George W Bush came to UNT

So once the semester began, news broke on campus that George W. Bush would be making an appearance at the University of North Texas after his book was released, and would be speaking for our annual "Distinguished Lecture Series". Well the controversy on campus was that the university would be compensating President Bush with $100,000 from the UNT student's 'student services fee' that we pay with tuition. Well I didn't care too much because it meant that I got to go see him for "free", and out of $35,000 students, it was like $3 a piece. Anyway, I got my "free" ticket about 6 weeks ago, and Wednesday he came!

Myself and 2 other girls from my Frisco Cadre decided to stay after class and get some homework done. (Remember the 10 projects and portfolio I had to...) and then we went to Dinner, and after dinner we decided to get to the coliseum early. Of course when we got there, we stood in line to get in and there were Denton Police and protestors out there. They were holding signs that had saying about their objection to torture and waterboarding. General public were allowed to buy tickets to this event. There were definitely more general public than students anyway. Since had tickets we got to go to an entrance that let us in right away with no wait. Went up there, and we weren't allowed to have cameras or bags.. so we went back to my car and put everything but my keys in the trunk. Went back, got scanned with the metal detector etc. We could have gotten to sit in the floor seats, but there were 8 or 10 rows in front of the floor seats that were labeled VIP, so even if we did, we wouldn't have been able to see him very well. So we got to sit in the level that was even with the stage, on about the 6th row. I estimated that we were 20 feet away from him.

We were sitting down around 6 pm but the event didn't start until 8pm. So we just sat and watched as the coliseum became fuller and fuller. the VIPs trotted in 10 minutes before 8, they were all dressed up and had copies of his book in their hands, so I'm guessing they got to take pictures and get books signed.

He came out and did a short little speech. Nothing too different from what I saw when he was on Opera. In fact some of the exact same lines. It was neat seeing him in the flesh though.

There were a couple of moments of protesting that happened during his speech. the first happened about 10 minutes into it. one of the rows of the student floor seats stood up chanting something... couldn't understand it, and had 2 signs (made of sheets.. don't know how they hid them) and one said "Give the $$$ back" and the other was never shown all the way, because the police escorted them out fairly quickly... still chanting. Lots of people in the audience got up and were yelling at them and were chanting "USA". After that, George just said, "Freedom of speech is a beautiful thing."

Then during a silent moment of his speech someone from the upper level of seats yelled out "F*** You." I really don't see the point of that. I felt really bad for W because his face looked like it hurt his feelings. It was totally uncalled for and disrespectful.

The last one that happened was that one girl stood up during the speech and yelled out something (again, I couldn't hear or understand what it was) and her hands had red paint on them. She then yelled out "Thank you" as one of the chubbier police was struggling to jump through the bars to get up to get her.. she let herself out.

Our President of UNT then joined Bush on the stage and asked him 5 questions. I was under the impression that the audience would get to ask questions.. but guess not.

Once it was over, Bush had only been on stage for an hour. So his house is about 60 miles down the road, and he got paid $100,000 to talk for an hour....

Oh well, now I have seen 2 of our presidents in person!

So I have hit probably the most busy time of the semester. and I think it is the busiest semester I have ever had. We have been so bored sitting in our methods classes for 2 months, and now our professors decided to drop these huge projects/assignments on us! I have 10 assignments and a portfolio to finish by Dec. 15th. a couple due next week, some big ones duh after thanksgiving. I do NOT want to be working on homework during thanksgiving! 2 of my major assignments are like 16 assignments in itself! seriously!!! I have to plan an entire Social Studies Unit, including 5-7 original lesson plans, written in the longest most detailed lesson plan format EVER! Then I have a project where I have to create 9 creative pieces! I don't even know how to get organized to do all of this!

okay ranting is over.... I really shouldn't be updating anyway. I just need to get through the next 5 weeks and I will have a couple of weeks off!

okay off to work.

Well I am awake because I slept in today (yesterday) and then decided to take a late evening nap. So I just thought I would do a quick update and see if maybe I get sleepy.. hah.

So after decorating our balcony and being under the impression that no one else would decorate, we walked around the complex and discovered 4 or 5 other balconies that seemed to be good competition... they were spooky and we were worried we wouldn't win the contest. Well, we won 3rd! so that is $50 off rent next month!!! every little bit of money we can save helps! Especially with Christmas approaching soon. Caroline and I are hoping the complex has a similar competition for christmas balcony decorating. We have already decided that we are going to save every single box we come across, and use the wrapping paper my mother has in our house to wrap fake presents for a "Santa's Workshop" sorta theme. we want to be as economical as possible. Luckily my mom has boxes and boxes of christmas stuff we need to go through in the attic!

I also have only a MONTH left in this semester!!!! that is crazy! I take my 1st certification tests in about 6 weeks and have started to study for that.. but it is difficult when I am trying to get my assignments for my methods course finished. I am just a handful of time consuming projects away from being finished with classes! I can not wait to just go to the elementary school everyday and TEACH my own lesson plans!

Dates to be excited for: February 11th is the day I find out the results for my 2nd certification test. Hopefully I pass and tests can be a thing of the past for a little while, and I can maybe start applying for jobs. April 22nd is my last day of student teaching! and May 14th of course is graduation. Can't say that date enough!