This is a post about an annual celebration of that one time that I was successfully born.

Yes, boys and girls, this is a birthday post. Because yesterday, December 21, the first day of winter, the shortest day of the year, was also my 19th birthday. (Fun fact: 12/21/12, aka the "end of the world" is my 21st birthday... eerie, right?)

Honestly, 19 is really not that big of a deal to me. There's really nothing I can do now that I couldn't do when I was 18 (besides buy cigarettes in Utah... whoo hoo.). I guess there is the perk that I no longer sound like I am literally fresh out of high school. Soo that's good, I guess...

Anyways, I'll just tell you about my day. I got up early enough that I'd be able to curl my hair before I went to town to have lunch with some friends. Unfortunately, after I spent an hour curling my hair, I remembered why I never do it--I hate how my hair looks curled. /: So with 45 minutes left before I had to leave, I had to dunk my head and start all over. Ahh well... I guess that wasn't really relevant. But hey... it's my blog. I do what I want.

Kimberly and I took Missy to town, then went to Mom's work so I could get her car, that way Kimberly and I would both have vehicles. Then I went to the Three Bears in Kanab and met up with my dear good sweet friends Brianna and Carley! (I'm sorry, I had planned to take pictures, but completely spaced it. /: Dang it!) We had a delightful lunch, and Carley was thoughtful enough to give me a pickle for my birthday. What a sweetheart. (: haha

After lunch, I went and visited my dear good sweet friend Jasmine, since she was unable to come to lunch with us. While I was there, she gave me a present! It was "The Invention of Lying", aka one of my favorite movies ever. It is absolutely hysterical. (:

When Mama got off work, Kimberly and I met up with her and we headed off to St. George! Why? To PLAY of course! First stop was Asia Nails to get manicures for all three of us, and I got a manicure and a pedicure. Because it was my birthday.

After we got done with our nails, we headed off to Applebee's for dinner. Kimberly not-so-discreetly told the manager, who was just routinely checking up on his patrons, that it was my birthday today. As a result, I got a team of Applebee's employees chanting their ridiculous Happy Birthday song to me... but I did get a free dessert. So I got over the embarrassment pretty quick. (:


Me and sister at Applebee's... I love Applebee's.

We had some shopping to do at various places, including the mall. We went there, and I got to meet up with my friend Tim that was in St. George at the time. Mom felt bad that I didn't "have anything to unwrap" for my birthday, so she said I could go pick out something for her to buy for me... she was also quick to point out that the offer expired at midnight, so I better get on it. Tim came with me to go shopping while Mom and Kimberly went to a cupcake place to buy me a birthday [cup]cake. When they got back, we all said 'bye to Tim, and us girls went to Spoon Me!




I've been wanting this shirt forever. It says "Use Me, Reuse Me, Spoon Me"... hahaha I love it.

On our way to Spoon Me, Mom handed me a small box and said it was my cupcake. I just smiled at her and held it, intending to open it when we got home and I could put a candle in it. But she looked really bummed, so I went ahead and opened it... and then it was my turn to look bummed. It was coconut. I hate coconut. Then Kimberly, barely able to contain herself, handed me a much bigger box and said "Fine, you can pick from one of these." Fortunately, the bigger box contained 5 more cupcakes that were flavors that I didn't hate. (:



Since we were gone all day yesterday, we decided to have the traditional big birthday dinner tonight, when we could be home, and Dad could be there. I decided that I wanted to have breakfast for dinner, because honestly... who doesn't love breakfast at night? Mommer and Popper arrived today around 5:30, so we got to have them here for brinner as well! We had bacon, eggs, grits, and--my favorite--biscuits and gravy. Balicious. (:

After dinner, we broke out the cupcakes! We put candles in all of them, then I got sang to. Again.



Once I blew out the candles, everyone took their pick of flavor. Mmm. (:



Overall, it was a pretty good birthday. Here's to many more, yeah yeah? (:

And then I found $5!

All day today, I have been emanating the vibe of a surly teenager. Why? I literally have no idea. Because inside my head, I've been like this:

Those are "crazy, hyper" spirals. Not "stinky, don't stand too close to me" spirals. And a yelling "AHHH ALSKJFISDOSOI NONSENSE!" mouth. Not a "YAYYY I LOVE WEARING TOO MUCH WHOREY LIPSTICK!" mouth. My point is that I have been in the weirdest mood all day long, and I haven't felt it has been an appropriate day to share my strange mood. So instead, I looked really pissed off instead. (And now I am resorting to using the same word twice in one sentence. How annoying.) On the other hand, it has been kind of a rough week... which may have contributed to the outward appearance.

