If I Were A Music

Today I'm supposed to say something about a song that is my mood today....

I dunno. I'm in a sorta nondescript mood. If I had to pick, it would be Vitamin String Quartet's cover of Mr. Brightside. Just because. It's repetitive yet happy. How I feel today. I don't know if that video has lyrics... but if it does... don't read them. 

Just click play and read the rest of my post!

Woke up this morning... it was kinda cloudy. But it usually is. I figured it would clear out, but I brought my heavy coat to school just in case. Silly idea... I didn't need it!

I came home for my study break, and it was beautiful. Headed back out again. Still beautiful.

Coming home an hour later, it was kinda windy... and I ran into some guys from the ward who told me there was a severe storm warning. I'll admit. I kinda laughed. No way would it storm! It was beautiful! 

Not one minute after I had said bye to them... a storm hit. It's a big one. Stuff is falling out of the sky like stuff that falls out of the sky really rapidly and ferociously. 

Sat down with a nice cup a Joe. Just kidding. It's a cup of Steve. I've got this special hot chocolate, I swear by the stuff. It is made out of the best cocoa powder... and it's soooo strong. It tastes like actual chocolate, none of this brown lava stuff that you can hardly taste.... this stuff is the best.

Penzy's. I'm telling ya. 

I'm petitioning more reasons why I should have a bunny rabbit... note... they're not really reasons... just things that cross my mind.

If I had a bunny I'd keep him in the laundry room. Or the furnace room. Or the finished room in the attic. And I'd make a nice cage for him outside in a place where he can't dig away where he can stay when the weather is nice. 

I'd feed him vegetable scraps that are left over.

I'd pet him every day.

I'd brush his teeth once a week.

I'd take pictures of him ALLS THE TIME!

I'd name him Samuel.

Or Porter.

Or Michael.

Or Rodger.

Or The Furry

Or Rover

Or The Beast

Or Mister

Or Fido

Or Ravioli 

Or Blue

He'd be so fetchin awesome. He wouldn't even have to be a boy. He could be a girl. Doesn't matter! I'd call him a "he" anyways, and give him a boy's name. In my mind, all bunnies are boys, and the bunnies that are girls are sluts. At least that's how they're portrayed on TV and stuff...

I think someone's knocking at my door...

Nope, just the wind.

When I was young, I wanted a cell phone so so so bad. So I wrote my parents an essay like.... 14 pages long... on why I should have a cell phone. And guess what? They got me one.

The points weren't even that valid, I'm just good at debating. So that's what I'm going to do here.

A concern comes to mind that.... we're gonna tell the other tenants that no pets are allowed. But I thought of a way around that.

I'll tell them that the pet belonged to the late old so-and-so who was very very dear to me, and in my mind, that bunny is them. And I need to keep it alive, because it's all I have. 

Help me think of other reasons! As you will!

Because I can

I need to get in the habit of blogging more.

So I'm gonna do something really silly. I'm doing the 30 day blog challenge. What what? Get some! Get some what? I dunno... get some lemonade. That sounds good now. Yeah.

Alright. Day One.

"Post a picture of yourself and tell us how your day was"

Step Uno: Post a Picture of Yourself.

No.

Step Two: Tell us how your day was.

Alright this is kinda lame. But here goes. I wake up in the morning feeling like P-Diddy! I got my glasses on, I'm out the door I'm gonna hit a kitty, when I leave I brush my hair with a box of cracker jack because when I leave for the day I'm coming back! At around noon actually.

Isn't that how the song goes?

I woke up and ate some oatmeal. I set my standards way to high for that oatmeal. I mean... I almost woke up early to eat that oatmeal I was so excited. And it disappointed. It wasn't bad... but it certainly wasn't anything to put on my dancing shoes over.

Took a shower, did my hair, got to school, things were going alright! School was enjoyable.

I'm pretty good friends with a lot of guys, and many of these guys like me. So I decided to test out something today. I sat by them, as usual, and proceeded to play elbow tag.

Elbow tag goes like this!

You scoot as close as you can to them without making it look obvious what you're doing.

And you just touch your elbow to theirs!

However, these guys didn't take my signals, and they moved their elbow. So I moved mine close to theirs again. And they moved again.

By the end of class their elbows were tucked in so tight, I had no idea how they were able to take notes. And I had enough room around me to build a small castle.

 And it snowed on the way home which... I dunno. As long as it gets rid of inversion I'm good with it.

Got home, and HAPPY DAY! There was a notice on my door from the water company saying if we didn't pay the full bill by 5pm, our water was getting shut off. I couldn't get a hold of my land lord so... It's 4:30 right now and I'm just crossing my fingers that he comes home in enough time to pay the bill. Because I like water.

There was some kinda world war going on in the basement, and upon looking out the window I realized that Same Day Heating and Air was over! Don't know what they were doing... but it was loud. And scary. I was afraid my floor was going to vanish into the giant gaping mouth of a monster and I'd do that little cartoon run in place thing for a few seconds before plummeting to my comic peril.

I got some sweats on and headed back for dance, which was really great.

For those of you who don't know me, I have some pretty messed up self image issues. I don't feel very comfortable in my own skin. And it's a nightmare. But this class has helped me so much in helping me become aware of who I am... I really really enjoy it, and encourage everyone to take modern dance.

