How Great Thou Art

Tomorrow is my first French test. And while I could come out of it extremely joyous, pleased with my knowledge, and thrilled for my grade, my hopes aren't quite that optimistic. As such, I want to share with you my favorite bit of French linguistic "trivia", before I end up hating everything from french conjugation to french fries.

A few years ago, I picked up a French Hymn book, and at that moment, realized that the French use the "tutoyer form" (Tu, ton, tes, etc) to address Heavenly Father in prayer and praise, as opposed to the "vousvoyer form" (vous, vos, etc). The difference is simple: You use "Tutoyer" to address one person who you know quite intimately. A child, a peer, your parents, or your friends. You use "Vousvoyer" to address one person formally, such as a boss, teacher, or superior, or to address multiple people at once.

This BLEW MY MIND. It meant, basically, that the French address our Father in Heaven as our Father. He is our God, He is our Maker, and He is the literal Best of all. And yet, they address him as affectionately and personally as you would your friend, or your earthly father.

I've always loved that. I thought about it constantly, comparing it to the "we adress Heavenly Father formally, with respect" that we learn in Primary. I didn't stop using "Thee, Thine, Thou" in prayers, but did think about it...my attitude in praying changed, and my personal testimony and relationship with Heavenly Father quite honestly grew.

NOW are you ready to have YOUR Anglo-Saxon mind COMPLETELY BLOWN?

This morning in French, while reviewing for our test, our teacher reminded us the purpose of tutoyer vs. vousvoyer. He told us, "In modern English, we use "you" to mean both singular and plural, formal and informal. English speakers used to have two separate terms-" (I know what you're thinking. Thee, Thine, Thou is formal, right? WRONG!) "-'You' was only used for plural or formal addresses, and 'Thou' was used for singular, affectionate people."

Now you can clean your bits of brain off your keyboards, wipe the drool off your face, and be amazed with me. As we pray to Heavenly Father, using the language we've grown up using in the Church, we're not being overly formal. We're being incredibly personal! We address him in our prayers as our Father, Friend, and Helper. Who also happens to be Almighty God. We pray in utmost humility and worship him in our unworthy state, yes, but ask his loving favor as his children, who love him as a Father first.

Goodness Gracious. I just...wow. C: He is so...unbelievable. It's true, what He said, that every thing testifies of him. Even in the very language we use every day of our life. Ladies and Gentlemen, we have one Awesome God on our side.


"How Great Thou Art" can be found in the hymnal

We're Happy Together

Seeing as I haven’t updated my blog for nearly half a year, I would not be surprised if no one noticed the sudden change in background, layout, and header. If you haven’t, take a moment to scroll to the top of the screen, be fantastically impressed, and swoon in adoration.
This week is my third week at BYU (in case the T-shirt and cougar you were swooning over weren’t a big enough clue, I picked the Y for my Higher Learning), and by now I would consider myself “in the swing”. As such, I have run out of excuses as to why I should withhold the college freshman of 2010 experience from the world (especially since mine will probably be pretty different from most).

Today, I’m just going to introduce my lovely roommates. I have FIVE of them, so it will take long enough.

First of all, my camarade de chambre (The French are terribly lucky for to have only one phrase for bunkmate/person you share a bedroom with/and the ever awkward “person you sleep with”) is Tiffanie. Tiffanie and I have known each other for a terribly long time, becoming real friends around freshman year or so. She told me (I think Junior year) that her Dad had this lovely idea that we should room together at BYU. The idea kind of stuck, and VOILA. Now I get to see her lovely half-asian face every morning, night, and bizarre hour in between.

Tiffanie is a lovely, wonderful person. She’s honest, generous, and very humorous, and studying English. Last night, when we had both finished our homework and experienced the odd sensation of not needing to stay up until past midnight (but deciding to anyway), she helped me decide what the header should be, immortalizing our ugly brick wall and a few of our strange “decorations”. Beyond ideas, we also share meals often enough, and seem to be equal levels of messiness (A huge embarrassment for me as before college, her room was to the point where you literally could not see the floor. To have apparently sunk to her become her equal? I shudder at the thought!). She has a boyfriend, Connor, who visits us quite often. Okay, actually, who visits Tiffanie quite often. Connor is also from home, and he’s a really funny guy. Not my type, but that’s a very good thing, seeing as I shouldn’t be favoring my roommate’s man anyway!

