Health Update

    Hey everyone!  I'm currently on day two of my extra long weekend and I'm feeling much better.  I didn't want to post yesterday in order to give myself a little more time to recuperate after my operation, so I'm posting today instead.  Not a lot has happened in the last week or so, but I'll fill you in on the big things.

    My kidney biopsy went very well yesterday.  The staff at the hospital made me feel so much more comfortable about the whole situation that I would honestly do it again if I needed to.  I spent my entire day there, which was a bummer since it was the most perfect fall day outside.  Luckily I got to experience the outdoors today instead.  There were no immediate complications and I'm still a little sore and stuffed up, but otherwise I feel fine.  All my entry points are healing nicely without any discoloration and I've had almost no abdominal pain since I've been home.  The procedure, although initially very scary, wasn't as bad as I had imagined it to be.  The worst part of it all was probably putting in the IV and the distribution of the numbing agent through my back.  Overall it went well and I'm hoping that they got a decent sample to give me some answers in a week or two.
    As for teaching, I've been taking more of a back seat lately.  Due to my health issues and frequent absences, my professor and cooperating teacher thought it would be a good idea to follow a co-teaching model up until the end of the first trimester, (which will end up being sometime in November).  I'm hoping that I have my Lupus under control by that point where I can take on more of a leadership role.  I'm relieved to have a little more time to get some observations in, work on my pedagogy statement and focus more on following directions in the classroom so I can make sure I'm doing everything right.  Come spring I'd like to feel a little more confident in my teaching abilities and earn my cooperating teacher's trust back so that I can substitute and lead my class properly, but right now I know I'm not in a good spot to do that.  Sometimes in situations like mine you have to learn to be humble and take what you're given, even if you don't want to.

    It's also been awkward dealing with what I've come to recognize as my "new normal."  I've had Lupus for about 14 years now and for most of that time I was in remission.  I hadn't had to deal with any serious health problems since 8th grade, which was the last time I was hospitalized.  Now it seems that my body is changing rapidly in a negative way and I've never had to deal with something of this magnitude.  Over the last month or so since I've started teaching I've talked to my professor and cooperating teacher a lot about "accommodations" related to my health and I've never really thought about it like that before.  I've never thought of myself as someone who needed to be accommodated for and that makes me feel sort of fragile, like I'm not able to do the things I've always been able to do.  My "new normal" situation is sometimes frustrating and aggravating to the point where I just want to shut it all off.  Since I've been on the steroids it's been a lot easier to move around and do simple tasks like opening a bottle of water, but I'm afraid of what will happen when I'm done with them.  Will I be prescribed something that actually works for my whole body or will we ache through another month or two of trial and error until we find a combination that works for now?  There's a lot still up in the air and not a whole lot of explanation, but I guess that's what I've been given.  If I've learned anything from this experience, it's that sometimes you just have to roll with the punches.

    PREPARE FOR SPOILERS: As for TV for the last week, my husband and I ended up binge-watching everything we missed last week last Saturday so we're all caught up for now.  Bones made me cry and I really wish they didn't kill off Sweets...but it looks like it'll be a huge motivator for Booth and Brennan to catch whoever is behind it.  I also hope that Daisy doesn't name her child Seeley Sweets, but we'll see.  We watched the premier of Arrow last night and it was awesome for about two seconds.  I've wanted to see Oliver and Felicity together SO BADLY and then they're date was ruined and then he changed his mind and WHAT THE HELL OLIVER?!?  Also, killing off Sarah may or may not be a good move, but I guess we'll see how this plays out over the rest of the season.
    That's all I have for this week.  Monday is a holiday, hence the extra long weekend joyousness, so I'm back to school on Tuesday for an intern-friendly field trip.  Should be a nice, relaxing couple of days and I plan on taking full advantage of them:)  Until next time, I remain your faithful correspondent.

