lesson planning procrastination

i have a million lessons to make for work this week. but for some reason i can't get started. so here i am, sitting at the computer, wasting time and loving it. i got this idea from lynz's blog: it's basically a gigantic list of things and the ones in bold are things i've done.

Started your own blog - uh, hello, yes.
Slept under the stars - yep, at covenant acres. i think that's the only place.
Played in a band - orchestra, if that counts.
Visited Hawaii
Watched a meteor shower
Given more than you can afford to charity - yeah, most months
Been to Disneyland/world - disney world, in jr. high. we drove from little rock to orlando.
Climbed a mountain - mt. fuji.
Held a praying mantis
Sang a solo
Bungee jumped
Visited Paris
Watched a lightning storm at sea
Taught yourself an art from scratch
Adopted a child
Had food poisoning
Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
Seen the Mona Lisa in France
Slept on an overnight train- uh, yes. millions of times in japan. oh wait, maybe not all night. does the night bus to tokyo count...?!
Had a pillow fight - yes of course. [annie/mandy: remember when even said something about girls having pillow fights in their undies? um, what?!]
Hitchhiked
Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
Built a snow fort- haha, yes, naturally. i also helped build an igloo in nigata-ken last winter
Held a lamb
Gone skinny dipping - yeah, in the atlantic two summers ago. umm, well i guess that cat's outa the bag now.
Been to a Broadway show in NY
Ran a Marathon
Been in three states at once - no, but i stood where i could see three countries at once [thailand, burma, and laos]
Ridden in a gondola in Venice
Seen a total eclipse
Watched a sunrise or sunset - yeahhhhhhh the top 2= sunrise in himi, sunset at the grand canyon
Hit a home run
Been on a Cruise- yesss with my amazing family for grandad's 80th birthday
Seen Niagara Falls in Person- haha yeah. at least 5 times.
Visited the birthplace of your Ancestors
Seen an Amish community - in lancaster last month
Taught yourself a new language- i guess i sorta taught myself japanese. at least at first.
Had enough money to be truly satisfied - currently. absolutely. i'm more than satisfied!
Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
Gone rock climbing
Seen Michelangelo’s David
Sung karaoke- oh you know, only every weekend last year ;)
Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
Visited Africa
Walked on a beach by moonlight - ahhhh a million times. my fav place is in emerald isle. himi beach is just too trash-covered...
Been transported in an ambulance
Gone deep sea fishing
Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
Gone scuba diving or snorkeling- yeppers. on the cruise
Kissed in the rain- i wish.
Played in the mud - absolutely! the shuly girls and i have great memories of bringing mud up from grammy's pond to play with in the driveway!
Been to Grace Kelley’s grave in Monaco
Gone to a drive-in theater - probably three times. once i fell asleep.
Visited the Great Wall of China
Started a business
Taken a martial arts class
Swam in the Mediterranean Sea
Visited Russia
Served at a soup kitchen
Sold Girl Scout cookies
Gone whale watching
Gotten flowers for no reason - i bought them for myself almost every week i was in japan!
Donated blood, platelets or plasma - yeahhhhh for sure. one time the guy made a mistake and blood shot up and got everywhere! sick!
Gone sky diving
Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
Bounced a check
Saved a favorite childhood toy - most of my dolls are saved. unfortunately, my ceramic rabbit named hollow was not saved.
Visited the Lincoln Memorial - yes indeed
Eaten Caviar- yep
Pieced a quilt
Stood in Times Square: probably twice. once with my fam and once with linda-san
Toured the Everglades
Been fired from a job
Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
Broken a bone
Been on a speeding motorcycle
Seen the Grand Canyon in person - yeppers
Published a book- "where in the world is tiny baby leaf?" haha, oh the memories
Visited the Vatican
Bought a brand new car
Walked in Jerusalem
Had your picture in the newspaper
Read the entire Bible
Visited the White House
Killed and prepared your own meat
Had chickenpox - indeed. my only scar is on my bellybutton
Saved someone’s life
Sat on a jury
Met someone famous - well i rode on the same ferry as sean lennon...
Joined a book club
Lost a loved one: my grandad when i was a tiny girl
Had a baby
Seen the Alamo in person.
Swam in the Great Salt Lake
Been involved in a law suit
Owned a cell phone -um hello, yes. my japanese keitai was so rad. i think about it all the time and bemoan those 300dollars i lost on it...

