We look for things. We look for things that make us go.

My apartment complex's tiny gym, often filled with broken equipment which goes weeks without being fixed, has pulled ahead in the competition between my choices of free to use gyms at my disposal. "Why is this?" you may be asking yourself. Well. The answer is two-fold. Part one: I don't have to travel more than a few hundred feet from my apartment to get there, which makes it convenient in the late afternoon after I'm done with practicum. I'd only been going to the SERF once a week because I only had one usable break during my week where I was on campus for enough time to utilize it. Convenience is huge. Part two of the two-part answer involves cable television and a remote in my possession. I got to the gym, hopped on the dilapidated treadmill (the only reliable information it displays is the time, as apparently I was running full speed at 3 miles an hour-- I like to think I can do a bit better than running at what should be a slow walk) and turned on the tv. And oh man, it was time for Arthur. Yes, remote to a television with cable and I choose to watch Arthur on PBS. Francine learned that it's not good to make fun of unpopular people for their bloody noses and Sue Ellen was able to inspire the owner of the Sugar Bowl not to sell out to a KFC-like fast food chicken chain. Don't ask why the appeal is still there-- I don't have an answer to that question. Okay, so Arthur was over, but I wasn't done. I'd moved to the elliptical by this point and started flipping through the channels. Who should greet me on Spike tv but Captain Janeway!

Oh Janeway, it'd been too long. Should Seven of Nine and the Borg be trusted in an alliance against Species 8472? Chakotay certainly didn't think so, but Janeway reminded him of the importance of sticking together even when they had differences of opinion. Cut to the bridge: Tom Paris at the helm (I cry out, "Tom Paris!"), Harry Kim at Ops, Tuvac over at his post, B'Elana down in engineering-- I was in heaven. Old friends showing up unexpectedly. Maybe someday I'll invest in Voyager on dvd. I'd probably have to get Next Gen and DS9 as well.

Yes. I am a huge nerd. Geek? I'll stick in my pocket protector and sit around to anxiously see if the crew will ever make it back to the Alpha quadrant. Will the Doctor ever develop his humanity? How about Seven? And those Q visits always provide something to look forward to. I can't help but love it. Shit. It's funny-- my cooperating teacher for practicum referred to herself as a geek today. "I check the weather every morning," she told me. "And I dress myself and my kids according to that." Hmm. I'd always assumed that that was normal. A lot of my kids show up to school in clothes that aren't really appropriate for the weather, though, so apparently this isn't the case. I certainly wouldn't call checking the weather a geeky thing to do, though. Star Trek-- that's geeky. Extra geek points for it being something other than Next Gen, too, I think.

Beth found an apartment! This is amazing news. It's going to be odd visiting my parents and not having the option of walking two blocks to visit her, but I'm looking forward to seeing this pink themed kitchen that I've heard so much about. And The Couch in its place.

I'm teaching two lessons this week to my kindergartners. I'm really looking forward to it. I'm feeling really back into the swing of things and I'm really liking that. I've been thinking about how Sugar Creek's pretty much The School (Plato sez so). Well, technically, Jefferson's The School, but Sugar Creek's got the environment, the population and the long friendly hallways that comes to mind when I think of Jefferson and where I want to teach. I asked Heidi today about how many staff members there are there and ended up also taking an unnecessary walk down the upper elementary grades' hallway when I went to the library to get some non-fiction books for tomorrow's lesson. I like it. A lot. I'm also really looking forward to my student teaching observation in Monona on Friday. I want that to be The Classroom for student teaching. Okay, enough with the Plato.

I made cookies tonight. They never come out as the three dozen that the recipe says it yields, but bigger is better for delicious chocolate chip cookies, no? Yes.

I'm looking forward to this Beth visit. Whenever it ends up happening. I'm also going through a bit of Keli and Daniela withdrawal. Such is the end of summer, I suppose.

I was thinking today during practicum about the importance of touch and human contact. I've got a few kids who absolutely love walking down the hall holding hands with me and there are some arm holders during carpet time, and I think it's a positive thing overall. If left unchecked, young children would like nothing more than to pile on top of each other like small puppies. That sounds pretty relaxing to me, as well-- a big people pile. I really missed touch this summer. It's quite an amazing thing, the contact.

I like stuff. I like people. I like life. I want to be the best Dawn I can be.

My dancing has evolved into something kind of funny looking.