dating tips from a kid

So Alec Greven wrote this book about 9 months, sold it at his school book fair for $3 apiece, and now it's making national news... (oh and he's also from Colorado)



Here's an article

Want to buy it? you can also buy it at Amazon

If you buy it, tell me so that I can say, "REALLY!??" and then laugh at you.

concerning BYU's loss to Utah

I wish I had found this a week ago, please enjoy:

do you feel like laughing?

You can find this screenplay at the following link:
http://www.ericdsnider.com/snide/my-rejected-twilight-screenplay/

It's Eric Snider's rejected screenplay of the all too famous Twilight movie that made 35.7 million last Friday alone. (just fyi it's staring Kristen Stewart, and Robert Pattinson, and isn't good unless you've read the book)

Scene 1
BELLA: I'm sad to leave the hellish, uninhabitable wasteland of Phoenix to live in a rain-soaked town full of rubes. I wish everything about my comfortable and privileged life were completely different!
DAD: Hi, Bella! Welcome to Forks, Washington. I'm glad you've stopped playing mother to your own flighty, irresponsible mom and come here to be my mother instead.
BELLA: It will be my pleasure to cook and clean for you.
DAD: I bought you an old truck from an Indian in a wheelchair!
BELLA: I ... have no response for that.
* * * * *
Scene 2
BELLA: It's tough being the new kid in school! Especially when everyone is so friendly and helpful and interested in me. Why can't they just leave me alone so I can sit in the corner and cut myself?
CLASSMATE: You're awesome, Bella!
BELLA: See what I have to put up with? Hey -- who are those hot people over there
CLASSMATE: Those are the Cullens. They avoid direct sunlight, they don't eat food, they sleep in coffins in a graveyard, and holy water burns them. I think they're Canadians.
BELLA: They sure are spectacularly gorgeous.
CLASSMATE: Yes, they are.
BELLA: I mean seriously, those people are BEAUTIFUL. Especially the one who keeps looking at me. Man alive, that guy is stunning. I mean, wow. He is hot buttered seduction on a stick. I'm not interested in him sexually, of course, because sex is dirty, but wow -- LOOK AT HIM! Yee-ikes! Hubba hubba! If you don't mind, I'd like to spend the next 75 pages talking exclusively about how attractive he is, and then bring it up again every paragraph or so for the remaining 400 pages.
CLASSMATE: Knock yourself out.
* * * * *
Scene 3
EDWARD: Hi, I'm Edward. I'm every girl's fantasy boyfriend: moody, humorless, violent, capable of snapping your spine with my bare hands, liable to do creepy things like watch you while you're sleeping, but also really cute.
BELLA: There is something strange about you.
EDWARD: (recoils at her garlic breath) I don't know what you mean.
BELLA: I just can't put my finger on what it is.
EDWARD: (lifts automobile with one hand) You're imagining things.
BELLA: I feel like you're hiding something from me.
EDWARD: (grabs passing rabbit with lightning speed; drinks rabbit's blood) Don't be silly!
BELLA: It's like you're different somehow.

... to see the rest/original click on the link up top, or right here.

I'm a video game character

On a whim I googled my name and guess what, I'm the heroine of an adventure video game called Natalie Brooks Secrets of Treasure House.

I can now die happy. I will forever be immortalized in an online game.

Here's how the game works: I'm an "intrepid heroine" and my fate is in YOUR hands... apparently one part of the game includes searching my diary for clues that can unlock a secret "so stunning" it's life changing...


... I'm actually impressed that characters in video games are given such depth. I mean, a first and last name? Sweet.


I love google.

Bishop Allen

So Alli and I were feeling lame and were like "we need to go to a concert"... even though NO ONE comes to SLC (but of course they go to Boulder & Denver *ineedtogohome*). She did find a concert for the band Bishop Allen... apparently she has every ep of theirs, but I'm a new fan.



so anyways. I liked them a lot. I bought a shirt.

Some other bands that played were An Horse, The Electric Owls, and this other guy (Drew Danburry?) he had a big beard. (btw I think the electric owls is a funny name, I can't help but imagine an owl flying into a power line. I bought his ep.)

It was a lot of fun. The venue (Kilby Court) was really small though, it was a garage... like really, it was. It was fun to have it be so small, but it sold out fast...

oh and I think Bishop Allen had a lot of fun. After they played a few songs people started warming up and singing along to the lyrics that they knew, the lead singer (Justin) totally started smiling and getting really excited... although at one point the bassist Keith started playing with the lights on the ceiling with his guitar (there were big-bulb Christmas lights hanging all over), so maybe he was a little bored. They closed with Butterfly Nets, I like that song.

