Last Day of School

Today was my last day working at Oak Canyon Jr High. I have really loved working with the kids and have truly gained a greater appreciation for kids that age. I originally thought, like most people going into English teaching, that high school was the place for me. I still might think that. But chances are, I will be placed in another junior high at some point, and there are no complaints here. It has been SO much fun getting to know these kids. They are all so different and interesting and I love seeing them learn. They really do learn in school. I remember feeling like I never learned anything, but I really did and you can really see it as a teacher. I had some great opportunities to teach and I will really miss those kids. The icing on the cake was when the teacher, who was so kind as to let me bother her for three weeks, told the last class that it was my last day and everyone moaned and then she said that I was the best 276 student she'd ever had and then the kids all agreed with her (she had had two other 276 students with these particular classes this year already and many more in previous years). What a great compliment! I was so flattered! Then she filled my evaluation sheets with all kinds of over-the-top praise and I went home beaming, not only because I got rave reviews, but also because it had been a great experience and I can't imagine a better profession. I am extra excited about teaching, although I have definitely learned that it truly is a challenging thing to do. I only taught two different lessons but they were incredibly time consuming to prepare and were tiring to teach. However, despite the HUGE amounts of work I know that I have ahead of me, I am still excited about being a teacher and can't wait to graduate and get back to the classroom. Next week, I start going to Lone Peak and doing the same thing for three weeks and I'm excited and a little nervous about that too. I'm sure it will be another great experience. :)

Also, big news! I finished LOST. It's insane, but overall, probably the best series I've ever watched. I also watched the first episode of this season of 24 and am on a mission to catch up to the rest of the world on that show as well.. at least for this season. I know, I know. I watch too much TV. But really, that's about the only TV I watch, so I feel justified. Also, check out my new other blog. I'm doing the 365 challenge thing and I'm excited about it, at least for now. It might just become an annoyance, but for now, it's way fun.

due

Sushi cards from me and Mallory's favorite sushi place, Yamato. We took a break from the day and went there for lunch today. We had a lovely discussion about how we just need to chill. Sushi always helps when you need to chill, so we'll have to just eat more sushi. We tried a new roll today.. the Banzai. And we highly recommend it.

uno

I've been spending way too much time watching LOST for the past month or so and I'm finally watching the season 5 finale tonight. My overall thoughts are that the first four seasons were much better than the fifth. But that's OK. Nobody, or no television series, is perfect. I'm still a fan and will still most definitely be watching the next and final season.

Summer.... I Miss You

Well, school finally caught up to me so I've been slacking a little bit on my LOST watching. I'm still in season 5, but I'm on episode 10 or something so I'll get there. It just might be a few days before I can watch again. I've got some assignments I need to get done today and I'm working tomorrow. My life is so hard. The good news is that I'm teaching again tomorrow and the next day and I'm starting to have fun at the junior high instead of being nervous and not knowing what to do with myself. I think I'm actually going to miss those kids when I leave on Friday. I can't imagine what it's going to be like when I'm actually a teacher and kids leave me after a whole year. I think that'll probably be uber depressing. I guess I'll cross that bridge when I come to it though.

In the midst of all my homework and attempting to resist LOST, I've also been craving the pleasantries of summer. Look how happy I was (picture on the left). Oh, how I miss it. Swimming, road trips, getting tan, being tan, being in shape (which I'm going to start tomorrow rather than wait until summer), running outside (which I REFUSE to do in the winter), and just the general warmness and lack of clothing that we all get to enjoy. I would make a countdown to spring but you never really know when spring will start in Utah so I very well could be counting down to 25 degree weather and then be severely disappointed. So, instead of just wallowing in self pity thinking about how it's so cold outside and my life is so lame, I've decided to start my get-ready-for-summer exercise and diet program. Basically what that means is that I'm going to exercise and try not to eat too many chips and hamburgers. Hopefully that helps. We'll see.

Accomplishments

I've accomplished a lot since I last posted two days ago and I think those accomplishments should be acknowledged.. by me.. on my blog. They are as follows:

1. I finished LOST season 4

2. I had a much needed reunion with Mallory

3. I watched LOST season 5 episode 1, "Because You Left"

4. I traded in my desktop rental for a laptop rental and my entire world has been changed for the better

5. I watched LOST season 5 episode 2, "The Lie"

6. I wrote a lesson plan for 8th grade English and taught it, which was a lot of fun and the teacher I'm working with said I did a "fantastic job" (teaching junior high seems like it would be easy, and it wasn't rocket science, but I was nervous about it so this one is a legitimate accomplishment for me)

7. I watched LOST season 5 episode 3, "Jughead"

8. I had an In n Out shake

9. I watched LOST season 5 episode 4, "The Little Prince"

Impressive list, huh? Welcome to my life. I don't know what the deal is with me and lists lately, but it seems to be working for me. I'm sure it's just a phase and that I'll get over it, but you never know. Maybe lists will be my new thing.

