Matching Optional

I was going to do 100 blog posts.

2011-05-03T20:22:00.000-07:00

But then I stopped having anything to blog about here.
On my OTHER blog, however, I've been doing fine.
Therefore, I would like to invite you to head on over to the new and improved Matching Optional.

Click here!

100 posts is a cliche anyway.
Plus I have deleted many entries from early blogging and so this is probably number 120 in the first place.

Enjoy!

Sad day.

2011-04-27T22:40:00.000-07:00

It is a sad day, certainly, to be a Real fan.
But the run has been incredible
and we have a lot of soccer ahead of us.

I LOVE YOU RSL.

Boo.

2011-04-26T08:48:00.001-07:00

I would like to have a chat with the
genius
at the alarm clock factory who decided
it was a good idea
to have a "soft/loud" switch.
Who on EARTH wants a "soft" alarm clock?!

/rant

More Finals Fiascoes

2011-04-18T17:15:00.000-07:00

I can't stop blogging because:

I need study breaks and Facebook is incapacitated until Friday.
I want to make it to the 100th Blog Entry of Jeanette (I'm at like... 94)
I'm so hungry I can't focus
I keep thinking of things to blog about yet then forget
I love alliteration and want to write the words Finals Fiascoes 10000 times.

Finals Fiascos

2011-04-18T14:57:00.000-07:00

I deleted my Facebook. Rash? Possibly. Necessary? Absolutely.
I woke up this morning at 8 and to celebrate (no rhyme intended, but the serendipity is much appreciated) watched Fresh Prince whilst eating my cereal and proceeded to sleep until almost eleven anyway. (Fail.)
I'm planning to take two finals today. Worst idea ever? Yes. Necessary? Absolutely.
Robbie gave me a silly band on Saturday.
Speaking of Robbie, "Ahaha ohhh Dah-ling, I've had it all."
My silly band glows in the dark.
I really want to cuddle and watch a movie with the windows open but alas. No.

Have you been Howesed?

2011-04-06T15:16:00.000-07:00

So I was sitting at work all lonely and such

Thinking about Jimmer and all his Jimmering.

I thought about his trademark move of Jimmering people

with the crowd shouting "YOU GOT JIMMERED"

I thought,

No one is every going to shout "YOU GOT JEANETTED!"

It just doesn't flow.

But then, stroke of genius.

You got Howesed.

Looks weird, sounds great.

I think I have a future in Real Estate.

Follow up: Addictions

2011-03-31T12:23:00.000-07:00

As previously mentioned,

I have a moderately unhealthy addiction to Orange Fanta.

(or as Christopher would say, Fahhh-nta)

The problem is, Fahhh-nta tastes best out of a can.

I don't enjoy the bottled stuff.

BUT

one can is simply not enough Fahhh-nta for Jeanette.

What is a girl to do.

Tumblr

2011-03-27T23:21:00.000-07:00

So, I'm officially neck-deep in Advertising right now.

Not only am I working hard to pull everything together for the group project I stupidly volunteered to be group leader on, I'm getting to the point where I need to get cracking on my Ad File assignment...

Essentially going through dozens of magazines to find examples of different types of Ads.

This group project is one of the big things the committee looks at in the application, so I'm getting nervous. What I'm doing now isn't just for my grade, it's for my portfolio.

Hence, I've been thinking about portfolios.

Hence, I've been thinking about migrating my blog to Tumblr.

So... enjoy these last few days/weeks with Blogger,

Because I'm gonna be gone soon.

Greener pastures, man, greener pastures.

Glasses...

2011-03-22T17:12:00.000-07:00

Last Friday, I went to a bonfire.

It was a good time, but I was also miserable the whole entire time.

The smoke was horrible.

My eyes were watering.

My nose was running because my eyes were watering

(apparently thats a thing.)

My eyes were blurry all night.

They were blurry when I woke up the next morning.

Blurry to the point where I couldn't read a thing.

Luckily, it cleared up.

But my sight is still considerably more blurry than Friday afternoon.

I'm getting headaches, squinting, and having trouble reading things I could before.

WHAT IF I HAVE TO GET GLASSES?!

Is it even possible for your vision to permanently get worse from smoke?

Most importantly...

What kind would I even get?

Imagine the possibilities.

overitoveritoveritoverit

2011-03-21T23:39:00.000-07:00

My name is Jeanette

and I am a recovering addict.

And what, exactly, was I addicted to?

More like what wasn't I addicted to.

(answer: drugs. Don't fret mom.

I know you secretly think I do them.

Basis?

Because one time you told me.)

In 100% reality, I am only a recovering addict of one of the above items.

(The relationship may or may not

have ended only due to premature cancellation.)

However, I am trying to regain control of my impulses and contain one of the more harmful addictions that has really been starting to impact my life.

More info to come.

(ah, yeah, thats right.)

Cliffhanger.

Movies

2011-03-07T22:04:00.000-08:00

When I was little, I lied a a lot. I stole things. A lot. I occasionally cheated in games and the like.

Being a child, I wasn't very good at not getting caught. As such, I am very familiar with the feeling of having my heart sink into my stomach and trigger a light gag reflex.

Because I am so aware of that feeling, I feel deep sympathy for anyone who has to endure it.

When I watch movies and it gets to a part where all the lies come out and the protagonist is about to get caught, I get so nervous that I pause the movie. My heart starts racing and and I pray to myself that if I wait long enough before starting the movie again, it will miraculously change for the better and everything will be okay.

At least one minute later, I press play and start cringing, and, depending on the severity of the situation, squeeze my eyes shut and cover my ears.

Weird?

Maybe.

Jeanette?

Yes.

Good news and bad news

2011-03-04T02:26:00.000-08:00

It's 3:30 and I'm studying... because, I have a stats test tomorrow. I've been to class approximately 3 times since the last test and I think I've fallen asleep every time.

I was so sure that I wasn't going to be able to even pass this test.

HOWEVER I just discovered that I have access to videos of a professor (who is funny and a lot less verbose than my own professor) teaching all the concepts in nice little 5 minute chunks.

The good news is that after watching several of them, I'm starting to feel a LOT more confident.

The bad news is that now that I know about this little snippets, I have even less motivation to go to class next time.

Wordle

2011-02-23T22:39:00.000-08:00

Today at work, my boss asked me to train myself on an applet called Wordle. It took about three minutes to figure out and I've been continually playing with it since.

I've been making Wordle bubbles with old journal entries, essays, blogs... everything I can find on my computer.

This one is the transcript of a video I made for my grandparents right before Grandpa died.

I love this because in the video I bore my testimony, and "know" is the biggest (therefore most used) word in the collage.

Music

2011-02-21T12:31:00.000-08:00

I always have admired people who were so cool that they were like... musically literate. They know all about the great bands before anyone else, and usually are done with them by the time everyone, aka I, find out about them.
I'm not one of those people, but at least now I know about bands around the same time as everyone else instead of like four years later, like I have been earlier in life.

So, anyways, thats not really related. I just wanted to share that I love going through my iTunes and rediscovering songs that I forgot about. Just love it. That's all.

Erm... inappropriate.

2011-02-16T16:13:00.000-08:00

Today, I've had a mildly (okay, more than mildly) inappropriate song stuck in my head.

It's a song that I think I got from my sister who got it from our brother. I'm not sure, really, though. I have the whole album, and I don't really know why... because I wasn't a fan of this band before I had it on my computer.

Anywayssss... I put the song on my Running playlist because from the title, I thought it was saying that the girl wanted to go on the dancefloor, and it had an upbeat rhythm so I thought it would be great to run to.

It is.

But... it's not about a girl who wants to dance. It's something else, and it's so catchy and I just can't get it out of my brain! If you ignore the words, it's just SO GOOD. And I'm going to post it here... probably no one should listen to it because it's inappropriate. But I love it. I guess I should repent or something.

Can you see that this makes it to heaven, please?

2011-02-11T09:14:00.001-08:00

Hey, Grandpa...

It's been a while.

How long exactly? About a year?

Let's get real here. I've been counting.

I sure do miss you.

Tonight I'm going to camp out to watch the basketball team.

You would have LOVED them this year. I wish you were here to see it.

I hope you're proud of me.

I love you.

-Jeanette.

Pride isn't ALWAYS a sin...

2011-02-07T14:49:00.001-08:00

Finished it.
The whole thing.

Studious Jeanette ...wait, WHAT?

2011-02-01T20:53:00.000-08:00

Ask me what I did tonight.

No really, go ahead, ask me.

I'll provide a blank and you can fill it in with your own personal form of asking me.

You: "_________________________________?"

Me: Why, thanks for asking. Tonight, I STUDIED HARD-CORE (as in, an hour and half or so, plus time during devotional making flashcards) for my Stats test!

Yes, that is correct, for the ~~first~~ second (I did read the review and listened to that stupid CD for APUSH, now that I think about it...) time in her life, Jeanette Howes spent time successfully studying material outside of the requirements of homework. She looked up principles, asked friends for help, took a practice test, graded said practice test, took time to learn why she missed what she did, and retook said practice test to make sure the principles were ingrained in her mind.

Where is this girl coming from?! She's been using a planner, doing readings prior to class, making flashcards, and STUDYING?! What a great girl. She deserves a scholarship, please.

.....please?

Update: The Stats exam has been boom. Roasted. 93%. First time I've had an encouraging little phrase from my teacher show up next to my score cuz I did so well.

Flipped

2011-01-30T23:07:00.001-08:00

Many, many years ago I read a cute little book called Flipped. When I found out that the book had been turned into a movie, I 'flipped'. I added it to my Netflix queue, and after quite the ordeal of it getting sent to my house in Taylorsville and only getting it because I went home for Heather's wedding, I finally had the movie in my possession.It's so cute. The boy is so cute. He's just a baby... I guess he's fifteen or something, but he's Australian. Too bad he's not a little older.

Anyways, the movie. It did a fantastic job of following the book. Narration and everything. It kind of brought me back to my junior high days myself... it takes place in eighth grade, which was such a crazy and pivotal time for me. This movie brought me back to it... it's crazy to think about the changes since then. Sometimes, it feels like that time is barely past me.

Pepperoni :)

2011-01-20T14:39:00.000-08:00

The Daily Universe
Tuesday, November 11, 1975

Golf Carts in Rain Coats

2011-01-19T15:28:00.000-08:00

This morning, I slept in. I then proceeded to eat a long, leisurely breakfast, took a nice hot shower, fretted about what shirt would best match the cardigan I wanted to wear (I ended up going home between classes and work to change), applied my makeup, brushed my teeth very thoroughly, and put on my boots.

By the time I was out the door and into the drizzling morning air, the bus had left four minutes ago. Luckily, my great friend Becca had just started her car and I was able to hop in with her.

We got to campus pretty late, so I was hurrying across Brigham Square, boots splashing (and simultaneously letting in exorbitant amounts of water, soaking my socks... a theme, lately) and hair frizzing. Then I saw a large group zoom by in a golf cart, covered with a stark white rain-coat thing and emblazoned with the proud BYU crest.

It dawned on me that it has almost been a year since my very own golf cart tour. Andrew and I went on one on a very similar day weather-wise, possibly in the exact same rain-coated golf cart as these potential students. Of course, we came after already being accepted and were mainly there because we wanted to ride in a golf cart. (Who doesn't.)

I started thinking, though, after the golf cart was gone and I continued to rush to make it to Stats on time, and thought about where I was last year and what things were on my mind. There are a LOT of parallels between what's been going on now and then, but I've also changed so much. The ideals and hopes I had for the future at that time have almost all been accomplished. If you were to hand golf-cart-tour me a list of what I've done since then, she'd be pleased.

