Okies.

Yesterday my mom and I drove down to see two of my uncles and their families. One, I was not so excited to see. As my mom always says, "He's perfect. Just ask him." I was rather miffed by his dissing the cover art on my mom's book (naturally, his son could have done so much better) and by his asking how my brother got into the army with his record. I guess my uncle has blocked out of his memory the fact that his own son, who is also in the army, narrowly escaped three felony charges for making an explosive out of newspaper and powder and lighting it. You can't join the military if you have felonies on your record. Conceited man.

My other uncle and aunt I've always like visiting. We sat and talked with them for hours. Subjects ranged from advice to anecdotes to religion. My uncle even gave me a book about the Creation and the theory of organic evolution. I think he was rather thrilled to hear that I am studying English. He talked about it for quite some time, decrying newspapers for their horrible grammar and apparent lack of editing. It made me chuckle.

It gently snowed all of yesterday, and we left probably later than we should have. It was dark out when we finally hit the road. The wipers on our car are none too impressive and the switch for the front washer fluid doesn't work, so we had to go really slow because the dirty sludge hitting our windshield was oily and the wipers weren't helping. It took more than twice as long to get home than it did to get down there.

My relatives never cease to amaze me. But I suppose that's what you get when your extended family was raised by an "Okie from Muskogee."

Listening to: "The Ballad of Jed Clampett"
Reading: Jane Austen's Guide to Good Manners by Josephine Ross

Lazy.

What day is this? Oh, Sunday? Okay. They're all starting to seem the same. Naps don't help. Naps make the days run together even more by messing with the already existing days.

I finished Pride and Prejudice and Zombies last night. Parts of it were absolutely hilarious, but it was generally weird. I think I much prefer the original.

That's basically all that's gone on in the past few days. I did watch a little Babylon 5 on hulu.com the other day. Those old sci-fi shows crack me up. Though I must say, I think Space Above and Beyond is my favorite.

Listening to: "Lighter Touch" by Heart
Reading: Jane Austen's Guide to Good Manners by Josephine Ross

Absence.

My brother managed to make it down from spending time with his friends in Evanston to spend Christmas with us. I was reminded yet again of how oddly I react when reuniting with people. I am rather unfamiliar with the concept of constantly missing someone. I have moments when I feel their absence sharply and want nothing more than to share whatever I'm experiencing right then with them, but generally I am caught up in my immediate surroundings. Goodbyes are hard for me, painful even. I don't handle goodbyes well. Even if I know they'll only be for a little while, I grieve deeply and often cry. However, I soon recover. Hellos are quite different. Given the depth of my partings, I would expect my reunions to be more exuberant, but the best word I can come up with to describe them is mundane. Instead of making a big deal of my reunions, it's almost like something inside me nods and goes about it average life, and I go about doing my common, everyday things. It's like I feel that whoever it is is there now and life can go on as normal with no theatrics and no big production. They just get folded back into the normal as though they never left. I always fear that this may seem heartless and unfeeling to some, but it just feels to me that those people I have such trouble saying goodbye to have their own, unique places in my heart that they will always fit back into easily. It's like a jigsaw puzzle. Some pieces put up a fight when you try to separate them, the interlocking sides getting all twisted together and requiring no small bit of effort to wiggle them apart. But when you put the same two pieces back together, they neatly interlock and lie quietly, taking no more than a second to settle serenely into the way things should be.

Happy Christmas to all, especially those pieces I'm missing right now.

Listening to: TSO's interpretation of "Carol of the Bells"
Reading: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Seth Grahame-Smith

Lights.

Yesterday was a very awesome day. Or rather, afternoon. My mom, my cousin, and I went to Temple Square to see the lights. We left in the afternoon so we could get there early enough to tour the Conference Center and see the originals of the Book of Mormon artwork. It was awesome. The detail was just exquisite. We also went into the Tabernacle and chatted with two sister missionaries for a while. One was from Germany and the other was from Switzerland. From the Swiss sister's accent, it sounded to me like German was her first language. I'd almost forgotten how entertaining sister missionaries are. Next, we went to the Joseph Smith Memorial Building and ate dinner at the Garden Restaurant. We weren't really picky about which of the 10th floor's two restaurants we ate at, but the wait for the Roof was about an hour longer. The highlight of the meal was probably the fried dill pickles. After dinner, we went and viewed some of the lights, including my mom's favorite tree: the giant one covered in red lights. It was rather bitingly cold out so we didn't hang around outside for too long. We hopped over the the Church history museum to look at the masks of Joseph and Hyrum and at the miniature replica of Salt Lake City. My favorite part was the Mayan themed Nativity scene they had up.

Listening to: "100 Years" by Five for Fighting
Reading: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Seth Grahame-Smith

Zombies.

The past few days have been uber-relaxing. Mostly I've slept and...actually, no and. Mostly I've just slept. I have however spent some time reading or playing Apples to Apples with my cousins. Okay, I'll stop lying. That was only once.

Compared to the past week, today was as busy as all get out. Please excuse my use of hackneyed phrases; I'm on vacation. Anyway, this morning my mom basically dragged me grocery shopping with her and my cousin. It was tortuous. I didn't know it could take two hours to check off all ten items of a rather short shopping list.

This afternoon was much more exciting. Translation: I got to see my childhood best friend for the first time in years! Huzzah! Though really, we were extremely quiet for having so much catching up to do. I wish I had more to give her for Christmas. She got me one of the coolest things ever. That's right: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies! So far, it's absolutely stupendous. The author maintains the Austenian English, artfully throwing in the undead for a book that is truly epic. I'm so excited. I may sleep a little less for the next few days just so I can read it. Wouldn't that be something.

Listening to: whatever comes up on my ipod
Reading: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Seth Grahame-Smith

Brrr.

I flew into Salt Lake City yesterday in the late afternoon. As several people can attest, naturally I procrastinated packing until yesterday morning. When the plane got to Salt Lake, we actually had to fly around a little bit because of weather or some such nonsense. I couldn't quite make out the real reason. The guy who was telling us all of this information mumbled like none other so all I could really make out was "enjoy the scenery."

Wanna know something interesting? Utah is cold in December. Arizona must be making me soft because this is ridiculous. Though it feels indescribably good to see mountains again, and not just any mountains but the true Rockies. That makes me happy.

I went with my cousin to see Avatar last night. It was absolutely awesome. And, it was in 3-D. I could go on about this for a while, so I think I'll save it for a YouTube video.

Listening to: the furnace
Reading: Hawksong by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes

Bread and butter pickles.

After my math final on Wednesday, I think I slept for three hours. Since we have to move out for winter break or pay an extra $400, I'm installed at my dad's house until I fly to Utah tomorrow to spend Christmas with my mom.

Sleeping in feels great.

Listening to: Wife Swap
Reading: Hawksong by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes

Cinderella Paper.

I have the urge to run through campus with my fists in the air screaming, "Yesss!" I still have my math final to do this afternoon, but I think I know how to find the volume of a cone by now. Thank you, Academic Bowl.

My greatest victory was completing my English paper around 1:30 this morning. I've already passed the finish line. That last math test is just dashing by the water table on my way off the track.

