Applied

I have officially mailed out my applications for the radiology program.
Yup I know, life moves way too fast.
I'm extremely excited/nervous.
And I don't think I find out anything until April.
So I guess I'll just busy myself with this winter semester and by the time it's over, I should have a reply back!
So Weber has the program in multiple areas and I applied to Ogden and Provo. I'm leaning more towards Provo but they only accept 12 new students every year. I think Ogden accepts 24 or so... not sure. Either way my odds are going to be tough to beat.

Seeking

"Do not seek to have events happen as you want them to, but instead want them to happen as they do happen, and your life will go well." -Epictetus

I had a good friend share this quote with me a little bit ago, I loved it then and I love it more now. Things didn't turn out the way I wanted them to this Christmas break. I had my mind set on something else. I thought I knew what was right for me. But I learned something as I went along in this experience: I developed a better trust in Heavenly Father. I came to the conclusion that whatever happens will be the right thing. If I'm trusting him and honestly searching for his path for me, then what happens is for my good and will lead to better things. I'm sure if I was still stuck on wanting things to happen as I want them to, then I would have a much harder time moving on. 

But for now, I've closed a chapter in my life and am ready to start a new one. Which is my last semester up at BYU-Idaho before getting my associates and moving into the world of radiology (crossing my fingers to get in first try). I'm going to be living in a house firstly, the lower level where there are 8 total of us girls. I know no one. I'm taking for the first time night classes and online classes. I hopefully will get my job as a tutor for anatomy and physiology. If I can handle it, I'll take on a second job where my good friend works, (she's got the "in" for me). I'm just so excited for a new semester to start. I always am. 

"Life will go well."

Palladio

Kind of an epic song.

David and Goliath

Natalie and I decided early this morning that we were going to make a snowman later in the day. 

But when Natalie got back from sledding, this is what we saw from across the street. 

Yeah a giant snowman. 

How do you even compete with that?! Hey don't mind our little normal boring snowman....while across the street we have freakin Goliath. 

So we decided to go about things in a different manner. 

We made David.

Yup like David and Goliath. You can't see them very well in the background but we also made a wall and had 2 cowardly soldiers hiding behind it.

 Cowardly Soldiers

It was a lot of fun and a little harder than I thought it would be. Hopefully people can connect the giant snowman across the street with ours holding a slingshot to David and Goliath.

Days of Old

Girls night with Aubrey and Caira. 

We attempted to go sledding at the same place we went last fall semester,  but the snow was not sled worthy. So we sat in front of the temple and just ate snow. 

We attempted a snowman, but alas the snow would not give us the joy of that either. So we made this absolutely creepy snow creature. 

Caira, Aubrey, Me

We of course had to make cookies and eat cookie dough. That's practically an unspoken law with us. 

Caira attempted to make the first letter of our names in cookies. In didn't work out too well with mine and Aubrey's. 

Caira's turned out pretty good though!

It was a really good night. We slept in the living room, took over the couches and Aubrey brought out her mattress. We fell asleep to a movie like we always use to do. It was really good having a girls night, out doing stuff and just being crazy ourselves. I'm sad Katie couldn't come though. She had to work so our reliving of fall semester fell short. We attempted a lot, with only half of it working. But we loved it. I would do it again any night. I love these girls. 

Chap-stick

Chap-stick: apply for chapped lips or as needed.
Protects from dry chapped lips and sunburn.
Small enough to carry around with you everywhere.
Normally applied more than once a day.

The Gospel: apply especially when soul is chapped and as needed. (Which should be always)
Protects from adversary, gives strength to overcome temptation, strength to continue onward, and faith in this life.
Simplistically beautiful and beautifully simple. "Small" enough to carry around with you everywhere.
Should be applied more than once a day.

What can you relate the gospel to?

Medical Books

Remember my kick that I was on with the autobiographies? Well I've moved onto the wonderful world of medical genre books.
I won't go into them too much but I love reading the different cases they talk about. I look up what I don't understand and write it in the book. It's like another night of watching E.R. only in book form and with much less drama. I love reading a doctors thoughts on what they do. The struggles they have or the joy they find in orthopedic surgery.
So far I've read Complications: A Surgeon's notes on an Imperfect Science: by Atul Gawande. And Hot Lights, Cold Steel: by Michael J. Collins.

I would completely recommend either of these books to anyone interested in the medical field but probably Complications over Hot Lights, Cold Steel though.

Homework

Homework assignment for Thanksgiving break: de-junk room. Serious de-junking too.
And it's begun.
I think there must be some health code violation for keeping the mask used to knock you out before a bone marrow transplant. I've had that mask for 9 years exactly. Sentimental, but sick.
What about this, my very first retainer from 5th grade. Really? Why would I keep that for so long?!
Old letters from my cousins. Those are absolutely hysterical to read. For sure keeping them.
My 3-animals in 1 sculpture. Yes that's right. Body of a penguin, neck of a zebra, head of a toucan.
I found a memoir book about myself that I had to write in jr. high, and I wrote that I was going to get married in either the San Diego temple, or the Hawaii temple. Oh yeah, I'm going all out. I hope you all can make it to my wedding.
I found art I did when I was 9 years old.
I also found these clown dolls that were mine and Heathers, and I want to say these came from Grandma Crosland. But I'm not positive. They're small, stuffed body but with a porcelain face. Just check out these beauties.
















I think all this de-junking will be good for me. If nothing else, extremely interesting.

The Urinary System

I know you were hoping that I'd have some outstanding connection with the urinary system to the gospel, but today I don't. I'm sure I could think of one, but I must admit, I haven't enjoyed this system as much as the previous ones I've studied. There are a few concepts that are hard for me to wrap my mind around. Like blood osmolarity. That one takes a good few minutes for my mind to register what's exactly happening.

I have to say, my favorite part of anatomy and physiology is being able to understand how the body works. The physiology part of it. When watching Untold Stories of the ER, I know exactly what goes on when someone takes a diuretic. I know what channel it's blocked, and why a diuretic makes you pee like crazy. My anat and phys study buddy Emily and I have also started having E.R. slumber parties every Tuesday night. We watch a ridiculous number of E.R. episodes and all the while we have our laptops out researching medical terms that we don't know, or drugs we haven't heard of. It's very informative and the most productive I've ever felt while watching a t.v. show.

