I Hate Fireworks

I'm not sure exactly when I came to this realization. It took a long time. I remember in 1998 being at Disney World with Lisa and Kelly, and they insisted on watching the fireworks, and I found myself annoyed. I was TIRED and I wanted to rest! Stay for a bunch of fireworks? Of course, we stayed and I realized that Disney fireworks are not of the same ilk as home fireworks, but still, I fought it every night on that trip to not have to watch the fireworks. That's when it started I suppose.


As a single adult, fireworks had but one charm--laying on the ground watching them with some guy made it ALL worth it. Unfortunately, this happened rarely in the next eight years after that Disney trip. When Trevor and I were broken up for six weeks in 2005, I was a total disaster. The 4th of July was coming, and I didn't want to spend it alone. I called up my old friend Bryan and we planned to go to the fireworks show in Sandy. Then Trevor called and invited me to Dave Snow's barbeque--which we both knew Dave had already invited me to. But I could tell he really wanted me there, and hey, I was still madly in love with him. So me and Bryan went to it.

This is when it became clear that, during our break-up, Trevor had meshed himself with "the guys" and was becoming a total--GUY. It was so annoying. He and the guys had rigged a potato gun, and spent most of their time at the barbeque in school parking lot which backed Dave's house, shooting off potatoes hundreds of feet. It was cool but--I was cooler because I was going to watch the fireworks with a guy. Which I did, as Bryan and I considered starting it all up again. Apparently that night Trevor and the guys set off more fireworks--an incident which involved our friend Patrick shooting a bottle rocket out of his--well, you can probably guess. Sure wish I had THAT video--it exits, actually, but I have no idea where.

Anyway, Trevor and I got back together about two days after that. Maybe it was the bottlerocket incident, I don't know. Now I find myself so completely BORED with fireworks! In Disneyland in February I was too tired to stay and watch them, so Trevor watched them from the balcony of our hotel which was across the street. Apparently each explosion set off the car alarm of an SUV just below our door. Yeah.

Married fireworks are far worse than single fireworks. When you're single, at least it's an excuse to make out, right? Yeah, what married people make out? Or need an excuse? It's basically sitting there watching the guys set off one after another. This year we went to Patrick's house (yes, THAT Patrick)for a barbeque. The food was great, the visiting was fabulous. The TWO HOURS of setting of fireworks? Not so fun. For them, maybe. But seriously, they are ALL THE SAME. And men never tire of it. Well, at least this time Trevor sat by me instead of being with "the guys" and playing with fire. And I realize, after reading Lisa's blog just now, that this will never go away. Kids LOVE those stupid things! Every year we're gonna have to sit there while we watch flowers, screamers (SO ANNOYING) and whatever else comes in the jumbo pack at Costco until all is spent. Oh well. No getting out of it I suppose!

Here's one last reason not to like fireworks. Look at him! This is what happens to men on the 4th! (No, that's not a beer, it's Applebeer, but you get my point.)

My best friend - a tribute

My best friend has been with me since 2002. I wanted this best friend so badly, and ever since her arrival, I have spent hours of every day with her. She has been there when I cried, laughed, and stressed out. She helped me with my homework and always knew the right answer. I could ask her ANYTHING, and she would tell me--and if she didn't know, she'd find out. I could spend hours with this friend, and be completely entertained. I can remember spending 12 hours straight with her completing a homework assignment in college. I told this friend everything--she was like a journal. She recorded everything I thought, and would remind me of it, word for word, if I ever asked. I had to sacrfice for her. I'll never forget how excited I was when she came, she was MINE and I didn't have to share her with anyone.

And Thursday I packed her up, took her to a building, and abandoned her. They took her apart, and kept the best bits for my new best friend -- Titan. Her memories will still belong to me, and many of her functions will still be available in her replacement.

But they say you can never forget your first love, and you can certainly never forget your first computer--especially if you are a computer teacher. My poor little computer has been with me a long time, and now she is gone. I took her to PC Laptops so they could take her hard drive, her RW drive, and her wireless port and put it in the BRAND SPANKIN' NEW COMPUTER I just bought. Then they said I could pick up my new best friend that night. That was Thursday. Today is Saturday. And--no best friend. I'm borrowing Trevor's best friend at the moment. I'm hoping they FINALLY get it to me today! It's a gaming computer--with a huge hard drive, lots of memory and RAM, and a fantastic graphics card. AND, I paid a little extra to make sure I am still using XP and not Vista. I've heard such horrible things about Vista. But i can still switch it to Vista if I want--it's the premium package.

Anyway, hopefully I'll have a picture of my new computer soon, set up and ready to go. But for now I mourn my old one. I got a student loan to pay for it up at Utah State, because I was about to take a summer Web Design class and knew I couldn't pass it without a computer of my own. A ten week course in four weeks, plus it was the advanced web design class, when I hadn't even taken the beginning class. Well, I HAD, at least I had taken the prerequisite before my mission, but in 1998 that class was Pagemaker, not web design. So I knew I needed extra practice. I bought my comptuer from Del, and squealed like a pig when it arrived. Oh, I'll miss that old girl.

