you stole what??

i'm walking around my science classroom the other day when i notice that one of my students appears to have an uncontrollable case of the giggles whenever i pass by. i pause and check - no, my fly is not undone, i don't have anything smushed in between my teeth, and as far as i can tell i haven't sat in anything that could remain stuck to my butt. i continue walking around trying to think nothing of the giggling (afterall, i do indeed giggle a little myself) but after another minute or two i just have to ask what's going on. through her giggles she manages to get out, "ms. salt.... i stole something of yours....." Uhh... what?! I quickly attempted to brainstorm anything of value that i had with me in the classroom that she might want to steal. When I came up with nothing, I just stood there, staring at her, so incredibly puzzled. Why, oh why, would anyone steal something from their teacher and then tell them about it? Not too sure what to do, and slightly concerned, I checked around the table she was sitting at to see if I could find anything of mine. With no luck, I asked her again what it was that she took, but there was no response through the giggles. Thankfully, one of the boys behind her spotted my coffee mug amidst her things. Now, more confused than ever, I stood there questioning why anyone would want to steal my empty coffee mug of all things. Last I checked it was a coffee mug - nothing too lucrative. Yes, it's covered in pictures of my random adventures with friends around seattle, school, and camp, but it's nothing that I figured anyone would be interested enough in to steal. With my coffee mug returned, she giggled, "Who knows what it's going to be next time, Ms Salt?!" and I shot her a 'teacher glare' while laughing inside. What a strange start to my morning.

"ms salt, you're too peppy for me"

it's certainly not something that i've been hiding. clearly, when it comes to teaching and chatting with kids, i'm the one you'll find singing and dancing around a classroom. i laughed the other day when one of my grade ten students told me that i was "too peppy for him". is boring supposedly where it's at when you're teaching? i hope, if anything, my classes are far from boring.

it's certainly been an adventure teaching in my old high school thus far. the one thing that i'm thankful for is that even though i'm spread out over five classrooms in seven blocks, i have five years of sdss under my belt already, so i don't tend to get lost (though i do not venture into the math wing - i may get lost in there as it was built after my time). there are, however, several new spaces that i'm discovering as i become more and more a part of the staff at south delta. there's the hidden french bookroom, the four different photocopy rooms that i use (though there are 8 photocopiers in the school - a random fact for you), the elevator (which i've now actually used), the conference room, the staff washroom (far superior to the other salle des bains), the conference room (which i've now conferenced in) and the staffroom (oh the joys of that place). i've yet to completely adjust to calling all of my old teachers by their first names, but it does make introducing myself far easier when i already know so many of the people.

the one thing that i do love is how excited some of my old teachers are about having me as a part of the teaching staff. just this morning cheryl (brasnett) was knocking on the window of the door between our rooms (i teach one block of french 9 next to her biology class) and giving me the thumbs up while smiling profusely. then there was suzan (olsen) who lent me some of her french immersion 8 students when she saw me carrying textbooks down the hall. she also pokes her head in my room from time to time, waves her arms, and shouts in french to encourage me. oh it's crazy. chris (yang) and i reminisced over how i schooled his science 10 class in his first year of teaching (funny that i'm now in the same position - teaching science 10 in my first year) and brian (outerbridge) and i have had chats about his newest move from braces to retainers and the 'happy summer' cake i and a bunch of people baked him many many summers ago.

i do also love that whenever i walk down the halls, i see someone that i know. i'm sure that it's absolutely bizarre for some of the kids that i know so well outside of school to call me ms./mlle. salt, but i think they're slowly becoming accustomed to it (as i am becoming accustomed to being called ms./mlle. salt). now with my seven blocks of students added into the mix, i'm beginning to know my fair share of people.

anyway, this teacher needs to finish writing the science quiz she's handing out tomorrow and decide more firmly on the keyboarding curriculum that she's going to implement. almost two weeks down and i haven't drowned in my school work yet...

and there's just no changing that 'peppy' business

south delta - what?!

