New Moon

I am super, wild, crazy excited about watching the movie New Moon.

Last year when Twilight came out, I was equally excited, and a couple of my Twihard friends and I got tickets to the movie on opening night.

We realized that there would be a lot of people there, but I don't think any of us was prepared for what we walked into that night.

First of all, there were the lines waiting to get into the theater. Lines full of teenaged girls and their mothers. Lines that travelled up and down and around. Did I mention I hate lines?

When we finally got into the theater, we thought all was right with the world. We were soooo excited. And then, the movie started... and the girls in the theater started screaming. Or, to be completely accurate, it was more like high-pitched shrieks. Every time Edward Cullen entered the picture they shrieked. This lasted the entire movie.

It was annoying, to say the least.

But, that wasn't even the worst thing. I know I teach young teens, so I shouldn't play into the stereotypes about them, however.... I'm just going to go ahead and say it. Teenagers can often be rather obnoxious when in large groups with other teenagers.

The teenage girls sitting behind us not only talked throughout the entire movie, but one of them also kicked the back of my friend's seat throughout the majority of the movie. No look we gave was dirty enough to halt the socializing or the seat kicking. Finally, my other friend turned around, grabbed the girl's foot, and gave her a death look. The kicking ceased; the chatting did not.

It was by far the most unpleasant moviegoing experience I have ever had.

So, though I am beyond excited to see New Moon, I am rather wary about when and where I will see it.

I will keep you posted.

Validation

As some of you know, I recently celebrated my 28th birthday.

It has been a wonderful birthday. If your birthday is the day you are supposed to feel loved and appreciated, mine certainly did not let me down.

I have received many wonderful gifts, cards, and notes from family, friends, and students; but, today I received the very best birthday gift by far. It is a heart-felt letter from one of my 8th grade students. I cherish it. And, as I told Michael after he finished reading it.. if I continue teaching after this year.. it will be because of this letter.
(I tried to scan it and post it, but it came out too small to be read... so, alas, I must type it).

Mrs. (Sorry),
Happy (belated) birthday! I hope you the best 28th year of your precious life. You've made it this far, doing great things for your students and others around you. Your presence is joy to me, your smile a brilliant star beaming on my world.

Thank you for being an awesome teacher who not only teaches from the book and guidelines, but a teacher who teaches from a loving heart. One who tries to get to know and listen to us as much as you educate. Thank you for dedicating your time and hardwork to get us ready for the future. Thank you for the attention you give to each of us, your students, who look up to you with respect.

For me, you are more than an 8th grade teacher. You are my guide in my teenage (a very, very hard time in life) time, and hopefully, a teacher who lasts a lifetime. Your kindness and care for me and your other students are strongly appreciated and treasured. And even though I know that you believe we should see you only as an authority figure, as a teacher, you have done so much more for us than what a teacher needs to. Your patience and effort to make learning fun in class makes me eager to hear and know what you have to tell us. Thank you!

Cherish life and don't stop smiling, Mrs. (Sorry).

With hugs and smiles,
Joyce

I did my best to type the letter out exactly as it was written... errors included. Because, I would like to point out that this particular student is an English as a second language student. She moved to the United States from the Phillipines 2 years ago. Before she came to the U.S. she spoke, wrote, and read in Tagalog in school and with her family all the time. She and a friend of hers would speak and write in English to each other for fun. She is basically a self-taught English speaker and an amazing young woman.

I feel blessed to have a thoughtful student like her who is so appreciative of me and who is able and willing to express that appreciation so beautifully.

Highs and Lows

As a teacher, I've found that it's very common for me to have HIGH highs and LOW lows. There are also many of those inbetween moments, too; it's just that those moments don't seem to stick with me as much.

Sometimes an entire day is good or bad. But, usually, it's moment to moment.

For instance, today I had an extremely successful religion class with my 8th graders. It was one of those times where everything just seemed to click into place and all of the students were engaged and part of it. We were having a class discussion and they were eager and interested and it was soooo awesome! It's moments like those that I get it - the whole being a teacher thing. I was flying high during that discussion. Nothing could bring me down.

