I would not make a good vampire

So this has been the longest day of my life!!!! I couldn't go for my run because it was simply way too cold and wet. I could have dealt with the cold if I didn't also have to worry about the rain. This left me home, at 11am, with nothing to do!!!! Also, my weekly trip to walmart had to be canciled due to weather because there is no covered area at the bus stop. (as it turns out, the rain pretty much stayed away all afternoon, but how was I supposed to know that and you all know that if I had decided to go out, it would have been pouring and thundering all day long)

I did my reading for American Heritage...which was much reading and lead to a short nap.

I then woke up with some goldfish and did my reading for Book of Mormon, which was very extensive, more so than American Heritage.

At this point, I considered taking another short nap, but I didn't. I did my reading for Current Social Issues. The problem with taking those reading tests online is that they are 10 questions, open book and we have a half an hour to take them. Meaning that if I just skim through the chapter and know where to find things, I can get a 100% without putting much time into it.

I EVEN FINISHED AN ASSIGNMENT FOR MY ONLINE CLASS!!!! I rarely work on that class, especially since these are the chapters about gravity and stuff...you know F=GmM/d^2 and the likes which I was never really good at because they always bring proportions into it.

All throughout this endless afternoon, I checked facebook, twitter, email and other random things just to see if anyone else was doing interesting things that I could comment on (which nobody was, you all fail as friends).

In about two hours I have a folk dance rec. night. Which should be loads of fun and I plan on staying for the maximum amount of time and even staying to help clean up because that will keep me away from this dorm room!!

The point of all this ranting is to say this. I would not make it as an immortal. I would go crazy with boredom. However, if I were an immortal, I would probably be wealthy, or at least I would have a car to take me on errands so I can buy orange nail polish to support my HS. Also, I would most likely have some kind of a mate or be living with my family which is always more interesting than an afternoon alone. And, I would have a much better mind, meaning I would be smarter and could therefore get through college without much effort, leading to a fabulous life in a career that I love because I would have forever to find the perfect fit for me. Also, were I immortal I wouldn't ever have to be concerned when I miss a day of exercise and eat a lot of boredom food. In fact, I could just go for a beautiful, lovely stroll through the majestic mountains right outside my door. I guess there are pros and cons to having all the time in the world. (ps, I am taking all my vampire qualities from Meyer, though I understand that there are other takes on the matter)



(this is his 'thirsty' face...)

Sometimes, you just need to read

Well about two days ago, I felt the need to read. I was kind of searching through the books that I have looking for something because I didn't/couldn't buy any more books (I had just bought Going Bovine by Libba Bray so my book budget was gone). I started another Bray book because I thought maybe that would be it. I thought maybe some Maureen Johnson cuz she always makes me happy, but I really don't want to get sick of her books and I feel like I just re-read them.

Then I remembered that Forest Born had just come out and I had yet to borrow it from my roomate.

This is the latest book in a series by Shannon Hale, The Books of Bayern. The series is a YA series, though I think that even younger children would be fine reading it. Hale is such a fabulous author. I love that she can write for both adults, with books like Austenland and The Actor and the Housewife and still write these amazing YA books. Like I was seriously laughing out loud reading this book. It has just enough action and romance and plot-twists to keep you interested, but not overwhelm you and make the book challenging to read. That being said, I never feel like she is talking down to me. I never feel like I'm reading one of those books from the children's section at Borders. She keeps up her vocab but I don't need a dictionary.

Mostly, I love the way her books make me feel. Whenever I finish a Hale masterpiece, I feel like I have just spent a very satisfying few hours coloring or fingerpainting or wandering through the heather. I feel so peaceful and just generally happy, like a little kid, but without the being a little kid part. I feel edified in a way. I feel as though I have just learned something new about myself.

I would highly suggest some Hale for those of you looking for books to read. Princess Academy and Book of 1000 Days were not my favorites, but I still enjoyed them. Oh, I just feel so happy I could burst! I love the Books of Bayern!!!! I love reading!!!!

A new perspective on life

Well friends, I have decided to change some of my ways. I am going to actually start running. I first went after class on Monday and I found a nice little route that takes about a half an hour to run/walk (I walk the up parts). It is in the residential area right across the street from my dorm, so I don't have to be all self-consious running on the big streets. My plan is to do this little run on MWF and Sat and then up the time a bit each week. Once I get to crazy times, I'll alternate short and long run/walks.

