Why I like the Parents

For those of you who don't know, my parents are pretty cool people. Here are some reasons I like them.

• Bonnie makes me little snack packs so I don't get too hungry while in class
• Jeff will go to McDonalds to get hot fudge sundays (extra fudge no nuts) at any time during the day or late hours of the night
• Bonnie taught me to never leave the house without doing my hair
• Jeff taught me that I can marry more money in 5 minutes than I can make in a lifetime
• Bonnie has been to every significant and even all insignificant events in my life
• Jeff came with her to all those silly events and took pictures
• Bonnie lets me wear her clothes...she's more stylish than I am
• Jeff would let me wear his clothes if I was a boy...he is also more stylish than I am
• They play Ticket to Ride with me and Kelly numerous times a day
• They let me and Kelly (sometimes begrudgingly) crawl into their bed when they are trying to go to sleep
• They always want me to move home

And they are so pretty! I love them lots

Subway vs. Metro

A few reason as to why I love Washington DC's metro system and HATE New York's

1. New York calls it a subway... that just irks me
2. New York's subway is the dirtiest place in the world while DC's is the cleanest... well the cleanest place underground. 
3. There are people who actually live in the New York subway and never come out! If you don't believe me just go down there, you will either see a real subway person or the evidence of their underground life. 
4. DC has little signs that tell you what train is coming and how many minutes you have to wait. In New York you wait for twenty minutes and then if you are lucky an announcement will be made stating the train will not be there for another twenty minutes. 
5. Just yesterday I saw a man who looked like a woman and a woman who looked like a man in the New York subway. Imagine my confusion.
6. You are likely to contract a number of incurable diseases in the New York subway. 

Needless to say, take a taxi when in New York. Don't risk your personal health and sanity. 

Faux Real

Obviously I have recently renamed my blog. Let me offer a little explanation for those who are not accustomed to this term. Amongst my family and close friends I am not seen as an adult/"real" person. It's been this way since I can remember and I hope it stays. Here are the facts.

• I am 22
• In 2 months time I will graduate with a bachelors degree
• I moved out of the parents house at age 18
• I have held a job all through my college years
• I am currently living in Washington DC

I believe these events would constitute any normal person as "real." But not me, oh no there is much more to me. No matter how old I get or the numerous adventures I undertake, some things will never change.

• People will always be shocked to find that A. I am capable of working, and B. until my recent move, I have had the same legitimate job for 3 years.
• Although I pay for the majority of my life, my dad always ends up funding things like new shoes...sometimes without his knowledge.
• All my siblings take good care of me. This may be bold but it's possible that I am the darling of the family.
• I am what you may call a young spirit. So in the mindset of those closest to me I am more 17 than 22.
• No matter how old I get the parents will always want me to move back in with them.

So you see, by normal standards I am a "real" person but this does not suit me. It is much better to continue shocking everyone by accomplishing what "real" people consider normal life events. These life events may be normal but when you're faux real they're extraordinary!

Inaugural Weekend

This last weekend I joined in on the Obama-Rama that swept over the entire district. It is highly likely that I was the only one participating in the festivities that did not actually vote for Obama. However, I dawned my Obama shirt and stood in every crowd I could find all weekend. All my digits were completely frozen and it is a small miracle they are still in use today. It was incredible to be able to be part of such a historical event though. It was one big frenzy and completely out of control but I enjoyed it. I especially enjoyed the concert on Sunday on the mall where some of my idols, i.e. Garth Brooks, performed on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, and the concert on Monday night which included Nothin but Strings, Aretha Franklin, and the Let Freedom Ring Choir. If you are thinking a concert with Aretha would be amazing because finally you would experience "Respect" live, you would be dissapointed. This was more like "chirch" as they call it, with a little bit of socialism thrown in there. But the music was amazing! I do love a good gospel choir. Oh yes, and the actual inauguration was great too.

One section of the mass of people at Sunday's concert.

A student at the school where I teach designed this. I just couldn't resist.

Washington DC

I finally made up my mind and moved out to Washington D.C. I am student teaching at Duke Ellington School of the Arts. For those of you who know me personally, a school of the arts is the perfect place for me. The students just love to entertain! Life out here is very different from Provo but so far incredibly enjoyable.