Nerd Alert

    Welcome back to Thursday!  I can't believe it's been a full week already, but I guess time seems to move a lot faster towards the end of the semester.  As you probably could've guessed, I've been neck-deep in readings and writing assignments for both of my classes with even more on the way.  Not to mention I may be taking on more responsibility at work, meaning more hours for me, but less for subbing.  In fact, I will most likely have to give up substituting all together, seeing as I won't be able to return next year.  It's bittersweet because I love those kids and I will miss them terribly, but I will probably see them again.  They were the ones who made teaching fun for me, so I owe them a lot, including the credit for how I teach in the future.  I'm currently trying to get in to two different summer camp opportunities, one right in town, so if both of those fail, I have a few back-up options available.  Hopefully something works out because I definitely need some sort of summer job.
    As promised, I have almost a full week of reviews lined up from the latest batch of shows and I'm ready to get started!  If you don't know by now that there are SPOILERS ahead, you don't deserve the ability to read.

    1. Once Upon a Time this past Sunday was very informative.  We got to learn a little more about the witch, where she came from and how she fit into the Oz story line.  What I wasn't expecting was the reasoning for her skin condition, ("green with envy" seemed a bit too cliche for my taste, but that's just me...), and the fact that Walsh, Emma's ex-fiance, was once the Great and Powerful Oz before being turned into a flying monkey by the vengeful Zelena.  I am curious about how Charming's courage and Regina's heart will play into Zelena's secret spell, as well as where she will ultimately find the brain she undoubtedly needs.  My money is on Rumple, but obviously anything goes now, so we'll just have to wait and see.  Where will Zelena find the brain she needs for her spell?  Will Regina finally let the the people ship Robina?  WHY does the witch still want Snow's baby?  Sound off in the comments below.

    2. Game of Thrones premiered this past Sunday as well, but I only watched it yesterday.  I have to say, it didn't wow me, but it did provide the perfect transition into the new season.  The recap was surprisingly tame with hints of the slaughter at the Red Wedding.  We haven't gotten a close up of those traitors yet, so who knows what'll happen to them.  My guess is nothing, so long as the Lanisters remain in power and no one stands to oppose them.  There is also a wedding on the rise as Joffrey and Margaery Tyrell prepare to tie the knot, (possibly physically as well as figuratively...hopefully).  We all see how this could potentially be his undoing, but we'll see if this minx can sink her claws into him.  I have a feeling that they're both going to be around for a while, so get comfortable with that.  I'm glad we got to see a little more of Jon Snow's dark side, coming back from the wildling ambush last season.  He's bitter and hopeless, exactly what you want to fight a raid of wild people and some frozen zombies headed your way.  He seems a lot stronger, now that he has no need to worry about what might be left of his family.  I'm sure he'd be mighty proud of Arya if he saw her now, but who knows if we'll ever get that tearful reunion, (I would sob).  I hope they build her character into the warrior she should be because she's probably my favorite character of this entire show.  I know she makes it pretty far, so we'll see.  What do you think will happen to Sansa?  Or Shae, for that matter?  How about the sudden repulsion from sexual contact by more than one couple?

    3. Bones this week impressed me greatly.  I don't usually talk about Bones, but it has been one of my Monday night shows for a very long time.  The scenario was that a murdered woman worked at a cannabis dispensary, growing her own super-medicinal strain on the side for terminally ill patients.  This woman also had Lupus, which is something I've struggled with for the majority of my life.  These two facts bring together some legal and moral issues that I don't think any show has tackled so far.  They are very touchy subjects with very little positive messages attached.  There is minimal research and known treatments for Lupus, so having cannabis provide the relief not only for the terminally ill, like Wendell, who came back for this episode after starting chemotherapy, (I cried seeing him because I love his character so much!), was great to see.  This episode brought to light some issues regarding holistic cancer treatments and the legal use of cannabis as a medicinal aid for joint pain and other maladies associated with Lupus and other chronic illnesses.  It just made me really happy to see those issues addressed in a public forum, even if it was a television show.  Best episode of the season so far!

