The Author and the I

The Big News

2012-02-18T00:34:00.000-08:00

For a ridiculously cute story, read everything. If you just want the big news, skip to the end. Oh, and italics from here on out are Jared's contributions.

Once upon a time, a girl of about thirteen was hired to tutor and clean for a family in her ward. Often times, the girl would find herself cleaning alongside the family's teenage son. They became friends. The two worked together for years, and eventually began meeting away from the home, going on adventures, getting into trouble, and generally just having fun. A few months before the girl turned sixteen, the young man presented her with his first gift:

a ctr ring the young woman had greatly desired

The young woman's sixteenth birthday rolled around, at which time the young man presented her with a dozen red roses, and asked her to be his girlfriend.

eww eww eww

Unbeknownst to him, the girl dried the roses and held onto them.

Unfortunately, the teenage romance didn't end well, and our heroine broke up with the young man.

Their relationship thereafter was in shambles. It went from silence and cold-shoulders to almost-a-romance, back and forth over the space of a year. Still, the young man bought her a gift for her seventeenth birthday. Knowing her love of writing and of things that whispered of eras past, he bought her a quill and ink pot.

For the record, she wasn't expecting a gift that year. She still swore he was upset.
That's what she thinks.

Our young man left for two years to serve a mission, during which time the young woman missed (quite a lot) her friend of years ago. So she wrote him. Faithfully. For two long years. (Talk about dedication, right? Do any of you guys out there have a girl who will do that? Yeah, she's pretty awesome.) In return, he wrote back, and continued to send gifts on her birthday.

For her eighteenth, he sent her something straight from a missionary's heart:

For her nineteenth, he surprised her, and caused the girl to experience her first ever laugh-cry. (Success!)

He sent her a printed, bound copy of her first completed work of fiction. It looked like a book she would find in a bookstore (where it should be), and holds a place of honor on her shelf.

Eventually, the young man returned home, and the young woman apologized (for what??) and expressed her desire to be reunited with him. She surprised him by flying from Idaho for his homecoming (or rather, redefined surprise. She was talking to her roommates in Idaho one hour, and the next she was in my living room!). Once the young man rediscovered cellphones and skype, the couple remained in near-constant contact. The girl went home again for Thanksgiving, where this time, she asked him to be her boyfriend. Of course, he said 'yes'.

For Christmas, our young man bought the young woman a beautiful and unique necklace (one of Katie's three eternal hunts, I'll have you know. That thing doesn't exist anywhere else in the world), and hand-crafted her a wooden box to keep it in.

Unfortunately, some four-legged creatures got to the box. (I swear I'll kill those dogs)

After Christmas, the couple traded places. He left for Idaho, while she stayed in Temecula. Still, they kept in constant contact. They talked. And talked. And talked. They made plans and secret schemes. He sent her flowers on Valentines Day.

One specific weekend in February rolled around, and the young man flew to California. The couple met with her parents, got their approval and blessing, and then the magic began.

First, she was blindfolded. Then, she was driven in circles, and finally, led over treacherous fields and dirt paths. When the blindfold was taken off she was sitting...in the middle of the meadow, where the couple had spent many nights stargazing. The young man surprised the young woman with:

And then...

"Let's go get some dinner."

That's it? the girl thought. We talked to my parents, he dragged me out here for this big show and...rootbeer?

She shrugged and followed regardless. They gathered their things and walked over the next hill, where written in glowsticks was:

He then handed the girl a package, which contained:

And inside that:

A ring, on the chapter titled "The Unbreakable Vow"

Jared then got down on one knee and asked me to marry him.

And I said yes.

Katie Helen Thompson is officially engaged to Jared Christopher Allen, as of 2/17/12.

Movies as Usual

2012-01-17T10:07:00.000-08:00

The semester ended, I moved back home, my room has a pleasant Katie-mess to it, and I'm back at the theater. My boyfriend is at school in Idaho, and I'm stuck here in glorious, southern California. I spend my days...well...looking for things to do. If I'm not at work, I'm usually on the phone or skype with my boyfriend. If neither of those are available to distract me, I read or play MarioKart (probably the best video game I've received in a good seven years). I have feelers out to babysit wherever I'm needed, but with an always-changing work schedule, it's hard to say when I'm available very far in advance.
I haven't even taken my EMT exam yet. I'm waiting patiently for all the forms and certifications to go through, just chillin' around, forgetting everything. Ok, maybe not everything. Last week at the theater, I got to help someone who got sick, arrange things with Emergency Services, and talk to the medics like a big kid. Well, a big kid with EMT knowledge. Regardless, that was probably the coolest thing I've done in a while.
Anyway, I think I'll go back to looking for something to do, because I don't start work for another seven hours, and all my friends are in class.
Sigh.

Home Again

2011-12-18T09:08:00.000-08:00

I finished my third/fourth semester of college, passed my EMT practicals, and got myself a better boyfriend than I could dream of having. He treats me like a princess and might very well be the best person to come into my life in a long time. Now I have four months off, and said boyfriend will be up in the great state of Idaho starting his own college career. Over the next four months, I'll take my written EMT exam and hopefully get myself hired on with an Ambulance company. I'll continue to work at the movie theater in the interim, and I think I'll start writing again.

Part of me can't believe the semester is over. It was such a crazy one, but I'm going to really miss Idaho. Heads almost rolled during finals week though, that's for sure. I'm glad to have a break from school. That being said, I'm also glad to be done driving. For my latest trick, I drove from Provo to home...alone. I stayed the night with the family somewhere kind of in the middle, but still. I'm glad to be home.

I hope everyone has a fantastic Christmas!

In Which I Learn to Lead

2011-12-04T18:37:00.001-08:00

I am not a leader.

At least, I was never much of one. I spent years following orders and doing my best not to ruffle any feathers. In college, I have been put into a few leadership positions, nothing consequential. Each semester teaches me some new fundamental aspect of being human, though, like taking care of myself, and learning to trust.

This semester, I have learned to lead. It started with my calling as the second counselor in my RS presidency. I was given jurisdiction of sorts to lead over a few specific committees, where my specific job was to lead. It took some getting used to, but I eventually got the hang of conducting meetings, giving assignments, and receiving input from those around me.

The learning continued in my classes. In some, I was content to ride in the passenger seat and let the more ambitious take the reigns. That is not allowed in EMT. Can you imagine going into cardiac arrest, and the two techs responding are going back and forth with:
"You can do compressions."
"No, no, you can do them."
"Well, would you like to hook up the AED?"
"Only if you don't want to."
Five minutes later, nothing is done, and you're dead. That's bad. To prevent such terrible occurrences, we'd occasionally be assigned to lead when doing skills. No one acted without the leader's say-so, and if something was done incorrectly, it was the leader's fault.

I remember one particular lab day when we were learning to do scene assessments. Colton, the Paramedic student instructing the skill, asked for someone to start. I deferred, saying that I really wasn't as strong with that assessment type. He calmly looked me in the eyes and said, "then you're leading". The Paramedic students pushed the EMT students, and sometimes it felt like a lot, but they really helped me learn and grow.

It wasn't until this past Saturday that I realized how much I'd changed. My class was participating in a Mock Scenario. My group of eight suited up, prepared our jump bags, and drove the ambulances to the local high school, where the results of a fight had been staged. We wheel the cots in, but my teacher stops us before we get to the scenario room. We needed leaders assigned: one for each of the two groups of four, and then an Incident Commander, or IC, who was to lead the entire group. Two kids snapped up the team leader job, but no one was volunteering for the IC. Behind me, someone speaks up.
"I nominate Katie."
No. I was already a nervous wreck. Everyone knew that. So they wanted to put me in charge?

Suddenly everyone was looking at me, and before I knew it, I was donning the white IC vest. My job was to examine each of the six patients, determine who was highest priority for transport, help everyone with their patients, and, well, lead. I coordinated the movement of tables from on top of patients, fetched supplies, triaged, and helped students move the patients onto backboards and cots and then carry those cots up and down stairs. Did I mention that those patients were our Paramedic student instructors? Scary. The hardest part for me was determining which patients were most critical, and organizing transportation for six patients in two ambulances. Somehow, I managed to do it.

My teacher critiqued us after, and my classmates made sure I knew they thought I did well. It was incredible, and the experience was incomparable, but the biggest thing I learned:

I can lead.

In Which I Pretend to be in Control

2011-11-09T22:01:00.000-08:00

If we're being perfectly honest, we'd admit to ourselves that the majority of the time we only look like we know what we're doing. Maybe I'm generalizing too much. If I'm being perfectly honest, the majority of the time, I only look like I know what I'm doing.

Case Study #1: Codename Blindie (yes, she gave me permission to make it her codename) was working at the school market, at which point she sustained second degree burns to her right hand due to prolonged exposure to boiling water. At first, I was thinking okay, I'll check it when I stop by between classes. Each text made the case sound more urgent, though. In about 3.6 minutes, I was at Blindie's side, fishing for gauze in my backpack and admiring the fleshy blisters. My train of thought was something like: okay, she ran it under cool water for about a minute...probably should do more, but whatever. She put burn gel on it...red flag. Wait, that's a red flag, right? Nothing on burns...I think. Crud, we don't cover burns until next week. Okay, think. Cool water, keep it dry. We need more gauze. I convinced Blindie to leave her register and help me find a decent first aid kit. We wandered upstairs, found the general manager, and followed him through the kitchen to the most beat-up, out-of-date kit I've ever seen in a professional establishment. The first thing he fishes out: burn cream. He tries to hand it to Blindie, and I emphatically shake my head. "No cream." GM does a double take. It should be understood that at the time, I was in full EMT uniform, pants, polo, scissors and all. "Oh, okay," he says, as if unsure of trusting me or not. I quickly scan the container. "No gauze rolls...so...lots of that gauze pad size, that tape, and that tape." Please sound confident. Make it sound like you know exactly what you need. Please let me be right! "I'll bring the leftovers back." Out Blindie and I go to the MC Commons, where I begin wrapping each finger with gauze squares and taping them as gently as possible. I gave Blindie strict orders to take it easy and hydrate. I stayed close to finish homework, since I was ditching class anyway, and then went to my EMT lab. After that, I immediately scoured my textbook for correct answers. To my elation, I did everything as I should have.

Case Study #2: I developed an infection last week that required daily trips to Community Care for wound management. Every day I'd walk into that office, smile at the nurses, and wait to be taken back. They'd call me back to room 1, the room especially for body fluids and trauma. Here we go again. "Ready?" Yep. Nope. Holy goodness! Oh my goodness this hurts so bad. Oh my gosh I'm going to die. "Doing alright?" Yep. ARGH! Okay, I think they're done. *breathes* Oh crudmuffins nope they're not done. Finally, peace. "Alright, you're good to go until tomorrow. You alright?" Yep! Thank you so much! Just give me a sec, I'm not ready to move yet. I've realized that if I go in there every day and scream my head off for the entire thirty seconds they're causing me excruciating pain, they're going to hate seeing me, and nothing's going to make the doctor want to be nice. So I smile, pretend I don't want to smack the PA's hand away whenever he comes near, and try to make each visit as pleasant as I can. But KT, that's not your job. THEY should be making YOU comfortable. Well, yeah, but I've worked healthcare too. I love seeing happy patients. It makes the job suck so much less. Besides, every time I suffer through those thirty seconds, I wind up feeling so much better afterwards. It's brilliant.

Case Study #3: "Hey KT!" Roommate/friend/family member exclaims, "so I went to the doctor/was scouring webmd today, and he/it said that I have [insert medical condition here]. What does that even mean?" -or- "Hey KT! So whenever I [insert action], my [body part] [does something it probably shouldn't]. What do I do?" Okay, think. That's a respiratory problem/sign of allergic reaction/muscular reaction. Step 1: Do I have any prior knowledge of the topic? If yes, share. Step 2: Has is been covered in class? If yes, scour brain for details, and share. Step 3: Is it something you learned to do in lab? If yes, proceed to practice skill on the sick/injured questioner. Step 4: Are you lost? Textbook. Still lost? Webmd. STILL lost? Consult roommates codenamed Devin (future RN) and Mamabear (future MA). Step 5: Totally out of your league? Send to Urgent Care/Call 911. So far, my system has not failed me.

I realize that all three of my case studies were medical-y things, but to be perfectly honest, those are what filled my last week and a half. The same holds true in all aspects of my life, though, be it Capstone or Family Foundations classes, real life or labs. Fake it 'til you make it, a friend used to tell me. But what about being real? Well, are you capable of being real? Will anyone benefit from you being 100% honest right now? Or would it be better for you to be confident on the outside? Well, would you walk into a job interview and tell the interviewer that you were really worried about those pictures on facebook that you didn't want them to see? Or walk into a test and through your hands in the air after three questions because you don't think you know anything? No. You fake it.

I'm certainly not encouraging anyone to go out and lie. Don't become conmen and hustlers, capable of getting anything out of everyone by sheer will of your charisma (no matter how fun it is). Just be confident. Be yourself. Be what is needed, when it is needed. The world might need my maternal instincts tomorrow, and my shoddy knowledge of Sign Language the day after, so that's what I'm going to give.

Wow, long post. Oops.

Midterm Report!

2011-11-01T22:35:00.000-07:00

So I thought I'd go over things I've learned so far, since midterms have just passed. These things range from the simple to the complex, that's for sure.
1. The right ventricle pumps to the lungs.
2. Everyone gets oxygen.
3. The fire alarm in my apartment is super sensitive.
4. Life is going to throw really tough decisions my way later on. I need to decide how I'll handle them now.
5. Sometimes, running to California on Friday and back on Sunday is totally worth it.

See?

6. Occasionally, every apartment should have a meeting to discuss problems and find solutions.
7. I don't need to be an insomniac. It's kind of fun going to bed before midnight sometimes.
8. The best roommates are the ones who stick with you, even when you're at your worst.
9. Baking my own bread is tastier and cheaper than buying it every week. Plus, it's way fun.
10. Sometimes, fixing a problem hurts worse than the problem itself. Once you get it fixed, you can finally start to heal, and even if there's some pain or scarring left over, it will always be better than before.

Some of these lessons, I've definitely had to learn the hard way. Like when something has been bothering you all week, and when you finally go to the doctor he asks why you weren't in a week ago. Or when you think you're insane and crazy, and you're thinking screw butterflies, there are stampeding elephants in my tummy, but you end up having the best time ever. Or when the fire alarm goes off because of the steam from someone's curling iron, and you think nothing of it, and the firemen come over while you're in the shower.

Regardless, I've learned a lot since September, and am excited to continue learning and growing. Simply put, I love where I am in life right now. I wouldn't change a thing.

Pikchas

2011-09-29T14:05:00.000-07:00

Here's a bit of an update on how my first few weeks up here have been...In picture form!

The Old Room, right before I shoved all that junk into boxes and said bye-bye for the last time.

The New Room

My official EMT student uniform, pants, badge and all. I feel so cool.

I get so excited for every class!

The roommates at a corn maze that almost lost us for good.

Ward Opening Social

Roommate Dinner at Big Jud's

All six of us split this burger, an order of fries, and two orders of onion rings, all for about $4 each. College eating rarely tastes so good.

Well, that's my semester so far in picture format. I'm trying to see if I can make it all semester without seeing a doctor this time. I've failed two semester in a row on that front. Otherwise, I live and breathe for my EMT class. It's amazing, to say the least!

Things I've Realized

2011-09-27T14:39:00.000-07:00

You know you're in the paramedic program when:
1. given a case study in bio lab, instead of trying to figure out how the poison affects the patient's system on a molecular level, you create a plan for treating the patient when first on the scene.
2. you make a game out of trying to identify the make and model of stretchers used in tv and movies.

That is all.

On Being 19 and 10 Things I Learned

2011-09-20T08:37:00.000-07:00

I think I like being nineteen. I've been an adult for more than a year now, and have worked out a lot of the kinks that come with getting thrust into responsibility. At the same time, I still have a year left to be a teenager. That means I still get to make stupid mistakes and blame it on teen-dom. At the same time, most people actually treat me like an adult now. It's not that creepy if I still want to hang out with some highschoolers. I still pay a ton in car insurance, but the rate went down just because I turned nineteen. It's like the company was congratulating me on successfully surviving childhood. Granted, I'm still holding out for the 25-year-old discount jackpot, but I have a few more years for that. I'll just enjoy being nineteen until the next summer, when I'll have to jump that strange hurtle: Twenty.

This blog was supposed to go up a day or two ago, so I'm a little late with this post, but:
Ten Things I Learned During My First Week of School:
1. Guilty pleasures are a lot more fun when the entire apartment is in on them. Example: Twilight. There, I said it. My roomies and I had a Twilight movie marathon this weekend.
2. After a long week of school it is entirely possible to sit in a living room for nine hours, watching four-and-a-half movies, eating junk food, and downing massive Horkley's sodas.
3. In the food chain of paramedicine, no one is lower than Ambulance Drivers (according to my department head).
4. Even two hours of law and ethics can be bearable if the overlying subject is interesting enough.
5. It is possible, but not advised, to live off of brownies.
6. It is possible for all SIX of my approved EMS instructors to be called out on the same morning, causing class to start an hour late.
7. At any given accident in Rexburg where an ambulance is called, one or more of my teachers is probably on said ambulance.
8. I have to practice saying "We're going to do everything we can," instead of "you're going to be okay" for everything. I don't like it, but I have to learn.
9. Everyone gets oxygen. (Unless you're hyperventilating)
10. My roommates are incredible. I really lucked out with the apartment jackpot this semester.

This semester has started off beautifully. I'm happy and healthy, and excited to learn something every day. I've also been called as RS 2nd counselor. I've never had an RS leadership calling. Heck, I spend every week I'm home in primary, teaching small children the basics. I can keep them entertained with coloring pages and bribe them with goldfish. While my roommates insist that I can still bribe with goldfish, it's very different, having a calling like this. I've met with my presidency once so far, and I love it.

As for the rest of life, I kind of feel like I can conquer...pretty much anything. I'm nineteen and fearless. So you know what, World? Bring It On.

3 Med+1 Psych+1 El-Ed+1 Home Ec

2011-09-14T22:41:00.000-07:00

= My New Family.
Not even kidding, the combination is hilarious.
I've lived in my new apartment for seven days now, and man am I in love! My roommates are all amazing, and we've spent more than half of our nights together up way too late talking about the most random things. Plus, we have one pre-nurse, one pre-medical assistant, and one pre-paramedic. We're always comparing notes, asking questions, or having weird conversations like:
"Check out this picture in my book!"
"Where are his clothes?!"
"He's wearing socks..."
"Is he pooping?"
"No, he's dead. It's a picture of Dependent Lividity!"

Basically, life is going amazingly.
I have a great apartment family, I live for my EMT and capstone classes, and spend more time with my nose in textbooks than I have in a while. I even got to watch my first mock accident today in EMT lab, when the paramedic students got to drive up in a school ambulance and everything! I'm so excited to get my license! My teacher explained it perfectly. Most people see an accident and feel helpless. People who go into EMS are the ones who hate that feeling enough to do something about it. And I'm definitely doing something about it.

Anyway, it's late, and I'm waking up early to study tomorrow (plus my roommate is asleep. I'll write more later!

Love always,
KT

100 years

2011-09-10T09:47:00.000-07:00

Twelve years ago yesterday, my family officially moved to our home in T-mec. Yesterday, my mom picked up the keys to the new house. Last Tuesday I spent fourteen hours in a car, drove through four states, and landed in Utah. Thursday I was on the road again by five a.m., and four hours later I was moving into my new apartment in Rexburg. It's amazing how much can change in short amounts of time, and how little over the span of years.
Change is good though. I'm not talking about promised change coupled with propaganda messages, I'm talking about growing up, moving on, developing into who you were always meant to be.
Growing up is hard, though; this I know. In packing up my bedroom back home, I filled an entire black trashcan (you know, the kind you put all your other trash bags into to wheel to the side of the street for the garbagemen?) with stuff from my room. There are three trashbags full of consignment stuff from me alone, and one is filled entirely with stuffed animals. There was a lot of trashing, and scarily, a handful of things saved for...wait for it...my future kids. Almost my entire life is packed into four or five boxes, two of which are filled with books. Everything else I own is up here at school with me, and all of it fits into an apartment shared by six girls.
I think growing up often means realizing what you can live without. It helps you eliminate the inessentials and think about what's important. One of those five boxes is filled with fragile pictures, teacups, and other heirlooms that represent the things I own of value. It's amazing how much we think we need until it comes time to downsize and get rid of it all.
We do that with our minds eventually, too. We think about the important things, we realize which memories we need to hold onto, which grudges we need to get rid of, and which "tough-stuff" things we finally need to accept and move on with.
I read an interesting blog entry from ThoughtCatalog, "A Checklist For The Age 19". It seemed appropriate, being nineteen myself. I really liked what the author had to say. My favorite, though, is the last on the list:

Every so often, you will need to scream. That’s okay. That’s allowed. Scream. After all, you’re just a kid. You’re only 19.

It's true, you know? I've been a legal adult for over a year now, but at the same time, I'm still a teenager. Once again, I'm the youngest in my apartment, but strangers trusted me with their lives for almost a thousand miles of driving. Before I turn twenty, I'm going to have an EMT license and will be trusted with people's lives from inside ambulances, but I still can't rent a car and I still call my mom almost daily.
I think 19 is the year to get it all out. To be a little bit more wild and rebellious than you have been and will be again. To start paying your own bills (if you haven't already). To really figure out what you're doing with life. I'm working on it, but I still have plenty of time. The thing is, I think nineteen is the time to realize that you don't always have plenty of time. Eventually, you'll be degree-less, jobless, and homeless if you don't realize that time runs out. Thank goodness mistakes are expected in this life. I would fail at being 19 otherwise.

This is Me Collapsing To The Floor, Part 2

2011-09-05T10:38:00.000-07:00

I know I haven't blogged all summer, but not that much has really happened. I went back to work for a little while, my parent's house entered Escrow, I helped find a nice rental house, and I started packing my bedroom...last week. The most exciting thing to happen otherwise was burning myself on the popcorn kettle, and the burn ending up looking exactly like a guitar pick.

All said and done, tonight is my last night in this house, and then it's bye-bye forever. It's not too bad, I guess. I'm excited to go back to school and start the next semester. I've cleaned out my room and consigned, well, almost everything. Seriously, there are huge trashbags sitting around waiting to go elsewhere, full of clothes, knick knacks, stuffed animals, and tons of other stuff. My next task is finishing my closet and packing all the little things in my room into a box, so come moving day, all the boxes in my old room can be moved to my new room and wait patiently there until Christmas. That's the game plan anyway. Let's see if I can get that done today, shall we?

Next post: Coming From Rexburg with Love

This is me collapsing to the floor

2011-07-21T20:52:00.000-07:00

Just after nine pm on my last day in Rexburg until it's cold again. Eight finals later, if I did everything as well as I hope I did, I'll end this semester with 3 B's and 3...A's!!!! It's been a while since I had that kind of grade report. I think it's safe to say that this semester kicked my trash up one alley and down another.

