More Pictures

Pictures

Okay, so I've been wanting to take picture for a very long time and I only just got around to actually doing it today... when it was all rainy outside. Anyway, here's just a few of the ones that I actually liked. I may post more later, depending. I mostly just took pictures of my school, but hopefully, I'll be able to drive around and take pictures of the good side of town. Let me know what you think of the pictures!

Customers: Gotta Love 'Em

I had another crummy day yesterday. Ugh. But its not for the same reason. No, yesterday was... Well, my in-the-dumps mood was brought on by an employee, but it wasn't a big deal. I just need to get over it...

Anyway, I just wanted to post something about all the customers I encounter. Holy Cow! I didn't realize just how much customers make my day. Well, I guess I've never looked at it that way. I mean, I've been working fast food for the three years that I've been employed. And when you're working with food, the customers tend to be grouchy. They want their food and they want it now. What more can I say? I never really saw the customers as anything more than hungry people who have tempers. But ever since I've starting working retail, I've found the customers can be rather entertaining.

So, I have this tendency to write while I'm at work. I'm a writer, what can I say? By the end of the day, my pockets are stuffed with receipt paper that has ink scribbled all over it. I write the things that go through my head as well as those funny encounters with customers. Well, my stack of papers has grown immensely and I thought that I would just put a few of them on my blog.

Yesterday, for one, was chuck full of hilarious customers. I was glad for that. I really needed something to brighten my day. Well, my favorite was probably when this Dad and his young son came in and bought specific parts for a swing. The boy must have been at least two. He was so cute! Green shirt and khakis with shaggy brown hair and a round adorable face. He and his dad were dressed to match. After they paid for their things and walked out the garden gate doors (oh yeah, I was outside the entire time. Four hours. That's like my entire shift! My legs were practically screaming in pain for standing so long!) anyway they walked out and the boy suddenly gasped! He whirled around and looked at me with wide eyes. Then, up went his hand and he shook it back and forth waving goodbye to me. It was so cute! I couldn't help but smile and wave back. But that's not all. As soon as I waved to him he started blowing me kisses! It was so adorable!

Oh and then, like right after this, another guy came in and bought seven bags of garden stones. Anyway, as he was walking out -I'm not sure how he got on the subject -but he just went off on Global Warming, saying that it was just a scam to ruin America. He was bringing up all these points of how America is forced to follow certain guidelines when it comes to helping the environment but that China has no such rules. He went off on a lot of things. I took it that this subject meant a lot to this guy. He just wouldn't stop talking! Of course, I was drinking in every word- he was so funny- but, man it was long. "We're not running out of oil. We have enough to last us three thousand years!" Then he started talking about how people live in fear now and that that's not at all what God intended. "It's because they don't know God," he said calmly. Man, some of the things he said made me think 'Wow, if I knew this man wasn't Mormon, I'd have thought he was Mormon!' He went all preachy on me and that was a little weird but Global Warming is a big issue these days. I was willing to listen. And then, after he left, he came back and said to me that he hadn't paid for all his things. He had originally told me that he had only six bags, but miscounted. He had seven. So, from his pocket, he extracted a small bar-code that he had torn from one of the rock-bags. "God told me to come back," he said. "Satan told me that Lowe's was a big store and that they wouldn't notice a single bag missing, but God shook his head. I had to come back. I won't lose myself for four dollars and eighty two cents. That's what Satan wants." I thought that was pretty cool. I'm sure a ton of people would have just shrugged it off. And then he got all preachy again and I had to agree with him that the adversary only has power over us if we willingly give it to him. After that the guy just looked at me. "And here I thought you were a liberal and I was gonna convert you, let you know the truth." "No," I said, smiling. "I know the truth." Little did he know, my words had more truth and meaning than he understood. I did know the truth. ....Anyway. So that was interesting. It reminded me of my Sunday-school teacher impersonating a Southern-Baptist Preacher. Very interesting.

