fat and happy

Mini-me x 2

2012-02-06T15:38:00.000-08:00

Gotta love this kid. Apparently she's been repeating a lot of things I say to her... in conversation form, but only with herself. For example:

"What do big kids do? Go pee in the potty! That's right!"
"This is hard. I'm doing great!"

Thankfully, besides picking up an optimistic and encouraging response habit (who knew?) Edyn also picked up other things I say a million, billion times... like the numbers 1-10 in order, as well as the alphabet in song form and the names and sounds of numerous animals. "What does a cow say? Mooooooo!"

Also, Coda has gotten better and better at mimmicking. If you say "yay!" she'll start clapping and offer up a very unenthusiastic sounding "yay" but it totally sounds like the real thing! If you whisper "dah-dah-dah" to her she'll usually whisper it back, too. Oh, and she loves having wailing/grunting/high-pitched-squealing conversations where you make a noise and she makes it back. Over and over and over. Love it. :)

An elephant may never forget...

2012-02-05T19:03:00.000-08:00

but apparently whales forget. It has been brought to my attention more times than I'd care to admit that I forget to smile. And enjoy life in general, actually. The other day I caught myself opening a Dove heart, popping it into my mouth, chewing it, AND throwing the wrapper away without reading the saying on the inside! None of it was deliberate... it was all completed in a most zombie-like fashion. I hope I don't get taken to girl-jail for it... but seriously. When did I forget how to slow down and really experience what I'm experiencing?

We had a ward activity a couple weeks ago and a guy there mentioned to me that I never smile, and always look stressed out. Gee, thanks. That's exactly what I wanted to hear. Couldn't you just try to make me smile instead? Or have you ever wondered if maybe I don't smile when I'm around you because... well... I'm around you? But it's not just that guy. Alta told me the other day that I look like an old lady. There's even this other guy that has, for months, made comments about how it always looks like I'm thinking about something or am distracted, and has on several different occasions said "That's the biggest I've seen you smile today." Uh... thanks for that?

It took me a while to admit to myself that these reactions to my existence are not unwarranted. In general I feel more stressed and stretched out than I ever remember feeling while I was in school. At school there was always at least one good reason to get out of bed... one good thing to look forward to that day... one thing or person that always seemed to cancel out the other drudgeries the day held. These days I feel like I have to literally drag myself everywhere I go, and once I get there I have to focus on "having fun" (or pretending to) or I don't. There's nothing to look forward to because tomorrow is the exact same thing over again.

I count down the hours I have left to work before my last student loan is paid off... before my car is paid off... before I can finally start keeping the money I earn... before I can quit my jobs and move on to something new.

I hate counting months and weeks and days and hours. Especially when the numbers only seem to get bigger when they should be getting smaller... I even count the minutes of sleep I miss for every minute I stay up later than I "should." I can't remember the last time I stayed up recklessly late, let alone without meaning to or caring that I did.

I've noticed lately a recurring theme of "enduring to the end," or "taking things one day at a time." I tagged along with the missionaries to a new member lesson, where they counseled that worrying about everything that's happened and everything that's going to happen is overwhelming, so to simplify things it's better to live in the moment. Live one day at a time, and focus on what you're doing today--right now. Have you met your goals today? Nevermind what you have to do tomorrow or what mistake you made yesterday... what about today??

I need to work on that. I saw my profile picture for Blogger and wondered where that youthful, happy person went, because I haven't seen her in a long time. And I never thought I'd say it... but I miss her. This new me basically sucks.

filling holes

2011-10-23T13:28:00.000-07:00

It was an ordinary day-- nothing too special. I woke up at the same time I get up every morning. I got ready for work, went to work and had an awesome day. Driving home from work, though, I was randomly hit with a powerful realization... I miss having friends.

(It's no mystery whether I've missed my friends since graduation-- how could I not? I have the best friends on the planet. However, I can also survive for long periods of time with, well, absolutely no social life. I suppose it's thanks to some defense mechanism I developed after 6 socially traumatizing years of junior high and high school. I think I got spoiled at college with all my great friends and acquaintances. They overflowed my social quota so much that the supply has only barely begun to run out. But let's get back to my story.)

The next day the ward was going to a corn maze in a neighboring town. I'd told a girl from the ward (we'll call her "Iffer") that I would go with her since I bailed on Tiffani and Suzuki last week. I thought to myself: "Alright-- it's time. Time to make some friends."

It was an enjoyable evening, despite the fact that I was taller than the corn, spent a good portion of my time in the maze wandering by myself and got the crap scared out of me by some guy from the ward who was trying to make the activity more exciting. (I punched him, by the way. Regrettably, it was not in the face. I've always wanted to punch someone out of self-defense or as an uncontrollable reflex. But only if they deserve it, of course.)

I was one of the drivers and all the girls in my car were pretty ok. Except that when everyone was preparing to leave the maze one of the guys came up to our group and asked if we wanted to hit up this tasty taco place in El Paso with him and his friends. I looked to my group. They looked at each other or off into space, all with equally unreadable faces. "Well, ladies?" I asked. One of the questionable girls looked at me and said "I'm actually up for going home." Hm, I thought. That's no way to make friends. The same girl readily consented to ice cream and a movie on our way home. Interesting.

So we got some ice cream, dropped off one girl and met up with another to eat the ice cream and watch a movie at my house. It was a fun night, and I went to bed hopeful that I am capable of making new friends and, especially, that I have a desire to do so. Wanting new friends has been a problem for me since I've lived here. I have limited time and energy, so why would I want to add a list of friends to my schedule when I'm fine as is? But after a fun night with these kids, my attitude seemed to be turning around.

Until last night.

I went to a pumpkin carving night at Iffer's house. I felt bad that only four people, including myself, went. Especially because she told me she'd invited 20. But who could possibly be a better sympathizer than me? After the experience I've gained inviting hundreds of people to many a movie night/other activity, I've learned never to plan for more than a third of the people invited. Anyway.

At this pumpkin carving night there were two pumpkins... mine and Iffer's. She gave hers to the two lazy boys that came pumpkinless, and one of them carved while the other guy and a random girl that came watched. After only a few minutes they were all in the living room, watching a football game and I was left in the kitchen, carving my pumpkin alone. I abandoned it early since it was failing and I felt I should join the others. For an hour and a half I suffered through boring conversation revolving around sports, racial jokes, incapable young adults and tragic accidents. I planned to leave for about forty minutes before I actually found the courage to do so. After a few lines when I first sat down I hadn't spoken at all. How awkward, then, to get up and leave such a small group. That I hadn't even been talking with. That I'd only been with for an hour. Especially since no one had texted or called me or anything. And it was a weekend. Oh whale! I couldn't take it anymore.

As I was leaving I realized what I'd learned that night: it's hard to make friends you really like. It takes time, patience, and a lot of boring conversation to weed through the nobodies to the people you'd really like to hang around. It made me appreciate the good friends that I do have. If you're reading this post, you're one of them. I just want to give a shout out to you, because I love you and think you're terrific. And you've left a pretty huge hole in my life that all these lesser-humans are going to have a hard time filling. :) Call me, ehkay?

Wednesdays my one roommate

2011-10-12T12:10:00.001-07:00

gets done with school at one. A couple of our other roommates went with me to pick her up today. She was chatting with a couple girls from her class and we pulled up some chairs. I commented one of her friends on her t-shirt, which had a cool Halloween design. The other friend stood up in order to better showcase her own Halloween shirt. "And I have Halloween underwear too!" Settle. This is not a contest.

Furia de la Noche

2011-10-02T17:17:00.000-07:00

It was after midnight, and we were walking out of the state fair/carnival. There were only thirty or so scattered cars left in the large parking lot, and I had parked on the far side. As we walked to my car, Tiffani was impressed with how it blended into the night and proclaimed "You should name it Hiccup!"
"Uh, Tiffani? Hiccup was the viking. The dragon was named Toothless. And I am NOT naming my car 'Toothless.'"
"Oh."
"However, 'Night Fury' would be ok... I wonder how you say 'fury' in Spanish..."

Turns out it's "Furia." So, "Furia de la Noche." I think I might stick to "Night Fury" or find a nickname based off that. If you have any suggestions, feel free to suggest them.A little about "Night Fury" though:
It's a black (obviously) 2009 Nissan Versa with white racing stripes.
It came with alloy wheels and an aftermarket stereo (I'll be getting a sub woofer at some point in the future, I'm sure...).
It's manual, and has been averaging 35mpg city. I haven't done any road trips yet, but I'm guessing it'll get about 40mpg freeway.
It's short and squatty (like me!).
I love it.

Oh whale!

2011-09-29T21:15:00.001-07:00

Even though the "berth" of Oh whale! just kind of happened... it has become a phrase dear to my heart. If you find yourself doing or saying something stupid, just try shrugging and saying "Oh whale!" in that special way Crystal says it. In 90.2% of situations it will relieve anxiety, improve mood and accelerate your journey back onto the path of happiness.
Because, really. What's done is done and you can't change that. Why dwell on it? In the grand scheme of things it wasn't that big of a deal in the first place.

Betrayed by my own.

2011-07-30T14:46:00.001-07:00

What Not to Wear is back and better than ever! Stacy and Clinton have seen it all... or have they? Send us your craziest, wildest, most bizarre nominations for the worst-dressed woman you know.

Nomination: Nicole Hengen
   Age: 23
   Size: [extra-super large], 5'5"
   Location: Las Cruces, New Mexico

Nikki has always dressed like a boy; her hair is always up in a ponytail while she is dressed in a t-shirt and shorts (usually camo cargo shorts). She tries her best to dress up on Sundays for church and she will wear her hair down, but she doesn't really know how to put together an outfit, despite family and friends shopping with her and picking out nice clothes for her. They tend to just hang in the closet. She doesn't wear much makeup, usually just some eyeliner and mascara. I think she's afraid to dress girlie because she wants to be taken seriously but feels like if she dresses too feminine, she'll be seen as an airhead or promiscuous.

