Renovation

As many of you have undoubtedly noticed, I've been renovating my blog over the past couple weeks; ripping up the cluttery side panels and building new easily accessible storage facilities. Renovation always makes me feel good inside. You can ask my roommates, they deal with me rearranging the living room every couple months. There's something about being able to take one space and start all over. Fresh. Clean. Speaking of renovation, I redid our living room again a couple weeks ago. I'll throw pictures up here soon.

Something else some of you might have noticed is that there is a conspicuous gap at the right side of my listed pages--a gap that has been annoying me. The problem is, I really don't know what to put there. So I'm opening the stage for suggestions. For those of you who know me personally and those of you who don't: what should the 10th page be?

 

Silent Saturday

Babysitting today
Via: bighugelaps

Moe is so undervalued

You know, moe. The choice that you don't even really think about, but turns out to be the best one. He gets to the party last, after everyone else is involved in the movie or game and so no one notices him. But when they do they kick themselves because he's awesome.

Moe is taking 3 hours on an assignment due at midnight on Wednesday.
Moe is being able to go home and eat real food and not something from a vending machine.
Moe is more study time.
Moe is more sleep.
Moe is spending an hour longer than expected on my stats midterm.
Moe is still paying attention to the most important things.
Moe is getting to the temple on Thursday night and giving people rides home.
Moe is changing your plans to make the best decision all around.
Moe is taking my Stats test on Thursday.

Life is all about choices. Setting goals is important, they help us get to where we want to arrive. They help us feel good about the baby steps, but often goals have to be adjusted. I could have taken my stats test on Wednesday. I would have snacked from the vending machine, not studied enough, not had enough time to take the test, and not completed my reading assignment by midnight. Ultimately my little goal of not paying a late fee was pushed aside in response to bigger goals: like doing well in my classes and taking care of my body. So I made adjustments. For my last midterm I'll start studying earlier so that taking the test earlier will be Mr. Moe. But today Moe was taking my Stats test on Thursday.

Eeny, meeny, miny, moe

 Via: Indexed

Life is all about choices. Depending on who you're comparing me to, I make pretty good decisions. Drug addicts and shoplifters, yeah I think I beat them in the decision category. But I could be better. I am a procrastinator which often paints me into tight corners. It means I am forced to spend late nights in the library some weeks to finish all I need to get done when I could have left by 10 and gotten a good nights rest with some forethought.

Often making the best decision requires knowledge; understanding the repercussions that come from the different decisions you can make and then choosing accordingly. I made a resolution on Monday, after completing my Physical Science test 20 minuets before it was due and paying $5 to do it, that I would not wait until the last moment to take any more tests this semester. I would study early and take them before it cost me money. Well today is the last day for my stats test without a late fee and I'm really not in the mood to study. I had just about made the decision to scrap my resolution and take the test tomorrow when I realized something (in addition to the importance of keeping promises to yourself and my tight budget): I usually go to the temple on Saturday, but I don't know if I can this week. My only other day to go is tomorrow; however, if I don't take my stats test today, I likely won't have time to go tomorrow. And so I have commenced studying stats again in hopes of taking it tonight. At least if I'm not ready it won't be because I was a slacker and that's how I want it to be?

Silent Saturday

From: here

Tomorrow

It's tomorrow today. The tomorrow of a day I've been waiting for for almost five months. I know where I'm going. I know when I'm going. I am so excited. And now it's tomorrow and I've thought of Poland more in the last sixteen and a half hours than I have probably in my entire life. It still hasn't sunken in completely.

About 12:48 AM, after I'd called everyone in my family, written the news on facebook, and posted on here I freaked out a little bit. Not because I was going to Poland and that's really far away, but because I thought I'd made a mistake. For a split second I thought: I read my call wrong. I'm not actually going to Poland. It's Portland or someplace that looks like Poland. I'm going to have to call everyone back and correct the mistake. Luckily, before I started making phone calls I decided to read the call one more time to make sure. Yep, Poland Warsaw mission. I'm going there. I get to speak a really cool language that looks like this:

Moi umiłowani bracia i siostry, pozdrawiam was wszystkich na tej 179. Jesiennej Konferencji Generalnej Kościoła Jezusa Chrystusa Świętych w Dniach Ostatnich.

