I don't care what people say...

I don't care what people say...

~The new Narnia movie is great

~I have yet to draw up the energy to see the new Harry Potter

~Frozen peas are good. Eating them frozen is like having a treat

~No pain, no gain might be true. But yes pain, yes gain is definitely true

~Weird looking ornaments you made with macaroni noodles when you were little will always look better than the fancy store-bought ones

~You're not crazy if you talk to yourself, and then answer yourself back. Yet.

~Any references to Serenity/Firefly in Castle are hilarious

~The Sorcerer's Apprentice is also awesome

~It's not Christmas until Neil Diamond sings it, even if he is Jewish

~That other version of "Life is a highway" NOT sung by Rascal Flatts is terrible. PERIOD

~If any more books about vampires, wizards, or dragons come out, I'm going to have to sue the literary community for lack of imagination. Today I was thinking I should write a book and mention dragons in it all over the place ("Hey, remember when that dragon attacked our village and burned all our crops?"), but never actually HAVE the dragon appear. Just to tick people off and keep them confused.

That's all for now. I'll think of more later.

Until then, enjoy the show.

Cheese!

Rice collected into white bags. But don't they look like marshmallows?

You don't realize how much you like cheese until it costs 8,000 won.

I'm back in the US, but just for a month. Supposedly I'm going back to Korea. I say "supposedly" because I'm waiting on my work visa. And yes, I really do want to go back. Mostly because I really want to go see the Great Wall of China and the terracotta warriors, hopefully this February.

Anyhow, I've been having fun with my family. My little brother, Dave, got back from his mission last Thursday. He's been trying to register for classes, find a job, and plan his whole future in the last three days, and watching him get frustrated over his inability to complete these tasks immediately reminds me of when I was fresh off my mission. Stir crazy after just five days of being home. I think I'll make him paint the hallway. That'll give him something to focus on while he's waiting for life to happen.

I've been spending my time avoiding grading my students' finals and instead working on the backyard. We had a ginormous (not a word) tree removed a little while ago, and just a few months ago the fence was finally completed. Now things have overgrown and gotten a little scary looking, so for some reason I've decided to dedicate my time to finding the backyard. That is, when I'm not watching The Sorcerer's Apprentice over and over. Great movie, great music...but where's the baseball-exploding scene from the trailer? I keep watching the movie hoping it will appear. And no, it's not in the deleted scenes either. =[ Sad day. Still, I love the main song. Other than all that, just decorating for the holidays and trying to decide what to do with my life. You know, the usual.

Museums and Halloween

We had a Halloween Party for our students on Monday. Yes, it was November 1st. But technically in the US it was actually Halloween when we had the party, so it works. The guy with gray hair is Dr. Kim, who is over the international department. I still can't believe we got him to play!

Sony and I at Karaoke with all the International students:

We made masks as part of the Halloween Party. They don't really do Halloween here at all, so we had to come up with some kind of easy constuming for about 50 people. They really seemed to like decorating them.

I-am-a-robot.

Wait a second! The PARTY room they've been trying to get us to use is actually a huge DRESS UP CLOSET!!!! So glad they finally unlocked the door and let us in!

Aw, my students. Betty, the one on the right, is intent on teaching me Korean.

Becky is so creative! She apparently whipped up this costume in a matter of minutes. Just before the party, we suggested to Jon-David, her husband and my co-worker, that he put on the huge headphones from the office to walk around and listen to his "Ipod" for his costume. I think she even had a little ipod with speakers that she carried around with her so when people pressed the play button she could start up the music!

We always laugh when we go to church in Chungju, because they tend to add amazing adjectives to the beginning of the name of a city. For example, Busan (which used to be spelled "Pusan" but is now spelled "Busan"...I was confused over that when I got here) is known as "Dynamic Busan." We're still trying to hunt down nicknames for all the rest of the towns, but Chungju is also known as "Good Chungju." We laugh about it all the time, but as I find places like this--Hoamji Reservoir, which is just a few blocks from the church--I can't help but think "Ah! Good Chungju!" =]

So, I've been tutoring this girl in Seoul in order to help her get ready to possibly go live in the US and attend a private school there. The first day we met, they had arranged for me to stay the weekend at a hotel nearby. Guess what the name of the hotel was?

Oh Dear! What have I gotten myself into? =] Aside from the name, everything about the hotel seemed just fine. Except for someone smoking in the hall late at night. But I plugged the bottom of the door with towels.

I won't bore you with too much of my museum fanatacism, but check out this statue outside the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts in Seoul:

Isn't it cute?! And HUGE! I want one for my front yard, when I have a front yard some day. It looks like what I would picture Hugo from Fablehaven looking like...except maybe not such a pointy head. And don't miss those flower bushes in the right hand corner! Who knows why they're bent over like that, but it's clever and entertaining looking.

What the...How did I become an ENGLISH teacher?

