awwww.

my beautiful dog.

So, I'm moving. I guess my blog friends won't miss me, since I'll be taking you along. I like my little college town on the prairie, but I'm going to go be blue in a whole other red state now. My little brother (who has cerebral palsy, who I've mentioned here before) and my dad, his wife and my two younger siblings all live in Dallas. I tried it for awhile for my first college semester, but it was a little too rat-race-ish for me to stay afloat. I was -and continue to be- sort of a baby...people like me are why you should give annoyingly slow drivers a break. I actually get my feelings hurt when I get honked at or flipped off. I am entirely too sensitive and nerdy to survive on Dallas freeways...I'm like this annoying perpetual victim. Instead of flipping someone off back, I want to cry, "WHY, WHY would you WANT to hurt my feelings?!" I don't really think I am meant to be on the road anyways. I try to live in areas where I don't have to drive. Driving makes me crave xanax, which I don't think you're supposed to take when you drive anyways. The last time I lived in Dallas, it was unique for being one of the biggest cities in the US to have crap for public transportation. They just cannot get enough pollution down there; apparently, the word is out that Jesus will return before the air turns completely black. Things have changed a little, though, and you can now get to where you need to go via bus lines and trains. AND, we're going to live in the downtown area...so we can walk to where we want to eat. .

Speaking of eating, my new life in WW is going all right. I like the idea that I'm paying closer attention to what I'm bringing into my body. Before my knees were jacked up and I ran quite a bit, I think I ate about the same amount, and I was basically skinny. Now that I don't get that great exercise and am...ahem...getting a little older (turned 26 in September and am to the point where it behooves me to apply eye cream before bed), my butt is getting pretty droopy. And, I think one of the fatal mistakes of people who used to be skinny is that can exist in this state of reverse anorexia, in which they feel skinnier than they are...enter disturbing realistic photograph...*gasp*

Anyways, we're moving in June, most likely. I think I'll go ahead and teach special ed. down there, although it may take me a semester to get my certification in TX. I actually ended up with a degree in psych, although I have far more coursework in education.

Funny, I had decided that I could not teach, that I didn't fit in with the profession somehow...but, I think it had something to do with being in smallville. The idea became more and more stifling for me. Something about being in a bigger place makes teaching sound fun again. Maybe it takes some pressure off? I don't know. I can't really place the reasoning behind my randomness. One thing that I think contributed to my very early feeling of burn-out was that I only wanted to teach special ed--that's it. It never even occurred to me to teach in a traditional classroom...but sp. ed. training at my university really was just a cherry on top of lottttttts and lottttts of reg. ed. training. I enjoyed many parts of it, but it was difficult to stay passionate, because it just was not what I went to school for. --I was writing curriculum after curriculum, doing practicums, creating projects...and, all of it was stuff I knew I would never take into my classroom, because it was all to be for reg. ed. kids. If I had it to do over again, I would go to school in a state other than KS where there is an actual entire major just for special ed. At any rate, I'm going to start applying soon for some moderate MR classrooms, or something along the lines of life skills--that's what I'm interested in. I'm looking forward to it.