That is....
Until the next class period when I gave the students in my 5/6 language arts class the wrong words for their vocabulary test. I gave them the Unit 5 words instead of Unit 4. And, doncha know, they let me get through the whole list of words before one brave student raised his hand and said, "Umm.. Mrs. (Sorry), I don't think these are our words."

Sure enough.

In that case, there was nothing I could do but laugh.
And I also gave them a little bit of extra study time as apology for scaring the living crap out of them. I'm sure they were all having secret anxiety attacks thinking they had made the mistake and studied the wrong words.

I heard a few of them chuckle quietly and make comments like, "Oh, that Mrs. (Sorry)." I don't think any of them were too surprised. Sadly, it's not out of character for me to do that kind of thing.

Yeah.
High highs and Low lows, that's me.

Happy Veterans Day

This is quite a week...three big days in a row.

First the Marine Corps Birthday, today Veterans Day, and tomorrow? My birthday.

I took an extra moment today to reflect on what this day means. I have a wall in my house that is covered with pictures of our family members who were in the military.

My maternal grandfather served in the Army during WWII, my dad went to Vietnam as a Corpsman, Michael's paternal grandfather served in the Navy, Michael's dad retired as a Rear Admiral in the Navy.

And, of course, there's Michael.

On this day I am very proud to be part of two families who have given so much to this country.

Happy Veterans Day.

*Note: I've never thought about the fact that there is no apostrophe in Veterans Day until today. I decided to look it up and came up with this info: "Veterans Day does not include an apostrophe but does include an "s" at the end of "veterans" because it is not a day that "belongs" to veterans, it is a day for honoring all veterans". Interesting. FYI, I found this information Here.

Marine Corps Birthday Ball 2009

Let me begin by saying, "Happy Birthday, Marine Corps!"

The above picture is, you guessed it, Mike and me at the ball. I used some cool special effects and am thinking this photo might be a framer.

While I'm on the topic of the photo, take a look at my Marine's medals. They're lookin' good, wouldn't you say? The one that caught the most attention last night was the bronze star... it's the star on the far left.. and it actually looks more like gold than bronze. just saying.

In any case, straight to the point, the ball was a BLAST. It did, however, start out a bit rocky. It had nothing to do with the shoes (I managed to make it through the night without a single episode of tripping on my dress) and it had nothing to do with the hair (I managed something that I deemed acceptable). It had to do with the fact that Mike was in the sword detail.

In other words, he was part of the ceremony and wasn't able to sit with me for the first 30 minutes of the ball. Which was supposed to be okay, because our friends were at our table, so I was supposed to have company. But, they were late.

While Mike prepared for his sword detail, I took a seat at the table... by myself... for a good 10 minutes. Awkward. No one else from our table was there! Finally, one of the marines showed up and told me the ball had been delayed by 50 minutes due to some traffic situation.

So, I headed for the bar. And that's when things started looking up. Our friends arrived, and we had 50 minutes to drink and socialize before the ball began. Translation: everyone had a nice buzz going before heading in for the opening ceremony.

The opening ceremony. The first 30 minutes of the ball the Marine Corps impresses you with their incredible sense of honor and discipline. They remind you that you're not just there to dress up, socialize, look pretty, and have fun. You're there to remember the Marine Corps and all it stands for. They make you proud to be part of something bigger than yourself. It's quite awesome.

And, if I may say so myself, my Marine did an impressive job marching in, standing at attention, and providing sword detail for the guests of honor. Sadly, I have no pictures as my table was near the back of the room, and I couldn't get a good shot of him. So, you're just going to have to take my word for it.

After we ate the delectable food and had a few photo ops in our pretty clothes, we took to the casino. (Oh, did I mention the ball was at a local casino?) Some of the girls and I changed clothes, but the boys opted to stay in uniform. We had so much fun that we stayed out until 2 am! The boys had so much fun that they stayed out until 4 am.

Fun indeed.

Preparing for a Ball

The Marine Corps Ball is tonight, and I'm super excited about it.

