excessive celebration

ok, i cant help it, i gotta vent. BYU won the game against UW legitimately. i dont care that the huskies dont like the call...thats not what won the game...THE BLOCKED PUNT DID!! though i may seem biased as a BYU fan, i admit that when byu is not playing the huskies i always cheer for UW. but i think the refs were right about this call. NCAA's director, interviewed on sportscenter, agreed that the call was correct and that the refs had followed the guidelines set forth regarding showboating and celebrating after a scoring run. if you think locker didnt throw the ball high, how high should he have thrown it in order for it to have been considered high?! they called the same call on byu a few seconds later so why all the whining? is byu, a ranked team, just a team that is overranked because they belong to an "easy" conference? doubtful-afterall, who else has the longest running winning streak in the nation beside byu? oh yeah, noone else is even close. uw on the other hand is 0-2 this season and 2-11 in their last 13 games. though i may not have liked the call if i was a husky, i certainly wont argue when the NCAA director agree with the refs.

the fact that byu is all over espn just because of this is driving me nuts too...apparently byu isnt "legit" enough to be on sportscenter unless its because we "robbed" a pac ten team and therefore a team that didnt "deserve" to lose to a mountain west team...bull shiz.

home sweet...home?

well i have made my biannual migration, this time migrating north as the winter winds threaten the mountains with snow. ok well thats a few months off still but oh well. point is, im back in utah. why you ask? i am graduated and my family lives in california, so WHY the crap am i back in utah?! simple. a boy made me do it. ok he didnt make me, but as good as it is to be "home," it doesnt feel like home so much now that im planning on spending the rest of my life with this guy. so...i did it-i returned to utah of my own free will. gag.

oh and my family is moving. to utah. there is just something about the place...my family doesnt seem to get enough (not). but my dad just got a job in slc and so my parental units are house huntin as i speak...er...type. which will be kinda nice to have mommy close to help me plan this wedding shindig. my little brother is a little upset but i dont blame him...ive had to pick up and move several times and its exciting but not in a fun way. im stoked though cuz i get to teach him how to snowboard...free ride time for me!!

and oh that illusive beast, law school. i still dont know what is going on and tomorrow is the first day of first year orientation. i just might be out of luck...in the mean time, i have to find a job or i soon will be out of a place to live, as well as out of food. (actually that cant happen yet, i still havent bought any...) either way...i guess ill be updating this again soon as a way of coping with the stress and emotion, which ever way this ordeal turns out...

to health and happiness

ok well since ive decided that i cant read Happy Potter and make beanies for the entire summer, i guess ill just have spin out something for you all to read.

first of all, i know you are dying to hear about this engagement bit. heres the short of it: his name is Brian and we started dating in march after meeting on a group date on which both of us were on dates with different people. ive spent almost everyday with him till the end of june when i came back home to say bye to my brother who just left on his mission. brian told me that he had made me something in his lonely boredom and was sending it conveniently with a friend who also happens to live in my area and was coming down for the weekend. i arranged with the mutual friend to get this mystery package and when i went to meet him, i found brian instead. he pulled a box from behind his back, got down on one knee, and i said yes. yay!
he talked to my dad the next day and since he didnt come out bleeding, but rather with a grin, i suppose my dad gave permission. if you dont want to hear the lovely dovey stuff, stop reading here and skip to the next paragraph; if you dont mind, then read on. he is perfect for me in every way. he knows how to talk to me when im upset, treats me like a princess, and can make me laugh at myself. he is kind and smart and tells me he loves me everyday. he is wonderful and is the better of half of me. and he snowboards. basically, he is amazing...