But I'm not satisfied.

Current, golf-cart-tour-observer me is not satisfied.

It's funny how things that seemed so important just aren't once they've been accomplished, and how now there is so much more on my plate. Next year, maybe it won't matter. Next year, maybe I'll regret some of it.

But that's life.

And I have to live it.

I just wish there were a few more golf cart rides involved...

Rough and Scruff

2011-01-18T15:11:00.001-08:00

Lately the most attractive thing in the world to me has been scruff.

Nothing nasty, no thick luscious beards.

See Figure 1:

[Figure 1]

Man. So attractive.

Yet of course I attend the one school in the universe that won't allow it.

dangit.

I guess I'll just have to go to UVU looking for my men...

Retail Therapy

2011-01-17T15:16:00.001-08:00

Today I have a lot on my mind, between school and work and weddings and friends.

It's quite trying on my poor little sanity.

So, I decided to do some retail therapy and go pick out a pair of shoes that I've been needing.

I catch the bus,

go to the mall,

pick out a nice pair of knock-off Vans,

put said knock-off Vans on my feet because

the pair of flats I was wearing with striped socks were not cutting it.

I got back out to the bus stop fifteen minutes before my bus was scheduled to come.

So, I decided to hop on a different one, walk a little further, and get home faster.

So, I took the 830 bus home.

Here's what happened.

The bus dropped me off further away than I had anticipated.

There was no sidewalk. Only grass. Sloshing with thawed snow, and looking deceptively un-slippery.

I slipped.

Soaked my jeans.

And my new shoes.

Oh well.

Kept walking.

More soaking.

Oh well.

Got passed by the bus I was supposed to have taken.

Oh well.

Retail therapy success.

I was definitely distracted today.

AND

I got a new

(soaking wet)

pair of shoes.

My Television(s)

2010-12-31T00:06:00.000-08:00

My roommates and I have been wanting a TV foreverrrrr...

I figured that this was as good a time as any to get one.

So, at Kourtney's suggestion, I hopped on KSL and did a search.

I found this picture:

Long story short, Kourtney and I went to pick up the TV and ended up with two

and they were a lot bigger than we anticipated based on the photo!

Freeeak.

Ihavetwotelevisions.

Finals

2010-12-15T00:14:00.000-08:00

It's almost one thirty and I'm blogging. What does that mean? Finals week.

For my writing class, we wrote group papers and have to give presentations on them tomorrow. My group decided to go above and beyond and made a video.

I cannot stop watching it. It's just too fantastic for my own good. Really, though. I can't get over it!

The Exorcist and other Finals Week topics

2010-12-14T00:06:00.000-08:00

Today after work, I decided that my bare cupboards, recent influx of money, and starving tummy warrented a little splurge.

I went to the CougarEat and bought myself a Teriyaki Chicken Sandwich.

It had pineapple on it.

Weird and unexpected.

Anyways, I for various, unimportant reasons, ended up eating outside, by myself, in the dark, at a picnic table under a lone street lamp.

[Looking up this photo made me wanna puke.]

It was the number two most-likely-scene-for-my-imminent-murder.

Scene number one was last week when I ran home from the library at midnight and passed a real, live, honest to goodness zombie.

Really.

But thats another story for another day.

2010-12-06T08:18:00.000-08:00

On Saturday night, I had a minor panic attack.

[It looked something like this,

but a lot less glamorous]

I found out that the last day of my Broadcasting class was Monday, which meant I had three less days to finish the two stories that would determine my grade.

[So far, I had half of one crappy story complete]

I hadn't even started my other story.

Everything had to be edited in Avid MediaComposer, which is only installed on computers in one lab on campus... which is only open at the most random, un-useful hours possible.

This weekend was a flurry of last minute story-deciding, filming, randomly running into people I knew and begging them to let me interview them [shame on me], managing to find a trial version of Avid, struggling to find an SD card reader, breaking the Sabbath [shame one me], struggling to convert all my files, struggling to import all my files, editing, and a whole lot of frustration.

I finished the last minute story and was dang proud of it. I was going to have enough time to edit my other one in class. Life was good.

I got to class this morning. I found out the schedule had been changed, and we would have until Wednesday... like I originally thought.

"Oh well," I thought. "I was prepared. I'll have everything done before Wednesday."

I started working on my original story.

Then, my professor came in with an announcement.

He was changing the assignment.

We only needed one story.

Efffff.

But let me say... my last minute story is a whole lot better than the original, and now I don't even have to use it.

Although CaroLlama would have been 2039429 times better.

[That's another story for another day.]

Psych.

2010-12-02T16:22:00.000-08:00

Can I just say that I love Psych? For oh so many reasons.

[probably the greatest thing that has ever happened to my tv screen]

There is a guy in my Thursday evening COMMS 101 class that I see watching Psych every class.

I have such enormous respect for him.

My weird standards.

2010-11-26T23:37:00.000-08:00

I am morally opposed to girls dating boys younger than them. I can excuse a week, but any more than that, I am morally against.

(If this is applicable to you, I apologize. I'm sure that I think you're a lovely couple, but don't let me know or I will change my tune.)

*okay, I need to disclaim, because I am terrified of offending people. This rule mostly applies to me. Also, to dating. So, as long as the woman isn't a total cougar, once you're married this can be acceptable. But don't go getting married just to please Jeanette.*

I am equally morally against girls dating men way too old for them. My brother taught me the "half your age plus seven" rule, which applies after the age of fourteen.

So, take the age of the man, cut it right in half, and add seven years. So, a fourteen year old can date another fourteen year old. A twenty-one year old (you can round to a year younger, if you're feeling generous) can date a seventeen year old. A 35 year old can date a twenty-four year old. And that is the lowest acceptable age.

DID YOU KNOW

2010-11-23T21:26:00.000-08:00

Along the same vein as my previous post...

Did you know that Chris from Maid in Manhattan

IS THE SAME GUY WHO PLAYS VOLDEMORT?

[They're the same person, apparently. No, really.]

Um...

Ew. I was so attracted to him and now I feel a little dirty.

But you CANNOT deny.

He is like... Bradley Coopers Twin.

[when he's not in Voldemort makeup, that is.]

Have you heard the news?

2010-11-23T20:23:00.000-08:00

Have you heard?

There's a blizzard outside!

I'm already home for the break, and I have nothing to do during a blizzard. So, of course, I decided to whip out the handy old Netflix.

Movie of choice?

Maid in Manhattan.

Can I just say...

I was already feeling depressed enough, sitting in my bed watching a chick flick alone....

But a chick flick this tender just begs to be watched while cuddling.

Maybe next time. :)

A day of mourning.

2010-11-03T14:24:00.000-07:00

Sunday was Halloween.
Ginger and I had wanted to carve pumpkins so, so bad, but never got to the store to buy any because we're the lamest apartment on campus and not one of us has a car.

However, Sunday night, when I was feeling sorry for myself, Jezelle and I went to McKenna's apartment to pick something up that we left there.
She had an extra pumpkin, and she donated it to us!

And THEN, later that night, we went over to our friend Sam's house to steal his ukulele, and we found that he and his roommates had TWO pumpkins that were not being used! So we ended up with three wonderful free pumpkins to carve.

I would LOVE to show what our beautiful creations looked like, but they were all stolen before we could take any pictures. :(
Luckily, we based them off patterns we found online. Don't even worry, they looked EXACTLY like the following jack o' lanterns.

Ask me.

2010-11-01T02:33:00.000-07:00

Ask me if I just got back from a 2:30 trip to Denny's with my BFF.

Ask me if I have ruined my relationship with pancake puppies.

Ask me if I am pulling an all-nighter tonight.

Ask me if I love college.

Chances are, the answer is yes to all of the above.

Almost one year..

2010-10-06T12:38:00.001-07:00

One of my bosses at work is going to Washington, DC for a conference next weekend.

I went to Washington, DC for a conference 11 months ago.
It was fantastic.

While looking for hotel reservations, shuttle reservations, and Metro schedules, I may or may not have creeped on our precious (nasty) Hotel Harrington on Google Streetview.

Friends... Journalism class of 2010...
Let's go somewhere together?
(Preferably Greece.)

Stop The Violence. ♥

2010-09-22T22:13:00.000-07:00

♥

Pretty sure this is my favorite Glee moment ever.

Everything about it.

But mostly...

...stop the violence.

What is art?

2010-09-17T14:04:00.000-07:00

Last year, I took AP Art History with Mr. Krueger. I only took the class because Krueger is like... my hero. And hilarious. At the beginning of the year, he promised us that one we finished the class we would be elitists who like to look at art, interpret and/or identify it, and laugh at all the losers who had no idea what it was.

He also promised us that we would come to understand why random splatters on a canvas and other modern art is considered.. well, art.

He did a pretty good job teaching me. When I recognize a piece I feel very elite and like to point the fact out to whoever I am with, and when they didn't know what it was, I like to laugh at them.

I even understood, to an extent, how these forms of modern art were considered art.
But.

In our office, we process the theses and dissertations that get sent out to be bound. One guy a couple years ago submitted his Master's thesis for his art degree. It came with a DVD which the current employees watched.

It was the weirdest thing ever. A man in an abominable snowman costume was dancing around and singing. As part of my initiation to the LAO, I got to view this video this week, and I got curious. We looked up the thesis and found out the guys name. We Googled him and found the additional video he made, availability above.

I was telling my friends about this, expecting them to laugh with me. But my friend Peter, a Graphic Design major, had actually heard of this guy and informed me that he was an absolute genius. That he was incredible. And that what he was doing was art in the purest sense.

So I've been thinking.. what makes something art? Why should a landscape painting with no deeper meaning other than looking pretty be considered more artistic than this weird man's performance art? I mean, no less effort went into his costume making, tripod-setting-up, and lip-syncing than it would take to whip out the generic painting I'm looking at in my office right now... so why don't we consider that art as an ignorant society?

I've come to the conclusion that my definition of art comes down to intent. Peter told me that the point of this guy's art was that the snowman was a self-portrait... it was a way of expressing himself and showing himself in an unconventional way, a way that people could maybe even understand more than if were to try to explain it with words. I think that often times, good work taken out of context can seem super weird... hence our weirded out reaction when we saw it.

A person throwing paint on a canvas just to make a piece to sell isn't art, but if the person is throwing paint on a canvas to try and convey a deeper meaning, even if the two paintings come out looking exactly the same, one is truly art and the other isn't. Isn't that interesting? I think so. It kind of is opening a whole new world of thought to me.

Even though I still think this guy is a weirdo, and his video is the most hilarious thing I have ever seen.

My hair.

2010-09-12T21:07:00.000-07:00

I dyed my hair this winter. Want to know why? It's super embarrassing.

I was channel surfing and came upon this:

And thought that her hair was the prettiest thing ever.

I stayed on the CW watching this piece of junk TV show just because I could not take my eyes off of her shiny locks. I wanted them to be my shiny locks.

And so, alas, I let my friend in cosmetology school who had been begging for months take my hair into her own hands and dye it.

I actually really loved my hair dark. It looked so sleek, it was so shiny... I loved it.

But...

It made me look soo pasty. Which became a bigger problem as summer approached.

Plus, my hair grows super fast. And blonde roots on almost-black hair is not cute.

So, I went through the awful process of going back to blonde.

I had orange hair for a while.

It was disgusting.

Once I was blonde again, my hair was so damaged I couldn't even get it detangled all the way.

It was dull and messy and poofy and... gross.

I got a deep conditioner.

It worked wonders.

Today I walked past my mirror... my hair was tossed into a ponytail because I was getting back from running.

And I am relieved to be myself again.

I love being blonde. (:

Yay for being me again.

