motivation

Where there is no vision,
the people perish.
-- Proverbs 29:18

If your eyes are always on your shoelaces, if all you can see is this class or that test, this date or that roommate, this disappointment or that dilemma, then it really is quite easy to throw in the towel and stop the fight. But what if it is the fight of your life? Or more precisely if it is the fight for your life, your eternal life at that? What if beyond this class or that test, this date or that roommate, this disappointment or that dilemma, you really can see and can hope for all the best and right things that God has to offer? Oh, it may be blurred a bit by the perspiration running into your eyes, and in a really difficult fight one of the eyes might even be closing a bit, but faintly, dimly, and ever so far away you can see the object of it all. And you say it is worth it, you do want it, you will fight on.

-- Elder Holland, However Long and Hard the Road

thank goodness...

It's Friday.

Guy... I love Fridays.


I'm off on another weekend getaway.
This time to the country.
I downloaded a new album onto my iPod --
I plan on singing my guts out as I floss through thawing fields.
This town can eat my dust.

black-eyes

It dumped snow today. Normally I wouldn't have minded, but it was snowing like crazy while I was walking to class. I had to walk clear across campus to turn in a stinking paper before walking all the way back to where I started. I was soaked. My boots. My hat. The sleeves of my jacket. Worst of all, I had mascara leaking from my eyelids. I figured I was probably a disaster and ran to the bathroom before sitting down. Good thing.

Hello Mrs. Raccoon...

rise above

Self-discipline is that which, next to virtue, truly and essentially raises one man above another.

-- Joseph Addison

windsday

It was a blustery day. I must have brushed my hair out of my sticky lipgloss more than a dozen times on my way to class tonight. I would've put my hair in a ponytail, but it's Wednesday. Wednesday means I have to look cute for my Wednesday crush. You know... the kid who somehow evades my thoughts every day of the week -- except Wednesday. I woke up this morning and suddenly remembered just how cute he is.

Have I had a real conversation with this kid? Nope.

Did I make a big deal out of the one time he said hello? You better believe it.

Do I dress up in hopes of another friendly greeting? Duh.

Do I really believe my shallow efforts will get me anywhere? Not a bit.

Is this deranged? Haha.

You decide.

bad llama

Today there were only two kids in my 6th grade math class. Two. What a cake walk. I had them finish a couple of worksheets while I tied up some loose ends. Thinking that I was oblivious to their existence, those two youngsters began to engage in one of the funniest conversations of all time. Luckily I had a piece of paper nearby to record the babes' gems:

"It makes me weep. Parting from kindergarten was such sweet sorrow."

"Those little kindergartners in there should enjoy life... while they can."

"We saw these llamas with really long necks... and they scared me. When I went to bed, I remembered them again. And I thought they were hiding in the closet."

"Oscar told us he was responsible for the tsunami. Because he burped."

I confess that a short burst of laughter exploded from my lips when I heard about the llamas in the closet. A totally legitimate fear. Just look at them.

happy birthday dr. seuss!

I read some Dr. Seuss to my students today.

I forgot about the cleverness of him.

Green Eggs and Ham was the first book I ever read.
I was four. Thanks for teaching me Dad.