Sadness

I have a temperature of 101.5, and Stephen is coming to visit this weekend. Why me? At least he will be here to take care of me.

Let's Get a Little More Random

1. Teaching is exhausting, frustrating, rewarding, challenging, and fun.
2. Students should be mindful of what they say while doing group work. I can hear them when they say things like, "Did you read?" "No, did you?" "No, I was too busy." I'm so giving them a quiz on Friday.
3. I'm ready for fall to be here so I can stop breaking into a sweat the minute I step outside.
4. I will never get used to Tennessee humidity.
5. Stephen is coming on Friday and staying until Monday. It's the first time we've seen each other in three weeks. Could I be any more excited about that? Probably not.
6. Tomorrow is payday. I can eat again!
7. I really really really want to cut my hair, but I'm trying to grow it out so I can do something pretty and fun with it when I get married. I hate having the same hair all the time, though, and of course I keep seeing all of these cute, short hairstyles that make me want to drive immediately to my hair stylist and tell her to chop mine off. I must stay strong!
8. I forgot where my car was parked today, so I spent a good 15-20 minutes wandering around trying to find it. Note to self: remember where you park your car!
9. I want to be done with school. Or at least done with Dickens.
10.Season two of Lost comes out on DVD next Tuesday. I'm definitely buying it, since I've become quite the successful half.com seller. Long live e-commerce!

P.S. I just went to MySpace, and on the log-in page there was a band who was categorized as Hardcore / Metal / and Post Hardcore. What in the world is Post Hardcore?

A Bit Better

So today I'm feeling a bit better about things, despite the fact that I drove around this morning for almost half an hour trying to find a place to park and arrived at class late and sweaty. Fun times. And you know what I love? Killing myself to get the reading done for a class and then going to class and finding out that the professor isn't planning on discussing the reading at all that day. Fantastic. That really puts me in a great state of mind, let me tell you. At least the lecture was interesting and held my attention. The professor had all these first editions of 19th century novels that he showed us, and I'm really fascinated with the history of the book. I want to collect first editions. Wouldn't that be cool? I could have a library with first editions of Jane Austen and Emily Bronte and Wordsworth, etc. etc. If only I could afford to buy some. Maybe when I get a lucrative teaching job. (Oh wait, that's an oxymoron.)

Happy Tuesday.

How is it that I already feel behind after just three days of classes? I don't know how I'm going to survive this semester. And if I do survive, it will be because I didn't get any sleep.

*Goes off to convince herself not to drop out.*

Just Be

Since some of you think I was needlessly mean to Dr. Seuss the other day, here's a quote by him that I happen to love:

"Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind."

I think the older I get, the less I care about what people think of me. Not to say that I disregard the feelings or opinions of others; I just don't get as worked up as I used to about making everyone happy. If someone doesn't like me or thinks I'm a nerd or a weirdo (and I am), then that's fine. Real love, that unconditional love that Christ offers us and every once in a while appears in the actions/words of others, accepts me on the basis of who I am, nothing more, nothing less. Real love, that unconditional love, loves me regardless of whether or not my hair looks perfect, my bed is made, or my grades are superior. Real love, that unconditional love, is worth it. Everything else is just counterfeit.

Some of my students called me "Professor Hetzel" today, and I wasn't sure what to do, so I just let them. Hehe. Teaching is fun.

The classroom has improved somewhat, since it appears that someone cleaned out the random piles of boxes that were in one corner (they probably had drugs in them), and the desks are now in rows. I really hate desks in rows, though, and if it weren't so blasted hot in there, I'd have them move the desks into a semicircle or something more "friendly" like that. The air runs full blast the entire time, but it still feels similar to what I imagine the inside of an oven feels like, which is less than delightful, to say the least. I guess the day that I went to see the classroom it felt cool because it had been vacant all day, the lights were off, and the door was shut. It's still a completely hideous room, though. I took pictures with my camera phone, but I'm not exactly sure how to transfer them to my computer, so if I figure that out I'll let you know.

This weekend I get to read their diagnostic essays, and I've already skimmed some of them, and they should be quite entertaining. Class dismissed.

I'm a Little Apprehensive...