guess who's the newest teacher to be added to the staffing list at south delta secondary? strangely enough, the answer is me! i start monday in a full-time position teaching french, science and a wee bit of keyboarding. the peasants rejoice! (or at least i rejoice in the offer of a full-time job!) i'll certainly miss the grade 8's & 9's at north delta secondary who i've been teaching french to for the last week, but i have a bunch of new classes waiting for me a 10 min walk from my house.

how odd will it be walking into the staff room and chatting with the teachers who helped me make it through high school? VERY, but i think i'll get over it (let's hope anyway) and from what i've heard a few of them are excited to have me there.

okay, off to this morning's homeroom class i go.

hurray!

jenn is.... lost in a sea of french

at the moment i'm TOC-ing full time at north delta secondary teaching french 8 and french 9 all day everyday. in the next few days there is a good possibility that the job will turn into a full-time contract so that i'm no longer only subbing. i must say though, planning for a full day of french is ridiculous - but in a good way. my grasp of the language is probably not quite what it should be, but i am in love with it. i can't even begin to count how many french songs i've listened to or chants i've chanted in the past few hours. my favourite song at the moment is the french version of the seven days of the week set to the flintstones song. clearly it doesn't get better than this:

Lundi, mardi, mercredi, jeudi, vendredi, samedi, dimanche
Les sept jours de la semaine
Cinquante-deux fois pendant toute l’année
Cinq jours on apprend à l’école
Mes profs et mes amis sont si drôles
Lundi, mardi, mercredi, jeudi, vendredi, LE WEEKEND, samedi, dimanche
Les sept jours de la semaine!

if only i could sing that song to my grade 12 homeroom.....

speaking of which, how crazy is it that i have a grade 12 homeroom? let's be serious, i don't look much, if at all, older than the bunch of them. i wasn't supposed to have a homeroom at all, but when i walked in the school this morning i was thrown a box of planners, magnets, picture forms and locater cards and told to go to a room in the far corner of the school (as far from my actual classroom as you could seemingly get) and tell the grade twelves what to do. hah. i didn't know how to get anywhere around the school let alone tell students who've been at the school for four years what to do. but i mean, who wouldn't want to be the new teacher in a school who gets lost and has no clue what to do? though i cannot truly complain as these grade twelves were far better than the gong show that apparently occurred at south delta today. those grade twelves adopted the slogan "masturbate for grad '08" and chanted it throughout their assembly and wrote that and various other slogans all over their clothes. eek. we raise 'em well in tsawwassen.

back to the french planning. if anyone has a better grasp of the language or the curriculum than i (which should be almost everyone), let me know what i should do to give these kids an amazing semester. for now, we sing!

new beginnings

the next few weeks are all about new beginnings, and i'm not so sure that i'm completely onboard - not that i really have a choice in the matter, but i believe that's why i'm blogging

there are just under 6 full days of class left until i'm a certified teacher. it's a little scary to think that i'm so close to having a 'real job' but i'm excited all the same. jessi and i walked through superstore the other day and there were rows and rows full of school supplies. i took one look at those supplies and started jumping up and down - butterflies rumbling in my stomach. kids will soon be buying those supplies for my class! i'll be standing there, somewhere around the room, as they work away at whatever tasks i have assigned. it's crazy to think that i'm going to be given that much control. after all, here i sit in class right now typing away at my laptop paying very little attention to the comings and goings in this very classroom.

the end of school also means that rachel has flown back to south africa and kiki will soon be flying off to nicaragua. it's no longer difficult to 'think international' with my girls heading off all over the world. even those that are closest (leslie in winnipeg and jessi in victoria) are still far enough away that i don't and won't get to see them very often. is this what it's like being all grown up? your friends move away and your long distance bills increase? i'm not so sure that i love this new aspect of my life. i love having girls around to chat and cuddle up to and do silly things with. maybe that's just drinking coffee or dancing in and out of a movie theatre (oh hairspray, how i love thee), but it's something different than hanging out with the guys.

