Spirited Away: Take Two

I don't normally "get" anime.  I don't know if it's just over my head or if it breaks a Weird barrier that I just can't get past.  Either way, it's already hard enough for me to get through Max's movies when I'm not literally falling asleep... which is what was happening the first time I tried watching Spirited Away wiith him.  Needless to say, I didn't quite make it through and definitely didn't understand a bit of what I did watch.

But tonight, I have officially watched all of Spirited Away.  Phew.  Even sober and fully awake, this is one weirdo movie.  But, as I mentioned yesterday, I wanted to finish watching for Max.  Lucky for me, I had him as my own personal tour guide throughout the movie.  It started making a lot more sense when he started explaining the Japanese mythology behind the story.

Think of it this way: if someone from another culture tried watching Harry Potter, but had never heard of witches or that they ride on brooms, had never heard of vampires or that they are warded off with garlic, had never heard of warewolves or that they change on full moons... that person would be very confused and mark the movie off as weird and confusing.  Those mythologies would not be a part of their culture, so they wouldn't understand the context.

Spirited Away was that for me, but opposite.  I had never heard of "No-Faces" or that they have to be invited to come inside a house.  I didn't know that they can only eat you once you take something they offer you from their hand.  So the first time I watched, I thought, "What in the world is this creepy black thing and why does it keep offering everyone gold?!"  It made no sense, so I wrote it off.  Once I understood the context, I could follow the storyline.

Don't get me wrong, I'm still not a huge fan of anime... but it was defintely nice to see it from a new perspective.  I love mythology and fantasy, so with Max's help, I actually ended up liking the story a lot more than I thought I would.  It was a nice ending to our two-part date night.  :)

Reckless Tip of the Day: Don't be afraid to give something new a chance. Learn about another culture and appreciate it.  Don't just write it off because it's different.  Different is beautiful.

Thank You, Max

Max has been working so hard lately--long hours of actual labor.  He comes home tired every day, but he's the reason we still have our apartment right now.  Since we both actually came home in time to eat a real dinner together tonight, I surprised him with a special Stay-At-Home-Because-We're-Old-And-Tired Date Night!

I got into a fancy dress, set the table, and made barbecue chicken quesadillas (a mixture of two of his favorite foods).  I also got some pecan pie for dessert and movie snacks (sours gummies, of course) to eat while we watch one of his favorite animes.  Unfortunately, we were both much too sleepy for the whole two-hour movie, but we'll finish it tomorrow night.

It was the highlight of my week to spoil my favorite hard-working guy.  :)

Reckless Tip of the Day: Thank someone who works hard for you.

Red Lights of Death

If I see one more red light today, I think I will scream.  Nothing but red lights.  All day.  Stop lights.  Brake lights.  The lights in my head, that I may or may not be imagining...  My work commute this morning: red lights.  My work commute this evening: red lights.

Growing up in a small town but often visiting family in Tampa, I always said, "I will NEVER live in a big city."  Well, here I am!  And usually, I actually really love it.  There's always things to do and I know lots of people and I have a great place to live in a great location.

But days like these make me question my sanity when I made the decision to move here.

In Tampa's defense, at least I have only been stopping at red lights.  It's when traffic is stopped at GREEN lights (and yes, Small Towns, it happens) that I really lose my marbles.  You know, the flashing red marbles rolling around in my head...

Reckless Tip of the Day: Patience.  Patience.  Patience.

Castle Crashers

After job searching and getting and working and going a little crazy in life, sometimes you just have to DANCE.

Attempt 1: Melissa falls asleep at 9:00.
Attempt 2: Tiffany crashes on the couch for TV.
Attempt 3: Success!

We went to Castle for the first time, which is something else--let me tell you.  I loved how when we got there, hardly anyone was there, and yet there was dancing.  Usually no one dances until the place starts filling up, but the first girl up and moving was the only person on the dance floor.  She just closed her eyes and went for it. I loved it.

Thank you to my super-fun roommate for getting me out of the house for a much-needed Girl's Night Out!

Reckless Tip of the Day: Dance like no one's watching!

They are the Present

As someone who works with children every day, one of my pet peeves is when people treat children like children.  They are not dumb.  And they are not dogs.  So please stop using the Baby/Dog Voice when you talk to 10-year-olds.  They notice.

Children are extremely intelligent; in fact, I would argue that they are more intelligent than most adults.  (And no, I'm not taking a jab at dumb adults.  I'm being serious.)  They pick up new information and even new languages like sponges.  They think differently and problem solve in ways many adults would never think of.  The only advantage an adult has over a child is time on this earth--practice.