So, once upon a time while I was at BYU I had a decision to make. I had to decide between majoring in English or Social Work. Here's the breakdown of how the two competed with each other for my affection:

Year One: My first semester of school was spent taking classes I thought would be fun, like astronomy and archaeology. They were fun--but they were also harder than I thought they'd be. Science fascinates me! I'm just not good at it. When it came time to register for classes for Winter semester, I spent a bunch of time flipping through the undergraduate catalog, trying to figure out what I might want to major in. English had always been an option, and was probably the most obvious since it had always been my favorite subject. Still, I thought, why not throw caution to the wind and try something new? I literally flipped to the social work page and was a little entranced. I vaguely remembered "social worker" being on the list of suggested professions on one of those personality tests they made me take in high school. That, and florist. So, I decided to take the intro to social work class. I was a little captivated--it was all about helping people. Like getting paid to be a service missionary, or something similar. Yep, that's me. Throwing caution to the wind--with social work.

Year Two: I started taking some of the prerequisites for getting into the social work major. It was in this second year that I met my Arch Nemesis (no, not you Dax), i.e. Physiology. It wasn't even the class with the cadavers. It was just the plain old Human Biology class, where you go in and talk about the human body. You had to get a B to get into the social work major. Even with all my stinking studying, I still got a C+. Really? =[ English wasn't looking so bad, especially if it meant I didn't have to retake physiology. I spent winter semester taking creative writing and social problems.

Year Three: I decided to focus on English. I had decided to at least get a minor in English, so I figured spending my time taking English classes wouldn't be a total waste, even if I decided to brave Physiology again.

After Year Three, I went on a mission. Yea for missions! And Chileans! Especially ones that no longer live in mines! I decided while I was on my mission that I should take another stab at Social Work, even if it meant retaking Physiology. I mean, we're supposed to aim high, right? And I really felt like Social Work was the way I was supposed to go.

Year Four: I went back to school in the Spring of '04. When I was registering for classes, I realized there was another social work class that I could take without having to be in the major: Family Interaction. I took it. Since it was Spring, there were only about eight of us in the class, if I recall correctly. I was the only non-major student in there. And I loved it. I was sad that I might have to retake Physiology again....BUT WAIT!!!!! When I looked at the requirements for entering the program, they had changed the one referring to Human Biology. You no longer had to get a B!!!! You just had to pass the class!!!! And I HAD passed that class! Muahaha. It's sad that I had to wait for them to lower their standards in order for me to get in. And that's all I'll say about that. When I asked my Family Interaction teacher for a recommendation into the program, he put me through a pretty dang rigorous questioning period to find out why I wanted to be a social worker. Then, at the end of the conversation he said something like, "Well, I am the Dean of the School of Social Work, so if I recommend you, you're pretty much in." And he did. And I was.

Year Five: I spent the rest of Year Four and all of Year Five blissfully taking social work classes. I'd already taken all of the classes I needed in order to get my minor in English. Two goals down.

However...I had started writing. Sort of. I snuck off to writing conferences. I kept a notebook in my bag, a habit my creative writing teacher had taught me, and wrote down interesting snippets. And more. It was my outlet.

When I went back to San Diego and lived at home, I found myself mysteriously assigned to grade papers by my High-School-English-Teacher-Mother. I guess I shouldn't say "assigned" because she paid me for it. I gave in and became a de facto teacher's assistant. And trust me, I decided then and there that grading papers--especially if you're looking for grammatical errors--is not fun.

Year Six and Seven (of school. There was a two year interlude where no school was attended. Unless you count social work/writing conferences.): I went back to school and studied social work. At secret, dark hours of the night I would hide in my room and write things, just to loosen the tension of all the other social-workey things I need to study or write or do or counsel about. Hey! They finally learned how to work together! I would also try desperately to read non-social work related books. But let's be honest, sometimes my brain was just tired. I got through half of a bunch of books, because I didn't have time to finish them. I did finish a lot of young-adult fiction, because that's what my brain could handle.

And now, here I am in South Korea. I was told I would mainly be teaching social welfare classes, but find myself tied to the English department because of a lack of teachers. I teach eight English classes a week, and one Social Problems class--and I'll be honest, I miss counseling a lot. I've even volunteered to help out the English Branch with one of the church's counseling groups, if I can. =[ My two loves are fighting again. I really wish they would stop butting heads against each other.

Anyhow, I think it's ironic how I try and push English out of the way of Social Work and make it stay in the hidden corners of my world, and it just keeps popping it's head out in unexpected places, like my current job.

And they lived Happily Ever After.

I felt like they were both appropriate =]

Dinner for Two

Okay, here's the deal with pictures. It takes a lot longer to upload pics here than it does on Facebook. That's just the plain truth. And I have a LOT of pics so far. So I'm going to choose a few favorites to post here, and then if you want to see all of them, you can follow the link to the album on Facebook right here. Hopefully it works. I changed the album privacy setting to "everyone," so I think you should be able to see it, even if you don't have a Facebook account.

Here's the school I work at. Yea! It's real! The town in the distance is Janghowan. It's about a mile and a half away. There's another town, Gamgok, that is a little closer, but it's behind those trees.