Listening to: the Rocky theme. In my head.
Reading: Le Morte D'Arthur by Sir Thomas Malory

Queensberry rules.

Round 12: Rebekah is reeling slightly. She looks unsteady on her feet, and if I'm not mistaken, she's limping a little. She's sporting a doosy of a shiner and a split lip. I wouldn't be surprised if she had a few loose teeth after that last round. In the other corner, her opponent is light on his feet and looks eager to get back in the ring. I hate to say this so early in the match, but it looks like it's not going to be a good day for Rebekah's career. The English Paper is well on his way to winning this one.

But hey, my physics final is over. I don't know how well I did, but it's done.

In other news, they found octupi using coconut shells for shelter in Australia and the bookstore would only buy back one of my books. Apparently they've already met their quota for my physics book and didn't want it. I've been advised to keep trying in case they change their minds. The great news is that I got rid of that silly book about Lewis and Clark and how Thomas Jefferson thought they could find a transcontinental water route. Haha, Jefferson! Boy, were you wrong. North America isn't quite as symmetric as you thought, now is it? Seventy-some pages talking about Jefferson's ignorant geographic theories and thirty pages on how Lewis and Clark interacted with the natives they met. It was almost as bad as trying to slough through The Sword of Shannara. Now that was an awful book to read. It finally got interesting about three-fourths of the way through, but it was totally not worth forcing myself to read the preceding 400 pages.

Listening to: Dollhouse
Reading: Le Morte D'Arthur by Sir Thomas Malory

Cricket. Cricket.

I think my history test went rather well today. The rest of the day was basically wasted. I meant to work on my English paper, but ended up taking a two-hour nap, a walk, and chatting with, like, five different people on facebook.

I did get a little done in the way of sources. I think turning off the Glee soundtrack and instead playing Heart in the background really helped. While I'm always tempted to rock out to Heart, Glee is much more distracting.

On another note, my roommate had her last final this evening and left for home. The room is kind of lonely now. She's the lively one. I just sort of sit and stare at my computer. I don't think that's healthy. I think I miss her Christmas lights the most. And her singing.

Listening to: "Treat Me Well" by Heart
Reading: Le Morte D'Arthur by Sir Thomas Malory

Nirvana.

I got to see my mom today for the first time in months. She was picking up my car on her way to Utah. I also got to see two of my puppies (who aren't so puppy-ish anymore) and our friend Robb.

They gave my roomie and me a ride to Target. I wanted to get something for my dad for his birthday, and my roommate was in search of TimTams. For those who may be wondering, TimTams are delightful cookies made by Pepperridge Farms out of layers of chocolatey goodness. As though these wonderful little treats weren't close enough to ambrosia by themselves, my roommate's friend introduced us last night to something called a TimTam Slam. I don't know how easy it would be to replicate just from a description, but I'll try to give a general idea what it's like. You're going to need some hot chocolate. Bite off a bit of each of the ends of a TimTam, then put one of the ends in your mouth. Without using your hands, dip the other end of the TimTam into the hot chocolate and slurp some up through the cookie. The cookie will get all melty and soggy, so when you're done slurping, throw your head back and slam the cookie down your throat, pausing to chew somewhere in there. Once you're good enough, you should be able to do all of the slurping and slamming sans hands. I have yet to reach this level expertise.

My roommate actually managed to convert a 50-year-old lady in the cookie aisle to the idea. As we were leaving, she was tentatively putting packages of TimTams into her cart. Apparently she has a party tomorrow. Can you imagine a bunch of old ladies with their cookies and hot chocolate as described above?

This evening was our ward Christmas party, with dinner provided by the bishopric's wives. I will never tire of fancy cheesy potato stuff. Never. That is perhaps the most noticeable effect of my foray overseas. I'm like an addict.

The short musical program after the dinner was mind-blowing. I will never listen to "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" the same way again. I will always hear an echo of the mind-blowing-ness I heard tonight.

As a complete and utter sidenote, perhaps one of the greatest results of my mom's short visit was the gifts she brought me. Among other things, she somehow managed to find SoBe Nirvana at a Chevron. It's my favorite flavor, but it's nigh on impossible to find. It's kind of a mango-melon experience. I guess I'll have to frequent Chevron more often. For the record, I love my mom.

Listening to: Trans-siberian Orchestra on Pandora
Reading: Le Morte D'Arthur by Sir Thomas Malory

Clean.

I finally cleaned my side of the room last night. My roommate tidies up regularly, but I rarely do. I sometimes feel like my side of the room is a disgrace. Yesterday, it got a thorough sprucing up. I even made my bed. I didn't realize how many newspapers I had saved over the semester. The recycling can started out almost empty, and now it is nearly full. I need to toss them daily next semester to avoid a repeat performance. On the bright side, I found a bunch of blank sudoku to occupy my time. Though I really should be working on that English paper I got an extension for. Hm... Facebook is not helping on that front either. But hey, my room looks great.

Listening: Trans-siberian Orchestra on Pandora
Reading: Le Morte D'Arthur by Sir Thomas Malory

MI.

As yesterday was the last day of classes (pretending I'm writing this on Wednesday), today is a day set aside by the college and christened "Reading Day." It's kind of like the calm before the storm, as finals start tomorrow. I guess they're assuming we'll use this day to read. Oh, those silly calendar-makers.

Today my roommate and I went to the dollar store to buy stuff to make finals survival kits for our VT girls. We're companions. We got baskets, juice boxes, bubbles, Care Bear gummy bears, Smarties, Nerds, Crunch bars, coloring books, crayons, pencils, erasers, star-shaped post-its, and Silly Putty. We delivered them this evening and they went over smashingly. Mission accomplished.

We also had to sort out some library drama. My roommate often checks out books from the public library, and today she got a notice in the mail telling her she had a book a month overdue. She was rather distraught as the book was nowhere in our room, and she was fairly certain she had turned it in, anyway. Having had some friends in the business and knowing a bit about the inner workings of a library, I suggested we go down and see if we could find it on the shelf, as I've known books to sometimes get overlooked. Well, wouldn't you know, there it was. The lady at the counter was also very nice when we brought the book up to her and explained the situation. She waived the late fee and sent us on our merry way. Mission accomplished.

Listening to: How to Deal
Reading: Le Morte D'Arthur by Sir Thomas Malory

Catch-up.

College has pounced upon with me with a finals-week ferocity and I haven't had time to post.

Before I forget them, there are a few quick anecdotes from Sunday I want to mention. First, I went over to Anne's house around three. She had been making candy all morning with her daughter and one of her friends. When I got there, they were cleaning up even though they hadn't finished making all of the candy. Apparently, they managed to burn out a Black&Decker mixer. Which meant when her son and my dad arrived, she instantly started telling them about how her power tool had burned out. Which got her son thinking. He came into the living room ten minutes later with one of the mixer attachments clicked into their power drill. The best part is that it worked!

Later that night, my aunt brought out some family history for me. I'd asked her about it a few weeks before and she finally found it and pulled it out. It was amazing! I found my grandma's patriarchal blessing and a pedigree chart that went back to the 1500s. There was also an entire book dedicated to the Foote family, the chief portion of which told the story of David Foote, who joined the Church in 1835. Probably the most exciting thing in there was the passing reference to the mummies he saw in Kirtland. In case you don't know what I'm talking about, during the Kirtland years Joseph Smith acquired several mummies. Encased with them were the papyri that became the Book of Abraham in the Pearl of Great Price.

