Continual State of Becoming

Ah, there are some days when I really love my job. I mean, i love my job pretty much all the time. I wish I had a few more perks though... I wish I could teach a full 40 hours a week (school schedules prevent that from happening), earn paid vacation hours (and other pretty standard benefits), and work mornings instead of evenings. Then it would be perfect. But even without those things, I still really love my job. When I was growing up, I never even once thought "hey I want to be a piano teacher." I think for a long time I actually wanted to do something in the English field, writing or editing... (which I still think would be a lot of fun). The idea of being a piano teacher didnt really occur to me until I was studying music in college. And even then, I didnt really think i'd be very good at it (I'm not the greatest pianist around). But I took a class on piano pedagogy and to my surprise, I really enjoyed it, and I was pretty good at it too. Not only that, but other...

Got lots to do today and tomorrow, but I just dont seem to have the energy right now. I'd much rather just read my books. Oh well ... Mood... Mellow San Giorgio Maggiore, Twilight By Claude Monet link

So my husband and I went to see the final Star Wars movie last night. Here are some thoughts: First of all, there is a reason we dont go to the theater much anymore. Actually there may be several... crowds, uncomfortable seats, and outrages ticket prices. Give me the comfort of my own home any day. I really dont care if that means I have to wait a few extra months for the DVD in order to see the movie. But for special occasions, like Revenge of the Sith, we make an exception to go out. Good story. If you take the star wars series as a whole, it's a great story... Good versus Evil, lots of heart, great villains, and light sabers. Now when it comes to the original trilogy, versus the recent trilogy... no contest as far as which is better. However, i think the first three episodes had so much more potential than was realized (you probably could have cut out most of the first episode altogether and spent more time developing the transformation of Anakin to Vader). But I think the best...

Some updates: (nothing too exciting going on) Allergies - it's that time again. Though i dont get the typical congestion, sneezing, coughing allergies. I get itches. My whole face itches like crazy, especially my eyes and nose. I expect this to last through until June. And there's really not much i can do about it. 24 - Season finale next week... AHH i cant wait. That show has way too much suspense for me. Here is how I would like it to end: Jack captures that chick who is working with Marwan (sp?). She willingly gives up the info about the missile because she realizes that she was wrong. The missile is intercepted, the country lives happily ever after. Tony is safely returned to Michelle, and they live happily ever after (my husband suggests they do a spin-off in which Tony and Michelle attempt a "normal" life in the country after their crazy lives at CTU). Audry realizes that Jack was only doing what he had to do to find the nuclear missile and forgives him, they li...

I found a cool site with lots of neat java scripts you can add to your site. Flooble I added the Toggler game to my sidebar. And just so you know, it is possible to win. I did it in 6 moves. See if you can do it in less... I also got these way cool Post Ems 1 ... they are the footnotes of the future. Post Ems ( hide ) I wish they could use these in books instead of footnotes. I hate footnotes.

I just took my dog out for a short walk. I figured we'd walk around the townhouse and check the mailbox. So we headed off on our routine mail-check walk... and as we approached the mailbox I took my keys out so I could be ready to get the mail as quickly as possible (my dog has a hard time standing still when we are outside). As I lifted my hand to put the key in the mailbox I realized... the mailbox is missing! The whole entire box for our street is gone. For about two seconds I was completely perplexed (and wondered if i was losing my mind). My first thought was "isnt this where the mailbox should be? am I in the wrong place?" But then I looked down at the ground and saw four long screws sticking up where the mailbox should have been, so then I figure that it's not a matter of me being in the wrong place, instead it must have something to do with the removal of the mailbox. This whole time I was still standing with my hand up as if I were unlocking the imaginary box...

Today is my sister's sweet sixteen. Happy Birthday to her! It also happens to be my dog's 3rd birthday (my husband and I randomly selected this day to celebrate her birthday... well maybe not so random since it also happens to be my sister's bday). And it's also Cinco de Mayo. Lots of reasons to celebrate.

Mood... Focused Composition with Red, Blue, Yellow By Piet Mondrian link Hey I have a cup just like that :)

"Sweetest Lord, make me appreciative of the dignity of my high vocation, and its many responsibilities. Never permit me to disgrace it by giving way to coldness, unkindness, or impatience." Mother Teresa ...especially the impatience part.

Anyone who teaches music may find these sites helpful (I use them quite often): Practice Spot Music Teaching You can get note spellers, rhythm drills, scales, theory sheets, teaching tips, and all kinds of great stuff (for free!)

This weekend my husband and I took his parents out to dinner. We went to a new (to us) restuarant, Bonefish . It was great! I try not to think of myself as a yuppie, but when it comes to eating out, I think it's pretty hard for me to avoid that. It's not that I like expensive exotic foods, and that I have to go to upscale places. I'm not even a very picky eater... but I do have certain preferences. First Point : When I eat out, I want to eat something that I cant cook at home. I'm not going out to eat something like spagetti if I can just make it myself (and it will cost less too!). Second Point : I also like to try something different when I go to restuarants. It's very rare that I will eat the same thing when I go out. I like trying new things, seeing what they have to offer. I mean there are times when I'm craving Sesame Chicken from our favorite Vietnamese place, so I'll go just for that. But overall I like experimenting. Eating out should be special......