second: as some of you may know, my body hates me. im not kidding. since starting college, ive had mono, been diagnosed with celiac, thought i was lactose intolerant, quit the celiac diet believing the diagnosis was false, thought i had kidney problems, found out it was really ovary problems, and just generally felt uncomfortable during the last 4 years.
so....we are trying to solve it all now. after two weeks, 5 dr. appointments, 8 blood tests, a radioactive sandwich and two ultrasounds, it appears that we are no closer to discovering the cause of my plight. in the next week i have another dr appointment and an endoscopy. if you dont know what that is, its a minor surgery that requires shoving a camera down your throat and through your stomach to your intestines, where they plan on taking a tissue sample.
GREAT. im terrified. utterly and totally terrified. i hate needles, IV's and anything associated with puncturing the skin, especially mine. i walked out of the dr.'s today crying. and to top it all off, i might really be celiac (meaning i cant eat anything with wheat or else it will destroy my intestines). this wouldnt be SO bad if i hadnt already tried to live a celiac lifestyle only to find that i felt no better and it created problems and frustration to me and everyone around me concerning food. i dread it. in the mean time, im just gonna hope the presciption they gave me for slow digestion solves all stomach issues. as far my ultrasounds went, ill found out on tuesday jut how scarred and functional my lady parts are, cuz at this point they are crying mutany.

summer lapse

so...its been a really really long time since i last posted. like almost two months haha. oops! i guess its time for a little update...

since i last posted, brian and i traveled to norcal to visit his old stomping grounds and his best friends who all just got back from el missions. i finished my very last class ever as a byu undergrad (woop) and now im officially graduated, which is a really weird feeling by the way. i also got to spend a day with my old friends from slc who i havent really hung out with since i moved when i was 10. it was super rad to see them, and now we arent such long lost friends anymore :).

mm what else...i moved back to ca to say peace out to my bro who just left on a mission to Sao Paulo Brasil...he was super stoked to leave, and we were just as stoked to see him leave haha. my sad vanagon is going to be sold if my dad sticks to his guns, which means alex will now be carless. that sucks bad. in the mean time i am taxi driver to any and all of my brother's friends. so far im still just on the waiting list for byu law and im getting thoroughly annoyed. but im still planning on moving back to utah in hopes that i get in. oh yeah and since i just got engaged (hehe bet that surprised some of you) im also moving back so that i can marry the love of my life, who just so happens to be going to byu as well.

any requests for more updates? then comment. i have no job and am busying myself with rereading the entire harry potter series, so i bet ill be on here much more often in the next few weeks :)

shoot me

i feel super inadequate right now.
and im super scared of the not so distant future.

and it super sucks.

besties

i have lots of friends. dont believe me? i have 852 friends on facebook and I KNOW THEM ALL. now that is disgusting. but really, most of them are just people i went to school with or worked with...only a few i can really say will be my friends until the end of time. these are my besties. funny thing, i havent talked to most of them in a ridiculously long time, and havent seen them in longer-the range is anywhere from a year to 7 years. which is whack for some people who know each other way too ridiculously well.

i miss them a crapload. i wish they were closer. but its ok because every time we finally get back in contact with each other it like we never left. ok we so dont have as many recent things to laugh about but oh well, its close enough. and its funny how much our lives parallel each others too. the only thing i can relate this to is a period. when girls live with each other, something happens in the air and your hormones get all mixed up and suddenly every one is running to the bathroom during the exactly same week for that time of the month. though we might not live anywhere remotely close to each other anymore (seattle, eastern washington, ohio, cali, utah, pennsylvania) our live sstill follow similar paths. maybe thats why we are such good friends...or maybe its because we are such good friends...either way....ibet you will never look at that time of the month the same ever again.

freebording

anyone who knows me knows that i love to snowboard. but since the season is over, my three fiberglass beauties are just chillin till next season till i can shred it again. or so i thought. i recently was introduced to something called freebording...basically its like snowboarding but on asphalt. its rad. but totally terrifying too; well for me at least...

(these guys are awesome at it...im no where close...)

ive graduated from holding brian's hand constantly to being able to go pretty confidently for at least a few turns, but only after i am able to actually get ON the board. though i love it so far and know i will love it more the better i get, its still freaking frustrating! i think im just way freaked out by the idea of falling. either way, there is no way for me to get better but to practice...so i just bought one. :)


yeah you guessed it...i got the yellow one...

voodoo kitty

right now im at work and i am BOOOOOOOORED. but how surprising is that? it shouldnt be, considering ive worked here for over 3 years and have been productive for about 30 total hours of that time.