along with moving back to victoria, jessi and clifton are tying the knot in just over three weeks (the 24th). i am oh so excited for the both of them. in hanging out with them recently i've noticed how much they love each other and are in love with each other and i couldn't be happier to stand up for them at their wedding. i have a feeling that the day is going to be absolutely beautiful - that's if jessi and i can sort out everything that has to be done before then. anyone ever made marshmellow fondant before? yeah, us neither. with all of this stuff to be done leading up to the day, it will be a little odd when it's all said and done and they've moved on back to victoria. while vic is close, it's still a minimum 2 hrs in ferry dealings another 1.5 on the bus or 30 min by car and anywhere from 25-100$ to get over there for a day (though that's a heck of a lot cheaper than a flight to the other side of the world or to the middle of my own country).

there's a lot that i need to get used to in the next few weeks: my girls are coming and going (though mostly going), i officially begin my new career, and i get to see two of my favourite people get married. in the midst of all that i need to pick a district to work in and find a place to live. that might be easier if there were still people around to move in with, but there just has to be someone out there - i'm not too worried...yet. i also need to find a way to actually spend time with my lovely boyfriend. it's hard being out at ubc and in the pit of tsawwassen which are two places no where near his place in coquitlam or his work in south surrey. he's not quite sure what the fall is going to look like for him either, but here's hoping that saskatchewan isn't calling his name. if it is, well i guess i'll just have to get used to that, though the amount of long distance numbers that i need to call is already far too large for my liking.

now that i've officially lost sight of why i'm writing, i figure that i should just conclude. i think there are just some aspects of change that shake me a little, and i've certainly listed more than a few. don't get me wrong, i'm not crushed nor torn about the change that is happening, but until it all does occur, i'm not so sure where i stand. i'm excited to see change - it means that my life is moving forward and not just standing still, but sometimes change is so much easier to embrace when there are friends around to see it through

looking for a teacher?

are you looking for a teacher?

this one is 23 (soon 24), with long strawberry blonde hair, blue eyes and freckles. she has just completed three grueling months of student teaching where she taught 100% for the duration of her practicum. for the most part, she came out of the experience unscathed, though a few bitter feelings still associate themselves with the dying days of her practicum. she learned how to teach science, math, planning, p.e., french and humanities to grade 8 students while coaching cheerleading & dance, track & field, and ultimate. the students responded to her well and their grades improved under her tutelage, but evidence such as "le tigre est un oiseau" (no, tigers are not birds) leaves us to believe that there is much more to be taught to these newly donned teenagers. she has recently been hired in both the delta and coquitlam school districts, but has still yet to hear back from all of the districts that she applied to. there is the potential that she may be hired on to a full-time job in delta, but the 'coming soon' status on the delta district website is annoyingly ambiguous about what is happening with that particular job prospect.

if you're looking for a teacher, this one just might be the one. she's a wee bit crazy and she sings off-key, but she giggles while she teaches and is absolutely in love with teaching. she would surely welcome any opportunity to be stolen away for an interview (or really an anything) during the six dreadful weeks of summer school that ubc has currently committed her to.

biblelicious def-

why rachel and i re-wrote these lyrics at 1 in the morning, we're not too sure, but we performed it (actions and all) for the kids in our youth group and, for some reason or another, they loved it. so here you go...

