Officially Technological

OK, I'm not big on recommending things like books, movies, or music. It makes me feel responsible. However, some times something touches me enough that I want to recommend it. So, here goes. I'm going to recommend "So Brave, Young and Handsome" by Leif Enger. I may be somewhat biased because I liked Leif Enger's style so much, that when Brian and I saw his new book on the shelf at Barnes and Noble, we had to get it. Well, I read it in about a week (which for me is pretty good since I don't usually invest a lot of time in reading - I know it's shameful). It was great. Someone online called it a "smooth mix of romanticism and gritty reality." By gritty they mean literally. :) Just thinking about the book makes me a little itchy thinking about sleeping outside for weeks at a time as I'm traveling through the prairie states. Anyway, it's a good book, if you like gritty reality and romanticism, it may be the book for you.

OK, so this all started about umpteen years ago. My dad is an avid gamer. I don't mean the kind that sits in front of a video game for hours on end, more like the type who likes to play regular old games. If he has no one to play games with, he just plays them by himself. I recall many a happy childhood hour that my dad spent playing Parcheesi in the basement while I played with my toys. Back then there was very sophisticated gaming materials. There wasn't any personal computers or Gameboys or anything. So, he was old-school. He had a Parcheesi board game. He wore out at least one Parcheesi game during my childhood. He also played Yahtzee by himself. In recent years, he had a few games he enjoyed on the computer, but got his computer privileges revoked when my mom got a new Apple a few years ago which she didn't want him messing with (he's not what I'd call technologically savvy - unlike me, who is "officially technological" yuk, yuk). So, one Christmas, I bought him a hand-held Yahtzee game from Meijer. Best ten bucks I ever spent. Hand held games have totally revolutionized his life. He now is the proud owner of several hand-held games including Yahtzee, Boggle, Solitaire, and Tetris (to name a few), and he has been known to make phone calls at all hours to let us know of a new high score (which is big news since he plays so much he's ran up the high scores to impossible levels).

So, when we go home for a weekend there are periods of the weekend where no one is talking and everyone is playing their own hand-held game. It's great fun. The thing that's the biggest problem for me, is that I'm not very good at any of said games. I'm not very coordinated, so I can't play Tetris; I have the vocabulary of a four-year-old, so I don't do well with Boggle; I'm not lucky so I don't do well with Solitaire and Yahtzee. It is for this reason that I'm going to create a new Yahtzee game for people like me.

First of all, I'm not going to have a "large straight" on my game. Two smalls would be challenge enough. And you can forget about that stinking "full house" too. I'll call it an "almost full house" (two pairs would count for that). There would be about 5 or so slots for "chance". Yep, I'd be calling my dad at 6 in the morning every day to tell him about a new high score. Yep, I'll call it Julzee. It will be the latest rage for all of us underdogs. Move over Wii.

OK, so I'm officially done with my first class. I even got my grade already. I'm pretty happy with it. Granted, this is the second time I've taken Educational Psychology, so I may have had a head start, but that was also 6 or so years ago. So, I'm just going to go ahead and pat myself on the back anyway (not like I don't do that enough).

I bought a pair of shoes last night at Marshalls. They're black strappy heals. I really needed a pair of black strappy heals for church, but I also justified them as a good student teaching shoe. See how black strappy heals are just plain useful? I really wanted this pair of ivory shoes (not sure what I'd wear them with, I haven't owned anything ivory for years). They were toe-peeks with a pretty nice, tall heal, and they had this little strip of lace-up at the ankles. Kinda hard to explain. I was looking for a picture of them, but I couldn't find them. Apparently, when Nine West sells their shoes to Marshalls they drop off the face of the earth (read: Internet). Anyway, they were super cool and trendy, but Brian hated them and started to threaten to buy a motorcycle, so I put them back. But they were pretty stinking awesome. All this is to say that I feel like I need to start stocking up on cloths for student teaching. For the last 2 years, the most serious thing I wore to work was jeans (and that's a dressy day). So, I need to stock up, because if I buy a whole bunch of "serious" clothes all at once I bust the ol' budget.

Which brings me to the Praxis. OK, so I hate tests. And as far as I can tell, the Praxis is just a big, mean test that I have to take if I ever want to be a teacher. Ugh. So, I'm going to start studying for it. I've decided to not be nervous about it (however just writing about it makes me a little ill), because it's just math. That's supposed to be what I'm good at. My concern is that I'll find out math isn't really what I'm good at. So, I'm going to study. I've organized a little study group of fellow not-sure-if-I-should-be-a-math-teacher students, and we meet for the first time tonight. I'll keep you posted on how we do.

Ok, I'm a huge sucker for wedding dresses. I'm a big girl. I can admit it. So, when I saw this wedding dress slide show, I got excited. And the dresses are very pretty and all, but what's up with the girls' faces? Some of them look like they have just had their brains sucked out by aliens, some look mean, some look like, "Did he show up??" Only one or two actually looks like some sort of bride. Take a look...