On top of that, I am eating healthier. The creamery doesn't believe in low-fat foods, it is all lard-y and I can't stand that, but really, why should I be eating things from a can/box anyway? I can cook up some chicken and veggies for barely any more money than eating the crap-from-a-box. Each week I go to the Wal-Mart grocery store and buy the food there that I don't want to get from the creamery. Like getting an apple at walmart could be like 35 cents/lbs and a buck fifty/lbs at the creamery and its worse quality, but getting chicken from the creamery really isn't any different. Also, my Walmart trips give me something to do.

So far so good. Today is my third straight day of running because I went yesterday for some odd reason and that was probably a bad idea cuz I don't think run/walking for three straight days is a good idea, but I need to get back on schedual, so it's going to happen. I feel awsome. It gives me something to do other than sitting at my computer or reading or studying. Also, I just feel better. I'm happier cuz I don't feel fat.

Thank you parents!

Well, I've just spent a good two hours cleaning our small kitchen and I'm waiting for Sadee to get out of the shower before I attempt to tackle the bathroom. I give much thanks that my parents taught me how to clean and who cleaned up after me for so many years, I now understand your pains.

I know I was never the cleanest person at home. Many times I left a trail of destruction in my path, but I still know how to care for a living space. I know that you need to go through the food in the fridge every once in a while to make sure that there arent any three week old grapes oozing on the bottom of the fruit drawer. I know that each person in a family doesn't need to buy their own sour cream (there are four in our fridge right now). I know that the easiest way to keep the kitchen clean is to have everyone put their dishes right into the washer, and if its clean, then you empty it and the put your dirty dish into the washer. It is rude to just plop it in the sink without even rinsing it and wait for someone else to do it.

A Happy Gift

Well now, I just went out to get the mail and there was a happy envelope for me. It was from Paul. He has drawn me the most happy picture ever. It is an "Instant Dance Partner". Holy cow, this makes me sooo happy!!! He even gave me a tiara and did my hair exactly like I did it for Kelli's party and gave me my gloves. Now, I have a happy picture of the perfect man to look up at all the time. Hahahaha, he can be like Edward and watch me sleep.

Things to Say

Oh, there are so many things to say and I have no idea how to make them connect. We shall see how well this goes.

I made lasagna for my roomates and me last night and it was honestly the best lasagna I've ever had. My momma taught me well in the lasagna making department. After which Sadee took us to this health food store which kind of reminded me of Trader Joes, but it wasn't that cool. Speaking of health foods...

Emily sent me a package and there was a multitude of things in it! I was very excited to get a package especially considering the fact that it had Pirates Booty in it which I have yet to see in Utah, even at the health food store! Also in this box was...

... a few drawings Emily had made! One of them was another family portrait, but this one includes Smith and Stewart (the band director and our AP gov teacher respectively). The other one was a picture of a volcano erupting. Along the bottom it said "A picture of Mt. Vesuvius in erection". There is a story that goes along with it, don't worry, she wasn't sending me dirty pictures. See, in "How to Succeed..." there is a line that Finch says when he is pitching his idea to the board. The line is "A picture of Mt. Vesuvius in eruption." However, during one of the rehersals, Michael said the wrong thing, I think you can guess what it was. We all laughed and now its a big joke, but the thing is, I can't exactly put this picture up in my dorm room because it's technically innapropriate. Even though the picture is really just a volcano and you can barely tell thats what it says, I can't put it up. And I respect that, I understand why I can't, but I just wish that I could. I'm commenting on how sometimes things that seem innapropriate on the outside aren't actually, though I suppose the innapropriatness of the word and the awkwardness it provided is part of the funny. Which brings me too...

...the campus atmosphere. I was thinking as I was walking around today how much I really do love BYU. We got something special today and I'm going to tell you about it. Every Tuesday, we have a devotional at 11. Someone speaks to us about some gospel principle and they are usually really good speakers and its fun to go to these devotionals. Today, the devotional was amazing. The President of the Church spoke to us. Think of it like the Pope, for those of you that don't understand the magnitude of the situation. When he first began to speak, he mentioned a bit about this wonderful school and I realized that this is the place for me and that no matter how homesick I get, this is the right place and I need to remember that. It gets hard sometimes, being away, and coming home seems like a fantastic idea, but I know that I'll be rewarded by sticking. (I'm not bashing on you Ashley S. I promise, I'm just saying that this is the right thing for me just like going home was the right thing for you, I hope you don't take offense cuz none was intended).

