I had a dream!

By all means, I should be studying, but this is more important at the moment.

I had a rather odd dream last night. First things first, now I didn't find this out till like a third of the way into the dream, but I feel that it is important to know from the start. The Bennings weren't royalty, but we were a very influential family, like the Rocketfellers, or Vanderbilts. I was getting married. It was an arranged marrage and he was seven. Apparently I was OK with this fact up until the big day at which point I rightly freaked out about marrying a seven year old. But it was a huge deal, like I was Marie Antoinette going off to marry Louis and I knew what my family duty was, even though this was modern day and I probably could have said no. So there I was, crying and freaking out in an awsome red dress and the wedding couldn't start until the Heinrichs got there becuase they were bringing some very important food item and I think Kelli was a bridesmade. She wasn't too happy about this marriage either when she got there. Also, there was something about getting a corset to wear because I wanted it.

So it turns out that he wasn't actually seven, he was seventeen. Which is still a little young, but much better than seven and I was OK with that so the wedding went on with a relatively happy bride.

Isn't that weird? What in the world is going on with my subconsious? I would appriciate some opinions on the matter, do your worst. This should be interesting. I find dreams to be lots of fun and I wish I remembered them more often. Though just hearing about Kelli's dreams is crazy fun.

A 1940's Winter Wonderland

I just got back from the closing social for folk dance. It was a 1940's themed dinner dance. Just what I was dying to do! They partnered us up with boys from the team so we all had dates. It was at the beautiful Hinckley building which we can never go to because its only for alumni. We had dinner upstairs and it was really good, then we went downstairs and they had a big band (of the high school persuasion). It reminded me so much of the Chaminade band and it made me really happy. Though the Chaminade band doesn't take twelve years to switch songs like this band did. Everyone was dressed up so nicely, I loved it so much!

Funny story: so my folk dance partner (who was not my date thank goodness) decided that since he played in his school band, he should just play with this band. So he went up and asked if he could join, borrowed somebodys saxophone and played a few songs with the band. Really brian, really?

Christmas Around the World

This weekend is the famous Christmas Around the World (CAW) performance. I am one of the lucky 200 that gets to be in it. Because its the 50th anniversary there are a bunch of alumni that are doing the opener with us and they are all really fun people, but because there are extras it means that there are a lot more people than is comfortable backstage.

I wasn't too happy about a lot of things with CAW, but by this morning, I was OK with it all. I had gotten over that I was annoyed that they wanted us to wear pantyhose and not dance tights, which goes against everything I have learned ever. They have shared makeup which is rather silly and learning the opener and closer with everyone just felt like a giant group project where there were a lot of leaders and a lot of useless people. One of those projects where you have 10 people but really only need 1 or 2. But I have gotten over that and I am being a rebel and wearing dance tights anyway because I feel more comfortable that way.

Anyway, I was getting annoyed with the people, but we finished all the learning and it is a really cool performance. This morning we did a modified show for the elementry school kids and it was awsome. They are just so enthuastic about everything. While they were arriving, we had a pre-show going on and people did tricks and the kids sang. It was just about the sweetest thing I've ever seen.

The show as a whole is really amazing. I love all the dances so much and the set looks awsome. I am impressed with what they have been able to pull off.

My parents are coming here late tonight to catch the matinee tomorrow and I am very excited to see them!

Only four days of classes then some finals and HOME!!!

Well, it's been a while...

So, while I was at the airport waiting for my bag, I noticed something pecular. There was a bright red sign that said "Children must not play on the whatchyamacallit" (it didn't say carousel, though that's what I'd call it, so for our purposes, it is a whatchyamacallit). Children, really? Well, I am a legal adult, does that mean that I can play on it?

It reminded me of a happy time about two years ago when I was in England with my happy friends. We were at Chatsworth house, which is where they filmed the new Pemberly. There was a large staircase-style waterfall with a sign near it saying "If you choose to play in the water, please use extreme caution" so naturally the youngest two decided to walk across the fountain.

