*Since my blog is public, I don't want random fans finding this blog via Google, so I won't be using my friend's name. Sorry if it sounds a bit cryptic :)
Most of you know that a particular singer is a good friend of mine. I've known him since 10th grade. We ran in the same circles in high school, and whenever we'd play midnight dodgeball (Sunday nights whenever there was no school on Monday) he would host after-parties at his house. Then when he was a Junior and I was a Senior, he asked me to Homecoming. He has always been sweet, kind of shy, and extremely kind to everyone. Although we didn't keep in touch constantly after he was on A.I., I was still able to see him periodically. Sometimes we'd hang out when he was in town, and during the semester I was working in Disneyland, he happened to have a Christmas concert in Anaheim--we were able to meet up and hang out in his dressing room and tour bus for a while.
My friend recently made the decision to serve an LDS mission. He is going to give up his music career for the next two years to serve God and spread His word. I'm so incredibly proud of him. It's hard enough for the average young adult male to give up his life for two years. I can't imagine the sacrifice it will be for a celebrity.
Anyway, this friend of mine invited me to attend his farewell talk. Not many people were invited, and there was only a handful of high school friends in attendance. I was so happy to be included, and the whole thing was just an incredible experience. Elder Ballard was there, as well as a few other "Mormon celebrities" like Alex Boye and Sheri Dew.
My friend gave a wonderful talk about the Holy Ghost and how different people feel the Spirit. He shared some of his experiences, many of them from his time on A.I. He did a great job. After his talk, he sang "The Spirit of God." It was a beautiful arrangement. He sang the first verse in English, the second verse in Spanish (the language he'll be speaking on his mission), and finished it off again in English. He got a little choked up while he was singing... As if we weren't all emotional already, once he lost it, I'm pretty sure everyone was crying. There was a surround sound of sniffles, that's for sure.
After the meeting, everyone was invited to shake hands with my friend and say hello in the cultural hall, and some of his closer friends were invited to a luncheon. I stopped by the luncheon and had a good time. I always feel self-conscious when there are stylists around though! (His stylist is a nice person--and her husband is hilarious--but I still feel like she thinks I look frumpy or something.) Regardless, I got to catch up with some high school friends and eat some yummy food, so I'd say it was a success.
My friend left for the MTC three days later (and happened to make a quick appearance in the choir at General Conference four days after that). I'm so proud of him and wish him the best of luck. I'll miss you, D! You'll be an awesome missionary!
Thursday, April 5, 2012
Thursday, March 8, 2012
Decisions, Decisions
The last week has been super crazy. I spent the first half of the week interviewing for a job I didn't end up getting, followed by some wandering around a career fair in Logan, introducing myself to countless employers who wouldn't even talk to me. I made my trek home in a blizzard, arriving just in time to make my appointment with the bishop of the YSA ward. This meeting was supposed to be a "get-to-know-you," but it resulted in an additional church calling and some terrifying decisions to make.
Near the end of my meeting with the bishop, he told me I should pray about going on a mission. I've never particularly wanted to go on a mission, but I figured if it was something I was meant to do, I'd suck it up and do it. I hadn't prayed about going in a really long time, honestly because I was afraid of the answer. I'm a selfish, technology- and media-reliant person and I didn't want to leave everything behind for a year and a half. Regardless, I decided to actually pray about going a mission. I read some friends' mission blogs and conference talks (to see what General Authorities have actually said about women serving missions), and prayed a whole bunch. The rest of the night I was panicking a little and couldn't get the thought out of my head.
Then I pulled out my patriarchal blessing. I read through it a few times and it made me feel so much better. Nothing in it was blatantly pointing toward a mission, but it said a lot about education. The first thought that occurred to me was Geez, what was I thinking? Of course I'm not done with school yet!