Came home, craved tortillas, made tortillas, and realized that my sink disposal was broken.... and so I got to scoop out all that junk. Fun! FUN!

Just kidding. That wasn't so fun.

The tortillas are good though.

Gonna go make some more. And put some salsa on them!

Rrrrrrrrrah-HA! Arriba arriba! Ayayayayayayay! I wish I was Spanish. Every day.

Instead I'm just gangsta.

Holler. 

My Own Personal Journal

FIRST! I have an awesome cousin named Emalee with a really cool blog. She is doing an auction for March of Dimes, and I want to help her with it. March of Dimes is a foundation that helps mothers have full term pregnancies and researches problems that threaten the health of babies. For more information, go here! Check out her blog if you want to participate in the auction!

Now on to the rest of the blog.

A lot of people treat blogs like they are their own personal journal. At least, they say they do. I certainly hope that's not really what they're doing because it feels like the stuff they blog about is really pretty shallow, nothing like the stuff normal people write in their journals.

I like to make the public laugh, because laughing makes others feel good, and that makes me feel good.

Recently we've been talking some about journals in church, and we've been encouraged to keep a journal. That's not a problem for me! I already do that. A quite regular journal.

And I want to share some of my past journals with you.

One of the best things about journals is for one, they can help you see how you dealt with mistakes and hardships, thus showing you how to cope with them in the present or future. That's awesome. But for me, the best thing my past journals have done is provide comic relief.

I started a journal when I was six. It said "Diary" on the front of it in cursivey curly writing, and two kittens were on the front, curled up in a manner that made them look like hearts.

I spoke about all sorts of things! And everything was misspelled. Deeare Dieyareey... something like that.

Entries ranged anywhere from

"Dear Diary, I have too many boyfriends. I don't know what to do."

to

"Dear Diary, I'm afraid of my parents dying."

Yes, those are actual entry synopses from my six year old first grade mind.

My favorite journal was probably my high school freshman journal. My family used to do a lot of "Family Story Time" and that summer was the first summer we didn't do a daily story time. That time was filled with watching Disney movies. No no no, not the classics. I'm talking Disney Channel movies. Those rocked. Those were what hip high school freshmen watched!

And one that forever made an impression on my mind was "Read it and Weep", the story of a girl who's private journal was published for the world to read. It was fascinating to me. I knew my journal would never be published... but I decided to keep a daily journal. That was my goal. And it would have pictures, and talk about all sorts of things.

Since this Disney movie made such an impact on my life... I realized that my journal would be crap if I didn't talk about boys for 99% of the entries. One boy, preferably. So I picked one. A single boy. Matt.

Matt didn't know me really. We had a class together, but we never had sit down talky talky get to know you kind of things. But I was so desperate to write about a boy, that I picked Matt to be my obsession. No reason why... just because.

I would change lyrics of songs. Since we didn't know each other, let alone have any kind of relationship... I would change lyrics from being this:

"We kissed! My heart did a wizbang, flipflop! Heaven! For a minute!"

to this:

"We sharedaglance! My heart did a...." And so it goes.

I would write all sorts of stuff in their about how we were going to get married. I planned our wedding.

I learned around November of that year, that Matt was what some might call a nerd. So was I. So was everyone I associated with. But I was obviously in denial, that really influenced my life. Around that time, my journal read something along the lines of

"I am having such a hard time right now. I want to do the right thing for myself and my future family but HOW CAN I DO THAT IF I MARRY A NERD?! Oh WOE is me!!! How could I let my heart become subject to such a glorious man! A man who is a NERD! SOB SOB SOB!!!"

I found out around December that I had been spelling his name wrong the whole time. "Mat." His name was "Matt." My bad....

I drew pictures of our wedding. It was beautiful.

St. Patrick's day, I went to a Stake Dance. And a boy asked me to dance for the FIRST TIME! It was awesome. I really enjoyed dancing with him. But I had inner turmoil.

"Today I danced with my friend. It was so much fun. What if I'm supposed to marry HIM!? OH NO! WHAT HAVE I DONE?! No. No, no, no, no. Breathe. It's ok. You're supposed to marry Matt. But you'd better go repent because you just committed adultery in your mind by even thinking that you're supposed to marry someone else. Time to confess, you're in deep trouble. You'll never be a good wife. You'll remember this moment your entire life, the one moment when you considered marrying a different man."

Other journal entries read something like:

"Today I followed him around after school. He was holding hands with another girl. I think I'm going to die."

"He told a story today, and he looked in my direction the ENTIRE TIME! OH MY GOSH! He loves me. It's official. Might as well set my fb status to engaged, because uh... that's what we are."

Matt graduated, and I had this elaborate plan worked out where I'd go to his mission farewell, and get his address from his sister, and write him, and he'd fall in love with me and we'd get married. It was a match made in heaven.

You know how 6th graders are sure they are so much mature than 5th graders? That's what it was like for me when I became a Junior. I read that journal. I was like...

"Oh em gee, that is lyke so totes drah mah filled! I've got to lyke get it out of my life for like real! Otherwise people will think I'm weird because I keep my own journal! Not cool!"

So I destroyed that journal. I tore the cover off, tore up all the pages. And threw it away.

Since, you know, the only way to get drama out of your life is by doing it in the most dramatic way possible.

