Boredom?

"Well, it's come at last! The day I knew would come at last has come at last!" -Mae Peterson

At least, that's what she would say as a fictional character in the play! :-) The school play is finally finished for the year. My students impressed me thoroughly with their performance, and I hope that they impressed the drama teacher just as much. "Bye Bye, Birdie" was a smash hit, and we had great attendance and rave reviews from people who came to see it. Just... what next?

The last oh... 16 weeks have been chaotic, hectic, and a lot of fun, but I'm at a point now where I'm not sure what to do next. All of a sudden, I have to try and remember what to do when there is spare time! :-) What a great problem to have. It's kinda weird to be an adult. Most of my friends from college aren't around anymore, and the ones that are still in town are busy doing their own thing, too. Trying to squeeze in time to hang with others has its challenges! But, things are going well, and I really can't complain too much.

So, Thanksgiving was great. It was nice just to have people around!! The last two Thanksgiving dinners, Scott and Kristi have been doing their military thing, Robyn is in Denver, and so it's been mostly mom, dad, and me, plus some time with my Cooper cousins here in town. I got some sleep (yay!), ate some delicious food, and enjoyed spending some time with my family, including Grandma! I think I slept about half of the day away, but it was much-needed, and I feel good about it. :-)

Uhm... Let's see... I went on a date a few weeks ago. I took her to the cast dinner party in the auditorium because I had to be there for most of the afternoon for something. Anyway, it was fun. She had a date with one of my friends from school later in the evening, so we ate at the party, then we started play practice, she had to leave, and everything was fine.

Last week was our school's Thanksgiving Dinner. Traditionally, there is a dinner on the last day of school before the Thanksgiving break, and the kids decorate the tables, bring the food, and clean everything up afterward. My group of juniors decided on the theme "Camo," which meant they would put green paper on the table, then rip chunks of brown and black paper and put them on top. We had camo cups and some of them wore their camoflauge clothing to the dinner (it's also supposed to be a dress-up event). Although we didn't win any prizes this year, they were pretty good about taking care of business! I know for a fact that my advisory group cleaned up their area in record time and were out of there (collectively) very first, before anyone else was done cleaning up.

A couple of weeks ago, I was feeling pretty overwhelmed, tired, and ready to die on the carpet after play practice, so I checked into the hotel a few blocks from the school. That was super-nice. Scott packed a suitcase for me and mom brought it when she passed through town to head to a conference, and I went on over to the hotel. It worked out quite well for me. The room was quiet and comfortable, and I got a great deal on it -- $40! Since ski season hasn't started yet, they have a low price to offer guests who stay. My favorite part? I got to sleep in until 6:40 because I only have a 5-minute commute time from anywhere in town! :-) Normally, I have to leave Cedar by 7:00 for a 20-minute commute.

About four weeks ago, I made a treat to take to play practice. We had a couple of cast dinners during practices, and I decided one day that I'd make a pumpkin roll. Think of a pumpkin sheet cake dusted with powdered sugar, then topped with a cream cheese icing, then all rolled into a cinnamon roll style treat. It was amazing. The recipe I found turned out just like the ones I remember trying back in West Virginia. The people would make them all the time when it got to be fall, and most of the time, they were amazing! So, I made one. :-) Allrecipes.com has some good stuff on it, I tell you what!

That same day, I got a free trip to Enterprise, Utah. w00t! Well, OK, it wasn't all that exciting. My principal asked the arts department to go out and do a collaboration with the faculty at EHS. So, at 6 am, I went over to a gas station next to the airport and met the other teachers and the principal and we drove to Enterprise. Now, we got there a little after 7:00, and we went to their faculty meeting. I spent the next few hours with the music teacher. I got a lot of mileage out of the visit, really. He just graduated college, too, and is commuting quite a ways to get to the school (but his commute is longer! hah!), and is teaching multiple bands, choir, percussion, independent study, etc. Although... he does have a tech class he has to teach, where I get to stick with music all my days. It was just nice to be able to visit with someone who is in almost exactly the same situation!

Let's see... I think that's about it. I'll keep looking for cool happenings to put here for my next post, and hopefully, it won't be too long before I post again! :-)

Ok, whoa!

Since school began, I've been on a pretty good roller coaster of emotion, not to mention sleep deprivation and time management. The other teachers tell me, "welcome to the school!" as though it was completely normal to have absolutely no spare time, live at school, and talk to nobody else but other teachers at lunch occasionally. Luckily, most roller coasters have a lap bar or a seat belt!! I might need to throw up after the ride!

