Tonight I got to go and listen to Stephanie Nielson, writer of the Nie Nie Dialogues, also known as one of the blogs that I love to stalk while I am working.
And I am so glad I did! She is AMAZING. No lie. It was for BYU's Recapturing Beauty Campaign so her talk was focusing on coming to terms with her appearance after she was burned in a plane crash. How she was so afraid to look in the mirror the first time. How her kids wouldn't look at her, and how her two year old thought her sister was his mother. It was emotional to say the least. But oh so inspiring.
The place was packed. So packed that they started way late so some snotty girl could keep shouting in the mic that people needed to give up their saved seats and get out of the aisles because of fire codes. Graciously Nie Nie pointed out that snotty girl was right: we do need to obey the fire codes in case of a fire. That's why I love her. She is not fake at all and not stuffy or snobby or "woe is me, let's have a pity party". She is completely legit. And classy. And they couldn't have picked a better person to kick off their campaign about appreciating the bodies that God has given us. She bore such a powerful testimony that God answers prayers and that He is so so conscious of everything we go through. It sure was a great evening.
So, if you haven't joined the Nie Nie bandwagon, just do it! And start with this video. I swear I cry every time I see it.
You may laugh as I write this, but I don't get offended that easily. Ok, maybe I should say I don't get SERIOUSLY offended that easily. And I think it's safe to say that I would never get offended enough to leave the church or stop talking to my family or something ridiculous like that. But today was the second time I de-friended somebody on facebook for saying mean things about BYU (they aren't even students here!). So, I guess that's how you offend me then: say stupid things about BYU on facebook.
I get mad at BYU. I make fun of BYU. When my fellow classmates do it, even publicly on facebook, I don't get mad. And you know why? Because we go here! We have the right to do that. All those dumb haters (who probably applied and got rejected) have no right! I don't go putting on my dumb facebook status all the ridiculous things about the U of U just to cause a reaction, so if you do that about BYU....I get mad.
Just for fun I will tell you about the times I de-friended these dummies for bashing my school. The first was right when I got back from Romania. One of my "friends" wrote me and was like, "welcome home, what are you going to do now?"
I said, "well I start BYU in a week or so."
His response: "oh, I thought a mission would have helped you learn a little sense to not go back to that dumb school. jk."
JK?! Well, you know what I am not "jk"ing about? De-friending you!! (And it's not like we were even friends in real life either. I hadn't spoken to him in two and a half years so no biggie if we're not facebook friends either...like that's so important anyway.)
Second time: this morning. I am already upset about BYU football: they let us down once again yesterday and it's still a sore subject. Then one of my "facebook friends" puts up some idiot status about crappy offense and crappy defense and a lack of purpose as a university equaling BYU football.
Oh no you didn't. DE-FRIEND. (once again this was someone that I haven't talked to in years, so no biggie)
Maybe I am being irrational but I don't care. Luckily most of the readers of this blog are pro-BYU (except for kimmy and jake burch) so I don't have to deal with anti-BYU ridiculousness on my own blog. But if it starts to happen (kimmy and jake: be warned) I won't hesitate to block it on this site. There will be no BYU hating on this blog if I have something to say about it!
So anyway, that's my Sunday evening rant. I still love you. K bye.
I began my oh-so-good life as a missionary. So September 24 two years ago really was one of the longest days of my life, and the next day was even worse. But man, I loved living in this place. I didn't have a care in the world, except for that distant thought that one day I would have to approach strangers in the street and speak to them in a foreign language. But besides that, all that was expected of me was to study, soak up the spirituality, and eat. I didn't even have to clean up after myself!
The one not so good thing: I had to wear clothes like that (see above).
BYU really has a cool thing going for them, and that is International Cinema: Three foreign films a week, free, and the raunchy ones are edited. Along with some of my favorite people, I made a goal to go to international cinema at least once a week. And we have succeeded so far!
Week one: Il Postino. It was a charming little Italian movie.
Week two: Babette's Feast. This one is my favorite so far. I highly recommend it. It's a Danish film about a French woman who shows an isolated Puritan community on the coast of Denmark the wonders of good food. Kind of sounds like "Chocolat", but I thought it was better. And I was salivating for that delicious French food. In the words of Liz Lemon, "I want to got to there!"
