And a Happy New Beer!

New Year's Eve greetings to all! Tonight is the time of festivities celebrating the coming of a new year and new beginnings. I can't say I'll be partying a lot tonight due to the cold and wet weather here in Munich, but then, isn't having a beer for breakfast a party in and of itself?

Remember to think of a cool resolution for the new year. I'll have to think about mine for a while. Time's running out here at the internet cafe at the moment. But I'll probably be back here later. It's open until 2am tonight. Doesn't that sound like a blast of a New Year's party? I'm such a geek. To all of you who are going out tonight, be safe and have fun! Oh, and remember to toast your long lost friend who's freezing in Bavaria!

Did I say death camps? I meant happy camps.

All kidding and South Park references aside, today we took a train out to Dachau. An unbelievably moving experience. On approach to the concentration camp, it was surprising to see that there is a nice little town right next door. Most of the people in the town either didn't know the extent of the brutalities going on at the camp or they were too scared to acknowledge it. It certainly didn't help that most of the information came from a bunch of propaganda.

The SS made it very deceiving, only giving the German community the information they wanted them to know. I was disgusted to find out that they even gave people tours of the concentration camp, which were of course diligently orchestrated to show only the people who were the healthiest and had the most stereotypical physical attributes of the "inferior" races, such as the supposedly big nose of the Jewish "race."

They even went so far as to describe the wonderful recreational activities for the prisoners: swimming in the camp pool (actually a huge pond of filthy water and fluids that would have made anyone sick who entered it) or playing music (the SS did play, but any prisoners writing songs or poetry could be severely punished or killed). Imagine the prisoners' intense frustration at being unable to communicate the real horrors of life in the camp, while the SS made sure it seem like Dachau was just a work camp where prisoners, enemies of the state, would be educated in the work ethic while doing a service to the country with the prisoner's help (slave labor) in industry and repair work.

When the public did finally realize the truth of the attrocities taking place at the camp, they were horrified--I can't imagine living there and knowing that your town is associated with such a violent history.

The chilly evening air and snow lining the ground helped add to the bleak effect of the camp. There was A LOT of information to absorb there, but it helped that most of it had English translations. It was a good history lesson, tracing the beginnings of the Nazi party, Hitler's rise to power, and the concentration camp system. By far the hardest part was touring through the crematorium.

The gas chamber there at Dachau was never used, but it didn't prevent me from feeling really creeped out walking through the room with those vents in the floor and ceiling. I can't believe they had the dark humor to put the label "Bath house" above the vaulted door. And seeing the ovens...that was almost more than I could handle. As it was, I took a picture and got out of there, walking through the room where they used to store the bodies before they burned them. Yeah, it was a very sobering experience.

One of the most striking things about it was the how it looked from the outside. I expected a stoic, industrial looking structure, cold and impersonal. What I saw was a pleasant looking brick building, with terracota shingles, and a big cheery chimney. It made me feel sick just thinking about the sort of mentality it would take to build such a structure and then make it look homey. I am glad I went though--seeing all of it made the Holocaust that much more real to me. And the memorial site at Dachau is very well done, nothing touristy about it.

Tomorrow Jenny and I are probably going to check out the Science and Techonology Museum here--it's supposed to be Smithsonian-quality, and sounds like a good way to spend our Monday, when many sites are closed here for cleaning and maintenance. Tuesday we're likely heading to Füssen to see the fairy-tale castles of "Mad" King Ludwig II. I'm looking forward to that trip--it will take most of a day with the 2 hour train ride, but from what I've heard and seen, it will be worth it.

We still haven't had beer, sauerkraut or sausage since we arrived, but we have had our first pretzel. It was okay, but we've come across one that look tastier, so I'm sure we'll try some other ones. We also saw a man in liderhosen in the subway. I'm sure there will be all sorts of German experiences to share with you by the time we leave. I'll keep you posted :)

Gutentag, darling, gutentag

München, otherwise known as Munich, has become our new home for the next few days. After an exhausting 9 hour train ride from Paris (with fine catering including a shared croissant, a bottle of juice, cookies that were more air than sugar, two shared sandwiches--one of an eggy concoction--and water in glass bottles...all for price equivalent of a steak dinner and wine in Paris) we arrived at our hostel. Remind me to stock up on snacks from a grocery store before my next long train ride.

The hostel doesn't seem half bad, although the stupid European hostel idea of not accepting credit cards and asking for cash up front is a real pain in the assets. Unlike our last hostel, this one decided to forgo the ratty blankets and rental sheets and has clean and comfy bedding. However, we're sleeping in a dorm style room, which means that instead of sleeping in a four-person room, we'll be sharing a room with 20 other travelers. Oh yeah, we're talking 10 bunkbeds scrunched in one room that has a bit of a divider wall in the middle. It's going to be like one big slumber party...except there won't be any movies...or popcorn...and we're in Germany. Yeah, just like a slumber party.

Merry Christmas--I aim to tease

With Christmas having arrived and left its drink ring stain on the table, I thought it would be an appropriate oppurtunity to compile a countdown of 12 paricularly memorable gifts that "gay Paris" has bestowed upon my traveling companion and myself....HOWEVER, you will have to be patient for I have not yet compiled this magnificent list since we have not yet finished our trip.

Until then, you'll just have to amuse yourselves imagining what that fine future blog entry will entail while I tantalize you with these few highlights as a preview:

*Eiffel tower sparkling like a big brown diamond
*Baguettes for breakfast
*Crepes for breakfast, crepes for lunch, crepes for dinner...oh, and crepes for dessert
*The Tube could kick Le Metro's ass
*The Louvre, Arc de Triumph, Champs-Eleysey, Versailles...check
*Christmas Eve at Notre Dame with Jenny and 3 glasses of wine
AND
*Christmas Day with the gamers hard at it here at the Internet Cafe

Hope you all are having a great Christmas!! Take care :)

Held in our hearts

This week has seen the loss of someone very special. A good man, who though he had many blessings in his life including a wonderful family, should not have had to leave us so soon. There are no words adequate enough to give my sincere sympathies.

Christmas, Christmas time is near

Becky sent me a Chipmunks themed Christmas e-card (well, me and about 20 other people, but it was thoughtful all the same) and it was cute. Too bad I couldn't hear the sound on this crappy cafe computer (nice alliteration, eh?), but I could imagine a few Chipmunk tunes while I read the email. For instance, All I Want for Chirstmas, and Christmast Time--one of my favorites: "Want a plane that loops-the-loop, me, I want a hoola-hoop!" So cute.

I heard more songs at the meeting I attended for student teaching tonight. Nice classic Christmas tunes by Bing Crosby and a bunch of other oldies, all floating over the boredom that had me wanting to nod off. Thankfully, it was our last meeting, and it didn't last too terribly long. If they hadn't given us some food, I might have been more annoyed by the only partially interesting 1.5 hours of discussion. But the good news is, I found a smoothie shop on the way to the meeting--go fruit!

I need the fruit, all the fruit I can get, to battle this cold that's setting in. I think the Ben n Jerry's helped too--chocolate is the solution to many problems, all the important ones at least. The rest can be covered by a pint.

Wish I had thought of this myself

Skimming The Onion can be great fun. This is an old article I came upon while looking for the one Blogger had linked to (which doesn't work for some reason) and it's freegin hilarious. At least I think so, but then...read it, and you'll know why.

Let it sud, let it sud, let it sud!

Yes, sud, my friend. Tonight there was a Scandinavian Christmas party here at ISH, complete with a warm meal, paper crowns, a gingerbread house contest, and fake snow--actually soapy suds flying about. I really wish I had brought down my camera--the event was a sight to behold.

There were about ten of us squeezed around the table, all either student teachers or friends, and we were giddy with getting free food and the idea of creating our own gingerbread house. The hosts had given us all the supplies needed: the basic gingerbread house walls, roof, and chimney, all of which we had to use a tube of frosting to stick together. They also supplied us with some candy things to decorate the house with. Naturally, being the creative team we were, we were not satisfied to use those simple, meager supplies. We improvised.

We put the regular house together as directed, except we decided it would be cool if the house had some interior lighting, so...we put one of the small votive candles inside before we closed it up. We had no fear of our house burning down, but we did have some water near by just in case. To make the chimney look more realistic, we added a crumpled napkin stuck halfway in it to pose as smoke. Very clever.

The problem was trying to figure out how we could make our house extra special. How could we give our house that ingenious kick to win that bottle of wine? We Wisconsites just couldn't pass up on some free alcohol. The solution? Rice pudding.

A wonderful bowl of rice pudding happened to be leftover from our dinner, and we marvelled at how snow-like it appeared. Great! We had the perfect trimming to our roof and along the bottom for that natural, wintery look. Add to that some plastic snowflake confetti that was scattered on the table (far from edible) and some candy shaped to spell out "ISH" and we figured we had ourselves a winner. But we still weren't satisfied. What was missing?

I should note that at this point, we could see our house was melting a bit in the middle, where the flame was overheating our poor little house. In fear that the meltdown would lead to a collapse, we temporarily put out the flame. The only problem was figuring out a way to relight it. We'd worry abou that later.

Ah yes, we needed a path to the house. We used some face-down cards that were one of the many cheap little Christmas party favors to form a brick pathway. A few other votive candles lined the pathway, and nicely highlighted our handy work. What else? We used some of the silver cylindrical wrappers from our party favors to make a few small towers to line the path as well. (They looked sort of like small castle turrets)

Speaking of castles--one of our first ideas was to make the house into a castle using those same turret-shaped cylinders, but we had ditched that idea thinking we didn't have enough time. Since I wasn't directly involved in the building, I figured I'd play around with the turrets and make my own little castle. My tablemates were impressed, and thought the castle should be part of our display. And so, a quaint fairy-tale castle stood adjacent to the house, with its own little playing card/brick pathway.