I'm also reading a most interesting book titled, Complications: A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science by Atul Gawande. I will post more about this once I finish the book so stay tuned.

I guess all I really have to post about is medical stuff. Ah the consumings of my life.

The Digestive System

So I had another connection of Anatomy and Physiology to the gospel. I know what you're probably thinking... but I don't care. I'm going to tell you anyways.
Let me introduce you to the digestive system according to my teacher.

Obviously it's not anatomically correct. It's more a diagram for functional purposes. Let me try and explain this. In the stomach there are 4 different types of cells that are all stimulated from the brain. Once the G-cell is stimulated it releases gastrin which stimulates the ECF-cell and the Parietal cell. The ECF-cell releases histamine which also stimulates the parietal cell. The Parietal cell releases HCL (hydrochloric acid) which makes the stomach acidic. The Chief cell releases pepsinogen which reacts with the HCL to make pepsin. Once food moves through the pyloric sphincter it activates the S-cell from the HCL and the I-cell is activated from fat. The S-cell releases secretin which goes back to the Parietal cell and tells it to turn off. It also goes to the gallbladder and the pancreas and stimulate them. The I-cell releases CCK (cholecystokinin) which tells the pyloric sphincter to close and also activates the pancreas and gallbladder. The Liver makes bile and moves it into the gallbladder. So when the gallbladder is stimulated it releases the bile into the small intestine for digestion. When the Pancreas is stimulated it releases alpha amylase, lipases, proteases, and bicarbonate. All things that help digest food.

Okay so you don't really need to understand all of that. But I'm sure you're wondering how that could possibly connect.
Yesterday in church we were reading in Jeremiah and the scripture Jer 31:33 says, "But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put the law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people." The phrase underlined specifically jumped out to me.
You can see that when you eat food, your digestive system goes crazy. This activates that, which stimulates this, which reacts to this, which stimulates this which releases that...
When we allow the laws of the gospel into our lives, it essentially effects everything. If we truly allow the gospel in our lives we will get this snowball effect of things working together to help perfect ourselves. For example, say we really think about charity and we work on that specifically, it'll develop in us a love for others, which will lead to service, which will lead to humility, which will lead to growth in some other area and the cycle will continue on until we have fully digested the gospel into our inward parts.

Well, that's my connection of the gospel to another anat and phys topic. I hope it made sense. But even if it didn't, it made a light bulb go off in my head.

Lets re-sync please

Off sync. That's what I was today.

Started off with the lowest test score of my college career, all from that wonderful class of Science Foundations. 

How does one manage to get a 96% on the last test, and suddenly veer off to a 68% with the same amount of studying?

Okay so I know I need to put more effort into studying for this class. It's just that it's a foundations class... and I don't care about it...and it's suppose to be an easy 100 level class.

I can pull out A's in anatomy and physiology left and right, a much harder level class but I guess it's because I put all the effort into that class that's needed. And I absolutely love/soak everything in. 

So I need to somehow force myself to give a portion of the same magnitude of studying that I use for anat and phys into science. 

But for the rest of the day I just could not get into my usual energy. Science homework was a fail once I went up the 3rd floor and gave into socializing. 

Even the normal hour of anatomy and physiology today I was just done with. (shocking I know, I love that class.) But then add on the 3 hour night anat and phys class.... ugh I cannot wait for tomorrow. For the weekend!!  For Thanksgiving break!!! (obviously I'm having a weak moment right now.)

Anat and Phys of the Eye

First I would like to give you an anatomy lesson on the eye.  In the Retina layer, you have photoreceptors which are stimulated by light and transmit images to the brain. They are how you see basically. You have two types of photoreceptors: rods and cones. Rods see in black and white and have generally a more fuzzy image. They are located all throughout the Retina. But what I want to focus on is cones. Cones see color in wavelengths of blue, green, and red. They need lots of light and give very sharp images. Cones are only located in the Fovea Centralis. (Which in the picture below is the back area of the eye, it only says fovea though.) Because they are only located here, you get the most vivid color straight on. You can only see good color when it's right in front of you.

I was reading in D&C last night and I came across this scripture. Now think in relation to what I just taught you about the eye... D&C 88:67 "And if your eye be single to my glory, your whole bodies shall be filled with light, and there shall be no darkness in you; and that body which is filled with light comprehendeth all things."

Pretty cool huh. I thought it was.

Example

Sometimes I'd rather just not bother reading or watching the news because of the way it makes me feel. I get so frustrated and mad about these ridiculous people in this world... never good. Like today while flipping through the TV channels, I came across a news story of a young mom shaking her baby to death because it cried and distracted her from her Facebook "farmville" game. If that doesn't just make you absolutely sick to the stomach, then I'm afraid I must call you heartless. I was so appalled! But it comes down to addictions. People tend to lean toward the notion that only chemical substances that enter the body rewire the brain. But the same things happens when you become addicted to gambling, pornography, even food can have the same affect. When you become so addicted to something that it can break the bond of nurturer that's been made by the release of oxytocin in the body... you're in trouble. It just makes me sad. I can't even imagine...

Sorry for that depressing beginning. I wasn't planning on talking about that. What I really wanted to show was this great news story I came across! Can you just picture this 73 year old man, in his wheelchair, wheeling himself 3 miles to help his 61 year old sister whose car got stuck in the snow for 2 nights in a row? That is true family love right there. I wish the news would post more stories like this. They give me hope in the future. I have to admit I'm afraid to raise kids in this day and age! (Of course it still won't be for a while now don't worry. I'm definitely not pregnant or engaged in the least.) But I'd just like to say thank you to the 73 year old man who shows that family is your best friend no matter how far down the road of life you are. They will always be there for you.

Only picture I could find with the WHOLE family in it!