Now looking back, I really wish I had saved that journal. Because I'm pretty sure I could have actually published it and made a fortune.

Moral is? Don't destroy your journals.

I'm a regretful not-billionaire. Pity me as you will. 

Don't turnover

I blog differently than a lot of people. I blog when I think up something to talk about. Something either deep or funny. Or I just want to talk and it comes out being just... something. Something people read. But I want to blog about my days. There's nothing spectacular about them.

Yesterday was the best day ever. I've been in a lot of pain lately because either a virus decided to eat the muscle off my bones or the bones off my muscle or I'm just not used to walking all over campus so much... turns out having a month long break and then quite literally jumping back into school can make your muscles tired or something. But it's the kind of pain where it's "OH MY GOSH THIS HURTS SO BAD! But it's a good hurt! Like a hurt that makes me feel like I'm doing something with my life." Yeah. So I liked it. And yesterday I got all sorts of hurt like that. It's gone today. That's pretty cool.

Yesterday while walking to my second class, I was swarmed by a mob (murder? flock?) of children, the University pre-school. They handed me candy and smiled their cute little 2 year old smiles and said "Have a nice day!!!" Wow kids. Because of you, I had a nice day.

The day was made better by going to see my parents. I love my parents. And we had a fun day together! We even went to the grocery store. For some reason, when you have someone to go to the grocery store with, grocery shopping is so much more fun, though I'm sure that will change when I have children of my own, as my mother seems to say.

Then I went home and found the best letter from Elder Rice that I have gotten in many months. I mean... they're all good. But I like length. I get a letter once a week so I can't really complain, but they're generally half a page long. But this one was TWO entire pages long! That made me happy!

I cooked. And guess what? It was one of the best things ever. It turned out so well. There is hope for me.

Then my roommate invited me to see a movie, and that rocked. It was a great movie. I accidentally left my phone at home, and upon returning, I found a plethora of missed calls from the Rice family! So I called them back and had a really truly delightful conversation with them.

Now if you feel like I'm rubbing this in your face "Haha I had a great day! What did you get? A ham sandwich? Ooooo that's too bad. Better luck next time." I'm about to tell you why today wasn't the same as yesterday.

I got ready this morning, and headed to the library. It was nice and sunny and warm when I left, and the walk to the Trax station is about 3-5 minutes long. By the time I reached Trax, I was really soaking and a full on blizzard was under way. And all I was wearing was a light sweater.

I got to the library, and this really creepy guy followed me around for a while. It wasn't like "Oh look, there he is, staring at me from the other end of the isle..." It was more like "Lalala, this looks like a good boo--OH! My gosh. He's standing right behind me. Chewing on my hair." He wasn't really chewing on my hair. But he was close enough he could have been.

He stood up for me though, when I was getting my library card, some guy cut in line in front of me, and Mr. Follow-around said "HEY! She was in front of you!" And the guy let me go ahead of him. Mr. Follow-around left shortly after that.

I found my book. I went to look at the library stores. I highly recommend the Salt Lake City Library to all of those who haven't been there. It's amazing. I found some really beautiful things that I wanted to buy for my house, but I didn't want to spend money because I've got a tight wallet. I don't like spending money.

Instead my irrational mind bought a stupid apple pastry from the library cafe and it was nasty. It wasn't real apple. But the crust was really good.

I went home, and was determined to make some apple pastries. Turnovers to be precise. It was so much fun to make. They were turning out so well... so I thought.

When I was taking the first pan out of the oven, my oven-mitted hand  started telling me something. It was saying that the padding on it was worn out and heat was prone to seep through. And boy did it seep through. It started to really burn my hand! And the pan started to fall. My instincts told me to reach out and grab the pan before it hit the ground.

So I did.

With my non-oven-mitted hand.

It is now severely burned. You know that game "Johny Johny Johny Johny Whoop! Johny whoop! Johny Johny Johny" That kids play? Well my Johny Whoop is burned. All of  it. It hurts really bad.

Then I went to eat hummus and apple pastries, and both of them were terrible. I sacrificed my Johny Whoop for some nasty pastries. And the hummus was gross too.

Then I composed my dance for my modern dance class. And I think it will be really good. I feel pretty confident in this dance. But all that spinning around and dancing for some reason has made me feel terribly ill.

So here I am.

Bloggin.

Feeling ill.

Also I've typed this entire post with my eyes closed because I feel nauseous, opening them only to press "Publish"

I'm talented, applaud me as you will.

youe ccan;t ebem yell O jad ny eues clised. 

Bulk

There is a phrase I like to use a lot, and that is "Slap me silly and color me ___!" Actually I'm joking. I've said that a total of never in my mortal existence. And I hope to keep it that way.

(Typing it doesn't count.)

However, recently, as in the last 3 minutes, I've felt the urge to shout "SLAP ME SILLY AND COLOR ME INCEPTED!" Just because I thought of something to write a blog post about, and I thought that would make a good title. But I decided it was too long, so I picked a shorter title and then spent 2 paragraphs talking about why the title is what it is, even though it's slightly irrelevant to the bulk of this post. Bulk.... Maybe I should call this post "Bulk". Yep, it's gonna be called bulk. So now you have 2 COMPLETELY irrelevant paragraphs.

