Ninjas vs. Pirates The great debate

So I gave my first "official" test last week. The students did fairly well, especially the ones who studied. There was also an extra credit question at the end of the test to help them out. The question was: "Which is better, Ninjas or Pirates? Support your answer." I've never seen 9th graders willingly write as much as they did. I got full page responses on the merits of both ninjas ans pirates. Any debate coach really should use this topic. I was impressed with the responses that I got and it led to a discussion on forming your own opinions and I even was able to sneak in a little soap-box on being an informed voter. We talked about listening to both sides of an argument and forming an opinion while still respecting the other sides views. Here are a few of the responses that got this discussion started:

One girl arguing for ninjas said,"Ninjas get to wear awesome black outfits that look good, while pirates look like they shopped a terrible thrift store."
Another girl arguing for pirates said, "Pirates get to wear colorful beautiful clothes while ninjas wear boring, drab, black."

One girl arguing for ninjas said,"Ninjas can kill you with their bare hands."
A boy who chose pirates said,"Pirates have guns and can shoot ninjas before they are close enough to use their bare hands."

One boy who liked ninjas said,"Ninjas train for years and are very skilled."
Another boy who liked pirates said, "Pirates don't have to work so hard, they just find treasure, drink rum and float in their boats."

So as you can see, there is no right or wrong answer. But I really was surprised that nearly all the arguments were the same argument just opposite sides of the opinion.

And since I know you are dying to know. Ninjas won in one class and pirates in the other. But over all Pirates took the lead.

Flashback Friday: Lokalgrown

When I first moved out of my parents house I moved into a house with 2 of my cousins. Megan and Ashley are fabulous and I am lucky that I have the kind of extended family that you can live with! My cousin Ashley is a few years older than Megan and I and so she already knew everyone who was anyone in Logan. She had all sorts of hookups around town and was always bringing us with her to parties and concerts. She kept us really busy and taught us the ways of college life. Ashley happened to be friends with a group of guys who were in a band named Lokalgrown. Their music is awesome and they were THE band when it came to USU bands. Ashley happened to be their Public Relations specialist which meant that as her roommates Megan and I got to go to every concert they had and sell their shirts! This photo is of Megan and I with one of our other roommates (her name was also Ashley but she wasn't our cousin). This was about 2 days after I moved in and it was my first Lokalgrown concert. It was the 4th of July party in South Jordan back in 2004. We loved going to their shows and we were sad when they graduated and left USU. Their drummer was one of our good friends, Keith. He is currently the band teacher at Layton high school. Last week for a band fundraiser Keith got the boys together and Lokalgrown had a concert. A couple of the original band members live out of state and so they were replaced by fabulous singers and guitarists from the area. The show was fabulous and I was glad I got to share a lokalgrown concert with Brad since he never got to hear them in Logan.

TLAPD

Last year my favorite holiday fell on a Friday and so I did a Flashback Friday about it. This year since I've already told you how this holiday came about and one way I've celebrated I thought I ought to help you celebrate it yourselves.

I am of course talking about International (that's right, we see no borders when it comes to celebrating this holiday) Talk Like a Pirate Day. So to help you talk like a pirate I have stolen this list of terms you may or may not be aware of to help increase your pirate vocabulary. First off is the basics:

Ahoy! - "Hello!"

Avast! - Stop and give attention. It can be used in a sense of surprise, "Whoa! Get a load of that!" which today makes it more of a "Check it out" or "No way!" or "Get off!"

Aye! - "Why yes, I agree most heartily with everything you just said or did."

Aye aye! - "I'll get right on that sir, as soon as my break is over."

Arrr! - This one is often confused with arrrgh, which is of course the sound you make when you sit on a belaying pin. "Arrr!" can mean, variously, "yes," "I agree," "I'm happy," "I'm enjoying this beer," "My team is going to win it all," "I saw that television show, it sucked!" and "That was a clever remark you or I just made." And those are just a few of the myriad possibilities of Arrr!

Once you've mastered the basics, you're ready to start expanding your pirate vocabulary. Try these for starters:

Beauty – The best possible pirate address for a woman. Always preceded by “me,” as in, “C’mere, me beauty,” or even, “me buxom beauty,” to one particularly well endowed. You’ll be surprised how effective this is.

Bilge rat – The bilge is the lowest level of the ship. It’s loaded with ballast and slimy, reeking water. A bilge rat, then, is a rat that lives in the worst place on the ship. On TLAP Day – A lot of guy humor involves insulting your buddies to prove your friendship. It’s important that everyone understand you are smarter, more powerful and much luckier with the wenches than they are. Since bilge rat is a pretty dirty thing to call someone, by all means use it on your friends.

