Sad times, regular times...

So this week has been interesting. Surprisingly I've been worse, but it's still sucked. Tonight our shark died. It's kind of amazing none of our fish have died up to this point (Butch doesn't really count because we only had him a few days and he was so tiny and unliked by the other fish), what with us not knowing the slightest thing about keeping fish alive. Walsh is still going strong, even though we bought Butch in anticipation of Walsh dying. That shark really was my favorite though, and he will be missed.



In Loving Memory of Our Lil' Guy:

sometime many months ago-2/28/2008


"We gave you a name, but forgot it because we never used it, and always just called you 'Shark' instead. You will be missed."

So that happened, I have 4 major tests next week, one comprehensive I need to do well in or else, I have a meeting with my professor/advisor tomorrow, I sat in the middle of two (very nice) couples cuddling on a couch today (I mean it, they're lovely people, but I'm going to kill Eric for this, because it was not my idea of not being awkward, even though did I mention they were very nice?), and I work tomorrow for the better Melissa, which means I'm stuck working with Stevie Boy and Serg instead of Brockley and Jon (Don't get me wrong, I love Stevie Boy as a big brother, and I'll get to work with Cole as well, but neither of them sing like Brock, and neither of them are as randomly funny and quiet but liberal all the while fibbing as though it were just breathing like Jon). Also it's one in the morning and I have yet to go to bed because the movie got started late, so I hope I have a desire to get up tomorrow morning.

On the bright side, in between the two couples tonight, I was able to watch one of AFI's Greatest 100 Movies of All Time, "Bringing Up Baby." I felt like watching an old classic, but something that was happy because of our loss tonight. It was black and white, had Cary Grant, Katherine Hepburn, and was very amusing indead. I would recommend it to all. Also, I only have school till 10 am tomorrow, I'm going to a baby shower for Stevey Boy's baby Saturday, and I get to see most of my nieces and nephews on Sunday because my youngest is getting blessed. All of those are good things. Also, before Sharky died, and ironically, I went to the pet store to get a brush to clean our fish tank. I got that and a fish tank scraper (which worked beautifully), some water conditioner, more filters bags, a small algae eater (I've decided to name him Axel), and some plants. All good things with the health of our fishies in mind, but ultimately it was just too late. Randomly I had not my home teachers over tonight, but my ward missionaries? They weren't missionaries, but I think that's their calling. They just popped up on our doorstep looking for Meg, which is weird conisdering she's not even active, yet I am and they had no idea who I even was. Of course it makes since that given their calling they would come for her, but if she goes to church it will be up to her and theirs is a lost cause anyway. I'm not making any sense at this point, but they came in, chatted, and shared a message with me since she wasn't home and I'm all they had to work with. And even though I am active, they couldn't have known that since I used to work every other Sunday, and even when I didn't I rarely went to my ward. For all they knew, I could have been inactive. Oh well. It was a nice visit, now I know 2 more people in my ward, and hopefully I can make more friends now that all of mine are away, or might as well be.

I did get to hang out with Paige and Emmy yesterday, which was lovely, and it reminded me how much I've missed them. They really are two of the best, most uplifting to me, people I know, and it was fun to see them again. We watched Hairspray, because I hadn't, and I was surprised with how amusing it was. A lot of subtly dirty jokes--which I of course enjoyed, but which made me wonder if my 12 year old niece should be watching such things. It's too bad they live so far from me (relatively speaking), and that my life is so full of work and school now. Hopefully switching up my work schedule as I'm about to do will help things out. Here's to that.

Though it may not seem like it, I'm still sticking with my resolve to be more positive. I think I can do it, though it will take more time to be perfectly (or as much as possible) achieved. And with that I'm going to bed.

Just Thinking.