To complete the deal, we found a way to relight our candle without damaging the frame. One person took a skinny long piece of cardboard that was on the table, lit the end in one of the pathway votives, and through the direction of others peering through the little windows, revitalized our interior lighting. A masterpiece.

Could there be any doubt as to the champion of this contest? Oh yes, it was us, and I have since tasted the fruits of our labor--grape in particular ;) hehehe, Once they awarded the winners, they said they would give one more bottle of wine to the first table to destroy their house--just as the house was finishing those words, one of the girls grabbed our bottle of wine and roughly smashed our house right down the center like she was christening a ship. It was priceless. I think they were hestitant to give us another prize, so they gave the wine to another table house house had collapsed earlier in the night. Oh well, not like we really needed it anyway. But it was funny as hell.

The only question is: who are the poor sods that have to clean up after our mess?

It was the best of times, it was the boringest of times

No, I'm not saying that A Tale of Two Cities is boring; actually I'm really enjoying the novel so far. It helps so much to be in London, and to have toured around some key areas of England, becoming more familiar with the geography around here. What's boring is the last bit of school I have left. Tomorrow I'm being observed by my cooperating teacher again--you'd think I should be nervous, considering I don't have my lesson plan all drawn up, but really, I'm just too tired of it all to care.

The kids are alright and the teachers are fine too. I just want to get out of the confines of an 8-4 day and be free to run around London and then on to Europe, with no more worries about my future employment. It's not even school that is bothering me--it's the job hunting. I know I need to do more of it before I go traveling with Jenny so that I'm not COMPLETELY screwed when I get back to GB. ::sigh:: All this responsibility for my own future weighing down on me. I'm looking forward to forgetting about that for a few weeks :P

On a totally different, almost completely pointless and more positive note, I have an excess of pizza in my fridge--anyone want some?

Swing low sweet chariot...am I in the 19th century South?

Rugby fans and onlookers crowded the square and such today, seeing the parade and big to do here in town. I can't say I joined them 1) because I haven't felt good today 2) I'm not a rugby fan 3) I'm not British and 4) I didn't feel like being in a crowd. It still makes me wonder how on earth they got it into their heads to use the song "Swing Low Sweet Chariot" as a victory song. It's a song from during the time of slavery in the U.S., something the then African-American slaves would sing about dying and going to heaven. Somehow, I'm not quite getting the connection with a British sport. Maybe it's just me.

"AaWeeeeee um weee um aaWeeyum bambaway!"

In the jungle, the London jungle, The Lion King tonight. A good show. A very good show. The costumes were just...wow, impressive doesn't begin to describe them, primarily African influenced but with the added dimension of taking on a bigger, three dimensional shape--after a while, I stopped noticing the human beings behind them. The use of lighting was spectacular--great contrasts of light and shadow, and a few tricks too. It was very powerfully done and adds some plot thickeners to the original animated film. All in all, well worth a night at the theatre.

I can't say it was my favorite musical...I'm not even sure what my favorite would be. Every musical I have seen has been completely unique from the others. But The Lion King tonight was a special treat, and I'm glad my brother suggested it. I do sort of wish the theater was a bit better though. It was small, which is okay since that meant we weren't that far from the stage.

However, the seating is not in "stadium" form, so the stupid bald dude in front of me took up half the stage in my line of sight with his huge shiny melon. I had to tip my head to the side and lean over a bit to get a good view for a lot of it, but he would shift, so I moved my head around. That meant the young boy behind me had to move his head to see the stage when MY head was blocking his view, which I overheard him saying to his little friend. I really didn't care--not when I was paying £40 to see this musical. If I could deal with it, so could the 10 year old. So :P

Spoiled Sweet--Rotten is such an icky word

This week has been like a mini pleasure cruise thus far, thanks to my family visiting me. My brother Scott and his wife Jennifer are here, and my mom and her friend Donna are here, both sets staying at different hotels in the area. Of course, I've been able to take advantage of their hotels, having a bath and a nice night of rest with my mom since the three of us were all going to Leeds, Cantebury and Dover the next morning. What a trip!

Leeds Castle was beautiful, inside and out...I just longed to have the place to myself, filled with warm fires and lights, sitting by one of many window seats over-looking the swans in the moat and the splendid gardens while writing some countryside inspired masterpiece. Unfortunately, Mom, Donna and I spent too much time in the gift shop thereby limiting our already limited time, making it a very rushed tour through the castle. But I think I saw enough.

We were on a bus tour that also included going to Cantebury and Dover. Cantebury was a pleasant surprise. I hadn't even realized everything that was there, until I was walking between the columns and looking up at centuries old stained glass windows and silenlty wondering at the site where Thomas Beckett was killed.

Dover was just a quick photo stop where there was a fantastic view of the white cliffs, Dover Castle, and the WWII bunkers hidden in the cliffs. Oh, and the English Channel spreading across the horizon where a bit of France is just visible. Naturally I was the first to wander down to the shore (after taking a few pictures), walk up to the edge of the water, and touch my hand down into the waters...and then have a nice little wave come and get one of my feet all wet. But I picked up a stone, so I have a little bit of Dover to take back with me.

And now it's Tuesday, back to the grindstone here at school. It's getting more and more difficult to concentrate on my student teaching when there's so much else to do. Last night I went out to a place called The Gaucho Grill for a fabulous Argentine steak dinner...mmmmm. We all went to that--Scott and Jennifer had been there the night before, but thought well enough of it to take Mom, Donna and I there with them another night. Scott paid for the Merlot, Mom paid for my dinner, and I just ate my fill, happy as a clam...or cow :) Yeah, it was nice.

After dinner, I took everyone to a pub--they asked if I knew any good ones around and I'm like, dudes, there's pub on every other corner here...But they wanted something I might suggest. Well, honestly I haven't been to that many here, since there is a bar right at ISH. But I did remember one that I had stopped in that seemed unique. It took a bit to retrace my steps, but I didn't take them one foot off track (though maybe a little out of the way from the station, but at least then I knew where I was going) and we found the pub: The Sherlock Holmes.

It's a neat, traditional little pub, with soft chairs and plenty of Sherlock Holmes memoirbelia. Seems that my choice was right on--it was nice and quiet, plenty of room, and everyone found something they liked to drink. All in all, a successful little trip, even if we did get a little sidetracked later when we crossed over the Golden Jubilee Bridge for a little late night sight-seeing. But we all made it back before the Tube closed for the night, with Scott and Jennifer escorting me back to the student house.

::sigh:: The bell has rung, signaling to me that my time is done here for blogging. I'll put some links in as soon as I have another free moment this afternoon. For now, it's off to ICT.

Oh I love to eat turkey on Thanksgiving...

Adam Sandler has it right, there's just nothing better than a good ole turkey dinner on Thanksgiving. Granted, I could have done without the brussel spouts, and adding a couple pieces of random sausage to the plate was an interesting concept, but I guess despite the painful payment of £26.50...it was a worthwhile meal. I mean, I did get a nice glass of Pinot Grigio with it, and the meal WAS quite tasty. But still, woah, it was just a bit over-priced in my opinion. It makes what the student house here was offering sound actually reasonable. I guess I just didn't expect it to be so pricey, especially after Jenny and I had that nice Italian meal of wine, dinner, and dessert all for less than what I just payed. Oh well, it was Thanksgiving. I guess I could just be thankful that I'm somehow able to pay for this dinner, even if it does mean cafeteria food the rest of my time here. Eh, like my stomach can really tell the difference anyway ;)

How were all of your Thanksgivings? I'm betting they were a bit more relaxed than mine, since all of you folks in the States got today and tomorrow off :P Jerks. Just kidding. Hope you all had a good time, plenty of food, and lots of fun with your family and friends. For now, it's time for me to sleep off the turkey. Later ;)

Tea Party: Would you like one cake, or five?

Mmmmmm, I'm so stuffed right now. I've just had my fill of tea (with milk), cakes, and shortbread....and plenty of conversation. The best part was, I wasn't the only babbler. The host herself just went off on this huge story about her trip to St. Petersburg, and all the misadventures they had. I couldn't believe how many things totally went wrong for her. She was with a travel group, and they had a not overly helpful travel guide. During the course of the trip, their plane was delayed, one person missed the flight, they were held up at customs, they had to walk down numerous flights of stairs and through the lobby just to use the bathroom and shower every day in their hostel, one man had his passport stolen on the metro, they had to hurry to get to a ballet that they ended up buying tickets for through the black market since the travel guide didn't want to bother helping them find any for the ballet they wanted, all while wading through a huge crowd of people parading through the city in support of communism, and after it all....she had a blast. I love traveling.

Splish Splash I was taken to Bath

I did get pretty wet this weekend, but it was more the rain pouring all over me and tredding through wet grass and puddles that got me. Just a quick update on things here before this card runs out in a minute. I saw Stonehenge, Avebury, Lakock, and Castle Combe this weekend, and it was a blast. This coming weekend my mom and brother and his wife are coming. It's going to be busy but it's going to be fun. Time to run! I'll write more later. ;)

Reading like a mo fo

Wow, the last couple weeks I've been in a reading frenzy. I've read Holes, R. A. Salvatore's The Lone Drow, Of Mice and Men, The Iron Man, and started reading Michael Crichton's Timeline. It just feels GREAT to be reading so much, either because the kids at the school are reading the novels or just for fun. After Timeline I'll be out of personal books to read, so I might just have to stop in the school library and swipe a book or two to read for a while. Or I might drop by a bookstore and grab a classic I've been meaning to read. So many possibilities.