I would also like to say that I get to go back home in 16 days and I am very happy about that. You see, when discussing study abroad, my best friend brought up a good point that I thought I had under control...homesickness. I have been fine since the very beginning of October. I had a month of troubles, then forgot about it. I even had a visit home in those months, but I think that this visit was just longer and harder to leave. Don't worry, I won't leave BYU for good, its a fabulous school that I love (also, I just really have to beat my sisters who both ran home after a semester away). All I'm saying is that I think a BYU-LA is in order. I hope that the two and a half weeks I get for winter break is a long enough time for me to get sick of home so I'm not sick for home because we get absolutly no breaks from January until April and that is a long time with no home.

That little rant being said, how would I fare half way around the world in Berlin? I think that because it is such a short time, I would be OK. I was fine all throughout summer term because the end was in sight from the beginning, but maybe also because it worked out that I saw family every other week. I was talking to an army child who lived in Germany for a few years and she said that she absolutly loved it there. They are really friendly people and will totally help out with the language which was my main concern. And we have friends in Poland and Berlin(we think that's where he is). MAKE UP YOUR MIND LAURA!!! DO YOU WANT TO GO OR DON'T YOU!!!

Oh, the other thing is that I think I have more of a chance of having a car next school year if I don't go. And I would really, really like a car.

The Vatican on New Moon

Here is what the Vatican had to say about New Moon:

The Vatican has blasted New Moon, calling it "deviant" and a "moral vacuum".

The Twilight sequel, which hits cinemas this weekend, has been criticised by the governing body of the Roman Catholic Church for its supernatural references.

"This theme of vampires in Twilight combines a mixture of excesses that, as ever is aimed at young people and gives a heavy esoteric element," complained the Vatican's culture council leader, Monsignor Franco Perazzolo.

He added, "This film is nothing more than a moral vacuum with a deviant message and as such should be of concern."

The Vatican's stance comes as something of a surprise as they have softened their stance on certain blockbusters recently - approving the most recent Harry Potter film and calling the sequel to The Da Vinci Code "harmless entertainment".


My personal opinion on why the Vatican is getting so angry is that they don't like the fact that their whole city/country is very similar to Volterra. They have the same royalty-like thing going on and they are all vastly old men. I have nothing against the people in the Vatican, I just think that people that get angry about fiction need to rethink a lot of things in their life because its FICTION!

Writing a Paper in the Wilk

So I'm in the Wilkenson Student Center writing a paper. The Wilk has everything. It has a little food court and the bookstore (which in itself has everything from textbooks to laptops to clothing and stationary and candy). Then there is the second story which has some nice chairs which is where I am.

Today is the Dancesport competition in the Ballroom of the Wilk. It is like a massive ballroom dance competition. So you when I look down on the first story, I can see a few girls in bright costumes and guys with numbers pinned on their suits. Then there are all the dads, crowded around the TV watching the BYU football game. hahahahahaha, it made me laugh

Suprise Package

So I was going to wait to post about this until she got my thank you note, but I just can't wait.

So today, I go out to get the mail and there is this large package for me and I'm thinking, "What the heck? I wasn't expecting a package." So I go inside and open it up and lo and behold, there is a set of cookie sheets and cooling racks. Lauren had sent me baking stuff after my blog complaining about not having proper cooling racks.

I started crying because it was just so dang sweet of her to think of me when she is very preggo and in the process of buying a house (and because I cry a lot, it just is, accept it, I have. Also, we watched "Wit" in my English class, so I had already cried once today and the second time comes much easier). My roomates think that I'm crazy for crying over cookie sheets and cooling racks, but it wasn't like I was bawling, It was a few glistening tears.

Anyway, I am so lucky to have such wonderful people in my life who take care of me while I am here in Provo. I am so very happy! I have cooling racks and cookie sheets. I'm going to make lots and lots of things this weekend to celebrate.

And just because they too deserve blog recognition, I want to thank my parents for my happy jewish heritage package, consisting of matzo adn matzo ball soup mix, and a later package of glow-stick fun (and for just being my wonderful parents). Then Jessi and I send back and forth a journal and I always look forward to that. Then over the summer, my bestest friends sent me postcards and packages so I didn't miss out on their very happy summer while I was at school. Oh, and Ashley brought herself, nuff said. Thank you to the people who make my life happy.

