Thursday, February 25, 2010

Gaga

I have to admit something very personal.  Something I am just a tad bit ashamed of.  Something I thought I would never say.

I love Lady Gaga.

There, I said it.  It's done.
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Up until about a month ago, my only knowledge of Lady Gaga was seeing her on the red carpet or in award shows.  She is nuts.  Those outfits are ridiculous.  I thought to myself that there was no way she is normal or sane.  I just assumed by her wardrobe that her music was dark, twisted, and totally out there.  See the following pictures:


Well, Josh got the album 'The Fame' and just randomly put it on my iPod.  I went on a run about a month ago and decided to try it out during my exercise.  OMG.  IT WAS AMAZING.  It is the opposite of what you would expect to hear.  It is the most exciting, catchy, happy, make-you-want-to-dance music I have ever heard.  No matter what mood I am in, I put in Lady Gaga and I am instantly dancing and singing... no joke.  It's just amazing.

If you don't know much about her music, check it out.  Seriously.  It will change your life.

Monday, February 22, 2010

Job Hunting is a B*#@h!!!

What's the only thing harder than searching for one job???


...Searching for two jobs.

WANTED:  Two decent and permanent music jobs.  Preferably high school and elementary school.  Definitely in the same general location.  Somewhere in MD, VA, or PA would be nice.  As soon as possible would make me feel much better.

Why does every county, state, district, website have a different application process???  Just applying in general is a pain.  It takes FOREVER to do the same thing... over and over and over.

If I am ever president---first, there would be no war.  Second, there would be only ONE website for every single job description.  On that website would be the application and job postings.  If you are hiring for that job, anywhere in the US, you must post the job on that website and that website ONLY.  That way they know that everyone who is looking for them will see them, and everyone who is looking for that job will see it.  WHAT IS SO HARD ABOUT THAT?


Wow, I really needed to vent.

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Home Again...

Josh and I just got home last night.  We spent the last five days in York for Josh's grandpa's funeral.

The funeral was really nice.  His whole family was able to come in from around the world to be together.  Josh and I each took a flower from the arrangement on his casket.  We are considering some special things to do with them. 

Back to the grind: making phone calls about wedding stuff, applying for more jobs, freaking out about not getting a job, cleaning, etc.

Luckily, most of the wedding stuff is done.  There are really only a small number of little things left to do.  I am excited to get everything done and get married!!!

Other than that, my life lately has been pretty uneventful.  Oh well.

Friday, February 12, 2010

Cancer.

I have come upon a revelation.

I HATE cancer.  Why is it that everyone is destined to get cancer?  Why can't we do anything about it?

It doesn't even make me sad anymore.  I mainly just get angry.  I even get angry to see people die who I don't even know.

Josh lost his grandfather last night to lung cancer.  My grandfather has lung cancer.

I have always thought that if I could do one unrealistic thing to save the world, I would get rid of war.  I have changed my mind.  I would get rid of cancer.  We would save so many good people.

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Why Am I Still Awake?

Do you ever wonder why your brain can keep you awake?

No matter how tired my body is, or my eyes are, or my brain is... All I have to do it think about stuff.  And I am awake all night.

We have ANOTHER snow day tomorrow.  And I have been trying to get back onto my normal sleep schedule.  It's not working. 


For some reason, I am completely bored out of my mind during the day.  I am occupying myself with the most mundane activities to keep myself busy.  However, at night, the time when I most want to be bored, I am totally awake.  I want to move.  I want to talk.  I want to clean.  I want to work out (I wish this would come during the day).  I want to build a jigsaw puzzle.  I want to read.  I want to write.  I want to be productive.

What the heck?!?

I decided to write a blog.

Sunday, February 7, 2010

My Origami Adventure

I got interested in Origami last fall sometime.  So, my mom bought me a book of origami for Xmas.  I started immediately.

Note:  All of the following works of art are made completely of folding techniques and paper construction.  No scissors, glue, tape, etc. was used... not even once.

This is my first project.  The ever-classic paper crane.  Pretty easy to make.
 


My second project: Also a classic design, but pretty difficult to fold.  There are lots of teeny tiny folds involved.  A purple lily.
 
  

FAST FORWARD---And last, but not least, my latest paper-folding project.  Modular origami breaks some rules of origami by combining several identical pieces to create one spectacular model. A modular star:

 

  


I wish I could have used a different color, but it took about 8 sheets of paper total and all I had was white.  The folding of the 30 individual pieces was fairly simple, just time consuming.  The construction of all thirty into this model took about 2 hours and many curse words.

