Ten years ago. TEN! Christmas was coming. The school year was wrapping up. Surprisingly, I had just found out that this friend of mine had a terribly powerful crush on me. Never had someone of such high caliber been so interested in me. Sensing opportunity, I decided to pursue her.
We talked.....and talked.....and talked. I found her to be a scintillating conversationalist. She was a long-term relationship person. Two relationships, multiple years in length. I was a short-term relationship person. My longest relationship with a girl up to that point had been nine months (of which, during the middle three, she was out of the country). None of the others lasted more than three months.
So we talked about foundation building. We talked about waiting until after the break to see if God was speaking to us. Waiting to see where our hearts would lead us. I knew potential when I saw it. Long-lasting relationships are equal parts pursuit and reflection. The reflection is the mental building of a forward base as in a war.
Several factors were weighing on me. Three prophecies in my life were showing signs of coming to fulfillment. I had hidden these prophecies in the secret place of my heart that I might know the signs. I use the term prophecy loosely here. In this story, it means something in the past that spoke toward the future.
The first prophecy was a prayer I prayed when I was 13. I prayed that after certain events happen in my life, that God would introduce me to my wife. Well, those events had recently come to conclusion the previous summer. I met Hanna one week after.
The second prophecy was from a friend of mine. I was the best man at his wedding and I was depressed in the months heading up to it. He was younger than me and was getting married. To comfort me, he told me that by the time he got married, I would have met my wife. For some reason, I kind of believed him. Also, I wanted to see if he was right or wrong.
The third prophecy came from me as well. A couple of Valentine's Days prior, I sat in my room for the second year in a row suffering emotionally from a breakup with a girl. As I sat there in my room feeling miserable, I prayed to God that, since I had never had someone to cherish over the romantic holiday, I would spend every single V-day with only one girl.
All of these weighed heavily upon my decision-making process. This particular Christmas season was the longest in my life. Every day seemed to drag in perpetuity. Over the years I learned that I give my heart out too quickly. So I set about to guard myself from future pain. All of these things formed together to create the mental equivalent to cement. With the just right concoction, I found that it could be formed into a solid, long-term foundation.
Ten years ago, it seemed that every aspect of my life was leading up to Hanna. Yet we waited. We prayed, separately. We reflected on our friendship and tested it to see if it could hold the weight of romance.
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Hot Water Pressure
I'm thankful today. My house has been suffering for months from a mere trickle of hot water.
We finally had a plumber come over to check out our hot water heater, which we were fully prepared to replace. He opened the pipe leading from the heater to our house and said immediately, "Oh, I see your problem right here." We had a inch of silt that had hardened into rock at the point of exit from the heater. He stabbed it until it went away, then he fixed our guestroom-side toilet in five minutes.
Spending $75 is fantastic when you expected to spend $600 or more. I'm thankful.
Oh, and this morning when I showered, the hot water pressure gently peeled away my skin. Definitely one of the best showers of my life.
We finally had a plumber come over to check out our hot water heater, which we were fully prepared to replace. He opened the pipe leading from the heater to our house and said immediately, "Oh, I see your problem right here." We had a inch of silt that had hardened into rock at the point of exit from the heater. He stabbed it until it went away, then he fixed our guestroom-side toilet in five minutes.
Spending $75 is fantastic when you expected to spend $600 or more. I'm thankful.
Oh, and this morning when I showered, the hot water pressure gently peeled away my skin. Definitely one of the best showers of my life.
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Keeping up with my classes or my blog
Well, two more classes and two more A's. My favorite teacher taught the first class, Desktop Publishing. She gave us an easier time than other cohorts before us. We only had to do a brochure, not a 16-page magazine. This was a good choice for her. I actually read the design book because I had time, which I wouldn't have had without the easier main project.
The second class was pathetic. I think teachers are trying to put us in unnecessarily difficult situations on purpose. This class made us use 3 Adobe programs we'd never used before - in a 5-week class. Tough. Also, with the Web design program, we had so many problems because it's finicky. The teacher was not available to help us on any days other than classtime. It was a train wreck. Most of my stamina was sucked up by that class. My motivation is low for my current class. I'm trying to survive until Thanksgiving, when I have the week off from work and no class.