PS I do still love and adore the people who don't send me things

Tuesday Update

Well, it's been a week and I should probably update this thing (a very useful procrastination tool).

Ashley was here this weekend and we had soo much fun! On Friday, we went for a walk and passed by the Provo Temple which Ashley says lookes like a squashed cake and to which I reply that it grows on you. Then we went to Target (or Turget depending on who you are) and I bought all the things I needed like a new pillow and laundry detergent and other things which means I don't have to treck out to Wal-Mart this week (which is a good thing cuz I went slightly over budget at Target [It's so easy to do cuz Target is awsome! But at Wal-Mart, it's harder cuz Wal-Mart is stupid], but I bought a lot of the things that you only need to buy like once in a very long time, so it was a good thing). Then we went to the Down East Basics store and bought matching jean skirts (it's ok cuz we don't live together and because we arent 16 years old). Then we went to Zupas for dinner which was awsome soup and paninis, though we decided that cooking paninis is really a California thing. They don't get the melty cheese thing here. Then we went to the dollar theater and saw Harry Potter and that was the end of Friday.

Saturday morning was another walk, this time down to the Provo Library. Then we had Jamba and went to SLC. The SLC library is frickin awsome, they have fun little stores and cafes and there is a lot of window, so we found a table and sat for a few hours. Ashley did her book thing and I attempted to write a paper. Then we went to the Kings English Bookstore, where they are so happy and friendly and we bought books. Then we went to the Down East Basics Clearence Center. Which is a little bit weird cuz they have a lot of crappy stuff, but also a lot of only slightly damaged stuff for really cheap. So we bought 5 dresses and a blouse. Then we went to dinner and got really scared because they were doing traffic and we almost didn't make it to the Hale Center Theater in time, but we did. And we saw Curtains and it was AWSOME!!! And that was that. Then Ashley left me the next day.

I had an American Heritage exam today, and it wasn't so good. Only two weeks till home!!!

College Shower!

Why in the world do you get Bridal showers and Baby showers but never a College shower? If the purpose of showers is to provide the person/people with all the items they will need to live and function in a new life with a new person, then college fits into that category. It has taken me this long to build up our kitchen stores enough to make cookies. Every week I would buy a new thing or two like vanilla or baking soda. Now, in my case most of this was food, but the same principle applies. We don't have any spices because this is a new way of living for all of us. My mother has had 25+ years, so she owns all kinds of those once a year spices (like things to make pumpkin pie) and more than one cookie sheet and cooling racks and a mixer that doesn't give up at the slightest sign of work!

The other thing is that, when you put 6 people together, you end up with a semi-well put together kitchen. We have enough tupperware to cover food for a year, but again, we have no cooling racks. I tried to get everyone to plan better. We emailed back and forth, and we still ended up with a bunch of useless stuff and no good mixer. We have moldy food in the fridge because nobody remembers that they need to throw out food if they aren't going to eat it. But I still don't have the cloves that I need to make pumpkin cookies and other fall treats.

Winter Schedule

So I have to do my class schedual for winter on Nov 4th (I think, I should double check that). I spent all afternoon trying to figure it out and I am feeling good about it. So here it is

French: 8-9 daily
Religion (second half of the New Testament): 9-10 MW
French and Italian Cinema: 12-3 MW
Writing Literary Criticism: 9:30-10:45 TTH
Philosophy of Religion: 12-1:20 TTH
Civilization: Literature 2: 1:30-3

The only classes that aren't General Eds are French and Lit Criticism. But I need to take French 202 for my major meaning I have to take 101,102,201 at some point. And then Lit Criticism is for my English major. I'm a little worried about taking classes for my major because I'm still not absolutly 100% positive on it, but right now, my english class is my favorite so I think I'm good. Also the only other Gen Ed I could have taken next semester is Bio, which I want to take during the spring term because classes tend to be easier during spring/summer and also then I only have to deal with it for 8 weeks in stead of the full semester. Oh, the other thing is that as of right now, nobody is signed up for Cinema, so that might change.

I've decided that I am going to stay for Spring term for sure because then, with my summer/online credits, I will be an even halfway through my soph year, a semester ahead.

The Macbeth Murder Mystery

We had to read this for my english class. You guys have to read it.