Bird Crap and Costumes

 In my Heroic Journey class (it's a humanities class) we were assigned a group photography project. Our group needed to have 3-5 pictures that could be considered art and could be related to the creation, fall, and redemption. So I went out looking for something to take my pictures of. If any of you know me and my photography, I don't like taking pictures of things that everyone else would take pictures of. I didn't want to take those generic flower, plants, leaves pictures... So I headed to the stadium stairs.

So not too different of a picture. Still good though I think. 

But anyone who travels to the top of the stadium stairs will come to find the nonexistent cleaning job of the upper bleachers... which amounts to a mess of bird droppings. Yup and that's what I photographed of course.

 My group didn't use my first two photos, but we did use this one. It fit into the "fall" category. See when you sin, your life is kind of full of crap, and messes. But as you repent and become more like Christ, the mess starts to fade away to clean! (bottom of photo=man's fallen state. top=using atonement in our lives.) 

We also used this photo in our "fall" category. For this we used the bird crap as sin or problems in our life, and we sometimes get so focused on everything that's wrong. We need to find out how to get around it and move on to better things (represented by city background.) But we never know what the future holds for us equaling the blurry background. 

 See those photos fit in so well! I'm probably one of the few people who can pull off taking pictures of bird crap too. No one would even think of taking pictures of that...which is why I love it. Maybe I should do a photo book of bird crap? haha 

So my ward had this great idea of doing a Halloween date/game night. There were two lists of costumes that you could sign up for, one for the guys, one for the girls. The costumes were paired up. So whoever matched your costume, was your date! 

Meet Sandy and Danny from the ever great movie, Grease. 

(I know, fail on me for not having blonde hair)

Aubrey and Scotty were supposed to be cave man/woman but Scotty had an ultimate fail with finding a costume so he got together all of his hunting clothes and wore them. 

Aubrey's was an ultimate win. (I put it together right before going over to the party. It was awesome. Cut here, tie here, fold over there...I can't even believe it worked out. Pure genius.)

Prop 19

I came across this article today.
Thank you California for your generous contributions of starting all these propositions. Now everyone is going to start trying to legalize marijuana.
Does it blow anyone else's mind away that a formal surgeon general would be quoted of saying, "It's not a toxic substance" or stressing that the drug is not physically addictive?

In looking up the definition for physical addiction we learn that physical dependence is: substance abuse. A physiologic state of neuro-adaptation to a specific opioid, characterized by a withdrawal syndrome if the drug is stopped.
I don't know about you but it sounds like marijuana could be put in that category.

I also found this article (well it only gave me the abstract). But I thought this was particularly interesting: "It is suggested that when there is a dysfunction in the brain reward cascade, especially in the dopamine system causing a hypodopaminergic trait, the brain of that person requires a DA(dopamine) fix to feel good. This trait leads to multiple drug-seeking behavior. This is so because alcohol, cocaine, heroin, marijuana, nicotine, and glucose all cause activation and neuronal release of brain DA."

Here's another article with a quote from it to think about, "Legalization would be a significant change in that marijuana production and sale would move above ground. State and local governments could then tax it. California is expecting $1.4 billion in additional tax revenue from legalization, along with reduced criminal justice expenditure."
They also go on to say, "In a free society, the presumption must be that people can smoke, snort, eat or inject whatever they wish, so long as they do not harm others."

Food for thought.
.
..
...

Dad

Have I ever told you how much I love my dad? Probably not. But I can honestly say that there is no one else that promotes all the random things I get interested in like my dad does. I remember back in Jr High, I started getting interested in architecture from my art class. My dad of course proceeded to give me a book he had that went through all the different types of houses, Victorian, Gothic buildings...everything. Which then led him to tell me about Frank Lloyd Wright. When I got interested in photography he sat me down on the couch and taught me everything about the camera. He would show me the different settings as we took pictures of our shoes. He followed it with getting me a small portable tripod for my camera. When I was young I must have gotten interested in racquetball because I got a racket for my birthday. I now try and play racquetball with him every time I come home. When I became interested in the medical field and anatomy, he bought me a computer program that came with a medical dictionary, anatomy atlas and a human 3D program. My dad taught me the correct way to save/share/burn music. I am no longer a victim of itunes music hording ways. As I got excited for the new Alice in Wonderland movie to come out, my dad sent me an email with the Alice Theme Song. Can I just say that it's an epic song. I love it. When I got interested in chalk art, my dad sent me photos of chalk art some missionaries had done. When my interests in astrology became evident, he got me a packet of constellation glow in the dark stars for your ceiling. I remember laying them out on my floor trying to  coordinate it all perfectly in comparison to how they really appear in the sky. Eventually I gave up.

Well recently I've been on an autobiography craz...as I'm sure you've seen by my posts. My recent choices of reading have been either Martin Luther King Jr, Fred Astaire, or Frank Lloyd Wright. I don't know if any of you know about my dad's love for old radio shows...like in the movie, A Christmas Story, how the kids lie around the radio and listen to the show... anyways, he sent me one the other day about Frank Lloyd Wright. I was in the library when I saw it and a smile lit across my face. I'm sure if someone was looking at me they would've thought I was delusional with homework or something. But I'd just like to say thank you dad for always being interested in whatever I'm interested, for always encouraging me in everything I do. I like to think I'm a much "rounder personality" type because of you. Love you dad.

Anatomy and Physiology

So! I've been studying like crazy for my first anatomy and physiology test. I have to get an A out of this class... and my teacher is amazing, but he takes pride in his tests. He likes knowing it takes students an average of an hour and a half to take the test of 54 questions.
So my study buddy Emily and I have gone about creating some new study techniques that I basically love. The first is study texting. Randomly in the day we'll text each other pop questions and go back and forth remembering as much as we can. The second way we've been studying is on the great and spacious white boards. Our classroom has a huge span of white boards, and as luck would have it, there are no more classes in the room after ours.

This is what it ends up looking like after we're done with it. Don't think that's all the information though. We erase a lot and write up more. But white boards are fun, which means studying on them are fun. 

