I went to a wedding in April. One of the coolest couples I know. It was in this building, one of the coolest I know.
May 29, 2011
Ascending
Posted by mayiwrite under church, friends, mormonism, photo, relationships | Tags: church, marriage, photo, spring |Leave a Comment
April 7, 2011
Say, “Cheese!”
Posted by mayiwrite under food, friends, grammar, miscellany, my life, photo, travel | Tags: byu, cheesiness, food, french, photo, talking |Leave a Comment
Parce que c’est fromage!
Tonight was our annual French Club soirée fromage. It felt a bit different this year than last year as a 101 student. I ran into mostly people who were in my 101 class, then a girl from 202, and a guy from 321. Then I got to talk to random strangers about Paris.
Also, when the jugs of juice were empty, I was standing in line, watching nothing come out of the spouts. Then I said, « Il n y a plus de juice ! » It rhymed, therefore it was funny. It’s not as funny – it’s actually downright sad to say it in English: “There isn’t any more juice.” That really makes me want to cry. I didn’t realize how much I love grape juice until it was all gone.
Saturday at a potluck, I met a guy (he was with his girlfriend) from Orleans. It was his first time in the United States. He was very soft-spoken, and his french was very smooth-sounding. We talked for a little bit. Being the way I am, I asked questions so that he would do most of the talking. He is not LDS, but he attended a session of General Conference in Salt Lake City. “Vous avez écouté les discours en français?” Of course he did. And he was very impressed with the interpreters. He prefers English to “American,” and I don’t blame him.
February 9, 2011
Hemingway’s Shortest, and Supposedly Greatest, Story
Posted by mayiwrite under miscellany, observations, photo, relationships, single life, writing | Tags: byu, hemingway, marriage, photo, random, sad, short story |[2] Comments
“For sale: baby shoes, never worn.”
Can you imagine?
I was scanning the Ad Board on campus this morning while waiting on the bus to work. When I saw this photo, I thought of Hemingway, but I also thought of the bloke who doesn’t get to wear the ring. Similarly, my heart broke.
My heart has been hurting a lot this week.
January 13, 2011
Out of 20
Posted by mayiwrite under miscellany, photo | Tags: anxiety, awesomeness, big speeches, byu, class, french, inspirations, photo |Leave a Comment
So. French 321. The first quiz. We’ll see if we can keep this up. What I described as happening is actually what happened: 2 half-points off, but I got the bonus correct. J’ai fait des fautes bêtes.
Did I mention I’m in this class with returned missionaries and other people who speak fluently? I hope the osmosis is extra effective, because I sound like an idiot when I speak. We’re supposed to be beyond the sentence level and working up to the paragraph level, moving smoothly between imparfait and passé compose, using the present tense only intermittently. Anyway, if I listen enough and practice enough, … I don’t know. Being a wiz on paper is great, but I need to improve communication in other ways, be in touch with the real world.
***
In other news, the forum this morning with Condoleezza Rice was incredible. I hope to come across a copy of the transcript. What an admirable, inspiring woman. She was a captivating, charming, lively speaker. She made us laugh, and we applauded every time she said something amazing, like it was the State of the Union address, but this was much, much better.
I’m still processing a lot of what’s been going on the past couple of weeks, and right now I feel I can’t do any of it justice. I don’t know if I’ll be able to catch any sort of a break. I would love just to sit back and talk or hang out sometime.
January 3, 2011
You Should Be Very Jealous of Me Right Now
Posted by mayiwrite under athletics, friends, holiday, my life, photo | Tags: climbing mountains, hiking, looking beautiful for the camera, photo, snowshoeing, utah |1 Comment
Because I went showshoeing.
Vivian Park, south fork. Fresh powder, breathtaking views. On the way up, my fingertips were going numb, but once we leveled out and my blood was pumping properly, I was nice and toasty. Sweating, even.
Utah, today I really, really love you.
My friend, who was on cross-country skis, told me I did a good job. I told him I’m very strong.
By the way, is that very fair, him on skis while I’m in snowshoes?
We met a couple on our way up, Kaitlyn (not sure how she spells it) and George. Blond and smiley, they were. The girl spent last summer nannying in New Jersey, near the George Washington Bridge, and she said she prefers the fake niceness of Utah to the brashness of New Yorkers.
I can see where she’s coming from.
They took pictures of us, and we took pictures of them. I mean, how can one not bring a camera for an occasion like this?
I’m still kicking myself because I forgot mine. It’s sitting next to me now, in plain sight, cussing me out.
Sorry.
Good thing my friend brought his. I took a few photos with my camera phone, but the lens kept fogging up. You’ll see.
The snow brightened everything. It brought color to our cheeks. It was beautiful and powdery and frolicking in it brought me great joy. We would come to an untouched field along the trail and my friend would say, “This field is for you,” and so I skipped along in the snowshoes, sinking into the drifts and leaving deep prints and wandering trails of a very happy May.