That does not actually mean I have a week off for myself. My cohort is the first one to try to do a 15-week online class (homework due on Sundays) at the same time as having a Thursday classroom class. So, basically, my weekends are taken up with online homework, leaving me less time for my other class. Just last Thursday, my current professor attempted to claim that we have an "extra" week (over Thanksgiving) to work on his project. Our class snickered, so I informed him that our online class major project is due the Sunday after Thanksgiving. So basically both teachers think giving us homework over the holiday is a wonderful idea. Our online teacher is great, though, because she is a little negotiable. The others are not.
Also, my Thursday professor is going to give us a take-home test after our final class meeting, due 24 hours later. This is ridiculous. I asked him if we could have more than 1 WORKDAY to do the test. He said that technically he shouldn't be giving us any work after the final class. Because of that excuse and the amount of time he has to turn in his final grades, he would only move the test to Thursday during class time. ("I'm giving you an extra day to do the test.") Also, he's only giving us the test 1 week before, so we cannot work on it early. I can see his problem and his position; I just wanted to complain about it.
I still have straight A's. I am enduring. I seek the goal of a high GPA. Unfortunately, I don't actually need to learn much of anything or read any books to get good grades. I'm a strategic student. I do what I need to get points, but if I am overworked, the situation becomes more like triage and less like learning. I haven't been reading the books, except one, since we started doing 2 classes at once. I don't have the time. That's their fault as much as mine.
Anyway, I'm winning, but I'm tired. With so much work to do (and a new job with new responsibilties), I haven't been keeping up on my blog. I'll be back when I can. :)
The second class was pathetic. I think teachers are trying to put us in unnecessarily difficult situations on purpose. This class made us use 3 Adobe programs we'd never used before - in a 5-week class. Tough. Also, with the Web design program, we had so many problems because it's finicky. The teacher was not available to help us on any days other than classtime. It was a train wreck. Most of my stamina was sucked up by that class. My motivation is low for my current class. I'm trying to survive until Thanksgiving, when I have the week off from work and no class.
That does not actually mean I have a week off for myself. My cohort is the first one to try to do a 15-week online class (homework due on Sundays) at the same time as having a Thursday classroom class. So, basically, my weekends are taken up with online homework, leaving me less time for my other class. Just last Thursday, my current professor attempted to claim that we have an "extra" week (over Thanksgiving) to work on his project. Our class snickered, so I informed him that our online class major project is due the Sunday after Thanksgiving. So basically both teachers think giving us homework over the holiday is a wonderful idea. Our online teacher is great, though, because she is a little negotiable. The others are not.
Also, my Thursday professor is going to give us a take-home test after our final class meeting, due 24 hours later. This is ridiculous. I asked him if we could have more than 1 WORKDAY to do the test. He said that technically he shouldn't be giving us any work after the final class. Because of that excuse and the amount of time he has to turn in his final grades, he would only move the test to Thursday during class time. ("I'm giving you an extra day to do the test.") Also, he's only giving us the test 1 week before, so we cannot work on it early. I can see his problem and his position; I just wanted to complain about it.
I still have straight A's. I am enduring. I seek the goal of a high GPA. Unfortunately, I don't actually need to learn much of anything or read any books to get good grades. I'm a strategic student. I do what I need to get points, but if I am overworked, the situation becomes more like triage and less like learning. I haven't been reading the books, except one, since we started doing 2 classes at once. I don't have the time. That's their fault as much as mine.
Anyway, I'm winning, but I'm tired. With so much work to do (and a new job with new responsibilties), I haven't been keeping up on my blog. I'll be back when I can. :)
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Total Eclipse of the Heart
Whether you do or don't know the original song, check out this video. Yes, the background is the originally created video - by the artist. The redone song is in response to the spazzed video.
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Tenure
So there I was, sashaying into class. Not a care in the wo . . . Hey, there are some hot girls in this freshman-level class. Maybe I'll sit nearby.
First day, senior-level swagger. Safely stowing my studious materials under my chair. An empty desk is best for learni . . . flirting. Pzzt! Ahhh! Mt. Dew in the late morning. Cheetos for pre-lunch.
An outgoing girl in front of me. Her quiet friend whispering to her. Sure, fine ladies, you can have some Cheetos. I don't mind. (Note to self, Cheetos = conversation starter.) Hey, why don't we sit together every class.
Physical Science teacher preparing for class. First overhead says, Phisycal Sceince 101. It's going to be a good class; I can tell.
