BATMAN!

So a good friend made me watch the new Batman movie with him last night. It was pretty good! For being someone who likes Pride and Prejudice (but who also has seen her share of action/adventure movies) I enjoyed it. Maybe I enjoyed who I was with more.... but anyways. :) We watched The Dark Knight Rises.

There is a part of the movie where Batman is stuck in this deep prison/hole/thing. The only way to get out is to climb a solid rock wall. A bunch of people have tried it, while being tied to a rope to be safe, and can't make it. Because of how the wall is, they have to jump from one ledge to the other while climbing, and most everyone who has tried it has failed. Batman tries it (so he can get out and save Gotham City - and all that heroic stuff), while being tied onto the rope (the rope, being there, in case you don't make it, you don't fall and die... whatever). And he misses. It was pretty downing. But then there's this older blind dude in the prison and he tells Batman to stop fearing death, and just climb the wall. Without the rope.

It was a pretty powerful moment, as Batman slowly climbs up the wall, with the rest of the prisoners watching, cheering him on. With one last fateful breath, Batman attempts the jump, without the rope.... and makes it! It was really cool. It made me think.... are there things in life that are weighing me down from doing something, because I think it's safer that way? What could I be doing that is more out of my comfort zone, maybe doing something God wants me to do.... but I don't because I'm scared it might be harmful? I know the whole "trusting in God" thing wasn't a part of the movie, but I'm applying it here anyways. Trust. It's hard. Like really hard. But God knows what He's doing, always. Sometimes we have to just jump, unhindered, and trust that He's going to help us land. 

life lessons from... show choir?

All through high school I had the impression that show choir was a big joke. I had never really seen a show, but I had seen my friends who were in it practicing and whatnot. All they did (or so I thought) was stand there, sing, and maybe do a grapevine (one of the easiest dance steps - for all you non-dancers out there). Super lame, right? To make a long story short one of my coworkers/good friends is a show choir choreographer and he asked me to help him teach a workshop today. Sure - yeah - it's easy - show choir is lame anyways - I'll be able to pick it up fast - I can help - no problem. Ha ha ha. It's kind of a killer little sport, there! To do all the choreography, and sing, and move around on stage (and there are these riser things - crazy)...... but not for one song. For anywhere from 5-12 songs. Like 3-5 minute songs. Let's just say, that after today, I have a much greater respect for show choir!

All in all though, it was a fabulous day. I love to dance, I love to dance with my friend, and even though the kids didn't pick up the choreography super fast, they tried their hardest and were doing a fairly good job! I'm super excited to keep working with them.

I was talking to another friend about this and they said something like "it's good to do things you aren't used to doing - expanding your horizons and whatnot". Which is so true! How many of us just stay in our perfect little circle, our little bubble of life. It's safe there, we know what's going on, and life is peachy. That's all well and fine but is that really living life to the fullest? Go! Try something new! Even if you suck at it (believe me, I messed up more times than I want to admit with this show choir business today) - you should try it.

This post slowly morphed itself from a random life story to a random life lesson. Not how I planned for this post to go but sometimes my fingers have a mind of their own and I just roll with it. Perks of being an English major. So yeah - go try something new. Step outside of the comfort box you're in, and experience life. I highly doubt you'll regret it in the end. 

halfway :)

Friday marked the halfway point of my math teaching career. Well, hopefully not career, but of my long-term sub job. After 4 weeks, a lot has happened! Had a lot of ups and downs, good days and bad days, but as of right now I'm loving it. I've gotten a lot more comfy with the students and I think they have gotten a lot more comfy with me. I definitely have a different teaching style than the regular teacher, which took them a bit to get used to, but it's all going good. :)

All my classes are so different... I have my group of hard workers that wants to do 2-3 lessons a day and wiz through it. I have my class of lazy bums that doesn't want to do anything but play games. I have my class of kids that aren't the sharpest pencils in the box - and no matter how many times I explain something it just takes awhile to sink in. I have a class of kids that compliments me on everything all the time to try and gain extra credit. Every day they tell me "Miss India! I love your shoes!" or "your dress is so pretty" " .....do I have to do today's assignment?" with a huge grin on their face. Makes me laugh. Then I have those students who tell me they want me to be the teacher for the rest of the year.... and that gives me warm fuzzies times twenty.

You know how you never know where you'll be a year from now? Well, a year ago, if you had told me I was going to be the high school math teacher at a school of 200 kids, I would have said you were crazy! It's cool where God can take you. :)

random thoughts. I put these <> things around it but it didn't like that :( so now it's boring

-Every now and again, my family sits around our living room and just talks and laughs. It doesn't happen all that often because we're all so busy, but when it does, it's awesome. Last night we were talking about the worst and best times in life - oh how we laughed. When a story starts out "remember when" you know it's going to be good.