    4. Agents of Shield brought the WOW factor this week, as we come back from watching Captain America: Winter Soldier.  The events of this episode coincide directly with the events of the movie; everything is happening all at once.  If you didn't get to see the movie before Tuesday, you may have been totally lost, but it was still an eye-opener to be sure.  We see S.H.I.E.L.D. overrun with Hydra forces, allowing two of Coulson's close friends to become moles within his team.  We didn't get to see who the Clairvoyant was until the end, but I had an immediate feeling that Agent Hand, although a huge bitch, was not the bad guy.  She would've been too obvious!  I think the fact that it was Coulson's friend Garrett made it even harder for him to take, considering all they had been through together up until that point.  Garrett gave absolutely no sympathy, but was promptly arrested and taken into custody by Hand and Ward, who forced himself into that situation by claiming he needed to take revenge on his role model.  Needless to say I wasn't surprised when Ward pulled the trigger on everyone but Garrett.  I'm disappointed with Ward, after all he did for Skye and Coulson, to turn on them like that.  I have a feeling that he will switch sides again by the end of the season, but we'll see.  Where do they go from here?  Will FitzSimmons EVER become a thing?  Will Simmons's dark, handsome friend be joining the team now that Ward has defected?  You can't trust anyone...

    Those are all the reviews I have for this week.  If there is a particular show that you'd like me to check out, (if I haven't already), let me know in the comments below.  At the moment, I'm creating a unit to teach to one of my classes next week on gaming and identity practices using RPGs.  It's been an interesting ride so far and I've learned a lot about my own game play decisions.  We'll be using Skyrim, Balder's Gate and Pokemon as references.  I'm pretty excited about this lesson and hope that it'll shed some light on different teaching ideas when combating similar situation in an English setting.  I'll also be completing a close-read of a public figure for my Friday class blog post this week.  I think I'm going to do Tyler Oakley, seeing as he's the most spread out over social media.  I'll be looking closely at how Tyler portrays himself in public as well as through his various social media outlets in order to gain a deeper look into his true persona.  All of the work I'm doing right now in my classes is super fun and imaginative, so I highly recommend going to grad school if you have the chance.  I never thought I'd get this much agency into what I learn about and how I learn it, even though it can be difficult at times, (seriously, when is school not difficult?), I've enjoyed every minute of this experience and don't regret a thing.  I'm looking forward to May and the teacher I will become next year.
    Speaking of teaching, I've reconnected with my advisor and I've been set up with a few prospective teachers in different areas who haven't been placed yet.  First stop is a high school, which isn't really where I thought I'd be, but at this point, I'll take it.  I may very well end up in an eighth grade classroom, but for now I can't be picky.  I'll keep you all updated on how that's going and as soon as I know my placement I'll be shouting it from the rooftops.  Until then, I just have to keep trucking on this reading assignment.  Until next time, I remain your faithful correspondent.

Happiness is the Truth

    Welcome to Thursday's post!  While my husband and I are meticulously cleaning our apartment, I thought I'd take a break, (we've been at it for about 10 minutes...)

    First off, I'd like to point out that I'm down to one potential job as of today...a little disheartening, but I'm not going to let that bring down my spirit.  I refuse to let depression take hold of me like so many others who are unemployed.  Besides, it's only been about two weeks, so what is there to worry about?  A lot of people spend more time than that looking for a job, so I should consider myself lucky that I might have a job by the end of next week.  I'm trying to stay happy.  I re-read the job description for the one I have the interview for a week from today and I feel like I would love that job!  I hope your fingers are still crossed for me, (although you might want to think about taking a break because if you leave your fingers in that position they may get stuck like that...)

    While I try my best to control the outcome of my future, I've been roped into an interesting concept for a project for one of my classes.  We are looking at affinity spaces, that is spaces where people congregate, (in person or online), and collaborate, share and interact with each other based on a mutual interest.  They are a relatively new, complex and extremely modern idea surrounding today's students and classrooms.  One theory is that students learn just as much outside of school as they do in school.  I found a fun article on The Huffington Post about parents with teens using digital media here.  

