worth fighting for

During the Gridley Memorial Day service this morning, a Purple Heart vet from EP/G recalled a story about a Mexican immigrant who fought alongside him in Vietnam. The immigrant said that he volunteered to fight for the U.S. because he grew up hearing that America was the greatest country in the world, where you could do what you want and be what you want. Where you could be free. And that was worth fighting for.

True story.

On a less dramatic or somber note, other things are worth fighting for. Such as the Gridley Memorial Day Parade. For those who aren't familiar, 3 years ago the Gridley Memorial Day Parade was.....well..... I'm still not sure if you could really call it a parade. A handful of veterans walked down the street, while a brass ensemble may or may not have stood on a street corner and played something. Apparently, at one time, children used to ride their bikes down the street in a festive show, but it had fizzled down to....well, whatever it was.

This distressed Callie and I, so we decided that someday we should follow behind the veterans in a decked-out golf cart stocked with candy. Memorial Day 2009 became "someday", and with Leah and Nicole we decorated a gator and followed the veterans down the street. We did the same thing in 2010. But 3 years in a row of 20-somethings throwing candy....well, it's just not that exciting...and a little awkward, to be honest. So this year was now or never. We brought back the children! :) After an hour of recruiting during church lunch on Sunday, 12-ish children showed up with bikes to the parade this morning! It was fantastic. Here are some pics:

Our Trusty Gator

Parade Committee

Autumn....so cute....

Ezra trying to keep up on the trike :)

So....The Gridley Memorial Day Parade is saved at last! :) :) Next year we need to bring back a brass quartet and give a prize for the best-decorated bike, of course, but this year was a HUGE step in the right direction.

The poor veterans walking down the street....they just don't know anymore what to expect when they show up to their parade. Haha. But seriously, it is easy to take Memorial Day for granted as just another long weekend, but it is an important day to remember the brave men and women who haven given their lives for our freedom. Maybe this will give the younger generation more of an appreciation for that? Maybe. :) But their parents enjoyed it.

In other news, Tina moved in to the Dojo yesterday! It will be good, but for now it is a transition, like any other. She thinks she is living here to learn English.....and she is. But she will hopefully learn many more important things along the way.... and we will learn a ton from her also.

And I start the nursing home internship tomorrow. So, yep. I imagine I'll have some stories about that soon. :)

memories, old and new

This is the title page from a little notebook I found buried in the bonus room this afternoon. It was meant to be a journal of funny quotes or occurrences that occurred at Hessel House (circa 2007-2009). Unfortunately, it only lasted until October 8, 2007. (Haha, of course it did. Everything historic happens on October 8...right, Dave Barry?) But anyhow, it was a wonderful gem to find, provided several laughs for its...2 pages, and I wish we would have kept it up longer. 'Nuff said.

Also today, we had a lovely evening of Dojo bonding in the form of:

WOOT.

It was really good. I mean, what a perfect concept for a movie... Pandas and Kung Fu together... and now there's TWO. Soon to be THREE. Good stuff. :)

Ooh, ooh-- and look what else! The man himself! I was a little starstruck....

I have a lot of map-type pictures lately

STorM!


The Sirens are going off.....can't help but wonder how my buddy from UMS is coping. :) No damage in C-U that we know of yet. Church is canceled, and we're just hanging out tonight, which is sort of nice. I'm glad to not have to go out in this yuckiness....

And yes, Jennifur is with me. [Serious Face]








....I mean, look at that face.... do you want that face to get destroyed by a tornado? Come on....





In OTHER news, I had a splendid time with Andrea taking on the big city yesterday!

.....Cheesecake Factory......

Exploring Northwestern....

Downtown fun....

Andrea has good ideas for pictures~~~~~~~~

Then we had Supper with Joel and Nan and got to hang out with them for a while, which was delightful.

A very good day, on the whole. :)

Ah...another burden off the shoulders

Meh. Bring it on.

WE'RE KEEPING THE DOJO!! :) :) :)

Also, Whitney and I graduated today!! Ta-Da!

my yea be yea

I didn't mean to leave anyone hanging, but in case there was any doubt, the angel on my shoulder won the aforediscussed (nope, not a word) battle. I don't play dirty. Although, Whitney gave me some helpful, albeit belated, advice about job negotiations that I'll have to stick in my back pocket for next time. Since VASE only gave me two days to accept/decline, I should have a) bartered for more time in the first place, and b) called Rantoul, to which I had already applied, and informed them I had another job offer if they were interested in interviewing me. This is very sound advice, I think. So if any of you ever find yourselves in that position, Whit is an excellent resource! Apparently, I should have taken a few more Labor and Employment Relations courses at the U of I... :)

In other words, I have checked out of student teaching. Unfortunately, I still have two more days. Fortunately, my supervisor has checked out also. Also fortunately, we are going on a field trip to Jupiter's (the pizza/arcade place) for lunch tomorrow. SO, I think this was the last day I have to pack my lunch! Hmm, that will give me a few extra minutes in the morning...