So I wasn't surprised at the intellectual conversation my class had about the Parable of the Seeds tonight.  I wasn't surprised when they analyzed it themselves before reading Jesus' explanation.  And I wasn't surprised when their explanations were different, but still reasonable.

1. "So... the good soil is like God and He helps us grow."
2. "When Jesus died on the cross for us, it's like He took away all the rocks and thorns in our way."
3. "This story reminds me of that verse where He is the vine and we are the branches..."

Reckless Tip of the Day: Don't underestimate children.  They are NOT the future.  They are the PRESENT.

Good and Bad News

Good News: I got the job!  I'm hired at Tampa Language School as an English teacher.

Bad News: They only have open classes during the hours I teach at the gym, so I don't have any hours with them yet...

I am now the proud owner of four jobs and going a little crazy.  :P

Reckless Tip of the Day: Just go for it.

Cleanliness is Next to Kindliness

Sometimes a random act of kindness can be as simple as spending the morning cleaning so your stressed out roommate doesn't have to worry about it.  It's the little things.

Reckless Tip of the Day: Do a random act of kindness!

Upsidedownness

When I was a kid, I used to watch TV while sitting in a headstand on the couch.  Somehow, the world just looks different upsidedown...  Not necessarily better or worse, just different--a new perspective, if you will.  Either way, tt's a nice change from the mundane right-side-upness of the world that we are so accustomed to.

I tried acro yoga for the first time today, and the upsidedownness did not disappoint.  It was so amazing to see what my body was capable of.  This particular pose was trickier than it looks from the photograph.  I actually started on my stomach and we crossed hands so he could flip me around to my back.  Took a couple tries, but I got it!

Reckless Tip of the Day: See the world from a new perspective.  (It may just be literally upsidedown, or it may be figuratively upsidedown: from the perspective of someone you usually don't understand.)

Shower Power

Today I put polka dots on a dress-shaped cookie in honor of my awesome cousin Tara who is getting married in a month!  Congratulations, Tara and Will!

Lucky Me also got to see my parents and Bueli as we got some much-needed Family Catch Up Time.  Did you know that Village Inn is a restaurant?  That's just bad advertising, guys...

Reckless Tip of the Day: Love someone!  (Probably the most reckless tip of them all, but also the most worth-while.)

World Changing Conversations

Today I had my first private lesson at inlingua, with a Level 2 student from Mexico.  We are focusing on conversational skills, so as a speaking topic, I posed this question:

If you could change something about the world, what would it be?

Here's the kicker, though... it has to be reasonably realistic.  You can't say "I would turn Donald Trump into a flea (a harmless little flea), put that flea in a box, put that box inside of another box, mail that box to myself, and when it arrives I'll SMASH IT WITH A HAMMER!"  As much as that would greatly improve the world, it's unfortunately not realistic.

The question is honest: what would you change about the world, and how would you actually go about doing it?  Tell me what you think in the comments!

Reckless Tip of the Day: Change the world!

I Wanna Be The Very Best...

Have you ever had a nostalgic moment so severe, you made your boyfriend download a gameboy emulator onto your computer so you could play (and finally beat) the original Pokemon Red?

No?....

Just me?...

Well, okay then.  FYI, I'm a tad bit on the hooked side, so if I continue to be behind on my blog, just know that it's because I'm busy becoming a world-famous Pokemon trainer.  No big deal.

Reckless Tip of the Day: You're only a kid once.

Ain't nobody got time for adulthood...

X Marks the Spot

Treasure to some: gold, money, fancy cars, big screen TVs, etc.

Treasure to us: Mardi Gras beads, a plastic dinosaur, a koosh ball ring. and a tiny wooden shoe from the Royal Netherlands Air Force.

Rented some bikes and went geocaching around Downtown Tampa.  It's a good day.

Reckless Tip of the Day: Go treasure hunting!

Coral and Crepes

Max and I went on an impromptu date to the aquarium tonight!  Neither of us had ever been, but he can get us discounts with his Busch Gardens ID now, so why not?  Everything was so beautiful.  We didn't have much time, but were able to walk around a see almost everything.  I even got to high-five a stingray!

After the aquarium, we skipped on over to Ybor, which is actually super fun during the day/early evening.  Less of the Crazies are out and all of the interesting stores are still open.  We went into La France, which has all sorts of interesting clothes and costumes and fun hats and socks!  For dinner and dessert, we ate at La Creperia--the best restaurant in Ybor, in my humble right opinion.

All in all, a good date night.

Reckless Tip of the Day: High-five a stingray!

My Headache Throne

This is what happens when you've had a headache all day and your loving boyfriend sets up a spot for you on the couch.  Pillows to prop me up, headache meds, cold cloth for my head, and my Harry Potter blanket.