..about the reading load for my Victorian novel class. We're reading 11, yes 11 novels, 4 of which are over 900 pages EACH. How in the world am I going to keep up with the reading and have any semblance of a life? The answer is, I don't think I will have any semblance of a life. (I'm sure poor Stephen is already mourning the loss of our treasured phone time.) The good thing about this class: the professor is hilarious. He has this really great witty sense of humor, which you definitely need when you're reading something as dull as Dickens. Don't get me wrong, I know Dickens is a literary genius, yada yada yada, but he was so darn verbose! And he sold thousands of books during a time when people were still using candles to read by if they didn't have the money to have a lot of windows in their homes. I can't imagine reading Bleak House by candlelight. I think I would have to take up knitting or something instead. Wouldn't that be sad. I was going to sit down and figure out exactly how many pages I'll be reading for this one class, but then I decided that a) this would depress me, and b) my time would perhaps be better spent actually reading said books. Oh well. Farewell, life, it was fun while it lasted!

First day of classes. Always an exciting day for me, no matter how old I get. And this year was even more so because this year I'm not only a student, I'm a teacher. (That reminds me of those Hair Club for Men commercials. "I'm not just the president, I'm also a client." Hehe.) I met my students today, and everything went well. They all got to class way early, which I found to be very cute, and despite a slight tremor in my hands, I wasn't too nervous. I don't remember any of their names, so I'm going to have to work hard at learning them quickly because that's really important to me. It's also really strange how my brain is occupied with new thoughts, like, "I need to remember to email them about this" or "I should try this for Friday's class." It's a whole new world, and I think I'm gonna love it.

The Class Must Go On

Today my good buddy Diana and I went to check out the classrooms we'll be teaching in. I knew where the building I'm in was, but I had never been there. I didn't expect much because I've heard some horror stories about classrooms at UT, but even my low expectations were not met when I saw this room. It's the most horrible classroom I could ever imagine. Words cannot adequately convey the despair that filled my soul upon seeing this room, the room in which I'm to nurture the minds of 46 freshmen and teach them to love literature and writing. I wish I'd had my camera with me so you could all share in my abject state, but alas, I was without my digital friend. Don't fear, however; I am sure I will be taking pictures of the room tomorrow before my class begins. The one redeeming quality of the room is that the air conditioner seemed to be working properly, and that is a blessing, as is the fact that the classroom is in close proximity to my "office" (aka dungeon) where I will be holding office hours. It's bad enough that I am teaching students composition, when I'm pretty sure none of them could care less about it to begin with, but to do so in conditions that are deplorable is even worse. Oh well. I suppose the ugliness of the classroom will only make whatever I do seem even more fun because they won't have exciting surrounding to distract them. That's what I keep telling myself anyway. We shall see.

Reading Rainbow

I stole this from Mikey.

1. One book that changed your life: Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers. Yes, it's fiction, and yes, it's Christian fiction, but this book helped me see God's love for me in a completely new and beautiful way. If you haven't read it, you simply must. You won't regret it!

2. One book that you’ve read more than once: See above. Also, I've read Pride and Prejudice several times, along with Mere Christianity, Little Women, and the Harry Potter books. (I originally typed Harry "Pooter." Hehe.)

3. One book you’d want on a desert island: Only one? Not possible to pick! But here are the ones who would make the top five: 1)The Bible; 2)Redeeming Love; 3)The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde; 4)Lord of the Rings; 5)Jane Eyre.

4. One book that made you laugh: The Nanny Diaries. That book made me laugh and cry.

5. One book that made you cry: Atonement Child by Francine Rivers. (A lot of books make me cry, though. I'm a softie.)

6. One book you wish had been written: Huh? I'm not sure how to answer this.

7. One book you wish had never been written: Green Eggs and Ham. (I don't really have any idea.)

8. One book you’re currently reading: Lies at the Altar: The Truth About Great Marriages by Robin Smith. Very insightful and very interesting.

9. One book you’ve been meaning to read: All the books on the MA exam reading list.

10. One book you’d like to write: A non-fiction book of essays/thoughts on Christianity or a book of poetry. I started a book last year called Diary of a Bridesmaid that I would really like to finish someday, but I don't know that it will happen.
Now go read a book!

(Mostly) Surefire Ways to Get Eprops

1. Post pictures of flowers from your boyfriend/fiance, or pictures of your cute puppy or child. People love cute/pretty stuff.
2. Get engaged.
3. Say something wildly outrageous that will anger/excite people. (Example: I think Bush is the best president we've ever had.)
4. Have people vote for something, like a background song or a favorite picture.
5. Post about your birthday. People always like leaving birthday props.
6. Recap Gilmore Girls in a witty and intelligent fashion.
7. Bribe. Say things like, "I have HUGE news, but I'm only telling it if I get 20 eprops." Or make it sound more pitiful, like, "No one loves me on Xanga anymore. Where's the love?"
8. Ask questions of your readers. (See the end of this post.)

And generally speaking, I find that it's easier to get eprops when you actually write a post more than once every two months. (*cough* Stephen *cough*)

What are some of your tips for getting eprops?

