I make too much?!?

Dear FAFSA board,
I make too much? As in "I make too much?!?" Seriously? I don't know who is doing your calculations, but there is something seriously wrong with it if you think that I have an extra $4,500 laying around...I can't even afford to live on my money, let alone have extra to apply towards an EFC (estimated family contribution). I'm paying for college on my own (AKA: No family contribution. None. Zero. Zilch. Nada.). I was understanding about it this year because I'm living with my parents, so they are contributing to my existence: Room, Food, Utilities. But I just applied for next year, and I plan on moving out this summer, so I selected the option "living off campus (not with parents)" So, that means the EFC is just me. And since my current income is puts me right around the Typical Expenses (AKA, I make just below what's needed to survive, before taxes are taken out...after taxes, I'm way below...) for the state of CA (the fact that I hope to move to one of the more expensive areas should be taken into account--Dear Heather, Why'd you have to pick a Univ. in the middle of the vain civilization? Why couldn't you pick a small town place like San Berdu or Frez? Love, Heather) I'm positive I won't have 5000 left. Not after I pay rent, insurance, phone, food, gas and all the other expenses that come along with independence and growing up. I'm not even sure I'll be able to pay for all those things. And do you know what that means? That means I'll have to take out student loans. I HATE student loans. I hate the feeling of being in debt. Which, in turn, means that I will have to stop taking my cheap little vacations all the time (and by all the time, I mean like every other month, because I have next to no free time, what with a full time job and full time school and full time service at church) and pay them off ASAP. If you know me, you know that I NEED my cheap little vacations to maintain my sanity. I need my trips to the beach, (yes, I do count a day trip to the beach as a "cheap little vacation") or a weekend in AZ or UT or NV or wherever else. With out them I might seriously consider dropping out of school (and if I do that, I can guarantee the gov. will be spending more on me than it will be getting from me, which I'm sure will cut into your FAFSA budget. FYI.) I already want to because I've been going pretty consistently since I was 5. I've had a total of 2 years off in that entire time. That's sick and wrong. Please, give me back sanity. Give me Financial Aid. Let me finish going to school and getting an education. I promise that I do have high expectations for myself. I will get a well paying job. I will be paying more than enough taxes to send several kids to school each year. Here's an idea: just give me my taxes back. I'm really not asking for much here. I just want to be able to survive, and not have to live in my car (with gas prices soaring as they are, I might not even be able to afford that!). I'd really appreciate anything you can do to help.
Hopefully yours,
Heather

Unique Vacations

Today in my journey to kill time at work, I came across this slide show. Right off I wanted to send my "little" sister to Cottonwood, Idaho to indulge her new found infatuation with dogs. Later, I thought of how much my boss and his family would love the unending supply of air for scuba diving tanks offered at Jules’ Undersea Lodge in Emerald Lagoon, Key Largo, Florida. For each slide I could think of someone (or several someones) who would love a trip there. I'm sure that by now anyone who is a regular reader of this blog knows my love of travel/vacations. And you might know of my love of the unique, but maybe not...Well, for all of you in doubt, I love unique things. I love to find the obscure bench or cafe or trail; anywhere that I can make my own, and not have a million people running around. I've never been much of a fan of the passing craze. I don't read books because a certain vowel thinks they're good. I don't wear pink because it's the new black. I don't buy new cell phones just because they're new. I do things because I want to, or because a friend I trust encourages it. Now, for those of you who don't know me, don't get confused--I'm not an out-there freak trying to make a statement. I still have my natural hair color, I'm pretty good at blending into a crowd, and I do wear some trendy clothes. I'm just saying that I do things because I like/want to, and not because it's "all the rage."

Sorry about that tangent, I'll put my soapbox away for another day. Today, my intent is the vacation spots. Who else thought those sounded like fun? Which one would you pick to go on first? (I really do want to see your answer to this in the comment section) Do any of them make you nervous? I know I'd have a problem with scuba diving in Florida--aren't there tons of alligators and sharks there? Do you know of any others I should add to my list of adventures?

Kite show

I think that any day you can go to the beach is a good day--and any day you can watch a kite show at the beach is a great day. Saturday was a great day! About a month ago, my friend told me about a kite show, and I've been excited for it ever since. I don't know what it is, but some how the beach has a magic power over me: it makes life seem better. All of a sudden life (AKA working full time, carrying a full load at school, fulfilling incredibly overwhelming responsibilities at church, and trying to maintain a some kind of a social life) is manageable. I have miraculously found the desire to prepare for the oral presentation I blew off last week. I went to church and payed attention for the entire 3 hour block, plus the fireside afterward. I got up early enough on a Monday that I put on makeup, and jewelry, took out the trash, ate breakfast and still got to work on time. My first class on Mondays is on the 5th floor, and I usually try to force myself up the stairs to get there, but this week I did it no problem, then my second class is on the 4th floor of the same building, but I went went up to the 7th floor just for fun, then all the way down, then up the 4 flights to my class. That means I did 11 flights of stairs, up and down, within a 4 hour period. (For those of you who don't know me, I'm super lazy, so normally 11 flights=no thank you.) Do you see how amazing one day at the beach is? In hopes that you will all benefit as much as I did, I've included some pictures of the kites:

You know that these guys are doing?
They're flying these kites. Did you know there was such a thing as synchronized kites?

Gotta love the kids

My sister shared some youtube videos with me last night--we were seriously rolling! Charlie is the star of the first clip, and Bluhud runs in the second. but what we really liked was this little girl, she's so cute!

