May 1, 2012

In the Next Issue: Online, May; Print, June

Posted by mayiwrite under links, miscellany, writing | Tags: , , , , |
Leave a Comment 

I like the month of May. A lot.

—

 

April 18, 2012

Weird Final Final Exam

Posted by mayiwrite under my life, observations | Tags: , , , , , |
[3] Comments 

We took a quiz.

Then we started the final.

I drank some water, ate some grape Hi-Chews.

Then groups started leaving, taking turns for their oral presentations.

My partner and I gave our presentation after I worked on the final for an hour and forty-five minutes.

Go, de Gaulle! Go, Sartre! Go Picasso and your pointy desmoiselles!

We spent about six minutes on the presentation. Go, Modernisme!

Then I spent about 30 more minutes on the final. Double checking answers and writing the last essay question.

Then I put it on the narrow wheelie table at the front of the class.

Then I left the room.

And I realized I wouldn’t have to take another French final for the rest of my life.

Or at least take a quiz, a final, and give a presentation in the same period of time.

Or go back to BYU.

Probably.

It’s the craziest feeling.

Tomorrow is commencement.

And Friday is the convocation.

My mom is here.

She’s proud of me.

I guess I am, too.

 

March 8, 2012

Ils Font des Fonts

Posted by mayiwrite under lists, miscellany, my life | Tags: , , , |
[3] Comments 

This is a poll.

What do you like?

 

That is all.

Disclaimer: Final results may not reflect your vote. Like a real election.

 

August 25, 2011

The Ups to Today’s Downs

Posted by mayiwrite under links, miscellany, nostalgia, photo | Tags: , , , , |
[3] Comments 

Thanks to Sarah for bringing this to my attention. I may have elatedly sworn when she told me about it.

Follow these instructions:

1. Click on this link.

2. Notice the photo credit. Follow the link to flickr if you want.

3. Listen to Meg Hutchinson. She’s got some great things to sing. And say.

(optional)
4. Read the story around the photo.

 

August 18, 2011

Currently

Posted by mayiwrite under friends, lists, music, my life, nostalgia | Tags: , , |
1 Comment 

So, my friend Kylie updated her blog today with her five favorite albums, and she invited her readers to list their five favorites.

Then my brain shut down.

This is the flow chart of my brain for this process:

Are you going to make this list?
NO—-> DONE—-> COMPLAIN ABOUT ROOMMATES SOME MORE
YES—-> START CATEGORIZING AND ORDERING FAVORITE ALBUMS—-> BRAIN SHORT-CIRCUITS —-> COMPLAIN ABOUT ROOMMATES SOME MORE

Part of it has to do with my thinking I’ll get my list wrong. My purely subjective, preferential list that I’m sure people will judge me by. Hee, I need to rethink this. So much good music is in the world, and maybe I can choose my top five for now, because something different always rotates through various phases of my life.

Still, my little paranoid heart thinks I’m getting graded for this.

I mean, there are nostalgia favorites:
August and Everything After, Counting Crows
Little Earthquakes, Tori Amos
Pablo Honey and/or The Bends, Radiohead
Fumbling Toward Ecstasy, Sarah McLachlan
Wide Open Spaces, Dixie Chicks
Automatic for the People, R.E.M.
Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, Smashing Pumpkins
Our Time in Eden, 10,000 Maniacs

There are my standards:
Retrospective, Indigo Girls
OK Computer and/or Kid A, Radiohead
Little Earthquakes, Tori Amos
1,000 Kisses and/or Living with Ghosts, Patty Griffin

There are soundtrack favorites:
The Mission
Magnolia (featuring Aimee Mann)
Lord of the Rings
The Red Violin
The Village
O Brother, Where Art Thou?

Then there are newish favorites:
Re-arrange Us, Mates of State
Fleet Foxes, Fleet Foxes
For Emma, Forever Ago and/or Bon Iver, Bon Iver
Armchair Apocrypha, Andrew Bird
Weathervanes, Freelance Whales
Mortal City, Dar Williams

And, there are are classical favorites:
I don’t even know where to begin.
Composers?
Eras/Movements?
Countries?
Performers/Orchestras?
Conductors?
I CAN’T I CAN’T DO THIS OH DEAR THERE GOES MY BRAIN MELTING INTO A FATTY GELATINOUS PUDDLE AAAAAAAH A;LJ5ADJFKTIAFKAJLFK58A;LJF%#!*(&)AJFLFJK(&*taQL4JKAF098FDKJF00001000100010001001000100000000 ZERO ONE.