hmm life update, anyone? right now im harassing byu law into letting me in through various means, including but not limited to extorting the contact that i made at a law school conference who just so happens to know my home ward bishop as well as be the assistant dean of admissions (believe me when i say that i called the chips in on that one...my bishop is writing the dean a glowing report on me). kudos to my boyfriend brian for that idea. speaking of which, i recently tried my hand at dentistry when brian broke his tooth last weekend and had to have an emergency root canal in which i assisted and, to my great surprise, did not pass out. needless to say, seeing a man shove a one inch drill into my boyfriends face only to pull out a nerve was disgusting. ill stick with law. my apt drama has been quelled, thanks to a roommate meeting in which i somehow got elected the discussion leader (i believe i have bree to thank for that-she slyly handed me the remote instead of just muting the tv while we all sat awkwardly around it...). brian thought this was logical but i just thought it was horrifying. good thing we are all still friends. my apt also recently acquired rockband thanks to brit's desire to play, and now we all stay up to ungodly hours of the night playing it, while the girls below im sure have turned to voodoo in attempts to shut us up. good thing none of us really feel that bad. memorial day is coming, and so does my next road trip! yay for going home to cali for the weekend-provo's weather is so schizophrenic that i need some solid days in the sun. i think that may be it for now. oh this past week i have become obsessed with a certain cartoon...enjoy....

thoughts on graduation

well i survived. 4 freaking ridiculously long years at byu. last week i got to sport a hogwarts robe and a cardboard slab they call a hat (whoever designed graduation 'fits needs a hard whack to the head) and walk with all my pride across the stage to receive my squishy, albeit empty, diploma holder. i was lucky enough to sit between two of my friends (shout outs to kathleen and glenn) with whom i giggled endlessly through the speeches until a much-too-serious-married-dude hissed at us, to which i responded by texting my boyfriend incessantly. all in all, it wasnt a bad ceremony.

im not totally sure how i made it through and, as my brother pointed out, how i made it through unmarried, but somehow i did it. prolly with the support of those who came to my graduation (the klan, granny and gramma). but to be able to say im done was kinda a good feeling. my mom put together this thing with my family that i thought was just a family party but she had invited some family friends that i had no idea were coming. this included my third grade teacher. yeah that sounds kinda funny huh? well when i think of best years in school as well as most inspirational teacher, she is the one, and i havent seen her since 3rd grade cuz we moved. so needless to say, if you know anything about me, i cried. go figure. but it was great and i loved it.

ok so now ill get sentimental. im glad i got to go to byu for my undergrad. i havent always felt this way-when i first started at byu i hated that people assumed i was here simply because i was mormon, i hated that girls got married and dropped out of school, i hated the conformity and the save-your-soul-as-well-as-everyone-elses attitude. and i still hate it. but ive come to appreciate the people as well as the opportunity i had to live in an environment that would strengthen my testimony and put me among the strongest people of our generation. im grateful for the education i received and though i was often frustrated by being one of the few liberals around, it gave me an opportunity to look at things with a different perspective. for those things am i grateful.

::sigh:: and now its off to law school. somewhere. i cant believe it. i finally got old.

to gossip girl, or not....wait, that was a question...?

ok. im gonna premise this by saying that during the four years that ive been at byu, this is the first semester ive felt like ive clicked with all of my roommates. ok former roomies, dont flip, cuz those of you who read this are not the ones i didnt get along with, so rest assured im not talking about you. i love all my roommates right now, and we all get along great. that being said......

my roommates are ultra girlie. i dont mean that meanly, its just an observation. two do hair and one aspires to, two are also pretty trendy indie and all three are way stylish. they also are addicted to things like One Tree Hill, the Hills (which i kinda like), americas next top model, and gossip girl. i dont know if this is just me being un-girlie or what, but i have no interest in these things. i dont scream when geckos dance in a commercial and i dont get super stoked to watch some girls battle it out snatch style on some reality show. it seems the longer i live with them the ungirlie i am. which is weird to me, even though ive never thought of myself as girlie.

is this something about girls i never knew having grown up with brothers or is this some isolated phenomenon? cuz suddenly all the girls i know are obsessed with these shows and i have absolutely no enthusiasm for them, sorry roommates. i try my best but sometimes i just cant do it..id rather go play catch...