Absolutely exhilarating.
Here are a few photos. Seriously, so much fun.
January 2, 2011
Torn
Posted by mayiwrite under food, friends, holiday, lists, my life, photo | Tags: byu, class, favorite class, friends, jenny, photo, reading, sarah, school |Leave a Comment
I can’t decide whether to keep reading or start writing some stuff. This post doesn’t count.
It feels like I’ve read a lot over the break. More than I read this last semester, but I know that’s not true. I hope that’s not true.
Interesting how I’m an English major and my only solid A was in French. I recently asked my professor if I could use him as a reference for something, and he replied he couldn’t think of anyone he could more highly recommend. Very nice of him.
Yes, I complained a lot about French class, but don’t the French gripe about their passions? Couldn’t you tell through my spitfire how much I love the language? I felt a little cheated with the A I received, only because the 100-level classes seemed so much harder. I thought this class was going to really whip me. And coming from a 7-week 102 course during the summer, 201 felt like a breeze. Plus, the 100-level classes prepared me pretty well for 201; perhaps they made me smarter, after all.
Brit Lit History was odd. I don’t know how else to describe it. We read a lot, we discussed stuff and wrote papers. I got to translate 15 lines of Old English Beowulf. The exams should have done me in, but somehow I squeaked by with a very merciful non-B. What I loved most about the class were the personal critiquing sessions for papers. We signed up for 15-20 minute appointments, we handed our papers to the professor, and she read them while we looked up information in the MLA Handbook. Then we talked about the strengths and weaknesses of the papers with the professor. Admittedly, at times it felt like a big thrashing – hung, drawn, and quartered – and I wondered during these sessions what the hell I was doing and why I couldn’t write anymore. But the professor provided some really constructive and encouraging ideas, and each time I left her office a little dejected but with more resolve to write better. She gave us a holistic grade at the end of the semester, so she didn’t give us number grades during our appointments. That was helpful for me, only because I correlate such numbers with my worth as a person.
Kidding. Mostly.
Then I took this Brit Lit class, which covered authors from 1603-1660. I commented on this class before. Just the other day I sent an email to my professor:
Professor [Super Cool]:
I just want to thank you for a truly delightful semester in English 385. While familiar with many of the names we studied, much of the literature was new to me.
The material and your presentation of such invited the Spirit, which I haven’t felt so abundantly in a classroom, even compared to the religion classes I took hundreds of years ago.
Instances:
-Jonson and his deliberate (non)usage of names in his poetry
-Milton and Areopagitica – thoughts on censorship and agency
-Milton and Paradise Lost – enhancement of my temple experience
-Herbert’s “Love (3)” in conjunction with Thanksgiving – eating of the meat means I’m no longer at the kiddie table
-Traherne – my newest big favorite
Even though I didn’t test incredibly well in that class either, that class left quite an impression on me.
Finally, I took a short story class, which, if you know my love for short stories, was better than cookies for fourteen weeks. We read dozens of amazing stories. We talked about them. We wrote about them. The professor was pretty rad and quite funny. My quizzes in that class weren’t the best, and neither were my papers, and yet I managed another squeaker. Maybe I cemented it with the final. Who knows.
This semester I’m taking French 202, which is a literature class.
Then I’m taking French 321, which is a grammar class, and the thought of it seriously freaks me out.
The second half of Brit Lit History should be interesting. I mean, fun.
Then I’m taking a Myth, Legends, and Folklore class. I love that this stuff counts toward an actual degree.
This semester is going to be great.
Oh, yeah. I have real entries to write. Two prompts, one personal essay and the other, fiction. But I guess I’ll work on those later.
I do think I’ll read a little more. It’s been nice to relax and escape these past few days.
Oh, but wait. I have to post this photo. Basically the only photo I took with my camera during the Christmas break. (Our waitress attempted this photo three times, and this was the best of those.) I’ve known these girls for 20 years now. I don’t know what I’d do without them. Biscotti’s (is not a girl, but a restaurant in the Riverside section of Jacksonville. It’s our “place.”). Sarah, May, and Jenny. Lots of memories and laughs, long passed and more recent.
October 31, 2010
Australia Trip, Day 5: Find Your Own Chair to Sit In
Posted by mayiwrite under food, nostalgia, observations, photo, travel | Tags: australia, awesomeness, food, photo, tourists |Leave a Comment
It’s August 16, 2010. It doesn’t feel like a Monday, probably because it still feels like a Sunday night to me where I’m from, the rightside-up part of the world.
We’re going to the City today. Wee!
It’s a gorgeous day. We eat lots of good food. We walk around the city in a leisurely, touristy way. We pass through the Botanic Gardens and along the Harbour. The Opera House is incredible, and a school group is sitting on the steps. I sit with the kiddies while Becky takes a picture.
The water is such a magnificent blue.
