What would YOU save in a fire?

Ahh, peaceful, tranquil Sunday morning...no work, no worries.....interrupted by a fire alarm! Fortunately I was already awake, as my body is preprogrammed to awaken at the same precise moment every day. I had just turned on the fan in our living room when I was greeted with a piercing sound that ousted the last cobwebs of sleep from my body. However, as you might know, for some of us it takes awhile in the morning before our brains fully function - I was thought that somehow the fan had triggered something in the speaker for the TV and it was having a bad electrical reaction - causing the shrieking sound. After a moment of pondering this, I realized that indeed that was ridiculous and instead turned for the smoke alarm. Tracy is a heavy sleeper and sleeps with earplugs and I contemplated waking her (on the off chance there actually was an emergency)...however, the piercing noise wound its way past the earplugs and she came confusedly out of her room to meet me under the smoke alarm. I attempted the push the button (it said "push here and hold". This proceeded to add an extra aggravated noise to the already deafening one and did nothing to solve the problem. We stared at each other in confusion for a few moments before realizing that you really do learn something in elementary school - smoke alarm, fire drill means go outside. Now I, as I imagine many of you have, have thought about or played that game where you can only choose one thing to take with you in an emergency - or if your house was on fire. Tracy and I both randomly grabbed things and stumbled out the door....into the dull gray morning, to finally meet our neighbors - in pajamas! We all stood around in confusion grumbling and muttering to each other. Now the important part - what did we grab on the way out of the house? I grabbed a sweatshirt and my phone. Tracy grabbed the security phone number, keys, and her bible. What a holy roommate I have!! I proceeded to call the security people, who told me there was no one on duty (helpful!!). Finally another neighbor called the fire department who did indeed show up on the big red truck in the plastic yellow outfits with axes and hoses in hand. What excitement for a Sunday morning! The best part was meeting all the neighbors in their pajamas and watching a majority of them have a 6:30 A.M. cigarette in the back of someone's pickup....Needless to say, I don't foresee in any building BBQs forthcoming...but you never know.

P.S. The alarm went off because some kids broke the glass on the fire extinguisher. Tracy and I tried to start a mutiny to have them kicked out of the building by chanting and thumping her bible...ok, not really, but we contemplated it.

Washington Beaches and Inappropriate Happenings

Tuesday was my day off this week and I opted for a little God time and me-time and headed for my newfound favorite spot - the little beach by our house. Taking advantage of the sunshine I propped myself up against some driftwood and opened my bible.

Unfortunately the rest of the world also wanted to enjoy the warmth and beauty of the sunshine. As I read, a young couple walked up with their dog. The girl was walking as if on hot coals, I thought it seemed pretty odd, the guy threw sticks in the water for his dog to fetch, and seemed perfectly at ease. I pondered why she was walking so strangely, until they walked within earshot. She was talking and talking and talking about how Washington beaches are not really beaches (let me guess, she was from California?). They had too many rocks! and too cold! and too wet! and too sandy! (ok, maybe she didn't say that). She stood awkwardly while her boyfriend played with the dog. He kept saying, "calm down! sit down!" etc...but she was irate about the state of Washington beaches, they did not meet her standard. What I really enjoyed was the (obviously a native Washingtonian) boyfriend's utter disregard for her complaints while he jumped around with the dog. Maybe I'm more of a Washingtonian than I realized....

Earlier that day I treated myself to a pedicure at a local nail salon...the ladies who work there are all Chinese and don't speak much English, but they are very sweet and helpful. The lady that was doing my pedicure was wearing a dress...and, as you may know, to do a pedicure you kind of have to straddle the foot stool area. So yes, as you can imagine, I could see all the way up her dress.This brought me to adilemna - do I try and tell her? Do I attempt to bridge the language barrier for her sake? or is it more embarassing if I say something? Then I thought, well she had to know...she had to realize what was happening, if nothing else she would have felt a draft! I eventually came to the conclusion that she did, in fact, know what she was doing, and simply didn't care. After, she was in a salon full of women. Who knows...either way, it was an awkward moment for me, and needless to say I spent the rest of the time texting so as to avoid the awkwardness.

What an exciting life I lead....

Potato Peels

Back to the regularly scheduled programming of media reviews.......

I recently finished the book "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society". I give it a thumbs up! This novel consisted in a series of letters between a writer in England and group of people on the island of Guernsey. The group on Guernsey formed due to experiences with the war and became a literary society as a front to keep themselves out of trouble from the invading troops. Through these letters the story of life on Guernsey during the war is told. The characters are colorful and and entertaining. Underlying the whole thing is a love story, which eventually draws the story to a rather predictable close. All in all the front of the story is light hearted amidst telling some painful and some comical realities of wartime on the island.