Next door to us are the beautiful Aimee and Kaitlyn. They met during Spring/Summer semester as each other’s roommates. Although they never knew each other beforehand, their dorm clicked like lego bricks, and act as if they’ve been BFFs for life. Their other past roommate, Jenna, basically lives here. Launa visits often as well. And though she shares a name with my sworn nemesis, Lana Lang, she’s quite the opposite. I could spend forever explaining Launa’s zaniness, but she isn’t my cocolotaire, now is she? Nope! It’s nice that they attended over the spring/summer because they seem to know EvErYtHiNg.

Aimee is from Sandy or Murry or Lehi or some nearby UT city like that, and as such, her mother comes up to take her shopping/bring her things quite often. She’s studying Elementary Ed, along with about 14 other majors (okay, two, but STILL). And as crazy ambitious as she is, Aimee is very down-to-earth, and at the same time pretty darn hilarious. She’s also a genius at cooking and is around whenever anyone has questions in our kitchen. She rescued the hard-boiled explosion eggs, probably could have prevented the enchiladas-in-the-rice-cooker ordeal, and convinced me to not use an entire garlic when the recipe called for a clove. Who knew a garlic clove was those crazy bumps hugging the center of it? Aimee did!

Kaitlyn is a neverending spring of joy and laughter, I swear. She’s from New Mexico, and brings with her lovely personality a stunning array of enchiladas recipes. Kaitlyn is looking to go into the nursing program, which is crazy hard, by the way. She always has something hilarious to add to any conversation, and is just the sweetest girl I’ve met at BYU. She’ll be your friend before you even think about not liking her, and while the rest of my roommates are quickly becoming accustomed to my voice becoming white noise, she’ll often pipe up “Alaina, I would LOVE to hear whatever words you are saying”. Let me tell you, I do not hear that often enough!

Aaaaand at the end of the hall are Rorie and Rachelle. Neither of them knew each other (Aurora came to BYU knowing no one at all from home!), but if I ever see proof that you don’t make roommates by coincidence, that Heavenly Father sets us up with who we need (for better or for worse), it is these two ladies. They are soul sisters completely. I love going in their room (especially when Tiffanie is off gallivanting with Connor) because it is just such a friendly, content zone. There is so much confidence in their friendship, you could cut it with a knife.

Rorie hails from The United States, and is roommate #2 studying Elementary Ed. She is fantastically dedicated at all she does, and is such a great example and open girl. She always lets us know what’s up, and never fails to include herself. I wish I had that kind of spunk! Rorie somehow ended up with all the teachers at BYU that love to give readings and homework as if it was their job (oh WAIT!), and as such is often confined to read behind her books. And while she’d love to be going out more often, she still makes every moment like a party.

Then there’s Rachelle. Oh goodness, Rachelle. Who couldn’t love her? She’s from Oregon and, although she’s “of Latino decent”, we’ve all agreed Kaitlyn is more Mexican than Rachelle will ever be. She is the third and final Elementary Ed roommate, making it a full half-population in our lovely dorm. Rachelle is just plain hilarious. Anything she says is almost guaranteed to be funny, and she’s so easy to be friends with. Not to mention she seems to share an ice-cream addiction with me, so it’s nice to have someone to run to the Creamery with. (Be very proud! I’ve gone only twice so far! I’m shocked myself.)

I really, really love our roommates. So…much. Unlike most of my friends' rooms, we don’t seem to have any odd-ducks out, and we all get along famously. Of course, it’s possible that I’m the odd-duck out, but thus far, it doesn’t look that way. It’s a charming cast of characters, and we’re all pretty fond of each other. Hopefully, and you can stay tuned for to find out, this mutual appreciation won’t change anytime soon.

“Happy Together” was first recorded by The Turtles

Beyond the Barricade

Yesterday, my mom came home from her lovely trip to Utah. She and Dad were both out of state for their various reasons, leaving me home alone with Sami. Now, I know I've told you about Sami before (she has her own tag and everything), but it's worth detailing her again for you to fully grasp this story.

Sami is very old. And I mean very old. She's been around since Michael Jordan played for the Bulls and the Super Nintendo was still the coolest thing a kid could own. (Okay, so one of those is still true...) As such an old lady, Sami is mostly deaf, almost blind, sleeps 80% of the day, and needs bathroom breaks a lot more than she used to. She also thinks she's the bee's knees.

