Springtime in Tennessee

Life is: enjoying the simple pleasures of spring.
New floral shirt.
The colour yellow.
Bare feet.
Blooming trees (ehh...allergies).
Bright streams of sunlight that cast glorybeams across campus and make designs on the carpet in my living room.
Bluegrass music!
Hammocking outside for hours on end.
Knowing you are so close to finishing your college career it makes you want to sleep for the next 5 weeks straight and wake up in time for graduation.


In honor of the day, some random students who are obviously in some sort of bluegrass band, decided to play songs outside for several hours. While looking around for a good spot to hammock, I heard them, and thought "ah ha! I've found my clump of trees for the afternoon!" Low and behold- one of the songs they sang "My Little Girl in TN". How fitting for me :)

Enjoy with the complements of the season: spring.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qy320Y6M_J4
(This is not the group of students I listened to...but you get the picture).

Ridiculously Realistic?

And now, ladies and gentlemen, brought to you from Groupon, (yes, the company that gives you daily deals to your email): 

The Groupon Guide to: Underground Bunkers

The world as we know it could end any moment—probably because people aren't using enough oil so the earth's crust is filling up with it. Whatever happens, the end of the world will only be a new beginning for people who were smart enough to stock up their underground bunkers. Here are some supplies you’ll want in your apocalypse-proof lair:

• Dishwashing soap to clean off any animals that got covered in ash from the global fire so they are edible again 

• Handheld video games (brain-teaser games only!) 

• Three quarts of gasoline to keep grandpa’s heart running 

• Two sacks of raw grain to use as free weights so you’ll look buff when intruders from other bunkers break in and try to steal your sacks of grain 

• A bunch of different-colored cardigans—stuff them with newspaper and now they’re friends 

• A lantern for pretending it’s the sun and hoping it grows large enough to replace the sun we lost 

• Bunk beds for keeping sleeping family members all stacked up in an orderly fashion so you feel like you have control over at least this one thing 

After watching the Hunger Games this weekend, these ideas may come in handy ;) 

Rain

Do you ever have those unique dreams in between the snooze of your alarm? Totally happened to me today. And it was a very good dream...but I can't share it, because then it might be your dream too, and it was actually mine. The dream didn't involve rain, but it did involve mist, which is the closest we get to rain over on the dry coasts of sunny Southern California. I am normally not a fan of grey days, but today is an exception. It is like my dream has just continued once I woke up, because the weather in my dream is almost the same as the weather outside in East Tennessee today. While there isn't that deliciously smokey briny-air feel here, I guess I will just have to pretend that I can still feel the moisture of the waves on my smooth skin.

The song of the day is "I Think it's Going to Rain Today", by Madeline Peyroux. I couldn't find find a youtube link to this song (very upsetting), but you can search for it on Pandora if you would like. I love Madeline Peyroux and the smokiness in her voice. It is like I am watching the dying embers of a campfire while sitting on the shore on a chilly summer's eve at the beach all over again when I listen to her music.

Happy raindrops on a happy Monday morning :)

While you're at it, take a look at this awesome website of pictures of the inside of instruments!
http://www.staplenews.com/home/2012/3/9/instruments-from-the-inside.html

Eyes and Words and Looks and Communication

http://samanthashorey.blogspot.com/2012/02/quietly-keeping-it-together.html

I love the way Sam expresses herself! She is a wonderful photographer and has such an artistic view of life.
I second her feelings of looking around and wondering what the person I am seeing is thinking. I do a lot of signing, and with that, comes a lot of self-video tapes. I am very familiar with my facial expressions. ...especially when I laugh because I do it so often. I swear, I'm gonna be one of those unfortunate old ladies who has crows feet by the time I'm 27. Regardless, facial expressions communicate SO MUCH to me! I am good at reading people. I can tell when something is going on. This partially comes from hiding my own emotions and personal thoughts. Because I am a very expressive person, I have had to learn how to conceal my emotions off of my face. Recently, someone taught me the concept of having a "wordless conversation". At first, its a little uncomfortable. But sometimes looks and eye gaze communicate so much more than words ever could. You know the cliche "a picture's worth a 1,000 words"? Well, I think you could say "some facial expressions are worth an infinite amount of words".

Christian Culture

This was hilarious and I could not help but pass it on! It talks about being a Christian kid in the 90s. I totally got 10 out of 10 on these.
www.huffingtonpost.com/mobilweb/lianna-carrera/christian-90s_b_1295516.html

Literacy History

For my Reading Education class, we had to create at paper about our literacy history. I thought you might be interested to gain some perspective into my motivation as to why I want to be an English teacher for the deaf/HoH by reading this little snap.

   I suppose the first question to address is how I learned to read. However, this question of “how” is much harder to answer than “when”. I do not remember many particulars about learning how to read, although I do know that it is different than most people’s experiences. I was homeschooled from first grade through eighth grade. My kindergarten year, I attended my town’s local elementary school. I am sure that the teacher worked with us on literacy and reading, however, I feel like I already knew how to read in kindergarten as I do not remember any type of instruction in the classroom geared towards reading. Perhaps, however, I do not remember simply because it was a long time ago. In first grade, I remember reading many “Dick and Jane” books. They were simple and I could read them pretty quickly by myself. I have a younger sister and an older (both of whom were homeschooled all the way through high school). I remember having “reading time” when I was homeschooled and reading these “Dick and Jane” books to my younger sister.