Jakże jestem wdzięczny za czasy, w których żyjemy — czasy tak zaawansowanej technologii, że możemy przemawiać do was, mieszkających na całym świecie. Kiedy Władze Naczelne i przywódcy organizacji pomocniczych stoją tu, w Centrum Konferencyjnym, w Salt Lake City, nasze głosy docierają do was poprzez różne media, włączając w to radio, telewizję, transmisje satelitarne i Internet. Chociaż będziemy mówić do was po angielsku, usłyszycie nas w około 92 językach.

(From President Thomas S. Monson's address in October 2009 General Conference)

And even though I think of cold and dark all the time like this:

From: here

Which is awesome and reminds me of Lothlorian, I found out that Polish summers can look like this too:

From: here

Which makes me very happy because I love the sunshine. Look at that sky and the yellow. This kind of yellow.

Last night I checked the World Factbook. I learned that the majority of people in Poland are of polish descent and speak polish. The major religion there is Roman Catholic with Greek Orthodox and Protestant in second and third (we're looking to change that). I checked out six books on Poland from the library this morning, one of which is entitled Learn Polish in Three Months. Guess what? I have three and a half months before I go into the MTC. I doubt if I'll get through everything, but I'm certainly going to work on the basics. Apparently they have 32 letters. Vowels that are much nicer than English vowels because they only have one sound. There are two accented vowels that sound kind of nasally. And a lot of their consonants have the same sound as English! I can do this.

Funny tidbit: brat means brother in polish. I thought that was amusing. Anybody know anything about Poland. I'm all ears?

I have been called as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to...

The Poland Warsaw Mission

5:17 pm

Asia?

4:20 pm

I'm thinking stateside. Boston has been floating around in my head.

3:36 pm

Wouldn't it be funny if I got called to Ireland on St. Patrick's Day?

2:32 pm

Did someone check the mail yesterday? This is actually a very serious question. Because if someone didn't then it's totally okay that when I checked it 15 minutes ago there was no big white envelope with my name on it amongst the coupons and census information. But if someone did, and that was indeed our mail for today then...

I don't think anyone did.

1:42 pm

I've been surprisingly calm today. I should be sitting on the edge of my bed bouncing around in agitation right? I should be standing downstairs waiting for the mailman to come right? Instead I'm at work doing normal things and in class learning typical concepts. What use would it be for me to do anything else. I'm waiting until my dad gets off work to open it anyway. I'm trying to decide if I should stay up on campus in the blissful state of unawares or go home and check the mailbox during my lunch hour. If it's there, at least I'll know it's sitting safely on my desk. Mere paper separating my eyes from the next 18 months of my life.

Zion in Education

From: here

I am an English Major, which means that I see the world a certain way, a way that is different from science majors, art majors, and economy majors. As I’ve gotten deeper into my studies and become acquainted with new authors and new literary criticism it amazes me how often they remind me of God just as it says in Moses 6:63 that “all things bear record of me”. Even things that one would think cannot testify of Him, that are designed to shake the faith of those who believe in him, often have the opposite effect for me. Contrary to what this might sound like, I am not calling for everyone to change their major so they can study literature all day. As I’ve had conversations with other students at the university I’ve noticed a trend: that no matter what you major in, from Nursing to International Relations, from Biochemistry to Literature, when you have spiritual eyes, you will see Him in your line of study. Because he is the source of all knowledge, you can find him there.

Jaclyn

Meet Jaclyn. She is in the Nursing program here at BYU. I don’t normally think of religion when I think of Nursing. I think of needles and dressing gowns and feelings of discomfort and pain. I respect those who are a part of the medical profession, but generally avoid all thoughts of it if possible. This changed after a comment Jaclyn made a couple weeks ago. She expressed her gratitude for the Atonement and the blessing of empathy she could receive through it to help her better serve her patients. She will spend her days seeing people at their lowest points, going through some of the most difficult experiences of their life. But as she relies upon Christ, he will show her their divine nature. He will help her “mourn with those that mourn; yea, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort” (Mosiah 18:9). She will become a tool in his hands for the blessing of his children, and each day more fully understand how to keep her baptismal covenants.