My life is apparently just another unfortunate addition to today's situation. Because, you see, I actually have one. This weekend I was hardly home- I generally had seminary, school, Les Mis practice, some sort of social outing, and church everyday, meaning I wouldn't be home for sometimes twelve consecutive hours. This does not bode well for a dog that needs to be let outside every two hours (or every 30 minutes, if she's feeling ambitious).

So Mom got this brilliant idea to barricade all the carpet off. Sami LOVES carpet, which means she also loves to poop on it. Mom set up her short, human-accessible but Sami-denying barricades on the stairs and in the living room entrances.

You might see these itty-bitty walls and think "Oh garsh, that would never stop a proper dog from getting in that room!" And it probably wouldn't. But Sami's not a proper dog. Not only is she a sissy, she has an irrational fear of anything that poses itself to be a wall. Bad past experiances with breaking limbs and angry mallards have trained Sami to fear walls even just a few inches high. So imagine my surprise Thursday evening when I was cleaning up Sami's expected poop and saw her chilling in the walled-off living room, like it was where she belonged her whole life. After staring at her for a little bit in confusion, I coaxed her out the way she'd gotten in...taking a little step up and walking directly on top of the wall.

"Aight," I told her, as home-alone people are overly apt to talk to their pets, "that one wasn't exactly rocket-science. But let's see you tackle the stairs." As I got over it and taunted her with the wall that she couldn't possibly get around or over, she was not amused. I wish I knew how to illustrate what this puppy managed. It was like watching a sick combination of some Mission-Impossible scene and a contortionist act as she liquified herself and slid between the stairs and barricade's feet and low-hanging top. I have full faith she could get her entire self into a bottle if her lonliness depended on it.


So I, of course, reinforced the barricade.Okay, that's a little exaggerated. But not much.

A few minutes after doing that, I went upstairs (leaving Sami the Dog Wonder downstairs) to brush my teeth. It took about 45 seconds before I heard a ridiculously loud crash-and-tumble, followed by a very nanchalant pitter of paws and jangle of a collar.

I look to my right and who prances into the room, but Sami herself. She sits on the floor, watching me brush my teeth, like completely demolishing the barricade with most likely just a threatening glare was more boring than my daily hygeine. No big deal.

From this, I've garnered two conclusions. First, Sami clearly has alzheimer's to add to her list of signs of old age, because not once did she show an ounce of mallard-driven fear. Secondly, I believe she's going to be cast in the next Matrix film, or at least an episode of Chuck.

Guess getting old doesn't need to be so bad after all.

Do You Hear the People Sing? can be found in Les Miserables, which is going to be at WV April 29-May 2

If I Must Go, I'm Going Out in Style

I recently gained myself three new fish to make Fernando less lonely, so I thought I should take time to honor one of my favorite pets, now lost to our family.

At least four years ago, we bought Papaya from "Bird is the Word", a hand-raised bird store in Batavia, Illinois. She was just a bunch of pink skin with some bitty, yellow, baby feathers, and I loved her right away.

Papaya quickly became a real member of the family. She's the best bird I've ever encountered, let alone had as a pet. She lived a few months in my bedrooms until she was finally allowed to live in the kitchen, and that's how Papi really joined the family. By the end of her life, I think she was more Hendricks than bird. She'd always rather sit on us, try desperately to have conversations with us, eat the same food as us, play with whatever our hands were using, and explore the things we liked.

She also learned her limits. Well, to an extent. She liked to give me kisses, nibbling my cheek or lip, and she liked "knocking" my cheek, too. With Mom, who I still think she liked best, she would chew on her hair and, as much as Mom hated it, her skin, sometimes, too. She tried to avoid Dad for the most part, but occasionally would land directly on his face or his head. I still haven't figured out why she ever thought that was a good idea. And Sami and she loved to play. Sami got as close as sniffing her multiple times; quite brave for our little Courage the Cowardly Dog.