My favorite moment of the night:
*we walked in and got our hands stamped... the stamp was smudged but looked something like a globe with writing surrounding it*
Alli: Oh what does the stamp say?
Ticket Girl: It says Peace in 5 language
*I don't know why, but I think it was realy funny and it made my night. Sometimes things are too perfect*


Alli's favorite moment of the night:
Guy: Wait, so this band is An Whore?
Me: Yeah, but it's actually An Horse
Guy: Wait, An Horse, or An Whore?
Me: Horse
Guy: Wow, An Whore, what a funny name.
Me: NO An HORSE, like a pony, Neeeehhhheee. (yes I totally made a horse sound)
*then everyone laughed at me*

this is how I roll

Here's how I've changed majors: nursing> clinical laboratory science> nutritional science> dietetics > political science > dietetics.... > Latin American Studies

So how/why did I make my decision to change to Latin American Studies?

It was the easiest major I could find :) (abt 40hrs...dietetics is 80 and a whole lot of chemistry)

:D college is fun, but lets face it: It is still school, and I don't like school!! I just want to get out of here asap!!

*peace*

20

So Saturday was my birthday and I'm 20 now... I feel just as irresponsible as I did on Friday.

One of my friends covered my window with paper spelling" HAPPY BIRTHDAY NATALIE!" Once I get a camera I'll take a picture and post it here.

brooklyn

Y love the Y? This is reason #14:


I get to take bowling as my physical education GE! (need I say more?)

So twice a week I bowl for approx 1 1/2 hrs. I'm picking up on the lingo such as "BROOKLYN!!!" (crossing pockets either 1-2 or 1-3 depending on what hand you use), or "You can pick 'em up!", or "wow that was a great hook"... I feel kinda retro... and I can't wait until I get my first Turkey.

Really? Yes,I am getting college credit for hanging out and bowling.

(I'm taking this class as a 2nd block (sorta like a quarter class but it's double the time) because I dropped my New Testament class).

byu magazine

If you get the BYU Magazine, this post concerns you.

I'm one of 9 BYU students quoted in the cover article. I sent in a post card that talked about a difference between Provo and Bolivia (how about Provo and anywhere else? Really not that hard to do). I'm student #2, but also make sure to read #4 (earthquake in China! Crazy story).

I wouldn't have spent the time, and $1.50 on postage to mail BYU the postcard, but they said I'd be entered into a drawing for $500. I didn't win the drawing... so now I'm going to try to milk this BYU magazine "fame" for all it's worth because so far only my parents and grandma have read it.

this video made my day, and I'm now unemployed

There are lots of perks to elections. SNL gets better, I have a reason to get up everyday, I can focus on petty banter between candidates instead of depressing world events etc...
Here is one example (and it doesn't matter who you support in the election, it's funny)

... and this year I got a job because of the elections! I got to work for the Utah County Democratic Party since my first day back at school. This last week has been the most fun because I got to call people and tell them where their voting location is and tell them about their state legislature candidate.

But come Tuesday I'm out of a job.

... the hunt begins

COLORADO- don't forget :)

Can I just say I spent more time reading over CO's ballot and looking up the amendments and people than I did on some homework assignments! Thank goodness for mail in ballots...

...I really am curious about the define a person amendment, what will it do to carpool lane laws? Which leads me to my endorsement.

I'd like to endorse Tom Tobiassen for RTD board: http://www.tomforrtd.com/
Be honest, you've got to love his 'stash.

just life, nothing interesting

1) I finished my independent study class (HLTH 480 - International public health) my sister Ashley was my cheerleader and gave me some pointers along the way. It feels SO good to have it done. And I love what I learned, and how much I learned. I actually appreciate the work I had to do for that class.

2) To celebrate, my friend Alli and I ate pizza and brownies and watched Arrested Development on Monday

3) I wish I was friends with Michael Cera

4) It's midterms now... tests, tests, tests...oh and I forgot... one more test

6) The first half of the semester did go by quickly though

Pandora's 6 degrees of seperation

Do you know about Pandora radio?(if you haven't heard of it, you're in for a surprise). It's free online radio.