I'm not entirely sure what my point is. What I am sure of, however, are three things.

1) It is past my bedtime.
2) I am eating chips and salsa.
3) My birthday is officially in 2 days.

That is all.

CHIPS AND SALSAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!

*Illustration inspired by Allie Brosh... read her blog. Do it. Or your life will be sad and pointless.

Same day, different post.

I realized that I have been slacking a lot on my blog, and I apologize. Earlier today, I was getting ready for the day and it struck me how much I had to write about. First of all was my recent photography excursions (see post below). But I also had some more personal stuff I wanted to share, and I feel like it deserves its own post. Heads up, though... this is a long one.

Over the past several months, I have had a LOT of new experiences at college. Some were incredibly beautiful, memorable events that will remain with me forever. Others were devastating blows to my life as I knew it. However, both are to be expected and endured whenever you take on a new chapter of your life. One thing I want to expound on comes from the place I have been the most since moving: the dorms.

There are so many people in this building that have made such a huge impact on me. Some of them are leaving after this semester and not coming back, possibly ever. Others are leaving, and I literally could care less. I know that sounds like a mean thing to say, but it's true... you can't like everybody. (But don't worry, Mom... I'm still nice to everyone, even the ones I don't like.) What I want to do is mention just a few of the people that I live with that have impacted me this semester. Note: this isn't a like an exact list of the only people I like in this building. Just putting that out there.

1: First of all, I want to talk about my adorable roommate, Lindy. Before college, we didn't know each other too well. We were pretty much just friends at church, but I'd always liked her. One day in Sunday school, my teacher asked me where I was living. When I told her my building, Lindy said "hey, me too!" We talked about it a little bit, and we both decided we really didn't want to have random crazy roommates, so we decided to request each other and live together. I never exactly had "doubts" about living with her, but I thought it'd definitely be interesting to live with someone that I was only kind-of friends with. But much to my sheer joy, it has turned out perfectly.

Lindy is a spectacular roommate in every aspect. She's clean, which (usually) makes me be clean, which makes our room look great, which makes me feel great. Also, she is so, so cute and is always so much fun to talk to. I will talk to her about literally anything, even if I know she doesn't really care. There will be sometimes when I just tell her a story without telling her any background about the person it involved, so it probably doesn't make any sense whatsoever, but she listens intently and laughs at the right parts or says "Oh no!" at the right parts. I love how comfortable I am with her, and I love that we leave each other cute notes every once in a while. It's always nice to know that when I come home, I have someone that will listen to whatever I have to say (which is usually a lot), and sometimes gives me Christmas treats. (: So basically, I absolutely love Lindy.

2: If you read my post below already, then this introduction will sound familiar to you. This "shout out" is for my dear good friend PeTA. PeTA lives on the 3rd floor of my building, is very, very sweet, is actually named Devan, and is a vegan, so he very quickly turned into PeTA (not sure about the random capitalization, but whatever). At the beginning of the semester, I could only stare at him because he is a perfect cross between Adam Mathis and Justin Powell, two guys I went to high school with my freshman and sophomore years. Anyways, I've always found PeTA to be an intriguing character. He has some very unique views of the world and the animals in it, but I respect him enough to let him keep those views and he respects me enough to not try and force them on me.

My favorite thing about PeTA is that he has always gone out of his way to give me a hug or ask me to smile or tell me I'm pretty. He can always tell whenever I'm having a bad day and does whatever he can to make it better because by golly, he doesn't want me to be sad ever! I'm not entirely sure if he knows what a difference he makes, but on a day when it feels like everything is falling apart, it means the world to have someone step in and remind you that there are people who love you. And it's those simple reminders that make you remember exactly why you love those people back.