But when it came to the things our hands were occupied with, Papi had no limits. No keyboard would go unchecked, no magazine page unchewed. If we had crackers in our right hand, she'd eat them. If you got a new, sanitary one for your left, she'd eat that, too. Cheerios in our bowl would be devoured. Anything that wasn't meat or spicy was free game as far as Papaya considered, and that honestly probably attributed to her shorter-than-average lifespan. Especially cheesy products. Of course, she also loved more natural foods, like house-plants and flowers. I'm not sure if she'd rather have a Dorito or a Daisy, but the choice would inevitably be a tough one.

And Papaya made the best noises. Unlike our previous budgies, that let us know they existed by screaming almost constantly, Papaya would only chirp happy gibberish. She also had the remarkable ability to "purr", particularly when she found an inanimate object she loved. Her favorite toy, the decorative plate above her cage, my dangly necklace from Forever21; she had quite the array of favorite things. She'd nuzzle them, chew on them, or just play with them and always purr in delight.

Sometimes, we would swear we could hear actual words amid her babble, and she did completely pick up on her favorite expression, "Pretty Bird" (and its many variations, such as "pretty pretty pretty birdy"), and "Papaya". She was getting fantastically close to "Merry Christmas" as well.

I read once that birds, especially budgies, will copy the squawking and words that their mates say to try and solidify their union and make sure they can find each other. I'm certain Papaya tried desperately to say English words because nothing would make her happier than to solidify her union with our family.

But I can't possibly forget her love of showers. My biggest regret of our years together was never filming her showers- I have a recording on my phone of her eating a peanut-butter sandwich, but never the America's Funniest Home Video (or at least Cute Overload) worthy practice of her using the sink faucet to bathe. She'd sit in our cupped hands, turning her head as to douse her entire neck, lay down to wash her belly, stretch her wings to dampen her feathers, and prance through like a duck. We always knew when she wanted one, because as soon as the faucet went on, she'd start squawking and as soon as it shut off, she'd go silent.

The day I walked by her unusually quiet cage to say hello and saw her on her back, I felt my blood run chill. I ran into one of my parents' arms and began to sob...I don't even remember who it was holding me. Papaya's death was the most unexpected pet death I've ever had. She was literally chirping, flying, and singing to her last day, just as cheerfully as she had been two years before. She never showed a feather of aging.

Mom helped me make the best casket for her imaginable, and she was laid to rest with her favorite toy in her feet and her ball alongside. Her pine box was decoupaged with all her favorite foods, people-toys, and flowers. I'm positive that, had she been alive to see her finished box, she would have nuzzled and purred to it, or maybe even tried to eat the food pictures, as she's prone to do. The idea made her burial much happier. Such an amazing bird didn't deserve a shoe-box, she deserved her own idea of a heaven on Earth.

I still miss her. But mostly, I'm just glad I got to raise her. And she is going to frelling love all the things to chew in heaven.

"Going out in Style" can be found by Kellie Pickler

This Year is Gonna Be the One

I am, as you may have noticed, a fan of holidays. Especially the widely-celebrated ones...and what's more celebrated than the calendar's holiday based not on religion, country, or tradition, but the calendar itself?

This holiday that connects the world, at one-hour intervals, is the New Year. At the very smallest sense, the holiday is one of our most pointless. It's basically a global party because the Disney Princess calendar hanging in my bedroom ran out of Princesses, and I get to put up my Princess and the Frog one instead. Nothing happens in outer space, that glorious moment when your spot on the planet is as far from the Sun as possible as it's been billions of times before and at the place it was exactly one rotation ago.


When I was younger, that was my opinion of the New Year. Maybe not in quite so many words, but enough that I thought the parties, while a fun reason to stay up later than normal with the kids of my parents' friends, were kind of overrated. Ten years ago, I don't think I cared much about the New Millennium at all. But with each year, I get a little more sentimental. And this year is PROBABLY going to be the most sentimental year of all.


Do you remember that time in elementary school where someone's brother or sister was graduating high school, so you and your friends, or maybe even the teacher, helped figure out your year of graduation? I remember thinking 2010 must be the COOLEST year to graduate EVER, barring 2000 and 2020 alone. I still hold that opinion very strongly. My friend once told me that she got the chance to skip a grade, and the reason she didn't was because she wanted to be in the CLASS OF 2010. The Sen10rs. I don't know if I believe that was her only reason, but knowing her, it was definitely a deciding factor.


