Ok i suck at keeping up with these, even if i set them up ahead of time.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academic_Games

AGLOA

In 5th and 6th grade I was part of a club at school that played games. We played math, English and history games. We were very good. This club helped me learn math and English concepts i wouldn’t see in class until was in high school. My teacher in 5th grade was the “hard” teacher and she was certainly the one 4th graders were afraid to get, but in reality she was amazing. Looking back, and having taught that age myself, she had high standards and expected her kids to adhere to the rules of the classroom. She was the districts’ sponsor for the club. We used the games in class as well.

Her teams were often first and second in the State for our age level.The kids we played with were mostly from innercity schools where as we were one of the few schools that were from the suburbs. This meant, when we traveled for monthly tournaments we went into the city.  I think this experience helped me not be afraid of the city like many people are.

When I was 16 I helped coach the younger kids. My teams won national tournaments. They were smart and wonderful. I think this was one of the last times I liked teaching and had to be one of the reasons I picked teaching social studies. I loved Linguishtik and Presidents to teach and to play. Part of me wishes I’d kept playing past elementary school.

Looking over the current state of the league, it looks like there were two nationals tournaments… and all of the teams i remember winning are not listed anywhere…It looks like there was the national tournament for AGLOA and then National Academic Games Tournament (NAGT), held annually at the Rock Eagle 4H Camp in Eatonton, GA.

com·pli·ment  :/ˈkämpləmənt/Noun : A polite expression of praise or admiration.

I do not keep track of compliments.  I am really shitty at accepting them. It really makes me uncomfortable.Often when I receive a compliment it is for something that I believe is extraordinary or should be expected. Maybe my standards are higher or maybe I should just take a minute to appreciate it.

Maybe compliments have turned into “likes” on facebook? I get those for food projects that the husband says are tasty. Maybe the biggest compliment I get is that my husband is all over me all the time. He still looks at me and says “we should get married” whenever I do something silly that reminds him I’m not just a normal wife. I get complimented for having a big butt. I really am not sure how to take that one. I’m not even sure where that came from in my family. I only have one other relative that is comparable. Maybe we were meant to have babies with our “birthing hips.”

Why can’t I take a compliment?” Our culture has taught us that it is attractive to have confidence in ourselves, but only within reason. At some point, we learn that if we display too much confidence, it actually repels others rather than attracts them.”

Maybe it is a culture thing, but I do not see it as a women only thing as this website suggests. I believe that in some cases it is a low self esteem thing. A thing where you were picked on with sarcastic comments when you were younger to the point that you just don’t believe people and have to make a strong effort to take things as they are intended.

I will work on it. Say thank you and try to feel like they mean it.

As I’ve mentioned I struggle with having or defining a purpose. This question is hard for me to answer because at this time I do not believe ones vocation defines why they are on earth. Especially now as jobs have turned into less and less of a career and more of a way to earn money that allows you to do the other things you love.

My job right now is in accounts payable. I went to school to be a teacher. I do not feel any sort of calling to either. There are aspects of both that I enjoy, buy they do not seem to excite me.

Teaching could have been/ may have been a real career choice had I been in a nurturing school. If there would have been a better support network for teachers my age, first year teachers, or even a mentor teacher that was not battling addiction at the same time as I was student teaching. Maybe if I had chosen to student teach in a grade that I wanted to teach in.  But this is off topic and teaching ended up not being my calling.

I have done many jobs in call centers from management to support to actually being on the phones. I liked some phone positions better than others, but I preferred to be in a supportive role. I am good at that. I do not have it in me to be in a management role due to the potential need to babysit grown ass adults and I feel that I can do more good than being on the phone. I also like to have a more flexible schedule than answering the phone allows for.

So what do I do now? I do customer service. I work in accounts payable helping creating orders. I’ve learned a great deal during this job. I like numbers and facts instead of at will decisions. The is a right way to do things most of the time. I will be sad to see my flexible schedule go when I move on. I will not miss the corporate environment.

This subject is a bit difficult. I try not to hold onto regret.  To me things that are often regretted are things that cannot be changed and regret seems to be an emotion people hold on to and let fester letting it grow and suck the life out of them. I try not to hold on to things that do not nourish me as person or inspire some kind of growth or happiness. I try…

Last year I had loss in my life. It was really the first time I can ever say that I’ve lost a loved one. It is the first time I have lost pets and family that I was very close to. I’m going to talk about something I can work on preventing in the furture.

I regret not being a better pet owner. I regret not paying attention to and following the signs that I know where there. Instead of following my instincts I put it off and went to work or  out for the day. It was more wait and see than it should have been. They were common mistakes that anyone really could have made, but they are the things I regret the most. It gives me anxiety over getting more pets. Or getting pets that have a short lifespan, I am anxious over the possible guilt and the impending loss of another one. I think part of me would write off people if I could. My next pet will have to be one that gives off better signs of illness.

Rabbits are fragile little monsters. Next time I’m getting insurance for them. http://www.rabbit.org/faq/sections/medical.html

This is going to sound sappy and mushy and probably expose more about my life than necessary.  AND it is probably going to sound way more like a newlywed than I want it to. Stop rolling your eyes.

The things about my routine involve time I get to spend with my husband. We normally wake up in the morning together and get ready together. This includes the 15 minutes in the shower (yes together) were we talk, eating breakfast and having morning coffee. This past week we have had different schedules and it bums me out. Shower time is sometimes the only time we have no distractions. We are there doing the normal shower thing, talking about the day or plans we need to make or just doing nothing but showering in the quiet. This is our mini version of hiking conversations. Most of the time it starts the day off in a calm focused manner before work makes it a crappy day.  Breakfast is normally just cereal and coffee but it is another half hour to wake up and enjoy each other’s company.

In the five and a half years we have been together I have gone grocery shopping alone exactly twice. Once he was out town for work and the other time he was also working and spent nearly zero time at home that weekend. I will not do it again – I will have someone shop for me and swing by to pick it up if we don’t have time to go together, but the stores around us are too crazy to brave alone. In this case we go together to keep each other from buying the cookie aisle or random other things or possibly to encourage the other to buy random things. It is a team effort hunt for things and battle the crazies.

My personal routine? Painting my nails. This happens at least once a week and it is my own personal girly moment.

I struggle with alot of things like most people, but listing them all would almost miss the point of this whole little exercize and would just end with me hating everything. I’ve picked two that I think are important and normal to most people.

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I am looking forward to PAXEast & seeing my littlest sister. We bought tickets the day they came out and this will be her Christmas present. We have been planning for a while to bring her down in the summer or sometime so that she could actually get to know her sister. ( I moved away from home when she was just barely starting school, so there is some catching up to do. ) Since we were taking this time off anyway and will be visiting my brother-in-law’s family at the same time, this seemed like the best way to combine our worlds.

You can tell by the way we look that we are related. If you got all of us in a room together you could certainly tell that she and my other sister are related. My parents certainly raised a bunch of nerd girls. We are weird. We are into comic books and video games and just other non-traditional girl things. I wish we lived closer to my sisters. I would love to be able to get to know them as people instead of the “baby” and the “annoying little sister.” I think we are working on it now, but it would certainly be easier if we were all in the same country/timezone.

I’m looking forward to PAXEast because its quality time with one of my sisters and .. well its PAX… who wouldn’t be excited for that.

Other things I am looking forward to…

1. First anniversary with the new husband.
2. Christmas with my parents (fingers crossed)
3. Going back to school
4. Finding a non-contract job
5. Hiking season.