On Pandora you can make a radio station based off of a band or song that you like and it will play similar songs & artists.

... Often when I use it and click on the "thumbs up" or "thumbs down" button, the station drifts away from my intended "genre" or mood. Sorta like 6 degrees of Seperation (I sometimes wonder if I clicked on the right songs if I could move from a folk station to a heavy metal station)

But I discovered last night that Spoon (at least for me for the past couple days) is a really good "station"

the long overdue Bolivia post

*I posted on Saturday too, so don't forget to scroll down and see that post too*

Since a picture is "worth a thousand words", and I really like to talk, I'll just post up a bunch of pictures and spare you all. They are all mixed up and out of order because I'm not so great at adding pictures to this site. -- still to come: Peru (including Machu Picchu)

Rooftop photo of The Igelsia de San Francisco. Taken in La Paz, my first week.


The Same church, San Francisco

Moon Valley. Kinda like the badlands, but just a small valley. This was just outside La Paz.


Breakfast in Oruro. Yes that is Platano con leche that I'm drinking... oh so good

This in Copacabana, which is on Lake Titicaca. There was a religious festival going on. My last night in Boliva, the next day we went to Peru.


Llamas used in religious ritual. I took this picture in the "witches market" in La Paz during my first week.

Tiwanaku, ruins that are a little ways out of La Paz.


Me at Tiwanaku.

A Cholita walking In El Alto/ La Paz. took this my first week there.


A Condor preforming just outside of a church in La Paz


Police that were decked out for a miner's demonstration in Oruro.


Two of the nurses, Nick, and me

The CIES Clinic where I worked in Cochabamba


My nurse friend, Liz

Two little girls and me


My Peruvian friends that I lived with, danced with, cooked with... Helen and Noelia


The largest salt flats in the world. Salar de Uyuni. (it was freezing so I wore a blanket the whole day)

Twilight trailer

So I'm pretty excited for the Twilight moving coming out November 21st. I'm not confident that it will be great since it doesn't have any really well known actors... I mean Rob Pattinson gets the most kudos, and he had a small part in one Harry Potter movie. And the script writer wrote Step Up, which isn't my style of movie... oh and The O.C. (I couldn't even handle the commercials for it).

I'll post some handy links at the bottom of this if you're interested in some hookups. But I'm really blogging because I saw this video on youtube that I thought was funny... I laughed out loud at the "snack" scene and the "no! He wants my candy bar" line.

*this only has a chance of being funny to you if you've seen the trailers (click on the movie website link for these), and if you're like me and secretly care about the movie*




And now for links you may like:

The Movie Website This web site has 2 trailers, a making of the movie thing, and a 1 min fight scene.
The newest/ final trailer This is the best trailer probably. The music reminds me of LOTR. Make sure to click on the "exclusive" trailer.
The extended fight scene This is most likely a semi-illegal extended version of the fight scene (3+ min) that was released at some twilight movie festival thing that I don't know anything about obviously.
A short clip in Edward's house self explanatory
Greenhouse Scene If you have a life, don't bother watching this one. It's really bad quality. And it's kind of boring and will make you worried about seeing the movie.

DID YOU KNOW...

First off... I posted 4 posts tonight (but dated them for the days that it happened) so be sure to scroll down and check them out.

Foreign aid health programs are actually profitable!!! Like zomgosh, Natalie must be full of it! Sometimes even returning $60 for every $1 spent (tuberculosis).

I'm working on my international health class and I'm reading Levine articles and I'm so astonished! I mean, I've always been pro-health & public health in developing countries (well all countries)... but it was for ethical and personal beliefs concerning human rights. But I never considered the economic effects!! (see below and feel free to click on links for more info)


Think about it. Here is a generalized and oversimplified way of explaining it:

You have a disease or parasite that is perpetrating poverty because it debilitates adults (and children). This means that they can't work because they are sick/bedridden/ handicapped. It also means sick children can't go to school (feeding the poverty cycle), it increases malnutrition in children (because parents can't care for them if they themselves are sick), malnutrition leads to other health complications making health care even more expensive.

Then someone rich and smart comes along and says, "hmmm I'll pay to implement a program that will change behavior, increase accesses to basic an easy health care...etc". And in the long run prevent the problem, leading to eradication.

Once the target population is alleviated from the epidemic they can work, go to school etc.. which helps the economy. Which not only stops human suffering, stops the poverty cycle (and we won't even go into how that alleviates political unrest).