P.S. I will give eprops to the person who can tell me how to add accents to letters using a laptop. The alt+ number formula doesn't work.

Are these not lovely?  Guess who sent them to me.  It probably isn't too hard to figure out.
Only 14 more days...





The name of the arrangement?  "Hugs and Kisses."  How cute is he???

You've Got Mail

I was long overdue for a viewing of my favorite movie, and I find myself with a newfound affection for it. I always loved the way Joe and Kathleen fell in love with each other over email, how romantic it was that words united their hearts before they even truly met. While Stephen's and my story is certainly different, there's that same element of romance with a "contemporary" twist. I guess you could say that for us--and for Joe and Kathleen--it was love at first "write."

One of my favorite quotes from the movie, spoken by Kathleen (Meg Ryan):

"Sometimes I wonder about my life. I lead a small life. Well, valuable, but small. And sometimes I wonder, Do I do it because I like it, or because I haven't been brave? So much of what I see reminds of something I read in a book, but shouldn't it be the other way around?"

Help me be brave, Lord.

Today I finally got the response about my engagement to Stephen that I'd been anticipating: "Wow, four months? Are you sure about this?" However, it was from a girl in the department who doesn't know me all that well and didn't know I was dating anyone, so I really didn't mind it. I just told her that yes, I was sure, and that when it's right, it's right. And it is. I expected more people to have similar reactions, but on the contrary, most say things like, "I'm so happy for you!" or "That's so romantic!" or "I didn't even know you were dating anyone!" or "I need to join MySpace!" (That last one was my favorite.) Granted, they could all be saying something different to each other, like, "Is she crazy?!" I have to say, I'll be sad when there aren't any more people to tell. It's so fun to be giddy all the time, but I suppose if I were this giddy for the next ten or so months I'd become slightly unbearable to be around. Perhaps a little "deflation" is good for everyone.

Meeting new people makes me tired.

Life As I Know It...

...will soon be over. I went to campus yesterday to get some information about orientation week that hadn't been mailed to me, so while I was there I also purchased my ridiculously expensive parking pass and some of my books. I'm taking two classes, and guess how many books I will have for those 2 classes. FIFTEEN. With the exception of one anthology of Middle English lyrics, all of them are novels. 3 of them are Dickens novels, which means, in my opinion, long and boring. I am going to have to spend all my time reading, which will considerably lessen the time I spend doing fun things, like, oh, talking to my fiance! Ahhh. Do I really need a master's degree?

Down to Earth

EDIT: I got a signal! And I have class rosters! I can't wait to meet my students on August 23!

I'm back in Knoxville, and that means no more Stephen. It's especially sad tonight because it's storming, and apparently the cell phone towers aren't working because I have no signal (my Internet works fine, though, so we're chatting). We have talked on the phone every day for months, and today we can't. I know it's trivial, but it's all we have. Waaaaah.

I had a ridiculous amount of mail waiting for me. It would have been fun to open, if 98% of it weren't just boring bills. Oh well.

Monday begins orientation week at UT. I'm excited about meeting all of the incoming MA's, and I'm glad I'm no longer one of them. It's nice to know the ropes and not have to be wondering what's going on all the time. I hope I can help make them all feel welcome. (And I hope I can finish my syllabus before classes start! Ugh.)

June 2, 2007

On that wonderful day, Stephen and I will begin our lives together here.  Click here for more pictures that my mom took when we went to scout the place.  To view our (unfinished) wedding site, go here.  (Sign our guestbook if you want!)

To see what my wedding dress looks like, go...never mind!  That will have to wait, I'm afraid. :happy:

I think I'm excited about just everything these days.  It's a nice feeling.

It's Really Happening

Today I think I realized that I actually am getting married. Probably because my mom and I went and looked at a wedding venue, and I found a wedding dress!!! It was the first one I tried on, and after trying on about 7 or 8 other ones, I knew the first one was it. I didn't even intend to try on wedding dresses today; my mom and I just stopped by the store to look at bridesmaid dresses, which we also found. I'm so so excited!! The only people who are going to know what it looks like are my parents and my bridesmaids. I want everyone else to be stunned by my beauty. Hehe.

We loved the wedding venue and are more than likely going to book it, but that means giving up the 7/7/07 date because that date was already taken. The good news is we're probably moving the date up to early June, which means waiting less time, and I think Stephen and I are all about that. Once we've finalized the date and location, you can be sure I'll post the details on here. We're still tweaking our wedding site on theknot.com, but when we get it finished I'll post a link. (If I can find out what the link is, that is. I can't seem to figure out how to tell people to get to our page. Jenny, do you know?) And since I'm sure not all of you want to hear *every* detail about my wedding, I'm thinking about starting up another blog that Stephen and I can devote to purely wedding stuff. We'll see.

