What would make you question a friendship?
Submitted by stueykins.

Lack of integrity.

Headline from MSN:  Teen dies in dad's arms after Amazon ordeal

I  just read this article, and it is so sad.  This boy became separated from his friends while hunting in the Amazon rain forest.  The search was called off a month ago, but the boy's father kept looking for him.  He found him 27 miles from where he had gotten lost, lying along the edge of a river.  He was in pretty bad shape.  The father brushed the insects off of him, and he died in his arms. 

I just think this is so tragic.  The boy survives for six weeks, alone in one of the deadliest places on earth.  His father doesn't give up on him, and by some stroke of luck manages to find him.  Then he dies at the moment of rescue.  I hope the father isn't religious, because if he is....wow.  I'd be pretty pissed, if I were him.  What a sad story :(

Brian just told me a quote that I think is very relevant to my life:  The time to relax is when you don't have time for it~Sidney J. Harris

Shaylee and Brian's translation:  The time for bananas is when you don't have time for them 

Probably the dumbest, most ridiculous thing I have ever said in my life (and I've said a lot of dumb, ridiculous things) is "I don't have time for bananas."  Long story short, I was uber stressed out trying to finish up my third (unnecessary) round of college.  I was working like a dog for this lame computer class, trying to build an awesome website.  We had a couple of snow days, and I spent fourteen-sixteen hours of both of them working, working, working.  Brian was worried about me because I wasn't eating.  He tried to give me some yogurt, but I didn't want to stop and deal with it.  I know, dumb.  He went back to the kitchen and brought out a banana.  I told him in a very frustrated tone "I do not have TIME for bananas!"  I remember he gave me a look like I had gone cuckoo, and I realized right then and there how nuts I was acting. 

It was a huge epiphany for me, because I am the type of person who will work, work, work and not stop.  There is always too much to do, to accomplish, to finish. I have tried to change, and I think I've come pretty far.  I am more willing now to drop what I am doing and go have fun with my hubby or our friends.  I talk on the phone more.  I putz around on the computer more.  I do more of what I want to do, when I want to do it.   I will admit, that has been a bit of a problem for me over the past couple of weeks, though.  Coming off of a crazy year at school, it is hard to adjust.  I was mentaly and physically exhausted, so I allowed myself to take a few days off to do nothing.  I puttered around with stuff, but didn't finish many projects. I was also busy, doing things with friends. 

Now that two weeks have passed, I am recognizing that if I don't get my butt into shape, this might become a real problem.  It is really easy to fall into the "I don't wanna do anything" mode.  I work really hard all year at school, including weekends, evenings, and holidays.  Part of me thinks, "Why should I have to do all of these house repairs/cleaning/organizing/blah blah blah?"  But, I know that isn't responsible, or practical.  Brian is still working, and I can't laze around on my butt doing nothing.  I am lucky enough to be gifted with a summer to do what I want to do, and it would be wasteful to not take advantage of it.  I'm feeling overwhelmed, because the pile of renovation (and other projects) is daunting.  I worked on stuff all day today, but I don't feel like I even made a dent in the things that need to be finished. 

I almost feel sick when I allow myself to think of how much I have facing me this summer.  If I take things a little bit at a time, I know they will get done.  It's like I tell my students when I assign a big homework project:  If you do a little bit at a time, it is manageable.  If you wait until the last minute and cram, you will cause yourself a ton on unecessary stress and grief.  It's all about taking baby steps.  I think it's high time that I follow my own advice, take some baby steps, and start to accomplish my goals.  And it wouldn't hurt to eat a banana or two along the way! 

I just read that my favorite band (Lifehouse, of course!) is releasing their fourth single off of their new album called "Broken".  This makes me happy, because the single they are releasing is my favorite song from their album.  It'll be nice to hear it on the radio this summer.  I'm glad they are doing so well, because they are an awesome band that a lot of people still don't know about.  Well, they don't think they do. I am noticing their songs more and more on the radio as time goes by. 

I read tonight what the meaning behind the song is, and now that I understand I love it even more.  Jason (the lead singer) went to see a good friend that desperately needed a kidney transplant.  After spending time with him in the hospital, he returned to his hotel room and penned the song in fifteen minutes.  Whenever I listened to the song I could sense an undercurrent of pain, and now I know where it is coming from.  Jason is such a gifted singer, and the lyrics he writes are amazing.  I hope they stick around for a good, long while, because I freaking love this band!

Here is the song they will release soon (performed for TV concert a few months ago):

Show us the very last picture you took. No cheating!

 

This is Boewyn enjoying our awesome new couch yesterday.

Boewyn

What did you learn in kindergarten that you wish you did a better job of applying to the way you live your life today?

