Happy Days in Random Chatter 10

[Marduk]

There are reference numbers, but no reference list....

[mic0]

There are reference numbers, but no reference list....

[Digit]

I've never had apparel from a school that I went to. I think the only shirt I've ever owned with a college/university name on it was a Penn State shirt I bought in my first area as a missionary, which was in State College, PA.

[Marduk]

The only apparel I have are gifts from friends and family members, given after I was accepted into my PhD program.

[Emiliana]

I didn't go to BYU, but I went to a small, hyperconservative Christian college that most people haven't heard of unless they're from the denomination it's affiliated with, or unless it has recently made national news for being homophobic. So, of course, there are TWO obnoxiously hyperconservative faculty members at my school who also graduated from there. Sooooo, yeah, I don't wear my college's apparel even though the school really encourages us to, because I reeeeeally don't want to be lumped in with those two faculty members. Instead I wear apparel I've pilfered from my husband, sister-in-law, and best friend from THEIR colleges.

[TheBlackSheep]

Right? Every time I have to tell someone where I went to school, either for tutoring gigs or on a personal level, I feel like I have to either distract and be vague ("I went to college in Utah") or give a disclaimer ("In a different lifetime, I went to BYU," "I went to BYU but I'm no longer their target demographic," etc.). Otherwise I get a lot of weird looks, especially now that I have a visible tattoo.

[Giovanni Schwartz]

Hi everyone.

[Cognoscente]

Hey y'all

This month has been pretty shit huh

[Emiliana]

Dishes and laundry done, living room swept, groceries bought, hedges trimmed, banana bread baked, first pecans of the season gathered, new pecan sheller acquired and tested...

It's remarkable what I accomplish while avoiding grading papers and writing lesson plans.

[Emiliana]

Hi everyone.

Hi!

[Amity]

Hey y'all

This [strike]month[/strike] year has been pretty shit huh

FTFY

[vorpal blade]

Checking in after an absence of more than two years, and it seems like everyone I used to know is still here. Do we have many new members?

[TheBlackSheep]

This forum is a lot less active than it was a couple of years ago. I think it's because it got too liberal for a lot of people. And no, we don't really have a lot of new members.

[vorpal blade]

You always were very honest, TheBlackSheep, and I appreciate that now. If I post in the future my thought is to be honest, but not in-your-face with my point of view. Hopefully you won’t even notice whether I am conservative or liberal.

[TheBlackSheep]

That would be lovely.

[vorpal blade]

So...A little more than a year ago I retired and was soon after called on a mission. I am now serving in East Orange, New Jersey. The wonderful people I serve here are mostly from Haiti and other islands in the Caribbean, west Africa, and descendants of people from Africa. It is a great experience.

What’s up with you?

[Emiliana]

Not a whole lot is new with me. I still teach high school, which is either the best job ever or the worst job ever depending on the day. Still married with two dogs and no kids, still planning to keep it that way. We will have the student loans paid off in about six months and then we are gonna take some seriously awesome vacations.

[vorpal blade]

I have a lot of respect for those able to teach in high school. I don’t think I could do it. They’d walk all over me.

Where would you like to vacation?

[TheBlackSheep]

I've been out in New Jersey a lot over the past 18 months on account of visiting my now-ex-girlfriend. I hope you're enjoying it. I love Jersey (except Newark).

I'm living in Portland where I tutor math.

[vorpal blade]

To think I could have run into you!

We live in the area just adjacent to Newark. Where we live is a lot like Newark. It isn’t my favorite part of New Jersey. New Jersey is remarkably beautiful. As I have thought about it I believe it is because of all the beautiful trees. They also have many fantastic homes, but not much of that in Newark. We do get out of the city a lot. In the last ten months I’ve put 18,000 miles on my car. We’ve been all over New Jersey as part of my missionary work.

I love math. Math was my first college degree.

Parts of Portland are beautiful as well. Thanks for answering.