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the best stock reaction photo
Wednesday. 1.23.13 9:25 pm

I'm starting a weekly tutoring thing with a friend, tomorrow. He's always flirted with me and we went to a movie, once, but that's about all there is to it. He's on the right track--I don't like the fast pace of dating right away then having that expectation of a relationship hanging over my head. Friends first and just seeing where things go is good. Subtle tension is good.

Bringing him cookies is smart.

I like feeding people. When my friends are sick, I feed them. When my friends are having a bad night, I feed them. When certain friends are quite...influenced, I definitely feed them. Every time I'm craving something sweet, I go ahead and bake a whole batch of cookies, because I know that someone's going to run into some roadblock and need some delicious chocolate chip walnut chewy cookies.

Today, for instance, my friend went to the hospital for several hours because something seems to be wrong with her brain (can you please not, universe?). She was in a bunch of pain, had an IV, the whole shebang, and of course that's worrying for me, especially because she's also an intern, and one of my other favorite interns/summer roommate was recently diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (CAN YOU PLEASE NOT, UNIVERSE?).

WHY THE BRAIN.

My heart is going to explode if anyone else in our little family gets diagnosed with anything serious.

Anyway, point is, I'd just made these kickass cookies, the night before, which was fantastic timing. Sometimes I could swear that my sweet tooth is really some sort of psychic link to people with current problems. Pop them in a bag with a few tea bags and a couple of cocoa packets, and you have a lovely little comfort package for someone who's gone through a hard day. I do it for the hugs. The hugs are lovely.

It's hard, finding the right friends who turn into family. When I find people I actually care about--people who get diagnosed and I immediately start crying, people who hurt and I hurt with them--I hold onto them. I take care of them. I make sure they know, even if it's just in the form of cookies, that they're important.

I make really great baked goods, so it's very apparent.

ANYWAY, the ORIGINAL point was that I'm starting to tutor this friend in Spanish, and man I love teaching. I would turn my university's language program upside-down if I was ever hired on as department head. The students I tutor get As. Period. Sure, it's different, when you have twenty to thirty students in each class, and are teaching four of five of those classes, but the way we teach Spanish, here, is just dead wrong. We don't put enough emphasis on conversational practice and real-world experience. We don't give our students concrete directions and enough reason to follow them. Even more than that, our books have all the directions in Spanish, after the 102 level, where students could REALLY use their directions in English until at least the major and minor track starts. After that, you're on your own, whatever, but for the students who are just trying to pass their twelve credit hours of language, the Spanish directions are just...superfluous.

At my last university, every Spanish beginner and intermediate course was four credit hours. You spend four hours every week in class in a sunny room, and most of the class time is group exercises and orally responding to questions with the professor. Homework is nightly but reviews very particular concepts that we studied, and the tests are cumulative with more points awarded to more recent lessons. There are several themed oral exams throughout the semester, for which we are painstakingly prepared.

--I'm sorry, I would continue on this topic which is probably boring, but I just got invited to go to a super formal military thing, this weekend?

In New York?

...

All expenses paid?

I'm getting treated to a ball in New York, this weekend, as of twenty minutes ago?

?????

...BUT WHATEVER SHALL I WEAR?

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concerning a game of chess that no one wins
Saturday. 1.19.13 4:56 pm
Be it extremely emotional, controversial, messed up, or whatever, this entry has been password protected.

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MUSIC
Wednesday. 1.16.13 10:58 pm







I especially like the part where Norah Jones murders someone.

I feel it, Norah.

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cracks in the foundation
Tuesday. 1.15.13 8:34 pm
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