The next morning I woke up feeling really great about not going on a mission. Instead, I started researching grad programs and schools. I decided that getting a Master's in Library Science sounded like a genius idea. I also decided I'm going to specialize in Archives and Preservation. There are three main schools I've been researching, all back east. They're all tied for rank #10 for library schools in the U.S. Fortunately, none of them require the GRE for admission (because I graduated from USU with a kick-A GPA!), so I've just been able to start my applications. One particular school would theoretically let me start as early as this spring! Otherwise I'll have to wait for about a year and a half to start the program. I'm freaking out a little about all this. It's all pretty sudden and overwhelming.
Anyway, I thought I owed my blogstalkers an update. I'm not quite ready to announce this to everyone on facebook yet, so consider yourself privileged!
Near the end of my meeting with the bishop, he told me I should pray about going on a mission. I've never particularly wanted to go on a mission, but I figured if it was something I was meant to do, I'd suck it up and do it. I hadn't prayed about going in a really long time, honestly because I was afraid of the answer. I'm a selfish, technology- and media-reliant person and I didn't want to leave everything behind for a year and a half. Regardless, I decided to actually pray about going a mission. I read some friends' mission blogs and conference talks (to see what General Authorities have actually said about women serving missions), and prayed a whole bunch. The rest of the night I was panicking a little and couldn't get the thought out of my head.
Then I pulled out my patriarchal blessing. I read through it a few times and it made me feel so much better. Nothing in it was blatantly pointing toward a mission, but it said a lot about education. The first thought that occurred to me was Geez, what was I thinking? Of course I'm not done with school yet!
The next morning I woke up feeling really great about not going on a mission. Instead, I started researching grad programs and schools. I decided that getting a Master's in Library Science sounded like a genius idea. I also decided I'm going to specialize in Archives and Preservation. There are three main schools I've been researching, all back east. They're all tied for rank #10 for library schools in the U.S. Fortunately, none of them require the GRE for admission (because I graduated from USU with a kick-A GPA!), so I've just been able to start my applications. One particular school would theoretically let me start as early as this spring! Otherwise I'll have to wait for about a year and a half to start the program. I'm freaking out a little about all this. It's all pretty sudden and overwhelming.
Anyway, I thought I owed my blogstalkers an update. I'm not quite ready to announce this to everyone on facebook yet, so consider yourself privileged!
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Eat Cookies and Love It
So I was on Pinterest the other day and I saw this picture:
A few of my friends had "repinned" the picture, supporting this idea that to be a healthy individual, you can never eat cookies or sweets and you should instead spend that time running. It's possible that the friends who posted this picture didn't really think of the implications; maybe this just seems like a good motivational poster that will help them keep their fitness goals in sight. To me, however, I find this picture discouraging and misleading.
Not many people outside my immediate family know this, but several months ago I joined Weight Watchers. One thing I absolutely love about WW is that they don't want anyone to feel deprived. If you want to lose weight, that's awesome! But you don't have to give up everything you love--you should probably just have less. [Basically the way WW works is that everyone has gets a certain number of points each day. Every food item has an assigned point value, so you simply eat your allotted amount of points every day and you lose weight. You can eat whatever you want as long as you figure out the points for your food and take it out of your daily allotment. (If you want to learn more, you can get more extensive information at www.weightwatchers.com and Jennifer Hudson can sing to you about it.)]
I have had a LOT of roommates within the last few years, and a lot of those roommates have been on diets or have been extremely obsessed with staying thin. These beautiful girls would completely deprive themselves of any food that actually tasted good in an effort to be more attractive. The problem, however, was that about once a week, these girls would binge on cookies, brownies, cakes, or anything else they could get their hands on. I don't know if it was psychological (since they suddenly couldn't have chocolate, they wanted it all the time!) or if it was physical. Maybe if they had one very small treat every day, they wouldn't have to rely on these binges to get their fix. These binges led them to feel terrible about themselves. "Oh my gosh, I'm awful. I ate like half a pan of brownies!" Well yeah, that probably wasn't smart... But the way I see it, if you'd let yourself eat one brownie every day instead of eating half a pan in half an hour, you'd feel much better about yourself.
I have a big problem with diets that insist you completely cut out anything. It's alright to eat a cookie every once in a while. I'm not saying you should binge on tons of cookies every day and feel great about it. I am saying that you should never feel guilty about eating one freaking cookie.
