SO....CLOSE!!!!!

This is how I'm feeling right now. I'm so dang close to passing this stupid math test!!! I spent about an hour on it in the testing center and then when I decided that I was going to face the music and see what I got, I find out that I was 2 POINTS away from passing it. TWO DANG POINTS!!!!! UGH!!!! I only have one more try and then if I don't pass it, I have to take Math 108 or whatever class it is associated with. I better pass this test or I am going to cry.

I'm all alone

Although many people try to help, no one seems to have a real understanding of what I'm dealing with this semester. And that's when the feeling of loneliness takes over.

My feelings about Math:

Plain and simple. It doesn't matter how many times I try working on a problem. Just when I think I get it, I see the possible answers to a problem and my answer isn't even close to any of the choices. UGH. WHY is this so hard for me?!?!?!?

Ok, so maybe the word "hate" is a bit strong. I'm just getting really frustrated because when I've been reviewing some of the stuff on the EDMATH page on ilearn, some of the answers don't match the regular rules that I follow, and it confuses me a lot. In math, I thought there was only one rule to follow for each problem and that there weren't exceptions, but I apparently was wrong.

Well, I'm just going to have to keep working at it until the stuff sticks in my head and I pass those tests!

I sure do love the Chipmunks!

After I got done with work this morning, I went to the matinee of The Squeakuel at the cheap theater here in town. I LOVED it! I've been wanting to see it since it came out in theaters in December but I was too cheap to go to any of the nice theaters. It wasn't until I went to my Practicum and got to know my third graders that I realized that I needed to see this movie. I wanted to have an 'in' with my students so I could connect with them better. That was the extra push that got me to go see it this weekend, but honestly, I really did just want to see it for my own desires. :)

I have loved the Chipmunks and the Chipettes ever since their cartoon came out in the 80's. I have never grown out of my love for any of those chipmunks. My family used to have The Chipmunk Adventure on VHS, but it disappeared somewhere. :( Fortunately, a couple years ago, I was walking by one of the guys' apartments in my ward and from outside their window, I saw one movie frame on the TV and I instantly knew what movie they were watching. The door was open a smidge, so I went inside and blurted out "Is this The Chipmunk Adventure?!" I know its kind of sad how easily I can identify that movie, but I watched it ALL the time as a kid. And actually, I wouldn't mind watching it often even now as an adult.

This clip is by far my favorite part of the entire movie (and I'm sure many other people enjoy this part too)


Anyway, I gotta get back to doing the homework thing. I'm going on two weeks without Facebook right now! Hopefully I will get back on it within the month after passing those dang diagnostic exams.

I am taking drastic measures to be successful this semester

As I have said before, this is my last semester before I student teach and so I have to make sure I do well in ALL my classes and ALL of my tests. Well, my classes are actually not my biggest stresses right now (that's a first).

My biggest stresses right now are passing these dang prerequisite tests that are required for all Elementary Education majors at BYU-I to pass. I have passed the first one, but this second one is killing me and I've barely touched the third one because it scares the bejeebies out of me! I keep psyching myself whenever I try working on the problems on the practice test because I get test anxiety really badly and I think "I can't do this! I'm not going to pass these tests, so I'm not going to graduate!" And then I calm myself down and tell myself that I can do it. But when I try again, the same thing happens and its just a vicious cycle that's gotta stop.

I talked to my dad yesterday about it and he flat out told me that I have to stop doing that because its doing more damage than good. He told me that my primary focus this semester besides my classes is to pass those tests. Besides passing my actual classes, eating, and church, that was to be my focus this semester (I guess the whole sleeping thing is important too). So I have been cutting back on things I love. I am not taking ANY dance classes this semester, which is really hard for me since I love dance so much but I've wanted to be a teacher for too long to let dance stop me from graduating. I have also cut back on my social life a bit. It's mostly been limited to church, FHE, and maybe doing something on a Saturday with friends. After talking to my dad last night, I knew something that I had to do that would seriously make an impact on how much time I have to study this semester.


I have banned myself from my facebook account (temporarily).

I have found myself wasting way way WAY too much time on that thing and I decided that I was going to have prevent myself from getting tempted to go on there. So I told my dad what my password was and I told him to change it so I wouldn't be able to get on even if I tried really hard.