GO VOTE!!!

I thought I'd follow my brother-in-law Rusty's example and encourage the masses who check this blog to go out and vote tomorrow! And of course, if you are in the right disctrict, I strongly advise you to vote for Jason Chaffetz! Let's get that incumbent Cannon out of there! Jason is such a great candidate--I've met him and he's so genuine and really cares about his country. If you want to know more about his stance on issues, go to www.JasonForCongress.com. Get out there and vote like an american for cripes sake!

My Awesome Ballroom Ad

So I have nothing to post, but then I was checking out Jodster's blog, and I realized that you can post even when you have nothing to post. I felt liberated. I don't have to wait until a vacation or a pregnancy or a picture. I can just post whatever for the hell of it. So I was thinking I'd post one of the ads I made for my ballroom club next year. As you probably know, I started a Ballroom Club at my junior high last year. As I'm not a dance endorced teacher, I can't teach it during the day--not unless a) I get a dance endorsement, which would be three years of dance classes, none of which would be ballroom, or b) elect a new president who gets rid of No Child Left Behind. So I did it as a club after school one day a week. Anyhoo, last year I had sixty-six kids sign up for the club in three days--half boys and half girls. Then I had a team with 18 kids--eight couples and one alternate couple. They did a viennese waltz to Pirates of the Caribbean. (Is it two r's or two b's? I never remember!) It was a success, I have to say. Well, I decided that for next year I wanted to have some AWESOME ads to really get the kids wanting to sign up. Especially boys. Dancing with the Stars has made it cool for boys to dance again, thank goodness. So here's a few of my posters.

It's a Model, Idiot!

So I SUPPOSE I could put a few things on this page about Trevor and not just about ME. Only because I have nothing else new to post. I'm telling you--those Ballesteros boys keep steealing my husband! My brother-in-law Matt (formerly Ballesteros, now Kenning, long story) keeps asking Trevor to go golfing with him. He goes ALL the time, and Trevor not so often becuase it's so expensive. But he beat Matt last Saturday despite his lack of practice, so he was pretty happy about that. Then Matt's brother Henry, who is one of my best friends, has decided to stake a claim on Trevor, too. About a month ago they started models together. Trevor used to do it a lot when he was a kid. Apparently Trevor is pretty good at the intricate painting (according to Henry, not Trevor, who woudln't toot his own horn like that but doesn't mind listening to someone else sound it!) So on Saturday night (yes, same day as the golf game. They are running me ragged!) we went to Henry's out in Layton where we went out to eat, and then I sat around while they worked on their models. It wasn't so bad--we watched "Little Brittain" the whole night which is hilariously funny, for Brittish humor. Anyway, here are pictures of Trevor and his model, Henry and HIS model, and me looking completely mystified why they are so excited about it.

I'm so boring

So I feel bad that I haven't updated my blog. But "update" implies that you have more interesting information to add. I'm afraid I have no such information. Now school is out I have no kids to make fun of, and I'm fresh out of material. I'm kind of out of sorts, really. I had a break in April, and so I'm not as exhausted as I usually am after school lets out. What did I do all day today? Write curriculum for my Computer Technology class. You'd think I'd be sick of school. I spent Tuesday and Wednesday up in Syracuse at a Business Teacher conference and got all kinds of inspired with all the great classes and fabulous ideas. I taught a class myself, and was happy to see it packed, and everyone seemed very happy with my ideas on Keyboarding Games. I felt quite clever. Until today when I tried to write the curriculum in my head and couldn't get it to come out right. It's so much harder than I expected! Anyway, what does it matter? From what I've heard, once I have a kid I'll suddenly hate and resent my job anyway, right?
Well, I just finished a book I thought I'd pass along as a great read. I finished Austenland by Shannon Hale. If you have ever watched the BBC version of Pride and Prejudice and lusted over Collin Firth, this book is for you! I loved it! SO good. Now I need a new one...

Only a Day and a Half Left!!!!

So I haven't updated my blog for a while. I don't have any cool pictures really. But what I CAN do for you all is BRAG that I only have a day and a half left, and then SUMMER! Remember summer when you were a kid? Oh, well, it's on days in early June with the low teacher paycheck suddenly feels VERY worth it. Trevor is so jealous that my work ENDS for a while and I can recuperate. I never really realized how much I take that for granted! Tomorrow is going to be a crazy day--its the last day for the 7th graders, and they will get their memory books and any thought of holding regular class is pretty much impossible. Some teachers get so mad about it--"What are all these kids doing in the halls! Go to class!" and I'm like, "Dude, just let it GO already." Let them have a fun day, what's the harm? Well, I do run my class and everything, but I'm not going to freak out if there are kids in the hall class-hopping. And then Wednesday is the last day for the 9th and 8th graders, and it's only a half day. Why do any of them even bother to COME? Since most of my classes are 7th grade, it's pretty much a free day for me. Well, summer is coming and I am SO ready for it. Wahoo! I DO love my job...the best part? June, July, and August.