3: Now I want to talk about a guy named Jd. Jd is Best Friend Kyle and Charlie's suitemate. Funny story: at the beginning of the year when I only hung out with Kyle, Charlie, Emily, and Curtis, I'm pretty sure Jd hated us. And none of us really liked him. Eventually though, our little group of 5 friends kind of fell apart, leaving only me, Kyle, and Charlie as tight as we were before. Over time though, the three of us realized that Jd is actually a pretty cool guy. I would often walk into my room and find him sitting on my floor talking to Lindy. At first, I was a little hesitant about the situation, until I started talking to both of them whenever I came home. It turned out that Jd was a pretty funny guy, and a lot cooler than I'd originally given him credit for. Jd has come through for me several times when I needed someone to make me feel better. When I had strep throat a few weeks ago, he was the one who got two other guys together and gave me a blessing. Also, when I had had a genuinely terrible day last week, he didn't hesitate when Jasmine asked him to take me to buy ice cream to make me feel better. Jd has been a very good example to me, and it's partially because of him that I've started to become more spiritually active. And for that, I am so, so grateful to him.



4: When I first moved in, I already knew two of the people in my building. One was Lindy, and the other was my neighbor Jasmine (we went to high school and graduated together). The first Friday in the dorms, I was on my way out to go hang out with some people from Kanab, but I saw a bunch of people in the common area watching a movie. They all asked me if I wanted to come watch, but I said I was on my way out. When I got outside and met up with the kid that was picking me up, it struck me that I really didn't want to start of the year strictly with friends from Kanab. So I told him that I was going to stay and have a movie night with the people I was going to live with for the next eight or nine months. And that's exactly what I did. When I came back upstairs, there were significantly more people there than there were the first time I walked by. One of those people was Jasmine.

To be quite honest, my first response was "Oh man... Jasmine is living here..." It's not that I didn't like Jasmine, because I really do and I always have. But she tends to get very loud and high pitched and random whenever she gets excited. And she was very excited that night. But after a couple of days when she got more settled in and everyone wasn't so new, she became a lot more chill. Anyways, Jasmine and I are pretty much together most of the time. It's gotten to a point where people call us by the others' name. I can't count how many times I've been called Jasmine this year. /: But Jasmine is really someone that I have needed this year. Like Lindy, she's an amazing listener. She always says she feels bad for not knowing what to say whenever I vent to her, but in most cases, that's all I need: just someone to listen. She and I have definitely had some crazy times together, but they're always fun. I have a lot of people asking me if it sucks to hang out with someone from Kanab all the time, but I really like it. This way, it helps me connect my past to my present. So for that, I love her. (:



5: The last person I want to talk about is someone that I am going to have a really, really hard time not seeing every day after this weekend. Best Friend Kyle is going home for Christmas and is not coming back. He recently decided that he wants to try and go on a mission instead. So he's going to go home to work on his papers, which means he won't be coming back to SUU for 2 1/2 years at the very least. Worst of all, he lives 7 hours away, so it's not like I can see him all the time. I'm afraid that even as I'm typing this, I'm already crying at the thought of saying goodbye to my best, best friend.

The same night that I mentioned seeing Jasmine was the night I met Kyle. Lindy and I had locked ourselves out of our room, and my phone wasn't working, which meant I wasn't able to reach the RA on duty to let us in. So we were stuck hanging out in the commons until someone came to let us in. During the movie (it was "She's The Man"... why do I remember that?), I said something about how wildly attractive Channing Tatum is. I heard some guy say "Yep, he is definitely my man crush." I turned around and saw a much closer, more realistically attractive fellow. Yeah I'm just gonna say it, I think Kyle is really attractive. It's not really a secret. Anyways, after the movie was over and I was still locked out, I made it a priority to go talk to Kyle and make him love me. Alright maybe not that last part. However, over the next few weeks, we begun hanging out almost constantly. Why? We had/have SO much in common.

One night, our group of 5 friends were all hanging out in Kyle and Charlie's room when someone said something about watching "Aladdin." Kyle and I didn't really want to watch it, but everyone else did... so they left. For the next 2 hours, Kyle and I talked about so much stuff that I never thought I could talk to anyone about. When everyone came back in, they immediately assumed that he and I had just been making out the entire time. But in reality, he'd sat on his 9-foot-tall bed and I sat in Charlie's chair while we talked about our families, our high schools, choir, our favorite composers (ironically, it's the same guy: Eric Whitacre), how we eat sandwiches, our best friends... everything. He even let me punch him in the face one time.