Yesterday and today were chiefly spent trying to finish an English paper. I didn't succeed, but the teacher allowed deadline extensions. I'm really going to miss that professor. He was superb. It was kind of weird because he used to teach public speaking, so he is usually a very adept public speaker, but today he sounded like he was coming down with a sore throat. When asked about it, he said that he had just had a very emotional day. This became more apparent as he neared the end of class and was wrapping up, telling us about how wonderful we had been and quoting T. S. Eliot: "This is the way the world ends/Not with a bang but a wimper." As he got near the end of his remarks, my professor's voice started shaking more and I think he was almost overcome when he left the classroom. It was a melancholy parting for all in the class.

Tonight, I got together with my roommate and some of our friends for pizza and a movie. We watched Hancock. Afterward, since at 9 PM 24-hour quiet hours were supposed to start and carry on until the end of finals, we adjourned to my room because the way our suite is set up is unique and we have two doors between us and the hallway instead of the usual one. Almost everyone played Apples to Apples, but another girl and I sat and read MLIA entries. While everyone else was gone to walk someone to their car, we took the opportunity to make a youtube video, which can be found on my site. Our similar taste in TV shows is uncanny.

As a side note, my roommate got some multi-colored Christmas lights and strung them up above our window. They're inside the curtain so we can enjoy them. So far they've been on 24-7. I love the way the soft rainbow lights sparkle off our windchime as it turns slowly in the current from the air conditioning.

Listening to: Castle
Reading: Falcon Fever by Tim Gallagher

Procrastination.

I woke up today (or would that be yesterday, now?) around 11:30 and generally wasted the day clicking around on various time-wasting sites. When I finally got around to trying to do research for the paper I have due on Tuesday, I realized that since I was at my dad's house instead of on campus, I wasn't connected to the school's network and therefore didn't have access to the internet databases provided through the library. Well, poo. Since it was then around 4:30, I decided to do a load of laundry so the day wouldn't be entirely squandered. It was too cold outside, so I had to hang everything up in the bathroom. Too cold in Arizona? What kind of sick joke is this? Ah well. I suppose the desert has as much right to get chilly as any other climate on the planet. Especially at night. While it's certainly not parka weather, it can get a mite uncomfortable without a jacket. It seems some people are even breaking out the long johns.

But anyway. I spent the evening at Anne's house. A couple of her son's friends were over and we all sat down to watch Van Helsing. I got to pick the movie. Red, one of the friends, got uber-excited when she saw which movie I was putting in. About halfway through we made eye-contact and laughed a little because everyone else was asleep. I thought these high school kids were supposed to be night owls. No stamina, I tell you. Tsk.

After that was over, Anne and I were the only one's left since her son had to take his friends home since they have curfews and such. I popped in West Side Story to wile away the time since my dad was at my uncle's house watching the UFC fights on TV. He showed up not long after it started and sat down to watch with me. Anne was already asleep, but Dad managed to stayed awake most of the time. He'd only been asleep for a little while when I saw that it was already 11:30 and decided that maybe it was time to go home and go to bed. I think I'll continue with the Sharks and the Jets tomorrow (or is that today?). We left off on what I suppose would be the equivalent of the balcony scene.

I think it's time to call it a night, since my clock already says it's tomorrow.

Listening to: West Side Story
Reading: Le Morte D'Arthur by Sir Thomas Malory

Vlog.

I've spent way too much time in the past few days watching youtube. Namely, http://www.youtube.com/charlieissocoollike. It has inspired me to create my own video blog. Of course, I'm pretty sure most of you reading this already know. Nonetheless, I thought I'd mention it. If you find people sitting around talking about books boring, you probably wouldn't enjoy it, but if you're curious, the link is provided below.

http://www.youtube.com/americanaustenite

Listening to: "Bust a Move," Glee style
Reading: Le Morte D'Arthur by Sir Thomas Malory

Word nerd.

After math today, a friend and I went into the college bookstore. I had every intention of just getting a notebook to make notes at church, but my friend started browsing the shelves and before long I found myself sitting on the floor in front of an entire little section of books on the English language, including Eats, Shoots & Leaves and Biting the Wax Tadpole, both of which are books I saw and read about in the Bas Bleu catalog and am actually dying to own. Well, not literally dying, but definitely pining. Instead of walking away with either of those, though, I purchased Stone the Crows: Oxford Dictionary of Modern Slang. I am so excited! It covers English-language slang all the way through the 20th and 21st centuries, from all English-speaking countries. For example, "ace boon coon" came into being around 1962 and basically refers to a best friend. Groovy, no?

I did actually get a notebook, too. It's pretty awesome. It has a cool beach-with-palm-trees-and-sunset silhouette on the cover and it's an orange-red color that changes when you turn it in the light. I decided to get a two-subject notebook so I could use one part in church and use the other for my home scripture study. I was going to get two notebooks, but one just seemed so much more sensible.

Also, I'm thinking of starting a youtube channel in addition to this typed blog. My idea was to do video posts about books I've read or movies I've seen. I guess it would kind of be like reviewing them. Good idea or not? I may just do it anyway and darned to the depths with the man what thought up parley. Wait. Dang! That movie quote just does not work right there. Um, moving on.

Listening to: youtube.com/charlieissocoollike
Reading: Le Morte D'Arthur by Sir Thomas Malory

McBreakfast.

I forgot to mention last night that one of the talent show acts was called "McMuffin Making." Basically, a guy made a homemade egg McMuffin. All it took was two pieces of bread, a cup, an egg, and a griddle. Oh, and I suppose if you don't want to burn yourself flipping the egg by hand you might want a flipper-thing. Is it PC to call it a spatula? So first, the guy used the cup to cut circles out of the two pieces of bread. He used one of the leftover crusts as a mold for the egg. Now, I know this next part may sound tricky, but stay with me, huh? When the egg was done cooking, he cut it out of the bread and set the bread mold aside. Then, he put the egg between the two bread circles. And...tada! Yeah, that was it. I don't know why you would waste all that bread instead of just making an egg sandwich, but whatev.

Today was pretty awesome. After Institute I bought a copy of the Conference Ensign for eight bits, and not two and a half hours later I was officially done with physics labs. Forever! Well, I suppose I was done with actual, test-this-out labs last week, but I don't have to go to the lab class anymore, just the lectures. We took the lab final today, which was basically just a ten-question quiz over all of the labs we did. It wasn't too bad, and we were provided with blank copies of the labs if we needed to reread the directions.

Minor bummer: part of my newspaper was all torn up. I don't think it was just some malicious newsie either, since I saw later that a girl in the elevator had a newspaper with the same page torn. Maybe it was just a fluke in the printing. I wasn't too bummed, though, because the comics, the crossword, and the sudoku were all intact, and really, those are why I get the newspaper.