Bung hole – Victuals on a ship were stored in wooden casks. The stopper in the barrel is called the bung, and the hole is called the bung hole. That’s all. It sounds a lot worse, doesn’t it? On TLAP Day – When dinner is served you’ll make quite an impression when you say, “Well, me hearties, let’s see what crawled out of the bung hole.” That statement will be instantly followed by the sound of people putting down their utensils and pushing themselves away from the table. Great! More for you!

Grog – An alcoholic drink, usually rum diluted with water, but in this context you could use it to refer to any alcoholic beverage other than beer, and we aren’t prepared to be picky about that, either. Call your beer grog if you want. We won’t stop you! Water aboard ship was stored for long periods in slimy wooden barrels, so you can see why rum was added to each sailor’s water ration – to kill the rancid taste. On TLAP Day – Drink up, me hearties! And call whatever you’re drinking grog if you want to. If some prissy pedant purses his lips and protests the word grog can only be used if drinking rum and water, not the Singapore Sling you’re holding, keelhaul him!

Hornpipe – Both a single-reeded musical instrument sailors often had aboard ship, and a spirited dance that sailors do.

Lubber – (or land lubber) This is the seaman’s version of land lover, mangled by typical pirate disregard for elocution. A lubber is someone who does not go to sea, who stays on the land. On TLAP Day – More likely than not, you are a lubber 364 days of the year. But not if you’re talking like a pirate! Then the word lubber becomes one of the more fierce weapons in your arsenal of piratical lingo. In a room where everyone is talking like pirates, lubber is ALWAYS an insult.

Smartly – Do something quickly. On TLAP Day – “Smartly, me lass,” you might say when sending the bar maid off for another round. She will be so impressed she might well spit in your beer.

So to all my Brethren of the Coast, here's to hoping today be not the day we dance with Jack Ketch! And to all you land lubbers, talk like a pirate or walk the plank!

Flashback Friday: Phlegmily

When I was in High School I had many best friends. In fact chances are, if you read this blog and I knew you in high school you were at one point probably my best friend. Actually chances are if you read this and I knew you EVER, you were probably at one point my "best friend from..." whatever it was I knew you from. It's true, just ask my Father-in-law. (by the way he's pretty much my best friend out of all my father-in-laws) But this story is about one particular best friend. Her name is Emily Llewellyn Dabczynski Bell and her favorite letter of the alphabet is the letter L.

Emily moved to Utah from upstate New York when we were in 10th grade. We had a class together that year but unfortunately we didn't really get to know each other then. Our junior year we had English together and yet, we still didn't realize that we were meant to BFF's. At one point she wrote about me in her journal (she is an avid journal writer) and she referred to me as "Amy Fleming, Junior Class President" because that was all I was to her at that point in our lives.

And then all that changed.

Our senior year we were both assigned to be secretaries for our high schools Acappella choir. We spent a lot of time sitting in the choir office, making seating charts, giving grades, and keeping track of all of the 160+ students in the class. We realized we should have been friends all along and here is a short list of some of the reasons why we were destined to be friends:

• We are pretty much the same person. Pretty much.
  
• We had the same nicname. They were spelled different, but had the same effect. Flem and Phlegm.
• We both love Pirates. She loves them so much she decided to be born on Talk Like a Pirate Day!
• We both love making lists.
  
• People have been calling me Emily accidentally my whole life. Even before we found each other and even if they don't know we are pretty much the same person!
• We would unknowingly buy all the same style of clothes and accidentally wear them the same day. Except for yearbook signing day and graduation when we planned to wear the same thing so that we would be the same in all our pictures.
  

The reason I decided to reminisce about Emily is not only because tomorrow is her birthday and I love her, but because she recently took "the big plunge" and got married and I got to share her special day with her and I am so happy that she is so happy! So happy birthday Mrs. Bell and lets please see each other sometime sooner rather than later.

Crafting

Right before I got my job I did another sewing project. My aunt made one of these for my mom and she has been the envy of every lady who has seen it since. It is a first aid kit. I'm planning on keeping mine in my car but my mom keeps hers in her purse. You just need a pot holder and a handful of ziplock bags.

You just sew the bags to the hot pad and then you sew a button on the front of the hot pad so you can link the loop around it.


Brad wants one for his car but he wants me to find a hot pad with a superhero on it... I think I may just have to sew some superhero fabric over a hot pad.


I am also an activity day leader in my ward and I think I'm going to make these with the girls.

