On an Unrelated Note

I love clothes, and I have a lot of them. My attitude was always that there was no such thing as too many clothes as long as one did not spend very much for them. Because I am an avid thrift store shopper and a seeker out of hand-me-downs and cast-offs. I hold on to old clothes on the chance that they can be revamped into a different outfit as fashions change. On the whole, my efforts have been rewarded. Without spending much, I amassed a larger wardrobe. But, as part of graduation celebrations, my mom bought me a new skirt and two new shirts. As I took them home and went to put them away, I was forced to acknowledge a strange and new idea as reality. I had too many clothes. I have extra drawers and places for sweaters and a closet and a dresser and every possible place that could hold clothes was bursting. Drawers needed to have the clothes in them forcibly compressed before they could be closed. No matter how carefully I foled them, my clothes were always wrinkled from being stuffed, albeit carefully, in the drawers.

So my roommate of five years and I sat down and went through every drawer and threw things out with ruthless disregard for sentiment and future possibilities of some clothes returning to fashion. We eliminated old clothes, redudancies, things I liked but didn't love or need. Some clothes left that I hadn't worn in a year, but most of the discarded items were things I did use frequently enough to justify keeping them. I have a lot of clothes, but I wear nearly all of them. But I had to face the fact that I had too many clothes. For those of you who have lived with me, you know how hard it must have been. :)

Now I have three medium-sized garbage sacks full of things destined for DI. All my drawers close now. There's even room for a few more items, although not many. I'm excessively proud of myself.

On another unrelated note: I have applied for one job that I know I want. I know that business hours at their office haven't even started and that no one's seen my applicatio yet, but I'm checking my email every five minutes hoping that they'll contact me. I REALLY want this job. I'm applying for another job I might want today. The problem is that I'll probably find out about this second job before I know if I've landed the first. But I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. In the mean time, this may drive me crazy. :)

Third note: I get a new roommate today. I'm excited and nervous. I'm excited to hopefully make a new friend, but I'm nerovus that we won't get along, never see each other, drive each other crazy (I can't stand a messy kitchen, but tend to leave the living room rather...untidy). Or that she'll turn out to be crazy, or dating someone obnoxious, or throw loud parties late at night when I have to be up at 5:15, or be driven crazy by the fact that my alarm goes off at five in the morning. There are million what-ifs. She's probably moving in right now, and when I get home from work today I'll be living with somebody new.

Spring Break and My Future

I did not intend to blog this morning. I haven't been to my school in a over a week, and my desk is a mess and my classroom could use some work. But, I experimented with my bus route this morning, and I have arrived at school half an hour earlier than expected. As I prepare to begin the Monday morning of the "downhill slope to summer" it seems like a good time for reflection on Spring Break, its adventures, and the remaining weeks of school.

Although I have been in school for the past few years, my illustrious university has not been one that granted it students a spring break. I didn't really begrudge the university its decision, since it meant that school got out before the end of April. But this year, as a proud worker in the public school system, I stepped forward excitedly to claim my spring break. Since school doesn't get out until the last week of May, a break in the spring makes a big difference. As Spring Break approached, I made plans, revised them, made lists of things I wanted to do, and generally intended make the most of my long-awaited break.

And, I have to say, I think I did. After school I came home and had no idea what to do with myself. I ended up cleaning and rearranging and reorganizing my entire room. Then I went to bed at about 10 pm. The next morning I was wide awake at 6:30. But, as the day wore on, I began to get more into the spirit of things. I read my book, went grocery shopping, and spent three hours making homemade pies. Reflecting on the week, here are some of the highlights of how I spent my break:

Easter dinner with family and friends
rock climbing
going to movies
going to the temple
reading books
playing computer games
hanging out friends, new and old, near and far
going shopping
cuddling with cute cats
playing with a puppy
playing with my nieces and nephew
talking to my sisters for hours
a relaxing afternoon with my mom and sisters
researching all the possible locations I could request to live in Japan

Now there are only six weeks left of school. Twenty-nine school days. Only twenty-seven for me, because I will be taking Thursday and Friday off to graduate. Six of those days will be taken up entirely by state testing, and four more will be the last week of school, a time when no one actually teaches anything. That leaves me with only seventeen days, just over three weeks. Because our district works on A/B days, that's really only eight more lessons to prepare. Eight more lessons? I just ran out of my room to go share that discovery with one of the other English teachers. Now I'm making myself restless. I know there are a full six weeks left, but thinking that there are only eight new lessons to prepare until the end makes it seem like tomorrow. I can't decide whether these next six weeks/eight days will drag, or fly. But either way, spring is here, and summer just around the corner.