The relative easiness of the class means I don't really have to pay attention or work too hard, but I don't dare use any of my alloted "skips" for this class. Our crew is now 3 good-looking girls and me. Why would I skip?
As the months roll by, I start hanging out with one of the girls and her group of friends outside of class (the quiet one, though not so quiet anymore). She intrigues me, but more in the lifelong-friend category. Spending time together, forming bonds of shared experiences, meshing personalities.
A sudden-onset smidge of jealousy forces her to confront her feelings for me and to confront me with these feelings. The subsequent roller coaster ride.
That was ten years ago when it started......when I met Hanna......over Cheetos. The lifelong friend. Romance is just a bonus!
Congratulations, you officially have tenure, babe. Along with the many other benefits you will receive, the most important one now is that I cannot fire you.
First day, senior-level swagger. Safely stowing my studious materials under my chair. An empty desk is best for learni . . . flirting. Pzzt! Ahhh! Mt. Dew in the late morning. Cheetos for pre-lunch.
An outgoing girl in front of me. Her quiet friend whispering to her. Sure, fine ladies, you can have some Cheetos. I don't mind. (Note to self, Cheetos = conversation starter.) Hey, why don't we sit together every class.
Physical Science teacher preparing for class. First overhead says, Phisycal Sceince 101. It's going to be a good class; I can tell.
The relative easiness of the class means I don't really have to pay attention or work too hard, but I don't dare use any of my alloted "skips" for this class. Our crew is now 3 good-looking girls and me. Why would I skip?
As the months roll by, I start hanging out with one of the girls and her group of friends outside of class (the quiet one, though not so quiet anymore). She intrigues me, but more in the lifelong-friend category. Spending time together, forming bonds of shared experiences, meshing personalities.
A sudden-onset smidge of jealousy forces her to confront her feelings for me and to confront me with these feelings. The subsequent roller coaster ride.
That was ten years ago when it started......when I met Hanna......over Cheetos. The lifelong friend. Romance is just a bonus!
Congratulations, you officially have tenure, babe. Along with the many other benefits you will receive, the most important one now is that I cannot fire you.
Friday, August 21, 2009
Class #8 - Copy Editing
The half-way mark has been completed. This class was the perfect storm for me to fail. The assignments were more busy work than educational, my wife and I went through a miscarriage, and I transferred to a new job. Kind of lots going on to distract me.
My grades went up and down during the 5 weeks. My test scores ranged from 102% to 72%. I think I received 2 of my 3 worst grades on tests in this program in this class. About 1/5 of each test was fill-in-the-blank. This is absolutely my Achilles' Heel in test taking. I left most of the blanks as pristine as when they were handed to me. I know from experience that if I don't know an f-i-t-b answer, guessing won't work.
Heading into the final week with the final project (that was both huge, ambiguously confusing, and required very little actual copy editing), I knew I needed to ace the project and presentation. I only lost 14 points of the 250 possible!
This helped me make the grade. I earned 93% of the potential points, giving me an A- for my final grade.
For a class called Copy Editing, we sure did very little actual editing. The class should have been called Print Media given how much story creation, source gathering, research, and layout was required.
My grades went up and down during the 5 weeks. My test scores ranged from 102% to 72%. I think I received 2 of my 3 worst grades on tests in this program in this class. About 1/5 of each test was fill-in-the-blank. This is absolutely my Achilles' Heel in test taking. I left most of the blanks as pristine as when they were handed to me. I know from experience that if I don't know an f-i-t-b answer, guessing won't work.
Heading into the final week with the final project (that was both huge, ambiguously confusing, and required very little actual copy editing), I knew I needed to ace the project and presentation. I only lost 14 points of the 250 possible!
This helped me make the grade. I earned 93% of the potential points, giving me an A- for my final grade.
For a class called Copy Editing, we sure did very little actual editing. The class should have been called Print Media given how much story creation, source gathering, research, and layout was required.
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Music Videos
I used to love music videos. But they became more and more overproduced while showing less and less of the band. This generally goes double for songs created to go along with movies. The music videos become about the movie rather than the band.
Here's one that turns overproduction into art, with surprisingly amazing results. I love it! Notice the theme of the latest Transformer movie and the transformations between the movie and the video of the band.
