Yes, as a matter of fact I do have too much time on my hands...

I'll give $5 to the first person that answers all these questions in the comment section.

1. What time do you get up? As late as possible...usually that means 7:30, but I'm also late to work most days, so maybe it should be earlier.

2. If you could eat lunch with one person, who would it be? Fantasy lunch would be with Jake Gyllenhaal-but only because he's so good looking. If I'm being realistic, I'd like to have lunch with my sister since that doesn't happen often.

3. Gold/Silver? silver

4. What was the last film you saw at the cinema? 'Hitch' when we were in Lubbock

5. What is/are your favorite TV show(s)? The Amazing Race and umm, cough, Gilmore Girls

6. What did you have for breakfast? nothing today-or most days...I don't get up early enough, but if I'm not running too incredibly late I go to Smoothie King

7. What inspires you? People who are spontaneous

9. What is your middle name? Renee'

10. Beach, City or Country? City to live, country to relax, beach for a summer home

11. Favorite Ice-cream? Mint Chocolate Chip

12. Butter, plain or salted popcorn? Don't eat it much, but I like Kettle Corn

13. Favorite color? Kelly green

14. What kind of car do you drive? Toyota 4-runner (when it's not in the shop)

15. Favorite sandwich? Quizno's Sierra Smoked Turkey...or McAlister's Turkey on Croissant

17. Favorite flowers? Tulips

18. Where would you like to go on vacation? Hawaii or hiking through Europe

19. What color is your bathroom? Umm, red, blue, green, lots of colors...I don't pay attention since it's just my temporary residence

20. Favorite brand of clothing? Gap

21. Where would you retire? West Coast

22. Favorite day of the week? Sundays, because we play soccer

23. What did you do for your last birthday? Had lunch with my dad, Lindsey, and Cory...my mom was out of town

24. Where were you born? at Mother Frances Hospital in Tyler, Texas

25. Favorite sport to watch? Basketball, specifically the Mavericks

26. Who do you least expect to answer these questions? I don't really think anyone will, but if you do, I'll buy you something at Starbucks when you're in Tyler (I know, so sad that I have to bribe people to comment on here...)

27. Person you expect to answer back first? see above

28. What fabric detergent do you use? The cheapest kind

29. Coke or Pepsi? Coke

30. Are you a morning person or a night owl? Well, I'm not a morning person at all, but since I've gotten older, it's hard for me to stay up all night, or even past midnight...I'm a wimp and need my sleep

31. What is your shoe size? 9

32. Do you have any pets? Yes-Annabelle, my black lab

33. What is your favorite season? Spring

34. What time is it? 4:03 p.m.

35. What is your name on your birth certificate? Jennifer Renee' Shepherd

36. Nicknames? Jenn, Shep, Shep-dawg

37. Number of candles on your last birthday cake? Well, it's a sad story, but I didn't have a cake on my last birthday. Since my mom was out of town, I didn't get one. My dad is great, but can anyone else see him buying a cake?

38 Kids? I guess this is asking if I have any, so no

39. Hair color? dark blonde, which is it's natural state...I've thought about going darker...what do you think?

40. Tattoos? nope

41. Eyes? blue/green

42. Piercing? ears a few times

43. How much do you love your job? I love it at times, and hate it others...that's normal I think

44. Residence? With my parents since August of last year...moving again in July-I told them I'd keep my deal to not stay more than a year!

45. Favorite food? Chick-fil-a

46. Been to Africa? No

47. Been toilet papering? Yes

48. Have you ever been in love? Yes

49.Been in a car accident? yes

50. Croutons or bacon bits? Croutons

51. Favorite saying or phrase? "I just threw up a little bit in my mouth"

52. Favorite restaurant? Chick-fil-a

53. Favorite nonalcoholic drink? Water

54. How many times did you fail your driver's test? Never

55. Before this one, from whom did you get your last e-mail? Matthew

56. Do you sing in the shower? Yes-and it sounds good too!

57. Which store would you choose to max out your credit card? Probably Target or Gap

58. What do you do most when you are bored? Answer silly questionnaires like this...or play games online

59. Bedtime: Usually midnight, even if I try to make it earlier, that doesn't happen often

60. Glass half empty or half full? half full usually

61. If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be? Right now I'd say New York City...but only for a year or two

Washington, D.C.