Sorry, that was longer than I anticipated... Anyway, moving right along. Another circumstance was when I was trying to scan a bar-code and the gentleman holding it had his fingers over it. Well, I slid the scanner over it, sure that the computer would pick it up regardless of his hand being in the way. Well, I scaned and then the guy realized that he was in the way. He quickly pulled his hand out of the way and then yelped. I glanced up, worried that I had done somethign wrong. He whipped his hand back up and declared, "Look what you did!" I looked down at his hand and realized that one of his fingers was missing! Just as soon as my brain clicked together what I was looking at and the words he said, I panicked. It was my fault! But then, thankfully, before I had time to apologize or whatever his wife slapped him on the shoulder. "Don't do that to people. You're gonna scare the poor girl." Oh. I felt really stupid after that. But it was still funny. Maybe not at the time, but looking back it was a good (yet cruel) joke.

And then one of my favorites and then I promise I'll be done. I was inside and this elderly man came up and set his things on the counter. I looked up at him and asked if he had found everything alright. Well...when I looked up, he wouldn't look away. He just stared at me! He was staring at me, not like a person, but like a child staring at an unbelievable toy on the television; eyes wide and mouth ajar. I felt very awkward standing there. "Hey," the man said slowly. "You have braces on your teeth!" The awkward feelings suddenly vanished when I realized what he was on about. This wasn't the first time I'd been gawked at because of my braces. Not by a long shot. "Yes, I do," I answered. "And they come off in a few months too." The elderly man smiled up at me, overjoyed. "And then you'll have straight teeth!" I laughed. Just then his wife, or was it his daughter? anyway she came up beside him and the elderly man blurted out, "Hey, she has braces on her teeth!" It's like the guy's never seen metal on teeth before! Holy Cow! The woman smiled at me and rolled her eyes, "Yeah and she's trying to take your money." I frowned at her words, unable to comprehend them. And then I realized that I had my hand held out in front of me waiting to take the man's money for his purchase. So yeah, that was hilarious for me. I don't think I've ever been gawked at so much in my life!

Well, I did promise that that would be the last comment I left about customers. I have so many though! And I've only been there a month! I guess I could just save the others for another time. Maybe incorporate them in one of my other "real" posts. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed reading these as much as I enjoyed having them actually happen. Good reads!

My Adventures

Background Sites

I like the computer, I really do, but I can't seem to find a reason to stay on for hours at a time. I guess that's a good thing, though.

Okay so here is my list of To-Do's on the computer. First I check my email (that's usually always the first thing I do no matter what) then I get on my blog (if anyone's posted that is) then, if I remember, I get on the famous Facebook (just to see if anyone's written on my wall) after that, I get on my school site to see if my grades have been posted (but after today I probably won't go back there again. I have no reason to).

Well, when my list is done I have a few back-up sites. One of them, the most common one, is dictionary.com. I love that site! I'm in the process of writing a "book" and so this site comes in handy quite a bit.

Another site would have to be pandora.com. My cousin introduced this site to me only last week and I'm all over it! I love music and if you're computer has speakers I'd highly recommend it. It creates your own personal station! It's amazing! Needless to say, this site is always on my taskbar.

Another site, I'm a little embarrassed to say, is my Banking Account. I always have to know how much money I have and where I stand with bills and stuff. I guess it's not that pitiful if you think about it... And as much as it annoys me, I'm glad that it constantly logs me out automatically when I stop using it. I must sign in at least three times in one sitting.

Then, Google -constantly Google. It's my homepage you know :) It amazes me to have a world of information just a click away. I could find out anything I want! Its so cool! I tried Yahoo for a while but the crowded screen made my head spin. I am now completely faithful to Google.

Oh and, this one is more of a temporary one, but I always take a least one visit to stepheniemeyer.com, just to read the little "Quote of the Day" and then I'm done. I can't wait until her next book comes out!