In the world of girls who write boys on missions (heretofore known as MG world...) we find something called IBS. It is not to be confused with irritable bowel syndrome. IBS stands for

Imaginary
Boyfriend
Syndrome

I'm not sure if there is a set definition for what IBS really is, but to me it is the feeling that Josh never existed, and that I just made him up, and some random guy keeps sending me letters. IBS is very annoying.

Lately I've been feeling a lot of IEIKS though....

Imiginary
Everyone
I
Know
Syndrome

I've moved away from home, and I live in Salt Lake City. I do have friends here, but they're not exactly the OMGURMYBFFFFFFF!!!!! kinda friends. We get along great, we enjoy spending time with each other, but we're not exactly knocking down walls to see each other, and chances are, none of them will be in my bridal party.

Yes.

That's what girls do.

We gauge the value of friendship based on whether or not said 'friend' would be a good bridesmaid.

All of my really great close friends, ones who really are my OMGURMYBFFFFFF!!!! all live... well, not here. Not in Salt Lake. Many live in Ogden. One lives in Logan. Many are on missions, or soon will be.

My family is also in Ogden.

The point is, I don't see the people that I'm really close to very often. This isn't such a big deal, because there is a wonder called facebook, and marvels called cell phones, and accompanying cellphones is texting, and with facebook you find chat, so communication is still there, and we can talk.

But lately I've come to the realization...

None of these people are real! I'm just talking to a computer! They don't really exist! And all of these people around me that I see now? Well, seeing as how I don't know them that well, I'm not sure they exist either.

Sure, when I'm with the people I'm very close to, it seems like we were never apart, and they are very real to me but other than that...

I've come to the conclusion that I am asleep and that all of you are just projections of my subconscious.

Enter my giveaway as you will.  You projections.

A year in my life

Well, today is a big day for many reasons! First off, it's Thursday. I mean, come on. Who doesn't love Thursday? Second off, I'm going home tonight and we're totes going 2 watch lyke teh best show EVUR . Third off, my buddy Jackie is now 18! HAPPY BIRTHDAY JACKIE! But 4th, and probably most exciting reason for me at least, is that it is December 9th, 2010. Officially one year ahead of December 9th, 2009, and one year behind December 9th, 2011. Why is this important? Well on the day of December 9th, 2009, my best friend entered the MTC as Elder Joshua Brian Rice.

I am waiting for a missionary. That's not exactly a phrase that I like to have tattooed onto my back though. (It's like a tramp stamp, only higher.) I'm going to go into this blog post the same way most people go into their Sacrament meeting talks.

In the dictionary under the word "wait" we read "To remain inactive in a state of response until something expected happens."

Now this is where we drop all Sacrament-meeting-ness.

That's bologna! Yes! Complete and total bologna! I belong to a group of girls called MGs, and we are all waiting for missionaries in one sense or another, and I've got to say, from the ones that I've gotten to be friends with, none of us remain inactive in a state of response.

These two years of existence are big years for Elder Rice. Quite possibly the best years of his life. You'd think that through entropy, that would make these two years the worse of someone else's life, and using Murphy's law, you'd think that would be me. But like I said before. BOLOGNA!

I have done so much with the last year of my life, it has been incredible. I do not think there has been a time of my life that I have done so much, and I really mean that. To prove the point, I have compiled a list of 365 things that I have done in the time that Elder Rice has been gone. So take it or leave it.

