Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Oops!

You know those experiences you have where you unintentionally, but without a doubt, totally embarrass somebody? At the same time, this unintentional embarrassment causes enjoyment for all involved? I was involved in one of those today.

When you get into the English Major and Education Classes, there are many people that you have met and you just keep getting classes with. Because of this, you develop friendships and you often talk as you leave class. Today, a group of us were chatting as we left our Methods II class. As we were talking, a fellow student that we all had expected to be in these classes with us came walking down the hall. We corralled him to find out how he had been, what had happened to him etc. If you imagine, there is a group of five girls quizzing one guy. While we are standing in this group, two guys come walking down the LA corridor (this is the big hall that eventually leads out to the parking lot) passing out these fliers. One of the guys specifically walks up to one girl in this group that we have formed, gives her a flier and walks off. Nicole and I both turn to this girl and said something to the tune of, "That is what you get for being HOT!" Whether it was louder because we both said it together, or because this guy was totally in tune, he heard us. Much to A's (I told her that I would only refer to her by her first initial) embarrassment, he turns around, and in response, shouts out, "Yeah, that is what you get for being HOT!"

In response to guy #1, guy #2 turns around and comes back to us. He told us that he was offended that we would think they would only hand out fliers to hot girls and handed each of us a flier in turn. While guy #2 was doing this, guy #1 was trying to hit on A to 'hook' up.

After these two guys left, we had a little laugh and then both Nicole and I apologized to A for bringing this attention to her. I should note that Nicole and I are both married and in no way cared if these guys thought we were hot or not, but it definitely brought out some unintended laughter when they two guys reacted to our comment (the comment that we thought the guys were too far away to hear) in the way that they did! So, many thanks to A (I know that you are stalking this blog) for helping us find a laugh and for being such a good sport about the whole thing.

Because of this experience, I now have a flier to attend:

THROWDOWN
ELITE
SHOWDOWN II
"THE RETURN"
FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 26TH 2008

If any of you are interested in actually attending this, let me know, because I have a flier and can tell you all about it. The event is determining the 'throwdown lightweight championship title" in case that means anything to anyone out there, and it includes five whole rounds of title fights!

Saturday, September 20, 2008

Lagoon!

Last night, Nu Skin threw all their employees a grand ol' party, and we went up to Lagoon! It was a blast! When Mike & I got there, there didn't seem to be anyone at all, but it was also OK because there were hardly any lines.

I went first to Wicked. If you haven't ridden it, you should. It shoots you up and then drops you, and then you twist and turn. It is a blast! I learned that Mike, after riding on the ride last year, absolutely refused to ride it, so I went on this ride alone. He missed out. He did consent to ride Spider though, after not riding it last year, and he cussed the whole time. Strangely, after cussing and screaming the whole ride, at the end, he turned to me and said, "That wasn't as bad as I thought it would be." There is nothing more fun than seeing your manly man freak out on rides!

He refused to go on Colossus, The Rocket (which strangely I wanted to ride again after a freaky experience a couple of years ago of the harness opening on me), Wicked, The Spider (after the first ride) and the Samarai. After riding Wicked alone, I decided not to ride any other rides alone (it just isn't as fun as when you get the manly man to ride with you and you get to laugh at him).

We mistakenly went on a few water rides (what were we thinking?) and got wet. First was the Log Plume ride. We had my friends son, Brandon, with us. Brandon and I sat in the back and Mike sat in the front. Mike got the wettest and it was great!. We then went on Rattlesnake Rapids. Mike and Brandon got the wettest, but then we went again. Oh, what were we thinking? All three of us were dripping when we got off. I could probably have shampooed my hair it was so wet! And then it got cold...brrrrrr....

Mike loves the Bat (I really had to convince him to go on it though) and then we went on some of the old school rides. Go Tidal Wave! Go Tilt-a-whirl! Go the ride by the Colossus that throws you to the outer edge (the music one.)

Here are some of the pictures that we took. We are sorry that they are so bad, but they were taken on the camera phone, but enjoy! I am also throwing in some pictures from the past, like me riding my bike etc.

This is us as we are waiting to get on the Tilt-a-whirl.

This is us as we are waiting for the Tilt-a-whirl ride to start!
This is Mike's new look, isn't it great?
This is me riding my bike, one of my first rides and I was bright red and tired! I know that I look a bit freaky in this picture...I was trying to look happy, but was really exhausted and I just look scary.
This is Mike's new grill (if we ever get another grill.)