well that's that. feel free to add this work of wonder to your own blog. happy day!

the flip

i get a lot of compliments on my hair color [thanks to good genes!] and of course i'm grateful. what people don't realize, however, is that my hair has an incredibly obnoxious flip on the right side. regardless of how it's cut or styled, the right side DOES NOT CURL UNDER SMOOTHLY. lately it's been bugging me more than usual. whenever i complain, i get different reactions.

ann says: "kell, you gotta embrace the flip!"

meliss says: "oh no, your life is so hard"

mary lou says: "he has weird hair? you were just complaining about your weird hair"

so here are the various lessons to learn/ ways to respond to the above reactions...

1. embrace the flip and try to get over my frustration with the way it looks in the mirror/in photos

2. remember that truly, my life is really pretty great and that it's ridiculous to complain about something so insignificant and shallow as a hair flip

3. keep in mind that other people are probably insecure about their own issues and that i shouldn't joke about them

i guess i'll probably do all three.

AND 4. buy a new straightener at sally's after work today to see if that will help!!

my night job

i realized that i rarely talk about work anymore. and i haven't ever posted about my night job [teaching adult ESL on tuesday and thursday evenings, 6-9pm]. so here's the scoop.

the good: my students laugh at my jokes. my students are really kind to one another. my students are attentive and want to learn. if i leave the class, my students don't go crazy. my class is incredibly diverse- the students are from ecuador, india, honduras, poland, vietnam, mexico, thailand, guatemala, and china. my students have a great attitude. my students are patient with me being a total spazz every once in a while. my students are incredibly helpful- always wiling to help move chairs, collect books, and clean up the classroom. nobody is standing over me critiquing my lessons. as of the last testing session, 6 of my students went up an english ability level!!the bad: i have roughly 25 students with a whole range of ability levels. once the weather is warm, 2/3 of my students will go back to work and leave class unofficially. i get tired of english after a while. some of my students have names i can hardly pronounce. nobody is standing over my critiquing my lessons. as of the last testing session, seven of my students went DOWN an english ability level. i have no official training in adult education.

the ugly: we test at least four times a year. after each test session, the classes change. i teach during the day, too, so by the time i arrive at 6pm, i'm wiped. our storage closet is at least a 5 minute walk from my classroom. i forget things in the storage closet a LOT. there's a lot of confusing paperwork required. if a student is absent for testing, i have to adjust my entire class plan to include an opportunity to give him/her the make-up test. at least three students are absent every class. sometimes my body is so exhausted that i can barely make myself take a shower before falling into bed at 9:45pm.


p.s. thanks to my friend meg.pen for linking to me on her blog. check out her life here. <3

my house is hilarious

tonight i needed to find the phone number for the library so i could ask about requirements for getting a card. [i'm doing something with my night class next week to promote library card registration.] once i got on the library website, i found that "chatting" with a librarian could be quicker than finding the telephone number and calling to ask my questions. in the midst of this process, melissa walks in...

m: "what ARE you doing?!"
k: "chatting with a librarian to ask questions about getting a card"
m: "WHAT?! KELL!!! oh my gosh! that's the nerdiest thing i've heard all day"

........ 3 minutes later.....

m: "sam, guess what kelly's doing right now... CHATTING WITH A LIBRARIAN!!"
s: "what's his name? do you have a picture of him?!"
k: "AHHHH haha no! it's not a boy!! haha you guys!!!"

big & little things

this afternoon i decided to embark on a daunting task: untagging awful facebook photos of myself. it proved to be more nostalgic than i realized. made me really really miss japan and the good ol' days.
mostly it's the little things.
like riding my bike. like the steaming hot summer. like being able to use the word genki multiple times each day. like the mountains. like cooking for myself.