Adventures in Adventuring

Confession:  I skipped FHE again.  

Justification:  I skipped FHE for awesomeness and adventure.  

   

Some time ago, I learned that the Lotus Temple in Spanish Fork offers free yoga classes and meditation on Monday and Thursday nights.  I was immediately interested.  I would like to try yoga, and I like free, and I've liked every devotee to Krishna I've met.  I let the idea roll around for a few weeks while I thought about it.  Then my car broke, and it seemed like I'd never go anywhere that far away on a week night ever again.

   

But I didn't count on the addiction of exercise.  I'm not someone who has ever had the self-discipline to exercise on my own.  I always enjoy exercise, be it running, skiing, hiking, biking, pilates, lifting weights, or anything else, but I have never had the self-control or self-motivation necessary to make it part of my life.  This year of teaching has been one of the most sedentary of my life.  I would go weeks without even walking a mile at once.  Then I made the decision to go car free (see previous posts), and my life began to change.  I now walk a mile every weekday morning and afternoon.  I walk or bike to the grocery store and anywhere else I care to go.  And those walks and bike rides are turning into my favorite parts of each day.  Each day they go by more quickly and more easily, and I feel healthier, happier, and more motivated to do just about everything.  

    

Sunday I went on a 9 mile bike-ride just for fun before the morning Conference session.  As I sat by the side of Utah Lake watching the sun come out from behind the mountains and listening to birds sing, and as I biked through the wooded trail by the river back to my apartment, I thought to my self, "Heck yes. More of this kind of thing WILL happen in my life."

   

So yesterday morning I investigated bus schedules to see if there was anyway I could make yoga classes possible.  Starting in my dress clothes 20 minutes from the nearest bus stop in Lehi at 3:30, could I make it to 8000 South Spanish Fork in my work-out clothes by 6:30?  Then, after the class, could I catch the last of the night back to Provo in time?  The answers to all of those questions turned out to be yes.  Except for the last one.  As I sprinted toward the bus stop (after walking and jogging about two miles from the Lotus Temple along the side of a highway after dark) I watched the last bus leave me behind.  So, I stood on a street corner in Spanish Fork and sang songs to myself while my wonderful, kind, and caring roommate came to my rescue.  Defeated but defiant, when I got home I opened up google maps and switched to street view.  Click-by-click, I began to scout for bus stops.  After ten minutes or so, I found it!  A closer bus stop to the south of the temple!  A-ha!  I should now only have a 10-20 minute walk to and from the temple.  

   

Yoga will happen again.  I loved it.  I sat in a big open room made of beautiful marble and smelling faintly of incense and took deep breaths and stretched slowly as the sunset streamed through the many windows and the parrots on the floor below whistled and called to each other.  I stretched muscles I didn't know I had, and got a glimpse of the kind of strength, flexibility, and balance possible through regular practice.  I didn't worry about where I would teach next year, how the economy was doing, or what I would do with my summer.  And afterward, I felt great.  The instructor did put in clear but tactful plugs for vegetarianism and the spiritual aspect of yoga, but I'm not opposed to either of those.  The end of the session always includes chanting, which I'm a little less excited about, if only because I don't like chanting the name of someone else's deity 108 times.   But on the whole, it was wonderful, challenging, and relaxing.  

Haiku

The more I learn about and read of haiku, the more I like it.  After teaching my students about it and having them write their own, I like it all the more.  There are some truly stunning haiku that I think anyone would love.  

   

Whether you are a haiku novice, skeptic, or a full-blown haiku-phile, the poems published by the Mainichi Shinbun as their annual selection of English haiku are well worth your time.  Scroll down to see the top selections.

   

Here are two of my favorites from the list:

   

3rd Prize:
    
meteor shower
I drift
from wish to wish 

   

Jacek Margolak 
Kielce, Poland
   

Giraffe sneeze
Sounds of savannah
What a long snot 
T. McLean 

    
Edmonton, Canada

Chookme!

One of my favorite parts of posting comments on my friends' blogs is typing in the security word.  They are nearly always hilarious.  Often I'm tempted include whatever made-up word it's asking my to type in my comment so my friends can share in the fun.  This week's favorites are dropu and chookme.  I think I'll go add the security feature to my own blog just so there is a little more randomness in this world.  

   

As Willie Wonka once told his guests, "A little nonsense now and then is relished by the wisest men."