"Jennifer, I think your problem is that you put everything you have into every relationship. You put in so much time and effort and heart into one person, and you expect to get that much back from them. And when you don't, it breaks your heart and makes you wonder what you've done wrong, when really you're the one doing everything right."-Chelsea V. Howells
Nailed it, Chóse.
I need to learn to stop having so much faith in people.
I saw this on someone's blog and thought it was a cute idea. I'm a very simple person, but sometimes I can be taken as complex. Here is a list of a few quirks about myself that you may or may not know...
...I hate being late.
...I love the show "Psych", and I quote it on a daily basis.
...I value the word "personal" in the phrase "personal hygiene."
...Nothing is more attractive to me on a guy than helmet hair or bedhead. No idea why.
...I don't like gold jewelry.
...I hate typing or texting without correct grammar.
...I have an unnaturally intense fear of crickets.
...I am literally craving pizza 24/7.
...I love birds.
...I love bird clothes/accessories/jewelry/etc.
...My favorite author is Jodi Picoult.
...I love watching old movies, especially westerns.
...I intend to marry Cam Gigandet and/or Sean Faris. (But I mostly mean the "and" part... but I'll let them fight it out of they have to.)
...No, seriously. The way I feel about Cam Gigandet can be compared to the way a 13 year old girl would feel about Edward Cullen, Taylor Lautner, and Justin Beiber... combined.
...My nose wiggles when I talk. Especially when I say things like "beware", "BMW", and "bowling ball."
...My upper lip "disappears" when I smile really big.
...My best friend Kyle drives me bonkers on a daily basis. He is super annoying to me, but I don't know how I'd function without the little snot.
...My favorite number is 8.
...I don't usually like people in general.
...I hate ketchup.
...I'm 19 years old and have never been in a relationship.
...I own two half iPods. One is like the second one ever made, and has a battery life of about 3 1/2 seconds. The other one is slightly newer (the first video iPod), but the backlight doesn't work, and neither does the right headphone. Sooo... yeah. Two half iPods.
...I can play Solitaire for hours on my laptop.
...I can almost quote "Hot Rod" by heart.
...I really love working out.
...I hate the snow.
...I'm mostly likely going to be working in Florida this coming summer. Whoo!
...I can type extremely fast.
...I currently have three dream careers: Marriage & Family Counselor, professional photographer (portraits & weddings mostly), and owning my own coffee shop.
...I don't like painting my fingernails.
...I like to watch shows like Project Runway and America's Next Top Model mostly so I can look at how they do their makeup and to learn new tricks.
...I have a scar from a jellyfish sting that can only be seen when I'm tan. (Sooo... like never.)
...I listen to all kinds of music. i.e. classic rock, rap, folk, metal, bluegrass, musicals, country, alternative, church-y music, pop punk, techno, jazz, soul, etc. I can usually be happy listening to just about anything.
...My skin is allergic to cheap shaving cream. It's true.
...I literally have the cutest mom in the entire world. And I tell her that every time I talk to her.
...I love when people read my blog.
There. Now you know a little more about me. Fun for you. (:
Today was a good day for mail. I got two missionary letters and a wedding announcement. This post refers to one of my top 5 favorite missionaries in the field at the current time.
This is a picture of one of the pictures he sent me in the letter that I got today. (His name was already printed on there. He called this is "glamour shot" photo. What a duck.) He also wrote me a note on the back of it that literally made me cry, but you know me... the fact that I cried really isn't that big of a deal.
This next picture is one that he sent out in his weekly e-mail. Mostly it just made me giggle because it portrays fairly accurately what his personality is like--just a weird guy. In his letter, he said "I'm never going back to scissors/knives for any of my cutting needs. Chainsaws only from now on! J ßGreat discovery."