Here are some examples of cost effectiveness:

Small Pox: Because of the eradication of Small Pox, every 26 days the US saves the amount we contributed to the eradication of Small Pox because we no longer have to vaccinate and treat the disease.

TB in China: an economic rate of return of $60 for each dollar invested.

Guinea Worm: economic rate of return based on agricultural productivity alone has been estimated at 29 percent

Onchocerciasis/ River Blindess: Project totaled $600 million. The annual return on investment was calculated to be about 20%, primarily attributable to increased agricultural output; about $3.7 billion will be generated from improved labor and agricultural productivity.

BEAUTIFUL

debate

I watched the debate. I gave my dad a 15 min thorough brake down of my thoughts and reactions to what both candidates said... so you're spared. (I'm slightly annoyed though because he only remarked on one issue to me... I got shafted).

I did laugh when Barack called John "Jim". oops. He needs to work on that impromptu speaking.

I will tell you this though: "I'm asking you to BELIEVE."

can i brag?

Ok so I'm a bad student. Like a really bad student. I don't go to class (or go to the wrong one), I stay up late, and I definitely never study for tests. I just don't... I am incapable of studying and/or cramming.

It's kind of a problem.

So when I am successful in school, I have to brag because it's rare. To give you a better Idea of my track record: Last time I bragged was when I finally got above a 90% on a test/ quiz (first time ever)... it was on at the very end of my freshman year and it was an 11 question religion quiz. I posted a picture of my score on this blog. Lame

This time it was two things.
I got a 39/40 on my Egypt paper for History (class average was 33/40).

I got a 33/33 on my online stats HW tonight. It took me 2 hours and when I started I almost left the lab to go cry (honestly, I do cry easily) because this one TA was super rude to me. I ended up working with some other students and we totally cranked our way through it. Accomplishment felt sooo good.

story of my life...

Disclaimer: I promise this is true, and I promise I am intelligent.

There is no easy way to say this, so I'll just put it out there. For the first 4 weeks of school (as of today, Thursday) I went to the wrong Religion class.

soak that up. 4 weeks of the wrong lectures, wrong hw.

Everyone I've told is astonished and can't believe I was that unaware for 4 weeks.

Here is my defense.
MY REAL New Testament class is on T TH 1pm room 110 JSB.
I went to the New Testament class on T TH 1pm room 110 JKB.
When I copied down my schedule I either slipped and wrote a K or wrote so badly that I read it as a K. Really, what are the chances that on the same day, time, and room number there would be the same subject being taught in a different building and that I would just happen to encounter that bad luck?

I'll tell you the chance... 100%

it's funny but completely sad. My "wrong" teacher has been teaching us chronologically, and my "real" teacher has been doing thematic lessons... so I can't just start going to my real class and be just dandy. And if I petition to stay in the "wrong" class and succeed, I still miss this weekends test.

yup. but it's a good story. I'll add it to the list.

this is stats

When you have a class of 100+ students, someone is bound to make a comment that is silly.

It happened in history today, but I have a feeling the guy in history will consistently make bad comments, so I'll wait for a better one. Instead, I'm going to tell you about the one in statistics.

We were discussing how surveys can be biased, and the importance of large numbers and randomness.
Our teacher showed this graph of Bush's approval rating. We weren't talking about politics at all... only observing that some organizations were biased one way or the other, but that with all of them together we could see a general trend.


One girl raised her hand and said, "Yeah, but like, what if all of those are biased?"
1) He just said they were all biased.
2) The prof then went on to say that he highly doubted that 13 independent organizations with different political leanings would all choose to be biased in the same direction.

I'm back!

Wow so I am so bad at this whole blogging thing. Last semester I wanted to stop blogging until I got to Bolivia; then I got to Bolivia and posted one time. Good thing you guys talked me into keeping up the blog before I left, because South America Natalie is even more distracted than BYU Natalie.

I haven't even been home for 3 weeks yet and already I have gone to Lake Powell, read Breaking Dawn (anyone want to discuss this with me?), packed up and moved into my apartment, and started class.

I sort of want a summer, oh well.

A bad news minute. For those of you who haven't heard yet, one of my adventures in Bolivia consisted of getting robbed at gun point while hiking... they took everything, including my camera, so once again my blog will be visual boring, and this time there is no light at the end of the tunnel (as in you can't look forward to me buying another one anytime soon).