   As far as reading history outside of school, I know that each summer we participated in our local library’s book contest. The contest was to see which child in the library’s reading program could read the most books in a eight- or ten-week span. I remember my older sister winning the contest three times. Since we were homeschooled, and the library was our main “hub” for learning, we went to the library to gorge ourselves on books at least one or two times a week. We had cloth tote bags and my mom’s rule was that we could only check out as many books that would fit in each of our reading bags. I think mine held about 25 picture books. As time progressed, I liked to read, but wasn’t crazy about it. It wasn’t until my seventh birthday that I fell in love with reading books. I am a horse lover and someone gave me the first book of a series called Pony Pals by Jean Bentacourt. There are 38 books in the series, and over the course of the next two or three years, I read every one of her books. I was obsessed with Pony Pals. This was my first introduction to falling in love with books and from Pony Pals, I began to branch out to other horse books. I loved (and still do) books in a series and cannot tell you how many different horse-book series I have on my bookshelves at home!

   In eight grade, I took a “class” (that was more like a honours seminar) specifically for homeschooled students on Classical Literature. We were required to read the unabridged versions of The Iliad, The Odyssey, and several other Greek plays/poems. I remember reading the first couple pages of The Iliad and not comprehending a word or what I was reading! My mom read the entire book aloud to me over the course of a month or so (bless her heart!). I distinctly remember thinking that I had “made it to the big leagues” and could read anything if I could finish The Iliad and understand it enough to have class discussions on it. I remember going to Barnes and Nobles with my mom on a special trip to pick out which book I would read next. I chose Les Miserables by Victor Hugo. If you are not familiar with the book, the abridged version (which is the copy that I own) is 896 pages long. In all honesty, I am probably on about page 500 and it’s been over eight years since I first started that book! It is a challenge for me and I pick it up every summer and Christmas vacation. (My curiosity got the better of me after about two years of reading it and I have familiarized myself with the story via the soundtrack to the Broadway musical, seeing several different movie adaptations, and talking with many people who have been in local-level theatrical productions of the play. Hence, I am less motivated to finish the book, but I know someday I will!)

   To this day, I still love to read classical literature and am currently reading A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens and Little Women by Louisa May Alcott. My early years spent browsing my local library’s shelves have greatly contributed to my love of reading. Additionally, I think that my mother’s positive view, and also practical encouragement of pushing us to read, also helped me see reading as an adventure that can take you anywhere around the world. I love to talk to people and see life from their perspectives. Reading allows me the opportunity to do just that.

   I know that my love of reading has influenced me in my decision to become an English teacher for Deaf and hard of hearing kids. Most deaf and hard of hearing (HoH) children are language delayed and therefore do not have good language skills. The average literacy rate for a deaf adult is said to be between fourth and seventh grade level. It is extremely hard to teach deaf/HoH children how to read and even more so how to fall in love with reading. I will definitely have my work cut out for me! I feel ready and capable to meet this challenge, however, since I have such a passion for others to be able to discover the magic of books and enjoy reading as much as I do! 

#51 California Christmas

I didn't actually write this, but it was what I would have written. It was at "my beach" and on my walking path for the afternoon. 

Sunset over Downtown LA.

Oceanside Pier on a clear, gorgeous day in Oceanside, CA (about 30 mins from my parents' house). My second visit to the beach within two days time.

Number 51 reads: "Spend Christmas in California" and that has now been accomplished! Little did I know that I would spend this Christmas in Puerto Rico *and* CA. By going to PR, I accomplished #4 from my list too: "visit a missionary while they are working internationally on the field". I was totally spoiled by weather in the mid-80s for about a month straight (...and to think this month was in December/January! Boy!) I had a fantastic trip home and became really spoiled and lazy. Some highlights:
--Girls shopping trip in LA with my sisters and cousin
--Meeting my second cousin, once removed for the very first time as a 5 month old (...so, she's my 2nd cousins daughter, 'case you were a little confused, there)
--Meeting my first cousin, once removed for the very first time as a 6 *day* old! Precious! (Which was #13: "hold a newborn baby [newborn= under 3 months old]")
--Getting to see my parents interact with their friends in their Sunday school class
--Hanging around the house in sweats all day and acting like I owned the place =)
--Playing on our new Baby Grand piano! Its beautiful!
--Talking the dogs (and Emmy) for walks to "the horses"
--Sunbathing (...yes, literally)
--Tea and scones with one of my very best friends in her new trailer as she is now a newlywed
--Sleepovers and dodgin' around Pasadena with Hayley
--Backrubs from sisters!!!!
--Spending multiple nights at Amanda's house (#21: "spend the night with my sister at her house in Los Angeles")
--Trimming the apple trees at the bottom of our grove and hearing the horses "neigh" and sheep freak out and "bleat" at 4pm because that's feeding time
[Okay, side note/explanation- I live on an avocado grove, not a farm. All these animals live at a summer camp on the other side of our closest neighbour's property. As a kid I was *obsessed* with horses and Amanda and I used to sneak through the corral fencing to go to the camps Saturday morning rodeos/end of camp-show-your-parents-your-skill-closer. We never went to the camp, but boy, we sure hiked around it! Haha! Terrible, I know.]

And lastly, but certainly not least (...why isn't it "leastly"...?)
--Three hour solo day with God at the beach. It was so unexpected, and so needed! Wonderful and beautiful at the same time. In reward, He gave me a *fantastic* sunset. See?

Goodbye, CA, for now.
I bought a one-way plane ticket going back to school in TN because I don't know when I will be returning to CA. Good thing I have 8 months to work it out! Trusting the Lord every step of the way.

Date(s) completed: December 18th, 2011- January 11th, 2012.