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!