So at the moment I'm trying to get a mountain of independent study work done so that I can get some BYU credit for my summer of volunteer work... but at the same moment I am getting HW from all my current classes at BYU. Not a pretty situation. But give me a couple weeks and it should be back to the normal current class loads and I'll be able to blog again.

Just wanted to say a little "hello there" and let you know I'm back in business. I'm excited to read all your blogs and catch up on 3 months worth of stories!

love you all!!

-natalie-

¡Bolivia, estoy aquí!

So I´m in Bolivia now!!! I arrived on the 13th. I spent a few days in La Paz (so cold!) and was able to get some touring in. Then on the 16th I took a bus down to Cochabamba which is where I´m going to be until August.

I LOVE it here :) my Spanish isn't so great but the nurses at work tell me "poco a poco" so maybe by the end of the summer I'll be decent enough to not sound like a complete idiot.

I'm working for an NGO (non governmental organization... basically a non profit). My NGO is focused on health, specifically reproductive health, so I mostly work with women. It's called CIES. I started work last Monday, and Thursday was a feriado, so counting today I've only worked 5 days. I'm with one other guy from BYU and he and I are going to go on rotations around the clinic. At the moment we're working in the emfermaria, so we're working with the nurses, and then in a week or so we'll rotate to a different part of the clinic. Apparently we're going to travel to schools and teach sex ed and such. The coolest thing I've gotten to witness so far was when I shadowed an ecografia doctor for a day-- so I got to see sonograms and stuff :)
besides that I´m mostly taking people's weight and blood pressure.

I'm with 7 other byu students. And we're going to be here until August. At the moment we're in a dive of a hotel and looking for apartments...

-natalie

I have a thing for....

...the movie Penelope. I've seen it 2 1/2 times this week. In my defense it's playing at the dollar theater, and I took my chem final today so I think I deserved a break.



Beside the fact that the main character dresses in the most absurdly bright and cartoonish outfits... I think the movie is overall very light and entertaining. I remember the previews for it (it's the one about the girl with the pig nose that has to marry a "blue blood" aka another rich person, in order for her curse-the pig face- to be lifted) but I never planed on seeing it. Believe me, I was kinda wary at first, but I was pleasantly surprised.






It has some famous actors: Reese Witherspoon, James McAvoy (The Atonement, Narnia, Last King of Scotland), and Simon Woods (Pride & Prejudice)... and one of my new personal favorites Peter Drinklage (Death at a Funeral) --- he always makes the funniest expressions


Feel free to read more on Alli's blog as she did see it with me.

updates and sundries

I have two days of school left
Finals start on Friday.
I have less than a month before Bolivia
I bought a Canon camera (and I think it was first lesson in life on how to properly spend money-- I don't think I'll be able to spend money on anything fun for the next 5 yrs)
I get my wisdom teeth out in a couple weeks
I'm almost done reading a book that was due on Thursday (I'm a good student)
The weather is beautiful. I LOVE it!
Lindsey and Bryan had me over for dinner today. They had a barbecue, with a delicious salad w/ cranberries, as well as grilled pineapple. I'm satisfied :D


This is my roomie Sara-- i was taking a lot of pictures, so I think she gave up on posing by this point
This is Alli's shoe.

This is my dorm room in sepia.

reason #37 why I love byu

Many tests at BYU are taken in the testing center. Your professor gives you a set amount of time/days to go in there and take the exam. One nice thing about the testing center is that immediately after you turn in your scantron you can walk downstairs and see your score displayed on a tv screen (shown below).


As you may notice from the picture, next to some of the high scores it says "fantastic!", "way to go!", "well done!", and other positively reinforcing phrases.

I don't often receive grades high enough to see those exclamations next to my score... but tonight I did!! I got a perfect score on my Book of Mormon quiz. I wish I could say it was my chem final or my bio test, but I'll take what I can get.

(mine is the 4th down on the left, id 0-6688)

be on time. every time.

I can't believe gmail would do an April fools joke!! But they did and I love it haha. My sister Ashley gave me the tip.

I especially like being able to mark the message as "read" so that the person receiving the message would actually think they read the message and forgot... haha. And the 4th guy's quote

How come I only get ten?

Our researchers have concluded that allowing each person more than ten pre-dated emails per year would cause people to lose faith in the accuracy of time, thus rendering the feature useless.

Their findings:

N = Total emails sent
P = Probability that user believes the time stamp
φ = The Golden Ratio
L = Average life expectancy

wait, so you both speak english?