Hmm. For now, let’s try:
Little Earthquakes, Tori Amos
1,000 Kisses, Patty Griffin
Retrospective, Indigo Girls
OK Computer, Radiohead
The Mission soundtrack

Do you have five favorite albums?

 

July 26, 2011

I Played in the Rain Just Now

Posted by mayiwrite under environment | Tags: , , , , , |
[4] Comments 

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.

 

July 23, 2011

Cute Friends and Live Music and STOP CHANGING THE DANG RULES WITHOUT TELLING ME

Posted by mayiwrite under food, friends, government, links, miscellany, my life, new york city, observations, photo | Tags: , , , , , , , |
1 Comment 

So, Thursday night. Decemberists. And being outside. And enjoying Decemberists. And being outside.

These are my two homies from the Senegal study abroad. I don't know if you can tell, but these ladies are very happy to be in America. Also they have excellent taste in music. Which explains why we're all at this concert. Seriously, these girls SAVED MY LIFE in Africa. I owe them big time.

I don't know why I choose to surround myself with crazy people. I like them--I like them a lot. The two girls on the right are sisters. The girl on the left is a former classmate, and a friend of the sister in the middle, and a co-novelist with the girl in the sunglasses from the previous photo. Small world. These girls like the Decemberists, too. The sisters even have an accordion to prove it.

This pretty much sums up my view for most of the concert. We moved from sitting on a sheet off to the side to weaving our way through the crowd toward the center. It definitely sounded better from where we were, but I'm pretty much doomed to smell armpits for the rest of my concert-watching career.

It was around this time that I tweeted the following, and a friend replied:

I really have accepted my fate. Sometimes I still wish, though.

So, I pretty much coveted the guy in the cherry picker the whole time. Can you see how thrilled he looks? Maybe he needed to use the bathroom or something. Maybe he wanted to see his wife and kids. But I cannot comprehend his not wanting to be at a Decemberists' concert. He's clearly not watching the concert. He has the best view! I wish I had an explanation.

Okay, occasionally I would catch fun glimpses of the band members. I listened hard to the instruments, and often I wished I could have been able to see the fiddler or the bassist or guitars riffing with each other. The band seemed pretty cool. They made fun of crowd surfers and they bossed us around quite well. Huge crowds are hard to contain sometimes with all the free admission and beer and pot. But the band did a bang-up job.

Speaking of pot, I tweeted this observation. The same friend replied and further confirmed my luckiness that he’s my friend:

So I texted Francis, and asked what he did to his keyboard. He replied, "Tea. I did 'tea' to my keyboard." I visualized this, and it was a pretty vivid image, most likely because the contact high was SO FREAKING STRONG.

We met a guy named Dennis who came with a friend. He introduced himself and extended his hand to shake, but we sort of brushed him off.

After the concert, we went to Denny’s, where our waiter was named Moe, which was short for Mohammed, and he sounded a lot like Barack Obama. Coincidence? I think not. He was a one-man show. Not only did he wait tables, he also was the cashier and he might have done all the cooking, too. And we spent a fair amount of time doing Barack Obama impressions on the way home.

What we also did? Acted high. But mostly we weren’t acting. Except we had to tone it down in Denny’s because undercover cops were also at the restaurant. It wasn’t possible to stop giggling, and I think we managed to order all the breakfast items on the menu. And half a sampler platter. Poor Moe.

Okay, so that was fun.

Yet, I have a small complaint.

Go to this website, and scroll down to the rules about food and beverages. Is it clear on whether one can or can’t bring food into the park? It doesn’t say we can’t bring food into the park. I brought food, and when we got to the entrance, I found out that food wasn’t allowed. And maybe I yelled, like, LOUD, and maybe no one cared, but come on, people, at least provide a clear policy on such things. I can go to a concert in Central Park, NYC, and they’ll have similar rules: no coolers, no glass containers, no outside alcohol. I can bring outside food; EVERYONE can bring outside food. They encourage it. Yes, I know that Pioneer Park isn’t Central Park. But Pioneer Park also doesn’t have to worry about the kind of attendance Central Park does. Pioneer Park should be able to handle food. I stood in line for an hour last month waiting to see Yo-Yo Ma with a book, a plastic bottle of water, and a Chipotle burrito. Free concert, even. Everyone knows what the rules are.

So, Twilight Concert Series people, don’t make like you’re Stephenie Meyer or the writers of Lost and change the rules whenever you feel like it. Or if you want to change the rules, make sure such changes are also on the website. It’s not a lot to ask.

But, thank you for bringing the Decemberists to Salt Lake City. For free.