I took my test this morning and.... I got an 85%! Now I know you're probably like...um that's a B sister, not that great. But! my teacher said the smartest kid got a 90% and he normally scores the highest on my teachers tests...which means I got close to the highest! And if my teacher curves the test...which I believe he does, then I'm in good shape! 

I'm just glad I have the first test over with. I hate the first test. You never know exactly what to expect. Last semester anat and phys was more facts. This semester is more apply to real life. Much harder. But I understand the concepts better. I honestly just love anatomy and physiology. It is by far my favorite class. Even though it stresses me out like nothing else, I love the inside anat and phys jokes me and Emily have. The fact that I can say "my sympathetic system just shot up like crazy" and she'll know exactly what I'm talking about makes it all worth it. 

New Ambition

Thanks to Heather and Jake, my new lifetime goal/ambition is to be able to do this: 

Here's another video for you if you enjoyed this as much as I did.

Life As I Want It

I wish life was like this. The world would be a much better place.

LIVESTRONG

My recently read book is Lance Armstrong's, It's Not About the Bike: My Journey Back to Life. Yes I'm still in this autobiography phase and I like it.
It was interesting reading about his cancer and what he had to do to get through it. I never knew any details, just that he survived cancer and went on to win the Tour de France 7 times in a row. But I love hearing the details behind the story, same goes with Andre Agassi's autobiography. My only complaint is that I thought Andre Agassi had much better voice in his writing than Lance Armstrong. And maybe that's because Lance's book is written with Sally Jenkins. It just didn't feel like he was the one telling the story, not as personal.

But as always I'll share something I liked. He told this joke near the end of his book

"A man is caught in a flood, and as the water rises he climbs to the roof of his house and waits to be rescued. A guy in a motorboat comes by, and he says, 'Hop in, I'll save you.'
  'No, thanks,' the man on the rooftop says. 'My Lord will save me.'
But the floodwaters keep rising. A few minutes later, a rescue plane flies overhead and the pilot drops a line.
 'No, thanks,' the man on the rooftop says. 'My Lord will save me.'
But the floodwaters rise ever higher, and finally, they overflow the roof and the man drowns.
  When he gets to heaven, he confronts God.
 'My Lord, why didn't you save me?' he implores.
 'You idiot,' God says. 'I sent you a boat, I sent you a plane.'
I think in a way we are all just like the guy on the rooftop. Things take place, there is a confluence of events and circumstances, and we can't always know their purpose, or even if there is one. But we can take responsibility for ourselves and be brave."

Planning for Winter

So remember when I was thinking about this... or how I planned out all of this... Well, it's all changed. Again.
I've been trying to figure out if I should really go out and work as a nanny, or if I should now try and stay for winter semester and finish my associates. If I went to nanny, I would loose my half tuition scholarship. Which definitely blows. I mean it would be nice having the job for a year, a good income that I can use to pay off my loans and get a used car.
But my decision now is to stay in Rexburg and finish up my associates.

I remember when I was about to start my first semester at BYU-I. I was doing a hike with one of the ladies in my ward and I was talking about the rules that I wasn't too sure I liked. Curfew...long pants on campus... and she told me a wise thing. "There's a way around every rule." haha I don't have any problems with those rules now. I go to bed way before curfew and I love jeans.
But the point of this, is that in order for me to have my winter semester, I'm having to find ways around every BYU-I system they've set up. But don't worry. I will have what I plan for! Ha I'm stubborn that way. My second semester I couldn't get into 3 or 4 of my classes, so I talked to my teachers and got the classes I wanted, at the times I wanted and from the teachers I wanted. I know I sound selfish but I planned my schedule out to a "T". I put a lot of effort into organizing my schedule.

But there are a lot of hoops I have to jump through. Just to get my classes, use my scholarship for my off track, housing...it's kind of a mess but don't worry. I've got things figured out. I feel like I almost know the financial aid office and continuing education office personally I've called them so many times.

Open

Lately I've been having a hard time finding books I wanted to read. I asked for suggestions from many people but I just wasn't in the mood for those genres of books... and finally a friend suggested the book Open: Andre Agassi, an autobiography. And a newfound hunger for autobiographies has overtaken me.
I really liked this book and I loved learning about his life, hearing him discover the things that really matter. But I wouldn't recommend this book because the swearing is horrendous! It was so frustrating and drove me nuts.
But I did take note of some quotes that I liked...

"What you feel doesn't matter in the end; it's what you do that makes you brave."

(This next quote needs some introduction info. Andre became a regular at a restaurant in New York where he became good friends with the owner, Frankie. One night the owner was talking about how he was worried for his children's future education, how he was going to pay for college even though it was so far down the road. Now Andre dropped out of school in 8th grade or something ridiculous like that, so he had no appreciation for school. But seeing Frankies' love for his kids and their education touched him. He took out a share of Nike in Frankies name and locked it so he wouldn't be able to open it for 10 years, which by the time would amount to a good amount to help pay for the college tuitions.)
"Helping Frankie provides more satisfaction and makes me feel more connected and alive and myself than anything else that happens in 1996. I tell myself: Remember this. hold on to this. This is the only perfection there is, the perfection of helping others. This is the only thing we can do that has any lasting value or meaning. This is why we're here. To make each other feel safe."

(Andre's main opponent was Pete, who he continually lost to over and over again.)
"Losing to Pete has caused me enormous pain, but int he long run it's also made me more resilient. if I'd beaten Pete more often, or if he'd come along in a different generation, I'd have a better record, and I might go down as a better player, but I'd be less."

So good life lessons learned, he was happiest at the end with his wife and kids. Good book. Although the cover is weird, it's a close up of his face and he looks depressed. So, little self conscious carrying this book around.
 

Wilford Woodruff

In my day to day scripture study, I have been reading the Doctrine and Covenants. I never grew a love for Doctrine and Covenants when I studied it in seminary (I’d like to deflect the blame from myself and onto my seminary teacher, who being brand new, did not do a very good job teaching it. Okay, so it’s probably my own fault that I didn’t try very hard to listen and learn…). So I decided this year to study it with the book The Doctrine and Covenants Made Easier. These books are heaven sent in understanding simple to deep understandings and I loved studying the Book of Mormon with them.