Patience.  I suck at it.  I want things done, and I want them done immediately.  This doesn't mean they always happen as I wish they would, but I am still impatient while they aren't getting done.  Living in a Victorian house that is in the process of constant renovation has helped some (six years and counting for the awesome bathroom).  We have worked really hard, and have completed a lot of important projects.  There isn't a day that goes by that I don't look at a room and want to change something about it, or dream up some new project to do, though. 

I am especially bad at being sick.  I can't stand being incapacitated.  It drives me nuts!  If I am sick you can usually find me leaving the couch to do dishes, or putter around the house, anything to avoid just laying around.  One time I sprained my ankle pretty badly by falling off a ladder.  I dealt with it for about two days, then I was done.  I remember Brian yelling at me because I was hobbling around trying to do some silly project.  I hope I don't end up in the hospital some day, because I don't think I'd make a very good patient.  Whenever we go to visit somebody I can't wait to get out of there.  It's horrible, I know, but I start to imagine myself lying in the bed, going stir-crazy.  I know I'd have bigger problems to worry about if it ever were to happen, but still.....I'd go straight to the looney bin, if the sickness didn't kill me first!

I find it's the same with TV.  We have Tivo, which is perfect for me, because I consider commercials to be a huge waste of time.  I suppose TV shows are, too, but I at least enjoy them.  Tonight we watched an episode of Dirty Jobs and I just about went nuts every time there was a commercial break!  I even fast-forward through parts of the shows I find boring (like car chases, street fights, etc.)  I even do it during CSI-type shows.  I can't stand when they do the procedural stuff, like analyzing bullets, or putting things in the centrifuge.  I've seen them do it so many times that I don't feel like I need to sit through it again.  Brian gets annoyed when I do it if he is watching with me, so I have to deal with it.  I usually end up going to the kitchen or the bathroom :o) 

What amazes me is that I do have patience in other areas of my life.  I seem to have infinate patience with my students, which is pretty remarkable.  My students are the type that need the most care, the most patience, and the most understanding.  It takes them so much longer to learn a skill, and I often need to present information in a variety of different ways before it sinks in.  When it comes to them, I rarely feel the overwhelming urge to crawl out of my skin (which is how I usually feel when I am impatient).  I go in the opposite direction.  When they are just not getting something, it's almost as if a sense of peace and clarity settles over me.  I completely focus on the job at hand, and don't feel any frustration. I may feel it after they leave, but I think it is more out of compassion for the difficulties they face than for myself.

I think the only time I have truly felt at peace is when we were in Hawaii.  At first I wanted to go everywhere and do everything, and I just couldn't do it fast enough.  I'm the type of person who, in the middle of one experience, will be thinking about the next thing that is coming up or that I have to do.  I was like this for the first three days in Hawaii, and then the peace of the island settled over me.  Everything there moves at such a slow pace.  While it kind of drove me crazy in the beginning, I really started to groove with it after awhile.  If you are waiting to catch a bus, you never quite know when it is going to show up.  Our tour bus for the big island was about forty minutes late, but no one seemed to think that was out of the ordinary. 

The people in Hawaii move slow, they talk slow, drive slow, do everything slow.  But they are so happy!  I spoke to an artist that had moved from Boston about ten years before.  She talked about how she never wanted to go back, because everything moves so quickly on the mainland.  She's right.  Most of us do everything quickly here.  We talk fast, we move fast, and we want everything right away. We are always looking for the next best thing, the next thrill, the next conquest.  This was so apparent to me when we came back home.  I was still in the "Hawaiian zone" for about two weeks after we got back, and it was interesting to see how the people around me acted.  I had never noticed before how fast everything moves (and we live in a small town...it would be so much worse in a city). 

I wish I could say that the spirit of Hawaii stayed with me, but it didn't.  It is so easy to get caught up in the hubbub of life here, and to fall into old patterns.  The Hawaiians have a special saying:  Live Aloha.  I brought two stickers back that say this. I put one on my fridge an one in my classroom.  I did this to remind myself of the feeling of peace I felt in the islands.  I really need to take those lessons I learned there and reapply them to my life.  I think it will make me happier.  It's time to stop and smell the plumeria, right?  

Show us something that's been on your mind a lot.

Redoing the garden path.  I need to pick out the marble chips, straighten the bricks, reset the big circles, and fill the spaces with smal gray stones.

 

Garden path

I think this is absolutely adorable.  Especially at the end, when he wakes up and is like, "What?  What's going on?  I wasn't sleeping!  Nope, not me!"

Show us a picture of your father.

My dad and I went to the horse races at Tioga Downs yesterday for Father's Day.  Here is a picture of us there:

Tioga 9 Myspace