    By using digital media, (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) and games like Minecraft, Pokemon and World of Warcraft they can enhance their communication, social interaction and organizational skills while simultaneously creating a tactfully-designed alternative universe in which to engage with others who share the same passions.  I find the whole concept absolutely fascinating!

    So, in dealing with this idea of "affinity space" and gaming, I'm working on some research that involves Minecraft and Pokemon as they relate to students outside of the traditional classroom environment.  Who plays these games?  Is there a common pattern?  How do players get their inside information?  How do you play?  How do you learn how to play if you aren't already familiar?  What kinds of sites are at students' disposal when confronted with an issue?  These and many more questions will hopefully get answered as I dive into this complex and relatively new terrain.  I might post more about findings as soon as we start researching, but check back for more info later on.

    

**SPOILERS AHEAD MATEYS**

    For my television reviews this week, I'll start with The Bachelor.  CLAIRE IS DRIVING ME CRAZY!  I know she loves him and everything, but we have a Stage Five Clinger in the house and she is all sorts of wrong.  She's not nearly as bad as some of the other wackadoos they've had on this show, but if she makes it to the final four, I may shoot myself.  My Top 3 as of this week are Renee, Andi and Nikki.  I know a lot of people don't like Nikki, but I can see things from her perspective and I think she just had a rough week last week, (not to mention I feel like they're highlighting a different girl each week to be the "problem child," so keep an eye out for next week's fire starter).  I think Renee could win because like Juan said, she's just like him.  I feel like they look good together and I'm hoping to see her in at least the final four.  Let me know who you think should go home next in the comments!

    Bones and Castle were pretty standard.  Not a whole lot going on, and Bones just totally ignored the whole Wendell-cancer fiasco by bringing in another, (horrible), intern.  I miss Wendell's gorgeous face already...  Meanwhile we can see Beckett is getting her first case of wedding jitters as she dons that beautiful wedding gown.  I'm still no the fence about it, so let me know in the comments if you loved it or hated it, but I feel like she would look so much better in something a little more form-fitting.  Thoughts?

    How I Met Your Mother tore at my heartstrings yet again as we see Ted FINALLY, (and literally), letting go of Robin once and for all.  It's sad because of all the years they spent with each other but relieving at the same time.  Now, hopefully, they can get on with the whole wedding business that they are taking forever to get to.  I was anticipating that they would have the wedding happen next week, but seeing as they like to draw things out for as long as possible, I doubt that'll happen.  We haven't seen the mother back yet, and we know they meet at the reception, so we'll have to wait a little longer.

    New Girl after the Super Bowl was hilarious!  Prince was a nice added touch, but I loved the ending.  Also, this week's Tuesday episode didn't disappoint either.  I know I don't talk about it much, but it's one of my favorite shows to watch.  So is Agents of Shield, and this week made me question what they were doing completely.  I'm liking the dangerous situations they've gotten themselves into, but I've totally forgotten the reason behind it.  Also, I knew that whole romance between May and Ward wasn't going to last, but I never saw Skye getting shot, let alone almost dying.  We'll see if she turns into some sort of superhero to save her own life, but the official introduction of Deathlok was refreshing.  My husband and I had looked into it and figured he was the only logical explanation for Mike being kept alive, although the original Deathlok's story line is completely different.  Obviously he has motivation to do the Clairvoyant's bidding.  Let's see where this goes.

    Lastly, I've been spending a lot of time inside, re-watching old shows I haven't seen in years, one of them being Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.  I've been more into them lately, probably because of all the hype over the Michael Bay production coming along, but also because they've been a long-time favorite of mine and I refuse to give them up for the sake of being an adult.  Luckily, I found at least the first and second season of my favorite cartoon reincarnation from 2003 on YouTube and have been getting reacquainted with it.  I absolutely love this particular season because of the graphic artwork, more reminiscent of the comic book style drawing, the humor in the dialogue, and the relationship between the brothers.  I think all of these aspects give the show a more authentic TMNT and they stay relatively true to the original story arc of the comic books.  I have always been infatuated with the Raphael in this series.  It's been nice to go back in time for a bit and relive my glory days as a thirteen-year-old nerd.