Ever since then, Kyle has been my very best friend. There is nothing I can't talk to him about, nothing I'm afraid to say to him. I have shared my dearest spiritual experiences with him, and we're able to connect in a way that I've only had in one or two friends in my entire life. The natural assumption of everyone in the building was that we were dating, but we definitely have a different kind of relationship to date. In fact, he and I have a joke about how we are always, always together whenever he sees a hot girl or I see some guy that I've been diggin, and it always looks like we're a couple. We even used to get those "Aww... what a perfect couple. I approve of this union" looks from people--sometimes random people, but usually people that we both know. It's like they knew we weren't dating, but they "knew" we were. It's going to be hard enough when he's gone, but what's going to make it even harder is the fact that I know people are going to say "Hey Jennifer, where's Kyle?" and "Hey Jennifer, where's your other half?" and "Hey Jennifer, you look weird and awkward walking places by yourself. You look like you need to have a best friend next to you." I don't know what I'm going to do. Kyle is my fall-back guy in every situation. Had a bad day? Talk to Kyle. Need a lunch buddy? Call Kyle. Need a workout schedule? Ask Kyle. Need someone to cry to? Find Kyle. Have a stupid joke/story? Tell Lindy. And then tell Kyle. Granted, we both have Skype and have agreed to use it to maximum capacity (too bad the internet at my house sucks, so I won't even be able to Skype him for like a month after he leaves...), but obviously it's not the same.

I guess the best I can do is appreciate the fact that I've had someone as incredible as Best Friend Kyle in my life for the past few months, and hope that our paths cross again someday. But still... I can appreciate all I want, but I'm still going to be semi-heartbroken when he's gone. I'm always going to remember Kyle as being one of my greatest friends of my life, and I'll always hold him dear to my heart. I hate to make this sound like an obituary, but I can't help it, considering I have no clue when I will see him again. I'm sad, but I hope I'll see Best Friend Kyle soon. I love you, bud.



P.S. Mood shift. This is my 43rd blog post of the year. Judging from 2008 and 2009, I need to do 4 more. I apparently like to end my years at 47 posts...??

The Biggest Stunt

Some of you might be aware that I've recently had the opportunity to take advantage of whatever I learned in my Photography class this semester to do some special pictures for friends. First, I was asked by some friends of mine to do their engagement pictures. Here are some examples.



Next, I was asked by my friend Chase if I would come with him to St. George one weekend to be the photographer for his family's family portraits. This one was a little different than the engagement pictures, because a) I only knew one of the 7 people I would be taking pictures of, and b) I was getting paid this time.

That little excursion didn't go exactly as planned, unfortunately. St. George is known for its warm, sunny climate. However, that weekend was pretty much the only weekend in the surrounding months where it was cloudy, rainy, and freezing. Since the family had two children that were barely controllable inside, we figured it would be a joke to try and get them to look cute and not hating life in the freezing cold. So we just ended up taking pictures inside their rented condo, which wasn't too bad. I did feel bad, though, because I basically did exactly what a tripod could have done, and Chase's mom still wanted to pay me. Oh well... I hope I did something spectacular. /:

Anyways, my most recent of these opportunities came a week or two ago when I got a text from my friend PeTA (more on that name later) saying "Hey, this text is going to anyone we know who knows anything about cameras and picture taking and stuff. If you would be willing to take some pictures for us, that would be wonderful. Unfortunately, we wouldn't be able to pay you with anything but love and giving you credit for the pictures. But you would get lots and lots of both!"

PeTA lives on the 3rd floor of my building, is very, very sweet, is actually named Devan, and is a vegan, so he very quickly turned into PeTA (not sure about the random capitalization, but whatever). Anyways, when he said "anyone we know", he was referring to him and his band, The Biggest Stunt. When I got that text, I had just found out that I'd gotten a really good final grade in my Photography class, so I was definitely in the photographing mood. I responded that I would love to help, and it was on from there.

So yesterday, my dad happened to be coming to my city anyways, so he brought his nice Pentax digital SLR to let me use. I was pumped. So around three or so, PeTA showed up with his band, consisting of Cory (lead guitar/vocals), Romeo (guitar), Chase (drums/vocals), and himself (bass). We had a fun day of shooting at many various locations, and some of them turned out a lot more like "best friend" pictures than band pictures, but they were fun anyways. The guys were an absolute riot to work with, and I was having the time of my life. After we got done exploring sets around town, we went back to Cory's house so they could practice, and I could get some pictures of them actually playing. A lot of those ones actually turned out really, really awesome. Plus, I got to hear them play!

