Resolutions

This year I'm making three resolutions.  And yeah, I'm blogging them.  All aboard the cliche blogging train - choo choo!

1) Stay in better contact with the people I actually care about.  This specifically extends to Ashley and Megan, but also to people like Brittany (who I actually feel frequently connected to via twitter), Jeff, the Francs (like, occasionally text them not about Buffy or Joss Whedon being the boss of me) and a few others.  I feel awkward mentioning names.  Maybe I should take that out.  Or maybe I'll just tell awkward to kiss my ass.
*edit: I just realized (after getting her comment) that I didn't put Britt on here.  Perhaps it's because I've been afraid to contact her since my seriously awkward email (even though I want to congratulate her on being employee of the year at her job), or some subconscious asshole maneuver or whatever.  The point is, Britt is included in the list of people with whom I want to communicate more frequently.

2) Blog and journal more frequently or at least with some consistency. I actually like blogging, my life is just boring and busy.  And I like journaling (ever since I started typing it instead of writing it a few years ago).  I think journaling specifically helps ground me sometimes.  Who knows, maybe if I blog more I'll get funny again.

3) Lose 20 pounds.  I know this doesn't seem like much, but there it is.  I wanted to make it realistic and not insanely hard, but also not too easy.  If you're fat you can lose five pounds by accident because five pounds isn't even that much.  Losing 20 and actually keeping it off will require actual work, but not insane promises I'm never going to keep like giving up the Hershey nuggets in my desk drawer at school.

Honorable mention (meaning I haven't decided if I want to do these yet):
1) Wear makeup at least 4 days a week (unless I don't have to work).
2) Do my hair with something other than 2 bobby pins once a week (ditto the not work thing from above)

There you go.

Food Delivery

I camped out for the Fourth of July parade all night Sunday night and realized that I live in a crazy place and didn't get a wink of sleep and also got to go to Stadium of Fire and see David Archuleta and Brad Paisley and other awesome things.  Perhaps I'll blog about it more later, but probably not. 

Last night Destiny and I ordered Chinese food for dinner.  It was from Saigon.  If you live in Provo or know Saigon you will not be surprised when you hear this story.  Ok so I figured it would be the same delivery guy it always is (the surly waiter guy).  Imagine my shock when an hour later a bearded white guy shows up at my doorstep.

"Did you order Chinese food?" 

"Um...yeah."

"Oh, well I don't work at the restaurant I was just there eating and they were busy so they asked me to deliver for them, but I know the owners."

"Oh ok, do you have a pen so I can sign this?"

Hello, is this weird and awkward or what?  If this was any other restaurant I would be surprised, but not from Saigon.  That whole place is bizarre and awesome in its unique way.  

Night-time Reading

I'm a creep.  This is kind of well known so I won't bother to elaborate.  I was recently linked to a friend's blog.  I have this thing about reading a blog I haven't before.  I can't just start from where I jump in and continue.  There's some compulsion inside of me to start at the beginning and at least browse the whole life of the blog.  So, if a blog has been around for a long time I probably won't start reading it.

Tonight I was sitting around with some time on my hands and decided to start reading this friend's blog so that I could stay current with it.  I often get impatient with this process of mine.  I get bored and hope for the end to come and to run out of posts (but I still have to do it - I hate myself sometimes).  That wasn't the case with this post.  This guy is a writer.  Big deal, I have other friends who are writers and their blogs are just as average as any other (or maybe slightly above, but I try to stick to reading pretty good blogs).  But man, this was good stuff.  The posts weren't even topics that particularly enthralled me, but I read every single word - no browsing for me tonight.

Many of the blogs I read are funny.  I have hilarious friends that write hysterical blogs and I love to read them, but they're not the same as this blog.  The writer comes through.  I especially love when he calls attention to himself and the fact that he's writing.  Mostly the point of this post is to praise that blog, though I won't link him to this post because that's kind of weird, yeah?  Would you find it strange if all of a sudden one of your friends started reading your blog then posted a whole post about how interesting/good it is?