Just before school started, I had an appointment with my stake president, calling me as elder's quorum president. This would be fine, normally, but a YSA ward takes just a little more time and planning with things like Home Teaching than you might normally spend in a family ward, what with all the turnaround from the dorms and people constantly in and out of the ward (no, that's not an exaggeration). So, now I'm juggling a reasonably intense calling, three nights a week play practices, plus the regular teaching load and prep for that, and trying to eak out a social life... It's kinda not working.

Most of the time, I'm pretty content, but this week has thrown me a few curve-balls that I wasn't quite ready to swing at. First, we auditioned my choir for a state event! This part wasn't so bad. They had a weekend to get ready, and then sang for me. Audition results? Yeah, a whole another ball game! Between parents, students, and administrators, I'm a little frazzled right now! One student who didn't make the cut told me I suck at my job. What is up with that?

I got to come home tonight, which is a huge plus, and I was even in town by 4:00! This is practically unheard of with my current schedule. Some nights, I watch videos or movies in my classroom while eating supper while I'm waiting for play practice to start. That's not so bad, either, but it would be nice just to have someone to talk to once in a while when I'm eating. :) Every now and then, I have a group of students who stay with me part of the time, but that's not always fun for me... If you can imagine!

All in all, things are going considerably well, even with the high stress situations! I need to find a couple of fun non-school, non-work, non-music things to do occasionally. Any suggestions of hobbies I could take up?

But, on the lighter side of things, I am getting to be quite an accomplished muti-tasker, where I'm accompanying and directing a choir, and I'm starting to loosen up a little bit to where my job is a lot of fun. If my little sister wasn't going to be gone this weekend, I think we might even have gone fishing. But, alas, she'll be with the National Guard, so I'll have to find another fishing friend.

A Bone to Pick

Living in America is a great thing. We have some great things to be thankful for, and some awesome freedoms that most of the world doesn't have. Here we are in the greatest country in the world, and how? Hard-working people who know what it takes to be successful and not in just economic, monetary ways.

A few minutes ago I spent some time on Facebook, looking at what is happening in the lives of the people I care about -- friends and family. The more I use it lately, the more I hate it. While a lot of the time, I am just trolling around, looking at things and seeing how people are doing, sometimes, I am also guilty of posting a lot of random junk on that site. I'm noticing something that I strongly dislike, though. There's a new trend that we are posting lots of "funny" or "that's so true" moments in pictures that either belittle, insult, or degrade people, groups, or events.

Folks, I'm as guilty as some others at posting things I feel are either important or really funny, but we're starting to get to a point where I'm insulted in lieu of some of the insulted groups or people. For example, why is there a super-popular shared photo of a scantily-clad late-pregnancy woman with a caption of, "I'll bet she isn't smiling now." Or something to that effect. Is that supposed to be funny? And why are we still passing that around like that's something that everyone should see?

That's just one example. Some of those e-cards with messages about how men are dumb or how women are super-needy are super-offensive, too. You don't have to agree, but the last time I checked, those types of messages are extremely ineffective at changing people's minds. Ladies... you want your man to treat you like a queen? Don't be a jerk to him, either. There are a lot of guys that would bend over backwards to impress you... if you let him. Men... if you want to get a lady, don't be a complete jerk to her. Seriously... You should be trying to treat her well.

Ranting? Maybe. But I'm noticing more and more that people are turning super-selfish. It's all about me. Why can't I have what I want? How about the "flash mobs" that keep showing up in Wal-Mart stores in low-income areas and cleaning the place out? I mean, really? You just couldn't live without that T.V. enough that you had to bust into a store with sometimes hundreds of other people and leave with a very expensive piece of technology? Lame. If you are really that strapped, maybe you should consider your budget and cut back on other things and get your money in order so you can get the things you need and, in about a month or so, you'll have more than enough money for that T.V. you wanted.

Do you want to know just how powerful we can be as a human race? Reach out to people. Learn their story. It's impossible to hate someone whose story you know. Humans are capable of extreme abilities, talents, intellect, and possibly the most important, emotion. Rather than using those abilities and emotions to press for selfish, inward things, why don't we try using our love for good? With or without religion, people can do a lot of good in their homes, communities, and the world. Get off the internet for a while. Spend time with people you care about, look out for the people around you. Learn some new vocabulary words and stop swearing. I think you'll find that with an expanded vocabulary that you sounds more intelligent and people will understand what you're really trying to say in a clearer way.