I woke up this morning, studied a bit for my last final, and after said final was done, came back to the apartment to clean. After an entire day getting this room "white glove clean", my hands are soft and vinegary, I'm exhausted and hungry, and I'm so done with this apartment (until next semester, anyway). Tomorrow I get to wake up, make the vanity "white glove" status, pester my manager until she clears my work, and then I am getting out of Dodge! (in a dodge...teehee)

I'll be in Salt Lake tomorrow night, and then, if I'm really lucky, I'll be back in T-mec by this time Saturday! I just got a rush of jitters--I'm so ready to be home. Did I mention that my trash has been kicked? 'Cause it has.

Finally, I'll get to join my friends who have all been out of school for a month now, and actually have a summer! Technically, I'm going back to work for those couple months, but that's beside the point. Yay jobs! Back to the theater, back to my family, back to my Cali friends. Sigh. I've missed everyone. Yes, even you, obscure blog stalker, even you.

Now to go kick back in front of the TV for a little while, eat something (if I can find food), and tomorrow, I'll conquer the task of fitting two grown men and six suitcases (and then some) into my car. Thank goodness my car is a beast.

Next time I post something, it'll be from the Golden state. Hallelujah!

Thank you everyone for all the support and love you've shown me this semester. I love you!

Nineteen

2011-07-10T22:54:00.000-07:00

Sorry to any loyal readers who've missed my blogs in the last few weeks. I've been off the map, as far as blogging goes.

My nineteenth birthday came and went, I started a new journal (as I do every year on my birthday), I went to classes (a birthday first for me), and had a lovely little party that my roommates threw together for me. First, a big thanks to everyone who sent me birthday love. Even the facebook comments made me feel less stranded.

The semester is finally winding down, we've started packing up the apartment, and I start finals this week. It's insane, realizing that the semester is over. Part of me can't believe I survived it outside of a looneybin.

I drive to SLC on the 22nd, the rest of the way home on the 23rd, and then I'm calling my old boss, telling him I'm home, and hopefully starting work again the following weekend. Which could not come at a better time, because I'm pretty much broke again. Whoot! I swear, one of these days, I'll figure out how to finish a semester with something left in my account. It doesn't matter how much I start with, I always end with zero. Oops.

As far as news goes, we have another orchestra concert this Wednesday, which will feature Simple Symphony and St. Nicholas by Benjamin Britton. I already mentioned finals and packing...that's about as exciting as my life has been lately. Really just kind of ho-hum. The most exciting thing that happened in a while was coming home from church today to discover that the lawn right outside my bedroom window had flooded and seeped through the walls to soak a huge portion of my carpet. The baseboards and one of the bedframes got a little soaked, but nothing else has sustained too much damage. We had to figure out how to move the sturdy wood desk and captain bed away from the wall in our already tiny bedroom. Our manager said they'll likely wait until we've moved out to repair the damage, and luckily we're not being held liable for it. All the same, the disarray of the furniture in my bedroom will definitely make packing my things that much more stressful. I don't do well in cramped places.

That's the best I can do as far as blog updates go. This is probably the most boring thing I've posted in a while. Sorry, the creativity just hasn't been here.

Love always,
Katie

Cool Thing #2

2011-06-22T21:55:00.001-07:00

So about a week ago, this book website contacted me and asked if they could feature me as an "Author of the Week" type thing. I looked into it a bit, and agreed. After numerous emails back and forth, the result is this: http://arisbooks.net/44901.html

How cool is that?

Unfathomable

2011-06-22T20:44:00.000-07:00

(If you recognize this post from my writing blog, it's because I couldn't contain my happiness)

Two pieces of crucial information are required before this post will make sense:
First, there's this boy, Codename: Sam. Sam is serving a 2-year mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Washington D.C., and he teaches in Spanish. He is not allowed the modern conveniences of Facebook, is allowed thirty minutes each week to email family members, and can only call home twice a year: Christmas and Mother's day. For the past twenty months, he and I have communicated solely by means of handwritten letter and the old fashioned postoffice.
Second, my birthday is soon upon us.

In one of Sam's last letters, I was told that I'd be getting my birthday present from him soon, but he wasn't specific about when it was coming. He just asked that I wait until my birthday to open it. Well, today I collected the mail and found a large, flat box with my name on it, from some indiscernible company. Curious, and not thinking, I began to open it.
First, I saw this:

I thought I read it wrong, and couldn't help myself. I tore off the packaging.

I was in shock. I turned over the sturdy, hardcover book in my hands, and found this:

A message from him on the back:

411 pages of my writing. In a hardcover book.

I'm still dying. I don't think I've ever laughed and cried when I received a present before. I was struck speechless for almost an entire half-hour, and my mom thought something was seriously wrong when I called to tell her. It's just so beautiful!

If you helped this come to fruition in any way, thank you so much!

No Way

2011-06-20T21:42:00.000-07:00

I think--between long talks with my cousin, brother, and parents, long walks alone, and helpful conversations with other people I've needed to talk to--that things might actually be smoothing out for me. I say it's about time. Part of me is incredibly wary though, that I might be getting a few-day respite just to prepare me for another big drop. I'm still in the tree, but I think the rocks are leaving less of an imprint now. It's kind of nice.
I'm still putting up with a ton of wrist pain, but it's a bit more manageable now. I have one FHE brother up here who's had to have CT corrective surgery, so he's been teaching me some stretches and wrist exercises that have been helping too. It's progress, but if anyone has any other suggestions, I'm all ears.
My orchestra concert went really well on Friday, and I'm so glad Shelly was able to come up to listen! Hopefully I can get a CD or DVD to send home, so maybe those can circulate through the family to anyone who's interested.
I registered for my fall classes, and am at 15 credits with only four actual classes. So far, it's looking like this:

In theory, by the end of next semester, I'll be an EMT!
In other good news, my boss at the theater is willing to take me back for the 8-week summer session, so I'll be able to go back home and to work!
I don't know what it's like for everyone, but I was recently struck by the fact that I'm still younger than missionaries, but in about two weeks, I'll be the same age as missionaries. That's weird. I'm so used to thinking of missionaries being guys much older than me, and then RMs at school are somehow "my age". Plus, I'm so excited to start a new semester in which, when everyone goes around the circle and lists their name, hometown, major, and age, I'll proudly be able to answer "not eighteen!" I haven't minded being eighteen, I'm just tired of getting looked down on as "the baby" when everyone else in my group is older. It's like I'm back at youth dances, when the cute boy asks you to dance, and everything's going fine until he asks how old you are. Anything less than sixteen, and the conversation is immediately done. People look at me funny when I say I'm eighteen and have forty-eight credits.
Ok, enough of proving my immaturity by whining about not being older. I hope everyone is having a fabulous, warm summer. I know I am...not!

One final bit, because I want to brag a little. Some of you know that I spend a lot of time writing fiction stories. In fact, I finished writing my first novel just before classes started this semester. It's a simple little thing that's up on a website for whoever wants to read it, really just a first draft that I'm working on editing. I have two cool announcements regarding it though: first, I submitted the online draft to the US Copyright Office, legally documenting that my book is mine, and no one can ever steal it from me. Second, a website called Ari's Books found my story, read a bit of it, and liked it so much that they're making me the featured author for the next two weeks! It won't be up until Thursday, but I'll post a link. I'm so excited though! They asked me to at least make an eBook copy of it, and offered to sell it for me, but I won't do it until I've edited the novel more. Sigh. We'll see where this crazy train takes me.

Love you all!

Forever [Too] Young

2011-06-11T10:37:00.000-07:00

My weeks seem to have become one slew of insanity after another. Between a bajillion and two doctors appointments, midterms, exams, and personal life, this weekend could not come soon enough.

Take heart, only one of the bajillion doctor appointments was mine. Most involve my lovely roommate and making sure she can function like a normal human being. Mine involved a trip to the student health center because my hands and wrists have been bothering me for the past three-ish weeks. As a writer, student, and violinist with an upcoming concert, hand and wrist pain isn't something I want to ignore. So I went to the doctor, explained the abuse I put my hands through, and he said the same thing that, I promise you, nearly every doctor I've seen in the past four years has told me: "Well, it sounds and looks a whole lot like _______, but you're too young to have that." This time, Carpal Tunnel gets put in the space. I guess my body just wants to be older than it really is. Regardless, he strapped me into clunky black braces (facebook has a picture), gave me some anti-inflammatories, and told me to see him in two weeks. Meanwhile, hand writing is near impossible to do legibly, typing takes twice as long as normal, and I slept with knee socks up to elbows last night so that I didn't attack myself with the Velcro. It was quite comical, if I do say so myself; the socks are lovely, blue, and striped. I went to wipe my hair out of my face in the morning, and clubbed my head with my sock/brace stump. Better than anything though, was the almost instant realization by everyone who's read my book that my braces look almost identical to the bracers my characters wear for protection while fighting. It's true: I could cause some serious damage in them!

Well, anyone who's going to be in Rexburg next Friday is welcome to come to my orchestra concert. My life is pretty boring, otherwise. Just the daily dragon fighting, not much else.

Oh, and if you see my sister today, wish her happy birthday!
I love you small child!

Happiness Can Be Found, Even In The Darkest of Times...

2011-05-30T11:11:00.000-07:00

if one only remembers to turn on the light.

It's been a pretty hectic week up here, and I've learned a lot. There's this...I don't know what you'd call it, but maybe a rule that fiction writers keep in mind when making an interesting story line:

Sometimes, as a writer, it becomes necessary to chase your heroine up a tree. And then throw rocks at her. Then you have to help her down.

I, personally, have done this to my heroine many times. It's kind of fun. Until, of course, the tables are turned, you become the heroine of your own story, and the Great Author is at the 'throwing rocks' stage.

It's seemed lately that as soon as I start to make headway with one trial, another (or two) gets thrown at me. I've learned, though, that sometimes little victories lead to big defeats, and sometimes little defeats help prepare you for big victories. The key is remembering after each big victory that there's always going to be another battle after that. You can't just accept the big defeat and call it quits, you have to use the failures to prepare for the next war, and the victories to propel you onward.

I've also had to learn (and accept) that sometimes you really do need to ask for help. As the Queen of ICanSolveMyProblemsMyselfland, this was very difficult, but I'm trying.

In the midst of my world feeling like it is crashing down around me, I've been given small blessings and happinesses to keep me going; things like getting a 96% on the first real English essay I'd written in over a year, figuring out how to change a headlight without needing to ask some guy to do it for me, noticing the beauty in Spring, the birds chirping, appreciating the sunlight as it peeks through for the first time in weeks, having loving roommates, and being (mostly) healthy. In the midst of my trials, I've definitely come to appreciate the little things.

I also take comfort in knowing that it is practically required that the Author eventually help the heroine down from the tree.

Addicted

2011-05-26T09:15:00.000-07:00

I'm kind of in love with this guy, and his voice. I want the EP, but I don't want to spend $5 +S&H on his 4 track EP. Oh well. I'll just content myself (for now) with quadrupling his youtube playcount, and share it with all the world. Ok, just my blogs and facebook friends.

In Awe and Wonder

2011-05-23T07:42:00.000-07:00

I have about...seven minutes before I need to run to class. I felt I just had to share something:
I love the priesthood.
My roommate Cat was having massive migraine problems yesterday. For me, that sends up massive red flags. She decided to stay home from the first two hours of church, and I agreed to come back for her before Sacrament. (We have an inverted schedule. I don't like it.) The entire two hours I was gone were torture. I could't help but worry about her, and was habitually checking my phone. When I came home to get her, she was so deeply asleep that I couldn't wake her (another red flag when it comes to Cat). So I thought about it, asked the Lord what I should do, and got the feeling that just this once, it was more important that I stay home with Cat. She finally woke up hours later, at which point we both insisted she get a blessing. We haven't met our home teachers yet, so we called our FHE brothers' apartment, and five minutes later we had two young men dressed in Sunday best waiting to give a healing blessing to my beautiful friend. The blessing was very reassuring, and let both me and Cat know how best to proceed (I had been ready to drag her to the ER). Cat said as soon as the young men sealed the blessing, her migraine immediately shifted to a much more tolerable headache.
I am so grateful to live in the kind of place where, even though our fathers aren't around to be our priesthood holders, we have so many young men who are not only able and worthy, but willing to come to our aid.
Sigh. What an amazing Sunday.

This Is Me Wishing I'd Saved The Last Blog Title For This Post

2011-05-15T19:16:00.000-07:00

Why? Because it involves a lightning storm.
I've decided if one combines the determination and stupidity of Mormon college students, and promises them even a morsel of food, one will have the best work crew imagined, and quite a force to be reckoned with.

On Saturday this past week, my ward planned a service project at one of the local cemeteries. We were just supposed to clear the creeping grass from the headstone edges, and because a gigantic flood had once devastated this entire valley, and therefore the cemetery, many headstones needed to be raised higher, and some dug up completely. Amazingly, at least fifty students showed up, on a Saturday afternoon, none the less, to help out.

We carpooled the ten-or-so miles to the cemetery, got our instructions, and set to work, the guys cutting sod, the girls pulling it up and throwing it into the truck. We ignored the pitch black clouds to the west and the occasional lightning strike, and focused on the blue skies above us and the task at hand. Not even twenty minutes into the project, it starts to sprinkle, and within seconds, we are being barraged by pouring rain coming at us sideways. Almost everyone immediately ran for cover beside, inside, and beneath cars and trucks. Some (like me) tried to work through it for a few minutes until the hail came, then we ran for cover as well. Then, of course, there's always the handful of boys who prove there manliness by never ceasing through the rain. You just don't get that kind of rain in T-mec. You'd expect us to call it quits at that point, load up the cars, and head back to school, but no. As soon as the weather let up in the slightest, we were back out there working. We were completely soaked, and the rain was still falling, but we wanted to do what was asked of us. For two and a half hours we worked in everything from a drizzle, to pouring rain, to hail. Luckily, the last half hour brought sunshine, and we ended up finishing half of the cemetery. I then rushed home to the comfort of a hot shower and sweats.

What did I learn? As said before, Mormon college students are amazingly determined and kind of stupid. I mean, we worked through the hail. Still though, if a group of kids can do all that, what else could we do? Better yet, how much can an even larger group of adults accomplish? Finally, what better group of people could there be to spread God's word than groups like these?

At school, we're told over and over that we're attending a DTC: a Disciple Training Center. If my little ward is any example, I think the training is working. I feel so blessed to be involved in a group like this one. We have another service project on Tuesday. I'm so excited to see what will happen this time!

On a side note, my Bestie Breezy is back at her school in Provo, but before she left we took this picture, and I just wanted to share it:

And When The Storms Come...

2011-05-08T23:07:00.000-07:00

...I say let it rain. I was here first.

And also:

"I love this crazy tragic, sometimes almost magic, awful beautiful life."

It's a little before midnight, but most of my roommates are already asleep. Honestly, even though I proudly hold the title of Resident Insomniac, I might join them soon, because the weekend has been kind of crazy. On Wednesday I sent an email to my Breezy, the girl I've been closest to for the longest time. When we both got accepted to both BYU and BYU-I, the hardest choice we've ever made was parting ways. In a way it was good for us, as hard as it was. Anyway, I sent her a quick email letting her know what was going on in my life, and that everything hadn't been all peaches and cream lately. She got the email in the afternoon, immediately called my roommie, settled things with her classes, and arranged to come visit me for the weekend. Within 24 hours she was in Rexburg, and I was so excited I thought I was going to burst. It took all of a couple hours to readjust to how we'd each changed, but in almost no time we were finishing each other's sentences, making random animal noises to express our emotions, and giggling at secret memories. Breezy did her homework while I went to class, and we were able to spend the rest of the time just talking. I guess life has been kind of scary for the both of us lately, and we needed the confidence that comes from years of knowing each other better than we know ourselves. On top of that came the long walks that are our trademark, whether it be around the meadow and lake at home, up and down the beach, or through the gardens and up to the temple. How I'd missed them!

Luckily, my roommates quickly fell in love with Breezy and welcomed her back anytime, which is good for both of us. Turns out 200 miles isn't too big of a separation after all. It was sad to see her go this afternoon. Luckily, the miracle of modern technology means I can talk to her whenever I want.

Which fact segues nicely into Mother's Day! Why, you may ask? Because modern technology also allowed me to see my mother's beautiful face via Skype today, along with my dad, sister, and dog (now if only we can discover a way to let me pet my dog from 1000 miles away...). Hopefully modern conveniences won't fail me, and the letter and gift I'm sending in the mail with get there quickly and safely. Maybe next time I write I'll post a picture of what I'm sending her, because it's so cute and I'm in love with it, but mom reads this, and I want it to be a surprise. I'll post a picture of something I really want though:

It's called 'Brother and Sister' by WillowTree. Isn't it just so cute?
Anyway, Mom, because you'll likely be reading this eventually, Happy Mothers Day, know I love you and am so grateful for all you've done for me. I wish I could have been there to spoil you and pamper you to no end, but a small blip in my blog will have to suffice.

There was a bit of excitement today at church. See, last week my Bishop had discussed being the Relief Society Music Specialist this semester. Of course, I agreed, no big deal, and today I was sustained for it in Sacrament Meeting. A minute or two later, though, my name was called again as a member of the Temple Committee. I looked to the Bishop in confusion, but stood and was sustained for that as well, sure that a mistake had been made. When I talked to him before being set apart though, he said it was no mistake, they had simply forgotten to ask. This will make me one of a very small number of students with two callings this semester, but I'm sure I'll love them both. If nothing else, it just means that soon I'll get to attend the temple regularly, which will be amazingly awesome. I mean, have you seen this building?

It definitely comes in close second to the San Diego temple.

Finally, I shall wrap up this ridiculously long blog entry with my new motto:

It's one of the many things I've become obsessed with lately. I want to find a decent copy of it and put it on my wall.
For the record, I'm also currently obsessed with:
Crackle nail polish
Wearing multiple watches and hunting for 'new' ones at DI
Denim jackets
Mail/ Writing Letters

Have a great week everyone. Much love from Rexburg,
Katie Helen

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One Week Down...

2011-04-23T09:39:00.000-07:00

...thirteen to go.

I admit, it has been a crazy week. My classes have hit the ground running and, well, I'm running. This is what my schedule looks like on any given week:

Two classes have me reading essays left and right, two have me reading gigantic chunks of the textbook each day, one requires a healthy amount of Book of Mormon study, and one requires three hours of outside practice each week. That being said, My FDSCI, Anatomy/Physiology and FDENG teachers all remind me of Bill Nye the Science guy. They're all ridiculously passionate about what they teach, a little goofy/awkward, and frequently wear odd shoes and ties that clash with their shirts. My humanities teacher, on the other hand, is actually a theater teacher here. He reminds me of Chris Farley in his motivational "Down by the River" sketch on SNL. Except...a bit more positive. My book of Mormon teacher is a little like Mr. Rogers, and my orchestra conductor is just awesome. He's the one who coined the phrase 'Never look back, and if you're going to make a mistake, make it in a grand manner'.

Well, I foresee a great many long nights and notecards in my future, and hopefully I'll get that 4.0 that I'm working towards. Maybe, if I'm really lucky, I'll decide on a major this semester. Who knows?

Suddenly: College

2011-04-16T21:44:00.000-07:00

Here I am, back at the I. I'm officially moved into my dorm, have met two of my new roommates, and love one of them. The other, I've really only seen with her boyfriend...not a whole lot of Roomie bonding going on yet. Catherine and I, of course, are still getting along great. My new apartment lacks the cinderblock walls and classroom-style industrial carpeting of the dorms making it instantly more home-like.

Oddly, I find myself wondering what to do with my life. I'm considering, more and more, finding work. I know, unfortunately, that I need a 4.0 this semester, and that would likely be an impossible feat with a job added on. I just feel so weird without a work schedule, without the knowledge that a paycheck is coming every two weeks, without suiting up and meeting my friends for a day spent over cash registers and popcorn poppers. I really hope that once classes start, I'll be so busy that I'll have to remind myself to eat and sleep. All I can say for now is that I'm jealous that Catherine gets to go to work on Monday. Right now, I'd do ANYTHING to break the monotony.

The biggest shock of all for me this semester was how little of a shock it was at all. I mean, I moved in yesterday, drove my mom to the airport, and moved on as if I've always lived here, on my own, a thousand miles from home. I miss my family, of course (and my dog) but it just feels so normal to be living here. Not so normal is a kitchen without a pantry and an apartment without a linen closet, but hey, that's just me.

I guess, when all is said and done, I'll just have to wait and see what the future brings.

A tasty fun tidbit.

The Change

2011-04-13T00:30:00.000-07:00

In about nine hours, I'm climbing into the front seat of Clark, who is, at this moment, anxious to be loaded. Mom will be riding shotgun. I'm putting the car in gear and kissing California goodbye. Again. The problem is that I've just barely started appreciating the beauty of where I grew up. The weather is so nice, the people aren't terrible, and I've loved being back with my family. I have some color on my arms now, and was just starting to hope that my legs would follow suit. Let's face it, I'm the kind of girl people walk up to and say, 'You're from California, right? So you go to the beach all the time, don't you. Shouldn't you be, like, really tan?" I then calmly explain that I spent every summer since I was sixteen working indoors, and they change subjects like nothing happened. I always counterbalanced their stares with 'Yeah, well Pale looks better than Skin Cancer!'
Oh well.

As of the beginning of this semester, my major is officially undecided. My parents and I had a long discussion about it yesterday, so I'm more directed than I was, say, the day before that.

I'll say this though: I am really considering staying in Idaho all summer. Frankly, this moving every 14 weeks (and in summer's case, 7) is getting really old. I'll be happy when that aspect of my life is over.
I'm closing this up so I can finish cleaning my room and get some sleep. Look out for my next blog post, coming to you live from Rexburg!

Better Than I Could Ask

2011-03-31T09:30:00.000-07:00

I turned in my Two Weeks' Notice this week. It was pretty weird typing it up, and my general manager hasn't even been in the state to read it, but he already knows I'm leaving, so oh well.
I'm going to miss that job. I really am.
Last night, while I was working in the box office, I nonchalantly included on my facebook status that I was lonely, bored, and desired chocolate.
My friends, of course, went above and beyond the call of duty. Within half an hour of posting that, my lovely BYU best friend talked to one of my friends here in Tmec, which led to him bringing me a gigantic symphony bar 'from Bri'. It was a combined effort. They're both awesome. How many people can say their friends send them chocolate from other timezones?

It didn't end there, though. Maybe half an hour before my shift ended, I see another lovely friend walking up with a grocery bag in hand. Through the ticket window she slides a gallon bag of peanut butter m&ms, a 6 pack of cookies n cream hershey bars, and a bottle of Mountain Dew. (This is my college roommate, so she knows what my grocery trips usually consist of). When my manager comes back in to close my shift, he is astounded by the love of my friends.
"They sent you all this because of your facebook status?"
"Uh huh. I feel so loved."
"You are loved, obviously. It's refreshing to see people care about others that way."
Then followed something about him missing me at work because I'm one of the good workers.
How did I get so lucky? How did I land the most amazing friends in existence? I think, most of all, I'm grateful that I don't have to lose them in two weeks, too. Except for Will...darn. Well, I'll make it work. THANK YOU modern miracle of skype.

vc 2504

Welcome to the World, Inhabitants May Be Unsavory

2011-03-20T02:19:00.000-07:00

While working at the theater today, I experienced my first real taste of sexism. Apparently, the head usher at my theater, a man, was quite disgusted to learn that two girls, and only girls in general, were assigned to usher with him. So much so, in fact, that he complained to the manager who makes the schedule. It's true, most of the time, only the guys are scheduled to usher. Not to be oppositely sexist, but simply because there are many more male employees, and the females have better track records with working the registers and customer service. The odds of the only two ushers being girls are actually pretty slim. Honestly, though, the guy already gives me the heebyjeebies. He's always standing a little too close, hovering, looming, smelling of weed or whatever it is he smokes to get high before work. This is one man I really don't like, which is odd, because I like almost everyone. I do not, however, like men ten years my senior throwing popcorn on the ground as I sweep everyone else's trash, and then, after I've swept his mess up, have him joke that he was just trying to see if he could make me angry.
Well bud, mission accomplished. Not like I'll ever let you know that. Why on earth would I give you that satisfaction? So you could blemish my perfect record at this job with an event that you created? No, not at all. I'll just furiously blog about it. Hmm...maybe I'll finally tell him off for being a pig on my last day...