    Well that's about it for this week.  I think that covers most of what I've been thinking as of late.  I'm excited for this weekend because I am actually leaving my house, (gasp), to go visit and have lunch with my best friend Katie up in Portland, ME, so that should be fun!  I'm also starting my orientations at different middle schools next week, so hopefully I find where I belong for next year.  I'm subbing on Tuesday, so for all my kids who read this I'll see you then!  Also, I'll be posting again tomorrow until my class page about the "Walk My World" project, so stay tuned for that.  Until next time, I remain your faithful correspondent.

Walk My World

    Here we are, on a Friday.  I apologize for the lateness of my post, but I was busy all day with reading, then a much-needed family night.  Trust me, it was entirely worth it.
    Speaking of family, I have some great news!  My sister-in-law is being induced tomorrow and will have my highly anticipated nephew this weekend!  I am so happy for her and I'm very excited to become an aunt.  My only hope is that when I have my first child I am as lucky as she is to have all the love and support that her family has given her.  They've had a pretty rough time the last few months and her family dropped everything and made room for them and the baby, gave them a place to stay and a new job to help support them.  My in-laws are the most selfless, honorable people I've ever met in my entire life.  They surprise me every day with their unwavering kindness.  I suppose that's sad for me to think that that kind of love is unnatural or special when it should always be that way.  Regardless, I have no doubt that that child will be brought up in the best of circumstances.

    On a less emotional note, I have started classes this week, as you all know, and have been engrossed in reading and other preparations for future projects and case studies.  I will be posting on a new page later today directly connected to my Special Topics course about our readings pertaining to participatory culture.  I have also been making preparations to start an observation case study on a student at the school I substitute at.  I already have consent from three different parties, so as soon as I get her class schedule we can start!  I'm super excited to start looking at her writing and see what connections and inferences I can make.

http://wiobyrne.com/walkmyworld/

    In addition to the blog posts and readings for my Special Topics course, we are trying to participate in the "Walk My World" challenge, which is a research study created by William Ian O'Byrne, (you can follow him on Twitter here).  The purpose of this project is to explore the use of digital texts to see how people connect and communicate with each other.  For ten weeks, I will be posting a picture or video snippet of my life accompanied with the hash-tag #walkmyworld in order to provide a glimpse into what my "world" is like.  There are no guidelines or requirements to the posts, but it has to be about your life.  I take that to mean I can continue to post random pictures from various moments of my life, but more diligently.  That is to say I haven't been keeping up with my Instagram as of late, so I will be posting at least once a week for the next ten weeks or so, starting next week.  Should be fun, and I'm excited to be participating in someone else's research!  If you'd like to participate or learn more about Will or the "Walk My World" challenge, you can visit his website here.

**SPOILER ALERTS GALORE**

    On a completely different note, I did get to watch the latest Bachelor, Bones, Castle and How I Met Your Mother episodes from this past Monday.  So far my current Top 3 ladies for The Bachelor are Renee, Andi and Nikki, but we'll see how long that lasts.  I'm just glad that Lucy Lewd went home, finally.  I really like these girls because they seem really down to earth, they're not too young or immature and they seem to really have his best interests at heart.  Again, not sure how it'll turn out, (my father insists that he never picked anyone at the end), but I feel god about this Top 3.

    Bones made me cry AGAIN this week.  I'm not sure what it is with all these TV shows tearing at my heart strings, but apparently they're in a phase.  Wendell was diagnosed with a rare form of terminal bone cancer, so he now has a 10% chance of living through chemo and other treatments.  I died a little, not only because he's been on the show for so long and has been an undeniable asset to the team, but because Brennan SHOWED EMOTION.  If you've watched the show for as long as I have, you'll understand that when Brennan shows emotion, it's a big deal.  Her being sad at his diagnosis, which SHE discovered, shows that it's definitely a hard pill to swallow.  I wish him all the best in this season, but I'm definitely expecting him to die in the finale...fingers crossed I'm wrong.

