"Believe me, I exhausted all other options."

Part One
My summer is essentially over. Tomorrow I start my week of T.A. training and orientation. Overall it was a pretty good summer. When I made the decision to stay in DeKalb instead of going back to Brainerd, I was a bit nervous and sad. But most of my good friends that I have made here stayed for the summer too, and we managed to have some fun times. I also love my job at Sylvan, and I worked there pretty much every weekday. I really like connecting with the kids there, and I am sure that I will have some detailed posts about my job in the near future. I will still be working there a few hours per week, which will be nice.

So though DeKalb may not have the fun water-related activities of Minnesota, I know I made the right choice staying here.

So now on with one more year of my master's program. I am looking forward to my classes (more on them later, too) and to teaching freshman composition.


Part Two
One note to those of you who are going off to various schools in these next few days & weeks: please keep in touch. Even though a large portion of my blog readership is scattering a bit, I hope you will all continue to check in.


Part Three
Yes, I saw Snakes on a Plane. And while it is most definitely not the greatest movie ever, as some have claimed, it certainly is a lot of fun, and I enjoyed myself thoroughly. The plot is preposterous and the dialogue is hilariously bad, but all of this adds to the pleasure, and it would be impossible not to be completely entertained.

A few highlights:

• The microwave sequence
  
• The unfortunate urinating man scenario
  
• The dog vs. the anaconda
• The man vs. the anaconda

"It's teal."

And the most uncalled-for, gratuitously grotesque, disgustingly awful part of the movie: the high-heel shoe incident.