Now, because I go to a Church school, the Church is involved, big surprise. They want to keep us happy and not homesick, but really...how many friggin activities do we need!!!! We had church on Sunday, then there was a random devotional that night and then we had ward prayer. Then on Monday we were supposed to have FHE but (see the next point of info). Its like, do we never get a break? I think that they are so conserned with people not feeling loved and welcome that they throw activities at us because they can't have anyone leaving the Church on their watch. Honestly, you are just getting everyone more frusterated with a mindset like that.

Family Home Evening (FHE). Every Monday we are supposed to have a little activity, around an hour long, with our assigned group. Usually they are something really cheap and very fun. Over the summer we did things like going to the dollar theater and having a tin boat race. So our group talked briefly on Sunday and the girl in charge, the mother, if you will, suggested we go to this concert that started at 7:30, but the band they wanted to see wouldn't be on until later, so it would be a longer activity, and it cost $10 to get in. We were all like "yeah, sure" but when we got back, we were very frusterated. The day before our activity you tell us its going to be long and cost money? We probably all could have gone, but we didn't because none of us were planning on spending all night or $10 on a concert that really only two of the girls wanted to see. (Oh, our group consists of two girls dorms and a guys dorm, so the girls were from the other girls dorm).

I appologize for the length of this post, but deal with it.

Yet another book finished.

Well, I have finished the three books that are out of the Inheritance series by Christopher Paolini. Here is the thing with these books, you have to get used to reading them and blocking out the useless information. Paolini really knows his world and thats great, because then you can become immersed in this world too. But its also awful. There is a lot of useless information that generally requires skipping. He needs to tell the story and not show it. That being said, I did enjoy reading them. They were YA books, but they had a more expanded vocab than Twilight (which isn't much of an accompishment when you consider Twilight) and a complex plot with a lot of intrequing ideas and characters. I am actually really excited for the last book to come out which, because of the length of the books, probably won't be for a while. As hard as it was to get through all the descriptions, it was totally worth it. So, I suggest going after these books only if you are willing to accept the winded descriptions. By the third book, they really aren't that bad and gets a little clever with the dialogue, which is fun.

Also, they made a movie out of the first one, and I've heard that there is a reason that they only did one, it was awful, so don't do that.

IMPROVISED SO EXCITED!!!!

Movie Trailers - Movies Blog

Cereal: the Any-Meal

There are few foods which satisfy any form of hunger. For example, it would be rare to want a steak for breakfast. I'm not talking about the country fried steak they make at Ihop and leftover steak is another matter entirely, but I mean that nobody would go to the trouble of making a full-scale steak for breakfast. For one thing, its uncomfortable to eat something so hearty that early. For another, who wants to cook that much that soon after waking up.

There is one item of food that works for any meal though, cereal. You can have cereal for breakfast, second breakfast, elevensies, lunch, afternoonsies, snack, dinner, dessert, you name it. Cereal is very easy to prepare, so it's not like going to all the hassle of making bacon for brinner, and having eggs benedick for a snack is way too much work for an in-between meal. Cereal is also light enough that one can eat it in any weather too, because who wants to eat soup in 100 degree weather. But cereal matches any weather. There are many flavors of cereal too, to quench any craving. You can get Reses Puffs for that late night dessert or some Honey Bunches of Oats for that granola you need in the middle of the day.

On this note of foods that match any meal, I disagree with this whole "avacodo goes with anything" thing. Someone was trying to figure out if there was an all-around fod and they came up with avacodo because you can put it on just about anything. But I wouldn't put avacado on my cereal.



PS Toast is a fabulous example of an any-snack/any-small meal

Funny Poem

So our first assignment in my English class was that we each had to bring in a poem we liked and a poem we hated. This, of course, led Kelli and I on a made search for the Worst Poem Ever because that would be the only way to win at this assignment. But that is not the point of this post. The point is this: our teacher showed us one of her favorite poems, and I wanted to share it with you all.

BIRTHDAYS!!!!!

