February 21, 2012
I promise there’s an engagement story.
October 23, 2011
Well, it seems I’m a bit distracted.
It’s crazy how quickly time passes.
So much is happening. So much to write about.
So much not to write about. I mean it.
Maybe I’ll write a poem. I should write a poem.
So, there’s that. Poem ideas crash into my head all the time. I would much rather be working on poetry than my other schoolwork. I wish it was all I had to do.
Toward the beginning of the semester it was easier. But now, I’m starting to flounder.
Oh, I met and spoke with Pulitzer-Prize winner, Marilynne Robinson. That was ultra cool.
Let’s look at this week’s schedule.
Monday: Midterm; homework
Tuesday: Poems, My Fair Lady; homework
Wednesday: French Party; homework
Thursday: Meeting at the library; homework
Friday: There’d better be nothing, except homework
Saturday: Concert; homework
Also, 20 hours of work, 14 hours of class.
Also, I had a damn good weekend. It was fun.
But, I won’t blog about it.
This is the worst blog post ever.
October 16, 2011
The public library sale was fun. Today, hardbacks were $1.00, and paperbacks were $0.50. Pretty cool, eh?
Here’s what I got:
Charles Baudelaire, Les Fleurs du Mal
- We’ve been reading a lot of Baudelaire in one of my classes, so when I saw this, I got really excited.
Germaine Bree, Great French Short Stories
- These are in English, and they’re most of the famous ones.
Geoffrey Brereton, A Short History of French Literature
- I bought this one for pretense. Of course.
Annie Ernaux, La Place
- This looked interesting. And it’s short, which means it’s more likely that I’ll finish it.
Other Random French Short Stories
- These are in French. I like short stories. I like French. It only makes sense.
***
T.C. Boyle, When the Killing’s Done
- I hear he’s good.
Don DeLillo, Underworld
- This guy is supposed to be great, too.
Joan Didion, Play It as It Lays
- I haven’t read a lot of her fiction; I’m looking forward to this.
Louise Erdrich, Four Souls
- This is supposed to be awesome.
Louise Erdrich, Love Medicine
- I think I have a copy of this in New York City. Oh, well.
Hemingway, Short Stories
- Short stories is pretty much the only way I like Hemingway.
Khaled Hosseini, The Kite Runner
- I’d read this before.
Khaled Hosseini, A Thousand Splendid Suns
- I hope this one is okay, too.
Zora Neale Hurston, Jonah’s Gourd Vine; Mules and Men; Their Eyes Were Watching God
- I remember that a friend was reading Their Eyes her junior year while I was a senior in high school. I’ve been wanting to read Hurston ever since.
Carson McCullers, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter
- I read this the summer before my junior year of school for an AP English class. It’s time to read it again.
W.S. Merwin, The Lost Upland
- I like Merwin. I like France. Enough said.
Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar
- I put off getting this for a long time.
Chaim Potok, Davita’s Harp
- I love the Chosen, hopefully this one will be great, too.
Annie Proulx, The Shipping News
- Proulx seems pretty important, but I’ve read very little of her.
Thomas Pynchon, V
- Same thing with Pynchon.
Betty Smith, Joy in the Morning
- A Tree Grows in Brooklyn was pretty amazing. Fingers crossed for this one.
John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath
- The Red Pony, The Pearl, Of Mice and Men; it’s time for a big Steinbeck book.
Mark Twain, Huckleberry Finn, pocket size
- I think I will always carry this one with me.
Virginia Woolf, Mrs. Dalloway
Virginia Woolf, A Room of One’s Own
- I’d read excerpts of both of these for a class, and that was enough to decide that I really, really like Virginia Woolf. I hope she likes me, too.
Definitely, I got my $16 worth today. I know I’m good for the year, at least.
If you want to borrow these or any of my books, let me know. If you’ve borrowed books and haven’t returned them, I’m gently reminding you that you still have them.
And that’s okay. Take your time.
August 27, 2011
-called mom to wish her a happy birthday
-found supreme delight in how much we compartmentalize things in our lives
-watched the first hour of Ran, a Japanese version of King Lear
-did a load of laundry
-inner-tubed down the Provo River with Amanda
-shopped at the Roxy/Quicksilver outlet store with Amanda
-put gas in Amanda’s car with Amanda
-watched L’arnacoeur (The Heartbreaker), an adorable and funny French film on Netflix and ate Bajio’s with Amanda
-watched Super 8 at the dollar theater with Amanda
-had A LOT of fun with Amanda
It was great seeing Amanda. It had been a year since the last time.