Ha, I'm such a panz. Have I mentioned that I'm not a morning person??? :)

Conflict

There are several devils on my shoulder this morning.
Angel? Angel? are you there?
Yes, the angel is there too...fortunately...but oh MAN....

A lady from Rantoul City Schools called me this morning and left me a voicemail asking me if I wanted to interview there. She sounded really nice.... YES, yes I DO want to interview there. Rantoul is so close to Champaign.... And I already know Rantoul, having spent two days a week there my entire first year of grad school... and I like it. But, you know, there is the small matter of the other job that I already have....for which I haven't signed anything.

Everybody I have talked to at UMS this morning thinks I'm nuts for not wanting to at least interview at Rantoul. "What can it hurt? People do it all the time. Schools expect it; that's why they hired you so early...they know they would have plenty of time to find someone else... You haven't signed anything yet..." Maybe all of that is true, I don't know. It just all seems incredibly sketchy, and, well, wrong. Pretty sure that falls into the "let your yea be yea and your nay be nay" category. Dignity is the name of the game, right?

Oh, how I would love to work in Rantoul.... but who knows what is waiting for me at VASE? Yes, who knows.....

Dumpster Diving

I have hit the first snare in my new blogging hobby. My reader base has become too large. By that I mean, there are approximately 5 of you now. This presents two problems.

1. People actually expect me to update this thing, and expectation is my downfall.
   
2. My mother reads my blog. Haha. This is not a problem typically, but it may be for this particular post... :)
   

Consequently, I have reminded myself of the fact that one of the major purposes of this endeavor is to help me with my transparency and self-expression issues. Therefore, I will continue to write what I feel inspired to share. In this case, the best story I have recently involves digging through a dumpster in my parents' driveway. I don't like the dumpster.

Sidenote: can we start to add "ster" to the end of more verbs? Blogster should totally be a word. As in, "Hey, look at me! I'm a blogster!" Or would the blog itself be the blogster technically, because it is the thing onto which a blogger blogs, just as a dumpster is the thing into which a dumper dumps? Similarly, say someone writes on a chalkboard...could the chalkboard be referred to as a writester? ...The thing onto which a writer writes? Think about it...
[End Sidenote]

I don't like the dumpster. Treasures often get thrown into dumpsters. Either things that are actually junk, but are treasures for nostalgic reasons, or old things that presently have no nostalgic value but are just simply really cool and, by golly, should have nostalgic value because someone by now should have realized and appreciated their coolness. And yes, sometimes things get thrown into dumpsters that should be thrown away...don't get me wrong...I'm not THAT much of a pack rat...not THAT much....

But anyhow, when I heard there was a dumpster at Mom and Dad's house, I got nervous. Fortunately, I was with my grandpa at the time, and we had similar opinions of the matter. We pulled up the drive, I hopped out of Grandpa's car, and promptly hoisted myself into the dreaded red box. There was no actual GARBAGE in there, don't worry....it's not like I was rummaging through decaying food or vermin droppings...I was digging through old furniture, and lampshades that were still in their original packaging. All the while Grandpa was laughing and repeating, "What are these people thinking? They're crazy...Hey, I've got a lamp that could use a shade...hand that over here! I'm taking that home with me!..." etc. etc. The whole episode was highly entertaining. I salvaged a nice baseball glove and a few ping-pong paddles...I thought about saving a cool old clock radio with a mechanical display, but I really had no use for it...

And then Dad drove up the driveway, haha...at which time I conspicuously nosedived out and tried to hide while Grandpa covered for me. It didn't work. But Dad really didn't seem to mind... Or even be surprised. Somehow, nothing I do seems to faze him. :)

Big day. Yes, quite big.

I found out today that "Pop the Pig" is a cheap RIP-OFF version of the original Hasbro game, "Pig goes Pop". Haha. For shame.

But seriously, today I ACCEPTED A JOB. Like, a real grown-up, full-time job! It is in Vermilion County and less than an hour from C-U! Which I LOVE. It sounds like I will be in the Rossville school district, for anyone who might happen to know where that is. But this is all very exciting and a huge burden to get off my shoulders.

