BEDA 17- Absolute Failure

I'm not actually surprised that I failed BEDA, I usually do. I always hate it though. I need to do this in February. It would have to be easier than August. August is SUCH a busy month! Ending Summer Program, writing service plans, starting school....all of that leaves me with not so much time to blog. And not much to blog about.

I have enjoyed BEDA this year more than other years. I have stumbled upon blogs that I would have probably never read if not for BEDA and I enjoy that. I love to see into what people do in their lives. My life is so.....uneventful? Maybe that's the word I'm looking for? I'm not sure. I just seem so run of the mill. I live in a tiny town, I read books, I have a job that allows me to do AMAZING things in the lives of troubled kids,* I go to local sporting events, I hang out with my cousins, and I watch TV with my grandmother. None of those things really inspire excess blogging. Well, the books do, but typing "OMGOSH I LOVED THIS BOOK YOU SHOULD READ IT NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!" does not a blog post make. But I love to blog. Even if it's about boring stuff. I like to put it down and send it out into the world and see what comes back to me. Sometimes nothing comes back, and that's okay. It is really more about doing something for myself. A way to see that things in my life have changed, that I have changed. That's what most of my social media experience is about. It's about communicating with people that I don't have the chance to meet in real life. My town is amazing, but I'm certainly not the norm in this tiny mountain town. It is lovely to see people like me, even if they only exist inside the internet :)

I hope you have all enjoyed BEDA this year, I hope to see you again NEXT August. And maybe next April as well.

*Which IS amazing, but not blogable.

BEDA 16- This is NOT a blog post

No actual post today. First day back to school and while the day started well, it ended horribly. I'm not talking about it in my attempt to spread less suck into the world. Suffice it to say that the day has left me with a TERRIBLE headache and I'm currently wearing a sweatshirt that I've had since I started high school (that is riddled with holes) and curled up with a stuffed dragon I've had for years. I don't even want to read! It is well and truly shit.* I'm calling it a night and sleeping off the cruddiness.

Less whiny Chelle will return tomorrow!**

*Apologies for the cursing,  it's not a common occurance.
**I hope.

BEDA 15- DELETE

This week I have been deleting things. On Sunday night I managed to delete my entire blog for about thirty minutes, which led to a huge panic attack. Then yesterday I managed to delete numerous comments that I was either trying to approve or was simply reviewing. So, if you commented on the blog recently and you can't find your comment...that's all me. I'm not sure what exactly happened to hinder my ability to understand the difference between "approve" and "delete." I blame massive amounts of paperwork.

Speaking of paperwork. I also managed to delete large sections of my ISPs* on my last work day. I can honestly say that losing huge chunks of clinical writing is THE MOST ANNOYING THING EVER. ** Today is my last day before school starts and since I wasted the day yesterday running errands for my grandmother and playing with my cousins I have a million things to do today. Including cooking dinner. I'll also be doing another blog entry tonight. It MAY*** be a written account of my back to school/work panic.

Sorry for this kind of sporadic, crazytimes blog post.

*Individualized Service Plan. Basically this is the treatment plan we write for each client that we use to gauge client progress.

**Actually this is a lie. The most annoying thing is when you realize you are writing the exact same goal repeatedly and have to rewrite a treatment plan. THAT'S depressing.

***Read: most definitely will

BEDA 14- Chelle and BBF1 Remember the 90s

Apparently BEDA=list making. Oh well, I'm one heck of a list maker! Tonight I conned BFF1 into helping me come up with a BEDA List and she suggested listing things we liked about The 90s. Since I'm exhausted and kind of feel like garbage I agreed.
Things We Love: 90s Edition

BEDA 13- The Beatles

Today I'm going to do something a little unconventional. Since I'm not really sure what to blog about, I'm going to talk about The Beatles. But instead of waxing poetic about how much I love them and why and various memories associated with The Beatles themselves, I am going to put my iPod on shuffle and talk about the first ten Beatles songs that play. Thoughts/feelings/memories/etc.

