Lolcat of the Week

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THE QUIZ (my answers)

1. I am deathly afraid of spiders. TRUE!

Exhibit A: Read my "Itsy, Bitsy Phobia" post.

2. I am allergic to orange juice. TRUE!
Sadly, if I eat too many oranges or drink too much orange juice, I get ulcers in my mouth. Not fun. And I love orange juice! :(

3. I detest chocolate in all varieties. FALSE!
HAHAHAHAHAHA. Um, so false it's ... no it's still funny, actually.

4. I've reread Twilight more than five times. TRUE!
(Hangs head.)



5. One of my favorite books is The Time Traveler's Wife. TRUE!
I love this book so much. Yes, more than Twilight. If pressed, I must admit the truth. And I really, really hope they stop delaying the film already.



6. I love rap and country music. FALSE!
Sorry, Charlie, but this grrrl's all about the rock n' roll. :-D



7. I can speak English, Spanish, and French. FALSE!
I can speak English (duh) and Spanish, but not French.
Well, pseudo-French, yes, but not for real. ;)



8. I've never been to Europe. FALSE!
I worked for Iberia Airlines and got to travel to Spain and France a few years back. Dying to go back! Especially to Barcelona and Paris... Le sigh.
(There's some of that pseudo-French in action.)



9. Eighties movies are my passion. TRUE!
They don't make 'em like they used to... I still get chills hearing this song.


10. I crush on boys with British accents. TRUE!
The one who taught me to love British accents? Ewan Macgregor. Love that man. What's that you say? He's Scottish, not technically British? Whatev, I'm watching "Moulin Rouge" again, so don't interrupt me...



11. I have two dogs. FALSE!
I have two cats. They are the prettiest, sweetest cats in the cativerse. Yes, even "Gata Fea."



12. My boyfriend was born in Panama. TRUE!
I heart Panama! (Especially Panamanian boys. :p)



13. I can roller-skate like nobody's business. TRUE!
Haha take that all you suckas who put FALSE.



14. I can't dance. TRUE!
Woefully, horribly true. I am expecting them to revoke my Latina card any day now. And um, you hear that, Edward? I can't dance. So why aren't you making me?!



15. I am a morning person. FALSE!
I am a super, duper, hyper night person. Which makes my being a teacher all the more hilarious. Typical wake-up time during the school year: 6 AM
Typical wake-up time during the summer: 12 PM



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I have no stinking clue who won?! I don't think anyone got all fifteen right (sniff, sniff), but I'm going to go back and review the answers. I'm thinking about rewarding the one who got the closest, so stay tuned. :) Thanks for playing and reading!

So apparently I'm "Distinguished."

This week I took the two exams I needed in order to complete my teaching certification with ABCTE: the Professional Teaching Knowledge Exam and English Language Arts (6-12) Exam. I found out about this certification program by complete accident -- my temporary teaching certificate expires on June 30th, and after taking the Florida teaching certification exams and thinking that was all I needed to be on track, I received a quite unwelcome surprise when my oh-so-wonderful state notified me I needed to take six education courses to complete my certification.

What?!

Yeah, that was pretty much my reaction. Plus a couple of expletives that are not worth repeating here on my family-friendly blog. So I fretted and fumed and was all set to murder myself via six classes in one semester at FIU while teaching full-time. (FYI: the tuition would've cost me over $5,000.00, not to mention the cost of my sanity and time.) I figured, this is what I have to do. It sucks, but I love teaching, so I will do it.

I forget how I found out about ABCTE. Possibly during my mad scramble online to research the different routes to certification. I registered to take my six classes of EPIC FAIL at the beginning of December. On December 18th, I found out about the program. How you had to pay $800.00 upfront and then just pass two exams in order to complete the program. No classes. No other work. Just pay the money and take the exams. That same day I dropped the six classes of EPIC FAIL at FIU and signed up with ABCTE.

Now the exams were the same ones I took previously, except that they were ABCTE's version and supposedly harder than Florida's exams. And yes, I did have to shell out $800.00, but I figured that was a deal compared to the $5,000+ I would've paid at FIU. So I was thrilled, yes. I couldn't believe there was no catch.

The catch was this -- ABCTE's exams are much harder than Florida's certification exams. I discovered this after taking some practice tests online. This made me order their CD-ROM Practice Tests, which I used to help me study in the last two weeks leading up to my first exam. Thank God I bought those CD-ROMs... I truly believe they helped me pass the tests. :-D

So I took the Education exam on Monday and scored a 295. You need a 270 to pass. I would've been happy with a flipping 270, but was pleased with the 295. The score sheet for the Education exam said I was "Proficient" and that was enough for me. Especially since I kept getting a 267 on the practice tests on the CD-ROM. :-0

On Wednesday I took my remaning test, English. You also need a 270 to pass on that one. I got a 354. :-) The score sheet said I was "Distinguished." This elicited a hearty chuckle from me.

So Reader, I am both Proficient and Distinguished. Does this mean I can pass GO and collect my $200.00? Not yet. I don't receive confirmation of my having passed either exam until my essays for both are scored. You need a 4 to pass. I'm really, really hoping I passed. I'm cautiously optimistic for now. ABTCE told me it usually takes a month for them to grade the essays...