I came to the end of the first book yesterday; it took me up to section 42, and at the end of the book the author, David J. Ridges, added all this extra information about who was where, when, in early church history. I started thumbing through it and Wilford Woodruff caught my eye. It’s amazing to see God’s hand in someones life…especially when it involves being 13 years old and already having 11 serious accidents that should have killed him.

I’m just going to quote all the details mentioned in the book. I hope you’re as amazed as I was that Wilford Woodruff survived as long as he did.

1807: Wilford Woodruff is born on March 1 in Connecticut. His mother will die when he is not quite one year old. He will be tough, having had numerous life-threatening accidents, and will be well prepared to handle the tough task of issuing the Manifesto stopping polygamy. He will write a journal of nine volumes with more than 7,000 pages. He will live 91 years.

1810: Wilford Woodruff falls into a cauldron of scalding water. He is three and it will be nine months before he will be out of danger of dying from this accident.

1812-1813: When he is five and six, Wilford Woodruff has many accidents. He will fall from the top of a barn flat on his face on the bare floor. Later, he will fall from the top to the bottom of the stairs but will only break one arm in one place.

(This next story is crazy and quite lively to picture in your mind)

Wilford Woodruff is feeding a pumpkin to his favorite cow when a bull leaves his own pumpkin, pushes away the cow that young Wilford likes, and starts eating her pumpkin. Wilford is furious, picks up the pumpkin and marches toward his cow to give it to her. The bull sees him carrying the pumpkin and lunges toward him. Wilford starts running but does not drop the pumpkin despite his father’s frantic shouts to do so. The enraged bull is upon him- he trips and falls, the pumpkin rolls away, and the bull jumps over little Wilford, gores the pumpkin, and tears it to shreds. Wilford escapes.

Wilford falls from his uncle’s porch and breaks his other arm. Wilford hasn’t yet broken a leg, so he does that. He lies in pain in the house for nine hours before help arrives. Wilford gets kicked in the abdomen by an ox. (If he hadn’t been standing so close, he probably would have been killed. As it was, he was thrown more than kicked, probably saving his life.) Later, a wagon load of hay tips on top of him, but he suffers no harm.

That all happened when he was 5-6 years old!

1815: He is now about eight years old and still alive, but his horse has bolted, tipping the wagon over on top of him and his father (his father should know by now not to get that close to him). Later this year, Wilford climbs an elm tree, stepping on a weak, dry limb when he is 15 feet up. It breaks and he falls, landing flat on his back on the ground. The fall knocks the wind out of him.

*Just as a side note, if you’ve ever seen any of the youtube videos of LOST in 8 min 15 seconds, how the narrator just slaps down these crazy happenstances like they’re nothing… I feel like that’s how the author wrote this. At least that’s how I read it in my mind.*

1819: Twelve-year-old Wilford Woodruff is drowning in 30 feet of water. A man saves him. He suffers much as he is revived.

1820: Thirteen-year-old Wilford Woodruff is freezing to death. Hypothermia has set in. He is asleep in the hollow of a large apple tree. A man in the distance who saw him crawl into the hollow comes over to the tree. He has much difficulty waking him but saves his life.

1821: Wilford Woodruff accidentally sunk an ax into his left instep, passing nearly through his foot. It will be nine months before it is healed. He is 14 years old.

1822: Wilford Woodruff is 15 years old and has just been bitten on the hand by a rabid dog. The dog did not draw blood, and Wilford is spared again.

1824: Wilford Woodruff has just been dislodged from the saddle on a runaway horse careening wildly down a hillside, has slid up the horse's neck and is on its head, hanging onto its ears for dear life as it continues to plummet down a steep, rocky hillside. The horse slams into a breast-high boulder, stopping it dead in its tracks while Wilford flies through the air, landing on his feet almost 16 feet in front of the horse (otherwise he would have been killed instantly). He breaks one leg in two places and displaces both ankles. The dazed horse almost rolls over him as it attempts to get up. In eight weeks he will be able to walk with aid of crutches.

1827: Wilford Woodruff is 20 years old and still alive, but he is standing on a water wheel, clearing away ice. Another worker, unaware that Wilford is there, opens the water head gate, which starts the wheel in motion. Wilford falls off and narrowly escapes being crushed in the machinery. 

1831: Wilford Woodruff has another bout with a water wheel. He survives again.

1833: Wilford Woodruff, age 26, is baptized on December 31, two days after first hearing missionaries preach. That same day, his horse with newly caulked shoes kicks Wilford's hat off his head, missing his head by just two inches. Ten minutes later, Wilford has hitched the horse with another to a sled and is driving away. Some loose boards on the sled slide forward, slip end first tot he ground, fly up endwise, picking Brother Woodruff up and pitching him forward between the horses. The frightened animals run down the hill, dragging him under the sled behind them. He escapes without injury. 

1834: Wilford Woodruff and Brigham Young are marching with Zion's Camp. Wilford is nearly shot b y a rifle ball that is accidentally discharged by a camp member. The ball passes through three tents with a dozen men in each without hurting anyone and passes within inches of Wilford's chest. 

A musket, heavily loaded with buckshot and pointing directly at Wilford Woodruff's chest, is accidentally snapped but misfires. 

1839: In April, Wilford Woodruff is pinned in a wagon accident and dragged by the frightened team for about half a mile with his head and shoulders dragging on the ground. Despite his awkward position, he manages somehow to steer the frightened horses into the corner of a high fence, where he and team land in a pile together. Of this incident he said, "I was considerably bruised, but escaped without any broken bones, and after one day's rest was able to attend to my labors again."

1846: While felling a tree in Winter Quarters on October 15, Wilford Woodruff is struck by the tree, knocked into the air, and thrown against an oak tree. His left thigh, hip and left arm are badly bruised, and his breastbone and three left ribs are broken. His lungs, internal organs, and left side are badly bruised. He must ride his horse 2 1/2 miles over rough road to get back to the settlement. Pain forces him off the horse twice. Upon arriving back at Winter Quarters, men carry him in a chair to his wagon. Before putting him in bed, Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, Willard Richards, and others bless him. He lay upon his bed, unable to move until his breastbone begins to knit together. In about 20 days, he begins to walk, and in 30 days, he returns to his normal duties.