I think that's about all on my end. I'm exhausted! Trying on wedding dresses is draining! (But oh-so fun.)

The Future Mrs. Mount

Well, since you're all begging to know ...Stephen and I are engaged!! We're getting married! He's my fiancee! We're going to spend the rest of our lives together! (I'm a little excited.) Here's the story:

On Friday Stephen and I made plans to go out to Natchez Trace State Park to celebrate our 3-month anniversary. Well, not five minutes after we got there, it started pouring. We waited for about half an hour to see if the storm would die down, but it didn't, so we decided to forego our picnic once again (I guess we're just meant to have a picnic) and head back to Jackson. We arrived back at Stephen's apartment around 2:30 or so, and we watched an episode of Gilmore Girls before deciding to get dressed up a little bit and have an early dinner (since we never ate our picnic lunch). After we had gotten ready and were about to leave, I remembered that I had to give him his anniversary present. Before I did, though, Stephen said he wanted to give me his present first. I said okay, and he said, "I think you'll like it a lot because it fits in my pocket." Of course I was thinking, "Is it a ring?!" and then he pulled out a ring box, and opened it up for me! I was completely stunned! Then he tells me that he's 100% certain that he wants to spend the rest of his life with me and that he loves me. Then he got down on his knee and asked me to be his wife! I'm crying by this time (surprise surprise), but I naturally say yes, and we hug and it was just perfect. He wanted me to be completely surprised, and I was. I had thought he would propose to me when he came up to Knoxville in October for my birthday, but he knew I was expecting it then, so he didn't want to do it then. I'm so glad he did it earlier! :)

For those of you not aware of all the details of mine and Stephen's relationship, let me provide a little background. Stephen and I knew each other while attending Union, but we didn't really hang out much; we just had some mutual friends so our social circles crossed occasionally. The last time we even saw each other was about 2 years ago while at a wedding of some friends. Then four months ago, I received a message from Stephen on MySpace (yes, MySpace), and he just said hello and wanted to see what I was up to now. So I wrote him back and filled him in on the basics, he wrote me back, and then we began corresponding on a daily basis, often with multiple emails. We found several shared interests and it wasn't long before I began to look forward to hearing from him and wanting to know more about him. After almost two weeks of writing, I gave him my phone number, and he called me not long after that. We talked for three hours, and it was the easiest thing in the world! Our phone conversations continued, as did our writing (we each have upwards of 130 pages of emails saved in Word files), and both of us became very interested in pursuing something beyond friendship. After discussing it and praying about it, we began dating with the purpose of seeing if we could envision a future together. I made several trips to Jackson to see him, and he came to Memphis several times to meet my parents and other family members. I also went to Illinois and met a bunch of his family when his grandfather passed away; I was sorry to meet them under such sad circumstances, but it was great to finally meet his family. So far no one in the family seems to think this match is absurd, which is good. :) Our tentative date is set for July 7, 2007 (07/07/07), but some of my friends seem to think we won't last that long. We'll see!

As for Stephen, my fiance, I could not have asked for anyone better for me, and I just wanted to share this incredibly exciting--and probably unbelievable to some of you--news and take a minute to praise God for His blessings! He knows how to write great love stories!!!

Our Story

Thanks to all of you who showered me with the Xanga love! As a reward, I'll tell you how Stephen and I met. Unless of course you'd rather hear about how we got engaged yesterday. You decide.

Yippie Skippy!

I get to see Stephen tomorrow (technically today I guess)! We're celebrating our 3 month anniversary (I know it's cheesy, but I don't care) by going to Natchez Trace State Park and swimming and renting paddle boats and having the picnic we planned to have on our first date, if it doesn't rain. If it does rain, we'll watch Gilmore Girls and rent movies. Since the former sounds much more original than the latter, I'm hoping it doesn't rain. (Not that I don't love any chance to watch Gilmore Girls.) Did I mention that Stephen, knowing of my great love for those beloved Gilmores and wishing to share it with me, is systematically watching every episode in the series? I parted with all of my DVD's (that's love right there) so he could watch them, and so far he's made it halfway through season four. His goal is to watch all the way through season six (after it comes out on DVD Sept. 19) before season seven starts, so he and I can watch each new episode together. ("Together" meaning "watching it while on the phone with each other in different cities". And I'm out of control with the parenthetical asides tonight. My apologies.) Not only is he watching all of the episodes, he actually likes the show! (Sorry, Stephen, I hope it was okay to broadcast this. I wouldn't want anyone to question your manhood or anything.) I knew I wasn't crazy for dating him. We're also going to go out for dinner somewhere, which is always fun. It should be a wonderful day.