    Castle was your typical Castle plot again.  After the tumultuous burning building episode we kind of needed a break from the drama.  I was happy to see Alexis (hopefully) break it off with Pi, seeing as he brought nothing more to the story and was basically dead weight in her life.  We'll see if she caved next week, but I'm guessing they're officially over.  It's sad that that was the highlight of that episode for me.

    How I Met Your Mother is getting more and more daring with their story line as we saw Lily and Marshall finally had the fight they needed to have, but it ended in disaster.  Lily ended up leaving in a random vehicle after calling an unknown person for a ride out of the inn.  She didn't say where she was going either, so we could be following her anywhere next week, but I'm most curious to see who it was that she called.  Marshall will most likely be heartbroken so close to the wedding, but we all know from previous episodes that Lily makes it back in time for the ceremony with everyone else, so we'll see what happens.  We haven't seen the mother in a few episodes either, not since she helped Marshall, so I'm eager to see her during the wedding reception.
    That's all for this week.  I'm expecting to post pictures of Tanner when he arrives, so look out for those on Tuesday, but for now I'm going to try and enjoy my weekend.  Here's to more reading and two blog posts today instead of one!  Until next time, I remain your faithful correspondent.

OOPS...TV Stuff

    Hey guys, so I'm going to apologize early for this one because I honestly haven't even picked up Divergent and totally got wrapped up in other things so far this week.  Sorry!  I'm also currently a chapter away from finishing the first installment of the Game of Thrones series and I hate starting a different book while I'm still working on another one.  I promise to have a mild review with questions/concerns up by next Thursday.

    My distractions were also partially due to the fact that I got roped in to a new television program on Hulu called Reign on the CW.  If you are unfamiliar with the show, it supposedly follows a fictional version of Mary, Queen of Scots through her adolescent years as she attempts to save her country by forging an alliance through marriage with France.  So far it's been less than historical, however it's a nice plot line with all the made-up characters that never existed.  I will be tuning in for the second half of season one on the 23rd.

    Also on my radar for television, (as this has been a lazy week of roaming about the house with little to nothing to keep me busy), is the new season of The Bachelor, which I've already warned you about.  The only reason I'm watching is because of Juan Pablo, which is somewhat obvious.  Also, I've heard that there's a Phi Mu girl amongst the potential bachelorettes, so I will be following her progress as she is automatically my favorite by default.  I will not be able to live tweet the show, however, due to the fact that I have no cable and have been watching online the day after it airs.  As soon as there's a show on Sundays that I enjoy, I will be live tweeting that.

(DIOS MIO...)

    In addition to the new Bachelor, Cougar Town has returned for a fifth season and I could not be more excited!  I have loved this show since its inception and I think it's hilarious.  If I had to rank it, it would fall somewhere around New Girl in my "favorite comedy" pool.  I can't wait to see how they work the new plot line of this season!

    Well, that's basically it.  TV has been controlling my life now that everyone is coming back from their winter break.  Castle returned this week, (tearing at my heart strings), as well as Agents of Shield and Bones set to return this coming Monday with How I Met Your Mother.  I have a lot more that I'm following with new shows popping up on my radar every few days, but I'm only morally invested in a select few.
    I enjoy these shows because of the variations in plot structure and character developments as it pertains to my knowledge about the two.  I think TV does lend itself to a larger infrastructure of literacy that we have yet to explore, but try telling that to an "obese" child addicted to Adventure Time who spends hours of uncultured time on the couch some some Cheetos...  I'm sure I'll learn more about the differences as I continue my digital literacy studies next semester, but for now I'll just let TV be entertainment.  I only have about a week left before I start my last two classes and I want to make the most of this downtime while I have it.  Again, sorry this post is short!  If you have any questions or just want to talk about any of the shows I listed or any of the ones you watch, let me know in the comments or Twitter or anywhere really.  Until next time, I remain your faithful correspondent.