Now, after 18 years of life and quite a few years of waiting, the calendars all agree that that time has come. Nothing earth-shattering has happened yet, I don't feel any different than I did yesterday, but every calendar, clock, and TV episode summary I look at makes me shiver a little. That year has come. This is the year my life changes...forever. This is the first time I can say with certainty that there is no certainty, come roughly nine months from now. I don't know where I'll be, who I'll see every day, what I'll do to feed myself, or what kind of person I'm going to shape myself into.


It's scary, guys. But that's what this holiday is really, truly, for. It may just be an excuse for some to drink different drinks, wear much-too-small hats, watch Justin Bieber perv on Selena Gomez, pay more attention to a clock than anyone ever does at a good party, and time a much-anticipated kiss. Or, it may be an opportunity to reflect on what's happened in the past and get riled up for a wonderful year ahead.


Happy New Year!

This Year can be found by the A*Teens

May the Calender keep Bringing Happy Holidays

I'm not going to ignore the fact that I've ignored this blog for over a month. I mean, seriously! I knew I had to update, because it's snowing outside, and my poor banner girl was still in shorts! She now sports the first banner outfit that doesn't hang in my closet (unfortunately).

I honestly can't think up an excuse, so instead, I'm offering a promise- I'm going to improve. Woo vague promises!


Another thing; since it's the holiday season, I won't be putting up Monday Holiday Updates. Every ounce of my holiday excitement is focused on Christmastime right now, as it has been since November 14.


The reason I didn't get right back into blogging was that I had a busy life ahead of me from October 5th on, I guess. I will now attempt to summarize, difficult already considering it's me writing it, the following months. I had a Concert on the 8th, and then on the 9th, I was off for Colorado! (Except my flight, which ended up being business class, was rescheduled for the 10th. Boo.) I visited the Hess family for my birthday, and that was really just amazing to reconnect and see how they're doing. They happen to be fantastic, by the way.


On the 13th I turned 18, and celebrated with macaroni and cheese and dino nuggets. Yay adulthood!


On the 22nd, I went to Michigan State Penitentiary, a maximum security prison, for a sociology field trip. We talked to a murderer/bank-robber, some guards, and got lovely tours. The next day I went to Bulls game with my friends from the stake, which was quite thrilling!


On the 4th of November, we had YW in Excellence, and then that Friday I got icecream with my friend, Josh. In related news, icecream is now officially one word (not that blogger recognizes it). I'm getting rather attached to that fact.


We had no school on the 10th and 11th, so I did some stuff with friends. Then, on the 14th, Mosaic choir had a performance at North Central College for a culture festival thingy, which was very interesting. It made me proud that we're so organized at WV.


Tuesday the 17th I went to Kelly High School in Chicago for the day on another Sociology field trip, shadowing a student named Anna. She was nice, but quite shy. The school (which is over 80% Latino and only 4% white, in comparison to WV's 51% white population) has a 57% or so graduation rate, and almost all the students come from low-income families. But it's a LOT like Waubonsie for the other manners, except that the students pay even less attention than normal. Anna came to my school and followed me around that Friday. She was bored, but I thought it was awesome- especially the tour!


The next week was Thanksgiving. Since we had no family coming in, we decided it would be wonderful to help the community (plus I needed hours for my sociology service final). Meson Sabika, a super fancy restaurant in Naperville, serves a free Thanksgiving dinner for families in financial need, so we served there! It was really a wonderful experience, but very tiring and very surreal to not have leftovers. We had to hurry and get pies from Dominick's to maintain holiday equilibrium. Black Friday, Dad and I went to Target at 5:30. And the $3 sandwich maker I wanted was gone ALREADY! Also, that Saturday I gave blood for the second time.

Last week I participated in an extra credit project for Sociology (what a fantastic class....I'm really going to miss it!) where we were challenged to eat for 7 days on $4.30 a day. I'm proud to say I accomplished that with over $12 to spare...there was ONE day I went over. And that one day was the one day I didn't get some sort of free meal...each of the other 6 days I was babysitting, went to a church activity with food, got seminary breakfast, or was fasting. Lesson learned- if you gotta be in poverty, be a Mormon. :P

Now it's Tuesday. There's lovely, lovely snow outside and freezing rain forecast for tonight. I'm warm in my home after just shoveling, and it really feels like Christmastime. No matter how busy I've been or am going to be for the next while, I'm happy.

