Happy New Year! Reflection

Happy New Year!

Last night, a friend called me as part of his personal reflection upon the last year. My initial reaction was to worry that this was one of those John Cusak in High Fidelity “What does it all mean” conversations, which thankfully, it was not. My post-conversation reaction was to reflect on my own life in 2004.

2004 Accomplishments & Events in The World According to Sara:

• Taught 4th graders about geometry
• Hooked up with manager from my old job
• Hiked a lot more
• Baked a traditional Mardi Gras King Cake
• Got big fat ticket for having huge Mardi Gras party
• Quit smoking cigarettes
• Started drinking more
• Broke up with manager from my old job
• Adventured on the beach with Phaedra
• Hot-tubbed with 15 people at once
• Learned to play cribbage
• Taught 3rd graders about supporting evidence
• Re-hooked up with manager from my old job
• Moved out of room-mate land and into my own place
• Graduated from college with honors
• Attended family reunion
• Discovered blogging
• Went to five baseball games
• Attended weddings of two people I love
• Camped more during the summer, even with graduate school, than any other year
• Jumped off of rocks and cliffs
• Discovered Souza Silver Tequilla
• Survived thunder, lightening, & hail on Odell lake
• Made new/connected more with friends: EVAN, Patrick, Robin, Liz C., Sammy, Angeline, Chris
• Provided feature entertainment at Dirty Old Women’s Weekend
• Got a big fat ticket for having a fire during Dirty Old Women’s Weekend
• Finally woke up early enough to attend the Eugene Celebration parade
• Re-broke up with manager from my old job
• Learned to control myself following a break up (hint: delete unwanted numbers from cell phone)
• Went to two football games
• Got a graduate teaching fellowship
• Completed student teaching and half of graduate school
• Dressed like a lobster, college graduate, bar wench, and obnoxious chick at parties
• Managed without a car for three weeks
• Saw my best friend who lives across the country twice
• Told off old boyfriend who left me for Jesus two years ago

But did I learn anything? Did I do anything meaningful? What does it all mean??? Just kidding. I don’t think I need to go in to all of that. It was a great year, a precursor to many even better years that will soon follow. Have a safe and happy night and I’ll see you in 2005!

ONE small STEP IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION

I don't know about the rest of you, but any news about reducing gay oppression is refreshing after November.

Columbia Daily Tribune: Arkansas judge’s ruling favors gay foster parents

Put together the United States Map Puzzle

How well do you know the States?


Take this puzzle quiz to see how well you can place states on a blank map. It is quite challenging. I was 92% correct with an average errror of 10 miles. How did you do?

Pick Your Favorite Mutant

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Which Ninja Turtle is Best?
	Leonardo
	Donatatello
	Michaelangelo
	Raphael
Free polls from Pollhost.com

Movies, Movies, Movies

Being the big dork that I am, and justifying my product plugging with the fact that Patrick and Robin do it, just thought I'd share...

I've joined Netflix:

Netflix (Nasdaq: NFLX) is the world's largest online DVD movie rental service offering more than two million members access to more than 30,000 titles. Our appeal and success are built on providing the most expansive selection of DVDs; an easy way to choose movies; and fast, free delivery. For $17.99 a month members rent as many DVDs as they want and keep them as long as they want, with three movies out at a time. Members enjoy free and fast delivery. We reach more than 85 percent of our subscribers with generally one-day delivery and provide free, pre-paid return envelopes. With no commitments, members can cancel anytime. Our "no late fees, no due dates" online movie rental model has eliminated the hassle involved in choosing, renting and returning movies.

Even if you don't think you'd watch this many movies, the convenience of it is awesome, not to mention the number of movies you can rent versus in a video store...$18.00 would by about five movies at Blockbuster. My mom lives in the middle of nowhere and rents whatever she wants from this company without going to town. Since I'm without a car for a while, this will be convenient for me as well. Also, there is a two week free trial, so even if you're not interested in keeping an account, you should sign up for two weeks of free movies.

End Advertisement.

Whirl-wind Zoe Visit

Dinner With Zoe

This is my best friend Zoe.

She works at a youth camp in North Carolina and sleeps in a tent. She came here to visit family and friends, and most importantly, ME! over Christmas.