1. Eat sushi
2. Freeze whence camping
3. Learn to use busses
4. Attend WSU
5. Perform in Wind Ensemble
6. Play some jazz piano
7. Attend Jr. Miss as an audience member this time around
8. Play a Steinway
9. Learn to love USPS
10. Learn to hate USPS
11. Learn to appreciate a good mailman who comes on time.
12. Discover ways of making juice last forever (almost)
13. Burn rice really badly
14. Take care of a plant
15. Watch that plant take it's dying breath in my arms
16. Perfect the art of macaroni
17. Learn to never watch Bones and eat macaroni at the same time
18. Get a good weekly does of escalator riding
19. Try on crazy wedding dresses at the DI
20. Take AP Stats
21. Pass the AP Stats test
22. Be the only one at OHS to pass the AP Stats test
23. Skip school just because
24. Write my own grocery list several times
25. Be called as a visiting teacher
26. Be called as a Sunday school teacher
27. Attend girl's camp
28. Graduate YW
29. Apply to BYU
30. Apply to the U
31. Apply to a billion scholarships
32. Get over my fear of auditioning
33. Get my own camera
34. Discover my favorite pen
35. Start a blog!
36. Learn how to substitute absurd ingredients
37. Learn that it doesn't always work out too well
38. Drive a neat car
39. Try to learn manual transmission (Note, TRY is the key word.)
40. Develop a love of vacuums.
41. Develop a hate of 'fake dirt'
42. Find the perfect size of milk bottles
43. Perform with the best marching band in Utah
44. Laugh uncontrolably
45. Discover the value of sunscreen
46. Realize that not all sunscreen works like it says it will.
47. Use a (mini) grill
48. Recieve a grenade
49. Attend a masquerade 
50. Dance in the snow
51. Learn how to pack (for moving)
52. Pack (for vacations)
53. Almost finish the Old Testament (I've got just a few pages left!)
54. Maintain sanity in reading the book of Numbers
55. Go to many sleepovers
56. Become an avid blog follower
57. Burn 1 batch of cookies
58. Burn 2 batches of cookies
59. Ruin several boiled eggs (They weren't boiled too well.)
60. Become the best toast maker EVER!
61. Attend a Utah-BYU game
62. Have my own house
63. Do dishes by hand lots
64. Realize plain grapefruit juice is acceptable
65. Teach Sunday school
66. Learn to ask what time it is like a pro
67. Learn to ask what time it is in SPANISH like a pro
68. Realize the purpose of mouthwash
69. Write a LOT of letters
70. Give someone a Book of Mormon
71. Own a pair of tall tall shoes!
72. Become really good at walking in heels.
73. Walk to church lots
74. Go to ward walk-abouts
75. Develop an understanding love of turkey in the right season
76. Learn to enjoy skiing
77. Fall off a ski lift
78. Watch lots of Fringe
79. Own my own computer
80. Learn to play organ
81. Yell at the characters on the thrilling TV series Fringe
82. Play organ in sacrament meeting 3 days after learning how to play organ
83. Realize the purpose of rainboots
84. Learn to not walk up steep slippery icy hills in shoes with no tread
85. Learn to not RUN up steep slippery icy hills in shoes with no tread
86. Perform in the Youth Spectacular with 3000 youth
87. Get really frustrated at early morning rehearsals for the Youth Spectacular
88. Learn some sign language
89. Realize that sign and sing are made out of the same letters
90. Go to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple
91. Learn how to spell Oquirrh
92. Attempt to find a difference between Paradise Bakery and Zuppas
93. Develop a budget
94. Fly on an airplane
95. Go to Chicago
96. Watch my team lose.
97. Watch my team lose BADLY.
98. Watch my team win.
99. Buy my own dish soap
100. Have Chicago style deep dish pizza
101. Learn that shrimp... it's ok!
102. Learn not to force people to eat shrimp that don't like it
103. Learn to not look away when forcing people to eat shrimp that don't like it
104. Learn to have a camera out and rolling when forcing people to eat shrimp that don't like it
105. Go to lots of dances
106. Climb a mountain
107. Wear socks with sandals
108. Look for snow in July when everyone is suffering from heat exhaustion
109. Learn that heat exhaust is different from heat stroke
110. Learn that people suffering from heat exhaust or heat stroke are like vampires
111. Go to improv comedy
112. Use Microsoft paint a lot
113. Learn to draw stars really well
114. Discover my own style
115. Become great at writing essays
116. Express distress in school
117. Meet several crazy people at the store
118. Meet even more crazy people on Trax
119. Discover the big deal about Pandora
120. Befriend someone with the same  name as me
121. Read political cartoons in politics
122. Learn lots about politics
123. And actually enjoy it
124. Graduate high school
125. Become great at making videos
126. Learn the value of recording videos
127. Learn to speak science
128. Learn to speak political science
129. Laugh at stupid things
130. Attend  the only world ranked university in Utah
131. Get accepted to BYU
132. Turn their chubby face DOWN
133. Stare at a wall of butter for a long time trying to find the best deal
134. Learn how to hang things on walls without nails
135. Skip pretty much everywhere
136. Walk on a moving side walk and feel like a friggin model
137. Make funny faces in a mirror for hours
138. Complete the Hunger Games series
139. Fill up an entire journal
140. Hide offline for a long time to avoid people
141. Learn how to press leaves really well
142. Realize that 365 is a big number
143. Realize that it's easier to stay awake in church functions when drawing
144. Learn the value of organization
145. Learn how to text when I can't see what I'm typing
146. Learn how to live with a broken phone
147. Learn to love that broken phone as if it was my own child
148. Do 200-300 pushups every night
149. Learn more names than I though possible in a very short amount of time
150. Develop a means of talking to people that know everything about me, but I know very little about them
151. Meet the President of the University
152. Consciously choose mathematics over music
153. Spend a reasonable amount of time crying over unreasonable things
154. Spend an unreasonable amount of time being really happy over reasonable things
155. Spend an unreasonable amount of time trying to spell 'amount'
156. Learn some crazy dancing
157. Realize that I don't much enjoy dances
158. Realize that I really enjoy dancing
159. Realize that Jason's Deli is way better than anything they have in Chicago
160. Realize that if you want to do something cool in SLC, get a move on it, because stores close soon
161. Get my own credit card
162. Get my own check book
163. Inhabit the most amazing college 'dorm' ever
164. Eat a liver detox
165. Somewhat enjoy the liver detox
166. Realize that the liver detox was meant to be drunk, not eaten
167. Stay up really late watching movies on Google
168. Go to the movie theaters by myself
169. Go to the movie theaters with lots of people
170. See Inception
171. See Sherlock Holms (Several times)
172. Learn lots of cheers
173. Perform for the biggest audience of my life
174. Be boo-ed by the biggest audience of my life
175. Realize that fast Sunday makes my tummy unreasonably small and unreasonable 
176. Grow my hair out, if even just a few inches
177. Experiment with bangs
178. Settle on straight across bangs
179. Change clothes whenever I get home from school because sweats are more comfortable
180. Seriously consider wearing ugly clothes so I can go on What Not To Wear and get lots of money
181. Turn the game boggle into a violent game
182. Learn that everyone should live for per diem
183. Learn that saving per diem is awesome! 
184. Learn how to manipulate people to do what I want them to
185. Use prepositions to end sentences with
186. Go to Temple Square
187. Go on an AWESOME behind the scenes tour of the Conference center
188. See Savior of the World
189. Get to be pretty much bff with my lil brother
190. Get to be pretty much bff with my lil sister
191. Wonder why the word sister is so much shorter than the word brother
192. Get to be pretty much bff with my momma
193. Get to be pretty much bff with my daddy
194. Learn how to engage in intelligent conversation with people much older than me
195. Recognize a value in studying
196. Recognize a value in windex
197. Learn how to manipulate light so that it does what I want in pictures
198. Learn that the light around my dresser can not be manipulated, and I will never be able to see the clothes in my drawers in a decent light
199. Purchase my own vitamins
200. Drive ATVs like a mad-woman
201. Teach young children to drive ATVs like mad women
202. Attempt to make wookie noises and fail
203. Sigh at the lack of Disney Land in my life