Up North II

Okay, so this was really weird. I've been getting a lot of worried comments about my "friend" at Wal-Mart last week and it's kind of made me slightly paranoid, today didn't help...

I have work late tonight and so I had the whole morning off. (B.T.W. I got really good grades on my last semester. Yay! Totally thought I'd fail!) Well, by eight o'clock, I had my bathroom cleaned, my clothes in the wash, my closet all organized (but I did that the night before, so that one doesn't count.) and I had a compilation of the things I needed to get accomplished. I woke up at 7:40, when my cousin left for work, so I buzzed about the house getting things done as quickly as possible. I hate to waste any time! In fact, sleeping in 'til eight nearly killed me! I'm use to getting up much earlier. Every minute counts!

Anyway, after my list of things to do at home was complete I went to town, literally. First, before I did anything, I called my Orthodontics to see how much I still owe on my braces (and it's a ton more than I expected it to be! Holy Cow! I'm gonna drown in my own expenses before the year is quite out!), then, I dropped off a box of junk at Good Will (and that's not to say that I only had enough junk for one box, I just haven't gone through everything yet) then stopped by at my oral surgeon to give them a copy of my insurance and see how many dollar signs I was looking at. Sadly, I don't know that one yet, I have to wait for the phone call. But at least they have it now. That's good. Then, finally, I went to Wal-Mart. I pulled around back and dropped off my car and got my oil changed. I guess they looked over the whole car too, it was a little expensive, but they didn't give me any other choice. So, I waited for an hour and a half while they gave Sheldon a check-up. It's about time he got one to.

So, with no Sheldon and no company the only thing I did was stroll around Wal-Mart. It's actually bigger than I thought it was. My legs are still aching from walking around so much. I had to restrain myself from buying anything, and that was pretty hard. They're having this big ole Back-to-School sale and I was really anxious to get my hands on the supplies. Huge packs of paper for fifty-cents, a package of my favorite black pens for ninety-cents, and sets of plastic ware for a dollar each! Ugh.

Then, after almost fifty minutes of agonizing torture I decided to walk around to the pet supplies. That wouldn't tempt me at all! Well, as I was turning the corner to the K-9 food, I spotted this white shirt from the corner of my eye. I looked up and my stomach fell. It was that guy! And I swear he was waring the same clothes. Ugh. He asked how I was doing and if I had gotten the item I was looking for from our last encounter. I kept my answers brief and suddenly became very interested in the specific brands of dog food. It seemed like he was focused on something else so he didn't stick around too long, not that I would have either. His promise that he'd see me later made me keep to opposite side of the store. Bleh.

"Admitted"

Dear Julia,

Congratulations! We are pleased to offer you admission to Brigham Young University-Idaho. We look forward to having you on campus and feel that you will be an asset to this university.

Sincerely,
Admissions Committee
Brigham Young University-Idaho Admissions Office

Yippie! I've waited over eighteen years for this! Okay, well, maybe not in the same sense, I've really only been waiting for my acceptance about two months, but in the literal sense (as in waiting to be up there, getting a place to stay, going to classes, etc.) I have been waiting much longer. Anyway, it probably doesn't make much sense, but that's okay. At least I know what I'm talking about. ;)

So, I am WAY excited! I could hardly contain myself when I got the email. I called my Dad and Mom and told them. I had to restrain myself from not calling literally everyone on my Contact List. No, really. I was THAT excited! I did it! I got accepted! AHHH!!!!!!

Oh, by the way: I got a letter in the mail the other day, I was so excited. I was having a crummy day, to put it lightly, and I was wishing that I would have something to cheer me up. And yes, finding out my blood type would be something to cheer me up. Isn't that funny? Well, my blood is O+. That means I can give give blood to O+, A+, B+, and AB+ (so pretty much all the +'s) But then that means that I can only receive blood from O+ and O- (only the O's). Yeah, so if you're any of those, than we could help each other out! Blood Buddies! :)

Oh, and did you know that out of 100 donors, only 38 of them are O+? And RH+ is the most common (84/100) and AB- is the rarest (1/100). So yeah, just a little bit of useless information for ya...

