Books So Far

I've been doing quite a bit of reading so far this year, although my "read in 2009" shelf on goodreads.com wouldn't really indicate that. I've only finished two books, but I'm close to 700 pages in to Stephen King's The Stand. Throughout the year, I'll try to write brief reviews of all the books I read.

The first book I read this year was Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides. This book won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2003, and I'd heard lots of good things about it. When we were in California for Christmas, my sister-in-law recommended it to me, and she gave me her copy of the book. It was an interesting story. On one hand, it is the story of a hermaphrodite whose unique genetic makeup wasn't discovered until he was 14. On the other hand, in an effort to explain how Cal Stephanides ended up with this gene, the author takes the reader on a journey that spans more than 80 years of history. In that 80 year story, the reader is given a view of emigration, immigration, religion, culture, Prohibition, segregation, race riots, war, and other elements of the changing American society throughout the 1900s. I thought the story was unique, and I enjoyed the author's writing style. However, I had trouble getting into this book for some reason that I can't explain, so it took me a couple weeks to get through it.

The second book I read also included a journey undertaken to better understand the present by searching for the past. For our January meeting, the book club I've started going to decided to read The Invisible Circus by Jennifer Egan. It's the story of 18-year old Phoebe and her quest to discover the truth behind her older sister's death in Europe 8 years earlier. She takes a literal journey as she recreates her sister's trip by using the information in the post cards her sister had sent from various cities. I thought that this book had a really good concept, and yet I felt like the author didn't do nearly as much with it as she could. It seemed to me that she veered off into too many little tangents; she either should have cut the tangents out, or made them more profound or purposeful or something.

Subbing

If you've read this post, you know that I finally had a substitute job a little while ago. The first job I had out here was a half day assignment in a 7th grade English class. I must have done a decent job, because the next day, the teacher called me. She said that she was going to have a week-long absence, and she wanted to know if I'd take the job. Considering I haven't worked at all since moving here, I figured I could handle working for a week, so I said yes.

So today, I worked my first full day since the beginning of last June! It went pretty well. This teacher has an interesting schedule. She has one group of 15 students in the morning...for 3 periods in a row. It's an English/Social Studies/Reading class, and I think the students will be doing pretty much the same thing all week. Then there's a break of about an hour and a half for the teacher's planning period and lunch. In the afternoon, the teacher has one group of about 30 students for the last two periods (technically Social Studies one period, English the other period). I thought they were all relatively well-behaved today (for 7th graders), and I think that they'll be working on a project for the majority of the rest of the week.

Last week, I also attended an orientation meeting for substitutes in another district. In this area, I've discovered that the districts are so small, you really need to get on multiple sub lists if you want to work. I should officially be activated to sub in that district by the end of this week...but I already got an interesting call. I interviewed with a director of Human Resources in order to get on the sub list. He apparently passed my resume on to an Assistant Principal at one of their high schools, and the AP called me last week. They have an English teacher who will be going on maternity leave in March and will be out the rest of the school year. He pretty much offered me the long-term sub job over the phone based solely on my resume! I'm going to go talk with him and with the teacher next Monday. I have a few concerns (such as the fact that I would have to miss the last couple days of school in order to make it to my brother's wedding in North Carolina), but if all my questions and concerns are addressed, I'll probably take the job. Again, I don't really love the idea of working full time, but it would be a decent chunk of money to put into our savings account! :)

Some Things I Have Done

I saw this on someone else's blog, so I've decided to steal it. :) I'm not sure who came up with this list, but I figured it was a good way to share a little more about myself. Feel free to ask questions!