204. Appreciate real pianos as opposed to fake pianos
205. Sneak ice cream from my roommates that doesn't need to be snuck, they said I could eat it, but sneak it anyways
206. Wish most passionately that snuck is a word
207. Carry a tent a very far distance
208. Become an administrator of Waiting For A Missionary
209. Set goals on restricting computer usage
210. Cope with the lack of natural light around winter time
211. Be subject to the most brutal and dangerous cold temperatures of my life thus far
212. Recruit for my marching band
213. Be a member of a marching band with some of the most wonderful people in the world
214. Learn how to say "That's what she said" in so many manners
215. Become subject to a mock psychology session
216. Yell at a man's dog
217. Chase rabbits around campus for a while
218. Play guitar some
219. Think of a billion analogies
220. Spend probably half of my life waiting for trax/frontrunner/uta bus
221. Perfect the puppy eyes that will get a person to give you a ride
222. Realize that it's better walking barefoot in the snow than wearing shoes that are soaked through in the snow
223. Leave my window open as I fall asleep to listen to the music of the night (It's really there, I think my neighbor plays music or sings or something.)
224. Make lots of lists
225. Make hundreds of friends in a short amount of time
226. Spell amount right for the first time without using a spell check or even pushing backspace once
227. Talk in a British accent for a week and drive my family crazy
228. Develop a wicked awesome valley girl accent
229. Develop a killer memory
230. Write several essays and prepare for several exams/quizes all in one night
231. Understand a love in the simplicity of a sandwich 
232. Realize that going to the grocery store isn't 'all-that'
233. Cut my own hair
234. Make it an entire year without coloring my hair (That makes 18.5 total!)
235. Buy dry ice
236. Throw a surprise party that sorta failed
237. Be the subject of a surprise party that completely rocked
238. Maybe sorta become a Gleek
239. Use lots of printer paper, but somehow never run out
240. Watch some Asians dance
241. Talk to my German foreign exchange students
242. Ride a scooter everywhere
243. Learn how to brutally humiliate people that make fun of my scooter
244. Realize that it's not that brutal
245. Wish pretty much every day that my hair was much longer
246. Learn how to save jewelry that probably would fall apart otherwise
247. Do my own laundry, if rarely
248. Do my own dishes lots, and even do my roommates dishes sometimes
249. Let my mom do my own dishes and my roommates dishes once
250. Become completely inconsolable for laughing
251. Expand the range of music that I find entertaining
252. Own a Scentsy 
253. Visit the Rice's lots
254. Miss the Rice family more than I miss Elder Rice sometimes
255. Have senior pictures taken
256. Learn to harmonize pretty wicked well
257. Become a magician's assistant
258. Perform in a magic show
259. Joined a sorority
260. Learned the lyrics to so many songs
261. Went to General Conference
262. Watched people swallow goldfish and then realized I couldn't live with the guilt of doing the same
263. Bought a really cool water bottle
264. Attended orientation
265. Met a guy who's name was spelled Rajfier, but pronounced Rage Fire
266. Made people laugh
267. Listened to several songs over and over. And over
268. Discovered the magic of frozen yogurt
269. Discovered the magic of Owl City
270. Visited several stores looking for a certain pen
271. Became something of an expert in picking out ties
272. Learned how to show in the gateway
273. Marveled at the fact that my skin does indeed sparkle in the sun
274. Smeared my face all over with oatmeal and eggs, and put mayonnaise in my hair.
275. Went to a mission reunion
276. Went on lots of dates
277. Read the news a lot
278. Appeared in the news some
279. Appeared on national TV some
280. Developed a passion for cupcakes
281. Ordered sweatshirts for 14 people
282. Shamelessly flirted the heck out of strangers at institute parties and then ran away
283. Discovered a love for simplicity in all things
284. Graduated Seminary
285. Wrote a letter to an Apostle
286. Used 1.5 bottles of Retin-A
287. Used an entire bottle of multi vitamins and fish oil pills
288. Eaten a bottle of peanut butter without eating a single peanut butter sandwich
289. Eaten 4 boxes of oreos by myself
290. Creeped out the dates of my roommates lots of times
291. Lost my favorite stick of chapstick. Dr. Pepper. RIP
292. Went shopping with my cousin lots
293. Watched Murphy's law in action on a piece of toast. MY piece of toast.
294. Saw the real, the actual, Touch Down Jesus
295. Learned some martial arts
296. Mastered the ability to do the splits, and then lost it
297. Successfully switched between talking in the present tense and talking in the past tense all in the course of a single blog post
298. Achieved a very straight marching leg, despite having gone ~2 years without marching
299. Relinquished my mace to a very able drum major
300. Owned my very own can of mace
301. Learned how to kill someone with their own knife
302. Tried it out. With a rubber knife.
303. Discovered the best place to buy jewelry
304. Discovered the value in HOME.
305. Played my flute in Stake Conference
306. Learned how to play the most beautiful song on flute
307. Transcribed a song and assisted in getting it copyrighted 
308. Used a tape recorder
309. Hacked multiple people's facebook accounts
310. Made bread-based foods without yeast
311. Came to understand the value of music in my life
312. Worked as a host for a winter line competition 
313. Avidly followed America's Next Top Model
314. Found the most beautiful flute song ever (Chaminade's Concertino for Flute and Piano)
315. Become pretty good friends with a professor
316. Become pretty petrified of another professors
317. Learned how to dance like an Indian (Maybe?)
318. Came to to terms with the fact that the only Christmas tree I'll have this year is 6'' tall and is made out of porcelain or something
319. Gave a talk in Young Womens 
320. Became really good friends with my YW teachers from the ward to stake level
321. Participated in a brutal school rivalry
322. Got stuck in a mosh pit
323. Realized that a mosh pit is different than a mish pot. 
324. Wondered what a mish pot was
325. Grew super attractive calves 
326. Realized that pink nail polish is the best
327. Broke up with people I wasn't even dating
328. Found out who Calvin and Jake really were
329. Rode on a zip line
330. Rode on a mechanical bull
331. Won $50 at a graduation party
332. Had a odd caricature drawn.
333. Saw John Bytheway perform live
334. Rode Wicked at lagoon
335. Played a secret piano in the lunch room
336. Watched fireworks on the roof
337. Broke into the construction zone at OHS and scaled the side of the building to the top where we climbed through to the inside. 
338. Saw a drug raid in which dogs messied up the entire hallway
339. Heard Rhapsody in Blue performed live and beautiful
340. Ate at the cafe in Napolean Dynamite
341. Was present in an earthquake (Though I didn't feel it)
342. Owned a pair of nerd glasses
343. Learned to tie a cherry stem in a knot with my tongue 
344. Was someone's first date
345. Posed as a poll dancer on the frontrunner
346. Ate coconut oil
347. Had my license for long enough to drive without an adult present
348. Rode my scooter to school wearing super high heels
349. Was mistaken for being Mexican by some ward members due to the severity of my tan this summer
350. Ate nothing but gummy bears in 24 hours. And was sick
351. Ate 26 cotton candies in one night. And was really happy
352. Realized my toothpaste was causing problems
353. Went an entire week without my retainer. And was sad
354. Lost multiple bra sizes and was perfectly fine with that
355. Had spontaneous sleepovers 
356. Made it through graduation without crying
357. Left high school with 2 text books I forgot to return, one of which was from Junior year
358. Participated in an amazing Testimony meeting in the Tower room, prior to seminary graduation
359. Watched a storm roll across a beautiful green valley as I fell asleep, and woke up to ran on my window
360. Participated in a reenactment of Nephi's vision.
361. Was the musical number at seminary graduation
362. Got straight A's my first college semester (this one is kinda my second semester)
363. Had a passionate love affair with colored pens
364. Helped my brother run for student government
365. Learned by experience that the following quote is very true. "When we put God first, all other things fall in place or drop out completely"