The Philippino exchange students introduced us to an all-you-can-eat restaurant where you cook the food in a burner set in the middle of your table. From left to right, it's me, Jared, Michael, Becky and Jon-David.

Me, in front of the Jogyesu Temple, the main Buddhist Temple in Korea.

I hiked a trail by a nearby Catholic Church, and part of the trail was lined with about 15-20 of these reliefs of the life of Christ. This one is the Garden of Gethsemane...

...and this is the Resurrection.

My Temple =]

So, the funniest thing happened to me last night. I had gone to Seoul with Becky and Jon-David, two of the other English teachers. They showed me where the Temple was, and then I stayed to do a session. I was making my way back to Gamgok from there by myself--a 45-minute subway ride and another hour and a half+ bus ride. Anyhow, I stopped outside the bus station to get something to eat at a little burger shop (first burger I've had since I got here. And I ended up getting a chicken burger sandwich).

I was sitting there eating at a little table. In front of me was a couple facing me, and a woman with her little boy with their backs to me. The little boy, who was about 3 years old or so, got up to play. When he saw me his eyes got REALLY big. He pointed at me and then said something to his mom. When she didn't respond he began tugging on her sleeve. She turned to look at him, and he pointed at me again. I was laughing pretty hard by this point, and she looked at me a little embarrassed. She said "sorry" and I just waved and said "It's okay." The little boy said something again to his mom, and she told him to say "Hello!" He didn't really get it at first, and then all of a sudden he got shy and hid behind his chair. After a little bit he started looking at me from between the slats in his chair, and I bent over a bit so I could see him. We played a little international game of peek-a-boo for a bit. Then, with his mom engrossed in her conversation, he came over and climbed up onto the chair across from me. =] He had a little happy-meal-type toy car he was playing with, so I said "car" and he repeated it a couple of times. I told him my name (one of the few phrases I've learned is "Na-nun Rebekah imnida"--my name is Rebekah). Then I asked him what his name is (something like "irum-i mwo shimnikka?"). He told me--and I couldn't really understand him. It started with a "d" sound, but I couldn't make out the rest. But I asked him twice, and he said the same thing both times, so I'm pretty sure he understood me, even if I couldn't understand him. He just sat there playing with his car, driving it on the table and the wall next to us while I finished eating. His mom and her friend and I all finished at about the same time, and when she realized her little boy was just sitting there across from me she kind of laughed and said sorry again at the same time. I laughed, and said "bye-bye!" to her little boy. He said "bye-bye" a couple of times back to me as we both left.

So, even if my English students don't learn English, at least I taught a few words to a little three year old boy.

Sometimes "Bekahs" go to South Korea...

...though it doesn't happen often. But it did this time.

Let's start from the beginning. Around mid-July I (on a whim) applied for a job to teach Social Welfare and English at a small university outside of Seoul, South Korea. The job ad came through my Social Work program at USU, from a professor who had worked in the sociology department there for 30+ years, and was now working at the university in South Korea (called "Far East University"). Applying for the job was kind of one of those "Wow, wouldn't that be cool?!" kind of things. I didn't know if I was really serious about it, because to be frankly honest I've never really been interested in going to South Korea. Literally, on all my lists of places to travel to, South Korea was never on it. Not that I thought it was a bad place--I'm just more of a Visit-Europe type of girl, always dreaming I could go to England and all of the UK, France, Denmark, Italy, down to Egypt and maybe some other countries in between. I would stop off in Spain too for good measure, because it's there in the middle of everything, the culture seems beautiful , and then I wouldn't be wasting my Spanish. (I'd go to South Africa, too, but it's not in Europe. And, now that David has lived in South Africa, I figure he can escort me around when I can finally pay for it). But this South Korea job was a chance for me to travel and get paid (a decent amount, actually, for a social worker who has just finished her masters degree) for it.

Anyhow, about 3 weeks ago (literally, THREE weeks ago) I heard back from the program. I had gotten the job, and they would like me to come by September 1st. What the...? That was two weeks away!!! When I got my mission call, I had two MONTHS to prepare, and they had given me a detailed list of things to bring and do beforehand. The lists I got from the university were sparse at best, most of them pertaining to things I would need in order to get a working visa 90 days after I got to South Korea. There were some other problems as well with the school's organization of getting me down here, so I won't lie--I was REALLY hesitant. I emailed a couple of friends that had served missions in South Korea and got information from them. I worked out making sure the school was real (having heard that some people get offers to "teach English" in other countries and then arrive to find the offer no longer exists, and they are therefore forced to figure out how to get themselves back home), and I emailed my professors from USU to see what they thought about the idea. A few of them knew Dr. Kim personally, so that helped calm my nerves a bit.

Up to the time my mom was flying me to the airport, I was seriously considering not coming because I was so nervous. There were, of course, many prayers thrown out there to figure out if this was a good idea. There was really no concrete answer, except for the emphasis on pursuing a goal that I've felt prompted several times in the past year to work towards--getting my PhD. I talked to a friend who is in his PhD program right now for Social Work, and he said that teaching social work in South Korea at a university (even if it is small) would set me apart from other applicants, so this could potentially be a chance to travel and improve my resume a bit.