Four, tres, two, uno

Listen up ya'll, Cuz this is it
The book that we’re bangin' ain’t fic-tit-ious

Biblelicious definition make us really holy
We want to be like Jesus, yes, that is our top goal-ie
You can read it, you can preach it
It’s real easy, It ain't sleazy
We got reasons to love Jesus
God and Spirit in all seasons

Biblelicious (not fictitious)
It really ain’t malicious
And if you was suspicious
Check the word it’s so delicious
We say prayers (action here….)
‘Cause he is our rock, rock
And he helps on our journey that we call our daily walk (four, tres, two, uno)

So biblelicious (It's hot, hot)
So biblelicious (‘Cause he is our rock, rock)
So biblelicious (Helpin our daily walk)
Biblelicious (J-J-J-J-J-Jesus, Jesus)

Biblelicious def-, Biblelicious def-, Biblelicious def-…
Biblelicious definition make Satan go crazy
But Jesus really knows me
Comin’ to Him call it Praise-y
With the B to the I, B, the L and the E
Ain’t no other book speakin God’s truth to me

We’re Biblelicious (not fictitiious)
Don’t mean to sound repetitious
But we be up in the church working on our spiritual fitness
He's our witness (oooh wee)
God is our solid rock rock
And he helps on our journey that we call our daily walk (four, tres, two, uno)

So biblelicious (It's hot, hot)
So biblelicious (‘Cause he is our rock, rock)
So biblelicious (Helpin on our daily walk)
Biblelicious (hold hold hold hold hold up, check it out)

God, Jesus, Spirit
Oh we really love you
We will sing your praises
Worship you alone
You have given us so much
There is no one like you
We thank-you for our life
You are oh so faithful

B to the I to the B the L the E, go BIBLE!
B to the I to the B the L the E, go BIBLE!
J to the E to the S the U the S, go JESUS!
J to the E to the S the U the S, go JESUS!

From the start there was Adam and his lady Eve,
Moses took the people, cross the river they did leave
Josh took the people into the promised land,
David slew a giant with a rock in his hand
Jesus came to the earth and on the cross he bled and died
three days later he rose and glorified
So what we’re trying to say is that Christ has come and saved the day
Now they say we…

Biblelicious (not fictitious)
It really ain’t malicious
And if you was suspicious
Check the word it’s so delicious
We say prayers (action here….)
‘Cause he is our rock, rock
And he helps on our journey that we call our daily walk
(four, tres, two, uno)

Don’t mean to sound repetitious
But we be up in the church working on our spiritual fitness
He's our witness (oooh wee)
God is our solid rock rock
And he helps on our journey that we call our daily walk (four, tres, two, uno)

It's biblelicious (aye, aye, aye, aye)
So biblelicious (aye, aye, aye, aye)
So biblelicious (aye, aye, aye, aye)
We’re biblelicious, J-J-J-J-J-Jesus, Jesus

It's biblelicious (aye, aye, aye, aye)
So biblelicious (aye, aye, aye, aye)
So biblelicious (aye, aye, aye, aye)
We’re biblelicious, J-J-J-J-J-Jesus, Jesus

B to the I to the B the L the E, go BIBLE!
B to the I to the B the L the E, go BIBLE!
J to the E to the S the U the S, go JESUS!
J to the E to the S the U the S, go JESUS!

the mess

i'm sitting at my desk, in my classroom, under what seems like several hundred stacks of papers. looking at the clock i realize that my students escaped from this room over four hours ago and yet here i still sit. i've been in the building for over twelve hours thus far - cheerleading practice beckoned my 7:15am arrival and report cards have stalled my departure.

to say i've accomplished nothing today is an incredible understatement. i have coached cheerleading (they worked on their show trophy sequence to rotating split double base and their libs and hitched lib pyramids) taught p.e. (guided children as they ran up a mountain in the rain), math (3 blocks of algebra), and french (Le tigre.... comment est-il? Est-il vert ou orange et noir?) and observed a music class where my students performed their "pieces" (a la 'stomp' - banging on regular household items). I've also attempted to tackle to seemingly endless barrage of marks that i've collected and am still collecting from my students. all that being said, i now sit here having entered all 7 blocks of my marks (with work habits and behavior habits marks for each block).

all that on only an apple, a starbucks coffee, and a few bites of horvath's chicken souvlaki - not too shabby (albeit i'm beginning to fade and the 14 sets of report card comments that i have left to write are becoming more daunting an adventure with each passing minute).

oh me, oh my.

as you can see, instead of finishing up those comments and heading back to my port coquitlam hovel, i've decided to reunite myself with my blog and spend a few good minutes procrastinating. after such a long day, it's kind of nice. to say that i will not accomplish anything significant in the next thirty minutes is sadly not an understatement.

alas, i will return to my stacks in order to speed my arrival at my hovel. afterall, middle schools are eerily creepy at 7:45pm, and i don't want to remain here past the departure of the custodial staff.