So I have a post already written from my recent trip, which should satiate both Berta and Kristen (the latter of which really shouldn't have been complaining to me at all considering she's been back from Greece for months and I still have yet to see/hear of any pictures or specific stories/experiences), but there were a lot of points during my trip where I didn't feel like taking pictures (pretty much a first for me, I know), and I just resolved to get copies from Becca and Heidi. Anyway, I figured I'd get all the trip pictures together before I posted anything, and that way I could post some of them too.
Today is day 5 of my "try to be more positive and happy" resolve. I actually had an excellent lesson at church today on just that, which I found to be pretty awesome given that I had made many of the same realizations we talked about at church a week ago, and am currently trying to implement them. We talked about how you have the agency to react to the situations around you in a positive way, and it doesn't matter what's happening as long as you're in the right spiritual mindset. With school and work I've lately let myself get sucked into a vortex of bad feelings and not too positive vibes, but even if things aren't perfectly the way I'd like them to currently be, I can at least choose to be happy--which is closer to the ideal way I'd like things to be than they would otherwise be. All in all I started out the day rather chipper, and it wasn't until the boredom of the weekend hit that the good mood faltered in any way. Sadly I failed at the no gossip part of my resolve (in regards to a guy and girl I work with who had a falling out), which never was a problem for me before this year, but that I've become quite good at. Not to justify the situation, but I didn't really GOSSIP so much as I happened to just COMMENT on truths told to me, but which were nevertheless not very nice things to say. I'm not saying they weren't necessarily true things, but after said "gossiping" me and Austen (the kid telling me the what's the what) started to talk about how we always feel bad AFTER gossiping, and that it really is better to try to see things from the perspectives of those you're talking about. When you think about it, most people are inately good--at least a little to some degree--and unless you're a serial killer or Hitler, in most cases that goodness is closer to the surface than others might expect.

So that's really all I have to say, but having written all of this I think there's a better chance of me now sticking to my guns, or at least my metaphorical guns as I don't own any real ones. I'm not particularly psyched about my test tomorrow, but I was able to study a decent amount this week, I socialized more at church today than I normally do--which was a nice change, and there was a cheesecake Mingle after church. I think someone up there must love me.

Jam tomorrow and yesterday, but today...packing.

So I'm supposed to be packing for my trip to California/Mexico tonight. Of course I have school tomorrow, which means I can't put it off for too long because I have to sleep sometime tonight and our flight is tomorrow night. Man, I don't feel like packing yet though. It seems weird to me that everything just kind of snuck up on me. I was so busy with work and studying for tests this week that I forgot until Monday night that I was even going anywhere this weekend. I was super excited last week, but I think my crappy testing experiences this week and work being so boring yet frustrating might have sucked any good feelings out of me. I know I'll have fun, but I'll also have a week long practical starting Tuesday when I get back, a blood bank test that same day I believe, and a Micro exam that Friday. I hope I can get some relaxation in on this trip. And some motivation to do what I need to do, because right now I'm sure devoid of that. I think it's time for some tunes while I clean my room, pack, and do laundry.

In the meantime...me and friends discovered this at school this past week. Actually, it was already discovered by Sumie, but the rest of us finally understood where the crazy renditions of dancing and singing came from upon seeing this. I'm not sure which is worse/most amusing--the singing or the dancing, but it just gets funnier the more we watch it. It's from a movie rendition of Through The Looking Glass, and they really let Carol Channing have free reign as the White Queen. Spasmodic dancing: check. Crazy fake wig with a mind of it's own: check. Lips the size of Minneapolis: double check. A voice that changes in unpredictable and altogether unexpected ways: check, check, and CHECK.



I've concluded that she must have been drunk. We were in tears, and the 7 of us (Sumie, Jason, Jacob, Devin, Noelle, me and Steven) have had it in our heads all week. Of course the child actress doesn't need to be able to act in the magnificent shadow of the White Queen--we decided that they must have chosen Alice because she was the only child that didn't run away during the audition with Ms. Channing.

So this was written quite a while ago, and only now have I sorted out all the picture problems I was having. Enter: line of time.
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I had a rather adventurous weekend. I did no homework or studying. And since I have work this week and a test on Friday, along with 3-4 tests every week from now on (with a few exceptions), I'm really starting off to a good semester.