I think the hardest part was getting on that plane from San Diego to San Francisco. By the time I got to San Francisco, though, I was feeling a lot more confident. I did, however, have to move some of my things from one suitcase to another, because I hadn't had time to weigh each of my bags to see if they were the correct weight. That experience was oddly, overly stressful. It all worked out though. Since then, I feel like everything has been kind of surreal. I got here South Korea's Thursday night. A man from Far East came and picked me and another teacher (and his wife) up from the airport, and drove us to our housing. We're living in an international house on campus, and the room I'm staying in is really nice. It's kind of like a nice hotel room. It was oddly comforting to have such a nice room. I guess they do that on purpose, so we feel better about the whole experience.

Anyhow, Friday morning we met with some of the students, introduced ourselves, had a little "American Culture" day, and then planned out the teaching schedule. We're supposed to have 2-3 more teachers coming next week as well (I was a little frustrated when I found that out, knowing I could have had a little more time to prepare to come!!). We walked into town, a little over a mile away, and our supervisor showed us where the grocery stores and a few little places to eat were. The town we're in is small, but it seems like we have almost everything we would need there. I haven't taken a walk on my own around the whole school yet, but I'll try to this evening so I can post some pictures. We went into Seoul for a little while yesterday, but we didn't stay long (we were all so tired!) so we just went to a few shops, learned how to ride the buses and subway, and did a very little sightseeing. I figure I'll go back to Seoul, and hopefully do some more sightseeing around the country, once I get a little more settled here in Gamgok.

Craziness, I know. But here I am. My contract is for a year, so it'll be over next August. To be honest, I'm not sure I'll stay the whole year (the penalty for breaking the contract is minimal--I just have to pay back the amount they paid for me to fly here), but it's been a great experience so far.

I'll post pictures soon!
Love,
Bekah

Summer Remodeling

So, here are a few of the things I've been working on while I've been in San Diego:

I completely redid the laundry room. I didn't take a before picture, but the walls were a lime green with a 70's style wallpaper on the wall behind the washer and dryer. I removed the wallpaper and the old shelf that was up above the washer/dryer, painted the room, took out the old laminate tile and installed the new tile. New shelving and a new doorknob later and we were done. =] I like it.

I helped Britte make these Bridal Shower cakes for our friend, Emilyssa. Mostly I helped make the little flowers on the cakes and the bodies (which I sculpted out of fondant). It was fun for my first cake decorating experience, but I realized I'm probably way too perfectionistic while I was making the flowers!

Britte and I took down the old tile from our parents' bathroom. The pipe broke quite a while ago, and we finally decided we were smart enough to fix it. Eventually we decided we should just completely redo the whole shower area. Taking out the ugly old tile was actually pretty fun, but big trash bags were necessary.

Britte sanded down the glue on the old greenboard that was still good, so we didn't have to replace that section. In case you were wondering, you don't use "greenboard" any more, you use a mold resistant cement board. Fortunately, they still paint one side of the cement board green, probably because they know people like us (who work on their own home repairs) will freak out if we don't use the right supplies.

Sweeping the old greenboard pieces out of the tub in preparation for putting up the new ones.

Setting the tiles. It's a good thing there were two of us because it made it easier. For the most part I spread the grout and Britte pushed the tiles into place.

Cutting tiles. It was actually kind of fun, I felt like I was back in ceramics class...

...except I didn't get this wet in ceramics class, even on the wheel!

Britte takes a break in the newly tiled tub.

Here's the end product! (The curtain looks way brighter than it actually is. In reality it's more of a calm teal color. I'm assuming it's the flash causing the difference).

And on to the next project!!! The most frustrating part of this bathroom was the plumbing. The old plumbing was so messed up that removing the old pipes was incredibly hard. I actually had to heat the old pipe and twist the pieces out with a plumbers wrench. Ridiculous. Then attaching the new system took forever because the pipes we were trying to attach the new system to were a little bent, and to top it off we couldn't get the pipes to drain completely. Anyhow, we finally fixed the water problem by draining all the pipes in the house (you have to turn the water to the house off and then turn all the faucets, including the hoses outside, on) and then with a little more solder and a few "love-taps" with a hammer we got our new pipes to fit into the old ones.

Here's the finished product. Looks the same as the other one, but we decided to put the decorative line on top. Yea for like-new bathrooms!

And to top it off, here's my adorable nephew! =] He directed me in remodeling the play-doh into a bunch of animals. This was my favorite remodeling project so far, even if I didn't get to use the propane torch.

I keep wishing I had something amazing to write...

The best I can do right now is, I'm still alive. I made it through graduation. No tripping, thank goodness. I don't know why that's my biggest fear. Maybe because I fell off the back of the risers once at a choral concert... I'll include some graduation pics for your (and my) amusement.

Outside, walking to the Spectrum. It's tradition that the master's students walk from one side of campus to the other. Thank goodness it wasn't snowing!



