A Step Forward Calls for Something New

July 28th, 2008 - Aug 12th, 2011
Three years of blogging.
Three years of venting.
Three years of struggling life.
Three years of remembering.
Three years of fun.
Three years of laughing.
Three years of crying.
Three years of running.
Three years of fan girlness.
Three years of sitting.
Three years of typing.

Here's to Three years well spent.

Moving to a new phase.
Moving to a new place.
Moving away.
Moving forward.
Moving.
Moving.
Moving.
Moving.
Moving on.

Continue to follow my life on my new blog.
A Step Forward Calls for Something New.

"Don't tell me the sky's the limit when there are footprints on the Moon."

"Life as we know it does not stand still."

Children constantly bring surprise. Jesus gather children around and their tongues were loosed and they spoke marvelous things. I am of the opinion that Children today often have their tongues loosed.
The expression "Out of the mouths of babes..." is very true. children say things we know are true but do not want to admit.
Do not underestimate a child.
After all, Michael Jordan was kicked off of his Jr. High basketball team, and now look where he is.

Not only can children surprise in their knowledge of things, but their emotional intelligence is often beyond that of adults. As they grow older, adults tend to over-complicate and over-think many things in their lives and they take away the ease that was known as a child. Somehow Children get everything they need finished and still have hours of play. Granted they have much less to do, but much of what they do, even chores, are considered play.
I remember when I was young, my best friend and I would have 'Slave time.' We would go to her house or my house and do hard labor (ie. scrub the floors with a scrub brush, clean the tops of the cupboards), and all the while we were imagining.
Work does not have to be hard and flavorless. Maybe imagining yourself as a princess who is forced to clean the castle does not appeal to you, well, then don't do that. Maybe just pretend you are having fun. Pretend you are the worlds best singer and turn on some music as loud as you want and belt it out as you work.
When you feel self-conscience just remember... "When in doubt, Fake 'em out!" Act like you are the Belle of the ball and you will be, everyone will see you that way.
Act as if you have all the confidence in the world, you will gain it.
"When ever I feel afraid, I hold my head erect, and whistle a happy tune, and no one will suspect I'm afraid." - The King and I.
Do not set limits for yourself. Goals are great, but make sure you remind yourself that you can work past your goals.
I leave you with a final quote from an unlikely source.

"It's amazing what one can accomplish when one doesn't know what one can do." - Garfeild.

Keep Moving Forward

run thorough the mud? check!

Today has been... rather uneventful yet very fulling at the same time.
First, take the boys to school.
Then crochet and watch HTTYD
Continue crocheting and watch Speed Racer
Get off my lazy bum and run for 3 to 4 miles in the mud.


Let me make something clear right now. slipping and sliding while trying to run is much much harder than just running, even for 6 miles. But it is worth it!


When exercising  there are several obstacles to pass
1. When first starting, it feels like you can't do anything, trust me I know. It seems impossible that you will ever get to your first goal. Keep Moving Forward.
2. After you get over the aching muscles it seems like you aren't doing enough, because now you can't feel it anymore. Trust me, you are still getting strong. Keep Moving Forward.
3. Now you are stuck in a rut, you keep doing the same thing over and over and you are so bored you want to die. Shake it off.  Mix it up. Keep Moving Forward.
4. Your goal is in sight, but you can't seem to reach it. Keep Moving Forward.
5. AT LAST! You have reached your goal! Good Job! Keep Moving Forward.
6. Set a new goal for yourself. Keep Moving Forward.
But I have some bad news... for your new goal, you may be able to skip step 1.. but steps 2-6 must be repeated every day. Maybe this is to teach patience. Maybe this is to teach reliability. Maybe we are just learning how to use our stubborn natures. But what ever it is... Keep Moving Forward.

Some Facts about Life 2

With math test... isn't the general idea to test what you have already learned?
Well, The accuplacer test does not do that. It says it does, but guess what? It DOES NOT!
I am trying to prove I know how to do math 1010, (which I do) and yet for some unknown reason, there is geometry and trigonometry on this test...
WHY!
This does not make any sense.


But, some good news.
For this semester I will be posting some things from my art class on here.
I will post my assignments and the art projects I and some students do...
It should be amazing. :)

I am going to like this teacher. She does not like grading. But she has to use something, so she does.
This semester, is going to be great.

New Years Resolutions.

I have never seriously made a new years resolution. And just now I have decided that I need to make one, if not more.
I figure it does not matter if it is a little late, as long as I actually do it.

