And you thought you were rid of me...

I thought when I came over here that I wouldn't have access to blogger or facebook or anything like that, but my clever little brother fixed that one, for now. So here I am to say hello.

Hello.

I feel like I should catch you up on the recent goings on in my life, but I also feel really lazy. So just a few thoughts.

1. Visiting the Aunt in Portland = good times had by all, except maybe my Uncle who got stuck with the kids while we went and played. Ooh, and I made my very own birthday cake. It was a barbie princess one. I turned 21 and made a barbie princess birthday cake. I have arrived.
2. After months of being lazy I started exercising with my Mom. One week later I'm pretty sure you can't find a muscle that hasn't felt abused at some point in the last week. Currently I feel like someone kicked me in the ribs, and after biking yesterday on my Dad's bike I'm not so good in the sitting department either. Oh the price of beauty... or something.
3. It's hot here. Really really really really really hot and muggy. I'm already grateful I'm serving somewhere dry. Although I still don't want to be in Phoenix for the summer.
4. Spending a day feeling ill in a country with a sketchy idea of what bathrooms are and should be leaves you feeling a little paranoid about leaving the house for anything. Squatters + Nicole = unhappiness. Squatters + sick Nicole = @#$(%&#*%#
5. My family is planning a trip to Japan in October. Part of me really wants to check with the Mission President to see if I could get a week long leave of absence. I'm sure he'll say yes... not.
6. My little brother has almost been out on his mission for 3 months. I can't believe it. I wonder if those first 3 months will seem as fast when you are the one experiencing them instead of just reading weekly e-mails.
7. I'm wearing sweats and flip flops every chance I get before going to the MTC. You have to get the important things in.

Gluttony Confession

Tia made the most beautiful chocolate cake I've ever seen. She left it sitting in our fridge looking beautiful. It was this rich velvety chocolate that melted in your mouth, and it was laced with caramel and had a thick chocolate butter-cream frosting on top. It was beautiful. And I ate it. All of it. With my hands. It was that good. I licked every morsel from the pan it was in.

And then I woke up. I woke up feeling really, really guilty. I didn't even ask to eat the cake, I just ate it because it called to me and I had to. Sorry, Tia. In my dream I didn't even save you a piece.

Residual guilt notwithstanding, I realized that dream chocolate cake gluttony is really the best way to go. I woke up not feeling gross like I would have if I'd really eaten that much chocolate cake laced with caramel with a thick chocolate butter-cream frosting. I woke up feeling great. And there was no post chocolate migraine.

So tonight, Tia, I'd like another one, only this time I want chocolate coated strawberries all over the top and a massive carton of triple dark chocolate ice cream.


I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

long time... no post...

With the completion of my recital I decided to drop off the face of the earth. It was highly enjoyable, there was much chocolate and Disney princess movie watching. Sadly, all good things must eventually come to an end and with the arrival of midterms I'm back to school. Honestly, I'm not sure the break did quite what it was supposed to as now that I'm back about every few days I've begun contemplating dropping out of school to watch Disney full time... just kidding... but it's a little tempting.

The recital went well for those of you who were curious. Tons of family came into town which was really cool and fun to see everyone. I felt a little bad because I was incredibly stressed before and then really exhausted after so I'm not sure quite how much fun I was. Alas.

Other points of interest... I cut off my hair. Now it's up by my shoulders with the shortest layers being up by my nose. Words cannot describe how excited I am. I used to looooooooooooooove having long hair, but then I came to college, discovered I don't like getting ready in the mornings (as if I got ready in high school...), and then promptly discovered that when my hair is really short I can get ready just as fast as any boy (well, almost as fast as any boy). True story. Long hair prep time = wash hair+towel dry hair+comb hair+debate about leaving it down or up+fixing hair = up to 10 minutes on week days, and up to 30 minutes for church. Short hair prep time = wash hair+towel dry hair+run fingers through hair while dashing out the door = 3 minutes regardless of the day.

