a time for everything...

disillusion and wonder

2009-02-04T22:37:00.004-06:00

i have recently experienced a strange theme of becoming disillusioned with people around me. some of the things i have seen and felt people do have simply dismayed me, and i don't always know what to do with it. whether i am discouraged by some of the choices i have seen my friends make, or simply people letting me down, i could feel myself sinking into an emo-like mood of being annoyed at the world, something i had never felt before.

i have an assignment due for my education curriculum class in which i must look at various types of curriculum and evaluate them based on worldview, quality, etc. i wasn't particularly looking forward to this assignment, but i knew i needed to do a high quality job in order to get a decent grade.
i looked through the first two curriculum plans without very much interest, but when i got to the third( a secular text), i found myself completely absorbed into the material. i started to get the excitement that would normally come when you run down the stairs on christmas, or you are sitting in a movie theater waiting to see your favorite movie's sequel. at least, these are things which give me this excited feeling.

there i was, sitting in dordt's learning resource center, reading a high school biology textbook, and i felt my calling as a science teacher so completely that i stopped reading for a moment and smiled. while i have definitely felt that i was called to be a science teacher, i think that before now the idea was more of a sum of my love of science and my ability to communicate ideas to others.
the new excitement came from simply reading through this textbook for a project, and yet as i looked through this very well written book, i suddenly felt overwhelmed with anticipation for the day that i could help my students explore ideas like how the brain works and what our world would be like without science. i could imagine myself teaching my class the material in the book, and i finally felt the same jubilee that i've heard in other education majors so many times.

and so my disillusion with some of the people around me faded away for once, and i could focus on more that just the way my social life was going. i now have a more defined goal in my life, and like the end of a 100-meter dash(notice all the metaphors and similes...), i can't wait to get there.

resolutions

2008-12-31T11:14:00.005-06:00

well, its new year's, and everyone seemed to be blogging as an early resolution, so i thought i would join in. i know i have been away for quite some time, but thats mostly due to the craziness of life, or at least the craziness i have been feeling. the last part of this past semester was probably one of the most difficult times in my life as stress and commitment goes. i have certainly had other trying situations in my life, but it seems like a lot of things were piled up at once, and i was at a time in my life where i seemed to be very aware of the impact of everything that was going on. i would have three to a million things i would worry too much about at one time, but since then i can say with great relief that everything has been resolved. whether academic, social, or otherwise, things have "some way" of working themselves out. i think this is a different kind of new year's resolution, where rather than resolving to do better next year, you can look back at the previous year and see what was resolved, what had a resolution, and be thankful that you were able to make it through everything.

im excited for next year. just from the things that i expect to happen, i hope that it will be a wonderful year. i know that there will be difficulties, and if my college pattern keeps up then next year will be even harder than this year. but i can also look back at this year and see all the wonderful things that i never expected to happen but were such an amazing part of my life this year. so, to whomever reads this(and that may not be many) i hope that you have a wonderful new year. dont throw out this year as something to put behind you, but be grateful for everything that happened. ill see you next year.

thats all for now!

chaos and peace

2008-11-12T21:06:00.005-06:00

my life has been chaos in every way lately. this post is due to me taking a break from outlining one of my five term papers that is due the week after thanksgiving break. i went to write the outlines to try and focus on things other than the fact that one of my best friends' mom has cancer. on the way to writing, i came from teaching the chemistry study session and stopped by the library to get a copy of the play we are doing next semester. of course, i need to decide if i can fit this play in with everything else i am doing next semester! this story may seem a bit crazy, but it's also just how my life is lately:).

next semester i will be taking 14.5 credits, which may not seem like a lot, but for a science major isn't really all that bad. i am in organic chemistry, western civilization, economics and christian stewardship, voice and body warm ups(a phys ed class), education curriculum class, concert choir, and working as a teacher's aide for chemistry 104. should be fun!!

another thing that i am thinking about a lot lately is my trip to the netherlands with concert choir at the end of the year:). we are leaving the week after graduation, and will be gone for almost two weeks. we will fly into amsterdam, then take trains and buses all over the netherlands and across belgium. this will be the second time i have been to europe, and i can't wait! i could wait for the price, but i guess that's just how it is:).

the picture is of my friend and i at lake michigan:)

that's all for now!

intro...

2008-11-11T12:46:00.000-06:00

this is my first blog other than the one that was assigned by my education technology professor:). my mom has been blogging for some time, so i'm sure she'll be overjoyed to find that i'm doing the same. i can't guarantee any kind of regular schedule or an abundance of posts, but i'm going to try and post new things in my crazy life along with some interesting things i've found in my studying or browsing. this way you can see my pictures(the one to the right is one i took in wisconsin!), music, websites, interests, etc. if theres anything you would like me to write about, go ahead and ask me!

i am a sophomore at dordt college, (pronounced "dort" not "dork"...;)... i am studying to become a high school science teacher, which you can read more about at the assigned blog i mentioned above:). this semester i am taking: perspectives on origins(bio 251), calvin's institutes, english 220, education psychology, and education technology. i am also involved in the theater program and this year i was able to get into the concert choir that is touring europe at the end of the year! i can't wait for that and i'm sure i'll have a huge blog post to write when i get back:).

well, for the first thing i want to share, here is a site i went to when i was writing a paper about the media's influence on women's body image. it's the dove campaign for real beauty site, which promotes a healthy body image, especially for young girls. i especially liked the videos, so thats what the link is for, but the rest of the site is very interesting also.

last thing for this post is the link to the ben folds site, since that it what i've been listening to a looooot lately:).

that's all for now!