Obligatory 'What I'm Thankful For' Post

I'm sure I would seem like an ungrateful brat if I didn't post about the things I'm thankful for on Thanksgiving. So, here goes:

• I'm thankful that Josh and I are having problems trying to figure out when and where we're going to be tomorrow. I realize that sounds a little backwards, but if we didn't have one another, and if we each didn't have huge families that we love to spend time with, we would be much less fortunate.
• I'm thankful that I'm torn between which stores to hit up for doorbuster deals tomorrow. Again, I know that's a little backwards, but it means that I have a long list of people I love to buy gifts for, and a pocketbook that can handle the purchases.
• Along the same lines, I'm thankful that although the company I work for is a huge pain in my ass most of the time, they take the time to adopt 10 families for Christmas. I'm thankful I have the resources to make a child's Christmas season a little brighter (I realize that's a little Hallmark-ish, but it's that time of year and I loooooove buying gifts for people! So up yours Scrooge!)
• And, as much as I dread going to work everyday, I'm VERY thankful that my company has allowed me to continue working for them as I pursue my teaching degree, especially because this degree does not benefit my company in any way.
• Last but not least, I'm so very thankful that I do not work in retail! (I've NEVER worked on Black Friday, ever, and I'm not about to change that now!)

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone! In the words of one of my favorite customers from my days as a bank teller, "Go EAT that big turk-ay!"

source

Amanda: Remember the slew of Mrs. Ranger songs for Thanksgiving? The Three Turkey Gobblers, anyone?

An Open Letter to GVSU Food Service

Dear GVSU Food Service (Or Whoever is in Charge of Hours of Operation),

Hi. I'm sure you don't know me because I'm a commuter who does not have in her possession one of your ridiculously overpriced meal plans, but that doesn't change the fact that I occasionally partake in some on-campus food. Let's have a little chat, shall we?

I understand that the Thanksgiving season is upon us, and that campus is closed Wednesday through Sunday (thanks for that, by the way). However, that means that campus is still OPEN on Tuesday, regardless of the number of professors who choose to cancel class, or the number of students who choose to skip class. Therefore, all dining operations should remain open under normal operating hours. This only makes sense, right? Right. Glad we're on the same page here.

Imagine my surprise when I gather up my belongings, wish Emerson and Thoreau a Happy Turkey Day, and head over to Einstein's for a pre-Thanksgiving bagel treat (pumpkin schmear has cocaine-like qualities. all except for making you skinny...) and see no signs of life within the building. (Side note: Kudos to you for putting an Einstein's on campus. Pure genius.)  Yes. Einstein's had closed for the holiday break.

At this point I would like you to be aware that I was only two-thirds of the way through my day of classes. Yes, I was part of the unfortunate souls whose professor did not cancel class. I also was part of the unfortunate souls who've used up their allotted absences in said class (due to swine flu,  flu like symptoms,  going out on Tuesday nights with friends) and had to sit through a 3 hour lecture on Hamlet and King Lear. But I digress...

I walked all over campus trying to find a beacon of light from a dining establishment. Convenience Cubed is a misnomer; these stores' hours were nothing but inconvenient to my class schedule. Finally, upon walking into the building furthest away from my class, I saw a smoothie station. I had to resort to drinking a smoothie for my dinner. Regardless of how fricken delicious this smoothie was (nice work with the #6 pineapple strawberry combo, by the way) it in no way substituted for that which my tummy grumbled: an Einstein's bagel. And, curses on you for showing me something new and delicious and equally, if not more fattening than my original dinner choice.

Next year, would it be too much to ask to have Einstein's or one of your 'convenience' stores open until 6pm? I didn't think so. KThanks!

Ashley

You'll Shoot Your Eye Out

Everyone has that one Christmas gift that, as a child, they asked for year after year after year but Santa never delivered. I have a TON of these gifts. Looking back, I'm half-annoyed, half-relieved that I never got them. Let's take a look:

Sue and Her Beauty Salon Too: I cannot, for the life of me, find a picture, but rest assured it is not this Sue, as Google seems to keep suggesting:

Not this Sue

The Beauty Salon Sue had her own salon chair and hair dryer and about 100+ little pieces that you could put in her hair. Ever year, my grandma and I would go through the JCPenney Christmas catalog and I would diligently write down each item I wanted, with a price, page number, item description, and item number. (The only time in my childhood that I was organized was if it resulted in me getting cool shit.)