 

July 3, 2011

From My Window Last Night

Posted by mayiwrite under government, holiday, miscellany, observations, weekend, world events | Tags: , , , , , , |
[2] Comments 

In Provo, we celebrated pretend 4th of July on the 2nd of July. I don’t feel like explaining why the big party couldn’t be on real 4th of July. There’s a big event called the Stadium of Fire, and big guest stars show up and sing then fireworks go boom in the sky and it’s apparently a lot of fun.

I think this is my first time in Provo during the 4th of July. Maybe I was here sometime in the 90s, but I honestly can’t remember that far back without pulling my cerebral cortex.

Anyway, everyone was off doing something, and I have a pretty good view from my bedroom window, so I turned off my light and waited for the show to begin. I didn’t get to hear any of the accompanying music – I do like patriotic music – but I also missed the performances of David Archuleta and Brad Paisley. I’m sort of bummed about Brad Paisley. Dude can play a guitar.

The fireworks lasted about 20 minutes, and here are the last 3 minutes or so. What I like about pretend 4th of July is that I get to see a lot more fireworks shows on real 4th of July. And I’ll keep remembering all the ways America is awesome before returning to feeling that a lot of Americans are not awesome. That kind of blind patriotism doesn’t only apply to America; I saw it in Africa, too, but mostly among the kids, but they were kids, and we don’t have any excuse, really, because it’s not just our kids who are acting like that. I’m not absolving the adults from being lousy examples to their kids, because they’re adults and they should understand their responsibility to bring up children to be healthy thinkers and honest and community members and not zealots who base their decisions on fallacy and ignorance. I’m not knocking gratitude or democracy or a lot of the things that make America a great country, because America is wonderful. Keep being grateful, but just stop being stupid. You know who you are.

 

April 27, 2011

Some Things About Packing

Posted by mayiwrite under nature, observations, photo, travel | Tags: , , , , |
Leave a Comment 

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.

 

April 25, 2011

Sycophantism 101

Posted by mayiwrite under my life, writing | Tags: , , , , , |
Leave a Comment 

So, I was thinking back to when I got rejected for a Spring/Summer scholarship, way back in February.  The letter I sent to the financial aid office rather firmly asked them to reconsider their decision, that my recent grades should speak more loudly than my grades from prodigal years. They did reply, saying their decision is final, and that they can’t ignore any grades.

It makes sense that they didn’t give me a Spring/Summer scholarship, since those are strictly grades-based. But I also dismissed my chances of receiving a Fall/Winter scholarship; I was ready to apply for federal financial aid and finish off my undergraduate career, business as usual. I’d already resigned to commit to more debt because I was commited to earning a degree. What’s one more year, anyway?

Maybe you can understand my surprise when I received notification about the scholarship. While it’s true that Fall/Winter scholarships are need-based as well as academic, if you fill out the comprehensive application, you also get to submit three essays in some sort of last-ditch effort to prove your eligibility for a happy philanthropist’s money. I guess the financial aid office also considers the FAFSA, but not nearly as heavily as one’s character and intellect.

Those three essays really had to capture my character and intellect. Before I returned to BYU, I applied for a scholarship, and they seemed to regretfully inform me I wasn’t going to receive one. I understood that as well: it had been seven years, and my academic record before the hyperextended hiatus (called New York City)  was pretty shameful. But this time around, while I didn’t quite earn 4.0s, it did look like I was trying to redeem myself. The grades reflected my determination, which spoke for my character; and they also somewhat indicated that I have the smarts.

I couldn’t count on grades being enough, because BYU doesn’t look solely at grades with semester scholarships. Near the beginning of this year, I remembered the application deadline coming quickly, and I didn’t know how I could write three dazzling essays. Nevertheless, I took a deep breath, told myself they were only three three-hundred word essays, and that I had nothing to lose. I typed away.

The three essays are the same topics each time: 1. Tell us about yourself; 2. What do you want to accomplish at BYU; 3. What have you accomplished in the last five years. While I agree to advise people to be honest and sell themselves while writing these essays, I must also have to say it’s sort of a balancing act with saying a few things the scholarship committee wants to hear. It’s part of the business and art of writing in world: of course you have your craft, but if your work doesn’t affect someone, somewhere, then why bother?

The essays follow, behind the cut. I tried treating them as one long essay split into three parts with a few overlapping ideas. Truth be told, they’re not my best work, but I believe they made a difference in the committee’s decision. I’m glad someone decided to share a bit of their fortune with me. That someone reading what I had to say turned something relatively low-risk into a great blessing.

(more…)

 

Next Page »

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.