First, some background.
I went to California yesterday (and go my braces off!) and heard a commercial:
"Why not set a resolution you can actually accomplish, unlike 'losing weight', 'eating right', 'getting out of debt.'"
For some reason this commercial thinks that I can't do anything except buy a car.
Let me tell you something right now. I can do anything. 
And so I am going to.
I am going to set realistic goals for myself to help me achieve bigger goals.
1. Run 13 miles in a half-Marathon.
 I can run six, so what is 13? I guess I could work towards a 10k also....
2. Run a 10k
 I will do both
3. Pass all of my classes with A's
 This will be hard, especially sine I am taking more credits than normal and still working, but I can do anything.
4. Get to bed on time, most of the time.
 It is unrealistic for me to say I am going to be in bed by 10 every single night for the rest of the year. I can't do that any more than I can change the orbit of the moon. Things come up and I need to deal with those things. But I can be in bed by 10 most nights and then take a nap when I need it.
5. Get up on time
 7 is a prime time to wake up, and I hate waking up late. (Late being 7:30 or later) I feel gross and groggy for the rest of the day.

I am going to face my fears.

Question Authority

I got a letter from one of my best friends yesterday. :) I thought she had just forgotten to write to me!
Being organized... really makes me feel good.
Having a schedule is a powerful thing, now sticking to that schedule is even more powerful.
Sometimes I wonder about my life and what  I can do differently, then just toss it out the window.
But there is a quote I found one day...
"He who tries will never know the sorrow of one who never triumphed or failed."
I don't know how well I can do in school because I have never tried my hardest.
I don't know how great my piano can be because I have never practiced my hardest.
How many other people are like me?
Knowing they can be better but never trying because they are afraid they will fail?
I wonder why I try to sabotage myself...
Maybe I am so confused because I have never tried to fight for what I want. or for what I think I want. I would rather just sit back and let life go it's course.
But I can't do that.
Nope. If I want to be happy, I will do what I know I need to do no matter what the cost.

What happened? I used to love school!

"But after years of rote memorization and drills, what were once intellectually excited and motivated five-year-olds have become bored or grade-obsessed teenagers. Their thrill over accomplishing real tasks and exhibiting real skills is replaced with anxiety over upcoming tests and a concern for high grades." - http://www.engines4ed.org/hyperbook/nodes/NODE-69-pg.html

My brother is so excited to be in school. He is in first grade right now. I have another brother who is a freshman in high school. Sometimes he would rather be shot in the foot then go to school.

So what has happened?

Why is school such a chore when it used to be a joy?

There's many reasons.

I am only going to talk about one today.

Standardized tests.

On the surface, these tests are very good. Every test is the same, every child has the same test, the same grade expectations and the same opportunity to get reach those expectations. But that is the problem with the standardized tests. Every child is NOT the same. Each child is their own person, they learn in different ways. A child is not a blank slate.

Blank Slate is "the idea that the human mind has no inherent structure and can be inscribed at will by society or ourselves" - Steven Pinker

Well I disagree. We each have an identity. No one person is like the next. If this is true for adults, how can it not be the same for children? Identity is "the condition of being oneself or itself, and not another" (dictionary.com) If children were blank slates then standardized testing would be marvelous. Each child would be born as if they were a robot, a computer just waiting to be programed. When the reached the age of 5 they would go to school and teachers would all need to have PhD's in computer science in order to be able to program them correctly. By the time they reached high school age they would be perfect children, always doing what they were told, getting perfect scores on every test, never throwing spit balls at a teacher. Every student would graduate, with honors even, and then, when they turned 18, they would emerge into society and finally become capable adults.

But, fortunately, this is not the case. Mothers often compare their children, saying things like: "he never cried when he was a baby." "she was so fussy!" "he's a mama's boy!" Why do children have these different behaviors? Why aren't all children fussy, or quiet? Why don't all children sleep through the night? Because all children are different. There is no norm among humanity, at any age. the definition of Normal is "conforming to the standard or the common type; usual; not abnormal; regular; natural." (dictionary.com) not abnormal. But, not one person on the face of this planet is the same as the next. so how can normal even exist? I guess then I could quote the Incredible's. "Everyone's special, Dash." "Yeah, which is another way of saying no one is." Yet everyone is special. not even identical twins are the same.

So, if no one is the same as someone else, why are schools giving standardized test, which are all the same, to students? I think they are under the deluded impression that all students are the same and will respond to the test in the same way, and respond to the pressure of taking a test in the same way, and give the same answers as the next kid because children are all the same.

NEWSFLASH!

They're not.

A D?

Sometimes when everything is going well, we forget about the bad things. Even if they still have not been solved.
sometimes being philosopical is as easy as saying "Leave Your Message At The Sound Of The Tone."
Well Why are you telling me?
that teacher gave a D on last weeks homework
she said "Miss Sally Brown
your grades are going down!"
I should have told her

Your new philosophy

My new philosopy.
"Miss B?"
"I'm she."
"look see."
"A D?"
"A D."
"Well Why are you telling me?"
and that's my new philosophy. :D

For some reason, my favorite characters die.
I do not like that.
Not in every book I read, but in many... they die.
L.A.M.E.
HAHA!
FINE
Freaked out
Insecure
Neurotic
Emotional
the italian job.

Every time I bring that up my aunt makes sure to tell me, "they are making a brazilian job with the same characters!"

Nothing to say. Just bored. Waiting for class to start. I should have brought my compy.
I want to write a story.