Signs.

So, I went to my brother's baptism this weekend (all the way down in Home-Town, long, hot drive. Ugh.) But It was WAY cool! The Spirit was amazing! I am so happy for my brother! (I'll have to post pictures later when my folks come back from their vacation. They left for Cool State right after the baptism.)

Anyway, thanks to my step-mom, I had the privilege of driving my eight year old brother to the church. We left before the family, of course, it's so much easier to load up two people than twelve. Anyway, as we drove, B4 rambled on about his brand new Pokemon cards and card-book that he got. He was so excited! Silly boy. When we were about half way to the church B4 had finished telling me about his awesome cards and the conversation pretty much died. Well, I don't get to see my brother very much and I wanted him to keep talking. So, I did what I thought would be both talkative and educational. I taught him about road signs, or tried to anyway.

I asked my brother about the Speed Limit signs and about where my "arrow" should be. He was good about that one. "Between 40 and 50." He was so cute! Then we came up to another sign. I knew the sign well, of course, but explaining it was a little harder than I anticipated. The sign was "Center Lane Only" complete with those little crescent arrows. I told my brother that this sign means that if you want to turn then you would have to be in the center lane to do it. "Oh, so that's why no cars drive on it, because they don't want to turn," my brother said, excitedly. I told him that that was right and then used an example that if we were going to turn (-left, obviously, we wouldn't need the turning lane to turn right) then we would get into the lane and drive into the grass. Well, I wasn't serious about that part, it's just that the only thing to our left was a big field of grass. I didn't know how else to explain it. I didn't worry about my absurd illustration though, B4 seemed to understand.

We drove on, continuing our quiz of signs. As we drove up to the church we passed another "Center Lane Only" sign and I decided to test B4's memory. "What does that one mean?" Little B4 leaned forward in his chair and spoke with confidence. "It means that you get in the middle lane and turn into the grass."

...Okay. That wasn't quite the answer I was looking for, but I was my own fault. I'm terrible at explaining things. I get all mixed up with what I know and the lack of information of what someone else knows. That's why I'm bad at telling jokes. I have the hardest time getting to the punch-line. Anyway, I just thought I'd share that funny little experience with you.

Only Up North...

Okay, so I was at the store the other day, stopped by after work, to pick something up. Anyway, as I was walking around trying to find what I needed, I happened to cross a shelf of movies that were only five dollars. Curiosity overcame me and I had to look. What if I missed a perfectly good chance at getting a good deal?

I was crouching down, knees bent and my body leaning towards the hundreds of DVD's, when he came by. He was tall and slender with dark hair and a set of crooked teeth. He didn't look that old, really, but age was the farthest thing from my mind just then. I didn't notice him standing behind me until he spoke.

"Hey little girl."

I scowled at the movies before turning toward him. I wasn't little. When I saw his face and the look in his eye I realized he hadn't meant that as an insult, but as something else. Something that I was not at all prepared for.

"Hi," I said uneasily, refusing to rise from my position. The distance was fine where it was.

My scant reply was all it took for him to set off on telling me all these plots to a dozen "good movies" he had seen, which were probably all rated R; the reason why none of them sounded familiar to me. I played along for a while, acting more agreeable then I would otherwise, but answering truthfully when he asked if I had seen any of the movies he spoke of.

An employee walked by just then pushing a large crate of boxes. I was forced to stand and press myself against the shelf so that he could pass. I straightened my pose, sorry that the distance was closed between me and this stranger, and yet I couldn't help but feel happy that I stood a few inches taller. Ha! 'Little Girl' my foot!

He asked me a few questions that I prefered not to answer. So in my most inconspicuous way, I deliberatly left out every bit of important information, telling him, upon his asking, that I lived 'not far from here' or that my folks lived 'down south'. My worries that maybe I was being rude, vanished when he asked his next question.