LOST Update: I'm not sure how I feel about all this over-the-top time traveling. The fact that it keeps happening is starting to get annoying but it was pretty epic when Jin (who is STILL ALIVE) ran into Rousseau on the beach SIXTEEN YEARS EARLIER!! Other than that, Sawyer is still my favorite and I really don't see that changing in the near future. He would have to do something really ridiculous to make me switch to team Jack, and even then, I would probably just switch to team Desmond or Sayid or something anyway.

Real Life Update: Teaching junior high was the bomb. They were fun and nice to me. Also, this one girl said that "Miss Teacher(me) was prettitude." It's a compliment. You'd understand if you were 13. Solid. I'm going to try to get my professor to come in and watch me teach tomorrow so hopefully that goes well too. Also, there's only one more day until the weekend. I love three day weekends because not only is it a three day weekend, but then the next weekend is only four days away. Good work, Martin L.

How do you answer people's questions when they leave comments on your blog? I don't know.. so I'm dedicating the last few lines of this blog to that. Linsey, Erin is on the bandwagon. She's in season one right now and it wasn't even my doing. But LOST is an incredible show. Kellie, my resolutions last year, if I remember correctly, were to read the Doctrine and Covenants and the Pearl of Great Price, to run a half marathon, to do my own taxes (and by that I meant give them to someone besides my dad to do), and the rest were kind of vague like "eat better" and "manage finances better" and so I just said I did them because I think I did better than the year before.

Sweet Dreams

I'm sorry to say that I think my blog has really been going downhill for the past couple months. Mainly because I haven't posted one thing. But also because the last few posts before the blogging famine were rather short and uninteresting. I sincerely apologize for this, since I know you all check my blog everyday just hoping there will be something new and fantastic to read. I will try to avoid writing an entire essay about what's going on in my life and limit it to a semi-short list to get you all caught up.

1. My new obsession is LOST. It's consuming my life, including my thoughts and my dreams. I think I've had more dreams about LOST in the last month than I've had about my real life and I'm not entirely sure how I feel about that since mothering Sawyer's child was one of the best, but also most strange moments of my dream life. I am currently on episode 13 of season 4 and at the rate I'm going, I'll be done by the time the final season starts on February 2nd.


2. I started the English Teaching program at BYU and have been helping out a teacher at Oak Canyon Jr. High for the past week. I'm teaching once this week and once next week and then I will go to Lone Peak High School and help a teacher out there for three weeks. It's fun and I'm learning a lot, but I think I will enjoy high school more.

3. My running adventures have all but come to a halt because I hate cold weather, but I have ambitious plans for when it gets warmer out and I'm trying to keep in shape in the meantime.

That list was shorter than I anticipated. I guess my life is even less exciting than I thought. Oh well. There are worse things. To spice things up, following are this year's New Year's Resolutions that I may or may not actually do. (I was surprisingly good at doing them last year so my hopes are high.)

Becky's 2010 New Year's Resolutions:

1. Read the Old Testament and The Book of Mormon

2. Practice piano twice a week

3. Don't do homework on Sundays

4. Run a marathon

5. Stop swearing

I think all of these are attainable, except maybe #5 since I've already failed. But I have until the end of the year to break this habit, so I'll keep trying.

The King

I saw the Michael Jackson movie, "This Is It" a few weeks ago and he still had it.. up until the day he died. He is the king of pop. Respect.