I think it is really funny when old mission companions (foreign speaking) run into each other on campus. Two things happen. First, they greet each other and start a conversation in the language used on their mission. Second, their volume level increases... no matter how many people are around.

really?

Whenever I find myself the viewer of such scenes I have to reach for my phone and pretend that I'm reading a really funny text... otherwise they might think I'm laughing at them.

bohemian brown

After Jordan Dixon steered me in the direction of Canon cameras I found one I liked! I bought this, and was able to find a pretty sweet deal :D

I bought the "bohemian brown" one. I think they were trying to make it sound cooler by modifying the color with the word "bohemian"... but if they really wanted to be cool they should have called it "hipster brown."

But then I guess you lose the whole alliteration effect...

look towards the heavens

So Alli invited me to go to the planetarium here at BYU. They gave a presentation on Charles Messier and his 110 astronomical objects. It was pretty interesting.

Why this matters to you?

You can find these objects throughout the year with your basic/small telescope. March 31st is especially significant because it is the only night this year that you can see all 110 on the same night!!!

I'm not recommending that you go out Monday night and try to find all 110 because honestly that sounds tedious and stressful... but why not take a look and find some of the cooler ones :) you could always do it for FHE

k i take it back

I am going to continue to blog... although it may be too late and I may have stopped all of my readers from coming.

please forgive me.

i've made a decision

I've realized that my life really is not all that interesting at the moment. I go to class, flirt with guys, talk with friends, watch movies, eat good food (because I have dinning plus), stress out, put off homework, stay up late, make fun of Mormon culture, take tests, hate chemistry, consider new majors, listen to music, enjoy Bryan and Lindsey's car, go dancing, think about boys, text a lot.... and that's my life

nothing exciting really happens... every once in awhile I get rilled up about some political topic--but I've learned that I can't get on a soapbox because I really don't know enough to present a worthwhile argument...

and I don't have a camera so I can't make my blog visually entertaining.

so I've made a decision. I'm not going to blog for a couple months until my life is slightly more interesting. I'll still blog if there are any extraordinary events that happen to me but I just wanted to give you a heads up that you don't need to check in here very often... but please do start reading again in mid May :p

Bolivia- two months to go!

I'm going to Bolivia to work for an NGO (non governmental organization/ non profit) this summer and I'm way excited.

Well today I bought my ticket :D :D I'm leaving Denver May 12th, have a horrendous 9 hour layover in Miami, and arrive in La Paz at 5:30 am on the 13th.

In early August I'm leaving Bolivia and going to Peru for a few days. I leave Lima on Aug 12th... have a bunch of connections and get home late Aug 13th

...I got a sweet deal though because if I had stayed one day longer my flight cost would have practically doubled (because after 3 months you can't get a round trip discount), so I'm pleased with the fact that I'm staying there as long as possible to the day

:D :D :D

sadly my bank account has just been cut in half... but one of my friends said, "What's the point of having money if all you do is save it?"

byu's way of doing things

BYU doesn't have a spring break. Part of it is nice because my last class is April 19th and my latest possible final is the 23rd ... but I'm so burned out!

5 weeks is SO LONG arrrgghhhh

But at least it is sunny :D :D maybe that's why it's so hard to go to class, it's just too beautiful outside (funny how you can always blame the weather: rain, snow, and sun)

kind of annoying

I got some blood taken today and the girl who took it wasn't very good --granted I may have been a little dehydrated-- but it was still pretty bad. After she stuck me she had to fish around for a good 15 seconds (which is a long time to have someone moving a needle around in your arm!)... and now I'm really bruised and it kills for me to bend my arm...ugh

salsa dancing

It's my new thing... the only downside is that at the moment I can't really salsa dance, but I want to learn. There's a place here in Provo called Salsa Chocolate and every Thursday and Friday night they play different kinds of Latin music. I've been a few times and I LOVE it

byu reality check

Tonight I discovered that a girl on my hall has a pretty ring with three big diamonds on it.... and she is wearing it on her left ring finger

she is my friend

she is 18

... I go to school at Brigham Young University


(btw, congrats dahling- it couldn't have been a cuter story)

dimples

Lindsey, being the good sister that she is, pointed out that the dimples on my cheeks are in fact structural defects in my muscle.