As for my writing, I haven't accomplished much more than a poem and a few random lines, some brainstorming for lesson plans, and some blogging and journaling. Still, it feels good to get some of the much needed journaling done, and it IS good practice for the fiction I SHOULD be writing.

I do plan on working on Meandering Evengale this week, first writing an entry out in a notebook and then typing it and posting it--much cheaper and effective that way. I want to write a quality entry to follow up Tricia's most excellent addition to the story :) Time to get creative.

Of course, I can't forget about my student teaching and the lesson planning and formal journaling I must complete in the 4.5 weeks I have left here. Doesn't sound like much, does it? And for all I need to get finished in that time...it certainly isn't much time. I need to keep up with my daily log, do some case studies of particular students, reflect on differences between the American and British education systems, and do various other things to show what I'm doing and learning durning this second half of term.

::sigh:: And today in the staff room I saw a newsletter on the table advertising a couple teaching job openings in the district. No openings for an English teacher nor am I really looking for any jobs in the UK for that matter (though if a super sweet job was offered, it WOULD be tempting despite the complete upheaval of my life that it would cause :P), but it was a poignant reminder of the job search I SHOULD be doing. It's past mid-November, and I want to have a job by February. I've certainly got my work cut out for me.

But my work at the school is proving to be a very worthwhile experience. I may not be doing much teaching, but I AM learning to make myself useful where I can. The head teacher has me working with the English, Drama, and ICT departments, which I think spreads me pretty thin to be doing any seriously effective teaching. However, working with the Drama classes might show me a few tricks I can use in my own English classroom. And helping students during their ICT classes, answering questions about certain computer programs one-on-one with the students, could be an invaluable asset to my own computer education. And that's not all.

In addition, the ICT teacher mentioned that their website needs a lot of work, but there is no one available to devout their time to it...sounds like a door knocking to me. It would be such an awesome opportunity for me to learn more about web design! Only problem is that I might not know enough to even begin tackling such an ambtious task. But I'm willing to try if the ICT staff is willing to help me out. I'd even pick up a book or two on webdesign and do some of my own experimenting with Front Page and such. Even if I make very little progress, it's totally worth a shot if it means getting more experience in an area I'm interested in.

AND, wouldn't all of these different experiences in English, Drama, and ICT look wonderful on a resume? ::sigh:: Making a resume --> looking for a job --> hours of frustration --> many rejections --> finally finding a job that I probably won't like but I'll need to take it cuz it's the best thing I can find. Bleah, whatever. Anything's gotta be better than working in a box factory :P

"Single Serving Friends" or Moments to Be Remembered?

You know that scene in Fight Club when the main character is on the airplane and talks about "single serving friends," the people that come and go especially when travelling, who you talk to for a while but that's about it? I was reminded of that on the train today on the way back from Lancaster.

There was a nice fellow sitting at one of the table setup kind of seats, so I thought I'd take the spot across from him since there weren't many other spots open and he looked like he might be interesting. Sure enough, he went to the same "uni" as Jenny at Lancaster and was on his way home for the 1.5 hour daily commute. We talked a while about travelling in the US, the sights in Britain, and life in our respective towns.

When we arrived at his hometown of Crewe, we wished each other luck and said good-bye. We never exchanged names.

I spent about 7 hours on the plane to London next to a young woman named Anette, but I didn't know her name until I asked her about 2 hours into the flight. I spent about 2 hours on a train to Lancaster this weekend chatting with a friendly older woman named Julie, and didn't even realize I didn't know her name until I tried to tell Jenny whose mobile phone I was using to call her. Single serving friends. But coincidently, both of those ladies were teachers in some area of Britain. Funny, hm?

Maybe they are just temporary aquaintances, but they did the job spendidly. I've never been bored on a trip. And the same goes for the random people I've met at the bar downstairs, or at the school I'm working at. Such interesting people to meet from all over the place. All it takes is a few friendly words of greeting and a whole stream of conversation can come forth. Or I could have silently sat down, put on my headphones, and tuned out the world. Perhaps there's time for both.

Highlights from the Weekend

*Listening as middle-aged + Italian men debate smoking cigarettes in restaurants, and then Jenny and I joining the debate, telling our views are about it as Americans.

*At that same Italian restaurant eating the best meal I've had since I arrived...mmmm, spinach tortelloni sprinkled with real, fresh parmesean, the house white wine, and smooth coffee ice cream covered in a shell of white chocolate with a resevoir of creamy chocolate in the center. Each bite was a reminder of why I love good food and am really sick of cafeteria food twice a day.

*Riding the lion at Trafalgar Square ;) Nice ass.

*The beautiful red, orange, and yellow curtain of leaves covering an entire wall near St. James's Park.

*Watching a procession of carriages, horses, guards, and dignitaries on their way towards Buckingham Palace. Oooh, and the palace itself with all the gold guilded gates. Too bad we didn't see the changing of the guard--another time.

*Staying up until 6:30am (after a night at the bar downstairs) watching late night BBC shows like the movie Maurice...so gay ;) No really, it was all about homosexuality in the early 1900s. And Hugh Grant went from looking like his young hot self to this dude with nasty slicked back hair and a bad mustache (he reminded me of the old Strong Bad, you know, from the days of The Sneak and such). And then watching a bad sitcom, a mind-boggling game show, and a wonderful little kid's song about Tigers..."Raowww, Raowww."

*And last but not least, making travel plans at 2am in the women's bathroom.

Weekend with Jenny

Yep! This weekend Jenny's comin' to visit :) And it's totally going to rock. We'll do the tourist thing, we'll do the I-know-a-bit-about-London thing, and most of all, we'll just have lots of fun running around the big city (and sleeping in, of course ;) It's been so long! Yep, this will rock. And maybe there'll be popcorn too...if I can locate some. Anyway, it's late, I'm tired, better head to bed so I can get a few things done tomorrow afternoon. Later ;)

And for my next trick...

An interesting day at the school. Yep, quite. Today was fairly typical, with observing and helping where I can. First I was with a double class (two class periods in a row) of 9th year English, and then I went upstairs after break (there's a 15 min break every morning at 10:30) to see 10th year English. Sounds pretty normal, right? Yeah...So I got there, and my cooperating teacher isn't there. I figure she's a bit late, so I stand outside the door, waiting.

Then another teacher comes along, sees me waiting, and opens the door for me so I can sit down. That was nice. I used the time to continue reading Holes, which the 8th year students are reading (I've wanted to read it for quite a while). I got another short chapter in, and then the bell rang, and students started congregating outside the room. A couple peeped in, saw me, and asked if I was their teacher today. I said no, I'm a student teacher, and their teacher is coming, she's just running a bit late. So, they waited a while, and then asked to come in, and I'm like sure. But they then decided outside the classroom was a better idea. Really didn't matter to me, as long as they were well-behaved.

Shyeah, right, like a group of 14-15 year olds, left mainly to themselves with no real figure of authority nearby are going to behave. I decided to stand up and see about getting them in the classroom where they could sit down, since there seemed to be too many in the small hallway, and they were getting loud. I told them they could go have a seat in the classroom. My words were totally lost on them. Instead, they decided to start pushing each other around, in a very closed space, so that about 5 young men, all bigger than me, were jostling each other, pushing, shoving, and punching, all within a few feet of me.

I was like....FUCK! What the hell do I do?! So I yelled at them, told them to stop. I wasn't about to jump into the fray because I wasn't sure they'd stop a fist if my face was in front of it or not. They seemed to be mostly play-fighting, but some of those pushes and punches were coming in harder than they should. But as much as I yelled, they just ignored me. And then my savior arrived.

No crown of thorns or cross, but he saved me nonetheless. One of the other teachers came, and when he arrived, they calmed a bit. He got them to sit down in the classroom, though they were still quite loud. He then turned to me, and said he would go downstairs and look for the teacher. I'm like....great....Me, alone again, with a class that has already proven it can and will ignore every word I say. What do I do?

Think fast, Katie, think fast! What can I do to catch their attention and keep it long enough that they won't tear each other, or myself, apart? Singing and dancing was out of the question (except maybe at last resort). The students wouldn't give much information as to what they're lessons were, so I had no idea what they've been talking about in class, plus classwork from a pseudoteacher would not go over very well. So I did the first thing that came to my head: tell a story.

I announce to the class, "Alright class, can I have your attention? Who would like to hear a story?" At the last question, the majority of them shot their hands up in the air, turned their faces towards me, and for the most part, shut up. I'm like...sweet! Now what the hell do I say?

I didn't have a story book on me, nor did I have a fan-skippin-tastic story to tell that I could think of at that very stressful and pivotal moment. So I decided to make do with my own little tale. Not very creative, but it did get their attention for a while.

"There once was a student teacher, who came here from the United States. She just arrived Saturday, and it was her first time abroad. She came to a new school, and had to learn very much in a very short time, about the education system, the student, and the teachers." At this, the students were like, ohhhh, because of course they understood that I was just talking about myself. But they still were mostly attentive. "She knows she must stand out (I pointed at my clothing and such) by the way she looks and by her very apparent American accent. She is going to be helping out in the classroom, and eventually teaching, until Christmas."