Jaclyn’s studies teach her the art of healing. Because Jesus Christ is the ultimate healer, in our attempt to become more like him we must develop this characteristic as well. Despite the current images that are broadcast on television of snarky residents on Scrubs and heartless doctors on House, true healing requires more than just physical care. It requires love and compassion. It requires strength of character and hope. These are things our Savior provides us as well attempt to heal from our spiritual wounds, and they are things that Jaclyn learns to do every day in her experiences.

Michele

As an International Relations major Michele studies systems of people. She looks at general trends to ascertain how to change the system to better serve the people it affects. As she analyses she looks specifically as lapses in justice. She asks: how are the people being treated unfairly, and what can be done to change this. Her current job for the Woman’s Stat’s project has elicited many many conversations betweens us. Nightly we talk about everything from the prejudices imbedded in societies to the place of women in God’s plan. She becomes indignant as she records laws, stats, and societal norms that facilitate the manipulation and repression of social groups because of “an essential characteristic of individual premortal, mortal, and eternal identity and purpose” (Hinkley 1995). She looks to her Savior whose prophets testify that “God is no respecter of person” (Acts 10:34). That He loves all of His children equally. I think this is where she gets her passion to defend women, and all of the people within every system. Knowing that “fathers and mothers are obligated to help one another as equal partners” (Hinkley 1995) reassures her that this passion for equality doesn’t make her an extreme feminist out to destroy the family, but instead, is her way of supporting a core component to our belief system in a world that would choose to manipulate it.

Megan

Megan is a minority as a female Biochemist. When I asked her what made her decide to major in Biochemistry she related a story to me about sitting in a high school chemistry class learning about electron orbitals and thinking, “The periodic table is a thing of beauty” (Megan). The order and construction of everything resonated not only within her mind, but within her soul that this was of God’s creation. Although science is often a lot tedious work, experiences like this one are why she decided to stay in her line of study. Being able to see how God’s creations work, to see how minute changes in a cellular process at the atomic level are what keep us alive fill her with awe in the world around her.

The world often posits the questions of whether a person can study sciences and be religious at the same time. They say that studying these things will destroy a testimony. For this reason Megan was a little hesitant about going into the field of science. However, as she took her college classes she realized the inherent lie that is present within the creation of such an ultimatum. He studies have led to many experiences testifying that scientific truths and religious truths can coexist, and in fact compliment each other. That as long as she is willing to trust in God and allow Him to be her supreme teacher she will be able to negotiate the balance between the two.

Me

I am the English major. There is so much I want to describe about this subject, but I think the best way to articulate how I see God in a text is by an example. Last semester I wrote a comparison/ contrast piece on two late Victorian poems, one was Gerard Manly Hopkins' "Thou art indeed just, Lord" and the other Emily Dickinson's "This World is Not Conclusion." I read Dickinson’s poem several weeks before we studied it in class and fell in love immediately. Something resonated with my soul in a way I did not understand. Then a few weeks later, after a class discussion, multiple re-readings, intense annotations, and meeting with a professor about it, during the writing process I realized what it was about the poem that I loved from the start. Here are the paragraphs:

In contrast to Hopkins’ choice of a highly elevated and conventional verse form, Dickinson’s piece is in common meter. Paradoxically, in a poem that vacillates from one source of truth to the next without definitively landing on any of them, common meter is reflective of a hymn, a poetic style that is fundamentally about declaring belief. Although a seemingly simplistic style, Dickinson harnesses its rhythmic drive to maintain a consistent flow, while concurrently exploring the boundaries of flow with her non-conventional use of punctuation. There is only one completed statement in the entire poem: “This World is not conclusion.” (line 1). Every other thought, including the last line, is interrupted by a dash. This enhances the underlying sense of restiveness as the reader is jolted from one idea to the next without any didactic resolution.
Despite this pervasive impression of resigned frustration and the unconcluded thought in the last line, ironically the poem does seem to have closure. Amidst the narrator’s overall dissatisfaction, alongside their contempt for every presented form of epistemology, the concluding lines express a recognition that something higher, something true does exist and cannot be ignored: “Narcotics cannot still the Tooth / That nibbles at the soul -” (lines 19-20). The very existence of this ambiguous entity is enough to gnaw away at any feelings of doubt the soul might have.