Amazingly enough, I managed to do as little of anything during this time that would cause displeasure to me in any way. I have yet to finish cleaning my room (which only makes my own life harder), I didn't clean out my car, I forgot to go to the bank, I did no laundry...I did go grocery shopping. I started the weekend in So Jo visiting my family, specifically my sister in Herriman. Only she wasn't home, my mom was at her house tending her 2 kids. I stayed and helped her for a while. Claire has turned into the happiest baby ever, and is the easiest child to take care of ever. Her older brother, on the other hand, is probably the reason God sent my sister such an easily pacifiable baby the second go around. He is crazy energetic, and is a downright menace. Oh, he's cute, smart and pretty funny, but he is undoubtably sheer trouble.Here is a picture of him at the baby shower I went to with my other nephew's airplane launcher. This picture is blurry, in case you're wondering, because it was taken at the exact moment when he launched said airplane and it hit me square in the face. After I decided I could no longer handle him jumping onto my spine one more time, I went to visit my sister Shelly and her twins. We went to the store to get a baby shower present for my step-neice while my sister's husband Mike cooked french toast, spicy hashbrowns and sausage for us. After I ate dinner with them I ended up going to a movie with her and my little sis. I enjoy watching chic flics with my sister's.


(Me, Aub and a terrible picture of Christy, haha.)









(The twins--cute, huh?)











(Kace with the camera I gave her, and Jessilee.)








(Churtis Jamames with Char, who is hilarious. I gave my sister Lee grief over letting her wear her Dora the Explorer costume shirt with fake backpack on the back, and this random orange skirt. She in turn wished on all of us a strong willed child. She is that for sure at only 2. Also, me and my sister just older than me Shelly. Is it any wonder I'm her favorite?)






The next day I was at my parent's pretty early in the morning, and waited around there till my family left from there to go to my oldest sister's house in Lindon for the shower. It was kind of cool to see my cousins and chill out with them for a while, and I got to watch some Planet Earth with my nephews, which awed them. It also helped build their creative abilities towards lying up names of all of the creatures that they talked too loud during the times when they were told the actual names. We left there at about 4, so by the time I got back and to Eric's there wasn't too much time left with light. However, we drove out to the Great Salt Lake anyway for our photo excursion. I learned that my camera does not have very many night capabilities, but it was still fun. Dusk is a pretty time out there.


We then made our way to Provo after a quick food break to hang out with Alex. We got self heating hot chocolate canisters, and Krispy Kream donuts. We also got some wooden crates from behind the Wal-Mart and some liquid fire starting magic and made our way up Provo Canyon. We found some small stone ampitheatre near the Sundance resort and started our fire in the middle of that (the snow was too deep toget to the actual fire pit). We drank our hot chocolate, roasted our donuts and burned our wood, and Eric found some long bendy orange pole he ended up hitting himself in the face with after launching it into the air pole vault style, then Alex headed off the main road after performing a few donuts to see what his jeep could do. It turns out it couldn't do much. The left side sunk and out came the machettis. I used to think that machettis could accomplish everything, but several small trees and one sign pole later we decided to walk to where people might be instead. We found ourselves at a resort called Aspen Groves where no one was out and about (it was 2 am or something), and everything was locked for the night, only the door to the lodge dining area opened when pushed upon. We found a courtesy phone and called the BYU police (because they were listed there), who transfered us to the Provo police, who transfered us to the Utah County Police. All this ended in us waiting in the dining area for quite some time until 2 cops in big ol' SUV's showed up, one the most jolly man I've ever encountered. They found a Sundance security guy, who felt he couldn't get us out without getting stuck himself. The jolly officer drove us home, I fell asleep on the way to Alex's, and it was 4 in the morning before we got there. We had a spendover on his roommate's mattresses, then woke up and got lumber from the Home Depot, a Handy Man's Farm Jack, and a shovel to get ourself out of the rut. With a little perserverence and thought we eventually managed to get ourselves out. Eric and I took some more daytime pictures of the mountains, then went back to Alex's and played some Mario Kart and Jurassic Park II Super Nintendo style before we headed back to the Valley.