Happy Holiday is a Christmas Traditional

OKAY SO this week has AWESOME holidays
but right now I'm writing an essay that absolutely does not want to be written.

SO I'm going to tell you the holidays and hopefully I'll have time to make this entry better. Also, I apologize for having nothing sandwiching the last two entries. I have a few I want to do that apply, but I'm lazy with getting photos onto my computer.

without futher ado, the skeleton of this week's MONDAY HOLIDAY UPDATES!

First of all, it's the first full week of October. As such, here are this month's celebrations...there are a LOT because October is AWESOME-

Adopt a Shelter Dog Month (sheeaaaah! I hope millions of people celebrate THIS one!)
American Pharmacist Month
Apple Jack Month
Awareness Month (Awareness of what??)
Breast Cancer Awareness Month (oh!)
Domestic Violence Awareness Month (I see!)
Lupus Awareness Month (wouldn't House be proud!)
Clergy Appreciation Month
Computer Learning Month
Cookie Month (My English class is celebrating this! :D Everyday someone brings in cookies. Which isn't good for my goal to lose x pounds by Christmas, but still AWESOME)
Eat Country Ham Month
International Drum Month
National Diabetes Month (also doesn't fit with cookie month)
National Pizza Month
National Vegetarian Month (That does work well with this being "Eat Country Ham Month")
National Popcorn Popping Month (Apricot trees are so out of season, guys)
Sarcastic Month
Seafood Month

now for those lovely daily holidays C:
and it's also Homecoming Week, so you also get to be blessed and find out what I'm supposed to wear. Yay clothing!

Today is Do Something Nice Day! I'm going to strive to do something nice to ~everyone~ :D As I wear my stylish Brazil jersey

Tomorrow is Mad Hatter Day, yes, as in the one from Alice in Wonderland. But don't just sing the Unbirthday Song- today is deigned for SILLINESS. Also deigned for "dress up day"... but this year we don't have a pajama day, which breaks my heart as I have amazing superhero pajama pants this year. So I'm going to "dress up" in pajamas (since I'm already wearing a dress on Thursday), which is apt with Mad Hatter Day and all.

Wednesday is Be Bald and Free Day, a day to put the lovely souls at Rogaine out of business by celebrating how liberating it is to never deal with haircuts, shampoo, or bad hair days. It's also "Would you be friends with me if I wore this? day", so I'm going to wear a Neuqua shirt. Since it would be impractical for me to shave my head.

Thursday is American Touch Tag Day which should honestly just be called Tag Day because who calls it "American" or "Touch" or anything like that? Also, it's decades day and while I could be awesome and dress 60's/70's/80's, I'm going 50's. Because that's my favorite decade after the 20's. C: Yaaay overexaggerated gender roles, pretty dresses, shoes, and makeup, and fantastic hair!

This Friday is the second Friday of the month. Therefore, it is World Egg Day. Also, it's WV spirit day and MORE IMPORTANTLY the day I leave for Colorado!! I'm visiting my lovely friend Kelsey Hess for my birthday this weekend :D leaving Friday afternoon/evening and returning Monday since there's no school.

Saturday is Angel Food Cake Day, and I'm not sure if I'll celebrate it or not. But that would be awesome...it's all up to the Hesses, I suppose.

Sunday is Take Your Teddy Bear to Work Day which is ridiculously awesome. Too bad I don't have a job or any desire to work on a sunday.

there's no title yet! How exciting!

Tell Him I'm a Vegetarian (MHU)

This is the last Monday of September! It's a strange feeling, as I officially feel like this means we're approaching the Holiday Season (for those of us who, like me, count Halloween and Thanksgiving as major holidays to start off the Holiday Season). Of course, with MONDAY HOLIDAY UPDATES, every season is a holiday season!

There are multiple holidays today, but my favorite one happens to be legitimate, started back in the 80's in a movement by teachers to get more student participation. Today is National Ask a Stupid Question Day, and it gives you the chance to put to the test that nasty rumor of "no such thing as a stupid question". Find one! Ask it! This is a day that people like me adore; no longer can our questions of tap-dancing pineapples go ignored. Today is a holiday just for that!

Tuesday's holiday has literally been around for thousands of years, so make certain you try to celebrate Confucius Day. He's a great philosopher and leader of a school of thought that freshmen are often misled to believe is a religion, but he's best remembered for his words of wisdom, such as "What you do not wish for yourself, do not do to others" and more confusing things like, "To understand nothing is to understand everything". At least that one makes me feel pretty good about myself.