i went to post this them realized i wasnt done. so here are the rest of my thoughts:

i dont mind being ungirlie, if i am, and i dont mind them being ultra girlie. what i dont like is feeling like i cant be there for them in their happinesses. i know they are just shows or trends but i feel like sometimes i cant relate just because of that, and it bothers me. i want to be friends with my roommates, not just the girl in the next bedroom. and i guess more than anything im scared that my inability to get excited about these things will separate me from them, which i dont want. i hoep that doesnt happen. i try to take interest but all the drama that results just turns me off. hopefully i can deal...

graduation? whats that?

finals are here. well, they are here next week. i only have two more days of class left to endure and i will do so faithfully, even with the temptation of snowboarding dangling in front of me (when i say dangling i meant it-its been snowing here all week). but with finals comes ::dundundun:: graduation.

no way.

weird. i remember the day my family dropped me off at byu, after my brothers had helped me lug all my stuff up to my room on the 7th floor of DT. i was so nervous and disoriented and i felt like a little kid in a big kids world. 4 years later, 4 years of hating the god-forsaken campus and all the self-righteous conformity that goes with it, im leaving. well ok, technically im just walking but ill be leaving in june. i cant believe its been this long already. i remember stressing about college applications and then finally sweating it out for 3 hours in the hot summer sun as i finally got my diploma. how different this experience has been, and yet so much the same. i stressed over law school applications, and ive already gotten into two. i will get to walk in the coolness of the marriott center, but with 1000 other people. but. im still done.

i dont think its sunk in yet. senioritis took hold the second week of the semester but i still dont believe it. i guess i will in three weeks when i have the cap and gown on huh?

ode to goggle tan

yesterday was my last day of work up at park city. ::sigh:: sad day. well it was a sad day until i wanted to murder the people in my very last lesson of the whole season but at least i got a tip out of it. not gonna lie, im kinda glad its over. as much as i love it, sometimes it is so frustrating. i hate driving the hour up a canyon that my car can barely clear 45mph through, just to suit up and get backlined for the rest of the day while not getting paid. sometimes my groups are horrible-like yesterday when a woman tried to decapitate two children with her board-and it takes an emotional toll as well. i invest patience and hope in each client and when they dont care to learn, or they stop trying, i cant help but feel like they are wasting my time. but then again there are great lessons too-the lessons where they pick it up so quickly and you are as excited as you were when YOU learned to ride. its such a roller coaster of emotion that its definitely draining. i dont know how people do it full time. three times a week was enough for me.

now that the season is almost over (im done working but the resort is still open) im really excited. some people think im crazy cuz they just want to ride all year round and i can understand that. but there are other passions that i have that include the sun...like the beach. thats a hobby of mine. and you sure cant do that with the snow. some people are incredulous that i could be happy for the summer when i just ended my last season as an instructor at Park City. but hey, i got to live my dream for two years, i got better, and now its time for me to move on and just have fun with my hobbies rather than making them my career.

somethings im excited for now that that i have a life again:
not having to fill up my gas every 3 days
sleeping in
watching law and order marathons
conquering free boarding
evening out the tan line on my face
having dance parties with my roommates
going to seattle (maybe?) and nj over the summer
chaining myself to the mailbox (see post below)
being a bumsnowboarda as an identity not as a job title
going back to the gym on a regular basis and not wasting my money on a membership i havent been using...


ok thats a good list, ill think of more im sure...

When you cannot make up your mind which of two evenly balanced courses of action you should take - choose the bolder.- William Joseph Slim

so most of you who read this prolly already know but i heard back from one law school already. i have officially been accepted to Rutgers. yay! for those of you who dont know where rutgers is, it is in New Jersey, and according to Princeton Review its like ranked 34th of law schools in the nation. i think that is pretty good considering i have a 2.7 gpa (oops!). apparently my parents did a fabulous job of helping me edit and re edit and delete and add to my personal statement, and my dad's off the shoulder style of addendum seems to have endeared me to their hearts. oh and thanks, parentals too for paying to the LSAT prep class i took. obviously, my parents are rad, and not only did they help me do all of that, but they also footed the application bill...a fat 650$. you could basically say THEY applied to law school and almost be accurate.