like going to my local grocery store and attempting to talk to the checkout clerks... giant bday get togethers at some random [but delicious restaurant]. the onsen on a freezing winter day. using chopsticks while sitting in the cafeteria among teeny tiny kids shoveling food into their mouths at lightning speed.
but it's also the big things.
like the beauty of sakura season. like being around friends who LOVE to take photos, documenting every event. like the opportunity to travel extensively.
like being active [and thus, skinny!], even in the cold winter months. like meeting new friends on the weekends. like running into my students at the store, local festivals, or coffee shops. like being surrounded by natural beauty and people who love to share the joy of it.

ritner street

amazing chain of events tonight. here's the background.

after i moved to philadelphia [or maybe right before?!], my grandmom reminded me that my grandad's relatives live downtown. she mentioned i should look them up. i forgot about it.

until around christmas time, when grandmom sent me a note outlining the family history associated with the house downtown where some of grandad's relatives still live today. she gave me the address and suggested i send a note or give 'em a phone call. i forgot about it.

until this morning, when i was looking for something in a box under my bed and found grandmom's note. so i got a notecard and wrote a semi-awkward but semi-excited introduction to my great-cousin [??]. i put it in the mailbox and forgot about it.
until tonight when i was adventuring downtown with my friend jess. we ate dinner at a delicious mexican joint near penn's landing [sorta southeast philly] and then decided to take a scenic route home. i said "oh, lets just drive south for a while. then we can head west and hit broad street". she agreed. THEN i randomly decided to tell her the story of my relatives and how they live downtown in southwest philly.

all of a sudden i'm to the end of the story and i look at the street sign and go "OH! this is the road! RITNER STREET!!!!"

we both semi-freaked out. she turned right. we drove for about 10 blocks. and i saw the house on ritner street with so much kelly family history.

wow. i.love.my.life.so.much.

2 quick things

today's gonna be a super long day: 8:30am to9pm, almost straight through.

however, two things are on my mind this morning and i want to get them down on paper. er, i mean, cyberspace.

1. the last three nights melissa's been sleeping in my bed since it's warm from my electric blanket <3 style="font-weight: bold;">"kell, when is your first alarm going off?" i responded "you mean my ONLY alarm?!?!" [it's SO hilarious to realize how completely opposite we are!]

2. apparently my old elementary school/jr high buddy is going to hollywood on american idol!!! lots of friends posted his video on FB but i can't watch it because we don't have flash drive on this computer. i'm about to go crazy with frustration. anyway, google "kris allen" to watch him!

more nihonjin in amish land

the whole group of friends <3
amish milk pails?!
back of the buggy
front of the buggy, haha. [my language exchange lady: mitsuko]

i'm SO grateful to tim&christiane for inviting me to join the expedition to lancaster, PA. the entire day was filled with japanese-ness which naturally, i adored. it was fun to be able to understand 20-30% of the conversation going on around me, even though i've been un-immersed for 5 months. can't wait for the next outing!

my new friends

yesterday was bittersweet. part of the japan-sized hole in my heart got filled by the opportunity to visit amish-land with some local japanese. on the other hand, the hole sort of stretched to a painful size because i saw anew how passionate i still am about japan in general. me with little taro
yume-chan
little baby taro-kun
i love me some kiddos!

oneonta3: saturday

saturday found us trekking through riddell park, retracing the steps we took this same weekend two years ago. the group changed slightly from that winter, but the atmosphere and laughter were the same overall. i'm SO grateful i got to spend time with my college buds for an incredible three days. love.birds.

more.love.birds.
as aunt liz would say, "your friends are all SO good looking!" <3

oneonta2:sunday morning

friends.in.windows on a walk downtown for lunch.

smallest&tallest ladies <3

more friends in windows as we cruised through oneonta.

millions of shoes covering the upstairs hallway

oneonta1: sunday evening

working backwards through my spectacular-reunion-extravaganza...

sunday proved to be a cold sunny ending to our weekend of fun. laur and john took fan&me on another hike [after 4WDing it up the mountain!]. we could see the entire town AND watch the sun set in the other direction. it was SO gorgeous. i adore having the opportunity to share beauty with favorite friends!