Shortcuts

Today our English class had an alternative lesson plan. For the past two weeks we have been reading the book "Shortcuts" by Raymond Carver. Instead of class today, we spent three hours in the SUB watching the movie. It was nice to have a switch from the traditional class style- not that class with Dr. Birkenstein is ever bad as he is one of the favorite teachers here at St. Martin's.

"Shortcuts" is a series of short stories dealing with the lives of lower to middle class couples as they deal through issues like death and adultery. It's definitely not the dry style of book that people tend to associate with assigned college reading. I love how Dr. Birkenstein gets the class to think about the issues and to examine their own feelings and beliefs to see how they apply towards the stories that we have read. I have learned a lot about myself this semester...at times I have solidified my beliefs and other times I have learned to be more open minded about other people's opinions and beliefs. It's no wonder that Dr. Birkenstein's classes were some of the first to fill up for next semester.

Happy Belated Thanksgiving!

I want to wish all of the Saints and Saints fans a Happy Thanksgiving!

I am home after surviving the holidays! Actually, Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays because it's about family and friends (plus good food!) rather than being over commercialized. After enduring the holiday traffic, I spent Thanksgiving Day in Oregon with my dad's side of the family. It was great getting to visit with relatives that I only see a couple of times a year.

The holidays are a time filled with tradition, but this year I decided that some traditions are meant to be broken. It is tradition for my sister and I to get before sunrise to hit the Black Friday sales. This year our shopping excursion lasted from 6 a.m. until 10 p.m. While I am happy to report that most of my Christmas shopping is done, I've done my share to help boost America's economy, and best of all it was in Oregon so it was all tax-free, BUT I truly am not that big of a shopping a fan and even two days later I am still feeling a bit overwhelmed from our 16 hour shopping trip. Next year I am breaking tradition...I am either going to check the ads ahead of time, be at the stores when they open to get just what I need and then call it quits, otherwise I will just sleep in and forget the whole thing.

Saturday was filled with driving back up here to Washington and then having a Thanksgiving dinner at my mom's house. For me, holidays are more than a one day event which is part of why I am going into teaching. I like the fact that I will have mostly the same days off as my daughter.

Now it's Sunday and I what I find myself the most thankful for this holiday weekend is that Father Killian extended our due date for our essay until Wednesday. Once again, I am hoping that everyone had a great holiday weekend, but now I need to go finish my homework as real life starts again in the morning!