Decisions decisions.

I wish I knew what to do with myself. As of right now, I am an undeclared major. Brianna is a science major, Chelsea is a psychology major, Carley is majoring in something to do with humanities/service or something like that… I don’t think Chanelle has a declared major yet. But still! My point is, I am way too indecisive. Let’s take a journey throughout my past “dream careers”, shall we? I’ll go in chronological order, assuming I can remember all of them.

The first profession I remember wanting to pursue was to be a kindergarten teacher. But that was around the time when I was actually in kindergarten, and I thought we were the bomb dot com. Fast forward about thirteen years, and I can’t stand any children that I have no direct connection to. For instance: offspring of family members, younger siblings of friends, kids in my ward, my own kids [eventually]… that’s about it. Other than that, I pretty much don’t dig kids.

Next, I wanted to do nothing but be a marine biologist. But that was before I knew exactly what “biologist” even meant. I just saw “Zeus and Roxanne” and decided that all I wanted to do with my life was play with dolphins. It was a good idea at the time, but then a certain sibling of mine who shall remain nameless (I’ll let you all stew in the guilt of wondering if it was you) told me that when you’re a marine biologist, you have to dissect dolphins. That was the end of that dream.

I did have a brief phase when I wanted to be a car mechanic. That was also my Mustang obsession phase, so I think we can see the connection there.

Another short commitment to plans was when I wanted to be a radio DJ. I still think that’d be freaking sweet, and I would have a hard time saying no if the opportunity was literally thrown in my face. But I don’t have a whole lot of motivation to go out of my way to pursue that particular career.

A few years ago, I began weighing the options that psychology would give me. I considered being a school counselor/therapist, child psychologist, and the most recent version was Marriage & Family Counseling. That was actually very recently, to the point where I’m already signed up to take Psychology 1110 at school, and it is my top choice to major in. (Psychology, that is.)

Unfortunately, my own relationship problems kind of shut down most of my hopes of being able to fix other peoples’ relation issues in a professional setting. Ah well. A few weeks ago, I began wondering what it would be like to open and own my own coffee shop. Yes, I did just make a post about how sick I am of my job, but that’s not my point. I just love the idea of owning my own shop, but I don’t know how realistic it would be. For one, I don’t drink coffee, so I wouldn’t be much good in being able to judge how good my own products would be. For another, a certain parent of mine who shall remain nameless pointed out that a huge majority of restaurants fail within the first two years. Plus, I would have to get a business degree, which I’m not sure I’d have a whole lot of motivation to do.

And that leads us to now, where I am wondering what kind of schooling it would take to become a makeup artist. Yes, I know that’s cliché for a teenage girl to say, but whatever. It struck me today while I was watching “America’s Next Top Model” and “What Not to Wear” with Chelsea that all I ever look at when I watch TV and movie is the makeup on the people on there. I mean, my favorite part of “WNtW” is when Carmendie gets to transform people with makeup. A common misconception by people, especially those who believe that they don’t want to cover up their “real selves” is that makeup does just that: cover up who you are. But the truth is, makeup is not made to change the way you look. It is designed to enhance the natural beauty that you already have. It only begins to hurt your image when you abuse it, like wearing way too much eyeliner or foundation or whatever. See? I guarantee no one could care about this nearly as much as I do, but that’s because I really like it. So as of this moment right now, my “dream job” is to be a makeup artist on some kind of show, be it a sitcom, reality show, game show, the news, etc. I like the idea of being able to bring out someone’s beauty that they already have, and I’ve already had some experience with friends. Shoot, I’m practically already a professional! Now, my only problem is to figure out a major to fit this dream career, and to see if I can stick out this drive until I know for sure if I really want to it or not… /:

Long time coming.

For the past two years, I have been one of those obnoxious people that hear someone else complaining about their job, then I'd jump in and say "Ha! Sucks for you! My job is the bomb dot com!" However, the magic of being a barista in a small town has slowly, but surely been wearing off over time. Ever since I began working full-time again (well, as full time as I can get, considering the hours), I've started to realize how much I would rather be home sleeping. Or eating. Or running. Or doing anything other than working. It's not that I don't like the people I work with (they're really actually pretty cool), and I still like what I do, and I've always hated European tourists that don't speak English, so that can't be the difference... I don't know. I wonder if I'm just impatient to move and just go to school full time. I'm getting pretty antsy.

