have you ever seen the rain?

That song has been looping through my head for the past several days. Well, one line of the chorus, anyway: "I want to know, have you ever seen the rain . . ." over and over and over! I think it's because it won't stop raining. Hmmm . . . maybe I should start singing "It's Raining Men"--it couldn't hurt :-)

We actually didn't have any rain today, which was really nice. There's lots of water just sitting around . . . some ditches had water in them a month ago. It just keeps raining! My parents' sump pump kicks on every three minutes or so. One of my coworkers said she has six inches of water in her basement! Boy, am I glad I live in a second floor apartment!

Some severe storms came through last night. Here in Nebraska, we tend to get rather blasé about storms because it seems we're constantly having severe thunderstorm and/or tornado warnings in the summer. The lightning started here around 5 p.m. . . . by that time, Kearney, which is about 1 1/2 hours west of us, had already been hit by a tornado. The same storm produced a tornado at Aurora, 20 minutes south of us. But when it was all said and done, we had rain--no hail, and no tornadoes. Sometimes, I just take for granted that God's going to protect us. Stephanie said she feels like Central City is invincible--we have warnings, but as far back as we can remember, we haven't had a tornado. Seeing the damage in Kearney and Aurora made me think about what I'd do if CC did get hit. And you know what? It's all just stuff. Would it be hard to lose my things? Of course! But life and the ones you love are so much more important than any thing you might own.

That said, last night I was much more concerned about being able to watch the season finale of LOST than about the threat of tornadoes (remember what I said about being blasé about storms?) Both the Kearney and Lincoln ABC stations were, with good reason, preempting programming in favor of storm coverage. Then the Lincoln station announced they would run the finale at 12:05 a.m. Of course, fanatics that we are, Val and I had to watch it. Then we had to discuss it for another 25 minutes. I got to bed around 2:45. Was it worth it? You bet!

RIP, beloved tree

One of NC's landmarks is a horribly bent tree between the girls' dorm and Ad building. Hundreds of students have climbed on this tree throughout the years, and it has always been a favorite picture-taking spot. In fact, when college friends Jen and Sarah were here a few weeks ago, we couldn't resist:

Last week, my dad mentioned that he'd been thinking of taking the tree out, as it seemed to be leaning farther down. I begged him not to, since the tree is special to so many people, and it's obviously still living. At the end of last week, several severe storms came through. This is what I saw when I arrived at work this morning:


RIP, beloved tree

what's wrong with my plants?

I definitely don't have a green thumb. It's closer to black, kinda like my mother's. I currently have four plants. One, I have amazingly kept alive for nearly 2 1/2 years. Of course, it's one that doesn't require much water or sun, so that helps! I've had my second plant, an African Violet, for about three months. It's on my table, so I see it all the time and sometimes remember to water it. My newest two plants I received as gifts about two weeks ago. They both aren't looking so good! I'm not sure what to do for them--I water them (I don't think too much), but the only place in my apartment that gets good sunlight is in the entryway right outside my door, and it gets really hot there. Any suggestions?

These are geraniums with something else thrown in for good measure. The person who gave them to me didn't know what they were, either. See those little buds? They were there two weeks ago, too . . . and they've never shown any signs of opening.


These are some kind of impatiens. The tag said they need lots of sunlight--not ideal for my apartment! They're looking pretty sickly!

things i love this memorial day weekend

• a picnic in the park with friends and family
• staying up until 3 reading a ridiculous Christian romance . . . and not caring since i don't have to work in the morning
  
• getting new contacts that actually aren't blurry
• Unbeatable Banzuke--it's like Ninja Warrior on steroids
• Hy-Vee brown sugar & cinnamon bagels ($0.79 each)
• American Gladiators marathon
  
• the National Memorial Day Concert. it always makes me cry . . . especially when they do the Armed Forces medley, and all the veterans stand and sing their branch's anthem.

Here are some pictures from our picnic. (It's my first slide show . . . here's hoping it works!)

why i do what i do

Contracts for next year recently went out, and for the first time since I've been at my school, I'm not thinking about bolting for the door. But I have been doing some thinking about what keeps me at my job. If you asked me what I like about it, I could give you lots of answers: speech, The Advance, being around my family, etc. However, there's just one thing that keeps me coming back--my students. Who would have thought I would say that? I wasn't ever going to be a teacher. But somewhere along the line, I fell in love with the internationals. I'm crazy about them! I love talking with them about their home countries. I love teaching them grammar. I love having them on my speech team. I love going on trips with them. I love having them over for a meal. I love making "lemon pie" (lemon bars) for them. And when they graduate, transfer, or just leave for the summer, I miss them.

This is my Intermediate ESL class, minus Dan (Taiwan), who had already graduated. Alice (Korea) is the girl on the left. She has a twin who looks absolutely nothing like her--you wouldn't even be able to tell they're related. She is one of the hardest workers I have ever met. She joined our class in January after she got bumped up from Beginning ESL, and once she started getting the best grades in the class, everyone else realized they needed to start working harder! Arisa (Japan) is next to Alice. She always made me smile, and she acted like a mother to the boys. Her English improved dramatically throughout the year. David (Korea) is on the left. He's holding the "lemon pie" I made in celebration of our last day of class. He would always greet me with a "Good morning, Miss Becky"--no matter what time of the day it was! Paul (Korea) is on the right. My friend Melissa calls him "Exclamation Paul" because he only speaks in exclamation points. Paul makes me think--he always has excellent, deep questions, especially relating to Christianity. He is obsessed with finding me a husband . . . to the point where he offered to set me up with his "fat, mean" uncle. When I asked why he'd want me to marry someone mean, he said, "Because then I could call you Aunt Becky!"

I'm excited to meet next year's class, but I don't know how it could be any better than this one!

"it makes your apartment look woodsy"

Tina was one of my favorite ESL students. I had her for Intermediate ESL last year, and this year, she ended up joining the speech team and taking my speech class. More than just being a student, she really became a friend. I was sad to see her graduate, but her cousin owns one of the Chinese restaurants in Grand Island, and she's staying with him this summer, so I hope to see her a few more times before she goes to UNL in the fall. Right before she left campus, she told me she had a gift for me. Many of the Asian kids give gifts from their home countries to their teachers, so I was expecting something like that. Instead, she gave me this:
How much cooler is that?!? She got a 3rd place ribbon in pencil drawing at the conference art contest--I didn't even know that she could draw!

I wanted to find a frame, and I figured that Hobby Lobby would be the best place to go. The prices made me want to run away, but then I saw that frames were 50% off. Gotta love Hobby Lobby! I have lots of colors of wood in my apartment (beggars can't be choosers), but this perfectly matched my beloved Shopko table. Val came over just as I was finishing the framing process, and after I hung it, she said, "It makes your apartment looks woodsy. Kinda rustic. Like a log cabin or a ski lodge." I guess with the couch, it kind of does. What do you think?

early onset alzheimer's?

Yesterday, I had a debate with myself. I couldn't decide if the year was 2007 or 2008. I had to look at a calendar to figure it out! This wasn't the first time something like that has happened, either. A few years ago, I couldn't remember if I was 23 or 24. I had to do the math: OK, I was born in '81, and this is 2006 (at least I knew what year it was!), and I haven't had my birthday yet, so I must be 24!

This afternoon, the principal popped out of his office to ask, "Is this 2008?" I thought he was making fun of me. Nope--he really didn't know! I think this is a bad sign. I'm 26; he's 27 . . . shouldn't we still be sharp enough to know what year it is?