The hair cut was a stress management technique. Flute related stress doesn't bother me, I'm pretty used to it and cope pretty well. School related stress, not so much my thing. School related stress results in me doing stupid/random/not-quite-fully-thought-through-things. Things like burning a book with Tia sometime between midnight and one in the morning. Would you believe the smoke from a burning book hurts way more than camp fire smoke? Maybe it was just because it was the middle of the night, but I think it does hurt more...

And before I head out, I'm going to Reno this weekend!!! Woo hoo! Well, it's not as cool as it sounds, Wind Symphony is going on tour. We're playing for CBDNA (College Band Directors National Association)and we're one of the final groups playing, so either they think we're really good or they're hoping everyone will be headed home before we play. Take your pick. Speaking of Wind Symphony, usually I have very few good things to say about anything band related, but our final concert will be amazing. You should come. We're playing Maslanka's 7th symphony for wind band, and it's so cool. And we're being broadcasted live (was that a word?). So not being able to get to Provo is no excuse. Be there, or forever regret missing this one.

Well... I'm all blogged out... see you, like, in another month...

Wasn't I cute!

So, last night long after I should have been in bed, I instead was making recital posters. My aunt sent me some incredibly cute pictures from when I was little, and that in combination with an old senior photo with my flute were what I decided my monetary and time budget could allow. I'm actually pretty proud of myself, I did most of it while shamelessly picking Megan's brains for her artistic opinion (so really I was mostly a lemming while she supervised my designing of the posters... but I helped!).

Other points of interest from the week:

1. I got into a disagreement, which I lost, with my teacher about the location of medieval Burgundy. However, in class I was sure I was right, because I had actually been reading my history book and looking at medieval maps that morning and I remembered seeing Burgundy. But what are you supposed to do? Look like a prat and say "actually, this morning as I was perusing maps of medieval Europe I distinctly remember Burgundy being farther south, but in your defense it did migrate farther north over time." Yeah. That'd work great.

2. I saw Avatar. I can understand the rave reviews it got, but I don't think I shall see it again. For me it seemed to be a show of what cgi and computers could accomplish, and other parts (like the lack luster sound track) fell short in my mind. However, the animation was INCREDIBLE, and I really want to know where they came up with the ideas for all of the plants and animals in the movie, because they were really really cool.

3. Week two of making my own bread went well. It's my goal for the semester to not have to buy bread, because American bread is nasty, and half the time when I do buy it I don't eat it all and then it goes bad and suddenly I'm stuck buying nasty bread agin. So, now I'm making my own bread, and actually, it's pretty fun. Last week I was boring and just made wheat bread, but the week before I took half of the bread and made cinnamon raisin bread to eat for breakfast. It was marvelous. I think this week I'll split the dough in half and make some wheat bread and some cinnamon raisin bread, because it was really really good.

Okay, and now here are the posters, because I know they're really all you want to see:



And for a little sophistication:



Well, are you coming?

Happiness is...

when you have one professor out of town for a conference, and another who covers the weeks worth of material in half a class period. 5 1/2 hours of my life, welcome back!

Confession

Today I entered the BYU football stadium for the first time in my college career.

I only have three semesters left here.

I entered the stadium only to get to the band hall to watch a recital.

Go ponder that one for a while...

See You Next Fall!

For those of you who attended last night's concert, I hope you enjoyed it. I can't complain much... the little wooden beast I play on was relatively in tune and I didn't fall on my face, at least when I was getting on stage. However, do any of you recall the resounding thwack that echoed through the concert hall as the opening prayer was being said? A certain very tall piccolo player that I know just might have been walking in late, and just might have thought that there were only two steps not three to get to her seat and she just might have fallen flat on her face while trying to stealthily sneak in. That just might have been what happened. Just maybe.



With the arrival of fall, no longer being used as a verb by yours truly, I have fallen in love with the boots my mom got me this summer. They keep my toes warm and happy, now I just need to buy tights to go with them so I don't freeze going to work in a skirt this winter.