Where's Waldo (Or, in this case, Bekah)?



Getting my hood. The instructions for the hood literally tell you to put it on in a certain direction and then have someone help you fix the back. Luckily the school provides people who are obviously (based on the number of layers they were wearing) qualified to help fix your hood for you.



Walking across the stage. And Mike's finger. Someday I'll edit that out. But not today. Today you get all the gory details.



Graduated =]

So, "now what" you ask? Now I'm studying for a licensure exam I'm taking soon. I'll go down to San Diego for July, to help get some of my grandpa's things taken care of. Then looking for a job, hopefully working by August. Probably in Utah, preferably in the Salt Lakish area, but I may not be too picky, considering the job market and economy. And such.

I have only two problems that I need to fix in order to be a normal person again. 1: Graduate school, and the attending projects, papers and other such fun things that I toiled over into the wee hours of the morning in order to complete graduate school, has left me with the terrible habit of staying up late. My brain can't shut down early enough to go to bed at a reasonable hour. I'm hoping that my time in Cali will rearrange this problem, since my family tend to be early-going-to-bedders. 2: I now have the tendency to "need" to be busy. Because my brain tells me that if I'm not doing something important, it's because I've forgotten the important things that need to be done. Then I sit and wrack my brain for the things I should be doing. This also causes a problem in the social arena. I've been generally "too busy" to do many fun things for the past two years. So, when someone mentions something it takes me forever to decide if I have time to do it. I'll have to retrain my brain to stop being so stingy with my time, I suppose.

Nothing else too exciting, friends. I finished a crafty project I've been working on. I moved, but only temporarily, until I leave for Cali in a couple of weeks. I have some time to do things like take a look at some painfully neglected genealogy, books, and projects I want to complete someday. Hopefully someday is coming soon. He seems to keep running further away from me, despite my efforts to cage him in. I finished graduate school with the relief of finding my turtle still alive. He has neither died from neglect nor committed suicide out of the sheer rage of living in a much colder climate than he would prefer. And that alone is a huge accomplishment.

By the way, thanks for everything you guys. I couldn't have gotten through the past two years without you =]

~Bekahjo

Oceans

In honor of my new-found freedom and the ability to use 2 hours or so in the manner that I so pleased, I went to go see "Oceans" this week. When I first walked into the theater it was empty, but it was early afternoon so I wasn't too surprised. Just before the trailers started a bunch of couples came in and scattered themselves around the theater, and I thought "How nice that all these couples decided to spend their date learning about the ocean!" I reveled during the previews that I wasn't the only person in the world who liked movies/documentaries like this.

Then the movie started. A small pair of feet wearing little kid pajamas scurried across a hard wood floor. Then little children were suddenly attacking Tina Fey and Steve Carell. What the...? Then I realized that I was sitting in the "Date Night" theater. I pulled my ticket out to see if I misread it. Theater 5. I'm pretty sure I'm in theater 5. I sat and pondered for a minute whether I would stay in there and just watch Date Night by default. I like Steve Carell. I haven't seen Tina Fey in many things, but she seemed entertaining. Then I went through the whole "Do I really want to sit here and watch this?" debate. And I didn't. So, looking like a fool because I, of course, sat in the front row where I could prop my feet up on that bar thing, I got up and left the theater. As I did, I checked the number of the theater. Five. My ticket again. Five. I checked that the stub didn't say Date Night. It said Oceans. Okay, so I've determined I'm not crazy. Good. I like that feeling. I went around the corner to the candy people. They were helping people, but I decided to be a little more brash than usual, and gave one of them "the mother look," as my brother's like to call it. One of them came over right away. "Umm, I'm here to watch Oceans, and my ticket says theater five but it's playing Date Night." "Oh yeah, sorry," the kid says "they changed the theater. It's in six now." Pause, in which I internally say to this kid "Did you think it might be a good idea to tell your customers this?" Instead I said "How far into the movie is it?" "Well, I think the previews probably just ended. If it's too far into the movie, we can exchange your ticket for a later showing." I decided then I didn't care, if the movie was good I'd probably buy it anyhow later on, and stopped torturing the awkward candy kid.

Still, what kind of movie theater doesn't tell you which theater to go into? Isn't the entire purpose of purchasing a ticket with the theater number on it supposed to ensure that I will, eventually, make it into the movie I paid to see?

Anyhow, when I got in there it was just a few minutes in, and they were starting with classic shots of whales breaching, so I figured I hadn't missed much. I settled down, this time higher up in the seating area so I could take in the whole picture. The only other people in the theater was this grandma and mom with her two boys. The older one was sitting up on the top row by himself, right under the projector, and the younger one kept running between sitting with his mom and sitting with his brother. It was pretty fun to hear them get grossed out by some of the stuff in the movie though. I was a little sad there weren't more people there. There was this GREAT scene in the movie though! They were showing these spider crabs off the coast of Australia, I think, and it was like a battle scene. One group of spider crabs made their way towards another large group. They began attacking each other like crazy. Then the camera panned out and there were literally THOUSANDS of these spider crabs all attacking each other. I felt like I was watching that scene in Lord of the Rings, at the Battle of Helms Deep.

