AuburnChick's Adventures

Yay!  It’s time for Joyce’s Wednesday Hodgepodge!

1.  What three words would you use to describe 2010?

Emotional – High points included watching Chicky’s high school team make it to the state final four playoffs, watching her graduate from high school, taking her to college, being rejected for several jobs, and finally landing my first teaching job.  It was an emotional roller coaster!

Dramatic (see above)

Lesson-filled (compound word, sort-of) – God had a lot of lessons to teach me last year…trust, giving up control, the list could go on and on.

2.  If fear was not an issue, what is something you’d like to try?

Ok…this one took a little thought.  I think it would be neat to go hot air ballooning.  When I was young, I used to enjoy watching them pass by…especially near the Rocky Mountains, which is where I lived before I moved to Alabama.  It must be an incredible experience to see the world from that vantage point.

3.  What do you add to your coffee or tea.

Nothing.  I don’t drink coffee at all (I’ve never grown up).  I guess when I make tea, you could say that I add sugar.  But, aside from drinking it a lot when I had two teeth pulled last January, I only drink it occasionally.

4.  Which historical sporting event would you like to witness?

My first thought was the gladiator games (I just love the Russell Crowe movie), but then again, seeing as how Christians were usually thrown into the arena, I don’t think I would have enjoyed them very much.  So, going with the English literature theme that I’m teaching this semester, I’ll choose medieval tournaments/jousts.  Wouldn’t it have been neat to see knights trying to win the hands of fair ladies?

5.  What is one piece of advice you’d like to give your sixteen year old self?

Stay away from boys for a few more years!  They are nothing but distractions.  Besides that, they are quite immature until they are hmmmm hmmmm age.

6.  Are you a planner or do you prefer to fly by the seat of your pants?

I am a total planner.  I do not improvise very well, hence the reason why I have almost my entire nine weeks planned for all of my classes.  I even have their vocabulary tests made out for the entire nine weeks.  My life is very chaotic as is.  I need as much order to my life as possible.

7.  What is one thing you are looking forward to in 2011?

I am looking forward to finishing up the requirements needed for my permanent teaching certification.

8.  Insert your random thought here.

So, on Monday night, I watched the first episode of the new season of the Bachelor.

I know, I know.  Smut.  And it is.  But what has me intrigued is Brad Womack’s return.  I watched the season when he rejected both ladies at the end, and I remember feeling sad for him.  Although I haven’t watched the last few seasons, I couldn’t stop myself from tuning in this week.

At the beginning of the show, they talked to Brad.  He’s had a lot of counseling over the last three years.  It saddened me when he said that his father wasn’t around much…how he was supposed to show up for a weekend with the boys and never did…never called…for five years.

That is a story similar to my own, so I empathized with him.

Then the show highlighted a few of the girls’ backgrounds, and oh my gosh.  Some of them were really touching.  I was especially moved by the gal whose fiancee was killed in a plane crash and how she wanted to die but found out she was pregnant and, thus, given a reason to live.

What struck me as I listened is that every single person has a story.  We so quickly make rash judgments about people — often without giving ourselves the chance to get to know them.  Or, maybe we can’t because the person is on TV and we’re sitting at home on the couch.

I think that we should be a little bit more understanding of one another and realize that whether we know it or not, we might share the same stories as others.

Ok…so I got some deep insight into what can be a very superficial show.  What can I say.  Call it subliminal justification.  I don’t know.  Maybe it’s just that I’m getting a little more mature in my “middle-age” years.

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