BEDA 12- Rain

Today it rained, so prepare yourselves for a love letter to weather. Seriously, it's about to be like a chapter from Twilight. Today as I left the house to take E to a pool party with her friends it started sprinkling rain. It was one of those adorable summer rain showers where it is bright and sunny and HUGE drops of rain fall from the sky and plunk down on the world. It was fun and bright and beautiful. Unfortunately it was over too soon, and by the time I returned home fifteen minutes later the rain had stopped. This prompted me to tell my grandmother that Mother Nature was a cruel mistress who was nothing more than a tease. Obviously I take my rain showers seriously.

BEDA 11- Cupcakes

Well, it only took a few days to come to the point where I just blog about things that I eat. I mean, OBVIOUSLY I spend a lot of time tweeting about things that I eat,* but so far I've managed not to devote large amounts of blog time to food.** That all changes tonight!

I have a sick obsession with cupcakes. I absolutely LOVE them. Most of my weekends are spent baking at least one batch of cupcakes (or maybe scones) and then watching numerous episodes with BFF2. I know! My life is soooo exciting! Anyway, the point is I'm a girl who knows her way around a kitchen and I really enjoy having enough time to actually bake without feeling rushed.

BEDA 10-Stream of Consciousness

For the love of all that is good and holy my head hurts! Lack of rain has led to my allergies being ALL out of wack. But enough complaining! On with the blogging! Since pain=lack of focus I'm just going to do a bulleted list of things I'm thinking about RIGHT NOW!

•The weather has been lovely recently, even without rain. Warm days and cool nights are fantastic and the perfect way to transition from summer to fall.
•I may go with BFF2 and The Clone to watch the Glee3D concert movie next week and I'm only a little embarrassed by that.
•I may yell "It's Harry freaking Potter" when Darren Criss comes on screen during the Glee concert movie.
•I need to gather books up tonight for CoworkerRachel because she loved a series I recommended and now wants a list of books she should read.
•She also wants to borrow books I own so she doesn't spend a boatload of money on books she may not love.
•I love recommending books to people.
•I love reading more than I love recommending books.
•I wonder how many kids read books from the reading lists I was asked to make at the end of the school year.
•It seems like cheating to make a random blog post about my scattered thoughts.
•Work today was super stressful, but not nearly as bad as I assumed it would be.
•Work was marginally decent thanks to my iPod (George) and BFF2.
•In all the time I listened to George I only heard one Beatles song.
•I should probably just make a suggested reading list (separated by genre) that I can make copies of and hand out.
•I have made a LOT of recommended reading lists in the last four years.
•My face hurts.
•Today's "Silver Lining" is that while today was a cruddy office day I have a lot less work to do to get ready for school than I expected!
•I use a lot of exclamation points and capital letters.
•I appreciate ANYONE who read this rambling list o' things!

BEDA 9- Office Supply LOVE

As previously mentioned, I have a sick obsession with office supplies. I have spent the past few weeks stocking up on pens, pencils, notebooks, a new dayplanner, etc. Then today the bag I ordered to carry to work each day arrived! I will spend a good portion of my evening packing the work bag with the items I'll use this week during my office work days and then next week I'll the items I'll need each day in the classroom.

And now I'm amazed that I'm blogging about school/office supplies. Unfortunately I don't have much to chat about. I've spent the majority of the month hanging out with my cousins and trying to help my grandmother around the house when possible. Basically, I've been a bum. With only two weeks off between summer program and school starting I've really made it a priority to be a bum.

I hope all of you are enjoying the end of summer!

BEDA 8- I Missed a Day!

I failed BEDA! BUT I am going to make it up! Honest! ONE day soon I'm going to post TWO blogs! I'm currently typing this on my brother's girlfriend's laptop and feeling horrible because I was doing SO well! I even managed to blog when I was out of town with NO internet service! Then things went to pot! However, things should be okay now.

I've spent this week (all two days of it) getting ready for school to start. The best thing about my current job is that I get to use office supplies, which means that I get to do all the fun back to school shopping! Yesterday my family went to the closest big town to us so that I could buy the supplies I still needed. My clients tend to lack the funds necessary to be prepared for school every day, so I try to have basic supplies on hand at all times so they are prepared for class. I also have a sick obsession with ink pens, so I had to stock up on my current favorites so that I am ready for massive note taking each day. After the school supply shopping for myself, Doda, and E we headed over to Best Buy any my mother fronted me the money to purchase an internet capable device. After a lot of consideration I decided that I should get a cheaper tablet now (since I have access to multiple desktops) and save to buy a quality laptop in the future. My dad seems to think there is hope that his oldest son can repair my laptop for little cost, which will be fantastic really. It is odd to be disconnected in a sense. Especially since it is not by choice. I finally got everything set up on the tablet* and it is (hopefully) ready to go.