Put all that together with a couple of episodes of Gilmore Girls, and I was feeling better in time to go to work.  What a guy I have.

Reckless Tip of the Day: REST.  Everyone needs rest.

Great Scott! I've Seen Them!

October 21, 2015 was a big day in America... for just about everyone but me.  I had seen the first Back to the future but never the rest of the series, so I just went about my day.

Needless to say, this lack of Back to the Future knowlegde was unacceptable to many of my friends, so it was only a matter of time before I had to sit down and watch them.  So when my friends Jess and Joseph invited me over for a Random Hang Out And Do Nothing Day, a Back to the Future marathon seemed appropriate.

And here's my review:
There are a lot of things that I really like about these movies.
1. Michael J. Fox AND Christopher Lloyd?  Um, yes please.
2. Goofy humor--right up my alley
3. And I LOVE how they put in little details in the background that nobody points out or draws attention to.  You have to watch more than once and really pay attention to get the most out of these films.

That being said, even though I love fantasy and sci-fi, I have always had an issue with time travel.  Witches and wizards?  Sure.  Dragons and elves and magic?  Fine.  Time travel?  Nope.  Completely implausible to me.  I just can't wrap my head around it.  For me, J. K. Rowling does it best: if you have gone back in time, it has already happened.  No alternate universes or timelines.  But, then again, I'm overanalyzing.

Reckless Tip of the Day: Suspend your disbelief and enjoy the movie!

Ulterior Motives

I am pretty notorious in my family for having a very intense Baby-dar.  If there is a baby in the room, I will find it, and I will hold it.  And you may or may not get it back.  (I should've listened to Cliff Huxtable... "Don't SMELL the BABY!")

So when my family made a sign up to bring dinner to my cousins for their first few weeks of parenthood, this Not-a-Cook put her name on the list!  At least I was honest: "I'd like to say that I made you this meal out of the goodness in my heart, guys, but I may have had ulterior motives..."  Luckily, they know me well and just smiled and handed over the baby.  :)

Readers, meet my new baby cousin Maggie Anne!  Born January 7 and cute as can be.  (PS She totally peeped an eye open, saw me... and then smiled.  Ha!  She likes me.)

Reckless Tip of the Day: Smell the baby!  :P

The MEM is Back

Story Time!

All throughout elementary and middle school, I had the same group of friends.  We always had the same classes and we lived near each other.  And I loved my friends.  The problem was that I didn't have a "best" friend... and everyone else did.  Everyone liked me, of course, but they all had someone else that they were closest to.  When the teacher asked us to pair up, A always went with B, C always went with D, and Melissa E was always stuck by herself.

Now listen, this is not a Sob Story.  I was NOT a lonely kid.  I had lots of friends, and they all loved me.  But there's a big difference between having a lot of friends and having one close friend.  A "best" friend.  Someone you could tell all your secrets to; someone you could call in the middle of the night if you needed them; someone who would be there for you forever.

So when my group of friends all went off to the same high school, I made the drastic decision to go to a different school, far away, where I would essentially know no one.  I had one goal: make a best friend.

Mission accomplished!  This, dear readers, is the lovely and super-intelligent Emily.  Emily is much smarter than me and much busier than me and is pretty much always studying so she can become an even smarter and busier doctor... so I don't get to see her much anymore.

Tonight, we actually got to hang out!  Coloring Party 2.0, since she missed the first one.  And instead of Disney movies, we honored David Bowie with some Labyrinth action.  Love you, Boon!

Reckless Tip of the Day: Don't be afriad to break away from your Comfort Zone.

It may be the best thing you ever did...

Peas and Carrots

When I taught gymnastics in Lakeland, I had a student who was so incredibly clumsy.  Every time she'd fall, I'd tell her, "You are the second clumsiest gymnast I've every met."  Of course, she would ask, "Who is the first?"  But I just smiled.  I'm pretty sure she knew.

It's true, LeFou.  I was probably the most clumsy gymnast to ever walk onto a spring floor... and apparently some things never change.  Tonight was my first day "shadowing" at LaFleur's and, keeping with tradition, I hurt myself.  In the first 20 minutes.

I was at my first event of the day with my first student, who was supposed to kick up into a handstand and fall on her back onto a mat.  Well, I haven't spotted in awhile, so I'm apparently sitting in an awkward position.  I had to spot her a little more than I expected and in doing so I pulled the living daylights out of a muscle in my hip.  Real classy, Melissa

Anyway, after several minutes of excruciating pain and buying some time by talking to the student because I could not spot again yet, I finally felt well enough to stand and walk again.  But I did spend the rest of the evening stretching it out periodically and iced it when I came home.  I knew we should have bought icepacks at Walmart this morning...

