Back to School

My friend Debbie tagged me and here is the meme for this tag:
*Devise a list of 5-10 courses you would take to fix your life. It’s more fun to be in classes with friends, so include one class from the person who tagged you that you’d also like to take. Tag five.*

I'm not sure that I'm going to totally follow the rules in that some of these classes won't "fix" my life, but instead I'm going to list classes that I'd take now if I could go Back To School:

Bowling 101--I thought I'd do the most frivolous first. The one class I always wanted to take at BYU that I never did was Bowling. I'm one of those bowlers who's good until my hand and wrist get sore, then I go downhill fast. (So basically my first game's good and my second isn't so hot.) I've always wanted to learn how to put spin on the ball (wish I knew that for tennis and ping pong, too) and I just want to get a Turkey just once in my life! I've come so close so many times and never done it. Joseph was signed up for a bowling class this semester and I was so sad he was getting to do it and I wasn't because I knew it would forever keep me from ever competing with him again (I'd list the number of times I've beat him at bowling but that wouldn't be nice :D), but sadly he had to drop it because of a conflict. So I may still have a fighting chance.

Cake Decorating 101--Another less serious class, but I've honestly wanted to do this forever, too, and need to just sign up and take the plunge. I wish my cousin Annie could teach me since she teaches classes at her local Michaels and is way talented. I would love to always be able to make my kids' birthday cakes, just the way they want them, and never have to buy one, so hopefully I'll get around to it sooner than later.

Culinary Arts 201--This is the one I would take with Debbie. She said, "I totally enjoy cooking a great deal and know my way around the kitchen. However I don’t ever experiment or know a lot without following a recipe. I don’t do the exotic ingredients (no gourmet cooking here please!) so if a recipe calls for it I generally don’t even try it. I’d love to get more ideas and tips to cook different meals for my family."
I totally agree there. Before I got married I cooked mostly only to survive and never got very gourmet because it's so boring cooking only for yourself. Since getting married I've learned to love cooking so much more, but I'm not one of those people who can open the cupboard and throw together an amazing meal with just the ingredients I see there without using a recipe. I know people who can do that and somehow their imaginations always come up with something incredibly yummy. I wish I could do that. I also want to learn to make Mexican food the way Joseph's mom, Bob, makes it. He loves her Mexican food and I need to learn to make it for him, especially the tamales, cuz Christmas just ain't Christmas without Bob's tamales.

Polish 301--I desperately wish I could keep up my Polish better, but reading the Book of Mormon out loud in Polish doesn't exactly keep one fluent (not that I ever was fluent because I would've had to live in Poland for a lot longer than 16 months to really get the language, especially the accent, down.) I need a class that will review all the grammar and cases and such, then really focus on conversation. When I returned to Poland after my mission I was pleasantly surprised at how easily it came back to me so I'd hope that would still be the case, but you just don't meet too many Poles in Utah who you can speak with. I guess we need to move to Chicago because I just don't want to lose this beautiful language. My brain is only really capable of holding one foreign language in my head at a time (I'm not like my brothers who can learn multiple languages and keep them all straight), so when I learned Polish it pushed the French right out and now I can only understand French but can't speak it, and I don't want that to happen in Polish, too. Sorry hon, but I don't think I'll try learning Portuguese anytime soon.

Photography 101--Here's another one I'm copying from Debbie, but she's much more advanced at this than I am. I would love to learn photography (which is not a desire even remotely influenced by the fact that in order to do it I'd have to get a really nice camera! :D Ah, I can't wait to be done with grad school!) I think it would be great to learn about lighting and techniques that would enable me to become a good photographer. Maybe an expensive hobby, but a fun one nonetheless.

Church History 302--Another class Joseph's auditing right now that I wish I could take with him is Church History by Susan Easton Black. She's such an incredible historian and I love how she just has all this information in her head that she can use to lecture, without any notes, and makes people and events come to life. Out of all the religion classes I took at BYU, the two that I really wish I could have taken and never could fit in are Church History and Pearl of Great Price. But right now I'd be content with taking any religion class again! I just love them all! I took the writings of Luke in the New Testament (the Book of Luke and The Acts) last year from Richard Holzapfel just for fun and wish I could continue taking that, but my calling's made that a little more difficult. My brother Peter would laugh if he read this having recently done this himself, but I secretly want to teach early morning seminary so that I'm getting to learn and teach all those neat things they have for seminary. Okay, I know I can do that anyway, but it would be so much more fulfilling if I were helping someone else learn these things and not just doing it for myself. I guess that's one reason we have children though, eh?

Irish, Tap, and Clogging 401--If you know me well you know that I love these 3 kinds of dance. I've tapped since I was a little girl and love that you can do slower, stylized moves and dances (think Fred Astaire) as well as fast and fun stuff with tap. Clogging's the best workout I've ever had with dance and love that you can take just about any of your favorite songs and clog to it (if you're imagining a girl in a big, poofy, frilly, short skirt dancing to some hokey old music, that's not what I'm talking about!) And Irish is so graceful and beautiful and gives you calves of steel and I'd like to learn how to do more of it. I just wish I were dancing every day again and really miss it.

Creative Writing 202--I love to read and sometimes love to write but wish I could learn some things to make me a good writer. I always used to think I'd grow up to be Anne of Avolea and be a talented writer (even though she had a lot to learn about writing, as you know if you've ever read the books or even seen the movies) but then I took an English class for Elementary Ed. (my college major) and the teacher was so mean and she shot down everything I turned in and it really shook my confidence in my writing ability so I've never really tried it since. The only writing I ever do anymore is in my journal and on this blog, and I miss the creative writing I used to do with my students and would like to do it more.

Well, I think that's more than enough. If you made it all the way through then you did better than the majority of my family who read my weekly family emails (not to name any names, Peter! :D) That was fun to do and now you get the chance if you want it! I'll tag Alison, Annie Leavitt, Erin, Holly, and Meridith, and anyone else who wants to play!