I go back to work on Thursday, so you guys should prepare for boring work related blogs! I will do my best to provide quality entertainment so that you won't be bored to tears while reading. I'm certain I'll have exciting stories once school actually starts. I'm excited to go back and work with my clients and see the students at my school. Last week I was accosted by a student that was in the grade level I work with and she was EXTREMELY excited to see me. I adore the kids I interacted with last year, and I have missed them this summer. I look forward to another year of recommending books, laughing at silly things they say, and remind them that just because we are from a small Southern town we do NOT have to sound like idiots** when we speak. I enjoy interacting with tweens and teens each day and seeing the ways that I positively impact their lives.

*I think. Most likely I still need to download massive amounts of things and fiddle with the settings a bit longer.

**I seriously cannot count the number of times kids told me they didn't have to "talk right" because they're from the country. It's sad really that they have no interest in bettering themselves.

BEDA 7- Dead Laptop

On Friday I tweeted about being a grown-up and not spending money I didn't have on a fancy pants new tablet* at Best Buy. Especially since I was going out of town for the weekend and school was starting and I have a lot of expenses for that. Tonight I got home from my trip and turned the laptop on to type a blog and watch a disc of Supernatural, only to be greeted by the BLACK SCREEN OF DEATH. It is horrible. Not only do I use my laptop on a daily basis for entertainment purposes, it is literally impossible for me to do my job without computer access. Needless to say, my 83 year old grandmother does NOT have a spare computer laying around. Or any computer if we're honest. Now I'm faced with adulthood. My work schedule has been really messed up this month. School doesn't start until the 18th and summer program ended on July 31, which makes money really tight until I go back to school and get a regular paycheck mid-September. Lack of funds make it impossible to purchase ANY type of computer. I'm so frustrated right now and I'm sad that this is just a ranty blog post about electronics. Especially since I KNOW things could be worse! It's a downward spiral of disgust I'm hanging out in. I'm just going to retreat into a book Goethe rest of the night, then sleep in my own bed.**

*Even though I REALLY want one
**I suppose "sleeping on my own bed" is the Silver Lining in this post.

BEDA August 6- Desperately in Need of Coca-Cola

I desperately need a Coke.* For whatever reason I thought it would be a good idea to bypass caffeinated beverages until lunch time. I know, a foolish endeavor! After spending the morning back to school shopping with The Clone in an outlet mall on tax-free-weekend I am, in a word, MISERABLE. Terrible headache (brought on by no caffeine, allergies, and crowded department stores) and drowsiness leads to a not fun Chelle. I did go for a dip in the pool with The Clone and Jerry while my aunt and uncle visited some shops; however, this has not lessened the need to stab my right eye out. The stabbing eye pains lead me to believe that my issues are more allergy related than anything else, which well and truly sucks because there's nothing I can do about.

BUT I WILL NOT BE CONQUERED BY MERE PAIN!

This is a FREE (except for meals and personal purchases) trip with people I adore. Lunch was at a restaurant
that was very similar to Chuck E. Cheese's. We watched Lord of the Rings while we munched on a variety of pizzas, salads, soups, and pastas. After eating we headed to the arcade section of the restaurant and played games for about an hour. I did not play games. Poor hand-eye coordination lead to me being a better observer than participator. I did enjoy watching The Clone play a variety of games, and I especially loved watching my aunt and uncle decimate a game called Galaga. Apparently this was a popular game WAY back when that is still available to play in some arcades. Watching that game play allowed me to overhear some ace quotes, including my uncle talking about previous high scores achieved when he was a teen, and my aunt telling me stories about their honeymoon and visiting arcades. These stories make it obvious that I am truly from a nerd family. Not that there was much doubt to begin with! Even when faced with physical pain, whiny kids (and me), large crowds, and hours of shopping I continue to be amazed by how wonderful my family is. This has been a great day despite the gross things we've dealt with. The best part comes in small moments. I'm currently typing this on The Clone's netbook while we watch Lord of the Rings: Return of the King and Jerry plays Angry Birds on my iPod. We've been constantly referring to inside jokes from the numerous times we've watched these movies and Jerry has made a ton of jokes about how horrid I am at any video game that isn't Tekken (or something like Tekken) while he is able to win the levels on Angry Birds with ease. Honestly, these are the moments that I love the most-whether we are home or in another state.


