DO YOU SEE WHAT I SEE?

Lauren has been MIA ("missing in action" for those of you who don't live a stone's throw from an Air Force base) for good reasons. She is preparing unprecedented, never before seen, lesson plans of the Hunger Games for her classes. Best part is the kids are excited to read the book...so excited they raised the money on their own to buy 30 books. I'm sure that will be a blog post soon. She is also in grad school. She hits the gym multiple times a week. She also finds time to play with her new camera.

Lauren loves watching her cilantro grow. With the new camera even the smallest drops of dew show up! Side Note: If you are one who hates cilantro, you are not alone.

Plants on a walk look so much cooler through a lens.

Lauren is now looking at everyday things in a different paradigm. Light poles double as fake trees in downtown Guam.

Below I took control of the camera and took a few pictures of my favorite subject:

Blog watchers... Even with her busy schedule she has many blog posts in the works. Check back soon!

So You Want to Be a Librarian?

Yes, yes I do.

A master's in Library and Information Science wasn't always a part of my life plan. It wasn't until I moved to Guam and exposed myself to their library system that I discovered my passion for community literacy.

This month I begin my master's program in the School of Library and Information Science at San Josè State University. This decision has catapulted me into adulthood. While completing my undergrad I probably spent too much time socializing and not enough time studying. I probably didn't realize how much money my dad was paying for my education. I probably could have tried harder to get straight As instead of waiting until my last semester to fully apply myself.

This time around, my life is a little different. I'm married. I'm financing my own education. I'm a teacher and understand the value of time management. I like to think I am more mature and have more to bring to the table.

I'm ready.

Daily I advocate education as the most important investment. Recently in class my students read an excerpt from Kaffir Boy that began with the following quote:

"Education opens doors where none seem to exist."

I was a believer, and now I am a doer.

On a lighter note, I found a video that suited this occasion. Enjoy.

Scrabble Brained

Folks, I am 0-4 in my Scrabble challenges against Tina. I should be studying the dictionary right now, but I'm headed to the pool for a barbecue.

Game #1:
Christmas. On the beach. I came unprepared for the Tina Chau. Who knew she packed such a punch? My pride got the best of me and I held on to WIZARD for far too long. What a rookie mistake. I lost. Big time.

Game #2
It was a great end to Tina and Lauren's day off. We spent all day frolicking around the island and landed on the beach for our Scrabble showdown. We played until there wasn't a drop of sunlight left. And...I lost.

Game #3

An epic evening. Tina's bingo on a triple word score in the beginning of the game dared to destroy any chance of me winning...until I also scored a bingo on a triple word score. The Scrabble fates were on our side that night. Unfortunately they were on Tina's side a little more than mine. I lost (shocker).

Game #4

I came into the game feeling the most confident yet. I was winning in the beginning, but I got careless. Because we were playing at a barbecue, I didn't feel the need to challenge the word XIN. Big mistake. Huge. Hoping Tina would return the kindness, I laid down the word HEMI. She challenged me faster than a redneck running to a corn dog festival. (Bekka, there is nothing wrong with a good corn dog). She won the challenge. Scores were close until the very end, when Tina laid down HERM. Herm? Come on, herm? What the heck is herm? I threw down my metaphorical red flag and asked Sam to check the word. The Scrabble dictionary let me down hard that day. HERM is most definitely a word. HEMI is not, and neither is XIN. I dropped the ball and- yep you guessed it- lost the game. What have I done to deserve this?

Enjoy your streak, Tina. It will end one day.

Eye Spy

I spy with my little eye...

part of my new toy.

Life is good.