Well...I don't really feel like I have a ton to say, but I have a goal to write at least two posts per month and since it is the last day of the month and I only have one for March, I figured I better update.
It is job search time and I have to be honest, the stress is getting to me. It is such a crazy time to be searching for a job (especially for teachers) and I hate that it is a necessity. The people I express this to all tell me not to worry and that it will work out and even if it doesn't I'll find SOME job somewhere. Well the truth of the matter is...I don't want some job. After teaching for a year I cannot imagine myself doing anything else. I love it so much, which is something that I have never really found in a job. Searching for a job is so important, but I have a really hard time motivating myself to spend time doing it. I keep just hoping that positions will be available at the school I'm at now. Keep your fingers crossed for me.
I have a lot of things to look forward to in the next few months. First, Nephi and I will be celebrating our 5th wedding anniversary in three weeks. It seems insane to me that I have been married for 5 years. Wow. Seriously. I love Nephi dearly and I definitely got very lucky. 5 years is also a small milestone because before we got married we made a goal to wait at least 5 years before we had a baby. No one really thought we would make it (ourselves included sometimes), and while sometimes I want a baby so bad, I am really glad that Nephi and I have had so much time alone together. I am also grateful that I will have my degree by the time we have a baby, because I know that if I was still in school I would really struggle going back.
The day after our anniversary...I graduate! Yay! I am so excited. I have worked long and hard to get to this point and I am really proud of myself. School isn't really my favorite thing in the world, but I stuck it out and I did really well. I go to a top 100 school and managed to get a 3.8 GPA. Not bad.
From there, I have only one month before I will be finished with my first year of teaching. While I am really excited to be done with this year, because of the accomplishment and the following summer months of free time (my first in 4 years), it is a bit bittersweet. When I think about not seeing my kids anymore it makes me sad. Sometimes they drive me crazy, but I hate being away from them for even one day. I honestly don't know how I'll keep it together the last day.
3 days after the last day of school, Nephi and I leave on vacation. We are going to Seattle for 3 days and Hawaii for 14 days. We had free tickets on Southwest so I just found the cheapest place to fly to Hawaii from and it happened to be Seattle (somewhere I have never been). I decided that since we would be flying there anyway, we might as well spend some time there. We are going to spend a day and a half in Forks. I know it sounds lame, and while I do enjoy Twilight, I am mostly excited to see the green forests. I have never been in a forest like that before so that will be cool. I am also really psyched to go to the tide pools. I went to some tide pools in San Diego and they were lame. I am hoping these aren't...and from what I've read I have high hopes. Then we will spend two days in the actual city of Seattle. We decided to try this site called airbnb.com instead of staying in a hotel. It is this concept where people rent beds in their house. They range from air beds to sofa beds to shared bedrooms to private bedrooms. We found this nice couple who rent their extra room (private) with attached bath for $30 per night (about $70 cheaper than a hotel). I am excited to try this out and see how it works...Nephi is worried.
From Seattle we fly to Maui where we will spend 7 days. We plan on snorkeling, zip lining, hiking, and, of course, lying on the beach. From Maui we spend 3 days on Hawaii (the big island) where we will go to the Volcanos National Park and an observatory. Finally we will be on Oahu for 4 days. There we plan on taking a surfing lesson, going to the luau at the Polynesian Cultural Center, and hiking. Needless to say, I am beyond thrilled. I have always wanted to go to Hawaii and I am excited for the adventure.
A couple weeks after that, Twilight Eclipse comes out. I am pretty excited about that. I have always been someone who likes what I likes and could care less what others think...but that doesn't mean I'm not aware of what others think. I know that people think Twilight is silly, but I do really enjoy it. In fact, I just reread the whole series...in 5 days (this last Thursday-Monday). Yes that is right...I read about 2,445 pages in just 5 days. I know that probably isn't healthy, but I just can't help it. As much as people diss Stephenie Meyer, I just cannot put her books down. In fact, I was so sucked in that once I was finished with Breaking Dawn, I reread The Host. That one took me two days and it is only 619 pages, but I had work and such. This brings up my post title, "priorities." When I start reading...I have no priorities. All I want to do is read. I put off sleeping, eating, and everything else so that I can just keep reading. It is something I really need to work on because it is due to this fact that I don't start reading as often as I would like. I only start reading a book if I know I have time to finish it the the following couple of days. It would be good if I could just read a little bit everyday. Then I could read whatever I want, whenever I want.
This brings me to my final point. I hope to read a lot during the summer. I plan on reading the Fablehaven series, Water for Elephants, Wuthering Heights, and Jane Eyre. Hopefully I will read more than just those, but those are my musts for the summer.
Well...that was a bunch of random mumblings about why I am so excited for the next few months of my life. :)
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Saturday, March 20, 2010
Remember
****Spoiler for Remember Me****
Today Nephi and I saw Remember Me. We all know that I love Robert Pattinson (Nephi is fully aware of this and accepts it), so that is why I ventured a viewing. Honestly, I would have been willing to wait until DVD, however, many critics were frustrated by the ending and since I check up on both Eclipse and Robert Pattinson news often, I kept running into possible spoilers. I decided I had to see it before it was ruined.
Though the original purpose was to simply enjoy a couple hours of eye-candy, I actually did like the movie quite a bit. I wouldn't give it a perfect 10, but the characters were likable and fully developed (something that the last few movies I saw in the theater lacked, such as When in Rome, Percy Jackson, and Alice and Wonderland), and the story kept me interested and involved (also important).