Running.

2010-09-07T19:48:00.000-07:00

Today, I jogged 4 miles.

Without stopping.

I am immensely proud of myself.

(even though it took me fifty minutes to do it.)

Before this, my all-time high was 2.5.

Next stop, Olympics.

Idk, my bff Sugypants?

2010-08-31T10:39:00.001-07:00

[Jeanette & Sugypants - Washington DC 2009]

Sometimes, I forget why Sug and I are bffs.

Sometimes, I just want to punch him in his little Danish face.

But other times, I remember. Like yesterday when he kept making me crack up.

So, next time I forget, I'm going to have this lovely list I'm about to make of the reasons why I just love him so much. Even though he would argue about this list because he thinks the not-funny things he says should be the reason we're bffs.

1. "Get out of town!"

2. "Stupid-Provo-driver-son-of-a-monkey's-uncle-rapist!"

3. "I don't [sing in the shower]. I do a comedy routine." (he was dead serious.)

4. "She works at the pizza joint by my house."

5. "It was an explosion of color as the girls spun in their dresses, which were either store-bought or homemade, depending on their circumstances."

Older Men.

2010-08-28T15:59:00.000-07:00

For some reason, boys my own age don't like me.

Add five or so years, however, and they're all over the place.

a) The other day at work, some guy... I don't know how old he was but he was a returned missionary and a leader at freshman orientation, came into my office to ask for a t-shirt. When I shot him down, he remained for a good forty-five minutes chatting me up. It was the most exhausting experience of my entire life. Ha.

b) Yet another returned missionary has been texting me since last night. I'm getting a little worried.

c) Returned missionary number three I met at a car dealership. But he is pretty cute and newly returned, so that is acceptable.

The moral of my story is why don't pre-mission boys look at me?! Nothing against returned missionaries, I think they're fantastic, but I am young and I don't want to get married. And a lot of them do. That's all. Plus... it's nice to date people your own age. Jussayin.

Facebook stalking?

2010-08-06T10:56:00.000-07:00

What is the general consensus on Facebook stalking?
I myself happen to love it. There is no better way to stay up to date on everyone's lives, drama, and happenings. I personally don't consider looking at a Facebook friend's profile 'stalking', unless it is excessive.

However, today I may have entered the realm of major creep and not-okay Facebook stalking.

I found out about a guy who is also coming to BYU as an incoming Freshman this fall. And he had a very savory occupation.

So, I of course was obligated to look him up. And I fell in love. I am convinced this man is my soulmate.

Yeah... I'm a creep.

Books.

2010-08-04T13:59:00.000-07:00

Wow... where can I even begin?! I think my family owns more books than my high school library. Seriously. Our living room, family room, and storage room are all lined with wall-to-wall bookshelves with dog-eared copies of everything from the scandalous (Girl. Interruppted.) to the religious (The Book of Mormon.) to the classical (The Complete Works of William Shakespeare.) to the juvenile (The Babysitters Club) to the simply fluffy (Anita Stansfield, anyone?)

I have been working in a library for the past month and a half, and I've had some experiences that have reminded me of my own completely unregular relationship with books.

1. A lot of people come to donate books to the library, and a huge portion of those people are professors emptying out their personal libraries. Giving up books they don't want anymore. Wtf?! One time, we were cleaning out our basement and my dad got into a frenzy and just started throwing away boxes without looking to see what was in them. My mom and I salvaged a few boxes and were SHOCKED to discover that some long lost books had nearly gotten thrown out! It was unthinkable. If we end up with a duplicate book, we keep it. We would never consider giving any book away. Ever.

The majority of the donated books, our library doesn't even keep. They get thrown away or given away, and I get a little sad looking through the stacks. So many of the books donated are biographies of prophets or apostles or just books that I know my mom or dad would love. But there are also a lot of books to help 'heal' homosexuals. So the worth of each book is a tossup.

2. Yesterday, I was given the assignment to completely defile a book. I was devastated. I ripped open the binding, cut the threads holding the pages together, and ripped each page apart. I felt awful doing this horrendous thing. (we later trimmed the edges, laminated each page, and replaced the pages into the cover, but I still felt horrible.) Again. This is something that simply would not be acceptable in my house. Really.

When I bought my new journal, I also bought a book, "North of Beautiful". I just barely got around to reading it this past week and I loved it. I hadn't really read since moving, and I remembered how much I love books. Mmm. It makes me want to go devour some more...

GREAT NEWS

2010-08-03T19:07:00.000-07:00

My first concert was Yellowcard.

Despite their breakup, they remained my favorite band.

I rediscovered them this summer and have been listening non-stop.

They're getting back together. ♥

Two things...

2010-08-03T09:42:00.001-07:00

One: I have an opinion poll for the approximately two readers of this blog. Which is less attractive... a series of disgusting, enormous blisters on the side of a foot, or a series of garish band-aids covering a series of disgusting, enormous blisters on the side of a foot? Just a hypothetical question...

Two:

Several months ago, Kourtney and I decided we needed to make a music video to this song. At the time, there wasn't a music video that we were aware of, and it was so ridiculous (lyrics, everything about it...) we felt like it was our duty to create one. This weekend, we discovered the actual music video and took it upon ourselves to parody it. What we did was hilarious, and hopefully will be here for you to witness in the next few days.

...that's what she said.

2010-07-30T09:19:00.000-07:00

My dear friend Sugypants has been whipped.
A huge portion of my 'that's what she said' skill came from this boy, and it breaks my heart to see him give up on something that he loved so dearly for a girl.Of course, I begged him to stop being so dirty all the time. I rolled my eyes at every awful joke he made. But he was Sug and that was what Sug did.
This blog post is in honor (memory) of Andrew 'Sugarpants/Sugypants/Sug' Rasssssmussen.

This is one of the funniest things I have ever done. It comes in third after "Ohhh babyyy... LITERALLY" and... I haven't decided what number two is yet. After the yearbook was squared away this year, we got an assignment to create a theme, cover, and spread as inspiration for next years yearbook. I had mine all done (Warrior Magic. It was wonderful.) but lo and behold, deadline day came and Kourtney had accomplished nothing. I said I would help her... aka do the yearbook for her. And together we came up with the concept of 'that's what she said'. The inside spread was probably the funniest thing you have ever seen, but I can't put it into cyberspace... Clawson told us we would get sued. Hahaha. But the non-sueable, hilarious, best-thing-ever, was it featured the best that's-what-she-said I have ever done to this day.

Hannah whilst looking through her page in the newspaper:
DANG IT! I missed a period!

Me:
THAT'S WHAT SHE SAID!

This that's-what-she-said moment is so wonderful because it was so nontraditional. It wasn't even really dirty. It was just hilarious and so perfect. Wonderful. Wonderful enough to be the third best, most hilarious thing I have ever done.

That one is for you, Sugypants.

Bad Combinations

2010-07-28T19:34:00.002-07:00

Bad Combination #1: Sad Movies

Sad Situations

School is Starting.

2010-07-27T09:12:00.000-07:00

It's almost August, and that means... school is about to start. But this is all so different from what it used to be. I see all the high school kids who were my peers a month and a half ago all posting their schedules that they stole off their attendance in Gradebook. And I'm not a part of that. I just finalized my schedule, one that I worked on and had sole control of so I didn't have to go to the mass change day at 7:00 in the morning with every other kid who had an elective where they should have had calculus or had just changed their minds since registering in February.

This little reverie was brought on by seeing a Macy's ad with the quintessential stack of notebooks and a pencil with a blackboard reading 'Back to School'. My sisters and I used to wait anxiously for the day the first back to school circulars would show up in the Sunday newspaper. We would thoroughly examine each ad from Target, K-Mart, Shopko, Office Max, Office Depot, Staples... and we would find the lowest prices for Elmers glue that never got used, colored pencils that quickly ended up in the box in the closet, and scissors that were promptly lost. We even had a ridiculous 'sealing of the backpacks' ceremony when the supplies were all purchased to signify our devotion to the coming year.

I just might have to go school supplies shopping this year... just for old times sake.

3 Points (not to be confused with 3-Pointer)

2010-07-22T15:55:00.000-07:00

Today I'm going to take a page out of Thugg Lyffin' It's book and have 3 points. If you haven't had a chance to watch the wonderful-ness that is Thugg Lyffin' It, you are missing out, my friend.

Point One!
Just because a piece of taffy is a beautiful color, doesn't mean it will taste beautiful. For example, a lovely shade of pink may not be strawberry or watermelon or cherry or something equally delightfully fruity, it could be cinnamon. Not so tasty. Or, that gorgeous aqua color that looks so enticing... is nasty. I don't even know what this flavor in my mouth is supposed to be, but it is so lovely I feel obligated to never spit it out.

Point Two!
In a completely unrelated note... Google image search has changed. Check it out.

Aaannnddd... Point Three!
I seem to have forgotten Point Three. That happens on Thugg Lyffin' It quite frequently as well.

Mmmhmm. Unforgettable.

2010-07-19T16:30:00.000-07:00

I wasn't a Gleek.... but then suddenly I was, and I love it.

Today walking home from work, I was listening to the third album of covers... it's the only one I've bought, and I love it.

Aaaaannddd... I'm convinced that the best of episode of the season, from actors to music to plotlines, has to be the one with Neil Patrick Harris- Dream On. Soo good. I was listening to the music on the way home, and really... I could listen to this

over and over and over and over. And over. I really had to contain myself from hitting the back button. Because... I wanted to get to this (not on the same level... but really good.)

Anyways... Beyond that, I loved this episode because of Neil Patrick Harris. Dang. I wish he wasn't gay. Here are the reasons I love him. Exhibit A.

Exhibit B.

I love. How I Met Your Mother. And NPH. And Glee.

Bad news.

2010-07-18T15:44:00.000-07:00

I'm home for the weekend because my friend gave his missionary talk today.

Our air conditioner broke.

It is currently 88 degrees according to my thermostat. The same thermostat that in the winter tells us it's a balmy 70 degrees while we're growing icicles in our nostrils.

Suffice it to say...

I'm hot. And not in the good way.

My Week II

2010-07-16T21:49:00.000-07:00

Miss Kourtney Miles has been pestering me for days to post my weekly update, and I have a spare moment for once (sarcasm) so I've decided to do it. :)

So, the adventures began Saturday when

I hung out with one of my very

oldest friends, Tori Jensen. We went to Lagooooon! This picture basically rocked our worlds. We were coming down off the White Rollar Coaster and saw someone else ta

king a picture on the runway. We thought that was pretty sweet, and decided to take one ourselves.... and this is what we got. So awesome. Our adventuresome day continued, and we managed to squeeze in some good

pictures too... This one on the right was coming down off Colossus. Good stuff.

I'm really excited because Tori and I are going to have a whole week of hanging out in... just over three weeks! Wow! So exciting!

I went to church on Sunday and enjoyed a brief visit with my fanclub of Alex and Cody. They think I'm pretty swell because... lets get real. I'm the coolest.

So. For graduation, my aunt sent me a

Borders gift card. Since I've almost completed Bucket List Item Number Thirty Two (fill an

entire journal) I decided to trek to Borders in Provo and buy myself a new one. Not my brightest

idea... It is quite far from my little a

partment to the store. It took me about three hours round trip and I got a lovely blister from wearing flip-flops that far. But... I got oh-so-many good stories. Exhibit A. I was listening to my iPod so I couldn't hear a thing... so, suddenly, out of nowhere, this nearly-naked man runs past me, and I almost died (not only from surprise, but also from laughter because he had John Stockton shorts and was nearly-naked.)