AND I was put in as Sunday School teacher at church this evening. Soooo, yeah. That is obviously an extremely important job, and prayers are appreciated. This time 4 months from now, I will have all SORTS of small children watching me. I have been given much responsibility today.

There will surely be more on this to come. Right now there is much to be done. I need to get some lesson plans for tomorrow; prepare stuff I need to take to the Praxis exam (my certification exam that I'm taking Saturday morning in Fort Wayne, of all places); PACK for Fort Wayne, since I am going there this weekend to see Erica, take the Praxis, and go to the final College Weekend of my college career (12 for 12--perfect attendance!); ummm.....oh yeah, and write my Silver Lining article. Haha.

God is good. Life is an adventure. As I have said before, I'm just desperately holding on to my inner tube of life, striving to place all my faith and trust in the Driver of the motorboat.

BTW, whenever I use that analogy I think of Uncle Marty, not gonna lie. :)

Why I have a weakness for children's board games

... Besides the obvious reasons, of course.

You see, I walk down the game aisle at Target or Wal-Mart, and little gems like this pop out at me and say, "Buy me! Buy me! I will only take up space in your storage room for the rest of your life, but if you buy me now I will provide you with a few days of FREE entertainment for your students with minimal prep time on your part! I may also provide you with a conversation topic with your friends and maybe an hour of entertainment during some random game night! You know you want me!"

And so I buy it.
And don't regret it. :)

Pop the Pig is truly a delight, and I recommend it for anyone who needs/wants to entertain children of all ages or adults who are easily amused.

Or even adults who are not so easily amused...I mean, this thing is pretty stinking cool.


...Oh yeah, and this one.

Same explanation...but for anyone who has seen or read Diary of a Wimpy Kid, no explanation should be required. :) There ARE really good questions in this game for discussion/social skills, so it really is perfect...honestly....

But besides board games, much is going on. The Dojo as a whole is being stretched and squeezed and rolled around...much like Silly Putty in the hands of the Creator. Such is life. I have an interview in the Danville area in a couple hours. I'm not exactly feeling it, as I don't have extensive experience in early intervention... but stranger things have happened I suppose. We shall see....

Some things just aren't meant to be

You think this is going to be some profound post about my future and the fact that I didn’t get the Thomas Paine job, don’t you?

WRONG!

This post is about coffee cups. :)

Aren’t these mugs fun? Fun, cute, and innocent-looking?

DON’T BE FOOLED.

They are, all of them, a disaster waiting to happen! At least in my hands. :)

Whitney got me one of these, the one that says “Decaf is for Sissies”, for Christmas. I didn’t start using it until the spring semester of school, but within ONE WEEK of using it, the mug came to a hasty demise. I bumped it while sitting at a desk (a large table, really) at school, and it crashed to the ground in a mess of tea and colorful ceramics.

Feeling sorry for me, Whitney generously purchased a second mug for me around Valentine’s Day. This one was SUPER cute. It was yellow and said something about us being sisters but from totally different planets…I really liked it. BUT, lo and behold, less than a week after I started using it, this mug also met a dreadful fate. I had it in the back seat of my car with my backpack, and when I grabbed my backpack, I bumped the mug and it rolled to the concrete parking lot. Ka-blooey!

And SO, I decided to go to the Kitchens store and buy a third mug for myself. My third and final attempt, I told myself. So I bought a third mug, and boy was it cool. One side said, “Trust your crazy ideas,” and the other side said, “Always color outside the lines,” and it was super colorful and had a dark-haired girl with sunglasses…. And YES, I am speaking about this super cool mug in the past tense.

TODAY, the third and final Kitchens mug (less than one week old) met its sticky end, in the most dramatic manner yet. I set it on top of my car as I was going to school this morning. (You know where this is headed…) It was a dark, cold, rainy morning, and in my hurry to load my car without drowning in the downpour, I forgot about the mug on the roof. However, it somehow stayed on for a block… until I turned onto Neil Street… at which time I heard a rumble atop my car and thought, “Aw, MAN,” just in time to look in the rearview mirror and see a small, colorful object roll off the back of the Bubblo and SMASH with a caffeine-charged SPLOOSH onto the busy street. Sad, sad, sad, (but hilarious) story. I am simply not supposed to own one of these mugs, I suppose. Maybe I will buy one more and just set it on my desk for decoration and commemoration, never to be taken ANYWHERE! Ha.

If this episode is any indication of the rest of the day, it's gonna be a doozy. :)