"Do you have an old man?"

I looked at him confused. I just told him I had a dad. Why would he ask me that again? "Erm," I shrugged, "I have my dad?"

He shrugged too, redirecting my thoughts, "I mean, do you have a boyfriend?"

Oh, great. This can not be happening to me! The thoughts were so loud that it was hard to hold together my fasle display of cheery-ness and resist stalking off. I never had this problem down south!

I answered honestly after deliberating whether or not to lie. I should have lied. Maybe the rest of the conversation would never have happened...

"So can I call you up sometime?" he asked with a crooked smile, more literally than imaginable.

I should have lied. I was a bit frustrated at the entire occurence. Why was this happening to me? "You don't even know my name." I threw at him, lighter than I wanted to.

Naturally, he asked for my name and told me his. I'm not at all sorry that I forgot it just as soon as it left his mouth. There would be no reason for me to remember it. But I remember the name of his exgirlfriend. Her name was Hailey. And their daughter's name is Zoey. Yeah, the rest of the conversation was little unnerving on my part. I really didn't want to be there. It turns out he was just released from prison for selling drugs to get money for his spoiled daughter. "I'd do anything for her," he said, as if this statement would somehow make his actions justified.

We talked for a little while longer, well, he talked, I listened. I refused to give him my number, when he asked a second time, telling him that it was private. He didn't seem too pleased about that. I was glad when he finally left, even if it did cost shaking his hand. I couldn't help but feel dirty after shaking. It was like touching money... if that makes any sense. I hate touching money. I can just feel the dirt and grime and everything else. It's really weird. Anyway, I got what I needed and practically bolted for the door. I had been out later than I realized and I was ready to get home. The half hour drive home gave me time to contemplate...

What's wrong with the guys here? Or better, what's wrong with me? Why do I "attract" all the wrong ones. This isn't the first time I've been "noticed" by a guy. Oh, no. Even pulling into the store parking lot a guy gave me that nod, where it's like the opposite of sneezing; instead of throwing your head down, you pull it up. The Dude-Nod. Yeah, I had to laugh at that one. Even as the car pulled away and the boy turned around in his seat to stare at me. I couldn't help it. I laughed more out of shock and disbelief than anything.

I guess all I'm trying to say is, this sort of thing would have never happened down south (as I noted earlier). It's weird. Ever since I moved up here things have been different. I mean, guys are everywhere! I don't remember ever being noticed by them before, or maybe I was just too oblivious... I don't know, maybe it has just come with age. Maybe it's just the fact that all the boys I knew before were with me through all those awkward stages of childhood. Hmm. I don't know. I still haven't figured it out. ...I think I preferred my obliviousness. I wish guys would just leave me alone. Honestly. ...Or, maybe it's just because all the guys who have noticed me aren't my type -or more specifically, aren't members of The Church. That's it. That's what I mean by the "wrong" sort. Ugh. I hope I have better luck up in Idaho... it would be a shame to go all the way up there, into the very roots of our religion and not have anything to show for it, no fruit for my labors... Yeah. That would be terrible.

My Comical Relief.

Okay, so today. Wow.

I received a few painful-news phone calls this morning and so I was in need of my spiritual dosage of, well, Spirituality. So anyway. As I was crossing the parking I stepped over the parking barrier and let my heels sink into the wet grass. (Avoiding dirty heels is something I could never really manage, so giving up seemed like the only answer.) I had my sight set on the church as I walked, and when I stepped down off of the barrier, the church suddenly disappeared!

My eyes snapped on the pavement below as my body soared right to it. I swung my right arm out beside me, hoping against hope that something would be there to catch me, while my left arm clutched tightly to my scriptures. I staggered the length of the car waiting for the clash of pavement that I knew would soon follow. I heard a squeak as my palm smeared against the shiny gold car beside me. I nearly righted myself only to loose balance again and tripped the rest of the way, moving horizontally all the while, until I finally managed to get my heels in check and my body upright again. I didn't meet the pavement after all! But I was sure keyed up!