{where the sidewalk ends... & begins.}

So, you know the book of Shel Silverstein poems "Where the Sidewalk Ends"? Not only did I find where the sidewalk ends... I found where it begins about a mile later as well. [edit: I just realized I have those pictures backwards, but it took so long to format this post I'm leaving it.]

So, I have a couple friends who are deathly terrified of birds...

and I'm not going to lie, I thought it was a pretty ridiculous thing to be terrified of. Until I met this bird. It was awful. It kept making this horrible squawking noise and walking right up to me. I'm not even kidding. Once it couldn't keep up, it flew right by my head. squawking. Repeatedly. It was, again, awful... and then all his friends joined in. I officially have joined the bird non-fan club.

I have a lot more pictures from my walk, but... there simply isn't

room for all of them. However, I feel obligated to share just one more... this guy. I was walking along, minding my own business, when a car pulled up next to me. There was some guy in it with creeper shades on beckoning for me to get in. I was completely incredulous. In fact, I was a little like Carly on her ride-along. I jsut kept thinking, 'this happens in real life?!'. I politely shook my head and he moved on, and I'm sure he was just a nice guy trying to be helpful... but really? That's a little creepy.

So, on Tuesday, Kourtney and Nick came up to visit me. We went and saw Despicable Me..

. which has officially made it into the five-way tie for my favorite movie ever. SO funny, and really, Kourtney and I are pretty sure the writers secretly filmed our lives and based th

e story on them... or at the very least stole from of our jokes. Because we were totally laughing ten times harder than anyone else in the theater because almost everything corresponded with one of our tens of thousands (not even a hyperbole) inside jokes. It was a good time and I'm really lucky to have friends who are willing to come visit me in my little apartment.

SO! Earlier this week at work, we found out there was going to be a cool library promotional video coming out based on the Old Spice commercials. I hadn't even seen them before this week, but I saw them and laughed. Wednesday, I went over to Paul's house and we had a mini-Psych marathon... (side note. Paul bought a Fiesta Pack at Del Taco, which I thought was just the coolest thing for obvious reasons...) We were watching the season premier of the 5th season (it was quite [hahaha] good) and I was pleasently surprised to see that the Psych Out blooper at the end was James Roday doing his verison of the Old Spice commercial. It's everywhere. And the next day, this came out...

Aaaand it promptly went viral. I thought it was so cool to see it from the very beginning when it was first uploaded with three comments, to having at the moment almost half a million views. CRAZY. At work we've basically been spending all day on YouTube between processing theses and dissertations. It feels really cool to be kind of a part of something so huge... even if I've only been a part of it for three weeks. :)

Aaand last but not least, Sug came over and visited me for a little while last night, and I just want to give a personal shout out to him for accomplishing his goals in life... even if he hasn't quite caught up to me. :) hahahaha.

There ya go. My week.

Winnie the Pooh.

2010-07-09T12:35:00.001-07:00

People who know me often know I love Winnie the Pooh.
Whether it's the massive Pooh head on my keychain or my former Jeanette Lou and Winnie the Pooh blog theme that tips you off... it's hard to miss my obsession.

That very obsession is the reason I am pleased to present, for your enjoyment, more wonderful comics that I adore... not only because of their smart humor... but their characters.

Winnie = ♥

Shifting Perspectives

2010-07-03T23:48:00.000-07:00

A few months ago, I decided my over-analyzing and constant self-sabotage had to stop.

I came up with a new philosophy that I was going to stop thinking so much and follow my heart. I was going to let myself do things, make decisions, that I would have never done before. I was going to let myself plunge into the great unknown and not worry about every possible thing that could get me down.

That new policy worked beautifully.

For a while.

And now I'm starting to deal with the consequences. I've gotten myself into two huge messes.

Two things, completely separate and different, that I would have never even come near had I meddled in my own business like I used to.

I'll be fine, both of these problems are 100% guranteed to be cleared up by the end of the summer. But...

I'm just wondering if I would be in a better place if I had nipped both o these situations in the bud, or if they will work themselves out and prove to be enriching like I originally intended.

Only time will tell...

But I hate waiting for time.

Who's bright idea was it to move?

2010-06-30T19:02:00.000-07:00

Moving = bad news.

a) I'm too immature to move.

b) I'm too friendless to move.

c) I can't even pick up my key so

d) all these days I'm not moving in are wasted money

e) Moving just sucks.

Hence, moving is bad news.

I don't recommend it.

Live with your parents forever.

Wait....

Can we pretend that airplanes in the night sky are like shooting stars

2010-06-20T21:12:00.000-07:00

Three summers ago, I had left behind junior high.

Three summers ago, I was looking forward to high school.

This summer, I have left behind high school.

This summer, I am looking forward to college.

Three summers ago, I was crushing on an older boy.

Three summers ago, I was constantly texting. (mostly this boy.)

This summer, that boy is on a mission and I'm currently boy free.

This summer, I'm continuing my (somewhat) boycott of texting.

I am a completely different person then I was three summers ago. But tonight, I was laying outside looking at the stars and remembered something from that summer. Something that brings all these random comparisons to mean something profound. I promise. There's a point.

Three summers ago, I liked this boy. I texted him literally constantly for about two weeks. Sure, one of us would fall asleep, but when we woke up the first thing we would do is reply to the missed text and continue the conversation. The same was true for movies, dinners, anything.

After that two weeks, it tapered off a bit, but I was still talking to him every day.

Late one night, I was texting him, after he had told me he was going to take me on a date soon (to play pool. I was very excited. I didn't tell him the part where I had skipped a grade and wouldn't be able to date for a while...), he told me he and his friends were outside watching a meteor shower. He told me to go outside and see for myself.

I did. It was a beautiful night, and I laid outside wrapped in my favorite blanket for over an hour, staring at the sky and texting this wonderful boy.

I finally saw one and texted him excitedly. He had seen it too! I had jumped a little when I saw it and told him so, and he said it was cute. I was in heaven. This boy thought I was cute, and I had seen a shooting star.

Fast forward three years. I've graduated from high school. This crush didn't last much into the school year and I didn't even talk to this boy much after that. He's now on a mission, which is great.

Tonight as I laid outside looking at the stars, I saw a shooting star. I jumped a little.

The world is beautiful.

Boys are great, but not necessary.

My experience tonight is just as memorable as the one three summers ago.

That's my 'profound' point.

Sorry to disappoint.

He's Just Not That Into You

2010-06-14T23:32:00.000-07:00

So, on this the second week of my jobless summer vacation, I decided to fill out some job applications.

And watch He's Just Not That Into You.

Before I start on my scathing review, I would like to point out one thing.

Bradley Cooper is so attractive. I didn't think so at first...

But the more movies I see with him, the more I love him.

I was devastated when he decided to be gay in Valentine's Day.

Unfortunately for me, after watching this movie, I know Bradley Cooper is not in to me.

And neither is any other boy, and apparently, no boy ever will be.

Because I'm not the exception, I'm the rule.

I am very cynical now. To me, the worst scene is when Gigi, the main character, is on a date with a guy and she thinks it's going well. If it was me, I would have thought it was going well too... she is at the guy's apartment making out with him. To me, if a guy wants to make out with me, I would hope it would be safe to assume that he's into me.

But apparently that's not right.

At least, not according to this movie.

The message of this movie, that I've seen so far, because I haven' actually finished it yet,

is that guys are jerks

and girls are psychos.

And that I'm not the exception, I'm the rule.

Stupid movie.

Ai yai yai yai yai!

2010-06-09T22:10:00.000-07:00

Today, at Rio Tinto stadium, a black man called me 'shawtie'.

[ No, not that black man, unfortunately.]

It made my day.

Then my boys went and made it again by beating an undefeated team.

Good game, buddies.

2010-06-05T16:35:00.001-07:00

[Best friends since 5th grade]

Yesterday I graduated from high school. It didn't feel real at first.

I'm not going to claim to know everyone in my class, or like everyone in my class. In fact, there are some I dislike a lot.

But these people have been a part of my life for three, 6, or even up to 10 years. It's crazy to think that most of them are suddenly gone forever.

So crazy, that I didn't think it until I was sitting at a table at two in the morning with two of my favorite people.

[Elisabeth VanWagoner- worst picture ever? Or best picture ever?]

We were eating lukewarm wings and drinking water while avoiding the line for the caricatures.

(We being Elisabeth VanWagoner, Andrew "Sugarypants" Rasmussen, and myself)

Liz was talking about someone she hadn't seen for ___ years,

And being the hilarious person I am, I said,

"Guess who you haven't seen for"

*ducks under table*

".01 seconds?"

(Hint: The answer was Jeanette.)

As I was laying on the bench of the booth laughing at how hilarious I was, I thought to myself,

"I sure am glad Elisabeth VanWagoner is in my English class!"

That's when the whole I'm Graduated thing hit me.

Elisabeth VanWagoner is not in my English class.

Neither is Andrew "Sugarypants" Rasmussen.

There is no one in my English class, because I don't have an English class.

Hopefully Elisabeth VanWagoner and Andrew "Sugarypants" Rasmussen aren't included in this group but...

I'm never going to see so many of these people again. And I really like some of them. But our brief relationships are over.

I love my graduating Warrior class of 2010.

See you at the 10 year reunion...

(Carly, Kourtney, Alyssa and I made the best time capsule video, so look forward to it.)

Now I'm going to watch Real kick some DC United butt.

Amen.

This is my sister.

2010-05-31T23:40:00.003-07:00

[Jeanette]

^^^This is me. And this:

[Lydia]

is my sister.

We are professional DDR players.

We love Real!

We love taking glamor shots!

We love brownies and cake!

We yell at each other when we wear each other's clothes!

(like today... ahem... ;) )

We are sisters, and sometimes we are friends.

You can read all about her here.

2010-05-20T22:43:00.000-07:00

Today I was starting my 5 page paper at approximately 11:30 whilst simultaneously listening to silly music.

Aka Owl City.

This song came on:

While listening to the lyrics, I finally got the punchline to a joke told in Finding Nemo.

We never heard the full joke, but it ended 'with friends like these, who needs anemones?"

Hahahaha.

It only took me what, six years?

Funniest Person in the State?

2010-05-14T19:05:00.000-07:00

I am the funniest person in the state of Utah.

Here are some excerpts from a test I took my sophomore year that prove it.

Compare and contrast the effectiveness of guerrilla and high-tech warfare.

High tech and guerrilla warfare are both very effective types of... warfare. However, both are most optimally used in different types of... war. So. Guerilla wafare, not to be confused with gorilla warfare, just as serfs are not to be confused with Smurfs, involves secret, covert operatives hiding within the civilian populations, obviously, pretending to be civilians, luckily, actually I don't remember what is luck so forget that. Ummmm, right. In Guerrilla warfare the covert operatives are usually supported by the community in which they are being incognito. Mean the real civilians, (not the covert operatives) won't turn them in. This type of warfare is very effective when your country is being attacked. This type of warfare is currently being used in Iraq. Because they hate Americans. The suicide bombers etc. you hear about are Guerrillas! Ah! Planet of the Apes! But. Its good to use when your country is under attack, because generally the civilians of your country are willing to hide and protect you. It's called nationalism, folks. High-tech warfare. This involves high-tech machines such as airplanes and tanks, because they are high-tech. Also atomic and nuclear bombs, I believe. This type of warfare is better if you are invading a country, because tanks can run over people, especially if they are using Guerrilla warfare. Also, civilians don't like supporting people who are trying to take over their country. It's called nationalism, folks.

Compare and contrast environmental degradation within the developing and developed world.