My Sportscentre

A look at the promo videos for young adult volleyball at sdbc. i'm not going to lie, they are pretty hot. the first one features mark clark, our college & career director/pastor and the second one features brett ziegler, the random promo & worship guy. enjoy.

My Sportscentre

dear mister horvath

to: mr horvath (a heart as the o)

my love for you runs so deep,
when we part my eyes they weep

you gave me your jacket,
i gave you my heart
but until i am single,
our love cannot start

the old ball-and-chain
andrew's his name
he has me as his rightful dame

oblivious to our passionate love affair,
i sometimes wonder if he knows i'm there

i'll rid of him if you promise you're mine
i like your choice of shirt - you look so fine

i miss the smell of your sweet sweet scent
in my heart you've left a dent

the ponytail, MAN that's delicious
when you sport that style i tend to get vicious

so follow me, Horvs, off into the night
where we are alone...and everything is right

all my love,
jenn (beh-beh)


in the last ten minutes of french class today, one of my grade 8's wrote this little love letter to the other student teacher. horvath had unsuspectingly lent me his zip-up jacket for p.e. in the morning (i was wearing a dress and was cold) and apparently that sparked our non-existant love affair. i do, however, give her points for creativity.

the down-side to all of this... my SA handed out copies to all of the staff. awesome

thirteen year-olds: the definition of random

i don't know what it is about being thirteen that makes you want to blurt out whatever you are thinking in the middle of a class or a meeting, but it happens all of the time. here are just a few of the random comments, questions and statements i've heard in my last two weeks of teaching grade 8.

"ms salt, have you ever heard of air cadets? they still have rifles. those are old guns." - in the middle of capp class while working on an assignment about trips they would like to take

"ms salt, does your bf have muscles?" - in the middle of a meeting with my grade eight cheerleading team

"ms salt, do you drink beer? don't lie to us, we really want to know." - in the middle of math class while working on questions about commission

"ms salt, what's your phone number? i, uhh... want you to be my, uhh, reference for burger king" - by one of the guys in the middle of science class (and no, he didnt get my phone number) who clearly was not working on his lab

"ms salt, why aren't you married? aren't you getting old? i want to have babies before i'm your age" - one of the girls in capp class - eek, i'm not that old yet

a little like christmas eve

i find that tonight is a little like christmas eve. i'm nervous, yet i'm giddy. i'm tired, yet i want to stay up all night. i'm hopeful, yet i have no idea what tomorrow holds.

tomorrow i get to be a teacher again. i get to wake up, put on my teacher clothes, throw my teacher bag over my shoulder and head to school. i get to walk into a class of 32 grade 8's and be ms.salt again (oh how i love being ms.salt!) . i get to teach p.e. to 120 kids, as well as 2 blocks of science and a block of math... oh and a block of french/capp.

i've planned and planned and planned waiting for tomorrow to come. now tomorrow is almost here and i am somewhat beside myself. i'm so excited to see what the next thirteen weeks of teaching will bring. i love my students, and i love being a teacher, but i don't doubt that the next thirteen weeks will be an interesting test of my skills (and my patience). i can't wait to see what i look like at the end of it all. for now, though, i just have to concentrate on tomorrow. oh, tomorrow! i'm just not quite ready to close my eyes and go to sleep yet....

less one loose screw

it's been said that my boyfriend has a screw loose - both figuratively and literally - but today the literal loose screw was finally removed.

