america's future

My roommate teaches at one of the public schools here in Montgomery County. Which, by the way, spends more money per child on education than almost any other county in the US, and has a reputation of having really great schools.

So.

When asked to define "optimist", 80% of the 11th graders gave one of two responses:

1. I think it's the guy who checks your eyes
2. um, isn't that the truck from Transformers?

Totally. 100%. Awesome.

the weekend

This weekend, we headed out to Shenendoah for some backpacking. We've been planning this trip for the past two months, and did not let the rain stop us.

Well, that's not entirely true. Some people let the rain stop them. Not me. No pictures, but some highlights included:

• Getting lost trying to find the campsite. This seems to be the theme of our trips. Troy's GPS doesn't always work as well as he'd like. But don't tell him that. He thinks it's just the bees knees.
• Stopping at Ben's Chili Bowl on the way home. It's famous and has a great history, but the chili kind of sucks. Apparently nobody minded, because it was packed.
• Playing Dance Dance Revolution would have been my favorite part of the weekend, but everyone decided that SongStar would be cooler. They're wrong. They don't think so, but they are so wrong.
• Brian (the same Brian I went to Spain with) coming into Relief Society today to tell his semi-ex-girlfriend that he was ready to talk. Don't worry, Brian. Nobody felt awkward at all. Really.

nationals baseball

and two conversations that make me question the whole "all men are created equal" idea.

Conversation #1 (taking place on the drive to Roanoke. )

We need to get on 66 West.

But that's not the way we went to Duck Beach.

Right. Because Duck Beach is in North Carolina. On the coast. Roanoke is in southwest Virginia.

But when we went to Duck Beach, we saw signs for a freeway that took you to Roanoke.

Well, you can get to Roanoke from Duck Beach. But that's not the way we want to go.

Oh. Well, why not?

Because Duck Beach is in North Carolina.

But there were signs...


Conversation #2: (taking place at the Nats game tonight. We were sitting right behind home plate. Anyone jealous?)

So, someone explain how the whole pitching thing works. How do you get out?

If you get three strikes, you're out. Or if you get four balls, you walk to first base.

Oh. So a ball is a strike.

No. A strike is when the pitcher throws the ball right over home plate.

Oh. So two balls make a strike.

No. A ball is a ball. A strike is a strike.

So a ball can be a strike?

Are you sure you grew up in America?

dear students,

There's no need to cry. Seriously. Get a grip.

Love,
Miss Reed

Dear Bexar,

We suck at book clubbing. You pick the next book.

Love,
Poodle


Dear Bed,

We really should spend more time together. I've had too many other things to do recently that I've totally neglected you. I'll try to find more room for you in my schedule.

Miss you,
Poodle


Dear LuvSac,

Is the dining room really where you want to live? I mean, I realize I kicked you out of the living room, but seriously. The basement's really not so bad. I think you'd come to really like it down there. Think about it.

Poodle

mud run

This weekend, Troy, Katelyn, Laura and I headed down to Roanoke for the Marine Corps Mud Run. (Hipple backed out because she thought that relaxing at home sounded better than driving four hours to be our photographer. Whatever.)

Back to my story.

The mud run was awesome. We received the requisite ugly race shirt:


Then we ran through a river, a hill, mud pits, and finally crawled through the mud pool:




Laura thought it would be a really fabulous idea to dive head-first into the mud. Brilliant. It sounded like a way better idea than it was. It resulted in mud under her contacts, which is apparently kind of painful. Huh.





Instead of helping, we laughed at her. And took lots of pictures. Because even though she wasn't laughing at the time, I'm sure one day she will. And would obviously want pictures to commemorate the event. (She'll thank us later.) Katelyn also made sure the nurses didn't rinse off too much of the mud, as we still hadn't taken a group picture.



We're awesome friends.

Troy ended up looking a little bit like Hellboy. I think he secretly likes the look.

privacy

yup, i went private. mainly because my roommate found my blog (the semi-crazy one), and for her own protection, she really shouldn't read it. Seriously, it's for her own good.

So that's that.

But I'm sure you're way more interested in what I've been up to than what my crazy roommate has been up to. Although she always makes for a good story.

I spent the weekend at our ward's Relief Society retreat, where Katelyn, Erica and I skipped the spiritual thought and stayed in the basement gossiping. And laughing a lot. Way more fun, trust me. Then we came home and had a wii tournament at our neighbor's house. I lost miserably at every game I played.

This weekend, I am heading down to Roanoke with Laura, Katelyn, Erica, and Troy for the Marine Corps mud run!! I'm pretty sure it'll be the best weekend yet.

real

The reality of September 11 never really sank in until I moved up to DC. Now, I hear stories from my colleagues of gathering the entire school in the gym to watch the television footage and to call families to make sure they were okay. And they remember watching two of our students learn that their father had been on the plane that hit the pentagon. Everyone who lived here at the time knows of somebody who was killed seven years go.

weekend fun

My roommates and I decided to host the Backyard Olympics this weekend. We were kind of missing the Olympics spirit. Luckily, the remnants of a tropical storm hit to make our water competitions possible.

We started with the opening ceremonies. Erica got to carry the Olympics torch because she was injured. Poor Erica.

Then we had an archery competition.

Troy totally dominated the handstand contest.

There just happened to be a pool in our backyard, so we had some swim races.

I won bronze in the floor exercise. This is my opening pose. I would have won the hula-hoop competition, but Toys-R-Us does NOT SELL HULA HOOPS! Of all the rudeness.

The closing ceremonies involved some slip-n-slide and ribs (prepared by Troy and Rochelle).

back to school

School started yesterday. So far, it's fantastic.

Except that I have a student named ET. No joke.

But besides that, school is great. My robotics class is especially fun. The kids love it, my boss thinks it's the coolest thing that's ever happened to the school, and I find brilliant new things to teach them every day.

One thing I really love about this school is that they really know how to ease us into the school year. This is only a two-day week. Tomorrow I get to go camping with the seniors. And then take them rafting on Friday. "Senior bonding." Love it.

For those of you who were wondering, I found a fantastic first day of school outfit. White pencil skirt, green shirt, and brown sandals.