now that i have heard back from one law school, i feel like i can breath. ok i guess i was doin just fine with the senioritis but now i dont feel like my future is hanging in the balance. and i also dont feel like a law student-wannabe when people ask where im goin cuz now i dont have to say i dont know yet. oh dont get in a fuss yet, i havent decided for sure if im goin to rutgers or not, but at least im no longer freaking out. the rest of schools are like tally marks-yes i got in, no i did not. i have an uncontrollable urge to run to the mailbox every day to see if i get any more law school paraphernalia but at least its not a frantic run that could end in a handful of rejection letters. that could still happen, but i will at least be left holding the one acceptance. after all, that is all i need.

after talking to my mom today though i may be in a bit of a conundrum...it seems i may one again be the reason for my family moving. ok, that was kinda a brash statement because nothing is for sure, but my dad had a job interview today that ended with his saying why i wanted to move to virginia to which he replied "my daughter just got into law school in new jersey and if i live in california, how can i possibly see her all that often?" ok that is adorable i know, but not if my parents move i may be more inclined to go to rutgers instead of (hopefully) a california school. to add to that, my best friend (hi lisa) really wants me to move out there and go to gonzaga. besides the fact that i dont know if ill even get in, they dont have the program i want, but i really would love to live near my best friend again. and i cant forget my grandparents who want me to go to rutgers too :) ah decisions decisions! and then there is the peace corps to think about....i have way too much goin on right now!

ok so that is a good thing, so dont get me wrong, im not complaining, but still. it seems like just yesterday that i got to byu, and hated it but ive gotten through it....maybe even enjoyed parts of it? ok i wont go that far but its been alot of fun and its just scary to think im almost done with the guaranteed part of my life...the part that i can plan on, the part that i do every day...here comes real life and im not totally sure im ready for it....

he finally manned up

last week the day finally came. the day i have been waiting for for the last 3 years. and day my parents have been waiting for for the last year. my brother got his mission call.

ok so maybe that was a weird way to preface his call, but it was totally honest. oh im sure he was ready for it too; after all, he has been in limbo for the last few months while he has had to get his dental sorted out and his papers filled out while just workin away at coca cola. but that day was the day that my parents and i all breathed a sigh of relief.

i wont delve into any details but since my brother came home from BYU a year ago he has been working at getting away from the lifestyle and friends that had dragged him down to a bitter, unhealthy, and dangerous place. and it wasnt just a matter of moving home either. he has worked really hard and at times i have been way too hard on him considering the effort he was makin, but i must admit that i was scared that he wasnt totally committed to changing.

granted, getting a mission call or not doesnt define a person. not at all. i know plenty of great guys that i respect that didnt go on missions. but for my brother, it was a sign that he had committed to the changes in his life. i would love my brother regardless, but i think i would be perpetually afraid that his motives for change were simply superficial with nothing to anchor him when times get tough.

i love my brother. he is my best friend, like looking in a mirror (literally hehe). and im so proud of him. not that he is going on a mission necessarily (though i am proud of that) but im proud that he has something that is so important to him that he can hold on to, something that he is willing to better himself for. and i know that the work he has put into his life in the past year will make the next two years of his life even sweeter.

i love you cheechee.

last night

last night i got my hair caught on fire. i was laying on the floor of my friend's apt when i heard ::sizzle:: closely followed by ::blow of air::. the smell of burning immediately alerted me. i knew that it was Randall, who had been on the couch behind me and was playing with a lighter. nervous giggling from both him and jordan, who was on the couch next to me, confirmed my suspicions. it turns out that only the ends of a portion of my hair was singed, but that doesnt mean i wasnt totally nervous. when i asked how bad the damage was and all i got was a nervous "well..." from randall and jordan was just laying there with a grimace and his hand clapped over his eyes, i got a little scared and threatened to beat up randall if i needed to. lucky for him i didnt end up with a massive amount of burned hair or else i would have made him shave my head haha. and now i can talk about how my hair is extremely flammable, to randall's surprise.

yay for late night adventures.

ah success.....

today i finished my law school applications. all 11 of them. thanks to my mom and dad who financed the $650 ordeal, plus a law school forum in LA, i have alot better chance of gettin in than i did last week haha. not gonna lie, im nervous. having been sick for the last few days while i tried to finish all the junk ive been putting off for the last two months was hard but it feels so good to have them done! yay! and then right after i submitted them i went and got my grad package-april is comin so fast. so today was a good day, despite the sickies. and to top it all off, my little brother told me he hopes to be as smart as me one day. little does he know, his sister just works really hard....

