The rest of my time in Lansing was much less uneventful, thank goodness. This week I've been substitute teaching, and today the Quiz Bowl team I'm coaching has a match up to Chippewa Hills, so I'm driving up there in a bit. I get to drive the JV team home, so that should be...um...exciting. Hopefully not too much so.
Since I don't seem to have particularly interesting posts these days, mostly due to the lack of Blogger access at home/lots of thinking going on in my head that's not so postable/my suspicion that maybe you aren't all dying to hear of my adventures with rolled fondant in cake decorating class (so much fun!), here's a survey to entertain you all.
A) Four jobs I have had in my life:
Supervisor for MSU summer cleaning crew, TEFL teacher with Peace Corps, reporter for the Lakeview Area News, substitute teacher
There is no B). I don't know why.
C) Places I have lived:
Lakeview, MI; East Lansing, MI; Zgurivka, Ukraine; Balaklia, Ukraine
D) TV Shows that I watch:
1. LOST
2. right now, that's it
E) People who e-mail me (semi-regularly):
1. Jason
2. Tif
3. Facebook :)
F) Four of my favorite foods:
1. fettuccine alfredo
2. homemade bread
3. blueberry pie with graham cracker crust
4. plov (homesick for UA alert!)
G) Four places I would rather be right now:
1. Milwaukee
2. Balaklia
3. any place with warmer weather and no snow
4. East Lansing/although here's not that bad
H) Four friends that I think will respond: meh. Feel free to, or not, as it suits you.
I) Things I am looking forward to:
1. the weekend after this one (Jason visiting/my birthday)
2. spring!!!
3. grad school
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Friday, February 22, 2008
"you had the world's smallest nail stuck in your tire..."
Yesterday was a day I don't need to repeat again any time soon.
It started out with me packing my car for a trip to East Lansing to visit the MA TESOL program.
Then, I got a mile away from my house and decided, "Oh, I'll just take this extra half mile of dirt road to get me to the highway, which will be cleared, rather than go on snowy paved roads for several miles." This started well, and I was within an eighth of a mile of my goal, when the sheet of ice that I was driving on became problematic. I slid and spun off into the snowbank...and got a flat tire in the process.
Thank goodness for cell phones, random strangers driving by, and fathers.
Close to two hours later, I was on my way again. I got to MSU only about 20 minutes later than I needed to be there (I'd originally scheduled plenty of time beforehand to do random things). I sat in on a class, had an interview for a TA position, and had a very good conversation with Professor Ron Dorr, who I'd had for Religion and American Literature and was one of the two best professors I had at MSU.
Then I went back to my car, intending to head to Quiz Bowl practice and see people. However, to my utter dismay, I discovered that in my rush to not be quite-as-late when I showed up, I had inadvertently locked my keys in the car.
Called H&H Mobile, got it taken care of, and eventually made it to Quiz Bowl practice. Then I went to Tina and Lisa's, where I'm staying this weekend, exhausted after a stressful day. Within ten minutes of arriving, Tina had a pillow, a cup of tea, and a back rub for me. Bless her heart!
Although, as my mom said, no car trouble and a bad interview would have been much worse.
~*~
I'd forgotten how much I love the Lansing area and the MSU campus. I don't know for sure what I'm doing this fall yet, but it's been great to be back here for a few days.
It started out with me packing my car for a trip to East Lansing to visit the MA TESOL program.
Then, I got a mile away from my house and decided, "Oh, I'll just take this extra half mile of dirt road to get me to the highway, which will be cleared, rather than go on snowy paved roads for several miles." This started well, and I was within an eighth of a mile of my goal, when the sheet of ice that I was driving on became problematic. I slid and spun off into the snowbank...and got a flat tire in the process.
Thank goodness for cell phones, random strangers driving by, and fathers.
Close to two hours later, I was on my way again. I got to MSU only about 20 minutes later than I needed to be there (I'd originally scheduled plenty of time beforehand to do random things). I sat in on a class, had an interview for a TA position, and had a very good conversation with Professor Ron Dorr, who I'd had for Religion and American Literature and was one of the two best professors I had at MSU.
Then I went back to my car, intending to head to Quiz Bowl practice and see people. However, to my utter dismay, I discovered that in my rush to not be quite-as-late when I showed up, I had inadvertently locked my keys in the car.
