Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Long Tag

I've been meaning to do this tag for a long time, and finally got around to it this morning while I was avoiding doing homework!

The Blogger BUCKET LIST. You're supposed to put a star (*) next to everything that you have ever done, a dash (-) next to the things you would never do, and a pound (#) next to things you would love to do. So here is my list:
1. Touched an iceberg #
2. Slept under the stars *
3. Been a part of a hockey fight -
4. Changed a baby's diaper *
5. Watched a meteor shower *
6. Given more than you can afford to charity *
7. Swam with wild dolphins #
8. Climbed a mountain *
9. Held a tarantula*
10. Said "I love you" and meant it*
11. Bungee jumped -
12. Visited Paris #
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea #
14. Stayed up all night long and watched the sun rise *
15. Seen the Northern Lights #
16. Gone to a huge sports game *
17. Walked the stairs to the top of the Statue of Liberty #
18. Grown and eaten your own vegetables #
19. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope*
20. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment*
21. Had a pillow fight*
22. Bet on a winning horse -
23. Taken a sick day when you're not ill*
24. Built a snow fort*
25. Held a lamb #
26. Gone skinny dipping -
27. Taken an ice cold bath *
28. Had a meaningful conversation with a beggar #
29. Seen a total eclipse*
30. Ridden a roller coaster*
31. Hit a home run #
32. Danced like a fool and not cared who was looking *
33. Adopted an accent for fun*
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors *
35. Felt very happy about your life, even for just a moment*
36. Loved your job 90% of the time*
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied #
38. Watched wild whales #
39. Gone rock climbing*
40. Gone on a midnight walk on the beach*
41. Gone sky diving #
42. Visited Ireland #
43. Ever bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant -
44. Visited India #
45. Bench-pressed your own weight -
46. Milked a cow #
47. Alphabetized your personal files #
48. Ever worn a superhero costume*
49. Sung karaoke*
50. Lounged around in bed all day*
51. Gone scuba diving#
52. Kissed in the rain#
53. Played in the mud*
54. Gone to a drive-in theater*
55. Done something you should regret, but don't*
56. Visited the Great Wall of China*
57. Started a business#
58. Taken a martial arts class*
59. Been in a movie*
60. Gone without food for 3 days-
61. Made cookies from scratch*
62. Won first prize in a costume contest#
63. Got or given flowers for no reason*
64. Been in a combat zone-
65. Spoken more than one language fluently*
66. Gotten into a fight while attempting to defend someone*
67. Bounced a check*
68. Read - and understood - your credit report#
69. Recently bought and played with a favorite childhood toy*
70. Found out something significant that your ancestors did*
71. Called or written your Congress person*
72. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over-
73. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge#
74. Helped an animal give birth#
75. Been fired or laid off from a job-
76. Won money*
77. Broken a bone-
78. Ridden a motorcycle*
79. Driven any land vehicle at a speed of greater than 100 mph*
80. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon*
81. Slept through an entire flight: takeoff, flight, and landing#
82. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days#
83. Eaten sushi*
84. Had your picture in the newspaper*
85. Read The Bible cover to cover *
86. Changed someone's mind about something you care deeply about#
87. Gotten someone fired for their actions-
88. Gone back to school*
89. Changed your name-
90. Caught a fly in the air with your bare hands-
91. Eaten fried green tomatoes*
92. Read The Iliad*
93. Taught yourself an art from scratch#
94. Killed and prepared an animal for eating-
95. Apologized to someone years after inflicting the hurt*
96. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language*
97. Been elected to public office-
98. Thought to yourself that you're living your dream*
99. Had to put someone you love into hospice care-
100. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn't know you#
101. Had a booth at a street fair*
102. Dyed your hair*
103. Been a DJ-
104. Rocked a baby to sleep*
105. Dropped a cat from a high place to see if it really lands on all fours-
106. Raked your carpet-
107. Brought out the best in people*
108. Brought out the worst in people*
109. Worn a mood ring*
110. Ridden a horse*
111. Carved an animal from a piece of wood or bar of soap
112. Cooked a dish where four people asked for the recipe#
113. Buried a child-
114. Gone to a Broadway show *
115. Been inside the pyramids#
116. Shot a basketball into a basket*
117. Danced at a disco*
118. Played in a band*
119. Shot a bird
120. Gone to an arboretum*
121. Tutored someone*
122. Ridden a train*
123. Brought an old fad back into style-
124. Eaten caviar#
125. Let a salesman talk you into something you didn’t need*
126. Ridden a giraffe or elephant*
127. Published a book#
128. Pieced a quilt*
129. Lived in an historic place*
130. Acted in a play or performed on a stage*
131. Asked for a raise*
132. Made a hole-in-one-
133. Gone deep sea fishing*
134. Gone roller skating*
135. Run a marathon#
136. Learned to surf #
137. Invented something#
138. Flown first class#
139. Spent the night in a 5-star luxury suite#
140. Flown in a helicopter#
141. Visited Africa#
142. Sang a solo*
143. Gone spelunking*
144. Learned how to take a compliment*
145. Written a love-story*
146. Seen Michelangelo’s David#
147. Had your portrait painted-
148. Written a fan letter*
149. Spent the night in something haunted#
150. Owned a St. Bernard or Great Dane#
151. Ran away *
152. Learned to juggle#
153. Been a boss - does a supervisor count? *
154. Sat on a jury#
155. Lied about your weight*
156. Gone on a diet-
157. Found an arrowhead or a gold nugget*
158. Written a poem*
159. Carried your lunch in a lunchbox*
160. Gotten food poisoning-
161. Gone on a service, humanitarian or religious mission*
162. Hiked the Grand Canyon*
163. Sat on a park bench and fed the ducks*
164. Gone to the opera*
165. Gotten a letter from someone famous*
166. Worn knickers -
167. Ridden in a limousine#
168. Attended the Olympics#
169. Can hula or waltz *
170. Read a half dozen Nancy Drew or Hardy Boys books*
171. Been stuck in an elevator -
172. Had a revelatory dream*
173. Thought you might crash in an airplane-
174. Had a song dedicated to you on the radio or at a concert #
175. Saved someone’s life#
176. Eaten raw whale-
177. Know how to tat, smock or do needlepoint *
178. Laughed till your side hurt*
179. Straddled the equator #
180. Taken a photograph of something other than people that is worth framing *
181. Gone to a Shakespeare Festival#
182. Sent a message in a bottle
183. Spent the night in a hostel *
184. Been a cashier*
185. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt #
186. Joined a union-
187. Donated blood or plasma*
188. Built a campfire*
189. Kept a blog*
190. Had hives-
191. Worn custom made shoes or boots -
192. Made a PowerPoint presentation *
193. Taken a Hunter’s Safety Course -
194. Served at a soup kitchen*
195. Conquered the Rubik’s cube#
196. Know CPR#
197. Ridden in or owned a convertible*
198. Found a long lost friend*
199. Helped solve a crime#
200. Hiked a really tall mountain. *

