Books about war that my kids will read...

They will probably be picking from the following:
1. All Quiet on the Western Front
2. Band of Brothers
3. Slaughterhouse Five
4. In the Time of Butterflies

Now can I have a research paper for one of my classes be on the cost of war? Like they write about the actual cost of a war?

Cliche= This post

But of course, as The Kite Runner points out, sometimes cliches are best.

Things I am thankful for:
1. Getting a chance to live near my brother and sister-in-law- two of the coolest people I know.
2. Friends who spend the large amounts of money/time out of their schedules to visit me in CA.
3. Having a job that frustrates me and excites me and brings out every other strong emotion I can have because I'm doing what I love.
4. Change which allows me to experience all sorts of things this midwestern girl never had before.
5. That I made awesome friends in high school and college that seem to just get better every time we hang out.
6. The chance to get to sing in a choir again. (also yay me taking time for hobbies each week- that can be hard to remember to do)
7. My parents that even other people find cool haha.
8. Marriages ahead! Mark and Jesse, Brady and Brit, Adam and Pam, Emily and David,

and so many more. Happy Thanksgiving!

Books that did not come up in my last list.

Read the list below. Weigh in. I'd say I did better than this list. Here are books that I strictly stayed away from:
1. Harry Potter. The whole series. These characters are too family friendly.
2. Animal Farm. I'm not into bestiality.
3. Macbeth. Some characters are too fucked up to be fucked with.
4. Kite Runner. See above.
5. Any book by Toni Morrison. Yeah there is something to that she doesn't write very attractive males.
6. Memories of My Melancholy Whores. Don't really have a thing for 90 year old men.
7. Julia Alverez books. I like them for their portrayal of women. The men are there to cover what the women can't.
8. Romeo and Juliet. Some stories may be over told. (And over fantasized)
9. Twilight series. Vampires, no thanks, and wolves that can attach to 2 year old children they will eventually marry? gross.
10. Sun Also Rises. I'd say pretty self-explanatory.

To improve on my boring self

Someone has pointed out my blog posts have taken a nosedive in the interesting category. True. Well I happened to also come across some blogger's list about what literary characters they'd like to get it on with, but I disagreed with the list (Macbeth, Heathcliff and Holden Caulfield were on the list... gross). He suggested I should make my own list SO here it is (and I don't include underage characters even when they're fictional. that is gross.)
In no particular order:
1. Edgar from King Lear: He's my Shakespeare choice. good guy, takes care of dad, and comes back to beat the crap out of evil brother. Many girls may go for the bad guys but deal. (Second choice- Benedick)
2. Mr. Darcy from Pride and Prejudice: An overlap from the original list. Colin Firth's portrayal in the BBC made me love him forever.
3. Teacake from Their Eyes Were Watching God: My favorite book and one of the greatest love stories that manages to be not sappy and annoying. I want some of that.
4. Richard Mayhew from Neverwhere: The whole story gets started because he's the only person to notice a homeless girl. Hot.
5. Dave Eggers from A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius: Ok so this is an autobiography but man if he weren't married with a kid I'd be trying to find a way to get to SanFran fast.
6. John Proctor from The Crucible: HOTTTTness. Shady since he cheated on his wife with an underage psycho girl but whatever. He saw his flaws.
7. Phillip Marlow from The Big Sleep: Not from the movie. I'm not turned on by Humphrey Bogart. But the character in the book. I could do that.
8. The Fool from King Lear in the book Fool: He's a crazy do it with anyone guy in the book but he's smart and must be pretty good with all that practice.
9. T.S. Garp from The World According to Garp: One of my other favorite books because this main character fascinates me.
10. I'm going to leave this one open and get back to you. I'm having more trouble with this than I thought I would...

Things I have to grade...

1. Reading journals for all 75 of my students.
2. Essays about the traits of a hero based on The Odyssey and O Brother Where Art Thou
3. Persuasive essays on topics from global warming to gun control to abortion to domestic violence
4. Games, survival guides, postcards, comic books, soundtracks etc. for The Odyssey
5. Stories, speeches and analytical essays about Animal Farm.
6. One day of reading circles for Kite Runner
7. One day of reading circles for Hound of Baskerville

Good thing the end of the quarter is coming up.

Halloween Approaches...

Yeah, school is keeping me very busy. It would keep me busy anyway, but doing a second first year of teaching make it definitely crazy. I've been using work on my current Halloween costume as a distraction. Here's a list of what I've been in the past:
1. Sleeping Beauty (mom made)
2. An Illini Cheerleader (store bought)
3. Evita (mom made)
4. Dorothy from Wizard of Oz (mom made very quickly)
5. Greek Goddess (when I figured out the college version of Halloween)
6. Ballerina (I needed something fast but comfy)
7. Pumpkin (Last year when I had to make a costume last minute)

I realize this is a pretty lousy list. in part because this seems to be all I remember and in part because the costume listed are pretty sad. Except Evita. (and of course the Illini Cheerleader)

My awesome 25th birthday

It was a great weekend celebrating my 25th birthday and here is a list of highlights:
1. I got some very thoughtful cards from special people even deeper than your standard happy birthday card with no personal message. :)
2. Say what you will about facebook, but it's pretty great to receive e-mails all day letting you know that people have said happy birthday.
3. I get to watch the pilot of Sports Night!!!!
4. Nothing like getting 4 new pair of shoes.
5. Brand new real CDs are so rare these days ;)
6. Figuring out where to hang beautiful artwork is a good problem to have.
7. A class of tenth graders singing at the top of their lungs have a pretty great version of Happy Birthday
8. Phone calls with special people is always appreciated.
9. Toy Story and Toy Story II at the El Cap was a good laugh.
10. If you have to go to a class, having chocolate cake there makes it infinitely better.
11. I had an amazing party with lots of wonderful friends and shared with a great person (I do love shared birthday parties) plus about 1000 pictures to remember it by (hopefully some of them are decent.)