P.S. I feel the way about poetry and art.  Just let me enjoy without too much analyzing and be free to feel without knowing exactly why or what.

New Look

Once upon a time in Stafford I made a best friend. Years later things happened and we grew apart. Some time later things weren't perfect, but they were a little patched up and the friend redecorated my blog and made me a nice banner in a fun, bright color. Anyway, this is my thanks to Heather for doing such a nice thing for me. I definitely appreciate it.

Heather and her fiance Drey (yes, I stole this picture directly off her blog).

A Song That Makes Me Fall Asleep: Still, Still, Still

Remember that time I started doing that music challenge thing? I know. I hardly do either. I think this post will be day 10 or something like that (in what's supposed to be 30 consecutive days), but I do what I want. This is my blog. Sometimes I blog about 4 times in one day because I feel like it and I think that posts that are totally unrelated should not be all shoved together just because they're on the same day (though posts don't have to have a single topic; some of my favorite posts to read are the ones that briefly address many things).

Anyway, back to the point. A song that makes me fall asleep. I like the song Still, Still, Still and I love Christmas music. This version of the song is from the Mannheim Steamroller Christmas piano solos book. Chris Doxey played this song (I think, forgive me if I'm wrong) at the ward Christmas musical fireside. He's extremely talented and I offered (mostly jokingly) to pay him to play lullabies for me so I can fall asleep. How great and peaceful is this song, though. I'll admit that most any soft piano solo will have me dozing (in a good way).

Thanksgiving and Etc.

Caroline and I are watching The Derby Stallion right now. It's awful. I'm not just saying that. It seems like a Lifetime movie that was made in 1993, not something that was made in 2005. Confession: Zac Efron is still attractive in this movie.

I wish I had a header for my blog. Maybe with some pictures or something with me and my friends or who knows, but I wish I had one.

I was lucky enough to have a great friend (Britt) offer me a place to go for Thanksgiving. At first I thought that maybe I would just stay home by myself and chill and possibly grab some Denny's for dinner. Then I realized that that would be supremely depressing and went to Britt's Mom's house with her and Kyle and her old roommate Nadia. Turned out to be such a fun time. It's so kind that there are people who will let other people invade on their family time for the holidays.

Caroline (she's been staying with me for the past couple days) went Black Friday shopping with me at midnight. It was crazy and she was such a good sport and I bought a tv online and some movies and a crockpot and a little food processor and it was awesome. I've also been doing some online shopping with the amazon.com deals and stuff.

I miss my family right now. They're crazy and obnoxious and irritating as all get out, but they're my family and I love and miss them.

Tomorrow is the Holy War. I'm SO pumped. I made two dozen chocolate peanut butter cupcakes (even though one dozen got eaten tonight) and two crockpots full of taco soup. Good football needs good food. Also, BYU basketball almost gave me a heart attack today, but we won and then I just had palpitations.

The Post I Lost

*So, I fixed the problem by copy pasting the post into a new post completely so it had today's date. My question at the end still stands.

In case any of you are slightly internet disabled (apparently I am) the new post I put up today about the second set of books I've been reading can be found under June 18th. Apparently if you start a post (just using it as a place to store titles) it posts under the day you started it. I didn't realize this and was trying to figure out how that post disappeared.

By the way, if anyone knows a way to just change the date on that post please please let me know. I hate that it's back there on June 18th.

New Blog

Hey all. This is not the birthday post. I just wanted to let you know that Sarah and I are now working on another blog too that's going to be pretty funny. If you're a fan of BYU and sports, check it out (or if you just want to check it out, check it out). Here's the link.

And a preview:

School Started

I'm only going to pause briefly to apologize for my hiatus from blogging. Life has been busy.

Anyway, school is kicking my butt right now. My classes are pretty fun and this is the Arts semester for the elementary education program. That means I get to take things like art, drama, dance, and music. These classes, however, come with a lot of projects that take hours and hours. So I spend my time coloring with crayons and choreographing dances and singing "My Country 'Tis of Thee" into a tape recorder. Epic.

