Bleed on the Page

So as a teacher's assistant some of the students complained about the red pen of death. The red marks that covered the page and hacked their essays to pieces. They had spent all of two hours last night, between 2 and 4 in the morning, and I in 15 minutes had the audacity to pick it apart like I was paid to do. How dare I!

Anyway, I don't understand them. I've just done a little red pen work on my own work (actually it was pink highlighter of uncomfortable moments, not the red pen of death). The mistakes were horrible, I repeated words and couldn't get my years right. Somehow my character had spent 8, 10, and 9 years locked up in prison within two pages. That's not the next greatest superhero power, able to serve several prison sentences simultaneously.

But it wasn't just a pen cutting into my heart like the students whined about. The parts that I like get to stay (maybe changed) and the parts that I don't like are cut. More of me surfaces in the pages and I can actually read it and say, "Hey, I like that."

inspired by I seek to Delete

Cleaning out the email inbox

So, I had my sister and brother-in-law over this evening. Actually they invited me over to keep me company while Matt works. It makes for fairly long nights with him gone. Although I do have to say when you start texting things like "A parakeet with a machine gun!" or "I do not think that word means what you think it means" it gets more entertaining. Anyway, we looked at some random videos and funny stuff (if you haven't seen the sleepwalking dog on youtube you need to look it up. I almost died laughing. Its the short video with over 10 million views) which led to sharing emails I'd been forwarded which led to me decide (probably not a decision but just a default action technically) that rather than kill time on facebook this time I would clean out the email inbox. Which also leads me to an apology. I'm really bad at responding to things or forwarding things that I really actually should. So I'm sorry if I ruined recipe swaps or didn't respond to your email. That's why the email inbox is now getting cleaned out and I promise to repent and do better in the future. You do also find some gems when you clean out the email inbox, which I love. You feel very loved. So tonight I just want to say thanks for the email.

Three Things

So my sister did this a while ago, but I'm a little behind on my blog reading, so its now time to catch up. The question is what three things we would do all day if we could do three things and include all members of the household. Mine are:

1. Teach something. Most likely piano. But being with kids (almost any age) teaching something.

2. Play the piano

3. Organize stuff - rooms, shelves, files, you name it. And alphabetizing things. And putting things in rainbow order. And numerical order. Ok, I've got OCD.

Matt's are:

1. Play video games

2. Write

3. Shoot the breeze with people. Just have good nice conversation.

So I'd look forward to reading anyone else's.

4X4

So last Saturday I had work. During my Saturday shift I am supposed to do three things specifically besides the normal guard duties. I am supposed to patrol in a vehicle the perimeter/exterior of the construction site. I am supposed to patrol on foot the interior of the building. Then, last of all, I am supposed to drive out to the plant's power station and check to make sure it is secure. I like the two times I'm in the vehicle, I have the radio and I'm warm and none of the freakishly evil stray cats on site jump out at me. That night it wasn't too cold and the cats were fighting on the other side of the building (away from me) so foot patrol wasn't so bad. Then I checked the substation and got the work truck stuck.

Really, it was ridiculously stuck. One wheel wasn't getting grip on the road because of the mud and so two inches of mud was keeping a two-ton pick up truck from moving forward or backward. Naturally, I wanted to remove those two inches. That was rough because I didn't have a shovel and only found the tire iron in my last fifteen minutes of being stuck. But digging in the mud with your hands can have all sorts of bad side effects. Losing your wedding ring, covering anything touched with mud, and basically not working at all were the side effects I found. Don't think it was for lack of trying, an hour and a half of digging in the mud isn't as fun as it was when I was five. After that hour and a half I was convinced that I wasn't getting out on my own and since I couldn't get the other guard on site by way of the radio, I had to use the company cell phone to call my supervisor. He didn't pick up and so I called the guard who was going to relieve me on duty. I told him what was wrong and the first thing out of his mouth was "Is it in four-wheel?"

No, sadly it wasn't in four-wheel. But it could have been. The entire time the lever on the floor with 2W and 4W Hi had been staring at me wondering why I hadn't pulled it back two inches. Two inches. The entire time I was hoping my answer would be that other guard bringing a shovel or someone pulling me out. I was so focused on the answer I wanted, the real answer I needed was ignored. And just like the guard said, I put it in four-wheel and drove out of the mud in ten seconds. Tiny little answer that fixed everything.

p.s. I did find my ring before driving out which is why this story is not a police report ending with "Wife then killed husband with piano bench"

Enjoying the Basketball Season

I have discovered that I inherited a hobby. I just spent the last hour checking out high school basketball scores and players and anything else. I love following high school sports, almost as much as I like watching them. So, its started out as a good week in the world of basketball. Two brothers are in tournaments this week. Younger brother won his high school game over Box Elder by 25 points, older brother won the first game of their conference tournament by 23. Good day. I'm hoping that the good week just gets better. So many important games this week, starting tomorrow. BYU vs. Utah is always great and what a great year if we sweep them! Then it continues on Thursday with more action from the brothers. Hopefully it can keep up till Saturday and beyond. There's the beauty of a possible state championship, and a conference tournament championship. Wow, I'm excited. Go Cougars, Go Griffiths, and most importantly GO LEHI!