Here I was losing a bit of their attention, but I luuured them back in with, "In fact, I will be working with your class, and a few others. And later, I will be teaching one or two classes in particular. And I get to decide which ones. Whichever one I like." I knew that maybe it wouldn't matter much to them, but on the other hand, the other classes seemed rather intrigued at the idea of having me as their teacher.

So, this took up about 5 min. The other teacher came back, but still not their regular teacher. Apparently she was finishing up a meeting with a parent, and she'd be on her way soon. That left a few open minutes...that didn't look too pretty from my perspective. Neither of us really knew what to do, and all the kids could tell us was that they had been working with poetry. Unfortunately, I had no poetry with me to share, and my efforts at asking what they thought about poetry went completely unheeded as they went back to their roaring and goofing around. Again, I had to think, think, think fast...

A game! Yes! A prize! Yes! Okay, I knew what to do. I had some American souvenirs with me I planned to use as small gifts before the end of my term here, that just happened to be in my bookbag. What could I pull from my bag of tricks? Ah yes....that would work just nicely.

"Okay students, who would like a prize?" Again, hands shot up, students were cheering, yeah! Good, got their attention. "If you can answer this question--with your hand raised and NO shouting out the answer--I will give you a small prize. Tell me, what team is this the symbol for?" I pasted a familiar symbol on the white board.

Hands shot up, and I called on each one individually. "The Giants?" "The Chicago Bulls?" "Georgetown?"...the list went on, all completely wrong, some for not even the right sport. It was great :) I gave them a hint. "Okay, the team is in the Midwest." (They have no clue what that means). "This team won the first and second Superbowls." (no clue) "Alright, the team is in Wisconsin." More guesses all around, but again, no clue. Then the teacher arrived. YESSSSS!

The kids were left in suspence. They wanted to know the answer. "Would you like to know the answer? It begins with a G...(no clue) It is a color." Finally, "Green!"
"Yes, the Green Bay Packers, which is where I am from."

The teacher started class, and I sat down, drained but feeling good. A student asked, "So what was the prize?"
"Oh, just some stickers"
The class laughed. Sweet :)

Time Time Time, see what's become of me

Okay, that's annoying. I changed the time to GMT, so that my posts here in London would actually show the time here. All well and good, except that changes ALL the times, so all my older posts are all stupid. I wonder if there's some way I can fix that...

The Way Out

I'm in London! I mean, London, England, me here now!!!! This so fucking rocks! My roomies are nice, both English Ed. majors. It's cool, though I'd like to meet some other international students or natives, just getting outside the typical US and the accent and all that. Jenny's experience at Lancaster just sounds so cool, with it being primarily British flatmates. But here, they group you together by location, but oh well. There's places...DUDE! BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY, on the radio, NOW!!! sweet...that makes my day :) "Look up to the skies and seeeee" Ah yes, an affirmation of my American roots...Wayne's World, what a wonderful movie.

Anyway, I should walk around, meet people, check things out. My roomies are all tired, but I'm wide awake and ready to go, thanks to my nap. As I had started saying, there are places like this internet cafe, a bar, and other social areas in which I can meet people from all over the world. I'd love to blog more, but I've spent way too much time sitting around on my own in the last 24 hours. Time to be social. "ME! Galileo, Figaro...He's just a poor boy from a poor family....Will you let me go, NO! we will not let you go...will not let you go, will not let you go, will not let you go, No no no no no no no!...for MEEEEEEEE!" Okay, I'm done singing. Hard to keep up with "type singing" on a foreign keyboard where the buttons are in just a tiny bit different places, so I make more typos. "oooooooh, oh yeah, oh yeah...Nothing really matters--anyone can see. Nothing really matters, nothing really matters, to me...Any way the wind blows ::sustained cymbol/gong::" Okay, I'm sad, I know ;) Well, off I go. Perhaps I'll come around later, when mayhap some of you US blokes are about. I guess it's only 2pm there. Later dudes :)

Flying high

Less than an hour and we're on the road. Not much time, so I better fly...well, not REALLY fly yet, but soon. Wow, another country, like another world. A whole new chapter in my life. Wish me luck, my friends, and I will talk to you soon. Love you all :)

Ack! The time of departure is nearly upon me!

It's 6:30pm the night before I drive down to Chicago and fly out to London...and I have nothing packed yet. Sounds like me, doesn't it? EEEK! So much to do in so very little time. And I still have to fit in some apple crisp and a drink with my brother tonight :) OH yeah, and a phone call or two. EEEK! Blog more later...gotta kick it in gear!

Super Mega Awesome Weekend

This really was a totally sweet weekend :) From the happy moment I stepped on Minnesota soil on Friday to the bittersweet farewell at the UMN campus this evening, it was a magical and wonderful time. Many beautiful pictures were taken, the wedding was freegin freezing but so very romantic, and I got to see two of the people I care most about in this world. I will miss them both A LOT in the next couple months, but that's what this blog, email, and letters, and expensive phone calls...are for :) Tomorrow will be full of good-byes and treats (thanks to me) at the middle school, and also a lot of packing and cleaning. Tonight I made cookies with Tiff and watched Fantasia...a great combo. I better get some sleep though. I know I'll have some sweet dreams--may you have some too :)

Woof Woof, Meeeow!

Today was "Make a Difference Day" for the 8th graders here. I was given the lucky position of chaperone for one particular field trip/volunteer experience: the Humane Society. :) For those of you that know me, you surely know I just melt whenever I see cute looking dogs and cats, so you can just imagine the look on my face when I received my chaperone assignment. And the kids did a great job. They walked dogs, vacuumed, cleaned walls, clipped rabbit toe nails, brushed cats, and played with puppies. I got some adorable pictures of them going about their volunteer work. Unfortunately, I didn't have much time to interract with the animals, other than patting a dog or two on the head and briefly petting a couple cats.

I can't help but become a little sad every time I go to a place like that, knowing that some of those dogs and cats will never be adopted. I'm not sure what policy this particular humane society has, but I know the one in my home town keeps a dog or cat for a few weeks, but after that...It's really a shame and makes me want to rescue them all, though I know I couldn't provide for them. When I finally have my own house, I'll just have to get my own young cat and dog from the local humane society. And hey, it never hurts to try an older dog too, you just never know what could happen...i.e. Oliver and Bailey :)

Shame on me...I forgot my blogiversary!

Yep, somehow I managed to totally forget that my blog turned 1 year old on Oct. 16. I did blog that day, but I didn't mention one thing about that special day. So now I must say, Happy Belated Blogivesary Return of the Journal--you've been a special place for me to write nonsensical babble and heart-wrenching sagas...I love you so. Keep truckin', blog, and I'll keep writin'. And maybe someday...someday I will figure out how to change some of the hosting and crap to fix up the template and make it all jazzy and new. Someday.

Young Tom Cruise vs. virtuous me

Alright, last night my dream contained a young Tom Cruise. He was still older than me...I'd say about 32ish. And he looked GOOD...I'm talking like, Top Gun good. Okay, so I'm at a nice bar with some friends, and I see right next to me is Tom Cruise. He looks over at me, and starts hitting on me. Understandable, right? He wants to take me home with him, you know, get a little closer. ;) And I'm like DUDE! Tom Cruise wants me! I grab a nearby friend and am like, wow! check this out! And then I remember, Hey, I have a boyfriend. Dang. Looks like Tom Cruise is too late. If he had run into me a few months earlier, maybe I'd think about it. But nope, I have a boyfriend, so he'll just have to forget about it. Of course I was like, BUT it's Tom Cruise! But, I totally turned him down. Aren't I a great girlfriend?

I just had to share that. Sometimes I have some really strange dreams. Think I would have done the same thing if I actually did run into a dashing, younger Tom Cruise?

Kick-ass show, kick-ass friends

They made it to EC last night, and all was well. All was more well, it totally ROCKED! Once everyone finally made it safe and sound to EC, there ended up being 5 of us meeting at the show. The turn out wasn't huge, but that was what I was basically expecting. EC just isn't that familiar with Down and Above, so it will take some time for the word to spread. But really, dna is a band that could be so successful, spread like wildfire if they got a break. Cuz honestly, they just have SO much potential and the sound AWESOME. Anyway, Tricia, Chris, Joe, and Tiff all went with me, and we rocked out. Tiff and Joe hung out while Tricia, Chris and I went backstage to chill with the band. It was cool :) They had a nice dressing room and all that, thanks to UWEC's huge stage and facilities. I got to talk with the band more, which was sweet, especially since I feel so behind, being a groupie of a couple groupies basically ;) Cuz Tricia and Chris know the band a lot better than I do (it certainly helps that they've been to at least 3 times as many shows--Chris has seen a lot more than that) and that they are also up on the music scene in MN. But someday...yes, someday I will be living here in MN and all will be well...more than well, it will KICK-ASS! Okay, I'm done raving right now. Tricia, Joe and I have stuff to do! Later mis amigos!

All I have to do is dreeeam, dream, dream, dreeeam

Last night I had a really kick-ass dream. I just have to share, before I forget too much of it. Enjoy!

I was in a building, like a large house, with some other people. I'm pretty sure some friends were there, and also some other people, including some CIA types that I didn't know. We were down south somewhere, apparently in an area with tornadoes. A tornado was about to hit, so we all were sitting on the floor in a kitchen area, resting our backs on some cupboards. The tornado hit, and we were all blown forward a bit, but we were okay because the cupboards were strong and well-built.