The new ward is pretty good. I was so scared and sad for everybody to leave, but we got some legit new people. We had a solid week of activities for the first week so everyone got to know each other at least a little bit and it got the ward started on a good foot.

I am going to try to blog more regularly. I swear. In the meantime, enjoy the view I woke up to a little less than a week ago

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I Think About You in the Summertime

It is summer.  The weather makes me think spring, but it's warm enough that I can lay out in the sun.  I am already a closer to the normal color I should be.  Laurel would be happy.  I am the worst blogger ever, but you already know that.  Ok, back to the point.  Summertime.  I'm kind of loving it.  I have some classes.  Bowling (love it), children's literature (love it), foundations of education (tolerate it), and school health for elementary teachers (don't like the idea of it, but love the class discussion).  Here's the main problem with summer.  Sarah and me hung out a lot during fall and winter, plus some other friends that have since left.  And now I get out of class and do a lot of nothing.  This whole weekend, I've done nothing (but to be fair, I was sick).  So, I mostly hope Sarah comes back soon so I can get the heck out of my house.  I'm sorry, this post is the second most boring post in the history of posts.  

Oh, one more thing.  Sarah has gotten me all excited about football season.  Thing is, at this point it looks like it may be just me and Sarah for the games again.  We'll see.  Here's hoping for a better season for this guy. 

(com'on guys, it's Max Hall!)

P.S.  Got a letter from Cody yesterday. HOORAY!

P.P.S. Who knows what song lyrics the title of this post comes from?  No cheating.

On Global Warming

Note: This particular post is likely going to be filled with blatant bias and ignoring of general facts. The end.

So, today in geology class (my final one for the record) I started thinking about global warming. We were talking about how we are currently in one of the six coldest times in all of Earth's history (which is 4.5 ish million years according to most geologists). So the earth has to warm up anyways. It's a natural cycle the earth goes through. I don't particularly care if humans are causing it to warm up faster or not, but I do think I've figured out the reason why people seem to care so much. They pretend it's about the environment and saving the earth and all of that mess, but it's natural for the world to warm up! That basically shoots a big fat hole in that argument. The real concern is that the ice caps and glaciers will melt which will cause sea level to rise and will pretty much drown the coast. Most of the cities that contribute the most to pollution and supposed global warming are close enough to the coast that they'd be under water or at least severely inhibited. These people say it's about nature, but really it's about themselves. That's my two cents. The end.

A fun picture I found because I like pictures.

Also, if you're not already (and like Seriously So Blessed and the like at all) you should read this blog: Normal Mormon Husbands. It's hilarious. And the latest post about women's infatuation with Edward Cullen is spot on.

Why I Haven't Been Posting

Ok, so you may have noticed my lack of posting. It's kind of a problem and has been nagging me, but here is why. I got the flu and was sick for a few days and kind of slept it off and didn't want to have to think enough to write a coherent blog post. Then I got over being sick and had a lot of homework to catch up on. Not to mention a lot of pressure to blog about all the good stuff like my birthday party and my birthday and all the amazingness that happened and about being sick and about the Utah game and about how I didn't get to go and on and on and on. So I have all that pressure and it makes me not want to blog at all. I don't deal well with pressure like that, I just avoid doing anything about it at all. So I'm hoping that breaking the week long silence with this post will allow me to come back and post in a sensical way because I like blogging. I really do.

Where I've Been

Alright reader, you can just step back and try to shake off your abandonment issues. I didn't decide to just up and leave the blogging world (I am far too interesting for that :) ). Here's the story - right before Christmas the hinge broke on my computer. I took it to geeksquad and when I came back from break the top panel had been replaced and it was all shiny and new. However, when I got the computer home and turned it on I discovered, to my horror, that only about half of the keys on the keyboard worked. I immediately took it back to be fixed again, and there it has been since Friday. Between that and the fact that my parents don't currently have the internet at home I have been away. Don't worry, though, when I get my computer back I'll read all the back entries on the blogs I've been neglecting and I will post a real post here including details of Christmas and my first time making New Years resolutions.
Until then.

