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Sunday, 14 June 2009

so, i was struck with the realization tonight that "favorite hymns" night reminds me of hitting "scan" on the radio. it feels really disjointed singing one verse of a hymn, then shuffling pages, finding the next one, listening to the piano intro, and singing the first verse of another, only to switch tracks a second later. does any real worshiping occur? i mean, when you have a friend in charge of the iPod/cd player and he/she keeps pressing "skip forward" at the moment you begin to get into the song, doesn't that give you the auditory equivalent of having a glass of water thrown in your face? how is this any different?

Wednesday, 06 May 2009

Currently
Carnival Ride
By Carrie Underwood
see related
my room... and magical powers

i feel like randomly posting tonight, so i'm indulging myself. now, i could just dig out my digital camera, make sure it's charged, and snap a photo of my room and what it looks like now, but, well, i don't want to. i'm going to describe it in words. abstract: it looks like a bomb of personal belongings exploded in it, spraying my closet with clothes, thick layers of books settling over my dresser, bits and pieces consisting of magnets, jewelry, and shoes drifting down softly, coating my floor and bed with a thin film of odd's and ends. why?? because for the first time in 4 years, all of my belongings are in one place - my house. usually they are strung out from delaware to ohio to germany, with pieces probably falling between (all those lost thumb rings...). AND i have been severely impaired in my unpacking process by a sinus infection and a new puppy, the former depleting me of all my energy and will to surv... er, unpack, and the latter keeping me preoccuppied in the kitchen (the only place in the house approved for her not-housebroken-yet self). so, here i sit in a crater of a room, overwhelmed a bit with photos, cards, stickers... swimming through hangers, scarves, dresses... dodging posters, magazines, text books...

benjamin franklin once said, "a place for everything, and everything in its place." at least, i'm pretty sure he said it. after the whole "early to bed, early to rise..." bit. anyway, my room is crying out for me to assign places. i feel like adam in the garden of eden (not to be sacreligious). i point my finger at my stationary box and say "you, you shall have your place on the shelf above my shirt rack in the closet. it shall be your place and you shall be in it." and then i pick it up and put it there.

i used to want to have magical powers like mary poppins, snapping my fingers to clean things up, or like sabrina the teenage witch, pointing at things to make them move. i would point at some out-of-place object in my room, and then the most amazing thing would happen. i would become invisible, floating over to the object, picking it up and sailing with it across the room, tucking it back where it belonged. i was invisible, you see, because that way the object looked (in my mind's eye) as if it were moving itself, with no help. i kinda did that in the post office sometimes; i had the urge to just throw all of the letters in my hand in the air, wishing they would fly like harry potter's initial acceptance letter to hogwarts, all sliding in their assigned post boxes, snugging in next to stupid bookstore buyback notices. i will not miss reddened knuckles from careless knocks on the sides of three thousand mailboxes.

and now, i'm going to end this post. hahahahaha, terrible ending. but, this has been a fun exercise in creative writing, which i might teach in the fall... yowza...

Friday, 27 February 2009

The Waiting Game...

For Spring Break I made the decision to redeem my Southwest free flight to Florida (and back!) so that I could afford a week in Jacksonville with friends. However, this meant that my flight choices were severely limited, resulting in my decision to fly out at 10:10am Friday morning, arriving in JAX about six hours ahead of everyone else. To help pass the time, and share my experience with others, I decided to chronicle how I whiled away the late afternoon/evening hours stuck in a terminal. Like Tom Hanks was. Well, not really the same situation at all, but whatever.

