Update: What's on Jennica's mind?

...The Catcher in the Rye is an odd book. High schoolers should not be required to read it.

...I am 2/3 of the way through The Kite Runner. The Kite Runner has many different twists. Quite a few of the main characters have died, and the story is still intriguing. I'm going to see if I can finish it tonight.

...I am going shooting with my brothers tomorrow! I wanted to go to the store and buy the ammo for us, but that won't happen because...

...I am still waiting on the phone call for summer school. Someone from the office contacted me today, but I missed the call because I was on my way to Bowman on the way back from Tahoe. I am hoping they will call tomorrow. So if I get the call tomorrow, I might not be able to go shooting with my brothers. We shall see. There will always be other times for shooting, but still.

...I might get a new Bible this weekend. I want to get an ESV Bible because there is a really cool "edition" that you can buy with wide margins specifically for taking/making notes. Also, I read a little in the ESV, and it doesn't seem to be that different from NKJV, which is what I have read since I was about 12. We shall see. I really like the little Bible I have now and will post pictures a later date.

...I already have a few things set up with my brothers and sisters-in-law for this summer. On Monday I am going shooting with Ross and Garret (can you tell I'm excited?) and then having dinner with Ross and Audra. On Wednesday I am going to a game night at Ross and Audra's, hopefully with all of my brothers and sisters-in-law in attendance (Ashley can't come because she has youth group). I might go see Kaydee tomorrow at work if I don't get to go shooting. On Sundays Scott invited me to play volleyball with people from his and Ashley's church. I am happy to hang out with my brothers and sisters-in-law. People my age! I love them!

...I am happy to have the education and training that I received at Master's, but I am also realizing that you can turn cocky if you don't guard against it. No bueno. Maybe more on that later.

...I met four foreigners in the last week: Luke and Will from New Zealand, Marcus from Germany, and Soandso from Peru. (FYI, his name really wasn't Soandso, I just can't remember what it actually was; he was the host at a restaurant that Irene and I went to.)

...Tahoe was fun. We slept under the stars and were not eaten by bears.

...That's all for now. Back to my book... ;)

Well...

Several things have happened in the last week or so.

I finished the credential program!!!! Yes, it is all done!!!

I moved out of aptartment 29. Sad day.

I had a job interview. I will hopefully find out tomorrow about teaching or tutoring during summer school. I reeeaaaaally hope I get it.

I got home in 6 hours from SoCal. And happily, my bike made it, too. I was a little worried that I would notice just as the bike flipped off the back of the car, and I would have to go back along the freeway median in the dark to find it. I was happy that did not happen, though it would have made a good story!

I hung out with several friends. I hung out with Melyndee, Adrienne, and Michelle specifically, and then a bunch of peeps from my church's college and career group. I am sad to leave SoCal. I could actually be friends with the church people this summer if I tried hard enough. Oh well.

I headed out to Venice Beach. That was fun. I walked along the beach, found a sand dollar, walked by one of the canals, watched planes that had just taken off from LAX, took pictures, got a smoothie and a giant coconut macaroon at The Cow's End (where the locals go), and saw several hundred interesting people. I considered a tattoo but decided against it.

I started and finished Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. Quite the interesting book. Since I'm going to be an English teacher, I decided that I should read the books that high school and junior high students read in school. This is one of them. I liked it, for the most part. Odd and kinda creepy, but not too bad. The whole book is based on the fact that people do not like to think, so they distract themselves with other things. They want to be happy without thinking of bad things or important world events or other people in their lives. So they destroy the things that make people think: books. However, they have a harder time destroying the ideas contained in them. This is the story of a fictional man who decided to do something about it. Sad commentary on today.