Later, PeTA told me that he was shocked at how well I was able to get everyone to work with me. He was expecting to get maybe one good picture, but I assure you--we got plenty. We took over 270 pictures, and it was tough having to choose the best ones. Below are some of my favorite ones (after editing). The one at the very bottom is one of PeTA (and Romeo in the background) that I absolutely love. He isn't a big fan of it, but for some reason I just really love how it turned out. Sooo I voted it into the finals. (: By the way, the music they play is "melodic metal" (I think that's what they called it?). So it's a lot of really heavy guitar, but to be honest... I actually really liked it. Is that weird? Anyways, I just thought it was interesting, because even if someone tried to judge any of these guys by the way they look, these are actually some of the coolest people I know. They were also very polite and considerate, and were not quiet about their appreciation for me taking their pictures. By the end of the day, my self-esteem was taking a walk in a lovely park with these fine fellows. (:

Found this in a graveyard of signs. Probably the coolest photo set ever.
"We don't need metal to play metal." Ha. Good one!

Love you guys. (:

Take me home.

I think I'm just about tired of school for the time being. Finals are coming up next week, and I am half-prepared for them. Unfortunately, this week has been more stressful on me mentally and emotionally than finals week could ever have a chance at being. I'm just ready to have a break from school and go home and spend time with my family. I miss them a lot. Especially my mama. She's really cute. Just look at her.

Come here, Christmas. And also birthday. I want you now.

Ill.

I have been quite sick this week.

Now I am not.

Thank goodness for that.

Seriously?

I have literally worn a different outfit to every single one of my classes today. If I can't even decide what clothes to wear, even after I've already been dressed for 6 hours, how am I supposed to decide what I want to do with the rest of my life?

Oh college. How you outwit me.

Why do I do this to myself?

This is why I never scrapbook. Because once I get an idea in my head and I actually get going on it... there is no stopping me. And there is certainly no stopping if it isn't perfect.

You might have seen my room recently. Pretty much my entire wall (and then some) was covered with pictures in a checkerboard pattern. But I realized the other night that I didn't like the set up anymore, for several reasons. a) I barely talk to most of the people that were on there. b) When I did this at home, SOOO many pictures fell off the wall, and I was always too lazy to fix it. So I'd have empty spaces all over the place, and it was just really ugly. c) I just needed a change. So I got pictures of my best friends (plus my car and a band... I needed them to complete the pattern), some of my family, and my missionaries.

I choose not to disclose exactly how long it took me to make the Friends, Family, & Missionaries labels. It's rude to let your OCD show in public, you know. Let's just say there came a point where I was praying Lindy would come home so I would have a reason to quit and just go to bed.

I decided to do something special for the missionary section. I gave all of the guys (T-Dub, Trent Howard from Freedom Academy, Mark, Tyrell, Mike, and Thomas... I know Tyrell doesn't leave for like 2 more weeks, but I just decided to put him up there so I wouldn't have to go through this again when he actually does leave. haha) their own little nametags. Sometime in the near future, I plan on putting their addresses up there as well. I think it'll be a little more encouragement for me to write to them. /:

Since Mark left most recently (he went into the MTC yesterday... sad face.), and since his nametag turned out to be my favorite, I'll share that one with you.

So yeah. Basically, I've come to the following conclusion: I do enjoy crafty things, and I like to think I'm kind of good at them. But in reality... I get WAY too stressed over perfecting the dumbest little things, so for the sake of my blood pressure and life expectancy, I'm going to keep the scrapbooking to a minimum.

Jennifer is sad.

Why?

Best Friend Kyle is gone all week.

Jennifer doesn't really know what to do.

Jennifer must now resort to math homework as a source of entertainment.

Best Friend Kyle is usually Jennifer's lunch buddy.

Jennifer must now eat lunch alone.

Stupid Best Friend Kyle ruined Jennifer's week.

Jennifer is sad.

FINALLY!

For the first time since I can remember, I finally, finally, have fast internets! I was so excited when I came to college, because I thought I would be getting rid of slow internet for good... I was so wrong. For some reason, Lindy and I have pretty much the only room in the entire building that has slow internet. On a good day, we MIGHT have 3 bars.