Environmentally, developed countries tend to be more degregating. (is that a word?) As places become more developed, populations grow and get more squished together. As populations get squished together, rain forests get chopped down, and when rain forests get cut down, trees die! When trees die, oxygen goes away! Therefore, when trees die, we die! AHHHHHHHHH! That is no bueno. Well, back to the point. When areas become more developed, we begin to not be able to farm anymore, because too many people are moving to the farms, and you can't pick your carrots when a house is sitting on them. This is when they start building factories for people to work in. When the factories are built far away from peoples houses, they cant walk to work anymore, so they have to drive. And then, the cars pollute out poor little planet, while also stealing all the oil and gas and studd. And coal for power, which could be used to make diamonds for my $20000 wedding ring. Luckily, there are still some undeveloped places in the world that doj't do all these evil things. These places, which are farms, usually live t work, so they don't have to drive! They also are producing plants that give us oxygen. This is why I wish I would have moved to Grantsville.

That, my friends, is why I am the funniest person in the state.

That and this certificate that further proves it:

Priesthood Power:

2010-05-09T13:25:00.001-07:00

"I like the name of that, because I want to have power.

You know who else has powers?

Superheros.

Having the Priesthood is like being a superhero because you can heal people.

And stop earthquakes."

"I drew this airplane. Mason is in the front driving, and I'm behind him, and Brian is behind me in the back, and you're in the verrrrrrrry back. Making the plane go.

And reading the Book of Mormon."

"And this is Jesus' rocket. See, here is Jesus and all his friends.

He's the driver because he's the leader.

And Heavenly Father is in the front seat with him."

Teaching Primary on Mother's Day is the greatest.

Little boys give the best hugs.

And teach me more than my calculus teacher ever could.

♥

Defenestration

2010-05-05T14:29:00.000-07:00

Dear Diary:

Today in English, this girl

[Elisabeth VanWagoner]

jumped out the window. :)

Perfect Days

2010-05-01T21:11:00.000-07:00

There are such things as perfect days!

I've had two in the past two(ish) weeks:

Friday, April 16

Saturday, May 1st.

Going in to these days, I knew they were going to be special.

Both of these days I started out with the temple.

On the 16th I went before school with a couple of friends, today I went by myself for the first time because I had some things to think about.

I mean, although both of these days were filled with great things like dancing and Real games and marriage proposals and Supercross and pizza and picture-taking and video-making etc, that alone would have left them as great days.

The temple made them into the perfect days that will live on forever. :)

(somehow I made this underlined and can't figure out how to undo it.)

Bathroom reading?

2010-04-23T16:52:00.000-07:00

When we go to my uncle's house, I have always taken note of one thing.
(Well, really more than one thing.
But this is the thing I'm talking about.)
In the bathroom, they have a book.
I can't remember what the title is exactly, but it's something about reading in the bathroom.
The book includes lots of funny stories and random statistics.
I've always been pretty amused by it. A book. Meant specifically to be by the toilet for your enjoyment.

At work, we get a lot of memos.
Memos in our boxes,
Memos from our bosses.
But my favorite memos are the ones in the little displays hanging on the doors of the stalls in the bathroom.

Meant specifically to be by the toilet for your enjoyment.

Hahaha. :)

♥

2010-04-18T16:12:00.001-07:00

I miss my Grandpa Howes.

Isn't he cute?

He's been gone for over two months now, and it was hard for me when he died.

My dad called me while I was at school and told me "he's gone."

His voice cracked, and I lost it.

I've only seen my dad a few times in my life.

When my brothers left on their missions.

When his grandpa died.

Since grandpa was diagnosed with cancer, I've seen the strong man that is my dad cry more than I have in my entire life.

When he cries, I cry.

We got to grandma's house, and I saw that I was the only one crying.

I was amazed at how strong everyone was, and that strength has carried me through.

Until now.

Last night, we were driving to the Real watch party and my sister mentioned a memory.

"Remember the time Grandpa took us all out for hamburgers and ordered all of them without onions? And Grandma had to remind him that some people might want their burgers with onions."

"Yeah, Grandpa never was much of an onion person."

That struck me. Hard. It's the first time in these two months, since the funeral, that I've heard my grandpa referred to in the past tense.

He's really gone.

It's been easy to not think about it. To leave my mind convinced that he's still down in his office selling carpet and concocting ways to give his grandkids money.

But he's not.

I miss him.

I love him.

And it's tough.

Missionary

2010-04-11T19:14:00.000-07:00

I decided I want to go on a mission. I never used to want to. I always thought I would get married young.

But, as I've mentioned here before, I don't want to get married young anymore. I want to have more experiences, I want to do more with my life, I want to finish school, I want to have a career, I want to really prepare myself to start a family. And now, I want to go on a mission.

As more of my friends are leaving, being called, and preparing for missions, I have been getting so jealous. Their mission is a chance to travel to a new place, meet new people, serve the Lord, strengthen their testimonies, and help others find the truth.

Why wouldn't you want that?

Plus, it's a way to extend the time before I get married by a year and a half. :)

Long hair

2010-04-07T21:07:00.000-07:00

Today whilst studying in the library, I witnessed two loud boys with hair longer than mine wander in and sit at the table next to me.

I was trying hard to study my mountain of Art History flashcards while simultaneously moping around about my life that was so perfect two weeks ago and has tumbled a bit recently.

I was getting a little perturbed that these boys were so noisy.

But then...

One of them started complaining about his hair and it made my life jump right back up to the level of perfection of two weeks ago.

(I'm pretty easy to please.)

He said, "Dude, my hair has been like, so staticy all day."

The other said, "Oh dude that sucks! I hate those days they totally blow."

"Yeah man, I even like used conditioner and all that this morning."

Hahaha.

These were the slouchy, skater-type boys, and it just pleased me to hear them sound like such girls.

Then again, I'm sure they straighten their hair too. They just aren't ready to admit that part yet.

Jeanette au naturale? Or Jeanette le faux?

2010-04-05T13:39:00.000-07:00

Everyone says to be yourself.

Lately I've been thinking I've been doing a pretty good job of that.

But today I was thinking.

Once again.

Everyone says to be yourself.

Everyone says not to change yourself.

Everyone says not to try to be someone you're not.

The person I am today is actually not really Jeanette au naturale.

She is a mash up of many different people I have admired in my life.

If I hadn't tried to be someone I wasn't, this is what the Jeanette of 2010 would look like:

She would wear way too much makeup

She would be super obnoxious(er than she already is)

She would be moody all the time

She would never see the positive side of anything

She would be scared to talk to boys

She would be scared to talk to anyone

She would still take weeks to make a new friend

She would flunk out of school

She would never do her hair

She would never have discovered her passions

She would still be pining away over that same boy for six years. That's disgusting.

Through a combination of dozens of people, I have seen their good qualities and decided to make them my good qualities.

I like Jeanette of 2010.

Even if she tried to be someone else.

Because really, she was just trying to be someone better. And I think that's commendable.

Journals.

2010-03-30T13:34:00.000-07:00

Journaling has one thing going for it that blogging does not.

I feel like I can write multiple things in a day as my feelings change and I discover new thoughts without being an idiot.

I've started writing in my journal lately. There has been a lot going on and I still hate sharing my feelings with people. It's not healthy to keep everything bottled up inside, and now that the things being bottled are more intense I'm sure I'm really screwing myself up.

But I'm not ready to let got. I still can't trust people. I've come a long way.

But not that long yet.

Dear Ke$ha:

2010-03-28T22:31:00.000-07:00

Question:

Why do you kick 'em to the curb unless they look like this guy?

In my humble opinion, if you're going to be kicking men to the curb, you should be doing it only to men who don't look like this guy.

Or, they also can't look like this guy if they're being kicked to the curb.

Mmmm. I'm sorry, Ke$sha. But I guess I just don't understand your taste in men. If I were having men lining up cuz they say I got swagga, this guy would probably be the first to be curb-to-the-kicked.

Home Stretch

2010-03-25T19:16:00.000-07:00

Here I am! It's the home stretch of high school! The end of my public education!!

WHAT THE HECK.
When did I grow up? When did I get accepted to COLLEGE? When did I get a freaking JOB?
It's amazing how these things all kind of seem like not that big of a deal, but now as I'm looking at them in retrospect I'm basically, for all intents and purposes, an adult.

Six years ago, I was in elementary school, enjoying the best year of my life.
It seems a little weird, but for now it's true.
The best year of my life was that awesome because this was one of the first times I felt stability in my group of friends because there was no school changing or grade skipping going on.
I was doing well in school.
I was learning a lot.
I was having a blast.
I dreamed of the day I would be going to my prom, and getting married, and having babies I could name Katilyn.

Now... In six more years, I might be married. That is such a terrifying thought. I used to think if I wasn't married by 20 I was a failure.
Now I'm more of the belief that if I'm married by 20, I'm a failure.

Why did I grow up? Just wondering. Everything was a lot more simple on the bus with my four best friends.

Update.

2010-03-20T21:25:00.001-07:00

I would like to post an update of my (semi)recent conundrum from January 30.

To review, I was trying to decide if taking a chance on my happiness was worth ruining someone else's.

Before I had decided what to do, aka the very next day, I learned this conundrum was null and void.

The person would no longer be hurt.

I became scared and still, despite the fact this person was out of the picture, did not act on it.

I waited.

And I eventually took the chance.

And it was a good chance to take.

That is all. :)

Fancy necklaces

2010-03-01T21:29:00.000-08:00

I now own two fancy silver Tiffany necklaces.

One of them I've had for a year and a half, and I just pulled it out tonight.

It was pretty tarnished.

Here's a secret.

Don't buy silver polish to take care of silver jewelery. You don't need it.

Use white toothpaste instead.

Weirdos.

2010-02-23T19:06:00.001-08:00

I am the first to admit that I'm weird.
But I am also the first to point out other people who share the same quality.
It's pretty awful, I know.
But anyways, case in point:
There is a lady at my work who daily, like clockwork, comes wandering into my cubicle and peers into all the trashcans.
The first couple times, I thought she had lost something.
But she kept coming back.
I then came to the conclusion that maybe she was looking for the US Weekly magazines that the lady who sits at my desk in the days always throws away.
I admit, I have pulled it out of the top of the trash before and read it on some of the slower days.
But, then I was reading it (that day it had been left on the table, okay? Don't judge me as a dumpster-diver) and she came in, saw me, and walked up to my trashcan.
This was the day it got weird.
She poked around in the trash for a few seconds, then pulled out a mostly-full, but still opened, Pepsi.
She opened it. She sniffed it. She turned to leave.
And then she saw that I was staring at her.
I'm sure the look on my face was not flattering.
Embarrassed, she put it back in the can and left.
And I felt a little bad.
Maybe I should feel good about it.
She might have gotten herpes, and I might have saved her from it.
But I feel bad for making her feel bad.
Even though she is a bit of a weirdo.

Dear Boys.

2010-02-17T16:34:00.000-08:00

Since I've made the final decision to go to BYU, every male in my life had been telling me I'm going to get married right away. Forget my freedom of choice, it's already a pre-determined fact. And although I still strongly disagree with this assertion, if I were in fact going to meet my future husband in a week and marry him a week later, this is what he would be like:

Smart

My husband is going to use big words. I don't [need]* him to be as smart as me, but I want to be able to have intelligent conversations with him and have him understand what I say, when I use words like pretentious, expound, etc. I mean really... hopefully most college guys know what those words mean.

Funny

This has soo many levels to it. I need my husband to be able to make me laugh, preferably while having intelligent conversations. I mean, it's funny when someone doesn't know what pretentious or expound mean... but I don't want that kind of funny in my marriage. He also has to be able to take my constant mocking... it's what I do. And he can mock me back if he wants, I appreciate it. To a point.