I remembered black skies, the lightning all around me
I remembered each flash as time began to blur
Like a startling sign that fate had finally found me
And your voice was all I heard that I get what I deserve
So give me reason to prove me wrong, to wash this memory clean
Let the floods cross the distance in your eyes
Give me reason to fill this hole, connect the space between
Let it be enough to reach the truth that lies across this new divide
There was nothing in sight but memories left abandoned
There was nowhere to hide, the ashes fell like snow
And the ground caved in between where we were standing
And your voice was all I heard that I get what I deserve
So give me reason to prove me wrong, to wash this memory clean
Let the floods cross the distance in your eyes across this new divide
In every loss, in every lie, in every truth that you'd deny
And each regret and each goodbye was a mistake too great to hide
And your voice was all I heard that I get what I deserve
So give me reason to prove me wrong, to wash this memory clean
Let the floods cross the distance in your eyes
Give me reason to fill this hole, connect the space between
Let it be enough to reach the truth that lies across this new divide
Across this new divide, across this new divide
Here's one that turns overproduction into art, with surprisingly amazing results. I love it! Notice the theme of the latest Transformer movie and the transformations between the movie and the video of the band.
I remembered black skies, the lightning all around me
I remembered each flash as time began to blur
Like a startling sign that fate had finally found me
And your voice was all I heard that I get what I deserve
So give me reason to prove me wrong, to wash this memory clean
Let the floods cross the distance in your eyes
Give me reason to fill this hole, connect the space between
Let it be enough to reach the truth that lies across this new divide
There was nothing in sight but memories left abandoned
There was nowhere to hide, the ashes fell like snow
And the ground caved in between where we were standing
And your voice was all I heard that I get what I deserve
So give me reason to prove me wrong, to wash this memory clean
Let the floods cross the distance in your eyes across this new divide
In every loss, in every lie, in every truth that you'd deny
And each regret and each goodbye was a mistake too great to hide
And your voice was all I heard that I get what I deserve
So give me reason to prove me wrong, to wash this memory clean
Let the floods cross the distance in your eyes
Give me reason to fill this hole, connect the space between
Let it be enough to reach the truth that lies across this new divide
Across this new divide, across this new divide
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Birthday Awesomeness--there is no charge for awesomeness
So, I woke up alone today. My wife is away. On my birthday. (You see what I did there?)
As I got ready for work, I noticed that my sister-in-law left me a little sisterly b-day card and some wonderful cookies from the restaurant where she works (I can't even begin to spell the name). It was a cool affirmation card about how she's really like my sister, part of my adopted family! Such a nice sentiment.
Then I got to work and found a couple cards and a letter on my chair. My wife had given a friend a card to give me. Technically, I dislike sappy cards, but this one did it with elegance and practically spoke with my wife's voice.
My boss had a card for me. I don't know how he guessed one of my humor styles. If you're reading this now, Hanna, skip the rest of the paragraph as this will be much better to see it first-hand. For the rest of you, highlight the next section to see the description more clearly. It's a card with The Joker, from the most recent Batman movie, gracing the cover. His infamous words, "Why so serious?" are writting in violently large and psychotic font. When you open it up, the card has a voice player that plays his voice, saying, "Let's put a smile on that face," in the most aggressive manner, followed by his insane laugh. What an awesome card!
I also got a letter from Home Coupons, Inc., renewing my subscription. A year ago, my wife gave me about 30 coupons to be used in various circumstances. Well, I started classes a month later and so have been pretty busy with other things. This letter, written by my wife :), allows me to renew the coupons for this upcoming year! It was hilariously executed.
My friend bought me the best Risk game created to date - called Godstorm. It's Risk, but also not really Risk. While it's similar to the original game in concept and feel, it plays quite differently. What great fun!
Tonight the plan is to have some guys over, consume food, and kill zombies in a video game's apocalyptic scenario. Amber made me a lemon cake and put it, along with other food, in my house! What a sweet lady! Some friends are coming over. And, of course, killing zombies is always good fun, because, well, they're already dead! No morally shaky ground there!
As I got ready for work, I noticed that my sister-in-law left me a little sisterly b-day card and some wonderful cookies from the restaurant where she works (I can't even begin to spell the name). It was a cool affirmation card about how she's really like my sister, part of my adopted family! Such a nice sentiment.
Then I got to work and found a couple cards and a letter on my chair. My wife had given a friend a card to give me. Technically, I dislike sappy cards, but this one did it with elegance and practically spoke with my wife's voice.