Last semester, I got to know Sly (his name is Justin, but I've only ever called him Sly... weird? Maybe.) through a very peculiar set of circumstances which I won't go into. It's one of those you-really-had-to-be-there things. But he was also in my Psychology class, which is a little less weird. Anyways, he and I got to be really close about a month and a half before he left on his mission. It's always kind of a bummer when you make a really great connection with someone, and they leave shortly after (déjà vu, anyone?), but it was still a great experience spending so much time with this amazing boy. I've never met someone who found so much fascination in watching the tip of my nose when I talk. (Yeah, it wiggles. Try not to stare next time you talk to me.) He left in December for the MTC, and went to Atlanta Georgia after that. He seems to be doin some good there. (:
Anyways, I guess his letter today just got me thinking a lot about him and I just miss him a lot. Don't know why I wanted to share on here, but I guess it just makes me feel better.
Once upon a time, Rendon promised me he’d take me on a date. That was last May. We were supposed to go sometime over the summer before we both went to school and were even FARTHER apart then we already were, but that never happened. We also discussed many, many different ideas for dates, varying from minigolf to baptisms for the dead to a USU basketball game. Instead, this is what went down.
On Friday, through a series of complex vehicle changes and after a total of 5 hours of driving, Jasmine and I found our way to Chase's house. Clay, Hayden, Tristan, and Gordon were also there, so we had a little movie party and watched "Paranormal Activity 2"... it was the second time that week for me, so I was considerably less scared than everyone else. Specifically Jasmine and Gordon.
On Saturday, everyone got together (only this time with the addition of Nick and Tristan's friend Shanlee, and minus Gordon) and left for Orem! We had decided to meet up with Rendon at the mall, so we just went there to kill some time.
Rather than go into great detail (which I've been known to do) about every single thing we did that day, I'll sum it up for you as follows...
Activity: The Mall
Verdict: Fun
Short story: Before Rendon got there, we were all sitting at some tables at the end of the mall. Jasmine sat at a table closest to everyone by herself. A creepy lookin old man came out of Payless and just sat down and started talkin her ear off. She didn't look like she was in distress, so I just kind of looked at her and though "Huh. How awkward." and continued making plans for the rest of the day with everyone else. Turns out that old man was like out of his mind, which makes the whole thing WAY funnier. Later, Jasmine about flipped a nut and yelled at all of us for making her suffer through like 10 minutes of out of control random conversation with a complete stranger. We all just said "Well you looked like you were enjoying yourself."
Activity: "The Roommate"
Verdict: Actual movie: Stupid. Watching the movie: Fun.
Short story: Rendon hates scary movies. He doesn't get scared easily, so he thinks they're stupid. But the thing is, this movie wasn't even scary. It was just demented and weird and a little gross. I was covering my eyes for the only "scary" parts, but only because the chick in it is a whack job. So for the whole movie, I was curled up with my feet on the seat and usually grabbing Rendon's arm or leg whenever I got freaked out, and he would just be laughing and saying "This is so dumb." Normally that would make me mad that he was being such a poor sport, but even I have admit... the guy had a point. The movie was a joke.
Activity: State wrestling tournament
Verdict: Fun
Short story: If you don't know, Rendon wrestled all through high school, and was the state champion last year. (I don't know how he did in the past... last wrestling season was the first one I knew him for.) Anyways, it was really interesting to be watching wrestling with someone who was so into it. I've always liked watching, but I obviously don't know as much about it as he does. Every once in a while, he'd get all excited and go "Oh! There it was! That was my move! I made up that toss, and he just used it!"
Short story #2: I know, I'm cheating. Anyways, the 3A state champion for like the 145 weight class is named Tanner Sweat. But when they announced it, I heard "Taylor Sweat", which kind of sounds like "Taylor Swift." So I turned to Rendon and said "Swift?" He shook his head and said "Sweat." "Swift?" "Sweat." "Swift?" "Sweat!" "Taylor Swift?" ".......Tanner Sweat." So now that's a joke we've got goin on. It made me giggle. (:
Activity: Dinner
Verdict: Super fun!
