Male Pattern baldness, Reality check, Ms. Poppins

Why is it that I want to blog when I should be studying? The mind of a procrastinator, I imagine.

• I went to the crepery in town to study today. It's just a really cool old house that's decorated all swanky. I cannot study in the library. It's stuffy, orderly, and too quiet. It's so quiet that when ANY noise is made--even the slightest bit, it's annoying. I need to study in places where there's just a murmur of sound...and in a place that feels comfortable and not like all of my other classrooms. Do I sound like a high-maintenance student? Hope not.
• While at the crepery, this elderly man came and interrupted my studies to talk to me. (I had a feeling it was going to happen because he was going around talking to everyone.) He asked why I was at Utah State. He asked about Italy. "So what do they speak there? Spanish?" That would be a negative, good fellow. He complimented my hair and then pointed to his whig he was sporting and whispered, "I've got five of these. I'm totally bald." haha While the conversation was amusing, I was also ready to get back to my studying. haha
• I taught sunday school again yesterday. I really enjoy teaching. It's good for me. But yesterday was a bit rough. I think the class had a really late night on Saturday because everyone was tired. But it's okay. I should probably keep looking for ways to prepare more so that I can teach more effectively every time.
• I was able to speak on the phone today with a man who has lived in Africa---in 80 different countries in the world actually. Er...I kind of want to pick his brain for hours. He gave me the reality check of Africa that I haven't had before. It was less of a "good for you" talk and more of a "this is going to break your heart" talk. The thing is, I already know that this place and these people are going to keep a little chunk of my heart. I haven't even arrived there or met anyone in that country, but I already know that I'm going to love them very much. Seeing their living conditions and struggles is going to be heart-wrenching. Saying goodbye and the flight home are going to be appropriate times to forego mascara. And I know I will ache for them when I get back to America. Yes, with all of this being known in advance, I still want to go. And I want to soak in every moment. I want to do as much good as I can, and I'm thankful for the opportunity to do so.
• I work a morning shift at the Fun Park. Usually the only people there for the first few hours are moms and their wee children to play on the soft play. We usually have disney music playing for them. I realized...I don't really have an appreciation for Mary Poppins music. For some reason every time one of those songs would come on, I felt myself kind of groan--longing for another Beauty and the Beast song or something. PERHAPS the reason I don't like those songs, I wonder, is because I've never seen that flick. Yeah, haven't seen it. It's just never really appealed to me. Is that strange? I don't know if I should feel bad about it or not.
• I went on a cousins date with my cousin Ben. It was actually a perfect night for it because I had just got off work and my roommates had all left town. So we went to a movie together, gave some dating advice (though I'm genuinely impressed that he dates. Because that seems rare for guys to be proactive around these parts) and had some solid laughs. I'm sad I only get a semester with him but it was fun to be able to hang out with him. We saw "Red Tails". It was pretty good actually. I may or may not have adored that some of it was filmed in Italy and that there was some italian speaking.
• I actually had a nice bonding moment with my visiting teachers. After their first visit I felt super-di-duper bad because when they left one of them said, "Call us if you need anything." and I said, "I will"...but you could kind of hear that I didn't mean it. haha I felt bad. I know that they're great girls with good intentions. I just really only confide in certain people when I need something. Anywho, one of my visiting teachers was super cool this time because I'm going to the doc in the week about something...and she's had similar experiences with it. She was super sweet about talking about her problems and willing to help if I need anything. It really was one of those moments that I thought, "Okay, I'd call this girl." Which is huge for me. haha Sometimes I wonder if some of the problems that we have in life are so that we can relate and be compassionate to those around us.

Alrighty. That'll do. I should probably be all studious now...even though I don't want to. Hope you guys are doing grand. Love from Blowsville!

Teach me how to dougie

Umm...you can't tell me that you don't want to come with me. Just look at that darling face....well...all of those faces.

Teacups and cowboys

I went country dancing tonight. I'd never been before. I get in for free--yeah, perk of working at the jolly ol' Fun Park. It was a pretty good time. Danced with some good friends. It's not that difficult but it was also clear that it was my first time. If there are no African drums, I don't understand what my role is. haha I felt like...I was in the teacups at Disneyland....with Woody---lots of spinning with cowboys. Good times.

The gift of perspective

Interesting week. I've learned a lot. My friend Kori gave me a beautiful gift by suggesting the documentary "War Dance" to me.

It was amazing. It's about children in a refugee camp in Uganda. It follows three children and they tell their stories about what happened to their families, what they've been through, etc. It blew my mind.

Their school got accepted to compete in a music and dance competition with a bunch of other schools throughout Uganda. It was incredible to me to hear what these amazing children have gone through, and ache for them because I can't even imagine, but then watch them smile and feel joy as they dance and play music.

I kept thinking about my upbringing and that of my nieces and nephews, and just felt like we live in another world. So blessed. This film rekindled my desire to go to Africa. I just kept thinking about how much I just wanted these kids to feel loved--just hug them, play with them, etc. If you have an interest in Africa or would like a little perspective, I'd recommend it.

