Smoking is Bad for You

Yesterday Ian and I started our routine of running every other day. Needless to say I thought I was going to die after four minutes of hardly strenuous exercise. Yes, I do know that I'm pathetic and incredibly out of shape. It was awesome though, I kept running, at points it was minimal movement but I was still kind of jogging. It felt like a vice had crushed my chest and only the tiniest amount of air was getting through. I was supposed to meet Ali at the HFAC so we ran and ended there.

I met Ali and tried my best to calm my breathing but I began freaking out. Ali told me to stop freaking myself out and told me it was mostly mental. I listened to her and battled my rising panic at my lack of breath. I started hyperventilating but managed to get back under control. Ali talked to me the whole way home, taking my mind off my pain and I found it easier to breathe. Thank you so much Ali for saving my life, or at least my sanity.

The rest of the day, and even now my breathing is like that of a chronic smoker and when I laugh it deteriorates into a hacking sickly cough. So depressing.

Seven Peaks had free ice skating for those students in the Honors Program and their friends and I was invited by a friend to come along. A whole group of us went and had a ball! I saw a boy with a name tag and I called out to him.

"Hello Mike B." I smiled and waved and he looked at me like am-I-supposed-to-know-you?

"Hi, How are you?"

"I'm great how are you?" At this point I realized that he thought I knew him. That's when I couldn't refrain myself.

"I'm doing great."

"It's been forever since I've seen you." I was struggling to not laugh

"Yeah. What have you been up to?" I could tell he was trying to figure out where he knew me from.

"I've just been going to school, you know the regular stuff. What about you?"

"Yeah, just been doing the school stuff. What are you majoring in?"

Needless to say we had a great conversation. My group was moving on so I ended with

"It was great to see you again!"

"It was great to see you too." I guess he forgot that he was wearing a name tag. :)

He found me later and introduced me to his friend, trying to get his friend to figure out my name. I laughed and apologized for not knowing him. They both laughed and his friend asked how I knew his name. I pointed to his name tag. We became friends. Mike B. gave me the B. part of his name tag so that I could have a name. Good times, good times.

Livin' off Love

After speaking with my mother last night and my roommates last night and this morning, I came up with this imagery of love. It may be that I've heard it before, it may be that I made it up entirely, but, whatever the case, here it sits.

Humankind stands on the brink of a vast canyon. Each of us live our lives with our toes curled around the edge. Behind us stands a forest, neither dark nor foreboding, simply there. In front of us lies the greatest drop we've ever seen and beyond that lies a vast land full of greenery, fruits, rivers, and flowers. We stand wondering what we need to do to get to the land we see beyond us. Small groups form, debating what the best way would be to get across. Two people, a man and a woman jump from the edge, they fly for quite a ways before he tells her she is holding his hand too tight and they begin bickering. They are no longer able to fly and both plummet toward the rocks below. Cries go up down the line of humanity, some begin weeping. Another couple launches themselves off the edge and this time they make it to the land beyond with out quibbling. They land gracefully and begin wandering around and looking at all the wonderous sights. Wonder and awe fills the people standing on the ledge. The couple below pick themselves back up and take hands again, they begin to soar again and though they fall back down many times, they pick themselves back up and make it to the other side.

A man flings himself off the edge, trying to reach the other side alone. He falls as soon as his feet leave the earth. Battered and bruised, he picks himself up but cannot seem to go anywhere but back. He climbs and reaches the rest of humanity again.

Some people panic and run into the forest, I am one of them. The forest is safe and has what I need to sustain myself, alone, I don't need anyone to help me. Every once in a while I run back to the edge and gaze longingly into the land beyond. Many times someone comes up to me and offers to take me there. Even though I know that two can make it together I've seen too many people fall to the rocks below and some never make it back up. They choose to stay down among the rocks because they can't be hurt again if they are already on the ground. I don't want to be one of those people. I retreat into the forest each time, never taking a hand.

This last time though, someone approaches me with honesty and confidence in his eyes. He admits that he is scared too, but he is willing to try. He stretches out his hand and I take it. We make it to the edge, panic wells up inside me, but I look into his eyes and he smiles at me. I take confidence and we fling ourselves off.