On a somewhat related note, it occurred to me recently that a lot of you probably don't even know how Stephen and I started dating. So here's what I'll do: if I get 20 eprops (or comments, even though that's much too easy for one person to just comment 20 times) for this post, I'll tell you the story. I haven't been feeling the Xanga love much lately, and this is my pathetic, last-ditch attempt to get some eprops. We'll see what happens! Now I'm off to get my beauty sleep!

I saw John Tucker Must Die last night with my dear friend Emily. I have to say, I totally loved it. I didn't think it would be as funny as it was. All of the actresses in it did a marvelous job, and John Tucker is kind of hot.

I'm off to take Sandy (our dog) to the vet. She's not been feeling well or acting normal (or as normal as she can get because she's kind of weird anyway), so I hope the vet can figure out what's wrong with her. She's getting old (we got her when I was in seventh grade), and the thought of her leaving us makes me sad.

Maybe one of these days I'll actually write something worth reading, but I make no promises.

Gilmores and Elephants

For any of my readers who are fans of Gilmore Girls (I was going to say "obsessed," but I think that only applies to me), you might be interested in reading this article which has lots of juicy tidbits about the first episode of the 7th season! Reading it made me feel better about the fact that the Palladinos, the masterminds behind the show, are no longer with the show. So read, enjoy, and leave me eprops of gratitude. (Also, there's an interview with David Rosenthal, the new executive producer, here.)

For those of you who couldn't care less about Gilmore Girls (and I don't want to hear about it if you're one of them), enjoy this amazing tale about a very special elephant.

Incredible story about an elephant's memory

UPI July 20, 2006

A young man was on holiday in Kenya after graduating from college. While he was walking through the bush, he came across a young bull elephant standing with one leg raised in the air.

The elephant seemed distressed so the man approached it very carefully. He got down on one knee and inspected the elephant's foot. There was a large thorn deeply embedded in the bottom of the foot.

As carefully and as gently as he could he worked the thorn out with his hunting knife, after which the elephant gingerly put down its foot. The elephant turned to face the man and with a rather stern look on its face, stared at him. For a good ten minutes the man
stood frozen -- thinking of nothing else but being trampled. Eventually the elephant trumpeted loudly, turned and walked away.

The man never forgot that elephant or the events of that day. Twenty years later the man was walking through the zoo with his teenaged son. As they approached the elephant enclosure, one of the creatures turned and walked over to where they are standing at
the rail. The large bull elephant stared at him and lifted its front foot off the ground, then put it down. The elephant did that several times, all the while staring at the man. The man couldn't help wondering if this was the same elephant. After a while, it trumpeted loudly; then it continued to stare at him.

The man summoned up his courage, climbed over the railing and made his way into the enclosure. He walked right up to the elephant and stared back in wonder.

Suddenly the elephant trumpeted again, wrapped its trunk around one of the man's legs and swung him wildly back and forth along the railing, killing him.

Probably wasn't the same elephant.

Up with the Sun

I woke up around 5 a.m. this morning. Why? Because I went to bed at 8:30 last night. I was having a bit of an allergy attack, so I took some off-brand stuff equivalent to Benadryl, and I felt comatose about 10 minutes later. Probably should have just taken one pill instead of two. And let me just tell you: there's not a lot to watch on TV at 5 a.m. However, there were two full hours of Saved by the Bell on, and even though they were episodes with Miss Bliss and therefore sub par to the later episodes without her, I watched all four of them. That's sad. I've since cleaned my room, showered, paid some bills, and done lots of other random odds and ends, and it's only a little after 10 a.m. What am I supposed to do for the rest of the day?! This is why I like sleeping until 10 or so; you don't have to think of nearly as much stuff with which to occupy your time! Looks like I'll be making a trip to Target. (As if I need an excuse to do that.)

And can someone tell me when it was that Target became "cool"? I can still remember when people pretty much equated it with Wal-Mart and didn't give it much thought, and it certainly didn't use to generate as much excitement for me as it currently does. Now it seems like everyone loves Target and can't get enough of it. (Don't get me wrong; I love Wal-Mart, too, but there's something distinctly more "polished" about Target.) It's an interesting phenomenon, as is the rise in popularity of MP3 players and satellite radio. How in the world did people in the 18th century occupy their time without any of these modern inventions??

Currently Listening: How to Save a Life, The Fray