This is a picture of us having dinner on Tuesday at the Lucky Noodle with some riff-raff we met on the streets. Awesome drinks at the LN include the Bella Mento, Chilli Margarita, and the Zenzero. The food is great too, but don't plan on being anywhere on time after eating there...We were there for more than two hours before it was all over. To ensure maximum obnoxiousness, we all paid separately, I took a lot of pictures with my camera flash on, and Evan said grace:

"Dear God: We paid for all of this ourselves, so thanks for nothing!"

Choose from three different "Evan gives the Thumbs-Up!" pictures! Available in six installments of only $9.95 (plus shipping and handling and taxes where applicable). Send requests to: mshos@oregonducks.org.

Old Friends, Old Habits (click to enlarge)

Karaoke With the Old School Corvallis Crew

Welcome to my hazy memory of a night spent with old friends in Covallis, Oregon. We played pool, sang karaoke, and partied in general at The Library (which is the stupid new name for the old Royal Pacific). I don't really remember a whole lot of particulars, but I'm pretty sure I had a good time based on these pictures and the extent of my illness in the morning. I love that our old crew can still come together and party like rock stars.

Cocktail Party in the Attic

Cocktail Party in the Attic


at tic (at'ik) n. ,Gr. Attikos, of Attica [ancient Gr. state]: with reference to architectural style; the room or space just below the roof; garret

The Attic Cocktail:
In a blender, mix one part Greecian root-word with two parts Modern Greek-American Goddess (Also called Phaedra the Greek in some liquor stores) and ice. Add one shot of Muck and a splash of Cornwallis. Pour into margarita glass and serve with salt and a lime twist.

Which Lebowski Character are You?

http://www.alansmind.com/lebowskiquiz.php


I think it's rather odd that I'm the Dude...the quiz might be flawed (ya think? some random dude made it, plus the movie is full of nut-jobs anyway.). I guess, in retrospect, I'd rather be like the Dude than most characters in the movie. Tell me who you think you're most like and who you ended up testing as. I want full details, people.

Student Teaching: Mission Complete

Last day of our Oregon Trail Unit

Today was my last day as a student teacher!!!

While I am pleased to be half-way finished with graduate school, I am so sad to be leaving full time teaching for full-time classes. Bleh! Today was a great end to an awesome experience. We watched a slideshow of all of the photos I've taken this term, I taught a fun art project, and my class gave me THREE pirate books and a book of letters that they wrote.

Below are some of my students' letters of recommendation to my future employers. I didn't correct their spelling errors because they're cute.

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You would like to hire Hiss. Hos for a teacher. She is smart and knows what she's doing. She's nice, funny, and she loves to teach. She knows what to do when it comes to fun activities! She taught us lots of math games and P.E. games. She's really cool cause she teaches songs too! She is so ausum, you should hire her!

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I think that you should hire Ms. Hoskinson. She should be hired because she is a really good teacher and she teaches us a lot. She is very nice. Plus she is very funny. We like her a lot. Ms. Hoskinson is really fun, but here are 3 best things she has done with us. Once she taught us a game called Shipwreck and that was fun. She helped us make mini wagons too! Plus she helps make lots of art projects. That's why you should hire her and I think she will be a great teacher.

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I think you should hire Miss. Hoskinson. she is a very nice teacher. She is aware of what is going on in her class. Miss Hoskinson is very out going. She has a lot of fun games to play at P.E. and that winds us down. She keeps us under control.

She loves, I meen loves pirates. She reads us books about birates and she palys fun games about pirates. She is the only one I now that loves pirates. It is fun to have her in our class, I think you would like her too.

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Miss. Hoskinson is a great teacher. Miss Hos is very kind, helpful and responsible. Miss Hos has done a lot of fun things with us. She taught us fun songs, read story's and when she reads she uses a lot of expression. I like Miss Hos because she is really funny and Makes me laugh. When she gives direction almost always explains it. She makes learning fun.

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What awesome recommendations! I think I might really bring them into a principal when I start interviewing!