Monday before my work week started Eric and I went to a matinee, followed by pizza and some more super nintendo. We played Jurassic park a little (because we've never been able to complete an entire level, to our everlasting frustration) before moving onto the games either my roommate's boyfriend or friend Libo had at our house. Ghost's and Ghouls was hilarious, but only one player, Ninja Turtles was enjoyable, Terminator sucked...we finally got very into Kirby, and may have passed off the whole game if I didn't have homework to attend to. Whoever came up with that went all out in the coming up of the second player. It's no more than black blob, only Kirby can open his mouth and suck you in, then throw you at other things as a weapon. Eric kept accidentally inhaling my guy, and then we switched because it was one too many times. But yeah, he's this pink glob, he inhales things with a humming sound and spits them out, and can float around and fly as long as there's nothing in his mouth. Who comes up with these things? I also learned how to play Mary Had a Little Lamb and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star on the guitar Eric's lending me while I teach myself. Thanks Eric! And kudos self.

None

Kind of amazing the kinds of things you can do free online these days. I'm not really sure what's in it for them. I'm guessing soliciting email addresses for sites that send junk/spam mail, but as long as you have a legitimate email account, and one you use anytime you need to enter an email online (whether buying stuff or signing up for things) there's not that much of an inconvenience. That said, I saw this application on my sister-in-law's blog, and decided to try it out. I took some random pictures of my oldest sister's kids to play around with this application. They were from when she and her husband went out of town for a week, and I went to my parent's for those days to help watch all the kiddies, and there's one of her in there when she came to pick them up. My nephew Jessilee seriously has the cutest bond with his 2 year old lil' sis'. He's pretty much a punk (and thus my favorite), but she adores him and he's so sweet with her. She had trouble sleeping without her mom around, and so he got his ipod out and let her listen to it till she fell asleep, coaxing her to calm down. Then the next morning I walked downstairs to get them up for church, and they're asleep facing each other on the air mattress in the most adorable fashion. I took a picture. Obviously.

This appy might be something nice for my facebook account. For now it's good for wasting time that should be spent studying.

Llama Fest 2007

Okay, seriously, how cute is that? I was looking back at the pictures I've taken this year (because they were stuck on my pc when it went down, and just recently I was able to retrieve them, and by "I" I mean my brother-in-law was able to retreive them, from the ruined stump that is my old computer), and I stumbled across quite a few things, of which this was one, that I never blogged about. A lot happened this last year actually. Anyway, this baby llama was the cutest thing, only we couldn't pet it because it's mother was constantly there. After going with friends last year and having them complain incessantly about the heat (which was over 100 but was actually quite nice I thought, with how dry it was). I decided the next year it would have to be me and my lil' sis Ashley, because no one would appreciate the whole event as much as I, save her. It ended up being us and her husband Kyle, driving down to Spanish Fork mid July (the 14th to be precise) for the annual Llama Fest as the Hindu Krishna temple there. We watched most of the obstacle course (llamas going up and down ramps, stairs, in and out of tires, through a "stream," in and out of a trailer and van, over logs...), we fed the llamas, went into the Krishna temple and looked about... We stayed just long enough to enjoy the event, but got out of there before it got too hot. Strangely we ran into some of my Provo cousins while we were there, which I guess was on account of it being held in Spanish Fork. I also might have bought myself a pair of llama maracas, and both my sister and I bought miniature llama figures made with real llama fur (maybe). Really, who could resist? Probably everyone who didn't I guess.

This llama was the fluffy and altogether the most uniqute looking llama I've ever seen. It also completed the obstacle course very obediently (which is impressive, because llamas do not seem to like to get in and out of vans on the whole).

This llama was both fluffy and little, and was totally my favorite.


And If I rember correctly, this llama chased my sister around until all of the food she was holding was gone. It startled us a bit, and prompted quite the chase--as it chased, more llamas followed. As per usual, it was unforgettable watching my sister being chased around by animals. She gets this lovely panic which manifests itself all over her face an through her vocal chords.
There was the time when she was oh, 5 I think, and she chased the neighbor's little red rooster. She had quite the jolly old time until she decided she was delighted enough, and stopped, only to find that the rooster wanted its turn. At that point the rooster chased her around my neighbors' back yard for a good while with her screaming at the top of her lungs. Then there was the time when she teased the cat with a newspaper in a bag, and when she put it down he kept chasing her. That cat never forgot, and I would often hear, from my basement room, my sister's screaming as she ran around upstairs away from said cat after it surprised her from one of several hiding spots.

