ACK!!

So I am sure most of us have been in a class and thought "why the heck do I have to know this??" I know I have been, but dealt with it and moved on. You realize, especially in high school, that you learn things that do not feel applicable to you and your life. Especially in life. And you want to know what? Some of those things really are NOT applicable to you and your life. Can anyone tell me when you are really going to use the quadratic formula? Anyone? I mean really. Sure I can still sing it to myself... -b plus or minus the square root of b squared minus 4ac over 2a. Whatever. Have I used it since then? Nope. Okay but what about surface area? Volume? Area? Heck yeah you use them. If I want to figure out how much paint to buy to paint a room, I need to know how to figure out surface area. If I want to fill something up and find out how much I can fit in there, that is volume. So yes, you use those things, correct? Unless you are my high school students are would rather waste the money that they do not have and will not make by just buying a bunch of paint, or run to Home Depot a billion times for paint.

You try to teach these kids and realize that you have to do things in a way that they can relate to. There are many teachers out there who use rap to teach different math terms to their kids. There is part of me who loves this idea, "Hey I can get them to learn it using something they like!" Then there is another part of me that says, "What the heck, why do I have to subject myself to something I hate in order for them to learn it? If they want to learn it, they need to apply themselves more." However, there is the problem. They do NOT want to learn it. They do not CARE if they learn it. Why should they? What is in it for them? What is the point? What good is it going to do them?

How do you inspire a bunch of kids to want MORE out of their life than they see around them? I cannot imagine being happy working at Burger King for the rest of my life, or living off of minimum wage. No I am not a snob, but hey you know what? I LIKE driving my truck. I like going out to dinner every now and then. I LIKE not living paycheck to paycheck. I plan on being able to retire at a decent age and having retirement set aside. It frustrates/irritates/saddens me that these kids are totally cool not having goals or aspirations. They feel that they are entitled to certain things, but do not take advantage or responsibility of the things that are rights. How can you have a free education shoved in your face and ignore it? It isn't like I loved high school, but I went and did my best. Am I ever going to use the calculus I learned? Probably not, but you know what, I like having that knowledge in my brain. I like knowing why when I jump on a trampoline the airplane over my head sounds different. (Thank you Mr. Flaherty senior year Physics!) Here I am 23 years old and putting myself thousands of dollars in debt to get an education. Yes, I complain about homework and how I will be in school FOREVER (and I will be), but at the same time I LOVE learning new things. There are days where I want to throw certain textbooks in the fireplace and yell "BURN BABY BURN!!" while I enjoy the bonfire that results..., yet I love gaining new knowledge. Am I the most intelligent person on Earth? No, just sitting around some of my cousins is dang good proof of that!! :) I will admit that I probably do not always reach my full potential, but I at least have some desire to improve myself and to get an education.

I have a billion more things running through my head right now, but I also have a billion more things that I need to get done today.

The Weirdest Kids on the Earth....

I swear, I have THE weirdest kids on this planet. Honestly. I love them all, but they are crazy. I decided that I really need to keep a record of the things that happen around here. Not only are the kids crazy, but we are too. Today, the first day back after Fall Break, was insane. I had moments in the junior high room where I just got soo depressed about the things that they do not know. (Did you know that Gettysburg is a disease??) Only a couple of them really could tell me ANYTHING about the Civil War. All I got from them was that it was fought between the South and the West? or East? or North? Or maybe it was West side against East side.... And it was fought because of slavery. Okay, that I was expecting. In today's world, everyone is taught that the Civil War was fought because of slavery. Welllll no not really. Yes, slavery was an underlying cause, but that is not why it happened. However, that will be another blog... ;)

Not only did they not know about Gettysburg and the Civil War, but there is a sad lack of any sort of awareness. Most of them had never even heard about "Remember The Titans" let alone seen it. I decided we need to watch it next semester when we talk about Civil Rights. Only two of them had seen "Amazing Grace". I told them I would give extra credit if they watched it at home and wrote about it. I doubt any of them will, but at least I tried! There are so many good movies that could honestly do some good for them! Yes I am a bit of a movie person, but hey a little entertainment never hurt anyone! (Apparently I REALLY like exclamation points...)

Oh and we had a mini lesson in junior high history about how long decade, score, century, and millenium each are...Of course only one kid had ever heard of a score and knew what speech it is in. "Four score and seven years ago..." Which makes me think of "Four s'mores and seven root beers ago..." Are you out there Alyssa?? :)

Perhaps one of the reason the kids are the weirdest kids is because they have the weirdest teachers on earth... This morning in morning meeting Joey was giving one of the girls a hard time as it is her birthday tomorrow and she didn't want anyone to know. He told her we would get the Chippendale dancers to come in for her. I started laughing and pointed to he and Michael and said, "Yeah Chip n' Dale." So Michael put his hands up and started swinging his hips which was followed by Joey doing the same. Of course by this time I was just cracking up. I don't think most of the kids caught it, but it was hilarious. Then Michael said that we weren't supposed to tell about his night job. Yeah these are the guys I work with.

Not only do we harass the kids but we harass each other. My co-workers in the high school decided that I was the popular girl in high school. HAHAHA. Yeah. Right. Joey was teasing me and said he has been thinking about taking me out on a date so all of his buddies would think he hooked up with "some young, hot thing". I don't think his wife would like that very much... He then went on to tell me that his buddies are already talking about me.... Yes how would you like to go from being over-weight in high school to suddenly being a high school teacher and having the kids say you are the hot sexy teacher. It is weird and totally hilarious.