I will update with more creations as they come :-)

Saturday, February 6, 2010

I Spoke Too Soon

Well, soon after I last posted, it DID start snowing.  A LOT.  We now have about a foot and a half and it's still coming down.  Thank God I don't have to go anywhere.

So Josh and I are both officially unemployed in June.  We are in the process of searching for jobs... everywhere.  We are looking in WV, MD, PA, VA, DC.  And maybe Hawaii--in my dreams.

We will go wherever we can get jobs in the same location.  An ideal location would be in the Hagerstown/Frederick area.  It is about halfway between both of our families, which would be nice.  But who knows... no one is really posting jobs yet.  We are keeping our eyes open.

Today, however, we are stuck inside cleaning, cooking, and watching movies.  Oh, the busy life... :-)

Friday, February 5, 2010

Snow Day!

So, they were calling for over a foot of snow.  It was supposed to hit at 6am.  So, at 5am they canceled school.  It is now 3pm and there is still no snow.   Of course.

I am not complaining.  Believe me.

Today, I woke up late, Josh made me bacon and eggs for breakfast, I laid around and watched Roseanne, talked on the phone, and played online games.  Now I am drinking a cup of tea and doing a puzzle.  What a great day!

I think I will make us a nice dinner tonight, drink wine, and watch a movie.

Tomorrow I will be productive, I promise.

Thursday, February 4, 2010

PREMIER

So I am hosting my first hostess party. This is totally unlike me.  I love hosting parties, but I don't like marketing.  It is company called Premier Jewelry.  These are the reasons why I am hosting it:

-My great friend, Tiff, is a saleswoman.  She practically convinced me.
-Premier is a Christian company who recieves all of the income, takes what they absolutely need to keep the business running, and then donates the rest to charities and missionaries.
-Tiff is letting me host at HER apartment.  Mine is way too small!
-All Premier Jewelry has a lifetime guarantee!
-I actually like the jewelry!
-Believe it or not, it sort of benefits me in the way or free jewelry.
-I want to help my friend get her business started.
-I am going to bake some nice snacks for the party and I LOVE cooking for other people.

The party is Sat, Feb. 13 in Cheat Lake.  I will be sending Evites out soon.  If you want to come, just let me know :-) 

Premier Jewlery's Website.

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

My Beautiful Little Russian

Apparently this is the week for finding out about my students' depressing past. 

I had to give an acuity (standardized test) in math to a fourth grader.  This particular kid has, up until this point, been a pain.  He will always forget his recorder.  He will hardly every participate, even when his friends around him are willingly participating and having fun.  Once, when his class got in a ton of trouble for being so rude to each other, they were assigned to write some nice things about each other.  His response was, "Do I have to do this?  I didn't do anything wrong."  I told him he had the choice of either following directions like everyone else or to receive a reminder (a file of poor behavior that parents have to sign).  He just said, "Well, since I didn't do anything wrong, I guess I will have to take the reminder"!!!!  Holy crap.  He has guts.  He got 12/25 questions correct on his math acuity test because he was just guessing answers.  I find out the next day that he lived in a children's hospital out of town for about three of his 9 years of life.  He has brain cancer and had radiation for a THIRD of his life.  Poor guy.  I kind of feel bad for feeling like he was just a pain all this time.  Now, I have some sympathy.

Another student, a 5-year old.  He has this habit of constantly talking, moving, fidgeting, and rocking back and forth.  It is REALLY distracting and I feel like I am always on top of him and asking him to relax or stop talking.  I also thought of this kid as being kind of annoying (naturally, right?).  Well, after speaking with his teacher, I come to find out that for the first three years of his life, he lived in a Russian orphanage.  No one really knows about his experience there, except that I don't think he learned to talk.  He was adopted at 3 and moved to America.  The poor kid has only been here for two years!

So anyway, students often come up to talk to me after music class.  Especially the little ones, they just have so many things to tell me.  Usually I can just tell that they need some attention.  I often just say, "Would you like a hug?"  They give me a big hug and then they leave.  I know that we are both happy :-)

Today, my little Russian was asking me after class how he did.  "Did I do good today, Ms. Thomas?  I tried really hard not to talk when you were talking."  "You sure did, _____. You have been doing such a good job".  "But don't you think I did good when I was quiet and still when you were teaching us music?"  "Of course, of course.  Would you like a hug before you leave?"  "Uhhh.... no thanks."