So I decided to google "dimples". I'm lazy though so the search wasn't too thorough but I'm guessing she is right... I did discover that it is a dominate gene, and when considering my sisters' lack of dimples, I probably have a Dd genotype (although it is possible that I have DD)... which depending on my future husband, my future children either have a 50%, 75%, or 100% chance of getting dimples as well.... which basically means that I really have no idea what kind of cheeks my children will have- nor do I care

p.s. i posted pictures on my concert and 9 lives posts

if I could pause time...

...just for 24 hours I would:
1) go to bed right now and sleep for a good 8 or so hours
2) wake up and write in my journal (which I haven't done in months)
3) study for my Book of Mormon test
4) study for my bio quiz
5) write on my blog, maybe even add some pics
6) go to the gym
7) shower
8) clean my room
9) write letters to my friends who I haven't written yet
10) apply for the 7 jobs that I'm considering

and then un-pause time and go to bed so that tomorrow will be a better day :D

not quite there

So I took a wpm test at the employment center to see if I qualify for a bunch of easy sounding secretarial jobs. Well I got 64 wpm.... I guess it was 67 but then my "net" was 64, and my accuracy was 96%... anyways, it's bothering me that I only typed 64, 65 would have been so much better. I like nice round numbers. -- or maybe Alli's ocd-ness is rubbing off on me

I thought I knew what ASAP meant

You would be confused too if this happened to you:

Jan 16th: In the employment center I find a job that says they need 4 people "ASAP"

Jan 18th: I followed the directions, emailed a cover letter and a resume to the guy.

Jan 22nd: No reply from him, so I emailed him a short letter asking if he received my previous email, and asked if he could confirm that he had.

Feb 1st: I searched online for the job and it was still listed, so I presumed the guy had died.

Feb 7th: He writes me back, and tells me interviews will be in a week or so. He ends by saying that if hired I would start "as soon as possible."

Feb 9th: Really?

cats aren't the only ones with 9 lives

After the HHH concert, Alli and I drove to my aunt Renee's house and spent the night.

This morning we were on the road around 8:45 and within 15 min from my aunt's house the roads were terrible... especially as we approached the point of the mountain (I was driving a small Toyota Corolla btw)

Soon enough, as it always happens, the idiot in the lane next to me cut me off, no signal or anything! I didn't slam on my breaks, but I hit them hard enough that I started to fishtail--- and since I got a C in Physics 105 I didn't understand friction well enough to realize that I should turn with the spin, not against it.

We did a 360° turn before whipping 180° in the other direction. Did you catch that? WE STOPPED, FACING THE WRONG WAY ON A SNOW PACKED HIGHWAY!!! AND AND AND IMMEDIATELY behind us were two SUVs driving side by side coming straight for us!!!! So I sat there and clenched the steering wheel... Even though we were in the middle of the road, they both went carefully around either side of the car. It was surreal.
Alli then told me to turn into the spin next time (She's from California, I've lived in CO for 12yrs of my life, go figure)

THE WRONG WAY ON THE HIGHWAY...seriously, that just doesn't happen...I was living one of those dumb blond jokes!

So of course I was EVEN MORE careful, and even followed a big semi who was going so slow that his emergency lights blinking. About 20 min later it happened again- this time it was out of my control, I really didn't do anything wrong, it must have been the tires that hit a patch of ice just right... we started to spin left (into the other lane), but this time I turned the wheel correctly. We spun 270° and I'm proud to say that the spin was much more controlled, graceful, and the ending location was more convenient... instead of facing oncoming traffic, we were now perpendicularly stuck in a snowbank. As luck would have it, the car wouldn't start... so we sat there for what seemed like ages--with cars driving by and giving us incredulous looks. Eventually it barely started... fyi, I didn't go above 25 the entire way home...

and to make a LONG story longer: We got back to BYU at 10:30, a drive that should be only 45 min took more than twice as long.

Sorry to write so much... but I believe it is a truly crazy story- but I guess I haven't lived that long either.

hot hot heat!! concert <3

(I know I posted this on the 9th, but the events happened on the 2nd so I'm post dating it)

I went to Hot Hot Heat's concert with Allison!!! The venue was really small and they had rows of benches set up along with a little room at the front. We were about the 3rd row back and had a pretty good view.

Louis XIV opened. They had a pretty sick violinist... but I didn't like them that much. Their backup singer wore, lets just say, "revealing to the point that I couldn't look at him" pants.