I'm not trying to diss exercise, either. Exercising is great, but running isn't the only type of exercise that can get you into shape. If you love running, that is awesome for you! I loathe it. Walking, however, and doing silly DVD workouts are much more fun for me. Why do something you hate just so you can be skinny? Instead, I suggest we all try to find an activity we enjoy so we can be healthy.
Being skinny doesn't make you happy and it doesn't mean you're healthy. Obviously I'm not an expert and there is a reason I'm a member of Weight Watchers... but I've known a lot of people, I've taken college courses in nutrition, and I've learned a ton from WW. If you are going to feel terrible about yourself for eating a cookie, then don't eat it. But man, I feel sorry for you. Cookies are great.
A few of my friends had "repinned" the picture, supporting this idea that to be a healthy individual, you can never eat cookies or sweets and you should instead spend that time running. It's possible that the friends who posted this picture didn't really think of the implications; maybe this just seems like a good motivational poster that will help them keep their fitness goals in sight. To me, however, I find this picture discouraging and misleading.
Not many people outside my immediate family know this, but several months ago I joined Weight Watchers. One thing I absolutely love about WW is that they don't want anyone to feel deprived. If you want to lose weight, that's awesome! But you don't have to give up everything you love--you should probably just have less. [Basically the way WW works is that everyone has gets a certain number of points each day. Every food item has an assigned point value, so you simply eat your allotted amount of points every day and you lose weight. You can eat whatever you want as long as you figure out the points for your food and take it out of your daily allotment. (If you want to learn more, you can get more extensive information at www.weightwatchers.com and Jennifer Hudson can sing to you about it.)]
I have had a LOT of roommates within the last few years, and a lot of those roommates have been on diets or have been extremely obsessed with staying thin. These beautiful girls would completely deprive themselves of any food that actually tasted good in an effort to be more attractive. The problem, however, was that about once a week, these girls would binge on cookies, brownies, cakes, or anything else they could get their hands on. I don't know if it was psychological (since they suddenly couldn't have chocolate, they wanted it all the time!) or if it was physical. Maybe if they had one very small treat every day, they wouldn't have to rely on these binges to get their fix. These binges led them to feel terrible about themselves. "Oh my gosh, I'm awful. I ate like half a pan of brownies!" Well yeah, that probably wasn't smart... But the way I see it, if you'd let yourself eat one brownie every day instead of eating half a pan in half an hour, you'd feel much better about yourself.
I have a big problem with diets that insist you completely cut out anything. It's alright to eat a cookie every once in a while. I'm not saying you should binge on tons of cookies every day and feel great about it. I am saying that you should never feel guilty about eating one freaking cookie.
I'm not trying to diss exercise, either. Exercising is great, but running isn't the only type of exercise that can get you into shape. If you love running, that is awesome for you! I loathe it. Walking, however, and doing silly DVD workouts are much more fun for me. Why do something you hate just so you can be skinny? Instead, I suggest we all try to find an activity we enjoy so we can be healthy.
Being skinny doesn't make you happy and it doesn't mean you're healthy. Obviously I'm not an expert and there is a reason I'm a member of Weight Watchers... but I've known a lot of people, I've taken college courses in nutrition, and I've learned a ton from WW. If you are going to feel terrible about yourself for eating a cookie, then don't eat it. But man, I feel sorry for you. Cookies are great.
Monday, January 9, 2012
Faux-Graduation
So because I graduated in December, I didn't have an actual ceremony. (USU did away with their Fall graduation a couple of years ago due to budget cuts.) If I want to walk I'll have to do it in May, which I'm not super enthusiastic about right now. So we'll see if I want to when it gets closer.
Since I wanted some proof of graduating, I had my sister take a few pictures of me. We still had my cap and gown from high school graduation, so I just slapped on my USU tassel, held up my empty diploma case thingy, and smiled really pretty. Not super official, but it works. Here are a few of the results:
Since I wanted some proof of graduating, I had my sister take a few pictures of me. We still had my cap and gown from high school graduation, so I just slapped on my USU tassel, held up my empty diploma case thingy, and smiled really pretty. Not super official, but it works. Here are a few of the results:
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| We think this should be on a brochure |
Fall 2011
Hey folks, I'm back!