I loved her poem because doubt is something we all fall into from time to time. It's not a good thing, but we do it anyway. It is one thing that frightened me more than anything else at the time I read the poem, but with Dickinson’s words the Holy Ghost testified to me that no matter how disillusioned I could become, somewhere deep inside I would always have a testimony that God lives, that no one could take that from me. Knowing that I will never lose that knowledge is wonderful and comforting to me. Somehow my soul was able to interpret the essence of the poem before my mind could. I felt these feelings without completely understanding why, and so I searched for the source and was rewarded.

Education is an essential part of Zion. As John Taylor said, “We are here that we may put ourselves in possession of every truth, of every virtue, of every principle of intelligence known among men, together with those that God has revealed, and thus educate ourselves and our children in everything that tends to exalt man” (Taylor 1883). Our very existence is that we can progress in knowledge; however, the field of academia has many inherent pitfalls, something Spencer W. Kimball warned about when he stated, “Only an education which educates for eternity has the wholesmoeness which humans need. When we separate learning from divine moral truth it quickly deteriorates into a restless roving search for meaning and often drifts into sensual selfishness” (Kimball 1974). As I talked with Megan about her experiences studying Biochemistry she mentioned how often she feels that she has the opportunity to study by the power of the Holy Ghost. I think we all have, but these experiences come as we desire them. As we invite God into our studies, as we discuss with Him the many questions we have, our education can become something deeper and more meaningful than anything we ever comprehended. When we ask, he blesses us to see his hand in every part of the world.

Citations-
President Hinkley's quotes are from The Family: A Proclamation to the World
Megan- A personal interview
Scriptures- King James Version published by the LDS Church
Presidents Taylor and Kimball- quotes from Education in Zion exhibit at BYU

My skin doesn't stretch as easily as I want it to

via: http://community.livejournal.com/sensuality_art/1776222.html#cutid1

I feel so young and underdeveloped today
and I'm exhausted at the very thought of how much work it's going to take to grow up.

Seven Mothers in Training

Via: flickr: Rachel Absher
I love this picture and I'm not sure when else I'll be able to use it.

Yesterday was exciting--whenever you have to spend time in the hospital it's exciting. But as each one of my roommates jumped in and contributed to our friend's recovery effort I realized something: I live in a microcosm of Relief Society. There are seven of us. All beautiful, smart, talented, accomplished, different young women. Yet somehow we work together so well; we all bring something varied and valuable to the table.

As each of us pitched in over the weekend, making dinners, sitting in waiting rooms, grocery shopping, going to concerts, running errands--the thought, "[insert roommate name here] is going to be such a wonderful mother" came to mind repeatedly about each one of them. We'll all do it differently, but that's okay. We'll all do it at different points in our life, but that's okay too. I look forward to the day when I have the amazing responsibility of motherhood. I can't wait to read to them and sing with them and take them to the ocean and the mountains. I can't wait to do the dishes with them and teach them that the reason gardening is wonderful is because dirt gets underneath your fingernails. I see that in all of us, the hope for motherhood is a secret light behind our eyes, similar to Mrs. Darlings kiss that no one could quite put a finger on. It's part of their radiance.

P.S. I saw Hook again on Friday and it is all about the importance of family. Watch it again, you'll realize that it's just as amazing as you remember.

Silent Saturday

All of this went onto my face

So I could look like this.

With bright red lips for my choir concert.


That's a little gross

The Gyre of Orthodoxy

Believe it or not I actually write like a real English major sometimes. Here's the paper I turned in today analyzing Toni Morrison's Paradise.

If you want some background on the book before you read this click here.

