Super Summer

Today was my last day of finals and now I can start Summer! I am pretty excited that I have a job lined up and everything!...That is, if my criminal history comes back clean! I think it is safe to say I am hired. I was asked today! This summer looks more positive to me from the "I have a job" perspective.

I will be working at an intense and probably really expensive daycare with a heated in ground pool! That is the best part for sure. This job is right up the Lee Ann alley because they implement awesome things into their curriculum like multiculturalism and music. Oh, and while reading their website, I found that the food they serve the children looks aesthetically beautiful. This is very important apparently. Maybe this will benefit me because I tend to create meals that consist of corn, macaroni and cheese and orange juice in the same meal. Or, oatmeal, toast, and chocolate milk.

Anyway, it is a huge relief for me to have a good job because last summer I spent three long weeks filling out exactly one million and seventy-six applications and only got part time work. I was also a very terrible cash register person. Terrible. It was actually around fifty applications, which, you know isn't that far from my exaggeration.

Also, I am giving my first talk in four years next week. I find it amusing that I have been in the Muncie Stake for 4 years I finally got asked. I think that because it has been so long for me, I am really looking forward to speaking in church.

Well, there you have it!

Cranky Post about Snow

So, here I am, up and dressed, ready to teach some awesome elementary music for Valentine's day. But, just like the last 4 times I have tried to go and observe or teach, the stupid snow gets in the way. I mean, I can only be excited about destructive weather for so long. At first, it's pretty exciting and it is nice to have a break. But now, It is sort of a pain to not be able to get in the schools to work on my teaching. I am even wearing grape earrings that my sister Andrea made for me. I figured the fifth graders would like them, especially since they were made by a kid their age. It is sad. So, instead, I will probably practice my flute for a million hours. Or I could watch Lost. It depends how productive I feel.

Also, yesterday, I observed another music class near campus, and I got that happy, excited feeling about when I get to teach music. Like my good friend Adelle likes to say, "Being a music teacher is the most fun job in the entire world!" She is right! However, the process for becoming a music teacher is far from fun. Well, it is fun if you enjoy having a small social life and impossible to pass music history tests. I am almost done though. Two more semesters.

Also, My beloved car died forever. He was a very beautiful car. Very Lee Ann. It is very depressing.

Dogs and Cigarettes

So, I have been going through dog withdraws. Everyone and their roommate's sister has one in my apartment. And it does not help that I see about five dogs every time I walk to and from my car. Also, every one of the dogs I see is the cutest dog I have ever rested my eyes on. It is also too bad that I can't really walk up to these dogs and greet them in the way that would make me the most happy. Their owners would probably give me a very strange look. So, I just ogle and coon loudly at the darling puppy dogs within the closed doors of my car.

Also, a bush caught on fire in front of my apartment yesterday. It was a bummer I missed it. I heard it was approximately the same size of a standard campfire. We, my roommate Rachael and I, think it was the lady who lives under us. She smokes all the time and we can see her with her arm sticking out the sliding class door holding the cigarette because a baby lives there too. Anyway, we think she threw it on the very dry, almost dead bush on a very windy day. Oh, and in case anyone wonders, it was put out, and my belongings are still in existence. This at least, makes me happy. The lady who lives under us does not have a dog. She has a baby instead. I bet her sister has one.

Another exciting thing to share has nothing to do with babies and dogs. Which is sad because both are such good topics. I auditioned for basketball band last fall on the tenor sax about two days after I picked it up and played it for the first time. I sounded like a dead duck. A very convincing dead duck. this year, I play it in the marching band. So far, I think that I have progressed from decaying water fowl a chain saw set on low. After much practice on low notes, (With Rachael's help) I have progressed even farther to sounding like a person making beautiful sounds that are very close to music. Just kidding. It is music. I hope. Anyway, I received compliments on my tone and projection yesterday when I auditioned for this year. I just want to say that I am very proud of myself. So now, I have proclaimed myself binstrumental. WOO.

The End

Senior Year

I haven't updated for a while, which is kind of a bummer because I had a very interesting two weeks. I moved into my first apartment, went grocery shopping for myself for the first time, went to band camp with an instrument the size of a Kodiak Bear, and started my first senior year! yay! I have lots of fun stories to share today!

So, I drove myself down to Muncie a few days before band camp started, which was an interesting experience that I won't get into. I was forced to bring my poor fishies with me to school this year, and I am pretty sure they thought it was 2012 inside their little fish tank. I drained my tank until there were about 3 inches left in the bottom and strapped the tank into the front seat next to me. The water got so clouded that they probably thought that a meteor struck the earth or something, which would make sense if they even knew what a meteor was. Or what 2012 represents. After I finally got to my wonderful, spacious apartment, I struggled...actually Rachael struggled mightily to carry my tank indoors to add more water to and to bring life back to normal for my fishes. Rachael is a lot stronger than me. And it took all day for the water to clear.

And here is a quick note about my new apartment, because I am pretty sure the topic has to be dull to other people who may want to read about my life. of all the super things my new apartment provides that a college dorm does not, I am the most excited about my hallway. I enjoy running from my room to the living room, because it was something I could not do in a dorm. I could not even do my Richard Simmons video in my dorm room.

So, band camp. ...... hm.. Well, I really love marching the tenor sax, like a lot. And I really like the different more dynamic section of people. My section teases me because I used to march what they like to call the "weenie pipe," which is so true because marching the piccolo is NOTHING compared to marching something big. If I thought band camp on the piccolo was hard, which I did think, man I was wrong. The saxophone is really heavy to march, but I caught on really fast and I can march it quite well. I also discovered that I play the sax much more musically on the field than I did on the piccolo. So I have a lot of fun. So, I guess in the end, I do miss the piccolo, but I am having a blast! maybe even the biggest blastiest blast I have had all four years of marching band.