And last but not least, the grandparents are in town and taking the cousins to lunch! Yay food! So, I'll catch ya'll later.

Peanut Butter

Today I opened a new jar of peanut butter. In my poor collegiate life it's actually one of my favorite things to do. Particularly if it's creamy peanut butter. Sometimes there's a cool swirl, other times it's perfectly smooth with maybe a bubble or two. They must put the stuff in while it's really really hot, otherwise it would never look that cool. If I was giving a talk I'm sure I could find some deeper meaning in this... but I'm not. So just know I like peanut butter.

Other things of slightly more interest to those of you who stuck around:
~ Danielle and I played in masterclass and we rocked. Basically, you all wish you were there. (but if you weren't we're trying to get it on one of the new music concerts,and if we do, you should all come... because this piece is EPIC.)
~ Dr. Clayton pronounced Amber and I as the new Meleece. Pretty well stoked. I'm taking it as a good thing... right?
~ Found out my apartment complex hates me... no parking sticker for me. LAME!
~ Got asked out... had to tell the poor guy I was running a half marathon that morning... At least it's a legit excuse right? I wouldn't have been back in time, and he wanted to go hiking... no good after a half marathon.
~ The book sale on campus is KILLING me. All I want to do is give all those beautiful books a home. I'm making myself wait until Friday when the last remnants are marked down to 90% off. I figure my taste in books is unique enough that maybe something I want will be left, right? I've got my eye on a really cool looking book about the history of the inquisition... I stuck it under a stack of books hoping no one will notice it. I'm soooo sneaky.
~ Speaking of books, I'm reading a book about Magellan right now, and it's incredible. I can barely put the thing down.
~ Studied the Celts in history today and my history teacher made fun of all the neodruids who go celebrate (get high) at Stonehenge, which was neither Celtic nor around for the time of the druids. Do your history before you go run a muck in a historical monument. (Of course, I'm left wondering why the British government puts up with it when they could do a little research and get Stonehenge back it's dignity.)
~ Finally, but probably not the most exciting, the half marathon, in case you hadn't already gathered, is on Saturday. Yeah... death...

Random Amusement

Eat, Run, Practice, Eat, Work, Practice, Eat, Practice, Sleep.

This is all I do... in about that order. But in between I have managed to squeeze in personal entertainment.

~ I bought my books today. Amusing, no. Painful, yes. So why am I listing it? Because one of my books was an entire book on the Black Death. Soooooooooo excited. I'm already reading it. yay.

~ I got my hands on a piccolo today thanks to the awesomeness of Amber. Said piccolo had a note in it that said it's name was Pip. Not sure what I think of that name... it's rather cheesy... but also cute. Judgement will be passed soon, and Pip may get a more manly middle name.

~ Went running, didn't die. Major victory. Also, no cat calls, also a major victory.

~ Back with the naming of instruments. Since moving into my new apartment I've only reffered to my flute by his name... it's starting to get entertaining. I think I've been pegged as the roommate who is headed to the altar with some Johnathan fellow. *chortle* We will see how long this charade lasts.

Road Tripping

In the last few weeks since my return from Paris I've spent a looooot of time on the road. I drove back from Idaho to Provo, then a week later from Provo to Boise then to Soda Springs, then to Idaho Falls and now I'm back in Provo.
I really don't mind driving, I like the time to think and enjoy music and scenery, but some parts of Idaho and northern Utah are just ugly and the radio cuts out and all that is left is honkey-tonk country, which is the most horrid version of an already troubled genre.
In my drive to Boise there was a two hour section like this, absolutely nothing... no radio and dead waste land all around me. Every mile looked exactly the same, on and on... and on... and on... When suddenly I looked up and saw this:



and heard: It's Mater like Termater with out the ter.

Followed by this fellow sitting on the road shouting:



What did I tell you about fraternizing with the prisoners?