Sorry I've been MIA for a while. Here's a quick update on my last semester of college!
I was only taking a couple of classes this semester, but somehow I still managed to keep myself pretty busy. I took Intro to Political Research, which is required for my major, but I put off taking it for the last three years because everyone hates that class. As it usually goes, it wasn't actually too bad. Professor A was initially going to teach it, but then he got offered a better job; then Professor B took over. I've had this professor before and he's way fun. But since he took over after everyone had signed up for the course, he had to keep the same syllabus, textbooks, etc. This didn't actually work out... Long story short, a lot of things were changed and we ended up doing a lot more hands-on work. We did some class research projects about the efficacy of campaign signs in local elections and we had to propose our own research design for our final project. The group I got to work with for the majority of the semester was super fun and we got along really well. I usually loathe group projects, but this goes to show that the group makes all the difference.
The other class I took was on Persuasion in the Speech Communication department. That class was SO much fun! The professor made things really interesting. He was so animated and passionate about the topic that you couldn't help be excited about it, too. He also wrote the textbook for the class, so it was nice that the book and the professor weren't teaching two different things. (It happens more than you think.) Something that was a little weird though was how nice the class was. I'm not used to making friends in my classes. I guess that's just because people in the Political Science department are required to be more opinionated. Unfortunately that also means they're more argumentative, get more defensive, and can come across as kind of rude... Trust me, I've been in that department for the last three years.
To bide my time on days that I didn't have class, and in lieu of a job for the semester, I played the piano at the Skyroom (a restaurant on campus) twice a week. I got a free meal every time I played and I got to keep any tips people gave me. I didn't make oodles of money, but I made more than I thought I would. Plus it was nice to be able to play the piano during the semester. I usually go months without playing since I don't have regular access to a piano.
Well the not-so-crazy semester ended and I GRADUATED. Yes, you read that correctly. After six short semesters of hard work, I now have my Bachelor's degree.
Now all I need to do is find a job...
Sorry I've been MIA for a while. Here's a quick update on my last semester of college!
I was only taking a couple of classes this semester, but somehow I still managed to keep myself pretty busy. I took Intro to Political Research, which is required for my major, but I put off taking it for the last three years because everyone hates that class. As it usually goes, it wasn't actually too bad. Professor A was initially going to teach it, but then he got offered a better job; then Professor B took over. I've had this professor before and he's way fun. But since he took over after everyone had signed up for the course, he had to keep the same syllabus, textbooks, etc. This didn't actually work out... Long story short, a lot of things were changed and we ended up doing a lot more hands-on work. We did some class research projects about the efficacy of campaign signs in local elections and we had to propose our own research design for our final project. The group I got to work with for the majority of the semester was super fun and we got along really well. I usually loathe group projects, but this goes to show that the group makes all the difference.
The other class I took was on Persuasion in the Speech Communication department. That class was SO much fun! The professor made things really interesting. He was so animated and passionate about the topic that you couldn't help be excited about it, too. He also wrote the textbook for the class, so it was nice that the book and the professor weren't teaching two different things. (It happens more than you think.) Something that was a little weird though was how nice the class was. I'm not used to making friends in my classes. I guess that's just because people in the Political Science department are required to be more opinionated. Unfortunately that also means they're more argumentative, get more defensive, and can come across as kind of rude... Trust me, I've been in that department for the last three years.
To bide my time on days that I didn't have class, and in lieu of a job for the semester, I played the piano at the Skyroom (a restaurant on campus) twice a week. I got a free meal every time I played and I got to keep any tips people gave me. I didn't make oodles of money, but I made more than I thought I would. Plus it was nice to be able to play the piano during the semester. I usually go months without playing since I don't have regular access to a piano.
Well the not-so-crazy semester ended and I GRADUATED. Yes, you read that correctly. After six short semesters of hard work, I now have my Bachelor's degree.
Now all I need to do is find a job...
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