Spring, Sprang, Sprung, Recoil

Spring usually arrives in Duluth in about May. Usually. This year, it decided to visit for a bit in mid-March. Everyone was happy, but skeptical. "What the heck? It's so warm." 90% of the snow melted. The only stuff left is under a pile of dirt and insulated. That's it!

So, when the warm temperatures realized just what they were doing and that they were extremely early, they decided to hightail it out of here for a little while. That's fine. If it snows again, which it may, it won't last very long.

On my way to choir this week, I heard the creek water rushing and decided to take a few pictures for my friends out of town. See above.

Movie of the Day: Hot Fuzz. Goofy movie.

Skate Your Way to April

So, evidently, April's weather has decided to show up in Duluth a month early. This is mostly a great thing. What's weird is that all of the snow that is melting is then freezing overnight (evidently April Weather has nights off). While the streets are mostly dry, yards, some sidewalks, and driveways are a smooth, shiny ice. If you are the skating type, hit the yard. If you're the skiing type, I'm sorry, but you'll have to switch to skates. Puddle-jumping is just around the corner.

Movie of the Day: Emma (BBC version). Mr. Knightley is hot. He'd melt that ice....

Stream for the Day

I haven't blogged in a while, so I think instead of trying to come up with a topic, I'll just babble for a bit.....I reserved a hotel room for my trip to London and even got a good deal...I've had a headache since yesterday afternoon and I blame the change in weather...I had a conversation about sodium in food last Sunday and now I'm paranoid about it....The snow on my driveway from the Christmas storm is finally gone...I joined Netflix, so I won't be out in public much any more....I sent a package overseas and it STILL hasn't arrived after 4.5 months...I could really go for a day off...I haven't xeroxed the quiz for today, so the machine better be working!...I was told to arrive at my meeting today thirsty, how very odd....

Movie of the Day: New York, I Love You! a response to Paris, Je T'aime. I liked both movies.

In Honor of Nate

I'm sorry I haven't blogged much lately. Things have been rather emotional in the World of Becca as of late. Above you will see a picture of me with my dear friends Nate and Dave. This is the first picture of me that I've ever put on my blog and I think Nate would be proud.

You see, Nate passed away last Saturday, unexpectedly, at the age of 36. The whole past week has been a rollercoaster of happy and sad thoughts of Nate. He was brilliant, funny, friendly and inclusive to everyone. He couldn't understand why I didn't put heaps of pictures on my blog or why I didn't invite every last friend to stay at my house during our 10-year-reunion.

He stayed at my house that weekend and I remember him talking on the phone with Claire (his future wife), sitting on Brighton Beach doing homework (quizzing me with random questions that I failed), and getting me to organize the troops to hang out.

When I went to visit Claire and Nate in Paris, he asked me to bring Cap'n Crunch, peanut butter and tortillas, if I had room in my suitcase. He rationed the Cap'n Crunch that I delivered. We were both obsessed with checking our email and staying connected with friends and we both proof-read our emails before sending them.

I remember we both got our wisdom teeth out the summer of 1992. His dentist didn't tell him to avoid straws, so he was healing slower than I was and his surgery was a day or two before mine. I remember he took a little cooler packed with ice with him to the Blues Fest. He made things happen.

I miss my dear friend and I cannot begin to imagine how his family, wife, and two small kids are feeling right now. I just hope that they know that Nate was loved by everyone who met him.

Okay, We Can DOOOO This.

I have one week before receiving the rest of my Christmas vacation. Yes, Duluth likes to cut the December break short and give us 4 days tacked on to Presidents' Day. It's nice now, stressful for busy folks in December.

So, what will Becca be doing with her week off? I'm not sure. I know 7 teachers going to Mexico. I was even invited along, but my passport is away on "renewal" and I don't think it'll return in time. Bummer.

I will, therefore, look for fun things to do around here unless I'm invited to some exotic domestic locale.

Movie of the Day: Airplane! Saw it for the first time today. I liked it.

Finals

Do you remember that feeling in your gut when you were about to take a really important final exam? Maybe everything hinged on your performance or maybe you're just a perfectionist who always wants to ace things. Maybe you were very relaxed and just figured what will be will be.