I got a nap in this afternoon, so I was able to stay awake during my physics lecture, which is fortunate because we were talking about nuclear fusion. And Einstein. I kept having the urge to abbreviate his name as Einy in my notes. I can't fathom why I didn't, but of course just thinking about doing it got my mind sidetracked with DeLoreans. Luckily, I was still able to focus because we were talking about uranium and...plutonium! There are just way too many parallels here...

Whoa, sorry! Got sidetracked on wikipedia just now. Did you know that Michael J. Fox initially turned down the role of Marty McFly because of scheduling conflicts?

English was rather uneventful. It was an optional-attendance day meant to be used for asking questions and doing research. Which, I sort of did.

The evening was wiled away with physics homework and explaining Elf Quest to my roommate.

And I just had a bit of a blog-scare. When I first went to publish, the site asked me to log in again, which looked bad from the onset. It wasn't a scam site, but my entry wasn't published! I freaked out for about 30 seconds before I remembered that blogger auto-saves drafts. Whew! That meant I only had to retype two paragraphs. Then of course I decided to add this one. That is all.

Listening to: Shakira on Pandora
Reading: Le Morte D'Arthur by Sir Thomas Malory

Backstreet's back.

FHE tonight was a multi-ward talent show. One word: epic.

Let's start with the emcees. Um, wow. Every other act they would come out in new costumes. First: Indiana Jones and Wolverine. Huh? Second: two of the Village People. Er... Third: a devil (not Sparky) and an angel. Fourth: a snorkler and a Michael Phelps-wannabee.

The entire show was amazing. I thought there were entirely too many guitar numbers, but hey. What can you do? And they were at least awesome, so it was okay. Numbers included "Out of My League" and that freefalling song. I'm going to feel really silly if it's just called "Freefalling." Is it?

The Fabulous Shelby (aka my VT) performed another dance number. This one was to "Ease on Down the Road" from The Wiz. Yeah, she's the one obsessed with Michael Jackson. I don't think this number was as good as her one at the ward talent show to "Billy Jean," though.

There was also an encore performance of Kayla's "Pippi Longstocking" monologue. She's so hilarious. Her facial expression are what really make the show.

But of course, the grand finale was the best. Four guys started out doing a sort of puppet show where they made these nifty little guys with their arms and hoodies. It took two people per character. They dance to clips from "Everytime We Touch" and some rap-ish song. It seemed way too short when they withdrew their arms and took the curtain away, but then the guys themselves came out and dedicated their next piece to all the ladies in the house. And then....they breakdanced to the Backstreet Boys! And stuff. They had a whole routine going! It was absolutely awesome.

On the way home, we sang "She Wolf" by Shakira. That's right, be jealous.

Listening to: "Rock Island" from The Music Man, as sung by my roommate
Reading: Le Morte D'Arthur by Sir Thomas Malory

Bonkers for pigeon.

Today I did my second interview for my falconry paper.

The man I interviewed today is much newer to falconry than Tim Riordan. He's only been doing it five years. It was really quite fun. At his house, falconry is a family affair. Meaning, his kids want to help. His little toddler was adorable. She was riding on his shoulders and she kept reaching out and trying to get Little Bird (a juvenile peregrine) to come to her. That is one nifty bird. When he catches something, he always takes it back to the house to eat it. I think it safe to say that that family is never getting rid of LB.

The man's other bird was a bit more ornery. He's a year-old peregrine and we spent twenty minutes waiting for him to come back so we could leave the field we were in.

The guy I interviewed treats his birds like friends. He talks to them and teases them, even though they don't understand him. I thought it was pretty awesome. I don't think his wife agrees with me.

Listening to: Monster Jam (TV)
Reading: Le Morte D'Arthur by Sir Thomas Malory

Rockstar.

On Thanksgiving, my morning was wasted away watching this fantastic show I found called Cake Boss and eating Chicken In a Biskit with EZ Cheese. I really am in love with cake decorating and want to learn. I watched several episodes, since it looked like the channel was having some sort of marathon. Perhaps the two coolest cakes were the one that looked like Audrey II from Little Shop of Horrors and the one shaped like a giant ring box with a huge, edible ring inside. The story behind that one is adorable. A man came in to the bakery and told the baker that it was his girlfriend's favorite place to eat and that he wanted to propose to her there. The cake was made and the real ring in its box was put on the cakeboard with it and the entire ensemble was put out on one of the display cases, complete with a little edible tag that read "Heather, will you marry me?" The couple came in and the boyfriend was innocuosly pointing out cool cakes. They got to the ring box and the girl's jaw dropped. The guy grabbed the real ring off the cake and got down on one knee. All of the customers and the bakery staff (who were hiding behind a corner) burst into applause. Daw...

Eventually I tore myself away from the tube and went the Anne's (my dad's girlfriend) house to help her and my dad prepare dinner. When the prep work was done and the turkey was in, we went over to my uncle's house for the family Thanksgiving dinner. I love my family. I'm glad I got to spend time with them today.

After that, we went back to Anne's house and she continued work on her Thanksgiving feast while my dad and I took naps in the living room. It was one of the most fantastic meals I've ever had. Two words: homemade stuffing. And that was the best turkey I've ever had. Usually I find it dry and disgusting, but Anne cooks hers a special way and it was tasty and moist. There was a plethora of pies for dessert, but I went with mince. It was ubertasty. I want to try one that actually has meat sometime.

Dinner was followed by Rock Band, courtesy of Anne's kids and some of her daughter's friends. A few songs in, Anne walked by and said that they should let me sing because I had an amazing voice. Um, no. How 'bout not? Unfortunately for me, while they were picking the next song, they let a sample of one of the selections start playing while they discussed something. It was "Anyway You Want It" by Journey. Needless to say, I started busting a move from my seat on the couch. Thus, everyone jumped on the Rebekah-should-sing bandwagon. Well, I did and it was awesome. I don't know about the quality of the singing, but I had tons of fun. After that, me and another girl traded off singing every other song. My next song was "Carry on Wayward Son," which I love! Score? Oh, definitely 100%. My last number was "Go Your Own Way" by Fleetwood Mac because my dad pointed it out, but he wouldn't sing it. He claims to have no talent. That may be so, but he certainly knows the words to an awful lot of songs.

Anne's daughter had to leave for another Thanksgiving shortly thereafter, but not two songs later (in which I played bass, while Anne's son did lead guitar), Anne got a phone call. Her daughter's house had been broken into and someone took her TV and her laptop. Since those were the only things missing and a bunch of other electronics and valuable books were left, they're pretty sure they know who it was, since the thief knew exactly what they wanted. Sad times, and the cops wouldn't even be able to make it until the morning because they have emergencies to attend to. Signs of the times?

Listening to: "Build Me Up Buttercup"
Reading: Le Morte D'Arthur by Sir Thomas Malory

SoBe.

