Various Updates

Alrighty, so first day of classes completed. My German class is going to be all kinds of fun, I even have a friend in that class!!! His name is Tim and he is also in my ward and even FHE group, so...STUDY BUDDIES!! The teacher is really young, I mean, he is a student at the Y. But he served his mission in Germany and he seems pretty competant. Also, there was a poster for study abroad in Vienna in the classroom and I'm pretty sure that is my new goal.

Now, my English 251 class. I expected there to not be a lot of freshman in that class because it is technically a major class. But I didn't expect to be the only one (I'm not 100% positive about this, but it seemed to be the case). But here is the thing, it is the next english class for me to take since I took Eng 150 over the summer and I want to take a lit class so this is my option. I feel a little underprepared. Everyone knew so much more than me, but I wouldn't know any more than I do now about literature if I took it next semester because this is my next english class. I am rather annoyed with people who do things out of order! Like in my German class, there is a girl who lived in Germany for a while and speaks it and she is taking German 101 for an easy A, thats what she said when asked by the teacher. And I'm sitting there thinking gee, now think about the rest of the class, they have to deal with you and you might hinder their learning. Anybody have any thoughts as to what to do with this English Class? I really like the teacher and the class seems like so much fun! A pain, but really rewarding. If I wait, will I get a better experience? Also, I want to take a major class to see if this is actually what I want to major in. So, discuss...

I love my roomates: Sadee, Kaylee, Katie, Laura, Lauren, Ayn. Ayn is a fabulous violonist and she practices and makes us feel smarter for it. We decorated our kitchen window last night with the window crayons Kelli and Emily sent me over the summer.

My ward is cool, there are two girls dorms and one guy dorm, which only highlights the BYU dating problem. My bishop is like the second coach for the football team and he and two of his sons have injuries. He did something to his foot, one son (they one playing for BYU) broke his wrist or something like that, and the other (who plays for another univeristy) tore his ACL. I had a meeting with the whole bishopric on Sunday. There were three other girls there, one of which turned out to be the Relief Society president so I'm thinking they were "auditioning" this group for the presidency. Bishop Franco (my bishop from summer term) has spoken very highly of me to everyone and so they all know me as "that girl from Franco's ward". I'm really hoping that they don't call me to anything and just claim that Bishop Franco was crazy. I did see him and his wife on Sunday though and I had a nice little chat with them. The last thing I want, is a calling, though they are all bent on making sure that all 175 members have callings so I want dibs on Hymnal distributor.

I really have to go shopping today, but my desire to avoid the bus might just drive me to the crappy, fatty food they have at the little grocery store. Maybe Sadee will drive me if I bring it up...we'll see.

Love you all!!!!

August 25, 2:32 pm, the living room
Diane, I was just thinking of an interesting thing. Remember the time Kelli got the theme from Twin Peaks played during mass? And Mr. Buck thought he was going crazy? Those were fun time. Also, I was considering all the crazy characters in this show and also that I’m really glad it isn’t the 1990 anymore because those clothes were pretty bad. Also, also, I can’t imagine a time without cotton balls. I wonder when those were invented. Actually, that is a silly question seeing as cotton is grown in balls, but I mean cotton balls as we know them, the ones that work great with nail polish remover and are useful as a means of creating silent drapery runners. I shall Google it!!!

[the former was written on the date stated, from here on, it is today, August 29th]

Well, nothing interesting about cotton balls. The earliest patent for cotton pads is 1973, it was marketed for cosmetic and medicianal purposes. Thats all about that.

I wonder if the library has twin peaks. If they do, then I have a TV show!

My Dorm Room

So, here it is, my half of the dorm room. It's not exactly clean yet seeing as how I just moved in, but this is the general idea. I have all my happy postcards up and fun colors to keep the stark white walls from driving me mad! I have my Twicon mask and my dried lavendar and my books, all to remind me of happy things. It's a happy room.
I would show you Lauren's half of the room, but Blogger is being stupid, so you can't see it.

So far my roomates are all cool. I would much rather be rooming with all the Mavericks, but that is impossible and, were it possible, a bad idea anyway (you know, the whole "friends should never room together" thing). I hope that this sememster is better than summer. Summer was fun, but mostly because I got to go home so much. Nothing during summer felt permanent, I felt a little bit like I was just floating around, waiting to go somewhere where the people actually meant something to me. Ok, I am going to stop sounding so melancholy and be happy...


...I'll tell you how it goes

TREND!!!

I have started a trend. I fully expected nobody to actually make a blog when I suggested it to my friends and was quickly shot down. But now, 5/7 mavericks (the group of friends I hang out with) have started blogs and even my sister has started a blog (she believes that she will out-blog me, I disagree, I learned the art of winning from Kelli, who never loses).


So...there you go

Up in the hills, where Chaminade stands...

