving soon anyway. No use going inside to check her email when she can just do it from the car. It's a little uncomfortable to hold the computer on her lap and type; the steering wheel is too close for her to be able to extend her arms fully. It's funny-- she notices that the woman who pulled into the slot next to her is still in her car too, chatting on the phone and flipping casually through a fashion magazine. The girl smiles wryly to herself, and pauses for a moment to try to smell the rain. She can't smell it. All she can smell is the cold of the air conditioning and the remnants of this morning's coffee, now dried in the bottom of her mug. Her roommate just came down the stairs from the apartment and climbed into a sleek silver sports car--her boyfriend's. The girl wonders if the roommate even saw that the lights are on, that the car is running, and that she's sitting in the car, typing on a white laptop. The woman in the SUV puts away her magazine and goes inside. It's sprinkling now. The girl's ride should be showing up soon. The Black Rebel Motorcycle Club is playing on the stereo, the lead singer saying again and again, "When did you stop caring?" She wonders.

Latest obsession: Veronica Mars (I bow my head and admit that it's on the WB or UPN or something like that. I borrowed Season 1 from a friend and just finished it today)
Currently reading: Total Truth by Nancy Percey
Currently feeling: slightly melancholic, but reality checks will do that to a girl
Currently listening to: Tegan and Sara
Just finished: night swimming after a crazy game of ultimate frisbee
Ultra proud of: my sister Christine who is kicking some butt down in Arkansas
Not ashamed: to admit that I am incredibly stoked about football season. Huskers play USC Saturday at 8:00 on ABC.
In love: just with my Mac
Just discovered: I love camping. I can double as an athlete!

I'm teaching now. It's been a week, and I haven't killed anyone yet.

Actually, being a music-teacher isn't so bad. The students are responding a lot better to all the singing we're doing than I expected. I thought the middle schoolers would be way too cool to sing. And they are sort of too cool, but they're still singing. So hey, that's success. At this point, though, English is still my favorite.

It's not even ten, and I'm going to bed. I should feel sad about this, but really I'm just excited to sleep.

One last thing: I'm really getting into ultimate frisbee and general being-outsideness these days. Thank you, Ryan, Matt, and Matt, for getting Lindsey and me outdoors this summer.

Telephones makes strangers out of lovers, whiskey makes the strangers all look good

currently listening to:
Old 97's, Too Far to Care
I am Sam soundtrack
a random mix of my sister's music

currently reading:
our crisis management plan
my faculty handbook
boring handouts

movies I would recommend:
City of God
V for Vendetta
Why We Fight (a documentary)

We start pre-school inservice tomorrow at 8:30 am, so I guess it's my first official day back on the job, although I've been in my classroom for the past week or so already. I'm starting to get excited to see the students again, and I'm feeling pretty positive about the whole music-teacher bit. I even think our junior high volleyball season is going to be fun. I forgot how much fun it is to work with most of these people. Notice the word "most."

My trip to Nebraska was wonderful--pretty relaxing, and I got to see a bunch of people from high school. Maybe I'll post some pics eventually. I got to go to the newly revamped botanical/sunken gardens, lots of restaurants, a couple movies. I also saw my sister's band practice--they're pretty good! They don't have a name yet, or I would recommend them. No CD either, although I had better get one as soon as they make one.

I got a new computer this last week--I am now a Mac owner. I love it. And I love that I got a decent discount because I'm a teacher. And because it's back-to-school time, they threw in an ipod for free. Lots of love going around. Although it's been a little stressful trying to transfer all my files. My other computer is pretty slow right now because there's only a few megabytes left on the harddrive. Oh well.

My friend once called blogging "journaling for exhibitionists." I've never really thought of myself as an exhibitionist, but I think there's some truth to that. I sort of write this for my own personal record, but I also like the idea of my words being "out there" and accessible to pretty much whoever. Anyway.

Somewhere in middle America

In about ten minutes, I'm off to my sister's band practice, so I'll make this quick. I'm currently in my hometown--Lincoln, Nebraska--and I'm loving every minute of it. Seeing the family, seeing old friends. . . it makes for a pretty good vacation. And there's still almost two full weeks left!! I can't wait to see what the rest of the trip holds in store. So far, it's been interesting:

• 2 workouts
• mini golf with 2 ex-boyfriends
• 2 minutes of an outdoor concert before the rain came
• waiting almost 2 hours for them to declare the concert officially cancelled

A lot of twos. Interesting. Anyway--books I'm reading/have read so far this summer include the following:

• Dracula (Bram Stoker)
• My Antonia (Willa Cather)
• Their Eyes Were Watching God (Zora Neale Hurston)
• The Return of the Native (Thomas Hardy)
• The World of Christopher Marlowe (David Riggs)
• Sula (Toni Morrison)
• A Patchwork Planet (Anne Tyler)
• Prodigal Summer (Barbara Kingsolver)
• The Plot Against America (Philip ? Roth)

Books I hope to read include:

• Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (Jonathan Safran Foer)
• Everything Is Illuminated (Foer)
• something by Kate DiCamillo

There are other books on my list, but this has been a short sampling. So far, I've enjoyed everything!