Photography

I'm kinda weird about pictures. I don't really even know how to explain this...but I love to see other people's pictures, and I usually think they are amazing; but when it's a picture I've taken, I suddenly become OCD. And not OCD in the way of just wanting it to be perfect (which I do want), but also in the way of wanting it to be unique. I like to find a different angle. For example, the picture above is nice. It follows the rule of the thirds, is well framed (in my opinion)...but it's just such a generic waterfall. It's what everyone sees and snaps a shot of. So, instead of leaving it like that zoomed in on a small part and came out with this picture:

And I have more...There are other's I liked more than this one, but I haven't uploaded them to my online album yet, so I can't get at it right now.

See, I don't really know why I do it. It might be some outward manifestation of my inner need to be unique, or my desire to be noticed, even though I'm such a small part of the bigger picture...or maybe it is just an attention to detail or an abstraction of reality....No matter what it is, I have it.

I think my favorate "abstract" picture is one I did on my mission. I didn't actually take the picture, but I croped it out of a magazine. See, one of my companions got some CD's from her mom. They were actually copies, and didnt have any cover art, so I went through the old Ensigns and Liahonas that were in the apartment to find something appropriate. I believe it was for the "Greater than us all" cd. I found a picture of Christ, but it was too large to fit in the CD case, so I was trying to find a way to crop it to fit...Interestingly enough, I ended up with a mostly blank CD cover but it was amazing. I really can't explain it...I wonder if I can get a picture of it. Compy--do you still have it? Can you send me a picture? Thanks!

Happy Valentine’s Day!

In honor of the holiday, I've decided to play matchmaker. I think Sophie and Brock should be lovers. I mean, look in these pictures:

How cute are they?!

Coolest teacher. Ever.

An actual conversation I had with my "english"* teacher:
Him: (I'm excited because) next week will be the funnest class.
Me: Ah, and next week is the week my sister wants me to ditch class.
Him: Why?
Me: Because there's a Demetri Martin show we want to go to.
Him: Who's that?
Me: A super funny commedian.
Him: Cool, I'll have to look him up. (pause) Well, you can reschedule your oral presentation for another week without any penalty. As you know, attendance isnt necessary in this class.
Me: Ah--come on! You're killing me here. I'm trying to be responsabile and not ditch class.
Him: Oh, but it's responsable ditching. You're responsibly selecting the class you miss.
Me: Hum...

Ya--Pretty amazing...So, I'm probably going to the show next week. :-) Also, if you are like my teacher and want to check out a litttle demetri--here is a video, and while it's pretty long, it's totally worth it at the end. My fav. jokes are near the end. I love the grapes (around 5 min), too. You can also check him out at Comedy Central.



*I say "english" because the class is my department's lame version of an english class mixed with a speach class, but they call it professional communication.

The Plan

Morphed essay still continued...
But not as a teacher. I've never wanted to be a teacher. 20+ kids running and screaming and disrespecting you all day--No thank you! Maybe back in the day when teachers could punish their students (I'm not talking abuse, but teachers cant even touch students anymore.) parents taught their kids common curticy, and didnt spoil them...but these days I know I'd want to duct tape them all to the wall.

So, it's taken me a while, but I continued exploring different possible careers surrounding children, and I narrowed it down to early childhood education (ECE) which would be 0-5 years of age. I think I can handle that. Maybe. Last year I took a class on Special Education classrooms and LOVED it! I have been toying with the idea of going into teaching (which I swore I'd avoid) to work with these sweet, sweet children. The laws and standards are more flexable because they are all treated as individual cases, instead of mainstream's NCLB. That was appealing-being able to really work on meeting the child's needs, and not the school's. And then I took a class about Language Development. I Loved it even more. I'm sure it was in part due to the teacher's personality and dedication to the field, but whats wrong with that? She also mentioned a masters program that sounds great...so I suppose you've been reading all these for one reason: to find out my plan. What is my new career choice? SLP

So, the new plan: 2 years to get BA, then MA program, then work as a SLP...It will still take several years to mean anything, but you know what they say about goals...Ok, so I'm not really sure what exactly they say...something about how you can't reach them if you don't have them...Well, I have one now, so maybe one day I'll even reach it.

Narrowing the Options

Morphed Essay continued...

I know that a lot of who I am comes from everything my family did for me. Growing up I saw my friend's families always fighting, or divorced parents, or just plain dysfunction and I couldnt understand it. How can a child be expected to develop in that environment? I understand that no family is perfect, and there are some situations beyond one's control...but to me, a family is supposed to be able to work together; to help each other. So I thought become a Marriage and Family Therapist (MFT). I'd always enjoyed my psychology classes, which is where I'd have to start anyway, so I thought it was a good match for me...Until it was pointed out to me that people don't usually change. At least, not without intense dedication. And they lie. They tell you they will do something and then go out and do whatever is easiest. And I realized that I really wouldnt be very good at telling people what to do because I already don't like to do it. And I wouldnt be good at NOT telling people what to do, (but helping them figure things out on their own) because I'm way too opinionated and impatient...so I crossed that off my list of potential careers.

But I still wanted to help families. And I didnt know how. So after taking a few more years, I realized what I've known all along: I'm really only good at little kids. I have no other super special abilities or talents, but for whatever reason, kids like me. Maybe it's because I've got untapped super mom powers...or maybe it's because I have the mental level of a 5 year old, so I understand what they want. Either way, my career has to be with children.