Ok, so I'm feeling a little depressed that I will not be heading out to Chaminade tomorrow. For four years we all suffered through the hard times: a rapidly deteriorating football team, AP Physics, freshman hall.... But you know, those were also very happy four years. We got to learn all kinds of new things and be a part of a school community where the teachers cared-most of the time. I have memories of at least 40 football games, most of them from my box on the track, right behind those sweaty boys. I have memories of the school plays from the audience, cast, and crew perspectives. I will never forget my years at Chaminade. I can't believe how much time I wasted wishing that I would reach this point; that I would be heading off to college (yet again).

I'm scared to go away this time. In the summer, I didn't really have time to think about it and when I did, it was still a novelty so I was excited. True, I did have a minor breakdown in Wal-Mart the first time around, but this time I don't even get that. I have to go all by myself with no family to see me properly set into my dorm. I'm all alone. All by myself. There is no one here beside me... ok enough Spamalot.

So, this being yet another new beginning, I have goals! Yay goals! I want to get involved at BYU. The things that made me the most happy at Chaminade were the things that got me involved: Cheer, Drama, Dance Concert, Band (OK, so I wasn't actually in band, but thats just a technicality). I am going to find new things to do at BYU, new learning experiences and people. I am going to get out of my shell for once and do the things that make me happy instead of just hiding behind books because anything else is outside my comfort zone and because I don't actually like most people. In short, I want to find things that tie me to school like my extracurricular activities tied me to Chaminade. I want a reason to be on campus from 6am to 10pm. I am going to enjoy every moment of this because in four years, it might be all over.

Book-Movies, Movie-Books...whatever

Has anyone noticed that there are a great number of book-movies out there? I think that it’s great, it will get people to read and it’s fun to experience a book a new way. I can go through a whole story in two hours. Usually I disagree with some of what the movie-makers chose and sometimes I get a new insight from watching a movie. There are some books out there that deserve that recognition. And there are others that can only be degraded when put on the big screen.

I read this great book, it’s called Wings, by Aprilynne Pike, and I really liked it. It’s going to be a series (I think there will be four books). Then I found out that Disney has optioned the rights to the book and they are considering putting Miley Cyrus in the lead. For those of you that have no clue what this means, I give you Libba Bray.

“Basically, if a movie studio/director/producer/influential Hollywood pet is interested in your book, he/she/they/it can option said book, meaning they can throw money at you and "rent" your book for a while, usually about 18 months while they try to get the financing and creative team together. They approach a star or studio to get them on board. They try to get that sucker into production. If they get a deal and a green light, they purchase (as opposed to option) the rights to make the movie (more $$ for the author) and said movie goes into casting and filming and all those fun things that signify "This movie is being made" and you can email all your friends and buy the shoes you hope to wear to the premiere.”

Putting aside all my qualms with Miley and her multiple personalities, I still don’t think she is right for the role, in fact, she is rather wrong for the role. However, this decision has made me think of what direction Disney wants to go in with this movie and I disagree completely. With Miley in the lead, it would become a “Let’s go see a movie with Miley” movie. It would be like so many other Disney movies. Think for a moment about some of these: A Cinderella Story, High School Musical, Life-Size, Another Cinderella Story, Sleepover… you get the picture. Now, I love Disney, don’t get me wrong, but they aren’t the right people to do this particular book-movie. With Disney in charge, it will turn into a highly un-realistic, musical-esque, colorful, kids movie. Which is fine…if there weren’t a book attached. This magic of books like Wings is that they are realistic. They create the feeling that anyone could wake up one normal morning and find out that they are a mythical creature. In these Disney worlds, you expect things like that to happen and that’s part of the magic of Disney. I absolutely adored this book and I think that a movie would ruin the experience for so many people.

My sister says that I’m being selfish, that I don’t like to share books. That is entirely true, it takes a lot of trust and friendship for me to deem someone worthy enough to borrow one of my books. I’m just weird that way. When I read that book, it becomes mine and I feel like giving my book to just anybody is like sharing my journal with just anybody. There are tear-marks on some of my books, and food marks on others and dog-eared pages and some even have writing. Each of these tiny marks are so personal that sharing with somebody is hard. I’m not the same way with book-movies. I mean, I prefer to be some of an elite few who know about a book, but I am willing to share, I got at least 6 people to read the Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare (which is a lot of people if you think about it). But some books just shouldn’t be made into movies and that.

Welcome

I feel a little silly starting a blog, and when I’m feeling like what I’m doing is silly, I explain my reasonings. So, here they are:

· I have high hopes that my friends will follow my example and start blogging as well. We have all just moved apart, and while facebook also provides a means to communicate, there is no easy way to see what’s really going on in their lives other than status updates which aren’t that descriptive.
· I have opinions to voice and while I fully accept that few people will actually read this, it is therapeutic to put opinions to paper
· An exercise in writing
· Because I’m bored
· Gives me a means to procrastinate. Now, I can write meaningless blogs when I have more important things to do rather than mindlessly surfing the internet.
· I actually wanted to start a blog a few years ago, but it felt really surperfluous when I was in high school, but now that I’m in college, the aforementioned reasons apply.

The incorporate conclusion: Pish.

Oh, and if you were wondering about the title, its a reference to "Much Ado About Nothing." Benedick says "She speaks poniards, and every word stabs"(Act 2, Scene 1).