Reckless Tip of the Day: When you get hurt, shake it off and try again!

Pyros for Jesus

So we're starting a unit on the Holy Spirit in Kid's Club this week.  It actually works out perfectly because the adults are doing a book study on Forgotten God at the same time, so hopefully the kids will be able to talk to their parents a bit about it.  It really is true that often the Holy Spirit is the "forgotten God".  No one seems to know much about Him, and while there will always be some mystery surrounding any Part of God, it's still important to know as much as we can!  Unfortunately, this lesson didn't work exactly how I planned, so humor me and let me do it right this time.  :)

This is a ten dollar bill.  It represents us.  We are valuable to God.  When Jesus rose back into Heaven, He promised to send us the Holy Spirit to live inside us.  The Holy Spirit is essentially that piece of God that lives in each one of us!  But the Holy Spirit is powerful like a fire!  We need to be "soaked" in Jesus in order to let the Holy Spirit burn through us!

So the bill was soaked in "Jesus" (no spoilers) and lit on fire!

Bad news: The bill didn't catch on fire and then burn out quickly, like it was supposed to... 

Good news: The bill didn't catch on fire and burn either, so I didn't lose money on this!

Also Good News: I think the kids still got the idea.  ;)

Reckless Tip of the Day: Catch something on fire!  (You know, safely.)

Because Why Not?

Job #2 is a go!  Check out my adorable new staff shirt!

Okay, so I won't be working with tots... At least, that's not the plan.  The plan right now is about 3-8pm, working with the elementary-aged girls.  And I'm so excited!

Actually, to be honest, working at a gym was not part of the plan at all.  I was applying for language centers and tutoring centers, not gyms.  But for some reason I got this feeling and started looking around... and found a gym that was hiring!  It's big and beautiful and as Annie would say, "I think I'm gonna like it here!"

Reckless Tip of the Day: You don't always have to work in your field.

Some jobs can be just for fun.  :)

We are Hufflepuffs!

Monday Night is DATE NIGHT!

Tonight's Date: Amature Geocaching

This took some time... The first three places we tried--no luck.  We searched everywhere, and the darker it got, the hard it became.

But we would not give up until we found one!  You know what they say: Fourth time's the charm!  So somewhere in Lakeland (staying in Tampa was not nearly adventurous for us tonight...) there is a little pill box with a card in it saying "Melissa and Max found it!  Can you find it, too?

Reckless Tip of the Day: Go on a geocaching adventure!

And definitely DON'T give up after the first failure... or second... or...

Just don't give up, okay?  :P

A Happy Little Medium

Teaching Job #1: "Hello!  Welcome to Such-n-Such Elementary School!  Here is your classroom.  Kbyegoodluck!"  I also got a mentor that I met with once a week (who was awesome, by the way, no complaints there) and a vague yet complicated curriculum that I had to decipher myself.  Not that it mattered... no one ever seemed to check if I was doing everything correctly.

Teaching Job #2: "Hello!  Welcome to So-n-So Elementary School!  Here is your classroom.  And your list of required extra trainings.  And your first two weeks of lesson plans that you must teach exactly like this and to the minute.  And your mandatory committee placement.  And the curriculum books that you must use exactly in this way.  And a stack of paperwork that we're not going to explain to you.  And your evaluation schedule.  And your mentor.  lol jk You don't get a mentor!  Have fun!"

As you can see, Teaching Job #1 gave me so much freedom that I didn't even know where to start...  Teaching Job #2 made me feel like one of those mimes stuck in an invisible box.  I couldn't see the box, but I knew it was there.  And even though I wanted deperately to get out of the box, I was afraid I would trip some alarm or something and They would find out I was teaching reading using (*gasp!*) novels.

Welcome to inlingua: the job of my dreams!  At inlingua, there is structure.  There is curriulum that progresses in way that makes sense and must be finished at a certain time.  But there is flexibility.  I can speed up or slow down as needed.  I can bring in supplementary resources like books or games.  I can tweak the lesson how I see fit as a qualified teacher who knows what she's doing.  It's like a beautiful, happy little medium.  And best of all: I'm going to work there.  :)

Reckless Tip of the Day: Quit your job.  No one deserves to be stuck in a job they hate.

Gus Gus: My Anti-Drug

Meet Gus Gus.  My anti-drug... literally.  When I get anxious or depressed, my lovely Max brings out The Gus and the panic pills stay in the cabinet.  It's a great system, actually.