It's Decision Making Time

Ok, so I've been doing the folk dance thing and I like it. It's fun and gives me something to do. I wasn't really thinking about the future and SPAC (Spring Performing Arts Company) tryouts are next Wednesday! Here is the deal, SPAC reherses all through winter semester and then during the Spring, they go on tour in Utah, they are gone for many weeks and do all kinds of fun things.

The Cons: I wouldn't be able to go to school during the spring term. I was undecided on this matter, but I was pretty sure that I was going to take classes. I have no idea how much it costs. I've heard that the school pays for a lot of it, but who knows. Then I would have to buy probably three new pairs of shoes and things like that.

The Pros: Being invloved/having a group. In a school of this magnitude, it would be nice to be able to associate myself with a group. They were talking about it today and it sounds like a heck of a lot of fun. During spring term, the whole team stays in one appartment complex, then the traveling. It would be a great opportunity to force friends on me, because as you know, I do not make friends well.

I want opinions!!!! Tell me what you think, any other aspects I didn't think of. Also, there is still a huge possibility I wouldn't get in even if I auditioned. So keep that in mind.

Parade!

As you know, I am a proud member of the folk dance ensemble and we were in the homecoming parade today. The Performance team wore costumes and handed out balloons and fliers for Christmas around the World, and we all got to do the grunt work. There was one dance everyone knew, Bongara (a bollywood dance), and then half the teams did a French-Canadian dance and the other half did a scottish dance. The order was supposed to be Bongara, FC, Scot. But thats not how it ended up happening. It went Bongara, FC, Bongara, FC, Bongara, Bongara Scot, Bongara, FC, Bongara, Bongara, Bongara, FC, Scot, Bongara, FC, Bongara, Bongara (sped-up). Now I don't know if thats the exact order, but I do know that we did Bongara an inordinate ammount of times and FC way more than Scot. THat meant that the teams doing FC got very few breaks. I was so tired at the end, I came home, showered, and slept.

I got there early to blow up balloons and we got donuts and hot chocolate. It was fun. Unfortunatly, I don't have pictures, but others do.

Peer Reviews

Alrighty, so I understand that peer reviewing can be helpful, but what this teacher is making us do is insane. In a class of about 150, he has assigned us groups, which makes communication really difficult because I only know the people who sit around me in class, I don't know everyone in the class. But thats ok, difficult, but ok. Then we have to do the peer review thing, duh, its a peer review. What I don't understand is why we need to write letters to our reviewers and letters back after we review them AND write on the actual papers if WE HAVE TO MEET IN PERSON ANYWAY!!!! I am writing them this letter when I am going to meet with her tomorrow and discuss her paper along with the other two members of the group. Seriously, pick one! Either make me write all the letters and do the work OR make me speak with them. This is very redundant.

My mantra: jump through the hoops, Laura, jump through the hoops...

slightly above average

Well friends, thats what I am, slightly above average. I have gotten B's on just about every test I've taken and it's starting to get annoying. It doesn't matter how much I study, I will end up with a B. Today's Religion midterm is a great example. I studied what was on the cwapface studyguide (seriously, cwapface), I even went through a few of the powerpoint slides, I didn't exactly feel prepared, but I knew that my only option would be to re-read 30 chapters of hardcore scripture in order to feel even slightly more prepared. The test was open scriptures and he told us this from the beginning and encouraged us to take notes in our books because, as he sees it, life is an open book test (I agree). So I went to take this test and there were a few questions that were weird or that I didn't get/have the slightest clue where to look for the answer. But I was feeling pretty good overall. I had found direct answers to most of the questions I had really taken my time and felt that my lack of studying hadn't hindered my test-taking.

A FLIPPING B!!!!! and an 83% at that. I don't understand. There is nothing wrong with a B, its better than most grades, but really, I couldn't have gotten an A on a religion test? And I always get 100% on the quizzes, I havn't missed a day of class (though I'll admit to some slight head-nodding-like dad used to do when he was bishop, hahaha).

What ever happened to the good ol' days, where a girl had a work dress or two and a sunday dress, and one pair of shoes. She didn't have to worry about make-up and hair was a simple up-do that was functional.