rew had acl replacement surgery in september 2005 after tearing his acl playing football. his rehab went really well and then sometime last year he realized the screw that was holding his new anterior cruciate ligament in place was coming loose and protruding from just below his knee (under the skin, not gross frankenstein style). rew thought and still thinks this is the coolest thing in the world. i think within the first five minutes of meeting him over a year ago, he'd mentioned it. when we were working at camp and meeting new people all the time, i would say that it was fairly common for him to introduce himself like, "Hi, I'm Andrew. Want to touch my screw?" (and i made fun of him constantly)

by december it was just getting gross. the screw was sticking out more and more and every time rew ran into something/bumped his leg, the opposite side of his lower leg went numb. needless to say, the screw needed to come out.

so this morning, after arriving home from albania late last night, rew finally had the screw removed. aside from having a gaping hole in his leg, he was left with the screw that formerly held his ligament in place - take a look, it's pretty cool.

rew and his screw

i am not your mother

i love you, but i'm not your mother - even your mother wouldn't want to clean this up

i walked in the door to the pungent aroma of spilled beer. beer on the floor. beer on the walls. beer everywhere. i stood there frozen, not wanting to walk one more foot into the house. what would be behind the first door? certainly nothing i wanted to clean.

what the heck.

how can you create an entire landfill's worth of mess in one night?? such is the talent of geoff salt.

while i applaud his semi-hungover attempt to clean up, i often find that his cleaning makes more of a mess than the mess itself.

after pausing to suck in one deep and nervous breath, i began my tumultous adventure around the house. the first obstacle i encountered were the stairs up to the kitchen. at one point in time, namely saturday morning, the stairs were a shade of blue, but the masses of drunk twenty year-olds had turned them a shade of brown - maybe mocha. then there was the kitchen. two steps onto the floor and my feet were stuck. while the alcohol all over the tiles created an appealing lustre, it didn't do wonders for my desired mode of transportation. i thought about pulling off my socks and going barefoot (in order to avoid having the socks stick to the floor) but then my feet would have received a sickly goopy coating of left-over beer. needless to say, the journey continued in socks.

i must admit, the kitchen wasn't as bad as it possibly could be or as bad as it has been before. there were glasses littered all over the counter, and sticky beer residue all over the cupboards and walls, but at least the empties had been collected in the garage. i found the kitchen chairs outside in the rain, along with a few pairs of shoes (owners unknown), a few more empties, and some clothes. the broken glass that was littered along the floor had been somewhat cleaned up, but large remnants were still there to be found.

i could go on and describe every room in detailed horror, but i'll refrain for the sake of my brother. let's just say that the family room, laundry room, all three of the bathrooms and all three of the upstairs bedrooms need a bit of an overhaul. a drill and some screws may be required.

maybe i can't leave out the gory details of the laundry room. at first glance, everything looked okay - messy, but okay (my definition of okay had been adjusted after walking through the house. one might usually use the word 'disgusting'). it wasn't until i put in the first load of laundry that i noticed anything remarkably different. apparently in the midst of the chaos, the hose that carries the dirty laundry water was disconnected from the back of the machine. thankfully, the water from the first rinse just emptied into the large laundry basin. i was going to wait until the rinse finished to put the hose back into it's regular pipe, but i got caught up in all of the other housework and homework i needed to do, and so i forgot. at about 11pm i remembered. i didn't remember randomly on my own, but more because of the profanity i heard my brother yell and the way in which he ran to my room and threw open the door. sure enough, the hose had dislodged from its formerly safe position and had poured water from the washing machine all over the laundry room, bathroom, and family room floor. did i mention that the family room is carpeted? 12 ginormous towels later and the tile floor in the laundry room and bathroom were dry. i had to tackle the steam cleaner/carpet cleaner in order to clean up the family room mess. oh my. (shawn). i feel for my mother who has had to use this crazy device regularly in order to contain all the other messes that we've made.