Then we were standing around, talking about what just happened. I turned and looked out the window, and saw dark clouds spanning the horizon, racing towards our house in a very unnatural way. It wasn't a storm this time; it was a bomb. Someone was trying to kill all of us! I yelled at everyone to "GET DOWN!" And we all hit the deck, barely managing to brace ourselves when the tremendous force knocked into the house. The cupboards were blasted forward, the walls nearly crumpled under the pressure, while debris started pouring through the windows. We all started running away from the blast and the flow of debris, trying to outrun the destruction.

Amazingly, we escaped our own anihalation and streamed from the house, into the forest near by. We knew that whoever sent that bomb would be looking for us, trying to finish the job of killing us. Somehow, a few of us managed to grab a backpack or two of things essential for survival, but we were still in very dire straights. We stopped running once we got a few hundred yards into the forest at the top of a small mountain. I realized that we would be sitting ducks out in the open, so I tried to rally the group and tell them to keep going, further into the forest, under cover. One of the CIA type guys (or military type, I don't know) said it would be really dangerous, since it was a RAINforest, a jungle that was HUGE and it would be nearly impossible to navigate through, especially with next to no supplies. However, we had no other choice but to try our luck.

Somehow, we made it through the jungle, into civilization somewhere. Except we did lose one person. Heidi did not keep up with the group, and got lost. She was okay, as she was saved by some rescue workers. But with the huge explosion at the house, there was a lot of media along with the rescue squads, so they were interviewing her. I saw her on tv, while the rest of the group was hiding out in a hotel. I knew I had to warn the group about it because I knew that the "bad guys" (whoever was trying to kill us) would see her on tv, and know that she survived and so logically, more of us survived. Then they would start looking for us, near where she was found.

I ran back to the hotel, and squeezed down the sort of sewer grate entrance to the secret room where the group was hiding out. I told them what happened, and was trying to get them all on the move. But the bad guys were close behind, and it was going to be a dangerous and difficult flight...or fight. We were ready to take them on. And then I woke up.

Cool, huh? Makes me want to go run around in a big building playing laser tag in the dark with a big group of friends. Who's in? :)

If I had a hammer, I'd hammer in the morning...on my students' heads!

ECK! What a day! Alright, so today I was observed during 6th hour, a class I've only taught for a week. I should have known then...wow, were they pains today! The ONE day I need them to behave and follow directions, they are at their worst! Honestly, I could NOT get them to SHUT UP today. It was really difficult to keep class going with their interruptions, totally pointless comments or questions, and getting up out of their seats. I just wanted to smack them up! But of course, I'm a good-natured teacher, and could and would never do that. I really SHOULD have put the smack down more though.

That's what my supervisor called me on, saying that I need to take on more authority and let the students know that I will not put up with that sort of behavior. She had some really good points, so actually talking with her wasn't bad at all, and it's good to know where I need to improve. But the actual teaching part...man, it was like a mild nightmare. Try as I might, I couldn't seem to get it in their heads that I wanted them to pay attention, get through the school work, and stop goofing off. So tomorrow...HA! tomorrow...those poor sods. I'm totally going to lay it into them. They won't know what hit 'em ;) I'm not going to yell or anything, but I'm going to use a stern solid voice, and let them know how much they disappointed me. I won't tell them that they had any emotional or personal impact on me (like saying that their behavior caused me grief with my observation), but I certainly will let them know that it was totally rude and disappointing behavior in front of a visitor. And I will tell them it will NOT be tolerated AND I am going to change the seating chart. And I most definitely am going to tell them that though I may not be around for long, while I am here, I AM the teacher, and they will respect that or face the consequences. I am fully capable of giving detentions or worse ;)

MWA HA HA HA HA! They haven't seen ANYTHING yet ;) They think I'm a mild mannered student teacher? Think again, puny 8th graders! hehehhe, okay, I'm not going on a power trip or anything. But I know I need to take on more authority and let them know my tolerance level and the consequences for breaching it. I don't like having to put the smack down, but at this age, as eight graders, they need it sometimes. Some students understand when to stop, when to control and monitor their own behavior. And some...well, they haven't got a clue when enough is enough. And it's my job, whether I like it or not, to tell them when to stop. If I don't step up, they'll step all over me. My other classes that I've taught longer...they seem to understand that better. Maybe it's the students, or maybe it's that we have a stronger raport, and know that I can and WILL do something about their behavior. Also, they seem to care more about what I think, since we have established a relationship, teacher to student, and more--we seem to just get along with our humors sometimes. But since I haven't taught 6th hour for long, and they are different students, I can't use the same techniques for classroom management and expect them to work. It's a tough lesson, and today was LONG, but with some advice, a couple friends and happy hour...I'm doin alright ;)

Observe a moment of teaching

Tomorrow I will be observed by my content area supervisor, Dr. Helen Dale, during 6th hour. ACK! I've done a lot of preparation for this, but I'm still nervous. I just feel that my lesson isn't creative enough, and she's going to think I'm going to be a boring teacher :P I can't really help it though; everything we've been doing this week is preparing for a project next week, and so I pretty much have to go along with what's happening in class. Bleah, I just hope my teaching techniques and knowledge of the kids is enough to pull me through. I suppose I could do with some constructive criticism--God KNOWS I've a lot to learn. Well, I gotta jet, so wish me luck tomorrow!!! :)

Quick thoughts written quickly

It's been a few days since I blogged, so I thought I would throw some words on the page before I head home from the comp lab. Today I had to get back to the grindstone, teaching and planning and...okay, so I took a nap. I was tired! But I'm getting SOME work done anyway. Wednesday I get observed by my content area supervisor, a professor I've had for two of my most difficult classes. I THINK it will go alright, especially if I plan A LOT, but it makes me a lot more nervous than my last observation. I just have a feeling she'll be pretty strict, but I guess that's a good thing since I am supposed to get advice on my teaching techniques and such. And from my previous evaluations over the last couple years, I KNOW I'm capable of being a good teacher, so even if I have an off day on Wednesday, I'll know that I CAN do better. So that's kind of comforting.

Other than that, not much new. Getting some good reviews of my haircut, which is nice--it was quite a drastic change and had me a little worried until I got to play around with the hairstyle a bit. Still will take getting used to. Can't wait to show mi amigos! Hm, anything else? Eh, not really. This Friday is the dna show, which is totally going to rock! And a weekend in MN is ALSO going to be totally kick-ass! And tomorrow's already Tuesday :)

Birthday wishes and drastic cuts

Today is now officially Erin's 23rd birthday, so everyone wish her a HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! Today is also my hair cut day, and I must say, it is a BIG change. I barely recognize myself! It totally kicks ass, and dudes, it's really too bad I'm not in the States for Halloween--I could TOTALLY pull off the Super Saiyan look this year! The hair only spikes up if I make it spike up, but it certainly doesn't take much effort! It so rocks! I can't wait to show you all :) Maybe I'll have to take a pic and stick it on my other webpage. Yeah, I really have to update that thing...I never DID get around to making the fun page of late night mischief pictures...I'll have to work on that. Well, it's late, and this tired girl must sleep. Later, mis amigos!! :)

Where I've been today: teacher convention, Borders, the ER...

My day can best be expressed in the form of an IM conversation:

Me: DUDE!
Me: guess what I did today
Jenny: howdy do
Jenny: no idea
Me: fainted
Jenny: taught eighth graders
Me: went to the ER
Jenny: omgosh!
Jenny: what happened??
Me: got to ride in an ambulance
Me: well, it's really rather silly

Me: I was standing outside this noon with some other teachers
Me: during the convention
Me: we were all about to walk to get lunch at Boston's (new place in town)
Me: when one of the other teachers came up to us
Me: she had just been at the hospital with her young son
Me: who cut his head
Me: big gash, bloody, deep
Me: and she was telling about it
Me: and, I guess that story, mixed with me not having a lot to eat, being a little thirsty, hot and the cold medicine and being sick....

Me: last thing I remember, my heart was beating fast, I felt light headed and queasy
Me: and I put my hand on Barb's shoulder
Me: (my coop)
Jenny: uh huh
Me: and she asked if I was okay
Me: and I said something like, I'm feeling lightheaded....and then bam, no idea
Me: apparently, I started collapsing, but she held my head
Me: so I didn't bump anything
Me: which was good cuz we were on cement
Me: and I guess I was totally out for a min or two
Me: meanwhile, I'm dreaming about something
Me: wake up, and there's faces all around
Jenny: wow
Me: no clue what just happened
Me: I'd never ever fainted before in my life
Jenny: you were just laying on the floor?
Me: yeah, I was laying, opened my eyes up and there were the teachers's heads all around me
Me: someone was taking off my sunglasses
Jenny: embarrassing?
Me: kinda yeah
Me: although, it's not like you can help it

Me: so they called someone there, and he came and checked me out, meanwhile they called an ambulance
Jenny: yeah
Me: and they checked me out, and then decided to take me in just in case
Me: and they said it was just a case of kinda low blood sugar and basically having a reaction to the story
Me: which can happen
Jenny: yeah
Me: when your heart starts beating too fast, and then your body tries to slow it down, but does it too quickly, and you faint
Me: but then when you lay down, blood rushes back to your head
Me: it was so bizarre, being put onto a stretcher and carted off
Me: I'd never been in an ambulance before
Me: it's not a fun ride
Me: my stomach felt queasy from the position and the drive
Me: and they pricked my finger twice for getting a blood sugar count
Me: :P
Jenny: oy vey
Me: at the hospital they checked me out, asked 2 times if I was pregnant :P and did an EKG
Jenny: lol wow
Me: I'm like, no I don't think so...