There you go fellas. Things that I have done in the last year. I dunno about you... but it sure feels like I lived. And I was able to do it while having the awesome opportunity of writing a faithful and determined missionary. I don't think I have any 'waiter-haters' following my blog but... to everyone out there. Sure. "Waiting" for a missionary is hard. If you sit still for two years, that's gonna not rock. Hey, even if you're moving about and living every ounce out of every moment, you'll still have moments where you miss him. But if someone tried to tell me I was wasting my time by waiting for a missionary, why... I don't know! I would have to tell them that they were lying. Because this last year has been great. And it always would have been great missionary or no, because I'm just determined like that I guess. I consciously made the choice to make my year really great, and you know, I think I'll do the same thing next year, and the year after that, and the year after that. Because it makes life itself really great.

Put that in your hot cocoa as you will.

Origination

I hasn't blogged in lyke 4-ev-er. Fer realz yo.

No ok, I actually just posted something. But I've been busy and stuff, so blogs haven't been rolling around like normal. They're only halfheartedly rolling around.

But I do have some interesting stories!

First story. I was looking at my stats for this blog, because that's what I do, I look at my stats, because I like stats.... but I really enjoy looking at my referring sites. They're very interesting to me. And I find out who talks about me on their blog, and who visits whose blog and stuff like that. It's enjoyable. But today when looking at the stats for referring sites, I found something strange. It was a website for something, I don't know what it was, but while the website 'loaded' it said "You may enjoy looking at these sites while your blog loads". And my blog was listed there! Along with an archeology blog and a blog about ancient Greeks and things like that. A Lewis and Clark blog among those looked pretty normal. But for those of you the frequent my blog... it has nothing to do with Lewis and Clark.