First, let me quickly mention my recent Oregon Trail debacle. Everything was going all hunky-dorey until right before the Blue Mountains. My last ox died, and shortly thereafter I ran out of food. Somehow I had managed to miraculously make it that far with my party intact, but after a month of absolutely no food and noone willing to trade us an ox, two of my number succombed to silly things like cholera and measles. Eventually some kind soul traded an ox and we continued on. Some Indians even helped us find food, and yet I lost my other two companions. I stumbled in to Ft. Walla Walla all by my lonesome, cold, hungry, and penniless. I don't really know what happened after that. I switched to my word document to record my progress and when I came back the game had reverted to the start menu. I'm assuming I died. Or maybe I was translated! Anywho, in case anyone was wondering, since I needed five names for my party members, I chose Jane, Elizabeth, Mary, Catherine, and Lydia. If you can't figure out why that's silly, go read a book, mkay? Poor Lizzy had some new ailment every other day, but she hung in there until mid-December. She was the first to go. My, that sounds sinister, doesn't it? Also in case you were wondering, I left on April Fool's Day. And that's that.

So, SoBe. I really wish I had some. My favorite flavor is Nirvana, but it's nearly impossible to find, so I usually settle for Lizard Fuel, which is my second favorite. I really think I'm craving me some glass-bottled goodness because of the ginormous lizard my friend and I saw when we left our physics lab. We came out the door and there was this group of people gathered around a lizard on a leash, snapping pictures and listening to the leash-holder intently. My friend absolutely freaked. In a subdued sort of way, though. She definitely started walking faster and throwing the awesome little creature worried glances. Turns out she thought it was a komodo. I wish! But, no. Not only are they endangered, but I'm pretty sure they're poisonous, and I doubt any professor sane enough to be teaching wouldn't have all of their students huddled around it with nothing holding it back but a leash. And besides, our little Godzilla wasn't big enough to be a komodo. I don't think it was an iguana, either, though. In other words, I have no clue what kind of lizard it was. But it was fantastic. I wonder what class that was. Meh, it's probably some sort of fancy biology class I would never want to take. Man, I want me some SoBe Nirvana. Or eggnog. Eggnog's always good.

Listening to: "Evacuate the Dancefloor" by Cascada
Reading: Le Morte d'Arthur by Sir Thomas Malory

Maestoso.

Today, I took a little day-trip to Tucson to see a man about a falcon. Okay, not really, but it sounded cool. I did go to see a guy about falcons in general, though. Or more specifically, falconry, which really includes hawks, too.

Tim Riordan, president of the Arizona Falconers Association, agreed to meet with me to do an interview for a project for my English class. Whew! That sentence has way too many prepositional phrases.

We met at a little nature area on the north end of Tucson with a river where ducks like to land. Tim brought his two peregrine falcons, Mystique (F, 6 yrs.) and Little Johnny (M, 5 yrs.). Both were caught in the wild while they were young and trained as hunting falcons, which is legal. Has been since about 2003. Peregrines were taken off the endangered species list in 1999. Yeah, I found all that out today.

Mystique and Little Johnny have very different personalities. Tim says that Mystique is one of the easiest birds he's ever worked with and that she probably thinks she's human. On the other hand, Little Johnny would probably be wild again within three days if he were released.

Tim flew Mystique first. The ducks mysteriously vanished while he was getting her ready, so she just soared around until he called her back and gave her half a pigeon to eat. As luck would have it, right after he put her hood back on a bunch of ducks flew in. He tried flying her again, but she was done, so he brought out Johnny, who took considerably longer to get ready because he wouldn't sit still. With Sadie the golden retriever bounding along beside him, Tim was able to scare up some ducks for Johnny, so I got to see him swooping and diving. It. Was. Incredible. He didn't catch anything, but it was still awesome to see him.

Tim's been doing falconry for over forty years, and he was telling me that for novices, it's all about the kill, but for him it's become more about just getting to see the birds in action. If they had caught a duck, it would've been frozen and become part of their diet come next summer when it's too hot to fly. Tim was also telling me about how the falcons kill. He said they're some of the most "politically correct hunters" in the world. They always snap their prey's neck, killing it much quicker than say, a coyote, which just sort of eats the poor meal alive.

All in all, I think the only word to describe this experience is majestic.

Listening to: "You're the One that I Want"
Reading: The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen

Stealth mode.

My dad changed the oil in my car. It's kind of freaky, actually. My car is...quiet. It no longer sounds like it's trying to explode while it's idling. Dad says that my oil before he changed it looked like diesel fuel, which sounds kind of gross. I'm really excited. I feel like my car's in stealth mode now. [insert secret agent music]

Listening to: Win a Date with Tad Hamilton
Reading: The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen

Oh, good grief!

Somehow, I got talked into going to the midnight premiere of New Moon, and let me tell you, while it was better than the first movie, it was not epic enough to merit losing all that sleep. Harry Potter? Now that's something worth losing sleep over.

Anyway, my friend (also my dad's girlfriend's daughter) arrived at the theater at the crack of noon. The scariest part is that she was probably fifty or sixty people back in line. I don't want to know how long the people at the front of the line had been there.

My dad's girlfriend and I had to rush to get to the theater in time to be in the first hundred people they let in. They let people in in groups of a hundred or so at staggered intervals. I think this was mostly in an attempt to keep the workers at the concession stands from going insane.

The line was rather interesting. There were these girls about ten people ahead of us who kept quoting stuff in unison and singing. It was actually getting kind of creepy. And then they started singing "Count Your Many Blessings." That just seemed out of place. And then they started singing "I'll Make a Man out of You" from Disney's Mulan. I think the thing that scares me the most is how much it sounded like they must have practiced it. A lot. They were all together and all knew all the words. It's an awesome song, but there's a line that should not be crossed.

Since we were in that first hundred, we got to go in around 8:30. So we sat in the theater for the next three and a half hours. My companions napped, but I'm always paranoid that I'll oversleep (like that nap I took today that made me miss my math class...) so I just tried to amuse myself in the interim. I wrote some and sketched my friend, who was sleeping next to me, but then some loud person had to make their way down the row behind us and startle her awake before I was really satisfied with the portrait. Meh. I did take a really short nap.

From the sounds of the conversations around me, it seemed like most of the people in our theater were married-with-children LDS women having a night out with their friends. It was...weird... And that movie really did not warrant eight sold-out auditoriums in that theater alone.

And then there was the movie. It wasn't that horrible, but if I could say anything to any of the characters, I would round up all of the males, look them straight in the eyes, and say, "Put your shirt back on!" Way too many shirtless guys running around. I know that's part of why a lot of people love these movies, but really! I don't care whether you have washboard abs or not, you don't need to be running around half-naked. Good gravy!

And then there was that part that I think can only be described by quoting that tour guide from London: "frolicking like fawns in the forest." ...Bahahahaha! See, moments like that are why I can't take these movies seriously. If they were any cheesier, they would be French cuisine.

Listening to: 13 Going on 30
Reading: The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen

Triumph.

I've been feeling for some time now that the poor little moleskine I carry to church is just not big enough to fulfill all of my artistic needs. Love it to death, but sometimes I just need to draw big and bold! Um...yeah, maybe that exclamation point was a little much. Anyway, today I resolved to go to the bookstore and get a sketchbook.

On my way there, I passed a cheery sign advertising a book sale at said bookstore. That's when the foreboding settled in.

I'm bad enough in a bookstore on any day, but throw in a sale and what we have is a predicament. And I didn't have any friends along to keep me from buying everything I laid eyes on.