I've never felt this before, flying, it is beautiful and wonderful. I look at him and laugh, he is amazed too. I let my eyes wander and I see the rocks below us, fear grabs me and I feel myself falling. I'm pulling him down too, I look at him and see that he is afraid too, we begin falling faster. I try to let go so I won't drag him down too but he holds firm and tries to pull me up. I believe he can pull us back up and already I feel myself floating again. We straighten out and continue flying toward the land before us. Many friends stand to greet us cheering us on. Finally we touch down and embrace those around us.

I realize that if I hadn't been willing to fall I would never have flown. I had to be willing to take the chance that I might have been dashed against the rocks below, because being where I am now is completely worth it. I had finally been able to trust that someone else had my best interests at heart too.

Mankind is retarded sometimes.

Mad cow disease - caused by cow feed that had sick sheep tissue. That's just plain twisted either way you cut it.

Hepatitis A - strawberries in a field with "inadequate toilet facilities" provided for the workers. Also from shellfish living in waters infested by human waste.

Cause of the illnesses frequently visiting humanity - humanity.

Hoorah for our intelligence. Knowledge obtained courtesy of Rood Fundamentals Edition 9 by Margret McWilliams

On the plus side, Einstein is wayyyyyyy awesome!

Blind Dates

You know you must be doing something when the second counselor in the Bishopric's wife wants to set you up with the second counselor's best friend. Whether it's something right or they just think you suck at dating... Whatever the case I did something and Bro. Anderson asked if it would be okay to set me up with his friend Kevin. Kevin called and set up a date for Saturday night at six. Six rolled around and I was the only one home. None of my roommates were here to make meeting a stranger any less awkward. He shook my hand at the door and then we walked down to his car. Goodwood barbecue had the good fortune to have our presence where we talked for an hour and a half. Then we went bowling where I played better than I ever have before but I still got my trash kicked. 99 to 126. Ouch, yeah.

Blind dates are fun because you don't have any expectations to live up to. You don't know them, they don't know you. You could be anyone you want! Yourself is usually the best option but... ya know... No one says you have to be yourself.... :)

To play or not to play?

In my TMA 101 (Intro to Theater) class we had to write a seven to ten page play with six characters or less. It's a lot harder than you think. A story writer is allowed the privilege of describing his character's actions and facial features in his own words. A play write is only allowed to tell his story through his character's words. The rest is up to the interpretation of directors and actors. I found it quite challenging at first to write seven pages of dialog. Then, I had to be sure I wasn't repeating and dumbing down my play. The best of all, it was due today at four and while I was revising it for the billionth time I suddenly realized how I wanted it to be written! I didn't have the time I needed to revise it entirely. It's gotta be tough to be a playwrite.

Like I said, each of us had to write a play, we were split into groups of eight, (mine has nine due to number discrepancies) and now all of us must democratically choose one play that we will produce in it's entirety. As much as I want my play to be touched with the golden rod, I really don't want it to be done. As soon as others start being my characters they will no longer be my own and perfect in my mind. I won't control their emotions, I won't control their expressions, I won't control their inflection. Yet, to have a play produced? One that is my own? How exciting would that be?

Keep your fingers crossed, I'm not sure for what yet, but keep 'em crossed.

Monkeys/Sorry Liza!

So, Katherine and I being our usual happy go lucky selves remembered a funny thing we had done last year. We pushed whoppers into our mouths to look like goats. I even got the nickname "Tegan the Llama." Just picture a mix between Cindy Lou Who and the monkeys from Planet of the Apes. Jared looked a LOT like the Planet of the Apes monkeys. Apes. Primate animals... whatever... Joe's was hilarious, and Katherine is an amazing monkey. Warning: it hurts!

We got home from our lovely excursion kind of hyper. We both got ready for bed in tank tops and joked about walking into the front room where Madison and her boyfriend, Brandon, were watching tv. I did walk out to get a drink and Katherine closed the vanity door on me and braced herself against the door. I called her a dirtbag and pushed against the door to get back in. I really didn't want anyone to see me, you'd think I wouldn't have made such a hullaballo about it, and finally forced my way back into the vanity area with my drink.