So my brother went to Washington D.C. this past week with the junior class at Grace Community School. I think they had a good time. He borrowed my shirt that says "George W. Bush is my homeboy" to wear on their tour of the Whitehouse. They actually got the 'red carpet' treatment there because one of the students has a relative that is a federal judge. Apparently this judge made a phone call before they went and lined up this special tour of the Whitehouse that is usually only for groups of 3-4 VIP's. When I went to DC my freshman year in high school, our tour of the Whitehouse was more like a drive-by without the guns. The tour guide said, "If you'll look to your right, you see the Whitehouse." That was it. Very lame compared to my brother's very impressive inside tour. He told me that some of the secret security guys laughed and commented on the shirt so that's fun. Before he left for the trip I told him he better bring something back for me, but of course I was joking because Cory never brings anything back for anyone. Anyway, when he got back late Friday night, I said, "What'd you get me?" and he said, "Oh! I did get you something, hold on." I went back to my room and he returns with a keychain that says 'Washington, D.C.' and has a picture of the capitol building on it. I was like, "umm, thanks." It was sort of ugly so I knew there must be more to this keychain. He said, "Oh, it has a good story to go along with it. Me and my friends were walking by this giftshop and noticed a bum go in, swipe some stuff, then come out and start selling it. I told the guy that we saw him steal it, and he just said 'those are your words, not mine.'" After that Cory proceeded to by this keychain from the bum for 87 cents and David bought a pen from the guy for a dollar. Nice, huh? Anyway, Louie Gohmert, our representative, also gave them a behind-the-scenes tour of the Capitol. In fact, one of Gohmert's interns even said that he had never been where they were at one point. So yes, I'd say they had a grand 'ole time up in our nation's capitol.

Soccer, part 2 and some other stuff...

Yesterday Chelle and I decided to go back and play soccer again with the guys at Pollard Park. Granted we weren't very good last week, we had fun and it was worth experiencing again. We managed to talk Megan into going this week so we had 3 girls who had no soccer experience. I'm sure all the guys appreciated this! There were several guys that weren't there the week before so we met a lot of new people. Michelle and I played paper/rock/scissors and I lost, so that meant I had to go play with all boys again. Her and Megan got to be on Aubrey's team, but since Aubrey spent most of his time talking to me while I was playing goalie (I did learn a rule: Aubrey was offsides when he was back talking to me...ha), it seemed like he was on my team half the time. It was pretty funny because we'd be in a conversation and the ball would be headed our way, so he'd stop talking, go play, then come back once my team got the ball. Now when we first divided up into teams, Kevin was sort of our 'coach' of some sort. He was assigning positions to everyone. I was thinking, 'What's this? Positions?' Last week all we did was run around! After he assigned positions, he said, 'Ok guys, we're skins.' All my teammates proceed to take off their shirts as I'm standing there. Not that I minded some of them taking off their shirts (some I could have lived without seeing their hairy backs). I looked at Kevin and said, "I'm not taking my shirt off!" He laughed and said, "We didn't expect you too!" Yeah, so that was settled...ha. Anyway, Carlos was on my team, a guy I know from work, so that was fun playing with him. Some of the guys from last week were back so it was good to see them all again. Claudio said to me, "Hey, you guys came back. Good!" I wasn't real sure if the guys minded us being there, so it was nice for them to say they liked us being there. Megan had a good time too so that was great. I think she'll come back again too. Before the guys know it, all us girls will just take over! Then maybe Aubrey will let us play with a pink ball like I requested. (-:

After soccer we went to Alley and Sarah's house for bible study. Sarah was nice enough to give us a turkey sandwich. We sure needed it after using all our energy in soccer. I also had some avocado dip, but don't tell my mom because I claim to hate avocados. During bible study I was thinking, 'What is that smell?', then I realized it was my sweat. Oh well...hope Clint didn't mind sitting by me on the couch.

On Saturday I had a meeting with Kazue along with Megan and Lauren (the other 2 girls going to Japan). It was really good to get some of the detail information since so much of the things I had been told up to this point seemed pretty vague. We had lunch at Willowbrook Country Club which is really nice. After eating we talked a lot about Japan, and some of the big differences that we'll encounter there. I left knowing a lot more, so that was good.