I tag whoever wants to attempt this post.

Blast from the Past

I was tagged by Lori...as one of the people who stalk her blog!

1. Did you date someone from your school? Nope. I wasn't too much of a dater then. I went on dates, but never had a boyfriend until college.

2. What kind of car did you drive? Volkswagon Golf. Lucy! She was red, and such a cute little 5-speed. Sad day, there was an accident and she didn't survive the crash.

3. Were you a party animal? No. I liked hanging out with friends, but sometimes preferred to read... :)

4. Were you considered a flirt? Nope. I didn't know how to act around guys! Hence, my answer to number 1.

5. Were you in band, orchestra or choir? I was in choir. I loved it! We had some good times, crazy inside jokes, and I loved the sound of a really good choir singing together. And I liked our trip to Disneyland!

6. Were you on any varsity teams? No. I ran cross country and track, though, and really enjoyed those sports. I was just good enough that I occasionally beat my own personal times. Not much of a speedster. But I like to run for the way it makes me feel rather than the speed.

7. What was your school's full name? Flagstaff High School.

8. School mascot? The Eagles.

9. If you could go back and do it again, would you? No. There's a time and a season for high school, and a time and a season for now. I liked a lot of my experiences in high school, and I liked my friends, but I like even better who I am and the people that I associate with now.

10. What do you remember most about graduation? When we lined up to begin filing down onto the dome floor, my stomach started to go crazy. I didn't feel nauseous, but my stomach was pinching in weird places...almost like I was really hungry. I've never experienced anything like that because of nerves, before or since graduation. Don't know what that was. And then, the other thing I remember was that Jess Koehn had been jumping on a trampoline at a party the night before, and he bit through his bottom lip. I remember thinking that I would be so disappointed if I had to take graduation pictures with a swollen lower lip like that.

