Pet Peeves

I'm a pretty easy-going person most of the time. It takes a lot to get under my skin. But sometimes people can just be so inconsiderate. This is the root of my most prominent pet peeves as a college student.
Consider exhibit A:
I walk into a classroom a couple of minutes before class begins. There are plenty of open seats, and I am looking forward to getting settled in one of them with my computer out ready to take notes before the bell rings. But The problem with these seats is that they are all in the middle. All of the people who have come in before me have very thoughtfully planted themselves right on the ends of every row. Now I have to strategically try and crawl over 5 people (who surely aren't going to stand and make room for me to get by), careful not to trip over backpacks or kick over water bottles or other miscellaneous items as I stumble through. My favorite part is when people have their little desks pulled out, and I hit my hip on it as I go by. Believe me, this has got to be the most invigorating part of every day. do you see where I'm going with this? Why do people insist on sitting on the ends of rows when they arrive early to class? Why not move to the center right from the beginning, making it easy for late-comers to join? I once had a girl mention to me that she had to sit on the end so that she could get out quickly to make it to her next class. this same girl sat near the front of the classroom, the furthest away from the door, which seemed very puzzling to me. If you are in a huge hurry, don't you think that it would be smarter to sit closer to the exit than plopped right on the end of a row where you block everyone else. Just a thought.
Now on to exhibit B:
I'm walking on campus toward my next class. The sidewalks are littered with people, all headed in different directions. Occasionally this means that you must cross through the direct path of another person. That's alright. the thing that I hate is when I come to one of these moments, and have to completely stop walking to avoid colliding with the other person. It is like they are in the zone, they have a moment by moment schedule to keep, and by slowing down for one second, their whole day will be thrown off. It is as if their day is so much more important than mine that they cannot slow down so that we can both keep walking. I don't why, but this seems to happen to me multiple times a day. It may be an effect of my height-- maybe people don't see me walking there as they proceed to step right on me. But on several occasions, I have not only had to stop to allow another person to pass by me, but have actually had to take a few steps backward to keep them from galloping right over me, taking the entire front of me along with them.
These are examples of absolute inconsiderateness. Is inconsiderateness a word? If it isn't, it should be. I just can't handle this type of rude behavior. We're big kids, guys. Move to the center of the row. Watch where you're walking so you don't step on people. It doesn't seem entirely absurd to me to expect these things. But maybe I am a woman of ideals. After all, we're living in a time when Obama is our president. You never know what to expect.

Life in General

Writing a new blog. I thought that I was going to be better about this. Turns out I'm not less busy. I think I knew that before, but I wasn't letting myself believe it. I love the new job. The girls are well... interesting... for lack of a better word. They are very energetic, and for the most part, I enjoy spending time with them. Sometimes when they are screaming or throwing fits, it is a little less fun, but I suppose that is just how life is. I get paid for chilling with teenage girls, going to the movies, eating, going shopping, etc. Who can complain?

But in light of my two jobs, I have not a whole lot to talk about. I don't have much of a social life because I'm working 3 nights out of the week. And I'm pretty sure guys think that I'm blowing them off when I tell them that I can't go out because I work until 11 on Friday nights. Guys don't usually call again when you blow them off. That is something interesting that I've learned.