I think part of my problem is that I have an awful lot of pet peeves that are making work a very stressful place for me to be. As some of you may know, I'm a very irritable person. Some of my work pet peeves are:

--When the door to the pastry case gets left open.
--When the steampots don't get rinsed out right away.
--When there are espresso grounds left all over the counter.
--Seeing coffee drips on the cupboard doors.
--When people expect me to wait on them, when there is a sign above the register clearly stating "ORDER HERE."
--Having to bus tables. That is not my job.
--Customers who don't speak English, and refuse to even try.
--Dishwater that has food floaties in it. Gross.
--Annoying music.

I really do have issues with getting irate very easily. But oh well... what can ya do? Only like 5 or 6 more weeks, then I get to go to college and blow all the money I have worked so hard for. Yay.

Big fan.

For the past several months, two of my friends have been embarking on an adventure called---making a band. These two friends then collected another friend of mine, so now there are three band members, and this band happens to be called...

Is that abusing my former power as Student Body Public Relations officer and the use of the school marquee? Perhaps. But it was worth it, because that is my favorite band! These guys are really talented, and I love to just chill with them whenever they have a "jam session." However, due to certain circumstances, their fame and glory will have to be postponed for approximatly two years. But let me tell you what, they're gonne be sooooomethin else when they come home. Here's to Member This Day. (:

(This is only the two original members of the band. The third one is currently in Michigan, and will be there for the next month. Bleh.)

I love you guys. (:

Chupacabra fiiiiiiight!!!

I know, I know, I KNOW I suck at blogging! But you see... I'm extremely lazy, and have been ultra busy the past... however long it's been since I posted last. And while I do feel bad about not telling y'all about my awesome sauce senior trip, and also about graduation (which the majority of people who read this blog actually attended)... I'm afraid i feel disinclined to fill you in now. Sorry, but like I said... I'm kind of a bum. /:

In other news! I got my laptop, finally. Thanks to everyone who sent me dollars for graduation, because that's what paid for this feller. It's so cute though! Let's take a look, shall we?

See? Cute things. (: Anyways, I've been playin with it pretty much every spare second I have. But really, can you blame me?

Anyways, I s'pose I'll give you an update while I'm at this blogging thing. Like I said, I graduated last month, so I'm kinda just chillin for the time being. Well... not entirely. I'm still working at the little coffee shop that I've been at since two summers ago. As of last Friday, I am now the longest standing employee there. /: Yikes. I'm pretty much working every day, with a few exceptions throughout the summer that allow me to have vacation/college orientation/dentist appointments/dates. Yes, brothers, dates. I'm eighteen, get over it. (;

I'll be moving/headed to college in August, by the way. I got lucky and was able to coerce--I mean work it out with a girl in my ward to room with me at school so I don't have to be with a random stranger. However, I have found out the names of the other two girls that will be living in our apartment, and I've never met either one of them. /: Ah well, it's an adventure, right? I'm really excited to go to school, though. As of now, my classes are as follows:

--French 1010 (I am really, really excited for this class...!)
--Math 1010 (Not so much this one.)
--University Studies 1000 (It's a required freshman course)
--Psychology 1110 Lifespan Development
--Library Media (Also a required freshman course. It's mostly online.)

I was in Art 1050, which is an Introduction to Photography class and I was SO pumped for it! Buuuut I had like 18 credit hours... a full load is 15. /: And since I am an undeclared major trying to decide between Psychology and potentially French, I figured I should probably keep those classes. And it'd be a bad idea to drop math, so there went photography. ): Ah well... perhaps I'll take it another year. One of the main reasons I wanted to take it in that particular time slot anyways was so that I could be in a class with someone I knew, because my friend Matt is in there.

Well folks, that's about all I've got for the time being. I think I might be better about blogging now that I have a fun new toy to blog on, but we'll see how that actually goes.

Oops...

I just realized that I never posted on State Solo & Ensemble. Sorry, folks.

Chanelle and me bein cute in the Beaver dugout...

On April 23rd, the baseball and softball teams had a game in Beaver the day we had to head up north for S&E, so we (I went with softball) went to Beaver for the games, then the music bus picked us up on the way to Salt Lake. The ride to Beaver was fun... Chelsea, Chanelle and I all got the very front seats of the bus. You'd never expect it, but those are actually the best seats for the following reasons (like you care):

• Our bus driver was Brent, and he’s awesome. So we just talked to him the whole time, and he always let us decide where to stop and eat.