Here's Ashley and Kyle in front of the Krishna temple on our way out.

The Bronze Bow

So this has nothing to do with anything at all, but I thought I'd write it anyway. This has been one of my favorite books since the 6th grade, and for the first time in a long time after going to church this sunday I felt this urgent need to think long and hard about my relationship with my Savior. I'll admit, I've been semi inactive this year. Not on purpose, but with work it's been nothing short of tricky to attend more than every other week, and when I suddenly got the chance to start attending every week, it was hard to get back into the habit after 3 years of not doing so. Then school was thrown into the mix. After 22 years of being an extreme morning person, I discovered that I love sleep, and no longer have any desire to wake up early, or to care about doing so. Maybe my wisened age is catching up to me finally (j/k), or something else has happened, but for the life of me I cannot make myself wake up early any more, and I'm not sure if it's even possible to change at this point. Work before I switched to nights was impossible for me, and most people got very used to me coming in late, so I'm glad to have switched to nights where I'm not holding people back any more. I'm often late to school too, which is unfortunate, but I hope to at least conquer that hill. Regardless of all that, I can now make it to church at the horrendous hour of 9 am. However, out of habit and my newfound love of sleep, I have often slept through it, helped by the exhaustion work and school together bring. I'm far from the person I want to be, and even the person I once was, but every time I do make it to church, or make myself go to the meetings of friends once I sleep through my own, I start to remember just why I continue to live the principles my parents have taught me my whole life, even when I have ceased to pray and search like I should. Even when I feel alone and unhappy, I know that the further I retreat from the things I do mostly out of habit, the less happy and more lost I will be. What does any of this have to do with a book you ask?

In the midst of these thoughts I decided to pick up and read this book before school started in full force. It's a quick read, and I finished it in less than 24 hours, but it changed my mood dramatically. This particular book was read by my sixth grade teacher to my class. I'm pretty sure that today it wouldn't be allowed to be read to a classroom today, as the whole seperating religion from school has become more concentrated, but when it comes down to it, it's not really pushing religion, and it was not written by an LDS author, but it's about the goal of replacing hatred with love in the individual, as well as within a society, to gain a love and appreciation for everyone from all walks of life.

It's not directly about Jesus, but He is mentioned as it's about a Jewish boy in that time period, and Jesus does play a small but somewhat significant role in the boy's story. His father is crucified when he is small, his mother dies of grief not too long after, and his younger sister dissapears one night and is found at the grounds where the crucifictions take place, and from that point forward becomes introverted and afraid to come out of the house, and is said to be "possessed by demons" that make her fear the outside world and all the people it contains. They are cared for by his grandmother and he is bound as a blacksmith's apprentace, but runs away to the hills after being badly beaten by his master, and becomes part of a gang of bandits led by someone he believes to be the Messiah who will rid the Jewish lands of the plague that is the Roman soldiers. His grandmother ends up dying and he has to go back to take care of his sister, but throughout the whole story he ends up questioning himself and his actions in regards to this overwhelming hatred he has built up, and which has become the central point of his existance.

Like I said, Jesus doesn't play a huge role, at least directly, but I love the way He is portrayed in this story. I can't help but contrast it to the Jesus in some LDS books I've read, and I've noticed they're a lot more timid to put words into His mouth that have not been previously documented as having been said. But the way she depicts him and everything He says is so in tune with how I think He must be, that I just love reading this book. It has a childish element to it in the simplicity with which it's presented, and being a Newberry Award winner it's no wonder, as it is aimed towards a younger audience. I don't know, I just children's/adolescent literature for that reason. I feel similar things towards the Chronicles of Narnia and how perfect a personification (lionification?) Aslan is of God. Maybe it's because I've reverted to a state where I need baby food to understand instead of the prime rib that is the Gospel in full force, but I love how humble it makes me feel, as if I'm in the shoes of a child, and I love being reminded of how I felt back when I was more innocent, and welcoming towards all of the good things that church brought, and that made me feel happy and free.