Dreams

31 March 2007, 9:43 pm by Giggles
Categories: Education, Musings, Work

About five years ago a movie came out called The Rookie starring Dennis Quaid. It was the summer after I graduated from BYU and I was looking for a job as a teacher. One of my roommates and I went to see it at the dollar theater. It’s a teacher movie, and a sports movie, even if the sport is baseball, and as a general rule I love those movies. This movie inspired me. I left the theater feeling very strongly about being able to follow my dreams to be a teacher. And I have done that for the last five years.

The movie was on TV tonight and I happened to be flipping through the channels and find it just as it was starting. I own it, but haven’t watched it for at least a year because the last time I tried, the VCR ate it and I still haven’t gotten around to buying it on DVD. It was still inspiring. But now I have different dreams. And at least for tonight, I feel real good about following them instead.

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Voltando

29 March 2007, 3:00 pm by Giggles
Categories: Life

Six years ago today I returned to the United States from Brasil. It was a looong trip that started six years ago yesterday. I rode a bus for two hours from Ponta Grossa to Curitiba. I flew from Curituba to São Paulo, which is only about an hour flight, but they still serve dinner (not peanuts, dinner). That flight was delayed for an hour because just as we got to the airport a huge storm blew in. It was beautiful. In São Paulo I had to repack my bags because they were suddenly over the weight limit and then we had to rush to catch the plane we should’ve had plenty of time for if the other flight wasn’t delayed. My seat was by the window. The plane was a big one with a 2-5-2 seat set up. There was someone in my chair next to me when I got on the plane. He excused himself after I sat down and I never saw him again. I didn’t see much of anything on the flight actually because I was stretched out across both seats trying to sleep for most of the thirteen hours of that flight. We flew to Dallas, went through customs, and then I waited for my next flight. The next flight took me to Louisville, Kentucky. From there it was just another 3 hour or so drive to Pikeville, KY. And then I slept in a bed. The next morning I got up and drove to Ohio and West Virgina before returning to Pikeville, which supposedly was my home, even though I’d never been there before.

Brasil changed me. It changed me in ways I am still discovering. There are many things that are still more comfortable for me in Portuguese. I still crave the food there, even though I ate black beans and rice almost every day, I never got sick of them, and I’m glad I’m finally getting around to learning to cook them for myself.

But the people I met, the places I saw, the lessons I learned, they are forever a part of me. I have met a lot of people since. I have seen a lot of places since. And I have learned a LOT of things since. But part of my heart will forever be in Brasil. Brasil faz parte do meu coração, e sempre terei um poco de saudades pelo país do meu coração.

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Showers are dangerous

28 March 2007, 12:17 pm by Giggles
Categories: Health

Today is at least the second time that I have seriously strained my neck during my morning shower. It takes a lot of talent to do that. So today I hurt from about the middle of my neck, down across my shoulders, and down my spine to about the middle of my shoulder blades. And I have a bit less movement than I normally do.

It actually doesn’t take that much talent, just a super special neck like mine. I didn’t sleep on a pillow last night, so my neck was a bit out of whack when I woke up. After my shower I was wrapping my hair in a towel to dry it off and somehow moved or pulled or something on my neck just right (or wrong, depending how you look at it), and had to be very careful not to do anything else that might make my neck freeze up completely.

Yup, showers are dangerous. And you don’t even have to slip on the wet tub and hit your head on anything.

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Hair cuts

23 March 2007, 9:24 pm by Giggles
Categories: Happy Things, Health, Random

What is it about getting a hair cut that just makes you feel that much better looking? I love my hair. It’s thick, strong, long, great color, healthy, at least that’s what the person cutting my hair kept saying, and I’m inclined to agree. I haven’t had a hair cut in over a year, but decided I needed a bit of a trim today. I didn’t get but maybe an inch cut off, so other than being a straighter line at the end, there isn’t that much difference. Yet I feel like my hair is prettier today than normal. I think it might have something to do with having someone else wash it. I love that part. It’s my favorite.

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Stepping outside of your problems

23 March 2007, 12:40 pm by Giggles
Categories: Books, Musings

I posted this as a comment on Mr. Me’s blog about why we do theater. It was a moment of brilliance for me, so I wanted to make sure I kept a record of it here as well.

It is that reaction from the audience. It makes a huge difference. It’s why I do some of the things I do. With acting, you also get to step outside of yourself for a time, step away from your problems and into someone else’s, someone’s problems that will be resolved within two hours. I think that is also part of why I enjoy attending theater, I get to see and, if the actors are good, feel someone else’s problems instead of being consumed by my own. And by the end of the night, at least someone’s problems got resolved.

