Being 23

Well, I have been 23 for 3 days now and I can't say that's been all that great. I feel old! :)

I've go to send a shout out to all the homies who called and text messaged me. I really appreciated it.

I've said in the past that it's all down hill from age 22... well, I think I was mistaken. :) I can only hope that life continues to be just as it has been... maybe with a little more fun times.

Here's to being 23! :)

Returning to your Roots

Well, it finally happened. I got a sub job at my alma matter. Things can certainly change a lot in 5 years. For instance,

When I was in High School, I did not (top ten):
1. Bring a CD player to school, walk to classes listening to music and whip it out during class.
2. Look at Pokemon cards
3. Play Chubby Bunny in the middle of class
4. Have a cell phone, let alone a picture cell phone.
5. Sleep in class.
6. Wear white pants on a rainy day.
7. Have the drumline practice outside my class.
8. Act disrespectful to a Substitute teacher.
9. Bring tweezers to school and pluck my eyebrows during class.
10. Have classmates with VERY unusual names (example: Rocksand).

P.S. Happy New Year

I can't believe I haven't said Happy New Year... That's what happens when you begin a new year with a cold--the excitement and joy goes right out the window.

And you don't make any resolutions!

An Eventful Day

Despite waking up after noon (I was up late and didn't sleep all that well)... I accomplished a lot! :) Who knew? Here's what I did today:

1. Bought Megan and Mike's wedding gift.
2. Rode on my Dad's motorcycle for the first time (so cool!).
3. Finished half of my cousin's late Christmas present (I've been too busy lately to be creative).
4. Had dinner with Cassi, Sean and Brenton (don't really know how to spell his name!).
5. Went to a YL leadership meeting (always fun!).
6. Made phone calls and sent emails.
7. Thought about what to get Jamie for her birthday.
8. Did my laundry (it's been piling up for awhile--oops!).

And last, but certainly not least--
9. Finished my re-application packet for Notre Dame! My Dad is fed-exing it tomorrow! Can you feel the excitement? Can you? :)

Whew, I'm tired-- and still sick. I'm going to bed!

Mickey and Minnie Trivia

I got this email from my cousin Mike... I can't believe I didn't know this already! :)

i don't know how i didn't know this already, but i just found out that "mickey and minnie" are literally married in real life.

"Wayne Allwine (the voice of Mickey Mouse) met his wife, Russi Taylor, the voice of Minnie Mouse, at a voice session for 'Totally Minnie.'.... "
http://www.voicechasers.com/database/showactor.php?actorid=1017



PS-- saw Meet the Fockers today-- I liked it SOOOOO much better than the first one.

Merry Christmas....

A few days late!
Yeah, it's been a busy couple of days. But, for the most part, good days. Yeah(!) for Christmas time! I got so many books it's ridiculous! I should open up a library! :) Well, maybe not that many... but I won't be borrowing from anyone for awhile (Cassi, Sara, Barbara-- this means you!)

Speaking of Cassi, my dear friend, I just have to give her and Sean a shout out. They gave me the most incredible early birthday present, I just have to share it with the world! Tickets to see Les Miserables. Can you belive that! I was totally blown away. We already went to see it, and I ment to journal about it earlier, but see above paragraph for lame excuse.

Anyways-- it was a GREAT, GREAT show (Laura-- GO AND SEE IT!!!). The cast was wonderful. The gal who played Fantine (Tonya Dixon), I had seen on Broadway in Ragtime (she played Sarah). It's always neat to recognize a great voice on stage. It was a wonderful show-- I, of course, bawled my eyes out (literally, my shoulders were shaking) and I LOVED every single second of it!

Ok, that's all... Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and Love to all of my wonderful readers... ha ha ha... :)

The Grinch

It's hard not to feel like this when you work in retail:

"That's what it's all about, isn't it? That's what it's always been about! Gifts, gifts, gifts, gifts, gifts, gifts, gifts! You wanna know what happens to your gifts? They all come to me. In your garbage. You see what I'm saying? In your GARBAGE! I could hang myself with all the bad Christmas neckties I found at the dump. And the avarice... THE AVARICE NEVER ENDS! "I want golf clubs. I want diamonds. I want a pony so I can ride it twice, get bored and sell it to make glue!" Look, I don't wanna make waves, but this whole Christmas season is STUPID, STUPID, STUPID!" ~How the Grinch Stole Christmas, the Grinch