The Jane Austen Literary Society - (movie) - This was an enjoyable film, although a little depressing at times. I found the main female lead a little bit aggravating in her naivete towards the male lead's obvious attraction to her. It was a little unbelievable, however the witty interaction between the characters discussing the novels of Jane Austen was enjoyable, and did inspire me to re-read some Austen classics...no, I haven't started yet. There are far too many novels on my "to-be-read" list.

Dead Poets Society - ok, I realize this is an old movie, but I hadn't seen it before. It's SO SAD! and yet, inspiring. I must admit this happened to be one of the very few roles I've ever enjoyed Robin Williams in. Usually his performances tend to be crude and obnoxious, but in this he played an English professor who uses unconventional methods to teach his students a love of poetry. While some of the teen boys' behaviors were deplorable, watching an appreciation for fine arts such as drama and poetry blossom in them makes the movie worth watching. As a side note, Ethan Hawke is in this as a young boy, he is odd looking isn't he?

I'm currently reading The Story of Edgar Sawtelle - which so far seems to be a bit wordy and slow, although insightful into the life of a young mute boy on a farm in the 1940s (I think, not quite sure). I'm also reading "The Prodigal God" by Timothy Keller. It's basically a deeper look into the 2 sins of the different brothers in the story of the the prodigal son. I find myself identifying with both the elder-son and younger-son mentalities at different times. Praise the Lord for his GRACE!!

Ideas Needed!

Well, strike everything I just said. Ok, not everything, just a little. SPU is hosting a make-up interview on Tuesday April 28th, so THAT will be the big day.

Although, I know that it doesn't ACTUALLY matter if I get accepted to SPU, because, either way - I have a school to go to. I haven't decided which of them is my first choice. I really like how the program looks at CityU, but I'll have to learn more about the program at SPU before I make my decision. Then again, if I don't get accepted to SPU then the decision is made for me!

What do I need your help with? I have to give a "mini-lesson" to the interviers and fellow interviewees that shows my competence and countenance as a teacher. YIKES. So, basically I need something impressive that I can teach in a 5-10 minutes session. Anyone else have any great ideas? I shall be thinking about it for the next couple weeks, but welcome your input!

Side note: I'm a good speller, in fact, I may be a great speller. But I ALWAYS always ALWAYS have trouble telling the difference between when to use effect and when to use affect. I can tell the difference when I'm reading, but when I actually go to use them - I'm so confused! It has been explained to me, repeatedly and in a variety of ways, and yet, it does not compute in my head. On the WEST-E exam, there was a question about affect and effect.......I think I got it right, but really who knows?!

Por fin (finally)....*deep breath*

an update! Surprisingly enough, they took away our email (today is the first day without it) BUT we can access other sites (not facebook or twitter or gmail...but apparently blogging is ok). So I figured it's high time to give you, my few straggling followers, an update on my life, and perhaps, explain why I have been off the radar for the last couple months...

So....as you know, I've been applying to graduate school (to get my Master's in Teaching!). I took the WEST-B, the Washington Educators Skills Test - Basic, in February. I applied to City University of Seattle and Seattle Pacific University (also in February). In March, I had an interview with CityU and also studied for and took the WEST-E exam (Washington State Educators Skills Test - Endorsement) last weekend. I breathed a sigh of relief, believing that I would have a brief respite from all the stress, application filling-out, interviewing, studying, etc...

I was wrong. Yesterday I got an email from CityU saying that I needed to accept my spot (oh yeah, btw, I got accepted to CityU on the spot at my interview!!) by APRIL 13th. WHAT?!?! I won't even know whether or not I am accepted to SPU by then :S

Then I got home yesterday and there was mail from SPU. Mail stating that they are putting on group interviews for my program on Saturday April 25th.. SATURDAY. Now some of you may not know, but a huge part of all the struggles over dates I've had have been about Saturdays (because WaMu is open on Saturday, but of course, all the tellers want it off). I could not believe my misfortune. I fought and fought and fought to get the Saturdays off to take my exams, and also took a couple vacation days to go see my family before Easter (which includes a Saturday). I've pretty much used up all my Saturdays for the rest of my WaMu career. So.........getting that Saturday off for the interview is a no, non-negotiable. PROBLEM.

That is where I'm at currently, I plan to call SPU today and see if they will grant me another opportunity to come in for an interview. eek! At the interview for CityU they asked me a bunch of questions, of course, but they also made me explain what I would do in various disciplinary situations within the classroom, etc. Then, I had to do a spontaneous writing sample about an educational article. I survived, but it was tough! For SPU, I have to prepare a mini-lesson plan and TEACH IT to my interviewers. SCARY! Well, that is, if they even let me interview.....pray for that!

So, there you have it folks. Absolutely nothing INTERESTING, but a whole heck of a lot of frustrating.

On a positive note, I'm loving the fact that it is still light outside when I get off of work....LOVING IT. Even though I have nothing to do in the evening, it's still great to actually SEE the sun!