My Study Buddy 

21 At Last!

21 At Last

My wonderful friend Val has finally turned 21, thank gawwd. She is the last of my crew to turn, so we made quite the spectacle of it. Program, to be exact. The night involved 16 people getting horribly plastered and bar-hopping in Portland. This picture was taken at the Space Room, where Val drank many Crown Royal beverages. Highlights included screaming/hooting/hollering constantly, Angeline's table dance (which ended with the bouncer escorting her off of the table), the representation of several generations and locations of Mucks (ages 21-32, Eugene, Portland, Corvallis, GEORGIA!, Newport, & Charleston), and singing Happy Birthday to Val at least three times that I recall. Not to mention the mystery meat burritos at the end of the night, which left us all thinking, "I don't know what it was, but I'm so happy I ate it." Happy 21 Val!

Incredible Movie

Go see this movie! The Incredibles!

This movie was amazing! I know you're thinking that I'm not getting many thrills in life and am therefore hungry for any stimulation, but no! You're wrong! This movie was awesome. And I do lead a thrilling life, thank you! Not only did I go see this movie last Friday, I also snuck into another movie right afterwards. Now is that wild and CRAZY or what!

Ok, I give up.

However, I must warn those of you that might try this in your own life that there exists a movie theatre karma of sorts. If you sneak into a movie, it will inevitably be as horribly cheesy as National Treasure, which lacked any sort of character development and had the most predictable plot of all time. My first comment after walking out of the theatre was "I am SO glad I didn't pay to see that". Ah so, it is my punishment for disrupting the ebb and flow of cinematic capitalism.

Poodle is a Ghost!

Ghost Cat

This is my terminally ill, inbred, runt cat named Poodle. She changed positions while I was taking this picture, and this was the result. So not only is she a terminally ill, inbred runt, she is also a ghost cat. Maybe this is her way of reminding me that she won't be around forever and I need to stop being so annoyed with her when she howls at me incessantly. Or maybe the camera just freaked out. I'll never know...

Thanksgiving

Yum, Turkey!

Here is Liz's beautifully decorated platter of turkey at our two-family Thanksgiving dinner, which consisted of the Greens, the Hoskinsons, home-made stuffing, cranberry sauce, yams, and the rest. And a few games of cribbage. The was the 4th annual multi-famly Community Center Thanksgiving. Good times!

Post-Election Blues

I've taken time to cool off before responding to the disappointment and disease that are the results of the 2004 election, nationally and otherwise. Within the stages of grief, I'm still at stage One: Denial.

Denial that so many hateful, ignorant people can live amongst me without even knowing that they are hateful and ignorant (hence, ignorance, Sara).

Denial that the majority of people are the hateful, ignorant people of which I speak.

And mostly, denial that a man who lies, casts stones, and war-mongers will continue to be our president for the next FOUR years, a time that he will use wisely, I'm sure, in his quest to empower the rich and fuck over the poor.

Four more years of this! Don't be surprised if I develop a twitch and start smoking crack by the end of it all. Hey, everybody copes differently, don't judge me.

A popular I'm-hurt-and-in-denial coping strategy of the nation's progressives has been humor, such as the satirical suggestion of forming a new country made up of only the "blue" states. Tim Bedore, a comedian and political commentator on NPR's Marketplace expressed this sentiment yesterday. You should definitely listen... it's pretty funny.

Click Here: NPR's Marketplace: Commentary by Tim Bedore

Press the "Listen to commentary" button and the show will start playing in RealPlayer format. It's a fast-streaming program, even if you use dial-up.

Enjoy, and remember: Depression is anger without the enthusiasm. Perk up and start working toward change, both today and in 2008.

Halloween Toast 

Halloween With the Ladies

Halloween 2004


On the Friday night before Halloween, these four girls & more went to a party in Portland with Liz's brother. From left to right: Me, as a slave to my student loans (loan statements attached to handcuffs); Pabst Blue Ribbon Girl, Martha Stuart, & a naughty nurse. Also in attendance were the ladies in the pic above. Woo hoo!

No on 36 Unless You are an Ignorant, Hateful Asshole

http://www.noon36.com/sub/newsitem.asp?ID=20

(and you are if you don't recognize love where love exists)

I Could Have Been a Butt Rocker

Just keeping things light. Buttrock!!