This particular moment, I wasn't anxious, but I did have long day.  (Training Day #1 to become an English teacher at inlingua!)  Max took out The Gus and put him up against his chin.  It may look like Gus Gus hates his life right now, but I assure you he was purring like crazy!  That is one happy pig in this picture.

Reckless Tip of the Day: Find your anti-drug!

What puts those depression/anxiety pills back in the medicine cabinet?

Figure it out and hold on to it for dear life!

PS Since I get asked often, Gus was originally named after Augustus Waters in The Fault in Our Stars--see the poster in the background?   The nickname Gus Gus is, of course, from the fat mouse in Cinderella.  Books and Disney movies.  You can't get better namesakes than that.  :)

The Professional Eater

Tonight I was invited by my lovely Aunt Anita over for dinner.  It has always seemed to me that everyone in my family seems to love to cook except me.  Cooking is not my gift or passion or my... anything.  Instead, I am a passionate eater.  I excel in the art of eating.  Eating may well be my calling.

But tonight, I decided to pitch in.  We made tacos!  Thank you, Anita, for taking time out of your day to cook with me and talk with me and spend time with me.  I enjoyed myself tonight.  See you later!

Reckless Tip of the Day: Help out with something you're not good at.

Colorful Joy

Welcome to Melissa's First Ever Coloring Party/Disney Marathon!  This night will include:

• junk food: pizza, chips, and a giant bag of gummy bears (shown bottom right)
• beginning and advanced coloring books (they are NOT "adult coloring books," because that implies that other coloring books are just for kids... This is not Trix cereal, people...)
• fabric and wooden canvases
• paint, crayons, colored pencils
• stacks of Disney movies (we choose Princess Diaries and Brave)
• and, of couse, amazingly awesome friends (not pictured: the fabulous Shelby, who left a little early)

I have this annoying tendency of feeling really lonely and then blaming it on the fact that I have no friends.  This, of course, is ridiculous.  It is I who isolates myself.  So this past weekend I had the random idea to throw this little party, and what do you know?  Friends.

Everyone got a wooden tile to decorate, and I miraculously managed to make this!  I choose Joy because isn't that what we have to do every day?  CHOOSE JOY.

Reckless Tip of the Day: Choose Joy!

Trinity, Toilet, Turtles

Even though my church can't pay me full time anymore, I am honored that they allowed me to stick aorund and continued working with the kids.  A lot of people don't understand why I love working with kids so much.  They think that kids are too far below their intellectual level, and they would rather spend time with someone they can "go deeper" with.  But actually, kids understand a lot of complex concepts.  The only difference is how you approach the subject...

Just tonight...

• I taught about the Holy Trinity using marshmallows and candy corn.
• We discussed how "Pray on the toilet" is a legitimate New Year's Resolution, followed by a historical lesson on the proper way to poop.
• We debated the status of the Ninja Turtles as super heroes.  (Kids said no because they are just mutants and have no suits.  I said yes because X-Men are mutants, too, and no one questions their superhero status.  Also, it's hard to find turtle shaped suits.  They did their best with the mask and belts.)

When was the last time your conversations were that deep?

Feel free to continue the Turtle debate in the comment section!

Reckless Tip of the Day: Pray on the toilet!

PS If you'd like a copy of the Snowman Trilogy Poem, let me know!

Job Searching is a Hard Job

I'm going to tell you a secret, and I need you not to hate me for it...  Jobs are usually placed on my lap.  Wrapped up in pretty paper.  With a bow.  I've been super lucky in the job searching department my whole life.  My very first job was teaching gymnastics at the old gym I used to go to.  My boss was my old coach.  Easy.  Then he referred me to another gym when I moved for college.  Easy again.  Working for an afterschool program whose director knows the summer camp where you spent your summer?  Child's play.  A friend referred me to my last teaching job and another friend to my very latest job directing a another afterschool program.  I have only ever job searched once in my life, and I remember hating it.  Good to know I remembered correctly...

Hey, I'm not say I wasn't qualified for all those giveaways... I definitely was.  I'm just saying that I've lived a pretty charmed life, as far as jobs go, and Veruca Salt over here is trying to be a big girl and get a job on her own this time.  ("I want new job NOW, Daddy!")

I loved my last job, but unfortunately they had to lay me off and I have since spent my New Years applying to everywhere I can think of (carefully avoiding public schools, of course...).  I'm tired.  Today I drove around to all the places I've applied so far to drop off hard copies of my resume.  One place didn't exist, one place doesn't accept resumes, one place has no openings but will keep my information on file, and one place seemed interested but isn't full time.

Reckless Tip of the Day: Put yourself out there.  It might just make the difference!

(I'll let you know...)