i need your votes...

ah my law school stuff is almost totally done. yay. good, cuz im getting sick of it. but im kinda scared now too. one day i just decided that if i didnt get into law school that i was going to join the peace corps. well, supposedly my chances of getting into law school are really good, but i wanted to have an alternative so that i didnt feel like a loser when all my childhood dreams came crashing down. but now that ive said it, thrown the peace corps possibility out there, its become if i dont get into law school, or not the ones that i want. uh oh. a small evolution in speech maybe, but it signifies a huge shift. i really wanna join the peace corps. i always have. since like, i was 10 and sat next to this girl who was coming back from africa with her sister and who had a boyfriend at princeton (that made it legit). so. here is the question. do i just go to law school and forget about peace corp? or do i go someplace crazy for two years after requesting a deference? or what should i do? give me your votes: law school or peace corp first?

you have the right to remain silent

as a political science major, and as an aspiring law student, a certain amount of argument for the purpose of persuasion is pertinent. i enjoy a good romp around the issue, especially if you know what you are talkin about. but i hate. HATE. when people decided to attack you and the issue at hand. there is nothing wrong with being completely informed about your issue. but when you go on a rampage, expecting me to rebut every detail that you put forth, only to take my opinion as credible once all the evidence has been proven wrong, i dont particularly take interest anymore. because no matter how much you say its not an attack, thats exactly what it is.

ok now ill stop being vague and tell you the story. my friend made a comment on facebook about questioning a certain president's legacy. i made a comment back and a friendly jousting of opinions ensued briefly. then one of his friends, who happened to see our commentary, decided i needed some educating and messaged me a long, verbose, and quite negative argument against my position. i messaged him back, whereupon he requested that i answer all of his questions as a pretext to other questions he wanted to ask me. yes, im a smartalec so i refused and quipped back, to which he was not appreciative, but then again, i wasnt so keen about been verbally berated for revering a president that i was studying by some random douche bag (excuse my french) that was too wrapped up in his own opinionated superiority to afford a differing view some courtesy.

ok my rant is done now.

my adorable brothers....

so today i was up on the mountain, and though i was in a clinic and thinking alot about the technical crap i was doing and trying to make sure i didnt fall cuz i did it wrong, i had some time to think about other stuff. the last few days/weeks have been kinda weird. in some ways they have been the most fun weeks in utah of this whole last year. but at the same time, they have been some of the most lonely.

yesterday i was talking to my mom about apartment drama and other junk when i just started bawling. i couldnt help it and it was certainly not planned. i just missed my best friend. "i want my lisa!" is the exactly phase i wailed to my mom. i have some friends that are just glued to each other, haha its kinda funny. like 24/7. but i reminds me of how me and lisa were in high school...and long story short, i've felt like the recyclable friend here in utah, being really close to someone for a little while and it just dropping off after a few months never to be heard from ever again.

needless to say, i told this all to my mom, and i guess she related it all to my dad later last night. well, my cute little brother, who is the sweetest 13 year old you will ever meet, must have overheard my mom talking because last night he prayed that i would find a friend. my little brother is my angel. besides being the biggest inspiration to me, he always knows exactly what to say to make me feel like the best sister and friend in the world. even though he is a good 7 years younger than me, i've worked hard to make sure i'm not some vague older entity in his life, and sometimes it seems that he can see into my soul better than anyone else.

now, this doesn't exclude my other brother, my best friend and my twin. though he is a year younger than me, there is noone that is so much like me in this world. last weekend he come up to utah to snowboard and i had a blast with him. i didnt get to see him alot but it was so good to see the stronger side of me. he has gone through so much in the last little bit and he has come out of it better than i ever would have. i love him so much and when he leaves on his mish, i'm gonna miss him enough to rival our mother.

that being said, i am the luckiest girl ever. i have the strongest brothers ever, and they are so fun, so much like me, and so special to me. i wouldnt be the nerdy, crazy, unlady like girl i am without them. thanks bros. i love you two more than you will EVER know.

politics as usual

so i figured it was high time for me to say something about the current political events, debates, etc. considering it is something i learn about, think about, and argue about every single day of my life. no seriously, i do.