Sweet

I love it when a boy says something so sweet to me that I feel the need to hit 'lock' on my cell phone and carry it around in my pocket for a few weeks. (of course, this is assuming the sweet thing was said in a text, which happens a lot. I've found boys aren't as shy in text. But they do say sweet things in real life too, but I can't hit lock on that and have to do my best to keep it in my brain.) But I still appreciate a good jab at me once in a while.

Spiritual
My husband will be a returned missionary. The only addendum to this rule is if he has an excellent reason, like sickness or family to support because his parents tragically died or something. Or if he was a convert to the church too late to serve a mission. Etc.
On the vein, he will be, regardless, a spiritual giant. I want to be able to have deep discussions with him. I want him to teach my kids. I want him to come to church with me and hold my hand. I want to see him reading his scriptures. I want him to take me to the temple and take pictures by the reflection pool.

Good with children
I love it when boys love their nieces/nephews/any babies.

*The original version of this post said I don't want my husband to be as smart as me, and I needed to rectify the situation. I would LOVE it if my husband is as smart as me, and if he's smarter, that's great too. He just doesn't have to be. Amen.

KKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK!

2010-02-03T15:00:00.000-08:00

Dear Blog.

Would you like to hear about my day? Excellent. Today was the UBSCT which was awesome, however, A bad thing happened. I've been driving to school this week which has been great. But, I went to go tun on my car after school today to go home. So, I opened the door, put my backpack on the passenger seat, etc. Next, I placed the key in the ignition and turned.

KKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK.

Ah! What is this? I tried it again.

KKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK.

Embarrassed, I sat for a minute and waited for the cars beside me to leave. Tried again.

KKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK.

What?? I called my dad and he said he would come check it out. At this point, Spencer and Nan and Dallen were all getting ready to leave too and came and talked to me, and I showed them my dilemma.

KKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK.

They were all duly impressed. But left after a while.

So, my dad got there, and we couldn't figure out what was going on. So, we went home in his car, got the chains, and decided to tow my poor little ugly car to the repair people.

Most. Harrowing. Experience. Of my life.

We're going to skip that part seeing as I am still recovering, and it's too painful of a memory to revisit so soon.

So, we pull into the shop.

And the chain promptly falls off my car.

Convenient, right? :0

The guy comes out and my dad tells me to show him the sound.

VRROOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

Yeah. No more KKKKKKKKK. It started on the first try. I was pretty embarrassed.

So, now my car is sitting at the shop for 'observation', and I don't get to drive to school tomorrow. Hmmph.

Well, it's really all good. And is a pretty good story. But still.

Hmmmph, gah. And don't forget....

KKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK.

I blush.

2010-02-02T19:07:00.000-08:00

You know what sucks? When I get embarrassed, it shows.
It never used to. I used to be able to just laugh stuff off and then go cry about it later in my room.
However, then I grew a self-esteem.
And it has ruined everything. (:

Now, when I do something stupid, or do something I think is smart but others tell me is stupid...
I blush.
My cheeks turn bright red, even as I'm laughing it off and pretending I don't care.
I blush even as I'm laughing it off and really not caring.

I did something stupid.
And I blushed.
Every time I even think about it, I feel my face growing hot and I laugh at myself, and since no one who knows about my stupidity is around, I don't have to pretend I don't care.
I do care...
I'm not going to go cry in my room later, but I'm embarrassed and I wish it hadn't happened.
But it did.
So, I will keep blushing. Until I forget or something worse earns the rights to my bright red face.

Hypothetical

2010-01-30T13:48:00.000-08:00

So, here are some hypothetic questions and hypothetical situations.

Suppose there is a decision in my life right now.

Suppose this decision is a toughie.

Suppose there is no 'bad' choice. Suppose there is no 'wrong' choice. It's a decision completely in compliance with any commandments or rules.

But suppose...

On the one hand, if I decide to 'go for it' I'm going to be blissfully, ecstatically, undeniably happy.

If I decide to remain apathetic and 'let it be' I'm going to be excruciatingly, heart-wrenchingly, undeniably depressed.

But on the other hand...

If I decide to 'go for it', someone else is going to get hurt.

This totally hypothetic person is someone I don't know well, someone I don't particularly like.

But is my own happiness really worth ruining someone else's?

Is is worth the guilt I would inevitably feel for stealing their own blissful, ecstatic, undeniable happiness?

It's really difficult in a world full of self-preservation and selfishness to decipher exactly what the protocol on something like this is.

I know what I want to do.

I know what feels right.

I know what my friends would do in my position.

But what should I do?

Poor=Sad

2009-12-03T19:10:00.000-08:00

I have very little time here, but I want to write in my blog, so I will.

Two days ago, I was talking to one of my, like, 2 friends at work. He was telling me that his wife's paycheck was smaller than anticipated and they were scrambling to get the money to pay their rent which was due today. He needed fifty more dollars, and if they weren't able to pay it, I guess they were going to get kicked out of their apartment. I told him kind of jokingly to sell some clothes to Plato's Closet... that's what I do when I need money. Anyways, I didn't really treat the situation very seriously because I figured it couldn't be that hard to find $50 somewhere... I mean, I think if I was 25 and about to lose my home, I would feel comfortable asking for a $50 loan for a week and a half from my parents (we get paid in a week, and it was a week and a half at the time) and am pretty confident that it wouldn't be a huge problem. And yet, I came back to work yesterday and heard him talking to someone else saying that he just needed $10 more, but had exhausted all his resources and was thinking about donating plasma, something he has never done and is scared to do, even though he would have to miss about four hours of work because that is how long it would take. The guy he was talking to was saying how he has had to do stuff like that all the time to pay his cell phone bill and stuff. And it just made me really sad. It's not like my family is rich, because we aren't, but there has always been money to pay the bills before our power or water got turned off, and I have never had to worry about being homeless. I realized how big of a difference $10 can make in someone's life... the difference between having a roof over their heads and not. So, of course, I lent him $10... it was ridiculous how small of a thing it was but he was sooo grateful. The guy he wasa talking to said that he doubted anyone else in the office even had $10 on them, which depressed me even more. I've always known that the people I work with are older than me and that this job is their livelihood, but I never really considered that it kind of sucks and these people are very poor... especially the ones trying to support families. Anyways, I really need to get back on the phones. So that's all. (:

Creepy teacher? I don't think so.

2009-10-22T21:02:00.001-07:00

The other day, I was discussing a teacher that scares me, that I hate, and yet really I do like him as a person. Anyways, I was discussing this teacher with my friends and somehow got on to the subject that one time he wrote me a poem. That's all I said; and I didn't have time to properly explain myself. So, of course, my friends all freaked out and they were like, "what else did he do for you?" and blah blah blah. But it wasn't even creepy it was funny. And I didn't have time to explain what it was all about.
Last year around Christmas I wrote an essay for his class that I got almost an A on, and he said that we could rewrite them, but they were due when we came back from the break. So, I asked him if I could email him my next draft and have him give me feedback. So he said yes. I emailed it on Christmas Eve, and this is what I got back:

Twas the day before Christmas and all through the school, not a student was stirring, not even a fool

The teachers and students had left for the weeks, with plans of sleeping, sledding and eating sticky treats

The papers, pencils, and markers were rested; the students brains scrambled from being horrifically tested

When what to my surprise should appear, but a student's essay in an email laced with subtle fear

That's all I got, I'll read it Saturday and give you feedback....

With Respect,
A non-creepy teacher.

Anyways, that was all. Not creepy, right? A little dorky, sure. But not inappropriate. And I kept this email for the essay content, just so you all know. Anyways, I broach this topic because apparently lots of teachers are having inappropriate relationships with students. I read about a new one almost everyday while I'm on KSL.com between calls at work. This is a big issue. But an almost as big issue is the total paranoia going around. I mean, there is nothing creepy about making fun of a student for using their Christmas break to write essays. Unless I have been misled all my life. Writing creepy birthday songs for a singular student and singing them to said student in a corner of the classroom? Maybe a little creepy. But that's a story for another day.

Books on Tape.

2009-09-09T18:59:00.000-07:00

I am being slowly overdosed on journalism. I never thought that it could happen, but it has. I was starting to write about how over-exposed I have been journalisticly, but written it didn't look as horrible as it truly is. So, I will continue the lament and leave people in suspense as to how much journalism I accomplished. Suffice it to say, this week has been a whirlwind of interviews and filiming and editing and revising and copy editing and designing. Whew. The good news (HA!) is that I now have our first piece for TVTV edited and ready to go tomorrow and my newspaper articles almost ready for the deadline. Also tomorrow. What sucks is that believe it or not, my life is not entirely journalism. I also have English homework and Crime and Punishment to read and Art History exams to study for and Calculus assignments to figure out and Seminary class presidency meetings to go to and assemblys to film (I guess that's actually still journalism) and hotel rooms to sell and church meetings to attend and football games to cheer at and friends to see. Plus other stuff. So I'm pretty busy, is the moral of the story. Hmm. And all these things need to be done by Monday morning before school. Yeesh. Anyways, I'm wiped out and over-dosed on Journalism. However, one of my articles for the paper is sick-witted nasty in the best possible way. When the paper comes out I will totally post my article here. Never have I been so proud of a piece of writing.*
What else to say? I actually kind of like Crime and Punishment. I'm hoping it will be a little less graphic now that I have gotten past the crime... I don't like reading about/seeing horses being whipped to death in the eyes and guys killing women with axes. Not my cup of tea. And yet, like I said, I don't mind the book. I'll fer sure be able to finish by the thirtieth, anyways.
I don't get why people like books on tape. The reading people read too slowly.

*(with the exception of a few times.)

I am enjoying a long break.

2009-08-26T20:33:00.001-07:00

I finished a training class just barely on the repositioning of hotels and find myself here with an unplanned additional fifteen minute break! Whee. I haven't written in here for a while, but have been contemplating more interesting things to write about. But they all have left me so I don't remember them. Thus, I will talk about school.
BUT FIRST! We will talk about comics. I'm going to pull some fancy picture inserting magic here to show you the glories of two stupid comics with which I have fallen desperately in love.

This is the most recent. I laughed very hard at this one because it is just so darn funny. This is F minus which appears in my newspaper and I try to fit reading it into my busy schedule every day. I think anyone who doesn't find this funny is psycho.
This next one is what really got me hooked on F Minus. I call it, Most Hilarious Thing Of My Life. I spent a long time searching for it online so I could print it out and put it on my binder for school. I find it very amusing. (:

Now. The other one I like is the Salt Lake Tribune so I don't get the chance to read that one much. I read it at my best buddy Carly's house though, between the many hours we spend poring over the daily word jumble.

So, it isn't exactly how it was in the paper which disappoints me, but this is my amazingly hilarious comic from the Trib. Unfortunately, I spent too long looking for my favorites so my break is basically past over and I need to get back to work, but I will be finishing this entry later. Don't you worry.
Love, Jeanette L. Howes.

Do you have a daughter?