• I was able to catch the air from Brent's little personal fan, so I never got too hot.
In this case, we were the farthest we could possibly be from the rancid baseball team.

• Whenever the boys did get too stinky, Brent would spray some air freshener, and we got the effects first.

Also, I heard the funniest story on that trip that I have ever heard in my entire life. Period. This is no exaggeration. I know I laugh at a lot of dumb things, and also at a lot of genuinely hilarious things... but this by far surpasses anything I've ever heard. To prove it, here is a picture of me after a solid 15 minutes of laughing. (Just so you know, I'm actually laughing right now just thinking about that story.)

I know it looks like I'm crying (or, if you’re Taylor Armstrong, like I’m in labor)... but you would be too, if you had just been laughing to your fullest extent for a quarter of an hour. My muscles were in agony... but I just kept laughing.

Moving on. Softball lost their game against Beaver, but baseball won. Whoo! From there, we piled onto the music bus. I ended up having to sit by myself, surrounded by people that I never talk to, so it wasn't a very thrilling ride from Beaver to Salt Lake. Once we got there, though... it was good.

I had the same roommates as I did in California, so it was me, Chelsea, Chanelle, and Jamie. We were so excited that our room had a balcony, so we opened the door an explored. While one of us—I won't say who was in the bathroom, Chanelle decided to close the screen on the door to keep the bugs out. The unfortunate soul that was in the bathroom came out, was still excited about the balcony, was not aware there was a screen in the door to our balcony... and plowed through it. I’ll tell you this much… at the time this occurred, I was plugging my phone into my charger, and Jamie was making her bed. You do the math. Anyways, after we fixed the door, we all headed down to the pool area and had a grand ol' time there until we had to go back to our rooms.

Oh. We have all kinds of fun. We do what we want.

The next day, we all actually got ready to go on time. Weird. We got to Lone Peak High School pretty early, so we had time to run over to Wal Mart and play!

Me and Chelsea found some treasures at Wal Mart...

Chelsea and I had a struggle with our song. The schedule told us that we were supposed to sing in this one room in the seminary building. So we go there, sit, wait… eventually, the judges said “Umm… we don’t have anyone after those girls. We have our lunch break now.” Turns out some of the schedules were messed up on a few events. Ugh. So we ran around like crazy to find our room in the seminary building… no such luck. Finally, after asking around a LOT, we found out we were actually supposed to be singing in the high school. (And for the record, this school is HUGE. So to be running around all over the place in poofy dresses and stilettos is a feat to be challenged. I dare you.) But we had to hurry up and sing our other song (a double quartet, “Cantate Domino”) while we were at the seminary building. THEN me and Chelsea had to haul over to the school. By the time we got to where we were supposed to be, we were like half an hour late and out of breath and dying of thirst… not awesome conditions to be singing at a state level. But we did our best and ended up getting a 1- (the equivalent to an A-), so I guess we didn’t suck as bad as we could have. Oh, and I don’t know if I mentioned it before or not, but she and I sang “Homeward Bound” arranged by Marta Keen.

Immediately after Chelsea and I got done, the whole group had to warm up to perform. We had like 5-10 minutes to do so, so we actually were kind of warming up as we all ran to the auditorium to perform. The performance went alright. I cried at the end, though, because I realized that I would most likely never, ever again compete with a choir. Sad things, huh? Anyways, once we got done I went and sat in the audience with Chelsea and Chanelle so we could watch Millard’s choir which was right after us. You might recall that I have some really good friends from there, and my best of those friends is in that choir. Also, his dad happens to be the director, whom we fondly refer to as Bob, though that’s not actually his name. Fun fact: the director of the Millard Majestic choir is also the man that established/invented X-Press over 20 years ago. Neat things! I really like Bob a lot though, he’s a neat guy. He came in and watched us while we warmed up, and he was kind of goofin off during one of the songs in order to loosen us up and get us more involved in the song. What a guy.

Finally, we were able to go change and grab some longboards. I got to stop and talk to Rendon before we went on our merry way, so that was cool. I don’t get to see that kid nearly enough, I swear! Anyway, me and Chelsea just decided to longboard all over the campus until we had to leave. (Chanelle was tired, so she decided to take a nap on the bus.)

