August 13, 2011

Mountains and Me

Posted by mayiwrite under athletics, friends, government, nature, observations, photo, single life, weekend | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , |
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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.

 

June 27, 2011

From the Family Who Lives There

Posted by mayiwrite under friends, government, links, observations, world events | Tags: , , , , , |
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They’re a good connection to have.

I’m glad they’re okay.

 

June 23, 2011

We Walked These Streets

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I have so much, yet nothing to say.

From Madame Thompson:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-13887613

From Mindy, via facebook:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-11308341

 

April 11, 2011

The Finals Crunch Shutdown

Posted by mayiwrite under advice, government, miscellany, relationships | Tags: , , , , , , , , , |
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Is it okay if I don’t post any real content that will definitely not display my writing skills? I’m so burnt out from this semester, and I didn’t even do anything. Well, I listened to some new music.

I think I like the Retribution Gospel Choir. If “Mormon” is supposed to have a sound, I don’t think this is it. I was pleased.

Oh, speaking of retribution, here’s a song about war by PJ Harvey. It’s darkness tricked into peppiness; it’s a pretty catchy song, and it sort of reminds me of what Woodstock might have felt like. DISCLAIMER – I didn’t see the whole video because I was working on a paper at the same time, so I didn’t see the scanty claddenness until later. I apologize. I changed the video to a recording of the song. Your eyes should be able to heal now.

Remember how tomorrow is the last day of class? Remember how next Tuesday is my last final for the semester? I keep telling myself this hoping I’ll eventually care. I need to try something else.

Oh, awesome. The person to my right in this computer lab is reading a fanfic site forum, and the guy to my left is playing one of those shooting games as well as watching 30 Seconds to Mars videos. Look who else isn’t caring about school!

 

September 15, 2009

Primary Election, NYC Council District 10

Posted by mayiwrite under government, my life, new york city | Tags: , |
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So, I voted today. My very first voting experience! It went relatively smoothly. I walked down to my polling place, still in my running clothes, confirmed my district, signed my name below a copy of my signature, waited in line for 10 minutes, stepped behind the curtain, pulled the red lever to the right, marked all my votes, then pulled the lever back to the left. Ka-chunk.

Thing is, I wasn’t all that prepared. At least at first. I received a voting brochure in the mail this past week. A registered republican friend informed me only democrats received the flyer. (Don’t tell BYU, I want to surprise them.)

So, this morning I flipped through the flyer and checked out the candidates for mayor, public advocate, comptroller, and city council. Each of the candidates had a photo next to a description of her/his intentions for the office s/he wants to hold. I read through these descriptions, I got a sense of each of the platforms. When it came down to it, I decided to base my vote on two criteria:

1) Headshot – Which way is the candidate’s head turned? What kind of “look” is s/he giving the camera? Is there a personable connection? Hairline – receding, plugs? Hair color – natural, dyed, drastically dyed? Facial hair – neat trim on the men, neat or nonexistent on the women? Cheesy smile? Are all the teeth there? Natural smile? Cheesy seriousness? Genuine resolve?

2) Typos – it was enough that some of the candidates’ backgrounds made me question their … qualifiedityness, but when the writeups are missing words or have misspelled words, and when the fine print says the candidates submitted their own blurbs, that makes it hard for me to vote for them.

I did take into account other factors, such as difficulty in name pronunciation (can you say it five times fast?), criminal record (felonies versus misdemeanors, also counting visits to the principal’s office and number of demerits), cookie proclivity (pro? anti?).

You bet my vote’s going to count.

I promise, I took it seriously. Given my political party’s predisposition to rhetoric, I had to sift through some fluffy candidates to find more substantial ones. Admittedly, it took a little longer than I expected, but I felt I made some good choices.

Let’s hope so.

 

February 4, 2009

Out with the Inside

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A comment I left on another blog:

“This is probably as best as we can expect from the current system, which wasn’t purged the instant Obama became president. I look at people’s achievements and tend to give them the benefit of the doubt. Obama appointed highly capable people; people accepted. People got called out; people stepped down. Obama openly takes the blame. I respect that.

