Please speak well of me

Dear The Weepies,

Thank you for making good music.  Just thank you.

I've had such a procrastinating evening.  I came home.  I worked on the 1500 piece puzzle I got for my birthday (it's honestly the first puzzle I've ever voluntarily attempted).  I ate dinner.  I made brownies.  I tried to read for my online course, but the document is 47 pages long and I can't find a good study groove.  I wish I could go to Paynes and get lost in learning. 

I keep waking up feeling like autumn.  Like I could just jump in my car and drive around the back roads of Indiana with the windows rolled down and the music cranked up, breathing in the scent of changing leaves.  Maybe for the rest of my life whenever the weather cools and scarf season begins, I will remember my 5 falls in Upland.  The other night I made Judy's curry dish and so many things came back to me.  MuKappa retreats, late nights in the Souphouse, fall break trips, and everything I loved about fall semesters.  Truly, I could not have asked for better friends.

I've been away
a year and a day
you recognize love
after the fact
you did what you did and that was that
dont say words that you dont mean
when I'm gone please speak well of me

looking back now
I only wish I had been kinder
did I ever know love?
did I ever know love?
and could I have been blinder?
dont say words that you dont mean
when I'm gone please speak well of me

dont hold back 

~The Weepies 

the.end.beginning.

I finished my Contemporary Christian Belief exam today, and thus concludes my final final (excluding the final final final, a history comprehensive exam sometime this spring). I would feel great, if I didn't feel so icky. The sinus monster has returned, I fear, and I've been searching my apartment for allergy meds. Tonight I'll see what's up and going down, and spend most of tomorrow packing. I'll be cooking up a storm tonight, trying to eat up my food before the move, so feel free to come by for dinner! I saw a lot of cars stuck in the snow today. I got a little stuck, but I just kicked the snow around and then could make it out of the library parking lot.

In other news, it sure takes a lot of application forms to grow up...

The Final Return

I'm back in Upland. I listened to chapel online. I ate at the DC. I stood in line for half an hour at the bookstore. I checked my email in the ETC. I went to class. And then I came home to sort. With 2 people moving in, our apartment is a mess. Boys came to help us rearrange our apartment. Things will get better, but I'm just a bit tired now and emotional about the whole packing up to leave in a month thing. I was really glad to see Rachel again. We have the class together, which seems like it will be quite interesting- Contemporary Christian Belief. Apologetics... My vocabulary is growing with words like preponderance and noetic. I like to say creedal. hehehe. I was also really happy to see Alana. We talked and ate food together again. I need to speedy finish up with my stuff, so other people can move their in, and I can go do my homework. Ew.

Last night my dad and Jake dropped me off and we took pictures

3am Bedtime

The past three nights have found Amy in the Union, pouring over library books, online journal articles, quizzes such as What is Your Inner Jack-o-Lantern Face?, and updating RefWorks every 10 seconds. I have been accompanied by the sweet sounds of whatever the Jumping Bean is playing, the growing mummer of other sleep deprived paper writing students, hot coffee с молоком, and last night Diego got us White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory. It was decadent. All in all, however, I'd much rather have some normal sleep.

Senior Friends

You know you're really friends when you get bunny ears...

Instead of class,

NCMSLC is where I am this weekend

Two Pictures

One from my 3rd Gerig Formal freshman year

and one from Airband a few days ago.


I like them and I just thought I'd share :-)

On my way to becoming a teacher :-)

I started observing at a high school last week! I observed for 3 hours, but normally it'll only be two. I really like the teacher I'm observing. Mrs. Smith teaches two blocks of a special eleventh grade history class. Students are in this class for a variety for reasons. Some are considered to be slower mentally; some have emotional problems that prevent them from learning in the regular class; some are considered to be “high risk” and are placed in this class so they can be give special attention. Instead of regular lecturing, these students must complete worksheet packets and tests up to a certain chapter of a textbook. Mrs. Smith called this class “individualized study.” I sat in on both blocks and observed many instances where Mrs. Smith exhibited positive traits. One situation, however, stood out to me as something that exemplified her teaching philosophy.

As the 50-minute class block coming to an end, one girl (“Tina”) finished her packet and began trying to convince the boy in front of her and the girl sitting behind her do The Wave, which they did. “Tina” asked Mrs. Smith if she would “sponsor an activity,” for the whole class could do The Wave. Mrs. Smith laughed and agreed to it for the “last 30 seconds.” While only half the 12-person class participated, the girls who initiated it seemed to enjoy it. I though it was a wonderful thing for Mrs. Smith to agree to and hope that I would allow such creativeness in my future classrooms.

This situation seemed small, but in the context of the whole day I felt that it was rather significant. First, the earlier individualized study class had been larger and louder, and after it ended Mrs. Smith told me that she could have made them settle down but she understood that there were several distractions that day and decided to let some of it go. She told me, “Every time you crack the whip, you lose a little of your relationship.” You have to pick your battles, especially when dealing with such an emotionally precarious class. Mrs. Smith works very hard to maintain the balance of having a trusting relationship with the students and keeping them under control and on task. With this situation, she was rewarding Tina for working so diligently, but there was another reason. She told me that Tina had been in one of her classes last year and had been absolutely lifeless. This year, however, Tina has become more energetic and helpful. Mrs. Smith said it is good to see her smiling, doing work, and being creative. The true outcome of something as trivial as allowing one student to lead her classmates in doing The Wave was to encourage and reward a relationship. I think that it is also significant that Mrs. Smith asked to teach these individualized classed. I believe that this in itself says a lot about her teaching philosophy. She saw a need in the school (addressing the failing and dropping out students) and took initiative to find a solution: individualized study classes. I think that I am going to learn a lot from observing Mrs. Smith this semester.

God loves me

Amazingly, this whole adding a major thing is working out brilliantly. I just finished my 2-year schedule and, hoping that Twentieth Century US history is offered in J-term again, I'm going to be all right.

I haven't written in a while and I blame Apple. My computer broke. But I suppose it's given me time to hang out with people and do some reading whereas I would have been wasting time on the www.

Classes have started and I think it'll be a good semester. I have 100, 200, 300, and 400 level classes which makes things pretty even. K, I gotta get home now.

Until another month, ciao.