Tristan and Isolde

My face in thine eye, thine in mine appears,

And true plain hearts do in the faces rest;

Where can we find two better hemispheres

Without sharp north, without declining west?

Whatever dies, was not mix'd equally;

If out two loves be one, or thou and I 

Love so alike that none can slacken, none can die.

                                The Good-Morrow

                                      -  John Donne

Before Romeo and Juliet there was Tristan and Isolde. Two countries at war. A boy Tristan is orphaned by an Irish attack and left to rebuild with his devastated community. Years pass and the Irish come back to pick off the remains but this time the English are ready. Tristan, as the leader and father figure's right hand man, lead in the attack and victory is killed by the poison of the sword of the Irish's leader who he kills. Or so they think. Tristan's funeral boat drifts ashore Irish land where the Irish princess finds him, heals him, and they fall in love. But he does not know she is lying about her identity. He must leave her before the King finds him. He returns a man raised from the dead, but alone. The Irish are devastated and wants the English to fight for leadership among each other, so the King offers forth his daughter as a price and peace among the Irish and English countries. Tristan sets forth to win the princess, but on behalf of his adaptive father. Not until he wins and claims the princess as the future wife of their future King does he learn that his savior and love Bragnae, is actually Isolde the Irish Princess. Now they must live among each other, but not as one. Could you let the one you love leave you for the betterment of all people?

This is the most incredible love story. Love of family. Love of a country. Love of a your other half. It will make you cry, is does for me every time. It raises questions of every caliber, ones that make you think of how you would react to this situation.

Prepare your eyes for dark picture techniques, and your ears for listening through the Irish accents. Attention will be needed throughout this entire film. But it is most definitely worth the little effort.

Update

For living in a insanely winter state, Minnesota is not living up to its normal snow levels. The temperature is cold, windy and horrible, but the snow where is it? I don't like the cold but snow always made thing better because it makes everything pretty (even when it is piled on top of my car).

So enough about the weather, even though it does seem to control my everyday. The planner is consistently staying full and complex, but all is well. Courses consist of Reading in the Content Area (a course for Secondary Education Major on how to incorporate reading in all subject areas), Confessional Writings (an expansion on Doctrine and Article Written on Doctrine), Teaching Religion, Physics, Teaching Physical Education, Teaching Social Studies, Piano and Organ. Not too difficult of a schedule and the least amount of credit I've had here ever. It is weird getting back in the routine though especially since on Tuesdays and Thursdays I don't have class till 1pm.

I'm still able to help out with basketball each week by making schedules for their extra half hour work outs, plus running the plyometrics and yoga sessions. The girls season is going AWESOME! They are not only number one in the conference but they haven't lost a conference game yet, and have an overall record of 13-5. Playoffs come at the end of February and I can't wait to see how they do!

Work at Kegel has been great. I waitress and bartend now and have been getting tons of hours. We have had some interesting work days including our heater breaking and causing our entire party room to smoke up and send all the guests away. Then this past weekend a pipe burst in the ceiling making water come down one of the walls and short circuiting a TV. We did even know it happened and just thought the TV was broken, until everyone started smelling burnt rubber. When I went to investigate I found sparks flying from the electrical cord and then discovered the water pouring down the wall. I kicked the cord from the wall and got the manager. Eventually we got people up in the ceiling to check things out. We had to turn off all the water, which is kind of an important ingredient in running a business. We were able to get at least cold water after an hour which meant at the end of the night cleaning required us to boil water in coffee pots till be had enough to wash down tables and do dishes. Thank goodness it was really busy in the bar area at all, just in the bowling alley. I'm just hoping when I get back tomorrow everything will be fixed. My goal is basically to save up as much money as possible so I don't have to worry about money during student teaching next year, and be a little bit set before I hopefully get my call next Spring. Now if I can just find a job for over the summer, that would make life even better (so keep your ears and eye open for me).

Anchor is in the process of planning our Casino Night. I named it "Puttin' on the Ritz." I wanted an old Hollywood theme and the whole group is really into it. I can't wait to show you pictures of all the ideas that hopefully will materialize.

I'm looking forward to the end of the month when I get to travel down to Doral, FL to teach for a week at my friends Amanda's school. Then the two of us will travel up to Orlando for some site seeing and then I'll spend a week with the Florida family.

Besides the basic world of school, work and friends I continue watching MANY TV shows, movies, have become obsessed with pinterest.com, and are preparing to take a friend's engagement picture this spring.

I hope all is well with everyone and I would love to get some email updates from all of you!