Short story: Originally we wanted to go to Chili's for dinner, but there was 1 1/2 hours waiting time. Second choice was Applebee's, but it too had a ridiculous wait time. Fuddrucker's was right next to Applebee's, so we walked in there, then realized that literallly none of us actually wanted to eat there. So we went across the street to Golden Corral and settled on that. When I got my straw, I took off the top part of the wrapper and attempted to blow it at Rendon's face. Just my luck, the end of the straw had been clamped together along with the wrapper... dangit. Oh well, it was an interesting artifact to uncover. Hurray for that!
Activity: Wal Mart
Verdict: Always Fun
Short story: We all went to the back of the store and found the $5 bin and literally spent like 20 minutes just going through the movies. None of us had actual intentions of buying a movie, but it was fun looking to see which ones they had in there, and saying "Here, you'll love this!" while handing a Barbie movie to one of the boys. Someone tried to do that while handing Rendon "27 Dresses", but he just laughed and said "Nah, I'm good. I already have this movie on my iPod." Foiled!
Activity: Driving with Rendon (like, throughout the day)
Verdict: An adventure.
Short story: Don't take that verdict the wrong way. Rendon is a super safe driver, and extremely level-headed. At one point, some guy blatantly cut him off, and all Rendon did was wave to the guy to let him know he wasn't super pissed. It has me a little worried... there's no way a person can drive and never, EVER get mad. Someday, he's just gonna blow... Anyways, the passenger's side door on Lucille (Rendon's Toyota Celica) is broken, so I was never able to let myself out. It takes a particular combination of pushing the lock/unlock button in the right order for the door to actually open, so I just let the big guy take care of that for me. He was also faithful about opening the door for me to let me in, so points for gentlemanliness!
Overall, it was really just a super fun day. I always love spending time with my Millard boys, so it was a great day in general. I don't get to see Rendon nearly as often as I wish I did, but I guess there's really not much I can do about that. Ah well... I guess the best I can do is appreciate the times when our paths do cross. (:
I feel like it's necessary to do a short post on how I feel about Valentine's Day. Because I thought about it a lot this morning, and this is my conclusion:
I, Jennifer, as a single college female, have completely neutral feelings for this holiday.
Traditionally, it's viewed as either a genuinely sweet holiday set aside specifically for time to be spent with the person you love, or (for most single people) a superficial, commercialized day wasted on people who should really show love for each other every day, while making single people feel lonely and miserable.
If you can't tell, I used to relate to the second option. Fun fact: never in my entire life have I had a Valentine. (Or a boyfriend. But that's beside the point.) I have had instances where I've been part of an "item", but it was unofficial, and almost always in the fall/winter. Shoot, last year I got "dumped" a month before Valentine's Day. That was kind of a bummer
But let's look at this thing logically. Granted, people who are all "in love" with each other should probably show that they are on a regular basis, not just once a year. On the other hand, people who do do special things on Feb. 14 are generally people who also show their affection year round, they just take part in this holiday due to tradition. I don't think anyone should necessarily be pressured to do something special just because it's Valentine's Day, but I don't see the problem in going all out once in a while.
Now for the single folks. You never see more complaints on Facebook about being single than around Valentine's day. But here's what I find hilarious: the majority of people (at least the ones on my friends list) that are complaining about what a "stupid waste of a holiday" this is are people that really don't need a Valentine. I mean really? You're like 14. It's oooookayyyyy if you don't get a dozen red roses from your 9th grade crush. And to be honest, I don't see why it's so important to find a special someone "in time" for Valentine's Day. It doesn't matter what time of the year it is, if you have someone you care about, then good job.
I've come to the conclusion that single people who complain about Valentine's Day don't think it's stupid. They don't think it's overrated. They don't even think it's corny. They are just wishing they could be one of the couples that are constantly being complained about. Say what you want, but you know it's true.
I'm completely content waiting until I find someone good enough for me to spent large amounts of time on, and I can honestly say that this day doesn't make me sad or lonely. In reality... it's just Monday.
Anyways, I'm just gonna step off my soapbox now. Sorry about that. I'm not even sure if any of this makes sense to anyone but me, but I thought I'd share anyways. Want to know why?