Week three needs a little explanation as to why I wanted to see the film that I did. Years ago (three and a half, to be exact), I found myself in the wonderful land of China. Our last stop before heading home was Hong Kong, and being the broke volunteers that we were, we found a cheap hostel on the internet. The location was ideal, and it was the best priced for sure. It was located in this building:The ChungKing Mansions.
Can you say ghetto?! And it was. The bottom floors were full of porn stands and other stores, and crammed with people of all nationalities. The owner of our hostel even refused to let the big black guys into his hostel (maybe it was because they were shady, or chinese people are racist. Probably both), and when we told a lady in the Hong Kong ward where we were staying she asked, "HOW did you end up staying there?" So yeah, it was kind of shady. Turns out, there was a movie made inspired by the ChungKing Mansions, and all of its ghetto-ness.
Enter movie #3: Chungking Express. This movie was on crack. What started out as a mystery thriller about a drug deal going down in the ChungKing Mansions completely changed plot and characters half way through, with no connection between the two whatsoever. And what killed me was the second "plot." Girl works at restaurant and gets crush on cop (who was actually a hot chinese guy: those are rare in my opinion) who is still sad over past girlfriend leaving him. Girl starts breaking into cop's apartment everyday and does all kinds of things: re-decorates, waters his plants, dances around, changes the labels on his canned goods... I told you, this movie was on crack! Then cop finds out and instead of being totally creeped out, he asks her out!! Does that even work?! Maybe I should try doing that and guys would start asking me out. Oh wait, I am NOT going to do that because I'm not crazy.
Well, moving on. I can say one positive thing about the movie and that was the soundtrack. Particularly the cantonese version of the Cranberries song "Dreams."
This clip is seriously the most crack head part of the movie. Watch it, it's funny. And in case you were wondering if that was for real, YES, she is slipping him something in his water, and yes, she is searching his bed for bugs (I think).
I don't get this movie!! Maybe I'll stick to the European ones for next week.
I am starting to use all those itunes gift cards that I got for my birthday. First item of business: Kate Nash! I love her. I love her lyrics which are kind of hatin' some times, but since she has a cute british accent while she's hating (mostly on boys) it's not so bad.
And the even better news is that Kate Nash is coming to SLC...and for only 10 dollas! I love it when things like that happen. Anyway, I'm trying to be all bloggy, but I don't have much else to say right now. So just watch some Kate Nash.
BTW-Why is the video spilling over into my other stuff? I need an experienced blogger's help. Fix it!
A couple weeks ago, I was finally able to meet for din din with one of my besties, Kelsy. We had to plan a week in advance so we could arrange accordingly, and meet in Draper, half-way between SLC and Provo, where we both live, respectively. Life is hard when you're still in provo, and your bestie is married with a job in slc! We are both so busy, but we made it work and it was so fun chilling for hours reminiscing and gossiping.
Kelsy was my bestie roommate at Dixie...we worked so hard to get those associates degrees!!
And then we went on to bigger and better things at BYU...but still played a lot. (mostly at football games)
Those were the days...me and kelsy together....byu winning...
I love Kelsy because she hasn't fallen off the face of the earth after she got married and I went on a mission. She loves what I love, like midget hot chocolate, cafe rio, and 30 rock. She is da best!
My mom got to teach the always delightful lesson topic of "procreation" yesterday for her 12 year-old young womens class. Ha! I remember those days of what I swear was a monthly lesson about marriage, chastity, virtue, etc, etc. And if you had asked me right when I turned 12 what chastity meant, I don't think I could tell you. (Or maybe I knew...sometimes I am smarter than I give myself credit for!) But whether I not I knew what chastity meant when I was twelve years old, there is no doubt I knew what it was after 6 years in young womens!!
Six years worth of awkward class lessons, awkward combined classes with the bishop, awkward firesides and "standards nights," awkward efy discussions....I can go on forever! Young mens/young womens serves a lot of purposes, and one purpose that it definitely serves is teaching you what chastity means.
So yesterday in preparation for her lesson, my mom turns to my dear 12 year old brother and asks, "do you know what 'chaste' means?"
He confidently answered, "yeah, like 'he chased me down the street!'"
He may not have known then, but he sure does now, and probably will never forget.