[Notes scribbled onto the printout, apparently intended to be added on later to increase the appearance of desperation] Doesn't relate to most girls her age, doesn't really like them--afraid if she dresses like them, she'll be like them. Being single at 24 (relatively old in the Mormon community). Feels hopeless in a dating scene (not that there's much out here). We've tried everything-- ripped up camo shorts, gathered t-shirts for a t-shirt quilt. Needs professional help-- this is her last resort. Maybe hearing it from someone else will help.

fashion crimes and poor hygiene

2011-07-16T13:33:00.000-07:00

I know I'm not the best dresser. My family hated my old "camp pants" (which were really just a huge pair of camo shorts that I wore, like, all the time). I have other fashion-crime clothes, such as my "traveling shirt" and my "Nikki jacket." My family has been frowning down on some of my fashion decisions for years, but none have acted out as harshly as my cousins. One day Edyn was in my closet with me as I was putting away my laundry. I pulled out a button-up church shirt and started to hang it up. "Mama" she said as she pointed. ("Mama" basically covers anything having to do with "female" and "Daddy" the same for male.) I then pulled out a pair of cargo shorts an began folding them. "Daddy" she said as she pointed. Even a two-year-old knows which of my clothes are man clothes that I shouldn't be wearing. I was ashamed. Edyn's disapproval was nowhere near as brutal as that of her little sister's, though.

Earlier this week I was sitting in an arm chair, and had just finished feeding Coda. She was sitting with her bum on my belly and her back resting against my inclined leg. She started smiling all big and cute and I was distracted making happy faces back at her. Suddenly, pee and poop started leaking from between her diaper and leg straight onto me. Not a drop of it even grazed her onesie. Clearly she did not approve of my clothes for the day. I changed her diaper then left her with Camille and went to change.

A few hours later it was time to feed Coda again, and we snuggled down into the same armchair. She finished eating and started smiling and cooing. I was talking back to her and smiling and we were having a good ol' time. She was just so smiley! Then I had a thought when she started grunting a little. I pulled her in close and whispered in her ear "Coda, so help me, if you soil these shorts I will [pause as I think of a threat befitting a 2-month-old] be mad at you!" I pulled her up not three seconds later to find a huge poop pile on my lap. She hated my camo shorts as much as the rest of my family, if not more!

I decided then to keep, from that moment on, an extra layer between us. I refused to hold the little pooper unless she had a blanket under her. I think it was the next day (although it might have been the same day) that I had her lying on my bed, playing for a while before she was supposed to go to sleep. Fifteen minutes later I scooped her up to get her ready to sleep and felt wetness between her blanket and the one on my bed. "Oh well" I thought. It's just pee. It'll dry. Hard to keep my hygiene up when I've been getting pooped on as often as I have. No wonder Edyn calls me "Geeky" and "Icky".

New Mexico Wildlife

2011-07-04T12:56:00.000-07:00

Here in Cruces there are many new and exciting animals to experience.

Rabbits gather in hordes to devour the grass in the front yard that has been trying so hard to grow. The children used to run out and chase the rabbits away, but the rabbits don't run so easily now. They've learned that the children are feeble and harmless, especially when they're too lazy to put their shoes on. Who wants to get stickers all up in their feet? Not I. They kill. Instead, the lazy kids just run to the edge of the porch and wave their hands while shouting at the rabbits. Uh. Not scary.

Snakes are around, but rarely seen by us. We've had many neighbors and ward members tell of encounters with our slithery friends, but the only one I've seen was squished on the road. :(

Quail parade around in lines of mommas and teeny, tiny baby quail that are only a couple inches tall. They're so cute! But kind of annoying sometimes.

Deer seem only to come out when it's cool, and are a good enough reason for me to watch my speed on the windy, lonely road home at night.

Spiders and roaches still roam the house, but there have been a lot fewer (roaches at least) since the bug guy came. Grandpa is actually outside right now working to get rid of some of the spiders. I caught one I found in the kitchen sink... put it in a baggy and it's been sitting on my desk for a week. Not dead yet! I CAN keep spiders alive!

Coyotes skulk around, looking for rabbits or small children on which to prey. There was one quite close to the house in the middle of the day earlier this week. It looked around, marked its territory and left. Apparently you can buy coyote urine to spray around your yard to keep the rabbits away. Disgusting, but worth a shot.

Mice are seen scampering across the street every once in a while, but fortunately none have come close to the house.

Bobcats apparently hang out around our house, too, since Camille saw one sitting right next to the rock wall early one morning. It's like it was waiting for me to go out by myself on my run... it knows how slow I am. And so much tasty fat to enjoy! Mmm...

Vultures make come-and-go appearances, and there was one not 100 feet from the house the other day, feasting on what looked like a rabbit. These big predators are usually pretty tidy with their meals, but I did see a random, gnawed-off rabbit's foot on one of my runs last week. Sick.

Bats come out at night (obviously), and are apparently the ones responsible for the poop all over the outside walls of the house.

Tarantula hawks and other wasps hang around the trees in the front yard. A tarantula hawk is so named since it preys on tarantulas. They can get pretty big, and their sting is described as so painful you can do pretty much nothing but scream for about three minutes. There are few animals that can handle eating tarantula hawks, among them are

Roadrunners. Roadrunners are cool little birds. Yeah, little. They're for sure not as big as that honking roadrunner that Wiley Coyote chases around on tv. They're pretty fast, though.

There are, of course, the typical flies, bugs, birds and such. I think the heat makes some of them crazy, though. We'll be hanging around the house and all of a sudden hear a big, random thud. Another dumb bird attacking its reflection in the windows. There are almost always bird-shaped dirt splats on the windows (pictures to come some day). The other day one hit Bryce and Camille's window so hard it splattered blood all over and fell down dead. Ew.

Yer Up.

2011-05-31T11:12:00.000-07:00

What better way to celebrate graduating college than to go spend two weeks in Europe with one of your best friends and her so-cute baby? I submit there isn't one. At least not for me. It was seriously an amazing two weeks. Here-- let me tell you a little about it.

Kusel Castle
One of the first days I was in Germany, Bonnie, Asher and I visited a castle. It was a view I could get used to... and did get used to. Guys, I want a castle. The above picture was taken from the top of this cool tower... it's a pretty good representation of what southern Germany looks like at a glance. There are hundreds of green, rolling hills spattered with trees and lined with tons of fields. The fields are all neatly cut and of many colors, so it looks really cool (especially during particular growing seasons, apparently). In the lower valleys, usually snuggled in patches of trees, are villages. Bonnie's house is in one of those little snuggly villages. It was super cute, but we're not to that part yet.
Asher and I were wary of each other at first. Mostly him of me, but we sat down at the castle and worked some things out. We've been great double-chin buddies ever since.

Kaiserslautern
Um... this was the only picture taken while we were in Kaiserslautern. But it was pretty cool--my first encounter with a German city (as opposed to a village, and not including Frankfurt since I was only in the airport there). I also had my first Kebab there. Oh man. Delicious. Oh, and some ice cream! Delicious-er.

Rudesheim
I remember Rudesheim a little better than Kaiserslautern since we took some pictures... it was way cool, too. I loved walking down all the little cobblestone streets, lined with stores and their signs hanging out over the walkway. It felt very... European. It was also cool that you could turn a corner and bam! All of a sudden there was a church there. And you were like "oh." And then you went and looked inside and were like "ohh." Haha... anyway. It was just a really cool atmosphere. There were a lot of people, but it wasn't loud and it was quite clean. With the great weather we had and the beautiful sunshine it was an overall delightful experience. Oh, and we got some brats. Mmm...

Henschtal
After we got back home from Rudesheim we went on a walk through Bonnie's village. It's so little! The streets are so small that the parking spots painted on the sides of the street go halfway onto the sidewalks! Otherwise you'd be blocking, like, half the street. Instead, you're only blocking, like, a third of it. It's also really small area-wise. There weren't so many houses, but they were all really cool. I especially like how everyone had cool doors. There were farms surrounding the village... I'm not sure if they were technically part of the village... all I know is they made really great scenery looking out Bonnie's windows. The view from her backyard is so awesome we actually sat on her porch and painted there one day.

Did I mention she has cows in her backyard?

TrierAsher's middle name is Trier, so he was particularly excited to be there, can't you tell? Actually, I think he was hoping his first trip there would be with his mom and dad, not Mom and Aunt Nikki. Eh. Oh well. He ate some Peach flavored puffs and got over it.Man. Everyone looks really excited to be at Trier... haha. It actually was a lot of fun and we were all happy. I'm just not so great at pictures, and that one of Asher was unusually serious. But yeah. I did let Bonnie take this picture of me in front of the Porta Nigra. Trier is the oldest city in Germany, and has a really cool history. You should go look it up sometime if you're ever bored.

RamsteinWe went to Ramstein one day to check out their "Flohmarkt," or flea market. My dad was hoping I could bring back some German coins for him (from the pre-Euro days). We thought we might have some luck there, and we did. Bonnie even bartered for me... in German!

Phew. That's a lot for one post. Let's take a break.

Yer Up. Part 2.

2011-05-31T11:11:00.000-07:00

Paris
I was chatting with Bonnie a day or two after we got to Germany when she told me that everyone who goes to Europe wants to go to Paris, and that if I didn't go I'd regret it. "Sooo... I think you should buy a train ticket and go." Oh. Um. Ok. So I did. Good thing I went to New York semi-recently, so I knew how to use the Metro. That wouldn't have been easy to learn in a foreign language speaking country.
I started at the Arc de Triomphe...

Then I visited the Royal Palace, the Louvre and the Orsay...

I got lost several times, but it's REALLY hard to get lost in Paris and NOT run into something cool. Take this bridge for example! It was covered, both sides, end to end, top to bottom in all sorts of locks. Cool, huh? I also ran into the Basilica, the Justice Building, Latin Quarter (wow... how do you stumble upon the Latin Quarter??), and other cool things.