Maybe this is why I'm not married. I'm too boring. I'd rather watch Oceans than Date Night. The thing is though, I think this stuff IS fun. Where are all these people that get as much enjoyment out of the same things I do? For example, right now my roommates are out in the front room watching Baby Momma. And I don't want to sound like I'm bashing Tina Fey, and there may be some point in time where I actually want to watch that movie...but I'd kind of rather read, or go on a walk, or swim, or sew or do calligraphy or go hiking or plan my future. Bah.

What's her face...

So, want to hear something funny that happened in church today? There's this guy in my ward who goes down to San Diego all the time on business or for fun. Since last September or so when he found out I'm from San Diego, he's been calling me "San Diego." He'll just be like "Hey San Diego, how's it going?" etc. And we'll usually end up talking about San Diego for a minute or so. Anyhow, I saw him today just before Sunday School and talked with him about the earthquake that happened over Easter. Then he asked me if I'd like to say the opening prayer in Sunday School, since he was conducting. I said sure. Sunday School started and he made the announcements for the week. Then he was announcing the opening song and prayer--and he said "and the opening prayer will be given by San Diego..." and he got this blank yet horrified look on his face that clearly said to me he had momentarily forgotten my real name. It was pretty hilarious. I supplied my real name, and everyone laughed. So now, for the rest of the time in the ward, I'm pretty sure everyone is going to be calling me San Diego.

It kind of reminds me of this game on a radio program I once heard, where they were like "What if you were named after the place where you were born?" and tried to get as many random possibilities as possible. Though technically, with those rules, I would actually be named Washington D.C., not San Diego. Kind of think I like the latter better, just because it's smoother to say. And warmer there.

So, in case anyone was wondering what my after grad plans are, these are them (and don't worry, I have a whole calendar made up for when I'm doing what so I actually get some productive things done): May-mid June: Study for clinical exam, while working and completing internship at LDS Family Services. Mid June-July: Go home to San Diego and help take care of Grandpa's/other family stuff that it will take a while to clear out (and sneak in as much snorkeling as is humanly possible). July-whenever: Look for job in Utah (yes, I will be looking/living in Utah) while completing several other sundry goals that I hope to finish before my life is over (It sometimes feels like it'll take that long).

I only somewhat feel like I should have a job all lined up for after graduation, and the opportunities for application to such jobs have presented themselves--but I would much rather wait for a month or two and make sure to pass the exam the first time than get a job and worry about whether or not I'll be able to keep it. (You don't pass the exam, you don't work). So, in case you were wondering, my brief unemployment is strategic. And technically I won't be unemployed anyhow. I just won't be employed to my fullest capacity (and won't be getting paid as much as I would if I'd gotten a more official type job). Okay, babbling now. I'll stop.

Lastly, I'd like to point out what incredible self control I have. I bought the last Fablehaven book over Easter, but I promised myself I wouldn't read it until a) I finished reading Oliver Twist (done!) and b) I finished all of my semester projects (not done...). My semester projects will be done tomorrow, since I'm presenting my research project in class. Then there's an oral exam Wednesday, but I'm not too worried about it, so I figure by Tuesday, and Wednesday night at the most, I'll be able to crack it open. It's sitting on my desk, tempting me. I should've hidden it somewhere, but it just didn't feel right. I mean, how can you resist a book titled "Keys to the Demon Prison"? But I have managed, so far, to do it. Can't wait until Wednesday =]

Love your guts,
~San Diego

The operative word is "Spring"

I sometimes wish I had more interesting things to tell. This week was Spring Break, but I decided to work this week instead of actually taking a break, in order to prepare for upcoming unemploymentness. Which isn't a word. I went to my sister's house last weekend and spent some time with her and my brother-in-law, and my oh-so-adorable-and-brilliant nephew, as seen here:



And here:


(This is some of what we do when Mom and Dad are gone)

The rest of the week was work, with several redbox movies interspersed throughout: Ice Castles (the new one. I know, they did a new one! It's basically the same as the old one, and just as good) Did you hear about the Morgans (wasn't that impressed), Where the Wild Things Are (perfect...but I thought it was probably too scary for kids; almost leaned towards a PG-13 rating. Hence my argument that there should be a rating in between PG and PG-13), Bright Star (beautiful, but sad), and I went to see Leap Year in the $3 theater (predictable, but darling; and I'm even more determined to tour Ireland this summer Britte!). Today I heard a song from the old Saturday's Warrior movie on the radio and had a sudden desire to watch it. I don't own it though, so I watched Mountain of the Lord (four stars) instead. I also sewed a bunch--something I love but don't regularly have the luxury of doing. I resisted the temptation to clean my room. Or maybe it was a prompting, but saying "temptation" makes it sound like a good thing, so we'll stick with that. It's mostly just school papers that I'll have to sift through eventually anyways.