And then some guy named Filmore drove by offering his "all natural" gasoline, and I started to wonder what was in my drink...



What can I say, I'd been alone in a car for far to long, and my love for Pixar and Disney has yet to be matched.

Goodbye My Friend

Confession, I get really really really attached to inanimate objects.

Exhibit A, my flute. My flute has a name, and I have a tendency to call him by name on regular occasion. Which leads to awkward moments when someone then says, "I didn't know you had a boyfriend" and I have to explain that I was referring to my flute... and then they get this dubious look on their face... that same look you'd probably see if you look in the mirror right... NOW... see that look of concerned speculation. Yeah. I get very very anxious when I don't know exactly where my flute is, and I don't like other people who don't play flute coming too close to him.

Exhibit B, my childhood friend, Suzie, the trusty doll that followed me EVERYWHERE. Not joking, she had a nightgown with a drawstring at the bottom and I used to pull the drawstring tight and drag her behind me everywhere we went. (This lead to much speculation about my future parenting abilities, have no fear, I now realize dragging a kid by the feet isn't such a brilliant idea, usually.) As far as I was concerned Suzie was real, leading to an outburst in the airport when I refused to put her through the x-ray scanner because it might hurt her. Traumatizing. Not just for me either, apparently, because next summer Suzie was conveniently "forgotten". I've long suspected foul play or sabotage, but the guilty conscience has yet to get to my parents. I do remember telling Mom to call the neighbors and tell them to feed Suzie. One month later we returned home and she was okay, after I nursed her back to health for a few days.

As I've gotten older some of the objects I've attached myself to have become more and more trivial (minus my flute). College hasn't helped. I have taken the duct tape oath, and believe firmly that anything can be fixed by duct tape. My alarm clock "fell" off the shelf one morning and broke in half, but the clock still showed the correct time, so what did I do? Tape it back together of course. So now almost two years later it works fine, it is just covered in duct tape. This minor obsession isn't my fault though, sometime go visit my mom and watch her cut cheese... the knife is not the knife it used to be... but it still works, and really really well at that. (Mom, if you ever want a new knife, my offer still holds, I'd be happy to take the old one off your hands.)

Upon my return from France I realized that one of my favorite inanimate objects was gone. It's a cup. Yes, a cup. My favorite cup. It always held the perfect amount of water or juice or milk or whatever I wanted. This cup had been mine since I was nine or ten years old. It was an Easter gift from the Easter Bunny. I used it faithfully until college. When I returned home for Christmas Dad told me to take the cup back with me because no one else would use it because it was mine. (Sadly this mindset only held for my cup, since my room, my bed, and anything else I loved was taken by the younger generation *sob*) So, away to college my cup came. It was so convenient, roommates very quickly realized that cup was mine and I never had to worry about grabbing the wrong one (who can mistake a bright pink Minnie Mouse cup?) About two weeks before I left I noticed something was amiss, and realized that after over ten years of faithful use the cup had started to leak. But, I couldn't throw it away, perhaps duct tape would fix it. Yes, duct tape would do the trick. Apparently though, in my absence it was thrown away, which is probably a good thing, because I never could have... and would have subjected the poor cup to tons of duct tape... and then my water would have tasted like duct tape... and I would have thrown the cup away on a bad note, and after taste... so who ever pitched it did me a favor.

Farewell old friend. I'll miss you.

The Little Things

All you get tonight is observations. Such is life.