After the Japan meeting, my cousin Michelle had a baby shower. Her best friend Renee had planned some games for the shower, so first we had to guess how many inches around Michelle's belly was. I'm like the worst person ever to guess the size of anything. I guessed 55 inches. That's just absurd because my cousin is like a size zero when she's not pregnant. She measured in at 38 1/2 inches...yeah, I was really off. After that we played a version of 'pin the tail on the donkey' called 'put the passy on the baby'. Yeah, that was stupid. Anyhow, I got some cake and talked to some folks so it was alright.

That evening we celebrated my brother's 17th birthday. It was his choice, so he decided he wanted to go to Chili's. For his birthday my sister and I got him a device that would allow his iPod to play through his radio. He asked for it so we knew he'd like it. I wrapped the present with pictures of girls in bikini's. What a nice sister I am, huh? I ordered the grilled caribbean salad because it sounded really great. I ended up only eating one bite of it because I was full from chips and salsa. Oh well...it will be good when I eat it for lunch today hopefully. That night I went to Chelle's and we watched part of 'Open Range' then went to Starbucks. Yeah, so that was basically my weekend...Oh, and I did find out I'm for sure going to Snowmass, Colorado for spring break. I'm leaving on the 12th and returning on the 20th, so I'll try and give a report on that trip soon after I get back, but don't get your hopes up...you all know how long it is taking me to write about the NY trip!

She’s gonna be a soccer player…

For the past month and a half, Aubrey has asked Chelle and me to come play soccer on Sunday afternoons. We usually come up with a half-hearted excuse, mainly because we’re no good at soccer. Aubrey, along with most of the other guys, have played soccer all their lives, while mine and Michelle’s experience is limited to playing when we were 5 and only played then for the CapriSun at the end of the game. Well, we decided to stop arguing and give it a try yesterday. We headed up to Pollard Park at 3:30 to ‘get our game on.’ Aubrey assured us there would be other girls there. What we didn’t know was that meant one girl—and she was good. Luckily the guys didn’t take the game too seriously. I ended up playing goalie (insert laugh here) and along with that game some bruises on my leg. Aubrey had again assured me that since I was in the goal, the guys wouldn’t take any hard shots at me. Yeah, right! One guy took a pretty hard shot at me, but it was deflected by the goal. My teammate quickly defended me by saying, “Man, don’t hurt her! Quit taking it so seriously.” What a nice guy! I figure the bruises are all part of the game, right? The guys were actually all really nice though and we had a great time. They even invited us to play indoor on Thursday with them. We’ll go back on Sunday again for sure…and we’ll bring CapriSun too.

2 months later...

So I know most of you don't even care to know the details of the NY trip that was 2 months ago, but I'm writing it for myself. I want to write all I can remember for now, so I can look back at this with fond memories. So here it goes-another attempt at recalling my wonderful trip to New York.
Day 3-12/30/04
Since we were on vacation, of course we slept in again. Once we rolled out of bed, we hopped on the subway and headed downtown. We stopped at Starbucks to grab some breakfast and then ate on the subway on our way to Ground Zero. We were a little disoriented and didn't know exactly where we were going, so we wandered around a bit before figuring out where to go. My sister had seen Ground Zero six months after 9/11 so it had changed a lot since then. Now it looks more like a construction site rather than a place where such a disaster occurred. Here are 2 pictures from across the highway.


Some other closer pictures of the construction area:



This was taken down where the trains come in by the site:

While we were walking around this area, I couldn't help but think of how many people were running away from the place we were all so eager to see. There were a lot of tourist in the area all wanting to catch a glimpse of a place that had been a disaster area 3 years ago. All the memorial pictures that had been put up were just a reminder of 9/11, and it wasn't something I wanted to remember, even if I hadn't been directly effected by the event. People around us were recalling where they were when the tragedy had occurred, and of course Lindsey, Ine, and I all remembered where we had been when we first heard about it. There were also many people trying to make a dollar by selling photos of the towers before and after. I think we were all ready to leave after the visit, so we headed to South St. Seaport to get lunch. We did a little browsing in stores on our way there. We all had pizza for lunch, then we took some pictures.