My first trial of that came today in my practicum when my cooperating teacher asked me if I had a facebook. She told me she has one and she said that's a faster way of getting in contact with her if I needed to ask her something. Immediately when she asked me that, I thought "Heather, don't give in. Emailing will suffice. You don't need to regain access to your facebook to keep in touch with her."

Well, now that I've spent a good 15 minutes on my blog writing this, perhaps I should get on to studying so I don't have to ban myself from blogging too.

Reflecting on the past- Part 2

I was thinking about what I said in the last post and in the beginning, I said "my interests as a teenager". I should have said "my interests as a kid" so it would encompass my child-years to my teen years.

Ok, so the next round is of all the shows I was into. I loved a lot of cartoons, but I'll just stick in Rugrats for now to cover the Nickelodeon shows.



And of course, ya gotta have the movies!

SPACE JAM! (the title isn't really supposed to be in caps, I just love the movie)


While I was Disney World, I was trying to figure out why I like Sorcerer Mickey so much. I think this is the reason why.

I'm pretty sure it's at the beginning of more than just 101 Dalmations and The Great Mouse Detective, but I could be wrong.

I suppose I could find more videos to take up more of your time, but I'll just say this instead:
I LOVED watching cartoons and movies as a kid and I still continue to love them today!

Reflecting on the past

So I was cruising around youtube today and I came upon David Archuleta's latest video blog (yeah.... I'm kinda subscribed to his channel... and David Cook's). But anyway, I usually look at the comments on his videos, but I've watched his videos enough that I know what is usually said:

"David ur so sweet! I love you!"
"You have such a good heart and you are an angel, luv you!"
"He is so cute! looooovvvvveeee hiiim!!!"
"David you are so talented! Can't wait to see u perform here!! I'm ur biggest fan!"

Yeah, I know. It's kind of sad how well I know the comments on his videos. Every time I read comments like that, I think "oh my gosh, these girls are so immature." But then I think 'wait a minute, I used to be their age. That's what I usually said about the Backstreet Boys, N*Sync, 98 degrees, Hanson, Jonathon Taylor Thomas... I'm pretty sure I could go on, but that's just a few of my teen obsessions.

After thinking about that, I started getting really nostalgic and started remembering what I did as a teenager and what I was interested in.

So here we go, a trip down memory lane..... *goes through fog of the past*

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(ok, so it wasn't that much fog, but I'm lazy and I need to go to bed eventually)

In the 90's, I was between the ages of 4 and 14, so I can literally say I was a kid of the 90's. Of course, kids play with toys and so I got all sorts of the popular toys. Remember the whole Elmo and Furby crazes? Yeah, I wasn't into Elmo, but I thought Furby was awesome! Unfortunately, I gave my poor parents a run for their money because the year Furby was popular, I got a "Millenium Furby" (ok, so apparently they came out in the late 90's, but they were still in the 90's!) instead of the baby Furby. My parents had bought me a baby Furby first and then I saw a commercial for the big Furby's and I said I wanted one of those instead.



Another very popular toy that both my brothers and I got for Christmas one year.

Nano and Giga Pets! I know there was also Tamagotchi, but we had the other two.
I had a Nano kitty and a Nano dog and I think my brothers had a Giga Monkey and a Giga Dinosaur

(I found this picture on a another website- its not mine)

I think my brothers enjoyed this next toy of mine as much as I did:

The Easy Bake Oven!!!


Mike and Tyler were always asking me whenever I got out my Easy Bake Oven if they could have some of cookies or whatever I would make. I got some really good baked goods out that thing! That was so fascinating how I would dump the packet of cake mix or cookies or brownies into the mixing bowl, add water, pour it in the small pan, put it in the oven, and in just a few minutes I could pull out (with the nifty hook-ish spatula that came with the oven) a very nice looking treat. Oh man, those were good times.

As you can probably tell, I did a lot of things with my brothers as a kid, so of course, I played a lot of video games as a kid.

My brothers and I played so many games on that thing! Let's see, what all did we play?

Sonic the Hedgehog was definitely one of my favorites

I think we also played a few Disney games on there like Toy Story and Aladdin (I still remember running as Rex in Andy's room to beat the timer and also flying on the magic carpet in Aladdin)

I watched TV a lot too, so I switched between Nickelodeon and the Disney channel (that's a shocker, huh?)


*sigh*

Oh, the good old days of the GOOD Disney channel.

Well, that will be the first chapter in our little flashback to the 90's.

Until next time!