It took me a good twenty minutes to finally calm myself down. My heart was beating really fast as if I had just run a mile! Wow! I mean, here I was staring doom, gloom, and a few broken teeth in the face and I managed to weasel out of it! Wooow! That never happens to me! It's either all or nothing; either I fall or I don't' even trip, but very rarely do I "get out alive" or "win 'em by a hair". Needless to say I suppose I usually never "win". It was just a fluke that today of all days I managed to win out over my heels and remain standing.

Now, I would never classify myself as a klutz, really, just someone who isn't used to high heels I suppose. Hah. So yeah, as much as I hated to go through the experience I can honestly look back at it and think that it was funny. That was my comical relief for the day. But it sure wasn't funny when it was happening though. I mean, I didn't want the last year and a half of braces to become useless and all in a matter of seconds. And besides, I was in a skirt! ...I guess I was lucky that no one really saw me fall. At least, I don't think anyone saw me...

A Painful Quest.

I'm a procrastinator. What can I say?

For about two months now, I've had the mission of going and finding an Oral Surgeon who could remove my wisdom teeth. Yup. All four of them. Ouch. Well, due to my overly busy schedule, I haven't even had a second to reflect on my mission!! ....naw, I've had time. I've had lots of time. I just didn't feel like taking that time to look. Maybe its just the idea of all the pain and anguish what kept me from sincerely looking for a surgeon. Anyway, I got out of my class at fifteen 'til eleven and I didn't have work until two. Due to rising gas prices I didn't want to drive all way home, so that day was suddenly the perfect time to go and look!

Anyway, I always knew I was bad with directions, but I had no idea it was this bad.

I must have gone to four different dentist offices and some of them were all the way across town! Golly! I really need to work on my directions, either that or becoming better acquainted with the computer maps. But I don't like them. Not really. I looked up a place once and the little marker pin was right in the middle of a street! I was like, there is no way a such-and-such is right in the middle of busy intersection. Ungh. Yeah, I'm more of a 'Tell me every detail of how to get there and be sure to include landmarks' kind of girl. That's how I do directions. I plot everything from something familiar like the road I work on or the highway that I've know since childhood. Stuff like that.

New-Town isn't that bad, really. It's just a matter of knowing what you're looking for. Obviously. It isn't too hard to become familiar with. New-Town hasn't given me too much trouble when I'm trying to find some-place. Thursday was pretty bad though. I drove around for two hours looking and stopping at all these random places asking for directions. I stopped at an Antique Shop (which was really cool, I might add. I might have to take a trip to go back and look at it more thoroughly) and at a Dairy Queen. Needless to say neither of these places gave me good directions and I ended up circling the town a few times. I even stopped at a small lemonade stand...

I was like lemonade! I love lemonade! Not to mention that there would, more than likely, be a helpful mother keeping watch who could help me with directions. Besides, Sheldon was cooking me alive and I needed something sweet and cold. It was perfect! So I pulled over into the parking lot across the way and walked over to the stand surrounded by half a dozen girls. "She's coming over!" I heard one of them squeal as I walked over.

They were really nice. They must have been about six or seven years old. They said they were just bored when I asked what they were using the money for, actually I think they wanted to donate it to the animal shelter. Figures. Who wouldn't want to donate to the cute furry animals? So for two quarters and a little help, I was hydrated again and had a place in my head of where to go. The mother was very helpful! She knew exactly what she was talking about!

Anyway, through many vain attempts I finally found an oral surgeon who could help. And guess what!?!? The location of the surgeon was just off the road where I work. I drive by it all the time! I've seen it before and even thought about going in to check it out, but for some reason it completely left me! Shucks! What is wrong with my memory?