Me: so yeah, it was an event
Me: I called my dad when I got home, and he was all concerned--he told my mom, she called me, and she was all concerned about getting the insurance straight :P

Top 3 Lessons of the Day:

3. It's a good idea to have friends around when you faint--it makes falling a lot nicer and less painful.
2. Next time your friend wants to tell a graphic story about bloody gashes that are so deep and wide that the skull is showing DON'T LISTEN!
and the number one lesson of the day.... ::drumroll::
1. ALWAYS have your legs shaved: you never know when a young and very cute doctor will be feeling your ankles. :P

dna rocks my campus!!!!

DUDES! Guess who's coming to EC in a couple weeks? Yep! It's dna, a kick-ass band that I just can't wait to see again. You should totally come on down to EC to see them. Of course, that might be more difficult for those of you out of state or out of the country, but...I GUESS I can understand. Still, if you haven't seen them and are somewhere in the area, or if you HAVE seen them and you want to see them again, COME ON DOWN! Come to beautiful Eau Claire and see a rockin concert (and me, of course ;) Okay, I know I'm supposed to go to MN that weekend, and I STILL will, BUT, why not go to the concert first? I mean, I want to see Tricia and Chris, most definitely, but it's been a LONG time since I've seen DNA. SO...how about Chris somehow manages to get out of work (okay, so I know that's next to impossible) and Tricia and Chris drive to EC (much like the plans way back when) to see the kick ass concert, and then WE ALL can drive back up to MN together. Well, maybe we'd take separate cars, but we wouldn't HAVE to, since I could drive us all to MN, stay there for the rest of the weekend (granted, that leaves Tricia without a car, but I'd cart your ass around ;) and then Tricia would drive back to EC with me, and then take HER car back to MN when we arrive in EC. Everybody got that? Okay, so I know it's a far-fetched plan, and maybe I'll just go see DNA on my own and then drive to MN afterwards, but, I just love visitors :)! And you know, it COULD work if we tried...maybe. It'd just take some planning. Alright, had to get that all in--I was just SO excited when I saw the poster on the wall in Davies Center :)! DNA, here! Tee hee hee!!

OCTOBER 16th!!!!

That would be my blogiversary with my first entry in the blog "A new blog for a new start!" If I only knew then the complete truth to that statement.

She softly screamed for attention!

Bleah, it is NO fun trying to teach three classes with next to no voice :P I miss my voice...let me know if any of you find it, for it is lost. Saturday was Homecoming here at wonderul EC, and of course, like usual I didn't attend a single Homecoming event EXCEPT this year I headed on down to Water St. for the typical college drinking ritual. Unlike the throng, I didn't have much to drink, but I did have a few (two of which I didn't buy ;) mwa ha ha ha ha and my womanly wiles). My missing voice has mostly to do with the cool night air, LOTS of talking and yelling done by me with my friends, and the smokey environment inherent in bar hopping. We didn't do much hopping though, seeing as how it WAS Homecoming, so the streets were already packed at like 7pm. My friends and I headed out around 9pm, much earlier than usual, and went to Brothers for an hour or so. We got bored there (of course) and decided to chance leaving the bar, despite the fact that there were lines for EVERY bar, even the less popular ones. In the end, we went to The Nasty Habit, which wouldn't be my first choice, but it ended up okay. We waited outside for maybe...20 min I think, but the time flew while talking and meeting strange new people. Anyway, we did some dancing and singing along to lame old songs, and it was pretty fun all in all.

Speaking of fun, know what totally rocks? My blogiversary is coming up! See, it LOOKS like I started this blog back in June 2002 according to the archives, but that's because this blog took over the old one I had way back when--changing the address AND the content COMPLETELY, so it was a totally different blog. I figured, I wasn't using the old one anyway, and I may as well just use the space I have. Yeah, Homie Bear reminded me of the blessed event when I looked at his blog and his blogiversary writing contest. I don't remember the EXACT day of my blogiversary offhand, but I'll check it out after I get done blogging. I know it's sometime soon though--how could I forget that fucked up week? :P Eh, but that's in the past, and I think I've learned A LOT since then. Not to mention, I think I'm a lot better off ;) So, I think I'll have to do something extra special for my blogiversary, but I'm not sure what...I'll let you know STAT ;)

Oh yeah, and another thing....

Yeah, I forgot to mention: NOTA sucks. For those of you that don't know, NOTA is the literary magazine published twice a year here on campus. This was my last chance to get into NOTA as an undergrad, and of course, they rejected my stuff. And of course, like usual, they put in like 3 poems each of their favorite authors. I understand the whole anonymity thing, and the fact that "they can't help it if they like more than one poem that happens to end up being by the same author" but dammit, maybe they should. Don't they think it might be a good idea to give some other people a chance? Does one person really need to get 3 or more poems published in the same dang magazine? Personally, I don't think so. I think that the sacrifice would be worth it to give someone else a chance, to have more authors in there. But, then again, maybe it's just me. At this point, I really don't give a rat's ass anymore. They don't like my writing, fuck them. I like it, and one of these fucking days, I'm going to get published.

Join the club: get a cold!

Wow, it seems like everyone I talk to (including myself...) is feeling under the weather. Today I had to call the school and tell them I was sick. I felt bad doing that, knowing I already left early one day this week because I didn't feel well. I thought it was just a light little sickness, but today I woke up just feeling nasty and I could not find the energy to get out of bed. I hope my students did well on their quiz today--I hate to leave them hanging like that.

Oh, guess what! I got an email from Angelica, my old roomie from Sweden. She's still looking forward to Jenny and I visiting her after Christmas. I was sort of wondering how she was doing, so it was great to hear from her. She was in Australia for a month or so, with her boyfriend who was studying there. Now they're both back in Sweden and it looks like things are getting back to normal. Glad to hear she's doing well. And it will totally kick ass to actually visit her in a few months.

Yeah, one more month! Can you believe it? This is going to be one heck of a trip. I know that when I'm there, I'll be so busy and have a blast and it'll just totally rock. right now though, it makes me a little nervous. I'm glad it's coming, just that, there's so much to do before then. Like, searching for jobs and sending out resumes, figuring out what I have to do to get a MN state teaching liscense as well as a WI one, try to save money as my funds dwindle away, pack up, and see as many friends and family as many times as possible before I go. Not to mention, I still have a month of teaching at the middle school. And then there's one particular reason why I'm not totally psyched for London...a certain someone I'm going to miss A LOT. Okay, so I will very much miss Tricia too :) But I was really referring to Chris, this totally sweet and surprising guy that has completely swept me off my feet in the last month. Yep, it was one month ago yesterday that he and I, in the early hours of the day, had our first kiss and started something...wonderful :) I can't believe how much has happened in just one short month....and in one short month, I'll be away for 2.5 months :( I know it's not THAT long in the scheme of things, but I know I will miss him more than he can imagine. I'm not really worried about what it will do to us, because I know I care too much to do anything to lose him. But I know it will be hard.

Strange that I have had such a turn around in just a month, hm? I mean, a month ago, I was "dating" Craig, having doubts about him but figuring maybe I just needed time. Ha! Yeah, shows what I know about myself. Life is just so screwy sometimes. Four years ago, I thought I had my life and love all figured out. Three years ago, I still thought I had all the answers. Two years ago, I had some difficulties, but I thought I had overcome them and my life was well set. A year ago, I was totally chaotic, my mind, self, and heart everywhere and no where all at once. Through that year, the very values I have held most dear were called into question. And now, now I can actually look back at all of this, and see how and why I am at the point I am. I can acknowledge that even though I seem pretty well settled, I'm sure I don't have all the answers yet. I can realize there are a lot of things I still want to experience, and a lot of very important choices I will have to make. And I can also see just how lucky I am, to have the very caring and wonderful friends that I have, the loving family I have, and to have caught a wave to a future that could be very bright indeed.

Read Only

Today at the middle school, I had a rude awakening. One of my students is a young man who tended to turn in things late and is not typically very attentive during class. I try to get him involved to little avail. Today, while I was correcting one of his late assignments, I noticed something. He seemed to understand the concept quite well, but he had major problems with one portion of the assignment. The half he did flawlessly on was a bit of writing, putting together 4 sentences for each of the 4 kinds of sentences (interrogative, declarative, exclamatory, and imperative). The half he got almost every one wrong on was an exercise in the book, where he had to just label each sentence as one of the 4 kinds. I couldn't believe that he could do so poorly on that part, considering his obvious knowledge on the subject as shown by his other work. When I asked my cooperating teacher about it, she seemed to know exactly what the issue was: he was a very poor reader. Of course! I felt so blind for not seeing it. I mean, I was glad that I at least took note of it enough to ask, but still, just wow--it was something I hadn't really even thought of. All this time, I thought he wasn't as motivated or something...but most of it is directly or indirectly related to his reading problems.

So now I'm faced with this issue: what can I do for him? He does not qualify for any modifications or anything like that--he has to face the same challenges as the rest of the students, though he does qualify for a little outside help. I want him to succeed and I want him to BE motivated. I don't want English to be a class in which he zones out, cuts off from the class and does just enough to get by. I know I can't do A LOT, but I want to do all I can to make my classroom a place where he feels comfortable enough to try and to get the help that he needs. I would be willing to read assigments over with him, set him up with a tutor, or just ANYTHING to get him where he needs to be. Unfortunately, it IS English class, and he DOES need to be able to read, and he really doesn't qualify for the special treatment of having quizzes or tests read to him. But perhaps I can change some things in my whole teaching strategy, make up more activitities and assignments that use more faculties than reading. It's so easy to just follow what my cooperating teacher has set up, and it really is difficult to do things TOO differently when I need to be at a similar pace with the rest of the classes. If I was taking on all of the classes on my own, it wouldn't be quite so complicated (though it would be admittedly more difficult, knowing I'd have to do ALL the planning on my own). AGGGH! I wish I knew more, knew how I should go about helping him. I'm going to talk with him, and I hope he will be willing to cooperate and get the help that he needs. I really want him to succeed, and get whatever help he needs in reading...the really unfortunate thing is that he needs to be able to read carefully, critically to be able to do well on his state test.