Wednesday celebrates my favorite oxymoronic practice- Mud Packing! Mud Pack Day is very much real and I'm very much serious when I say that it's a day to celebrate the mud facial. Since I've never had the experience, I don't have much to say about this. Just that mud baths and mud packing with their oxymoronic natures amuse me almost as much as people running with their hands tied behind their back. (But really, nothing could compare to that.)

October starts this Thursday! (Since that's the second half of the week, I'll refrain from giving the lengthy list of month titles in October. Besides being the month of my 18th birthday, of course!) The first of October is Vegetarian Day, which means I intend on eating no meat myself. I remember once upon a time I wanted all my Thursdays (ironically, I honestly did pick Thursdays...) to be vegetarian. There really wasn't a purpose since I wasn't health conscious; I think I just felt bad for the itty bitty animals I was eating and didn't have the guts to go all the way. That lasted like two weeks.

I really appreciate Friday's holiday, Name Your Car Day. "My" truck already has a name that I've given her- Shezelle. Now, that is pretty much the girliest name a red pickup could have, but I feel like it fits her. Especially when she's got her Gerber daisy up front where it belongs. Most people name their cars, including Mark and Em, so most people won't be able to do much to celebrate today except perhaps calling their car by its name. But my friend Kathy has had a nameless car (unless you count when it's called "Bubble Car", but that's more of an alter-ego) for almost a year, and my friend Christine just recently got the hottest used car I've ever seen and it yet to name her. So we three shall have fun celebrating, and I'll try to remember to share the results!

Saturday is International Frugal Fun Day, which isn't going to be hard to celebrate. I've had to had frugal fun for a long time, seeing as I've never had a job. And now I have to save money for Christmas/NYC/college/life/ice cream runs (not necessarily in that order).

This Sunday we get to celebrate the Frappe. Frappe is one of those desserts, like Cherry Jubilee, which I'm sure I should have had already, but don't think I have. It is, in case you hadn't guessed, National Frappe Day. According to my heroes at Holiday Insights, it's basically just a milkshake with more froffiness (which is always a good thing) and doesn't always have to include coffee or alcohol like I've previously assumed. They also suggested a pumpkin frappe "because it's October", but seeing as the website the recipe is from is an EXACT replica of the layout of Holiday Insights (now in improved orange coloring!), I feel like they're just supporting a sister site. Either way, it looks like an easy enough Sunday treat to make and celebrate.

"Don't Trust Me" is from 3Oh!3, and except for my favorite line, has nothing to do with Thursday.

Fibular and Tubular and Ribs and Cages, Too

This year, since I'm in AP Art and Independent Computer Graphics and feel like I should be doing my art as homework (although that happens pretty much never), I've been toting around my thumb drive Kingsly. The awesome bit about that is that I've finished an art piece, put it on Kingsly, and can now show it off, after turning it in just yesterday! Totally Awesome, my dears.

I started this piece while I was still working on the Warriorfest Poster. Speaking of that- it is really surreal seeing it everywhere I go. It's literally twice in every stairwell, in about half my classrooms, in random hallways, and various other places "throughout the community" and it's kind of driving me crazy. Good thing I like it!

But back to this. Mrs Fay would pop in and out randomly, and when I had nothing to work on with the poster, I would revert to working on this project. Independent kids don't have prompts, so I was just going off of what seemed cool. Originally, I wanted to do a ribcage with butterflies inside it. Trapped, you see, like a cage. HOW EXCITING. Then, I found this angle of a rib cage that struck me like crazy.

Merging the ribcage with the butterfly was so sickeningly easy. It's like the photographers were destined to have symmetry. You might think the blendiness is just me being cool, but it's all nature, my dears. The ribs ended right where the wings did and everything was just so...in line!! I can take pretty much no credit for that. And if you think it's a shoddy job, let me repeat. It's all nature's fault.

And my only bit of bragging I have for this piece is about the textures in the background. The burnt/torn/written-on paper is actually a merging of three separate textures. Burned paper, torn paper, and written-on paper, of all things! I'm not certain what the writing it; I believe it's actually mathematical, which means all the more reason for you to ignore it. And the texture behind THAT is something awesome I did accidentally hitting features on CS4. I could never repeat it, but I feel it was a penicillin mistake. And that's a good thing.