Of his accidents, Wilford said, "I have broken both legs, one of them in two places; both arms, both ankles, my breastbone, and three ribs. I have been scalded, frozen and drowned. I have been in two water wheels while turning under a full head. I have passed through a score of other hairbreadth escapes." 

Cooking

My lovely sister Heather has become quite a little homemaker now that she's married. I make fun of her constantly, but I hate to admit it, but it's effectively rubbing off on me. Evidenced by my headbands, and now the fact that I made bread this morning.
I love cooking.
And bread makes an apartment smell divine.

They ended up being a retarded shape. I know circles aren't my specialty. I don't know if they're supposed to be that floury either. Oh well.

The edges are always eaten, dipped in olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

And of course the rest goes to my panini sandwiches (I'm addicted). Pesto sauce, turkey, swiss cheese (or havarti cheese), turkey, avocado, baby spinach leafs if you have them, and pesto sauce. Amazing panini.

The Dark Side

I live on the dark side.
Yup, that's what they call this side of the Royal Crest building.
I guess the name gives it some character. Dark Side... it's shady, faces the tennis courts... and it cut off from all the other social people that live on the "light side" (I have no idea if they even call the other side that). I don't know if I like being on the dark side. But our apartment is pretty nice. The kitchen is a lot bigger compared to where I lived last semester. Oh and my roommates do their dishes! Put them in the dishwasher-dishes! No more sink chalk full and unmanageable. We have a t.v. with cable. A lot more counter space in the bathroom and the bedroom is even a
little bigger. Same basic layout but more space between our beds and the closet.

Question: when did they start putting buttons on microwaves? Cause I feel like that's all I've ever used. But first time for everything right? Because our microwave is practically ancient. There are no buttons. Just 2... count them, 2 dials. Time and Heat. No popcorn button. That could be a problem. I don't know how many bags I'm willing to burn before I get the hang of this microwave.

Oh my church is at 1:50 at the Ricks building (aka the farthest building on campus from my apartment) blahh. Late church doesn't suit me very well. We'll get home around 5, and have time to make dinner and then go to bed.

Good news too, that racquetball class that I couldn't get into... well I still didn't get into it but they have a free skill development class for racquetball MW at 7:45 am. It goes for 6 weeks and I think I'll go to it. Because on those days I don't have class till 11:30 so it'll fit in nicely.

It'll Happen

After reading this blog post, and reminiscing over my own "reading in cars with boys" moments... it's been decided that my husband will love reading. Especially out loud with all the great voices. Our car rides are going to be full of epic books, like The Fountainhead... which is for sure out of the question one of my top 5 favorite books. I hope my husband likes it because if not, he'll just have to deal with the experience of reading Ayn Rand. We'll take on the classics of The Count of Monte Cristo, The Three Musketeers, Fahrenheit 451 and the likes. We'll read plays, my favorites being Cyrano de Bergerac and  A Midsummer Night's Dream. We can't forget Harry Potter, or the Hunger Games series. 

I hope you're ready husband for all these books. 

Aim and Ignite

Sometimes when I listen to music I listen to it in a very obsessive manner. That specific album or playlist is all I listen to for weeks at a time. Not sure if it's the healthiest thing around but my new obsessive listening is to the band: Fun. album: Aim and Ignite. They've consumed me.

I love practically their whole album. Minus a song and a half. Well, maybe one half of 2 songs... But! they're great anyways.

Here's a favorite:  Walking The Dog

Some of the other ones I love are:

The Gambler

I Wanna Be The One

Light A Roman Candle With Me

Be Calm

Hunger Games

I've decided to read the Hunger Games books 1 and 2 again for a refresher before I go in for the 3rd and final book. I forgot how addicting those books are. I'm reading a good few other books but those have all been put on the back burner now. I love it when books do that. They suck you in and you absolutely have to read. A book isn't absolutely amazing if I can forget about it throughout the day. Some books are good... I can just read them at night and slowly make my way through the book. But Hunger Games is nothing like that.

Hunger Games makes me want to live out in the wild. Not in the sense of trying not to get killed in a sick game put on by the capitol, but in the ways of being resourceful. I wish I could pour out knowledge of things to eat while stranded in a forest, what berries not to eat, what bark is eat-worthy... It seems all very appealing in a non-realistic state. I'm sure if that was my actual life I wouldn't like it one bit. But it's okay, I can live in my imagination every now and then.



So remember when I did this... Well I decided to start it up again. So on the side of my blog I'm going to have a running list of books and page numbers I've read since Aug 25, 2010. I could just say August, but I don't remember the other books I read, so I'll just start with that date. Happy counting!

Chalk Art

This break has not been very kind to me in aspects of chalk art. There are certain rules one must observe if they want a good piece of artwork.

Rule #1: Check the weather. Find a week where the chance of rain is slim to none.
Rule #2: Find a good area. Sidewalk is everywhere and you have your pick of the lot, but you'll want to find a nice flat, smooth chunk of sidewalk. Make sure it's not in an area where tires will be bound to run over it. (At least until you're done and the art has been captured on camera.)
Rule #3: Find a good substitute for skin. (I'm still trying to figure this one out.)

See, I like using my fingers because I feel like I have more control, especially when I get into those skinny strips of coloring. But unfortunately I manage to rub off a good layer of skin in the process. (To put my anatomy and physiology class to good use, I rubbed off my stratum corneum layer of the epidermis) Ha.

And Rule #4: try to finish within 2-3 days. I promise, the longer you take and keep putting it off, the more the color will have worn off from previous work.

My dad has suggested his leather gloves to use next time. Hopefully those will work better then a rag... do NOT use a rag unless you want stray edges smearing your hard work, and huge piles of black chalk that you have to blow away but can't do an efficient enough job because your lack of powerful lungs. It worked nice to smooth out my black guy on the logo, but created a mess at the same time.