So, as many of you know, we do don't do birthday gifts, we do birthday experiences. It all started at the beginning of our senior year when Kelli and I decided to do all out birthdays for all our friends, and big stuff for the best friends. So we did some random things like "Dwight in a Box" for Em's birthday. This involved a large box with thing in it like a Schrute buck and super large paperclips in jello, you get the idea. Also, we tended to get shirts made for whoevers birthday it was.

Then, Emily and Kelli planned something for my birthday. It was a full day thing and I didn't know what was going on until they showed up at my house the day of. I was taken hostage for the day and forced to commit heinous crimes! OK, so not really all that heinous, they were really just the stupid laws that I had to break. For example, did you knwo that it is illegal for a woman to drive while wearing a bathrobe in California? It was things like that. I had a lot of fun that day. I spent most of the day with Em and Kelli, and Lauren Feldman was in and out. They made shirts with black and white stripes. The waitress at Brents Deli called us jail bait, which is not what she meant, but it was fun. The grand finale was me breaking into Emily's house (where I had never been before) and there was a large surprise party with everyone. We watched Chicago and they made a sign that said "For she's a jolly good fellon" it was awsome. I loved my birthday so much and I will never forget it.

Ever since then, we have done these awsome parties. Some were better than others. I think our best work was Tyler's World War II day. Kelli filled up some 400 water balloons and Ashley and Emily each did more and we staged WWII. Paul made shirts that had the flag of the country we were representing and "Peanuts! Nuts!" in whatever language that country uses (the peanuts nuts is another story for another time). We decorated bucher paper to be the Berlin wall and we blew up 99 red balloons. I made a german chocolate cake. Really, it was amazing, that was our best work.

We still have three birthdays left to do, and I cannot go into detail because then that would ruin the surprise, though I can say that they are going to be awsome! Emily's might just beat WWII, though we will have to see. It's not like we don't love you if your birthday celebration isn't as good, it's just that we weren't as creative, it comes in waves and our planning session was awsome just now.

Now, we have completed that round of birthdays and we can't repeat the same idea for two years in a row because a. we would run out of ideas and b. we have all moved away. So, the new birthday celebrations will be birthday in a box. Don't worry, they will still be themed, but they will just be mail-able. I am very excited for this. There are more rules for this round of birthdays, but thats part of the fun.

so here was my day today:
1. Go to rehersal for Taming of the Shrew which I am kindof stage managing. For those of you that don't know. My roommate talked me into auditioning for this play, and I had nothing better to do so I did. I didn't get a part (I really wasn't expecting to) but the director is preggers and I offered to help. As it turns out this is for a directing class, their project is to put on a 40 minute show. I feel a bit like I'm helping her cheat...but I really need to keep myself occupied
2. Eat a little lunch. A Lean Cuisine pizza if you were curious.
3. Take the bus to University Mall. I can take either the 830 or 832. I think there are a few others that go because there is a transit station at the mall, but these are the only routes I know. The nice thing about either of these routes, is that they are the new busses.
4. Go see 500 days of summer. Going to the movies by yourself is a fun experience. Nothing is lost by going without people, but it is different. I enjoyed myself.
5. Decide that I dont want to go back to my dorm because it's driving me insane. I spend a lot of time in my dorm because I really don't like participating in activities where there will be many people, so I stay in most nights and giving myself time to think isn't good at this point in my life.
6. Wander aroudn the mall. There are a few shops in University Mall that we don't have in California, and I really like them
7. The smell of the body shop makes pulled me in. I looked around a bit, and when one of the chicks asked me if I needed anything, i asked her if they had a really lightweight moisturizer because I needed it anyway and I was there. This lead to...
8. Make friends with the employees of said shop. It was just me and these two chicks. They sold me on some moisturizer then we got to talking and they were just really fun. One of them is a staunch republican and we had a very nice chat about the health care plan.
9. Wander some more, come across a comfy chair. The University Mall is very large.
10. Call Kelli and then my family, then read some Bran Hambric.
11. Decide I want dinner, Pf Changs sounds good.
12. Table for one please?
13. Head back to the bus and school
14. Attempt to watch FB on tv at the student center. My roommate and her guy friend were heading over. We got there during half-time, BYU was serving food, but I didn't get any because of my Changs dinner. I don't like watching sports on TV. It isn't as interactive as being on the field with the team. It's like watching a movie.
15. Decide that is stupid and come back here and write this.

