When you feel at home

3 April 2006, 7:46 pm by Giggles
Categories: Life

There have been places in my life where I just knew I belonged there at that time.

When I was a senior in high school BYU invited me to come up for a weekend and check them out. On the Friday afternoon we kind of had some free time, and I ended up sitting on the big stair case under the bell tower. I just knew I needed to be at BYU. When my mom picked me up Saturday night she said she could see it in me that not all of me would be going home. It made the rest of my senior year very hard because I knew I was supposed to be at BYU. My mom said she saw the exact same thing in my brother and sister when they visited the universities they ended up at.

I was having a hard time adjusting to Brasil till one day when I was walking around the town on the beach I was in. The ocean was to the East, and huge mountains to the West. And I just know the land loved me, that this was the place I was supposed to be in.

When I interviewed at the school I’m at, and even more so when I went back for the first time after being told I had the job, that place was part of my heart that had always been calling to me.

There is no other place I could’ve moved to after college than where I’m at right now, my small apartment, and been so happy. This is my place.

I have felt that way a lot. I can also tell when it is time to move on, when some other place is calling me “home.” I’m starting to hear that faint call again. I belong where I am right now, for the moment, but soon I will need to find my next “soul-place.”

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Made me smile

30 March 2006, 10:38 pm by Giggles
Categories: Education

I tutor math in the morning. I have about 5-8 kids who rotate through my class and come an hour before school four days a week to do math with me. I treat them well, we do breakfast every so often. I mean, they are getting up early to do math. It has been great to see some of them finally catch a concept they’ve been completely missing for so long. Today was a day like that.

Right now we are doing multiplication and division problems. I have a bucket of blocks that they can count out into groups for the problems if they want. On Tuesday they had to count out 144 blocks for one of the problems and then divide them into 12 groups. That took a while. So when they got to a similar problem today, they were going to have 162 blocks (today they represented cookies) and divide them into six groups.

One boy who has been working with me all year started to count them out. First he was incredulous that he was going to have to count that many. He didn’t look too thrilled about that. He started counting, but didn’t get to far. He then turned to me and asked if there wasn’t an easier way. He knew there had to be some other way to do division than counting out th blocks and putting them in piles.

Yippy!! The desire to learn!

So I showed him how to work it out on paper. He was much happier about that. Then the other kids realized they didn’t have to count out the blocks either and wanted to be shown how else they could do it. Now that they know there is a simplier, quicker way, we’ll start working on the details of how to do it and getting lots of practice.

But I’m just so excited for him. He’s the best kid in the world right now.

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Note to others

28 March 2006, 11:43 pm by Giggles
Categories: Life, Venting

Do not park in my parking spot at my apartment complex. I don’t like it. Especially when I’m getting home late and I’m tired.

Note to the guy with the really big pick-up truck: Do not park in other people’s parking spots, especially when you are taking up two spots, so that they have to park in my spot.

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The changing world

26 March 2006, 1:15 pm by Giggles
Categories: Life

There are those who say that change is inevitable so we should just accept it, even, embrace it. The world is becoming more vulgar and immoral, and there is nothing we can do to stop it, so we should not even try.

But change is not always good. And just because everyone else is doing it, does not mean we should. I do not deed to debase, demoralize, and dehumanize myself because those around me are, or even so that I can understand them. If those around me are doing that to themselves, I do not even want to try to understand them. I do not need that in my life.

I have control over my life and my world. I choose to have a clean life. I choose to have peace. I choose to have purity. I choose to have virtue. I choose to hold fast to the eternal principles and truths taught by God since before time. God does not change His morals or standards, why should I change mine?

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Don’t doubt me

24 March 2006, 10:32 am by Giggles
Categories: Life, Venting

It really annoys me when people doubt what I know. I admit I do not know everything, nobody can. But there are certain things I do know, and know with absolute surety. I wish people would stop doubting me on those things.

Very little of what I know with such surety is what can be learned from books or taught in school though. They are more things that are true for me, things I have felt through the Spirit that are true for me in my life. It would seem that if people can’t prove it for themselves then it must not be true for me either? That it has to be true for their life as well if it is going to be true for mine. Some times it certainly feels that way. They have to doubt my experience and try to make me think that I could not have possibly felt that way.

This annoys me greatly.

I have learned in my life how to listen to the Spirit. I am still learning more, but I can recognize when I am being told certain things. It is through all of these experiences that I can know, without a doubt, about certain things. Why do people feel the need to discount my experiences? Why is it so hard to just accept that I know it for me?

I guess these are some of those million dollar questions every one keeps talking about.

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I love what I do

23 March 2006, 11:39 am by Giggles
Categories: Education, Science & Tech, Work

We all have those days where you wonder if what you are doing is worth it. As a teacher I wonder if they are really learning anything, am I making a difference, will they remember what I taught them. But every so often something happens that makes me think they really are learning and it really is a good thing I’m doing.

The way my lab is set up, I can watch what all of the students are doing, and control their computers if necessary. The same program lets them send messages to me if they need help or want to tell me what they did over the weekend, or things like that. I don’t mind them doing that because they are practicing their keyboarding in a real setting.

Today a sixth grade girl came in and started sending me messages. She said she thinks computers is her favorite subject. I wrote back and told her about when I took computer science in high school and that I think she’d be good at it. I told her what we did in high school and about the competitions we went to. She said it sounded confusing and asked if she’d really be good at it. She reminds me of me when I was that age. She’d be good. She said she wants to take technology classes in high school.

It all just made me smile. I made a difference for somebody. I can only imagine what she’s going to end up doing when she grows up. Something great I’m sure.

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Graduation

23 March 2006, 9:35 am by Giggles
Categories: Life

I graduated from phsyical therapy on Monday. I’m about 98% better. There is still a bit of tightness in my ankle, but I’ve come far enough that I can get the rest of the way on my own. It’s been almost three months since I first sprained it. And it wasn’t even that bad of a sprain to begin with.

I thanked them for helping me and told them I was sure I’d do something else stupid sooner or later and I’d be back eventually. It was a very nice place though, good helpful friendly people. Of course I’ll try to not have to see them again, but knowing me, it’s nice to know they are there.

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