here's the thing

i've never been sick and pregnant before. i have to say i don't recommend it.

except for this: it definitely makes being either sick or pregnant sound pretty damn nice.

sicko

i am sick. it sucks.

that is all.

two unconnected bits

bit one: if you know me well enough to know how to spell my first name, i must be the easiest person in the world to find on the internet. not only am i the only "tarehna" i have ever heard of, i'm also a complete egomaniac who names everything she does after herself.

bit two: i think i would have like i am legend a lot more if i hadn't already seen cloverfield. legend was a pretty good movie, and i had a good time watching it, but in the back of my mind the whole time i'm thinking "this would be better if it was cloverfield" i did not spend near enough time during legend alternating between "holy shit!" and laughing my butt off (although the line "I was saving that bacon was very, very funny). i read in the back of entertainment weekly a couple of weeks ago a guy who talked about "eye television" vs. "ear television" and i think that sums up the difference between these movies to me--i liked legend, but it didn't compel me to put down the laptop and give it my undivided attention.

charlie rose: badass

Charlie looks pretty hard-core. I would totally be intimidated by the purple bruise and the soap-opera star bandage.

I think he really pulls it off. Even the fact that he did it for MacBook Air love kind of rocks.

Blog More

Okay--I guess the goal was simply "more"..and since I hardly blogged at all last year, that should be really easy to accomplish.

I am, bizarrely, having a hard time getting excited about writing some social studies lesson plans. I've been looking forward to this class since I started the program, but I'm just not turned on by the ancient romans.

I'll get there. I have to--it's due Saturday!

I find that I am focused almost exclusively on baby things. But there are still 6.5 weeks to go.

5 things I've learned in the last week

1. I have to my 100 hours of observations done before I student teach in the fall. Ack! (Hellooooo, Summer school!)

2. Joe Cocker used to be normal in the absence of music. That and he's awesomer than I previously suspected. Kudos to Julie Taymor for choosing his rendition of "A Little Help from my Friends" for Across the Universe.

3. One should never, ever tighten the string's of one's hoodie while one is wearing glasses. The resulting trauma to the nose is so not worth the extra warmth.

4. School district boundary maps are difficult to follow. If we continue to live here, I have no idea what school Preston would go to. I hope it's Orenco--they're the Orcas, and he digs Orcas.

5. I am, apparently, a Democratic Party Neighborhood Leader. I have no idea what that means. I think I'll learn on Sunday, if I can drag myself to the orientation.

Bonus--always check which blog you're blogging in before beginning blogging to make sure your blogging in the blog you wish to be blogging in.

the thing about being pregnant

The thing about being pregnant is that the tears just come easy for good and for bad. saturday night i was more or less bawling at the funeral scene in Across the Universe. Today, i misted a bit at this idea. The simplicity makes for the beauty and the beauty makes me cry. Take an hour. Turn out the lights. Save the world.

I like it when people are good. It helps shake loose my crusty misanthropy.

won't there inevitably be a conflict someday between America's commitment to democracy and it's commitment to secularism and the separation of church and state?

I found this statistic in a poll from last summer: 58% of Americans would favor creationism being taught in school alongside scientific theories of evolution at public schools. (a whole range of evolution/creation polls can also be found here

58%!!

Do these people know that what they're favoring is tantamount to the complete undoing of the first amendment? Particularly if the 51% of the people who said this is an issue that should be decided on a national level get their way?

But, whether or not they know it, this view of education does challenge to the first amendment and it begs the question of what value Americans hold more dear: democracy or religious freedom. Does religious freedom need to bow the the will of the majority? Can it? Should it?

Rain!

Part of the joy of the new place is that you can't hear the weather with the same nerve-rattling intensity of our previous home/glorified shack. The winds that howled around town a couple of weeks ago were barely noticeable to me and most of the rain thus far has been but a distant tinkling.

I can only imagine that it sounds something like the Normandy invasion over there now because I feel like I'm on Noah's freakin' ark over here.

Truth be told, though, I kind of dig it. Weather noises are a lot less scary when you can be reasonably assured that the outside won't force its way in.

there has to be something

there has to be something worth blogging every day. clearly my standards must be lowered accordingly (and my initiative or drive or something uppered (upped, i know, but then you miss out on the groovy parallel thing that happened)).

nesting parentheticals! i'm already off to an auspicious start.

brandon is out procuring for us a football-themed dessert. nobody is coming over. we will not be watching the game.

why, out of the blue, do i so desperately want to see rush this summer?