4:00pm - My flight from BWI arrived at JAX, after a rather bumpy ride.
4:05pm - I face a dilemma. My baggage is waiting for me in the baggage claim, which is located outside the concourse. Since I don't know what's located outside of the concourse (food, stores), I fret for a moment, worrying that I'm going to be trapped in a parking lot with my baggage for six hours. I call my friend Brandon and consult a security guard. In the end I go for my baggage.
4:15pm - After getting my luggage, updating my parents, and finding a comfortable bench in a good location, I settle in to text/call friends, Facebook, purge my email account, and watch a YouTube video on Darwin's mistakes for Earth Sci.
5:20pm - Since I haven't had lunch, I treat myself to a Burger King double cheeseburger meal, which I consume while reading this YA book I requested from the library, "Where the Lilies Bloom." There's a movie of the same name, on which the book is based, that I watched with my mom many years ago. It resulted in us coining hillbilly nicknames for each other, stolen from the film's main characters: Mary Call and Ima Dean.
6:00pm - I'm feeling a little frumpy, so I dig out the key to my suitcase lock and open 'er up. I'm at a counter tucked discreetly behind Security, so I proceed to fix my hair and makeup without too many people staring. :P
6:05pm - Since the freshening up was so reviving, I decide to paint my fingernails too. Two coats. A little girl and her mom stared while walking by on their way to the bathroom. *shrug* I continue reading my book while my newly-painted nails dry.
6:40pm - Tiring of sitting, I whip out my phone and call Brandon again, for a real conversation this time. I proceed to wander about the waiting area, dragging my big suitcase behind me while on the phone with him. At one point I aimlessly drift through a bookstore, finding these neat comfy leather chairs in the back of the store. I plop down and begin receiving many pointed looks from the cashier. *rolls eyes* So, back to wandering...
6:50pm - Me and Delmer (Brandon) do some math together (we're both English majors...) and I realize that my plan to purchase postcards and write them in the airport while waiting isn't feasible... Combined the total cost for the amount I want would be over $9.00. Plus postage. So, I'm holding off on that for a bit.
7:10pm - After chatting with Delmer, I decide to head over to Starbucks to plug my Mac into the outlets they provide for their customers. This premium location table that I have been eying is open. I make a beeline for it across the open waiting area, but alas, I am too late. An older man snatches it from me. He doesn't even have an electronic device. Curses. I proceed to spy another outlet on the other side of the little Starbucks, and drag a table (with the barista's permission) over to it to set up my command post. Once I finally have settled in, which includes trailing my power cord across the path of the workers as they clean, I look up to see the man get his beverage, walk over to the table, and scoop up his belongings to leave. Seriously, seriously?
7:20pm - I discover there was no new airing of "The Office" last night, so it's back to re-runs. online.
7:30pm - Acute ennui.
8:00pm - Valerie calls to "check in" on me. I purchase myself some liquid caffeine iand read more of "Lilies."
8:05pm - One of the baristas tries to give me a leftover muffin - only to realize that they don't have any lol - so she goes, "You wanna cookie??" hahaha
8:15pm - I head back over to a bench and nap a bit, being careful to keep my belongings hooked on my arm or pillowing my head, like my self-defence instructor said.
8:45pm - I'm down to the one-hour mark. Hopefully.
9:00pm - Called my mom again. Getting tired... spirits drooping... lol
9:30pm - Called my brother - bad idea.
9:45pm - M friend calls to warn of her flight's delay, they will get in at 11:20pm. Still on the lookout for girls from the other two flights coming in.
10:00pm - I am NOT ALONE ANYMORE!!!

Sunday, 07 December 2008

Letters to Santa
this week my ninth-graders participated in the key club's fundraiser of writing letters to santa claus. the notion itself was good - for every letter sent, macy's will donate one dollar to the make-a-wish foundation; however, getting my students to write to santa claus was a little bit of a struggle. i received a few blank stares and confused looks ("but ms. hancock, i don't believe in him anymore"), but in the end they all did it. some of them regressed back to childhood egotism, listing what they wanted for christmas, justifying it with their good deeds of this past year. the following are some of the most common requests:
- some sort of gaming system - xbox, nintendo, wii
- some sort of vehicle - one student wrote "i want all the cars" - yep, all of them
- an ipod (surprise, surprise)
- something twilight - books, t-shirts, edward for a boyfriend
- an animal of some sort - anything from puppies to ponies, with a hippo, lion, monkey, and a penguin making the list
some uncommon, yet humorous requests were:
- a boyfriend
- the jonas brothers
- "my big toe, or the one next to it" - and this kid was not kidding; he offered to yank off his shoe and sock to show me his missing toes... *shudder*
- for you (santa) to stop eating the cookies - those are for me in the morning
and then some of them took on the form of a prayer request - it was interesting to see how many students were willing to look to santa claus as a "higher power," with their letters full of heart-wrenching petitions, such as:
- please help my friend and her family have a good christmas and not miss her little sister who died this summer
- please be with my family as my dad is losing his job soon (due to abx shutting down)
- i just want to spend christmas with my family - then i'd be happy
- i want to spend christmas with my dad
- please help my mom find another job
- please help my friend to not be sick, like the doctors think she is
and then, a few students wrote letters to santa thanking him for everything he does for little children, people's christmas spirits, and the existance of holiday cheer. in essence, they were thanking a fictional character for the existence of Christ's presence throughout the holiday season. it was a slightly profound moment for me when i was reading the letters, realizing how open my students were in connecting with this created figure, confiding in him, asking him for magical (divine) favors, or merely showing him gratitude for the goodness dispersed throughout the christmas season. why is it so easy for fifteen-year-olds to make overtures in a relationship with santa claus, but so hard for college students to acknowledge God's presence in their lives?

Thursday, 02 October 2008

Renaissance Festival Field Trip!