See, even though this guy is head usher, he never really ushers. Our job is to make sure the theater is always clean--focusing on cleaning up after each movie--yet I've never seen him walk into a theater with broom in hand. Liz and I cleaned over twenty theaters today, supposedly while under his direction, without him ever setting foot in the theater. Except, of course, the one time he decides to grace us with his presence, only to tell us with the cockiest smirk ever that we left one armrest down. Although, because he does creep me out a bit, I was kind of glad that he mostly ignored me today. Except, of course, when we got into a (calm) dispute that ended with me taking a step back, and acquiescing that we'd do it his way, hinting as strongly as I could that I was only giving in because he's technically my superior and I don't argue...or yell...in public. Because this makes me so angry, here's a diagram:

Many guests who come through the front door don't always see the ticket podium across the lobby. Without that rope barrier, many (especially those coming from the restroom) try to go straight to theater 10, without passing the podium first. If they don't pass the podium, I can't tear (and therefore have tangible record of) their ticket. Head Usher decided today to take down the rope barrier, citing that when the guests leave, they'd have to go all the way around it. I told him that many will try to not go around to get to the screen. Apparently, if that's the case, I must have been doing my job wrong yesterday, if I let them get all the way over there without stopping them and tearing their tickets. Because I can totally leave the podium, ignore the line of twenty people, and run across the lobby to stop one person. You're right, it's much less logical to simply direct them my way first with handy barriers.
Luckily for me, my managers don't like the guy either, and are aware of the problems he causes. They periodically checked on me throughout the day to make sure I was ok, and to help where they could. I guess that makes two cases in the past two days where the head usher has tried to write me up with the managers. Yesterday's cause was equally ridiculous, and each time, the managers have listened to him, then come to tell me that I managed to tick him off again, and that they were refusing his write-up requests on grounds of ridiculousness. Instead, I'm to avoid him where I can, and talk to the managers if I have more problems with him. I'm just waiting for him to tell my general manager that I'm insubordinate. My GM really likes me, and openly says so, but if head pig gives him a bad report and my other managers aren't there to counteract it, I could seriously lose my credibility with the GM.
That man is the one problem I have with my job, but I shouldn't feel so intimidated by my coworkers. I think I might just ask my manager to not schedule me when he's in.
Any other suggestions? What do you think I should do?

All Jammed Up

2011-03-06T00:36:00.000-08:00

Listening to: the mismatched ticking of two clocks, but Rhythm of Love is stuck in my head.

Another post from the beautiful city of T-mec, where temperatures can reach eighty degrees in the dead of winter. Life has been going well, lately. So well, in fact, and just well, that lately 'keep on keepin' on' is a phrase that finds it's way into my mind at least once a day. Life at the theater is ever-changing, and it's dynamics are sometimes a little tough to swallow, but I like it. There's never a completely dull day, at least. My managers like me, are trusting me with more responsibilities, and each day I work makes me want to leave it less and less, but I only have thirty-nine days left in T-mec. (No, I'm not counting, I just checked it because I wanted to see how close moving day really is.)

For the record, I'm not ready to move again. I was really hoping to get more of my future plans worked out during my semester off. To top it off, I just learned that I'm technically (credits-wise) going to start my sophomore year this semester. Normally that'd be cool, but BYU-I has a credits cap--if I don't have my degree by a certain point, my enrollment will be terminated. Oh, did you hear that? That sound just over my head? That, my friends, is the whip being cracked, and it just scared the living daylights out of me. On top of all the educational deadlines that need to be met, it's officially time to start getting ready to pack up again. Yes, I did mean 'start getting ready'. It's like planning to make a plan--it's what we crazy people do. It really just involves picking through my things, deciding what I need and what I don't, stocking up on everything, maybe picking out a few new blouses and skirts, things like that.

I'm officially at a loss between my lives. I have a school life, and a home life. Which one is real life?

For The Love

2011-02-07T16:23:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone, just felt like updating the world...so here it is...my update.

Anyway, I love my job at the theater, and have made tons of new friends. Life is going pretty well; I'm reading and writing in my spare time, and have been making quite a bit of progress in the story I'm working on.

I have a request, though. I need some more book recommendations. The library has so many possibilities, but I rarely know where to start. I don't know, maybe one day I'll just start at 'A' and work my way through all the authors to 'Z'. (Though, thanks to The Book Thief, I've already covered my library's collection of 'Z' authors. LOVE Markus Zusak.) Regardless, I love books, and desire more, so what are some of your favorites?

If you're a long-time reader of my blog, you'll remember that way before the food pictures and medical stories, I was quite fond of lists. For old time's sake, here's another:

Books That I Can't Wait To Read, But Have To Because They're Not Published Yet
1. City of Fallen Angels due 4/5/11
2. Mastiff due 11/11
3. Bite Club due 5/3/11
4. Clockwork Prince due 8/30/11
5. Angel due 2/14/11
6. What Happened To Goodbye due 5/10/11

That last one? The Dessen? Super excited for it. Sigh. One day my books will come...

"Good Things Come...

2011-01-11T17:53:00.000-08:00

...to those who do the wave"

The Lord is looking out for me, of this I am sure.

I've been job hunting by category. One day I applied to every hotel in Temecula. After that, I tried every department store I could think of. One day, I applied to every hardware store between here and Elsinore. Over the space of a week, I tried every Fast-Food place I could think of. Yesterday, I did the movie theaters. Last night, one of those movie theaters got back to me.
This afternoon, I had my very first interview, ever. This afternoon, I also had the last interview I'll need to have this spring.

Yes! My persistence paid off, and I have been hired by UltraStar movies, the company who just bought the Tower Plaza theater! I start training Friday night, and I'm so excited! I'm so incredibly grateful, because I know people have been trying to find jobs for months, and my search was a fraction of theirs. I just take this as a sign that the Lord knows that I should have this job, which ultimately means that I need to take advantage of it and be the best employee I can be. That's the game plan anyway. I also have every Friday and Saturday night for the next four months spoken for. Oh well. It'll be worth it!

-Katie

Coloring on the Lines

2011-01-10T01:01:00.000-08:00

I figured I might as well just post something, since I'm in a writing mood.

I am officially starting my fourth week home in California, and have finally gotten used to calling this house 'Home', and Rexburg, 'School'. Separation of Church and State? Easy. Separation of Home and School? Not so much. What do I have to show for all my time here? Well, I've lost more weight (yay me!), I've filled out more applications than I care to consider, I've spent good time with friends and family, I've accepted a calling at church, and I've slept a lot.

Let's see, starting at the beginning. You've heard of the Freshman Fifteen, and the rumors of it actually being the Freshman Forty? Well, I conquered it. Yup, I'm down fifteen pounds from last fall! I have to admit though, not all of it is my fault. My inability to eat much of anything without getting sick for the first two months of school definitely took it's toll. After my surgery (of which, you can read my before and after blog posts) I was finally able to eat real food again. This included the yummy and healthy things, like raw veggies and whole grains that had always made me so sick before! But, because of the way my digestive system works now, I don't feel the need to eat as much. In short, I am happier and healthier than I've been in a long time, and I love it!

Next, applications. I think I've applied to every fast food restaurant within a 15 mile radius, all of the hardware stores, the drugstores, WinCo, Walmart, Costco, Sam's Club and so many others, it's crazy. I come up with two major problems though. First, I worked for two years in dentistry. Sure it's two years of job experience, but how in the world will my knowledge of the human mouth help me get a job cooking food? Second, very, very few people are hiring. I can't tell you how many times I've heard, "Well, we're not hiring now, but we are accepting applications!" Fantastic. Here it is. I wish I could fill out a generic application and just mail it everywhere. They all ask the same questions. (No, I did not live in Louisiana in 2005. No, none of my dependents are eligible for food stamps. I can work any day, any time, because I will not have any sort of life until you hire me. Please hire me!)

One of the first things I did when I got home was ask my bishop to give me a calling. I loved being home, and I really didn't want to go to our singles' twig, (I kid you not, it's not even big enough to be a Branch) but Home Ward Relief Society and Sunday School are just too...I don't know...grown up for me. Luckily, I've been called as a Primary teacher! I get to play and learn with the ten year olds for two hours every Sunday. My first week in, I actually played with (I mean taught) the CTR 7 class instead, but oh well. I taught my class for the first time today, and love them all to death. I still haven't decided how they'll address me though. 'Katie' is excellent. I mean, it's my name, right? 'Sister Thompson' says 'Hi kids, I'm your teacher, and an adult, so you need to respect me. But Sister Thompson is my mom, not me. So then I considered 'Sister Katie'. I mean, back in the time of the Restoration, everyone went by Brother/Sister [first name], so why not? Well, because it sounds like I'm a nun if I go by Sister Katie. Actually, I'm going to post this as a question to my readers. What would you do?

Last exciting thing in my life: I gave my first Grown-Up Talk in Sacrament Meeting today! A full 15 minutes. By popular request, I'm posting it as one of the tabs on my Blog, so you can read it if you really want to. It was pretty well received, I guess. I mean, I hadn't even left the stand after the meeting before someone had asked for the copy of my talk I had with me, and someone else rushed up to tell me that I'm 18, but speak like I'm 40. I guess that's a good sign? (*sniffle* I'd like to thank my parents, for never giving up on me, and my AP classes for teaching me to write good stuff quickly, and my job for teaching me how to talk to people, and my love of story telling for helping me tie it all together!) Please excuse that drama moment.

Alright, I write way too much. I may be shy sometimes, but once you get me talking, you may never get me to shut up. Sorry. Since my writing, when not required to be professional, often comes across as very conversational, you can bet that my blogs and things will be much the same way: Never Ending. Oh well. Love you all! Good night!

Merry Christmas!!!

2010-12-24T11:15:00.001-08:00

Courtesy of Julian Smith, my favorite movie maker/actor of all time.

I'm officially home from school until April! Drove through three separate storms and five states in two days.
Total Traveling time: 17 hours
Things learned:
Driving through a blizzard in the dark feels like driving at warp speed.
It is possible to make the suicide run from Provo to Temecula in one shot, but it's best done with a friend and lots of music.
It's also possible to sing yourself hoarse on said trip.
ALWAYS watch the weather. Driving to get ahead of storms isn't fun, but neither is trying to get home when three of your required mountain passes are snowed in/flooded.

Anyway, Merry Christmas everyone! Hope it's fantastic!

Fere Universa

2010-12-09T11:41:00.000-08:00

Or, A (theoretically) quick update because I have white glove tonight and need to get back to cleaning.

I finished my last Chemistry class today, and ultimately am very sad. I loved that class!
I have one more Orchestra rehearsal, then Sunday's Dress rehearsal, and then Sunday will be the Messiah Fireside. 500 singers, 200 musicians, 8 soloists, 1 Messiah. I will be one of the 200, and I'm more ecstatic than words can describe.
The only other class I have is Book of Mormon, which I'll sit in two more times.
Well, that and a LOT of online classwork.
Between today and Dec. 17, I have no fewer 5 exams, only 3 of which are actual finals. I have crazy teachers who think it'd be fun to do a unit test right before finals. Silly Teachers.
Tonight I have a massive white glove clean check in my dorm. I've spent over three hours just cleaning the fridge and defrosting the freezer. I still have to go through and clean every cupboard in the kitchen, inside and out, then completely overhaul my bedroom. The goal is to make everything look better than when we moved in 3 months ago. The problem is, we still have to live here for another week too. I'm still trying to figure out how to get everything move-out clean, a week before I move out. And, for that matter, how to keep it that way.

For anyone who's wondering, I feel 100% recovered from my surgery, and feel healthier than I have in over three years. Normally, I'd post pictures of my four awesome scars, but for modesty's sake I will forbear.

By way of update, I'm changing my major...probably. Seeing as how I'm an average student (ok, maybe a smidge above average, but not enough to count), and the nursing program involves competing with over 200 students for 24 spots, well...I don't have the 3.5 required to get in, let alone the 4.0 required to beat the other applicants. So I've decided to pursue and idea that I've been tossing around for a while now. Even though I hate to look like one of the 150 other students who decided that the nursing program was too hard, and will end up going for something like dental hygiene (no offense to hygienists, I love you), I have decided to look into becoming a paramedic. Like I said I've been tossing this idea around for a while. Over summer was when I first started getting the impression that it's more of where I should be, and the idea has slowly taken life, grown a personality, and decided to nag me constantly until I look after it better. It's like, Nursing is the neighbors dog, and she's so cute, but someone just gave me my own little puppy, and though it may not be the purebred labradoodle from next store, my little Paramedic mutt still wants to be taken care of. So I think I'm going to give Nursing one final goodbye, and start falling in love with Paramedic, because he's still adorable and puppy-like, and it could be the start of a beautiful relationship.

There's so much to do in these next eight days, I just might go insane.

Thank you so much to all of my family members who have made this semester possible.
With any luck, I'll manage it even better in the spring.

Much Love,
Katie

Recovery

2010-10-25T15:56:00.000-07:00

I'm alive!!! Tired, bruised, covered in needle pokes and bandages, and 83% immobile, but still, I'm alive.

The Adventures of Surgery at College: Day 1

At 8:20 am, Catherine, Hannah K, and I loaded into Clarke (my car) and drove the terribly long three minute-drive to the hospital. (On good days, I walk there for my appointments.)
By 8:30, the three of us were back in Day Surgery, I was shown my room and a gown, and was settled into my new home (at least, home for nine hours). For the next hour, I laid back cheerfully as a menagerie of nurses, anesthesiologists, doctors and surgeons all took turns at talking to me, checking my monitors, hooking me up to a new beepy-thingy, or stabbing me with a new needle. Honestly, I thought it was cool. Most people don't go into surgery smiling. I always knew I was weird, though.
Right around 9:30, I was wheeled away into an operating room, moved to a new table and then...who knows? That's about where my memory stops. My next conscious thought?
10:30 ish: There's a mask on my face...my nose itches...I'm waking up?...Oh...I must have already had the surgery...weird.
That is always the most disorienting part about being anesthetized for me: realizing that at some point in the previous hour, without my knowledge, I was rendered unconscious, someone made four small holes in my tummy, did what they needed to do, stitched me back up, and waited for me to regain consciousness, and all I'm aware of is the before and after.
Obviously, this post will not involve pictures...
By the time I was wheeled back into my room, I was mostly conscious and aware of all that was around me. Catherine asked me how I felt, and then joked about how I wouldn't likely remember that conversation. Haha, I remember!!!
I have very little hold on what happened for the next seven hours, but it mostly consisted of me dozing off between visits from the nurse, feeling good as I was neither nauseous or in as much pain as expected, denying the morphine and later wishing I hadn't as the Lortab did almost nothing, and admiring all the little beeping noises and flashing lights that revolved around me.
At about 2:30, I was thinking I was feeling well enough to go, but agreed to trying to eat some solid food first. My goodness was that a bad idea. I had two bites of toast and few spoonfuls of chicken noodle soup, and I was done. My stomach hurt, I was suddenly nauseous, and I really, really wanted that next dose of pain-killers.
Finally, around 5:30, I was released from the hospital. I miraculously managed to tolerate the incredibly bumpy ride to the pharmacy, hobbled in, managed to make my point to the pharmacist enough to get the desired drugs, was shepherded home, and collapsed into my bed (which had been moved to the floor, thankfully).
A handful of people popped in and out of my apartment for the rest of the night, including neighbors and visiting teachers, and culminated in the arrival of my mother. I was SO glad she got to come! While I didn't sleep peacefully that night, I at least slept, and mostly free of pain.

Day 2:
At the beginning of the day, I felt good! I wasn't in the mood to eat much, and I was taking my pain-meds faithfully, but in truth, I wasn't in too much pain. Ok, I admit, I wasn't in pain, as long as I had a hot pad on my neck, an ice pack on my tummy, and I tried really hard to not move. More people swung by to say hi, I talked to family on the phone, and enjoyed my mom's company while we read on the couch. I was starting to think, 'Dang, I made my mom fly out here for nothing!', when the real pain hit. I was starting to get used to the idea that I could drug-up every four hours, but the pills would only last for three, when the three hour mark struck me. I took some OTC stuff to tide me over, and as soon as I was allowed to, took a vicodin. Then, because I was allowed to and hadn't yet, I took another. The pain was starting to scare me though; I thought there was no way I should be in this much pain after the medication. Mom sat with me for over an hour while we waited to see what would happen, and then I went to the emergency room. Once there, they cruelly made me wait an eternity (or maybe just five minutes, during the initial Q&A) before injecting me with some kind of magic happy drug that made me feel a whole lot better. Bonus, it also let me experience waking dreams for the first time. A set of Xrays and some bloodwork later, I was told my recovery was mostly normal, and that I only needed to worry if the pains happened again. I was allowed to finally go home, and once again, sleep.

Day 3:
I slept until about 10:30, ate a cinnamon role, called my ward calling companion, then went back to sleep until around 1:30. Best day ever.
Ok, not really, but all the same, I liked the sleep. I read some more, and tried to do some homework, but invariably fell asleep each time I tried. Mom made the best Sunday Dinner ever, that had boys poking their heads in to see what smelled so good. My home teacher came over later at night to meet me and my roommates, and to check on me, of course, and the Elder's Quorum president also dropped by to see how I was holding up. (Apparently my reason for missing ward council was made clear. My calling companion didn't want me to lose my ecclesiastical endorsement for ditching church)

Day 4:
I went to my first class of the day, Chemistry, and fumbled through making up what I had missed on Friday. Then I had the terrible task of taking my mother to the airport to say goodbye again. I'm so glad she came, and I'm going to miss her!
There are very few places to get food between Idaho Falls and Rexburg, and I pulled off at three different exits before finding one with a fast-food place. Almost as soon as I got off the freeway and pulled into Rexburg, I was met with the first frozen white precipitation-fall of the season. (There is still debate about whether it was snow or hail. While, yes, it did seem a little too compact to be snow, in my experience, hail is even harder and hurts when it hits you.) I struggled through another two classes, walked (very, very slowly) back to my dorm, and was ordered onto the couch for the rest of the evening by my angelic roommates. Unfortunately, I have to teach Indexing to FHE groups in an hour, otherwise I would listen, and never leave this couch again. Oh well, duty calls.

P.S. If you read through this entire post, have a cookie, on me.

Madison Memorial

2010-10-15T19:54:00.000-07:00

In which the author learns to love the hospital

So most of you who know me or my family probably already know this, but I'll be going in for surgery next week, on the 22nd. I know, classes barely started a month ago, and yes, I'm roughly 900 miles from home, but I've been sick for years now, and this should help, finally.

Half of the reason we (my family, my roommates, and I) decided the surgery should be done here is because I'm getting sick enough that it's interfering with school, and a really good portion of the other half of reasons is because of the hospital, Madison Memorial. I've been there about three times already for tests and other appointments, and I'm in love with the staff, the doctors, and even the building itself. Everyone is kind, and almost everyone is LDS. By almost everyone, I mean when I met my doctor, he introduced himself as, "Hi, I'm Dr. so-and-so. I've lived in Rexburg my whole life, went to the college when it was still Ricks, have six kids, and served my mission in the Netherlands". LOVE it!

I'm so grateful to everyone who's been there for me through this; every prayer, every card in the mail, every call, and every facebook message has been felt more than I can describe. My roommates have all been angels, and will be helping with transportation and my post-op nursing. I'll be moving my mattress to the floor for a while, since climbing into the 5+ foot high bed with staples in my tummy might be a smidge difficult, but that just means I'll need to actually make the bed on Mondays when the family comes over for FHE. :P Kidding, I always make my bed! ... cough cough. The one other blessing that makes this all possible: My momma gets to stay the weekend with me. She'll miss the surgery itself, but that's okay. It's the thought that really counts. Bonus, I get home-cooked meals for four days!

I wanted to share this picture with the blogosphere, too. Years ago, one of my Young Woman leaders shared this with me, as something that helped her when her infant needed surgery. It was on the wall of the Presbyterian hospital they were at, and she had to search high and low for a copy. Luckily, she spared me the search, and gave me a little 3" computer printout. I now keep this picture on my bulletin board, right in front of me, where I can see it all the time. It serves as a great comfort and reminder that I'm never alone.

I'll spare you all another food entry...sorta. I did make some rockin' pancakes from scratch, and snapped a picture...for posterity, of course...but that's ok. I'm pretty sure I mentioned my exponentially increasing klutziness in one of my previous posts. Well, I had one particularly bad day this past week. Luckily, none of the damage done was permanent, I didn't trip up or down the stairs, and I have yet to break any of my glass dishware, so it's not too bad. The entire day, though, was filled with events like: stabbing myself in the eye with the mascara brush, managing to crack an egg so that shell fell into the bowl (the only part of the egg to actually crack was a perfect circle the size of a nickel, right on top); I tripped over someone else in Chemistry, accidentally poured half the noodles down the drain when trying to drain my macaroni, knocked over every bottle that sat on my dresser, stubbed my toes, jammed my fingers, and whole myriad of other things, all in a single day. The day after, however, was the complete opposite. Everything I tried went right, from the elusive Cream Tuna, which I had never made correctly until that night, down to the cookies I made and the tests I took. I was feeling so rebellious, thanks to my good-luck high, that I even ventured to play with the six raw eggs in my fridge.

Love the little cuties! The one with whiskers was especially tasty!
In hindsight, I probably should have eaten the menacing looking one first. He's terrifying the egg in front of him, and the egg to his left looks mildly concerned...
...he shall be eaten next.

Week 3. Or is it 4? Dang, can't remember.

2010-09-29T20:30:00.000-07:00

Or, Life Continues Onward Quickly

For the sake of consistency, I figured I can start off with more food. Monday, I played with my crock-pot for the first time, and made stew! Also a first-time event, it turned out exactly as I wanted it to!
SEE!! YAY!!! My other meals are made up of a lot of Macaroni and Cheese, Ground Beef and Beans that made special appearances as Frito Mix, a taco, and two chimichangas, more bowls of Ramen, some rice, some pasta, and repeat. Oh well, At least I'm remembering to eat most of the time.

Now, I miss my family, of course, but other than the standard things I miss from home, I miss my books the most. My books were always my pretend worlds that I escaped to whenever mine lost it's spark, and they always made me happy. Unfortunately, I left home in the middle of at least four different series, and the handful I brought can't cut it! So, I miss my family, and I miss my dog, and I miss my friends, but I also miss Shane, Michael, Eve, Claire, Jace, Clary, Simon, the crazy killer Unicorn group, including Astrid, the boys, and Astrid's cousin Phil, I miss all my Dessen boys, like Owen, Dexter, Wes, and, Eli, and I miss every resident of Tortall that lived within a good 600 year span, including but not limited to, George, Rosto the Piper, Allana, Aly, Crow-man, Kel and Bekka, and I miss Fire and Brigan. I think I got everyone...my apologies if I forgot someone. There's so many!