PS Yes, I cheated.  I didn't actually post this on the 5th.  Did I mention I was tired?

Cuban Food on Crack

First official date night of the year!  And let me tell you, we are off to a good start.

1. Bahama Breeze.  My new favorite restaurant.  Holy cow.
"This is like Cuban food on crack."
"If I could only eat one thing for the rest of my life, I'd choose this."
"I want to cry.  Because I keep eating my meal.  So it's disappearing.  Please don't go.  Come back meal."
"If this meal came in on a white horse and proposed to me, I'd leave you (Max) here at the restaurant and live happily ever after with it."

I think Max may have been a bit lonely because I spent most of the date whispering sweet nothings to my food... My friends, this is a sweet plantain filled with happiness: rice, beans, cheese, beef, and love.  Nom.

2. Books-a-Million!  Right next door, who can resist?  This trip was pretty standard for us: I pick some beautifully bound classics, drool over them, carry them around for a bit, drool some more over the leather journals, cry as I put the classics back--while Max follows me around reading a manga book backwards.  (And every once in awhile I stop drooling to remind him how rude it is to read a book cover to cover in a bookstore... Just pay for it, Anime Nerd!)

3. Revolution Ice Cream: The closet Bahama Breeze was in Brandon.  But the Rev is also in Brandon, so no hard feelings.  Best ice cream shop around!  LOVE LOVE LOVE.  And my awesome hoop teacher ever sells her hoops there, so that's pretty cool.

To sum up my date: Cuban Food on Crack, Books, Ice Cream, Max.  All-in-all, I think I have it pretty good.  :)

Reckless Tip of the Day: Pick something on the menu you've never tried before!

Journals Anonymous

For those of you who don't know me... I am a journal junkie.  I wouldn't be surprised if my friends and family got together to stage an journal-buying intervention and sent me to JA meetings.  I love journals.  I love how they smell and how they feel and how they look and how blank they are.  They're like a blank canvas for your life.

Similar to the millions of New Year's resolutions that are shot by January 10th, most of my plethora of journals are 10-pages full and then forgotten.  And yet, people still make resolutions every year, often the same one over and over again, knowing they will break them.  Why?  Because the chance for a fresh start is always so tempting.  I still buy journals because they are like a New Year Fresh Start that I can get anytime of the year.

This particular journal, which is handmade and beautiful might I add, was given to me this year at Christmas.  (Why?  Because my family feeds my addiction, that's why...)  And I want to finish it.  Since there are no lines, it has kind of become a sketchbook/journal, and I like it.  Pictured above are my notes from this morning's service.

Reckless Tip of the Day: Finish your resolution!  (Or just a journal...)

Hoola for Happiness!

About this time last year, I was outside eating lunch at a church event, and they were playing music over these big speakers.  Some girl came out with hoola hoops and started seriously jamming out to the music.  I'd never seen anything like it and was very intrigued.

Eventually, I got up the nerve to go up to her and ask her to teach me something.  I hooped with her for a bit, and she told me that she actually works with a ministry called Hoola for Happiness, which goes all around the world hoola hooping with kids and teaching them about Jesus.  (http://hoolaforhappiness.org/)  Leave it to God to come up with a ministry so completely random... and yet so awesome!  I love it.

Anyway, I decided that I needed to learn how to hoop like that so I started taking lessons with the adorable blonde in the front middle of this picture.  I have been hooked ever since!  Hooping has been theaputic for me and has given me joy over a tough year.  Still loving it a year later!

Reckless Tip of the Day: Ask a stranger to teach you something new.

Five Years: Plain, Raw, and Simple

My last post to this blog was April 22, 2011--almost five years ago now.  I don't know why I was suddenly possessed with the desire to start it up again after all this time, but I was.  After the "possession," it would have been easy to just start back up on that day, but somehow I knew I couldn't do that.  The past several years have been some of the hardest years of my life thus far and skipping over them seemed wrong--almost unhealthy.  In fact, I spent much of those hard years trying to cover up the fact that I was struggling.  I just put on my Happy Face and pretended everything was peachy.  Your 20's are supposed to be your BEST years, right?  Well, no more secrets.  Here is Melissa: plain, raw, and simple.  I'm not looking for sympathy.  I just want people to know me for who I am, flaws and all.

I picked four pictures for each year.  Even though I tried to pick positve pictures, what they represent will not necessarily be a positive moment in my life.  So without further ado, here is what you missed from 2011 to 2015!

(I apologize for the long post... A lot can happen in five years...)

2011

One more year gone and one more to go... The Fairwell Festival is a Florida Southern tradition to kick off the summer.  And this year's summer was extra special!