I saw Notre Dame, too... but the Hunchback had a day off.

My last stop before heading back to the train station was the Eiffel Tower. Pretty freakin' sweet. Paris again sometime? Yes, please.

Struthof
On our way to Luzern, Switzerland we stopped by the Natzweiler-Struthof concentration camp in France.
The camp is located on the side of a beautiful hill, overlooking a gorgeous scene of mountains and valleys and millions of trees. It was especially sad that such a beautiful place has such a horrible history.
We saw the prison where they kept prisoners who misbehaved. The bigger doors led to small rooms where they would cram up to twenty prisoners at a time. The smaller doors are isolation cells. They're too small to lie down in or stand in. Many of those prisoners died after being cramped up like that with only bread and water for up to three days.
The Natzweiler-Struthof camp was especially known for the medical experiments that went on there. Needless to say, the experiments caused slow, painful deaths for many.

Luzern
For our multiple-day trip I chose for us to go to Switzerland. It was awesome. :) It was just so pretty! I know I keep saying that about, like, everything in Europe. But, well... it all is really pretty. You've just gotta go there someday to see for yourself if you haven't already.
We climbed a tower on a wall (the big stone kind they build during times of war and stuff) to get this picture. It was a lot of work, but what a view!We almost went on a boat cruise... but then we didn't. But we sat on a boat for a little while. It was a nice boat.
We got to see this cool "Lion Monument." It was built as a memorial to Swiss guards who died in the line of duty during the French Revolution or something. The artist was promised a certain amount of money, and they didn't deliver in the end. To show his distaste for the poor form of his commissioners, the artist carved the hole in the wall that the lion sits in into the shape of a pig. Can you see it?

We were pretty wiped out after Luzern, but we did find time before I left to paint, hit up a chocolate factory and do some other fun things. What an adventure. :)

failing :(

2011-04-19T16:04:00.000-07:00

Last Winter I enrolled in "Greek and Roman Mythology," in an attempt to fill my letters credit. I walked into class the first day, feeling ambitious. I talked to my neighbor for a few minutes and thought "she and I are going to be great friends." The teacher passed out the syllabus and began going over requirements for the course. I dropped the class almost before the hour was up. The same thing happened with "Humanities of Asia" last semester, except I think it took even less time for me to drop it.
This semester I enrolled in "Masterpieces of English Literature," which turned out to really be "Masterpieces of British Literature." Yes, we read such classic and ever-so enlightening tales as Beowulf and The Faerie Queene. (And by "we read" I really do mean that we read them. Including me.) I HAD to take the class if I wanted this to be my last semester, and I did want it to be my last. So I took it. My one and only goal for the class? To get a "D" letter grade (the minimum grade required for the class in order for me to graduate). I took my final today, and I know you're wondering whether I met my goal. The answer is no, no I did not.
Instead, to my dismay, my calculator reported that even if I were to get a zero on both my final paper and in-class final I would still get a 68.6% in the class. What's worse, I got my paper back right before I took my final, and I got a 94% on it. There was no way I could get less than a 78% in the class, even if I got a zero on my in-class final. FAIL.

sushi with touille

2011-04-14T16:53:00.001-07:00

I was trying to think of things I've been doing lately so I could blog about them. It's pretty much been school, school and more school. Filling in some of the cracks between the 'school' and 'school' part has been my friend, Natalie. She's in my major, and her desk is on the other side of mine in the studio. She's at school a lot, too, so I see her more often than pretty much anyone. She's almost all I do all day. Anyway, in celebration of our BFA shows going up we went to sushi a little while ago. It was delicious. But then we started getting full. And we were afraid of being charged for any sushi we didn't finish. So we started arguing over who had to finish off what. Finally we got it down to two pieces. I choked down one, and she... well... 'took care' of the other one.

Yeah. She's that awesome.

post-graduation fun

2011-04-14T16:22:00.000-07:00

I'm graduating soon--did you know? I want to do some fun stuff before I start the rest of my life and this is what I have so far:

1. Drive my stuff down to New Mexico with my buddy Natalie. It's fifteen hours, but she's totally game. Already you know everything there is to know about her: a. She's an awesome friend b. I think she's great c. She must think I'm great too d. She's crazy. And yeah.

2. Go to the hospital to see the newest Heiner baby! If that baby waits to come until after I've left for #4... she's gonna have some serious explaining to do. I keep missing the Heiner kids being babies and dangit! It's not gonna happen again.

3. Spend about two weeks with Bonnie and Asher (and maybe Ian??) in Henschtal. Well, and touring around, of course. :) I'm very much excited for this one. We're supposedly making/finalizing plans soon... as soon as I get the rest of my stuff done so I can actually graduate. Asher is so stinking cute! Essentially my nephew, too. I love all three of those kids.

4. Do something adventurous with Stephanie, since she's also graduating.
Steven and I went skydiving for his graduation and what should have been mine (if I had been on-top of things enough to graduate in four years instead of five), so that's out. Also, Stephanie is being a little lame, so anything TOO wild is out of the picture anyway. I mean, she suggested driving all the way back up here just to go to Lagoon. Wait... seriously? She's going to be living here for the next four years. She can go then. Also, if she wants to travel why didn't she think to suggest Disneyland or Knott's Berry Farm or the beach or something? That whole area of California is four hours closer and way cooler! I think she might just think it would be too overwhelmingly fun. So. Have any suggestions for us? Besides horseback riding in exotic Mesa, please. I've already eliminated that option too. I'm thinking more along the lines of 'see a movie.'

5. Begin the rest of my life in Cruces. Someday the 'as a fish-lady' part will be added on. But not yet. Once I get my own place. First I hafta take over Cruces.... I will rule that tiny town!

drama at the drive-thru

2011-03-28T21:29:00.000-07:00

I took Kara up to Iceberg tonight, only to discover she hates ice cream... and was fasting?? Convenient coincidence... Anyway. We peeled out, I kicked her to the curb and headed over to Little Caesar's. A large pizza and a bag of Crazy Bread for only $6? Yes, please. Hugely long line and stupid drivers clogging the entire parking lot? Never mind. How about Arby's? An expensive, but reliable, choice. And no line! How convenient.

Girl: Welcome to Arby's. May I take your order?
Me: Yeah. Can I have a #9?
Girl: Can I get you a Pepsi with that?
Me: ...Uh. Well it IS a combo, right?
Girl: Yeah.
Me: Oh. Well can I have a Root Beer instead?
Girl: Sure. Would you like to upgrade that combo to a medium or large?
Me: A medium's fine.
Girl: Would you like to try some of our new, delicious CinnaBites for just a dollar?
Me: *sigh* Sure.
Girl: Alright. That'll be $7.95 at the window.
Me: Thanks. (drive up to the window, and three or four other cars are soon following)

Girl: Welcome to Arby's. May I take your order? Out of twenty? Would you like fries with that? (she disappears for a moment for no apparent reason).
Guy: Hey, that crispy chicken is gonna be about five minutes. Is that okay?
Me: *sigh* Yeah.
Girl: (reappears) So that's two number sixes and a four? Would you like to upgrade those to mediums or larges? Here's 10, 11, 12 and five cents. (re-disappears)
Guy: Um... would you be okay with roasted chicken instead?
Me: Sure.
Guy: Want me to add on lettuce and tomatoes for the inconvenience? (I smile and nod, slightly shocked a chicken sandwich wouldn't come with lettuce or tomatoes, and he starts walking away) And maybe some onions?
Me: (to myself) Onions?! Nooooooo! (commence sitting with my bymyself for a minute or two, moping about the impending onions and less-fatty/tasty chicken... a long time to be in a drive-thru, especially while you're hungry and moping)

Guy: Did she give you your CinnaBites yet?
Me: No. (the guy is clearly frustrated now)
Guy: (hands me a bag). Sorry. We're really understaffed tonight, and she forgot to drop your CinnaBites, so here's what we're gonna do. I obviously upgraded your fries to a large and we're also gonna give you that crispy chicken. And your CinnaBites, but those will be a minute.
Me: (think to myself "How delightful!" and I offer to pull into the parking lot on the other side to wait)
Girl: (mysteriously re-appeared in the middle of our exchange) Yeah, you could do that.
Guy: We can't have the customers pull out. It's night (motions dramatically towards the ceiling with his hand).
Me: (totally confused)
Girl: (to Guy) Okay, but there are, like, three cars behind her and it's already been six minutes! Do you realize I could get fired?! (turns to me, and sugarcoats her voice) Yeah, if you could pull into the parking lot that would be great. Oh, and would you like a shake for the inconvenience?
Me: (after making sure Guy isn't close enough to hear) Yeah! That'd be great.

I pull around and the girl comes out a couple minutes later. I leave for campus, where I take inventory:
2 chicken sandwiches, 1 roasted and 1 crispy
2 large fries
1 large drink
1 small shake
1 thing of CinnaBites

The CinnaBites were really gross, but considering the upgrades and entire extra meal I got for ordering them, totally worth it. Kelly and I dined like queens, and I waited for less than ten minutes altogether. Not bad, not bad. Arby's? A new favorite.

saving lives... one pint at a time

2011-03-28T21:25:00.000-07:00

I used to think that the worst part of donating blood was that prick they give you on the end of your finger to check your iron levels. While that vicious little episode is no longer in first, it's a close second to them leaving you hooked up for a good few minutes after you already filled the bag. My arm started feeling really heavy and like it might've been bloating. I got really squirmy and was very uncomfortable, but at least I didn't get sick/pass out like others who have been hooked up too long. Who knew I'd bleed so fast? 3:59. A new personal best, I believe. Think you can take me?

the concrete jungle

2011-03-18T03:12:00.001-07:00

In response to popular demand, a post on my recent trip to New York:

It was great. I took my camera but didn't feel like using it much. Instead, I got other people to take pictures of me on their cameras... a much better plan than lugging around my own. If any of their pictures of me are really super amazingly life changing to behold I'll post them once I get them. In the mean time, some random pictures I took on my phone. They are in no particular order.