Because I'm 19 and I do what I want. (:
That's my song of the day for yesterday, and for good reason. My two suitemates are gone for a week, and for some reason that was inspiration for me to clean the crap out of our bathroom. To put it lightly, our bathroom was a death chamber of loose hairs, crusty toothpaste, and old food. In mine and Lindy's defense though, we always make a point to keep our side of the counter clean. So ours wasn't too bad... but the other side was... uhh... aesthetically offensive, let's say. Here are some "Before Jennifer's Mad Crazy 3 ½ Hour Cleaning Rampage" pictures.
Yep. That's me.
Like I said, I'm borrowing Dad's fancy digital Pentax SLR for a little bit, and I have just been dying to take pictures left and right. It snowed today, which normally would infuriate me beyond all reason. However, it wasn't a yucky wet snow, which is what usually annoys me. It was the pretty, fluffy snow. That, added to the fact that it was kind of sunny out put me in a serious photography mood. I sent out a plea on Facebook ("Raise your hand if you want go with me to take pictures in the snow today...!") and got a few responses from good friends of mine. I had pretty decent photo shoots with each girl, and all of them were in different settings. I had a lot of fun editing the pictures later, espcially Brianna's. (For some reason, her's seemed very edit-able.)Anyways, for your viewing pleasure are some of my favorites from each shoot. For more, you can go on my Facebook and look at the rest. (:
So yeah... that was my adventure today. I really do love photography, and I'm so excited for when I get to have my own fancy SLR. (:
Sometimes I can't sleep. As a result, I stay in the common room with some neat folks and watch an old school Stephen King movie that gives me the creepety creeps. For instance: "Rose Red." I am getting freaked out to the max. Turns out I really do not love dead people.
Mmmm... yummy.
I also made a deal with everyone in the room that I would someday attempt to look just like this guy. I couldn't find a picture of his "scared" face, but that's the one that I have to make when I walk around campus from now on. Awesome. (:
In other news, I didn't have any classes today. I only have one class on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and since I had a test for that class today, regular class was cancelled. WHOO! I got up at 6:30 to take out the trash (we won't go into why), went back to bed, and didn't get up until 1:45 in the afternoon (which, in reality, is probably why I can't sleep). On a scale of one to sweet, it was awesome. (: I got up, took two hours to put my hair in a bun and get my make up on, went and took my test, came home, cleaned, and that's literally all I remember doing. I'm pretty sure I spent the rest of the day either watching Psych, eating, or writing a paper for my Psychology class.
By the way, this might be one of my favorite papers to write, ever. I have to write about a dream that I have and write a paper about it using one of the three following options:
Off-line: The theory that our brain uses dreams to consolidate information gained throughout the day so there is more room the next day.
Problem solving: The theory that while we sleep, we use dreams to work through problems that we can't figure out consciously due to barriers and thinking "inside the box."
Psychoanalysis: The theory that dreams are our brains fulfilling unconscioius wishes and desires.
I picked a rather specacular dream I had the other night about James Roday and I'm choosing to use psychoanalysis to write about what I think it means. It's a pretty personal paper, but my teacher made a point to tell us not to worry about what she'll "think" of us after she reads the papers. Plus she's a pretty cool lady, so I'm not too worried about it.
It's really interesting trying to break down your dreams, you know. You have to think about every aspect of your life and what the smallest things in your dreams could mean. It's a very soul-searching experience. I rather enjoyed myself... like I said, it's one of my favorite papers I've ever written. (:
Alright, well it turns out I can't really focus on a blog and a movie at the same time. This is mostly a distraction to keep me from focusing on all the nasty dead people in this movie... gross. /:
Sometimes, me and my friends Ashley and Kelly and Brianna and Jasmine like to get together and eat chicken dinner. Kelly makes THE BEST chicken I've ever had, so it's always a treat to go to her house and have dinner. (:
Sometimes, we eat cake. And Jasmine likes to look very shocked.