Friends, behave. Be kind. Love each other. We're never going to make it through all this crazy stuff if we don't try to respect one another. You don't like a business point of view? Don't give them your money. That's what America is about -- you have a choice where to do your business. Don't like someone's opinion on a political matter? Make sure you have your own and respectfully disagree. Friendships should not be destroyed on a matter of opinion. If you've got faith in your life, develop it. Love God. Read His word. Live the way the scriptures teach. Even if you are not actively pursuing an active religious life, you will find that just by reading the scriptures, you change over time for the better. That's a promise.

Some of my ideas may be a little old-fashioned, but those things worked. Did you ever hear of a mass shooting at a school in the 30s or 40s? Were we in major economic crisis during the 1950s? Even if we were, people took care of each other. Now? We're taught to avoid strangers, belittle each other, ignoring people is common, love is cold. It's too bad, too. If people were willing to just show their love to each other a little more, this world would be a completely different place.

Overwhelmed?

So, now that school has been in for nine weeks, it's time to give an update! It might be best to do this more frequently, but I'll cross that bridge later. Over the last nine weeks, it's been a roller coaster ride of great happy moments and low dark moments, as many things have, but I'm feeling more optimistic now than I was a couple of weeks ago!!

A few weeks ago, I felt like I was finally getting into a groove in my classes. Life was just cruising along so well, until suddenly my calendar showed homecoming week. This started my mind making a "Rage Comic" face. For homecoming, we have a parade, spirit week activities, football preparation, pep assemblies, and odd schedules. Of course, I'm not complaining, as I enjoy all of these things to some degree, except when they include play practices, regional rehearsals for extracurricular activities, and the regular early-morning meetings. All in a days' work, of course, but... WHAT?! So, anyway, I got two parade floats pulled together, had a band play in the parade, took part of my middle school students to the football game to play in the pep band at the game, and managed a regional rehearsal for my choir students.

Well, I survived homecoming, of course, and even had a lot of fun with it! The kids had a blast, the parents were a treat to work with, and I even managed to keep my hair -- even if I did paint it blue for "crazy hair day."

Since then, most schedules feel exceptionally doable. I'm sure that won't last too long, but I'm never quite sure from week to week. With only three weeks left until the play opens, we're starting to get to crunch-time. Likewise, there are around 60 days until my band and choir concerts and I only get to see those kids every other day! I'm feeling a little bit of stress right now just thinking about that part!

Let's see... I don't want to write a whole spiel on work. How about this part? I got made Elders' Quorum President shortly before school started this year. My councilors and I have been working on home teaching for two months now, and we're only just almost ready to pass the assignments out... I feel like a total slacker, but we just haven't had a chance to get the rest together. Ay, ay, ay... Meanwhile, the Relief Society is dancing around us with callings, visiting teaching, and all sorts of great things.

Gosh! OK, so I'm complaining a little bit again... I don't mean to play the "who's more busy" game, nor do I mind doing my job and serving in my church, but sometimes, I just want to suddenly up and go far away just to get a break!

Anyway, life is good. I am alive, but sometimes, I have to poke myself and make sure that, yes, I really do exist! I'm looking forward to the next break so I can get a little more sleep and a little bit of time for me and being social with others. :-)

Back to School

Well, it's finally here. School has started! This is so exciting. My job takes me to a little school in southern Utah teaching music. Even though school has only been in session for two days, one of my ensembles has already performed once, and we have another performance coming up next week! Hoo!!

Football season is in swing at my little school. Last night, we had a game versus a school that is state ranked. This was an endowment game, and we didn't do so hot. I'm sure our team put in a great effort, which is definitely to our new football coach's credit! We went to SUU together, and I have a lot of respect for him. The next game should go much better, since we'll be a little better matched.

My new car gets great gas mileage. It was worth the wait, and it's even more worth having a car that's exclusively mine to drive. :) This week, I drove back and forth to work on only one tank of gas. That's pretty good! It's a 40-mile round trip, and I filled up last Saturday. On a "normal" week, I'll only need to fill up once a week. Sometimes, though, I will put 80 miles on in one day, having two trips to the school and back. But I'm OK with having to only fill up once a week.

Uhm... I played a video game for a while today, and decided this game isn't really worth investing a ton of time into playing. One of those weird moments of growing up and deciding that you really are an adult is losing some of that drive to do things you used to enjoy much more. Kinda like games such as Minecraft. Sure, it's fun, and you get to do such interesting things, but I also realize that eventually, we need to get to the important stuff in life.