Well I just checked out Beck's site and here are the offical lyrics. I saw her, yeah I saw her with her black tongue tied Round the roses Fist pounding on a vending machine Toy diamond ring stuck on her finger With a noose she can hang from the sun And put it out with her cheap sunglasses Walking crooked down the beach She spits on the sand where their bones are bleaching And I know I'm gonna steal her eye She doesn't even know what's wrong And I know I'm gonna make her die Take her where her soul belongs And I know I'm gonna steal her eye Nothing that I wouldn't try My..... girl My..... girl I saw her, yeah I saw her with her hands tied back And her rags were burning Crawling out from a landfilled life Scrawlin her name upon the ceiling Throw a coin in a fountain of dust White noise, her ears are ringing Got a ticket for a midnight hanging Throw a bullet from a freight train leaving And I know I'm gonna steal her eye She doesn't even know what'...

Ever since my Spring Cleaning week (or two weeks) I really have lost the energy for cleaning. I feel as though since i cleaned so much in that short amount of time, I deserve a cleaning break. So I took one. Though now I'm noticing the effects of that break. I suppose it's time to get back to my cleaning schedule. Blah My husband and I just worked on part 3 of our garden. We put down some bricks to frame it, and laid down a little mulch. But i think we need to make another trip to home depot before we can finish it all the way. I think at most I can garden for about 1 hour. Then I get bored and my back starts hurting... time to move on. The new Beck CD, Guero , is awesome. Everyone should check it out. One of my favorite songs istrack 3 (I think), Girl . The chorus goes something like this: "Hey my (something mumbled) Girl... my (mumble) girl" Since I'm the type of person who needs to know the lyrics to all the songs I listen to (so I can sing along of course). I ...

My Mood...Sleepy Sleep by Salvador Dali link Rainy days make me feel so sleepy.

visited 15 countries (6%) create your own visited countries map visited 30 states (58%) -Some of those states I only drove through... I'm not sure if those should really count. -I've lived in 6 of the states (OK, TX, CO, NY, KS, VA) create your own visited states map

I saw the commercial for the new Coca-Cola flavor last night. Here is my input on the various Coke flavors: Original Coca-Cola: not my most favorite soda, I dont really care for colas too much Cherry Coke: Absolutely delicious. for the longest time this was the only way I'd drink any kind of dark soda Vanilla Coke: Greatest soda ever! A couple years ago, while I was still working at Starbucks, a friend of mine used to put vanilla syrup in her Coke. She finally convinced me to try it (knowing how much I dislike Coke), and it really was good. So when Coke came out with Vanilla Coke, I wasnt expecting it to be as good as my friend's concoction, but to my surprise, it was. The New Lime Coke: Umm... I havent tried this yet. But I did try the Pepsi with Lemon once (at the time it was really the only option I had for a drink). And the Pepsi with Lemon tasted like: Pepsi + Lemon scented dish soap. I expect Lime Coke to taste the same. Mmm... Vanilla Coke

--Dore Ashton on Agnes Martin "to make statements with the simplest of means that yet suggest the profound experience from which they come." I hope someone will say the same thing about me one day.

Ice cream is my ultimate cure for every ailment. Like tonight, for example. My husband and I had pizza this afternoon (too late for lunch, too early for dinner). And while it was great pizza, it left me with a little bit of a stomach ache. So a few minutes ago (after watching 2 episodes of The Contender) we walked down to 7-11 so I could get an ice cream bar, and I ate it on the walk home. Nothing could make me feel better than eating a Dove ice cream bar in 43 degree weather. But I do feel much better now. I dont know if it's the coldness or the creaminess of the ice cream, but for some reason, it always makes me feel better. Sore throat, headache, cramps, stomach ache... why bother with aspirin or motrin or pepto? Ice cream works just as good and it tastes even better!

So the other day I commented that I'm not much of an animal person. Despite that I think i've done a pretty good job with my dog. We got her from a rescue when she was 2 years old (that was a year ago), so she was already house broken and overall you could tell she had some training. But I took it upon myself to teach her a few basic tricks. Now I have only had minimal interaction with dogs, and really know absolutely nothing about how to train one. But I did take a semester of Psychology in college, and felt that I had a pretty good understanding of operant conditioning and some other learning methods (think Pavlov's dogs). So I decided that I would try and apply that knowledge as best I could... if it worked, great! if not, oh well. I started out with the "sit" command. This is how I went about teaching it to her: Say the word "sit" Push her backside down so she is forced into the sitting position While she is still sitting (because I'm pushing on ...

My horoscope: 'Terrific' doesn't even begin to describe your day. Whatever you do, it'll be fantastic.