My boss had a card for me. I don't know how he guessed one of my humor styles. If you're reading this now, Hanna, skip the rest of the paragraph as this will be much better to see it first-hand. For the rest of you, highlight the next section to see the description more clearly. It's a card with The Joker, from the most recent Batman movie, gracing the cover. His infamous words, "Why so serious?" are writting in violently large and psychotic font. When you open it up, the card has a voice player that plays his voice, saying, "Let's put a smile on that face," in the most aggressive manner, followed by his insane laugh. What an awesome card!
I also got a letter from Home Coupons, Inc., renewing my subscription. A year ago, my wife gave me about 30 coupons to be used in various circumstances. Well, I started classes a month later and so have been pretty busy with other things. This letter, written by my wife :), allows me to renew the coupons for this upcoming year! It was hilariously executed.
My friend bought me the best Risk game created to date - called Godstorm. It's Risk, but also not really Risk. While it's similar to the original game in concept and feel, it plays quite differently. What great fun!
Tonight the plan is to have some guys over, consume food, and kill zombies in a video game's apocalyptic scenario. Amber made me a lemon cake and put it, along with other food, in my house! What a sweet lady! Some friends are coming over. And, of course, killing zombies is always good fun, because, well, they're already dead! No morally shaky ground there!
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Class #7
Another class with the wonderful Dr. Kelton. Another nearly perfect score. I put a lot of thought and time into the assignments and got an A to show from it. I missed around 20 total points on the tests.
4.0, here I come.
4.0, here I come.
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Time wasted, and not in a good way
Class #8 has really sapped my motivation to receive an A. Fifty percent of the time, both sitting in class and doing the assigned homework, feels like it's wasted.
In my last class period, the teacher spent 2 hours, half the class, passing around papers of cute things and showing off stuff. She went over points verbally, which is dangerous for her, because she gets her tongue twisted and ends up saying the wrong things and just confusing the lesson. For instance, at one point she saw the words "He was 30 years old." She said the "30 years old" should have been hyphenated, a side point to her main objective. Knowing this should not be hyphenated, I just pointed the phrase out to her and asked a leading sort of question like, "You said that should be hyphenated?" Another student looked at me and said in her mommy voice, "That's what she said," sounding as if she was implying that the teacher knew what she was saying. Of course, the teacher then corrected herself. I wanted to stick out my tongue at my fellow student.
So anyway, then we were divided into groups to determine which of our selected headlines (cut out and taped to paper like an elementary school project) were the best. We talked aimlessly about what makes a good headline. About an hour later the teacher presented a PowerPoint which gave us this lesson. It would have been nice to have had that information first and then practiced our learning.
Anyway, after wasting two hours, the teacher rushed us through a good PowerPoint, skipped our second break (after she shortened our first break), and handed us the 50-point test with 15 minutes remaining in class.
There's no feeling quite like that of being sandbagged by your teacher when your entire being is crying out for a much needed break.
Hope you enjoyed reading this rant as much as I enjoyed writing it.
In my last class period, the teacher spent 2 hours, half the class, passing around papers of cute things and showing off stuff. She went over points verbally, which is dangerous for her, because she gets her tongue twisted and ends up saying the wrong things and just confusing the lesson. For instance, at one point she saw the words "He was 30 years old." She said the "30 years old" should have been hyphenated, a side point to her main objective. Knowing this should not be hyphenated, I just pointed the phrase out to her and asked a leading sort of question like, "You said that should be hyphenated?" Another student looked at me and said in her mommy voice, "That's what she said," sounding as if she was implying that the teacher knew what she was saying. Of course, the teacher then corrected herself. I wanted to stick out my tongue at my fellow student.
So anyway, then we were divided into groups to determine which of our selected headlines (cut out and taped to paper like an elementary school project) were the best. We talked aimlessly about what makes a good headline. About an hour later the teacher presented a PowerPoint which gave us this lesson. It would have been nice to have had that information first and then practiced our learning.
Anyway, after wasting two hours, the teacher rushed us through a good PowerPoint, skipped our second break (after she shortened our first break), and handed us the 50-point test with 15 minutes remaining in class.
There's no feeling quite like that of being sandbagged by your teacher when your entire being is crying out for a much needed break.
Hope you enjoyed reading this rant as much as I enjoyed writing it.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