In 2011, I spent my summer in the beautiful country of Haiti.  My emotions were on a rollar coaster that summer...

Just being in Haiti was my greatest joy of 2011.  I fell in love with the country long before I ever set foot on its soil, and now I get to spend three months there?!  As an intern, I was able to help in many different areas around the campus, but one of my very favorites was the Miriam Center, a home for children with special needs.  Many children in Haiti are abandoned if they are born special needs, not because Haitians are cruel and hateful, but because they have no way of caring for a child who is different.  For Jonathan's Sake was an awesome program where parents with special children could come in several times a week and learn how to work with them.  It was beautiful to see this mom light up from pure love of her child! 

This summer was also the first time in my entire life I became homesick... and it was a crippling homesickness at that.  For whatever reason, I found that I really didn't "click" with any of the other interns.  My only real friends were Haitians, with whom I was still trying to communicate effectively.  I had never felt so alone or isolated in my life, and it was extremely difficult.

This summer was also special because it was when I first felt the strong call not just to visit Haiti, but to someday serve as a full-time missionary.  As you can imagine, that was a pretty terrifying thing to hear from God, and yet I was at peace with it.  Interestingly enough, my biggest fear was how Max would take the news... Would he come with me?  (Hint: Read on to find out!)

Most people go get shwasted on their 21st birthday, but if you haven't realized this by now: I'm not Most People.  To be honest, I don't really care for the taste of alcohol and sitting around drinking doesn't sound even remotely fun to me.  (Drinking is what I do to survive, not have fun.  It's like someone saying, "Let's go out and breathe air tonight!  Except the air is poisonous, and you'll feel really sick tomorrow!  Doesn't that sound like a blast?!")  Anyway, I decided to do 21 my own way: Paint Fight Party!  Everyone wore white and got two squeeze bottles of paint.  I also had one big gallon of paint and a bucket of paint filled water balloons.  Two rules: 1. Avoid face shots. 2. Avoid the swans... I don't need the city of Lakeland after me...  Ready, set, GO!  (I still have and wear my painted shirt from that day.)

For Christmas, my whole family took a trip to Disney World.  Now that all the siblings are "grown-up" and doing our own things, this was actually a big deal.  That's my "little" brother Nick on the teacups!

Reckless Tip of 2011: Don't be Most People.  Be You.

2012

2012 marked the ten year anniversary of my beautiful grandmother Merere's passing.  In remembrance of her, the family went to one of her favorite places in Tampa: Lowry Park Zoo.  Memere used to dress up similarly to Mother Goose and volunteer at the zoo as a storyteller.  I still miss you, Granny Annie GumDrop...

My second summer in Haiti was SO much more rewarding!  I made tons of friends that year, which helped me remember that I'm not unlikable... you just can't click with everyone.  We would go on these crazy long hikes up the Haitian mountains.  Since we were essentially following the rivers, we would see waterfall after waterfall.  So beautiful!  This was also the year I met John and Christi Barnes, who I have considered my mentors ever since.  They are full-time missionaries in Haiti, where they adopted 12 Haitian teenagers who all live in a home together as a family.  They are beautiful people, and I am so thankful we met!

For my last semester in college, I got my dream internship: teaching STEM 5th grade with one of the greatest teachers in the county (in my humble opinion).  Teaching STEM was awesome because you were allowed to stray a bit from the curriculum.  Since it was an election year, our class was put into groups to research different aspects of how American elections work.  Then they taught the other kids in the school, and we held mock elections.

And now the moment we've all been waiting for...*drumroll please*... I graduated college!  My roommate (and best friend) Jessica and I finally did it!  If you look carefully, my cap says "viv san pè" which means "live without fear" in Haitian Creole.  It was the closest translation to "reckless" that I could find.  :)

Reckless Tip of 2012: Viv san pè!

2013

Here comes the hardest year of them all... Put on your seatbelts, folks...

Max and I broke up during my internship in 2012.  Somehow "being in love" just isnt enough when one person eventually wants to pack up and move to a third-world country--and the other doesn't.  After losing my love and best friend, somehow I thought moving to Honduras for six months would be a good idea...

My first teaching job ever was at ABBA Bilingual School in Honduras where I taught three awesome fourth graders and Mr. Potato Head all subjects in English.  I loved my job and my students and even Copan Ruinas, the city where I lived.  But living in Honduras put my Haiti homesickness to shame.  I was living with the pastor's family, who seemed to hate me just because I was American even though he hired me in the first place, and many people wouldn't bother talking to me once they found out how broken my Spanish was.  I was lonely and isolated and missed Max.  Looking back, Honduras is probably where the depression started to kick in...