Senior year is quite good so far. I only have 16 credits, which I am very excited about. I have pretty much always had about 18. I finished most of my music classes, so I feel pretty legit and close to being done. Except I am not because I just picked up a minor in Multicultural Education that I am VERY excited about. I am also exploring my options about a second minor as well. Anyway. It's almost one, and I have done nothing all day, so I think I will get going.

Miss Elephant

I can't wait to be a teacher! I love being around kids and I especially like being someone that kids can look up to. Currently, I only get to be around kids a little. I work at the YMCA and two of my specific areas involve working with kids. Although the YMCA is a pretty steady place to work with friendly people, I don't really get to know any of the kids. The older kids come and go as they please, and you know, there is not a whole lot of interaction. But when there is, I really enjoy talking to the kids. There is a 16 year old who is in the middle of her first summer of employment. I get to talk to her about her drivers ed, and share my own driving horror stories in order to cheer her up. She shows up after her shift ends and I know I will miss talking to her. Especially since I don't know if I will be back for even part of the summer. I hope so. I also have a few 12 and 13 year olds that I play Guitar Hero with, and we improve and get more awesomer together. In the beginning of the summer, I was on medium and now I can play some expert! yeah! I also have pillow jumping contests with said goofballs.

I don't work in Child Watch that often, but today I was a sub for a woman from my church. I was talking to a group of kids ranging from ages 3 to maybe 7. One of the kids asked me where I work and I teased him because I was in the middle of working. Then he asked me my name. I told him to read my name tag. He said he didn't know how to read. I didn't believe him because I am terrible at judging what you can do at what age. So he tried to read my name and it came out as "eeele...." something. I asked him if he said elephant. He didn't, but I teased him the rest of my shift and they all called me Miss Elephant. We also pretended to have spider man powers.

I just think that it is really awesome that I am so comfortable with kids, and that I can make them comfortable around me. I can't wait to use this gift that I have when I have a different role and I begin teaching in schools full of kids who need a good role and may not have it at home, or whatever their case may be. If I can't make much of a difference in the lives of my students musically or non-musically, I hope that they can be comfortable talking to me, and that they understand that I care about them.

Anyway, I came back from my lunch break, and I have been hearing children call, "Hi Miss Elephant!" throughout the halls.

And my awesome friend Krissy (Sorry about the spelling if it is wrong) asked me to mention a really great game that everyone should play sometime. It is called Quelf. Check it out.

Lastly, I am driving up to Muncie alone on the 12th. I may need help unloading the boxes in my car that morning if anyone wants to help. Then my mom is coming down on Saturday and we need help moving in all the furniture before band camp starts in the middle of that day. If anyone already in Muncie wants to help, that would be super great!

Boating Bonanza

Yesterday I went with the Young Single Adults (from my church) down to Lake Monroe and had an interesting-fun time. I learned lots of important life skills, such as, how to properly say cheese in sign language. This was depressing because I have become quite attached to this word and I use it in everyday conversations where I feel it is appropriate....all the time. But now I know how to sign it properly and I will continue to use this word as a silence breaker in everyday conversation.

Another important tip I learned about life is that it is very acceptable to pee in a lake. hehe. Now I know. I think the boys must have consumed way more water and Gatorade than they normally would in order to reach the number of times they...well...it was a lot of times that they boasted about. It must be a very manly-macho thing. To e in a lake.

I also learned something that may be a tiny more practical than the last two things I learned. I learned that while on a jet ski, one should not let off the gas when turning. I was not very successful in turning. But because I didn't use the gas when I tried to turn, at least we never fell out. But I didn't succeed in turning either. Anyway. I am very good at driving straight. Maybe It would work better if I jet ski in a river next time. Although, I think it would be a lot more dangerous if I fell out.

One last bit of knowledge that I obtained on this trip is a very depressing bit of sadness. There is no word of lame in American Sign Language. This is another favorite word of mine, so it is disappointing that my favorite word doesn't exist. Oh, and as a side note: The reason why a large portion of my blog is about sign language is because I have recently made a new friend who is deaf and I had a lot of fun hanging out with her and attempting to learn some sign while on the trip.

Oh, and apparently it is a manly thing to not wear sunscreen as well. To each their own I guess, but personally I did not feel like my skin was going to burn off during my shower this morning like some people. Although I am sore in lots of areas I didn't realize should be after a trip to a lake.

Pool Deck Blues

It's true. Working the pool deck can be a very sad thing. When it gets really hot everyone gets in the pool, even the life guards and the camp counselors. But what about me? I dutifully sit at my front desk under the sweltering heat, being kind and courteous to the members of this great YMCA who are about to enjoy a cool, relaxing dip in this spacious pool.

Actually, I have only had to endure this great feat once. All my other Thursdays of working outside this summer have been quite different. During the first several, I got compliments as well as strange looks on my pink sweater. (Because it typically gets cooler under my tent) And just last week, we had a monsoon, and I had to retreat indoors because even my tent shelter was raining intensely. Which was a pretty good experience all it's own because I got to sit indoors and eat an hour long lunch while having a really intense discussion about the Book of Mormon with a fellow employee. But unfortunately, I had to go home two and a half hours early unless I wanted to continue my post while treading water in a lake. Thad day did up being rather exciting!

today....I fear that today will be another day where I feel as if I am sitting in the middle of a desert in the middle of Utah or something, and all these people I see swimming are just a mirage. Maybe not though. At the moment, the weather is perfect.