Oh, I also have learned that Applebees has karaoke every Tuesday night! Who knew?! They have themes, and people dress up all crazy cool, and there are drunk people who sing all disgustingly. It is awesome. And the appetizers are all half off. So I can get fat while I'm watching the drunk people make complete fools of themselves. How great is that?! This last Tuesday I got a Blue Ribbon Brownie (desserts are NOT half off, by the way), and I was really disappointed because I remember the Blue Ribbon Brownie being the greatest thing on earth, and it definitely was not. BUT when the waitress brought the bill, mine said $0.00. Confused, I consulted the waitress when she came back to pick up our money. I said, "Um...you sort of didn't charge me," to which she responded, "For what?" This question made me really confused since I had only ordered one thing. So after contemplating for what seemed like a very long time, I said, "Well...for....ANYTHING....?" and showed her my receipt. And here comes the main point of this seemingly pointless story: Apparently Applebees doesn't need you to pay them in order to make money, because the waitress just sort of shrugged her shoulders and said, "Huh. Well, oh well." Oh well. That was it. I didn't have to pay for my less than ideal Blue Ribbon Brownie. They really should change the name. I think it is more like the Yellow Ribbon Brownie. Or The Ribbon That They Give As An Award To The Kid Who Came In Last But They Don't Want Him To Feel Like A Loser Brownie. Maybe that title is too long. Wouldn't look good on a menu. This is why I was not hired as their menu writer. That and the fact that I didn't apply. Do people just apply for that job anyway?

Anyway, aside from karaoke night, I'm going to start going country dancing. I love it, and I miss it. Anyone want to join me? I'm hoping I'll meet my soul mate there. But since I don't believe in soul mates, I think I probably won't.

And that is the status of my life. That and I got a new roommate. Her name is Elisabeth, and she is really great, and she is a good cook, and I like hanging out with her.

A New Day

What is it about the end of a semester that makes you feel completely free? Is it the fact that when you come home at night you come home to a warm bed and a pleasant roommate instead of to a huge pile of homework... next to your warm bed and pleasant roommate? I don't know. all I know is that I am feeling very free...
which is sort of funny because I'm not completely free. I still have a job. A job that I have to get up in the morning for, despite the fact that it is 1:30, and I just spent the last 2 hours getting caught up on all the episodes of The Office that I missed back before I was free. It was so nice not to have to worry about anything because school is over... besides the two finals that I have next week.
But yeah, I still have to wake up for my job in the morning. But it's not so bad. I am only working one job tomorrow.
Yeah, I actually just recently got a second job. That will be interesting, because I've never really had two jobs at the same time. There was that one time that I was working at the wilderness program and then at the preschool as a substitute the weeks that I was home. But somehow I think having two jobs simultaneously will be a little different. Mostly because there will be less camping. This one is similar to the wilderness job in that it is a job working with teenage girls.
But yeah, now that I'm free and have so much extra time, I have also offered to help an author type up his written manuscript. He is actually paralyzed in his right arm, so he said he'd pay me to do it. I figured since I don't have homework anymore, I will have plenty of time to help him out with this. Besides, I can always use a few extra bucks, right?
So, the other reason that I'm really excited to be free and have all of this extra time, is that its going to be summer soon, and I'm excited to be outside. My mom wants me to help landscape the backyard this summer. Now, I really like my mom, and I will help her with some things, but, come on Mom, landscape the whole yard? I don't think so. I'm going to be sunbathing or something with all that free time I have. But then, I have to give my mom a little more credit than that, because she figured this out before I even thought it. She offered to pay me to help her. Real money. Except not so much in the form of dollars that she gives to me, as in the form of less dollars she expects to receive from me (I happen to owe her for a semester of school). And Mom is not fooling around. She really wants her yard done, so for every hour that I work, I will owe her twenty less dollars that I make typing a book for a paralyzed man, babysitting neurotic teenagers, or posting book covers on a website. These dollars I will need for other things.
With these dollars that I save, I may pay to take a class or two. I know, I know, I thought I was celebrating being free from school. But I've been thinking lately about how much I hate ASL. No offense to you deaf people. I think that it is very useful for you guys. But for me, it is making my life all sorts of more stressful...because I don't know how to sign. The problem is that I now have to take two more semesters of the freaking language. I could die. BUT, if I take them both during the summer, then I could get them over with in just like 8 weeks. Done. Finished. Over. Complete. And I'll never have to speak to a deaf person again. Ha. Kidding. But I MAY never have to. And besides, how bad can it be to take just one class in the summer when I have so much extra time floating around. It should be a piece of cake.
Mmm. Cake sounds super good. But I'm trying not to eat late anymore. I didn't have time before to exercise, but maybe now that I do have time, I can start a routine or go to the gym.
Anyway, I do have quite a number of things to do this week.... probably because school isn't exactly all the way over. You know, I have those two finals. I had to write the TA about one of the finals, because it was a scheduled test, and it just happened to be scheduled during part of my first New Haven shift on Monday. So now my test is on Tuesday... which will be fine, but I'll probably have to leave CFI early on Tuesday. I could make up the time, but I have a bunch of trainings to do for New Haven, because apparently they want to make sure you're "qualified" to work with at-risk teens or something. And I probably won't have time to go and help my mom this weekend, because I'll have to study for those two tests. So I'll have to help her during the week, though in between CFI and New Haven, I don't know when.....
So as you can see, I am going to be far less busy than I have been this last semester, so I should have plenty of time for socializing and dates. Heck, I bet I'll be a dating madwoman. Or better yet, I'll get engaged! Yeah, that's why I love being so free, without school. It really feels great.