Top 100 things one should do in their life, ones I have done are bolded:

1. Started my own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than I can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland/World
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sung a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched lightning at sea
14. Taught myself an art from scratch (I'm counting crochet here)
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown my own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitchhiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of my ancestors (sort of)
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught myself a new language (I don't remember much of it, but I did teach myself some Italian a few years ago)
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had my portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had my picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Ridden an elephant

Wow...I've done exactly half of these things! Not too bad. :)

Resolution Updates

We're about 3 weeks into 2009. I thought it might be a good time to give a little report about how I've been doing with my resolutions. Granted, I said I didn't really make any...but yeah, I guess I did. There have been a few things I wanted to work on, and my determination to work on them just happened to coincide with the beginning of the year. :) So here's how I've been doing:

1. Get up earlier. It's a known fact that I love to sleep. A lot. It's one of my favorite things to do. However, I'm not a morning person. I've never been one of those people who can just jump out of bed all perky and smiling. I'm definitely a night owl, and if I had my choice, I'd happily go to bed around 2:00am and get up around 10:00am every day. However, I've decided that I really need to get more done around the apartment while Shawn is at work. And if/when I start working on a regular basis, I'll need to be in the habit of getting up at a reasonable hour. So although I'm still not getting up super early, most weekdays this year, I've managed to be out of bed before 9:00. Many days, it's even been closer to 8:00! This actually is a big deal for me. :)

2. Drink more water. Check. I haven't been keeping an actual count of glasses of water, but the fact is that I actually have been drinking some glasses of water every day. It's sad, but prior to the beginning of the year, I could occasionally go for days on end without drinking a single glass of water. More water has also had the positive secondary effect of my drinking less Diet Coke, which is also good.

3. Getting more exercise. For this one, I actually set a number. For the last 3 weeks, I have successfully managed to get some kind of exercise at least 5 times each week. Sometimes this is going for a walk around the lake near our apartment (I've even started adding some running to this!). Sometimes this is using the Wii Fit. I've been doing a good job with the 100 Push Up Program. When I started, I could do 4 push ups. Lately, I've been able to do close to 30 over a period of about 5 minutes (with some rests in between sets). I've also started doing the 200 Sit Ups Program this week. Obviously, none of these things are overly strenuous, so that's one thing I want to work on. Now that I've been getting in the habit of simply getting off the couch and doing something, pretty soon I'll start finding other things to do that will up the intensity.

Those were my major resolutions this year, and I think I've been doing a pretty good job with them so far. How are your resolutions coming? Anything you're really proud of? Any that you've given up on?

LOST Books Challenge

If you spend much time on book-related websites or blogs, you're probably aware of various reading challenges. I don't normally participate in these (at least, I don't make my participation known), simply because I prefer to let my book choices be determined by something other than what the challenge spreadsheet is telling me I should read next.

However, there are two things that I cannot deny. #1 - I enjoy reading. And #2 - I enjoy watching LOST. I've enjoyed LOST since its first season, and I've been literally counting down the days until a new episode finally airs tomorrow night!! (Hmmm...I wonder if it's too late to change our dinner plans for tomorrow and make something LOST themed instead...maybe something tropical, or maybe 15-year old Saltines.) So when I heard about the LOST Books Challenge, I decided to give it a go.

Here's the thing. If you've watched the show (and please tell me you've watched the show!), you've undoubtedly realized that books are used heavily. The titles come up periodically. Characters quote from them. Books themselves are displayed in many different episodes. And themes from books are certainly prevalent in the storyline of the show. The authors of LOST have said that every literary reference is intentional and purposeful.

So what exactly is the LOST Books Challenge? You simply need to choose at least 5 books that have been mentioned/used on the TV show. You then have until the end of the series in 2010 to read those books. You maybe asking, "How should I know what books have been used?!" Simple. You can check here, here, or here. :)

I've narrowed my choices down, but I haven't chosen just 5. Here's what I've come up with:

• The Stand by Stephen King (I've already started this one, actually.)
• On the Road by Jack Kerouac
• Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut
• Evil Under the Sun by Agatha Christie (I haven't read a good murder mystery in awhile, and my dad's a huge Agatha Christie fan...this one's for him!)

Obviously, that's just 4 books. The fifth book will come from one of the following titles (depending on my mood):

• A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
• The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
• Watership Down by Richard Adams
• A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L'Engle
• Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling (since I've been thinking about re-reading the series anyway)
• Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden

If you're interested in joining us for this LOST Books Challenge, click here to be taken to our official blog and to receive the instructions!