needless to say, coming home to a post-party house is low on my list of favourites. not to mention that after doing all of the cleaning (and attempting to coerce my brother into doing some) i had to feed the dogs/beasts, finish my homework, go to school for 9 hours the next day (not including the 2.5 hours of commuting), shop for groceries, and cook two dinners (one for that and one for today - burritos and homemade chili) so that my brother, who works a 3-11pm shift, would have something to take with him to work for dinner today (and eat when he got home at 11pm last night). there was also more cleaning, more laundry, more dogs/beasts to clean and feed, and a few hours of homework.

i am not my brother's mother, though i definitely feel like i am.

shaving cream is never a good idea

last wednesday we needed to come up with an activity to do at gap. we knew that we wanted to play some sort of a night game, but what kind of night game could we do that the sr highs would actually be interested in playing? chances are, regardless of the game that you create, it'll be somewhat similar to capture the flag. our extreme lack of creativity cause us to use capture the gald as a starting point, and then grant added in the glorious concept of shaving cream. let me just say that shaving cream is never a good idea. who really wants to get covered in the stinky dollar store shaving cream (you know, the stuff the smells like cheap men's cologne) on a dark cold night in the snow? (here's hoping that's a rhetorical question) apparently i wanted to... or so i was lead to believe.

when seven o'clock rolled around and we'd all ingested a handful of brownies, we created two teams and then headed out behind the church in the dark. the boys were supposed to be in charge of offense (gathering clothes hangers from the other team's base) and the girls were supposed to be in charge of offense (spraying the other team's boys with shaving cream). you would think that a game so simple in description would proceed without flaw, but if you thought that you're be way off.

i think it all began with a few of the girls and i plotting against the great red-headed finch. i mean , really, you cannot give me a can of shaving cream and expect me not to attack finch at some point. i don't know when it went downhill, but things certainly never looked up for me once the game had begun. at first it was a ball of shaving cream to the side of the head. then my arm was covered. then a leg succumed. my nose. my ears. my eyes. my mouth. i was coated.

the one saving grace? i wasn't alone in my strife. order quickly made way for chaos and we were all heavily coated. the back of the church was coated. the washrooms were coated. they foyer was coated. there was absolutely no escaping the shaving cream. even grant, who cowered in his office, had the pleasure of being coated by me. oh, and these pictures are from after i cleaned myself off. they dont even begin to do justice to my initial coating of shaving cream. but i couldn't completely clean myself off until grant had been shown some of the wonder of his shaving cream game. maybe it was just a little reminder for him about how shaving cream is never a good idea.



i doubt i could look any more unattractive, but the punishment inflicted on grant was well worth the hideousness of these pictures.

one lost key...

so on tuesday i drove into school as per usual. i despise paying ubc parking fees, especially when i own a lovely transit pass, so i generally park at 41st and dunbar and hop on one of the 5 or so buses that take me directly to school from there. after parking, i hopped on the bus, walked over to scarfe and sat through a 'wonderful' l.l.e.d. class. oh how i love l.l.e.d.! (actually this was one of the only productive literacy classes we've had all semester and that's because we were lesson planning for other classes). when it came time for class to be over, good ol' shawny was kind enough to drive me back to my car. as i was exiting his vehicle, i went to grab my star caribeaner with my keys on it. to my chagrin, my car key was not there. it was not in my backpack. not in my pocket. not on the sidewalk. not in my car. my car key was absolutely nowhere to be found. thankfully, shawny was kind enough to drop me off at granville and 49th so i could catch one of the 6-0-whatever's home.

so there i was, waiting at the bus stop trying to pass time as i began to freeze (my jacket was locked in my car). when the 602 finally showed up, i hopped on it just as i heard a loud "Pop!". The driver wasn't quite sure what was up, but after walking around the bus he hopped back on and began to drive. 20 blocks later, however, he realized that the shocks on the bus were gone and so we all had to pile off the bus and onto the next 6-0-whatever we could find. thankfully, there wasn't much of a wait.