As I walked past the bus stop in front of the Wilkinson Center yesterday a girl stepped of the 3:00 bus wearing a mid-thigh length dress, four-inch wedge heels, and a lollypop in her mouth. I couldn’t help but notice how out of place she looked on BYU campus as she crossed the road to make her bus transfer. The contrast was slightly amusing, until the words “You don’t belong here” flashed across my mind. I recoiled from my thought. What was the difference between this girl on BYU campus and Gigi getting off her bus in Ruby? I started thinking, when did this thought originate in my mind? I wouldn’t have looked twice in any other city. If I did, it would be because her blue plaid dress and matching shoes were cute. So why were they now a symbol of her exclusion from “my” community?

When a strict orthodoxy is adopted by a community, automatic divisions are drawn between those who choose obedience to orthodoxy and those who rebel against it. This hierarchy is blatant to anyone within the framework; just like a profane word stands out if said in front of the JFSB—everyone notices, eyebrows raise. However, there are problems with creating a social structure based wholly on outward actions. By including dialogues about: the mantra written on the Oven lip, love, and genealogy, Morrison brutally attacks the hypocritical social structure installed by orthodox communities by focusing on visible obedience at the expense of internal morals.

Orthodoxy is based upon a text; this presents some problems in the city of Ruby because their text is incomplete. The very first word, the pretext of their motto, is missing; leaving them to remember, to interpret, and to extrapolate. This becomes the most apparent division within the town. Is it “Beware the Furrow of His Brow” (86) as Esther remembers it from her childhood? Or is it “Be the Furrow of His Brow” (87) as so many of the younger generation wish it to be? Because the traditional words represent the patriarchal power structure the town was founded on, the power structure Deek and Steward derive their control from, it must be preserved. If they allow this fundamental change, a restructuring may follow, and that is the last thing the want. The youth are responding to this with revision. By choosing to reinterpret the town’s ideals, the young adults are actually challenging the orthodoxy that exists and attempting to replace it with one in which they have more power. This war about doctrine has little to do with actual beliefs and everything to do with who wields power.

The wedding between K.D. and Arnette exemplifies the loveless social structure their orthodoxy perpetuates. Both bride and groom are products of a warring structure, their union is hoped to be the bridge that leads to community peace. However, that would infer that the two know how to create a meaningful relationship, something no one in the town of Ruby has the ability to teach. There is a lack of human intimacy in the world of Paradise despite the plethora of sexual images it includes. They are empty images, there is no fulfillment in them, and only devastation and frustration are found in their wake. Their problems derive from the fact that marriage is present in Ruby only to further the patriarchal order. Recognizing this, Pulliam prophecies: unless divine love is understood “their cleaving won’t mean a thing” (142) and no couple, no family, no community can remain unified without it. Their orthodoxies will not hold them together without love. There must be an internal anchor to inform their actions.

Genealogy is one way of presenting a social structure, especially when the structure is static—the same families holding the same roles. As Patricia sets about recording the lineage the families of Ruby find so important she explores not only the problems associated with their doctrine of excluding outsiders, outlined in detail throughout her narrative, but also the resulting problem of insiders: incest. As the founding families become smaller and smaller, the result of their inability to marry outside of the original founders else their blood and skin color become tainted, over the years they have accepted community endorsed fornication. They have set their community doctrine over the Christian doctrine they brought with them. The repercussion is community decay. Their children have been wiped out by disease, tornados, war. K.D., the child of a sister with an outsider, is their heir of last resort. But his ability to continue the family line seems doubtful as the marriage he attempts to form falls apart long before he and Arnette even marry.

The rigidity of their orthodoxy is ultimately their downfall. While orthodoxies must change, core moral values should be universal. These are lacking in Ruby, and everyone seems content to rely on their orthodoxy to instigate the reform that is necessary without taking responsibility for the lack of ethics. Their obedience to their founding orthodoxy teaches them that outsiders are the root of all problems, and so rather than attacking the problems where they really lie, they lash out at all available scapegoats: the Convent. However, the funeral illustrates that none of their problems are actually solved by the senseless massacre. Change, something that cannot be fully avoided, will gradually occur. In little ways at first, with Mechanic Shops and paved roads, then maybe eventually with the things that really matter. If not, their community with destroy itself—creating new outsiders to kill and polluting their gene pool with incest.