I attempted 2 pieces of chalk art work this break. The first was the Chesire cat from Alice in Wonderland.

My plan was to keep the trees in my pictures, but instead of the black background, use the sidewalk as the coloring...therefore less chalk work and the cat would look more see-through in the ribbon area of the body.

And that's how far I got before it rained the next day or so...

My next attempt was the logo from the FIFA World Cup 2010. It's an awesome logo.

And I did really well and got really far! Was working on my shading and all... But after I got this much done...

My fingers were raw (as shown in previous picture.) So I had to give myself a couple days recovery time so I could use my fingers again and finish my almost done masterpiece. Do you know how strange it is not to have that layer of skin? Things were colder on just those two fingertips. Showers were no fun when rubbing in shampoo and conditioner. Driving a hot steering wheel hurt like heck so for a couple days those fingers became unused.  

But of course with this ridiculous Utah summer we've had... it rained. 

So... any ideas for a new chalk art drawing?

Crafty

Thanks to Heather's making of headbands and showing me the ropes I've caught the creative bug of headband making.
Thanks to this lovely site of treasures, (careful this site can be completely overwhelming and make you feel like you've accomplished nothing in your life in comparison) I was able to find new ways of headband making. We have the ruffle design... mine still needs some work but here's the finished product. 

The other design I decided to try out is the rosebud headband.

Goals and a Farewell

Some goals that I've been thinking about today:
-Finish Doctrine and Covenants by the end of the year, which means reading 1 section a day.
-Starting next year, instead of reading by sections or chapters, read a half hour every day in the Book of Mormon.
And my reminder for my life long goal:
-read the Book of Mormon at least once every year

Today was the farewell of one of my good friends from high school. Sometimes I feel like a missionary's farewell talk can be a little awkward. They wander in their talk and are nervous, about to embark for two years... but I have been blessed with great friends. Darren's talk was awesome. He is going to be such an amazing missionary, I was just beaming with gratitude of what a great guy he is during his whole talk. He made me think of the other guy friends that I have had through the years, the ones that I have such great respect for, and admire because of their righteousness. They were always fun to be with, but respectful of us and protective even, especially at dances. People sometimes would try to come up and dirty dance and those boys would just push them away and close in our little circle of goofy dancing. They kept my innocent bubble from popping. :)

Thanks guys for being examples to me. I really am so lucky to have had the friends that I did. Good luck Darren on your mission, I know you are going to be a great missionary.

Fail Again

Remember that guy in the kiosk next to me... well I came to work a couple days ago and it was completely empty.

Talk about a lame work day.

Now there's a sign up in the kiosk "retail merchandise unit is available". I guess it's a good thing I'm going back to school in two weeks.

Swing Dancing

So last night I went swing dancing with Heather and Jake up in Salt Lake at Studio 600. It was absolutely fantastic! Despite the fact that the guys I danced with were...interesting... they were really good and I picked up on the following act so it felt like I was good too! Ha but really it was all in the guys leading.
One guy liked the dips, he did them quite a bit and he would dip me clear far back and then hold me there longer then I thought was necessary... I'm surprised my back isn't broken from his majestic dips.
Another guys I danced with at the beginning when they teach you steps, so he helped show me how to follow, and apparently he just really wanted to show me the "cowboys tango", so he requested the song and came and found me. Let me just tell you that the "cowboys tango" is no fun. I was so caught up on the stupid 1-2-cha-cha-cha and trying to get my feet right, while he was trying to turn me and then I get all messed up again! Dah But at least he got to show me that dance, which I don't know why he wanted to so bad because it's not that great of a dance.
I got lifted a few times by another dancing partner... that was epic.
And in the dance room next to us they had top 40 radio songs which amounted to tons of crazy dancing, extremely fun. It reminded me of high school dances with my guy friends. How we all get in a circle and just dance wildly. I love it.
It's sad that I get introduced to this great place, fun dancing, 2 weeks before I move back to Idaho! (Yes I move back in exactly 2 weeks from today!) Hopefully the school puts on some swing dance nights... I think they do once a week actually. I love to keep learning how to swing!

Beatrice and Virgil: Yann Martel

I'm undecided on how I feel about this book. I'm sure there are so many layers I failed to pull back and understand, perhaps repeated readings will elaborate.
Yann Martel, author of Life of Pi, has a brilliant way of taking a story, and making it about more then anything that was ever said in the book. He makes you think. He also has a thing with animals. As do the two main "human" characters in Beatrice and Virgil.

The first main human character is Henry a famous author who is trying to write another book, a flip book about the Holocaust. One side will be fiction, the other an essay. He spends 5 years endlessly researching and creating this work, only to have is slashed to the frays by his publishers. He moves and stops writing.

The second main human character is Henry the taxidermist. He is writing a play about a donkey and howler monkey named Beatrice and Virgil. He asks Henry for help. The play is mostly them talking about talking.

      VIRGIL:  We could do with a little good cheer.
BEATRICE:  We could.
     VIRGIL:  Something funny.
BEATRICE:  Something very funny.
     VIRGIL:  But not empty good cheer.
BEATRICE:  No.
     VIRGIL:  Although better empty good cheer than no cheer at all.
BEATRICE:  I don't think so. The contrast between despair and empty good cheer would only make the               despair worse.
     VIRGIL:  But if empty good cheer were expressed in extremis, might the irony of it not push one to transcend despair and bring on genuine good cheer? At that critical moment, might empty good cheer not be the first rung on a philosophical ladder to complete cosmic realization?
BEATRICE:  It's a remotes possibility.
     VIRGIL:  Why don't we try it? Why don't we agree to fall into empty good cheer when we are truly desperate, as a last resort?
BEATRICE:  We can try?
     VIRGIL:  But are we truly desperate at this moment?
BEATRICE:  (with a trace of good cheer) No, we're not.
  

A line from the book that I liked goes like this: "Stories identify, unify, give meaning to. Just as music is noise that makes sense, a painting is colour that makes sense, so a story is life that makes sense."