all of this bus hopping and key losing meant that i was going to have to wake up earlier than usual on wednesday morning to grab the bus and get to school by 8. when i poured myself out of the car door (thanks papa, for dropping me off) at the rec center at 6:30 in the morning, i was surprised to come face to face with danielle, one of my friends that i haven't seen in an incredibly long time. suddenly this whole 'key-losing' thing wasn't looking so bad. danielle and i worked on catching up all of the way into vancouver, and things were absolutely splendid until i looked out the bus window and realized that it was snowing. there i am in jeans and a cute little shirt, and the snow is pouring from the sky. when i hopped off the 6-0-whatever at 41st and granville, i had to hop up and down repeatedly in order to avoid freezing (remember, my jacket was locked in my car at 41st and dunbar and i hadn't brought another with me as it was sunny-ish in tsawwassen when i left at 6:30). by the time my 41 bus was approaching dunbar, the snow had really begun to fall. reluctantly, i hopped off the bus, trugged to my car (i now had my spare key), grabbed my jacket out of the back seat (along with an umbrella to shelter myself from the snow) and headed back towards the bus stop. i wasn't so thrilled to be taking a third bus in the morning just to get to school, but i really had no choice. as i walked towards the bus stop, i neglected to hear the honks of a silvery-grey sunfire. then the sunfire pulled over towards the curb where i was standing, and i realized it was shawny. i yelped with glee! saved by shawny two days in a row - not a bad record!

with all of the busing and key losing, i figured that tuesday and wednesday should rank as 2 of the grumpiest days that i'd experienced in a long time. fortunately, and surprisingly, that wasn't the case at all. in fact, tuesday and wednesday were two of the most amazing days i've had in a long time. of course i've yet to tell you about the rest of my wednesday, but i have to run off and do some painting. i'll fill you in on the rest soon.

a few formal pictures...

just about everyone who was at the unvalentines semi-formal now has facebook and has seen the majority of pictures from the formal, but i figured i would just put a few on here for fun.

wherever we go we get our cammy & jenn picture

posing as i do

lindsay, moi and benjamin!

unfailing love

And everything holding your hand
Still you make time for me
I can’t understand
Praise You God of Earth and sky
How beautiful is Your unfailing love
Unfailing love

And You never change God You remain
The Holy One
My Unfailing love
Unfailing love

I will praise You
Praise you God of earth and sky
How beautiful is your unfailing love

- an excerpt of "unfailing love" by chris tomlin

bitter & cynical

two things that i never want to become: bitter and cynical

i was looking at a picture of two of my friends that i used to be really close with, and it hit me. bitterness and cynicism are not at all attractive. in fact, it's quite likely that those two attributes are what drove us apart. i'm not talking about the occasional dose of bitterness and cynicism but the perpetual pessimism that leaks from a soul. just like you cannot separate peanut butter and jam once they've hit the bread, i was unable to ever scrape the bitterness and cynicism off of these two friends. i cannot quite pinpoint what it is about these two attributes that makes me cringe, but i can picture how my body curls and squirms at their very idea.

i wish that i could sit down right now and type up a contract about never reaching a point where bitterness and cyncism have taken over my life. that i could declare in times new roman size 12 that i will not become old, withered and bitter, but i just can't seem to type those words. i'm not afraid of those words (you're sure to have noted their somewhat senseless repetition) but i just can't guarantee that those words wont ever be me. i don't know what i'm even going to be like tomorrow. for all i know my pituitary could suddenly release a cocktail of hormones that makes me the cruelest teacher my grade 8's have ever seen. or maybe i'll close up and become that shy girl for the second time in my life. or maybe i'll be crazed, angry, teary, or ecstatic. i just don't quite know what tomorrow is going to bring. but i can tell you one thing. if there is anything that i long not to be, it's bitter and cynical. there is too much hope, too much love and too much joy in my life for that. i never want there to come a day when someone sits down to look at my picture and chooses the words "bitter and cynical" as the most apt descriptors of my life.

because salt is supposed to add flavor, not bitterness.