So that’s what I do with my time: read books and write things like this. My paper could be viewed as somewhat controversial in the orthodox community I live in. I hope it isn’t. The idea that orthodoxy is malleable is actually fundamental to the Mormon belief system. We believe that religious structure evolves—from the Law of Moses, to Christ’s higher law, preaching to Gentiles in the New Testament, the First Vision. As many parallels as we like to draw between ourselves and the Early Christian Church, we are different. However, the fundamental doctrines are the same. The key to keeping up with these changes is following the prophet God called to direct His people. He will not allow us to get off track. We will progress in the way which God designed, instead of decay in static dogmatism like the people of Ruby, OK.

Finding the Willpower

From: http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/ny/bedroom/hibernating-dreams-alcove-beds-100534

Sometimes it's really hard to get up in the morning. My covers are just so warm and comfortable and I know that as soon as I get up I won't have a chance to stop. It's my body's preemptive rebellion against my chosen lifestyle. Finding the willpower to get my stationary body to move is never easy, but often it happens somewhat quickly. Other days it's a long drawn out process.

This morning for instance:
5:30 alarm goes off, snooze
5:40 alarm goes off again, I turn it off intending to get up
5:42 I decide to ponder the paper I should be writing for a little while, just to get the ideas flowing
6:00 I start to think about how sore my throat is and how nauseous I was last night. I really should sleep in and recover right? I probably shouldn't even go to class.
6:10 I say a really long morning prayer- in bed
6:20 I think of more reasons to stay wrapped up in my paisley quilt
6:30 I decide to do my scripture reading in bed too, but getting up to turn on the light would be a betrayal to the lethargy that has beset me so I just hold my scriptures up to the window and grab the few rays of sun that are peaking over the mountains
7:00 There are no more excuses and my paper is due in two and a half hours. Finally some sense of expediency begins to set in. I can do it. Visualize yourself up. With a warm coat on... Almost.

Success!



For those of you that are curious, I was in the library writing my paper by 7:30. It wasn't great, but I guess that doesn't matter because we got to class and it's not due until Thursday. Maybe I'll actually get a chance to revise for a change.

This is what waiting feels like:

From: tumblr-coupdegrace

So much in the past, so much in the future

My Sabbath Musings

Christ in a Red Robe by Minerva Teichert- my favorite painting of Christ, it hangs in my living room at home

The atonement has the power to heal us in every way we are broken. Sometimes we try to limit it, but it can reach into every crevice of our lives and make us whole. I know that this is true. I have seen it in my life and it is the very definition of beauty and happiness.

Silent Saturday

I have a deep penetrating love for these mountains and I think I always will.

I've fallen down the rabit hole, not sure when I'll be back again.

I'm not going to lie, I was a little bit nervous about this movie. My family was never a big fan of Alice in Wonderland--it was just too weird. I think I saw the Disney version once at a friends house when I was very young and I've never read the book. However, my education on the matter has increased significantly in the last three years as a result of knowing Michele who loves Alice passionately (I would recommend checking out her blog, she has a lot of Alice-esque things on it right now in celebration). It's a completely different experience when you know what to look for--what makes Alice so uniquely beautiful. When you know not to expect sanity in the least degree.

I thought it was extraordinary: I loved the relationship between identity and childhood. The connection between belief in the impossible and a worthwhile life. I love the relationships she builds with everyone in Wonderland from the Mad Hatter to the Bandersnatch. The costumes were a brilliant mixture of Burton and Victorian England. It had this amazing ability to tip toe back and forth between the line of nonsensical humor and ominous, warped reality. And Johnny Depp reciting the Jabberwocky was one of the most awe inspiring things I've ever experienced.

I could see it being a difficult movie to please. On one hand you have hard core Alice fans who feel like it's been too Hollywood-ized. That complain the Mad Hatter isn't mad enough and that they combined the characters of the Red Queen and the Queen of Hearts. And on the other hand you have people expecting another childrens film, or something along the lines of the Disney version, and that is most certainly not what this film is. The beauty is in the details, in the subtle dialogue that is testifying of something more than just Alice's story. This is the magic of the story. This is why it matters. Don't we all have our own wonderlands to escape to? Don't we all learn something about ourselves as we sludge through them and eventually return? Don't we all need a dream where we can be brave, where we can think of 6 impossible things before breakfast and watch them unfold before our eyes? Don't we all want to know who we are? I certainly do.

