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...