Once I was done with warriorfest and could focus completely on my skeleton friend, Mr. Gehl had announced reflections' topic this year. "What is Beauty?" is an awfully vague topic, but that's how they like the themes. I was already doing this, so I figured I might as well enter. No reason not to! It's a butterfly, which is ~totally~ cliche for a topic about beauty. But y'know what? It's a DEATH butterfly. And that oxymoron is so delicious I don't care how cliche it's parental topics are.

If you remember from my last reflections entry, the most important part is the artist's statement. Which I haven't written yet. I intend on writing about how Beauty is...finding new life in something considered dead or old. Weaving in the kissing old people (love is life) and the torn up paper and the whole death-butterfly thingy. Totally not my intention, and therefore I don't feel too bad about not having it to share with you, internet, as of yet. Once I write it, if it ends up being AWESOME, I'll weave it in someweek.

"Skeleton Friend" is an awesome song that can be found by Kate Nash

When I See an Elephant Fly (MHU)

I have allergies right now. Blech. The worst part is the post-nasal-drip.
But I'm sure you're not here this lovely Monday morning to hear about my sinus troubles; it's time for a MONDAY HOLIDAY UPDATE!

Today's holiday is excellent, though it makes me a bit sad. It's Miniature Golf Day, which is an AWESOME holiday, I agree. However, we once had an amazing mini-golf course just a bit away, all pirate themed and amazing. I knew the tricks to the holes, I knew when to stand under the volcano, I knew it was the best course available. When they tore it down for a strip-mall, not a soul was pleased, and now the closest mini-golf is too far away. Regardless, today is best celebrated on the course. And remember, as Phineas and Ferb say, "It's not just golf in miniature!"

Tomorrow's holiday is largely the most awesome holiday a pachaderm could wish for- Elephant Appreciation Day! Not just a holiday for republicans, this is a massive opportunity for you to trumpet your appreciation of the largest mammal around. Don't be a dumbo; get to your local zoo and get with the appreciation!

Wednesday is both Checkers Day and Dogs in Politics Day. Now, these seemingly unrelated holidays are actually the same; just with different names. While you certainly could use the opportunity to play a game of checkers and mock Illinois for our fantastic history of politicians, the origin of the holiday is from Nixon's speech 57 years ago Wednesday, where he did some political talking and concluding with announcing their dog named checkers. Bo Obama doesn't even have a holiday named twice about him (yet)!

I'm not sure what a virgin Cherries Jubilee would be like, but I'm bound to find out for Thursday. It's Cherries Jubilee Day! I've never had it before, but the descriptions sound an awful lot like a more exciting, lit-on-fire version of a gluten-free cherry pie a la mode. And that sounds delicious. Bring on the holiday!

My friend Jenny is going to be over the moon when I tell her what Friday is. It is, my good friends, Native American Day. Jenny and her family are half Navajo, and ridiculously proud of it. Really, a lot of people have Native in their blood (especially Cherokee- they seemed to really get around the gene pools) and even those of us who don't still have reason to appreciate this culture. The way early Americans treated the natives was probably the jerkiest thing we ever did to a massive group of people...it makes the mormon expulsion look like free cookies. So I'm glad they get at least a holiday. As well as a bunch of other "I'm sorry!!" gifts like Sacagewea on the dollar coin and Sitting Bull chillin' out by Mount Rushmore.

As the fourth Saturday in September, we get to celebrate a holiday my mom would most likely rather not exist- International Rabbit Day! This UK inspired holiday honors rabbits for all the reasons my mom cares only to ignore...they're cute, fluffy, little, bouncy, are cause for excellent books like Watership Down, inspired Bugs Bunny, and are superb battery spokesanimals. There are millions of other examples, but I think I'll save them for Saturday. Just lookit that bunny rabbit! How could you NOT love such a little bebbeh?! D'awwwwwwwwwwwww.

Sunday's holiday seems kind of lame in comparison to the rest of the week. No offense, cans, but Crush a Can Day doesn't THRILL me like it should. Perhaps it's just because I'm not very good at it...but I'm sure I'll get my practice. No can shall go uncrushed!

"When I See an Elephant Fly" can be found in Dumbo and should be watched on Tuesday