Stupid fucking state tests. (excuse my Latin) I mean, I know the dumbass legislators think they're doing something good for education, but dammit! What about a kid like this? He seems like he's pretty bright and has a personality and such, but he doesn't make the cut for some kind of intervention or real help. He is "Title 1" which is all well and good, if only our "Title 1" program got more funding. Blasted state and federal goverment!!!! What the fuck were you thinking, cutting back on education?! On a totally side note, what I just did there was use an "interrobang"...it's when a sentence is exclamatory AND interrogative (typically using a rhetorical question). It's some relatively knew thing that some people are trying to make into a legitimate form of punctuation. I guess Wingdings and some other fonts actually include it, with the question mark and exclamation point overlapping each other, sort of like the whole $ effect. Just thought you'd like to know that.

Anyway, yeah, I just had to let out some frustration. I know that I can make my lessons more interactive, student based, and a lot cooler...I just have to do some planning and thinking and strategizing. It's not easy with content material like "the predicate." Grammar fucking sucks. I know it's important to know, but it's another thing entirely to be teaching it out of context. I'm trying to put it INTO context, but I know I haven't tried enough. It's just so much easier to follow the leader, just making slight alterations on my coop's plans. She really is a good teacher and does seem to know how the students work and all that. But she IS traditional, and she does seem to be rather attached to the process of "part to whole"....when the academic world of educating teachers is pushing for "whole to part." The whole dang thing drives me nuts. It's like, who do I follow, who do I believe? I know I should go with what I think is right, but it's rather difficult when I know I have very little experience with teaching. I've spent 18 years as a student (including preschool) and only a few weeks here and there actually teaching. My own education included primarily traditional tactics...and I think I learned quite well. But was it because of the lessons? the teachers? my own aptitude? my love of reading? my parents?! I think it is different for all students, since they all learn through different mediums at different paces. And the academically correct notion is to totally buy into EVERY constructivist theory known to educators. I very much DO believe in letting students have the most say, having them lead activities, making teaching a LOT less teacher-led (a lot of this stemming from my own experience of REALLY NOT LIKING standing in front of a room and blabbing on and on about boring shit while students have to take notes or follow along in a boring-ass book or correct boring-ass worksheets). SOME teacher led stuff does seem to have its place--some things take some explaining, and having students doing ALL the correcting takes a dang long time.

Maybe I'm digging myself a hole here. I'm REALLY not trying to sound like some backwards ass future teacher who thinks everything should be taught the way I was taught. That is SO not the way I feel. I'm just trying to say that I think SOME of the old ways CAN work, if done the right way. But for me, personally, it is not the way I PREFER, even though I'm mostly going with the flow here. The thing I really am realizing is that doing it TOO traditionally does not account for student differences, and I do NOT want to alienate the kids that learn better in non-traditional ways. I really do want to be a good teacher, and I think I still can be one while learning from a very good teacher, even if I don't agree with every choice she makes. Student teachers can be in a very awkward position, having to balance their will to make the class "theirs" while being VERY aware that the students are NOT "theirs" for the majority of the school year. ::sigh:: Overall, I really am having a great experience with these 8th graders, and I think I'm actually learning more about myself as a teacher than I would have ever thought. Caring about these kids is giving me motivation to do more than I ever did in class. I may not be coming up with the utmost in creative lesson plans, but I AM trying to listen to the students, understand their minds and motivations, and get the kids thinking and learning, not just about English, but about themselves as users of language. Keep wishing me luck--I'll never run out of need for it.

Free coffee makes me happy

I just had a nice 16 oz. cup of coffee, for free. :) You see, I stopped by the cafe on campus and the guy working it said they had just close a few min ago at 7pm. Now, last year they were open til 10pm. The other day I stopped by the cafe and one of the ladies that works in the student center said she thought they were open til 8pm this year since it was changed. Well, nope, it's 7pm. Who the heck closes at 7pm? Especially a coffee place?! I mean, what about those late night students working in computer labs? Maybe it wasn't good business for them, but it was certainly very nice. ::sigh:: Just as well I'm leaving--who knows what other crap the U might try to pull :P Okay, ANYWAY, the free coffee came from the nice guy working the cafe. Since they were probably just going to have to dump all the good coffee anyway, cuz they were closed, he said I could have a cup. So he handed me a nice big cup and I filled it half with Irish Cream decaf and some premium Colombian stuff. It was a nice surprise :)

Wow, just a little over a month and I'll be out of here. I wish my housing sounded nicer. I guess there's no bathroom in the apartment. We have a sink, but have to go down the hall for the rest. I wonder what they have for kitchen stuff. ::sigh:: yippee....spend 4.5 years at a university and you're stuck back in the dorms again :P At least it's in central London--there's GOT to be plenty of good stuff to distract me from the boring-ass residence....I just looked at the website for it, and it seems there's no kitchen either, so yeah, I'm not sure what I'll do for food....spend a lot of money I guess :P Ah well, at least breakfast is included in the price (better be, for what we're paying). Bleah, now I'm not in the mood to blog. I'll have to think of more to say later.

Point of Recovery

It's taken a couple years
of reaching and falling
stretching and collapsing

grabbing and missing
the handholds
I'm not a climber
In fact, most times
I've been staying in one place
not really going down
but certainly not going up

How can a stationary person,
an immobile object, hope
to touch anything good
and new, if she never moves?
Now I'm moving, even
if it is pretty slow
but I think I'm going
the right direction this time
up, up and up some more
a few steps at a time
looking ahead and infront
passing by the things
I left behind me

Poetic Ponderings Positively Progress Promptly

Tonight I revised some of my poetry and submitted it to NOTA (None Of The Above), the on campus, undergraduate semi-anually published literary magazine. I've never had a piece of my writing make it into the publication, but I did get on a sort of waiting list for it the first time I tried. Knowing I made it that close has made me REALLY want to get into it someday. But there were some semesters I didn't have anything ready, or that I have a couple solid pieces, but nothing else of much substance. Still, at least I tried a couple times. This time, I think I have at least a couple poems that have at least a fighting chance. It's hard to know what kind of poetry the judges are really going to be looking for. They seem to have their favorite styles, and they usually don't include punchy lyrical poems (as a couple of my past submissions could be described as). This time I think I have a nice variety, ranging from a rhymey basic four stanza poem to a stream-of-consciousness type poem to an abstract kind of self-affirmating poem. I even threw in a short and ragged allusion poem. And another that could be lyrics to a pop or punk song. All in all, a good mix as far as I'm concerned, and that's all that really counts, doesn't it? Okay, maybe not to the board making the decisions, but even so, I'm glad I went through the trouble of submitting because it gave me the push I needed to get certain poems typed up and revised that were either dispersed in journals or stuck in cyberspace. So, wish me luck!

On another note, I FINALLY FINISHED Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix!!! Not that it took me long to read it, just that it took me all summer long and plus to actually START reading it. Thank you, mi mejor amiga Tricia! Now I can discuss the details with all of you guys have already read it and have been waiting and waiting for me to get off my ass and read it. Twas a good book, though yes, it was dark, and Harry's all pissy, but still, even Luke almost went to the Dark Side. Well, my hands are getting sore, which is a good indication that I've spent more than enough time behind a computer tonight. Check ya later! :)

It's not my fault...yes it is

Bleah...tonight I was rather insensitive to a friend. I made plans with someone and then proceeded to sleep through them without giving a call. I apologized to her for making her wait and making her worry, but there's not much I can really say. I was tired, I should have said I was too tired to go anywhere or I should have just gotten up and left--not fallen back asleep. I REALLY don't like it when people, especially friends, are mad at me, but I can totally understand why she would be, so I am just going to have to ride this out. Hopefully I can make it up to her and she will not think so badly of me for long.

Teaching this week went okay. It was busy with quizzes, assignments and a lot of things to cover in class, but the kids and I made it through somehow without homework this weekend. It's amazing how many copies I've got to make though :P I'm not being used as an office clerk for my cooperating teacher; I'm just following through on the worksheets and activities we plan out, making sure we have the resources set for class. Today I tried playing a verb game of charades with my two classes. It would have gone alright, I think, if we had at least 5 more minutes, maybe even half the class period. Instead, we had maybe less than 10 minutes to try and explain the game, get the kids in groups and get them playing the game. I guess at least I learned what kind of timing is necessary for such things. Oh well, you win some, you lose some. At least it was Friday treat day so I got to fill up on junk food all day long :P And then "Inservice Day" at Double Days Bar and Grill ;) I actually lucked out quite well with one teacher buying me a drink and another buying my appetizer. I was very grateful :) It was a good end to a loooong week. Next week should be interesting--I am being observed next Tuesday by a supervisor from the school of education AND it's homecoming week so every day is a fun dress day for each individual grade. My 8th grade gets to wear things with these themes: Mon-Red, Tues-(decades) future, Wed-PJ's, Thurs-Sports, and Fri-School Spirit. So I get to be observed on the day I dress for the future...not sure what I'm going to wear yet, but I'm certain it will be something that shows my enthusiasm. Well, I'm off back to bed...geez I'm boring tonight.