I am reading The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger. I don't know what teachers are thinking when they have their students read this book. It is an interesting style of writing. (I think the style is or is related to stream of consciousness, where the author just writes in a constant flow of thought.) Basically the main character is a perverted, messed-up 16 year old named Holden who gets kicked out of schools and knows a lot of people to do stuff with but isn't happy. Sadly he sounds like some of my students. They are upset about something but don't know what it is or how to fix it. Maybe it is something in their past; maybe it is something in their present. Maybe they are just feeling sorry for themselves. Maybe they have a victim mentality and don't know it. Maybe teachers think the students can relate to Holden. I sure wouldn't want my students to be able to relate to him. Weird. I've heard that some kids have changed for the worse after reading this book. It's like it would be justification for them to give in to their desires and sadness. Weird book. I hope I am never called upon to teach it. I honestly do not know what I would do. Another thing I don't like about the book is that you aren't sure what the plot is. It is just this kid talking...

I plan to read The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald next. Review coming whenever I finish it.

I also have The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. I read part of that before, and a few of my friends highly recommended it. Should be pretty good. It is a book that several college kids have read, so I figured it would be a good idea to read that, too. Not that I go around reading books just because the world does. Preparation is good, though, as long as it is tempered with God's Word. It is impossible to know everything I will be asked to teach, but I would like to have exposure to the books I will be using with my students. I'd hate to assign a book like The Catcher in the Rye and to be only one step ahead of my students. That doesn't sound like a good idea.

I am headed to Tahoe to visit Irene. I can't remember the last time I saw her; maybe in ummmm, February? That might not be right. I can't remember. But we are going to hang out in Tahoe and will hopefully sleep outside. And hopefully the bears will leave us alone!

That's about all I'm going to write now...I have some thoughts on the back burner, but they will have to wait...

Before...

you think that I am very odd to put a link to my own blog on my own blog, let me explain.

Jennica is not Jenica.

Jennica is me.

Jenica is the girl from whom Jennica's parents got the idea for Jennica's name.

Jenica is in China right now teaching English. Jenica's job sounds like the dream job for Jennica. Well, sort of; Jennica likes the Middle East, and Jennica heard that Jenica would actually like to teach French, not English.

Any way, that is why there is a link to Jenica's blog on Jennica's blog.

(Though Jennica knows that most of you probably do not pay attention to the new links Jennica adds to Jennica's blog, like the link to Jenica's blog.)

And finally, as a post script, Jennica is starting to get confused as to the actual spelling of Jennica's name...or is it Jenica's name?

Too funny NOT to post

And then there was the time Sherrie was in the pool at night.  A helicopter was overhead, and someone had the audacity to leave the front gate open.

Jennica and Sherrie's

"Worst Case Scenario Defense Tactics"

1. Hit any intruder with a pool noodle.

2. Capture intruder by forcefully slamming "net-on-a-stick" over head.

3. Drag into pool (preferably the deep end).

4. Run for your life into Apt. 29.

5. Lock all doors/latches.

6. Call police.

7. Pray this never happens to you!  (But if it does, at least you'll know what to do!!) ;)

happy anniversary, little blog

Well, today marks a milestone...Not too impressive, but I have had my blog for 3 years now!  Crazy!

I multiplied the number of days per year (365) by the number of years my blog has been in operation (3), added 1 day for leap year (2008), and came up with 1096 days.  Yes, dear little Psalm 19:14 has been alive for 1096 days, with a total of 229 posts.  That means that I post something on this site once every 4.7860262008733... days.  And that is if you don't count the posts that I have deleted.  So if you follow this weblog, you shouldn't be too disappointed if you click the link at least once a week.  If you are, oh well. ;)

Here's to the past 3 years!  We'll see what comes up in the next 3...

The end is near

Yes!  Finally!  I am almost done with the credential program.  Here is the remainder of the work that needs to be done by 4:00 Post Meridiem Pacific Standard Time on Wednesday, May 20th, 2009 Anno Domini:

90+ essays to grade

3 days of class to "teach" (they are taking a quiz and watching a movie)

173 tests to grade

1 movie to be watched 5 times

2 students to be interviewed

1 celebration dinner to attend

1 teacher to be interviewed

1 TPA to be conquered

Here goes!

ApTartment 29

Yes, we are aptartment 29.  

Danielle, Kat, me, Sherrie

We are Danielle, Sherrie, Jennica, and Kat, in order of age and in reverse order of height.