~ I find it ironic that in a art exhibit trying to fight for woman's rights and equality they showed lots of naked women. And only their bodies. Not even their faces. To me that objectifies women and I found it both offensive and counter productive.
~ Paris smells like urine, music camp smells like cigarette smoke.
~ You'd be surprised how many singers and wind players smoke... gag.
~ Getting a migraine is like being pregnant. By the time everyone can see it, you don't feel nearly as awful. Not that I've got anyway to compare... but moral of the story is once I look awful the worst of the migraine is over. But I still appreciate the sympathy.
~ I <3 migraine pills. In a non druggie way.
~ It's really easy to vault the exit barrier in the metro. Especially if you are motivated by the fact that your stupid card wouldn't work.
~ Sometimes the metro machines are just a pain.
~ Amber has a lot of energy
~ In addition to the amount of energy, she is also loud.
~ Loudness and energy are directly related to the number of people around her.
~ Puppies are sooooo cute. But some older dogs chillaxin' aren't... particularly over here...
~ Street mimes are cool.
~ Whenever we bring Big Lee with us I never worry about anyone messing with us.
~ When Big Lee isn't around... creepers sometimes show up...
~ When shopping in a foreign country sometimes the seemingly easiest things are the hardest to find. Tonight we spent half an hour looking for sugar. Silly us, we didn't look between the milk and the Coke.

Oh the Metro...

*warning, this post is... um... yeah... read at your own risk*

Soooooooo today we are on the subway in rush hour. Which is always really memorable, to say the least, because we are all crammed in like sardines and you just have to deal with the claustrophobia and the stench. It's also fun because Amber is usually really food deprived so she gets a little loopy and quotes Disney and starts hearing voices. However, today's events took unique/awkward to a whole new level.

We crammed onto the train to take us to our next stop and after having been on they for a few minutes the guy behind Danielle leans forward and says "your bag is a bit too heavy for my balls." Apparently he was slightly squished.

I did warn you.

I've been thinking...

With all this hype about Michael Jackson's funeral today, I've been wondering, what will he look like in the resurrection? Black, White, Male or Female???

Smirk

I found this amusing. Hope ya`ll do too. Although I think I fit in a slightly older generation than this kid because I actually remember these and using them on car trips.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/07/01/BU2618GKE7.DTL&nopu=1

It's real now...

Sooo... I've known for quite a while that I am going to Paris, however, one special event today made it all real. I BOUGHT A TRAVEL GUIDE BOOK!!! Oh, and a history book (which I am down playing my excitement for lest you all realize what a nerd I am and no longer want to frequent my blog.) I'm completely thrilled about both. On the plane I have every intention of reading non stop and figuring out everything I want to see. The history book is so that I know what I am seeing, because really, what good is it to see really cool historical sights if you have to just look at them and know something cool happened there? I plan to know exactly what happened and I have a sneaking suspicion that by the end of this trip poor Amber will be utterly sick of hearing me blab about cool dead people. (Because, whether you like it or not, some of the coolest people in the world are already dead. Tragic, but true.)
From the history stand point I'm interested to get a chance to delve into French history because I have only ever really looked at the history of France through the eyes of British narratives, and well, they are slightly biased. Something about Calais and French and English kings laying claims to each others thrones really doesn't make for the best of friendships. It doesn't help when you keep marrying your cousin's either, but apparently they had no problem with that one. Incest takes second place to crown stealing. It's all about those priorities.
I'm really excited to go visit the cathedrals in Paris, and to go see the Bastille (which is an opera house now, but still freaking awesome.) We also get to go see Versailles, which is one of my favorite places in France. I remember loving it when I was little and now it should be even cooler. (Insert cool historical rant about Marie Antoinette who was really really awesome despite the awkward flack that she tends to get and what Hollywood has done to her.)I'm also pretty thrilled to start eating really good bread and cheese... yep, stoked about that one. I don't even care about buying gourmet, just the cheap bread and cheese in France will be better than the best bread here.
Aaaaaand then there is the music. Which will be amazing. I intend to go hit up a catholic church one of the Sundays and go listen to a mass just to hear the music echo through the cathedral. Because really, when it comes down to church music, the Catholic Church has a monopoly on AWESOME.
The only thing I am really nervous about is the language because I speak absolutely zero french. As in none-what-so-ever. Oh well... I've perfected my miming skills on other trips, so I guess I'll just make do. Oh, and Amber, I'm slightly afraid I'll loose you one day... because you are very small...