Eventually, we'd had enough. So Lindy made an appointment for a techie guy to come fix our internet. Obviously, he couldn't do much about fixing our signal. But he set us up so that we just had to buy some Ethernet cables and call it good. So even though I am, once again, plugged into the wall to get internet, it's finally fast. And the good news is that we can still use the wireless if we want to go into the kitchen or the study room.

So what do I have to say about that? WHOO!!!!!!!!

My favorite thing.

Thank you, Wal Mart. For cheap peanut butter.

One time.

Recently, Jasmine and I have been hanging out with some friends named Tim and Ben. On Saturday, they invited us to go rappelling in the canyon with them and two other friends. Neither of us were exactly experienced with rappelling, but we decided to go for it anyways. It ended up being a LOT of fun! It was definitely sketchy, no doubt about that. But it was a heck of a lot better than sitting in my room and watching ESPN all day on Saturday. (:

We just like to take pictures of all of our adventures. (:

Yeah... we were kind of high up. That's our van.

Aaaaand there goes Tim.

MAN I'm awesome!

Definition of Jennifer

So I walked into the commons and saw a bunch of people sittin on the couch and they were all laughing. So I went and sat down, and Kevin said "Okay, Jennifer's turn" and pulls out his iPhone. Turns out, Kevin was putting everyone's names in turn into urbandictionary.com to see what they were defined as on there. These were the top results for Jennifer. (Pretty accurate, I'd say...)

1. A fun, outgoing person. Generally smart but can be a total blonde at times. Someone who likes meeting new people and smiles a lot. A person who never would just turn on people. A very good friend. Someone you can trust. When she's mad, stand clear she might blow her top. But a person who doesn't get mad easily so you don’t have to worry about that.

She always smiles! She is such a Jennifer.

2. She has the most beautiful eyes and hair. She smells that of a fall evening, and her voice will typically seranade you.

What is it about those Jennifers that always intrigue me

3. A really sexy, funny, smart girl that every guy wants.

Dang, you lucky duck, your gf is a total Jennifer!

4. A funny girl. Really smart, and usually doesn’t act her age (whether it is acting older or younger). Jennifers have amazing eyes, and love to laugh and smile. They generally enjoy the finer things in life. They have trouble showing their feelings, and take some time to warm up to new people. They don't trust easily, but that shouldn't stop you from trusting them, they are very trustworthy. They need someone who will listen to them and give their honest opinion. Jennifers are very blunt, and speak their minds often. They are caring and usually very sexy. They know how to flirt in a very subtle way that drives men crazy. They know how to get what they want. Jennifers are very good friends.

Man: Dude, I met the most amazing girl today. She's funny, and smart, and has amazing eyes.

Man2: Yeah man, cool. What's her name?

Man: Jennifer

Definitely lovin that. Mine was the only one of the immediate group I was with that didn't have anything negative. (:

Cedar South Swag

SUU currently has a flag football tournament going on. They announced it several weeks ago in order to give people a chance to get a team together and maybe throw the ball around a bit. However, what they didn’t know at the time of announcing was exactly how seriously Cedar Hall South was going to take it.

We have a lot of boys in Cedar South that played football in high school and really, really miss it dearly. The person that sticks out the most in my mind is my best friend Kyle. He was kind of a football star in high school and would’ve played for SUU, but he threw out his shoulder over the summer and has to sit it out for this year. So anyways, our boys got EXTREMELY pumped about it. I mean… they held practices, made plays, held tryouts, attempted to get jerseys (they ended up just deciding that everyone on the team had to wear basketball shorts and a gray shirt), assigned offensive/defensive coordinators and a head coach, got a team name (Cedar South Shockers), and a team cheer (“OH MY GOSH!”… yeah we won’t go into the back story of that one). Basically, these guys have just been lovin life ever since they’ve found something to do.

As you might have guessed, the tournament started today. Kyle (head coach… ha) designated me to be the team photographer, so here are some of the ones I got. I wish I didn’t just have a little point-and-shoot, but… ah well. Work with what you’ve got, I s’pose?

Hike!

Yeeah... Carter is TOTALLY in the zone...

Nice catch by Mama Matt!