Ghosts of Halloweens Past

Halloween is always a good time. I don't know what I'm going to be yet, but I'm sure it will be something epic. It always is. The last two years have been successes. Last year I was Miss Scarlet, along with Susan as Mrs. Peacock. Sammy was also Mrs. White, but unfortunately the rest of the crew bailed on us. Whatever. Notice the rope and the candlestick. If you and your friends are planning on being the Clue gang for Halloween, don't forget the weapons. Then the year before that, me and the roommates, Susan, Emily, and Sammy, and our dear friend Jessica, were the Spice Girls. You will see me featured here as Posh. I would have pulled it off better had I cut my hair but I wasn't willing to commit quite that much to the character so instead I just didn't smile all night. I think that made up for it. The sad news is that this year, I'm living with different people and so my roommates no longer want to do a joint costume, which is always a good time. So, I can't be a part of any girl groups of board game casts. Bummer. I'll probably end up being a cowgirl or something. Heaven knows I've got the hat for it. Besides hurting for a costume, I also find myself nearing middle age as I realize that I have no desire whatsoever to go to a halloween dance. A halloween dance sounds horrible to me. Maybe it's because I haven't been to one in a lot of years or maybe it's because I really do think they're stupid, but I do know that in my younger years, I was really able to kick up my heels on the dance floor. I tell you, my dance card used to be full. But not these days. These days I'd rather eat carmel apples and wish the little trick-or-treaters a happy halloween and send them on their way. Speaking of old people, now's as good a time as any to share a little story that I don't think I've ever shared with anyone. If you've heard it, I'm sorry. But I'd be willing to bet you haven't seeing as how it's a secret story that I've kept inside me since I was about 11 years old...

One Halloween night, I was out trick-or-treating with my friends Belinda and Michelle. It's possible Teah was there too. I don't really remember. But it doesn't matter. We were trick-or-treating and having the time of our little lives. I was probably a French maid or a witch or something. I don't really remember. The years of dressing up all kind of blend together for me now. But I was something awesome, I'm sure. Anyway, that's beside the point. We were walking the streets of Fullerton, knocking on doors and filling up our puffy painted pillow cases with all the sugary goodness we could get our hands on. There was always the houses of the dentists who gave us each a toothbrush, the houses in the rich neighborhoods that gave us each a king size candy bar... trick-or-treating gold..., the regular houses with the fun sized candy, the houses where candy had been left on the porch and some punk had taken it all, and the sweet houses with haunted mazes and things in the front yard. It was a typical, mystical, and magical Halloween night. As we were hard at work collecting goods for the weeks ahead until Thanksgiving and Christmas, we came to the house of an old man. He was sitting on his porch with a bowl of jelly beans. Still to this day, I feel something for this man. It almost brings me to tears just thinking about him. I don't know why the image of him sitting there has stayed with me so well, especially since I was only 11 when I saw him, but it really has. Everytime I think of trick-or-treating, I think of this man. He seemed lonely. He seemed to me to be a widower, and the fact that he was alone on his porch only encouraged that idea. He was so sweet as he gave us each some jelly beans with his shaking hands. He smiled and wished us a happy halloween. He seemed more sincere to me than anyone that night, and anyone since (at least on Halloween). It hurt me to know that most people wouldn't even eat his jellybeans because they weren't wrapped and we were told to throw away unwrapped candy. I really wanted him to know how much I appreciated his jelly beans, but being 11 didn't really know how. I'm not sure that I would be able to express my appreciation even today. But I will never forget that sweet man sitting on his porch handing out jelly beans. I don't even know how to explain why, but there was something about his gentleness and his grandpa-like smile that made me want the best for him. It also reminded me that even on a holiday as dark and scary as Halloween, we are here to help and serve each other, and that no man is truly alone.

Now you may have guessed by now that the reason I've never told anyone about that is because it's kind of weird. But, there it is. I was kind of a weird 11 year-old.

On a lighter note, the blue pumpkins up there were carved by me and my fhe group last night. The one on the left is the best because my group made it. That and it's got a mustache. This was the first year in a long time that I've carved pumpkins, but it was way fun. Also, the cat is a cat that decided to follow us home one night. I thought it was cute.. so there ya go. :) Happy Halloween everyone!

180 Miles of Pure Joy

Team Wayne's World - Ragnar Relay 2009 from baci on Vimeo.

It's been a little while but I don't have much time. I just wanted to share this fantastic video made by my friend and team member Brad. Me and 11 other people just ran Vegas Ragnar a few weeks ago and it was the time of our lives. Our team name was Wayne's World and we partied on. The people I knew on the team were Mallory, Brad, Sarah, Liz, and Katie, and I soon got to know good old Branden as well. It was a lot of fun. In other news, I got into the English Teaching program and will be starting classes and such in the winter. Also, this semester is going pretty well too... well so far anyway. I just got a midterm back today that I got a 94% on. Sweet! Anyway, enjoy. :)