I saw several nationally recognized monuments... from a distance.

We went to the Cloisters one day. Apparently it's a medieval-ish type of gallery. Has the unicorn tapestries and such. There was awful music playing in the museum store, which was overrun with unicorns, unicorns and more unicorns. And was, oddly enough, occupied by mostly men.

It was a lot of walking and standing. We got tired.

We rode the subways a lot, and it was just like in the movies. Minus the movies that involve firearms and explosions and such. This was, like, the only empty stop we were ever in. It was creepy.

We stopped at Washington Square to watch a couple street shows. This guy crammed himself in a box, and afterward one of his buddies jumped over five people lined up shoulder to shoulder (four of which you can see on the right). He did a flip at the same time.

We stopped at Strand, a really cool bookstore that has over 18 miles of books. Ca-razy. I found a couple books I wouldn't mind getting for my birthday in a few months...

This is Burt Silverman's place. He's kind of a big deal. We also visited the studios and/or houses of Brett Helquist (best known for illustrating A Series of Unfortunate Events), Brad Holland (one of the very top illustrators of today), Kinuko Craft (crazily rendered stuff), and Paul Zelinsky. We were supposed to visit Blue Sky Studios (they did Ice Age and stuff), but they canceled on us since our group turned out bigger than we thought it would. I was super bummed since no Blue Sky meant no Peter de Seve. :( Most of you guys don't know, so I'm gonna tell you. These are all really big-name illustrators. I mean, they're all on Wikipedia and everything. It's really awesome that BYU has such a good relationship with these artists and that they were all so willing to let us poke around their studios and ask them questions and stuff. Kind of a once-in-a-lifetime type of thing.
After meeting all those awesome artists we got to meet with an illustration agent named Richard Solomon, who represents not only Kinuko and Brad, but also C.F. Payne (who came and visited BYU several weeks ago), Jon Foster (who visited BYU last year, and who I admire greatly), Gregory Manchess (who came last semester), Sterling Hundley, and Gary Kelly. All hugely famous and successful. He also represents other excellent artists that are still working their way to the top. He blogged about our visit.

Gotta watch some pros play the Big Piano at FAO Schwarz, then take my picture next to a Lego C3PO. Did it for Sim and Hil. Giant toy stores are great fun. :]

Nan had a birthday while we were there. I made her ride a duck.

Built an extremely accurate version of me at the Lego store. I would have bought it.... but art of that caliber is expensive.

The quaint, quiet parts of the city were a nice break.

Subway posters are nine bajillion times more effective at informing me than TV commercials. Maybe because my house doesn't have cable...

Now wasn't that fun? Everything you hoped for and so much more? Thought so.

invisibility

2011-02-20T21:44:00.000-08:00

Remember when you were little, and you and your friends would ask each other what super power you would most like to have? I always chose the ability to fly. Inwardly I would scoff when anyone chose invisibility. WHY would you want to be invisible? Besides all the complications involving nudity, it just seems plain silly. Reflecting on recent events, it makes sense that I would think that... I already feel invisible most of the time. A feat, you're thinking, for someone of my volume. Imagine my surprise.

Mmmm...

2011-02-15T20:02:00.000-08:00

The other day I watched Proof with my roommates. We giggled. We cried. We drooled every time Jake Gyllenhaal came on screen. Overall, it was far too short of an experience. The funniest part I can remember- prolly only because Kara laughed so hard- is when Gwenyth Paltrow asks her character's ultra-organized, plan-every-breath-you-take sister "Do you ever check off something you haven't done yet?" While the idea leaves a delightful taste on your lips (Go on. Try it. Say "I'm going to check something off my list that I haven't done yet." Felt deliciously rebellious and self-destructive, didn't it?), it soon after summons an overwhelming feeling of panic. Wait... what would I choose? Does it count if I write something stupid in, just so I can cross it off without doing it? After all, for something to go on a To-Do list, you must first have a To-Do list. If there's something so important and pressing that I go through the effort of creating a list of things to do just so I can put that thing on a list... it's clearly important. Too important to just cross off without doing it first.
That being said, I want you all to know that I got to cross something off my list today that I didn't really do. I didn't get to cross it off because my teacher canceled the assignment or excused me from it or anything like that. In fact, this particular item constitutes 10% of my grade no matter what.How, then, did I manage to cross it off? Did I cheat? Decide to ignore the assignment, fail the class and subsequently fail to graduate? No. I simply snuck up on myself... subconsciously designing the necessary circumstances for an effective unjustified-crossing-off.
"English presentation" has graced my academic "To-Do" list since the first day of class. I've thought about it, and considered doing it, on and off for the past month and a half. I spent all day yesterday working on a painting that was due today. Several times I found myself thinking "My presentation is Thursday, right? Man. Wouldn't it suck if I checked and it was actually tomorrow? I'm so tired and have been painting all day and still have to wake up early tomorrow to finish this gazzish painting... I'm hungry."
English class starts at 12:05. At 11:32 I decided to look up the reading I was supposed to have done for class. There, underlined and starred and accented with arrows and sunshine rays was the name "William Wordsworth." I had not only failed to put together my presentation that was apparently today; I had failed to even do the reading it was on! It's not easy to lead a discussion on reading that you don't even know the title of, and that everyone else in the room has read.
I can't remember the last time I was so embarrassed. I hate being the unprepared loser. Anyway. I had a 90% going into the presentation, so worst case scenario says I'm at an 80% now. I can live with that, and it saved me, like, three hours in my week.

I quit my job.

2011-02-11T15:05:00.000-08:00

Isn't this a lovely picture? It's of me and my friend, Kelly. I'm the fatter one, obviously. Kelly was essentially the only person I knew when I started work at BYU Independent Study last January. I was hired as a graphic artist, which means that I drew pretty pictures to accompany the online course IS offers. The images I made looked a lot like the one above, actually.... and that is why I will do great things in life.
I remember sitting next to Kelly on my first day, asking her questions since she was my "trainer" person. By the end of the week I was answering her questions, as well as the questions of my fellow newbies. But Kelly's great. She was really nice to me, even though I apparently had a reputation in our program--and not a very good one. I was considered grouchy, unapproachable and generally angry at life. That was actually a pretty accurate assessment at the time... art is hard. I would (and still do, I guess) get frustrated and prefer concentrating over socializing. By putting a nice, big "BUG OFF" sign on my face, I managed to get more done than many of my counterparts.
But now I was thrown into a working environment with these people. And here was Kelly, being nice to me even though she knew as well as the next person that I was scary and grumpy. I decided that she could see my less beastly side. Word quickly spread that I'm amazing and I made more friends at work. They started coming to movie nights at my apartment and saying hi to me on campus and giving me hugs at Smith's. I had to get away... so I quit my job. Just kidding, but not really. But really, just kidding. That's not why I quit.
Don't get me wrong. I loved my job. My boss was awesome, the pay was the best I've ever had, the co-workers were chill, the hours were flexible, and they gave us really good free food all the time. It's the best job I've ever had.

Lilo & Stitch

2010-11-03T21:56:00.000-07:00

PROBLEM
Little Dave's passing was a tragedy. "...but it's not just tragedy, it's dementia, despair; it's this hole...in each of [my] eyes, where all the events that happen in this real world kind of just fall through. It's loneliness in it's most crippling form, the kind that no amount of love, or human contact, could ever mend... [I need] to try to fill those holes with something else. But with what? Hope? I can try to fill those holes with drugs, soothing words, but that's all. I hope [my] wounds will heal with time, but right now, things aren't looking good." Ok. That was a tad dramatic. But I DID need something to mend my broken, guilt-ridden heart. So where did I turn to fill the void? PetSmart, of course. Time to right my wrong.

SOLUTION
Simini was dying for a fish, and it turns out she's quite picky-- especially when it comes to her water-dwelling friends. We browsed the fish area for quite a long while, sizing up the fish based on recommended tank size, price, and aesthetic appeal. It was then that I spotted the magical tank... a tank containing underwater frogs! We couldn't see any in the tank, so we called a worker over and asked whether they were out of stock. She proceeded to stick her arm into the germ/scum/poop/dead fish/nastiness infested tank and grab the large rock structure resting at the bottom. She waved it around viciously, knocking into fish (and prolly knocking several unconcious) and stirring up roundabouts of 15 little frogs. I was excited for the .7 seconds it took before I realized that 13 of the 15 frogs weren't moving of their own accord. I'd never seen so many dead frogs. Simini and I exchanged horrified looks right before the worker set the rock structure down and walked away, leaving us to stare at the dead frogs and then notice that one of the two living ones had been pinned under the rock structure and was struggling to escape! We panicked for a moment. I don't know what Simini was thinking at the time, but I was trying to decide whether to call back the heartless, germ-loving worker or to stick my own precious arm into the nastiness to save the frog from his seemingly eminent death. I opted to call back the worker. Or was it Simini who did? It's all a blur... anyway. She came back and freed the poor dear and that's when I decided that I needed to save one of those poor creatures. I considered it a step towards fully repenting of the wrong I did Little Dave. Simini picked a guppy, we hunted for the best food (which included frozen bloodworms for the frog.... yum!), water conditioner and tank decor, then headed back to the studio with our new friends.