Eventually, it was time to go. After gathering all of our kids and me saying ‘bye to Rendon, we split. This time, I sat with Starms on the bus and he made the trip a lot more interesting. Chelsea came back after a while, and we just had a little party.

I really am going to miss these competitions. State Solo & Ensemble is my favorite competition every year. And this year was no different. (:

It's the final countdown...

I have less than a month until I graduate. Chelsea, Brianna and I made paper chains with a link for each day until graduation. I showed it to mom, and all she said was: "That chain isn't long enough."

So close. Yet so far.

Here am I

I realize I get really lazy with my blogging, but here is my defense this time: between going to Salt Lake for spring break, Sterling Scholar, and school in general, things have been CRAZY! This is the first time I've been on a computer in like 2 weeks basically. So yeah... my bad.

First of all, I just want to let you know that Sterling Scholar is now officially OVER! We had the regional competition on Thursday the 11th, where the winners and runners up were decided. Unfortunately, only one kid from my school got anything. But he did win the math category, so that's good. We're all real proud of him. (:

Now on to my main reason for posting: PROM! ......again. About a week ago, my awesome awesome friend Taylor (more commonly referred to as Starmfaund, Starms, Starmy, or Champ) asked me if it would be okay for him to ask me to prom. The reason he had to ask for permission was because he was giving me like a week's notice. I was all for it, so on my way home from Salt Lake last weekend, we stopped by Taylor's friend Craig's house, where Taylor was stationed. I went inside to find Starms with a guitar, and he sang me a song... that he wrote himself! He owes me a recording of the song, because I actually really liked it. The main line went "Jennifer, come out and say 'Taylor, I will go to the prom with you.' We can have the time of our lives. Jennifer, I want to go to the prom with you." It was awesome. To answer, I put together some little "YES" flowers and put them in a flower pot with a note attached saying "Taylor, I'm so glad you PICKED me to go to prom!"

Over the course of the next week, I located a dress and was involved in helping to decide what to do for our day date. Taylor's friend Helaman asked my friend Chanelle to prom, so the four of us were a group for a day date. The plan was to go night boarding at Brian Head the night before prom so we wouldn't have to worry about ending the date on time. I've never been snowboarding before in my life, so I was particularly nervous about night boarding. We left Friday afternoon for Brian Head, and had a fun ride there.

Me and Chanelle in the car... don't ask me why, but this is how my smile looks in every single picture I took that day. Yikes.


Helaman and Taylor... He Man just wasn't up for a picture, I suppose. ha

But such is our luck, we showed up to Brian Head... only to find out that night boarding has been closed for the season. Yikes.

See? There's that face again. But this one was kind of on purpose.

Instead, we decided to head on to Cedar City for our date. We found a little park with some tables and set up our dinner there. After our picnic dinner, we went and found a bowling alley and spent the rest of the night bowling. I have some pictures of that, but they're on Chanelle's camera and I have yet to obtain them. In the end, it was my favorite date of all time. Just the fact that we had to be spontaneous and create our own fun made things so memorable.

Taylor and me at the bowling alley. Gah... that face...

On to Saturday. I had to work that morning, so I left smelling like coffee, bagels, cigarettes, and Clorox. Ah well... such is the nature of my job. After I got off, I went to Chanelle's house to take a shower and deodorize myself. After that, I went to a sophomore girl's house to have her do my hair for me. Then I headed home, did my make up, got dressed, and waited for my date.

Aww how precious...!

That corsage was absolutely gorgeous.

We had dinner at Taylor's house, provided by his mom. Him and He Man forgot to put their names in for the school provided dinner. That turned out to be okay, though, because the dinner we had was super tasty. The dance itself was alright. The juniors this year entered into some contest to win $1000 to spend on prom, and they won. The decorations were actually pretty rad. The theme was "Hollywood Night", and it was rather sweet.

Me and Chanelle at the dance... look how cute she is!

In the end, I had a way good time all around. Starms is literally in the top 5 funniest people I have ever met in my life, and I just love that kid. All in all... I think this prom was astronomically better than my own. But still...

There's nothing better than a good day, except laying down to sleep and knowing you'll remember it for a long, long time.