*This post is NOT sponsored by Coca-Cola, but I wouldn't object to free Cokes for life!

BEDA August 5- I'm a Travelin' Man

Well, maybe (definitely) not a man, but I HAVE been traveling quite a bit recently. I'm currently sitting in the backseat of my aunt and uncle's SUV, riding through Tennessee, while The Clone and Jerry talk in assorted accents. This is an interesting jaunt. The scenery is BEAUTIFUL, but then again I'm extremely biased toward mountains.

I don't really have anything to blog about today. Before departing on our journey I went to first aid training* and made a quick trip to the closest mall (45 minutes away) to buy Chucks for BFF2 and to make a quick trip to the bookstore. Yes, the closest bookstore is forty-five minutes away! It's QUITE dreadful! However, since I was leaving for this trip I was on a DO NOT BUY THINGS trip. For the most part I did well, I only purchased a collection of fairy tales. Anywho, not much of a blog entry. Apologies! I hope you all have fantabulous weekends! I'll be back on Sunday to comment on your blogs and lurk around the interwebs :)

*Complete waste of time. Took less than twenty minutes and there was a physical test that consisted of applying pressure to a wound and making a sling out of a bandage.

BEDA August 4-SO CLOSE (Yet SO far away)

Well I've already missed a day. Kind of. I'm not COUNTING it as missing a day though since this will be posted just a few short moments after midnight. I honestly could have posted earlier, but instead I was packing. WHY was I packing, you ask. Because my auntie (commonly referred to as Momma Clone) called me today midtraining session and invited me to come with her and her family on a long weekend jaunt to Tennessee! Tres exciting!!! So instead of blogging I packed. I also searched through iPod apps to find something that was free that I could use to blog so I wouldn't miss any days this weekend!

Now, on to the POINT of this blog. Tonight I took The Clone to see DH2, which I saw at LeakyCon with tons of other hardcore fans. And while realistically I KNOW that people watching the movie on a random Thursday night weeks after the movie released are most likely people who just needed a low cost activity (at least that's who they most likely are in MY little baby town) it was kind of a shock how different my viewing was tonight. When I saw the movie at Leaky it was an EXPERIENCE. Sitting in a theater full of people who laughed, cried, and cheered with you was special. I knew it was special when it happened. But tonight NO ONE reacted. There were no gasps, no crying (that I could hear), and certainly no cheering. Not nary a person screamed Neville Longbottom's name at any point during the film. There was some laughter, but not a lot. And honestly, this last Harry Potter movie had several moments that induced giggles. At one point The Clone looked at me (as tears streamed down my face while I laughed and clapped softly) and said "are you seriously crying? You've seen this before." Which frankly made me say "SO???" So what if I had cried before. I cry every time I read the books. Heck, I even get teary-eyed when the face the troll in Sorcerer's Stone and when Neville wins house points at the end of that story due to his extreme bravery.

I suppose what I'm trying to say is that when you sit in a room full of people who GET it, it is very difficult to sit in a room o people who clearly don't understand. Even The Clone who has read (and loved) each HP book doesn't quite understand. There is a difference between loving something for a year and loving something for a lifetime. And that sentiment doesn't just apply to Harry Potter. I suppose it's the difference in love and like. Many people I know in real life like Harry Potter, but few of then have the lifetime love affair that I have had with Harry.

BEDA August 3- Esther Earl Day

Today is Esther Earl Day. If you're unfamiliar with Esther's story you can read about it here. To boil down the day though, today would have been Esther's birthday and last year she asked that people who wanted to celebrate her birthday make it a point to tell someone "I love you." She asked that you pick someone who you love, but don't generally say the words "I love you" to, not a crush but a friend or a relative. Someone who means something HUGE, someone who is a gigantic part of your life, someone who impacts your life and makes it better every single day. So today is a day when you celebrate the love you have for others in honor of a girl who did everything possible to show love to everyone around her.