I was the stress out until I'm shaking kind of final exam taker. Okay, maybe I wasn't QUITE shaking, but my knee was bouncing and my hands were cold (I lose circulation when I'm nervous.).

I can empathize with my students who are taking finals today, but many of them aren't like Student Becca. Many of them have calculated their grades and decided "good enough" is "good enough." That drives Teacher Becca CRAZY. I don't know why exactly. Is it because I think they're cutting themselves short? Is it because Student Becca is envious of their chill-ness? I don't know.

Either way, it's interesting to watch.

Then, the correcting begins.

Movie of the Day: Inglorious Bastards. Church ladies reading this, pass on this one.

Go Bananas!

Okay, so I have no idea where I heard about this first. I watched a video on YouTube, but there is no way I would have found it on my own, so someone suggested it to me. Suggester, I apologize for forgetting your identity.

What the heck are you talking about Becca?

Bananas. I've been opening them incorrectly pretty much my entire banana-eating life.

Tuesday, I noticed a colleague trying to open her banana with her molars. Maybe her wisdom teeth. I looked up, shocked. Suddenly I remembered the YouTube video on "how to open a banana".

So, are you ready for a paradigm shift? Hold the "top" of the banana in one hand. Open the "bottom" of the banana. It opens right away. No gnashing of teeth (ha ha) or using a knife. No mess on your fingers or under your finger nails.

Maybe we aren't as evolved as we think, but we're catching up!

Movie of the Day: Gorillas in the Mist

Christmas Snow

My buddy Nate always suggests I add a few photos to spice up my blog. So, here is a glimpse of my Christmas Day. The location is my folks' house. The orange thing is a prism for the absent sunshine.


Anyone for a dinner on the deck?


My fancy boots. I wore them Christmas Eve with a long skirt. Walked around the grocery store like that. (Yes, I changed into classier shoes for church).


Movie of the Day: Home Alone. That guy knew how to shovel.

New Year's Resolutions

Our local Sunday paper had an article on the New Year's Resolutions of some of our local government officials, business leaders, or whomever they decided was important around here. I scanned the article, reading the ones of my friends or people I've heard of in the past.

BORING!!!!!!!!!! Sure, one person wants to run a 5K every month and one was about locally grown food. The rest was bland. Cliche. Lose 10 pounds. Yep, heard that one before.

I don't even think I want to hear "Enjoy more sunsets" (puke) or "Spend more time with the kids." That's a "given" in my book. I want to hear things like "Floss enough so I don't get yelled at by my dentist or bleed all over the hygienist" or "Quit stealing my neighbor's good magazines." Put a little thought into it.

You might be asking yourself, "Self, what did Becca resolve to do?" My answer is kind of lame, but I thought of it before reading the paper. My resolution is to make more interesting lunches for work. I always pack my lunch and many days it's the same D@%^ thing. So, I'm going to try to be more interesting.

No, it's not on the level of "I will quit making out with my best friend's uncle's cousin's son," but it's better than stating the obvious that you will lose the same 10 pounds you resolved to lose last year.

Movie of the Day: Tequila Sunrise

Yo

Greetings, Salutations, and Happy New Year! How the heck are ya?

I survived the first day back at school. The kids were super excited to talk to each other and not so excited about radical expressions (the math not things like "DUDE!"). Oh well. We'll all get into the swing of things soon.

I saw two great movies in the theater in the past 3 days: Blindside and Sherlock Holmes. They have completely different "speeds" to them, but both were great.

Did any of you see any good movies?

A Field

Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I will meet you there.

~ Rumi

What if we all lived in this field?
Movie of the Day: Field of Dreams. tee hee.

In Honor of Winter Soltice

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening by Robert Frost

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village, though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark, and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

Seriously?

I was at Michael's the craft store today with my mom. The checkout lines were very long. As I'm about it get in one line, I notice that there is another one that is only 2 people deep. I ask the person ahead of me if the other line is actually open. She says "Yes." I said, "You don't want it?" "No."

I go to the new line and proceed to wait as a woman is correcting an error on her receipt or whatever. I stand. I stand.

Then, the lady from the other line, walks by, done checking out. She stares at me and smirks with a "ha ha, that's why I didn't go in that line" kind of look on her face.