But I will cut him some slack for not knowing because a) he's twelve, and b) at least 80% of the people I taught on my mission (male/female, young/old, chaste/non-chaste) did not know what the word chastity meant. And then there was even that one time when a member said in a branch family home evening that the word of wisdom is "the wisdom we get from reading the word of god." A random side note but funny all the same.
The end!
*And for the record, I am proud of my mormon upbringing and for all the hours spent in young womens learning about chastity, the word of wisdom, and many other things. It has served me well
I am glad it's Friday. This week felt long, but it was a short week! How will I make it to my next break at Thanksgiving?!
I am glad I get to wear jeans to work on Friday. I am lamenting the wasting away of my favorite pair of lucky brand jeans, but I am wearing a new pair of levis, and I think they were a good choice. They have a lot to live up to!
Why do the dancers in the Richards Building bug me so much? This might all be just in my head, but I swear they just think they are the shiz, and they act like it. Especially the guy dancers. I try not to dislike them, but they (this time I mean both male and female dancers) are always in my way, thinking the hallways are all theirs to practice in. The nerve! I should pray for patience, but I don't really want to have patience for them. So I guess I should pray to want to pray to have patience for them. We'll see.
Well, I'm glad it's Friday. That will give me two days without dancers all up in my grill (I hope). And I can wear my jeans to my heart's content. At least until Monday. Happy weekend!
Joining with me in the Labor Day festivities was this swell guy, who thinks I am brilliant (ha! don't ask me how I fooled him!). Here we are in front of the Guggenheim, another architectural masterpiece of Frank Lloyd Wright. Good times.
Happy post labor day, and I hope your weekend was fab like mine. It was a good way to end the summer. I headed out to NYC and it was perfect. So, basically, New York City is an explosion of amazing food. It's easy to get carried away. And I did.
Exhibit A: Serendipity
Exhibit B: Little Italy
Exhibit C: China Town Fruit Stands
And not pictured: Magnolia Bakery, and the charming pizza place in Hoboken, NJ, and Dominican Food, and I hesitate to mention anything else. But let me tell you, I have no regrets because it was all great. But, add that to a whole summer of eating and playing, I got me a lot of work to do! I need to start exercising again. And I have been putting it off, but this time it's for real. I'm getting a muffin top. And every time I think, "oh no, I think I am getting a muffin top," the 30 Rock lyrics pop into my head
"My muffin top is all that, whole grain, low fat
I know you want a piece of that, but I'm just here to dance!"
Well, this has got to stop. So, I will start exercising, I swear. Luckily I am short, so within a few weeks, I should be good to go. Meaning, I will hit the weight I want, call it good, but have to start the routine again if I gain it back. That's how I roll. At least until my metabolism really slows down, then I might have some trouble on my hands! Well, I'll think about that when the time comes. In the meantime, I will continue enjoying fabulous italian food and gourmet cupcakes. I encourage you to do the same.
I am at work and a bit on edge because Mr. Brian Stokes Mitchell is in the building. I'm not lying when I tell you that I included in my morning prayer that he would come into my office today (he is putting on a master class for the music dance theater students---the department I work for). Seriously, this guy is so talented and I want to just hear his deep amazing voice. I'll stop now before I get carried away. In case you don't even know who he is, do yourself a favor and watch this:
Hello, talented.
I wish I could go to his sold-out concert tomorrow, but alas, it is sold out, and I am going out of town. Nothing to complain about, but I feel like I am missing out on so much this weekend!
School started this week, and while I am disappointed I didn't quite get the classes I wanted, I think it will all be good. And I only made a fool out of myself two times that I know of. The first time when I went to the wrong classroom (I was already late), sat down and realized that I was in the wrong class and had to get right up and walk out. That's a first for the Annie Book of Embarrassing Moments. And then, the second one was just your regularly occurring tripping on the Richards Building Stairs ( I was alone, naturally, so what do you do?). But this one has happened enough that I have learned how to cope.
Wait! I just thought of another one. I was riding my bike to the library, and I went over a pretty regular size bump that managed to fling my notebook onto the street, papers going everywhere. That was fun too. Oh, man. I wonder if I will ever not be so awkward! And the funny thing is, these kind of things only happen to me on BYU campus. The place where everyone is always watching and scrutinizing everybody else. Let them laugh. Whatever.
Welp, I hope your week was less embarrassing than mine. Happy almost weekend. I love you all!
