What the Heck Happened This Summer?

Well, you know I haven't written since the end of spring semester, so here's the catch-up.

I got a job taking customer service calls for Convergys, complete with 7 weeks of training. I've never had to take that much training before; it was like a whole semester in itself.

Once I started taking calls on my own, I started the summer semester. Five weeks of school in what would normally be 16. All I needed to take was Education Technology & Multicultural Education, but in order to qualify for the school loan (since my scholarship didn't come in til the fall), I had to have six credits, so I took a private voice course to bring my credits from 5 to 6, an almost $500 difference. (Doh!)

I gotta admit the Ed Tech class was so fun. I ended up doing so much more than I was asked, because I wanted to know how to do the projects I had in my head, not just get by with the most basic boring project. It's embarrassing to admit I didn't know how to make a PowerPoint Presentation before, but now I can do that, edit a website, make a DVD (editing audio & video), even decorate a bulletin board. Woohoo! My biggest projects are on my eportfolio, which I add to with every class to have available to my next interviewer. Techno-swank!

MultiCult, as I call it (just kidding) was informative. I was braced for a PC-stringent re-education camp. Despite some parts of the book that made me scoff, I appreciated that there was something actually objective to learn. Like the difference between equality & equity, stages of ethnic identity, and the like. It turned out to be more positive than I thought, like not all white males are the devil, whodathunk?

The voice teacher that usually teaches only voice majors got to be MY teacher, supercool. It was very helpful, and I'm glad she recorded all the lessons, although I have to lock myself somewhere quite, turn the volume all the way up, and press my ear to the laptop to review it. Looks like it's time to use the hookup speakers.

So the week after summer semester ended, we closed on the house! August 14th to be exact, Jared's sister's bday, so now I'll remember when to celebrate every year our house anniversary. We now live at 48 South Marble Canyon Drive Cedar City, Utah 84720. It's so nice to not have your address include the words, "box" or "apt" or "turn off the paved road." No, seriously, I love my house. A shout out to all the friends and family that helped us move out & back in again, including my in-laws, my sis Cami, Jared's h.s. buddy Steve, sis-in-law Amber and her fam, including my nephew Alex, and his buddy Cameron (who I swear had bronchitis and would not stop moving furniture even with my begging and his nose bleeds)!

The first day sleeping there was so eery. I felt like I was sleeping at someone else's house, which is always hard. No, it was like I was sleeping at a friend's house and they had put us in their master bedroom. The ceilings were so high, I felt like I was outside looking at the stars. The icemaker in the fridge wasn't that loud, but because it was so new to me, I kept waking up. It wasn't til the third night that I actually got a full night's sleep.

The next week I spent unpacking and figuring out where to put everything. The hard thing wasn't finding room for everything; it was trying to decide which of the twenty cabinets to put the medicine, or where in the umpteen drawers in the kitchen to put that 2nd pasta maker I got from a friend. I have way too many kitchen toys, mostly donated by a divorced friend who was cleaning house of ex-reminders.

I also spent that week finalizing & distributing my posters & fliers. You might have seen my picture on facebook. I put a similar pic in my piano teaching ads and trotted around town asking to post them up in businesses windows & boards. I really liked how they turn out. (I'll go back to this post & add the pics later, just gotta finish debriefing.) You know, local business is more likely than I thought to support other local businesses. I'm all for Ma & Pop stores, which to me is the antithesis of federalizing. But I digress. It was tough, but I got almost all my posters/fliers distributed. The bleeding toes were so worth it; I've never felt so confident and interconnected with others. I'm already accumulating some students, by the way, to start teaching in October or once we get a piano, which might be earlier. We're looking at some deals this weekend in Las Vegas. Funny, Jared did all the research on buying pianos. But he likes to do things like that, research & development, hunting for the best deals. Why do you think it took two years to buy a house? If only he could put that gift toward yard sale shopping, and the world would be ours.

The next week (last week) was the first week of school. I'm taking (inhale) Teaching Math for Elementary I, Music Technology, Private Voice instruction, Choir, Teaching Dance, Teaching Theatre, Assessment, and Special Education. I was looking forward to Music Tech, but the teacher is one of three in my classes that was thrown into the course at a moment's notice. So far I've been called a guinea pig, an experiment, and a pioneer. Not good signs to me, but I try to stay positive.