I was sipping daintily from my cup when Katherine made a face and a funny noise. I choked, snorted, and spat out the milk in my mouth and fell on the floor laughing/dying from milk inhalation. It was a really funny face.

Then Liza opened her bedroom door and very timidly asked us to be quieter. We apologized and turned down the laughing dial. Oops! Sorry Liza! Then I burped really loud. Katherine chimed out, "Excuse me." And Madison laughed, "Whoa, Katherine." Way to claim my awesomely loud belch.

I love my roommate so much!

Hello New Day

Last night I dreamed that I had a pet parrot named Petey. My family was moving and Petey was put in the basement until we could move him to the new house. A week later I remembered Petey and went down to see if he was still alive. He was, and immediately flew to my finger, kissing my face as only a parrot can kiss. That means pecking lightly. Ah to have the love of a parrot, truly remarkable. :)

I also dreamed about a white elephant gift exchange, there were a lot of toy ponies. One was like a transformer pony, and you could move different parts of it. Each time it looked like different monsters.

Each of my family members were in my dreams, not all together, but they were there.

I have decided to carry around a planner to write down everything, just so I don't forget, which I tend to do regularly. Can't help it I'm afraid. It's genetic, my mother forgets stuff all the time.

Speaking of which, my mother seems to have gotten funnier the older I get. Actually, I think my perception of her has changed, she wasn't as funny when I was twelve. She was just an awesome mom. Always has been.

Father dearest, I'm so glad you were there to watch over me as a child. I'll always love you.

Blogs help me avoid homework. (I wish there was a sly smiley face so I could insert it here.)

Farewell for now fellow bloggers.

Yep, Kinda Random

I met my cousin on Saturday in the Macey's parking lot. I must be a horrible cousin because I couldn't remember his oldest daughter's name, and I called him by his brother's name. Also, I had no idea that he lived in Lindon. Wow, what a lame cousin I am.

On a happier note, the candle in my kitchen smells of joy, happiness, and Christmas. I love candles! and good smelling homes.

If you want a laugh go to mylifeistwilight.com. Some of the sayings made me laugh, some made me roll my eyes and mutter 'oh snap.' Stephanie Meyers, you have brain washed a whole lot of people into thinking vampires might be good, that they sparkle in the sunlight, that they are invincible against mortals, and that there are men out there like Edward. Fact: vampires are not real, not in the story book sense. Fact: Edward is a fictional character and only as good as he is because he has been around for a hundred years. Fact: Twilight fans are crazy.

One other happy note, my roommate and I have started a tradition of coloring pictures on Sundays. These pictures will be hung on our closet walls as a tribute to our awesome penciling inside the line skillz.

Check out 'Sonny With a Chance' cuz it's the best! Disney channel.

Venting is the Think to Do

Do you ever have a day where you feel like you don't fit in, no matter how hard you try? I always feel guilty about it because I know it's my fault mostly, I just need to get over it. I had a night like that last night. I went over and hung out with quite a few of my favorite people and yet in each place I felt a little out of place. Interestingly enough at the second 'house' (apartment) I didn't feel out of place until one of the roommates came home. Who knew a friend of mine could make me, the queen of making others feel awkward, feel out of place and awkward. Evidence right there, my friends, that I do indeed feel awkward at times, ya just have to know the right buttons to push.

The third place I just wanted to pop in and say hi before I went home to relax and do homework, but they asked me to stay so I did. I didn't feel awkward until I got a compliment. How weird is that? Actually the compliment upset me a bit too. The reason being that the compliment was given to me through a third party. Sigh.

I love Michael Buble (pronounced bubble, just like the round circles you pop.) (: just kidding I know how it's actually pronounced. Don't worry I do have some culture.

Also Hot Rod is the most amazing random mockery movies I have ever seen! I loved it!

There is your random post. Not quite as random as I think it should be but don't worry, there will be more to come.