Let's see, what else is going on...well, I had a slew of doctors appointments in the past two weeks, and the most recent one left me sick for two full days. As such, I was relegated to one of my least favorite diet plans.

Yeah, that's Mountain Dew. Proof I'm my father's daughter, right? Sprite just makes me feel more gross. Dew settles my stomach. Oh well, I know I'm weird. We can move on now.

So most of you know that here at Brigham Young University - Idaho, we have a set of guidelines called the Honor Code. It is basically our rules, but some of the things are more for our personal growth than for our safety or for the maintenance of common sense. As many Latter-Day Saints have decided to eliminate caffeine from their diets, the school campus does not sell caffeinated sodas at all. Sadly, this includes Dew. This led to my roommate and I running down to the corner store to buy some of the awesomeness. And what did I see as soon as I picked up the bottle?

You read that right. RIGHT there on the bottle of Mountain Dew, it says "Honor the Code". I'm pretty sure this has something to do with the video game it was advertising, but I was still hit by the irony, and almost put the bottle back down. Then when I went to buy it, the cashier noticed the SAME phrase, and also commented on the irony. Sigh.

College otherwise is going pretty well. I've been having some fun, and made some new friends. Last Saturday I went to a bonfire with my FHE group, and it went something like:

30 seconds later:

And for the rest of the night:

I also made a new friend today. Our meeting went something like:

'Running slightly late for class, Katie quickly opens her locker and slides out her violin, almost hitting a young man passing by.
"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry!" Katie says, realizing in hindsight that she should have made sure no one was there before turning her instrument into a weapon.
"No, it's fine really. I didn't want to run into your instrument, I know they get expensive. Are you alright?" The young man says with a smile.
"Ha, yeah, thanks. I really need to be more careful."
"My name's Brad, by the way." Brad said, sticking out his hand for Katie to shake. Katie awkwardly shifts her violin to her other hand so she can shake his hand and introduce herself, meanwhile dropping her music folder, which Brad hastily reaches down to pick up.
"Sorry, I should have offered my other hand." Brad says with a laugh
"Yeah, we're really good at this game."
"Well, have a good class." Brad finished, then walked off smiling.'

Ok, so maybe we're not new best friends, but I still love meeting people here. My favorite people I've met completely by accident, like by accidentally running into them, or tripping over their chair in Chemistry. Now that I think about it, my klutziness has multiplied at least three-fold since I got to this campus. Oh well.

Thanks for taking time to enjoy the pretty pictures and odd stories of my week.
I wish you all well!

Katie Helen

Dorm Life

2010-09-12T16:13:00.000-07:00

Wherein this author learns to compromise and improvise.
Also known as: The Adventures of Cooking in College - Adventure 2

My list of meals is small and repetitive, but happily, edible. (For the most part.)
My last post on the soup was my first experience cooking in a new dorm. Since then, I've made Mac n' Cheese, a Grilled Cheese Sandwich, lots of fried eggs, a bowl of ramen, and Pigs in a Blanket (hot dogs in a crescent roll). Most of these continued on to take the place of many other meals, as this author is a happy left-over addict. Unfortunately, as the author is still in a new-to-her kitchen, things don't always work like she would expect them to. For example, there is no 'middle rack' in the oven. When making my piggies, they started on the upper-middle rack, but started browning on top while still raw on bottom. So I switched them to the lower-middle rack. I thought they were so perfect when I pulled them out of the oven...only to discover the bottoms of the rolls burned to a lovely charcoal color.
This is where improvise comes in. During their first meal-time appearance, I ate them with left-over ketchup packets from a recent trip to KFC. It was ok, but I could still taste the burnt roll. On their first reappearance as left overs, I mixed a little Cream of Chicken soup with a tiny bit of water and pepper, and poured it over the hotdog rolls like gravy. Sounds weird? Well, yeah, but it tasted so good, so I really didn't care.

My first Sunday dinner at College. Yum!

Dorms, while inexpensive, are also inexpensively made; you get what you pay for. I payed for single-layer cinderblock walls. I did not anticipate being able to hear the girl-next-door's phone vibrate on her desk while I sat at mine studying. I've heard quite a few interesting conversations through these walls. On the plus side, one dorm was playing church music today, and the entire block was able to enjoy it. Now I, who have always been a self-considered night owl, have been trying to go to sleep at a decent hour. The same cannot be said for some of the other girls in my building. My compromise? Ask them to keep the noise down after quiet time. Still hear them? Yep. So I've learned to sleep with my iPod headphones in. Uncomfortable at times, but I'd rather fall asleep to my music, as opposed to phone calls about how much one of my neighbors misses [insert boys' name here]. My roommates and I are also learning to compromise with our time. Mostly it involves dancing around each other in the kitchen, and checking before hogging the bathroom for half an hour, but it's all good.

Obviously, by the fact that I am sitting here typing this, it can be understood that I survived my first week of college :)

I've learned to fight with the kitchen, not against it. I've learned that my next shopping trip includes fun items like ketchup, a yellow highlighter, some form of fresh edible plants, and a raid of DI's kitchen supplies. Sounds fun to me!
Love you all!
Katie Helen

The Adventures of Cooking at College: Day 1

2010-09-07T18:03:00.000-07:00

Wherein this author learns that 3000 feet makes a difference.

I made my first meal in my dorm today. I was planning on Ramen, but when my roommate requested Mom's Potato Cheese Soup, I figured I might as well make the week's grocery trip today. Turns out, my total for making a humongous stock pot of soup came out to only $5.26, and I can get at least three more meals out of it! So, soup I made. Unfortunately, even with a warning, I didn't believe the altitude would make that much of a difference...until it took over half an hour to boil the potatoes. Of course, in my haste, the chunks were cut too big and I should have let them boil more. The result? A thin, VERY chunky, but tasty, Potato Cheese Soup.

It could have been worse. At least I didn't scorch it this time.

I'd love to take pictures of my dorm and show you all my lovely new living arrangements, but alas, my phone cannot take a good enough picture, and I have neither cable nor memory card port to transfer photos from my camera. I'll simply say that I love my roommates, getting in and out of bed is treacherous, and I don't really have enough room to sit up in bed...but that's all :)

I miss my family already, but I'm happy. I start classes on Friday.

Chapter Two

2010-08-30T22:12:00.000-07:00

In which this author discovers higher education.

Hey family, friends, and the occasional stalker!
All summer long I've been slowly collecting things and stock-piling them all over the house; a little of the old, a little of the new. All so that I can make the transition into Chapter Two as smoothly as possible. You see, before he left on his mission, a friend of mine divided life into chapters, and I'm rather fond of the idea.
Chapter One: Childhood/Adolescence. The time to learn and grow physically and mentally.
Chapter Two: Young Adulthood. The time when some of the most important decisions are being made, like: where to go to college, what to study, what new friends to make, etc. Also the time to learn important life skills necessary for living out from under the parents' roof, like cooking, cleaning, budgeting, etc. Considered by some to be the time to decide whom to marry.
Chapter Three: Married With Kids. A time for young families to learn and grow and to learn to work with and love one's spouse.
Chapter Four: Retirement. The time after kids have left the home. A time to spoil grandkids, maybe serve a mission, and be of as much service as possible.
Chapter Five: Eternal Life. See: Gospel Doctrine

So, this means that I have left Chapter One behind. My things are all packed, my car is completely full, and my room is a bit hollow, but still full of me. In one week, I'll be the new kid in school, with new roommates and crazy classes. I'll be living 900 miles from my parents, my brother and sister, and my dog.

The most common question I've been getting is: "So are you excited?"
Blanket answer: Not really. I'm definitely not bouncing up and down in sheer excitement over what the next four months will hold. I'm kind of scared, kind of happy, kind of sad, kind of nervous, kind of excited, kind of just a little bit of everything.

The most common bit of advice I've gotten: "Now, don't go getting married your first semester there!"
Blanket response: Oh, I don't intend to. I mean, obviously if something happens, it happens. If I meet him, I meet him. However, I JUST got out on my own. Let's leave it at that for a while, shall we? Give me a couple years, ad then I'll start looking for my eternal someone.

What I want to say to everyone:
Thank you. Thanks for helping me through the hard times, for helping me graduate, for helping me get into college, for always being ready with advice and warm words to help me along my way. I love you all and am so grateful to have you all in my life.

Love,
Katie Helen

The Academy

2010-06-02T21:51:00.000-07:00

My brother showed me this before he left. It's...well...super cool.

Speaking of the great Garrelito, I mean, Garrett, as of a week ago today, has been at the Border Patrol Academy in New Mexico, and has joined the ranks in his class of 50 interns. His daily schedule consists of things like:

2 hours of Physical Training

2 hours of Law

2 hours of Nationality Law

_hours of Constitution Law

2 hours of anti terrorism

give or take time for showering, eating, gear fitting, studying, homework, and sleep.

Today, My beloved brother had marching practice, for inspection. He sent us a picture of him in uniform. Wow!

I officially love my brother, and am very, very proud of him.

Le Gasp!

2010-05-03T21:08:00.000-07:00

So...I was called a liberal today. By my own father. I was outraged. Some of you may agree with him. I find myself very conservative. I do not, however, believe there is any possible, fool-proof way (anymore) to clearly identify EXACTLY who is and is not a citizen of this country, in investigations as superficial as highway patrol pull-overs for traffic violators. Sure, they can ask for an ID, a social-security number, a birth certificate; but every single one of these is arguably very easy to fake. Just ask any teenager who's ever bought a drink of alcohol or gotten into a club. I'm not saying we should just accept them here. FAR from. However, I do not want my life to be reminiscent of Nazi Germany, with the country I was born and raised in to be requiring me to carry around 'papers'. I would accept being thumbprinted by any legal officer who was accusing or convicting me of any other crime. Hopefully--theoretically--thumbprints can't be duplicated on a whim...though there was GATTACA...drat.

We were discussing the War Powers today in government. Yes, I want Congress to have the power to declare war. Yes, I want the president to be able to carry out immediate militial action at a moment's notice, to enact whatever force necessary in event of an emergency. YES, I think the 60-90 day limit for such action needs to be enforced! Why has it never been enforced? Either declare war or get out. Don't dilly-dally.

I've discovered a humongous conflict I have with my own moral reasoning. I don't want our country to continue sending foreign aid when our own people are in need. However, many of the same people who agree with me are also anti-welfare, saying people need to help themselves. So, what do we need to do? Just not help anyone? Spread our resources thin and help everyone? I don't know...maybe put some more money into our Free Clinics. Put more money into the poor public schools that will be squeezing as many as 48 students in a classroom with one teacher, half as many textbooks as needed, and denying students access to classes simply because there's not enough students signed up to make 2 full classes of 45. It has been announced at our school that students need to do especially well on their STAR tests, because if 60 students are signed up for a class, the school WILL NOT be making 2 classes of 30. They'll be making one class of 45, and 15 students will not be allowed to take the class. The rule goes for AP classes as well. Yeah, the school's College level classes will have twice their desired amounts. I hope they don't have high expectations.

I'm so glad I'm going to a Private college next year. Sorry guys.

College Update

2010-03-23T22:37:00.000-07:00

I've accepted BYU-I, and have put in my down-payment for Barnes Hall with my amazing friend Catherine!

The Results Are In

2010-02-17T21:27:00.000-08:00

Hey faithful stalkers! In case you didn't catch the call or the facebook announcement...

I HAVE BEEN ACCEPTED TO BOTH BYU AND BYU-IDAHO!!!!!!!!!!!

As of yet, I am still undecided as to which I will be attending, but I'm definitely leaning toward Idaho.

Thanks to everyone for your patient waiting, as well as all your of your support, and for a few of you, your late-night essay input that proved invaluable.

I love you all, and I'll definitely let you all know when I make a final decision.

Love,

Katie Helen

P.S. Jen, while I do LOVE food...especially tantalizing cupcakes, I have managed my Mormon-wear through online ordering and a few cherished visits to you over the years. But it will be a struggle to turn down such sweet temptations! You're so awesome!! :) *hug*

PSH!!

2010-02-09T21:42:00.000-08:00

Ok...so I still have yet to hear from BYU. I think the psychologists there are trying to condition me to NOT check for any updates, because I'm SERIOUSLY considering changing my daily checking pattern to an every-other-day checking pattern.
It's one of those blasted things I learned in school that warps the way I think about life.
The fastest way to train a dog is continuous positive reinforcement. (does trick, treat, does trick, treat, etc.) unfortunately, this is also the least reliable, because as soon as you stop 'treating' the dog, he loses all will to 'trick' and soon loses the habit.
The slowest way is to never reinforce, but that's just mean.
The most reliable way to train a dog is the same way casinos create addicts. It involves only rewarding good behavior at random intervals. As the dog won't know when the next reward will come, but knows it will follow good behavior, it'll keep up the 'trick', hoping against hope that MAYBE this will be the time it gets a 'treat'. (Gamboling equivalent: 'I know I've won before. It'll happen again. Just ONE more time. It'll be next time. What if it's next time?)
So there I sat, day after day, checking the www.besmart.com website, hoping that that day would be the day, because if I don't check EVERY day, who knows? It could come yesterday!!!

Excellent books I've read lately that I would recommend to anyone:
1. The Percy Jackson series (soon to be a movie)
2. Hawksong and Snakecharm +
3. The Mortal Instruments series (City of Bones, City of Ashes, City of Glass
4. The Vampire Diaries (as they were written more than a decade before Twilight, I refuse to be accused of falling to the Vampire fad...even if I have
5. The Hunger Games and Catching Fire
6. Uglies, Pretties, Specials, Extras
7. The Dark Visions series
8. Anything by Tamore Pierce

Update

2010-01-10T20:54:00.000-08:00

By the way, I am pretty darn sure I'm going to Idaho (Still a teeny bit doubtful) but IF I do go to Idaho, I'll be on the Fall/Spring track.
Meaning I'll be at school from September -December, then April to July.
Not HUMONGOUSLY thrilled with the 14 week break between semesters, but it's what I've been given. So it's all right, right?

Love much,
Katie Helen

Drum Roll please...

2010-01-05T22:16:00.000-08:00

Today, January 5, 2010, a very interesting thing occurred. Although I had been expecting something of the sort, it was still a shock when it came. AND it involves school. I know what you all are thinking: it came? she got the notice?
Yes, yes I did.
I have been saying the year wrong for the past decade. My councilor came into my senior English class today, and after scholarship information, informed us all that it is grammatically incorrect to say 'Two-thousand one', or 'Two thousand and one'. That was a mistake that stuck thanks to the novel, 2001. According to wherever said councilor gets her information, the correct way of saying this year, for example, is Twenty-ten. We should have been saying Twenty-oh-one, twenty-oh-two, etc. When you think about it, you didn't say, today is January fifth, one thousand five hundred twenty six. You said 15-26. It is therefore correct to say 20-10.

That's all.

Just Kidding!!!!!!!!!
The REAL news for today is that I received my first college acceptance, and to my priority college. As of today, assuming I don't get crazy senior-itis or something, I have been accepted to Brigham Young University-Idaho. We'll wait and see what Provo has to say, before I really accept anything.

Much love,
KT

It's Coming

2009-12-29T21:42:00.001-08:00

"Learning to let go should be learned before learning to get. Life should be touched, not strangled. You’ve got to relax, let it happen at times, and at others move forward with it."
—Ray Bradbury

Change is coming. Do you feel it?

Does anyone else feel like something wicked this way comes? Not wicked, in an evil way, really, but in a more...radical way?
I was watching an Allstate commercial this weekend, and it talked about how much this past year has changed all of us. Family time means more board games and meat loaf and less box seats and filet mignon. Cars are purchased because they can get you somewhere, not because they show how far you've come. Things aren't taken for granted. Coupon clipping is no longer for the kleptomaniacs. Christmas this year was slimmer, but I didn't really hear anyone complain. Times like these are humbling. It seems like more and more, high-maintenance people are seen with sadness, not scorn or jealousy. Not sadness because not everything wanted can be had, but sadness because they have all they want but are still unhappy.
Last week, I brought out my brother's old set of lincoln logs, probably more than a decade old, and spent two hours building a fortress. I have discount cards to at least 5 grocery stores, and don't mind store brand. It's not a crime to be frugal, and it seems like more people are starting to realize this, whether they're short on cash or not.
This is what I'm seeing more of. People aren't just taking everything they're told. They're questioning tradition because I believe they're starting to see the corruption. I think people are ready for a change.
I'm not talking about the change we're being fed by the government. Why has government become a dirty word? They're no longer who we look to for protection and correction. We fear their interference and decisions. People are making change for themselves. They don't want fakes and scams. They want the real thing. Not even the real thing! They want something that works. I think people are growing tired of get-rich-quick schemes. Tired of smooth-talkers and shiny new do-nothings. People are taking a bit better care of themselves, and a bit better care of others.

I don't know, but I guess I'm rambling a bit here. I mean, there are still plenty of jerks and snobs and wasters out there, but what truly makes me happy is seeing good people. The teenage boy who opens the door for a mother with a stroller, the woman who buys an extra sandwich for the homeless man outside, the teenage girl knitting hats for the local orphanage. It makes me so happy that these things actually still happen. It's like, the world is not lost. Miracles still happen. Good people still roam the earth, doing random quiet acts of kindness. There's a website, called http://www.givesmehope.com/ . If you ever want warm fuzzies, read a few of these. They can brighten any day. I think change is coming. I think the me generation is making way to a you generation. I think that people are learning to work smart, not hard, and that the next generation is one of problem solvers. We may not be the ones who can do it, but we can at least work towards figuring out an answer. I think people are starting to realize that we don't have to go back to the past, but maybe the past way of looking forward isn't so bad.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By the way, for those of you waiting on pins and needles, No, I have not heard back from any colleges yet.

Elder Allen

2009-10-26T19:47:00.000-07:00

EEK!!!! I'm so excited! I just got my first email from my first missionary in the field! And writing a letter back to him now! Elder Allen is serving in Vancouver Canada and speaking Spanish. If anyone knows any Spanish phrases he absolutely NEEDS to know, tell me!

Much Love,
Katie

Dear Hollywood

2009-09-23T21:14:00.000-07:00

My dear friend Brianne just introduced me to an amazing group of kids involved in something called Project Chaste. It's a group of a bunch of Christian teenagers who have decided that the media is done telling them how they are supposed to be, and they have taken a pledge to chaste.
I also wanted to take the time to appreciate how awesome it is that these kids have higher standards than a lot of Mormon kids I know. And not only do they have high standards, they are VOCAL about it. I know I'm not shy about this kind of stuff, though I've never come straight out unprovoked and just said "I am chaste, hear me roar". But I'll always speak my mind when asked. This was a lesson for me. How am I supposed to be an example if I hide? Major props to the teens in this video.
I will not put up with the media's lies any longer. Being unchaste is not what being a teenager is about. My emotions and my HORMONES are not in control of me. The 'love' portrayed on TV is not Love, and I'm allowed to have higher expectations than their kind of love. I don't need that kind of love.

Dear Hollywood, I choose to live a chaste life. I am stronger than you think.

Here are the links to the videos. Watch for my "Dear Hollywood" video. Coming soon!
http://growinguplane.com/project-chaste
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Elf2N12slHc#

Good Books

2009-09-04T20:24:00.000-07:00

EEK!!! Ok, so this really good friend of mine recently introduced me to my new addiction. It's http://www.goodreads.com. Find books, share books, talk about books, find and save quotes from books, and...spend time fawning over my non-human best friends (Behind my puppy-dog of course).
So log in, let me know, I'll be your friend :) and you can scour my books for ones you've read, or search others. SO much fun!

By the way, HUGE congrats to Chris, Anna, and Sascha, and welcome to their new little girl, Adelle!
Girls are catching up! it's only 13 to 6 now!

I also found out that I have a very balanced brain, and am only slightly left-brained. (That's the writing, reading, analyzing side). Seriously, we took a test getting a loose grading of all this, and my scores were 9 left to 7 right, and 6 left to 4 right. Cool, huh?

Love, peace, books.

A little addition

2009-08-15T20:48:00.000-07:00

Brianne updated her blog about our amazing adventures, but with pictures!!! You should look at them...and read her post...here

-kt

The Challenge

2009-08-13T18:50:00.000-07:00

Please excuse the Haphazard assembly of what follows. I've had 3 hours of sleep in the last 38 hours.

I know I'm supposed to post on EFY. And I will, because EFY was an amazing experience that deserves it's due. As this is the case, I feel a need to filter out the stuff that does nothing, save making the entry longer, and that takes time.

As you may have noticed, the title of this post is not "Why I haven't posted about my trip to Washington". I titled this post, "The Challenge" for a reason.

A few months ago, some friends and I heard of a seminary class that tried to read the entire Book of Mormon straight through, and see how long it took. We heard they finished in a little more than 23 hours. Now, Seminary students are studying the Book of Mormon this year, and I, as the failure I was, had never actually read the whole Book all the way through. As you may have guessed, that is what we decided to do.

The Challenge: Read the entire Book of Mormon from start to finish
Who: Me, Brianne, Jared, Karissa, Will, Taylor, and Bailee
Start Time: Wednesday, August 12, 2009, 7:30 am
Time Frame: No more than 24 hours
Rules: Someone had to be reading aloud at all times. Cell phones were all to be on 'silent' and in a basket, which was set aside, to be checked only every few hours.

We started on the couches. Bailee actually didn't join us until later in the evening, somewhere around Alma 27. But the rest of us started, first each reading a page. Then when we started losing focus too fast, we'd each read a column. Sometimes we'd read two versus, sometimes three. The actual reading was flexible. We'd go through periods of 'easy' reading, other times we'd get behind schedule and pull a "Ok guys, 10 pages in 25 minutes. SPEED READ!" We had foods like fruit snacks, chips and salsa, granola bars, and smoothies. For Lunch, we all gathered around the table and ate cheeseburgers. Dinner, we gathered around the table again for Pasta. Somewhere around 2 am we met around the table again for DiGiorno Pizza. Then at last around Ether we met around the table one last time because it was the least comfortable place and we needed to stay awake. We also read around the more comfortable dining room table while the main room was cleaned (which is also where we found that Brianne's hair holds 33 Crayola Twist-Up colored pencils, the scripture marker of choice), then migrated to the floor next to that table, then back to the main room, couches, floor, back to the couches, all over in that room, standing when need be, moving whenever we got too comfortable. We made 1-2-3 cookies around Mosiah 27, and my mom brought slurpees around 10 pm. Those were our only doses of pure sugar that we allowed ourselves. At 6:40 pm we made it to page 270. 4 pages past the half way point, and 50 minutes ahead of schedule, we took the one and only true break. 20 minutes of no reading. Then we picked right back up and trudged onward, through the steep mountainous pass that was The Book of Alma. Around 2 am Will's mom brought us the pizzas and helped us get them cooked. In her infinite wisdom, she took my scriptures and made us all walk around the kitchen while she read to us, and then she continued to read aloud while we ate our 2nd dinner. After, she made sure we were taking care of ourselves, and then let us go. Bailee and Taylor fell asleep sometime around 4, and woke again around 6, staying awake enough to listen to us finish Moroni. We speed read all through Ether, not enjoying the unrighteous war book that included EVERYONE dying. We mostly just picked it up and read until our voice cracked, then let someone else take over, only to read again in two or three pages. By Moroni, we were all sitting at the kitchen table attempting to stay awake, and just wanting to finish the book. We read two versus each, knowing we'd stay awake better if there was less time between when each person read. Finally, after then sky was already light again, we finished, gave each other high fives, and crashed. Karissa drove home, Bai and Taylor slept in the nursery, Jared fell asleep on the couch, I'm actually...not sure what Will did...he wasn't there when I woke up, and Brianne and I fell asleep in her bed. I think I moved to the floor around 7:30 (Brianne was in a bed hog mood :) ) and woke up again at 10:15, through on my clothes, and went to work for the day, weak-knead and slap-happy delirious. And did I mention, we did it all without Caffeine and sodas? Purely Juice and Water powered.