We had tickets to see Rent that afternoon, so we headed back uptown to Broadway. We had chosen to see 'Rent' since 'Chicago' had sold out on the cheaper seats! The best part about seeing 'Rent' was that Drew Lachey, former member of 98 degrees and brother of Nick Lachey, was playing one of the lead roles. Now I was a little skeptical not knowing how well he'd do, but he did a tremendous job. I was very impressed with his theatre ability and we all really enjoyed the show. Here we all are before the show:

While we were waiting, I also saw Drew get out of a car, thank his driver and walk in the theatre. It all happened so quickly that I didn't get to meet him, but it was still pretty fun to see him walk right past us.
Ine and Lindsey also took some illegal photos before the show of the set. Here is one of them:

We also tried to use our voice recorders on our phones to record some of the music, but it didn't turn out too well! Here we are later taking a picture by the sign advertising 'Rent' starring Drew Lachey:

After the show, Lindsey and Ine were ready to get out of their heels. (I was smart and wore flat boots. Who cares if they looked so much taller? I had comfortable shoes.) We went back to the hotel and changed clothes.
We had plans that night to meet up with Tiffany and her friends that had just arrived earlier that day. It was Tiff's 21st birthday and apparently on their trip the flight assistant decided to give her a lot of free drinks...funny stuff. We all met up at Chevy's, a mexican restaurant in Times Square. I know, you're thinking why did we get mexican food in New York? Well, it was actually pretty good. Tiffany of course ordered up a big margarita for her birthday.

When we told the waitress it was her birthday, they brought her a big sombrero and ice cream.

After we left Chevy's we had to keep a close eye on Tiffany. She was a little tipsy and we had to make sure she didn't wander off. We wanted to ride the party bike so we talked to one of the drivers. He gave us his cell number and said to call him later and he'd come pick us up. We decided to go try and ice skate at Rockefeller Plaza since Beth and Amy really wanted to go. Well, the line to skate was over 2 hours long, so that idea was out. We did try and buy some 2005 glasses, but Beth was trying to make a deal (6 pairs for $10) and we knew that wouldn't happen. After walking around some more, we decided to call it a night since we were getting up early to go to the Today's Show the next morning. That did mean no party bike, but we figured we might try it another evening. When we were walking up to our hotel, we saw a rat on the sidewalk--fun, huh? Once we got inside, we asked the guy at the desk a number we could call to get a cab since we would need one at 4:00 a.m. We weren't sure how easy it would be to get a cab at that time, so we figured it'd be smart to call ahead. We headed up to our 4th floor walk-up, and went to sleep. More to come when I feel inclined to do so...

p.s. In case you're wondering how I even remember this much about a trip that was 2 months ago, Ine took some notes and shared them with me. So thank you Ine for being a note taker, something I've never had the patience to be.

A large dose of over-confidence combined with driving a standard

I mentioned in an earlier post about my lessons from Michelle on driving a standard. This was necessary because we were taking her car to Lubbock and it's a 7 hour drive. It would be mean for me to make her drive the whole way, plus now I've got a new 'skill' under my belt, right? Well, let me tell you, on the way there, I did great. Of course, once I got the Corolla (a.k.a. Henry) into 5th gear, driving was a breeze. Coming home, I drove the 2nd half of the trip. I was a little hesitant about driving in the metroplex, but I kept my tiny fears to myself. You see, normally, I thrive in driving in heavy traffic, but since I was driving this car that required extra skill, I was a little hesitant. However, nothing went wrong and all was well. I did have to avoid what seemed to be a suicidal dog that was trying to jump from the back of a truck, but otherwise it was a calm trip. As I was coasting into Exit 556 to head home, I pulled into the gas station. We filled up, and then Chelle says, "Do you still want to drive?" I thought for a minute and decided 'Heck yes I do!'. I figured it would be a great opportunity to practice my skills in the city, since I had been doing so well at this point. All was well as I was pulling up to the red light at the Loop and Hwy 69. The light turned green and with the clutch pushed in, I shifted into first, then started giving it some gas. The car died. Michelle, being very sweet, reassured me and said, just try again. So I did...and it died again. At this point I notice some cars coming from behind. I quickly put on the hazard lights. I'm watching the rearview mirror, freaking out, because it looks like a large truck is about to plow into us. Michelle couldn't see it at all, but trusted me, and prepared for impact. Yes-I was very terrified. (I was also very mad that I couldn't accomplish the feat of driving Henry.) Well, after all the cars behind us slammed on their brakes, the horns began to honk. I was a little frazzled to say the least, so Chelle asks me, "Do you still want to drive?" I quickly said, "No." We proceeded to get out of the car, in the middle of the highway, and switch seats. Of course we were receiving harsh glances by all those around us, but I was just relieved that we were safe-including Henry. So what is the moral of the story? Just because you had a few good runs, doesn't mean you won't screw up the next time. Will I try driving Henry (or any standard) again? Sure-it was a good learning experience and I figure it will come in handy if I'm ever in a situation where I need to drive a standard.(like on the Amazing Race!)