Called H&H Mobile, got it taken care of, and eventually made it to Quiz Bowl practice. Then I went to Tina and Lisa's, where I'm staying this weekend, exhausted after a stressful day. Within ten minutes of arriving, Tina had a pillow, a cup of tea, and a back rub for me. Bless her heart!
Although, as my mom said, no car trouble and a bad interview would have been much worse.
~*~
I'd forgotten how much I love the Lansing area and the MSU campus. I don't know for sure what I'm doing this fall yet, but it's been great to be back here for a few days.
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Movie Review: Juno
Last Friday night, a fifteen-year-old friend and I drove to Mount Pleasant to see Juno, a comedy about a sixteen-year-old girl who finds herself pregnant. We both really enjoyed the movie, and it's stuck with me enough over the past week to do a quick review.
What really impressed me about the movie (besides the superb acting jobs, witty dialogue, and catchy soundtrack) was how affirming the movie was of the value of life ("sanctity of life" is a stretch, but I'll take what I can get). Christianity Today's review talks of it's "implicitly pro-life—not 'anti-choice,' but certainly pro-life—sensibilities," and that sums it up about right. The eponymous heroine of Juno considers aborting her baby, but seeing a classmate (who I think was ESL) picketing outside the abortion clinic who tells her, "Your baby has fingernails!" changes her mind...when she goes inside, all she can notice are everyone's fingernails, and she leaves in a hurry.
Juno's not cut out to be a teen mom, though, she decides, and so she gives the baby up for adoption. The adoptive parents are human through and through, and there are several twists and turns before the story ends, showing that though people are flawed, good can come out of difficult situations.
Apart from enjoying the movie myself, I felt that it did a good job of promoting a pro-life message to a secular culture. Although staunchly pro-life myself, I'm a realist, and I don't see legislation changing anything on the highly polarized issue of abortion until people see it as unthinkable. Juno doesn't present abortion as unthinkable, but it shows life--and adoption--as a better option. To quote Christianity Today again, "Life is life, and deserves to be nurtured, even—if not especially—when everything around it is broken."
Plus, the movie opened up a good discussion about abortion, temptation, and adoption on the way home, which is always a good plus.
Rating: **** (out of 5)
What really impressed me about the movie (besides the superb acting jobs, witty dialogue, and catchy soundtrack) was how affirming the movie was of the value of life ("sanctity of life" is a stretch, but I'll take what I can get). Christianity Today's review talks of it's "implicitly pro-life—not 'anti-choice,' but certainly pro-life—sensibilities," and that sums it up about right. The eponymous heroine of Juno considers aborting her baby, but seeing a classmate (who I think was ESL) picketing outside the abortion clinic who tells her, "Your baby has fingernails!" changes her mind...when she goes inside, all she can notice are everyone's fingernails, and she leaves in a hurry.
Juno's not cut out to be a teen mom, though, she decides, and so she gives the baby up for adoption. The adoptive parents are human through and through, and there are several twists and turns before the story ends, showing that though people are flawed, good can come out of difficult situations.
Apart from enjoying the movie myself, I felt that it did a good job of promoting a pro-life message to a secular culture. Although staunchly pro-life myself, I'm a realist, and I don't see legislation changing anything on the highly polarized issue of abortion until people see it as unthinkable. Juno doesn't present abortion as unthinkable, but it shows life--and adoption--as a better option. To quote Christianity Today again, "Life is life, and deserves to be nurtured, even—if not especially—when everything around it is broken."
Plus, the movie opened up a good discussion about abortion, temptation, and adoption on the way home, which is always a good plus.
Rating: **** (out of 5)
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
very quick post
Moving to a warmer climate at some point is really tempting right now. We've spent the last few days in the single to negative digits, with wind chills well below zero. I visited some of my friends from high school this weekend down in Grand Rapids (hi, Heather!), only to end up there a bit longer than I'd expected due to not being able to get back home. However, there were a lot worse places that I could have ended up, as we ordered pizza and played Wii bowling, Dance Dance Revolution, and Settlers of Catan, which is like a cross between Risk and Monopoly. I'd played it once in college, but finally understood how it works this time and had a LOT of fun.
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