Merry Christmas

I am going to try and write on my blog more than once a month. :) So we'll start with two and move from there.
I have had a very busy month. School finals, Relief Society (did I mention that they made me president a while back?), family, friends, and Jonathan (also a friend, but a little different). My phone got stolen two weeks ago, so I have had trouble communicating with people. Although a small blessing because I wasn't overloaded with communication. I think that sometimes we just need breaks. But only short ones.
The downside of not having a phone was having close encounters with other cars and ditches during the lovely winter weather. I told my students about the downsides (because it was one of them who stole my phone) and one of them said "That's just messed up!" I whole heartedly agreed and asked them if they knew who might have my phone. I didn't get a whole lot of help there, but it was encouraging to hear my students ask me about it every day after. They do care. :)
Christmas break has started and I have a ton of grading to do, but I keep putting it off of course. I've been spending time with Jonathan. We went to the temple with his parents, Scott, Cory and his wife Becky. This was all fine until we were asked to do some sealings. I'd never done sealings or have even seen them. It definitely makes you think to do them with someone you're dating...His parents smiled the whole time.
I know this has been kind of a random post. But I guess that's just my personality coming out. :) I'm going to see a lot of good friends this break, some I have already seen. I am really grateful for all the people in my life. Thank you.

For My Friend

So I've decided that I really only write this blog for Laura. :) Because she's the only one who reads it. :)
Yesterday, I called Laura, but she didn't answer. And then I called my friend Julianne who answered and we were talking and then Laura called, but I didn't answer because I was talking to Julianne. And then Staci called and we arranged a meeting. Well, actually I called Staci before Laura to arrange the meeting and Staci was calling me back to let me know that they were on their way to my house. And then Faith called to say they were at my front door. (I was still on the phone with Julianne through Staci and Faith's calls. And I was sitting in the car.) This all happenned in the course of 20 minutes. I was amazed at how fast Staci and Faith got to my house after just barely calling the meeting. They are who we call dedicated servants of the Lord. I'm so lucky. And when I wanted to call Laura today, well, the phone was dead from talking to Jonathan. :S So my dear friend, I will call you once my phone is charged and my meetings are over tonight. It's funny how I only missed you by a few minutes and can't call you back for more than 24 hours. Maybe there is some validity to the "next friend" you were talking about. ;) I'm doing horribly.

My Weekend

I have a three day weekend. I spent my first day pretty well by just being lazy. But then I got sick of being lazy, so I headed for my parents house. On the way, I stopped by Jonathan's place. We talked and I ended making him late for his class. Whoops. And then I went to my parent's house where my mom and sister were doing various things. We talked for a little bit and then everybody went to bed. It was a pretty relaxing day.
This morning I got up, made phone calls to make sure everything was going as planned in the branch. And it wasn't, probably my fault. But people will survive. I then graded papers for a few hours and now I'm writing this blog. I'm thinking about my holiday has been pretty good so far, but it's going to be crazy tomorrow.
The rest of my day is pretty well planned. I'm going out with my mom today to celebrate her birthday early. There's a baptism today as well where three of my nursery kids are getting baptized! I'm super excited. And then I'm going to Columbia to spend some time with Jonathan and some other friends at a bonfire.
Tomorrow morning is when the craziness begins. I get up at the crack of dawn to spend some time with Mom (it's her actual birthday and pop has to leave for work). And then I have to leave for my 11:00 meeting back home. And then my 1:30 meeting. And then I have to give a talk (which I need to finish preparing today sometime). And then I need to practice singing for the fireside. And then there's the fireside. I probably sound a little redundant. I remember when Sunday was a relaxing day of meditation and service. But I guess it's time to "lengthen my stride."

Pep Band Blues

I got to play with the high school pep band yesterday. It was a blast! However, we were pretty pitiful, because half the band were teachers and most of the students didn't even show up. :( But on the bright side, I got to play my groovy "new" saxaphone that my papa bought for my birthday. I had a lot of solos due to the lack of instrumentation, and I had only two days of practice. It was definitely interesting. And my E flat was a little out of tune. Enough so that the band instructor pointed it out. (I'm getting to the bright side.) I felt like I was back in high school again. I didn't realize how much I missed being a band nerd.

Watching the Tree Fall

So I spent the weekend with one of my good friends. It was a very entertaining weekend. The first evening we watched some rather interesting films, one of which we should have turned off because it was so...yeah, but we didn't and wasted our time for it. Earlier in the evening was the beginning of my friend Laura's "next friend" bit. It started with us not being able to make decisions about where to eat. So she procedes to say to me and another friend "My next friend will make decisions" since none of us really cares what we do as long as we do something.
My next friend will not refer to her next friend. ;)

Decisions

So I have always been indecisive. Well, not indecisive; I'm a second guesser or a deferer. If it comes picking a restaurant, I would rather defer the decision to someone who is a more picky eater than I am. When I make a decision about a job or course of action I must take, I usually have to think about it again and get the opinion of at least 5 more people before becoming more comfortable with the idea. However this hesitation probably comes from those moments that I rashly make a decision and embarass myself. I didn't do too much of that on my mission because I always had to run my decisions by my companion or we had to make them together. Now that I am again on my own (in the human perspective), I find myself blundering again. It is sometimes comical, and I can laugh at myself...eventually.