One of the boys in the film said something that I loved.

"I want people to know that children from northern Uganda, even though we live in the war zone, we can do great things in life"

Mmm....Yes you can.

Going Old School...

My roomies and I decided that on the Sabbath we should be careful about what/if we watch anything. I suggested we make it a musical day. So today we watched a musical--Calamity Jane. I adored it so much more than I was planning on. I grew up watching musicals in my family. My mother engrained a love of music in us which I'll forever be thankful for. Perhaps because I hadn't seen one in a while, I forgot what quality, hilarious yet simple entertainment they are.

I'm the type that gets detained from the obvious aspects of the film by the clothes. Yes, in practically every scene I can tell you who's wearing my favorite dress. Sometimes I wish we could still get all dressed up in such elaborate dresses, and go to fancy dances where everyone knows the dance, and guys are actually capable of asking the girls for a dance...or whatever else they want from them. haha While there have been perks of society modernizing, now it seems the dating scene has somehow evolved to a world of texting, mind games, and ambiguity.

I work country dancing nights at my job. Even if I didn't, I know very well that dances these days are more often then not lined with observers--not knowing how to dance, scared to ask someone/hoping to be asked, etc. Therefore I watched flicks like Seven Brides and think, "Why can't we have generic dances that everyone knows the dance to?" But perhaps that's what the Macarena and Boot Scootin' Boogie are intended to do. They just seem less charming to me.

Maybe, in part, because I've been through some fairly awkward dating scenarios, one of my takeaways is the question, "Should it really be that hard?". I love in the old flicks the idea of being "courted". Yup, being actively pursued by someone who's intentions are clear. I'm all about just saying what I think and being clear. Therefore, the hangout/date mysteries are more annoying to me than flattering. Can't we just be clear about our intentions with each other? I think it's so attractive when guys actually make it clear that they're interested instead of just imply it texts and facebook chat. In fact, my darling co-worker that asks me for dating advice sometimes, that's one of the things I've told him. Boldness can be very very attractive. If a guy is clear about being interested in me and puts a wee bit of effort into it, I'll totally give him a chance. Because....well...I'd rather be pursued than texted. Any day.

I hope none of this sounds like I'm complaining. That's not my intention. I merely found it amusing to look back at old films and then compare it to the life that I know. I completely get that life isn't like the movies and that's completely okay. But I guess today I was just longing (yeah...I clearly just watched a musical, because I'm describing my feelings by saying 'longing'. haha) for something more simple than our current dating world.

I have invited guest speaker Leslie Knope to share some of her bad dates. Just look how far we've come in the dating world. :)

So I leave you now with a song from Calamity Jane. Just a simple little love song that while, perhaps, cheesy, it's Howard Keel. He can do no wrong can't he?

Do you guys have favorite musicals? Do you ever want to transport back in time to them for any reason? While I enjoy a variety of film generes, I'm glad I wasn't raised to overlook the occasional musical. They make me happy. And I suppose another thing I learned today is while I'm definitely an independent young lass, I've also got a wee bit of a hopeless romantic in me. Hopefully I'm not the only one. haha

Dating, intoxicating introductions, wannabe readaholic.

First week of school. Here it be:

• I have my institute teacher from last semester. I just think he's hilarious and a great teacher. He called me up after class was over. "Do you need something brother so-and-so?" He immediately responds, "Are you dating someone?" haha "No." He says, "I'm going to work on that." haha Sweet but also funny. Sweet because how darling that he likes me enough to want to take part in hooking me up with someone cool. Funny because...I've never had a teacher say anything like that to me before.
• We had a bollywood party in our basement. We live in a big ol' house with a huge room in the basement. So after scanning it for apparent spiders, we borrowed a projector from a boys apartment, my friend brought the bollywood version of "She's the Man" and we had ourselves a hilarious good time. It was fun having a non-traditional movie night.
• I'm taking a Criminal Law and Justice class. Noting the title of the course, our teacher asked us to introduce ourselves but saying our name, hometown, and telling about a run-in we've had with the law. The teacher specified to not announce any current offenses and nothing too serious. He, himself, told a story about when he was in kindergarden and cops got mad at him for pouring glue on ants. But a kid in the back of our class said, "I'm George (don't remember his actual name), I'm here on athletic scholarship (dramatic pause...cause we're supposed to gasp and then want to be a part of his posse because of that fact right there.) and I've been pulled over three times while intoxicated and never been caught." Awesome. I may or may not have judged you for verbalizing that to the class and thinking we were going to award you cool points for it. Wouldn't happen at a church school I'm sure. Dear dear blowsville.
• This chap in my ward found my number in the directory and has invited me 4 times in the last 6 days to come over to his house to play games. I've only gone twice but have found it amusing to the max. Once we played a card game where we all had to work together to defeat 9 creatures. Yes, I just used the word creatures and yes, it was just as nerdy as it sounds. The next time I brought my friend Kori with me because she had to witness this scene for herself. THIS time we played "robo rally". Yeah, a board game where everyone's a robot and you want to get on the conveyor belt to...get..somewhere. It provides for a hilarious story time afterward. I'm inwardly pleased with myself that I'm not good at those games. When I told them I liked to play card games I had Scum to President, Hand and Foot, Doubt it, etc in mind. Miscommunication.
• My work Christmas party gave us coupons for different restaurants around town. I took a friend to a wood oven pizza place. Dear me. What a delightful discovery. Thin crust pizza margherita. Fresh basil. Cool vibe to the place. Yes. I love the not chain restaurants. The hole-in-the-wall, quaint, cool places that few people know about. Check.
• One of my new years resolutions is to read a book a month. I'm stoked about this because I rarely read for fun because I'm usually sick of books from school. haha This is just extra incentive for me to FINALLY finish reading the Hunger Games (It's my January book). The trailer for the movie has come out but I MUST finish it before it actually comes out.
• Also I made a delicious new something something this week. Egg salad lettuce wraps. A few hard boiled eggs (discarding some of the yokes), mixed up with a wee bit of mustard and some salt and pepper. Throw that in a lettuce leave and oh my! Healthy deliciousness. I love simple but satisfying meals.
• I've started to feel stressed out about Africa. Started having panicked thoughts about going. It's the first time that feeling stressed has maybe overcome the excitement. That, and freaking out about what to do when I get home. I'm sure this stuff is semi-normal. Just something that's making this week unique.