With this metal-rock mullet, which band should I join?
	Motley Crue
	Twisted Sister
	Nirvana
	Bon Jovi
	Dolly Pardon's Back-up Band
	The Indigo Girls
Free polls from Pollhost.com

I Don't Want to be in the Real World Yet!!!

My Girls from School @ Ems Game in July


This is a picture of me with the girls I go to school with. I'm posting this because I miss wasting class time with them! Full time student teaching reminds me that the real world is just around the corner, and dorking around during college classes is coming to an end. Goodbye youth, hello crotchedy old teacher!!!!

Just kidding...I'm more optimistic than that, but the end of college is kind of an impending source of dread. The silver lining is that I have two more terms of grad school after this, so I'll have plenty of chances to screw around and be a college kid again. Chances are that I'll probably be spending many days of those terms writing on my blog about how much I want to be done with school so that I can join the real world.

Moral of the Story: The grass is always greener so quit your bitching.

Hershey Update

Hershey has been returned to us in one piece! Thanks for your positive bunny vibes :-)

Tales of Roy Orbison Wrapped in Cling Wrap

So maybe I have a twisted sense of humor, but I stumbled upon this website and it cracked me the hell up. If you have a minute you should check it out.

http://www.michaelkelly.fsnet.co.uk/karl.htm

Hershey the Wonder Bunny

Hershey


Hi everyone! Meet Hershey, our classroom rabbit. This is him in his "I'm a slipper" pose chillin' on the floor in our class. And no, our classroom is not as dirty as it would seem from this picture...this little carpet is right underneath Mr. Bunny's cage, and his bunny litter makes it pretty messy. Hershey's job is to hop around the classroom distracting my students, chew on things that he shouldn't (currently he is pursuing a project that involves burrowing out of the classroom through a hole in the wall), and to give my cooperating teacher the reputation of being the best teacher ever.

Hershey is staying the weekend with a student and his family, which is worrisome (for reasons that I may have revealed to some of you in person...if not, ask me in person...what if I was talking smack about my kiddos on the internet...what a great teacher I would be!).

So give out some "Go Hershey!" vibes and hopefully he'll be safe and sound back at school in the morning.

Michael Moore in response to the question of a reporter at the University of Oregon, "What will you do if Bush wins?" 

BBQ @ Bruce's 

They Can't Accuse Us of Being Sober

It's true, sobriety was one thing not experienced at this particular event (Evidence in photo collage above! Click it to enlarge). Our five-woman, one-dog adventure to Portland consisted of old friends, big brothers, bloody marys, karaoke, and sturgeon. And when I say karaoke, I mean four HOURS of karaoke.

Tip for the kiddies: Drinking bloody marys from 3pm to 1am is a recipe for toilet hugging, especially when followed by two cans of miscellaneous domestic beer. Don't try this at home...do it at Bruce & Tim's instead.


Please excuse the disconnectedness of text and related picture...I am having horrible technical difficulties with that darn BBQ collage :-)

Great Bumper Sticker

"Critical thought and radical dissent against the authority created this nation. Conformity did not."

A Loosing Battle

Ducks v. Sun Devils


Well, we had fun even if the Ducks sucked.

Good things: Being surrounded by the students for whom I am a GTF (ha!), Steve starting a million chants of "Lets go ducks!," Liz G. starting fights, Scott dancing up the walkway, Liz C. doing booty dances to band music, and running into Chris at the beer garden. It's nice to see my school folks hanging out even when we're all swamped with student teaching and what not.

Bad Things: Screechy obnoxious girls standing behind us during the first quarter, loosing Matt & crew, running out of beer, and Steve getting hot dog grease on Buttweed during a high-five. She wiped it all over his shirt :-)

Cross you fingers for better luck next week.

The First Presidential Debate...Kerry Rocks my World!

Watching Bush Make an Ass of Himself


Senator Kerry did a fantastic job speaking aside the bumbling, stuttering, ten second sound-byte speaker that we like to call our president, who is also physically incapable of internalizing his thoughts; Throughout the debate, George's face was an inch away from turning into a tongue-stuck-out, "na na na na, na!" Kerry was clear, organized, and strong with his messages that Bush has caused America to loose credibility.