But then I remember this:

"In the sixth month of Elizabeth's pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a village in Galilee, to a virgin named Mary... Gabriel appeared to her and said, 'Greetings, favored woman! The Lord is with you! ... Don't be frightened, Mary, for God has decided to bless you! You will become pregnant and have a son, and you are to name him Jesus. He will be very great and will be called the Son of the Most High. " Luke 1:26-32

It's all about perspective. And speaking of, it makes me think about a beautiful Christmas song that sums up how I feel when I put myself in check about the true meaning of Christmas:

"O Lamb of God, O Prince of Peace
What tribute shall I bring to worship Thee
I have no gold to lay at Your feet
So Lamb of God, I offer me

I bring You all my hopes
I bring You all my dreams
I give You all my soul
My mind and all my strength
I wrap them all inside my heart to give to Thee

Oh come, let us adore Him
Oh come, let us adore Him
Oh come, let us adore Him
Christ, the Lord"

~Lamb of God, Nicole C. Mullen

May the King of Kings, who resides in my heart, constantly be my focus during this holiday season and always.

Roller Skating

Instead of regular Club this week, we took the kids roller skating. I honestly cannot remember the last time I went. I was a tiny bit nervous that I would fall, but making a fool out of yourself kinda comes with the job of being a Young Life leader.
However, I was tearing it up out there! :) I haven't lost it at all! And we had so much fun! We were even playing tag! Oh, what fun it is to roller skate!

I'll be honest though, my feet kinda hurt a bit. :)

Update on Subbing

"Only by his qualification as a learner can he show himslef qualified to become a teacher."
~Karl Barth

Let me tell you-- I've been learning A LOT! :)

Today I learned how to deal with high school boys who hit on their substitute teachers.

That's right, I got hit on by a Junior in High School. Granted, I remember when I was in high school my friends and I thought certain young male teachers were cute (You North Alumni know who I'm talking about). However, I also vivdly remember never saying ANYTHING to their face! And I certainly never wrote it on the board! Well, both happened to me today. Yikes! What's a teacher to do? The only thing I could think of was to ignore him-- so that's what I did.

Sure hope I did the right thing... :)

First Day of Subbing

Well, it finally happened! I had my first day as a substitute teacher (at King HS for those of you familiar with Riverside). It has been such a drawn out process, but I'm glad it worked out.
In case your wondering how it went, let me tell you! :)
I was scheduled to only work a half day (King has the oddest block scheduling I have ever heard of). The three classes I had before lunch went well--only some minor acting out occurred. The kicker was when another teacher popped in to ask if I could cover his later classes and work a full day. I said yes (what else did I have going on, nothing!). BTW-- being called Miss Stock is not my idea of fun. I feel so adult--yuck!
So, seeing that I had some time to kill until I went in for the other teacher,I went and hung out with a friend who teaches at King.
So far-- great first day subbing!
Well, I go into sub for the other guy (he had to leave early so I was covering the second half of his class). The students were watching a movie so I just sat in the back of the classroom at a chair that was conveniently positioned so that I could watch all the students. When the movie finished, I stood up to turn on the lights and realized that I had SAT IN GUM! It was stuck to my butt and I couldn't get it off! So, being the quick thinker that I am, I quickly took off my jacket and tied it around my waist. Of course this looked ridiculous because it was a down jacket, but at this point, I wasn't that concerned with how I looked.
I made my way up to the front of the class and sat down at the teacher's desk--only on one cheek because I didn't want to push the gum further into my pants nor get it stuck to his chair. The students were just hanging out (the movie had finished earlier than the teacher estimated and had left me with no lesson plans).

Fast forward about 10 mins.

The students are still talking and hanging out. The bell is going to ring in about 5 mins.
I am still sitting, one cheek on the chair, anxiously awaiting the end of class so I can try and clean up the mess on my pants.

And then I fall out of the chair.

Yup, that's right, I fell out of the chair onto the floor.

Of course, the students immediately begin laughing. One student said, "Did she just fall out of the chair?"

So, I get up. Pick up the chair. Turn to the class, smile and say "Well, at least I provided you with a little bit of entertainment!" And then I sit down, praying for time to speed up so the bell would ring.

Finally, it did ring. The students left. I left.

The end.