Hope you guys have had lovely weeks as well. Love from Blogan, yours truly.

Bulleted update of the festivities...

Well three weeks of festivities were the bomb-diggity. But alas, all good things come to an end--including my Christmas vaca. I'm back in Blowsville and here's some of the latest bullet points in my life:

• My sister Kimmy had a cute, bouncy baby boy. We got to skype with them several times over the break--each time was splendid. It just was a blow up the kilt that they couldn't be here for the holidays so I could have late night chats with my sis and squeeze both of my cute nephews.
• There was a fair amount of time dedicated to dancing--Just Dance 3 and Michael Jackson dancing on the wii. Super fun and I'm definitely going through withdrawals up here at school. Good thing my African Dance class starts Tuesday and my Aerobic Kickboxing class (yeah, that's no misprint, I just said that) starts tomorrow.
  
• Speaking of fitness, it was fun to have some workout buddies over the break. My friend Jacquel and I worked out to a little Jillian and also tried Insanity. I don't know if you've heard of that before but it's just that--insane. An hour of cardio circuits that are awesome, yet make you sweat all over the place. It was fulfilling. If I had money throwing up out of my pockets I might invest in that. ALSO I got to workout with Adam and Camarie. They brought P90x and we did that several times. INCREDIBLE. One day I did Insanity and P90x in one day. My muscles hated me after that. Though oddly satisfying.
• Fun game nights. Psychiatrist, Boxers or Briefs, Cat and Mouse, etc. I always love a quality game night and we got several out of this break.
• Santa rained a bit of Christmas moolah on me and I got to do some shopping with Ad, Cam, and Kenz. We hit up the outlets and did quite a great job. I can't believe I used to hate shopping. I just thoroughly enjoy it now. How did Rachel (on Friends) get a killer cool personal buyer job? haha Can I please shop for people or host a travel show?
  
• We hit up the movie theater a time or two with few, if any, disappointments. My favorite would probably be Mission Impossible 4. I genuinely adored that film from start to finish. No f-bombs, no awkward scandalous scenes--which is rare these days. Great story, super cool missions and props, well cast. Mmm...it was an enjoyable few hours.
• I worked New Years Eve but got off in time to drive home and celebrate in the basement of our home. Ad, Cam, Kenz and I somehow spent the first hour of the new year talking about ways we'd keep warm under the most extreme conditions. Nothing practical--at all. Things like: Having a bunch of giants breathe on you, jumping into a volcano, cutting off your leg with a light saber and holding it for warmth. Yes, it was late at night and we were dying laughing for an hour with this nonsensical game.
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• Playtime with friends: Stephanie, Stacy, Lindsey, Mindy, Jacquel, Ashlee, Whitney and Layne were very enjoyable outtings. I just love getting together with old friends.
• I worked yesterday, where they announced that I'm employee of the month...again!! haha I couldn't believe it. That's the second month in a row. Granted, this time I share the title with another great girl. But how hilarious and random is that? I'll happily accept a 20 buck bonus on my paycheck.
• I taught Sunday School today and it was actually so fun. People were participating and it just felt really fun instead of like I was standing in a field with crickets chirping. Hmm..do crickets chirp?
• Sacrament meeting was great. I had a lot of things that I was able to reflect on, that I want to improve. I just feel really hopeful and excited for a new year and the opportunity to start again and fix things that I want to change. It's a good thing.

School starts tomorrow! I'll be better at posting. Hope you had a great holiday. Bisoux!