The land of the white buffalo

So Chelle and I took a little excursion to the 'land of the white buffalo' this weekend. We left Friday for our 7 hour drive. We had a good weekend hanging out with Jess and meeting a lot of her friends. Saturday we skipped the pancake festival to eat at Toyko, a restaurant similar to Shogun's, just cheaper. I managed to eat most of my meal with chopsticks-I do need to practice, right? I did give up towards the end so I could get a real bite of rice. That evening we went to the Lady Raiders vs. Lady Aggies basketball game. It was a close game so it was full of excitement. Tech game out on top so we were satisfied. (Although, I really am not a Tech fan, I had to cheer for them since I was in Lubbock.) Sunday we went to church with Jess, met some more of her friends, and had lunch with them. Of course that was followed up with Cold Stone then a long Sunday afternoon snooze fest. That evening we watched Jessica's undefeated indoor soccer team whoop up on their opponents. We had Starbucks to celebrate, then headed to play some games with folks at the apartment. I've left out some stuff, obviously, but this gets the point across that a fun time was had in Lubbock. On our trip home, we decided to make the most of it and mark a few things off our 'things I want to do in life' list. We had noticed a broken down train on the way there, so when it was still there on our return trip, Chelle decided that we must climb on top of it. We managed to get ourselves on top and walk around a bit. It is a lot higher than I imagined. We got quite a few honks by passing drivers. We know it's because we're so hot. While we did not have the camera phone on top of the train, I did take a picture of it before we left.

We also picked some cotton. We brought some back to Ine who was impressed since she had never seen cotton growing. On the trip we also noticed a lot of windmills, or turbines as Michelle took to calling them. We ventured down a random road, hoping it would take us closer to the turbines. Well, it did, but we were stopped by a sign that read, 'No trespassing'. I tried taking a picture, but it didn't turn out that well since we were still too far away for a good shot. Here is what I got:

Here is Chelle by the wind farm sign:

So we didn't get to hug the windmills, but we at least found them.
We also managed to tour the city of Abilene. We were in search of food and ended up at Java City. Don't laugh-they had sandwiches. Then of course we had a nice Javalanche(their version of a frap) for dessert.
So there you have it-our trip to Lubbock. While we didn't see any white buffalo or prairie dogs (dang it!), it will still be marked down as a success in my book.