Although I was not friends with Esther, she impacted my life in a very real way. I wasn't her friend on facebook, I didn't follow her on twitter, I didn't watch her videos on YouTube, and in fact I only heard about her in the few months before her death. However, I was impacted by the impact she made on the lives of people that I respect and admire. Listening to John Green and Lauren Fairweather talk about how they were inspired by Esther's life and affected by her death was a humbling experience. Realizing that this girl was affected by a disease, but refusing to succumb to the disease and instead fighting to make the world a better place made ME want to face each day with dignity and grace. It is so easy to complain. Finding the bad things in life is easy. It is so easy to list negative things. I'm not sure why. I can come home from work and spend hours talking about how crappy my day was. It is difficult to find good things. Since Esther's passing I've tried to be better. I've tried to think positively and spread love to others. I don't always succeed. In fact, I fail a lot of the time. But I think that making the effort counts for a lot. I positively impact the lives of people around me. I can say without a doubt that each day I get up and go to work that I make someones life better. They may not realize it right now, but one day they will be able to see how I helped them.

In keeping with Esther Day tradition I made it a point to tell someone that I love them. I am an affectionate person and I express myself well. I tell my family I love them, I tell my friends that I love them. I make it a point to let the people I care about know how much they mean to me. But there are times I drop the ball. I decided today that I was going to tell Doda that I love him. It's hard to explain the relationship I have with Doda, I was thirteen when he was born and his mom was my idol. I wanted to be with her all the time. And I generally WAS with her. I have loved him since the moment I laid eyes on him. I have so many warm and fuzzy memories of him. I cried this year when he graduated middle school. I'm talking buckets of tears. I had to leave the room until he left for school. And he KNOWS that I love him. All of the cousins do. But whereas I have no problem telling the other three that I love them, Doda tends to be uncomfortable with displays of affection. Generally if I tell him that I love him it is slipped into a conversation after he tells me something silly he has done. I rarely look at him and say "for serious, I love you." But today I did. And he looked at me like I was crazy, and said "okay," and went back to helping me do dishes for our grandmother. It was exactly the response I expected, and it was the only response I needed. He confirmed that he knows I love him, for keeps. And it is an amazing feeling to tell someone that you love them.

So, even though it is late I would encourage you all to take part in Esther Day and tell someone that you love them!

BEDA August 2- Already Out of Ideas

So, BEDA Day 2, how YOU doin'? I have no real idea what to blog about today. Which is OBVIOUSLY a fantastic sign for the upcoming month.  Today has been pretty quiet. As usually I can't keep E away and she is basically camped out at my house unless one of her parents have forced her to come home for a few hours. This week I'll also have Doodle and A every morning while their mom goes to work, so we've been doing a lot of fun things and watching some movies. Yesterday it was How to Train Your Dragon and today we watched Disney's Hercules. I also finished Wildefire by Karsten Knight, so it seems like I'm on a bit of a mythology kick today! I'm typing this while watching Doodle and E give each other mani-pedis. I can honestly say there are few things more hilarious than watching a three year old paint someones fingernails. Doodle's hand-eye coordination is okay, but the truth of the matter is that she struggles to make everything work the way it should.

I've also spent some time trying to pin down plans with Doda, The Clone, and Jerry. We are planning to watch The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen sometime this week since I've had the DVD for weeks. They have never seen the movie, but I'm so positive that they will love it. Doda has also mention a Lord of the Rings marathon before school starts. It's been three whole months since we've had a LotR-a-thon, so it makes sense that we watch them again soon!

Later this week I have to attend not one, but two safety training sessions for work. I'm not really excited about this, truth be told. Especially since I'm currently certified for both First Aid and Crisis Intervention. Oh well, at least it's a paycheck! Sorry for the boring blog kids. I'll try to do better tomorrow! Maybe something EXCITING will happen tonight that I can blog about tomorrow! Hope you all have better BEDA luck today than I did!

BEDA August 1-Introductions

I signed up here and agreed to do BEDA! Now I just have to make an effort to show up each day! Here is a simple introduction post, questions courtesy of Rachel, but the questions were posted on the BEDA blog. If you're doing BEDA you should check them both out!