One Car Couple

As of Friday morning, Shawn and I are officially a one car couple. Remember that minor accident we were in about two weeks ago? If you scroll down a few posts, you can see the pictures of it. Although it wasn't a very hard hit, and it looked like there really wasn't a whole lot of damage, if you look carefully there were actually about 4 or 5 pieces of the car that would need to be replaced. The headlight, the entire front bumper, the side panel, the hood...and maybe one or two other small things. We were given a copy of the estimate, and I noticed that the parts total wasn't that bad...but it was the labor that pushed the total estimate to just about $4000. Since Shawn's 1995 Montero with over 200,000 miles on it isn't worth $4000, the insurance company let us know that they were totalling the car. To his credit, Shawn fought them on it, but I'm sure you can guess how that went.

So yesterday morning, Shawn went and signed his car over to the insurance company. He then took his rental car back to the auto body shop, and I met him there. We got all of our things out of the Montero, and we said goodbye. It was kinda sad.

Before we made any official decision about the car, we had discussed all of our options. We actually could've kept the Montero, but it would've cost us over $2000 out of pocket to fix it, and we decided it just wasn't worth it. We've decided that for now, the money from the insurance company is going into savings. When we chose this apartment, we actually said (as one of its benefits) that if something ever happened to one of our cars, we'd be okay using just one for awhile. So now we'll see if that's true! We do live close enough to Shawn's job that he can easily walk or ride his bike to work. On days that I have sub jobs, that's what he'll do. He'll obviously need the car for rugby practice, so those nights I'll just have to plan on staying home (which is fine...it's what I normally do anyway). Our main worry about having only one car is the fact that the one car we have now is really small. It's a Dodge Neon. Shawn's bike won't fit in it (at least, we doubt it will), so we'll have to figure out how he'll be able to go mountain biking on occasion. And my car can't make it up really steep, rocky terrain, so that might restrict where in the mountains we can go for snowshoeing, hiking, or rock climbing.

But we're going to give the one-car lifestyle a shot. If we decide it's unbearable, we'll figure out then what to do. It's possible that the insurance money is enough to get us another SUV similar to Shawn's...old, with high mileage. But our goal is to set aside "car payments" every month so that hopefully, we can eventually pay cash for a second car (that isn't a mid-90s model). We're very proud of our current low-debt lifestyle, and we'd like to keep it that way awhile longer.

Substitute Teaching

Ah, I had such lofty goals and high expectations before we moved here. I wasn't surprised that I wasn't able to find a full time teaching job for this year, so I planned on substitute teaching. I really didn't mind the idea. I would only sub in secondary schools, which frankly, would normally mean popping in a video or giving students a bunch of busy work. While they did that, I could read a book or maybe even do a little crochet. Even if I was expected by the teacher to actually teach...it probably wouldn't be anything difficult, I wouldn't have had to do the lesson planning, and I wouldn't have to grade the assignments when they were turned in. And of course, when you consider the hourly wage, substitutes get paid pretty well.

The main problem with subbing, however, is actually getting the jobs. If you don't have a job on any given day, you don't get paid...simple as that. So that means no income during the summer, on national holidays, or when the kids are on winter or spring break. And the rest of the year...there's no guaranteed income.

If you've been reading this blog for awhile, you may recall that I submitted my application to sub in August. I was notified by the district in September that I'd been accepted. I finally turned in my paperwork in October. I wasn't added to the substitute system until Thanksgiving. And despite bringing the phone to bed with me (so I'd hear it ring in the early morning hours) and checking the online sub system multiple times every day...I had no jobs. It wasn't even that I was being picky and turning jobs down; there simply were never any jobs listed as available.

Until yesterday. I was almost startled to see an actual job listed when I clicked "available jobs" on the website. It was only a half day job, but I went ahead and accepted it. So this morning...I got up at 5:30 and headed to a nearby middle school. I spent my morning teaching 7th grade English. I thought it went pretty well. It wasn't the "pop in a movie and sit back" kind of morning I was expecting, but since it was my own subject area, I had no problem helping these kids with some reading strategies work and some writing skills.

I actually already have another (half day) job lined up, so stay tuned for next week as I attempt to teach middle school Math! (My dad did it for 38 years...I'm sure some of his knowledge and talent rubbed off on me over the years, right?) :-)