HAPPY ENDING
We made a very nice little place for our buddies to live. They sit on the window sill right next to my desk, overlooking Y mountain, among other things. The first few days neither moved much; they seemed a little depressed. Or scarred, perhaps. Eventually, though, there was noticeable improvement in their health and stamina. Because the decor of choice for the tank was an island accompanied by blue tank rocks, Simini suggested we give them island names. We settled on Lilo for the guppy (a male, we later verified) and Stitch for the frog. They are quite active and happy, and everyone in the studio loves them. Stitch, who sat in the exact same spot his first two days in the studio, now moves around freely. Sometimes he hides under the palm tree's branches, or swims around then freezes mid-action, floating along stiff in the middle of the tank... it kinda looks like he's rehearsing for an underwater Matrix movie. Anyway. Here's a tender picture of Stitch (Lilo is a bit harder to catch sitting still):
He's kind of like a quiet guardian... like Batman... anyway. I love him.

NEW PROBLEM
Simini also got a betta fish for her house that day. He died three (or was it two?) days later, so we got her another one. The new one-- Richt (pronounced Rick and short for Xyrichtus) fell sick recently and we returned to PetSmart to get him some meds. Of all the times I've been to PetSmart, that was the first time they had pythons in stock... and I wanted one. Kind of a lot. I've wanted a snake ever since high school. All my former roommates were strongly against the idea of me owning a snake while living with them. However, I think I'm moving next semester, and my will-be roommate is cool enough that she'd be ok with me owning a snake. Now I just have to figure out whether I can afford it and whether I can make that kind of commitment. And keep the poor thing alive... stay tuned to find out how that all goes.

the passing of a dear friend...

2010-11-03T20:41:00.000-07:00

Meet Little Dave.
He's a tarantula. Natalie and I, with the help of one of our professors, caught him at the base of Provo Canyon (we were on our way home from a plein air expedition). We lured Little Dave into an A&W cup-- a surprisingly easy task-- and I took him home. He died later that night... right around the time I became a murderer. For me it was a costly lesson concerning the repercussions of succumbing to peer pressure. I still regret my foolish decision. Little Dave's burial will be taking place sometime in the next few days, now that rigor mortis has completely consumed his body and the decomposition of the same is causing an unpleasant odor in the vicinity of my studio space. He will be sorely, sorely missed. Rest in peace, my hairy little friend.

POST SCRIPT--added due to popular demand
We (meaning Natalie and I) gave Little Dave his proper burial last week. We placed him in a small, black box with a pirate-esque tarantula flag at the head. We cushioned the inside with tissues and lined the edges with matches. We lit the matches as the eulogy (you-goo-ga-lee) began, then set him afloat the botany pond. Once his body was reduced to ashes, we removed him from the pond and buried him nearby. It was an emotional time, but I'm confident that it enabled his spirit to move on...

back for good, it seems

2010-07-22T06:29:00.000-07:00

Well. I got back from my last vacation for the summer on Monday night. Everything here is... pretty much the same as it's been since spring semester ended. Except that when I walked out to the truck to go to work Tuesday morning, I discovered that I must have made a couple friends. Apparently I was invited to a birthday party, but didn't get the invite since I was out of town. They were kind enough to save me the several-days old leftover cake... in the back of the truck... uncovered, except for the leaves and bugs and dirt and mold and germs and slobber and bird pecks and dust and seeds and water and skin flakes and diseases...
what pals! :)

brainwashed.... for $50

2010-06-09T07:53:00.000-07:00

Remember that one episode in Lost, where Kate and Sawyer help Alex save Karl? They find him in a hatch, strapped to a chair with these glowing glasses on and pictures flashing on the screen in front of him. That's pretty much what happened to me this morning, minus the glasses (I got a lame salt-water-soaked-net-thing instead). I have this sneaking suspicion it wasn't really a "study"... but that it was, instead, where they send unmarried BYU students before they graduate. You know. To brainwash them. Obviously we missed a memo somewhere along the way...

my mother would be proud...

2010-06-06T18:56:00.000-07:00

Mom! I learned how to separate an egg today! Quite effectively, I might add. I've broken it down into four easy steps so that everyone can reap the benefits of my hours of experimentation. They are as follows:

1. Put your egg in the backish corner on the rightish side of the middle shelf of your fridge, so that your egg slushifies. Once it's leaning closer to the side of frozen you're good to go. It should look like this
once you start peeling it.

2. Peel your egg. Be careful to peel fast enough that the egg doesn't have time to melt in your 86-degree apartment, but slow enough that you don't accidentally punch a hole through the tender ice-shell that surrounds the yolk. It should look like this once you're done peeling.

3. You can now safely begin breaking into the icy egg. Separate the clear, icy stuff from the icy yellow stuff. Be sure to do it over the sink, as it gets drippy and quite cold (you can run your hands under some warm water if your fingers get too cold). That looks like this.
4. Remember, the yolk is NOT a yolksicle, so try really hard to not just start licking it. And tada! You've successfully separated an egg using the Noggin technique (patent pending). Enjoy.

that time I barely made it out alive

2010-05-12T09:24:00.000-07:00

When I was thirteen, Grandma and Grandpa Coombs flew me up to Utah to visit them for my birthday present. They picked me up from the airport, and we stopped at a McDonald's for lunch on the way home. I got a Big Mac and fries-- my favorite at the time. By the time we got back to their house I wasn't feeling well. I called my mom and told her so, and she advised me that often vomiting will relieve said discomfort. All that talk about it and... well... you know. I spent the rest of the day doing it. I developed a (food) aversion to McDonald's that day (I think it was the sesame seeds that really sealed the connection between throw up and McDonald's for me). To date, I have only had one piece of anything from McDonald's pass through my lips. It was a single french fry, and I did it for the sake of a joke. I still remember, I was in St. George with some friends and Burger King (and everywhere except McDonald's) was closed. I decided to starve rather than eat there. Bonnie held a fry in front of my face, in reference to a story she once told me, and I ate it. I still shudder when I think about it...

Well. I'm babysitting two of my nine favorite cousins this week, and McDonald's was on our itinerary. Rather than trying to trick Kallie out of wanting to go at all (yeah--prolly impossible), I decided we could just get it over with. So when she said she wanted to go on the first full day I was 'sitting, I agreed. The building was actually ok-- not as ghetto or nasty as many are. Kallie ordered for herself and I ordered for Kamden. We got their food and went over to fill the drinks. I had it in my mind to choose root beer for Kamden's drink and to share it with him, since Barq's root beer is obviously not made by McDonald's and I apparently wasn't eating dinner (I couldn't bring myself to order anything for myself). We sat down and I neatly arranged Kamden's nuggets and fries and opened his ranch, trying the entire time to not think about all the terrible stories and nasty images that I associate with McD's. I felt guilty letting the children eat it. Ew. After we were settled in for them to eat, I reached for Kamden's cup with the intention of partaking of the goodness that is Barq's. I couldn't do it. The cup didn't even make it halfway to my mouth. I just couldn't do it... not with that stupid clown on the cup staring at me. And another one sitting on a ski lift above our heads. And two more on their Happy Meal bags and another... and another... and another... they're everywhere! I forced myself to help Kamden finish his dinner then permitted the kids to play on the play place thing. I whipped out my hand sanitizer. (The restaurant was, of course, out of theirs. I've learned to be prepared, though.) I then put in my earphones and hunched over my sketchbook, drawing and trying to pretend I was anywhere but McDonald's. Needless to say, I survived and am now able to safely look forward to the rest of the week. :)

the roller coaster's peak...

2010-05-12T08:12:00.000-07:00

Crap. I looked up from my Zune, a bit panicked, and quickly scanned the faces in the room. Could they tell I was panicking? They all knew-- they had to. They knew that we were only ten (maybe fifteen) minutes into the lesson, with twenty to go, and that I was nearly out of material. Crap.

I thought about my brief conversation with Mark right after sacrament meeting. "So... what time am I supposed to be done?" "Eleven." "Eleven? Not even, like, ten fifty or fifty-five?" "Nope. Eleven. On the dot. Oh, and you're teaching in the big room." Crap.

At first I thought maybe the big room would be better. A bigger room meant more people. I was already nervous enough that I don't think adding even several hundred people to my crowd could have made me more nervous. So a bigger room was good, right? More people means more comments. Right? Wrong. Crap.

I stared out across the room again. Waiting for someone to comment. I desperately tried to make eye contact with Mindy. Kim. Lowe. Steven. Tahna. Anyone?? It felt like I was up there for an eternity, just staring at them all and praying for someone to answer the question I'd just asked. I mean, it wasn't a hard one to answer, and I had said plenty of things before the question that would be equally easy to comment on. So why wasn't anyone commenting? I was already hot (I get hot really fast when I'm nervous), but I felt my body temperature jump a few degrees. Oh no! No one's going to comment, and this is the last topic of discussion before I'm supposed to end! If no one comments, I don't think I'll be able to improv my way through fifteen minutes to get to the closing thoughts I had prepared. We'd have to end early. But twenty minutes early? Really? That would make it painfully obvious that my experience in teaching is extremely limited and that I don't have the blessed skill of improvising under pressure. No one is going to want to come to my class when I teach. Crap.

I moved my bangs away from my eyes (something to do while standing up there, waiting for a comment). I think I remember feeling sweat beads on my forehead. Not only gross, but also visible to others! Oh no. I also ran my hand over the back of my hair for some reason (a fake itch? "adjusting" hair that had fallen out of place? just another something to do, most likely). The heat my nervous body was emitting was intense enough that I could feel it through my thick hair. I wondered if it would be wise to put my hair up next time. Maybe then I wouldn't feel quite so hot. I also realized just then that if my head is this hot, my armpits have got to have something going on down there, too. I, again, panicked for a moment. I had no idea what their status was. Tacos? Pancakes? Had they gone straight to full-out pizzas?? I didn't even think to sweat-proof my shirt, so who knows what it looks like! Ok. Note to self: keep arms down (that made for several awkward side-hugs after my lesson) and sweat-proof all future outfits worn on teaching days. Ugh. That's not something I've ever had to worry about! Crap.

I glanced at my Zune again. Oh no! It hadn't even been a minute!