My first class in the States was fifth grade in Edgewater, Florida--a little town where I lived by myself in a cramped mother-in-law suite.  My only real friend in the area was my mom thirty minutes away, whom I visited almost every weekend.  I love my mom very much, but that's still pretty sad.  The depression that had started to develop in Honduras became overwhelming, and I started to take medication to try to keep it at bay so I could actually do my job.  (Spoiler Alert: The meds didn't do much besides remind me that I was depressed... A little counterproductive, if you ask me.)  Their first assignment was to create a Culture Box about your background and where you came from.  One of my favorites is above!

One of my favorite moments of 2013 had to have been the huge 50th surprise birthday party my sister and I threw for my mom.  The best part was that Nikita (my sister) had secretly flown in from Texas to be there, and my mom had no idea about any of it.  Suffice it to say that is Nikita she is hugging in that picture, not me.  :P

Not long after the birthday party, and about a year after the breakup, Max and I decided to "get the band back together," as they say.  I know that he was still a little unsure about the whole "Haiti Thing" and I was a little nervous about pressuring him, but somehow we just knew it was the right thing to do.  Pictured above is our celebratory banana split!

Reckless Tip of 2013 (brought to you by Nikita):

Take a flight to surprise someone you love!

2014

By February, I was losing my mind with lonliness.  Luckily, I had Max back, but he was living in Tampa for school, and I only saw him on select weekends when he could afford the two and a half hour drive.  In the meantime, I had Gus Gus.  My little piggie was very much not allowed in my mother-in-law suite, but if I didn't have some company, I might have gone mad, so I snuck him in...  I love my Gus!

That summer, my beautiful sister got married to a great guy she met at Baylor, and I had the distict honor of being Maid of Honor (I guess that's why they call it that, huh?).  They are now happily married in Texas and for some inexplicable reason have a cat.

As you probably guessed by now, I decided to move to Tampa for the next school year. (Max was there, of course, but I also have a ton of extended family and some other friends there as well.  I needed people!)  I survived Year One and silly me thought it would be better the next year.  "I'll have a year experience under my belt, I'll have Max and other family, My depression will disappear and everything will be rainbows and butterflies!"  Needless to say, that's not exactly how it went down.  A friend of mine helped me get a fifth grade position at a Renaissance school--98% free or reduced lunch.  The expectations at a school like that are so incredibly high that my depression was quickly coupled with severe anxiety attacks.  (Luckily, the meds actually help for that one...)

I was trying desperately to make new friends so I wouldn't have to rely on Max so much, and in my efforts, I actually did!  (I know I seem so charming and lovely, but I really do find it difficult to make friends... This was a big deal for me.)  Megan has been someone I could rely on almost since the first time we met.

Reckless Tip of 2014: Don't be afraid to make new friends.

2015

By the second half of my second year of teaching, I knew I was never coming back.  So obviously, I had to get some teacher discounts while I still could!  Thus, Max and I splurged a bit on a weekend at Disney.  We spent a day at Magic Kingdom (where we met Tiana and Naveen and I accidentally let slip I had eaten frog legs before...), a day at MGM (yes, I still call it that) for Star Wars weekend, and a day at Epcot.

I was also finally able to bring Max with me to Haiti for the first time ever.  I would love to say how magical it was and how he fell deeply in love with the country... but mostly he just fell sick... for about half our short time there.  Not exactly my plan, but he wasn't scared away entirely.  I was just glad he got to see it and meet my friends and understand a little bit more about my passion.  I'm just glad he came with me.

I started my new job officially over the summer as a children's director at a Methodist church.  I directed camps all summer long which was exhausting and stressful but also exciting and fun!  I was finally able to teach OUTSIDE the box, something I missed from two years in the school system.  My most popular camp was Christmas in July, where our service project was to bring in items to make Operation Christmas Child boxes.  It was such a success that the rest of the church joined in, and we packed at least 65 boxes!

For my birthday, I wanted to check something off my Bucket List: "See the sunrise and the sunset on the same day."  I called the mini roadtrip "Chasing the Sun" and my two best friends, Jessica and Max, came along.  We drove to Daytona (stopping to eat cake with my parents) and spent the night there.  After watching the sunrise, we spent the whole day chugging along I-4, making various stops to see or do interesting things.  One of my favorites was the Orlando Eye, which is basically a baby version of the London Eye, but still super awesome.  The day ended on Clearwater Beach where we watched the sunset.

Reckless Tip of 2015: Take a trip!  (Plane or car!)

Again, sorry this was so long!  Normal posts will begin tomorrow.  Let's see how I make it this time!  Have a reckless 2016, everyone!