“I still believe Obama. It’s been just over two weeks since he took the Oath of Office. Two weeks is not a lot of time, but he’s gotten some big things done. The hope is renewed, but the healing is just going to take a lot longer. Weeding out ALL the corruption isn’t entirely realistic, and what can happen is not going to happen right away.

“I like what Obama said about double-standards. That’s why he said he screwed up. Rule of Law is Rule of Law, for common citizens and government alike. It’s gonna take time. He’s on it.”

I don’t know everything that’s happening. I’ve simplified the situation, making some pretty big assumptions. Maybe Obama underestimated how complex Insider Washington is. Those very insiders developed the double standard he mentioned. Don’t hire them, you say? They’re still going to be there. Replace them, you say? Well, looks like they’re working on that.

He already said he wasn’t perfect. And he already said there’s a long road ahead. And early on, he acknowledges and wants to fix his screwups.

If only more of us realized the same things about ourselves.

 

November 5, 2008

Well, America, You Got It Done.

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I’m still quite subdued about the whole thing. My Democratic friends jumped up and down and cried, rejoicing. My Republican friends were gracious or bitterly disappointed or angry. Which I can understand. I think if Senator McCain had won, I would have had to listen to a lot of whining from the left. I mean, it happened so fast. We found out SO early. All of a sudden CNN was flashing that Obama would be the next president, and I was instant messaging Karissa, and I said whoa and she said WOW and I said whoa and she said YAYAYAYAYAYAYAY! and I just couldn’t believe it. Then I got teary-eyed as Senator McCain’s eyes welled up and suddenly I couldn’t stay awake, even after taking a little nap. I guess the whole thing took a bigger emotional toll on me than I was aware. I’m grateful for the change. I have bigger and very hopeful thoughts I can’t quite articulate, but I’ll say this much now: I like the idea of someone who can inspire and conciliate leading our country. I like the idea of Michelle Obama being our First Lady. I especially like the idea of a new puppy in the White House.

 

November 4, 2008

America, You’re Getting It Done

Posted by mayiwrite under government, world events | Tags: , , |
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The quiet intensity in the air?
The electricity? The excitement?
That’s you.
That’s the polling machines.
That’s the shuffling in long lines on the sidewalks.
Doing what you have to do.
You’ve woken up.
Taken charge.
That’s your resolve.
That’s your fervor.
Your power.
This morning.
The energy, now.
It’s all you.

 

October 27, 2008

My Four-Year Burden of Guilt

Posted by mayiwrite under my life, world events | Tags: , , |
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A friend sent this to me. Yeah, I know it’s not completely my fault, but I could have applied for naturalization sooner. Still, don’t let this happen to you:

 

more about “My Four-Year Burden of Guilt“, posted with vodpod

 

 

 

 

October 23, 2008

Misplaced

Posted by mayiwrite under friends, my life, photo, world events | Tags: , , , , , , |
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Every morning this week I have woken up with a headache. It comes and goes during the day, but mostly stays away, then it returns in the evenings. I think exercise has reached a critical point, where my metabolism and my body have to come to an agreement. If my body is going to get in better shape, it needs more rest. I’m eating better; I’m back to working out four times a week. I feel pretty healthy, still drinking at least half a gallon of water a day.

I hope rest is all I need. I have no other explanation for my blah-crankiness and desire to wring people’s necks. I’m kind of sick of trickle-down economics, and at the same time, I don’t want the truly lazy people in this country taking advantage of a system that people like my mom and brother and anyone else who works like crazy but comes nowhere near the top 5% income level could benefit from. Because that’s my impression of what a lot of people on welfare do.

I’m not watching any political ads. I AM checking factcheck.org regularly, though.

Well, to make myself feel better, I’ll post a couple photos of me and a cute boy. This is my friend, Luke, and we see each other about twice a year. He happened to be on the Hudson River cruise this past Saturday, so we hung out a bit, which was great.

The cruise was fun.

The cruise was fun.

My license put to good use. The boat was a little hard to steer.

My license put to good use. The boat was a little hard to steer.

Okay, people. My eyes are burning. My naturalization interview is next week, and I just spent the evening looking for my passport. I can’t find it. I thought I put it in the binder with my other important papers, but it’s not there. I could really use some prayers and positive vibes in that regard. I promise I won’t punch you or wring your neck. I’ll give you a great big hug instead.

 

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