Yann Martels take on using stories to make sense of life is carried over from his first book, Life of Pi. In that book the boy talks about the people in the book as if they were animals, making their actions less horrible and traumatic to a young boys memory.
The same theory is used in Beatrice and Virgil.
Beatrice and Virgil is a donkey and a howler monkey that are the main characters of a play, in the play they are unwanted in society essentially because they are animals. The donkey is taken and beaten horrible, graphically described... it made me angry and moved in a this-is-horrible-i-hate-these-people-beating-him-this-is-disgusting kind of way. The play is essentially about the Holocaust.

But the book is a little confusing. There's so many ties going on. Both of the main human characters in the book are named Henry. Both try to write about the Holocaust. Both have used animals in their stories. Yann Martel is an author who writes using animals, writes a book about the Holocaust about two men also writing about the Holocaust using animals. The book and play aren't entirely about the Holocaust. More the victims of the Holocaust. The donkey and howler monkey. The taxidermist who is so closed about himself that you know nothing about him, except for his love of animal taxidermy and his play, ends up being reveled as a Nazi collaborator.
Sometimes throughout the book I felt like the Henry's were really one person, having two frames of mind with trying to write about the Holocaust.

The book leaves you with a strange taste in your mouth. You don't leave the story happy. You feel almost betrayed with the ending but the ending supports the tragedy of the book. I hate taxidermy, I hated it before and I hate it now.
The book invokes emotion.

Mall

I've always felt like people who go to the mall spend more time dressing up and preparing to go to the mall, then they do shopping. Now I am a shopper but I don't feel like I dress any differently then what I normally look like... but I normally don't notice these people as much since my face is stuck in clothes. However, working at a kiosk gives an eternal amount of time to watch and analyze the lovely shoppers. See, they dress up because they are on the prowl...even though they're only about 14... but honestly going to the mall to scope out the guys is like going to the married ward. You'll only make yourself depressed seeing all the couples walking around.

It's always interesting working near Victoria's Secret. I love watching the different reactions people give as they walk by... or get pushed in.

The other thing about Victoria's Secret is their ostentatious bags. There's no hiding that you went to Victoria's Secret. I feel weird carrying their bags around, it's like I'm screaming at people, "Look at what I bought!" So I hand the bag over to Heather and walk a little ahead.

Living in New Jersey is starting to work out even more. Today I figured out that I'd still start the radiology program the same year even if I spent a year in New Jersey. Brilliant.

Change In Plans

It's interesting how just a week and a half ago I had things "all planned out", for about the next 4 years of my life, as far as schooling goes. And now an opportunity has presented itself which of course will deter my plan a little bit. In essence, it'll move everything back a year. So I still have the same outline, just the dates are different now. And living in New Jersey as a nanny for a year gets squeezed into the outline.
I feel like whenever I start to really plan things out for the future, something always comes in to displace things. Not that it's bad, it just takes away my feeling of having control for a little bit. I remember during winter break where I started dating seriously and everything went up in a whirlwind. I had absolutely no idea what was going to happen for a while, should I go back to school, should I transfer down here, will this all work? It was massively confusing but things settled themselves out as they always do and I went on my way.
So now I get to do some research and planning and see if this is really what I want to try. A year commitment to live with a family and watch their 2 kids, housing is paid for, food, a car and gas all paid for. I would make fourteen hundred a month, which if I saved a thousand a month I could look at getting a used car when I got home... which would present so many opportunities that I haven't been able to look at for a long time. Like working in the hospital in Rexburg would now become an option because I would have a way to get there! Of course living in New Jersey with New York 20-30 minutes away with all those New York broadways will be my tempting choice to splurge money.
If everything worked out, I would start in January. Which means I would miss my spring semester, just take it off, probably take some online classes though, and then finish up my associates when I get back. Crazy crazy. I need to figure all this out!

Epic Fail

So I have a new job.

I work at a kiosk in the mall. 

Which is probably exactly what you imagine how working at a kiosk in the mall would go...

And I keep closing which equals slow hours. 

But, hey, good-looking working the kiosk next to me! 

And what else do I have to do besides check him out, look for ring...good, no. Age guess... no idea but RM? Probably. 

Tall, dark hair... you get the picture. 

He keeps walking around his kiosk while reading a book, dang I wish I had brought my book... maybe the hours would go by a little faster.

Wait what? He keeps staring into American Eagle. Gosh dang it that can only mean he's watching a girl, like how I'm being creeper and watching him, except he probably knows the girl, and I don't know him. 

(I'm really not that creepy, but it's the mall and what better to do than people watch?)

Closing time finally comes and of course there's a girl with him. blar

Background information you should know... it's my first time closing by myself. When you close a kiosk you have to un-hinge the overhead stuff so it comes down (please like 5'1 me could reach that... grab the chair). You then have to take this giant tarp and hook it into the stupid hooks, that are again clear above my reaching abilities... 

So I'm taking my sweet time closing up the register...hoping he'll leave fast so I won't have to make a fool of myself. But when do things ever happen the way we want them to? So I get going on putting up that tarp. 

Drag chair over

climb up

hook tarp

jump down

drag chair

climb up

yank on tarp wires

hook tarp

jump down

repeat

I come to the end of this ridiculous business and find that I've put the tarp on upside down. *grumble, exasperated sigh* So I start taking it down again. 

Out of my peripheral vision I can see handsome and the girl walking over...gosh dang it again! No just leave! I know I look like an idiot but I can handle things!

"Hey you need some help?"

"Yes"

So he gets it up there way more efficiently and guess what else, the girl is a sweetheart. Way nice, really pretty, the kind that makes you feel bad cause he's got such a great girl already and now you have no chance.

They leave me as I zip up the tarp and then I ran into them again outside! He's all..."hey there she is!"

(yes I know I'm the moron that can't figure out how to close my own kiosk and now I feel utterly ridiculous, hi how are ya?)

I just said thanks for the help and went on towards the car. 

But hey if I see him again I can say hi to him now, instead of casually noting him (not stalking thank you).