Now, she could have said "That line isn't moving." "That lady is taking a long time." "You're better off here." or whatever. No, she let me go to the other line. Grrrrrrrrr!!!!!!! So, I decide to switch lines and notice that the next person is finally up in the "short" line. I also notice her basket is full of tiny stuff. Lots of tiny stuff. And, the aisle my mom and I switched to was now about to be empty. So, I went to the new lady behind the basket lady and told her that our line was about to be open. She gave me a huge smile and hopped to the other lane.

Whew. What's the reverse of paying it forward? Absorb, don't deflect? I don't know.

Karma, baby. Karma.

Movie of the Day: The Shop Around the Corner.

Inbox (1)

If you have an email account, you know that when you get a new email, a message appears somewhere on the screen that says "Inbox (1)." Every time I see that message, I get a rush of endorphins. Am I waiting for a specific email? Sometimes. Am I a little let down if it's some sort of "Your cellphone bill is ready online" type email? Yes. Usually, I'm happy enough just to see "Inbox (1)". I guess it's the little pleasures that we need to enjoy, right?

Thankful

What I'm Thankful For:

friends who are willing to let me ramble on and on about my life
family who connect me to the past and future
things that strike me funny JUST when I need a good laugh
little kids who like to give hugs
being able to take a trip to a warm place in February
vibrant colors
almond M & M's
sappy songs and silly songs
authors who write and feel like my new best friend
my house
students who push me to be a better teacher
quotations
fuzzy blankets
the public library
supportive coworkers
my covenant group

Movie of the Day: A Christmas Carol. I'm going today with friends. "God bless us, every one!"

One in a Million

It's my little sister's birthday today. For the next two weeks, her age looks like she's gaining on me. I remember standing at the top of the basement stairs when I was little (like 5?), trying to understand why her birthday came first even though I'M the oldest. I have no idea how my dad explained it or if he just tried to distract me. My grandma was nice and gave us both gifts for both birthdays (at least something little to open). That was sweet!

Movie of the Day: Two Weeks' Notice.

Wake Up!

I read some scary medical stuff this weekend and it's sort of snapped me awake. I need to make some changes in how I'm spending my time and what I'm shoveling into my mouth.

I feel like I'm in quicksand and I've finally grabbed a stable branch.

Movie of the Day: August Rush. We watched it at Movie Night last night and it's such a good movie.

A Reason to Smile

Okay, maybe it's just me (and my coworkers), but we are all smiling now that our four nights of conferences are over! WOO HOO!!!!!! No more 13 hour days until the Spring!

I'm in the mood to see some plays and take in some live music. Am I finally resurfacing from the chaos of the beginning of the school year? Oh, please say it's so!

Movie of the Day: Away We Go. Such an endearing movie. I want to be friends with this couple, well, one of their sane friends, at least.

Oh, I Get It!

I went to a training for three days this week and while it was tough to be out of school that long (I dealt with it better than the kids), I learned a lot. One thing that our presenter talked about was the Zeigarnik Effect. It's the phenomena when you can't quite remember something and then it suddenly comes to you. Your brain works on it "behind the scenes" until it figures out what you were forgetting. That takes energy that you might not know you're spending.

Well, I had a moment this week when many of my stressors suddenly made sense. "Oh, I get it!" All at once, so many things clicked. The sad thing is that it took me a LONG time to figure it out and quite a bit of energy. What a relief! I'm being deliberately vague, but if you want more details, I'll tell you individually.

Movie of the Day: Ferris Bueller's Day Off

Civic Stuff

I just heard of an interesting seminar that I can't go to because of conferences, but wanted to let people know about: Being Web Wise: Helping Keep Kids Safe in the Internet Age. It's a seminar from 6 - 8 PM on Thursday, October 29th at the Inn on Lake Superior. You have to be 18 + to attend because of the appropriateness of the content. The presenters are Detective Thomas Champaigne and Sergeant Nicholas Alexander. It looks really good.

Also, if anyone would like me to give them my opinions about who to vote for in the school board election, let me know. I was at a forum this summer and interviewed the candidates that attended.

Movie of the Day: The Net.