Nevermind the fact that they decided to schedule the ball for a MONDAY night (what were they thinking?!)! At first, I was completely annoyed about this, but when I made up my mind to use a personal day to take Tuesday off from work, I realized that the whole ball on a Monday thing is actually to my benefit. Today we have off in honor of the upcoming Veteran's Day, so I actually get a 4 day weekend. Oh, it is heavenly!

There was no way I was going to miss the ball this year. Mike has been deployed the past 2 years during Marine Corps Ball season, so it's been quite a while since we have attended one.

We're doing it the right way this year, too. We got a hotel room and put the dogs in the kennel so we can both drink and have a good time without having to worry about driving or getting home to the dogs in a timely manner.

I ordered a dress online for the occasion - a calculated risk. Amazingly, my calculations were correct. The dress fits perfectly, and I am pretty sure I love it. The true test will be how I feel in it tonight. It's a little long, so even though I bought taller-than-I-normally-wear-heels, I am worried I am going to trip over my dress and create a scene. Cross your fingers for me, please. (My mom told me that I should have gotten the dress hemmed, but I rebelled. I am tall for a woman. These dresses are made for my height. I shouldn't have to get my dresses hemmed!!)

Last night, I spent 2 hours experimenting with my hair. For most special occasions, I generally have intentions of putting my hair up, but get frustrated with my lack of skill in this area and leave it down. I didn't want that to happen this time, so I put a lot of time and effort into figuring out how I was going to do it for the ball. In the end, I watched a couple of youtube videos on how to do easy updos, and I finally managed to come up with something I was pleased with.

I just hope I will be able to manage to do it again tonight when it counts.

Will Sarah slip and fall on her a-little-too-long gown? Will she manage to create an up-do she is pleased with? Stay tuned for updates on what happened at the much anticipated Marine Corps Ball.

Apples to Apples

I am absolutely in love with the game Apples to Apples.

If you have played it, I'm sure you understand why.

I don't believe I have ever had as much fun playing a "board" game as I do when I play Apples to Apples.

The things that make this game so amazing are
1) If you don't laugh while playing, you were born without the fun gene
2) It's not competitive. Which is important. Because I am competitive, and being competitive often ruins the game experience for me.
3) It requires no real skill, yet, it's still (shockingly) educational.

In fact, I have used it in my classroom many times. And, every single student from grades 5-8 is completely in love with it. Case and point, they will sometimes even borrow it from me so they can play during lunch recess. It's that good.

Here is the gist of how to play the game:
There are two types of cards: red cards that have the names of people, places, and things on them (nouns) and green cards that have descriptive words on them (adjectives).

Each person playing is dealt 7 red cards. Players take turns sitting out a round and playing judge.

The first person to be judge turns over a green card. For example, the green card might say cranky. The players then each need to put down a red card that they think best exemplifies the word cranky. Some red card options might be: toes, Al pacino, the Eiffel Tower, having a baby, etc.

The judge must turn each red card over and decide which red card he or she thinks fits best with the green card. The person whose card is chosen gets to keep the green card for that round. The first person to 6 cards (the number varies depending on how many people are playing) wins.

It is a blast.

As far as being educational for the students, they get acquainted with a lot of words they are otherwise unfamiliar with. The great thing about this game is that each green card lists at least 3 synonyms of the word and each red card includes a short (usually humorous) explanation about who or what is named on that card.

For example, today some 5th graders who were playing, turned over a green card that said virtuous. I'm 99% sure than none of them knew what virtuous meant before today. But, somehow, I have a feeling that after a particularly humorous round of Apples to Apples they're more likely to remember the meaning of that word in the future.

Truly, though, the best part of the game is the laughs. To be honest, when I am judge, I always choose the red card that is the most absurd or makes me laugh the hardest. For example, if the word "exhausting" was turned over and someone put down "peanuts" I would laugh my butt off and choose peanuts for sure. I mean, you have to admit, that's funny stuff.

With the holiday season fast approaching, I recommend you buy this game. Buy it as a gift; buy it for your monthly game night with friends; buy it for your Christmas family get-together. Just buy it. Buy it, play it, love it, and thank me later.

Or, you know what? Don't even worry about thanking me. We can skip that step and move straight to, "You're Welcome!"