Today we took our East Clinton High ninth grade students on a field trip to the Renaissance Festival and had fun shopping, seeing the Mud Show, and interviewing Festivalians (well, my group of eleven did!). I was so beat when we came back to school... it's a good thing that ten minutes after our return, the end-of-day bell rang! Profound moment of the day: writing my name on my nametag as "Miss Hancock." Here are some pics of my students (not all 97 of them, but close...).

This is our line-up to go into the Festival - I teach all of these kids sometime throughout the day - not all at once, thank goodness!

Here's where the girls discovered their affinity for animal tails... attached to their own backsides. Fad? Must be...

Becky, Sam, and Brad, looking washed out due to the poor lighting in the shop.

Ann, showing off her newly affixed tail - she was thrilled that it was a close match to her hair color.

Photo op! Nikki as the King, Brad as the Queen... wait, guys, I think you did that backwards...

Waiting for the maze-goers (not everyone was willing to cough up the $2 entrance fee). Becky, Brad, Morgan, and Cody

I really don't know what Nikki is doing here, but she was definitely making the most of her maze experience!

Brittney exiting the maze, via slide! They never really outgrow slides, ya know. And obviously Nikki is pretty excited about this.

If only we could import some of these into my classroom... haha. Nikki, Morgan, and Ann.

Sam, Nikki, and Brittney interviewing a lady of Queen Elizabeth's court. Despite their best efforts, my group never encountered the elusive Queen.

The rest of the group split off to grab another Festivalian - this time a nobleman.

Then they lowered their tastes and went after a pirate lol. I say this because he definitely hit on me, making me feel so incredibly awkward because he kept calling me "Miss Hancock" (thanks, big, ostentatious nametag) while I was just nervously laughing and blushing like a moron. My students got a big kick out of it though, even recording their answer for the question, "What do you do for fun?" as "Ask Miss Hancock" since he directed that question to me, accompanied with a wink and a playful poking with that stem thing coming from his bucket o' flowers. Oh brother. However, they did throw him off with the out-of-the-blue question, "How are messages sent from town to town?" (I know, right? This came after the usual, what do you do? do you like the Queen? stuff). He looked taken aback and fumbled out, "Uh, smoke signals???" hahahaha

For some reason, Dylan was showing his incredible strength to the girls in his group. Yeah, right place, right time for this pic. I wonder if I should have told him to put Megan down, instead of saying, "Wait, wait, wait, I wanna picture!" Brittney, Kylie, and Brad are in the background.

The merging of groups - Brittney, Patrick (looking strangely somber, which he never is), Ann, Nikki, Ashley (with her mouth cut off by Megan!), then Dylan and Brad in the back with Sam, and Becca in the white (she actually isn't a student of mine... I'm not sure where she came from lol), with Paige and Kyle next to the half-hidden Ashley. Whew, I will never work at a newspaper writing photo captions, this I know!

This isn't a good pic, but Bryce is saying, "Hi, Miss Hancock!" as he walks past with Kayla. Alyssa's peeking over Bryce's head - T.J. is in the maroon, and Mitch is the guy on the right looking really angry, but I'm pretty sure it was a fleeting facial expression!

Taylor and Stephanie, showing off their body art! Don't know why Taylor got hers placed there, since it's a little chilly for bikinis or mid-riffs, but *shrug*

Min (one of our foreign exchange students!), Caleb, and Zach, after they finished off a big turkey leg, the remnants of which can be seen in Caleb's hand!

Danika, Jordan, and Tameika (T.J.'s twin).

John and Micky, with Patrick making faces in the background (John's trying to elbow him out of the picture lol, and that's why I'm surprised at the earlier, somber picture of Patrick!).

Group shot! All these students are in my second period Advanced English class, well except for Matt, whose peeking in at the far left. Next to him is Matt (yes, another one - that's a popular name here), Ricky, Kayla, Alyssa, Jake, and Paige (whoops, she's in 6th period).

So, all three of these kids bought those fake lip-rings. I think they had at least two apiece lol. Colt, who's grimacing (a split-second moment that I caught!), Hannah, who looks kinda sad for some reason, and Tyler, who is following Colt's lead and grimacing as well.

Heather is hiding her face, Stephanie is almost blending in to the background with her camo lol, Kayla, giving her good side to the camera, and Christian with his sweet trench coat, which I had never seen before today.

Some more of my Advanced English (they seem to flock together for pics): Alex, who is almost completely blocking poor Nate's face, Austin, with some sort of random stick..., Jordanne, Ashley, and Will, who were really hard to label in order because their heads are equal distance to the right of Jordanne's!

The tail trend!!!

My words before this pic, "Everyone show how excited you are that you spent the day at the Renaissance Festival!!" I think they did.