Ohh okay so today's craziness with my high school kids. So we were giving one of the boys a hard time as he and his family went to Disneyland over break and he wasn't terribly excited about it. We asked him if he had a good time and he sort of shrugged and said sure. We asked if he got to hug Mickey and he said that they didn't see him. We asked about Minnie and he asked, "Who?" "You don't know who Minnie Mouse is?? You know Mickey's girlfriend??" "No." "Well did you see anyone, Goofy, Pluto??" "Well, I think I saw the dog." .... "Matthew you should be banned from Disneyland. You aren't even allowed to enter through the gates." I think I saw the dog. Seriously? Then later, when all the kids were back inside, Joey, Jeanette, and I were talking about it to each other from across the room. Mathew said something about Snow White and we teased him about how he know Snow White, but "just the dog..." Well Ambsey heard us talking about Snow White and "the dog" and pipes up, "What are you talking about Snoopy about??" Yeah Snoopy. Gotta love these kids.

Anyways, there is a brief glimpse of my crazy, crazy kids! Oh yeah, the picture at the top is one of our high school kids, wrapped up in duct tape.

Trying New Things

So last week I broke out of my comfort zone and tried something new. Amazing, I know. I know several people who have started doing zumba and loved it. I had been looking into taking a class, as they have a couple here in Snowflake/Taylor. So last Tuesday I decided I would take the plunge and do it. I looked up the address of where it was held at and about a quarter 'til 8 got in my truck and headed towards the end of Snowflake. When I got into my truck I got this nervous feeling. "What if I make a total idiot of myself????" Okay that was really the only thought going through my head, but it was repeated over and over and over... When I pulled into the parking lot I wondered if I was in the right place, until I saw the earlier class inside the windows. Then I sat in my truck and wondered if I should go in....

Eventually Jackie pulled up and I went in shortly after she did. At 8:15 it started. Holy. Cow. It was sooo much fun!!! True, my hips do not typically shake and shimmy (seeing as how my left hip pops in and out of place), but it was a blast. I had a hard time with "Keep your toes pointed forward!" FORWARD??? IN??? WHAT!!!?!?!? My toes do not point forward or in! They point OUT. Try starting dance at 3 years old and then at 23 have someone you are not supposed to turn those toes out. Ha. Yeah, doesn't work so well for me. So my toes remained pointing out. After an hour of dancing, getting some of the moves easily, and totally messing others up, I was sweaty and felt great. The next day my arms were sore. Yeah, my arms, weird huh?

Anyways, it was great fun, and good for me to try something new. My next step is to go to the Singles Ward up here on Sunday... I have never been big on the Singles Ward thing, but I decided to give the Snowflake one a try. I am kind of feeling the need to have SOME sort of interaction with people my own age. Who would have thought?? :)

Long time no blog...

So, I have obviously not blogged in AGES. Even now I am not entirely sure what to blog about! It is more of a "where the heck do I begin??" sort of problem. Life has become even crazier than it ever has been before in most ways. Things are changing, life is moving on and I am going crazy! :) 


Today I got on ebay and picked out a saddle. A saddle? Yes for my crazy carrot hungry Geronimo. I have the hardest time with him discerning what his previous owner has done with him and what he just accepts. He has such a great personality. Yesterday he had a saddle on him and I just kind of hopped up while leaning on the saddle. He was a little unsure but didn't bolt or anything. I could probably get up on him without too much of a rodeo. I can't wait until he is ready to ride. :)

Unity and Trusting

So today in Relief Society the lesson was on unity. During the middle we got off on a tangent about being accepting of people and helping people we don't know. A sister in the ward shared how many people from other wards will not smile or say hi to her. I am not sure where she is from, but she is of Latino heritage. So we discussed how many people in the church often times do not know how to interact with members who do not "appear" to be the "typical Mormon". This then led to a discussion about how in today's world many people will not stop to help others. One sister, who is from Tonga, shared that in Tonga people are still very welcoming and will bring people in off the streets to make sure that they have food and shelter. She then said that things like this just do not happen in America anymore. Other sisters said that this was because there are so many bad people in the world that it just is not safe anymore. I can remember being little and going on trips with my dad and brother, my dad would always stop and help people we came across. I can remember several times where we would give someone a ride somewhere or give them food. I always feel sad now that as a single female it really is not that safe for me to do things like this. Whenever I come across someone pulled over on the side of the road or anything like that I just have this instant urge to stop and help them. Perhaps this comes from the fact that I am perhaps a bit too trusting. Overall I believe that most people are inherently good. 


 I wonder if one of the reasons we have so much more crime and violent actions is from the fact that people no longer trust each other as much. I think that when a person gets to know you, placing your trust in them can be the biggest boost to them that any person can give. To know that you have won the trust of a good person gives you this lift that you are a good person too, and that someone believes in you. I am a definite believe in second chances, and thirds and fourths... well you get the picture! Now, there are certain things that just don't fly with me, but if someone gets the chance to turn things around and really make a new start out of life, and do it, then I am all for that. 


Okay, as always my mind is all over the place and I am thinking of many different things right now. During relief society another sister talked about how just being pleasant to people and when you have a compliment come to mind, to SPEAK IT! Even if it is to a complete stranger. She was saying how she will be walking down the street and if she likes a person's hair, then she will tell them. These have to be sincere, but it is amazing what a real, kind word and smile can do to an individual. You never know what kind of a day a person is happening, but a kind word or action (like letting someone out of a parking lot or anything) from a stranger can change a day for someone. There are those times where you run across a real sourpuss, but what can it hurt?