My thoughts continued to wander. Luckily, before I could get so far as to seriously consider moving out of the ward, I saw a hand go up. Lindsey-- you are my hero. She made a comment and asked a question that spurred other comments and thoughts. The next time I looked at my Zune it was ten fifty-five. I tied up the discussion and said my closing thoughts and asked for a volunteer to pray. I can't remember the last time I'd felt so relieved. Happiness.

Upon thinking about the lesson a little more, I came to the conclusion that it was like a roller coaster ride. Almost exactly like riding the Colossus for the first time, actually. The analogy I did at the beginning with a volunteer was like the slow climb to that first really high part of the ride. You know--where you can look down into the parking lot and freak out because you realize how high you are. The moment I just went into great detail about was a lot like the moment where you pause at the top. You see the track ahead of you, and you know gravity is going to pull you in that general direction, but you're not 100% positive you're going to stay on the track and make it safely to the end. Sometimes freak accidents happen, you know? But then Lindsey's comment was like that moment right after the roller coaster starts on its way down. You're relieved to not be hanging out at the top anymore, but you're still not all the way ok. Then you make it through the first turn. Seems like easy sailing... until you hit the first loop. Someone makes a comment and it's awesome, but the ride slows down for a second on the underside of the loop and you're not sure the coaster's got enough speed to make it. It does, and you're relieved. Just to hit another loop! But you've already made it through one and you're more confident this time. You make it through the second loop and the rest of the track. The coaster pulls back into the stop area and you relax all those muscles you were tensing through the entire ride. What a rush. Wanna ride it again? Afraid I have no choice.

Eloy Adventure

2010-04-30T13:26:00.000-07:00

I feel so old. Tomorrow Crystal is turning fourteen (what??) and in a few short weeks Steven is graduating high school. Crazy! But let's talk about happier things. I decided a few months ago that, in celebration of my favorite little brother's graduation (and what would have been mine if I were on top of my life... :P), he and I needed to do something fun and different. So... how about throwing ourselves out of a plane from 13,000 feet up? Done and done.

Before...

during...

...and for the "after" see this week's obituaries. Just kidding-- there wasn't enough of us left to take recognizable pictures so they used pictures that were technically also "before" ones.

"Do you not realize I have had diarrhea since Easters?"

2010-04-04T17:33:00.001-07:00

Easters. I mean... Easter. The holiday of eggs. What a scary, scary thought. Especially with a particular experience I had at work a few weeks ago still haunting my dreams. You get the privilege of hearing about it, since I think that sharing the experience might ease some of this burden for me.
So there I was at work, working hard (or hardly working... I can't really remember), when all of a sudden I am viciously attacked by a wretched smell that crept up into my nostrils without warning. I immediately breathed out the contaminated air, closed my airways and prayed for it to pass. What the heck?? That was nasty, and totally awkward for everyone around. And what's worse... it happened again about two minutes later. AND AGAIN another two minutes after that! On and off for twenty minutes the same thing kept happening, so I had time to consider (and reconsider) my options-- which I'm sure were the same for everyone else, including the perpetrator-- and the hypothetical consequences of those options.

Option 1. Start gagging and run out of the room, with eyes watering and my hand over my nose, either a) making some whimpering noises or b) mumbling some fake-cusses under my breath.

Consequence 1. The offender is unnecessarily overly-embarrassed and everyone at work realizes that I am immature and lacking in class and/or tact. I am shunned for the rest of the day by all but the offender, who will hate me for life.

Option 2. Look around to see if anyone else is also dying or perhaps looking guilty. Thinking of this option immediately put this picture into my mind (from Mean Girls... "he farts a lot"):

It makes sense at first to quietly look around, perhaps cluing the offender into the fact that he/she was not-so-sneaky in the release of certain bodily gases. He/she might get the hint and wait a few minutes, then take a trip to the bathroom or out the back door of the building instead of repeating the offense. Such is the consequence of Option 2 Tactic a. However, this feat is a tricky one, because should an attempt at this maneuver fail, you might find you have unintentionally pursued tactic b or c of Option 2, both of which have unfortunate consequences.

Option 2 Tactic b. You end up looking like the guy in the picture above (guilty), and/or overly confused as you glance around, leading others to mistake you for being the leaker. (I heard once that it's a sophisticated tactic to frame yourself... I'm not sure I believe that, or that it even makes sense.)

Option 2 Tactic c. You look a little too ticked and/or disgusted, turning the small incident into a large one, which is a known side effect of sloppy cover-ups. People assume you're trying to divert blame that is, in fact, yours.

Consequence 2. For Tactic a: the offender gets the hint and your co-workers praise your good deed. For Tactics b and c: you are shunned because people believe you are the offender. The real offender repeats the obscene and inconsiderate act (possibly more than once) and people hate you more and more each time since they think it's you.

Option 3: Do nothing.

Consequence 3a. Your coworkers think you have no sense of smell and envy you.

Consequence 3b. Your coworkers think you're the offender and are trying to ignore the situation away.

Consequence 3c. The offense is repeated and you suffer excessively on and off for the next twenty torturous minutes.

Option 4. Cover your nose with your t-shirt and wait until the offender leaves.

Consequence 4. People know it's not you and the offender gets the hint--unless it turns out to be the guy sitting behind you, who couldn't see you covering your nose and who ended up leaving twenty minutes after the first offense... with his noxious fumes trailing behind. Yes. I chose Option 4. And yes, I am very afraid for any smells I might possibly be bombarded with at work tomorrow morning. Maybe I'll take a nose plug... just in case.

Let's just say... you'd be dead.

2009-07-17T17:43:00.000-07:00

All I wanna do is *bang, bang, bang, bang!* and *cha-ching!* and take your money.
Tiff, Steven, Brown and I took a stroll down to Caswells for some shooting. We started out small-- a little gun with little bullets and a little kick from twenty feet away. We all did ok with Steven's help. :)

We traded the little gun out for a bigger one with a stronger kick. Slightly scary at first, but pretty fun to shoot! We had to go to the counter about a million times for different supplies or targets or whatever--I felt a little too needy but the guys working there were cool. Here's one of my silhouettes. The eight shots in the chest area were from 45 feet away and the three in the head and two strays were from fifty feet! Woohoo! Not too shabby for my first time. Poor Tiff, though. Let's just say that there was a forty-five percent chance she'd hit the silhouette... from twenty feet. :P

Q: Pizza is round, so why is the box square?

2009-05-31T16:59:00.000-07:00

On Thursday I took upon myself the task of fitting an extra large pizza box into our full refrigerator. At first, I just tried shoving the box in-- it didn't work. I then tried shoving a little harder. After a few moments I began to complain about how the dimensions of box and open space were incompatible. My dad, filled with years of experience and mounds of stored-up wisdom heard me complaining and said, "Pizza is round so the box is square." I stared at him for a few seconds, then I looked over at Bonnie and the two of us started laughing. We gave my dad a hard time about his genius revelation for the rest of the night. However, I told Tiffani about it later, and she explained the answer to the question I should have been asking all along: Why are pizza boxes square? I'll let you ponder on that while you read the rest of the post.

Mrs. Bonnie Gutzman paid the state of Arizona a visit this last week. She was here for all of three and one-half days. And what a great eighty-four hours it was! We saw Fred Flinstone...

[don't we look like we're getting along really well? :)]

...the Grand Canyon...

[one slip and I was toast...]

...lots of cacti and some flowers...

[we basically risked our lives to get pictures of these flowers]

...etc. Then we visited Grasshopper Point in Sedona, where we saw lots of treacherous water and rocks...

[this is not one of the treacherous areas, obviously]

...a sunbathing skank (just kidding... but not really. but really, just kidding.)...

...and some really heavy rocks to have lifting contests with.

[Bo beat me, hands down]

Then we met up with my yang (Lindsey) and checked out southern Arizona. We went to an ostrich farm and fed deer...

...ostriches (FYI, you can say "ostrich" or "ostriches" for the plural)...

...which is a dangerous business...

[if you were wondering what I sounded like when Bo and I were hiking back up the Grand Canyon, listen to the ostrich at the end of the clip]

...as well as donkeys and parakeets.

We later met Lindsey's Alex (sorry, no picture available) and went to the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum. It was pretty cool, although Lindsey might have enjoyed the javelina part of it a little too much. :)

So... that was pretty much the shortest tour of Arizona ever. Although, you have to give me some credit since it went from the Grand Canyon (practically the top of Arizona) clear down to Tucson (practically the bottom... in more ways than one :P).

Now that you've had time to think about what this post is really about (pizza boxes, remember?) let's see if you figured it out. Why are pizza boxes square?

A: So you can fit ranch cups in the box, too. Duh! What's pizza without ranch?! Eating pizza without ranch is like seeing the world (which is also round) without a friend. It makes for a square experience.

End

Update on the BF-inA

2009-04-17T14:35:00.000-07:00

So... I thought I had to wait until Monday to hear whether I got in, but they had the letters ready today! I was unprepared, but it was nice to know sooner than later that... I got in!

BF-inA review

2009-04-16T00:32:00.000-07:00

I thought I would never be happy again in my entire life. The last couple of weeks I have been... minorly freaking out... about the BFA review, which was this morning. Since Friday I have been up until at least two doing work for classes and the review. There was church at nine and class at eight, so that was poopy. What's worse? No naps. Not enough time in a day, unfortunately. In fact, last night I didn't get to bed until seven thirty... in the MORNING... so I could finish stuff up for the review. :( We were required to turn in the five paintings we did for our Illustration 1 class, as well as up to 15 figure drawings from life and a sketchbook/work from outside of class. I suck at keeping a sketch book, so I found a bunch of things I had scattered everywhere and cut and pasted (well, taped) stuff into a sketchbook. I retouched the paintings for my classes (you might remember the bear I posted a while back) and figure drawings from my class and Tada! A "portfolio." I don't expect to get in. Hopefully that's just me being pessimistic so it won't be too much of a shock if I don't get in. However, I am quite far from being the best in my classes. There are very talented people in the program, and I'm sure most of them have been doing this type of thing for years. Buuuut, I try not to think about that. Anyway, I took snapshots of the first five paintings I've ever done in my life. They still need work, but whatever.

