Um, Like, You know...

After school Wednesday, I had to make a quick stop at a store at the Apache Mall.  Since the store was having a pretty big sale, it was busy, and the lines at the cashier were very long.  As I mentioned in previous students' blogs, I am a big fan of a people watching.  The way this store was set up, though, didn't give me that opportunity.  Instead, I was forced with having to listen to two girls having a conversation in line behind me.  Every other word was "like," "um," or "you know."  The one girl was venting that she only got a $50 dollar gift card to the store we were in.  Her friend was far too agreeable.  I'm not sure what these two girls were sharing was even a conversation.  I felt it more resembled a list of filler words.  I'm sure passing words back and forth helped them pass the time, but I would hardly consider what they had as a dialogue.

Students and Gender Roles

I've been struggling with a nasty cold lately and decided to stay home yesterday and rest, with hopes of kicking it. Although I am feeling quite a bit better, I'm not sounding much better.  Feeling better is good, but I sure hope I have my voice back soon.   I have Murphy's second birthday party tomorrow!

Anyway, in looking over my sub notes, a colleague wrote,

"I don’t want this to sound sexist, but in general the girls worked really hard and the boys did not (with a  few exceptions)"

Since this is based on observation, I don't really think it is sexist; although, it may be a little stereotypical.  Do you think it is a gender role?  What do you see in other classes?  Is this the "norm" or not so much?

You've Got Mail

We just finished watching You've Got Mail in class; we watched it as a way to see many of the concepts we have covered so far in action, both successfully and not-so-successfully.  I have to admit that I really do love this movie. Part of that is my sentimental attachment to the movie.  I first saw this movie with my high school boyfriend, now husband.  Since we went to separate high schools in different towns, we were only able to see each other on the weekends, if even that often.  Most of our communication was through AOL (American On Line) email and messaging.  The words "You've Got Mail" made my heart skip a beat, and if I heard the chime of AOL Messenger, I often found myself holding my breath until I saw if it was him or not.  There was so much that was said through those that really moved us along the different stages of relationships (covered in a later chapter). I often wonder if we would have been nearly as comfortable talking face-to-face as we were thorugh computer screens.

Anyway, the point that I am trying to make is that I've seen this movie many times over the years, and this time while listening and watching it, a quote really stood out to me:

The odd thing about this form of communication is that you're more likely to talk about nothing than something. But I just want to say that all this nothing has meant more to me than so many somethings. 

That is exactly how I felt about the early communication of our relationship. Sure, there was some self-disclosure, but a lot of it was sharing what we did, saw, and thought each day and then reflecting on that with each other and making associations to things we could relate to.  To someone else, the words and thoughts we exchanged would have been a whole lot of "nothing," but to us, it was something.

Another thought I had was, "Wow. Technology and how we communicate as a society has really changed since 1998."  I see that as a good and bad thing.

Bazaar Bingo

This past weekend was my parents' church's holiday bazaar.  It has all kinds of events to celebrate the holiday season like cake walks, silent auction, craft and bake sale, games for kinds (like lucky duck pull, fishing pond, sucker tree, and ring toss), and bingo. I haven't been able to attend the bazaar for  few years, but growing up and attending yearly, the bingo room as my favorite; I was really looking forward to it.  Unfortunately, I became overwhelmed with all kinds of noise. There were younger elementary-aged children chatting away, my dad crunching noisily on cookies, Murphy squirming in my lap and talking, my stomach growling, and my nerves on edge due to the crabby bingo caller.  Things got better, though, once I was able to eat some holiday Chex mix and drink a little more of my candy cane coffee :).  I even won a few rounds taking home a Baker's Square gift card, a Willow Tree ornament, a bracelet, and all kinds of fun things for Murphy!  All-in-all, it was a good time :)

http://www.picgifs.com/graphics/bingo/

Internet Pet Peeves

Since we've been working on verbal communication all week, I thought this would be a great time to talk about my pet peeves when reading things on the Internet, especially on Facebook.  These are in no particular order.  

One of my pet peeves has to do with writing in all caps.  My cousin and his wife both have this terrible habit.  Sometimes I avoid reading their status updates or comments on my postings because I don't feel like being shouted at.  Honestly, I know that they don't mean for me to read there messages that way, but when I do read it, I can hear their particular voices shouting every single word, and it drives me crazy.  Another pet peeve I have with internet postings has to do with grammatical and spelling errors.  For example, last night alone I read one of my other cousin's postings sharing that her husband's lab results came back "canser free."  Another cousin (yes, I have a lot of cousins) posted that his "babies due in January" even though his wife is only having one baby.  A friend I graduated high school with used the wrong "there" twice in the same status updated.  Ugh!  A third pet peeve I have has to do with the over use of emoticons and exclamation points.  Not everything can be that happy and exciting...all of the time, unless, of course, you are Flo from the Progressive commercials. Then, maybe, it is.

Gender roles and gender toys

I saw this picture on a friend's Facebook page earlier this week.  It really says a lot about some people's ideas of gender roles, even at a really early age.  There is this idea that only girls can play with baby dolls and Barbies, and boys should be playing with cars, tools, sports' balls, and even guns (Nerf for example).  My dad would back this up 100%.  If he ever saw my son wearing pink, I'm sure he would ask him to have his clothes changed.  I'm not that way, though. The way I see it, if my son is happy, then I am happy, too.  Maybe it is a generational thing...

 I've seen pictures of my son at daycare dressed in glittery, frilly dresses, and I've seen him covered in dirt while playing with dump trucks outside.  I feel that children shouldn't be subjected to these gender roles at such a young age. They'll get it enough when they are older; they should maintain their innocence as long as they can...

Camo Culture Gift Ideas

On Thanksgiving, my husband's family decided it was time to draw names for Christmas gifts.  Instead of buying gifts this year, we are supposed to make them.  I knew this a while ago, so I've been pinning things on Pinterest as I came across ideas that would work for some of my in-laws.  Most of these gifts I pinned worked well for my sister-in-laws and my brother-in-laws. I didn't really think I'd end up pulling a nephew's name, which is exactly what I did.  This nephew has only a few interests: Monster energy drinks, hunting, and hunting (yes, I put that on there twice for a reason).  This is a culture I know very little about.  When I think of hunting, I think of cold mornings, long hours of sitting, and camouflage clothing.   I know there is more to this culture, but this is what I know about it.

This is where I turn to you: readers who may be a part of this culture or understand it better than me.  Some ideas I have come up with for things I could make include fleece scarf, duct tape tote bag, munchie mixes and cookies.  What might I be missing?