Those of you who know me, know I watch movies ALL the time. I love going to movies, but even when I can't, I see almost every movie when it comes to DVD (just about the only perk of having a husband who works at Blockbuster). So, why mention this one on my blog? Well...because even though I wouldn't give it a 10 or anything, it really touched me in a way I wasn't expecting.
The movie begins with the main girl, Ally's, mother being shot and killed by two men on a subway platform in Brooklyn. Ally, only 11, watches as the men rob then kill her mother. It's a scenario that many movies include...yet it feels different. "Ten years later," we are introduced to Tyler as he rushes to a cemetery to meet his family. It is unclear why he is there at first, but throughout the movie you learn that Tyler's older brother, Michael, hanged himself a few years earlier. Both of these events are subtle and seem to simply set up the bigger story, but it is because of these events that I find meaning and purpose in the story.
This movie is clearly about loss. It is set up to make you think it is about love, but it really isn't in my opinion. Both Ally and Tyler had people in their lives who were there for them in one moment, and in the next they were gone. Of course the two meet each other and fall in love, but that is not really the point (as the ending so clearly illustrates).
In the end, Tyler goes to his father's office. His father, in an attempt to be a better father (something that he has sucked at through a majority of the movie), is escorting Tyler's little sister to school and thus is running late. Through a series of shots, you quickly realize that the day is September 11th and Tyler is in the World Trade Center. You know Tyler is going to die, yet you are forced to watch the lives of those around him in that moment: his little sister in school, his father riding to work, his mother on a walk, Ally in the kitchen making French Toast for when Tyler returns. Life going on as always not knowing that within a few minutes, everything will be different because Tyler won't be there anymore. It hurts to watch as each of these characters realize what has just happened--another loss.
It seems a strange coincidence to watch this movie on the eve of the 9th anniversary of my father's death, but life can be funny that way. I wonder if I would have been as reflective otherwise. This movie really hit me in the gut because in truth...it is the thing I am most terrified of. While it has been 9 years since my father died, I have not completely recovered. I still really struggle with the idea of someone being there with you one moment, listening to music in the car, going to the grocery store, enjoying dinner, and the next moment they are on the floor and the whole world seems to be spinning out of control. I am so terrified of the people I love dying. I honestly can't ever even let my mind wander that way for a moment or I find myself having a slight anxiety attack.
In the end of the movie, we see how each character's life is better because Tyler was a part of it. Sometimes we lose people, but they never really leave us. We are different because they were there. I think that I need to remember that a bit more than I do. Life goes on and we remember, and that is important.
Today Nephi and I saw Remember Me. We all know that I love Robert Pattinson (Nephi is fully aware of this and accepts it), so that is why I ventured a viewing. Honestly, I would have been willing to wait until DVD, however, many critics were frustrated by the ending and since I check up on both Eclipse and Robert Pattinson news often, I kept running into possible spoilers. I decided I had to see it before it was ruined.
Though the original purpose was to simply enjoy a couple hours of eye-candy, I actually did like the movie quite a bit. I wouldn't give it a perfect 10, but the characters were likable and fully developed (something that the last few movies I saw in the theater lacked, such as When in Rome, Percy Jackson, and Alice and Wonderland), and the story kept me interested and involved (also important).
Those of you who know me, know I watch movies ALL the time. I love going to movies, but even when I can't, I see almost every movie when it comes to DVD (just about the only perk of having a husband who works at Blockbuster). So, why mention this one on my blog? Well...because even though I wouldn't give it a 10 or anything, it really touched me in a way I wasn't expecting.
The movie begins with the main girl, Ally's, mother being shot and killed by two men on a subway platform in Brooklyn. Ally, only 11, watches as the men rob then kill her mother. It's a scenario that many movies include...yet it feels different. "Ten years later," we are introduced to Tyler as he rushes to a cemetery to meet his family. It is unclear why he is there at first, but throughout the movie you learn that Tyler's older brother, Michael, hanged himself a few years earlier. Both of these events are subtle and seem to simply set up the bigger story, but it is because of these events that I find meaning and purpose in the story.
This movie is clearly about loss. It is set up to make you think it is about love, but it really isn't in my opinion. Both Ally and Tyler had people in their lives who were there for them in one moment, and in the next they were gone. Of course the two meet each other and fall in love, but that is not really the point (as the ending so clearly illustrates).
In the end, Tyler goes to his father's office. His father, in an attempt to be a better father (something that he has sucked at through a majority of the movie), is escorting Tyler's little sister to school and thus is running late. Through a series of shots, you quickly realize that the day is September 11th and Tyler is in the World Trade Center. You know Tyler is going to die, yet you are forced to watch the lives of those around him in that moment: his little sister in school, his father riding to work, his mother on a walk, Ally in the kitchen making French Toast for when Tyler returns. Life going on as always not knowing that within a few minutes, everything will be different because Tyler won't be there anymore. It hurts to watch as each of these characters realize what has just happened--another loss.
It seems a strange coincidence to watch this movie on the eve of the 9th anniversary of my father's death, but life can be funny that way. I wonder if I would have been as reflective otherwise. This movie really hit me in the gut because in truth...it is the thing I am most terrified of. While it has been 9 years since my father died, I have not completely recovered. I still really struggle with the idea of someone being there with you one moment, listening to music in the car, going to the grocery store, enjoying dinner, and the next moment they are on the floor and the whole world seems to be spinning out of control. I am so terrified of the people I love dying. I honestly can't ever even let my mind wander that way for a moment or I find myself having a slight anxiety attack.
In the end of the movie, we see how each character's life is better because Tyler was a part of it. Sometimes we lose people, but they never really leave us. We are different because they were there. I think that I need to remember that a bit more than I do. Life goes on and we remember, and that is important.
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