Last Saturday was our official house-warming party, which turned out to be a blast. My bestest friend from h.s., Shayla, came down on her way back up from Zions and slept over. Don't you love those friends you see after being gone for a few years and it's as if you'd just hung out together yesterday? I love that we have that, although it makes it less motivating to do all the things I know good friends do, like call (sorry!).

Sorry about the text only blog, I'll throw together pictures when I have time to think. The only reason I'm writing a blog now is because I threw my neck out bending down to pull up my pants while in the little-lady's room, so I have nothing else to do. I think it's from the constant doing-something's, multiple scooter trips per day, and the lack of sleep.

Speaking of which, in my Teaching Math class, we have math homework that said in the syllabus it was due today, right? It was a LOT of homework, and the math is completely different from what you normally learn, because it has nothing to do with plugging in numbers, it has more to do with critical thinking, working outside the box, finding multiple ways to do the same thing, and the like. So I made sure to pace myself and do a quarter of the hw each day until it would be ready today.

Well, last night, I'm working on the last quarter of the hw, and it's thrice as long as everything else. So I do what any must-have-a-4.0 girl would do, stay up til 2am finishing it. I go to class, we review some of the questions in the assignment, then everyone leaves after class without handing in their hw. And I'm like, did I miss something here? Turns out we're not done discussing it so we don't have to turn it in yet. NOBODY had completed the hw yet, except for one OCD guy I knew, not that that is a reflection on me... Anyway, So I say out loud to the teacher, "The hw's not due today? I stayed up til 2am getting it done." She immediately replies, "Don't ever do that again. I'm not that stringent." So instead of acting offended and put-off, I chose to look at it like, "Okay, here is a teacher that cares. And I'm never doing another assignment on time again. I'll accept that." This is the one and only time I'm going to vent about it. At least nNow I won't throw my neck out again due to lack of sleep. Late-night math isn't that productive anyway; my mind goes on standby after midnight.

One more thing, then I'll let you go. This last week New Harmony was literally "under fire." They had a fire that started a month ago from a lightening storm and has been festering ever since. Officials have been letting it burn (controlled) to keep wild fires from occurring. Well last week the fire got out of control. There were several times my sister's family & Jared's parents' family were almost mandatorily evacuated, but instead it was just strongly suggested. Jared's brother, John, is staying with us until we're sure they're not in any danger anymore.

Cedar City got all the smoke though. I almost passed out a couple times walking to class on campus just because there wasn't enough oxygen in the air. You could see the ash floating around, and everything had an orange eclipse-like caste. Now it's better in New Harmony but headed toward Cedar. Fun fun fun. K bye

End of Spring Semester

Whoopity-doopity, I'm done with this semester, and with a 4.0 no less! To end it with a bang, I sang with my choir on TV at the graduation ceremony.

To make it better, Thomas S. Monson, the President of the LDS Church, was there to receive an honorary doctorate in Public Services. So I got to see him live, plus he might have even seen me since we were singing! Here's a link if you want to see what he said. http://www.deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,705301029,00.html
I had so much fun this semester! Teaching Art for Elementary Teachers was actually really hard for me, but rewarding.
Here's an art-food thing I did, the orange-man, not the sausage:
Here's another project I did based on Van Gogh (it's supposed to be chinese lanterns outside with a lawn table and a cherry tree branch; I feel like a 1st grader having to explain my drawings):
Want to hear some more excellent news? I found out Monday that I was given the Beverley Taylor Sorenson full-tuition scholarship. That means I'm covered tuition-wise not just this fall, not just the 09-10 school year, but until I receive my teacher licensure (probably fall 2010). Can you believe it? The scholarship is specifically for elementary ed majors with a specialization in one of the arts (music, dance, theater, etc.). This is a huge achievement. It took a long time for me to figure out what I wanted to do, but it was worth the wait, because I have so many useful experiences under my belt and I'm more motivated than after I first graduated from high school. And it's so funny, because if you had asked me eight years ago, I would have said teaching would be the last thing I'd want to do.

Ender's Shadow

Ender's Shadow by Orson Scott Card

My review

rating: 5 of 5 stars
(I like the first book cover better but I can't get the 2nd off.)
What can I say? I'm a nut for sci-fi. This book has a parallel storyline to the original book, Ender's Game, which is a cult-classic, doomsday, children-fighting-against-the-universe, story. In my opinion, it was even better than Ender's Game. Card managed to tie this plot of this parallax seamlessly into the original novel (Ender's Game). This version enriched what was already there. I loved the thinking that went into this character (Bean). He has a totally different way of viewing things than Ender. I can empathize with him and cried. FYI, the beginning's is pretty harsh, but it's the reality of the story. I can't wait to get through the rest of the Shadow series (which are not parallels, FYI). Just remember when you're reading that "the gate is down." :) Ah, I'm a nerd.