Just a warning--I may be out of touch for awhile. We're moving this weekend to our new apartment, and our internet won't be connected until after the holiday. So, if you want to talk (I have lots of down time these next few weeks, so feel free), call me. New addresses, etc. will be available in an email at a later date.

Adios, Apt. 809! Hola, Apt. 1023!

Oh, my sweet Carolina

Here are some pictures from my recent trip to the Tennessee/Georgia/North Carolina region--The Cherohala Skyway, Amicalola State Park, Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest, The Ocoee River, State Road 68, to name a few places I stopped. If you're ever near Cokercreek, TN, check out Seven Sisters Mountain Honey and Crafts. Good stuff, and good conversation.


The Cherokee National Forest from the Cherohala Skyway

Amicalola State Park

400-year-old Poplar in Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest

The Ocoee River

Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest

Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest

Abandoned farmhouse on SR 68

No, I'm not tired, I'm not. . .

I definitely didn't need a Pepsi at 8 o'clock tonight, and yet. . . So here I am, semi-late at night (late for me at least, since I usually go to bed around 10'ish), as wide awake as--well--hmm. Okay, no similes are coming to mind right now. But I'm awake, and sleep is looking fairly distant at this point. I figure this is as good a time as any to make the pronouncement: I am not teaching English next year. I'm teaching K-8 music. Okay, and a little English. But just the 8th grade. I feel good about it; I'm even excited. I know my certification is not in music, but I'm willing to give it a shot. I'm actually looking forward to having an opportunity to gain a greater understanding of even more facets of a school. I've taught classes that are part of the core curriculum. I've worked with middle school. I've assisted with different elements of accreditation. Now I'll teach elementary students, and I'll get to see life from the perspective of a specials teacher and program director. If admin. is something I end up pursuing someday, the broader my experience, the wider my understanding that I'll bring with me as an assistant principal or administrator. Who knows. Everyone around me seems to think it's a good fit. We'll see. I'm open to considering other options if this turns out to be something I don't like.

I finally finished all my post-school paperwork. That means I'm officially done with the 2005-2006 school year, and I can start prepping for next year. Well, eventually. I'm currently working as a part-time babysitter for an adorable and sweet baby boy, and I'm hoping to get some voice students someday, maybe. In a week, I'll be spending some time in North Carolina recooperating and relaxing with my grandparents--hopefully getting some good scenic photo ops. I haven't had the time to be out with my camera much lately; I miss it. Maybe I'll post some photos when I get back. Then in July, I'm headed back to the Cornhusker State for a couple weeks. THAT will be great. There's a big McP family reunion that I'll be attending (I've missed the last three or four), and I'm hoping to see a lot of good friends from high school. I'm very thankful that God has seen fit to bless me with friendships that have lasted so long. It's crazy to think that I've known some of those people for at least ten years. And our five-year reunion has come and gone. John Hoogeveen, where are you and why aren't you planning something? You were class president after all. Anyway. I miss home a lot, so it will be good to see some plains again.

(this is a schaap pic I filched from the dordt website)

Don't buy the warranty.

I hate dealing with car maintenance. My whole day today has been spent dealing with my car. Now, I love my car--2002 Toyota Camry--and I want to take care of it so that it can be a valued part of my life for years to come. But when my dad and I bought the car, we made a mistake. We bought the warranty. Because of the warranty, I have to have it fixed at specific, authorized locations (i.e. the Dealership). And now, the stupid warranty people won't even authorize any claims I make from here on out because I have to prove that I have had oil changes every 3000 miles for the last year and a half. I don't have those receipts. Now that wouldn't be such a big deal if it weren't for the mechanics who have my car at this very moment. Of course they're trying to milk me for every single penny I have.

Well, I have resolved that I am not going to give them my pennies (or benjamins). I am getting a second opinion. Forget the warranty.

I will also be getting a comforting bowl of chocolate ice cream.

Cut a notch in the tree.
Mark my height on the door post.

A milestone has been reached.

I survived a whole year.
I will never have another first year as a teacher.
Ever again.
Amen and hallelujah.

p.s. i am still taking summer reading list recommendations.

Carry Me To Ohio

This song, currently playing on my computer, is by Mark Kozelek, formerly of Red House Painters and now of Sun Kil Moon. He has been in a couple different movies as well--Almost Famous, and Shop Girl. He's actually playing (or maybe played?) in Ft. Lauderdale this week, and I wish I could go see him. Gabe Florit actually introduced me to him first, but I can't remember the name of the song we were going to sing together (Gabe and me, not me and Kozelek, unfortunately). If you're out there, Gabe, do you remember what it was?

Anyway.

One week until school is done. I love my students, but I definitely need a break from some of them. It's as if they hit the last two weeks of school, and they suddenly believe they can get away with anything. I've had to be really firm this last week, if only to prevent total anarchy. I am really extremely amazingly very so super muchly tremendously excited about summer (we've been studying adverbs for the last few weeks--can you tell?). I am going to North Carolina for a little r&r, as well as some hopefully productive time spent with my camera, and in July I am going home to Lincoln for a few weeks. I am a little homesick right now because my sister just graduated from high school, and I missed it; so a trip home will be welcome.

Any good book recommendations? I'm trying to compile a summer reading list. Maybe I'll post it once I've gotten it put together.