THEN HOT HOT HEAT CAME OUT!!!! I was grooving and dancing to their music... it was a blast :D :D :D I just love yelling out the words with the singer :) I LOVE THEM, they are so much fun. Hot Hot Heat wasn't headlining though, and before I knew it they were off the stage. (about half the audience left at this point---HHH should have headlined but what ev)


The Editors came on and they were superb!!! --they're also from England which is an added bonus!! The lead singer was gorgeous and totally fun on stage. He'd play his guitar, swing it on his back and sit down at the piano, play that for a bit... and then crawl on top of the piano, play his guitar again and then jump off!!!! His voice is really deep too... check them out if you're into trying something new.

salsa

So Cosmo's (the closest source of decent food) doesn't have very regular restocking methods... and they've been out of Salsa for more than a week now. They have the spinach stuff and the cheesy dips... but not real SALSA!! It actually bugged Sara (my roommate) a lot more than me. One night she discovered that Alli (across the hall) had salsa and Sara had a moment of twitching fits because the thought of salsa being so close excited her. lol

But last night they got more salsa!!!!! Sara bought two jars, and Alli and I both bought one... mine is already a quarter gone.

I'm eating it right now...

... I hope this blog made you turn and walk towards your own jar of salsa :)

I love good advice

I quit my job!! I was dreading going to work so I called my dad so that I could whine to someone... he told me to quit!!

Heck yessssssss!

but now I need to find a new one

galaxy bars :)

Tim Smith went back to Harrogate for Christmas and brought back 6 Galaxy bars for me!!! I love English chocolate!! :D

Feel free to be jealous:

Ssssick!

So I got a job! I work MWF from 8 p.m.-done (which is usually somewhere around midnight). But as I discovered last night, it is probably one of the worst jobs on campus. I'll start off by telling you the positive: I will get buff if I work this job for about a month.

Now the negatives are that I only get paid $7.20 an hour (which is pretty standard for Provo)... and the job description:
*spraying down, scrubbing, and then squeegeeing the HUGE dishroom floor (it's steamy in there, broke out a sweat in no time).
*cleaning, sweeping, and moping the basement (included the locker rooms which have toilet, shower, etc)
*pouring this stuff down all the drains.
*cleaning the stainless steal in the gargantuan Cannon Center.
*Taking out the grease from one of the deep fryers (we do one a night), scooping out the gunk at the bottom-which looks like dried up hamburger in a sloppy-joe mix gone wrong, and smells absolutely vile. (this was my personal favorite for the night).
*cleaning the floor around the deep fryers.
*Taking out all 12 (grease covered) screens above the fryer/cooking area and washed those.
*Taking the food out of the walk in fridge and mopping that floor, then putting all the food back.
*Cleaning this mousnstrous machine in the back room that is like a two story garbage disposal for Tomasito's, Cosmo's and the Canc. It smelled funny, had lots of whit stuff all over it, and flooded the floor with nasty water. that took about 15 -2o min to spray that bad boy down, then had to cover it in bleach and spray it again.
*Did dishes for about 1 1/2 hours-and not just any dishes. NASTY grease covered dishes that need to be scrubbed with stainless steal!! Most of them were from Tomasito's and if you've eaten there you know how greasey their pizza is (and dare I mention that Wednesdays are $5 pizza nights)
*We finished "early" which was before midnight so we helped the Tomasito's people mop their floors and put up chairs so they could vacuum.


Don't worry, I'm already looking around at other jobs :)

(honestly I'd be fine with the job if I got paid more... it's just that I get paid the same as anyone else at the Canon Center and whenever I go there it seems like they're not working hard, but the custodial's do all the nasty work and it's intense!)

my computer is sick :(

I was having a few problems with my computer so I went to Dell's page, waited in the "queue" for 30 min, and finally got on a chat session with a dell tech guy who could help me. I don't know if you've ever used your computer support people before- but they have this cool program where they can see your computer screen from where they are working. Not only can they see your screen, but they can control it too!! So I just got to sit there and watch him do all this complicated stuff to my computer.

After he fixed my first problem, he started to work on the second... but after an hour he called me up to tell me that I need to reformat my computer!
:( :( :(

So that is my sad story. I spend 2 1/2 hours on my computer last night, only to find out that I have to back up all of my music, pictures, and documents, because tomorrow I'm wiping it clean and it's going to be just like it was when it was shipped to me.

Sad day... but at least once this is all over my computer should work well