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Re: Ppl I'd Like to Meet Someday

Some of you wondered why I picked the people I did in an earlier post of people I'd like to meet someday. Sorry, I was too busy to explain, but I'll try to do it now.

C. S. Lewis

C.S. Lewis is like the coolest author ever. I mean, he's not someone you'd pick for some entertaining and light reading; everything he writes, in my opinion, is pure gold. He has a lot of wisdom, and he's the most quoted author by general authorites in my church, as far as I know. I loved reading "The Screwtape Letters" and am working on "Mere Christianity" right now.

Carol Burnett

Carol is a genius when it comes to comedy. She knows how to make comedy clean and fun, warm and creative. I loved staying up at night and watching her sitcom. I still think about how every show she would let audience members ask her questions, live, and she was hilarious! And in case you don't know, whenever she subtly tugs her ear when she looks at the camera, she is telling her grandma, "I love you." I wish I could have every recording of every skit she's done!

Jimmy Stewart

He's the all-American hero to me. He lived a decent life despite his popularity. When his career was really taking off, he voluntarily enrolled in the Air Force during WWII. He went on a tour, insisting he not be given special privileges. He came back and enlisted himself in the Reserve ever since. He was married to the same woman his whole life, had kids, was the all-around family man. He never had any scandals. He viewed his career as a profession, one to work at diligently to bring home the bacon. Besides that, he was an amazing actor for his time. My favorite movie of him would probably be "Harvey," where he has an imaginary friend that's a 7' rabbit, or "Mr. Krueger's Christmas," his last hurray before he died. He wasn't mormon but loved the church and Mormon Tabernacle Choir. When he died, he left his letters to BYU, or was it Utah State? Anyway, he was a great guy through & through.

Audrey Hepburn

She's just the all-around essence of grace, poise, and femininity. Plus she was married to the same great guy, stayed home a lot to be there for her kids, and was involved in humanitarian efforts. And she's probably the most beautiful person I will ever know, it almost hurts.

Benjamin Franklin

This guy was such a great example of the Renaissance Man! He was so incredibly smart and wore so many hats in life. He used his intelligence to contribute monumentally to society. His studies in science, his inventions, his jobs as fireman, in writing, printing, politics, there's so much he did! The more I learn, the more I want to emulate (except for the whole infidelity thing). For example, he used to go to bed holding a rock over the edge of the bed. When he was finally nodding off, his hand would let go of the rock and drop noisily into a bucket. This would wake him up, and he'd discover his best ideas (which happen between consciousness & non-consciousness). My grandmother did the same thing, well, more like she always kept a notepad & pen under her pillow. I do the same thing, too, well, in the nightstand, but need to work on the skill of writing in the dark. If you want to know what I'd like for a present someday, it's one of those flashlight-pen thingies!

Neal A. Maxwell

He was an Apostle of the LDS Church until he died, last year? I'm in love with his writing. I don't know any other more eloquent writer, someone who so poignantly covers the whole idea of a concept, to the very core. I know I need to find out more about his life, but what I do know is that he led a great life with far-reaching beneficial example. He took his many years of struggling with pain and disease and made it all about giving to others what he had of himself while he could. wow...

Friedl Dicker-Brandeis

Friedl was an artist who was taken to the "model ghetto" in Terazin during WWII. Her job was to lecture and teach art, but she also smuggled supplies in to teach the children art, too. These were shell-shocked children who had been ripped from their families, some of whom watched their parents be killed. And she gave them hope through expression. She managed to get the 4,500 drawings out so they could be preserved before she willingly went to Auschwitz to join her husband. She died there. Her paintings aren't that amazing, but what inspires me was her goal to work with these children "to rouse the desire towards creative work."

Laura Schlessinger

Her whole philosophy is that doing what is right will give you purpose, direction, happiness, fulfillment, and consequently, sanity. She's not into psycho-babble, as she calls it. I enjoy how she speaks openly and frankly so she can reach people's problems. And her number one priority in helping people who ask her about their problems, is what is best for the children. There's nothing more important to her. I don't profess that everyone should go around making calls on everybody's business, since she only gives responses to those that ask her and even then when they're willing to listen, but what advice she does give is wisdom that is based on principles, not culture or passing agendas.
She gets a lot of flack for actually saying something is wrong or evil, but who said standing up for the right things would win them a popularity contest? I've never known someone to work so hard to reach someone, simply because she cares enough to help them be happy and make the right choice. The things I disagree with her on are few & far between. She always ends her radio program (which I streamlinked until just recently) with: "Now go do the right thing." In her I've found a great mother figure, someone to fill in the gaps and help me unlearn some things. I try to be more like her than any other woman I know.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

He's just full of so many quotes to remember, I wish I could just download them all to my brain!