This is what A.D.D. looks like in the form of a blog

I promised myself I wouldn't talk about my mission again on here until I actually had a call I could announce. That's part of the reason I haven't blogged. Because every time I get on and feel in the mood to write--it's about missions. So this is me not blogging about the call that may or may not be going in the mail this weekend.

WARNING: Things get pretty sporatic from here on out.

• I love sleeping in. I only get a change to do this three days of the week. Tuesday and Saturday I generally wake up around 8 and on Sunday not until the blessed hour of 9:30. I slept in today though, because I got home rather late. I guess you can call 3:45 late. But it was worth it...as long as I'm responsible enough to read the chapters they went over in class this morning.
  
• I will never get used to Utah weather. How do you go from shorts and flip flops at 9 in the morning to snow at 2 in the afternoon? Snow that doesn't stop falling until half way through the next day.
• My beautiful roommate Megan got called to the Thailand Bangkok mission on Wednesday and I am so excited for her! (I can talk about this because it's technically not my mission)
• Um, so I finally saw the end of Serenity. I watched the first 45 minuets over Christmas break, and then Michele got it for her birthday so I got to finish it yesterday. Good movie. It was rather surreal to just pick up a movie right where I left off three months after I started it. Probably a result of reading lots. When you are always stopping and starting and have to get used to knowing where all the story lines are in all of your half read books you develop that odd talent.
• I'm not being very organized this week. I should probably change that. I will start a running to do list as soon as I post this or at the same time, my attention span is diminishing slowly every day.
  
• ...
  
• Post-modernism is taking over my life. I had no idea until this semester: everything is postmodern, or at least the way we look at it is. I probably annoy people with my constant commentary on the post-modernness of children's cartoons (Exhibit A: How to Train a Dragon. I never thought I'd say this, but it has some crazy comparisons to Toni Morrion's Paradise)
  
• I love cooking. I never thought I would. Whenever my mom would try and coax me into the kitchen with sweet invitations or guit me into the kitchen telling me that cooking was a necessary skill that I needed to learn I basically blew her off. This is a lot a bit sad because spending time in the kitchen can be wonderful, especially when you're cooking with one of your closest friends. But I guess what's done is done. I can't change choices of the past, only the future.
  
• More cooking. There are two reasons people don't like to cook : Time and Failure. It takes a long time to prepare something, even if you're just cooking for one or two. You have to brown the meat, steam the vegetables, let dough rise, roll cookies out, wait for the oven to warm up, etc. Cooking a meal sucks up a good chunk of the day. If time is money, then we can apply a cost/benefits ration to it. Does the time it takes to make dinner have a good cost/benefit ratio? That probably depends on who you're talking to, I think more and more people would say no.
  
• If any of you are like me, you've had a few cooking experiences when things didn't turn out so well... like the fact that I am incapable of cooking rice. My family has a rice cooker, so doing it on the stove is a foreign concept to me--I never have enough water, or have too much. It's really embarrassing. Even Landen, one of the best cooks I know, mixed up the baking soda and baking powder once because of labeling and her biscuits were so bad as a result it was quite amusing, especially watching when new people would try to eat them.
• We're ignoring the fact that the last three bullets should have been their own blog entry.
  
• I have a stuffy nose. Goal for weekend: don't get sick.
  
• Why is poetry an acquired taste for some and love at first sight for others?
• What ever happened to the art of reading aloud? It's wonderful to hear a good reader form the words in their mouth and let the rich timbre of their voice fill in around it.
• Why can't I figure out how to formulate intelligent comments in class?
• This article about teaching is fascinating. It made me think about what type of teacher I'm going to be, the classroom dynamic I'm going to foster. You become a slightly different person when you step into a new role. What will Miss Allen be like? What will Sister Allen be like? (sorry I slipped) There are just so many little things that are integral to the learning process and I get to figure them out. How terrifying and exhilarating is that?
• Has anyone else been thinking a lot about the last days? If you don't believe me go and read the news.
• I was going to end there, but I thought that might be a little depressing so I'll end here instead. Have a great Friday!