A little icing

Okay, so I've been informed that I need to update my blog more often, so I'm going to add one of my short stories. Enjoy!

Bait
Liza bit down. Hard. She bit harder and harder, driving her teeth into her fleshy lip until it opened up, spitting out a stream of blood. A tear rolled down her cheek, involuntarily. She shook it away in irritation. She was not crying. The tear was reflexive; a coping mechanism of her body’s intolerance of the pain. A memory of a small girl with disheveled golden pigtails flashed through her mind: her older sister, Emmy, at six years old. Tears gushed from the child’s eyes, as Mother cooed and hummed and stroked her head.
Liza imagined herself crying now, snot sliding in a stream from her red nose to the lines of her lips, mixing with the tears that oozed from swollen eyes. Surely, if there was ever a time to cry, it would be now. But crying solved nothing. She had known this as a toddler less than two, watching Emmy blubber over her skinned knee. In the four years since then, Liza had cried only once: the day that the leeches had come. The day that they had swarmed into the hospitals, where blood was found in copious amounts, its pungent smell reaching out to them, drawing them in. The day she saw them projected on tele-announcers, feeding on the wounded and the weak. That day, her common sense had submitted to her fear, unleashing unbidden wells of water from her heart, which leaked from her wide, grey eyes.
But she was a soldier now, and she knew what must be done. They knew enough about the leeches that the streets were no longer littered with lifeless, staring corpses, but still they were not safe. It is impossible to live and avoid blood excretion completely. Children fall down, dry weather causes nose bleeds, open cold sores afflict many, and women’s menstruation cannot be avoided. The acrid smell of rusty iron on human flesh would be a literal dead give-away. The leeches would be there, heeding the call of blood that lured them. They would not wait.
Liza pressed her bloodied lip to her shoulder, her chest, anywhere it could reach, and smeared violently. They must come. She knew she would die, and yet she knew this is how it must be. God had planned it this way. The fate of the world rested in the hands of the children-- the infants whose genius both frightened and intrigued the adult world. It was they who had finally discovered the enemies’ weaknesses: The leeches were blind and deaf. They relied completely on their senses of smell and touch to feed their taste. So, menacing and destructive as they were, with their scaley bodies and raptor-like claws, they were defeatable. And all it took was bait.
Liza lay with her eyes closed, her arms and legs tied down, so she could not be tempted to run. She knew she would not be tempted. She could hear throaty growling squeals of excitement in the distance. The trap was laid. It would be over soon. Blood rolled onto Liza’s soft, pink cheeks as she smiled.