because i am a political science major, it seems that everyone wants to know what candidate i'm pulling for, what i thought of the latest debate, and why i'm not a Romney supporter. honestly people, you prolly know more about the candidates than i do. well...maybe thats a lie. but i didn't watch the democratic debate last night because i dyed my hair instead (the blonde has become an awesome red ps). maybe that is ignorant and uninformed of me, but hey, there have been 50 debates already in which virtually everyone said the same things, only nicer the second time around (clinton and obama case in point). i've kinda tried to keep away from the blasted things, though that doesn't mean i haven't tried to figure out which candidate i like the most and which just looks ridiculous running for president.

ok, so now to what i really think. after doing some research, it turns out i'm back where i started. i like obama. i've always kinda liked obama, though he scared me a few times with some things he said about foreign policy. hillary doesn't scare me as much as she scares my dad. but maybe that's because i'm a little bit feminist? not rabid, mind you, so don't go torching my house yet. honestly, the one thing i don't like about hillary is that i cant seem to figure out where she is foreign policy wise except for 'get out of Iraq.' ok i can go with that. but what about Iran or North Korea or Israel? ok i really only care about Iran and Israel and when i say Israel i mean Palestine. but then again obama seems pretty keen to keep feeding Israel lots of ammunition, which i'm not so kosher with. but thats my internal debate over the democrat candidates.

now, i go to a mostly conservative school, and most of my poli sci classes discuss the republican candidates, so don't you go thinking i'm ignorant. Romney is a great manager. look at his company track records. but for president? i dunno. A) he is conservative on issues that i'm liberal on and 2) i don't like his multiple choice mitt tendencies. Huckabee...HA. what a nut job. i'm all for personal religion, but don't say God made me do it, or i'll just laugh at you when God says you don't get to be President. and ron paul. what is this new fangled revolution over ron paul about? i mean, he is all for the constitution, great, but in its most literal sense?! i think not. putting a libertarian (yes, the republican is just so that he is a major party candidate) in office is like voting for anarchy. bye bye sanity. i'm fairly certain this dismissal of all the republican candidates would make my grandpa roll over in his grave, but he isn't dead yet, and thankfully doesn't know how to access the internet yet, so i bet he is still breathing.

so. thats my take. thus far at least. im perfectly content to wait to see who the nominees are and then choose from there. i mean, it would be awfully disappointing to pick your winner so to speak and then in the end have to vote for someone you don't even like.

not gonna lie, im kinda holding out for the golden ticket...the Clinton/Obama ticket that is.....

In Loving Memory of Gordon B. Hinkley

on sunday evening the prophet and president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints died. Gordon B. Hinkley was 97.

when i first heard this news i was (ironically) heading to the store and breaking the sabbath. i was shocked. this man had seemed so invincible to me. he has lived through so much, accomplished what no other has accomplished, and he has been the voice of my loving Heavenly Father on earth. i couldnt help but cry. heh im crying now, two days later. he was such a great man, so willing to reach out to the youth, and so intent on maintaining the strength of families. i remember when he was sustained: i was in third grade and we watched it on tv (i was in slc at the time) because my teacher was in MoTab. He has been my prophet, the man that knew me without having met me. he will be so missed.

and though i mourn his passing, i rejoice for him as well. almost exactly 4 years ago Sister Hinkley died, and now he has the opportunity to be with her again! he also gets to be with our Heavenly Father, whom he so diligently served throughout his life. i can still hear his voice when i read his talks, and he will always be the prophet that gave me the strength to live my life as the Lord would have me live it.

for my family that is catholic, im sure you understand the gravity of this event, with the passing of the Pope just two years ago. though you will not see any mormons doing vigils or otherwise, we mourn the passing of the greatest of men on this earth. please keep his family in your prayers.

to GB Hink, my homie, my friend, my prophet. love and peace.