Finish Time: Thursday, August 13, 2009, 6:36 am

Total Time, not including The Break: 22 hours, 46 minutes.

What'd I learn?
-Somehow, it's easier to read for 23 hours straight than to set aside 10 minutes each day
-Ether is a bloody book
-The people of Ancient America desperately needed a baby naming book. It's hard to keep up with which Nephi, Lehi and Gidgidoni your on.
-The Righteous Warriors of the Book of Mormon are AMAZING
-The Book of Mormon tells an incredible story
-Pride Cycles make people look stupid
-When reading straight through, the coming of Christ to the Americas feels MUCH more real, and incredible and amazing to a words don't describe degree
-The Book of Mormon is kinda a really sad story. I almost cried twice.
-Isaiah WILL make sense eventually. It made more sense yesterday than it ever has before
-Moroni is my new hero. Even while falling asleep, his story is really inspiring.

Would I change anything?
Well yes. I'd start earlier in the Morning, and I'd plan it so I didn't have work the next day. But really that's it.

I'm REALLY glad that my first full adventure through the Book of Mormon was experienced as it was. I got so much more out of it then when just reading a chapter a night.

A big thank you to Brianne, Will, Jared, Karissa, Bailee and Taylor for making it awesome.
A BIGGER thank you to our Moms for letting it happen.
The BIGGEST thank you to the Moms who helped it happen:
Mama Kelly, thanks for letting us destroy (then clean, to help stay awake) your house
Mama Baker, thanks for keeping us sane, and bringing us pizza at 2 in the morning!
And last, but far from least, thanks to my Mommy, who brought us Juice and Slurpees, and who let me participate in the first place.

Love you all,

-a VERY weary reader

Trips

2009-07-24T10:55:00.000-07:00

Hey Y'all. Just letting you all know I'm off to EFY in Tacoma, Washington this week. I'm in a bit of a hurry so please excuse me while I write as if I DIDN'T spend a year or two in advanced English classes. I'm adding Diction and Jargon to enhance the credibility that this was written by a seventeen year old girl. K? Anyway, I'll be back late Saturday. Everyone enjoy life while I get spiritually pumped. Love you all!
-KT

Thanks Everyone!

2009-07-06T21:41:00.000-07:00

Ahh, Seventeen. In honor of my birthday today, I've added two songs to the top of my playlist: Seventeen Ain't so Sweet by Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, and Seventeen Forever by MetroStation. My last year of Childhood Innocence; one more year of getting away with stuff because I'm not a legal adult; one more year of city curfew; one more year of high school; one more year. That's all I have left.
I must admit, however, that this was one of the best birthdays I've had in a long time. I was with my family for most of it, no one was rushed into emergency foot surgery *coughcough GARRETT coughcough*, I absolutely LOVED my presents, and they were WAY more than expected, People called and texted and facebooked me all over wishing me a happy birthday, from family, to friends, to those awesome buddies in other states that I've met through other people and have become awesome friends with even though I've never met them in person. Even the girls at work took me out to lunch and got FATTY costco cupcakes and lunch with the office at Rosa's Cafe.
So my AWESOME day, just a runthrough so I can remember it all.
Woke up SUPER early because of blasted leg cramps, after a pretty trippy dream based on the book I've been reading. I read a bit, came downstairs and mom made me an awesome breakfast. After getting from work, dad came HOME from work early, so I opened presents. THE BEST birthday presents I've gotten in a LONG time. A REALLY nice Casio Exilim with 10.1 Megapixels AND a BS button! (That's Best Shot for those of you sniggering alongside me). I also got tickets to the BODY WORLD exhibit! SO excited to go on Wednesday.
After work, mom and Bailee and I went to Olive Garden, then home to have cake with some friends. The Robertson's gave me a gift card to Barnes & Noble, which was promptly spent on a new journal for my 17th year. Brianne gave me my own copy of Forever Strong, one of my favorite new movies! Once Home I tallied everything up. 20 facebook notifications, 12 text messages, and 1 day of pure amazing.
BIG thanks to EVERYONE who made my birthday special.
Now I get to wait for the lasting add ins to my birthday: Brianne's Kidnapping of Me thursday/friday, Body Worlds on Wednesday, Working Windows and Car Radio (Same Day), and a bit of pool action Saturday!

Home Again

2009-06-28T15:52:00.000-07:00

He thought you meant to find fault with his work.; That's what the average farmer would have meant.; James would take time, of course, to chew it over; Before he acted: he's just got round to act."
-The Code, Robert Frost

Ok I'm going to say it right now: I REALLY don't want to go back to work tomorrow. I'm really enjoying not working. And no one is to say I NEED the job. I manage fine without the extra money, and I could always find less...committed lines of work, like tutoring or cleaning or teaching piano lessons. However, the extra cash is a blessing, I really do love my job, and I simply can't leave them short-handed right now.
As this is such, I will be waking up tomorrow and returning to work after my break off. *Sigh*
I got back from girls' camp on Friday. The trip was shorter than normal, which stunk because it was my last year, but I had a blast. There is a ton to write about but only so much I can say before anyone who bothers to read my blog suddenly gets bored and decides to go do something more fun and exciting, like...get the mail, or...scoop cat litter. Yeah. SO: Highlights: 1) Being a YCL, 2)Getting lost but not really* on an incredibly long hike, 3) High Ropes course, 4) Eating a ton of junk food on an already sick stomach on the last night, having it all come back up, then going on as normal for another 3 hours, because I could, 4) learning a new verse to the frog song, 5)pretending I had a venomous snake bite and a first degree burn.
Want to hear one of the MOST embarrassing things of my life? I got my Report Card last week. Sadly, the Most Important report card in my highschool career is also my worst by far. Worst of all, I failed second semester Pre-Calculus. I don't think I have time to repeat it before I turn in my college applications either. Looks like I really WILL be spending my first year or two in community college. Bummer. Seriously, I really am upset with myself. I actually TRIED in that class. I also mysteriously missed all of this year's deadlines for the ACT and SAT, with no help from my school counselor. Senior year will be rough. I'm still excited for my AP English and AP Psychology classes though.
Some weird thoughts have been wrestling in my mind lately.
1) By this time next year, I'll be headed to college (of some persuasion) and life on my own
2) Liberty Jail is one of the biggest oxymorons of our time
3) This is my last summer as a legal kid.
I'm burning through books faster than I can borrow them from the library. In the past two weeks of summer I have read the first three books of the House of Nyte series (I don't recommend them), the last two books of the Twilight series(I had started the first two during school, so it doesn't count), Graceling by Kristin Cashore, and The Other Side of the Island by Allegra Goodman. I REALLY recommend Graceling and The Other Side. The last one is interesting if you're against the whole, 'Global warming and socialism' thing. :)
That being said, I'm reading a book of Ray Bradbury's Short Stories to break the tedium between library trips. Does anyone have anything they recommend? I'm liking the fantasy/young female heroine/handsome mysterious gentlemen the heroine falls in love with thing right now. Maybe it's because I want a boy in my life. I don't know. Oh well.

Love, Happiness, and Music to all!

*My definition of getting lost: Having no points of reference as to where you are, not knowing where you are, no way of finding where you are, no communication to help you find your way, and not remembering which way you were supposed to be heading. Basically, being on your own and helpless in the middle of nowhere. There's a reason I say I'm never lost: I've never not been able to find the place I was going to.

Where'd She GO?!

2009-06-22T09:11:00.000-07:00

Hi friends, hello family!
I JUST realized that it has been nearly a month since I last updated ANYONE on what's happening in Temecula. Well, it's really quite simple. Now that the stress of balancing high school, a job, and a college class are behind me, and I get a simple 18 hour work week to have fun with, I don't feel a need to relax in front of a computer for an hour every night. I've even cut back on my Facebook social life. (I know, BIG shocker)
So here's what HAS been happening lately. Finals week rolled around, I studied more than I ever have before (EVER), got sick, almost missed finals, and STILL ended up not doing well. As sad as it is to say, the most crucial report card of my high school life is also my worst.
Something fun and exciting: I got a tumor removed! Okay, some of you may have managed to catch that bit of news flitting around facebook or twitter two weeks ago, but here's the juicy details! I went to the dermatologist for a routine acne prescription check and refill. I decided I might as well get a mole and the funny bump on my leg checked out. Good ole' doc said the bump was a little tumor, benign most likely, and he'd gladly get rid of both it and the mole. SO they did. It was really weird seeing someone attack the underside of my arm with two scalpels, but that's all I got to see. Contrary to my wishes, I wasn't allowed to watch them get the tumor. I had to lie down all the way in case I freaked out or something. But mom said it was cool, and they used a neat little tool that looked like a scrapbook punch. Two stitches and some bandages later I was on my way.
Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy. (Except for when I had a reaction to the undearm bandaging, but that doesn't count.) I just got the stitches out about 45 minutes ago. It'll be nice to be able to swim and shave like a normal person again.
Bailee and I are off to Girls Camp tomorrow; her first time, and my last. SO depressing. But I'm not packed and somewhere between work and our final YCL meeting today I need to come up with a devotional and scripture study lesson, and finalize some certification activities.
Exciting news, two of my guy friends are heading for their missions in 3 months! Wade just got his call to Albequerque, New Mexico, and Jared turned in his papers last week. SO excited to see where he goes, and how they both do. Jared is actually going to get a blog up and running, that Brianne will update with letters and pictures and stuff. You'll find it here.
Enjoy your lives! I need to go to work now, and I'll be back in a week after camp.
Views: 380

Love you all!
-Katie Helen

New Moon

2009-06-01T21:29:00.000-07:00

For all you twilight fans out there...thought I'd post a little teaser!
THE TWILIGHT SAGA: NEW MOON trailer in HD

Want more? Visit the author's website!
Stephenie Meyer

View Count: 366

Ketchup

2009-05-24T12:15:00.001-07:00

What happens when you neglect your blog? Bad things happen. Like, family and friends being out of the look that is your life. Anyway, I've got a lot to cover, so hold in.
AP
Finished my AP tests. Both went well, I think. The Essay topics were easy enough. Sadly, though, that makes me nervous. Oh well, I simply will keep it out of my mind until the middle of July when I get my scores.
HEAVEN
After that, the next big event was Great-Grandma Helen's funeral. It was very beautiful, and I don't think it could have been improved upon. It was one of those bittersweet moments. I'm very sad she's gone, but I know where she is, and I know she's free now.
It DID cause the biggest game of Pre-Algebra catch-up since last fall. Oh well. SO worth it.
INTOXICATION
This past week in school there was a program called Every 15 Minutes. It was a 2 day long event that demonstrated the effects of drunk driving and driving under the influence. Both days, roughly two dozen kids had their faces painted white, with black circles around their eyes. They weren't allowed to speak, as a reminder that every 15 minutes, someone dies in an alcohol related accident.
On day one we met on the football field, and after a staged introduction, a screeching of tires and the blast and smoke of a car crash, a tarp was pulled back revealing two smashed cars, one upside down with alcohol bottles falling out of it. No one was moving in either.
The police were called in, then the fire engines and the paramedics. I guess it served as a training day for them too. Teenagers inside both cars were painted up bloody and gruesome. One girl in the car that the drunk driver had been driving was pronounced Dead on Arrival. The mortuary van was called in, she was put in a body bag, into the van, and away she went. Another was pronounced critical by the paramedics, and so she was airlifted to the hospital, and died there. (I must admit, I was jealous here. Although it was all staged, she actually got to ride in a helicopter!! All the way to the hospital!) The jaws of life were used to cut the top off of the upright car, and all of the kids inside wheeled off on stretchers, then into ambulances. The girl who was drunk driving was the least injured, and arrested on the spot.
On day two, we were called into the gym for the funeral. It started with all of the white-faced kids wheeling in a coffin to the front of the room. Each of those kids had to stay the night at the hotel; to really live the feeling as if they had died in an accident, they weren't allowed to go home overnight. They were all asked to write letters to their families; what they would say if they really WERE taken from this life. The parents were asked to do the same to their children. First a boy read his, one that had been involved in the simulation the day before. His was so heart wrenching. It was unbelievable. A girl shared hers next, which was almost as bad. Then two parents shared their letters. After that, a husband and wife stood up, the couple who organized the Every 15 Minutes program stood and shared their story.
Their son had been riding his bike home when he had been hit by a drunk woman driving her car. It was her fourth offense of DUI. Now the couple travels all over to try and stop things like that before they happen. Next came a small family, a mother and her two daughters. This one hit me hardest of all. The little girl spoke first, small and spunky, about my sister's age. I promise the two could have been twins. Her older sister spoke next, a girl about my age. Both were mourning the loss of their nineteen year old brother, who had been living near home, but not at home and had been sober, but had been out with drunk friends. It all just hit WAY too close to home.
It put me into one of the biggest funks ever.
MISS
JUST to drive the moral one step deeper, I had my own little experience Thursday night. I was driving home from a friends house a little after nine. I was driving a LITTLE fast through the meadow, but not more than 5 over the speed limit. It was just fast for me because I usually drive 5 under through it. Anyway, here is a little picture for better example:

The pink line is the direction I was going, the yellow X where my house is, the red X where the DRUNK DRIVER was arrested. Literally, the SECOND I pulled up in front of my house, the siren went off, pulling over the driver of the vehicle at the red X. He was no more than 30 seconds behind me. Creepy right? If I had been driving 30 seconds slower, my car could have gotten in a fight with that persons car.
PROM
All of this was planned perfectly, because last night was prom. It was nice, there are pictures on my facebook, and I hate them all. My date was a perfect jerk. Although we agreed to just go as friends, it didn't give him the right to flirt with and or compliment EVERY OTHER GIRL right in front of me. For the record, I didn't get a single "you look pretty" or anything similar from him. Just, you know, something you'd expect from your prom date. He ended up sitting away from my on our drive home and falling asleep on another girl's shoulder. However, I DID have fun, especially with all the 'firsts' in the night.
First:
1) Time in a limo
2) School dance
3) Time getting ASKED to a dance
4) Prom
5) Dinner at In-n-Out in a formal dress.
Needless to say, I declined going for food or more partying after, and just went home. Oh well. It gave us plenty to talk about in Laurels today!

LINK
Interested in the Every 15 Minutes program? Good. I HIGHLY recommend seeing one if you ever get a chance.
Every Fifteen Minutes
SADDStudents Against Drunk Driving
MADDMothers Against Drunk Driving

Drive safe, everyone, and have an awesome Memorial Day!

350 views! WHoot!

I'm Tired by Robert Hall

2009-05-14T18:58:00.001-07:00

I'll be 63 soon. Except for one semester in college when jobs were scarce, and a six-month period when I was between jobs, but job-hunting every day, I've worked, hard, since I was 18. Despite some health challenges, I still put in 50-hour weeks, and haven't called in sick in seven or eight years. I make a good salary, but I didn't inherit my job or my income, and I worked to get where I am. Given the economy, there's no retirement in sight, and I'm tired .....very tired.

I'm tired of being told that I have to "spread the wealth around" to people who don't have my work ethic. I'm tired of being told the government will take the money I earned, by force if necessary, and give it to people too lazy or stupid to earn it.

I'm tired of being told that I have to pay more taxes to "keep people in their homes." Sure, if they lost their jobs or got sick, I'm willing to help. But if they bought Mansions at three times the price of our paid-off, $250,000 condo, on one-third of my salary, then let the leftwing Congress-critters who passed Fannie and Freddie and the Community Reinvestment Act that created the bubble help them-with their own money.

I'm tired of being told how bad America is by left wing millionaires like Michael Moore, George Soros and Hollywood entertainers who live in luxury because of the opportunities America offers. In thirty years, if they get their way, the United States will have the religious freedom and women's rights of Saudi Arabia, the economy of Zimbabwe, the freedom of the press of China, the crime and violence of Mexico, the tolerance for Gay people of Iran, and the freedom of speech of Venezuela. Won't multiculturalism be beautiful?

I'm tired of being told that Islam is a "Religion of Peace," when every day I can read dozens of stories of Muslim men killing their sisters, wives and daughters for their family "honor;" of Muslims rioting over some slight offense; of Muslims murdering Christian and Jews because they aren't "believers;" of Muslims burning schools for girls; of Muslims stoning teenage rape victims to death for "adultery;" of Muslims mutilating the genitals of little girls; all in the name of Allah, because the Qur'an and Shari'a law tells them to.

I'm tired of being told that "race doesn't matter" in the post-racial world of President Obama, when it's all that matters in affirmative action jobs, lower college admission and graduation standards for minorities (harming them the most), government contract set-asides, tolerance for the ghetto culture of violence and fatherless children that hurts minorities more than anyone, and in the appointment of US Senators from Illinois. I think it's very cool that we have a black president and that a black child is doing her homework at the desk where Lincoln wrote the emancipation proclamation. I just wish the Black President was Condi Rice, Colon Powell or someone who believes more in freedom and the individual and less in an all-knowing government. I believe "a man should be judged by the content of his character, not by the color of his skin."

I'm tired of a news media that thinks Bush's fundraising and inaugural expenses were obscene, but that think Obama's, at triple the cost, were wonderful. That thinks Bush exercising daily was a waste of Presidential time, but Obama exercising is a great example for the public to control weight and stress, that picked over every line of Bush's military records, but never demanded that Kerry release his, that slammed Palin with two years as governor for being too inexperienced for VP, but touted Obama with three years as senator as without question the best president ever. Wonder why people are dropping their subscriptions or switching to Fox News? Get a clue. I didn't vote for Bush in 2000, but the media and Kerry drove me to his camp in 2004.

I'm tired of being told that out of "tolerance for other cultures" we must let Saudi Arabia use our oil money to fund mosques and madrassa Islamic schools to preach hate in America, while no American group is allowed to fund a church, synagogue or religious school in Saudi Arabia to teach love and tolerance.

I'm tired of being told I must lower my living standard to fight global warming, which no one is allowed to debate. My wife and I live in a two-bedroom apartment and carpool together five miles to our jobs. We also own a three-bedroom condo where our daughter and granddaughter live. Our carbon footprint is about 5% of Al Gore's, and if you're greener than Gore, you're green enough.

I'm tired of being told that drug addicts have a disease, and I must help support and treat them, and pay for the damage they do. Did a giant germ rush out of a dark alley, grab them, and stuff white powder up their noses while they tried to fight it off? I don't think Gay people choose to be Gay, but I [dang] sure think druggies chose to take drugs. And I'm tired of harassment from cool people treating me like a freak when I tell them I never tried marijuana.

I'm tired of illegal aliens being called "undocumented workers," especially the ones who aren't working, but are living on welfare or crime. What's next? Calling drug dealers, "Undocumented Pharmacists"? And, no, I'm not against Hispanics. Most of them are Catholic and it's been a few hundred years since Catholics wanted to kill me for my religion. I'm willing to fast track for citizenship any Hispanic person who can speak English, doesn't have a criminal record and who is self-supporting without family on welfare, or who serves honorably for three years in our military. Those are the citizens we need.

I'm tired of latte liberals and journalists, who would never wear the uniform of the Republic themselves, or let their entitlement-handicapped kids near a recruiting station, trashing our military. They and their kids can sit at home, never having to make split-second decisions under life and death circumstances, and bad mouth better people then themselves. Do bad things happen in war? You bet. Do our troops sometimes misbehave? Sure. Does this compare with the atrocities that were the policy of our enemies for the last fifty years-and still are? Not even close. So here's the deal. I'll let myself be subjected to all the humiliation and abuse that was heaped on terrorists at Abu Ghraib or Gitmo, and the critics can let themselves be subject to captivity by the Muslims who tortured and beheaded Daniel Pearl in Pakistan,
or the Muslims who tortured and murdered Marine Lt. Col. William Higgins in Lebanon, or the Muslims who ran the blood-spattered Al Qaeda torture rooms our troops found in Iraq, or the Muslims who cut off the heads of schoolgirls in Indonesia, because the girls were Christian. Then we'll compare notes. British and American soldiers are the only troops in history that civilians came to for help and handouts, instead of hiding from in fear.

I'm tired of people telling me that their party has a corner on virtue and the other party has a corner on corruption. Read the papers-bums are bi-partisan. And I'm tired of people telling me we need bi-partisanship. I live in Illinois, where the "Illinois Combine" of Democrats and Republicans has worked together harmoniously to loot the public for years. And I notice that the tax cheats in Obama's cabinet are bi-partisan as well.

I'm tired of hearing wealthy athletes, entertainers and politicians of both parties talking about innocent mistakes, stupid mistakes or youthful mistakes, when we all know they think their only mistake was getting caught.

I'm tired of people with a sense of entitlement, rich or poor. Speaking of poor, I'm tired of hearing people with air-conditioned homes, color TVs and two cars called poor. The majority of Americans didn't have that in 1970, but we didn't know we were "poor." The poverty pimps have to keep changing the definition of poor to keep the dollars flowing.

I'm real tired of people who don't take responsibility for their lives and actions.

I'm tired of hearing them blame the government, or discrimination, or big-whatever for their problems.

Yes, I'm [dang] tired. But I'm also glad to be 63. Because, mostly, I'm not going to get to see the world these people are making. I'm just sorry for my granddaughter.

Robert A. Hall is a Marine Vietnam veteran who served five terms in the Massachusetts state senate. He blogs at www.tartanmarine.blogspot.com

Ok, so I know...

2009-04-26T13:48:00.000-07:00

...I'm a little bit late updating this with actual updates from my life. I'm sorry! I've been busy building a person.
NOT LIKE THAT!!!!!
Building a life sized skeleton for anatomy. It's supposed to be modeled after my partner, but we decided that while the skeleton WILL have female bone structure, it still is more like a guy. It's just our natural reaction: "Katie, is this piece too big for his leg?" "No Catherine, the femur is the largest bone in his body, it's allowed to be that big." Any suggestions for a name? I was thinking Franky. Or maybe Seymore. You know, like Seymore Bones? I crack myself up.
Ugh, if the skeleton were alive, I'd kill it. I hate it that much.

I'm also studying up for my two AP tests, so school is my focus for now.
Seven weeks of school left. That means One year, Seven weeks of childhood left. Ugh. I'm dreading it. In other news, my idiotic probationary period is up exactly six months from today. For those of you who are unaware of California's laws, the supposedly conservative state has made it illegal for new drivers under 18 to drive anyone else, for any reason, for an entire year after they are licensed. I understand why they feel a need for this rule. I really do. There were two accidents caused by teenage drivers outside of my school last week alone.
But REALLY! "Ok everybody! You must all cahpool to wuk to save gahsoleene and enahgy, except fo the teenagahs, you must all drive yoh own used, 200,000 mihle, barhrely pahssing thee smog test cahs, so yu don get distrahcted."
Oh I'm horrible.
By the way, I love comments. I really do. It is a more than welcome break from the monotony that is my life.