Today I painted my new house!
Okay, so I didn't paint the whole thing, but I did paint the living room, along with the help of my friends. I shouldn't take all the credit. If I had done it alone, I'm sure I would still be sitting there painting, angry and tired that it was taking so darn long. Either that, or I would have given up and surrendered myself to a bad movie and bag of chips. But fortunately Sara sacrificed her homework for one more day and Jessica's husband is out of town, so they were both there to help. Sara lives there, so she is a little more committed to the cause, but Jessica did it purely out of the goodness of her heart. Good ol' Jess.
Anyway, we painted the living room a golden tan color with one accent wall-- peacock blue. I know, I know, it seems a little extreme. But I think that the colors turned out very pretty. We are now thinking of an entire peacock theme to tie in all of the colors, and our friend Nick is even pitching in, adding some of his art to dress the room up. I'm excited to see it all done in the end. We recently painted the kitchen Sara's favorite shade of green. Nick also contributed a couple of pieces of art in that room, and now we have what I think is one of the coolest college houses of all time.... keeping in mind our limited budget and our bold sense of style.
Over all, I am very excited to be in a house this year. It is very liberating compared to an apartment where you can't really decorate or change anything. Plus, it feels more like a home.
So in conclusion, I just want to say, yay. Yay for paint, yay for artwork, yay for affordable houses, yay for school starting, and yay for life. I feel pretty happy to be alive.

My God and My Country

Okay, so there is really no reason for me to post this, other than the fact that I am feeling especially patriotic lately. I'm not really sure why, I guess it is just because I've been reading about the elections, and I have been quite disconcerted with all of the phooey that we're being fed. And this is on a daily basis. Why can't we just follow the laws of God, I wonder, and live with the moral ideals and values that this country was intended to stand for? Ah, but it is so hard when so many people are fighting for such a number of varied things. Anyway, I wrote this poem while taking a history class at BYU. It is written in epic style, like the Illiad or the Odyssey, so it may be a little different than what you're used to. I'm proud of it though. It makes me have good feelings about my country and how it was really all meant to be....

This is a tale of a freedom begotten of an ardent yearning for and devotion to

The love of God in a reign of tyranny,

Both in that of politics and religion

Across the world; people massacred for their vehement ideals,

Religious powers eyeing one another with seething suspicion:

Popes excommunicating their rivals, attempting to eclipse the arduous

Religious warfare that was running rampant. God on His throne sat high

Atop the acropolis of the Celestial world, regarding His most beloved creations

With decisiveness, His Eldest Son at His right hand,

Who held the scepter of power, in preparation to carry out His Father’s glorious plan.

The time has commenced, said He to the Son; they sat in reverence

To await the restitution of all truths to men in the one land which was chosen

Before the god of time began ruling over the children of earth.

In the beginning, truths were spread and buried deep

Within the soil of this hallowed land, because it was so loved by God;

Mysteries, these, which lay in wait of the righteous who would toil with fervor

To bring them to the surface. The Son’s face shone with resplendent joy;

He began whispering directions to those faithful ones,

In whose humble hearts a candle of vigor and unsullied hope

Burned, piercing the seemingly stanch darkness.

Both Father and Son took compassion upon those Puritans,

Forced to pay homage to a mortal monarch who sits upon a throne

Of theological icons, proclaiming himself god,

Driven by power and conquest, in defiance of Heaven:

The head of a corrupted tree of vile fruits.

Blooming in the midst of this chaos, the faithful Puritans felt the Truth

Segregate them from the abounding heresy, shedding Christ’s pure light on them.

O, that Mighty God of mercy! He prepared a way

For them to be led to that Eden afore blessed ever to be free;

Outlined a most perfect departure and voyage.

They adhered to the beckon of their God, those faithful ones,

Whose ragged pockets held near-empty purses.

The conservative and small ship called the Mayflower

Set sail on waters of pacific placidness toward the west,

Alas, the Devil in his fury at the miracle being set in motion,

Thrashed about upon the sea violently; terrible winds and waves arose.

The children of this pilgrimage cried out to God:

Why hast Thou forsaken us;

The fragile boat groaned and trembled,

Whilst torrents of waves heaved themselves upon it in madness.

The Father, overlooking His precious children aboard the craft,

Stayed His hand from immediate alleviation

For their distress; That Ever-Wise God! He wished to have them grow in strength

To confront the vast array of unyielding trials He knew they must surely face,

They, and their children, in setting the stones of the nation they would build.