What’s your name?

Rochelle, but I'm RARELY called Rochelle. For family and close friends it's always (ALWAYS) Chelle. Unless I'm in trouble of course, then I get the full thing: Rochelle Shanlea. Which is the name you can see if you find me ANYWHERE on the internet

How old are you?

27 almost 28.

How long have you been blogging? (Or is this your first try?)

I started blogging in 2008 for a previous job where I worked as a Youth Services Librarian. When I left that job in 2009 I started this blog. I don't post regularly, but I always want to make the time to write here. I try BEDA every year, and while I've never actually managed to complete BEDA on my personal blog I always enjoy the experience!

How did you come up with your blog’s name?

I live in an EXTREMELY small town in rural southwestern Virginia and I've loved books my entire life. Small Town Book Nerd is the best way to describe me!

What’s your Hogwarts House?

Ravenclaw

What do you like to read?

Everything seems like a cop out, but it's true. I read mainly young adult literature, but this year I have also been drawn to memoirs and biographies. Since graduating high school and college I've been on a quest to reread the classics that were thrust upon me (and I hated) as a student to see if with age and choice my opinions of these have changed, so I also randomly pick up books from my cousins' reading lists and read along with them.

What do you like to watch?

I watch Netflix for hours at night while I am doing paperwork for my job, so it's hard to narrow my choices down. Right now I am making my way through Swamp People, Supernatural, and the BBC versions of Robin Hood and Merlin. Doctor Who, House, Bones, Haven, Pretty Little Liars, reality TV: DWTS, Project Runway, ANTM. I enjoy a variety of shows and am general up for suggestions.

As far as movies, I generally watch romantic comedies, Disney cartoons, teen flicks with the girl cousins, movies based on books, and fantasy/action/superhero movies. The Cousins* and I particularly enjoy Indiana Jones, X-Men, and Lord of the Rings.

What’s the best song you listened to today?

Man, these "likes" questions REALLY get me! It is nearly impossible for me to narrow down choices, and I generally have background music at all times. If something isn't playing, then I'm singing something in my head.

Today (and for quite some time) I've been ridiculously in love with the songs "In My Life" by The Beatles** and "Dear Yoko" by John Lennon.

Have you done anything really fun recently?

I attended LeakyCon this summer with one of my best friends. We drove from Virginia to Florida and it was THE BEST thing that I've done this summer.

In addition to BEDA, are you doing any other awesome things in August?

School starts again on the 18th of August, so I'll be going back to work. However, until then I basically have three free weeks to just hang out. There are a few training sessions and work days that I have to attend, but they are child free so they will still be relatively relaxing. I plan to use my days to swim in my Auntie W's pool, have sleepovers and movie days with The Cousins.

Anything else you’d like to add?

A question that I frequently get is "What EXACTLY do you DO?" I'm usually rather vague due to confidentiality issues, but I refer to work a lot on this blog. So, to clarify, I am a Therapeutic Day Treatment Counselor. To break that down: basically I provide behavioral therapy to kids who are at risk of being removed from their homes or from school due to severe behavioral issues. We intervene and help our clients learn appropriate ways to react to anger, teach social skills, and just generally help them deal with any issues they have that prevent them from succeeding in school/life. I spend all day every day in the classroom with clients. Last year I worked in the seventh grade in a middle school in my county. This year I'm not 100% sure where I'll be, but right now it looks like I'll pick up with my previous clients and move with them to eighth grade! Joy of joys! Prepubescent boys are ALWAYS enjoyable...especially when they are bigger than me.***

Is there anything YOU would like to know? Feel free to ask! I'm relatively friendly and am always willing to respond to questions.


*The Cousins: Doda (14), The Clone (14), Jerry (12), and E (9). Also referred to as The Fantastic Four. Occasionally this core group is extended to include two of the younger cousins A (5) and Doodle (3) but generally ONLY refers to the original four.
**In all actuality, if I have heard a Beatles song there is a 99.9% chance that it will have been THE BEST song I have heard that day.
***Apparently I look REALLY young. Last year I was mistaken for a middle school student more than 10 times AFTER the first grading period ended.