Thursday, September 18, 2008

More Random Pictures

Here are some more random pictures. These are pictures from the time I spent in London & Paris.

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Some Random Pictures

Here are some random pictures that I want to share with you. I took these within the last year.

Monday, September 15, 2008

Update

I figured that I would give a quick update on our lives. Mike is back to working nights for a couple of weeks, which means that we are now in the mode of seeing each other in passing. It has given me a chance to get all the homework done that I didn't do last week due to my studying for the Praxis, but I would rather see him.

I cut my hair! Finally, I am over the ponytails that got way too easy to wear over the summer with the bike riding. The ponytails just seemed to be way too easy to wear as school started again and life seemed to get busier. I will post some pictures of my new do soon, I promise!

I took the Praxis on Saturday. I am so glad that is over (hopefully) and I can put it out of my mind now. I just now have to wait 4 weeks for the results. This is something that I don't understand, why does it take so long? It was a multiple choice test with the answers being put on a scan-tron, they just have to put it through the scan reader, so why does it take so long? I am constantly being reminded that patience is a virtue, so, I will wait for the results, and pray that I did good enough that I pass on the first try. It is an expensive test and I do not wish to retake it. For those of you who don't know what the Praxis is, it is the test that you have to take that shows you know your content knowledge in order to teach. At UVU, they require that you take it (and pass) before you graduate, and they prefer you take it before you student teach.

That reminds me, I turned in my student teaching application! How could I forget this update? I will find out in November where I will be assigned to teach. I am nervous and keep asking myself, "Am I prepared?" or "Am I ready for this?" I hope to be placed in Alpine, but, could be placed in another district. The end just keeps getting closer and it is exciting and nerve-racking at the same time.

I think that this is all of the updates that I have right now. I will let you all know when I get the Praxis results.

Thursday, September 4, 2008

Deep thought of the Day

I have been chided recently about not updating my blog, so here are two posts in one day. Aren't you excited?

My posts may start to be far and few between as I have just started back to school and my load seems to be great this semester. However, I will try to keep you updated on the happenings of the Proctors.

In one of my classes, we were talking about the many misconceptions students will walk into your classroom with and how it is your job as a teacher to correct those. (I do apologize that I am writing this as if you all are, or will be teachers.) My teacher than shared a misconception that she had had for many years. I found it to be profound.

When you think of the word 'nothing' what do you think of? Until yesterday, I would have said, nothing, zero, zilch. To say nothing means that it is empty. Isn't that what we are taught from when we are small?

Did you know that in Sanskrit (some eastern language, I believe you will find it in India,) their word for nothing does not have the same meaning as our word for nothing? Their word for nothing means "the potential for what can be." Isn't that amazing? It is like looking at an empty canvas, there is nothing there, but think what so many artists have created out of nothing? I definitely think that I like this idea of nothing much more than our traditional idea of nothing.

Just a little thought to get you all thinking. Hope you enjoy!

Oh yes I did!

For those of you who know me, you know that fish is not my favorite food. In fact, I would rate it down there at the bottom. For those of you who know Mike, you know that he LOVES to fish. I don't mind going fishing, but when I do go, I generally take my camera and photograph up and down the stream or lake while Mike (or his parents) do the fishing. I do not generally go out of my way to schedule or set up these fishing expeditions, that is, until Tuesday.

I decided to take my Wolf Scouts fishing. Yep, that's right, me, setting up the fishing time & place, finding enough poles (good thing I married into a fishing family) for the boys that would be going and asking Mike to make sure to be there to do the actual teaching of fishing.

We left my house on Tuesday with 2 cars, 3 adults (Mike, my co-den leader, Haruko, and I) and 5 boys. We headed up to Vivian Park, got the poles ready and let the boys cast off. I learned that I can't tie a hook worth beans, when in an effort to help get the boys fishing more quickly, I tied 2 hooks, which promptly fell off into the water the minute the boys cast them. I also learned that sometimes, when you go fishing with an 8 year old (or 5,) some lines get mysteriously tangled that the only option is to cut them. Let us just say rats nest of line.

It was a lot of fun, and even though there were a total of zero fish caught, my scouts had a blast & loved teasing Mike when he had a goof of a cast when trying to help one boy who couldn't seem to cast his line more than a foot. "Nice cast Brother Proctor!" I had to try not to laugh too hard! I kept it to an internal chuckle. :)