But this story has a happy ending. I not only found a suitable sketchbook and some drawing pencils, but I walked out of there literature-free! One small step for shoppers, one giant leap for Rebekah-kind.

Listening to: P. S. I Love You
Reading: The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen

"Boy! you guys really missed it..."

"...you should've been here yesterday."

So in 1966, some guy named Bruce Brown released a documentary about surfing. Yes, surfing. It was called The Endless Summer and it was about...an endless summer. The documentary followed two California surfers as they travelled around the world, going whithersoever there was an ocean and it was summer, questing for that perfect wave, but everywhere they went, local surfers met them with the refrain, "Boy! you guys really missed it. You should've been here yesterday."

Yes, this story has a point. Just hold on.

For some reason beyond me, my mom bought this fascinating hour-and-a-half long saga of surfing, surfing, and more surfing on DVD a few years ago. So, yes. I've seen it. Several times. Perhaps the most noteworthy thing about the movie is the epic beach music. It was scored by a group called the Sandals. Former bandmates include none other than John Gibson (Sr.) of Gallatin, MO. I know, right?

But that wasn't the point of the story. Here it comes.

I was walking back from history when I saw a guy wearing a tee shirt. Shocker, right? Psh. Who wears tee shirts? That's so two minutes ago. Anyway, the logo on the shirt was this:


Wow, dude. That's hard core. Having an obscure movie poster from 20 years before you were born on your shirt is just awesome. Me, I was so excited about it that the first thing I did was text my mom to tell her.

Listening to: 3 Doors Down on Pandora
Reading: The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen

Paradigm shift.

Oh, my poor English professor. I'm sorry you had to find out like this. Look on the bright side, old chap. It could've been worse. Much worse. Sooo much worse. Disastrous, even.

Today, attending my English class was optional. We could go if we wanted some assistance or just a place to focus. Or we could, you know, not. I was one of the five who went. The professor was asking us all how we were doing on our final project. When he got to me, he asked me if I was doing okay on finding sources, and I just had to laugh. Because frankly, I hadn't even looked. Sure, I'd thought about looking. But actually exerting some effort three weeks before the thing's due? Come on. Don't be silly. So I told him that. Basically. Boy, was it a shock for him when he learned that I was actually a procrastinator. He spent the next 15 minutes just trying to reconcile himself to that. He gave me a lot of funny looks, too.

Well, it's better that he find out now rather than later when I'm in full frenzy mode. Hopefully, it won't come to that. But I never know. Two interviews with professionals in the subject we're researching? Seriously, professor, must you ask so much?

Listening to: an mp3 of feedback on my essay from my professor
Reading: The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen

Chamber music.

FHE tonight was combined with several other wards. We had a guest speaker of sorts in the form of Dr. James Welch, Organist. It was a really awesome program. He alternated speaking and playing organ pieces, including arrangements of "Amazing Grace" and "Count Your Many Blessings," as well as Bach's Tocatta in D minor, which is that famous chamber music song. There were others, but those are the titles I remember. In between all this fantabulous music, he told the story about how he had married his wife. I really didn't understand what that had to do with playing the organ, but hey. Whatever floats his boat.

This guy was totally legit. If there is any doubt, look at the credits for hymn number 138. He wrote the music. That's what I call cool.

Listening to: The Veronicas
Reading: The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen

Spaghetti and meatballs.

Today for family dinner my aunt made lasagna and for dessert there were cupcakes. She'd taken a thin decorating tube and made the frosting look like spaghetti. Add some strawberry jelly and a round piece of chocolate and voila!

Listening to: the oldies on my dad's favorite radio station
Reading: The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen

A mid-November evening's enjoyment.

My day was wiled away with reading, but my evening was rather remarkable.

It began at 5. I don't really know what's technically considered "evening," but that's where mine began.

A friend picked me up at the Institute building and we went to her house and made cookies. It was a rather fun time just hanging out. We didn't really do much cooking, though. The goods were the pull-apart kind. We made white chocolate macademia nut and these nifty cookies with teensy peanut-butter cups on top. On a completely unrelated note, she has the coolest little dog. It's an adorable little chihuahua named either Mini or Minnie. I asked which way it was and my friend told me it was whichever I wanted.

When our cookies were done, she took me over to my dad's girlfriend's house. Anne (my dad's girlfriend) and I went to see A Midsummer Night's Dream at her son's high school. He's on the stage crew.

It was actually a totally awesome performance. It was in the school's outside amphitheater and they "updated" the setting, taking it from Ancient Greece to the '60s. They left the dialogue in its original form, though, with a few added one-liners. And it was absolutely hilarious. Puck was awesome. Oberon was awesome. Bottom was awesome. The fairies were awesome. The lovers were awesome. Hermia's dad was awesome. It was just awesome, okay? I think they stuck their 10-minute intermission in a really weird place, though. It's been a while since I read it, but as near as I can tell the intermission was between Acts IV and V. The play was almost over. The intermission was really fun, though. One of the cast members was trying to sell wooden peace sign necklaces that he had carved. Their major selling point seemed to be that they "smelled like earth." They were actually pretty nifty and only $1. I definitely got one.

It was rather an enjoyable evening.

Listening to: "Sweet Home Alabama"
Reading: The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen

That's a bad day.

As I was getting off the elevator on my way to dinner, a guy got off the opposite elevator wearing nothing but a towel. Yeah...awkward...I just kept walking, eyes on the doors, but I heard him go up to the front desk and tell the girl there, "Um, I got locked out of my room." Poor guy.

Listening to: "Magic Man" by Heart
Reading: The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen

Bibliophile.

With no free time and books lined up on my desk in take-a-number fashion, just waiting to be read, what's the logical thing to do? Why, buy more books of course!

You know what, it wasn't entirely my fault. It's not like I sought them out. There was a sidewalk book sale next to Hayden Lawn with big, printed signs that read "LAST DAY." I didn't mean to buy anything; I was just going to look and see what was there. Far too many classics that I've been dying to read, that's what.

If there's anything I have a weakness for, it's books.

Don't worry. I only bought two, spending a grand total of $9.

First, I got Timeline by Michael Crichton. I was ranting about how Gerard Butler was Scottish (not Irish) last night, and somehow I would up reading trivia about the movie Timeline on IMDb. Yeah, I dunno. But anyway, it said online that the producers made the director cut out a subplot and that there were some other things that deviated from the book. It just seemed so serendipitous when I found a copy that I just sort of decided to go with it. $4.

Second, John Steinbeck's chunky, 601-page East of Eden. The only thing I've actually read by Steinbeck is The Grapes of Wrath, so I'm really rather against the guy, but the same two teachers who ganged up and got me to read The Fountainhead assure me that East of Eden is much better than that ridiculous, climax-less, lying-in-the-grass volume in which the only good chapter was the intercalary one about a turtle. Considering how much I loved The Fountainhead, I'm just going to trust them. $5.

Getting into that last stretch in the plot where I can't put a book down until I finish those last few chapters then suddenly it's over and it's 3 in the morning? Priceless.

Listening to: "Beauty and the Beast"
Reading: The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen

He's a musical genius. Just take him.

Shelby and Moriah, my visiting teachers, came over tonight. After about an hour of Shelby explaining almost everything she knew about Michael Jackson, Moriah shared three minutes of a spiritual thought. Then Shelby jumped right back into the life and times of MJ.