• I live with seven other girls in a penthouse in Arlington, VA. Now penthouse conjures images of grandeur and class--while this may be true, no matter how big an apartment is, eight girls is a whole lot.
• Without a car, I am becoming very adept at using the metro and bus system. However, after numerous attempts to get to school by myself the other day I ended up on completely the wrong bus and the driver had to take a different route just for me. Sweet old man.
• We have an amazing mall nearby that harbors my mother ship-Nordstroms, and finally we found a grocery store just on the other side of said mall. Yesterday, on my way home from the grocer, laden down with shoes numerous bags, I decided it a perfect time to spend an hour trying on shoes at Nordy's. The groceries occupied an entire couch, but how convenient that all my basic needs can be met in one trip!
• I caved to the liberal atmosphere that surrounds me and bought an Obama t-shirt. As a justification, this is one of a kind and was designed by a former student at my school. I had to support--don't judge
• As it turns out I should have had a T.B. test before moving out here. So I spent an evening running around a sketchy part of town looking for someone to shoot me up with a small amount of consumption. Success! I have concerns about what disease they actually injected into my arm.

It's only been a week but it has been a long one. It is getting close to inauguration so I am frantically trying to find a senator's son to invite me to one of the balls. If not, I will just proudly don my Obama shirt and join the masses at the parade. This is definately an adventure.

Rise and Shout

As I walk around campus in my last week at BYU I suddenly am seeing everything for the first time. As excited I am to move to DC and graduate, I often feel tears coming on as I contemplate the remarkable 70's architecture that constitutes my university. As I study for the last finals I will ever take in the testing center, I feel it necessary to outline why I love BYU. So here is an ode to my alma mater.

Why I love being a Cougar

1. As soon as a leaf falls, there is member of the Grounds Crew ready and waiting to catch it up. Leaving BYU the most immaculate campus.

2. We don't believe in calling anything by its real name, instead we prefer acronyms and nicknames. And so we lovingly refer to our buildings as the Wilk, the JSB, the Swicket, the H-fac, and the Marb, among others. And although nobody remembers this building I have it on good authority that the old JFSB building (previously the Smith Family Living Center) was referred to as the Syphilis. How I wish I took class in there!

3. Bronco Mendenhall and football season. Enough said

4. As a semi-resident of the Harold B. Lee Library, my fellow studious friends and I formed the 5th Floor Family years ago. We know everyone who studies on the North side of the 5th floor and get upset when new comers think they can just take up space. There has been talk of plaque-ing the tables with our names, in our memories. I will miss the family and Harold deeply.

5. When it's warm Cecil drives around campus in a golf cart and waves to us.

6. I always feel safe. Even on Rape Hill, which I frequently trekked late at night, there are 911 alert phones placed short distances from one another. In case of an attack, just run over and push the button. I am confident that by the time someone showed up, the attacker would have just finished introducing himself and discussing his intentions. No harm done.

7. Where else can you find dear souls running around campus in socks and tivas, pulling a back-pack on rollers, and singing not-so-quietly to themselves?

8. The bells play a little diddy from Come Come Ye Saints every 15 minutes. Once a day they play a whole song, which is really impressive. And during December they play Christmas carols. It's delightful.

I could keep going, the advantages of this institution are endless. Needless to say, I love BYU.

Do I really want to be a teacher?

Recently I completed my practicum which is the few weeks spent in a classroom teaching/observing in order to prepare for student teaching next semester. I taught the French Revolution, Napoleon, Romantic Movement, and the Industrial Revolution during my three weeks at Timpanogos High. As a history teacher in training these are subjects I am qualified to teach although had you been a witness to these endeavors, you could have formed very different conclusions. So, as I was trudging through this ridiculously large unit did I find myself being greeted with smiling faces, eager to learn every day? Did I enjoy pouring knowledge into thirsty little minds? Quite the contrary. As it turns out, high school history classes are devoid of smiling faces, apathetic towards knowledge, and the minds of the pubescent teenagers are solely focused on food, friends, and sleep. There is no room for the Radical Revolution in there. If you have ever encountered one of these creatures imagine looking into the blank faces of thirty of them all day while they pass cruel judgements on you because you and your teaching partner, by some cruel twist of fate, showed up in nearly matching outfits...almost everyday. Is this what my practicum was like, yes. Did I love it? Not so much. Do I have an outstanding love for teaching? Well not right now. Maybe I should reconsider my life course and just stay as a recess guard at the elementary school. Where all the boys have crushes on me, the girls tell me all their secrets, and because I can dunk it on those tiny basketball hoops, I almost always win lightning. Ahh, that is the life.
In the long run, I did come to find that I highly enjoy the sarcastic snottiness of high-schoolers...probably because they sound just like me. Yes, although I have long since graduated from good old Weber, grand old Weber, it just so happens that my mentality is still that of a teenager. So why do I want to be a teacher? Because it gives me a perfect excuse to hang out all day with people just like me.