Packing, psh...

I should be packing, therefor I'm not. Instead I'm taking facebook quizzes, eating dark chocolate, and realizing tomorrow is gonna be crazy. I leave Saturday morning and I really really need to start packing, but alas I haven't.

However, I did have a ridiculously good lesson... and I made good food... and I picked out the music I want to buy when I hit up flute world... but packing... gross.

Oh, and my facebook quizzes told me that I am the hufflepuff, pot head, protagonist, performing, Tia Kodunkulus fiend. Sometimes those things crack me up.

Good night.

Wait, you're not his wife? Awkward...

The last day as a councilor was rather bitter sweet. I was excited to know that I would finally be getting sleep again, but it was sad to say bye to everyone. It's interesting being a councilor because one day you have these teenage girls plopped into a group with you, and with in hours they've decided that you're pretty cool but you don't really know them yet. Some of them bare their souls to you, others are quietly reserved. Some are the ones who stand out in the crowd and another would happily sit on the sidelines. Some make matches, others have hearts broken. Some just want to play and others are desperately looking to see if there is room for them in the music world. All in one week. Some of my girls I got to know quite well, and others I never really was able to connect with. Each night I got consecutively less sleep culminating in a conversation ending Saturday morning at 3am. Some times I just wanted to be done and go home, but I'd do it again in a heart beat. So, here are my last few entertaining thoughts for you.

Friday night was the Jazz concert. I like jazz, but not in concert form, I love dancing to it or having it as background music, but I struggle in the formal concert setting. I was actually rather glad when one of my girls realized that she had left her straightener on and we had to go back to stop Heritage from burning down. She saved me from falling asleep and being incredibly embarrassed.
The Friday night dance was much more of a success than the one on Tuesday. Would you believe me if I said there were hardly any line dances? Yeah, just a couple and people seemed fine with that. I spent most of the dance floating between pretending to monitor the halls and dancing with my girls. It was quite fun. I remember being fifteen and going to Summerfest and loving those dances so it was really fun to watch them. About half way through the dance there was a slow song, which is nothing really worth noting but I noticed one of the councilors was coming over to ask me to dance (you know that really awkward point where you know someone is gonna ask you but they still have ten feet left) well as this councilor walks over this little fifteen year old pipsqueak asked me to dance. I was slightly irked, but it only got more amusing. The councilor who was coming to ask me had to make an awkward turn and ask the next closest female and my young partner looked at me and said: "You're Scott's wife, right?"
me: "uuuuuuhhhh. nope." (in my head: his wife is pregnant... you PUNK!)
kid: "Ohh, cause all week I've thought you were his wife"
me: "yeah, you must have me concerned with someone" (in my head: and here comes an awkward dance... and all week he thought I was a pregnant lady... and the fact that I never talked to Scott or anything all week didn't tip this kid off... not the brightest crayon in the box are we?)
As far as awkward dances go, this one takes the cake. I have to feel sorry for the kid, cause he never really recovered after I told him that I was actually single and not Scott's wife. How do you recover from that? "Oh, my bad for mistaking you for a pregnant lady..." Yeah, there's no recovering. Ever. So I got to experience the awkward high school shuffling dancing to a slow song while you make awkward conversation about stupid things like the color of your toothbrush. (Admit it, you've asked or been asked that before.) There is a reason I go for boys who know how to dance, I hate to shuffle awkwardly. And, it was a Waltz, and I love waltzes. Grrrr.
Post dance there was much girl chitchat over boys and such at the dance, and actually a certain some one's planned romance may actually turn into something more... we'll see. I'm intrigued at the very least. I was happy cause I got to swing dance again and also got in one real slow dance, and my girls all seemed to really enjoy the dance too. Those who wanted to stayed up and partied with us for the next few hours and I taught Gina how to spiderman up the wall. It was epic.
After many hours of teenage fun (I loved being with those girls because I felt I could regress back to my highschool self around them, which was really really fun) we finally crashed and headed to bed at 3am. Yeah, breakfast came early.