The End.

My Experiences in Folk Dance

So as I was walking through the WILK today, my attention was directed at something bright and colorful. It was the little booth-type thing for the folk dance ensemble. I looked around, had a very brief chat with some chick and picked up a flyer. I then came back to my dorm and checked out the team. I thought, "hey, why not?" and asked my roomamtes if they would think it was a crazy idea. They laughed a bit and Katie was all for going with me. Here was where we ran into problems. On the flyer it said that the girls must bring a man with them to audition. I have no close guy friends here, so I was out of luck until Katie called up some friends and found us two boys!

So, we went to the ballroom at the assigned time and waited around with the masses. We filled out little papers and such, then it started. There was about 20 minutes with the boys where we did some random steps, depending on who was your partner, it was easy or hard and we changed partners often. Then, the boys went off and the girls were left to learn more. We did some other relatively simple steps and they handed out call back sheets. At this point, they began to go for endurance, so we were basically run/skip/dancing in circles for long periods of time (ok, so they probably weren't actually that long, but they felt long). Then the girls who got called back waited around for the boys to finish their auditions. When they did, we went into the other room and danced some more. We learned a Ukranian dance, a clogging dance, and a Chinese dance. It was lots of fun. Throughout the night, they pulled people out and assigned them teams. At a certain point, they broke everyone off into the groups of the time slots they had open for practice. My time slot was not called, so I asked and she said that it was full. I was a little sad, but it's not like I set my heart on this.

My roommate was still going so I sat in the back and watched. Then, about 4 minutes later, they call out "Are numbers 114 and 87 still here?" and I look down, and there it was, 87. I went up to talk to them and they asked if that was really the only spot we could do and if i was available on the MWF 9am schedule. I told them that I have class till 8:50 and another class that starts at 10, and they assured me I would be fine, so I said yeah, that sounds great. Then we filled out add class forms and gave our email and cell info and were herded up to a classroom where there was an ongoing spheel going on. I learned that there were three levels of teams and we were on the lowest (no surprise really). Just above us is the backup performance team. They do what we do and more including a tour of schools in Utah. Then there is the Performaning Arts Company, which is the highest level. They are the ones who get to do the cool stuff like go to Europe.

So there it is, I get to do something fun, and I even get a credit for it!

rambling

So, I don't really have anything to say, but I am bored and shouldn't go to sleep just yet. This is going to me me rambling on because doing things like this make me feel better and I've been feeling a litle sad tonight. Not a lot of sad, just a little bit of sad. I was talking with Em about this eariler and here is the gist of what I am feeling. Sometimes, I forget that I am in Utah. I think I trick myself into thinking that BYU is just Chaminade where I stay in a dorm, which would mean that I am still in the Valley. But I am not in the Valley, I am in Provo. Which isn't as far away as New York (Kelli is much farther from home than I am), but I have been away for so long. Coming back here was very painful for the first few days. I like my roomates, and I think that we are finally getting to be friends, but I don't think I will be as close with them as I was with my summer roomates. Anyway, so when I remember that home isn't actually down the street, its across almost two states, I get a little sad.

I did have fun talking with Kelli today, she helped me find some great poems for my English class. If you ever need to find poetry, ask Kelli, for she will know where to find it. And then we went on a quest for the worst poem ever. It was harder than you would think it would be. We finally asked facebook at large if they had any ideas and we got responses from Ms. Poole and Mr. Crossley, who both supplied fantastically awful poems. Also, in our searches through the internet, we found that the Tay Bridge disaster supplied people who should never be poets with an interesting subject for them to explore. Google 'worst poem ever' and you will understand what we mean. (In case you were wondering this is what crossley suggested and this is what poole suggested)

Getting through the Inheritance series is proving to be difficult. I really like the general story and besides that , I am way to stubborn to give up now, but its getting really hard. In this second book, Paolini likes to switch back and forth between the different groups of interest and its kind of like watching a LOST episode of someone you don't care about or when JJ does the split group thing, it just doesn't work. I am really liking the story though, so I would say to only read it if you have a strong will and can withstand a lot of things you don't care about, or if your ability to weed out useless information is superior.

I guess that's all I'm going to say tonight, I know its not my best post by far, but deal with it cuz it made me feel better.