The raging waters surged brutally against the poor boat,

Crashing a beam onto the ship’s deck--grabbing hold of one of the men,

Dragging the poor soul into the uncontrolled waves;

When in sudden speed, God had mercy upon them,

Calming the sea; the people of the Mayflower were again filled

With determination to press forward towards their destiny,

Abandoning all thoughts of fleeing to their former home.

Upon at last reaching the refuge of their destination,

The blessed people found, the rapture and beauty of the land

To which God’s hand had led them was incomprehensible,

The splendor of it calling them to embark upon its shores;

But Ah, God’s beloved children refused this temptation;

They knew an imperative work remained, for God had led them here

For a purpose, which they would not let die. Remaining on the fetid vessel

Which had imprisoned them already for so many nights and days,

The people prayed to that Being, who in His mercy

Had brought them to His most choice land, for a law.

The law was given, and a marvelous compact was drafted:

A covenant man to God, God to man, and man to man,

Which all vowed solemnly to live by.

Father and Son, Creators of the World,

Sat together again, gazing out over the vast expanse of time,

Upon the children who would follow forth upon this land,

Each realizing his own role in the Heavenly plan

Of the salvation of men: A group of men drawn together

In the cause of freedom, to unite all the people of the infant country

Into a single nation of grandeur and power,

By the combining of all laws righteous and just, under God;

Strong men fighting against tyranny, oppression, and a mother land

Whose hand gripped the people with impassiveness and contempt;

To the subsequent man who would, in the midst of a nation

Governed by the statute of Heaven, be able

To restore all of the pure and simple truths of the High Kingdoms

To the expanse of mortal men over the whole earth.

Those first children, unaware of the magnificent future

Of America that lay ahead, began plowing and churning the soil,

Rich with the vital minerals of truth, which had been spread by that God of love

So many eons before; a prosperous civilization began to be sown;

One of the most powerful nations, vied by all others,

Would be reaped in the succeeding centuries: a beacon of freedom and refuge

To those who would embark upon its shores,

Paying homage to the One who reigns over it,

That Merciful God of Heaven and earth.

Meyer the Moralist

So, I didn't actually think that I would ever get a blog page, because they seem hard to keep up. I'm incredibly lazy, and don't really like to take the time for things like these. However, after viewing a friend's page, I was prompted to voice my own opinion about something he was talking about.
I don't want to add to the millions of reviews on the infamous Twilight series; there are enough people with strong opinions voicing those all over the internet. The series has caused a craze among women that is easy to understand. The books are about a girl who falls in love with an impossibly perfect boy who is not only also hopelessly in love with her, but also happens to be a vampire. Dreamy, right? Well, I'm not going to go on about all the things that I think are wrong with Stephanie Meyer's writing. Again, that is a topic that has been hashed over enough. I have recently learned that, to my dismay, Glenn Beck, who I greatly respect and admire had Stephanie on his show, praising her example of morality for young teenagers in the book. The reason that this is so outrageous to me is not just the obvious sexually explicit garbage permeates them. This is only the most obvious moral problem, but lets not forget the lying, cheating, stealing, etc. that beloved Bella takes part in during her adventures with the Cullen family. I am amazed that Glenn and Stephanie, both of whom are members of a church which has very strong moral ideals, could either "forget" these things, or just ignore them. As I thought about this, I was reminded of a number of quotes given by the General Authorities of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that directly discourage specific things from the books. I will take the quotes just from just one source, the handbook for youth in the Church, to make my point by comparing these to quotes from the books.