Also my blog address has been confused with the style of Lewis and Clark, as in what they wear. I decided just to clear up right here why it is called Lewis and Clark style.

Lewis and Clark went to a new world and discovered lots of things, and took note of what they learned. So in a similar style, as I go about this new adventure of my life, I'm blogging what I learn. And adventures like that. It may not be exactly "New", I mean the age of 18 has been around for some time... but to me it's new. And I hope to keep this blog around for a really long time. Because as far as I know, every day is new to me. I've never experienced it before. And you never know what you might learn when thrown into the unknown like that.

Another thing. It's a story.

I like mail, and you'll learn why I like mail at 9am on December 9th (Stay tuned!). But yeah I like mail. I'm not obsessive over it though. But yesterday I was feeling restless and so when I saw the mail truck down the street, I decided to do some stalking.

The mail lady came walking down the street. I've seen her before when I come home from school, what she does is she walks down one side of the road, and then crosses about half way through and hits my neighbor to the north, and then hits my house. So I watched her. And I stared at the mail in her arms, wondering if there was anything there for me. The pile shrunk, of course, as she moved along, and by the time she got to my neighbor's house I had pretty much lost all hope that any mail would come to me that day. She crossed my neighbors yard, walking towards my house, and sorted through the mail on the way. And she pulled out a dinky little post card. I was a little upset, because I really wanted mail that day. But there was nothing. I decided it would still be an adventure to stare through the mail slot and watch mail come in, I've never done that before!

I crouched down and stared.

I heard the clink of the mail slot.

But nothing fell in!

I jumped up in a state of confusion and stared through the peep hole, what happened to the dinky post card?! She stood on my doorstep looking through the remaining mail in her arms, and pulled out a letter for me! Oh happy day! But rather than reaching towards the mail slot....

She.

Rang.

The.

Doorbell.

"I heard you making noises through the mail slot, and I figured why not hand you the mail in person?"

Hahaha!

I really missed my old mailman, Vern. He was the best. And everyone who receives mail from Vern can attest to that. So moving away was rather traumatic for me! I loved Vern! It took some time to warm up to the new mail lady, especially since she comes very very very late in the day...

But I think after yesterday, I don't know. I think we're best friends now.

And if she doesn't know that, too bad.

Give your mailman a hug as you will.

Burning up for you baby

Quick! Lara! While you're feeling weird write something! I think I have a fever. I don't know. I'm sick and I was just writing and some of the weirdest stuff was coming out of my fingers. I think they were magic sparks but I don't know. Oh, also, the words I was typing were pretty strange. It's moments like these when the best things come to my brain.

Have you ever noticed how brain looks like bran? Because I have. Not only the word, but the actual objects. Then again I'm not exactly sure what bran looks like. I know bran muffins. Those don't look like brain. Neither do bran cereals. But bran cereals are NASTY. That's right! I said it! Gross! I ate raisin bran all the time when I was growing up, and I only liked it for the raisins. But there comes a point in every child's life when they realize raisins are strange. And you become a teenager and hate them. I wish I still liked raisins. Because I loved getting those little boxes and eating raisins out of them. You can't do that with anything else! Try shoving some uh... bits of salad in there! It won't last. It never will. Then you grow older and raisins are ok again.

I wish that I had a mechanism in my mouth that brushed my teeth all the time. Like a mini tooth fairy that didn't steal my teeth, she cleaned them! Because the feeling of a clean mouth rocks my socks off. The feeling of an unclean mouth does the same thing too, since I can't stand to wear socks when my teeth aren't brush. I can't stand to wear much of everything. That's why I usually eat right before I take a shower. Then I brush my teeth. Then I get ready for the day. Then I mouthwash. Then I put my stuff in my book bag. Then I floss and then mouthwash again. Then take a sip of water to make my teeth not blue (I have blue mouthwash) Then I go to school.

Apparently my ritual of dental hygene was crucial. Heaven knows why. But I just spent a paragraph talking about it.

When you're young and free, going to the store is awesome. But then you grow up and realize that you HAVE to go to the grocery store if you want to LIVE! Well I'm tired of the store. Things in life lose their savor when you're dependent on them for life. Like respiration. And brushing your teeth. And going to the grocery store. I have faith that in the next life these won't be necessary. Actually I don't know. But one can hope. We'll see about respiration though. We'll just see. We'll all see.

There is a pitcher of water sitting on my table. Sometimes we have guests over for dinner. And we whip out the pitcher for them. But we never drink a full pitcher. So there is always some water left in there! What are you supposed to do with it? I don't know! In some places having a pitcher of clean water is an amazing thing. A miracle. A blessing. But here it's common. However, for some reason no one in our house can bring ourselves to throwing that pitcher of water down the sink. Well, the water, not the pitcher. But we can't bring ourselves to drink it! That's gross! Drinking water that's been on the table for a few seconds/hours/days/weeks/months/years. Nasty! So it just sits there. Festering disease and breeding havoc.

Havoc. That's the word of the day. Spelled backwards, you might think it says canoe. But it doesn't. It says covah. Close enough.

This has been your public service announcement of why your teacher should cancel class if she's sick. So that she doesn't cough and breathe all over everyone and get us all sick. Who cares about congress? We care about being healthy and sane!

As you will.