Hello October!

i am desperate to add some fall colors to our little abode. we'll see if that actually happens. :) we can't use tapes, or stickies, or pretty much anything....so it's going to take some MAJOR creative juices to figure out how to get our tiny, little, obnoxiously-small studio (it's TINY!) all ready for the brilliance of Fall (which doesn't seem to exist in Hawaii...) that's ok.

So far school is going well. Teaching is a lot of fun, and my student seem to soak it all up. I really hope they learn to do that throughout their college experience, not just their Freshman year. One thing i really want to stress to them is to take what they learn in this class and help apply it to OTHER classes. for some reason the average student does not do this. they do not say, "OH! my last English teacher wanted a thesis statement, that must mean my English teacher NOW wants a thesis statement." You know?

I've been writing a lot :) I've started a new story. I won't tell you too much about it. There's a lot i'm still trying to figure out. if you're REALLY curious, let me know :)

i love Hawaii, it's wonderful...for summer.
But
(Warning: complaining Danica is coming out for a brief--hopefully--vent session)

i
want
fall

I want beautiful red and gold leaves. I want chilly and crispy air. i want to snuggle up in the wonderful quilt my mother-in-law made and read a good book, while everyone else runs around in the cold outside :)

ok. well. that's all for now

panic attacks before the plunge

did i sleep in?
...no danica, it's wednesday, your class doesn't start until tomorrow and it's at noon.

did i forget something important on my syllabus?
...no danica, you've been over it a gazillion million times and even IF you did forget something, you're human. get over it

did they order the right books?
NO! NO they most certainly did not. TIME TO PANIC. Let's all run around screaming with our hands flying in the air. No sense of direction, no sense of order. just complete chaos
DANICA...breath...now email the class NOW and tell them. it's two weeks before you actually read that book, it should have time to get here if they order now.

this has been brain since monday.
i literally broke down in my office because the bookstore ordered the wrong book. now i know this doesn't seem awful, but when your questions deal with line numbers and the book they ordered doesn't have them, it means you get to go back through and rewrite your assignments. While my husband was being wonderful and trying to give suggestions, all his suggestions seemed to emphasize the amount of work i had ahead of me due to this failure.
but i breathed.
i emailed the class
and now i breath again

i need a Lamaze class. or at least a heavier dose of yoga.


...


i start class tomorrow
my class is predominately white males
the ONE thing i was really worried about (other than them ordering the wrong books).

breath.
lots and lots of breathing

wish me luck

so little to do, so much time….wait

• Spanish test (p.s. don’t actually speak spanish…..)
• learn Spanish
• revamp syllabus
• read readings i will be making students read :)
• write novel (finishing or at least making a good dent into at least one would feel nice
• start packing
• clean house
• get passport (who knew they were so expensive)
• pray for scholarship
• dishes
• sell mini fridge

you might be wondering if i’m looking for some kind of sympathy or something. i’m not. this post isn’t necessarily for my readers. …all 3 of you… it’s more or less so i have a concrete list SOMEWHERE that doesn’t get lost. if there’s anything i’m better at doing than crossing things off my list, it’s losing the list entirely. :) we all have our talents, right?

i’ve been thinking a lot about Korea. I’m really excited to go, and also really nervous. i know i’ll hopefully be less nervous after teaching English 101, but i’m pretty nervous about that so i guess it’s maybe paying a sense homage or whatever it’s called when you pay some first to take off what you pay later……and they’re trusting me to teach english…

i love my job as a tutor. yeah, student’s sort of depend on us for their grades, but they also don’t. we can only help so much, the rest is up to them. as a teacher i’ll hold their grades in my hands (my hands aren’t very big…)

overall, i’m not really sure what this blog is supposed to be about…i guess i just needed to write. i need a set schedule that puts writing in there. and yoga, i miss yoga.

all right over and out

a little holiday spirit

ever been in the middle of July and find yourself yearning for December? Well, maybe not. But every year i crave December. it’s my favorite month (not because it’s right before my birthday month). i love the rain, the general chilliness of the whole month combined with the warmth from all those wonderful things like good will toward man, yuletide and the emphasis that Christ loves us.

What brought this on? I listen to Taylor Swift when I cook, and I have her Christmas cd. Anyway this song came on and i found myself in desperate need of December. But then i realized i can have December all the time; yeah it’s cheesy, but tell me how the world could possibly be a worse place because one person decides to show charity, kindness and love for her fellow man year round rather than for a few months of the year?

Take a challenge. Keep your Christmas—your Christmas—with you all year. Even on these hot July days.

....school's in....

and i'm not looking forward to it at all. Usually i'm pretty stoked for school, but since i don't have (and don't really want) any English classes this term, i'm not really excited. In fact, because i ONLY have Spanish 201 and i'll let you in on a little secret...i don't speak spanish.

“I was just sitting in the U-bend thinking about death…”

so I was sitting here working on my syllabus, and (naturally) I got distracted. My wonderful friend had just posted something new on her blog and I found myself reading all the blogs she followed. and i found myself thinking about death. It’s not a particularly warm topic but I find that I’m moved by it. Well I guess that makes sense.
Jake and I have talked about what we’d do if one of us died (heaven forbid, knock on wood, throw salt over your shoulder and all that other stuff). I know we talked about it, but thinking about it right now, I don’t know what I’d do. I told jake he’s not allowed to die until after I do. That’s the deal. I have a lot I want to say, but I feel like the words aren’t quite ready yet….

polo

i'm loving playing. i wish it wasn't ending next week. i also found out that i can play in the games. i thought i wasn't going to be able to because i'm 21 and most of these kids (yes kids) are still in either middle school or high school. i DO have to keep reminding myself not to compare myself to them because 1. they're in way better shape than i am and 2. i'm only here to help them become better players. As long as i keep that in mind i'm good. I still have plenty of stupid moments when i'm playing and i throw the ball and think "Who the heck was i throwing to?" i am afraid that some of the other girls will see me and my arm having a disagreement and decide i'm not good enough to pass the ball to. We'll see. so far so good. i've discovered that if i think too much about it, that's when i screw up. when i let my instincts play for me, then i usually do pretty well. Anyway, that's the update on polo. :)