S of Y: "Before marriage, do not do anything to arouse the powerful emotions that must be expressed only in marriage. Do not participate in passionate kissing, lie on top of another person... do not arouse those emotions in your own body." “Sexual Purity,” For the Strength of Youth: Fulfilling Our Duty to God, 26
T: (This takes place as Edward and Bella are lying together in Edward's bed) "He pulled my leg up suddenly, hitching it around his hip...His lips moved in the hollow at the base of my throat... before I could even concentrate enough to make sense of his words, he rolled to the side, pulling me on top of him. He held my face in his hands, angling it up so that his mouth could reach my throat. My breathing was loud... Slowly this time, he rolled till he hovered over me. He held himself carefully so that I felt none of his weight, but I could feel the cool marble of his body press against mine..." Eclipse, 186-187

S of Y: "Be honest with yourself, others, and the Lord. When you are honest in every way, you build strength of character that will allow you to be of great service to God and others. You will be blessed with peace of mind and self-respect. When you are honest, you will be trusted by the Lord and by those around you." “Honesty,” For the Strength of Youth: Fulfilling Our Duty to God, 31
T: (This is Bella's dad questioning her after she's returned from a 3 day disappearance to Italy where she had to save Edward from murderous vampires)"'Would you like to explain where you've been?' Oh, crap. 'There was... an emergency.' ... He waited with a distrustful expression... I was scrambling frantically to make this work, to keep it as close to the truth as possible so that my inability to lie convincingly would not undermine the excuse..." New Moon, 543-544

S of Y: "Don’t rationalize that wrong is right, even though many people around you may think there is no harm in being dishonest." “Honesty,” For the Strength of Youth: Fulfilling Our Duty to God, 31
T: (This takes place with Edward and Bella in Bella's room where her dad supposes her to be sleeping) "'Charlie?' I asked. Edward frowned. 'Sleeping. You should probably know that I'm breaking the rules right now. Well, not technically, since he said I was never to walk through his door again, and I came in the window...'" New Moon, 503

S of Y: "Do not have any sexual relations before marriage, and be completely faithful to your spouse after marriage. Satan may tempt you to rationalize that sexual intimacy before marriage is acceptable when two people are in love. That is not true."
T: (This takes place in Edward's room, when Bella is supposed to be having a sleep-over with his sister, Alice.) "'Look Edward... I said I would marry you, and I will. I promise... So there's really no reason to wait. We're completely alone- how often does that happen?- and you've provided this very large and comfortable bed....'"

S of Y: "Your body is God’s sacred creation. Respect it as a gift from God, and do not defile it in any way." “Dress and Appearance,” For the Strength of Youth: Fulfilling Our Duty to God, 14
T: (This is what Bella thinks as she is drowning after stupidly jumping off a cliff just to hear Edward's voice in her head) "I didn't want to fight anymore. And it wasn't the light-headedness, or the cold, or the failure of my arms as the muscles gave out in exhaustion, that made me content to stay where I was. I was almost happy that it was over... I saw him, and I had no will to fight...." New Moon, 361

S of Y: "Even in your most difficult times, you can find much to be grateful for. Doing so will strengthen and bless you." “Gratitude,” For the Strength of Youth: Fulfilling Our Duty to God, 6
T: (Again, this is when Bella is drowning) "I'd forgotten what real happiness felt like. Happiness. It made the whole dying thing pretty bearable."

This is not to mention all of the crap about soul-mates, and how if we don't find them, we would be better if we had not lived.
"'Soul mates' are fiction and an illusion; and while every young man and young woman will seek with all diligence and prayerfulness to find a mate with whom life can be most compatible and beautiful, yet it is certain that almost any good man and any good woman can have happiness and a successful marriage if both are willing to pay the price." Spencer W. Kimball, “Oneness in Marriage,” Liahona, Oct 2002, 36

Now, I don't want to be hyper-sensitive. There are plenty of other great authors, LDS or otherwise, whose writing is not without blemish of sensitive content, the great Orson Scott Card included. And I LOVE Card, he is one of my all-time favorites. But they aren't out claiming to be moral gurus for today's youth. In essence, this blog is not to rant about how horrible I think the Twilight books are, or even Stephanie herself. I simply want to point out that she is not promoting morality in her books, at least not by the standards set by her own church, and it makes me frustrated to think that the youth of today are looking to her as a mentor. And Glenn, good old Glenn, what were you thinking? Did you even read the books?