Final Observations:
~ Sleep deprivation, lousy food, and cranky head councilors were all worth it.
~ Summer romance was found for many a young girl and boy at camp. Precious.
~ Being called some guys pregnant wife does not cause you to love a certain young camper more...
~ Unrequited love is also a theme of camp... tragic, but true
~ Driving six hours on four hours of sleep is just rotten. Sleep and driving hours should never move past a 1:1 ratio. EVER.
~ Apparently the Spice Girls will never go out of style at cheesy dances.
~ Having your birthday at summer camp is freaking awesome, particularly if you are a councilor.
~ Lack of sleep causes you to do rather stupid things and admit stupid things in front of those who you are in authority over. Particularly if you have a very inquisitive mind around.
~ One should never climb a wall too many times. Ohhh the pain.
~ Simply by virtue of being a councilor each man is invariable more attractive to young teenage girls... just ask a few who I worked with... they had them ranked.
~ Just because you've never talked to someone doesn't mean you can't be incredibly good friends by the end of one week together. I had never had a single conversation with Gina before last Sunday, but I absolutely loved getting to know her.
~ Councilors worry about what the kids think of them. A lot. Way more than I would have ever expected, I remember worrying that my girls would think that I Was a fruit loop.
~ Councilors shouldn't worry. The unconditional support from campers is awesome.
~ Teenage girls are easier from a councilors perspective, they just want to giggle all night. Teenage boys want to burn things and hang from the rafters.
~ Secretly there are about five campers who the councilors are afraid of and would love to send home. These children are prayed for, but at the same time each councilor watches for an infraction that will free them of these problem children. Luckily I didn't have any in my group.
~ Some parents are psycho. No, really. We would get phone calls from panicking parents who hadn't heard from their children in one day. Yeah... you sent the kid to summer camp for a week, perhaps they are busy, or having fun... calm down. BYU really isn't that scary... now if it were that nasty red school to the north, I'd make my child check in every hour...
~ If you ever have to eat an on campus dining plan, the Cannon Center is the way to go. They serve REAL eggs. And the food probably can't walk away by itself. The Morris Center, well, perhaps another week there and no punk camper would think I was some guy's pregnant wife.
~I'm not actually bitter about being called someones pregnant wife. I find it rather funny.
~ Being a councilor is worth every moment. Know that. I wouldn't change a thing.

From the Mouths of Babes

Hi all, I know you are hanging on the edge of your seats to hear about the last day of camp, but you'll just have to wait for Sunday night. I'm headed to Boise for a wedding. But never fear, I've made a list over the week of my favorite quotes so I hope you get a kick out of them.

~ Drop it like it's hot!!! *guilty look* The Mormon way... ~ Skyler
~ I would dance with him anywhere... *sigh*~ Lizzie S.
~ And then we sat at this empty table and there was boy after boy after boy~ Rachel
~ FIVE ONE!!! ALL I WANT IS A FIVE ONE CADENCE!!! IS THAT TOO MUCH TO ASK?!?!~ Lizzie C.
~ And he's beautiful... I saw him today and he said hi, at least I think it was him. We're going to get married, I can tell.~ Jayne
~ AWKWARD WHITE SAILOR PANTS SCREAM GAY MAN.~ General female consent
~ Those boys were BALD!!! ~ Jayne
~ KISS HER!!!~ Mark, not actually one of the babes I am generally referring to, but he yelled this right as the movie got quiet, and he'd only recently lectured the kids on not getting "involved" at camp.
~ Summer Festers ~ Dr. C
~ And my ex is here and all he wants to talk about is his stupid new girl friend~ Lizzie S.
~ He's cute, marry him~ Various girls at various times
~ There are just so many beautiful boys here and I'm still fifteen until January. It's not FAIR!!!~ Jayne
~ Well clearly if he likes cherry coke and you don't then the marriage is off. You can't build a marriage on beverage distrust.~ Jayne
~ We're in love, I haven't talked to him yet, but we are~ Lizzie S.
~ You so hott hott hott hott, think I be hollrin' if you not not not not...~
~ You mean I get to pull her into me, YES!!!~ Comment by a certain young gentleman as he was learning the cuddle at swing dance night.
~ Yeah, that's how I rope girls in for first dates, here ladies see this cute child I'm available divorced and you could have a baby right off... ~ Mark being sarcastic (he's really single and had been showing pictures of a nephew or something)
~ I KILLED LIZST, FOR THE THIRD TIME!!!~ Janessa
~ You got the IDAHO councilor, and my girls were like 'we're bushwhacking in heels'~ Marilyn
~ I made two matches straight from heaven, what a week~ Jayne
~ Basically this week was just a big bouquet of roses, I love you guys~ Kim