"You were generals in the War in Heaven and one day when you are in the spirit world, you will be enthralled by those you are associated with.
You will ask someone in which time period they lived and you might hear, "I was with Moses when he parted the Red Sea," or "I helped built the pyramids'" or "I fought with Captain Moroni."
And as you are standing there in amazement, someone will turn to you and ask you which of the prophets' time did you live in? And when you say "Gordon B. Hinkley" a hush will fall over every hall and corridor in Heaven, and all in attendance will bow at your presence. You were held back six thousand years because you were the most talented, most obedient, most courageous, and most righteous."
-Elder Boyd K. Packer

the love of my life.

i should be cleaning my room. or doing homework. or something else productive. instead i slept in till 9.30 and i'm still pondering on the love of my life. nope, is not a boy. it isn't even masculine, though my dad might argue otherwise.

it's snowboarding.

ahhhh that word makes my heart so happy. i love the soreness in my legs and the shin splints in my shins and the slight tendonitis it gives me. i love the satisfactory biff when you are doing something new and scary, and the frustration that comes from eating it while doing something basic. i love waking up so early that all you can think about is the nap you are gonna take later just to come home so tired that a nap is impossible. i love my boards too. they are oh so pretty! just about as close to sisters as i'll ever come haha.

i honestly have the best job. i get to teach people how to do something i love! no, im not that good, but i can at least teach huh? and i work with just awesome people. they are some of my closest friends and they always make really crappy lessons worth it when they feign rage when i don't get a tip (which is always), or when i get tackled from behind mid-demonstration in a lesson, or when they shove me in a locker (true story). ahh i ♥ park city...

why am i so dang lucky? here are some pics of evidence of my luckiness.
(click for larger view)



<-Trent, me, and Derek









<-Derek surprized me...little punk...








<-Casey and Matt haha









<-i got shoved in here twice...

my Klanz

so i wasn't planning on writing anything until tonight when i sat at work in an empty computer lab, doing nothing but pretending that i was doing homework. but i have a few thoughts now.

i sent out some notifications to my family and friends that i had started a blog in order to build up a loyal fan base (why else would i write a blog?). this morning i was stunned to see several emails subjected RE: blog! in my inbox. yay for family! it seems they all read it (or plan to) and have chosen to comment via email because they cant figure out how to comment otherwise (its ok family, i still love you). the important thing is, they read it! the last few months i feel like i've gotten really close to my family. for reasons i wont delve into right this moment, i've gotten such wonderful support from all these awesome people that i get to call my own family. now that is a rad thing to say. these people are my family. you guys jealous yet?

last week one of my uncles died. alright, not my real uncle; my second cousin's husband. but he was as good as an uncle. and he was awesome. so awesome i wrote is in that last sentence before changing it to was. and he will be greatly missed. its so funny how far apart my family is and yet so close together we are in heart. there is no way that anyone in my family didn't feel the effects of the loss of this kind, fun, lovable man. so this one's for you, Billy. love you.

to the rest of my fam, the Konopasek and Ziminski Klanz* (though i think the Ziminiski's are the more computer literate and therefore the most likely to read this :), thank you, thank you, for your continuing support and the unassuming love you give to me. you've helped me become who i am, and i so appreciate that.

LOVE YOU! (ok, see, there are caps. im yelling.)



*in the event you didn't notice, this is a play on words. or letters more precisely. i had to find one way to be clever in this post...

wow this world is intimidating...

in recent months i have become aware of the keeping of blogs by several of my friends. even one of my professors does it, though he gets paid to write political witticisms for aol. i've decided that i too want to have a share in this blogging world, but now that i'm embarking on this adventure, i'm a bit intimidated...

needless to say, i'm pushing on. a few things to note for those of you who decide this is the place for you to waste away your valuable time:
1) if you notice, i hardly capitalize anything, though you will notice the other correct punctuation. this is for a purpose. i believe in informality and comfort. if you were to draw a bubble above my head while i was talking to a friend, i doubt there would be any capitalization. however, i also believe in the clarity of ideas, hence the other grammatical symbols.
2) to explain the title of my blog. there is a song, a country song at that, called Unusually Unusual, that my dad has frequently told me reminds him of me. besides the fact that i am daddy's little girl and therefore believe virtually everything (virtually, not all) he tells me, i suppose this applies to me as well. and in all honesty, i like to think i am a bit more unusual than your run-of-the-mill unusual girl. but that is for you to decide.
3) i'm not exactly sure what this is going to turn out to contain. a bit of political musings i'm sure, along with some personal ranting, mixed with some music reviews and some other basic opinion pieces will prolly make up the mix. if you have any suggestions. let me know. i'll see what i can whip up.

happy reading :)