I have three pairs of jeans, one of which doesn't fit, another pair that is long so the bottoms are gross and the last pair which I have worn to death literally, they are falling apart. Then I have my black comfy pants that are new and that I love (even if they could stand to be another inch longer) and grey pants that I'm having fun embroidering (I had to let the hem out and it's turning into a snowball project) and two pairs of cords that i just wish were longer (seeing a theme here?). I also have two pairs of sweat-esque pants, one of which is, again shorter than I want and the other is so old the velour is coming off. Then there are the skirts and dresses and shirts and such. And the shoes. Why isn't one pair enough? I have my converse and exercise shoes, then way too many heels and I still want a pair of black flats and brown ones.


SO MUCH STUFF!!!! Why aren't we content with our two or three dresses anymore? Don't get me wrong, I love my stuff, but it just makes life so much harder to have so much.

One more thought

How is it possible that a powder (such as hot chocolate mix) can be fat free? It seems flying against nature that fat could be a powder, it is fat, it is always greasy hence why they used to use straight up lard for greasing pans and such.

Can Flies Smell?

If feels like they do, after all they gravitate towards food and other smelly items, yet they are so tiny and It doesnt feel right that they should get a sense of smell with those eyes they have.

A few facts from www.flypower.com

"Also, flies don't bite or sting. They have neither teeth nor a stinger. Flies thrust a needle like spike into their victims and injects a digestive juice that breaks down the victims cell tissue. They then suck the liquid in to injest it. Very poor manners to say the least.

But don't think that flies are helpless and otherwise benign to their larger neighbors. In 1923, Black flies in swarms were reportedly responsible for the deaths of more than 20,000 sheep, horses and cattle in Rumania and Bulgaria. Of course I would suppose one would expect this sort of behavior from an area of the world that also brought us the Carpathinan warlord, Dracula.

A few more misc. facts to round things out. Did you know.........

The average house fly lives on average 21 days.
A flies wings beat 200 times per second.
Flies don't grow. They are born full size.
Flies have 4000 lenses in each eye.
Flies jump up and backwards when taking off.
Average speed of a fly in flight is 4.5 m.p.h..
Flies smell with their antennae "

So, as I was procrastinating finishing my paper for American Heritage, I was listening to some music and looking out the window, basically zoning under the pretense of thinking about my paper, and I came to an interesting conclusion. Life isn't fun. Sure, you have a few good moments, but for the most part, life is made up of moments like the one I just had. Sitting and just being, but not active, and not exactly "fun". I mean, we are stuck in classes for how many years? And how many of those classes do we actually like enough to be involved?

I find myself content with sitting and listening to music and looking out the window for hours on end. The French have the right idea with all that café sitting, but we are too ‘busy’ to enjoy moments like that. It's moments like that that allow us to learn the most about ourselves, our surroundings, and our beliefs.

do I ever do anything that isn't reading?

Alrighty, when I was home last, I took some books from ashley. the "Percy Jackson and the Olympians" series. Oh my gosh, so good! If I had read this when I actually had to know greek myhology, it might have come in handy. I will always know who is the god of what now. Not only that, but the story was fabulous and the writing amazing. I was laughing half the time. Really, just read them. It took me a week to read all 5 books, so not hard books, but still satisfying.

First Date

Alrighty, well it was going to come eventually, I just got back from my first BYU date. It was a triple date with Cory (aka Elder Austin) and his two friends Ryan and guywhosenameidontremember and their dates Lizzy and Katie and there was another couple-couple (like not just a date, a couple) who was only there for the first part.

So first we had lots of fun carving pumpkins. Each date-team had a pumpkin and we got some people from the appartment over to judge. Ours was awsome, we had the new batman symbol superimposed on the old symbol, then around the back we had a jack-o-lantern two face. I didn't have my camera, but people took pictures and when I get those, I'll show you. We had a lot of fun talking, the guys had all served their missions in California, thats how they knew each other.

Then one of the girls suggested we toast the pumpkin seeds, so we did that. Really though, the best part of playing with pumpkin seeds is coming up with fun things you can put on pumpkin seeds, like ranch, bbq sauce, butter-cinnamon-sugar. We had much dessert consisting of really good cake (it was one of the guys birthday the day before and someone had made him a cake) and this fabulous mint cookies and cream ice cream and hot chocolate to top it all off.