Mutant Demon Tomato Plants and so on...

First, you must understand I am currently medicated. I don't think that they drugs actually affect my cognitive reasoning, but they're a good excuse for this post. What drugs? Cool vertigo drugs. Joy. I woke up yesterday morning and ran directly into the wall. It was loud and rather painful. Under semi normal circumstances my running into the wall would have been funny, however, yesterday those blasted walls never stopped moving. So, Tae packed me off, after much argument on my part, to go get my inner ear looked at. One day later I feel fine, but am still taking medication to keep my inner ear in check.

Second, I must preface this story with an explanation of the pool in my apartment complex. For my Midland readers, Dioxin was child's play compared to this. For my non Midland readers just know that first the pool was a blueish green, then evil green, and now a seductive yet deathly blue. Every morning I expect mutant species to begin marching from it.


Last night I had a most peculiar dream...

I dreamed that little multicolored mutants marched from our pool and attacked Tia's tomato plant. These mutants were multicolored had many eyes, two awkwardly protruding legs, fluffy yet oddly spiky hair, and coolest of all, they spit radioactive waste. *disclaimer: I wish no harm on Tia's tomato plants, actually I quite like them and wish they would hurry up and produce beautiful tomatoes.* These peculiar little mutants marched straight up from the pool found Tia's plant and spit radioactive goop on them. Tia thought the whole thing was cool, Tae wanted to cut open the mutants brains, I wanted tomatoes, and Megan, actually, I don't know where you were... tragic. After much deliberation we decided we couldn't actually save the plant if it was going to die, so we left it outside the apartment hoping somehow it would all be okay.
The next morning we all woke up to go check on the tomatoes. We made it as far as the kitchen (a whopping five steps, but this sounds cooler) and then noticed a slight breeze and more sunlight than usually graces our kitchen in the early morning. THERE IT STOOD. THE MUTANT DEMON TOMATO PLANT.

Over night it had grown to be forty feet high and was sporting very large bright red tomatoes each with their own mutant looking faces. And then... I woke up...

This dream tells me a few things. One, I need to eat better at night. Two, I really want tomatoes. And three, clearly by Eddie Izzard's standards I am very much an American influenced by American movies. Had a Brit had this dream it would have gone like this:
Tia enters the kitchen and says: "Nicole the mutants are coming"
N: "Do they want tea?"
T: "No, I think they want a bit more, they're spitting radioactive waste on my tomatoes and they've got a flag"
N: "That's dash cunning of them"

Next day:
T: "those tomatoes have grown quite large and strong"
N: "really, how strong?"
T: "quite strong"
N: "Well how strong?"
T: "Like a small mutant pony"
N: "ooh, that's quite strong, innit?"
THE END

Like I said, I'm medicated.

*Tune in later when I'm feeling fully better and have pictures of the awesomeness of Flute Festival. I learned so much and absolutely loved the chance to work with Ms. Chesis again.*