I'm an alto in denial

This happens every Sunday. After church I go to choir, where I sing soprano. But, every sunday it becomes clearer how much I need to switch sections. I've sung soprano my whole life, and I love singing the high notes. I just can't do it as well as I used to. I keep finding excuses to not switch over, but I know one of these days I'll have to, and I'm not looking forward to it.

reevaluation

So, I'm the youngest of eight. And there's only 11 years between me and my eldest sister. So, I know most of my family. Or at least I thought I did. See, this past week we had a family reunion, will ALL of us. This hasn't happened in years. It was fun, but I looked at some of my siblings (and their spouces) with different eyes, and it caused some reevaluation. I've changed my view of some of them, for the better or the worse. Or just for future reference. I'll give one small example here. Just above me is a brother, Phil. Phil is about two years older than me, and growing up with him was interesting. We didn't really fight (I have another brother that fills that role), but he did things that wern't the best, and my parents had to put him in foster care, they counldn't deal with it. So I was biased growing up, because most of my memories with him are with him in foster care. I had a slanted view. He made other choices, too, that helped me keep my biased view of this brother. But, today it all changed. We were comeing home from the airport, Phil, Mike, Phils friend who picked us up and I. Phil was having a conversation with his friend, and I realized that I misjuged my brother. He wasn't this awful, misguided rapper. He might have been in the past, but now he's a considerate, trustworthy dude. And I respect him. I didn't really expect this to happen. Now, I don't think we'll ever be really close, our interests are still far apart. But, to know that he had another side that I never got to see, it means something. I need to look for that other side in everyone. Maybe all we see is one side of someone, when they don't show their warm, fuzzy, good side. But we should look for it, and bring out the best in others. Maybe all we see is their angry, upset or bossy side. But if we look closer, we can see their other, good happy friendly side. And we should reevaluate whether they're really as bad as we thought they were.

viva la vida

So I preordered Coldplays newest CD and downloaded it about 10 minutes ago. It's amazing! I think I might stay up late, just so I can finish listening to it. The lyrics are awesome, and the music...oh, the music is beautiful. I love this CD. It is now my favorite. And I will listen to it non-stop for the next week. (well, probably not, but almost) This music makes me so happy. :^D

blogs?

I was all set to do a "My Favorite Monday", where the favorite today is Summertime activity. I was going to talk about going to England. But then I decided if all I did on my blog was follow templates of others, is it really mine? Am I really writing down what's me? Yes, I follow the guidelines. I insert a little blurb. But I didn't come up with any of it. I'm just following others. And yet, sometimes it's really hard to come up with things to blog about. As Nanti-Sarrmm said recently "To move this blog away from an entire diary like thing" I don't want this to be a play by play of my life. I don't just want to say today I did this. Or tomorrow I'll do that. But, I'm not a writer. And I don't have huge opinions on things. I ignore the news because it depresses me. Maybe my lack of ideas is purely my own fault. My question to you is: How do you come up with things to say to actually make people think? What types of things do you want to read on my blog? What are some good ideas?

Friday Fill-In

1. Visiting all 7 continents (5 to go) is high up on my bucket list. 2. My favorite quote is Do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger men! Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers. Pray for power equal to your tasks. It's from Phillip Brooks. 3. The writers of the 100 Hour Board that blogged inspired me to start blogging. 4. Strawberries are best fresh! With whipped cream. 5.For some reason my house turned into a resturant in the last dream I remember having. 6. The most enjoyable time to go for a walk is when nature is about. 7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to working, tomorrow my plans include working overtime and Sunday, I want to actually take a nap!

Weekend Sadness

So, my computer decided to rebel. Saturday morning I logged into my computer and all my preferences were gone. My documents and files were there (thank goodness) but all my settings were not. I even had to reload all my files back into iTunes. So, I work on it, and have a lot of my preferences back to where I like them. Then, I had to go to work. So, I shut down my computer. Sunday afternoon I load up my computer to find out that all my preferences were gone again. Along with my files. Now I was freaking out. I did some searches and found a probable cause. But, I needed my files. I downloaded some programs that searched for them, but they found nothing. I eventually turned on hidden files (so I could see them) and found my files in a sparceimage (I'm still not quite certain what that is, or why they were there, but I'm glad that I found them). I decided to just wipe my drive clean and start over. So, I backed up my oh-so-important files to an external drive and wiped my drive clean. Then I reinstalled my Operating System, brought my files back, and my computer is working beautifully. Let's just hope it stays that way!