I got a job

After much stress and prayer, I have finally gotten a job. I'm still stressed, because I didn't accept an easy job. I accepted one that will challenge me. I admire all of you who go to places far from home where you know few or no people and start a life. I'm about two hours from home and I already know a few people and I'm a little stressed. I will also be working at a high school where almost the entire faculty is new. However, I'm excited by the aspect that everyone will be in a similar boat. I'm excited that I will get to work hard and prove myself. I'm excited that I will be a working adult again. I look forward to the good conversations I will have with my Heavenly Father, because I know I will need to in order to stay sane.

My Resume

So as I was reading Laura's blog and thinking about my current job search, I thought of all the different things I've done. And looking back, I wish there was something like sushi chef on an Alaskan cruise ship.
My first job was when I was eight or nine and our neighbor across the street asked me to watch her baby for 10 minutes while she ran to another neighbor's house. Her other son ends up distracting me and the baby rolls off the couch. This was the beginning of a blossoming babysitting career.
While I carried on with babysitting on into my college years, I also had the opportunity to be a scorekeeper. That was actually a fun job. My dad was in the navy and I ended up getting a job scorekeeping the military intramural teams. I watched basketball, volleyball, hockey, softball, soccer, and probably something else.
Well then , my dad retired from the navy and we moved to Missouri. Job opportunities kind of decreased. But I did manage to find a doozy the summer after I graduated high school; census enumerator. I went around in my Volkswagen Vanagon finding people (or not finding them as was the case) and making them fill out the 2000 census information. It was some fun times. I even got bit by this huge dalmation that broke his chain to chase me down. Yeah....
Well, I started college and worked at minimum wage as a library monitor, math tutor, physics tutor, language lab specialist. Throughout college I pretty much kept 2 or 3 part time jobs. I even worked at McDonalds for two years. Fast food is definitely a way to gain weight and lose sanity. :) I also served in the AmeriCorps during college. It's like the domestic Peace Corps. I worked at Ruby Tuesdays for a summer. Oh, and I graded standardized tests the summer before my mission. There are other various jobs that I can't remember, but all were fairly similar.
My last job was teaching at a high school. That definitely had its ups and downs. And sometimes I wonder if I'm crazy to try and do it again. I want to do something I love, but I'm not 100% sure this is it, but I hope so.

Victim of Internet Quizzes

I have become a victim of internet quizzes. I admit it. I take really uninteresting, time-consuming internet quizzes. Does anybody know emode.com? I must have taken about 200 quizzes on that site. Now I'm on facebook where they make even more ridiculous quizzes that don't even make sense. I don't understand my fascination. It's like I have some secret belief that somehow the results of that quiz will help me to understand the wonderfully unique person that I am.

When to Put on Sunscreen

There was this great song that came out the year before I graduate high school. It was some good music with this guy talking about all the stuff the graduating seniors should do. The thing I remember is "Wear sunscreen."
Now, I usually forget to put on sunscreen. In fact, before my mission I can probably count the times on one hand that I put it on because I remembered. And you know, it's kind of an important thing to remember. I don't want skin cancer.
So I was trying to think of the ways we could all remember.
One way I thought of was to just buy a huge bottle of it and stick it next to your toothbrush. (Don't buy a tube, you might mistake it for your toothpaste.)
For the girls, get some foundation with a little spf in there.

The easiest way to remember is to get a sunburn. After getting a sunburn, it is so much easier to look in the mirror and then grab for the sunscreen. And honestly, that is why I even thought to write this. I spent about 3 hours watching my sister at a track meet and realized my forehead was burning.

Now if you don't have the budget to buy sunscreen, invest in an umbrella. It can save you from the rain AND the sun. When I was in Korea, people had umbrellas and sun parasols. I don't think people would really distinguish between the two in America, so I would just invest in the umbrella. Also, I did recently see the movie "Martian Child" and it could become a trend.

Life Decisions

So I've had a lot to think about. I need to find a job. I need to decide what kind of job I want that to be. I have to decide where I want to live.
But, I've decided to just do. I don't really want to think about it. That causes me too much stress.
I think Nike got it right.

Ode to Roadkill

So I've been in Korea for the last 16 or so months and I haven't seen a lot of wildlife. There are trees and birds and such, maybe a few rats, but real wildlife is a rare sight. As I was traveling down the state highway today, I saw a dead oppossum. And I thought, I'm home. I don't know what other people's symbols of home are, but apparently mine comes in the form of squashed 'possum guts.

Bedtime Deadline

There comes a time every day where I decide it's time to go to bed. I'll call it my bedtime deadline. And sometimes I miss the deadline. And then all my decisions after the deadline are just not so smart. I know I need to go to sleep. I've prayed and read my scriptures. I even flossed my teeth (preceded by the brushing of course). But then my eyes see the book I've been waiting to read. And then it's 3AM in the morning and I have a meeting at 7AM. I hate sleeping in anyways. I remember when I got 8 hours of sleep, and I wished for 9. Just to think that was last week...

Baseball Date-The True Story

So, it has come to my attention that there are many versions of a story I told about a date. It was probably a disaster of a date, but neither I or him thought it was that bad until we talked to other people. To tell the truth, I don't remember that much. Just highlights.
We went to a baseball game (St. Louis Cardinals versus Seattle Mariners, my favorite teams) with all the missionaries in the St. Louis mission. So now I know that's not a good idea.
I picked him up with a threesome of sister missionaries.
It was like a 100 degrees and he was wearing a black t-shirt, jeans, and tennis shoes.
We sat in front of the mission president.
I answered my cell phone twice (my mom and Laura).
This is the highlight...He took off his shoe and picked at a scab until it bled. We had to get tissues from someone I think. I laughed.
Now looking back, I can see why some would consider this a bad date. I'd like to think if you just have a good attitude about things, everything looks a little better.