I do have one tiny problem. About a month ago I planted some daisies and poppies in little bread pans and put them in my window. It had been a particularly warm day, and I was excited for Spring. They're growing and their just so charming and cheerful. But now I don't know what to do with them. They need a bigger home, and I've thought of taking them hiking with me one day near the end of Aprilish and randomly planting them in the wilderness, but I just want to make sure they have a good home. I'd love to keep them, but once they get bigger I won't have room for them anymore. Does anyone that lives nearby want some daisies and poppies? Otherwise, I'll probably plant them near Green Canyon somewhere. That's not bad is it? I know they don't usually want you picking flowers when you hike (which, I confess, I tend to do anyhow), but planting them isn't bad, is it? It's kind of like planting a tree. Or replacing all the flowers I have picked...Justification for the next time I want to pick some, right? =]

It's Probably Time.

I think it's time for me to start looking for a job. I'll be graduating May 7th. Maybe I should have something lined up for after that. If you have any suggestions, do let me know. =] (Any suggestions on life-altering decisions I may have to make will also be appreciated and taken into consideration).

Thank you and Goodnight.

It's 2:33am. Do you know where your Bekah is?

This one is up typing, for some reason. She should have gone to bed long ago. Technically, I guess she is in bed, she's just not using it for the purpose of sleeping, which is the whole reason the mattress was actually created. Misuse of Powers!

I don't know what to write. I've been going to class and trying to study and such. Mostly tonight's staying up is an effort to push Saturday from coming. See, when Friday night comes I'm all excited because tomorrow is Saturday and I can have a "free" day. However, inevitably I end up spending said "free" day doing boring things like cleaning my room, doing my homework, grocery shopping, exercising, piddling around, doing more homework, or the ever-present alternative: more homework. Or I just distract myself with episodes online that I can't watch during the week. In fact, I finally just got caught up on the Office tonight. I think I watched five episodes tonight. I really like the Office but there is one thing that bothers me...when Michael Scott does things that embarrass him I feel so embarrassed for him that it is just uncomfortable. I can't even watch sometimes. I have to hide my face because I just want so badly to help him be less awkward, but there's nothing that can be done. The awkwardness just continues.

I was talking to my roommate tonight about decision making. And I came to an important conclusion. There is a part missing from the Book of Mormon. And I'm not talking about the Book of Lehi. Let me explain. You know in the book of Ether when the Lord tells the Brother of Jared how to build all of the barges, and then the Brother of Jared does it? Well, after that the Lord says (basically) "Oh, by the way you can't breathe in them and there's no light. So you might want to think about how to fix that." The Lord tells him how to solve the breathing problem, but leaves it up to Jared to fix the light problem. Now, at the end of chapter 2 and the beginning of chapter 3 is where something is missing. See, at the end of chapter 2 the Lord asks the Brother of Jared what he wants Him to do. Then at the beginning of chapter 3 we see the Brother of Jared hiking up mount Shelem to get the stones for the Lord to touch and therefore bring light to the barges. And you know what I was thinking tonight? That's like us and our problems. The Lord is going to leave some things up to us. He has to. He's teaching us how to decide. What these verses are missing is all the mistaken suggestions that the Brother of Jared makes to the Lord. And maybe it was just because it was late, but I could totally see him running around their camp, kind of picking things up along the way--anything that might give light off inside the barges--and kind of looking up at the Lord going "Is um...Is this right? Can we somehow get this coconut to give off light? Would...seashells work? They're from the ocean too, so they might withstand....No? Okay...Um, how about..." Etc. Because that's what we tend to do when we have to make hard decisions. We go around and sort of test our theories about what is right for us. Hopefully while we're doing it we are constantly LOOKING for that feedback from the Lord so that we know whether or not what we're doing is right or not. And maybe by this time the Brother of Jared had perfected his listening skills so much that running around the camp looking for answers didn't occur to him at all--he just knew that going up to mount Shelem was the right thing to do. And THAT is the point that I want to be at. I want to get to the point where I don't have to run around the camp looking for answers anymore, because the Lord and I are already on the same page as to what the true answers really are. I want that connection.

Bedtime. Hope you enjoyed my babbling. =]

Curse of the Unripe Apple

So, the other day I had an apple as a snack. It was kind of hard, not just crisp like regular apples, but I didn't think too much of it. Until about 2-3 hours later, when I got the worst stomach cramps ever. Literally, it got to the point where I was worried that maybe my appendix had burst or something. I kept feeling my face and forehead, trying to tell if I had a fever. I felt pretty normal, but then who knows what is normal when your appendix bursts, besides really smart people that go to medical school? Not many people. I thought about Googling appendicitis symptoms but the majority of the time I wasn't home, and then later on my internet was down. With all the books I have, you'd think I'd have some kind of medical textbook that would help me figure out whether my appendix had just ruptured or not. You want to know the really sad thing though? I wasn't ever really that worried about the appendix at all--just at the fact that I don't have medical insurance and I wouldn't be able to go to the student health center for a while; so I was basically praying that it wasn't an appendicitis so that I wouldn't have to deal with the medical bills. Where are my priorities, really? Hmmm....Life vs. Medical Bills....which should I choose?