11. Were you in any clubs? I was in the National Honors Society, and the Speech and Debate team. And my senior year I did Science Olympiad.

12. Are you planning on going to your 10 year reunion? Yeah, I would love to go. I think it will be interesting to see where people are at that point in their lives.

I tag Emily and Benjamin, Alisha, Ginger, and Megan...or anyone else who wants to do it.

Friday, September 19, 2008

Two Good Things - Part IV

Hmmmm...This is turning into a Two Good Things blog. I´ll have to start finding more interesting things in my life to blog about!

"Here was our prompt for the night: Write a thank you card for a bad gift you'll never use because you hate it." Just a quick clarification: This is fiction. I'll specify if anything I write for TGT is real.


Dear Aunt Maud,
I was completely surprised by the birthday gift you sent me. The joy it brought me was...indescribable. From the neon yellow and green wrapping paper to the baby blue card, it took a very short time to see that this present spelled out "fun," unlike the inside of he card, where pretty much everything was misspelled, including my name (It's Merry, not Meri). And the gift was good too. I can always accept another crocheted hot pad in my house. Many thanks,

Merry


Meh. Some of the other thank you notes written by the other girls were really funny. I enjoyed listening to them, mostly. I feel like I learn a lot from what they have to say about life, the universe, and everything. They told me that I should start taking notes on the things they say about their marriages and husbands (all three of them are married).

One thing that one of them said tonight was that she wants her husband to compliment her on the clean house when he comes home, and to work to keep it clean. She compared it to his school career: "We don't get A's and B's. We get oohs and ahs." She meant, women who are stay at home moms don't get chances to gain recognition very often, unless their husbands make sure to notice their domestic achievements.

More tomorrow...I'll post pictures of my latest adventure!

Friday, September 12, 2008

Two Good Things - Part III

Our prompt this Thursday was "Write a short story based on the mixed proverb 'Bad News Cures All Things.'" My short story includes some facts from life, mixed with some fiction to help the story along. If you think you recognize yourself in it, it's probably you, but I will never admit it! Here's what I wrote:

The day had been the worst day of my college career. I accidentally slept in, making myself late to my 6 am job. I knew my boss would be furious with me because it was the 2nd time I'd been late that week. Fortunately she decided to express her anger by giving me the silent treatment and told me to get to work without addressing the issue.

The reason I was sleeping in that week was because of the late hours I was putting into a group project for my English class. We had to write a 15-page paper about a controversial issue, incorporating original research that we had done through a survey on campus. My group already had the survey done, and we had met late the night before to analyze the data we'd gathered so we could generate ideas on how to incorporate it into our research paper. The data was good and I knew we would be able to include it.

The late night study session had really tired me, however, and I was paying for it. I had a long list of things to do after work, and no energy to do them. At the top of the list was the next step for our project: to check on the progress of our IRB approval that was required for the publication of data gathered from experimentation (including surveying) on human subjects. I put this off until the end of the day, though, because even though it was the most important thing to do, it was the least urgent. After all of the immediately important things were taken care of, I walked up to the administrative building on campus where the research office was housed.

"We sent you notification in the mail over a week ago."

The words rang in my ears as I slowly walked home, perusing the 3-page document of changes that we had to make to our IRB paperwork before it would even be considered for review. I was devastated. The paperwork had been submitted for almost 2 weeks, and I had expected to go back to my group with the good news of our proposal being accepted already.

My mood sank lower as I mulled over the work that lay ahead of me that night. I amost didn't see Neal as I walked by.

"Hey Merry!"

He was like a ray of sunshine breaking through the clouds.

"Hi."

"That wasn't very enthusiastic. Tell me what's wrong."

As the details tripped out of my mouth, his expression showed his concern for how stressed I was. But I couldn't focus on it because of the fingers I felt twining around mine. This was the first time we'd held hands. Maybe my stressful situation wasn't so bad after all.




Okay, so it's a little cheesy. The sunshine-through-the-clouds phrase is so cliche. But I was pressed for time, and I thought it was a creative idea. And, as always, it was fun to get together with the girls and chat.