Fan-skippin-tastic time in MN

Yep, I had a great weekend! I got to wish Tricia a VERY happy 23rd bday on Sunday (and celebrate it all weekend long of course ;) And I got to chill with Lance a bit which was cool after not seeing him all summer. And, last but not least, I had the opportunity to start something new and wonderful with a fantastic guy :) Neither of us know how it will go with all of the chaos of him having another year of school and me student teaching in London for a couple months, meanwhile both of us stuck in our respective current cities of residence...BUT we're both willing to try and take it step by step, enjoying this unexpected and exciting change of relationship status. Pssst...fyi, in case you for some reason have no idea who I'm talking about, it's my friend Chris P. who in the last couple weeks has become much more than a friend :)

On that note, I'm going to promise to try to keep most of my posts from not being little mushy tales and notes, even if he IS in my audience. Of course, he'll come up a lot more and I look forward to sharing some amusing anecdotes now and then, but I'll save the personal stuff for emails and my hand-written journal. Sound alright to you? Good. So how 'bout those Packers, eh? Yeeeah, Green Bay rocks.

Bon jour! Je m'appelle Katie!

Slowly, VERY slowly, I am learning a very WEE bit of French thanks to sitting in on my cooperating teacher's 7th grade French class. They only meet a couple times a week and it's only an introductory course for the quarter, so it's more of a cultural tasting than a language course. But I've learned a few things about France and I know how to say a couple little things. I have no idea how to spell, and I'm not sure if she's going to teach them the alphabet or anything. I know they're going to learn how to count to 10, and that will be nice, but I'm pretty sure I'll be like any other stupid American tourist when I visit Paris this winter.

Yeah, with Jenny gone now, it's like a constant reminder that I too will be in England in the not-too-distant future. I just hope I can get everything organized and packed given the little time I'll have in GB before I go. I'm so glad I'm getting my hair cut though, even if it's still a month away--I'm so sick of this ultra long mop. For those of you that have known me a long while, you know that this is about as long as my hair has ever been. For some people, this wouldn't be that long, like Liz whose hair has been so long she could sit on it. But for me, it's nearing almost halfway down my back and I find that amazing! And totally annoying. I like it when I make it look nice; however, it's getting to the point where it's just heavy and getting boring. But soon...SOON! My hair will be super short, not quite a pixie cut, but short enough that I can do things like spike it up or put little curls in it. And it will have highlights! I've never put highlights in since it already tends to have highlights, but I'm thinking lighter blonde ones and red ones---ooh, such fun will be had! At least for me. Well, I think that's enough babbling about my hair...it's not exactly the top thing people want to know about. Anyway, I'm in MN hanging with Tricia, so I better go be social :) Later!

She's leaving on a jet plane, but I know when she'll be back!

::sniff, sniff, tear:: Jenny's flying out tomorrow for jolly ole England, and I shall miss her terribly. (Gotta practice the local dialect) The good news is, she'll be having a blast doing some touring while I'm pretty busy with teaching anyway. AND, I'll be seeing her in about 2 months when I too make the journey to that far away place known as "Angle-Land" (or is it Angol, or Angal?...I'm not a history major :P) Know what the rockingest part is? We're scheduled to be on the same flight home!!!! Sweet ass, hm? Yep, I finally bought my tickets, making my trip "official." (as though the roughly $3000 I've spent for this semester hasn't already made it "official"). But yeah, I'm really going to miss that girl :( We're totally going to have to make up for it by having an awesome time in Europe later. Debt or no debt, no holding back when it comes to trying new and fun things. Well, maybe a LITTLE conservation of cash flow would be good, but that will come in the way of lodging at hostels and shopping at grocery stores for food. Wow, Europe...with Jenny leaving, it makes the idea so much more REAL. I know she'll have a great time, and she better keep in touch via blogging or email!!! :) So, let's all wish her a fan-skippin-tastic trip and a kick-ass time in England! Bon voyage, Jenny! Take care!

Do you hear the people comment?

Maybe not "hear," but we certainly are VERY happy that YACCS was able to fix the problems in a relatively short time and make the comments all better again--thank you YACCS!

In other news, school is still going alright. I tell you, sometimes it's so strange to be at home and realize I don't really have much to do at all for "homework." I have some emails to do, and I should be working on my portfolio and also doing some organizing for my London trip, but tonight it was just great taking a nap after school/work (I tend to call it "work" cuz I am acting as a teacher and not taking classes per se). I did some organizing of my notes and room and a LITTLE work. I'll really have to get in gear tomorrow. I want to make sure I have all the little but important stuff done before I leave this weekend for MN. I'm so looking forward to the weekend :) Originally I thought this would be a weekend to go to GB, but I'm glad it turns out I get to help celebrate Tricia's birthday! It'll be good to see mi amiga again, and of course, el hombre que lo me quisiera hacer un novio. If you don't know Spanish, well, there's always a translator. Granted, my Spanish language skills are pretty rusty and I was trying to use the subjunctive which was always rather confusing, but you should be able to get the gist of it. When in doubt, ask Tricia--I did. ;)

Actually, I'm feeling good in most aspects, except this annoying pseudo-cold. It's like I'd rather just get the stupid being sick part over with and move on, but no, I stay on the verge of having a cold, just suffering from sniffles, a little drowsiness, and watery eyes--it's almost like allergies except I don't have sinus allergies, and it's not consistent. But yeah, otherwise I'm doing alright, even talked to Craig online a bit last night and he was friendly enough. I'm glad he's doing well and that what happened was just a bump on the road of experience for him. As for me? I've been good :) Jenny and I went dancing Saturday night and she managed to pick up a fellow--it'll be interesting to see what she does with that ;) And I danced a little with Ricardo from Peru--ooh, how exotic, hm? He behaved himself well so I didn't have to lay the smack down, and dancing with him a little gave Jenny the chance to be more one on one with her dancing fellow. Truthfully, I also could have picked up a fellow, since he did ask for my number, but for one thing, I wasn't really interested, and for another, I think now maybe I could tell you I have a certain person in mind :) Of course, it's all very cool and different and exciting, but it's also very new so time to take it one step at a time. Think I can handle that? I hope so--sometimes I really am so impatient. But I usually can find plenty of patience when I'm waiting for something good.

There is one dilemna that arises from these new developments...he reads this blog! "Not again!" you say. Aye, unfortunately, tis true. Not that I mind his reading the blog, but there is that whole conflict of interest thing that may come up. For now, I'll just keep doing what I'm doing, and write what I would normally write. Eventually though, I might have to think about making some changes :(!!! Unless of course he promises to not read my blog...or maybe I just need one of those flashy things they use to erase your memory in MIB..hm...anyone know where I can get one? ;)

In five years I will be in collage

Yep, you heard it hear first. A new surge in art students arises as Kids are choosing to skip the dull old routine of attending college and going straight on into collage. When asked to comment, eighth graders stared blankly and said, "What?" Ahh, my wonderful eighth graders. Maybe they can't spell, maybe they can't write well in cursive, and maybe they can't tell left from right, but by God they will learn in my English class. At least that's my hope.

Right now I'm teaching just one of five classes of eighth grade English, taking on the 21 students of 3rd hour. And I've gotta tell you--I like them :) They're a good bunch of kids overall. Even though I can decipher the students I would have been friends with from the kids that would have made my life difficult, I see them all as "my class." Eventually I'll be teaching all five classes, taking on more and more responsibility as the weeks pass. For now though, I'm happy having the small load right from the start, getting accostomed to names and faces and the daily procedures that go on in the middle school. My class just rocks. There's one girl that has seen Pirates of the Caribbean more than I have; one boy that likes DBZ; and one kid that had a good laugh when on the first day of taking attendance I didn't know if the name was "Alexander" or "Alexandra" because the last part of the name was cut off in the copy...I had to ask and it turned out to be an Alexander, and he took it all quite well. Only one week, four days of classes and already I have stories to tell and am learning through trial and error. Sometimes it's easier than others, for instance, today I had a hard time keeping them quiet while they worked on prewriting in class. Some of the students not only wanted to keep on talking to each other; they wanted to talk to me too. Those little buggers :) You know how talkative I am, so it's all I can do to keep myself in check too! Ah well, I'm still learning too, so it's not like I'm going to have it all down now. Gotta learn something in the next two months of student teaching, right?

Tomorrow (well, later today since it IS after 1am) Jenny is supposed to be visiting, so that will rock da house. We're totally hitting Water St. for a couple drinks and a lot of dancing :) You know, tonight I actually ran into an aquaintance from APO that I hadn't seen for a year or so who is still going to school hear. She was at Target with her boyfriend and two of his roomies. They were buying Simpsons Jeopardy, and they actually invited me to go back to their house and play. Maybe if it were Star Wars Jeopardy I'd be tempted, but as it is, I almost never watch "The Simpsons" and would be horrible at the game. Not to mention, I'm not really good friends with her and I just met the rest of the guys, so it just didn't seem like a kosher idea. Besides, I'm a good girl, you know ;) Well, okay, I'm trying to be. Come on, you've got to admit that I'm doing better than last year. And with everything that's going on this year, I have a lot more incentive to be on my best behavior. So, I'm going to try to keep walking in the right direction. Maybe I can even start running. Or perhaps driving? :) For now, a good relaxing weekend and a full night's sleep. Sleep tight with amusing dreams!