2009-08-16T21:36:00.000-07:00

So I accidentally just posted that with just the title which is an interesting story, right? Because the entire purpose of this whole entry is that I want to make my blog more interesting instead the boring that it is right now. Also right now in addition to my blog being boring, my sister is pounding a pillow on the bed for no apparent reason and apparently the girl asking me if I have a daughter is doing a weird dance. Also I typed that whole last little bit without making any typos. Except one. And the streak recently ended when I accidentally spelled any nay. And recently recentl;y. And accidentally accidently.
Well interesting tidbit number one: I am almost officially a Senior in high school which is pretty ham psycho if you really think about it. One of my best friends from junior high turned eighteen today... who does that? People my age are certainly not supposed to be doing it. Although I suppose he isn't actually my age if he is eighteen. But the point is, he is my friend who I view as my equal. And he is old (no offense to anyone), which makes me old seeing as we are hypothetical equals. That's my philosophy for the day. FYI, I spelled philosophy correctly.
Interesting tidbit number two: I have a job that is very over-working me. And I am turning that sentence in to the English Teacher association so they can turn it into a DOL exercise for young children. That is my philanthropy for the day. FYI, to my surprise, I spelled philanthropy correctly.
Interesting tidbit number three which ties in to interesting tidbit number two: At work, when the calls are slow or I just don't want to take any, I read news stories on KSL followed by the comments left by other readers. And there are some real idiots in the world. I have learned a great deal about the diversity of thought and culture of stupid people by reading these comments. For example, apparently I am a brainwashed Mormon with no logic who does not understand big words. And by big words, I mean "particularly" and "enormous". Hey. Mister. I spelled philanthropy and philosophy correctly. Plus, I even know what they mean. So stick that in your brainwash pipe and smoke it, suckah. That is my anthropological study for the day.
Interesting tidbit number four: A new season of Psych has begun and I have not even watched one episode, which is a travesty to mankind. Instead, while I should be spending the precious last moments of my summer watching mindless yet hilarious television, I am spending it at work listening to psycho schizophrenic ladies who are going to murder the 'expletive expletive jew expletive' who is staying in my hotel and reading comments accusing me of being brainwashed. That just does not seem very fair to me. Hummph.
That is a very interesting blog entry and I hope you have enjoyed it.

Yearbook Camp and Youth Conference!

2009-06-29T12:37:00.000-07:00

Last week was pretty hectic, and here is why.
On Monday morning, I got to go to a lovely early morning (11:00.. ba ha.) Yearbook meeting where we finished filling out paperwork and all that junk. And then. I packed. Woo! Anyways, on Tuesday, we were supposed to meet at the school at 6:00... and of course, me being the person I am, my mom woke me up at 6:05. Malfunctioning alarm clocks are always fun. So, we left about a half hour late since I dispensed with the hair-doing and make-up application, so I just looked like a vision. Anyways, we got to Logan faster than I have ever gotten there before... which may have had something to do with a lovely highway patrolman pulling us over as we were getting out of Sardine canyon. Him: "Ma'am, you are going way to fast. Do you know what the speed limit is?" Kaylee: "Isn't it seventy five?" Him: "Sweety, it's sixty." Ba hahaha. And Kaylee was going 80. But, he left us off with a warning, and a great story to tell for the next few days. Best part? Kourt was flipping out because she hadn't been wearing her seat belt... she couldn't find it. So, she put her massive box of food on her lap, and the cop said he would let us go because we were all buckled up. Ha. Anyhow. So, we get to our room and learn that since there are five of us, and six beds, we get to have a lovely girl from Syracuse room with us! We didn't know her name but she had a green streak clipped in her hair, so Kourtney and Heather decided to call her Amazon, which came back to bite us later on. So, we went to some classes and listened to John Bytheway (always fun), and eventually got to enjoy the USU ropes course! The best game of the night was when we were blindfolded, and got to play noodle tag! Such a fabulous experience. Despite the sweaty blindfolds and lots of warnings about cheating (apparently Heather is going to hell...) Kaylee and I remained undefeated and neither of us were ever it. Talk about a dream team. That night was pretty uneventful... we were planning to prank call these two creepers who were hitting on Kourtney and Heather... through notes... Creeps never said a word to either of them in person through the whole camp. Anyways, Heather started texting one of them, and he was just soo excited. When she said she was done texting him, he begged her to "please don't go... :(". What a loser. lol. We stayed up fairly late that night... about 2:30. And then the next morning we had lunch... delicious pancakes and sausage for me!! (: And went to classes... mostly. We ended up going to I think four of six... and working on the mini-book, our assignment, the other two. That night we went to play kick-ball, which was supposed to be a whole camp activity. We put on our Team THS tshirts and did our hair all crazy-like, then headed out to the field, where we were greeted with about five other people. We played boys vs. girls, where sadly the boys completely dominated. Alyssa and I left a little early to work on the Mini-Book some more, and Kaylee, Kourt, and Heather met us there a little later. That night we went to bed a little earlier so we could be in the mini-lab by 7:00. I skipped breakfast, and we went to one class that morning... I ended up leaving in the middle to pick up a bagle, which I ate (who knew there were spicy bagels. I sure didn't. But I ate one.) and a sandwich that I saved for lunch. And thus we began working on the book again! I was literally in that computer lab until 6:30 that night... absolutely horrible. But we finished the book after a lot of drama about folios and printing and THS Amateur Botonist clubs. And after all that stress, we needed to PARTY! So, we went to dinner where I downed two corndogs, salad, and some cake... best meal ever... and went to the lame-sauce concert. We left early because it was lame, and tried to work on our little skit for the next night. But we got bored and decided to get all dolled up instead, then headed back to the concert. But everyone had left! So, we found out about a 'roof party' some guys were throwing in another dorm and headed over there. It was pretty crazy, and ridiculously fun. But, apparently the cops got called for some isolated, totally different event, and they broke up our very fun party. So, Team THS headed back to our dorm where we stayed. For the WHOLE NIGHT. Okay? We did not sneak out! And yet, somehow it got mysteriously reported that we had. So we got screamed at. Told to STAY IN OUR DORMS. That we were the menace of the whole camp. That the senior editors were sick of us. That apparently all the other girls hated us. So that was an adventure. We started planning some other skits... ones we knew we would never do, but really. REALLY. Wanted to. Another late night. We ended up singing the fight song for our little staff cheer/skit. And of course, the Senior Editors awarded all the prizes, so we got nothing. Ha. Suprise! But our mini-book was incredible... about ten-thousand steps up from the yearbook last year. And we made it in two days... everyone, just wait until the yearbook comes out next year. Thats all I gotta say.
Anyways, I got home from yearbook camp and headed straight over to Daybreak for Youth Conference! I had missed the first day and a half, but I got to do all the fun stuff... we had some little workshops that weren't all that fun, but I worked out a little and learned about my natural sigh. And then the fun part! We went geo-caching which actually was kinda lame because I didn't even get to hold a GPS, but it was all good because I told Carly all my good stories from yearbook camp. And then we went Canoing! I loved it. Carly and I were professionals, I need to say. Then I had to go to work, and totally left my shoes on the beach... whoops! Gone for good. Oh well. The next day we collected food from our Food Drive... 1300 pounds. I KNOW! We did a little Downtown version of The Amazing Race that I was originally really psyched for, until we wended up going the exact same places at the exact same time as another group... we basically rode Trax up from the 4500 stop to Temple Square, getting off and on after each challange waiting for us in the parking lots. So there was no navigating or getting lost. :(
But all in all that week was crazy good! Now, there are just a few things left: Yellowstone. Girl's Camp. California!!! UBW?? Swimming. Lagoon. Ahh. Summer. (:

I represent 4000 hotels worldwide.

2009-06-06T19:20:00.000-07:00

Well school is over! This is a 'whee' moment.

WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!! EEE!

Anyways. Thats all. The bad news is that now that school is over and the senior class has graduated, I get to hear how some of my senior friends celebrated. And let me just say, not all of them went to Senior Breakout. So, I get to hear about how rad it was that they passed out on the floor and woke up this morning totally disoriented and having no idea where they were or what happened. Why this is cool I will never understand. Sure, I have said on multiple occasions that I want to get drunk once just to see what it, and I, would be like. But. a), I'm kidding, and b) even if I wasn't I would wait until I was fully developed and wouldn't make myself pass out!! geez. People are stupid. Especially boys. Yeeesh.

Anyways enough about them. Today I got my hair cut and it's pretty cute. Someday I'm going to get it colored, too... when I'm rich, anyways. It's actually pretty similar to what it was before... just a little different and probably a little more trendy. Which could be a good thing or a bad thing. I choose to view it as a good. I got my real driver's lisence in the mail! It's plastic and everything. Very freeing. I've been driving a fair amount. I drove myself all over the valley trying to find the stupid Youth Garden in the pouring rain, which was pretty terrifying and I almost died. And when I got home, I realized that I didn't have my wallet, so during all that time I was probably straddling two lanes because I couldn't see the lines, I wasn't even carrying my lisence. Just grand. But I'm alive. And I drove myself to my hair appointment, and I drove myself home, and I drove myself to work today, which is where I am currently, and this is a very long sentence. I'm tired. Mom wanted me to go to the 5K with her today, and I wanted to do it, but I didn't go. Because I was toooo tired last night. And, I wanted to see if I could RUN the whole thing this time, but I knew I wouldn't be motivated enough with someone else to run with. Because I always finish the mile real slow-- usually like ten minutes-- and then when I finish don't even feel like I worked out becauseI just don't push myself. It's terrible. Well, I don't even know what to say and I need to go log back into my phone. People should call to make reservations for one of the over 4000 hotels that I represent. Enjoy your evening.

Well!

2009-05-30T21:43:00.000-07:00

So, this weekend has been uh-maz-ing. And, even though Monday marks the beginning of the last week of school, I am just sooo restless that I really can't even imagine having to go back. My legs are starting to get a nice tan on them, I have lots of money, my brain has left me, and I am so ready for summer! It's time. This summer is going to be so amazing. I'm going to yearbook camp, Yellowstone, California, and hopefully at least part of girls camp... I'm hopefully going to spend the day at Carly's cabin a few times this summer, and go boating etc. I CAN DRIVE! And the plan right now includes getting a bumper so I can drive the Taurus, and go places. I got my first taste of drivingdom today... I had to drive myself to work because Mom, Dad, and Kathryn all went to the watch party for the Real game. Anyways, so, I got to drive by myself for the first time ever. And it was awesome. I left on break to get food, I signed up for AWOP so I got to leaver early... and there was no waiting. I left when I was ready and was on my home right away. I love that. So convenient! Anyway, summer is going to be oh-so-rad. Right now I am just on a high from this weekend. It has just been so much fun! I got so much sun, and spent time outside, and inside, and watched movies, and went bowling, and played frisbee, and played in a creek, and played on a playground, and ate Arby's. It was just great. I really can't even think of what to say besides this summer is going to be incredible, and I just can't wait. And school sucks. The end!

