Burning Destinos

I was flipping though Facebook to find old photos for Storytime Sunday, and came across a little annual tradition my friends had. Pardon the terrible quality photos that were taken in low light with my 3.2 megapixel camera in 2007.

My pal Alex had a fire pit in her back yard, and every June we would grab all our old school work, burn it, and make s'mores. Our friend group was made up of all the nerdy types and we had mountains of history notes, chemistry problem sets, and Spanish tests. Well actually most of my friends took Chinese instead of Spanish but whatever. 

I came across this next photo on Facebook and DIED laughing and had to tell Brian all about it, and that sealed the deal that I needed to write about it here.

(About half the people I know call me Kay Rogers, a nickname that started in elementary school. So that make confuse some of you who know me as Kirby Rogers Darden.)

In tenth grade, Spanish class was called Culture and Speaking class, which was awesome because we had way way way less emphasis on grammar and vocab. Instead we had to memorize and perform songs and dances, cook an authentic dish for bi-weekly pot lucks, and recite speeches into microphones for the teacher to record and grade later. So honestly I really didn't take it too seriously.

There was a unit in which we spent weeks watching a soap opera called Destinos. We loved/hated it. I guess we sarcastically pretended to love it, and then the hype actually wore on us, and we would actually talk about it at lunch, like, "What do you think will happen next?" It's about some lawyer who was trying to uncover the hidden secret of a dying rich old man. I don't remember any specifics except one super intense scene when the lawyer was getting off the elevator just as the villain was stepping in, but she wasn't on his tail yet so she had no idea. 

Okay anyway. Look at that test that's burning above. I got -53 points, so my score was a 47. Then my folklore singing extra credit got me up to a 58... still majorly failing. Embarrassing that I failed a test about a soap opera, but even more embarrassing that as a tenth grader I wanted to broadcast it online for the world to see! And now I'm re-broadcasting it because about ten years have passed so I'm definitely over it. 

I, Kay Rogers, failed a Spanish test, and then I went on to become Kirby Rogers and attend a good college and pass more Spanish classes, and then graduate and become Kirby Darden. Life is good.

Voting

The first image is made by someone else, posted on PostSecret.com.
The second image is by me, inspired by the first.

Baby

Several weeks ago I wrote about wanting a niece or nephew. Well my sibling and friends still haven't come through on that for me. BUT last Saturday I got to meet my friend's nephew for the first time. Paige's nephew Geaham was the happiest baby ever, at least for the two-and-a-half hours we were chillin together. We played with a drink koozie.

*Pretending like I have my own nephew.* *Weirding out the parents, whom I'd only met once before.*

Three Things I Say Every Day

I share an office with two co-workers. We work together to make the children's ministry world go round, and sometimes we speak in our own language. Here are some things we regularly say, and what they really mean:

1. Sunday's coming. Basically our lives revolve around Sunday. It really does take our three full-time jobs and about 40 volunteers each Sunday to make Sunday happen at our big church. Whenever we're stressed out about something other than a Sunday, like vacation bible school or whatever, we say "Sunday's Coming," kinda as a way to encourage ourselves and freak out ourselves.

2 . Welcome back! Whenever we walk back in the office (even just after a restroom break) we yell "welcome back!" at each other. It's such a little thing but it really does make the office a little happier to walk in to.

3. Hot Dog, Hot Dog. This is inspired by the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Theme Song. We have a toy microphone that plays the song and we take frequent 20 second dance breaks. It's childish and goofy and helps up stay focused on the fact that our jobs should be joyful and centered on the kiddos.

Comfort Zones

So it's 10:15 pm and I just got in bed and said aloud, "oh crap I forgot my blog post." So this is written hastily on my phone while Brian brushes his teeth and I get snuggled in the covers. 

I've been doing a lot of thinking about comfort zones lately. It sounds like such a good thing. Comfort, cozy, happy, yay. But actually they're such a crutch. I'm finding I shouldn't live my life in the comfort zone and just sporadically venture out of it. I should live my life pushing myself to try new things, and only retreat back to the comfort zone when I really need it, like if my stress levels get up to an 8 or 9. I'm learning to make myself view moderate stress levels (6 or 7) as tolerable, regular, good for me, and not a reason to freak out. 

Yes I rate my stress levels. Subjective Units of Distress help this happy little math major turn anxiety into numbers.  Try it; it's weirdly satisfying.

When I was a dummy I arrived to retreat to my comfort zone. Now I'm challenging myself to reserve the comfort zone for the extreme occasion. It kinda sucks and it kinda rocks. 

Stay Stubborn

I'm pretty stubborn about refusing to do stuff that I don't want to do. Generally I'm not stubborn in arguments or opinions or whatever, but I am very stubborn against myself. If you can relate, this post may be some encouragement for you. 

Stay stubborn. Stuck to your guns. Decide something and then NEVER go back on it. Let that thing be something productive. 

Confession- I've been stubbornly avoiding a heck of a lot of stuff. I'm an expert procrastinator. And last week I had a little revelation about going ahead and doing the stuff instead of letting it give me anxiety. I know it seems elementary. But if you are anxious about making a certain phone call or something, the longer you wait, the longer you feel anxious. 

So stop letting yourself be stubborn about avoidance. Make yourself be stubborn about running headstrong into the challenge. Take THAT, anxiety! 

Power Through

Last Week's Goals

1. Prep for Teacher Training. (A) it went great! Now I'm swamped with paperwork to say that they're all certified and background checked. 

2. Don't go to work on Friday or Saturday. (F) I forgot I had to be at the middle school lock-in Friday night, so I went to work for about 4 hours. 

3. Clean up the office and desk. (C) I cleaned it and it looked great... and now it looks just as terrible as before. Whoops!

This Week's Goals

1. Clean this apartment. I'm getting fed up by the little dirty things I haven't had time to tidy.

2. Power through the extra work. Today was grueling at work, and I barely made a dent in the big to-do list. I don't want to get too discouraged; I just wanna power though. 

3. Find some lettering challenged, and keep them up. I am obsessed with calligraphy now, so this will be pretty fun.