Becky and I meet Karl and Analiese at a Lindt café for lunch, and it’s lovely.
Becky and I wander through some fun shops and mosey on over to the ANZAC Memorial where we encounter Utahns. I want to scatter them, this flock of Utahns, and I want to yell at them to get out of my vacation. Not appropriate for honoring war servicemen. I hold back, and the Utahns eventually go away. No harm done, just a little surprising for me is all.
We end the walking tour sitting on the lawn in front of a cathedral with symmetrical spires and buttresses and roseate stained glass. I don’t know if that’s the right word, but I’m using it anyway. We talk about serious things. I cry a little while Becky listens. It’s like old times.
When we get back to the apartment, we head out to pick up dinner from a nonfancy (the best kind, if you ask me) fish and chips place. I get to hold the bundle of butcher paper, our tasty swaddle. Becky teaches me to poke a hole in the package so the steam doesn’t make the chips soggy. That’s a great trick.
Click on the picture of the fish and chips to see the flickr set from today.
October 28, 2010
Sticks to Melts
Posted by mayiwrite under nature, observations, photo | Tags: photo, the snow might actually stick, weather, winter |Leave a Comment
It’s only up on the mountains now. But I think, for the most part, winter is on the curb, waiting to get out of the car and ring the doorbell. Even if I don’t open the door, it’s going to be there.
Maybe it will drive around the block a few times before parking again.
October 22, 2010
Australia Trip, Day 4: Sleep and Church on Opposite Sides of the Venn Diagram
Posted by mayiwrite under food, observations, photo, travel | Tags: australia, church, food, language, need sleep really bad, photo, television, youtube |Leave a Comment
(It’s been over two months: Documenting the rest of this trip will be a major test of my memory.)
I wake up in a strange bed, in a strange place. I walk out of the bedroom and check a clock: 3:30am. It’s Sunday, August 15, 2010.
I wake up the computer then go to the kitchen where I started opening and closing cupboard doors. The fridge holds new contents from last night’s grocery shopping.
For some reason I remember where the chips are, which is a different cupboard than the biscuits.
Biscuits are cookies.
I blog for a little bit, then it’s back to the kitchen to my new favorite activity of opening and closing every single panel with hinges.
In and out of sleep until 10:00 am or so, when I decide it’s time for pancakes, because they’re delicious.
Becky and Karl are about to head off to a meeting. But we chat for a little bit while pancakes jump into my mouth.
I read for a little bit before getting ready for church.
Becky and Karl return from their meetings.
It begins to rain, and Karl tries to use that as an excuse to not to go church.
For lunch, we make sandwiches from the chicken from Red Rooster. We watch the rain turn to hail. Honestly, I’m curious about church here, though I’ve spent most of the summer not really caring about church in general.
The weather has cleared.
Church. Is the same. Except for the accents. And the organist who looks like Ronald Reagan.
We get back to the apartment and change, then we head over to Karl’s parents’ house. They’re rich.
We have a lovely dinner of pork roast, potatoes, green beans, and carrots, and homemade cracklings. And lemon fizzy drink.
The family tells stories around the table. I ask a question every now and then.
After everyone helps with clearing the table, we sit on couches and talk.
Karl’s mum makes fun of his very white legs.
And then, Analiese pulls out of the oven an amazing chocolate pudding for dessert.
She cuts a piece way too big and dollops some cream on top of it. I eat the whole thing, then all of a sudden, being alive is uncomfortable. Maybe it’s sort of like a mild version of hell, where you have too much of a good thing, and the overindulgence is its own punishment.
When we return to the apartment, we rush to get into our pajamas. Then we decide it’s a good idea for Tim Tam Slams, because hedonism and hell both begin with h.
Observe:
–
Now watch a famous Australian do it:
tim tam slam, posted with vodpod
–
Natalie’s using tea. Other people use coffee, but we use Milo, which is like hot chocolate. After a couple of rounds, we leave the biscuits on the coffee table and settle in to the mammoth leather couch to watch some “Banzai!” then I more or less pass out for a little while before Karl and Becky go to bed.
So maybe overeating and jetlag can be like roofies for Mormons.
October 19, 2010
Even when “Someone” seems mad, I still love the view from my room.
Posted by mayiwrite under nature, observations, photo, therapy | Tags: climbing mountains, clouds, photo, sunrise, utah |Leave a Comment
It’s Monday, October 4, 2010. I yank the cord, and the blinds zip up the pane.
I don’t feel like a spy; I’m not close enough to be spying, but I want to catch up on the day.
It’s like how I know my roommate is in her room, because light strobes from under her door, and shadows flicker.
The mountain conceals enough to hide exactness yet reveals enough to spark curiosity.
Damn my curiosity.
There may be no mystery: the joke may be on me. I wait, regardless.
In less than fifteen minutes, the glowing vagueness dissipates, and only clear blue emerges.