My only concern with Kerry was that he did not, in so many words, retort to Bush's ump-teenth declaration that Kerry sends "mixed signals" by stating that making informed changes is not only wise, but critical for making such high stakes decisions as those made in times of war. This is as close as he got:

"It's one thing to be certain, but you can be certain and be wrong. It's another to be certain and be right, or to be certain and be moving in the right direction, or be certain about a principle and then learn new facts and take those new facts and put them to use in order to change and get your policy right. What I worry about with the president is that he's not acknowledging what's on the ground, that he's not acknowledging the realities in North Korea, he's not acknowledging the truth of the science of stem-cell research or of global warming and other issues. " -Kerry

According to NPR fact checkers, both candidates exaggerated some war facts. Most exaggerated was Bush's estimate of 10,000 registered voters in Iraq. While the number may be accurate, Steve Inskeep says that not only are many Iraqis double-registered, many will likely not vote as a result of corruption and consequences for those that do. Most of Kerry's exagerations were plausable, however, whereas Bush's were pretty unfounded.

If you didn't watch the debate, get your act together and join the rest of us in running this country. Full transcripts and the audio recording of the debate is available at www.npr.org.


If I hear the phrase "mixed messages" one more time I think I'll puke. At least he didn't say "Axis of Evil," that one would have sent me over!

Liar, Liar

I was driving home from my first day of student teaching yesterday when I saw a fabulous sight.

The car in front of me was towing a flat-bed trailer upon which stood an eight foot tall statue of President George Duh-buh. The ass of the ass was spewing smoke (probably a fog machine) and faux-fire. "Bush Lied" was the slogan on the button on his jacket. It was a wonderful sight to see and it totally made my day.

I went to the web page listed on the mobile and found out that this group's campaign consists entirely of driving George around so that people won't vote for his dumb ass. The home page is www.pantsonfire.net.

The coolest part is that people can volunteer to drive George around as part of the campaign. To sign up for driving Mr. Dipshit, the link is http://www.pantsonfire.net/drive.htm.

Yay people that use humor and spectacle for a good cause!!!

Shopping Extravaganza

Shopping!


Well, it wasn't really an extravaganza. We are, after all, starving college students.

After an unsavory experience at Office Depot, where I purchased my very own digital camera, I journeyed to the mall with the boys to spend some financial aid money that has been burning a hole in all of our pockets since Friday. Not that we are frivolous shoppers, by any means, nor is shopping a gross misuse of government funding. Even students must wear clothes, and let's not forget that most of us have to pay back every cent in the long run anyway.

When we took the first photo of Robin at GAP, the manager came over to us to tell us that no photography was allowed in the store. Silliness. Serves him right that this picture would end up on the internet. What harm could we do with a few silly pictures, anyway?

Also, speaking of store management, the people at Office Depot are very unskilled at customer service. It took fifteen minutes for anyone to come help me with the cameras, and when the guy did arrive, his personality and enthusiasm were comparable to a roll of toilet paper. When we went to check out, each clerk seemed to share the same personality deficit and each had an unmoving two-person line. Down with the Depot!

Luckily, my partners in crime and I had a great time despite the consumer-land assholes. Yay!

I Love This Town

Eugene Celebration Parade 2004 (click to enlarge)

Patric, Robin, Liz, & I watched the Eugene Celebration parade yesterday morning and it was the most sober fun that some of us have had in years. We left the parade feeling inspired and in awe of this fabulous town and its fabulous people.

Later, it was salsa dancing in the rain, good food, dodging the rain at P & R's apartment downtown (headquarters!), and dancing like crazy to the Crazy Eights, who rocked the Broadway stage last night at 10pm. Rachel, Liz, Adrienne, & Angeline jumped on stage to dance with the band during their encore number, "Get Naked," although I choose not to disclose who got naked and who did not :-)

Awesome, awesome, awesome.

National Talk-Like-a-Pirate Day

My Pirate Friends @ the Eugene Celebration (Click to Enlarge)

Happy National Talk-Like-a-Pirate Day!!!!



P.S. This picture made it on to the offical web site for National Talk Like a Pirate Day. To see this picture on the Pirate Day web site, click here.