Employment

As a teacher I will have the summers off from teaching so to most people my summer of watching movies and sleeping in didn't seem like a big deal and it appealed to most everyone. I on the other hand was a little nervous because I didn't have a place to go to when school started again. I interviewed at several schools and felt good about the interviews. I was told several times that I had been the top candidate until it came to the fact that one other candidate had an extra endorsement. It was very frustrating to say the least. I had hoped to spend the summer making lesson plans for my classes but couldn't begin without knowing what subject I would be teaching.

As school approached I began to apply more heavily to jobs outside of education. I personally think I would make an awesome secretary. I didn't get many calls for the non-educational jobs and so I was even more frustrated. I finally got an interview at a company that I had applied for on a whim on an online job site. I wasn't sure I was qualified but after 2 full days of group interview and individual interviews I was offered the job. I came home from the second day of interviews and just didn't feel right. I spent all summer wanting a job, any job, but I knew that if they called me for this job I would have to say no. It wasn't easy.

Shortly after turning down that job I got a call from a school that was looking for someone who could teach part-time geography. They weren't sure if I'd even be interested because it wasn't even a contract job, meaning I wouldn't receive any benefits. I was very interested. I wanted to teach geography from the very beginning. I told them I'd love to interview. I interviewed on a Monday and by that night I was offered the job. I went and picked up my keys the next day and began getting ready just as fast as I could because school was beginning the following Monday. So I had one week to plan and I've been going pretty non-stop. I was working just 2 hours each day and I was ok with that. It got my foot in the door.

On Tuesday of this week (the first week of school) the principal called me into his office. (I got nervous... I should get over that) He offered me a job as a BHA (Behavior Health Aide). I will be working with the special ed teacher and helping students remember to turn in assignments and working with them in their study skills class. I am very blessed and am really excited to begin teaching and working with the students. I am loving the school I'm at. The students are motivated and from what I hear the parents are really involved. The faculty has been very kind and supportive. I'm sure I'll have more stories to share about it, but right now I have lessons to plan!

Flashback Friday: The cop who stole my drivers license

Right before I turned 16 Utah passed a law that said you couldn't drive with peers in your car for 6 months after getting your license, unless it was a school event and you had a written note from a parent saying that you had permission. It is for this reason that I remember that the first time I was ever pulled over was exactly 6 months and 2 weeks after my 16th birthday. I guess a more simple way to remember would be to just remember it was the day after Christmas, but you know me, I don't do things the easy way.

So it's 6 months and 2 weeks after my 16th birthday and I had a car-load of friends that I was driving around town to check out what other friends had received for Christmas. I was driving Gray Ray. Gray Ray was my first car and he was a Honda Accord. One of those cool old Accords with the flip up headlights. Well on this fateful night, one of those cool flip up headlights happened to be out. We were all headed to south Provo to check on the last friends loot. We were less than a block from her house when we came upon a group of police officers all leaving one particular house. I had to slow down to go over a particularly deep dip and as I came out of the dip my lone headlight shone directly into one officers car. We all knew right then he was going to pull me over. We were glad it was 6 months and 2 weeks after my birthday so that we weren't going to get in trouble for just being in the car. I told everyone in the car to say we didn't know the headlight was out. As soon as the cop asked me if I knew I had a headlight out I broke and admitted we did. He took my license and registration and went to his car. About 5 minutes later the cop came running up to my window. Because it was December I had rolled my window up. Before I could even roll the window down all the way the cop had thrown all my paperwork and even his pen into my car and yelled, "it's your lucky day" as he jumped in his car and took off at 90 miles an hour with the sirens blaring. As we waited for the shock to wear off we tried to gather the papers up and organize them all. As we went through all the things on our laps we realized my license was nowhere to be found. We got out of the car and looked on our seats and under the car and on the road between where his car had been and where my car was. We went back through the papers. We eventually gave up and just continued our trek to the friends home.
The next day I called the police station. I asked if any cops had brought my license to them. They had a box full of lost licenses but mine wasn't in it. The car in question didn't belong to just one cop. So it was out with a different officer in it. The car was flagged to be cleaned and searched for my license. That search came up with nothing. After checking in with the station every few days for a couple weeks I began to give up on the idea that it would be found. That February my high school choir was going to Disneyland and I needed a drivers license to get on the plane, so I finally went and got a new one. Over time I began to forget about my missing license. I began driving Greta and my brother had Ray. Several months later my brother was driving the car with his friend. When his friend reached under the passenger side chair to get the cd case she felt something else under the chair. My license apparently fell between the chair and the e-brake and sat hidden in my car the whole time.

Sorry Mr. Policeman that I blamed for stealing my license. I shouldn't have been so bitter and I shouldn't have bad-mouthed you under my breath when I had to pay 10 dollars to get a new license.