Feeling

2009-04-19T20:54:00.000-07:00

I cannot live without books.
-Thomas Jefferson

*Sigh* Whenever I finish a good book part of me dies a little, until I pick up the next one. Just when my life starts feeling hollow and emotionless, my best(school) friend, Jadon, decides to lend me a new book, and it was just what the doctor ordered. It is actually a series of five books(so far), titled Maximum Ride, by James Patterson, and let me tell you, they are phenomenal. Nothing else makes me feel in love one moment, extreme pity the next, then laughter then horror then sorrow then adrenaline then back to love, besides a good book.
Is it bad that good books practically aremy emotions?
I swear, they are like a drug.
Brief overview of the plot line:
Set in today's world, there are six kids, Angel(6), The Gasman(8), Nudge(11), Iggy(14), Fang(14), and Maximum "Max" Ride(14). Max is the acting leader of the group of kids, who were all orphaned after they escaped from the School four years ago. These kids, though, they're not like the rest of us, and the School isn't a school. It's a genetic mutations lab. The "flock" of kids were all sent to the School as infants (by rather heinous ways), where their DNA was spliced with Avian DNA. As a result, the kids have air sacs in their bodies, hollow bones, high recovery stats, high heart rates, and...drum roll please...a wingspan of at least 10 feet. Once helped by the mutinous Jeb, a former lab worker, they find themselves suddenly all alone and being attacked on every side by Erasers. Erasers are mere children that raced into adulthood due to having had their infant DNA replaced with Lupine DNA. Yeah, that's right. Essentially, those poor kids are werewolves. Poor little Ari, a 7 year old boy and Jeb's son, has the body of a full grown wolf/man, the mind of a trained killer, and the heart of a little boy, whose father only ever loved the bird kids. One of the bird kids is taken by an Eraser back to the school, and by developing special gifts that seem to come along with the wings, the kids must go and rescue their little sibling, falling into numerous scrapes along the way, learning whom to trust and whom not to, and learning how tight the Flock's bond really is.
Patterson has done an exceptional job with this series, the first being The Angel Experiment. The story is told mostly from Max's first person perspective, but Patterson seamlessly switches to the third person point of view when the reader needs to know what happens to the other characters. Max is a believable character because she sounds just like my friends at school. The characters speak cleanly, but have a few quirks picked up from the flock's primary education: the television and the internet. Readers come to love the Flock, pity the enemy, and question where the lines of good and evil really lie. Each page has a question answered with three more questions. The series is full of action, mystery, slight romance, awe, dedication to the family, and, my favorite part, good clean fun. Emphasis on CLEAN. When a character swears, it is written out as, "The flock had a language lesson when Angel stubbed her toe and shouted some words that would have made a sailor blush" or "a slew of colorful words ran threw my head, but I restrained them." Granted, the characters do slip out a few words, but by the second book, I can count those instances on one hand.
The only other problem I can REALLY find with the series is the occasional lapse in information. Unless I missed the information (a rare occasion), I didn't know that Max is a girl until the eighth chapter. I didn't know Nudge is black until the second book. I haven't caught anything else, but it's just like the author got so caught up in his characters that he forgot that we don't all see them as clearly as he does.
For all you Twilight fans out there, I think you will love Maximum Ride. The English is a bit better, and it's not as sappy, but still just as thrilling.

Enjoy!

The Temecula Tea Party

2009-04-15T21:56:00.000-07:00

When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.
-Thomas Jefferson

THAT is what my sign says.
As much as my parents (and I) disagree with excusing me from school to make a statement, today was a special occasion. Temecula was having a Tea Party!
Just after Anatomy today I left school and headed down to the duck pond, just to, you know, check it out, stand there with a couple other people, just be another head to add to the count. Well, that is what I intended. I was unprepared for the honking and flag-waving and shouts of joy from nearly two thousand people! All of whom were there to let T-mec know that they were not going to stand for taxation without representation. In a single intersection, every corner held at least twenty people, with the corner by the duckpond holding well over one hundred.
Back behind the duck pond were even MORE people, with people talking on bullhorns and handing out stickers and being, in general, very peaceful and well-behaved. They weren't trying to start a war. They were not making plots to assassinate anyone. The people were simply exercising the vocal chords God gave them and the freedom of speech that the Founding Fathers fought for; that men died for.
Now, I must admit, I was apprehensive about leaving school for this thing, and it was NOT because I love Chaparral. I secretly (but I suppose that's no more) have a fear of public expression of...well...almost everything. Especially my political views. As much as I love the adrenalin of it all, I was terrified of going out there, just as I was terrified of standing on corners with "Yes on 8" signs. And when I say terrified, I mean I was shaking all throughout Anatomy (haha my anatomy was shaking in Anatomy). But I saw all the people and decided that no one was going to be a taxation supporter and pull a gun on all of us. Not to mention that would be very hypocritical, to support the people who want to ban guns by using a gun. (Guns don't kill people, gaping holes in vital organs kill people...if I can blame the murder on the gun, then I reserve the right to blame that misspelled word on the pen.)
All in all, I stayed at the protest longer than planned, but it was worth it. I spent half the time laughing in stupor. Don't get me wrong, I am MORE than happy to pay the taxes that pay for my education, my protection from people, my protection from fire, my protection from terrorists, my streetlights, and my judicial system. What I DON'T want to pay for are benefits for other people that I will never get to see again, stuff that's supposed to chill in a nice little fed bank for the next 40 years while I live a life. I don't want to pay for someone else's yacht. I don't want to pay for some hoo-hah to buy a nice house while my FRIENDS are kicked out of their own. That's just not cool.
Want to read awesome quotes from some dude that lived 200 years ago? Sweet, click HERE.

Just a check up on my daily life, well there isn't much to say. I promise you this has been the longest week of the school year, and the weather is making me nauseous with it's bipolar disorder, but STAR testing is next week, which means party time.

Happy Easter Everyone!

2009-04-12T12:47:00.000-07:00

There comes a time when you must choose between what is right and what is easy.

Just me saying "Hey all!" and Happy Easter!
Have a wonderful holiday and remember everything that today stands for!

I found the cutest way to dye eggs, and it should be checked out!
http://www.ourbestbites.com/2008/03/silk-dyed-eggs.html
I didn't get a chance to try it personally, but I'm looking forward to it!

Oh! And I got my prom dress yesterday! I'm going to Mormon Prom next month and decided that, regardless of whether or not I get asked, I'll still need a dress. So it's pretty and green! It's got me really excited!

Also, yes, I changed my layout again. The other one may have been a tad too dark, and the text was hard for even me to read!

Little Bon-Bon

2009-04-06T22:51:00.000-07:00

Democracy is a process by which the people are free to choose the man who will get the blame.
-Laurence J. Peter

Bon-Bons are my Orchestra Directors way of saying, "What follows is a tasty little morsel that holds little value and is a space filler", usually used to describe little easy songs used to make our concerts longer.
This will be a bit more of an informative filler post, just to catch things up.

Pictures from the Orchestra Trip:
Part I, Part II

Videos of the Orchestra:
YOUTUBE

Places I Can Be Found:
Facebook
Youtube
Twitter username: musical_kt
Email: ask me

Dad's Favorite Political Stuff:
HERE
Mike Church on Twitter
Glenn Beck

And, as always, I love staying on top of the news. So!
How d'y'all feel about the rocket N. Korea launched this weekend? SUPPOSEDLY it fell out of orbit within a day, and SUPPOSEDLY it was just transmitting revolutionary songs. Look into it, and you can decide. I'm just not sure I like China telling us to remain calm and not to act out of proportion.

Also, what about the three(? or was it two?)major earthquakes in the past two days, in places earthquakes don't really happen? The one in Italy has claimed over 100 lives, and counting.

Six o'clock - TV hour. Don't get caught in foreign
towers. Slash and burn, return, listen to yourself
churn. Lock it in, uniforming, book burning, blood
letting. Every motive escalate. Automotive incinerate.
Light a candle, light a motive. Step down, step down.
Watch your heel crush, crushed, uh-oh, this means no
fear cavalier. Renegade steer clear! A tournament,
tournament, a tournament of lies. Offer me solutions,
offer me alternatives and I decline.

It's the end of the world as we know it.
It's the end of the world as we know it.
It's the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine.

My Father's Proxy

2009-04-03T11:12:00.000-07:00

Reasons like seasons
they constantly change
and the seasons of last year
like reasons have floated away

Hey y'all. So my dad has this new request of me: I am to update all of our right-wing friends and family with whichever fun political videos or rants strike his fancy. Therefore, per daddy, I'll be updating this thing kinda regularly with links to videos on youtube and such. Dad also has me on twitter.com so if you want easier, more automatic updates, you can stalk me there. You can search my name, or my username, musical_kt.
In keeping with my new found task, there are a ton of awesome political videos that can be found HERE (Mike Church is his favorite, next to Glenn Beck)
By the way, please excuse capitalization errors for the time being. I know i love capitalizing random letters for emphasis, but seriously, right now my right shift key has something jammed under it, and I can't break habit long enough to hit the left one. I'd rather get angry at the right one.
In sadder news, this is my last official day of spring Break. My last school day off. So, here are some highlights, in rapid succession for the fun of it:
mondaytuesdaywednesday workworkworkworkwork. BORING! ThursdayFirdaySaturday Orchestra competition we tied for first YAY BOO sunday sick stay home visit Thompsons mondaytuesdaywednesday work work work thursday babysit 2 preteens AHHHH nightmare run away screaming. Today, I am going to sit in my pj's all day long, maybe swim if the pool's warm, and actually have a break while reading As I Lay Dying for English.
I have a new musical love. I'm pretty sure I've mentioned that at some point in my life, whether I be 18 or 81, I want to learn to play the cello. These guys are some of my new inspiration. It's a Metal band from Finland called Apocalyptica. Ok I know what you're thinking, if you've never heard the group play before. Sweet little Katie? A fan of Metal music originating in radical Europe?!? (Haha metal fans haha) Well yes. These four-ish (the number changes a lot) musicians met at a music academy in Helsinki in their cello class. They all decided that while Mozart is awesome, so is Metallica. Their first album is all Metal Covers. Now they're onto playing their own stuff, and among which are my favorites, Romance, and I Don't Care, featuring the lead singer of Three Days Grace. (It's not linked because the music video is mildly scandalous). The way those boys play cello is just incredible!!!!!!
So enjoy if you would like, check out those political videos if you want something to discuss with my dad, and enjoy your weekend!

The Competition

2009-03-30T22:21:00.000-07:00

A painter paints pictures on canvas. But musicians paint their pictures on silence. ~Leopold Stokowski

Well, we did it. We won. You can watch all our songs HERE. But you wouldn't think that if you looked at our orchestra Saturday night. We looked like someone died. I'll explain:
Thursday the Orchestra left Temecula after one last practice, and headed to the Aquarium of the Pacific. It was nice, but got old fast. I found out after two exhibits that there were embossing stations at most of viewing areas where the little tour books could be stamped. I made it my goal to accomplish the feat of getting all the embossments, and I accomplished my goal. I was proud. It was fun. But as I said, there is only so much to be done at an aquarium. One of the best parts about the orchestra is that we, as a class, are so tight knit that as long as we have a few decks of cards, an iPod, and speakers, we can be left alone for hours. Although we listen to incredibly varying types of music, it all has a similar core because we all know what real music sounds like. Regardless, 4 hours, 2 walks around the aquarium, 1 walk around the docks, 28 games of Egyptian Rat Screw, 15 games of BS, and 1/2 an iPod battery later, we were on our way to Medieval Times. The dinner and show were both incredible. My knight lost,(we were green [the evil one] but the blue knight was definitely cuter) I was called barbaric by my favorite viola player/good friend, and I almost caught a rose from one of the knights. Eventually we made our way to the bus, and on to our hotel.
Hotel trips are always fun with the Orchestra because the nights are filled with tradition. Boys are always a floor above the girls, the doors are always taped to make sure we don't sneak out, and nothing scandalous ever happens. But BEFORE curfew, half the kids are wandering the hallways in pajamas, sitting in front of rooms talking, and, as always, playing card games in front of the elevators. We're all too much of friends to be scandals, and we wouldn't want to wreck the trip by being stupid. There's also a general unspoken rule about not really dating inside orchestra, as a drama reducer. It happens, but it's rare, and weird. When you are in the same class for as much as 7 years, you simply know everyone else too well. It is nearly all of these aspects which separate our trips from band trips.
Friday, after the most annoying Six AM wake-up call ever, we went to the Getty Museum in LA. It was nice, but everyone was strict and distrusting of a group of teenagers. I took more pictures of the gardens than anything else. The best part was when our First Cellist discovered that all of the rough walls were hollowed out to varying densities, and therefore made different tones when struck. There is probably no odder sight at that regal museum than that of fifteen musicians hitting rock walls with open hands. But hey, entertaining is what we do best!
Saturday we had our competition. The Orchestra before us bailed, so we were at our leisure to perform whenever we wanted. Our Director, Mrs. Fuhr, switched the order of the songs last minute, but other then that we sounded ready.
We came. We played. We conquered. Literally.
The adjudicator with the task of critiquing us directly had little to say negatively, and was full of praise. She commented on two of our songs, but mostly just with style tips, and didn't say anything about our slow piece. It sounded like we won, but alas, we wouldn't know for sure until later that night. We spent the rest of the day in Disneyland, and it was incredibly hot and crowded. I have some friends in Orchestra who also take Sign Language, so we were practicing while taking a break, and one of the Disney employees came up to us and signed "Can I help you?". I signed back, "We're fine, thank you" and she smiled and left. It was so awesome! I wonder, do all workers know basic Sign Language so as to better help their patrons? We all went to California Adventure later that night for the Awards ceremony, which took place at 9 o'clock. Turns out that we received Gold, but we tied for first place with scores of 98, 95, and 89 (each of one hundered), and only won the Adjudicators Award along with it. Had we all just tried a little bit harder we could have won everything. But no. We tied. Just as good as the next group. Might as well just call us average. And only one award? It was a let down after making a clean sweep of every category last year. In all of Mrs. Fuhr's history of teaching in Temecula, in all of the six years she has been my teacher, she has won every year but one. That was Boston, and we lost to a Private Music Academy from Canada. We don't talk about that year. Tieing and only one award really was a let down for us.
We didn't get back to Temecula until around 1:30 the next morning. I was so drugged with sleep loss that I hugged two boys goodnight who I normally avoid. I don't particularly remember driving home from the school either...
You know those shirts that say "I_______ and all I got was this lousy T-Shirt"?
Well, "I worked my fingers raw for 3 months, lost my voice, got sick, and had my hopes dashed with a certain boy, all on a school trip,and all I got was a little competitors pin. And I suppose bragging rights."

Note: If you have made it this far into the post, please give yourself a pat on the back and a cookie.

Orchestra Update

2009-03-22T12:22:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone! Tis me again. Just a couple things I wanted to say today, and I'm not going to go into any epic rants about life. I promise.

First, I just wanted to mention the passing away of a dear member of our ward and our choir president, Brother Robert Welch. He was incredible man, though maybe misunderstood. Is it wrong to say that his funeral inspired me? All six of his kids are very talented string musicians, with the exception of one daughter, who sings opera. But to hear two sons pick up the cellos, one on viola, and a son and daughter both on violin and play tributes to their father, all made me realize that while I may have, in his life, thought of him as a proud man, he had good reason to be proud! He was an incredibly accomplished man, and deserves the praises he had been given. Since he moved into our ward, I think I've played my violin in sacrament or at church functions four or five times. Each time, including at each practice, Brother Welch was the first to stand up and thank me, tell me I played beautifully, or say how much I'm improving. With his passing he has inspired me to improve my musical talents, and be sure I spread the love of music onto my future children. Also, never before have I been so touched while singing that by the 3rd line of the verse did I need to just mouth the words. Brother Welch was also a very patriotic man, and so the ward choir and congregation sang Battle Hymn of the Republic as a closing song. This is the verse that got to me:

In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea,
With a glory in His bosom that transfigures you and me:
As He died to make men holy, let us die to make men free,
While God is marching on.

Thank you Brother Welch.

Also on a musical note, (haha, I'm so punny) Chaparral High School String Orchestra had our "Showcase to LA" last Friday, and I think it went pretty well. Better then expected, anyway. My mom recorded all but the first two songs, and I'm in the process of getting them all to my YouTube channel. If you get a chance, check them out please! http://www.youtube.com/user/KekiPele

Whoot! Spring Break starts now! No plans, other than work, and our Orchestra competition. Interested?
Fullerton College, I assume in the theater or performing arts center
Saturday, March 28
Listeners must be inside the performing center by 9 o'clock sharp.
Free of Charge!

Same Play, Different Actors.

2009-03-08T21:38:00.000-07:00

SOME say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I’ve tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To know that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.
-Robert Frost

I'm really becoming a fan of good poetry. But good is a subjective term, so oh well.
A few qualms have come up in life. I'm now going to rant about Twilight, boys, and history. Just a fair warning. : D

Brianne and I were discussing Twilight yesterday. As for the movie, I hadn't seen it since the midnight showing, due to a little grounding...anyway, we saw it again last night. It's a lot nicer without 100 screaming teenagers, but still pretty ridiculous. We were also discussing the book itself. Many critics, and a few English teachers, have put down Twilight because of it's poorly written quality. Brianne and I decided that while, yes, the book is not likely to become core-lit for High School English classes world wide, it will probably continue selling copies for another decade or two. Why? Because the book was not written to be torn apart in the classroom. It was meant to entertain young teenagers, mostly girls, and maybe send across some subliminal messages about morals. Not only has the book entertained it's prospective audience, it has gone above and beyond to reach those of all ages and genders.

As for Boys...Forgive me for this bit, I'm a teenage girl XD. I'm really liking the entire concept of Mormon dating. You know, like the Strength for the Youth says, about dating a lot of different people and doing group dates and all that good stuff. It doesn't talk about needing to shrug off the world's criticism for dating two different boys in two weeks and being a player, but hey, they're just jealous, right? On the flip side, getting to know different boys can have it's bad aspects. For example, sometimes a girl can agree to a date, which gets postponed a bit, then comes to realize the guy is making her his #2 choice. And he likes to tell her that, and how much he still wants to date her though, too. Not like I cared, because I just slapped a jerk label on him and tried to send him packing. However, I'm sorry to say I'm getting more and more annoyed with boys who think that everyone hates them. Seriously. Hate is such a strong word. Few people in the world actually hate anything. Really dislike, or are annoyed by, maybe, but hate? I mean, I personally hate politics and propaganda, but that's just me. I really dislike shrimp and coconut, and I'm annoyed by nosy neighbors, but I don't hate them. So over-dramatic boys that text you wondering why your best friend and all your guy friends hate him, is just plain annoying.

So...history. Economists (at least, the ones that aren't blind) say that we might be heading for a nice little second Great Depression. I would like to hear everyone's views on the last depression, specifically Franklin D. Roosevelt's impact. My History teacher would like to argue that FDR did everything he possibly could, and that he did about as well as anyone else could in ending the depression. My dad/Glenn Beck would like to argue that the only thing FDR did with his "New Deal" was prolong it. I personally think he did a really good job and few people could have done better. So, what do you think? Was FDR a socialist Commi that had no right to enforce minor martial law? Or a good man that got the nation out of it's rut? Also, because I love patterns, is History repeating itself? If so, will Obama be the next Hoover, or Roosevelt?
(That was deep. I should write for the AP board!)

Have a nice week everyone! 3 more 'till spring break!

The Man in the Glass

2009-03-01T12:56:00.000-08:00

When you get what you want in your struggle for life
And the world makes you king for a day,
Just go to the mirror and look in the glass,
And see what that man has to say

For it isn’t your father or mother or wife,
Whose judgment upon you must pass.
The fellow whose verdict counts most in your life
Is the one looking back in the glass.

Some people may say you’re a straight-shooting chum
And call you a wonderful guy.
But the man in the glass says you’re only a bum
If you can’t look him straight in the eye.

He’s the fellow to please never mind all the rest,
For he’s with you clear up to the end.
And you’ve passed your most dangerous difficult test
If the man in the glass is your friend.

You may fool the whole world down the pathway of years
And get pats on the back as you pass
But your final reward will be heartache and tears
If you’ve cheated the man in the glass.

-Anonymous

I know I posted this on my facebook too, but I just love it so much! My Eighth grade english teacher made us memorize a lot of poems and passages, including the Preamble and the Gettysburg Address. I realized that after three years, I still remembered most of this poem and the Gettysburg Address. Cleaning through my room yesterday I found them both, typed up nicer copies, and taped them to my closet doors. It made me feel happy inside.
I guess I haven't updated otherwise because not much is going on. I'm helping plan girls' camp, and am both excited and weirded out because my little sister is coming this year, and it's my last. She's so little! I forget how young I used to be, until I remember that I was the same age she is, way back on Fiesta Island in San Diego for my first year of camp.
I've been on a couple dates with different boys from Chino in the last two weeks, and they were fun. I'm finally finding joy in dating to get to know someone, and group dates.
I also have been progressively driving farther and farther from home lately. I've had my license for just over four months, and for the longest time the farthest I had ever driven was to my chiropractor's office in Wildomar. Then I had to do a service project with NHS, so on Valentines day I was up at 5:30 in the morning, driving to Lake Elsinore. Then I had my first date with a Chino boy, but it was pouring rain and we were just meeting in Corona. Still: longest solo road trip+rain+dark+car with over 202,000 miles and as old as me= a very new kind of road trip. And THEN!!! Friday I had a date with a different boy in Chino, and it was a group date with two of my old friends and their boys, so I drove ALL the way to Chino, an hour drive, spent the night, then drove back home in the morning. The greatest part was that it was my second time ever making the 91 and 71 interchanges, and my first time making them alone! And I didn't die! .........it was a major accomplishment for me..........
ANYWAY have a great March everyone, and a happy Spring!

Akeelah and the Bee

2009-02-11T22:29:00.000-08:00

I watched this movie with my mom a few days ago. I loved it more than...most other movies. I don't think I've ever been so worked up about a spelling Bee before, not even my own! But on of my favorite quotes was in the movie:

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that frightens us most. We ask ourselves, 'Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and famous?' Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that people won't feel insecure around you. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in all of us. And when we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”
-Maryanne Williamson

When I get a chance I'm going to have that framed and put in my room.

It reminded me of Girls Camp, because while we were thinking about themes, we wanted something to go with Virtue, (for those of you who don't know, Virtue is the newest Young Woman Value, and its color is gold) and I thought of Proverbs 31:10, "Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies", and from there we decided the theme of GC this year will be "Far Above Rubies". It's ward camp, so we are doing ALL the planning. It's camping. [Camping is intense and in-tents]BUT don't tell my sister! It's her first year of camp, and my last year, so I have to carefully keep her out of the loop for EVERYTHING!
Also, March 26-28 my high school orchestra is competing in the National Heritage Festival in L.A., at Fullerton College(I think). If anyone will be around that weekend and would like to hear us play, I believe it will be on Saturday that we actually perform. You are ALL invited. OR, sometime before that we are having our Showcase, so you can hear us perform our Festival pieces and others in our stash of music, right here at home. More details to come!