What else is newsworthy? I played the tuba the other day in class. The high school band will be interesting. I have eleven students, and none of them play the tuba... We essentially have one to a part, and I have two or three kids that play on the sports teams and/or cheer in the cheer squad. The plan is to include the middle school students wherever possible, but not always.

Orchestra won't work quite right, either. Only one person signed up for the orchestra class, and they are not in the actual class. The others enrolled are there for individual lessons on different instruments. We'll just have to see what we come up with as far as that goes! I have had several students come find me about orchestra that can't sign up for the class, so I think I have enough interest to start an after-school group...

That's about it... Next week, I may or may not be getting an electronic organ. w00t! We were supposed to get it today, but something in the mix went wrong, so we didn't make it happen. Looking forward to it when it happens, though!!

A Few Thoughts

Well, here it is, the last two weeks before school starts! Once again, I haven't been doing so hot keeping this blog up to date. Facebook makes it super easy to keep lots of people posted at once. I hate that site, but it helps keeps me up to speed with what's happening with people around me and others that I care about who aren't so close around me without actually having to talk to them. Isn't that terrible?

This week, I spent a few days in Barstow and Los Angeles, California with my good friends, Katy and Brandon. We had such a good time visiting together that we almost forgot that it wasn't even the weekend! Since graduating, we're pretty spread out, and time to get together is pretty rare. Brandon and I drove down to California on Tuesday to see Katy. While we were there, we spent time playing video games, splashing in the pool, and hanging out in L.A. and at the beach. All in all, it was a great trip, very relaxing, and with such great company!

My classroom is pretty well set at this point. I won't have much more time to fix it up before school starts, so I'll just have to leave it basically how it is. I might move some of the posters around and decorate a little bit, but we'll see about that. At some point, I do have to get the equipment for the orchestra so we can practice first thing... One step at a time?

Anyway, that's about all I got right now. I'll be on the lookout now for interesting things to put in my blog. There's no doubt in my mind that in a few weeks, I'll have stories to put here. First-year teacher with tons going on? Yeah. Definitely!

Rant

I tell you what! This has been a week.

Well, I guess I could change that to "month," "year," or another fairly long duration of time. From the looks of things, I'm a little bit... stuck. Not that it matters too much. At least I'm currently living somewhere, have a few things to do here and there, and am not completely a loser. Sort of.

I graduated from college a year ago now. Wow! Time really flies when you're having fun. Sometimes, I miss the crazy, hectic, wild days. But, there's another side of me that hated college -- everything about it. That's probably just the stressful side of things. The more I'm out of it, the more I get thinking about the cool, fun, and exciting things that went with it. Perhaps, that's why I'm considering going back in the fall. That, and I don't have a full time job yet, anyway.

Anyone who tells you that the American economy is fine and getting better is wrong. That's a bloody lie. Right now, there seems to be NOTHING. I've applied to at least 30 different schools and districts. My credentials look pretty good. So... why am I not finding anything?

Maybe there are jobs out there. Maybe you're someone that has been hired out there somewhere. So, what's my problem? Nothing. I think... Though, I'm starting to wonder. A few times in my life, I've gotten SO excited about what's coming up that I just can't stand it -- like a little kid waiting for his favorite snack. However, about that many times that I've been just THAT excited, I've also come to a startling realization of how big of a jerk the universe can be sometimes. For example - I've been going to school for a Bachelor's degree in Music Education, allowing me to teach band or orchestra or choir. When I graduated, I was extremely excited to have that stupid paper in my hands. Yes, it's a HUGE accomplishment, and I'm glad I did it, BUT, now that I've been looking for work for a full two years, I'm starting to wonder just how great that accomplishment really was.

I love music. It's been part of my life for a very long time. That's kinda why I majored in it in college. One thing they don't teach you in college: job hunting. One more thing they don't teach you in college: patience. So, I was under the impression that I would receive a teaching license that allowed me to teach any grade, K-12 in music. Ha! Nope. Utah decided not to continue a K-12 license, instead, if you want to teach at any level, you must have one bachelor's degree for elementary, another for secondary. Ironically, after I finished with my secondary license, guess what level most of the jobs I found were for? ELEMENTARY! D-: It's enough to make you want to pull out your hair and stomp around.

Well that's about it. I'm thinking I may just go back to school in the fall -- get the other part of the license and just hope for the best in another two years. Or, perhaps I'll go back and get a music performance degree. I don't know yet. Whatever it ends up being, I'm a little frustrated, a little discouraged, and getting quite impatient!

What does God have in store for me? I guess I just have to wait and see. He's not going to show me yet!