So yeah, in the middle of August I'm going to get all four of my wisdom teeth pulled out. If I'm lucky I'll be able to get that day off and the following day. Only two. Ungh. It's going to be horrible!

Holy Crow!

Okay so, I guess this isn't too strange but I was talking to my brother the other day and he was all "Yeah, I read something about that on your blog, blah, blah." Wait, what!? I was totally surprised that he even knew where to find my blog, let alone he had taken the time to read it. I mean, come on, it's me we're talking about!! Long, drawn out posts that don't have any really purpose... But yeah, it was weird. And then a few days ago I was visiting a blog and from that blog I managed to find another family member's blog and guess what was on their blog list?? My blog!! I had no idea that so many people knew it existed! My dad informed me a few minutes ago that "Everyone reads it." Sure. Yeah. Right. What?? Hmm, yeah. Speaking of posts that have no purpose... I guess I just wanted to get that off my chest... So anyway.

Celebrating America's Independence

Okay. Happy Fourth! So, I spend my fourth at work. Long day. Woop-ee. It wasn't too busy. I caught on to cashiering relatively fast, I only needed help with the big trick-things. After work, instead of going home, I went to a friends house. She invited me the day before to come and spend the fourth of July evening with her and her family at her grandma's house. Of course, since I was alone, I accepted. -My host-cousins went down to their parents to spend the weekend. Sigh. Left alone again.

Anyways, I drove to my friend's house, dropped my car off there, and drove with the family to the countryside of New-Town. Oh how it reminded me of home! Fields upon fields, the horizon lined with trees. The smell of grass, of wind, of nature all together. Sigh. It was nice. The house was surrounded by corn stalks! All very green and not ripe enough to gather. The stalks weren't as tall as the kids would have liked. "Oh, it could be like "Signs"! I can't wait to run around in it!"

We ate dinner first: hot dogs, hamburgers, watermelon, and chips. And then we ate desert: a gigantic cookie cake with flag-like icing on the top. When we were done we watched a bit of TV and then went outside and played around. I spent most of the time tossing a baseball back and forth to my friend. We would just stand on opposite sides of the huge yard and see how far we could throw and actually still have the person catch it. It was really fun! We got to bat the ball too. I learned that, with me anyway, I would either not hit it at all, or hit it so far that it sored into the cornfield, and that wasn't very often. I think out of all twenty times I swung the bat, only three of them made it to the field. But it was fun. After that we went back inside and got cooled off -it was so hot outside! ...Then we watched some more TV and the family went out back to shoot off fireworks. My friend and I just stayed inside and watched TV, we ended up missing all the fireworks, but I don't think my friend cared too much, and I didn't really mind to be honest. I just liked being there.

Though we missed shooting off the fireworks, we certainly didn't miss seeing them. The drive home was amazing! Everywhere we looked, every inch of the horizon, you could see fireworks. Large, flowery, colorful fireworks. It was so cool! Even when I was driving home from my friend's house I could still see them. I even laid out on the sidewalk and watched them go off for a few minutes after I got home. It was nice. This year didn't feel very patriotic though. No National Anthem, no one said anything about it being Independence Day, today was simply "The Fourth." Oh well. I didn't sleep very well. The fireworks went off well into the night and carried on into the morning. Well, I got to go. I have a whole nother day of work to look forward to.

Happy Independence Day!

The Tragedy of Othello and thankfully not Sheldon.

Othello, The Moor of Venice, is a tragedy written by none other than William Shakespeare of Stratford-Upon-Avon, dun-dun-duh-Duh! Othello is believed to have been written in approximately 1603 -that's over four hundred years ago! The work revolves around four central charters: Othello (Of course), his wife Desdemona (how'd you like a name like that!), his lieutenant Cassio, and his trusted adviser and supposedly honest friend Iago and then Roderigo. Because of its varied themes -racism, love, jealousy and betrayal -the play remains relevant to the present day and is often performed in professional and community theaters alike, such as the outdoor theater in Kansas City. For my online Shakespeare English course I'm required to go and watch the play, as I think I have mentioned before.