Hmm...

2009-02-02T22:13:00.000-08:00

I was talking to my English teacher recently about which 12th grade English course she would recommend me to, and she was automatically set on me taking AP English Literature. She always gives me high marks on my essays and says she loves to read what I have to say. The following is what I DON'T show her:

You know when you've just kind of hit an...emotional slump? Like you have plenty of reason to be perfectly happy, but you just can't seem to perk up?...yeah. With the exception of school, I was kind of like that all weekend. I don't know why. Maybe it's because another Single's Awareness Day is coming up, or my brother is leaving for the Border Patrol academy soon, or just nothing. And I've had my iPod on shuffle just randomly going through songs, and it seems like it's playing all of the ones that fit my mood, meaning they are slower and not always the most cheerful. Oh well.
I DID say with the exception of school, right? RIGHT!??!?! CAUSE AT SCHOOL I WAS A SPAZZ!!! I was sitting there, bouncing off the walls. It was FUN! And I was conducting in Orchestra and was like bouncing-bouncy-bouncy-boing boing boing ladee dah WHOA got off track...But yeah and we were playing this HORRIFICALLY slow song and the violins kept telling ME to SLOW DOWN (Even though I was conducting so they should have been following me regardless)(speaking of which, ~zimcod7 where WERE you!) and Mr. Wall just sat there and laughed as I bickered with the viola's regarding whether or not they were allowed to ask me a question. It went something like this:
Mark: KT KT KT CAN I ASK YOU A QUESTION??????!?
Me: NO YOU CANNOT! YOU JUST DID!!!!
Mark: but wait I need to ask you something!
Me: NOPE You LOST your privilege when you asked me a question without asking!
Mark: But but but....KTKTKTKTKTKTKTKTKT *waves hand frantically*...
Me: WHAT!!!
Mark: I can't remember, what was I gonna ask you?!
Sean: KTKTKTKTKTKTKTKTKT...HI.
Me: SEAN I DID NOT GIVE YOU PERMISSION TO SPEAK!!!!
Sean: But but but
Me: FAIL!
Mark: Hey KT! HI!
Maria: *to the whole class* HEY GUYS SHUT UP!
Someone: No Why don't YOU shut up?!
Me: We have GOT to be the nicest class EVER!
Maria: Hey guys, Shut up PLEASE!
Me:Thank you Maria. Ok, ready? GO!

I loved the Doritos commercial yesterday. The one that was like:
Hey look I've got a REAL crystal ball!
No way.
Yeah huh. Watch. Mr. Crystal ball,will we get free doritos today?
*Throws Crystal Ball at doritos vending machine*
*glass front of vending machine breaks, exposing Doritos*
Sweet we do!
Also, My boss talked to the crazy lady (the one that chewed me out last week) today, and after he was done he just walks over to me a bit:
"She's a wild one isn't she?" says he.
"Well...she's not the...most understanding person I've ever met" says I.
Boss gives me this face like, "Now that's an understatement if I ever heard one"

I ate the deep fried Oreos today at EZ Take-Out Burger today. I HIGHLY recommend them. Jared compared them to a funnel cake. I've never had it, but he IS the culinary genius, so I'll trust him with that comparison.

A Lashing

2009-01-28T19:10:00.000-08:00

"'Welcome to the Real World' she said to me, condescendingly, 'take a seat'".
No Such Thing by John Mayer.
Humans make mistakes. This is a truth widely accepted. I make mistakes. This is a truth widely known.
Yesterday at work we were trying to call around to fill up some empty appointments for today's schedule. My Coworker suggested I try a woman scheduled for next week, so I did. I called and offered her either the 2:30 or the 3:30, and she said 'oh that's good'. [me]"ok, so 2:30 is ok? Great, see you then". [her]'ok.So today 2:30 rolls around and we're wondering where she is. She strolls in a 3:30 for her appointment, a spot I had already placed a different patient...
I apologized whole heartedly and admitted my mistake, but that doesn't always work in the professional world. This woman was UPSET. I kind of just sat there nest to my coworker for a good 15 minutes trying to work something out with her, but she was just so MAD! She finally leaves after re-making her original appointment.
10 minutes later, she calls and asks to speak to my boss. I apologetically tell her I'm sorry, he is with a patient and can't come to the phone.
'That's fine' she says 'put me on hold. I'll wait.'
So I go tell my boss the situation, and he gives me this 'you're kidding' look and tells me he is not going to sit there and take the heat for the front desks' mistake. So my supervisor gets on the phone with her and somehow magically gets the woman to accept that the Doctor will call her back later.
Nevertheless, I wanted to go home and curl up in a ball and cry. I mean, I know I've made mistakes in the office before, but I can count them on one hand...
My supervisor called me after I left to remind how grateful they were that I helped out as much as I did and that I don't have to schedule anymore if I don't want to...
But I think It'll be ok. One indecent won't crush me...I just never want to see that woman again...

Hmm...

2009-01-20T21:12:00.001-08:00

Inauguration Day. Yummy.
I have decided to take it upon myself to be as respectful as possible towards the new leader of our country. He won by majority rule, which is the fairest method on Earth today that I can think of, with the exception of the calling of the President of the Church. Actually, I didn't even know today was the inauguration until around 9 o'clock last night, and then I had work this morning so I didn't watch it.
My emotion towards the new President is more curious than anything. I'm not about to go burn effigies along with our friends in the middle east, nor am I going to put his framed picture in my bedroom. I am just curious to see what his plans are, how many of them will actually be carried out and other things. WILL he really bring our country down, or will he surprise the other 48% and raise us up? We'll just have to see. After all, if he does well, no harm done. If he does poorly, hopefully he'll be removed from office quickly enough before major damage is done. But I will admit, I was one of those who have been praying that he is moved by the Hand of God just as our previous successful Presidents have been.
One interesting tidbit that could be related:
When Thomas Jefferson was running for President against John Adams and eventually won, the Government shifted from being dominated by Democratic Republicans to Federalists, and did so in an essentially peaceful manner. It was considered Jefferson's Revolution because the power shifted peacefully, without the threatened civil war and with John Adams' head still on his shoulders. (It was a much debated topic:What happens to Ex-Presidents? A popular choice was to behead them, but luckily some people had more sense and figured they should just disappear peacefully into forgotten-land.)
So, once again, the power has been shifted peacefully, with both President Bush and President Obama still living, as expected.
Now is the time for us to just sit back, relax, and enjoy the show, for no matter what happens, it is sure to be one.

Coolest site I've found in a long time

2009-01-10T12:38:00.000-08:00

Ok, so I just found out that the church has produced a new website for the Youth, and it's REALLY cool! I'm so dang excited about it that I'm sharing it with everyone! The website is called A Brand New Year and is here*. But I mean the site is loaded with Scripture mastery games, talks, new era issues, songs, books and EVERYTHING that is awesome about the Church, directed ESPECIALLY towards the Youth!

So check it out and let me know what you think! I want to know I'm not the only one excited about this!

-KT

*If the link does not work, the website itself is http://abrandnewyear.lds.org

Back to the Grind

2009-01-09T21:41:00.000-08:00

I loathe school. I decided if (or when) I become a teacher, homework will be done away with...or graded for credit...or participation. Yeah, something like that. I really don't like the whole "go to school for eight hours, then expect at least an hour of homework per class each night." I PROMISE you that is what it says on all my class sylibi...sylluby...shoot the plural of syllabus! My AP classes say expect 2 hours! How can I expect another 8 hours of homework plus have a job and extra after school class? OH no. I guess I don't loathe school. I just loathe homework. The extra practice is fine, I guess. But if it's PRACTICE it shouldn't be GRADED!!! grrr... death to finals. Ok, not really, but still...I'm an angry Katie.

Just Some Updates on my Life

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

Christmas is over! A bittersweet thing...much more bitter than sweet though. And yes, I DID feel the Christmas spirit, which I'm very glad about. I'm also incredibly glad that my talk went well today and my quartet sang beautifully, and all I have left to do in my room is finish finding places for everything.
OH! I just realized I forgot to mention that. For the first time in at least ten years, I slept in my own room last night. When I say 'my own room' I mean, there was no one else in there because the room was ALL MINE! We kind of officially moved my brother out of his room and moved my sister in, gave her the bunk beds she and I had been sharing, and put me into my new big bed, a nice hand-me-down from Uncle Chris! (Thanks, by the way, for wanting a bigger bed at Grandma Sherry's house!)It finally looks like I HAVE a room, not just a hollowed out section of the house where we crammed two beds, two dressers, some shelves, and a desk. I'm not ashamed to invite friends up to SEE my room anymore either, because you can actually move inside it AND I have a floor AND there is room to THINK! The ONLY problem I have encountered with the arrangement is that I have two under-bed storage boxes left, and there is no 'under the bed'. The drawers work well, I s'pose. I just have to go through them still. AND! I got a bookcase! Because I no longer have a headboard that can hold all my books, and they really don't belong in the family bookshelf, Mom emptied out an older bookcase we had and now it is in my room! The scary part is, the 3 shelves are already almost filled with all my favorites.
Now tomorrow I'm going back to work, and Tuesday night my family will leave to visit my dad's brother in Hurricane, Utah, for New Years. I'll also be going to the New Years Stake Dance with my 15 year old cousin, so that will really be different. Then I'll be back home on Friday (I think) and then back to school on Monday! *dies inside at the thought*
Oh oh oh!!! I just saw The Best Two Years for the first time today. WHY had no one ever Velcroed me to a chair and made me watch it before? I LOVE that movie now! It was so incredible and inspiring!
Also, big shout out to my new "blogging" friends, Mama Youngest and Mama Jeager, my beautiful Young Woman's leaders! HI!

I'll get around to posting my New Years Resolutions sometime this week I hope, but we'll see.

I also had a question for my readers. I've been getting warned by a few different people that because I'm going to be filling out college applications soon, I need to get rid of my facebook, blog and other things like them. I've been told that the college admissions boards will check all these things when I apply, and see who I associate with and things like that, and that will be a very heavy factor in the admissions process. So, my question is: Do I need to delete my social networking pages? I know I'm not linked to anyone that really would put a black mark on my name, but still... so what do you think?

Love to all, and Happy New Year,

KT

CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!

2008-12-23T22:15:00.000-08:00

Christmas day is on it's way the signs are everywhere!
Up and down across the town the Christmas spirit is there!
Joyful sounds and sights abound, the streets are filled with love!
All in celebration of a child sent from above!
(I believe the song is called 'Christmas Day is on it's Way', but I'm not sure. I sang it with my stake Youth Creche Choir)

Christmas Eve is in...about... an hour and a half. It's EPIC!!!! I am SO bummed that it's almost over! I feel like I haven't even fully grasped that's it's Christmas!
Oh well, I have a day or two left.

So I have to give a talk in church on Sunday... even though I just gave one two months ago. (They're trying to catch up, I think, since they didn't ask me to speak in church for a good 2 1/2 years between the time I was 13 and the she spring of my 15th year ) I almost want to take it as a bad omen though. My very first talk ever was on the Sunday after Christmas, and it didn't go well. At all. My friends still get a kick out of my mess-ups, four years later. But it's all good, I'm actually kind of excited! I'm talking on 'The Healing Power of Forgiveness', a talk given by Pres. Faust in the Spring '07 conference, and it will be my 3rd talk this year.

Also, we had a work party today, which was incredibly small, since the Doctor only keeps a staff of 8 people. But we had an Italian potluck and Secret Santa. For my Contribution, I brought Jared's special Pizza, and came incredibly close to cutting off the tip of my finger in the process. I even have the slice in my fingernail to prove it. Then I gave my closest friend in the office a copy of 'One Bright Shining Hope'(I think) and received a copy of Fever Pitch from one of the other really nice women. Then the dear Dentist said some really nice words about each of his staff members, and it was incredible for a few reasons: 1st, he said something nice about EVERYONE! 2nd, he said that, even though he doesn't show it, he cares about each of us, thinks about us individually occasionally, and appreciates our efforts, and 3rd was the simple fact that HE WAS SPEAKING FOR AT LEAST 5 WHOLE MINUTES STRAIGHT!!!!!! I was astonished! He is normally such a quiet, but gruff man. It gave me warm Christmas fuzzies inside.

I'm also officially registered for my spring college course, ASL II, and am SO excited for class to start. I'm taking through the same teacher that I had ASL I with, which will make the transition from class to class feel like practically nothing. I ALSO found out that I only missed a total of 6 points on my hundred point ASL I final!! I know at least two of those points are because I was late and missed the first phrase my teacher signed. I ended up passing the class with a 97%. I think that may be the best I've ever done in any class, but then again, it's the only class I've ever taken where I'm learning to speak.

Tomorrow I'm off to see all those crazy people I'm related to, and I just hope I'll be able to feel the Christmas spirit with all the madness.

Merry Christmas everyone, and remember the Reason for the Season!!!!!!

Nothing

2008-12-16T18:53:00.000-08:00

You know when you reach a point in life where you just have to take a step back, and decide what happens next? I'm there.
I pretty much had to decide between: a)working myself dead, but getting my make-up history work finished, even if it means four more 1 am nights, or b)just give up here, forget about it, try and do well on the final, but ultimately take the failing grade, and if nothing else, just take the simple, boring, average 11th grade History class as a senior, get the credits, and pray everything still turns out ok. I mean, I'm in a college US History class. Some people just aren't cut out for that kind of thing. I might not be cut out for that level stuff right now. Well, I MIGHT not be cut out for it, but that doesn't mean I'm not going to take option A. I'm going to stay up all week and finish my work, and I'm going to try as hard as possible to pass that class.
I also had to take into consideration my math class. I tool the easier class this year, which is out of my character, but it could have been one of the better decisions of last semester. I had to consider, however, do I stay in Pre-Calculus, even though it's a challenging class that will only get harder, or do I flake out and take the much easier trigonometry class? Yeah, typical me, I'm not quitting that class either. I don't learn well, do I?
And then this spring, I will take the AP US History Exam, the AP English exam, the SAT and the ACT, and begin my college applications. Ooo I'm so excited I could scream! [heh heh *nervous twitch*]

Why English is Evil

2008-12-12T16:10:00.000-08:00

After staying up until 11 o'clock or later for the past week working on a final project for English, which was a giant essay filled with 18 normal size ones, I finally turned it in today at a final size of 25 pages, MLA format, with a bibliography.
And last night was the best...I didn't go to bed until around 1:30, never really did read all the way through my essay to proof-read, it's actually missing a section because for the life of me I could not find a professional literary criticism of Fahrenheit 451 at one in the morning, and I drank more water while writing than I do in an average week.
My sweet mom tried to stay up with me the entire time, but she only made it 'till about 12:30.
Also last night, I had to get my sister ready for her first middle school choir performance, which took a good hour out of work time, and THEN the fun began. about half an hour before I had to drive Bailee to the school, a salesman knocks at the door, asking for the heads of the household. I didn't open the door wide, because I was using one leg to keep the dog in, but I still got a pretty good look at the guy. 15 minutes later when I went to get my binder out of the car, he was there, just leaning against the streetlight across from my house. Now there are only houses on one side of my street, and I'm towards the end, so I thought it was a weird place to stop and wait. another 15 minutes passed, I had to take Bailee to the school, and he was still there. I didn't like the looks of him, so I double checked that all the doors were locked. I mean, I TOLD him my parents weren't home, and now we were leaving. needless to say, I BOOKED it to the school and back, and when I came back, he was gone, but my doors were in tact and the dog was peacefully in his kennel, but he didn't leave my side the rest of the night, unless he was guarding the door.
I went back to essay writing, but out of curiosity, I got up to peek around my Christmas tree at the light across the street, and he was there again. Almost right then, one of my neighbors calls me up, and asks if I knew him, but I didn't. She was getting worried too, but she had to leave soon, so when I told her I was home alone, she called one of my other neighbors, and asks him to go see what's up, but he wasn't home yet. So neighbor #1 calls the police and asks them to check the guy out. I was on the phone with my mom at this point, telling her what was going on, and was still on the phone with her when police came a few minutes later. Neighbor #2 came over as soon as he got home, and said he talked to the guy, who just said his ride wasn't here yet. My neighbor also invited me to stay with him and his wife for a few hours, so I wasn't home alone, and brought in my trashcans and mail so I didn't have to go outside again. I'm so glad my neighbors are bigger guys. I sat in the window behind my tree and gave my mom a play-by-play of the police-stranger interaction. He pulled up, shined all his big lights right in the guys eyes, and talked to him for about half an hour. I saw stranger hand over his ID, and his little black book that he'd been carrying around. The policeman continued talking to him, gestured at all the houses a few times, then eventually left, with the guy still sitting on the curb.
I figured the guy's story checked out, so I went back to writing while my dog laid down in front of the door, and I turned on my house alarm system. I had probably lost a good two hours of writing by now. I checked outside and hour later, and the guy was gone, but 15 minutes after that, he was back again.
Neighbor #1 called a while later to tell me she and her husband were home again, and neighbor #2 came over to tell me that the guy had been gone for a while. He gave me his cell phone number just in case I had any problems, told me to just keep my doors locked and reset my alarm system, and he was gone too. I finally went back to writing my essay for the next 5 hours. Maybe that is why mom tried to stay up with me...
Talk about neighborhood watch. I want to bake my neighbors cookies or something, to say thanks for watching out for me last night. I know the first one let the police know there was a 16 year old girl home alone, and the police did do a few drive-byes. It reminded me of when my mom left me home and I was littler, and I kept hearing strange noises and got really scared, so I set the alarm and locked the doors that time too, until daddy came home.
AND THEN after about 4 hours of sleep, I went to seminary, slept in the back of my friends van before school, then made it all the way through first period, turned in my essay, and heading straight for the nurse during the passing period. I told her I felt sick and just wanted to go home, but she wouldn't even talk to me except to tell me I needed a pass! So I walked all the way to 2nd period, walked straight to my teacher and said "please write me a pass to the nurse. She won't see me without one." He took one look at me, handed me the pass and said "I take it you're not feeling well." I managed a weak smile and left, because I really did feel sick by this time.
I then waited for 10 minutes while the nurse finished a call about some exciting new property for sale. She finally comes over and says,"so you've got a cold?"
"I had mono a few months ago and..." she didn't let me finish my sentence.
"Ok, go ahead and give mom a call, let me talk to her, and if she says it's ok, I'll send you home." My mom and I were already secret cohorts though--if the nurse didn't let me out, she call and check me out. But I was excused, drove home, crashed in bed and slept for the next 6 hours, only waking up because my head was throbbing and I was hungry.

And that long tale is why English is evil. I blame the essay.

Me...whining

2008-12-07T21:23:00.000-08:00

I've been pretty busy lately, with homework and holiday preparations and festivities. A lot of homework has been thrown around, with a dozen page essay due this week, a model of a cochlea that I'm *praying* will get done, anatomy tests, a lot of history that needs to be studied, and some gigantic ASL finals that I'm not TOO scared of...but I definitely want to do well. I also had a piano recital and then an orchestra concert last Thursday. If I can get a recording from my teacher, I'll post it; she recorded my entire recital performance.
Hmm...the essay is for my English class...the one that I'm only passing with a decent grade because I can spin off some awesome smaller essays off the top of my head. Anyway, this essay is supposed to be basically 5 or 6 essays all bunched into one nice one. I'm writing mine on Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury.
As for anatomy...I believe the Cochlea may be one of the hardest things to build. Ever. Like harder than that bunny rabbit I made out of a milk carton in 2nd grade, and even harder than the mouse trap powered car I made in 8th grade. One of the hardest parts though, I have to admit, is working in a group. I've worked in too many groups where I either end up getting left out or doing all the work, so when a teacher mentions "group project"...I cower in fear. And I didn't know we COULD work on this one alone...which apparently we could. So after pretty much planning, organizing and building most of the project, I did my least favorite thing: I drove it to one of my partners houses...and left it there for her to work on. I wouldn't have done it if I had time to work on it tomorrow, but I don't. It will have to be a lesson for me in learning to trust people I guess.(Because in general, I don't. Sad but true.) The Ear is also one of the hardest parts of the Human Body to study and learn about as well. It's one of those organs where a tube can be fully connected and has one fluid running throughout it, but the fluid on one end has one name, and at the other end has another name. I'm getting SO confused with all the scala vestibuli's and scala timpani's and timpanic membranes and EVERYTHING!! Because the eardrum is NOT the eardrum anymore. Nor is the ear the ear. It's the pinna, or the external auditory something or other... get my point?
History...I'm studying it...I guess just not the right things...which is why I keep failing tests supposedly. I'm working on it though.
Sign Language: I have to learn and memorize 2 minutes worth of signing on my favorite movie, which is Pride and Prejudice. Then my teacher will sign phrases and words, and I have to translate it on paper. Should be easy enough, but I get such shaky hands when I'm nervous, and my teacher commented on it once. It's not good to have shaky hands when you are using them to speak.
Today was an undoubtedly different Sunday for me, because for the better part of the day, I was on my own. I woke up and no one was home, so I drove to practice for one of the 3 singing performances I have this month, got all nice and ready, and ALMOST ended up sitting by myself all through sacrament meeting. But luckily, I arranged to sit with Bri, so it was ok, But it still felt weird being at church alone.

I posted a link to one of my favorite sheet music downloading place, here, so check it out if you want. I just downloaded Come Sail Away, performed by Styx, for my mom. It's fun to play, not too hard. But now I should probably go study...or sleep. Whichever comes first. Or dominates over the other.

Thanksgiving

2008-11-27T15:35:00.000-08:00

I love Thanksgiving. Insane family, Good food, and a Thankful spirit, all with plenty to go around.
I love waking up and smelling the Turkey already in the oven.
I love when Grandma and Grandpa get here first and I can show off to Grandma how good I'm getting at piano.
I love when my Aunt and Uncle have their transmission break down in the middle of the lane on the freeway and their AAA card expired last month so Dad and Grandpa are off to go rescue them in a car that won't fit them all anyway while I stay home searching and calling every rental car place between Corona and Temecula and the ONLY ones open today HAPPEN to be at the Ontario Airport. Not good business on the agencies' part.
I love when my insane relatives finally come over and I'm left to care for their ill-behaved children
I love trying to escape everything but the noise of people trying to debate politics (even after the election) and my Uncle being a show off with his medical expertise (most of which I think is a ton of crock.I was surprised he didn't chew me out for not seeing a physical therapist for my finger [because it doesn't bend straight] like he chewed out my dad) is incredibly stressful.
I love getting sick to my stomach right after dinner and sleeping (somewhat) for the next two hours, until just after everyone had left. I DID feel bad that I missed cleanup.
I love sharing a pillow with my dog as Mom, Dad, Sister, and I all crashed on the couch to watch old reruns and Disney movies. (The Incredibles was on tonight. It's amazing)

Thanksgiving is a wonderful time of year. It was really cool getting (excuse the fact that I'm a product of the 21'st century) over two dozen texts from friends and family wishing me a Happy Thanksgiving, and THEN going through my contact list and sending well wishes back! Black Friday is tomorrow. It's ALMOST tempting to peruse around some stores and see what they have to offer. I have MOST of my stuff bought already, but there are a few people still present-less on my list. But come ON people! There are already some insane shoppers lining up outside of department stores. WHAT is so important that it requires getting good workers out of bed early, just so you can start your shopping at FOUR THIRTY IN THE MORNING?!?!?!? sorry...
Anywho, I hope everyone had and excellent Thanksgiving. I'll say this much: mom made cooked and excellent Turkey, made perfect because she BRINED it overnight! Delicious! And there were about 7 pies, plus one that never settled, none of which were eaten, and four of which, only one family in attendance actually ate! (We're not a big pumpkin family)
One of the ladies at work said the cutest thing yesterday, and I just had to share it. It won't sound nearly as cute because you don't know Michelle and a computer can't pull off her voice, but it was a quote from Winnie the Pooh:
"I wasn't going to EATs it Rabbit! I was only going to TASTE it!"
Gotta love it.
Oh well. That was my insane Thanksgiving. Now, Merry Christmas!!!