It's going to be a long month!

At least I can use that time to start work on my next quest, THE THESIS.

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By the by, if you haven't taken my Bloggiversary Quiz yet, what are you waiting for?! The deadline is tomorrow. I will post the results then. :)

Happy Bloggiversary to Me! :-D

A year ago today, I wrote my first post on this blog!

In honor of my bloggiversary, I would like you to take a quiz. Yes, that's right, "quiz." I am a teacher and quizzes are what I do. Plus it's my bloggiversary so you must do as I say. :p

Here are the instructions:

• Read the following statements about me and answer "True" for each true statement and "False" for each false statement.
• Answers must be written in a comment box (duh). I want all my readers to comment, especially if you're one of my lurkers who's never commented before! (C'mon, I have that traffic feed thingamabob in my right sidebar, so I know you're visiting!)
• Feel free to post a quiz on your site, too, so your readers (like me!) can see how well we know you!
• The first commenter to correctly identify all 15 statements will win a prize!
  

THE QUIZ

1. I am deathly afraid of spiders.
2. I am allergic to orange juice.
3. I detest chocolate in all varieties.
4. I've reread Twilight more than five times.
5. One of my favorite books is The Time Traveler's Wife.
6. I love rap and country music.
7. I can speak English, Spanish, and French.
8. I've never been to Europe.
9. Eighties movies are my passion.

10. I crush on boys with British accents.
11. I have two dogs.
12. My boyfriend was born in Panama.
13. I can roller-skate like nobody's business.
14. I can't dance.
15. I am a morning person.

Good luck to the participants! Remember, the first commenter to get all 15 right wins a prize. :-)

ETA: Eeep! I totally forgot to credit Stace for her idea on the quiz thing. You see, she just celebrated her second bloggiversary and had wanted to do something similar to celebrate. So the idea of the quiz is completely hers! Go show Stace some love. :-D

ETA 2: I will announce the winner(s?) on Friday.... Keep those answers coming!

Luck of the Irish

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Happy St. Patrick's Day!

In honor of this day, I will write all in green font! :-D

Yesterday I took my Professional Educator's Certification Exam and tomorrow, Wednesday, I will be taking the English Educator's Certification Exam. You need a 270 to pass and I got a 295 on the Professional Educator's Exam, which hopefully means I passed, but I need to wait and see the score I got for the essay... I feel like I passed, but I don't want to get my hopes up just in case!!!

So hopefully tomorrow I will have the luck of the Irish with me as I take my remaining exam. I have all of this afternoon and evening to study. Send me good thoughts around 1:30 PM EST tomorrow -- I'll need it!

P.S.) Why is it called the Luck of the Irish? Is it just because of leprechauns and shamrocks? Because I don't think it's entirely fair that the Irish have sole possession of all luck.... ;-)

LOLcat (walrus) of the Week

This week's LOLcat is not, um, exactly a cat. It's a walrus. But I needed to post this for the lawls. I laughed mightily when I first saw this, so I decided to share it with you. It's a classic!

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On Hugging

I love reading the advice page in Elle, "Ask E. Jean." I was thumbing through this month's issue when the following question to E. Jean caught my eye:

Dear E. Jean:

In an all-female get-together, is it appropriate to hug only the ones you feel closest to and say 'hello' to the others? Or should I hug them all so nobody feels rejected? This may seem like a stupid question, but I'm not American and feel insecure sometimes in social or business meetings.

-Faux Paulette

I completely understand where Faux Paulette is coming from. Although I'm technically American since I was born and raised in Miami, FL, my background is Cuban, and as a Latina I'm around people that hug and kiss a lot.

You would think I'd be used to all this hugging and kissing, but I'm not. In fact, I always feel awkward hugging people, male or female. I feel awkward even if they're my friends. (Unless it's my boyf. He is the best hugger. He gives me these bone-crushing hugs that turn my limbs to jelly. It's awesome.)

What's weird is that I also don't mind getting hugs from my female students, but I don't like receiving them from the male students, since I teach high school, so I try to avoid that! But it's hugging women and men who are my peers that makes me feel awkward for some reason. Why do I feel this way? Am I weird for feeling this way?!

Let's turn to E. Jean's response to Faux Paulette to see if it's any help:

Miss Faux, my flower-box:

I personally like to walk into a room, throw my arms around any woman who looks better than I, and ruffle her hair. On the other hand, if I'm already in the room and a female friend I know enters, I screech, hurl my glass of champagne into the fireplace, and embrace her with both arms, and sometimes one leg, depending on the height of my heels.
These are my only two rules. For you, however, it is less complicated: Hug it out with everyone you feel like hugging (except your boss), and shake hands affectionately with those you don't.

I love the "ruffle her hair" bit, hee. Well, that does make me feel a bit better. I can always "shake hands affectionately!" It helped me realize that it's OK not to be innately affectionate and that others won't necessarily think I'm rude if I don't screech, hurl my glass across the room, and embrace them with both arms and legs. ;-)