D-Now & V-Day recap

Well, Katy requested that I write about the Disciple Now weekend, so I suppose I'll try and do it justice. This past weekend I was the leader of a group of 11th and 12th grade girls at Friendly Baptist Church. The weekend was about 'tupos' (not to be confused with tupac). Tupos is a greek noun that means 'to leave an impact'. We talked about how our words and actions leave an impact on peoples lives and we can choose to either leave a good tupos or a bad tupos. I will say that it was convicting to me because I know there are times that I hurt others with my words. I don't care what we said as kids, words can hurt you. Regardless, the weekend went well. It got kicked off by dinner and a comedian. After this we headed to our respective houses that would be our home for the weekend. We had bible study, snacks, and then we made valentine cards to pass out for our mission project the next day. The next morning we got up, had a wonderful breakfast followed by bible study, then headed to Breckenridge Village. BV is a home for mentally handicapped people. It was a lot of fun going because the people were so welcoming. When someone would walk in the room they all celebrated, just glad to see everyone. We passed out the cards we had made along with some other trinkets. After hanging out there, we went back to the church, had lunch, then prepared for the scavenger hunt. We got our first clue and hurried down the road. The clue was to count all the handicapped signs at the Walmart Supercenter on Broadway. This scavenger hunt was different than others I've participated in because after we had the answer, we had to find a pay phone (cell phones were forbidden), and tell them our answer. We had to request our specific person, who was "Cowboy Crooner" for us. I quickly realized it was Ross, so I plan on calling him by this name as much as possible. Anyway, after we were told if our answer was right or wrong, we were given the next clue. We didn't win, but we had fun anyway. We were also asked to bring back an interesting item. We brought back the mascot from a local high school, but the dead cat was much more interesting. (Thanks for that you sick girls!) Anyway, we had more bible study that night along with pizza. The next morning was church and then everyone went home. Steve took the leaders to eat, so that was fun-and free. So there you go Katy-you can add whatever you think I left out!

Monday was of course Valentine's Day. I never expect anything on this day-especially when I have no significant other like this year. However, I got some great flowers from Shani.

I also got some flowers from Fred, Amie's dad, so that was fun.

Amie even made me some little cakes, with help from her mom of course. That night I hung out with Amie for awhile so her parents could go out. After that I went to Chelle's where I got my lessons for driving a standard. I did pretty good! Anyway, I say it was an overall great day. Heck, I got flowers-I didn't even get those last year when I was dating someone! Ok, back to reality...I'm going to do some work now since I'm leaving for Lubbock tomorrow.

iPod and Japan

I've finally done it. I broke down and bought an iPod. Not that it was a tough decision, but I don't really like to spend money. I'm considered 'cheap' and 'thrifty' by most people. I think jeans should only cost $15 and if they're more than that, it's a rip off-and of course I've been ripped off many times. However, with the iPod, I realized that this was an investment-one that could change my life. (ok, I tend to exaggerate at times.) Truth is, I saved my extra earnings (i.e. babysitting, plasma, and change that my family leaves sitting around) for the past 2 months. I decided that none of the money for this little device would come from my salary. It should be coming by post in just a few days. I would have just rushed over to Circuit City to pick one up, but the online apple store had free engraving so I took advantage of the offer. If anyone has any suggestions for a good song to put on there, let me know. (Nothing from the Princess Diaries please, Katy and Lindsey!)

I decided to take off work tomorrow. That's one of the few perks of this job-vacation time. Not that I'm going on vacation, I just needed a day to get some things accomplished, so hopefully I'll do just that. I'll also be taking a couple days off in the next week to go visit Jessica in Lubbock so again, I'm grateful for the much needed paid vacation time. On a side note, for those of you keeping up, I am still in the application process for Japan, and I hope to get all my paperwork done for this in the next week. (It would be sooner, but part of the application requires my doctor to give me a physical-what fun!) In the mean time, pray for me that I'll have wisdom to make the right decisions. This is a scary thing for me to be doing, and I want to make sure I'm exactly where God wants me.

p.s. Best part about Japan: It's closer to Hawaii. (Obviously this opinion could change after actually going there)

My favorite moments during the Superbowl

So I went to the Peer's house to watch the Superbowl with a few other folks. It was fun-mostly playing with the kids and watching America's funniest videos (because come on, you can only look at Tom Brady's butt so much).
My favorite thing Jackson said: "Dad, can I eat some junk food now?"
Matthew predicted at the beginning that the Patriots would win. Later in the game-whenever the Eagles started to catch up in the end-he got excited. I said, "I thought you wanted the Patriots to win." He said, "No, I just said I think they will win. I'm for the Eagles." My great response: "Why?! They don't have ANY cute players on their team!"
Now those of you that know me, know that I actually do enjoy football, but I'm just not that into the NFL. I'd rather watch college or high school teams-especially when I know someone playing. Of course it makes sense that I'd be cheering for the Patriots though for 2 reasons: 1) The Packers weren't playing. 2) Tom Brady is hot.
Now I know that guys that read this may think I'm just a silly girl, but I guarantee you that I know just as much about football as the next guy when it comes to rules and regulations. I don't, however, memorize facts and stats about the players, so get over it. (-:

Some unknown dialogue after the Superbowl:
Reporter: Tom, what are you going to do now?
Tom Brady: I'm going to Disney World with Jenn!