Of Finals, Reading, and Friends

I've been doing a lot of reading on other blogs lately (ok, one other blog mainly) and neglecting my own. I apologize to those of you who may happen to think the things I say are interesting. I just realized, while typing this, that I am writing in a way more congruent with the way I have been reading things rather than the way I write. I don't know if that made sense to anyone or not.

Finals are coming up. I took two today. One went really well, and the other...not so much. I really don't mind finals as much as a lot of people do. Particular tests will stress me out, but the experience as a whole I find rather soothing. I'm a pretty good test taker and I love the hustle and bustle of all the studying and the cramming and the late nights. Oh, I'm insane.

I have been dying to read. Almost literally. It has been such a long time (summer) since I've read anything at all that wasn't required or online amusment. I want to pick up a book and read! A really good one. For some reason I'm feeling a desire to read some sort of weighty classic (and that basically never happens). I need intellectual stimulation. Maybe I'll go tomorrow and get a library card at the Provo library.

I try not to make this a blog about my friends. That is more of what I use livejournal for. Being all angsty or adoring or both. I am confused, however, as of late. I have been trying really hard to make friends in my ward. To my delight, it is working! It started with knowing and talking to only a few people, and now they are just piling up. The problem comes when I try to balance my time between the friends I already have (those four girls who I love) and the new people. It seems like I overbalanced to the ward side and now I'm having trouble getting re-involved in the loop of the others. Sometimes, I actually feel quite out of the loop. I do not know what to do about this.

I don't want to end this blog on kind of a sour and whiney note, so I will go on with two happy things.

Marriage prep is over for the semester. I'll be honest, sometimes I thought it was boring and the topics were rather pointless. Now that it's over, though, I realize how much I really have learned and grown. At the beginning of this year, I didn't see marriage in my near future at all. I was planning on going on a mission and that was that. I didn't even have a real desire to get married and frankly, the whole idea scared me. I wanted it to happen someday, but someday could wait. Sometime during the semester, the idea of a mission started to feel uncomfortable and not sit right with me. I'm not saying no one should go. I admire you if you do go, it just started not feeling right for me. Now I've reached a point where the idea of being married is so amazing and wonderful to me. I want it more than I ever have wanted anything in my life. It will all happen in the Lord's time, but I have grown! (Possibly more on this at another time).

My family went to a Christmas parade in downtown Fredericksburg, Virginia (about 10 minutes from home and where my sister is currently living). Because I love my family and think they're beautiful (my family), I decided to share the pictures that my sister Laurel took.

This is Gabe who is thrilled, despite being frozen to death.

He got to stand on one of the floats, which he loved. Have you ever seen a more handsome little boy?

Gabe (who is my 3 year old nephew for those who don't know) catching snowflakes.

Destiny (my 4 year old niece) being gorgeous as usual.

My mom looking like a chemo patient (she hates the cold).

My momma and daddy. Like I said, Mom hates the cold.

Gabe on Glenn's head. (Glenn is my 11 year old brother)

I'm Back!

Hello everyone and welcome to my blog. I left the blogging world for awhile (as some of you may have noticed), but I decided to come back. It feels good. In case you didn't notice, I'm already very excited for Christmas. I usually am excited for Christmas, but this year it's out of control. When you're little the excitement is for presents and Santa Claus, but now I'm excited to decorate and buy gifts for people and be in the malls and stores with the decorations, the music, and the thousands and thousands of frenzied shoppers. For some reason, even when I have no need to shop, I find it very cathartic to be among Christmas shopper's in that sort of setting. I'm weird. You'll learn that (if you don't already know). I'm in Provo, Utah right now. This time last year we had plenty of snow, but it's been strangely warm (in the 50s!). In one way, I like it. In another way, I'm ready for sweaters and scarves and wonderful things like that. I love winter clothes.
Next time, I will tell you about my silly winter desire.