Among other things, she told us about a video he had been in that was made for Disneyland in the '80s. I don't even know. I was going to embed it in my post, but apparently blogger is taking issue with that. You can find it on youtube. It's called "Captain Eo." Just...yeah.

edit: Well, of course it didn't occur to me last night to just post the links.
PART I: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AstW05bDiQU
PART II: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2Zt-57Cg0U

Listening to: "Prince Ali"
Reading: The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen

Cookies and hysterical laughter.

The Relief Society in my ward does this thing once at month at the bishop's house called Cookies and Conversation. Basically, the sisters get together and eat cookies (homemade by the bishop's wife) and converse. It sounds normal enough. Ish. But when the fact that it's a singles' ward gets taken into consideration, the result is what is commonly known as "girl talk." Sometimes this is gossip. Sometimes it's serious. Mostly though, it's one of those "you just had to be there" things.

For example:

Shelby, one of my visiting teachers and a fantastic dancer. You should've seen her in the talent show doing an en pointe routine to "Billy Jean." I don't know what was up with her tonight, but she just could not remember the names of famous people at all. First, she was trying to think of a certain singer's name. The clues she gave us were that his name started with an R and he'd had, like, four hit songs in the '90s. Not that she could think of any of the songs. Answer? Ricky Martin. Then later, she was telling a story about Michael Jackson, and she was trying to think of who she'd seen doing an interview with him. Question: "Who's that girl with that show with all the flowers and crap?" Answer: Martha Stewart. We were so loud. And getting quite the workout. I think I laughed harder than I did during FHE.

Then this girl named Esther was telling us stories about her mission in Paraguay. And about how she and her sister got two foot-long sandwich combos at Subway for 10¢.

And that's just a sampling. I love my ward.

Listening to: "You're So Vain"
Reading: Peter Pan by J. M. Barrie

The foot book.

I was printing something for English today when I remembered that my printer moonlights as a scanner. Well naturally I just got the impulse to play with this fanciness, but the only new stuff I had to scan was the notebook I take to church. So this is what I do in Sacrament meeting.

These little notebooks are so neat. They're called moleskines. And you may have noticed the abundance of feet. That's because feet are the best subject matter I can find during church. The speakers won't hold still long enough!

And while I'm talking about "moonlighting," let me just take this opportunity to shamelessly plug my favorite webcomic. It's about bootleggers in St. Louis during Prohibition. Oh yeah, and all of the characters are cats. http://lackadaisycats.com/

Listening to: smooth jazz

Reading: Peter Pan by J. M. Barrie

Breakfast.

The Orange Dream Machine from Jamba Juice tastes like a creamsicle.

Listening to: "Voulez-Vous (Extended Remix, 1979 US Promo)"
Reading: Peter Pan by J. M. Barrie

Party car.

So I got up at 5 AM to finish a Spanish paper that was due today. I was kind of proud of myself for finishing, since my rough draft was only a short introduction and four one-sentence paragraphs. I managed to get almost two pages. Thank you, wikipedia. I don't know why I was crazy enough to try to write about Old Hollywood film genres in a foreign language. I still don't know what film noir is called in Spanish. But I did figure out how to say dryer hose. Maybe. My translation may be incorrect. It's something like manguera de secadora.

My Spanish class is slowly dwindling in numbers. As my Institute teacher would say, the Mattress Monster got them. My early-morning Institute class is also dwindling, but I don't have that until tomorrow. That would probably make a really funny youtube video: a parody of zombie movies about a mattress monster. Yeah, this could work...

But any way. I love my history class. We're playing Oregon Trail soon. The online link the teacher gave us for those who don't have a version of the game is even to one of those ancient Apple versions where you don't use the mouse at all. Hunting is a bit tricky, though.

Math was rather uneventful, as usual. The teacher did spend most of the class talking about once and future tests. Then when there were 20 minutes left, she told us we were going to review compound interest really quick since that was what the quiz was over. I think she may have forgotten that we've never gone over compound interest since she spent the entire previous class talking about simple interest. Fortunately for me, I'm not only a quick study and good with a calculator, but I've also learned this stuff before. Thank you, high school math teacher. Most of the rest of the class was not so lucky. Our teacher has a rather unique method and lets us help each other on our quizzes and use our notes. Then, when we turn them in she looks them over and makes us fix things if they're wrong. Unfortunately, most of the class was having serious issues with this concept they'd only learned 10 minutes prior. The teacher eventually gave up and told them to take the quizzes home and bring them back Friday (no class Wednesday) since we were out of time. I knew all my answers were right; I'd triple-checked them. And yet I still had to wait in a humongous mob to turn it in and get out of there. Bleh.

My roommate and I were watching Mamma Mia! before FHE, since she'd never seen it before and now I have all the songs stuck in my head. I only know bits so they're getting all jumbled up. It's actually quite amusing.

FHE, however, was probably the highlight of my day. I don't know who comes up with these activities, but we were divided into cars and sent off to an apartment complex that it turned out didn't exist to knock on doors and see if people would answer a survey for us. The funnest part was the ride over. Somehow we wound up with seven people in a car that only had five seatbelts. You know, one of those little four-doors where everyone in the back can only buckle up if the one in the middle is the size of a ten-year-old. Although the one guy in the group wanted to get in the trunk, the driver of the car put her foot down on that one. We agreed he should ride shotgun since it would be rather awkward to have him in the back with four girls. So that left five of us to fit in the back as best we could. The first four were alright. We just squeezed and there you had it, but the fifth was a bit of a problem.We couldn't fit another pair of hips on the seat and the roof was too low to accommodate sitting on laps comfortably, so the fifth girl ended up laying acrost us.
This led to a long bout of giggling. I don't know how it started, but we were all just chatting away when the driver got a phone call. She asked us to be quiet and we really tried, but the girl laying down soon discovered that when someone laughed she could feel it. Apparently it was a humorous sensation as she got a case of the giggles, which set two more of us off when she snorted. We were laughing hysterically for ten minutes. Not even trying to think of something serious could turn it off. I love laughing like that, laughing so hard that there's no sound and my eyes start watering and all the muscles in my stomach start aching from the unexpected workout. It's rather cleansing.
There's some really awesome quote about that from The Perks of Being a Wallflower, but I can't find it. Oh well.
edit: Robb found the quote for me!
"There's nothing like the deep breaths after laughing that hard. Nothing in the world like a sore stomach for the right reasons." -The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Listening to: Mamma Mia!
Reading: Peter Pan by J. M. Barrie

Ah-so.

As per the norm, I was picked up after church to spend the day with my dad and his girlfriend, followed by family dinner at my aunt's or uncle's house (they live next to each other).

Today, my dad's girlfriend and her daugher picked me up. I think my dad and his brother were off playing with their quads. We met my dad and his girlfriend's son at a Japanese restaurant named Ah-so. My dad's girlfriend and his daughter like to surprise me, so they didn't really tell me where we were heading. It was a hibachi grill! I love those. I've only been to one (Sakura, in Topeka, KS), but I am totally in love with them. A neat trick the cook did that I don't remember them doing at Sakura (I may have just missed it) was how he cracked the eggs. He set them spinning them tossed them up and down with the spatula. Finally he caught them on the edge of the spatula, which cracked them in half. It was awesome. And of course he made a volcano out of the onion. If you've never been to one, go! Run! Eat! It's fantastic, if a little pricey.