Yes Tom-of course I'll go to Disney World with you!

Pinwheel, pinwheel spinning around...

Ok, I promise I'll quit just posting quizzes and actually write a real post soon-maybe even later today.

I have too much free time at work

I am worth $1,684,950.00 on HumanForSale.com

I think I'm worth more than that...what do these people know? Tell me how much you're worth. It only takes about 5 minutes.

Look at me-I'm a teacher

So I got home from work last night around 5:10 and went to check on my sick mom. I asked when her class started that she had to teach that evening and she said 5:30. She didn't look well, to say the least, as she was laying across the bed. She said (in her most pathetic voice), "Do you mind teaching my class for me?" I immediately went into panic attack mode. Not that it is such a big deal, but I know very little about Medical Terminology. Funny part is I actually have credit for the class from a class I took in high school. I sure knew I couldn't teach these folks anything, despite what my transcript says. I got to the school, unlocked the classroom and the strange looks from students, most of which were older than me, began. I explained to them that Mrs. Shepherd wouldn't be here, but I would pass their test out for them to review, then take it back up. There were only a few groans from the people who probably hadn't studied and got what they deserved. (Man, my opinion of student apathy has sure changed since I was in those shoes.) After this, I took roll and passed out some notes that would correspond with the video I was soon to pop in the VCR. The video was titled 'The Endocrine System' so of course I was excited. Let me tell you, that was a FUN video. I'll leave out the details, because they've all left my head-I have a horrible retention rate for anything dealing with science or Latin. Needless to say, the students weren't too excited about the video-and I don't blame them. Some of them were a little too excited to turn in their homework. I told them to keep it since I wasn't told anything about it. Yeah, obviously they had TONS of faith in my teaching ability. Best part of the evening? I'm getting paid. I know what you're thinking-My mom is sick. I should do this just because I'm a good daughter, right? Well, come on-I could really use some itunes downloads. I wish I could have taken a picture of some of the faces of these students. Boredom was written all over their faces. One girl even fell asleep-great for my teaching morale by the way! Overall, I'd say my debut as a college professor went over, umm, well? If nothing else, this was just reassurance that I don't want to be a teacher. But wait-then why am I applying for a teaching job in Japan? Eh, that's different...I think.

Just when I lost all faith in guys...

If you were around me yesterday, you might have noticed I was a little short with people. (No, I'm not referring to my stature, but my attitude.) I blame this mostly on the fact that I was with a 2 yr. old most of Sunday, and when that was over, I went home and stayed up too late. I do want to apologize if you happened to be in my 'path of rage' (well, rage might be too harsh a word). I'm not sure why I reacted the way I did, but yesterday when I was given a sarcastic remark to an answer I gave, I snapped back saying this person was being mean. (This was after he had just told me how nice I looked...man I'm a jerk!) Of course this guy knows I'm talking about him, but I'll leave his name out for his own privacy. On any other day, I would have gone with the punches and joked around, but this wasn't a typical Jenn day. The guy ended up leaving the office, out of necessity, not because of me, but I think he was glad to leave my attitude behind, with good reason. The sad part was, instead of being remorseful, I was just glad he was gone. This isn't a side of me that I really like, but I guess it needed to be exposed to others for me to truly try and change it. Later that afternoon, this guy returned to the office but I wasn't really in the mood to reconcile things, so I didn't say anything. Another co-worker walked in to ask me about something about my boss (that was a sore subject) and I got upset that this was being brought up again. He sort of smirked, and said, "I'm sorry-that was the wrong thing to bring up. I'm just supposed to be distracting you." About that time I noticed a string of paperclips with a rose attached to the end being dropped over my 'wall'. Along with it was a nice note from the guy I was rude to, apologizing for hurting my feelings. Wow-that's all I can say because it was me needing to say sorry, surely not him, but I just want to say thanks again because you are one great guy and I'm really lucky to get to work with such a good person.