25 Things on My 25th Year

Yesterday, Mr. Right came home from a month-long Antarctica expedition, and today I turn 25! This is turning out to be a great week. In light of the Thanksgiving holiday and the tradition of giving thanks, I have decided to create and present the following...



A list of the 25 things I'm grateful for on my 25th birthday:
(not in any particular order)

1. A gigantic!, quirky, and loving family
2. A wonderful,thoughtful,and considerate boyfriend
3. Funny, reliable, and trustworthy friends
4. Low-cost gym memberships, health insurance, and good health
5. A challenging and meaningful career in education
6. Freedom from credit card debt and high credit scores
7. Chocolate cake and Ben & Jerry's mint choc chip ice cream
8. Second chances, third chances, and fourth chances
9. Online shopping sites with petite clothing lines and free shipping
10. Living in the countryside where I could watch the four seasons unfold
11. Building a quiet relationship and growing in faith with my Lord
12. A supportive and welcoming church community
13. Well-stocked Asian markets that remind me of my dad's home cooking
14. Awesome students and stepson who taught me how to relax & let go of messes
15. Fun weekend road trips that remind me how good it feels to be back home
16. Twitter & social networks that connect me to family & friends everywhere
17. Rediscovering the beauty of nature through outdoor excursions
18. Enjoying the process of creativity through photography & baking
19. The act of meeting new people and enjoying pleasant conversations
20. Public libraries that let me satiate my love for books w/o breaking bank
21. Serendipitous events that continue to lead me towards my life goals
22. Warm and cozy weekends spent in pajamas and watching DVD marathons
23. The magical wonders of convenient Dunkin Donuts coffee on slow-moving days
24. Exploring the hidden treasures of my new hometown in its customs and scenery
25. Finding my direction early on,with guidance and help, allowing me to live a more centered, happy, and fulfilling life now

What are you thankful for this Thanksgiving?

Grey's Anatomy Marathon

After three weeks of watching DVD marathons of Grey's Anatomy seasons 1-4, today I came to a halting self-realization: I am Cristina Yang. Or rather, her character reminds me of me.

Cristina Yang, a rather brilliant and aspiring cardiothoracic surgeon, is kick-ass.
She is a woman who knows who she is. She is fully aware of her strengths, revels in them, in fact, and uses them everyday to their full capabilities. She is hungry for new knowledge, new mentors, and new techniques that will make her a better, and more brilliant, surgeon. She is someone who truly loves her career and is most happy when she is elbow-deep in surgery. She strives for details, technique, and expects nothing less than perfection from herself, and everyone else. Other people call her intense...maybe just a little too intense.

I am that woman. Every day I read education articles, or write posts in five other classroom forums, or scan the library shelves for new books on classroom management and teaching techniques. I go through my Twitter and social networks, reveling in Web 2.0 technology tools, retweeting posts and bookmarking great sources that I may need again for that awesome lesson plan I will some day write up for my students. I think about being in the classroom every day, and brainstorm every little detail from the die-cut letters on bulletin boards down to what I might wear on my first parent-teacher conference.



When I'm not preparing myself to be a teacher, I work hard in my graduate classes. I despise it when my classmates--graduate level students--slack off, or when they complain about how stupid their students are. I'm constantly asking questions, raising my hands, and being that annoying Asian know-it-all who loves to show off in front of everyone. Except that I'm not trying to show off, I'm really trying to learn because I want to learn. I need to learn. I have to become that kick-ass teacher that I know I am.

So it's okay when people think I'm a little too intense sometimes. Or when non-education people tell me to lay off the Twitter links that I share on Facebook because they don't really care about reading 20 articles on special education or educational technology the way I do. Or when I try to talk to others about merit pay, or improving teacher programs, or revising the No Child Left Behind Act when they'd rather talk about health care, gay and lesbian marriage rights, and the economy. It's okay when professors think I'm over the top with my paperwork, or when classmates think that I make their work look bad or when I push them too hard. Because... I am intense.

Like Cristina Yang, we are both in love with our careers. And we both want to be the best kick-ass professionals out there, in our fields. Yes, we are anal retentive and a little crazy... but we are hungry women. We are brilliant women who are very, very good at what we do. We can't live with anything sub par when it comes to what we love. And if that's it means to be intense, I can deal with that.