Dangit, summer. Please stay.
Please.
August 13, 2011
Click the photo, etc.
Summary of the Past Three Days:
Wednesday
1940: arrived at the Gunthers
met children
bedtime stories, family prayer, etc.
talked politics while eating a turkey sandwich
talked about Africa
Thursday
1000: arrived at the St. George Temple
walked the grounds
went to St. George Town Square
played in a fountain and wading pool
rode a carousel
met random relatives of friends
went to Target
played with kids
had dinner at the Robertsons’
ate Key lime pie
Friday
900: arrived at Zion National Park
became a relayer between rangers
hiked the Narrows
hiked the Emerald Pool Trails
was completely blown away for 8 hours
spoke a decent amount of French
got lost and joked about it
ate soup
played with kids
saw a movie with Jera
Saturday
920: arrived at Duck Creek Village
1000: arrived at the Blowhard trailhead
mountain biked
fell and stuff but still had fun
became altitude sick
ate lunch
2000: drove back to Provo in the rain
Sunday
1230: placed ice pack on left shoulder
wrote short blog post
There are stories and details ahead. But first I have to try to sleep and grow back skin cells.
July 26, 2011
Homework calls, and I continue to ignore it.
I wish I could describe the downpour with as much majesty and wonder the way your mom or Shakespeare or Melville or Crane recreates nature’s power from mere words. WORDS!
But I can’t, so instead I will show you photos of my soaked self. Neighbors who live across from me and I splashed in the parking lot, which in some places was 3 inches deep. We kicked and jumped and giggled as the cool drops from the sky plinked our heads.
That is all.
What you don't see is my drenched pants dripping onto the recently cleaned carpet. Storms like these never last long, and there was even lightning and thunder, but I was the shortest among the group of us playing, so I wasn't worried.
So, I mussed my hair a bit for the photo, but how am I supposed to convince you otherwise that I went puddle jumping? And why is my room so bright? And, yes. I made the pictures small and unclickable because THEY'RE NOT FLATTERING. But I wanted everyone to know that I loved playing in the rain. And I wish YOU and YOU and YOU could have joined me. Yes, YOU. Right?
I guess it’s time to do homework now, unless any of you would like to keep distracting me. You’d be doing a good deed. I WOULD NOT TURN YOU AWAY.
June 14, 2011
Do you think all my posts about Senegal will be long-winded and spiritual in nature? What do you take me for?
The guys were all fun. And cute. And very protective. And they were all SO DIFFERENT. And totally awesome. I love and admire them all.
Instructions: Match the the boys from Senegal Study Abroad 2011 to their traits/behaviors/weirdnesses.
| 1. Andrew | a. Is the best male tribal dancer in the village (out of the Toubabs); tells GREAT stories; some people (one girl named Kylie) think he looks like Voldemort |
|
2. Brayden |
b. Watched an IV spurting blood FROM HIS OWN ARM; acted as chaperone for the professors; hates papaya; read lots of books in English on the trip |
|
3. Daryl |
c. LOVES SWIMMING; married but not obnoxious about it; enjoys giving boys backrubs; barfed for 5 hours starting at 2:30 one morning |
|
4. Henry |
d. LOVES AMERICA SO MUCH AND LETS EVERYONE KNOW; shaved his beard but left his mustache and sexy throat scruff one day |
|
5. James |
e. Enjoys putting frogs in girls’ hotel rooms; also totally French kissed a dead fish; beat my boyfriend at arm wrestling |
|
6. Miles |
f. Dazzles women with his purple boubou; gave the beggar boys a lesson on the worth of work by hiring them to clean up Saint-Louis |
|
7. Ryan |
g. Is a very reliable tenor; also asks questions to perpetuate an already 3-hour-long lecture because he’s sometimes too smart for his own good |
|
8. Spencer |
h. Is a snazzy dresser with skinny jeans and a fanny pack; quite the Canasta player; known by some as “Ginger Balls” |
April 28, 2011
A few weeks ago, I was in my Study Abroad prep class. Someone had come in from the Study Abroad office to give a presentation on international traveling safety. The first topic on her slide show was about virtual kidnapping. She asked the class if anyone knew what that was. After a reasonable pause, she explained that virtual kidnapping is when bad guys get a hold of your personal information, call family or friends, tell them that they are holding you for ransom and threaten not to release you until their requests are met. The bad guys will usually have a recording of someone screaming and/or crying in the background to heighten the effect. So, while family or friends are on the phone with the bad guys, the “victim” mostly likely has no idea someone is threatening her loved ones for money. The victim could be sunbathing at the beach or having monkeys pick nits from her hair or exploring a sacred mosque in the city.