Whoa Dang!

2008-11-22T22:41:00.000-08:00

I've got over 100 hits on my blog! Woo!! I always love hitting the 100 mark on things.
Let's see...what's new...what's new?
I went to see the Twilight premier...it was incredible. I only waited in line for 5 1/2 hours. Which is more than Harry Potter 5, which I waited in line for for 3 hours, but was about in the same place in line. Crazy, I know. Twilight actually made #3 in "most pre-sale tickets sold", beat only by The Dark Night, and "Star Wars...III", I believe. And is in the top ten somewhere for greatest revenue or whatever they call it for the first weekend.
I'm...grounded again. It doesn't happen that often really. Twice a year, tops. That old adage, "If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always gotten", apparently does not work in high school. So when I skated through my classes with a 4.0 Freshman year, then with a 3.6 Sophomore, I SHOULD have seen the trend. It is apparently impossible for me to get through this years AP classes the same way I got through last years AP class. Whoops, my bad. It MAY also be impossible for me to also have a job and an extra college course, but I haven't really decided on that one yet. Anyway, as a result of my laziness I'm spending my Thanksgiving Break exactly as I had intended: going to work and doing homework. Except now, it's forced, not my choice, and if any of my friends were in town or healthy, I would not be able to hang with them. Either way, there is no one to hang with anyway.
I also baked two desserts today and made myself rangoons. YUM! But the desserts weren't for me. They are for the NHS (National Honor Society) bake sale I have tomorrow. Bummed it's on a Sunday, but I need to go so I'll work half a shift. All the proceeds are going to the Humane Society, so it's not all bad, right?

By the way, One may not truly appreciate how long a Dr. Suess book is, specifically "Green Eggs and Ham" until they are standing in front of a class holding up the book and turning pages while their friend is signing EVERY STINKING WORD. The point was for us to get the hang of translating, which means not using "Signed English" (Signing word for word) but using standard American Sign Language and turning each sentence into a phrase. So instead of "I do not like them Sam I Am" it's "I - not like - [point] - [name sign for Sam I Am]" It's a lot simpler and less tiring. Learn Sign Language, it's good for you. :)

Follow Up on Sound and Fury

2008-11-18T23:00:00.000-08:00

For anyone who cares all too much, this is the essay I ended up writing for English. I don't like it that much; I'm suffering a sever case of writers block tonight. Oh well. Enjoy if you can:

Leroy Brownlow once said, “There are times when silence has the loudest voice”. But what is silence? Is it something that we must live with, or something we could not live without? The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines silence as forbearance from speech or noise, absence of sound, or absence of mention. Silence is nothing more than a concept, an idea subjective to each individual person’s definition.
Noise is the opposite of silence, and noise is all around us. Noise can be beautiful just as easily as it can be revolting. People talk but say nothing; shouting, sirens, horns, alarms, arguing, contention; all derive mainly from noise. There is a reason many monks live in silence. Their lifestyle reflects their desire to find the things and hear the sounds that are missed when we are too busy talking to listen. Mankind could learn from them. We live in a world where kids and adults alike seem to only be able to thrive in a noisy world. They hear only from the earphones tamped in their ears and would not even hear it if all the books in the world burned. I too have felt the addiction to noise tear at me as I sit in a quiet classroom attempting to work, unable to focus my thoughts. But as I grow more accustomed to silence, I learn to feel its beauty; to recognize what I had been missing when all I heard was what I put directly in my ear. Psychologists have analyzed that those same people who feel a need to hear music and noise constantly, are those who are too afraid to be alone with their own thoughts.
Consider the deaf and hard-of-hearing community. They live in relative silence, but only because a part of their body does not receive the sound, not because the world is void of sound waves. To them, silence is normal, and often if a noise is to be heard at all, it must be so loud and at such a frequency as to further damage the ears, and is often physically painful. Imagine living in a world where a person does not even hear thoughts in their head, but instead feels the concept. Without ever knowing the sound of a word, it could not be ‘heard’ in their head. A word could be seen as it is to be spelled, and what it represents, but that word would have no sounds that went along with it.
Anatomically, when a person speaks, they can mainly hear only themselves because they hear both their voice in waves, as well as the vibrations through their bones. My teachers always told me if I wanted to be a better listener, I needed to be less of a talker. They were right. Must we spend a year in silence to better understand the sound of a whisper? Probably not, but it wouldn’t be a bad idea every now and then to turn off the sound and just listen to what is there. One may find that silence is not as empty as they first believed. When a grand orchestra finishes a song, and everyone has stopped playing, a patron may hear the literally loud silence that happens after the last note and before the applause, because the resonance still rings in the air. Even silent movies had background music. Silence is a conduit of thought through which a person may truly find themselves, because even in silence, there never really seems to be any absence of sound, noise, or thought.
Though beautiful, silence can at times be painful. There is a reason we use the ‘silent treatment’ as children, and even sometimes as adults. The silence is meant to not only keep the upset from speaking something they may regret, but to spurn the recipient into sorrow, remorse, and maybe even pain at the realization of how they hurt the dealer of the silence. Silence is a shield and a dagger, used to preserve and to pierce. An unknown author depicted it perfectly: “Spiteful words can hurt your feelings but silence breaks your heart.”
So what is silence? Is it the absence of sound, noise, and speech as the dictionary says, or is it simply an absence of needless loud distractions? Silence can be harming, demeaning, derogatory, disgraceful, ignorant, and rude, or it may be peaceful, pleasing, relaxing, settling, and full of wisdom. What we say rings out long after we have stopped speaking. What we do rings out long after we have stopped acting. Silent defiance speaks volumes, when used in the right way. Silent acceptance sings sonnets when used in the correct context. Sometimes we need to get angry. Sometimes we need to be heard. Sometimes we need to speak up for what we know is right. Other times, we need to stay silent. When the world is throwing its accusations every which way, speaking in haste and anger would only be confirming its allegations. Abraham Lincoln said, "Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt". Just because something can make less sound then a whisper does not make it any less powerful than a double-edged sword.

My Night at the Ball

2008-11-16T21:48:00.001-08:00

Last night I had a once in a life time opportunity (most likely) to attend the March Field Military Ball, "An Anniversary Salute". Let me tell you, it was incredible. Like nothing I had seen before, accepting maybe the changing of the guard at The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington National Cemetery. The Ball began with me putting on my really nice formal gown (brand new, $25, Salvation Army), the cute little jacket my mom made me to make it modest, sitting for half an hour while mom made my hair just right, then spending the next two hours helping others get ready. Then we drove out to Riverside, all VERY hungry, and walked through the foyer of alcohol-thirsty Ball go-ers and wedding attendees from the room next door, and into the Ballroom. It was incredible! We found our table at the very front, right next to the stage (it helps when the one taking you to the Ball has a father that's a colonel and is #2 over all the base[love ya Bri]) then pushed my dear friend's mom in her wheelchair to the back to find the bed set up for her. After about 30 minutes of trying to locate said bed, we finally found it, then got to sit down at our table with all our names typed out on cute little cards and a delicious looking salad already set out. (Remember, by this point we were even hungrier.) BUT, military protocol forbade us from touching it. In fact, here all the March Field Military Ball "Rules of Engagement":
1. Thou shalt wear the appropriate attire
2. Thou shalt be seated in the dining room prior to 1845 hours
3. Thou shalt not leave the dining room or cause disturbance during military ceremonies. Military protocol overrides all calls of nature or thirst for beverage
4. Thou shalt give respect to whomever commands the floor
5. Thou shalt not consume thy meal until the Wing Commander announces, "Dinner is Served"
6 Though shalt consume thy meal in a manner becoming a gentleperson
7. Thou shalt not engage in allowing any portion of thy meal to become airborne
8 Thou shalt enjoy thyself to the fullest without offending the local constabulary

Once everyone was seated, the Honored Guests were introduced (I was a guest of an honored guest...very fun), the Distinguished Visitors were introduced, and then my favorite part of the entire night began. The flags were presented from each branch of the Armed Forces with members of those forces presenting them, and to see the regal of those men was astonishing. Everything was perfect and pristine, exact to a T, exactly like you would want the protecting you to behave. To see each flag get walked up the aisle, then slowly bowed down (I never learned the technical term for the flags being lowered as they were presented) and raised up. After the Armed Forces' flags came the California flag, and then, finally, the American Flag. Little can ever be seen as patriotically beautiful as a man in uniform solemnly carrying that flag up to join the others, and then seeing the American Flag stay upright as the others all, (in perfect unison, might I add) bowed under it. Incredible. After the National Anthem was sung, the flags were posted in another beautiful ceremony. A brief prayer followed, then came the POW/MIA service. Did you know that at all formal military gatherings where there is eating involved, a place is set for the POW/MIA's that would have been there were they not at that moment lost? Another ceremony took place where the same men who carried the flags carried a hat from their military branch and placed it, in a very uniform and ceremonial way, on the table. The symbolism of everything on and about the table was read aloud, and one POW/MIA from each branch was named and saluted, one lost as recent as the 90's, one lost as long ago as the Cold War.
The Airmen's Creed was featured, then came the Honor Guard. Six men from around the country bearing rifles or a saber came in and, to a cadence perfectly practiced and polished, proceeded to throw real, functioning rifles with a real bayonet fixed to the end to each other and in the air and down their backs. It was amazing incredible insane...still searching for the right word. The way it was set up was there were four riflemen in a square, one man in the center with his saber how did not move the entire time except to walk on and off stage, and one other rifleman who stood a bit of a ways off and simply watched, but all men were in perfect formation, and NEVER broke cadence. Now this wasn't your color guard baton tossing foolishness. Oh no! This was let's toss our bayonetted rifles through the air then catch them in rhythm with the pointy ends ON the Saberman's throat...in unison. Or lets all put our rifles in the air then suddenly place them all down, one at a time, so the pointy ends make a box around Saberman's head! Then let's toss them in the air and roll them down our backs and catch them, then throw them at each other!!!!! Their prestige was phenomenal. But then the unexpected happened. One of the men dropped his rifle. You could hear a pin drop; the room was silent. No one moved, I was in shock. How could he drop his rifle? With that much training and work and honor... did they still flog people in the military? But...get this...still, there was no lapse in the cadence. We were able to see what the sixth man was for. Every man in the formation froze exactly where they were. The man who dropped his came to attention. The sixth man marched up, placed his rifle in the man's hands, then picked up the dropped rifle and marched back to his place. As soon as he was back in place, the cadence began again, as if nothing had ever stopped it.
Finally! A very nice dinner was served, and the bar was opened, and people drank and danced and danced and drank. I made friends with the uniformed techies in the back with Bri's mom. Then we went home...around midnight. Bri and I made videos in the back of the car on the way, I went into an empty convenience store in the middle of the night IN my dress, and then I got home and crashed in bed. We DID get a Novelty Anniversary Wine glass, an awesome novelty March Anniversary coin, a sweet name tag with "Miss Thompson" on it, a really good use out of a cheap dress, and, of course, the memories.
What I learned:
Military is awesome. Uniforms are handsome. Drunk people are FUNNY dancers.
More people need to see/have/feel the respect those men gave to their nation, their flags, their comrades in arms, and their honor. Nothing can beat it.

Because I Should Be Doing Homework

2008-11-13T20:56:00.000-08:00

This is what I do when I should be doing other things. But you know, I have an excuse today. Kinda...
After going to seminary, then school, then staying for lunch and 6th period (which I usually refer to differently than school, because it's my work experience class, and I'm usually only at school for lunch and 6th period once a week, the rest of the time I leave after 5th) I went to work for a few hours to make up since I took the day off yesterday in favor of getting an extra 6 hours of sleep. So I went to work on my day off, where I got NONE of my normal work done because everyone needed help with something else... then I went to my Brianne's house to see her new and improved Cast-less foot. FINALLY I went home. But, alas, as I walk in, dear brothers girlfriend walks out with a sweet, "Hey Katie, so you know, your brothers sick upstairs. Stomach flu or something." Ok...he's asleep, I'll take care of him when he gets up. Of COURSE he only comes home when he's infectious. Unfortunately, he's awake, and of course, needy. So I get what he needs. I love my brother. I'm his closest connection to this family. BUT! Not 20 minutes later, dear sister comes home. And of course, she has caught some kind of NASTY cold, made worse when she played soccer out in the cold tonight.
One large bowl of Chicken soup and a run to the drug store later, sister is in bed, brother is crashed on the couch, Pepto- Bismal in hand, dad's at work, and mom is finally on her way home.
To reward myself for playing nurse, I decided to procrastinate. Oh WAIT!!!! I do that anyway. But, I do get to listen to Garrett's new Forgive Durden CD. If you haven't heard of Forgive Durden, it's pretty amazing. Their music is like little you've heard before. The CD I have now, called Razia's Shadow, is a musical (iTunes, $11.99). And not like the high school kind, a soundtrack. The CD tells a story. There is narration to each song, and they MUST be listened to in order, unless you enjoy not knowing the meaning of a song. Another thing I love about this album, each song features a a different artist, who's voice blends so perfectly with the song and theme, that it's literally like they have been cast into different parts of this musical. This probably is more interesting to me because three of the songs feature one of the singers from my favorite band, Greta Salpeter, of The Hush Sound.
Aside from writing a review of a new band, I SHOULD be doing history homework. I promise, I love history, loath the homework. PLEASE note: what follows is not meant to bash our country or sound unpatriotic. History is written by the winners. I'm learning some interesting stuff. Like how President James K. Polk practically begged for congress to declare war with Mexico over Texas. And how even though many may say we are a "humble nation" because we have never "conquered" anyone else, I, along with my history teacher, would like to point out: Hawai'i. Last time I checked, they had a perfectly capable queen before the white Americans came. I guess what I'm trying to get at, is that our country is NOT perfect. It as a whole has made mistakes. Our leaders have made choices that we may not see as wise, but we need to remember, we are not briefed on national security and affairs every morning. (Which also makes me wonder: does the president always get on his suit and tie EVERY morning, even when he's not in the pulic eye? Has President Bush ever met with his cabinet in his PJ's?). Anyway, we cannot expect to understand everything our leaders do, but we must trust them. No one branch can do anything without the possibility of being checked by the other two. Our constitution is living and breathing, and in that way, flawless. By the way, did anyone know that a few months ago, two entire American bases were emptied in Iraq? Not for the soldiers' safety, or because all was lost, but because in those areas, the Iraqis began to control their people exactly as we have hoped they would. But would the news tell you this? OF COURSE NOT. Why should they? Popular vote says the war needs to end, so we need to convince those that are pro-war that they are wrong and the anti-war people are right because we lost a Grand Total of 7 servicemen in the month of October. TELL PEOPLE WHAT THEY WANT TO HEAR! Isn't that the theory of the day? Don't say it if it will offend me, don't broadcast it if it will make me uncomfortble. Just make me want what the politicians want me to want. Then we'll all be happy. Right?
Wrong. But whatever. One girl that has not even graduated high school, posting on a blog that probably reaches about...a dozen people, is not going to make the associated press stop advertising propaganda for the 11 o'clock news.
But I can rant to whoever stayed to read this entire post, right?

P.S., I'm not sure if he actually said it or not, but supposedly, President Abraham Lincoln once said, "If you are racist, I will attack you with the north." Whether or not he really said it, it is still a pretty cool line, is it not?

PPS my blog has been linked on this pretty cool site called The Twilight Plains. So I'm linking back in this post, and on the side bar. Check it out! They're much more popular over there than I am; WAY more hits.

Sound and Fury

2008-11-09T20:06:00.000-08:00

I'm writing an essay for English right now... okay so I'm just brainstorming. Scratch that, I'm just thinking about my topic without any intention to write most of it down...
The paper is supposed to be a definition essay, one page, single spaced, in which I write an extended definition of a term.
The term I've chosen is Silence.
Silence is a very pertinent to my life. I'm studying American Sign Language right now, learning about the culture and language of a people who live in a predominantly silent world. After much contemplation, I decided that if I were ever to become deaf, the only thing I would miss is music. If not for music, I would probably break my own ear drums now.
There is too much noise in this world. People talking but not saying a word. Shouting. Sirens. Horns. Alarms. Arguing. Contention. A familiar voice. A baby cry. The waves crashing on the sand. The wind through the trees. The rain on the window.
I often wonder what it would be like if we didn't hear these things. Would we be happy? Would we be better off? Would we be grateful enough for not hearing the bad things, that it would ease the pain of not hearing things we loved?
If I were to never hear yelling and contention and bad things again, would it be enough to cancel out my sadness at never hearing my favorite things again? Would I be able to live in a world without music? Without the good sounds? Would playing the piano or the violin have the same meaning to me if I couldn't hear the music, just feel the vibrations?
What is silence anyway?
When a full Orchestra plays Beethoven and everyone has played their last note, have you ever noticed how loud the silence is? The notes ring out long after the musicians are done playing.
What we say rings out long after we have stopped speaking. What we do rings out long after we have stopped acting. Silent defiance speaks volumes, when used in the right way. Silent acceptance sings sonnets when used in the correct context. Sometimes we need to get angry. Sometimes we need to be heard. Sometimes we need to speak up for what we know is right. Other times, we need to stay silent. When the world is throwing it's accusations at us, would we be better supporting their cause if we spoke up and testified to what they were saying.
"Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt." President Lincoln was a smart man.

So what is silence? Is it something that drives men mad? Or is it something to calm the trouble soul? Is it empty and hollow? Or full of meaning and words better left unsaid? Would the world be a better place if we had more of it, or less?

So many questions. One teeny little paper to spill them all out on.

Haha was this a run-on post or what?

Dear History,

2008-11-04T19:58:00.000-08:00

Dear History,

After nationwide testing, it has become apparent that your students have learned nothing from you. Therefore they are all now going to be repeating your past courses for the next 4 years. We apologize for the inconvenience, and wish you the best of luck.

Love Dearly,
Katie

P.S. I'm moving to Pluto. No one thinks it's a planet anymore, so no one cares. They'll leave us alone there.

How To Accumulate General Angst

2008-11-03T22:00:00.000-08:00

So elections are tomorrow, and I couldn't be happier. Not because I'll be using every spare moment to rock the vote, because I won't be. Not because I'm so sure my candidates will win, or my propositions will pass in my favor, because I'm not so sure they will. I'm glad that elections are tomorrow because that means the END of having to lose best friends because my religion is prejudice and hateful, of getting sworn at on street corners because I'm holding a sign that they disagree with. I'm sick of being afraid to mention anything about my views in school because I don't want to get in a confrontation with any of the kids I know will fight me for being against them. I'm sick of all the lies, slander, mudslinging, and anger coming from the men who are supposed to represent and lead our nation.
I've actually gotten a lot of angry comments from people on my own side of the issues as well for not being more supportive, not attending the meetings, not rallying in the streets. Well, that's not my style. They can get over it.
Is it bad that I've stopped praying for things to go in my favor, but instead for me and those like me to be protected from the evil-doings or bad effects of whomever and whatever is voted in? That I pray for the good people to not be punished too harshly for the ignorance and decisions of others?
I'm tired of all the contention. I'm tired of all the pointless, endless arguments that just go in circles because both sides are too close minded. I'm tired of being yelled at and sworn at and ridiculed because I think one way. I'm tired of being called ignorant and brainwashed. NEWSFLASH I've read both sides of the argument. A debater has no hope of accomplishing their goal if they don't know what accusations they'll have to defend against, and a person can have no hope of picking the correct candidate if they decide to base it solely on the candidates race or gender, religious beliefs or wealth, military history or what their spouse does in their free time. So tomorrow I will be staying in school, not attending the last ditch efforts to sway the vote. I won't be vehemently shouting at the voters as they leave the polls. I won't be waiting with my torch and pitchfork to riot as soon as I hear the results. I know we need to vote. I would if I could. I just wish that people weren't willing to go so low to get their way. People do not need to be cutting the calves of their opponent to gain a lead. They need to state the facts and nothing but the facts.
Now I have a couple stories to share. Analogies, if you will.
Say Michael Phelps was in a race one day, and realized he was behind. He's not going to turn around and cut into his opponent's lane, cutting them off! It's not fair, and he'd get disqualified from the race. So why are we not allowed to DQ the racers in politics who decide to cheat and cut off the opponent? NOT COOL.
Now I want you to think back to elementary school, back to your very first school elections. Remember that older student who promised better school lunches and more playground balls if you voted for him as president? Remember how long it took you to realize that the student you voted for actually had no power over lunches, or on how many balls the school buys? How many Americans have realized that our presidential candidates may or may not have promised some things that may or may not be in their power to promise us? Many things they have promised to accomplish, can only be accomplished by them asking congress to decide on it, and they actually have no power over that issue at all.
So that is my round-about view on politics. The elections are botched, because there's been very little debating going on anyway. People need to grow up and act like adults.

Nothing is simply black or white. Not even our candidates.

But you can't be a fence sitter, because they're electric now.

Old Becomes New

2008-11-01T23:49:00.000-07:00

So I've actually had this blog for years, but I went inactive on it. I figured it'd be a nice place to let out all my rants. For those of you who don't know me well, my little rants are fun tangents I go off on whenever I feel like something needs to be said, and can range anywhere from one sentence to a 7 page English essay.

My rant for today: Elections
Elections are stupid. We vote, because if everyone decided that their vote didn't matter, we'd have a tie. There would be one vote for every presidential candidate. Their own. I decided that even though my AP English class gives dumb homework, the class itself is teaching me to be a great debater and speaker, and it has given me the amazing ability to point out the fallacies in the arguments of others and identify the rhetoric used to sway the audience in favor of the speaker. The only problem is, when you're trying to convince high school students to see things your way, the only way to accomplish that is to be the first person to sell your side of the issue. Because they tend to like and believe the first thing they hear, and it's VERY hard to convince them otherwise. Stupid stubborn...*grumble grumble*
You know, I learned something the other day in AP US History. (*gasp* I know! Heaven forbid I learn something in school) The history of the Democratic donkey is as follows: Once upon a time Andrew Jackson was running for president. Some people didn't like him. (I wouldn't either, the man was insane.) So some began calling him a not nice word, synonymous for donkey. He liked it so much, he made it his official party animal. I have yet to learn the history of the elephant. I think it's because elephants live with giraffes and giraffes are awesome. Too awesome to be a party symbol. Therefore we must be elephants. Donkeys live with pigs. Pigs stink. (Oh! Apparently it's because the same man who first drew the donkey as a democrat also decided to randomly draw the elephant as republican. Go figure)

I should probably be sleeping now...oh well.

Also if you have a blog and I know you let me know so I can link to you as soon as I figure out how...