After that, my dad's girlfriend, her daughter, and I went to Walmart. Since my dad's girlfriend recently hurt her hip riding quads at the Imperial Sand Dunes, she got to play with those motorized carts. They kept breaking down, though. They were kind of a let down. But I got some awesome over-the-knee socks so I can break in my Harley Davidson riding boots. I've had a distinct shortage of long socks.

Listening to: Hairspray
Reading: Peter Pan by J. M. Barrie

Sabbath thoughts.

"By their fruits ye shall know them."

The Book of Mormon, the restoration of sacred ordinances, the charity, everything that every prophet since has done to further the work. These are Joseph Smith's fruits. The peace and the light they bring are as powerful as the cosmos. How can anyone deny the truth of things so majestic? And if these things are true, then Joseph Smith must be a prophet, for nothing so immense could come from a man. They can only come from God, who has power over all of Creation.

Minus one miracle.

So football.

ASU isn't doing so hot. We played USC tonight, and if the guy who sat next to me is to be believed, we've lost to them for eight years running. Tonight did nothing to change that. Alas.

You can't really blame our quarterback. Whatever his skill level, I don't think the crowd booing him every time he goes on the field is doing anything to improve his game. Of course, the crowd stepped the displeasure up a notch by demanding the coach put the freshman quarterback in, even though Sullivan (the starter) was actually making more complete passes than usual.

Naturally, the crowd was ecstatic when Sullivan came back from halftime wearing a white baseball cap. Buggets if I know what was up with the hat, but it was wildly apparent that he wasn't going to be playing the second half. Osweiler's not bad, but he's still kind of green when it comes to college football. He played really well at the beginning of the third quarter and right at the end of the fourth. I think the pressure might have messed with his game some.

Backing up a bit, we scored a field goal in the first quarter. I guess they didn't want to risk Sullivan trying to get the ball a grand total of six yards.

Unless I'm mistaken (it was a long night), USC either scored two touchdowns in the second quarter or one in the second and one in the third. Somehow they got to 14 points before the fourth quarter.

However it happened, Osweiler threw a beautiful pass to get us a touchdown in the third. The extra point was no good, which brought us up to nine points. With our awesome defense, who I think are a little shaken from all the recent losses, all we needed was a single touchdown, extra point or no, and to keep USC from scoring again.

But no. We almost had it, too. After USC having the ball for most of the quarter, we got it again, but then they got it again, until finally we had it with two minutes left. We drove it to about the 30-yard line (I'm probably off), and the clock was ticking down. I think Osweiler was really feeling the pressure. We had a lot of downs that quarter when we didn't get anywhere. But then, on what was obviously the last play of the game, he threw a beautiful pass, all the way into the endzone. If any of our guys had been anywhere near it, it would have been a magnificent win. Now wait a minute, I said "if." Our nearest guy was ten yards away on the wrong side of the endzone. As it was, the ball flew right into two USC guys. As the game ended, they were saying it was an interception, but while I can see how that's technically true, the pragmatic part of me doesn't really see how they can justify call it that since there was no one standing behind them waiting to catch it and therefore they didn't really "intercept" anything. Good golly, it practically smacked them in the faces! How could they not catch it?

Well, okay. That actually happened to one of our guys earlier on in the quarter. The ball literally bounced of his helmet and he failed to catch it. As the guy behind me put it (making an obvious jab at the quality of Sullivan's throwing), "He's just not used to the ball being thrown right to him."

And so we lost. I was really surprised at how fast everyone left. Usually I can just scurry out of there right when it's over and be on my merry way. Win or lose, people usually take their time getting out. Not today. Whoaho, buddy, not today. The only thing I can compare it to is when cows are being driven through those fenced-in channels and they're all crammed together flank-to-flank and they're stepping on the hooves of the bovine in front of them. It was like that, but with a bunch of people in ASU shirts. I was really not enjoying it. In fact, I was starting to feel the beginnings of panic. I am really not okay with crowds. I had to distract myself by thinking about the cow analogy.

And so it was that I came home and had Haagen Dazs mango sorbet for dinner. And two of my roommate's otter pops.

Listening to: smooth jazz
Reading: Peter Pan by J. M. Barrie

And so it begins.

As with so many other things (xanga, deviantart, facebook, farmville), someone I know just made blogging look so cool that I had to try it. It was this or Spanish homework. I hope my xanga doesn't get jealous. Really though, it's been so long that I'm sure my xanga has forgotten all about me by now. It's probably moved on, maybe even settled down and had a few little xangas of its own. If so, I wish it every imaginable happiness.

Now, some of you not in the know might be wondering about the title, so let me explain. An Austenite is a very special kind of bibliophile (you're just going to have to look that one up). Namely, one in love with the works of Jane Austen. While I certainly don't discriminate against other literature (quite the opposite: I'm always looking for more to read), the works of the Authoress are indisputably my favorites.

Moving on to that whole blogging thing, there's not much to say about my day thus far. I only woke up about an hour and a half ago. So far all I've done this (technically) morning is harvest my animal by-products on farmville and eat a piece of re-heated pizza.

Now the pizza is actually an interesting story. I hope the parties involved won't mind my telling it. It involves my roommate and a guy friend of hers. He was texting her and asking if she wanted to go running with him and a friend of his and then get pizza. She was out and about and made all the proper excuses, all of which were true. When she got back from her excursion, he was still eating pizza and still wanted her to come join him, but she had homework and such. So he offered to bring her some on his way home.
This is the part where I come in. That night, I was up until 1:30AM on facebook. No sooner had I logged off, put out the lights and crawled under the covers, than the door opened and my roommate came in whispering. I was a bit confused for a minute, since she doesn't normally talk to herself, until a second, definitely masculine voice joined in. They quickly went back out into the hall. Before she closed the door, my roomie saw me turn and look at her, so she knew I was awake and could let her back in.
Well, I was having trouble falling asleep anyway, so when she ded come back in, we tripped on all the lights and what did I discover but that we had somehow acquired two pizza boxes that we now had to wedge into the fridge. It's kind of weird when the first question after "Hi" is "Do you have any Ziploc bags?" As she was taking the shelves out of the fridge and cramming all the juice boxes into the freezer, she asked me if I wanted some pizza.
Now, I'm not crazy. I'm not going to pass up free pizza when it rears its greasy head. Who cares if it's approaching 2 AM? So I started opening up the boxes and my mouth dropped open in astonishment. I guess "some pizza" actually translates to 2 1/2 whole pies. This was Monday or Tuesday. We're still working on the leftovers. I'd say we still have almost an entire pizza crammed into an off-brand Tupperware dish. Not that I mind. I usually eat my pizza backwards because I want to get the nasty crust out of the way first, but these edges are better than breadsticks! I may have it for lunch, too.

Football later.

Listening to: Dido on Pandora
Reading: Peter Pan by J. M. Barrie