Assignment 1: Child Abuse

Assignment 2: Nursery Rhyme (Jack Be Nimble)

Assignment 3: Unhealthy Diet

Assignment 4: Conceptual piece for an article about masculinizing (sp?) church to get men to attend (doesn't look AS bad in real life)

Assignment 5: Book cover for The Rainmaker (not finished)

Oh so Sensuous...

2009-02-27T12:36:00.000-08:00

Imagine walking into a restaurant and asking for a 24-inch sub... for just you... to eat right then and there... in the restaurant... with random people eating their three and six-inchers all around you. TWENTY FOUR INCHES! That's TWO FEET of bread, meat and cheese (at least)! You're pretty confident that you can easily cram that much food into your stomach without throwing up, so you have the shocked and disgusted girl behind the counter add mayo, lettuce and tomatoes to the already present ham, turkey and monterey jack. You settle down into your seat with your humongous sandwich taking up practically the entire table. A small cup of Dr. Pepper is squished in next to your sandwich in case you need to wash any of the sandwich down; you don't want to risk filling your stomach prematurely so you decide you'll be careful with your sips. You turn and nod to the lady at the counter and she starts the timer. You have thirty minutes to down it. Go! Makes you sick just thinking about it, huh? Imagine actually doing it. Now imagine doing it while sitting across the table from someone else who's doing it, too. Ugh. Just thinking about it brings back memories of that chokey, throwy-uppy feeling I got when I was on the last fourth of my sandwich and watching Tiffani take large, soggy bites of hers. All for a free t-shirt and your picture up on the "24-Inch Club" wall? Man. That's embarrassing. But at the same time, kinda cool. I ate twenty-freakin' four inches of bread, meat and cheese in less than thirty minutes (I only had 42 seconds to spare... it was a close one)! Here's the picture we got to tack to the wall with our names and times written on it. The shirts say "The second best thing you can do with your lips is eat a Sensuous Sandwich." How true that is...

B is for bear

2009-02-18T11:24:00.000-08:00

We finally got our paintings back in my Illustration class, so here is my first ever painting! It got a B (for bear) so there's obviously stuff I need to work on before it's "finished," but yeah. There you go, Mom and Dad.

I thought while it already looks like I think I'm all cool --not true-- I would put up the "award winning" eggs since I don't think I ever showed it to you guys. Fascinating.

R.I.P. Lynyrd the Snow Cow

2009-01-09T12:45:00.001-08:00

I have been whining about snow ever since the first flake fell this school year. But, on my half birthday, Tiffani was all pushing me in the snow and crap on the way home from school. As cruel as it was for her to do that, it broke the barrier I had put up between myself and snow. Later that day, Tanisha and Michelle wanted to go make a snowman. I resisted at first, but then they suggested a snow cow. I was secretly very excited. :) So, we went outside and got busy. It was hard work, and it seemed like no one had faith in our abilities--they all snickered when we answered the question of the night: "What IS that?" However, the snow cow was born.

Lynyrd Skynyrd, the "tipped" heifer, graced the otherwise bland and monotonous courtyard of Liberty Square for all of two days before some unknown, jealous vandalizers destroyed her. There wasn't a chunk of snow bigger than a softball remaining. Her name came from the brand "LS" that was on her butt. (Really it stood for "Liberty Square" since we all love to hate Liberty.) I had the privilege of working on her head, and Tiffani later joined us and created her stump legs.

She turned out okay, but in the end we all decided she was shaped more like a buffalo (that led to the removal of her udders). To give you an idea of her size, here is a picture of two cows--one living and one the model for her-- on top of her.

Anyways. Rest in peace, friend.

12.27.08 A Beautiful Winter Wedding

2008-12-29T00:10:00.000-08:00

As several of you know, I flew up to Utah Christmas night so that I could be there on Bonnie and Ian's wedding day. I stayed with Laurel, who took good care of me, and we safely made it to the Jordan River Temple to watch Bonnie and Ian Gutzman come out all married and stuff.

Despite the large amount of snow that Utah has been receiving lately, I don't remember seeing a single flake fall on Saturday. It was a nice, but freezing, clear day. My oufit and I were among the many who I'm sure were quite appreciative of that. I bet people were thinking that I was crazy, being the only one foolish enough to have open-toed shoes and junk. Or maybe they just figured I was from Arizona, where the weather is reasonable. Anyway, that's all done now.

I was fortunate enough to be invited to the luncheon, where I got to see how much room for improvement Bonnie and Ian have as far as reading each other's minds goes and where I got to hear their loved ones say a little something about them. I got to hear a few good stories and I learned some things about each of them that I hadn't known before. As I listened to people talk about them, I was reminded of what amazing people they are, how fortunate I am to know them, and how especially lucky I was to be able to room with Bonnie for a couple of years. She was a PFS roommate, so Ian is a lucky one. :) After they get back from their honeymoon they're driving to their place in Texas, where they'll stay for a little while until they move to Germany. I'm really gonna miss those two. Bonnie, especially (obviously! I talk about her enough for you guys to know that). She's done more for me than I think she'll ever know.

A Skimpy Christmas?

2008-12-28T23:12:00.000-08:00

Every year Mom and Dad warn us that Christmas is going to be skimpy. But you know what? In years past it never has been. This year was different, though, because it almost really was. The following picture (taken at approximately 11:00 PM Christmas Eve) may disturb young or sensitive viewers.

That's right. There were, like, five and a half presents under the tree just an hour before Christmas. And you see that blue and red thing on the left side there? You know, next to the fallen Christmas tree ornament? That's part of a fallen-over nativity scene. Pretty dang ghetto. But then Santa came and five hours later there was shredded up wrapping paper and opened presents all over the place! He must have really liked the note and cookies we left for him. Here's a picture of it...

It's kind of hard to tell, but we left him Oreos and milk. The note said "Dear Santa, You're fat and so are we! So if you like these Oreos we probably will, too. So give us a heads up, ok pal? (heart) the Hengens P.S. Thanks and Merry Christmas!" When I wrote the note I thought we were still giving him some of the peppermint Oreos that none of us had tried yet. I guess we ended up saving them for Mom, Tiffani, Crystal and Steven's friends instead. Oh well. Santa seemed ok with it.

My favorite present was probably the one from Steven, who drew my name for sibling presents. To my wonder, and surprise, I opened my gift to find my very own copy of The Dark Knight!

With a little duct tape, double sided tape and a few pictures, Steven transformed a New Zealand tv-show-turned-to-movie (The Darkest Knight 3) into the movie I most hoped to get for Christmas! What a great guy. Especially since a deluxe edition (with bat helmet included!) of the real Dark Knight was in the bottom of the gift bag.

Since I was able to get sweet presents, be with my family, and safely fly to Utah for a couple of very happy, yet very sad, days I would say that it was an overall happy and bountiful Christmas.

When the Day Met the Night

2008-11-27T21:17:00.000-08:00

Curtis (my music player) knows me pretty well--I'd almost say better than any of my friends. :) I did have to try again on a couple (they were titled "Track 05" or had unknown artists or stuff like that). Maybe you should see if you spend too much time listening to music, too. Put your music player on shuffle and see what it says about you...

IF SOMEONE SAYS "IS THIS OKAY" YOU SAY
"A Tout le Monde" - Megadeth

WHAT WOULD BEST DESCRIBE YOUR PERSONALITY?
"[Untitled Hidden Track]" – Matchbook Romance

WHAT DO YOU LIKE IN A GUY/GIRL?
"Breathe" – Michelle Branch

HOW DO YOU FEEL TODAY?
"Disco Hades II" – Head Automatica

WHAT IS YOUR MOTTO?
"Simple Pages" - Weezer

WHAT DO YOUR FRIENDS THINK OF YOU?
"Bury Your Head" – Soasin

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT VERY OFTEN?
"What I Like About You" - Romantics

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR BEST FRIEND?
"Depends" – blink-182

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
“Off the Hook” – Barenaked Ladies

WHAT IS YOUR LIFE STORY?
"Fall Away" – The Fray

WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP?
"Matrix Theme" – Rage Against the Machine

WHAT DO YOU THINK WHEN YOU SEE THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
"Should I Stay or Should I Go?" – The Clash

WHAT WILL YOU DANCE TO AT YOUR WEDDING?
"Ridiculous" – Bowling for Soup

WHAT WILL THEY PLAY AT YOUR FUNERAL?
"Solid Gold Telephone" – Head Automatica

WHAT IS YOUR HOBBY/INTEREST?
"Something More" - Train

WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST SECRET?
"Lord Only Knows" - Beck

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR FRIENDS?
"Bulls On Parade" – Rage Against the Machine

WHAT'S THE WORST THING THAT COULD HAPPEN?
"Going Home " - Goldfinger

WHAT IS THE ONE THING YOU REGRET?
"Ocean Avenue" – Yellowcard

WHAT MAKES YOU LAUGH?
"Drown" - The Smashing Pumpkins (I didn't like that one so I tried again and got "Kill" by Jimmy Eat World)

WHAT MAKES YOU CRY?
"I’ll Let You Live" – Taking Back Sunday

WILL YOU EVER GET MARRIED?
"One Day" – Simple Plan

WHAT SCARES YOU THE MOST?
"My List" – The Killers

DOES ANYONE LIKE YOU?
"Loser" - Beck

IF YOU COULD GO BACK IN TIME, WHAT WOULD YOU CHANGE?
"The Everglow" - Mae

WHAT HURTS RIGHT NOW?
"Suspension" - Mae

WHAT WILL YOU POST THIS AS?
"When the Day Met the Night" – Panic! At the Disco

...roommates...