-I'm going to be busy this fall. Teaching math, which starts whenever the math teacher goes into labor... I'm being her long-term sub while she spends time with her baby. Teaching dance, of course. I'm teaching 19 classes this year - soooooo.crazy.excited.!! Subbing at the other high school - which of course I can only do when I'm not subbing for the math teacher. I'm a tad worried that I'm going to be too busy - but we shall see how things go.

-Violin. Who knew how much I missed it? Certainly not me! I was thinking 'oh, I have a good violin, and I want to be able to play worship songs when everyone gathers around a piano and starts singing' - but until I started taking lessons again I had no idea how much I loved it or how much I missed it. I'm still in the stage where I'm figuring everything out so apologies to my family when I practice.... but thanks for putting up with me. :)

-I've gotten to spend good quality time with good friends this summer - it's been pretty amazing. I get to spend some more good quality time with them later this week, and I'm really excited! As long as my car works so I can drive there, all will be well.

-Overall, I'm just beyond blessed. Problems come up in life that I stress over and worry about, it happens to all of us I think, but when I step back and see all the things God does in my life - it's kinda crazy. I really don't have cause to complain, just because the good overly outweighs the bad. 

LVN4FRI

That was a license plate that I saw in my hometown last week. I imagine it's the shortened version of 'living for Friday' - this blog post is based on the fact that that's what it stands for. I could be wrong - but that doesn't negate what I'm about to say. Oh well haha.

When I saw that on someone's car, and it made me really sad. Obviously this person wasn't happy Monday - Thursday... which makes me think that he/she doesn't like their job. How sad. The economy in my town is actually pretty good - there are hundreds of open jobs all the time - so why not find one you like? It doesn't really make sense. I realize that there comes a point to where providing for a family and making money to live is important, and how you get the money is less important, but if you hate your job so much that your license plate reflects that.... I'd find something else to do.

Me personally, I love my jobs. Sure I complain about the management, or the hours, or the bratty kids at times, but at the end of the day, I really do love what I do. I know my dad loves what he does despite the workload, stress, and stupid people he deals with. You can tell when people are happy with what they are doing (Proverbs 15:13) - and it makes all the difference in the world. Why wouldn't you choose to be happy?

in which India remembers she has a blog

Wow, I think I had forgotten that I had a blog. It's been so long since I've clicked "New Post" and stared at an empty page thinking about what to write! Sad! It means life has been full and overflowing though. I will spare you most of the details of the past month - and just give today updates, and summer goal updates. For anyone that cares. If not, skip to the very last paragraph :) (and you won't offend me if you do, promise)

Today: last day of summer dance camp! Whoo-hoo! That means I have now approximately one month to start planning for my fall dance classes. Exciting! I think I get to teach more than I did last year, and that will be cool.
Also today: had my (4th? 5th?) violin lesson. I can't remember if I have told you, my bloggy friends, if I was taking violin lessons. Well, I am! And they are going quite well. My teacher is pretty amazing - she reminds me of my old teacher and that is a good thing. I've learned a lot and have been having fun doing so.

As far as my summer goals have been going, I've knocked 11 of 19 things off my list. Over half - yes! One of the things that was on my list was "get a slight tan" - I've never tanned before, and I wanted to see if I could do the right things (not including fake baking) to get tan. First I burned, badly, then I got white again, then I spent a few hours at a time in the sun..... and I now have a slight tan! Mind you, it's very slight, but it's the tannest I've ever been. It made me super happy when one of my co-workers said to me "India! I can tell you've been in the sun.... but you're not burnt! It's kinda tan!" <-- day made. I know this is lame, but for a red-head, I think it's a big deal. :D

This up-and-coming weekend is the summer state swim meet for my brothers. I don't particularily like swim meets - but I do like watching my bros swim crazy awesomely and I do love helping to time. Since it's outdoors, I can work on my 'tan' ;) :D

That's probably long enough. Happy August-in-like-6-days - OH! and Happy Olympics! So excited to watch it. GO USA!

nostalgic moment

My brother bought a car this afternoon. My.Brother. He's 17! And growing up. So I was thinking about growing up.... how all my siblings are growing up.... how I'm growing up.... and it was kind of a sad moment. I remember how my brothers and I would build forts in the living room, how I used to put all kinds of hair ties in my brother's hair. How we'd go in the woods and play 'spy' and how we'd pretend to buy all the things in the store when we went shopping with mom and dad. And those don't even skim the surface of the memories I have with my brothers.

I'm not sure why the act of Noah buying a car made all these memories come flooding back.... but it did. And it made me realize that we're not little kids anymore. We're - like - getting old. Getting to be adults (well, I'm already an adult technically). I'm glad we're growing up - cause it means awesome times to come in the future, but at the same point I kinda miss the past. Those were pretty good times too.

Noah and I - 7 years ago :)