That’s some scary, right?
I haven’t broadcasted my departing and returning dates here or on facebook (which is where a lot of bad guys get their information). If you’ve asked me personally about my itinerary, I have told you. I’ve limited viewing of personal data on facebook to friends, and I swear, if any of you relate that information to a bad guy, and I hear of someone threatening people I love? My new pet hippo will attack you. Horace will bite your head off then sit on your body to squirt blood from your neck like a tube of toothpaste. Then Horace will brush his giant, flat, plant-pulverizing teeth with your blood.
A few of you should have gotten or will be receiving a packet with my flight information, passport number, health insurance number, and contact information of the hotels where we’ll be staying. A few of you know how to get a hold of my mom in case anything happens.
I won’t have regular internet access or international cell phone service, but I’ll leave updates whenever I can.
Like I mentioned before, our class is going to have its very own bus, so we won’t be riding around with strangers. I won’t carry my passport with me, and hopefully my stint in New York City has trained me to be wary of pickpockets and various hoodlums. And, I’ll always go out with a buddy. Maybe this buddy will end up being the guy I date when we get back to the states and eventually marry. No dating is rule #1 on a BYU Study Abroad. 2. No proselyting. 3. Obey the Honor Code. However, that is a gigantic “maybe,” even bigger than Horace. And Horace is a rare breed of enormohippo. FYI.
This is all precautionary stuff. I’m looking forward to having an unbelievable and very fun time.
April 27, 2011
Well, I’m taking these two items with me. The suitcase is 21 inches, and the backpack is just cool. You know how people enter races just for the “free” t-shirt? Well, I can’t say that I would pay as much as I did for the study abroad to get the “free” backpack, but the backpack makes me feel like part of a very privileged club.
I intend to carry on my luggage for as much of the trip as possible. I’m going to try not to overstuff the suitcase.
—
You can see the suitcase is half-empty. The other half is for some donated clothes that we’re giving to the orphans.
—
Here is the backpack. I’ll be putting my shoes, my books, and then school supplies for the kids in it. I’m really looking forward to the service aspect of this trip.
—
It’s required for us to have this tattooed on the back of our left shoulders before leaving. The tattoo contains a special ink used for tracking students by the university. Mine is still a little bit sore, but the image is really clear. My technician had a very steady hand.
—
This the converter and possible adapters for the electrical outlets. I wish countries could at least agree on electricity, but I understand there are far greater problems for them to deal with. Like mortality. And clean water. To counter the water issues, see a few of the supplies below.
—
These necessities seem … necessary:
-trusty white running cap, for protecting my head from becoming an Easy-Bake Oven with my dark hair under the sun being so very close to the equator
-new razor, for silky smooth legs for free time at the beach and pool
-tampons, for that very lucky week
-bag of 3-oz bottles, containing: lotion, sunscreen, soap, shampoo, toothpaste, contact lens solution
-a ton of Q-tips, I don’t know why
-sunglasses, for protecting my eyes when monkeys or hippos spit in them
-contact lenses, mostly for looking less nerdy and enabling more physical activity
-doxycycline, for pre-treatment and prevention of malaria; must take daily; must take with a small meal and a full glass of (bottled mineral) water or else I feel very, very woozy; I already know this first-hand
-azithromycin, for traveler’s diarrhea; this does not sound very fun at all
-Tide detergent packs (not pictured), for doing laundry in the hotel room sink
-Kleenex pocket packs (not pictured)
I may add:
-Immodium or Pepto Bismol, for less severe stomach upset
-dramamine, for bus rides; we’ve chartered our own bus for traveling across the country, and if I’m going to get any reading done, I need to keep my stomach calm
You guys, I’m very, very excited.
March 23, 2011
Don’t we look amazing together?
For the 5 regular followers of this blog, you know it’s March Madness, and maybe you know basketball is one of my favorite sports. You probably also know I attend a university that seems to be doing well in the NCAA tournament so far, and I like when people do well. And I support the fans who support our excellent teams.
We have really creative fans. Maybe too many. Which is why I need your help.
If you’re on facebook, you should take this poll and vote for your favorite fan sign: http://poll.fm/f/2t8pd and/or here http://poll.fm/f/2t9wa
If you’re not on facebook, you should take this poll and vote for your favorite fan sign: http://byufansigns.questionpro.com/
Fun stuff, eh? The polls will be open until Friday. Don’t delay.
Join the echo ...
|
Quotes of the Day