Danielle is the engaged and artsy woman.  She is the reason we have wedding magazines and glue sticks spread around the aptartment.  She is also a big reason why there are candles everywhere and why the quote book has grown exponentially over the last 12 months.

Sherrie is Miss Very-Dedicated-Teacher-and-Applicant.  It is always funny to see her take 2 hour naps in the evenings, but hey, if it works for her...  She is the reason we have so many different kinds of fruit spread around the kitchen and why there are random notebooks on the table with Arabic writing in them.

I am just plain crazy.  I get most of my entertainment by teasing my roommates, telling stories about my students, cooking things, and playing cool songs on youTube or Pandora.  I also document all of the strange, silly, or sentimental events in the aptartment with my trusty camera.  I am the reason there are so many exclamations of "you know you love me!" in the apartment.

Kat is the mostly sophisticated, always dramatic one.  She spends a lot of time enjoying other types of drama on TV or regaling us with her own dramatic stories.  She is also busy sewing a wedding dress for her friend Becky.  She is a big reason we can sometimes be considered "questionable" and also the reason for the phrase "oh Kat."

Adjunct member Lester is the reason all of our cell phone banners have been changed.

We are aptartment 29.

Aptartment 29.

Where we get excited when the dishwasher is empty and sad when the washing machines are full.

Where we all feel comfortable, at least as long as the blinds are down in the kitchen.

Where we frequently dodge projectiles launched from the frosty region known as the freezer.

Where we fling all sorts of things, including brownie mix.

Where we laugh uncontrollably about a phrase or sentence taken out of context.

Where we have hosted many different friends and family members, including, but not limited to, Lester, Mary, Elizabeth, Grace, Jess, Michelle, ...

Where we have roasted chocolate chips and mini marshmallows over candles using toothpicks.

Where we have clogged multiple drains.

Where we have had many parties: dance, bridal, marshmallow, Christmas, birthday, movie, baking, pizza, etc.

Where we laugh at phrases such as "Not today!" "You're flinging!"  "Write that one down!"  "And then there was the time..."

Where we have learned to get along with each other when we really just wanted to lock ourselves in our rooms.

Where we have all cried, thankfully more from laughter than from tragedy.

Where we have grown closer to God and each other.

And to end on a cheesy note,

I think I can safely say that the 4 of us will definitely look back on this last year as one of the most significant and enjoyable years in our short lives.

Here's to ApTartment 29!  You have served us well.  We will miss all the wonderful times we have spent within your walls.  May your next inhabitants have as good of a time as we have had.

Collage 1

I am very excited! I figured out how to take the images/collages I create in Word and to turn them into pictures in Paint! This first one is based on Deuteronomy 8. In this chapter God tells His people that He led them into the Wilderness so that they would learn to trust Him and would not forget Him when they reached the Promised Land. Unfortunately they DID forget God. But one reason for the Bible is to provide us with examples, both good and bad. We can learn from the mistakes of those who went before.

These thoughts were brought to mind today as I was reading Jerry Bridges' book, Is God Really in Control? in a public school, no less.

The writing says, "Lord, lead me through the Wilderness so that when I reach the Promised Land, I will not forget Your providence." I thought it enlarged when you clicked on it, but it is not cooperating right now!

Dear whomever

Hello, readers.  I hope you are doing well!

I have been busy.  Last week I taught only two days because my school had STAR testing and Civil War day!  I think the Civil War day was cool, with reenactments and such, but I missed it because I was in NorCal!
Yes, I was in NorCal.  My sisters-in-law Ashley and Audra put on a surprise 30th anniversary party for my parents on Saturday!  It was a nice time of hanging with family and celebrating God's gift of a wonderful marriage to my parents.  I went up on Thursday to put in an application at a high school.  We will see how that goes.

Now I am back down in SoCal.  I have two more weeks at my junior high, one CPR class to take on-line, and five days to grade everything and to complete my fourth and final TPA!  Then I will be completely done.  If you see someone yelling and dancing around on May 20th at TMC, it is probably me, if not one of my fellow credential students. :)

That is all for now!  Check back later (I don't know when) for a post on the unique inhabitants of Aptartment 29!  Happy May!

-Jennica-Ayelet