Old Soul, Young Heart

I know it's not quite the 31st, but I probably won't write tomorrow, so here's wishing you a fantastic Halloween. Halloween is probably my favorite holiday, but for some reason I just haven't been into it this year. I think I just have way too many other things occupying my brain lately and usually it seems I get all excited for nothing anyway. I had my first hearing as a University Hearing Panelist this week. I was actually really nervous for it. Basically we ask questions to students that are "charged" with disobeying the Student Code of Conduct--things like the alcohol policy or disorderly conduct. We then decide if they were in violation and what sanctions they should be given if they were. I take it very seriously, both because what we decide is on a student's record and because I think it's really important that they learn from what they did (if they did it). I want to choose right and it's way harder than I had anticipated it to be. I l

Well, you'll notice that I have a new background. I've been looking for awhile for a new one and I couldn't find one that I just loved. (We all know how picky I am about such things.) I started looking again today and found two websites that had tons that I liked... so many, in fact, that it was hard to pick one. This is rare, so I knew I had to actually change these up on here. (I had the cloud/plane background since I started writing in April 2009.) So I got this one from  Hot Bliggity Blog . The other website that had tons of cute ones was  The Cutest Blog on the Block , in case you're interested. This weekend has been fun. Friday night Philip and I went to the season opener for the Prairie Thunder. It was a good game; they won. Last night was my dad's annual wiener roast, which is always fun. Lots of family and family friends--lots of talking about what's going on with me. Today was my dad's birthday, so we had dinner at Busy Corner and ate cake

That's meeeee. A busy bee. Like usual. (Can you tell that I just always put a picture at the beginning of my blog? It keeps the spacing of the following paragraphs the way they should be. I still wish I could figure out how to fix that without needing a picture.) I don't think anything terribly new has been happening lately. Just living week to week. I'm amazed how fast the weeks go. It's probably because life is just insane and doesn't slow down until Friday afternoon. Luckily, my weekends haven't been very busy at all so I've had time to just relax and be by myself a bit. The weeks go by quickly, but at the same time, I can't believe that there are still seven weeks until the semester is over. I guess that doesn't sound that bad. And I'm lucky--I think coursework could've been a lot worse than what it's turning out to be. I met with Dr. Phyllis today to discuss several things that have been on my mind regarding my skills, expe

Whenever I think of England and my adventure there, this is what I hear. It's me riding my bike around Cambridge. It's me marveling at cathedrals. It's me walking through quaint, unfamiliar towns. It's me riding the train in the countryside. It's my heart aching to be back there.

Yesterday morning I had a great opportunity to watch the film Shooting Beauty . Disability Concerns co-sponsored the screening with Diversity Advocacy, so it was suggested that I attend. I must say that I was blown away by this documentary. Basically this woman (a professional photographer) volunteered at a center for folks with cerebral palsy and rigged cameras to their chairs so that they could take photos of their lives. Their pictures were eventually featured in a gallery in Boston. The woman/photographer and the director (a cute, married couple) were there to talk about their experience afterwards. I thought the movie was just really well done. The content was so inspirational and it made me think a lot about working with students with disabilities. Though there are only a few students that I come into contact with that have severe disabilities, I feel in some way that I have a heart for it. So I'll keep that feeling and chew on it for awhile. In contrast, yesterday afte

My second favorite time of year (after the 4th of July and tied with Christmas) is finally here... fall! I've been burning my favorite candle (Fall Festival from Yankee) up until this morning when I sadly realized that the wick was too short to burn anymore even though there was wax left in the jar. I quickly went to the Yankee Candle store to replace it, only to find out that the scent has been discontinued! I had figured as much, since I had bought the candle probably four years ago. After deliberation, I went with Vanilla Pumpkin, which is similar but not quite the same. It'll do! I bought the tumbler size (which has two wicks) instead of a jar and it seems to be burning more evenly, so hopefully I won't have the issue that I came across this morning. This weekend I am reading roughly 380 pages (an entire book) for class on Monday. The book is actually good and interesting, which is helpful... but 380 pages?! The book is called Hope in the Unseen  and is about a yo