The Past Happenings

Goodness, everything has been busy and exciting. Here is a little about what has been going on (Warning: This post contains enough material for 4 posts, at least. I as the author am in no way responsible for your eye soreness or any physical or mental tiredness that may result from reading all of this in one sitting):

I graduated!!!- Yes, on December 17th I graduated from ASU. It was definitely a filled day. Before we even left for the commencement at 9am, I grabbed the wrong end of the curling iron (on my last curl, too…) and burned my right hand pretty badly. We sprayed it with burn spray and it kept getting better throughout the day. Commencement was pretty nice. The whole time I had no idea where my parents and grandma were, but they said they found me because of my shriveled, little burned hand laying in my lap (so, I guess burning my hand was a good thing?). My favorite part was getting to stand up when they called our honors ranking. After we all “graduated”, I went outside and was surprised to find that I found my family right away. In our haste, mom and I had forgot to say where to meet at the end (and I hadn’t taken in my phone), so I just went to where I last left mom, and there they were. That worked out nicely.

We went over the Grandpa and Grandma Brooksby’s for a little bit, then Mom, Dad, and Grandma Hopkins and I went to “My Big Fat Greek Restaurant” for lunch. It was SOOOO good. Yum…
Afterwards we went BACK over to gma and pa’s and chilled there for a while. Jenny, Brandon, and Nae met us there and we all headed off for Convocation (where they call your name and you walk across the stage). I had to be there at 3 to line up but it didn’t start until 4. Again, I almost didn’t find my family while we were in the arena, but this time I was smart and had my phone, so I was able to text my dad and find out where they were. I met up with everyone afterwards, where gma and pa gave me a lei (it was so pretty) and we took a few more pictures.

But wait, there’s more!!!

So, then we headed straight over to the Jr. High I was student teaching at because I had a concert to conduct and play the piano in. I was really proud of the students and all that they accomplished this semester. I thought they did really well on my pieces.
Afterwards, we finally got to go home and, no…wait-  we went to Serrano’s and got dinner. There was a man playing the guitar and singing songs, and he sang quite a few to/with us. Grandma H knows quite a few songs in Spanish/Portuguese, so she was singing along to a couple of them. Then all of us started singing the Christmas songs he was playing. It was a lot of fun.

For my graduation gift, I got an iPod touch. I really like it. It will be good for so many things. Right now I am really enjoying the audiobook subscription I purchased as well as the games- a favorite= Boggle. You actually shake the iPod to shake up the letters. One of the big reasons I decided this would be most useful is its internet capabilities and recording abilities. I bought a nice microphone (the MityMic) that plugs right into the earphone jack (is that what it is called?), so now I can record my students and other good things  (keep reading).

Christmas- it was really good- Good gift giving and getting, cause that’s what it’s all about, right? :-) Grandma H stayed for the whole week, so that was nice that she was here. Gma and Pa came over for dinner too- it was just a great day. We got quite a few really awesome games, so we were thoroughly enjoying playing them: Quiddler, Would You Rather…, and (added later by myself) Xactica. Check them out.

For gma and pa B, I presented them with what I am calling “The Story Project”- I will be recording them telling stories, reading poems, etc. with my iPod and mic, and then sharing it with everyone else in our family. I am really excited. Today I got some good stuff from both of them. Now I just need to figure out how to put the audio up on their blog.

So, What Now?- Well, I am in the process of seeking employment- I’ll let you know how it goes. Oh, and I learned how to knit last Wednesday !! (wo hoo!) I’m working on a scarf right now. Maybe I will put some pictures up of the process.