Sheldon was cooperative today. He made it there and back. ...But that didn't make me enjoy the drive any more than I did. I like the roads in New-City, they're amazing to look at! -all those bridges, big big buildings, six lanes of traffic (kay, well actually those weren't all that fun to look at) it's just... I'd rather not drive on them. I'd much rather be staring out behind the window than behind the wheel. Anyway...

We didn't have any trouble getting there. I printed up like six pages of directions and one of them had a little road map on it. Personally, I liked that one the best and I think it actually helped the best too. We, Sir S. and I, could see what other roads would get us back home as well instead of using the one the map had routed for us. It was a piece of cake, for the most part. Finding a parking place was a little harder.

The Shakespeare Festival had four parking places of which to choose from. One of the four required a five dollar fee. ...And which one do you think we went to? The one with the fee. I didn't mean to pick that one, honestly. I'm all about the free parking. But when I pulled in and read the name of parking garage it was too late for me to turn around. I'd have to go inside and loop around in order to leave. So I pulled in and Sir S. (good sport that he is!) started fishing in his wallet for some extra bills. I didn't have any, of that I was sure. I'd used my last dollar on breakfast that morning. And I was sure Sir S. didn't have any cash on him, he's all about the cards. But, low-and-behold, Sir S. pulled out four dollars. I was surprised, I was all ready to just find another parking garage and not worry about it. It wasn't a big deal, really. But Sir S. still only had four. Ha. I suddenly felt guilty for my breakfast pop-tarts.

"Do you guys have five dollars?" The guy in the booth asked as we pulled up next to him.

"No, just under," I answered. If only I had saved that dollar!

Sir S. sighed. (I think he was ready to get out of the car.) "We'll have to pull around and come back out."

"Well, how much do you have?" The guy asked politely.

"Four," we answered.

The guy shrugged. "Aw, thats enough. One dollar's not going to kill 'em."

So, I passed the nice man the four dollars and we were able to go and park. I felt so bad, though. I didn't mean for that to happen. But at least we got a parking spot...

The play was good. We weren't allowed to take pictures of it though, that made me sad. I brought the camera and everything. Well, only after I forgot it and I had to loop back around all the town houses to retrieve it. Sir S. was nice enough to dash inside and get it. I wish it would have been worth it though. I did get pictures of a few of the festives though. There was a puppet show and a big audience. I got a few pictures of those. Oh and there was a juggler! (I couldn't get pictures of him though, I was afraid I'd get caught. But I did get a couple of the stage. I was very discreet about it, too. Turned off the flash and everything. ...I probably shouldn't have though. I don't think Sir S. liked the idea much. I sorta felt like a criminal, breaking the law right in front of everyone... Ugh. How awful!

Oh -the juggler. The juggler couldn't have been older than twenty. And he was really good! He juggled so many things; from the bowling-pin-looking-things, to balls, to rings, to glass plates, like everything! He liked to use his face a lot too. It was really funny and really cool at the same time. His finale was balancing a chair on his face. Unfortunately, I missed it, I must have been looking at the program or something. Anyway, he was really good! I enjoyed it.

Back to the play. Othello was good. Of course, I didn't much care for Iago's character, he was a little too... I don't know 'Bleh!' for me. The actor was really good, don't get me wrong -he was really good! ...It's just, his character was the villain and, well, I didn't like him. Othello was a tragedy, so naturally it didn't have the best of endings. Shakespeare must have been fond of the "I'm going crazy!" theme and enjoyed killing off the players. The majority of the characters die in the end. Othello wasn't too far gone from Hamlet -the other Shakespeare play my class was studying. But in a nut shell I liked it. It was good. I'm glad I was able to go. I'm glad my cousin went with me. And I'm glad that Sheldon made it there and back.