Another item that showed up year after year on my list was the Bob Ross Painting Kit. I used to watch Bob on PBS anytime I could. I fricken loved his happy little trees made of a mixture of burnt sienna and raw umber and applied with a putty knife. Plus, he made friends with squirrels and had an afro. I was in love. I figured that if I had his painting kit I, too, could paint happy trees and fluffy clouds. Maybe I would even have a squirrel friend! (I did not covet his hair, but surprisingly enough, my hair does sometimes resemble his 'fro.)

Happy little trees

Then, there's the worst possible thing ever: When the cousin you despise gets the gift you want. The horror!!! This happened to me when I was 7. One of my cousins is 2 months younger than me, which has always led to some sibling-like rivalry (and then whenever I beat her at anything, she always gave lame excuses like, "I wasn't even trying..." ugh. And yes, I realize this should not still make me mad but it does.) That year I was begging for a My Size Barbie (You could wear her clothes!!) and stupid-face cousin got one instead.

Hmm... kinda creepy now

This sucked because whenever I had to go to her house to play, stupid-face cousin got to make the rules about how we played with her. And she always got to wear the clothes. (But she looked hideous in a pink tutu so, HA! I got the last laugh on that one, bitches!)

So, what was the gift you wanted as a child and never got?

Don't hate me...

...for what I'm about to say:

I'm not going to see New Moon today, or probably at all (definitely not in the theaters). Why, you ask? Because I'm over it. I caught the Twilight bug earlier this year and read the books (I'm going to teach high school English so I probably should know what's popular reading material, no?) and I even endorsed them on this here blog, but I'm so freaking over it now. I'd even go so far as to say that I wish I never mentioned how 'well written' the books are and how the 'characters are amazing' because I definitely have different feelings about the books now. I've read a lot of books since I read the Twilight series and my tastes have changed. I had a whole class on adolescent literature and my humble opinion is that there are so many more books out there that are written SO much better and have strong, well developed female characters (or just well developed characters in general). I still think the story itself is interesting, or I guess I should say I can see why it's appealing to so many people. But I have to admit that the Harry Potter series and J. K. Rowling get my vote for most compelling, fully tied together series. Plus, even when I was reading the books, I never developed a crush on Edward or Jacob. Neither one really did it for me; I guess that's why I have a hard time understanding why they're so appealing to everyone else. To each his/her own.

However, I am thankful that Stephenie Meyer's books have inspired so many non-readers to read. When it comes down to it, being a future English teacher, I think any type of reading is important. So, even though I've fallen off (more like jumped the hell off) the proverbial Twilight bandwagon, I'm glad it was written because SO many people read it. Does that make sense?

I'm also disappointed that New Moon is going to take away from this movie:

It looks SO good, plus I love Sandra Bullock and Kathy Bates. I think it will be interesting to see Sandra in a more serious role. I'm a sucker for true stories. There's also a book (!!!) which I'm adding to my list to read on Christmas Break! Oh- and how cool is this: Anna from Southern Champagne Wishes actually attended the high school where the story takes place! Check out her blog for some insider info on the school and the area. (You should check out her blog even if you're not interested in this movie because she posts pics of her shoes at the end of every entry. Talk about major footwear coveting!!)

Happy Weekend Everyone!!

Do You Speak American?

**Warning! Academic-ish discussions ahead**

Since I'm taking classes, from time to time I'll blog about what I'm learning (if it interests me and I feel like sharing, which doesn't happen a lot, so when it happens PAY ATTENTION!). Today is one of those days. Yesterday, my linguistics prof showed us a website where you can rank on a scale of 1-10 the proper-ness (is that a word?) of the English spoken in different parts of the United States. Go there and do it, it takes like 3 seconds. The results are really interesting, especially to English nerds like me. What generally happens with Michiganders is that they rank Michigan the highest, meaning they think people from Michigan speak the most proper, or best English. Surrounding states speak almost, but not quite as well, followed by the West, the Northeast, and finally the South. What was interesting to me was that Michigan ranked Indiana lower than Ohio and Illinois, even though it's right between those two states. Also, Michiganders ranked California, Colorado, and Washington higher than other states out West (I can't help but think that Grey's Anatomy has something to do with the higher ranking of Washington... haha). Poor Alabama got ranked the lowest, proving that we think people in the South speak poor English. See for yourself:

Click on the Michigan map

What I've realized in my linguistics class is that there is no 'Proper' English, just a dialect called Standard American English, which is used most often in the media. That dialect tends to reflect speech patterns in the Midland section of the country, including parts of Missouri and Southern Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio. Turns out Michigan doesn't even speak SAE! Michiganders tend to nasalize vowels, just ask anyone from the Midland states! Go Here and try and match the speakers with where they live. It's harder than it sounds!

So there's a quick rundown of what we've talked about in my linguistics class. I find linguistics extremely interesting for some reason. If I hadn't already made the decision to be a teacher, I think I would have traveled down the linguistics path!

Good News/Bad News

Yesterday I had an appointment with a counselor at GVSU to make sure that I'll have my major and minor complete in time to start the Graduate Teacher Certification program next summer (June 28th!!). During this meeting I had a few surprises. First of all, I was happy to learn that I don't need to take a class that I've scheduled for next semester. It's Psychology of Learning and it's a prereq for entering the College of Ed. if you're doing the undergrad program. That was the good news, and I was ecstatic for approximately 3 seconds. Then I realized that I didn't need to take the other 5 CLASSES I've already TAKEN that are prereqs for the College of Ed. Basically, the whole first summer of classes I took mean nothing now. Oh well... I was looking for a way to get rid of that pesky $4,000+ in my savings account (sarcasm, anyone?).

So I'm trying to look on the bright side and not think about the $4K that went right down the drain. At least I'm one class closer to being done, right? Right?? *sigh*

On the plus side, only 7 months and 10 days until I leave this:

Cubicle Hell

For this:

Classroom Heaven

Check out that diversity! Except, my students will have big smiles on their brown, orange, blue, green, and yellow faces, obvs.

In an unrelated note, I got a comment from a co-worker today and I was unsure how to take it. Today I'm wearing a sheath dress with a cardigan and my knee-high boots (it looks classy, I promise). Coworker came over to my cube and chatted with me for a few minute earlier this morning. Then, I walked over to where Coworker sits to ask him a question. He says, "Woah. You're in a dress." like I've never worn a dress in my life (which I have, about every other week at least), or like it was against all things holy for me to not wear pants. I replied with some snarky remark and a dirty look (I'm just guessing I gave him a dirty look... I tend to do that when people say stupid things. Character flaw?). Coworker then responded, "It just threw me off that you're in a dress." WTF? I don't get it...

Not too Shabby

My sister and I decided it would be nice to give my dad and stepmom pictures of myself, my sister, and my little brother for Christmas (now that I've typed that out it sounds very narcissistic). However, we are very short on cash (need I remind anyone of my endeavors to completely quit my job in an all-too-fast-approaching 7 months?) so we thought we could have my cousin Karlee take a few shots and see how they turn out before we approach a professional photographer. Between my aunt's DSLR and my Photoshop skills (which are minimal at best; I had a Photoshop class during my graphic designer phase in college but that was a looooong time ago) I think we've got a few keepers. They're all very posed and nothing like I look at everyday in my favorite photography blogs, but I think they'll work. See for yourself!

All of the pictures were taken at Bertha Brock Park in Ionia. In this one, I was scared shitless that I was going to fall off the bridge and into the murky brown water below.

This one is quite the conundrum: I like the composition of it as is, but I hate the chain-link tennis court fence behind it. I'm going to try and blur it a bit in Photoshop and see what happens.

This one and the next one have reminded me to lay off the carbs (oooh I love me a bagel in the morning! But it's going right to my thighs!)

 

We shot over 30 pictures that day, but between my brother and sister acting like dorks we only had a few that were good. Case in point:

 

As you can kind of see, I'm not impressed with their Vogue-ing (and I just realized that if I wasn't wearing 3 inch heels, my 'little' brother would be taller than me. Holy shit)

So we're going to try and spend the money on getting quality prints and frames. I'm hoping these look decent when they're actually printed out!