Luckily it didn't come to that. I decided not to freak out until I got a temperature (or keeled over from pain), and it didn't happen (the former anyhow. I came dangerously close to keeling over). Therefore, my only conclusion is that the apple must have not been ripe and caused the stomach cramps.

Moral: Check your apples.

P.S. Percy Jackson comes out this weekend. For those of you who are as excited as I am. I hope it doesn't turn out like War of the Worlds. I was so excited for that movie too, because I'd just read it/listened to the old radio show that scared everyone. Then I saw the movie and disappointment prevailed. I'm already a little hesitant with Percy because some of the important characters either aren't on the character list at IMDB or don't look like the author describes them. Thankfully, we all know that looks aren't everything.

Indulgence

I have a problem. It is getting worse. It especially gets worse every time I happen to go to DI or Borders. Barnes and Noble is the most terrible, so I suppose it is a good thing that I live in a place where I have to drive for 45 minutes to get to one. Amazon.com has made my problem grow by leaps and bounds, especially when I find one I love on sale for just a penny. I speak of...Books. Have I ever told you how much I love books? I love the smell of books. I love to draw my fingers over the spines of a shelf of books and marvel at the mass of information contained in so many pages. I love the feel of those pages as I draw my finger under the words or flip the corners while I read. I love to pile books up on top of each other on my floor, or next to each other on a shelf so they can talk to each other and entertain one another while I am gone.

I love the way words look on a page, all crunched together just waiting to explode in your mind with a story. I get into fights with books when the author has had the audacity to subject the pages in front of me to a poorly worded story or a flat character who won't form in my mind. I laugh with other authors, imagining that I know just what they were thinking when they wrote that line or created this character. It was probably because I was so shy as a little girl that I began to love books so much. Books don't judge you. They don't criticize you for not being good enough. They don't intimidate you. They invite you. They sit patiently there on a shelf waiting to tell you their story--and not just tell you their story but dress you up, turn you round and round and then drop you right into the middle of their world. You open the first page and they greet you with a cheery "Hi!", a somber nod of the head, or a loving and contemplative "Hello my friend. How glad I am to see you again! It has been too long."

Maybe that's also why I've taken so earnestly to journal writing. Looking over the journals I've filled so far, it's strange to think that they are (though completely mundane) filled with thoughts and feelings and breaths that have come out of my own mind. Maybe keeping a journal is a way that you can become your own friend. You can go back and read the things that have spilled from your own mind and look at it as a friend would. You can say "How exciting for you!," or "How sad! I'm sorry it has been so hard!," and even the occasional "Don't cry Dear! Everything will turn out alright!"

In any case, my friends are waiting.

I was off-planet

Okay, not really, but it felt like it some of the time. Let's do a quick update. Thanksgiving was fun. My family and I went to Disneyland for the first time in a long time. It was really fun. And in case you were wondering, the best time to go to Disneyland really is when someone needs to be in a wheelchair. My Mom, who has had problems with her feet for several years now, needed one. However, I think that the fear of running over a small child or a Disneyland worker that is completely dressed in black while it's dark outside totally balances out the fact that you don't really have to stand in a line. The day after Disneyland I spent about 15 hours sitting in my parents bathtub. And despite the fact that I have some plumbing skills it took at least 6 visits to Home Depot in order to figure out how to remove the cartridge out of where the handle went...anyways. That was just a little stressful.

Our theme for the holidays has kind of been "We can celebrate any way we dang please." We decided after the plumbing fiasco that we were all too tired to make turkey, so we convinced my mom that having ribs from Pat and Oscars could, in fact, be just as good as turkey. And we were right.

If you're looking for a new game for the family to play and you also happen to have pretty much no shame, you might want to look into getting the game "Quelf." Every year Santa leaves our family a new board game that we play Christmas evening, and this year he left Quelf. And it's hilarious. The cards direct you to sing, say certain things that make no sense, play Peek-a-Boo with anyone attempting to talk to you, become the personal cheerleader of one of the other players and cheer for them whenever they do ANYTHING, etc. At one point my Dad turned to us all and said over and over: "Chickens are on fire. NUCLEAR Chickens are on Fire!" Still not sure what that was all about. Like I said, no shame.

Last Wednesday my brother and I drove back up to Utah. I left him in Orem with my sister and drove back up to Logan. I really didn't want to get back to Logan four days before school started, but I had to work. Anyhow, turns out I had to go back down to San Diego on Friday. While I was at work Friday my sister called and told me my grandfather had passed away. He's been sick for quite a while now. At the beginning of November he fell and broke his femur. He had surgery to fix the break, but he sort of went downhill from there. His memory/dementia was worse. He slowly stopped eating and drinking. I don't want to go too much into it. He kind of went sooner than we thought he would. Let's just say that I'm glad for knowledge of the gospel, and the plan of salvation that helps us know that we will see our grandpa again. And that, after 24 years of being separated from his wife, they are together again.