Biggest fans. (:


Cedar South Shockers' cheer section. (Jasmine says she looks dumb in this picture... but I disagree vehemently when compared to PeTA.)


Best friend/head coach. (:

Me and That Guy! (We really are friends, and he really does have a name that I really do know. But he's just always been That Guy to me. haha) Cedar South Shockers got Cedar South Swag.

He made a point to wipe some of that stuff on my face as soon as I took this picture. Great guy, right?

We've just got some good times goin for us here. (:

Crap.

There is a corn flake floatin around somewhere in my computer.

Not sure what to do about that.

Because We're Awesome.

Once upon a time, my friend Jasmine and I were wandering around the Centrum before Photography started, because we were a little bit early. And also because I had a Lifewater that was absolutely impossible to open, so I was on the lookout for someone who could open the stupid thing for me, preferably a guy that I already knew. So we sat down on a bench while I was wrestling the bottle cap (I’m serious, that crap was welded on there), and some guy came out of a room across the hall and was like “Are you going to be on the show?” Jasmine and I were baffled, so we just said “Um… no…?” Which came with a response from the guy saying “Well you can’t sit on that bench unless you’re going to be on the show.” Then some other guy came out from the room behind him and said “Don’t listen to anything he says. He’s just trickin ya.”

The first guy was named Nate, and Jasmine and I ended up talking to him for a minute, and we all just kind of hit it off. We were just joking around and teasing each other, just doing what I always do. Turns out, this Nate guy is in a radio broadcasting class and he has his own hour on SUU’s radio station (Power 91.1… if you’re interested. Haha) in the mornings, and he asked Jasmine and I if we’d like to be guest speakers on his show. And we said “Well… why the heck not?” So he gave us an assignment to research some stuff online and to come with an opinion to voice on the radio the next morning.

So this morning at 6:45, Jasmine and I headed over to the radio station place and sat in the waiting area of the station. And waited. And waited some more. Finally, at approximately 7:07, Nate showed up and actually looked surprised to see us. Of course we gave him crap for it, but we eventually got the ball rolling, and we had an hour of air time!

Jasmine and I waiting for Nate... we look torn. Don't judge us. (:
Radio head!
This was on the machine that they use to interview people with vocabularies that are well-known to be... colorful. I saw it while we were live on air, and I had to turn away from the microphone because I was just giggling. (:

The topic that we were assigned to research is a non-profit organization called Clean Media United. Basically, it’s a group dedicated to the cause of clean positive media in all of it’s forms. So they’re against like profanity, violence, sex/nudity, etc. in movies, TV shows, radio shows, music, books, and any other kind of media you can think of. It’s really pretty interesting. For more information, you can visit cleanmediaunited.org, search Clean Media United on YouTube, or join the Clean Media United group on Facebook. I’m on there. (: This does sound like a commercial, but I promise this wasn’t part of the deal for me getting to be on the radio. I just think it’s a really good thing, and I’m a big fan of the whole organization.

Anyways, the whole experience was just fun. Nate would show us how the different gadgets worked, he let us request songs to put on in between our talking time, and we just had a fun time talking and everything. He even let me borrow the CD that the show was recorded on, so I got to put that on my laptop to have forever and ever. (: It’s awesome! It was just a fun day. Especially since one of my life dreams has always been to have my own radio show, so this kind of contributed to that aspiration. Good times. (:

Definitions.

So there I was, laying in bed trying to sleep after a long hard day. Unfortunately, I tend to think when I go to sleep. And this time, I actually build half of a blog post in my brain before I finally said "FINE. I'll type it up just to get it out of my head." So here we go. This is the kind of thing I think about as I'm falling asleep at night. So it has potential to sound both abstract and infantile.

For anyone that knows me, you know I love words. I love spelling them, I love learning new ones, I love using the big ones, I like overusing some... I just like words. A lot. I love knowing the difference between words like whether/weather, they're/there/their, to/too/2 (which is NOT a word, so don't ever use it as such. Not even in texting!), which/witch, etc. I also am a fan of punctuation. Soo knowing the difference between its/it's, we're/were, he'll/hell, she'll/shell, we'll/well... you get the idea.

One word in particular has been standing out to me lately. You are probably very familiar with it. Some more than others. You use it on a daily basis, some (like me) on a minutely basis.

"Like."

