al & greg came this weekend and we all attended a wailin' jennies concert. it was exactly everything i hoped for and dreamed of. i love concerts where you can sit back, relax, listen, and sing along. it was delightful. and now my wailin' jennies pandora station is going full bore!
yay, jennies. and al & greg, too.
philip and i went for a bike ride yesterday afternoon. it was a beautiful, sunny day in bellingham. we pedaled slowly, enjoying the blossoming trees, green grass, and bright sunshine. twice we stopped, parked and locked our bikes, took our shoes off, and walked through houses on the market. one was a gorgeous old-school house with 5 bedrooms and three stories. the top story was one big bedroom with a deck, a fireplace, and 2 window nooks. it was also 449,000 big ones. the other house we checked out was one story with 2 bedrooms. beautifully painted walls (greens, yellows, and reds), but too small. it's fun to look at the great houses near our neighborhood and simply talking about what we'd like in a house someday. i always feel like a kid in a jewelry store when i do stuff like this: it's fun to look at the pretty stuff, but i sense that people know i can't afford it. however, the realtors were really laid-back, nice people who probably knew that most people were coming in out of sheer curiosity.
i have entered my final week of cramming before taking my standardized math and science tests for my teaching certificate. on the whole, i've felt discouraged, but today (at last!) i studied the portion focusing on changing percents into decimals, solving for 'x', and commutative properties of addition. see, this is the type of math i actually teach. not all that stuff about parabolas and antiderivatives and cosecants and other trigonometric functions. those phrases and concepts have triggered something in my brain...a memory of being in high school and almost but not quite understanding the concepts.
philip and i went for a walk to the library to check out a science desk reference book, since my study manual hasn't come yet. now i'm reading up on covalent bonds and the endocrine system. science fascinates me, but i don't get it. i hope to learn a few things while i desperately cram information into my mind in these next few days.
last but not least, i encountered a first this morning in subbing. i got a middle school job (starting at 7:30), which was awesomely surprising since today was the first day back from spring break. i got to school and headed up to the classroom, and the teacher i was subbing for was there. it turns out she had cancelled her previously planned personal day but there had been a mix-up with the sub coordinator. i talked to the sub coordinator and thankfully, she had another job for me today. great! except it started at 8:30 and i had an hour to kill. i went to woods' for some tea and to study math. it was actually a nice little break. i'm thankful i had work today. i feel that this particular school district takes great care of me, which i totally appreciate.
well, the periodic table is calling me. if only this test were only about memorizing the names and symbols of the elements. i'd be golden (Au) and would lead (Pb) the way in my class, breathing life and oxygen (O) into the teaching world, earning my nickel (Ni) and contributing more to our budget. however, i fear it may be easier to just swallow some arsenic (As).
if only i were clever enough to work in ununnilium (Uun) or berkelium (Bk).
perhaps another day. for now, my brain cells shall be dedicated to excessive memorization.
4.12.2010
4.02.2010
confessions
i must confess right away that i'm blogging because it's a new month. i get pretty excited about new months. it's like new year's, except it's new month's. now i can see the new number at the top of my blog (4.2.10) i like chances to start over, and a new month seems to be a good time to do that.
and what better way to start off a new month than with easter weekend? i really enjoy this time of year, although i have another confession to make. my mind hasn't been in the lenten spirit this year. it's strange, considering philip and i are on the worship planning team. i attribute my mindset to the lack of tradition i'm experiencing. sometimes i think tradition is a bunch of bunk, but other times it truly feeds me. in the case of the liturgical church year, it feeds me. philip and i usually attend the early service at our church, which for lack of a better explanation, is the "contemporary" service. i've been through my phases with worship: growing up with hymns, experiencing the 90's praise and worship phase, turning back to hymns and their solid text and beautiful harmonies...and then back to the praise and worship setting. i love hymns; don't get me wrong, but our 8:30 service is praise and worship done well. huge difference. anyway, i still love hymns, but i'm finding my heart opening up more and more in beautiful guitar/piano/drums/vocals.
but during lent...well, i crave the tradition. i want to hear the familiar lenten hymns of sorrow and lament. i want to walk the lenten road, and i feel like i've experienced church services with too much joy. the services have been done incredibly well, yet i'm missing the sorrow of Christ's death.
i think tonight will cure that. our good friday service is tonight, and besides the fact that we're not having communion (which is strange to me after growing up attending maundy thursday celebrations), i'm looking forward to this service.
today, philip and i decided to fast and read scripture since we both had the day off. this brings me to my third and final confession for today...my fast only lasted until 11:30. my husband was cruel and baked bread. i also found out that i get extremely crabby when i'm hungry and at home. so i broke the fast and truly enjoyed the warm homemade baguette with cheese and butter. i'm disappointed that i didn't make it all day, but i don't feel like the day has been wasted at all.
"With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last. The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. And when the centurion, who stood there in front of Jesus, heard his cry and saw how he died, he said, "Surely this man was the Son of God!"
-Mark 15:37-39
and what better way to start off a new month than with easter weekend? i really enjoy this time of year, although i have another confession to make. my mind hasn't been in the lenten spirit this year. it's strange, considering philip and i are on the worship planning team. i attribute my mindset to the lack of tradition i'm experiencing. sometimes i think tradition is a bunch of bunk, but other times it truly feeds me. in the case of the liturgical church year, it feeds me. philip and i usually attend the early service at our church, which for lack of a better explanation, is the "contemporary" service. i've been through my phases with worship: growing up with hymns, experiencing the 90's praise and worship phase, turning back to hymns and their solid text and beautiful harmonies...and then back to the praise and worship setting. i love hymns; don't get me wrong, but our 8:30 service is praise and worship done well. huge difference. anyway, i still love hymns, but i'm finding my heart opening up more and more in beautiful guitar/piano/drums/vocals.
but during lent...well, i crave the tradition. i want to hear the familiar lenten hymns of sorrow and lament. i want to walk the lenten road, and i feel like i've experienced church services with too much joy. the services have been done incredibly well, yet i'm missing the sorrow of Christ's death.
i think tonight will cure that. our good friday service is tonight, and besides the fact that we're not having communion (which is strange to me after growing up attending maundy thursday celebrations), i'm looking forward to this service.
today, philip and i decided to fast and read scripture since we both had the day off. this brings me to my third and final confession for today...my fast only lasted until 11:30. my husband was cruel and baked bread. i also found out that i get extremely crabby when i'm hungry and at home. so i broke the fast and truly enjoyed the warm homemade baguette with cheese and butter. i'm disappointed that i didn't make it all day, but i don't feel like the day has been wasted at all.
"With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last. The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. And when the centurion, who stood there in front of Jesus, heard his cry and saw how he died, he said, "Surely this man was the Son of God!"
-Mark 15:37-39
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