Then we went down to the volleyball/basketball court and played a bit of each sport. I was really bad, but so was one of the other girls, so I didn't feel quite so bad. We were really just having fun though. I found out that one of the guys served in Sandy's (my aunt) ward and knew Superstar Five. They just had a new baby named Sassafras.

I had all kinds of fun. They were some great people and I hope to repeat the experience. (Also, I feel like I should mention this, Cory opened doors for me and the likes, very gentlemanly)

ATTACKED!!!!

Ok, so short post. I was run/walking today around my usual neighborhood, but it was later than I usually go so there were a few kids that were home from, like, first grade playing in the front yard. I was walking at this point and this little boy with two fake swords (that could be sheathed on his back) come up to me in slow motion and taps me with the two black swords. So I say "ahhh, you got me!" and keep walking. Then his brother/friend/another little boy comes out of the door. Sword-boy tells me that he got his swords at the Big K, then the other boy has to show me his watch and tell me that he got that at the Big K too. I was kindof walking through the whole thing, I didn't think that stopping to talk to random little kids was a good idea, not that the kids would hurt me, but I didn't want the neighbors to talk "yeah, there was this weird chick talking with those boys." They kind of followed me for a while though, like it was another full house before I stopped being attacked and I got the feeling that that was the limit to where they could play, like they would have kept going, but weren't allowed. Though what kind of parent sets up play-boundries but doesn't teach "STRANGER DANGER" to their kids, I have no idea.

Also, there was a little blond girl in some kind of princess costume, I want to say it was tinkerbell in princess-dress form, not fairy form.

Fun With Midterms!

Ok, so today I took my American Heritage midterm. Basically what happened was I got home from my classes at 11, I got done with my running/showering/lunching by 1 and then I tried to force myself to study and I did pretty well. As Kelli figured out, studying really well involves drinking massive amounts of water, then, you get bathroom breaks and you can't feel bad about breaking for that. Well so I studied. At one point I thought that maybe if I did some of my reading for my Book of Mormon class, I would get extra points and do better on my test.

Then the time came when I realized that, though I hadn't planned to take my test until 5, studying any more really wouldn't have been helpful, I would have been going over stuff that I already know and wasting time just reading my textbook, hoping to find something useful. So I put on my new boots and my happy jacket and went over to the testing center where I decided that going to the bathroom before hand would probably be a good idea (remember the water) and all I have to say is that that bathroom smelled like rotten fish!

Lemme describe the testing center to you all. You go up this massive staircase and get to this level that has carpeting marking where the lines should go. If you show up on like the last day of finals, its packed with many people who probably spill out onto the staircase. Lucky for me, I am an overachiever and took my test on the first day it was offered (but really, midterms are different times for different classes, so it's not like finals week where everyone is testing at one time). There were like two or three people in each of the lines. The lines lead through the doors where you go to the counter, hand over your id card and they ask what test you want to take. They then give you the test and basic instructions ('no calculator allowed on this not-math test') and then you go down the counter and pick up your personalized scantron in its indimidating red color. Then you go into a ballroom-sized room with rows and rows of desks. You pick your desk and go.

Now the fun part. So the multiple choice starts off with the lovely 'here is 12 names and 5 quotes, match them up' not once but twice. Then it was a regular MC test. The written section was actually fun. I knew enough about each of the answers that I wasn't stressed about it. I said things like "Modern liberty, as described by Benjamin Constant, is the idea that you can do whatever you want. For example, if you wanted to go to college and go on to invent the first microwave freezer, you could. Or if you wanted to sit around eating lasagna all day, you could do that too...the problem is that then you might end up with a society full of fat lasagna eaters and no microwave freezers." Now, I actually think that the TA or Professor, whoever ends up grading my test will rather enjoy these little bits, and when grading some 150 papers, that has to be a happy moment and happy moments lead to happy grades. I'm not kidding, I was like almost laughing as I was writing some of these answers. I hope they hand back the tests so I can enjoy that forever.

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.

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).