I think I have the same experiences with tv shows, movies, and especially books. They all allow me to escape. And in the end, either their problems are solved, or you know they have what they need to solve them eventually.

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The Road Trip

22 March 2007, 9:19 am by Giggles
Categories: Happy Things, Life

I am behind in writing about my road trip all the way to Salt Lake. It was a great weekend. So I shall share about it now.

Friday morning I went in to work for my hour. Afterwards I ran an errand or two and then came home and cleaned out my car. I got all the trash out, all the extra papers and directions to various locations that had been stashed in various places. Then I pulled out my vacuum and vacuumed the whole interior, got all the crumbs and dust and small leaves and sand and bugs that died on the dash out of my car. Then I sprayed all the hard surfaces and cleaned them off. The inside of my car was clean. I don’t know why, but I like to clean the inside of my car before a road trip. I also tried to find a gas station that hadn’t raised their prices by at least ten cents that morning, but no luck.

After cleaning the car I went in and turned on the two Rascal Flatts CDs I have real loud and showered and packed and got ready to go. Just after 3:00, Melissa and Tanya came over, we loaded everything in the car, and were off. It’s a quick drive to Salt Lake, so we were there before long. The woman at the hotel asked if we were there for business and pleasure. I half laughed when I told her it was pleasure since we live in Orem.

The suite was nice. I love how it was decorated, blues and yellows. We decided to go to the Gateway and get something to eat. We had a little trouble getting out of the parking garage once we’d parked, but we are from out of town, so it’s natural to get lost.

Back at the suite we got ready for the concert, which included using Tanya’s new cell phone to send photos to Sally. Later we kind of scared the guy in line in front of us to get into the concert when we were talking about the photos.

The opening act wasn’t bad. I recognized one or two of the songs. The show was sold out, but a lot of people didn’t get there till after he was done. You know country music has changed when the singer is wearing a Guns-N-Roses shirt. He went on a bit about himself and how good they are and how many awards they’d won. I think a better tactic would’ve been to just play real well and let us decide for ourselves how good they were.

Rascal Flatts was amazing. They were so full of energy, worked the stage and crowd well, and they had talent as well. They aren’t good just because of the magic they can do in the studio, they really can play and they really can sing. One of the guys played a drum set that was phenomenal, he also played the piano, and so many different guitars I lost track. And they harmonized so well too. It was a great concert.

There were three women who appeared to be in their late 30s sitting right in front of us. Melissa commented that would be the four of us in ten years. That got Tanya a bit misty eyed. So we made plans to all go to a spa together for my 30th birthday next year. One of the guys in Rascal Flatts was talking about how there are always more women then men at their concerts. He said it’s because one woman will hear they are coming and will call her girl friends and they’ll all make plans to come and tell the guys they are going out and the guys won’t know what hit them and so they’ll say okay. He said when they talk to the women after the concert, they always say their guy had to work, but in reality the guy is at home watching CSI on the TiVo and thinking it’s already 3am and they said they’d be home. It was funny because that’s just about what happened with us. Melissa heard they were coming, told the rest of us, Tanya told Daniel she was going (she didn’t ask, she told), and we didn’t get back till Saturday afternoon.

When we got back to the hotel we did mud masks and ate chocolate covered things – strawberries, rice crispy treats, potato chips. Saturday morning we took advantage of the breakfast at the hotel and then went and enjoyed the jacuzzi for about half an hour. Melissa and I tried out the exercise room. We went to Trolley Square and did a bit of shopping before driving back. We dropped Tanya off at home and Melissa and I went to the Provo mall and tried on prom dresses and then went to a book club meeting with some people I know before finally getting home about 5 in the evening.

My house was still dirty. There was still laundry to do. The dishes were still in the sink. I still had homework to work on. But it was definitely worth it get out like that. There’s just something about a road trip.

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Conversation with a 16 year old

21 March 2007, 10:17 am by Giggles
Categories: Relationships, Venting

I had the following conversation the other day with an incompetent 16 year old I have to associate with on occasion. The conversation was prompted by a child running helter skelter all around a store. Someone please tell me I wasn’t this stupid at that age.

stupid teenager: Aren’t kids so cute? I want one of my own.
Me: Not me. Not right now.
stupid teenager: How old are you?
Me: I’ll be 29 this summer.
stupid teenager: You’d better get moving if you plan to have any kids.

Um, what? Can I throw something at her head? It might help.

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