This word bears various degrees of significance based on your generation. For instance, I use the word "like" astronomically more than my father does. I also use it for multiple definitions. This is the part where I tell you all the different kinds of "likes" there are.

Comparison like: "Holy cow... that lady looks just like Dustin Hoffman. How unfortunate."
Approval like: "Hey! I like that skirt a lot!"
Filler like: "Well he was like 'Do you want to go out?' and I was like 'I don't know, do you?' and he was like 'Whatever.' So now I'm just like... what?"
Action like: "I feel like smashing a bowl of porridge into your currently gaping face."
Emotional like: "Dude, I'm really starting to like the guy down the hall a lot."


That last one is the one I'm going to discuss further. For a lot of people, to "like" someone is to pick out your favorite person out of a large body of people and treat them as such. You pay more attention to them, you find them the most attractive, you want to spend time with them, etc.

However, it has come to my attention over the past several years that this particular "L" word is about as difficult as me to apply to myself as the even bigger, meaner "L" word. My personal definition of "liking someone" is as follows:


Liking someone: When, out of the vastly wide variety of people you know, there is one person who sticks out in your mind at all times. When they are literally all you can think about. When you truly do not want to spend time with anyone of the opposite gender besides that person. When you can see yourself being in an actual relationship with that person.

See? My version is a little more intense than the average definition. (Oh, and just for the record, this hasn't been brought on by anything in particular. I mean, I haven't just started "liking" someone which inspired me to do this. I just was thinking about it.) So using this explanation, I find it interesting that throughout my entire high school career, I have only "liked" two or three people. The last one, I began diggin him around the start of my senior year, and it took a very, very long time to get over him. But when I did like him, I found absolutely no interest in talking to other boys, which ultimately screwed me over, because I lost a few friends along the way. Which sucks. But still, he was the person that I cared about the most, so I consider him to be someone that I legitimately "liked."


Obviously, I'm a human being, and I have had a few crushes here and there over time. To me, a "crush" is just someone that I think is exceptionally cute and awesome, but I wouldn't really ever consider dating exclusively. Therefore, I don't have a problem with having multiple crushes. In fact, I have at least 3 or 4 right now. But I don't "like" anyone, because that would mean I was interested in dating only that one person, and not in anyone else at all.

I really don't know why I'm sharing all this right now. Probably because I just want to get it out of my head and into my blog. This is one of those things that goes through my head and comes out online. But what can ya do? That's what I get for having my own laptop and fast internet and insomnia.


And just for kicks and gigs, here's a nice crazy picture of me by best friend Kyle.

Getting better.

I guess the combination of having my own laptop and having fast(er) internet has resulted in me wanting to blog about anything and everything. This one is just me showing off how thrifty I am. (:

This first picture is--ready?--my calendar! My RA had one like this hanging up in the hall to let everyone know about the activities going on this week. And I was very intrigued by it, so I decided to make one for myself that showed whenever I have homework due and birthdays and such. I'm pretty proud of it. (: Funny story about the September label: I didn't have any cute colored paper, so that yellow paper is actually my French syllabus that I got the first day of school. (: hehe I'm so crafty.


This next picture is of my homemade bike basket. Whenever I go somewhere, I always need the following: my keys (because my lock needs a key... life would be so much easier if it was a combination lock. haha), my phone, my T-Card (to get back into my building), money, and sometimes my camera. However, that is WAY to much to fit into my pocket, not really enough to make it worth bringing my big ol' backpack, and if I put it all in my regular shoulder bag, then the bag just hangs exactly where my knees hit when they go up and down on the pedals. So this was my solution: the bag that my top sheet for my bed came in. (: I just put the light stuff in it (I didn't want to risk putting my phone and camera in there, then having the snap come loose and have everything hit the pavement at 15 mph.) and snapped it shut around the middle of the handlebars. It actually worked really well! I looked a little stupid at Lin's when I was trying to dig a $10 bill out of a sheet bag, but whatever. It worked out alright, but I really think I would rather have an actual basket that I could just put my purse in while riding. Ah well. It's good for now. (:

What can I say? I'm a problem solver. (:

This is how I spend my time at college.


Being sad because I have tons and tons and tons of math homework to do all the time.


This is how Kyle spends his time at college.


Rubbing in my face the fact that I always have homework and he is allowed to frolick and play as he pleases.

Stupid math.