Parley P. Pratt

He has a great conversion story to his faith, my faith (LDS). He worked hard all his life and was so passionate in what he believed in. It's commendable.

Sergei Rachmaninov

Finding a musician to meet was the hardest category for me. Knowing composers, many of them were not so admirable. Like Wagner, who was anti-semetic. Or Beethoven, whose music I love the most but know would be much too abrasive to hang out with. Scriabin might be intriguing (another Russian composer), because he claimed to see music in his head in color! Rachmaninoff I'd like to meet simply because his music is precious to me, but I don't know enough about him to tell if he would be enjoyable or not.

and an Aboriginee

What, who wouldn't want to meet someone from a culture that can sense thoughts from others in the tribe from incredible distances, like a hundred miles? So I've heard; maybe I'm just gullible. But it's intriguing and I'd like to learn more about them and how they survived in the outback for so long. Plus they have a totally different appearance from any other race, plus they've got the dijeridoo, and the whole standing on one leg thing. They're just cool!

I'm a Preppie

Hey, I didn't want to say anything in case I ran out of money/time and needed to drop out, but now I know I'm in it for good this semester. I'm going to SUU again! I'm majored in Elementary Education with a specialization in Music. If I went every semester, I might be able to graduate by next summer. I'm having so much fun & love learning so much even though I feel sometimes like my head will explode. I guess that's as good a way to go as any...

Also, I'm going to be involved in the viewing party for Glenn Beck's "WE Surround Them" unveiling March 13th on FOX News 5pm ET. Anyone that's interested in joining up with other like-minded people can go to www.glennbeck.com and click on the "WE Surround Them" icon. There's also some basic principles listed that I agree on. I'm getting involved because I want to have a voice against all the destructive action happening with our rights, money, and our future. I can't say I know half as much as I should about politics, but I know the Constitution and am trying to make a connection between it and what is happening now. Now I need to go back to class. Does anyone else have a case of the "mondays" today?

The Host - Stephenie Meyers

The Host: A Novel by Stephenie Meyer

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
This was a great book. I also got this book for Christmas, from Jared, although I can't know why because I practically ignored everyone and everything while reading the twilight series. I did spend all this weekend reading it, and I could see Jared was happy that I was happy in a good book.

I really enjoyed how these two minds were joined so thoroughly and how the author was able to describe it so aptly. That was my favorite aspect of the book, I adored it. I loved the plot, loved the writing. There was a point where I felt that all the points had been hashed out in conversation a little too much, like I got the point and didn't need to have things repeated so much. Over 700 pages is a little too much in the first place. And I wish it had had more humor, but then again, it might take away from the survival-thinking of the situation.

I can't say if I liked this book better than the Twilight series, because the story is just different. I do love that this is a fantasy novel with a bit of sci-fi put into it. I love the motivations of the characters, loved the romance and how it was still clean. Loved Meyer's creativity & resourcefulness in finding solutions. I want to read it again, but I need to get back to work.


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Rebekah - Orson Scott Card

Rebekah: Women of Genesis by Orson Scott Card

My review

rating: 2 of 5 stars
This is the 2nd book in the "women of the covenant" series Card wrote, and yes, I got this book for Christmas, too.

This book was quite a bit too drawn out for me. The first book, Sarah, got a little slow near the end, but Rebekah could have had a much better pace than what was given. I appreciated the details put into the characters and relationships, how Card tried to be authentic & give the best interpretation with the research he had. He put the plot together seamlessly. I got really sick of Abraham's character by the end of the book, though. I could understand that even prophets have their own personal demons, so to speak, but it's hard to see people you hold up to such high expections be so pigheaded when it comes to their family. So if you don't like to see prophets in an imperfect light, this isn't for you. I'm interested to read the last book in the series. (I'm guessing it's called Rachel but I don't have it.) It's just out of curiousity though. I can't stand not reading a whole trilogy, unless it's something I hate. I didn't hate this, so I'll try to check the last book @ the library.


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