2008-10-19T12:48:00.000-07:00

Roommates-- they can make or break your school year. Fortunately for me I have had amazing roommates since freshman year! Here is your chance to familiarize yourself with the newest set.

Roommate #1 and I go way back. I've known her for, like, twenty years. Yup. Tatorschkandorfk. She plays the apartment mom. She cooks and cleans and vocalizes common sense. She also makes little goodie bags and decorates. I especially like the dinners she has ready when I get home from school. :) She makes me feel lazy...

"Big Mama T"

Roommate #2 (Naomi) I have known for a while and lived with since Summer this year. She and Tiffani have known each other for a couple of years and roomed together last year. We had a lot of fun during summer (at least I thought so) but once Fall started she kinda disappeared... we definitely don't see enough of her. :) Oh and she's Asian, and therefore Chinese. Thought I'd throw that in there.

"Chama"

Roommate #3 is Tanisha. She moved in right after Summer and, therefore, lived with us for a few weeks before Fall. She chose to have her own room rather than sharing with me, even though we thought the other two roommates moving in were friends and would want to share a room. But we'll get to that later. When roommate #4 moved in Tanisha was trying to tell her about us all. "...then there's Nikki. Or Neeki--I'm not really sure." Yes. Even after several weeks of living with me she wasn't sure what my name was. She blames our conflicting schedules.

"T"

Roommate #4. What to say about #4. I was sleeping one morning when I heard my door creak open. I was too lazy to look at who it was, but when I finally got up I found that someone had moved into Tanisha's room... instead of mine. But that was okay because T is cool. No one was home so I creepily snuck into the room and found the mystery person's scriptures. The engraving on the front read "Lauren Emily White." I quickly spread the word to Tiffani via text. Anyway, Lauren is quite the character and always a joy to have around. She is pictured here, eating a banana, with a huge spoonful of peanut butter in her hand (typical). What isn't typical about this picture is that she's eating.

"L-Hoe"

Roommate #5 was the biggest deal of them all. You can ask Tiffani--for some reason I was freaking out slightly. I had never had a roommate other than Bonnie (who is pretty much impossible to top, although I'd say Nancy is pretty close :P) and I just knew that my room-roommate would make or break my year. She made the situation worse by waiting until the last minute to move in. It didn't help that I slept at Grandma's the night she moved in--I had to wait even longer! Tiffani did manage to sneak a picture of her... Anyway. I came home the night before classes started and I was shocked by what I saw in my room. The first thing was a floral-print grandma-style scripture case. I was horrified. Immediately I took a picture on my phone and sent it to my parents, brother and my roommates from last year. The next thing I saw was also... shocking... the comforter. It was this shiny, seventies-looking thing (or so I thought). I found out later that it's as slippery as it looks, since it ends up on the floor almost every night. I went about my night, prepping for school and bed. Still no mysterious roommate. I went to sleep and a few hours later heard someone sneaking into the room and getting ready for bed. After fighting myself over it, I awkwardly said "I don't mean to be awkward, but hi." Turns out my new roommate is Nancy (what's with the names of my roommates? Bonnie? Nancy? not so typical). We talked for a couple hours then went to sleep. We've been inseparable ever since. Or something like that. :) She's fabulous and hilarious. I knew the poster was a good idea. Oh yeah! The poster. So we were asking Lauren and Tanisha why they didn't want to room with me and chose the other room instead. Their answer was the same: the poster of the Joker over the head of my bed. Turns out it made Nancy afraid to meet me, too, but now they all know that deep down I'm not all gothic and hard core scary.

"Fancy Pants"

What a great group of girls (although it lacks an Asian).

Home Sweet Home

2008-08-27T13:21:00.000-07:00

Bowling at Brunswick

Obviously it was great fun. :)

Steven played the part of wise teacher and coach, and helped Crystal and I (by far the two worst bowlers in the family) beat our scores from the first game.

Rejection. Disgrace.

Yay.

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Barro's Pizza and Water and Ice

I think Crys was attempting to turn this into a model shot. All she needs is some wind blowing her hair back...

It was soooo good. And yet Crystal looks pained...

Yum.

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Crystal Gets a Sunburn

Crystal and Stephanie went on the ward boating trip and both came back with awkward sunburns. Crystal was more vocal about the pain of hers and, therefore, it received more attention. I never said it was positive attention, though.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

A Leader is Born

Steph and Crys are great pals (as you can see), but Stephanie worked up the courage to slap Crystal's sunburned knee. As a result, she became "The Leader."

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Game Time

Saturday night we played a game Tiff found out about called "Wise and Otherwise." We have some great quotes. I'll list the few I have access to right now:

"Open lips, insert toes." --Dad

"Drink or shrivel up like a cold weinerschnidtzel and die!" --Mom

"He who goes to bed hungry ate a salad for dinner." --Mom

"Open lips make you sweat on one spot on your shoulder." --Mom

"Tiffani didn't have one." --Tiffani

"Young people and dogs take pees together." --Me

"If you stir up the bog, at least have the decency to come up with an old Danish saying that is worth caring about while you're doing it." --Steven

"The back and the belly are wonderful shields for the majestic panda." --Stephanie

"Do what you want to to get that stuff out." --Crystal

"The back and the belly hurt in flop-style." --Crystal

Oh man. Good times. I know you're all dying to play that game with us now. :)

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Mad Guitar Skills

I know this may be hard for you to believe, but Steven's guitar skills have increased a ton since I last saw him--which was only a couple of months ago! He has dozens of parts from different songs memorized, as well as dozens of full-length songs. Solos included! He's taken the next step and decided to try writing his own music, but it might be a while before anyone gets to hear any of it. :) My brother is amazing.

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Late Night Fun

So there the kids were-- sitting in the "hangout" (Tiff and Nik's room) staring at each other. Occasionally we would rotate who we were staring at, but ya know.

Then in pops Mom's head. She sensed there was some fun being had since Steph and Crys weren't upstairs in bed and she heard giggling.

And Mom's intuition was right. We talked and laughed and took many pictures of Stephanie that she willingly posed for (we needed a decent shot of The Leader for promotional purposes).

The Leader requested these pictures of her be put side by side for viewing pleasure, so I thought I'd share the joy with everyone. By the way, this is a Before Tiff and Nik Came Home and After Tiff and Nik Came Home shot-- we gorged a lot. :)

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All Good Things Come to An End

Not that braces are fun... just that their time comes to an end. As did the the time for this trip. As will the time for this post. Now.

"Pumba. With you, everything's gas."

2008-08-27T12:07:00.000-07:00

We'd been planning the trip for a week or two. Calculating out how much it would cost with different types of mileage and different numbers of people. The "average" for gas price that we were using to calculate was $4 per gallon. As it turns out, that was a little high. The day before Tiffani and I set out on our journey to Arizona, I paid $4.099 for mid-grade (because the lower grade wasn't working and I was distracted on the phone and too lazy to drive somewhere else). In case you were wondering, it was only $.01 more than the $3.999 price of the lower grade, anyway. :P The next day we set out. We were almost to Cedar City and we needed to fill, so we were checking out gas prices as we drove past the small towns along the way. After we passed one town, I chided Tiffani for passing up gas for $3.79. Then after she passed another exit where gas was only $3.70, I became more enfueged. Tiffani thought it was a game and that the further you drove, the lower the prices got. We ended up paying $3.79 at the next exit. Anyway, gas prices did go down the closer we got to Arizona, with the average there being in the 3.50's.

The lowest we saw was $3.43 (QuikTrip will never let you down!)...

...and the lowest we paid was $3.49 (at Love's--a PFS truck stop place).

Although this place had gas for $3.49, too... Anyway. Can you see all the bug guts in these two shots taken through the windshield? :) Upon returning to Provo last night, to my delightful surprise, I discovered that gas had actually dropped in Provo by $.12 since we'd left. And now I'm sick of thinking and talking about gas.

16,078

2008-08-08T02:12:00.000-07:00

How many steps does it take for a 5'3" girl, whose stride isn't known for being the longest, to walk half way to work (and get a ride the rest of the way--thanks, Laurel!), clean two offices, three bathrooms, 2 carpets and 3 basketball courts, to sneak away for an overly long break, to empty two trash bins and one recycling bin, to work out for 20 minutes and then to walk home? According to my pedometer it takes sixteen thousand and seventy-eight. That's right. I reset my pedometer just before I walked out the door to go to work and here I am, an hour after getting back, with my pedometer reading 16,078 steps. Supposedly an active person takes 10,000 steps a day, so I guess I'm actually active! Monday through Friday, anyway... :)

More evidence that my job isn't a cake walk-- yesterday I wore my heart rate monitor watch to work. I periodically put in my heart rate and it calculated that from just before work to about a half an hour after I burned just over 2,100 calories. Maybe that's why I'm tired all the time--my job is tougher than one might think. Maybe I'm not dying after all!

NCCCD

2008-08-07T02:59:00.000-07:00

According to Tiffani and the United States of America, August 4th was National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day. She and Naomi got really excited and decided to make cookies the night before.

They worked hard while I sat by, lazily watching and eating chips and salsa.

We started getting worried about the outcome when Chama made her first (and only) spill...

...and got so distracted by the camera that she poured all the flour in at once.

We patiently waited for the cookies to cook (and I discovered some features on my camera, hence this picture) and I'm sure we were all thinking that Tiffani's cookies would turn out best. But Lo and Behold-- Chama's were better! No offense, Tatorsh. Better luck next time. :)

Giving in so easily? Yeah.

2008-08-06T15:48:00.000-07:00

It usually takes me a while to give in and start up accounts with things like Facebook, MySpace and blogs, but apparently I do eventually succumb. I've decided to do it my way, though. There was no way I was going to pick a cutesy background for my blog. No way! So I did it the hard way and made my own. Once I get too many concerned phone calls or start having too many nightmares I'll change it. But don't expect to see bows and flowers. At least not yet. :)