Saturday, September 6, 2008

Two Good Things - Part II

I provided the prompt on Thursday. We looked up random words in some books that Chelsea provided, then we tried to use those random words in writing some poems. We didn't have to use all the words, or even most of them. It was just an exercise to get us popping out poetry! It was fun, and produced some funny results. Here's my word list, and my two poems:

spittal
misbehavior
scotch
blame
brushing
journey
glen
defense
jaws
eight 0'clock
trendy
grim
whaler
egyptian

Poem 1:
5 Brushing leaves fall down;
7 On their journey to the ground
8 Contemplating misbehavior.

Poem 2:
A really trendy thing to do today is
To deface your body:
Tatto it up,
Guzzle down scotch and brandy,
Eat like there's no tomorrow.

I personally like that last trend.
I will take the beautiful blame
For having eaten a whole cake --
By myself --
Between the hours of 7:30 am and 8 0'clock.

Later that day my jaws
Were aching for ice cream.
I salivated as I contemplated
The 3 Klondike bars I had
Waiting for my lunch.

In my defense...
Oh, wait, I have none.
I was just following the crowd?



No masterpieces, but it was very fun to write! And it was fun to sit with those women and chat. Chelsea hosts the club at her house. Sarah is fun and has brought her kids with her in the past occasionally when her husband wasn't able to baby-sit. And yesterday she brought her sister with her little boy and I had fun playing with him. Yay for Two Good Things!

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

I started this post before midnight

I have thought about so many things that I wanted to blog about tonight, but I can't think of any that sound interesting to me anymore. Why do I wait until things don't sound interesting to me anymore? Which really means, why do I wait until I'm too tired to write anything well enough to make it sound interesting anymore?

I started classes yesterday. And I am going to be insanely busy this semester! I really am. I have 4 classes that I have to pass to graduate this December, and 1 class that I want to take but will probably end up having to drop so that I have more time to do the work for my other classes. And they're all linguistics classes! I'm such a nerd! I've thought of several linguistic phenomena that would be interesting to study, and we'll see which one I choose for my senior seminar class this semester.

Tonight, I felt like I got an answer to a question that I should have asked God but that I hadn't yet because I didn't want the answer that I got tonight. Hmmm. I felt the same thing last night as I was listening to the jazz at the Muse, and I ignored that thought as much as I could. And I ignored it when my friend Jami was saying it to me yesterday afternoon. But tonight I was saying it to my friend Thuy, as she looked for some comfort in her life because of a recent heart break. And I couldn't ignore it anymore when I was the one that was saying it. The idea was something that Thuy needed to hear, and I was the one that she turned to to hear it, and in the process I really "heard" it deep in my heart and realized that it was true. Man, I hate when I'm right! I don't like to have to make changes that aren't what I want but that I know are right.

Sorry, I know. Another enigmatic post. If this were an anonymous blog I could right all the details because no one would know who I was talking about or who I was, and no one would probably care! But since it isn't, and people do (at least know who I am), those of you who really want to know the details and actually think I'll tell you can contact me and ask me for said details.

In other news, I stopped by a Seventh Day Adventist church on my way home from campus and waited until the time that they had posted for their Wednesday Prayer Meeting, because I thought it would be interesting to worship in a way different from what I'm used to. No one showed up. But I'll try again. I have all semester walking past that building. And I'm determined to visit the room in the Wilkinson Center that has been set aside for Friday prayers for the Muslims on campus, which thing I've been meaning to do for several semesters now.

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Mercy, Mercy, Mercy

That's the title of a song I heard played tonight at The Muse. It was written by Joe Zawinul for Julian "Cannonball" Adderley for his album Mercy, Mercy, Mercy! Live at "The Club". Wow! That was good jazz! It was good just to sit and listen to the jazz, to be able to jive in my seat and think my thoughts, and be happy. The tenor and alto sax, the drums, the bass guitar, and the keyboard sounded so good together. All of them did solos at one point or another, and they were really good. I went with Alanna Allen, a former mission companion of mine, and her sister Alise, who's entering the MTC tomorrow to serve her mission in Tennessee! Alanna knew several members of the band, so I got to meet some of them; the drummer Matt, the bass guitarist Matt, and the saxiphonist Jorey. I liked the atmosphere, I liked the company, and I liked the jazz. Good times.