My Pet Peeves (rant)

2009-05-19T19:38:00.000-07:00

Today... and really, for the past while, I have discovered what my pet peeve is. It's a pretty big, broad one, and everyone is guilty of it. Even me. So, usually I excuse it. But there are some people who just take it so far that it is inexcusable. So, before I get too far ahead of myself here, my pet peeve is rudeness. The thing is, there are just so many different kinds of rudeness… but I’m just going to talk about the ones that really peeve(ha) me.
Number one. The people who think that they are so, so cool, and anyone who is remotely un-cool is there for their entertainment. These are the number on people on my peeve list. They think they are oh so clever for laughing at the weird girl sitting off by herself in a corner building a tower out of tater-tots. The worst thing is, they pretend to be nice. Its subtle little head jerks and faces made behind(literally) someone’s back followed by muffled giggles at the sheer bliss of seeing a girl in a pair of patchwork jeans… and then a few days later, these same people are scrambling to find out her name as she walks down the hall so they can smile, ask how she is doing (like she is an actual person, not a set of bones and skin in a pair of patchwork jeans) and remind her to ‘vote for me for vice prez, please!’. [disclaimer. I am not making a generalization that every one who runs for student body office is like this. In fact, I have lots of friends running who aren’t like that at all. Mostly, just one person who ran. It was just too good an example of my pet peeve in action to pass up.]
Number two. People who complain. Of course, we all complain. I do it too! Probably more than lots of people. I complain about my hair, I complain about tests, I complain about the weather, I complain about how slow my computer is, I complain about how I have a deformed body. I guess what bothers me most is the people who consistently complain about other people. I admit, I do this. But it bothers me when I do it, too! The thing is, I guess it’s especially true since we are teenagers, but every time I hear one of my friends start to complain about someone, they completely ignore the other side of the issue. For example, they’re complaining about how much they hate going to TAAP because of their teacher. But the thing is, the teachers hate TAAP just as much. They don’t want to be there any more than the kids. They don’t even like the kids half the time. This isn’t an ideal example of what I am trying to say here, because undoubtedly some kids would say, “well, if they don’t like kids, they shouldn’t be a teacher!” and if I were to use the real example I have, it would leave some very incriminating evidence. So it remains as TAAP. I just don’t like hearing about how annoying/rude(ha. Listen to me go)/stupid someone is over and over. And, like I said, I do it to. But I try not to. And there are the people I can tell are NOT trying. At all.
Number three. The people who have nothing to say but negative things. I first noticed this in eighth grade when I was hanging out with a girl I hadn’t hung out with before, and haven’t since. The only nice thing I heard her say about anybody all day was “wow, he’s hot!”. And, yeah, starting about ten minutes into the field trip (which was the reason I was even hanging out with her), I literally was counting. I heard her call other guys geeks while they were easily within earshot. This might not seem like that big of an insult, but to an eighth grade boy? It’s horrible and unforgivable. We were listening to different bands play, and she kept talking about how they all sucked. We went to the mall afterwards, and she made fun of all the ‘trampy’ girls and laughed at the clothes in all the stores we went to. I was so uncomfortable the whole day… I was used to getting my laughs from funny things. The jokes of the time were “gallivanting around like lovesick ponies” and any boy was attractive and non-geeky as long as he was slightly preppy and in a polo. I was shocked at how rude she was. Then later, I disclosed this shock to another friend, who proceeded to tell the negative girl, and she flipped out. Making me the rude one in this particular situation. I still feel bad. Anyways. Ever since then, I have always noticed the, for la ck of a better word/phrase, overly-critical people. There is another girl I go to lunch with sometimes that I notice never has anything nice to say about pretty much anything. I have heard her call one of her best friends fat completely unprovoked and out of nowhere. The worst part is, that got a lot of laughs! I was disgusted. She makes fun of other students because of the cars they drive. She makes fun of clothes. She makes fun of everything. I actually really like this girl, but the fact that she can never muster up any sort of compliment for another person just disgusts me.
The fact is, I like most people. But when my first impression of a person is them participating in one of the above three rudeness-factors, I do look at them as… well, rude. It’s not like I hold a grudge, and if upon closer inspection I see another side to them, I’m not going to harbor some rudeness-label against them forever. In fact, just Friday I witnessed one of these ‘other sides’ that completely changed my opinion of a person I have disrespected since seventh grade. I don’t permanently judge people. I like to think the best of them. And like I said, I am just as rude as the next person. I mean, look at me, chronicling all the misdeeds of my rude friends. That is not a very kind thing to do, now, is it? I don’t like noticing these things. They make me feel bad about the person that I am. But, at the same time, they have shown me the person I do not want to be. Anyways. That’s all! cya.

**disclaimer. The above list of rudeness factors unfortunately did not have space to include the obvious offenders- namely, out right bullies. Especially the ones who target one particular person. Like in my gym class. Poor kid.

AP Tests are OVER!

2009-05-13T13:55:00.000-07:00

So, my last AP test was today! Wheee! Harward suddenly turned into a nice man, and he brought us all this food to eat this morning... and then the whole group of 51 kids (thats A LOT!) headed into the library to test! It wasn't as bad as I expected, but I still am not entirely sure how I did. And to make it worse, Harward backed out of his promise of NOT changing any grades and told me if I get a 5, he will change all my term grades to As. So, basically, that means that my B+ that I have been complaining about would be an A! So I'm really nervous to get my scores back... last year for World History it wasn't a huge deal, I had a solid A every term. Even fourth before we took the test. But this... McLeran said he would change the fourth quarter grade if we pass, and right now I think I have an F. So. It would be good if I pass that one. So even though the test and studying stress and frustration have been alleviated, I still have to worry about passing them. And I don't find out until July! Plus, we've still got my retake of the ACT in three weeks.
But, the good news is that the Yearbook is done. I have done three stories for TVTV this quarter so far, so I ought to be good there. I have two AP tests that are finished. Math is starting to wind down. Gym class still sucks. I finally can get my drivers licence in less than three weeks. And then... summer. (: (: (:
Even though the first week is just going to be a flurry of studying with Nikki for the ACT and lots of working, I can't wait... my GPA will be set. There won't be anything else I can do about it. And I can RELAX! But, until then. I need to work harder. Turn in the rest of my math assignments, see what I can do about my History grade, etc. etc. And I was planning to put boys on hold until summer... yeah. That's not going to happen. I tried and it was too hard and added to my stress instead of taking away. So, we'll see how it goes. (:
I don't even know what else to say. I have basically been thinking about nothing but what I've talked about in here for, oh, at least a month. So I think I will go finish my math assignment, see about finishing some others, and take a power nap before going to work!
Oh. And my phone is being mysteriously malfunctioning. Hm.
I will have to figure that out.
That's all. kthnxbye.

The Most Pointless Blog Entry of All Time

2009-05-11T16:32:00.000-07:00

It's about time for summer to start.
I want to stop having to never have time for anything. Just having work and no school will be grrraaannnnnddd. I want to go swimming and go to lagoon and get tan, and all that good stuff. Plus, I need time to focus on some non-scholastic priorities I have recently developed. (it's so cool in my pool)
Summer. Sigh. So beautiful. And warm. Pool party is not good for my spring/summer fever. (...party?)
Well I really can't think of anything else to say. So that is all.
cya.

AP Tests and ACT Tests and Trigonometry Tests, OH MY!

2009-05-06T13:49:00.000-07:00

First off. Have any of the approximately two people (judging from the two comments on my blog) listened to my playlist? It is such a work of art. Every song on there is pretty much amazing. Currently, on my, computer, Pool Party is playing... so unbeatable.
Anyways. I sure have a lot of tests! I finished reading the Princeton Review US History review today and I think most of it actually stuck! So I will probably pass both of my AP tests, and we had a test on logarithms and LNs ( I don't actually know what that stands for... I was gone that day.) and it was really easy. So once the AP tests are done it turns into the floating-through-classes time of the year which is basically amazing.
At church on Sunday, I was walking out the door and these two cute little boy-twins were fighting and pulling at eachother. One was sooo anxious to get out the door and start walking home. His brother was screaming that they couldn't leave yet. It might have been annoying, but then I heard him say, "No, Carter. We can't leave. Dad will be worried. We have to tell Dad." I don't know exactly why that stuck with me so much but it did. I guess just that he is so young but he already knows how his actions affect his dad... or maybe the fact that he didn't want to be the cause of his dad worrying. Yeah, I think thats it. It's amazing that a five year old has such a concience and he cares so much about other people.
Anyways, I'm going to Hillcrest to watch the soccer game, and will probably answer some review questions in my book just to make sure I'm doing okay. But I think I will actually pass! Amazing, when you look at my grade... bahahahaha. Anyways. Thats all.
(ps. How I Go is playing... thats another good one!)

I have three minutes!

2009-05-01T19:27:00.000-07:00

Work Sucks. The end. But, I got a fat, fat (it actually wasn't all that fat) paycheck yesterday, and I will soon be the proud owner of a beautiful new cell phone! It's shiny with a touchscreen and a slide out Qwerty keypad! So I just have to learn how to work one of those because I FAIL at that. Anyways, we had a Team Meeting on Wednesday and I should be having my one-on-one coaching session tonight, so thats like two hours I didn't have to work this week, which is just grand. I didn't do my timed write for English because I kept losing the paper and it finally disappeared for good earlier, so I'm trying not to think about that... but since I didn't turn that in I can't get extra credit; which is NOT good. Gaaah. But, also, today I ate Wendy's and it was delicious. I'm just so excited for my phone I can hardly contain myself! Wheee! It's so pretty. And it has a one year warranty, which is conveniently enough when my contract ends, so I have a phone until then! I'm psyched. (:

Gah.

2009-04-29T19:58:00.000-07:00

Well, life is really stressful. I was going to come home from school today and do all my homework so I wouldn't be failing any classes anymore... so I get to Yearbook at the end of the day and suddenly get the worst stomach ache ever invented so I could barely move. I walked out of the room for a few minutes hoping it would go away... I came back after the bell rang and Clawson had left, locking all my homework in his room. Which is due tomorrow. So I was just bawling my little eyes out because it hurt so, so bad, and now I couldn't do my homework... but luckily, I have amazing friends and Carly gave me her car keys so I could go lay down and she and Wiledays went to find a janitor to get my books and stuff. Aren't they great? I thought so too. So I got home and took 1000mg of ibuprofen hoping that would help... and that stuff takes a long time to work, so I was basically writhing in pain on my bed trying to fall asleep so my tummy would stop hurting(have you ever noticed its frickin HILARIOUS when boys say that? Just a little side note..)
Anyways, I finally fell asleep but I'm pretty sure I freaked my dad out a little. And when I woke up I felt so, so much better because the medicine did its magic. But the whole point is I didn't wake up until four thirty and I didn't get anything done... and so I'm not going to have any homework to turn in tomorrow, and Harward is stupid so I might not get any credit for it. The worst part is this term is just really freaking me out... my cumulative GPA is hovering right where it needs to be right now, but if I don't get my grades up quick its pretty much going to plummet into the no-full-ride zone which is not good... this is my last shot, last term of junior year, to cement my class ranking and stuff in place! And it's not coming so well. If I didn't have a job, all this would be SO much easier... but I also wouldn't be wearing a multitude of new clothes all the time, I wouldn't be able to save anything for a car, I couldn't have a cell phone, etc. etc. etc. So it's worth it... just really, really stressful. So we will see how this goes.
Anyways, I promised I wouldn't write anything depressing in this blog. Hopefully that doesn't quite count as depressing. But I just have sooo much going on right now... I finally rediscovered boys and I was SO excited... but I really don't have time to deal with that right now, so I'm basically putting everything on hold until school is out and the ACT is over and then we will see how it goes. But, I guess I can talk about more cheerful subjects!
Cheerful... I love Winnie the Pooh! He teaches me life lessons. Here are the bombin' quotes I just love:

"If you live to be a hundred, I hope I live to be a hundred minus one day so I never have to live without you."

Piglet: "Pooh, how do you spell love?"
Pooh: "You don't spell it- you feel it"

Those are some cheerful, feel good quotes to make up for a non-cheerful blog entry. But I don't think it was quite depressing. So yeah! That's my day. My stomach feels grand now, but I want to fill it with Sour Patch Kids because Nikki wouldn't buy them for me at lunch. And I left my wallet at home. She is just so, so rude. Can you believe the attitude on that girl? I can't. (:
Even though she bought me pizza.
Anyways, that is all! kthnx. Bye. (:

I forgot a title so I'm putting it in now. (:

2009-04-28T20:03:00.000-07:00

Well this is my blog! It's pretty swell.
I used to think I was going to write an epic, meaningful blog that was going to be a must read for everyone in society. But, I have learned that is not happening. So, this is my happy blog! Because blogs that are filled with rants and depressing talk are sad and it makes me sad to read them. Therefore I plan not to write in here depressedly. Deal? Deal.
Anyways, I don't know what else to say so probably I'm going to make myself a pretty little playlist and upload some cool pictures. And thats all for now. Kthnxbye.