Awkwardness and Regret

So, today was a good day. Mainly. Hopefully. I got the day off along with a coworker (afterwords referred to as bertha) and we decided to go to Lagoon and enjoy our freedom for one day. Awkwardness #1 happened when I went to pick her up. I basically walked into a fight between bertha and her mom. I don't like fights with parents, especially with moms. I just stood there as they yelled at each other. Then, finally, bertha did what her mom wanted her to (do dishes, clean microwave, clean bathroom) and we left. We had quite a few stops along the way, but we finally made it up to lagoon about 1 pm, not bad. We just sort of wandered at first, and we went on a few rides. It was a bit chilly, so we decided to splurge and buy matching hoodies (except hers is pink and mine is green). That is Regret #1. Buying anything at an amusement park is a bad idea, but buying clothes is about 10 times as bad as anything else. It was about $30. It's nice and all, but not THAT nice. Anyway, we wandered the park, and had a lot of fun. Until we decided to be a bit stupid. Even though it was chilly, we went on Rattlesnake Rapids. Twice. To those who don't know what that ride is, you're basically on a raft with 4-6 other people going down rapids. With waterfalls. And a tunnel full of mist. You're sure to be soaked. And we did. bertha came up with the brilliant idea of going to the bathroom and using the hand dryers to dry ourselves off. It worked fairly well for me, I wore shorts of a light material, and they dried fairly fast. bertha, on the other hand, wore jean shorts. So, she froze. it wasn't too long before she was freezing, so we decided to leave. It was getting fairly cold (even I was cold), but it was only 5, so bertha called a friend who lived in Ogden, and we met in a Target, which leads us to Awkwardness #2. The friend bertha called was a guy she met over this phone chat line. And he's like 60. And likes her. So we talk a little, then we get in his car, and he's going to drive us to my car (I didn't really get this part, my car was really close anyway, his was just a little closer). He was in the drivers seat, bertha's in shotgun, and I'm in the back. What made it worse was he pulled out a cigarette and started smoking! Eventually bertha got the hint that I was really feeling awkward, and we left. But, it was still only about 9:15. We didn't want to go home yet. So, we decided to go down to Salt Lake and walk around Temple Square. We finally found a place to park, and was able to walk around for about 5 minutes before security found us and said that they were closing down. (I never realized that Temple Square closed at 10 pm. I guess I've never been there that late.) Anyway, we stand by the reflection pool and look at the temple and talk. We go back to the car, and bertha says she'll call another friend who lives in Salt Lake (again, she met him over the phone chat line. and she'd never met him before.) Enter Awkwardness #3. We pick him up, and we drive up to look out point, which has an AMAZING view, but we had to get out of the car to see it, and then it was freezing, so we got back into the car, but then it was SUPER awkward. Anyway, bertha ended up going into the backseat with him, and it was all downhill from there. I drove around, but all I was doing was letting them make out in the back seat. This 'friend' kept giving me directions, and we ended up on this little street where he told me to park, so they could have more fun. I sat in the front for about 10 minutes before I'd had enough. I got out of the car, and sat on the curb. I thought a bit, then went back into the car. I drove him home, the we went home. Thus entering Regret #2. bertha was sorry she'd let him do that. I could tell she was. I was sorry that I'd let myself drive them around for as long as I did. I really want to kill this dude, but I'll never see him again. He's a jerk. bertha told me on our drive home that when I got out of the car she actually hit him (good for her!). This just reminds me that you always have to be on alert. You never know what could push you over the edge. I'm also afraid that there are other jerks out there, wanting to take advantage. To sum things up, it was a fun day, up until we left Lagoon. I made a few wrong decisions, but it wasn't anything serious. It was only after it got too late and involved boys that things got really Awkward and full of Regret. When I was in Young Women's we were told the Holy Ghost goes to bed at midnight. I think that it might be closer to 10 pm if you're dealing with a car. Parking is NEVER a good idea. Nor is tricking your friend to be chauffeur.

book tag

Although I technically wasn't tagged by name, they said that I could consider myself tagged if I wanted to be, and I've read a few people who have done this, and have wanted an excuse to do it myself. The 'nearest' book to me is called "The Shining Ones". Page 123 sentence 5 reads:

"Mirtai," Stragen said with a pained look, "I love you like a sister, but burglary's a fine art."

I hope that inspires you all to go read the book, burning with curiousity. (Actually, If you do want to read this, it's book two in a series, and there's a previous series you need to have read before reading this one. So it might be easier to just ask me for a summery.) Here are the rules: If you've been tagged: 1. Pick up the nearest book (at least 123 pages). 2. Turn to page 123. 3. Find the 5th sentence 4. Post the 5th sentence on your blog. 5. Tag 5 people. The 5 people I tag are as follows: 1. Roommate 2. Chilly 3. bobtheenchantedone 4. Nanti-SARRMM 5. Anyone else who reads my blog and wants to do it!

money i don't have

So yesterday, right before I was about to start work, I received a phone call from my sister. Her friend, a Mary Kay consultant, was having a sale on Mary Kay things (25% off) and I should call the consultant, yadda yadda yadda. So, on my break I called her. And spent much more than I should have. Much more than I should be comfortable spending right now. Just over $100. On make up. Sheesh. And yet, I'm excited for it. I haven't bought 'professional" make up before, and I wonder how it'll look on me. Hmm....

stupid customers

Since I work in a Deli at a grocery store, I work with customers a lot. I deal with hundreds a day. Most of them are polite, know what they want and thank me when they're done. Then there are those who come up to the counter for ice cream and ask the dumb questions: "What sizes do you have?" "What flavors of ice cream?" etc. And, I have to explain these. I get used to those customers, and in their defense I guess some places have different flavors. But then there are the really stupid ones. I'm sure you know who I'm talking about. See, by our ice cream machine we have two registers, so when it gets really busy two people can be helping people with ice cream at the same time. But sometimes there's only one person down there, and of course a line forms at one of the registers. Then, someone gets a 'brilliant' idea: "Why not start a line at the OTHER register, thus pushing myself to 1st place? Those people HAVE to help ME next, because I'm first in line!" The problem is, of course, only one person is down there, (usually me) and I haven't discovered how to be in two places at once (if anyone knows this secret, it would be greatly appreciated!). So, the customers get irritated because they aren't getting helped yet, I'm getting irritated because I have to remember where they are in the other line (so that I do help them based on when they got there), then the people who would have been behind them get irritated because hey, they were next in line. In short, if there's only one person there, don't form another line, otherwise you might just find yourself tied up and shot (with rubber bands, of course). Tune in next time for more stupid customer stories, AKA ways to irritate that person behind the counter!

my favorite monday - colors

So, since Chilly said we're practically BFF, I've decided to do this "my favorite monday" thing.



My favorite color is actually here:



It's more the color of the ocean than the sky, but that calm blue is perfect. By the way, if you ever have the chance to go on a cruise to the Caribbean, DO IT!! You won't regret it, I promise.