I'm so Confused

My 3rd Decade

2006-11-07T17:06:00.000-07:00

I got this idea from my sister Michelle. Though I don't celebrate my birthday as much as she does, I decided it might be a fun thing to do. I just turned 20 about 2 weeks ago, and to start off this year, here are 20 of my own secrets (or not-so-secrets) about me!

1) I hate feet. I hate touching feet and I hate people touching my feet. And I hate it when people put their feet on my bed.
2) I used to have a light switch plate that had Lumiere and the Broom on it. I used to kiss them both goodnight before I went to bed, and if I still had it I would still kiss them.
3) I like to paint, draw, sculpt, and take pictures of things.
4) My family sometimes calls me “Hen”, except for my brother who calls me “Ren” every time I talk to him on the phone.
5) Sometimes when nobody is home and I know they aren’t going to be home for a while, I eat something I’m craving and blast up music and have a dance party all by myself.
6) I don’t bite my nails. It’s gross. But when I was little I used to always suck on my big toe. Then again, I also liked to put my My Little Pony’s and my books into the freezer because I liked them better cold. (I’m laughing really hard right now.)
7) I talk to myself a lot. Sometimes I like it, and other times I think I’m going to cause myself to turn into a crazy person. Either way, I still do it.
8) At least once a day I daydream really long scenes that I make up in my head. It usually ends in me being really witty or getting outwardly angry at someone and being really good at it. Sometimes it’s me thinking about what I would say to a famous person if I ever say, ended up sitting beside them on an airplane.
9) Once I accidentally poured gasoline on my Dad’s head and I think it was one of the worst moments of my life.
10) This is how much of an Art History nerd I am becoming. I sort of have a girl-crush on Queen Nefertiti. I just think her bust is one of the most beautiful women I've ever seen, even though it's idealized. No, I'm not a lesbian.
11) I once ate 14 pieces of pizza in one sitting and I think that is the reason why I gained 30 pounds my first semester of college.
12) I don’t like putting my hair in a ponytail.
13) I never wore makeup until about 2 and a half years ago and I still hardly wear any.
14) I’ve come a long way in my worry-wartedness, but it is still very much there.
15) I absolutely hate video games and MTV and the phone. I also hate it when people ask you questions that they know you don’t have the answer to, or at least they should know you don’t have the answer to. Example: you just woke up and hopped out of bed and your roommate asks you if you know how cold it feels outside. Of course I don’t, I just got out of bed! I know it’s really petty of me but I’m still trying to get over it.
16) I had a Ninja Turtles dress when I was 4. I wish I still had one. Michelangelo is still my favorite.
17) I hardly ever raise my hand in class, something I’ve always wanted to change about myself. However, I’ve had a lot of teachers tell me they can tell I’m very attentive regardless of that which makes me really happy inside because it’s true.
18) My family is pretty much my most favorite thing about me.
19) I don’t like telling people this one that much, but I rarely ever use a toilet seat. This habit came about when I was 9 when I thought there were toilet snakes if you built your house on a hill. Now it’s a sanitary thing.
20) I got my ears pierced when I was 8, wore earrings for a year, stopped and haven’t worn them since and the holes still haven’t grown in.

Have a good week!

Attention all ye who blog (and those who don't too)

2006-09-19T14:29:00.000-07:00

First I want to wish me maties a very merry Talk Like a Pirate Day!! Yarrrr...

Secondly, I have a favor for everyone who wishes to participate. I have to give a presentation in my communications class in about a month on the topic "Is Blogging Journalism?" I was wondering if everyone who feels so inclined would write back and tell me your thoughts. Yes, no, maybe, why or why not, etc etc. I'm interested to hear what everyone has to say.

Well, there's no third. Shiver me timbers. Have ye a bloody fine week. Wait, that wasn't Pirate lingo....oops.

Sorry, it's a little boring...

2006-07-28T00:02:00.000-07:00

It’s time the World Wide Web encounters another collection of Jen’s thoughts via Blogger. You know how in every house there is a cupboard or drawer that is full of really odd random items like playing cards, shoe laces, two dollar bills, and blue things? Yeah, I’ve kind of put my Blog in my virtual drawer of stuff like that. But worry not, I have recently looked through the drawer and am going to resurface what is in it. Well, just the Blog because I don’t know what else is in the drawer yet. But enough with the pointless analogy. Here is a summary of my life over the past few months:

MAY

I went to Europe. For the entire month. Then I came back. Oh fine, details…
This was a study abroad trip with BYU-Idaho’s Humanities department. I had to take 6 credits for it so I chose History of Christianity, Humanities 201, and an Art Travel Study class. We began the month doing classes on campus. This was a very stressful time for me. The wonderful winter semester had just ended, I had said goodbye to my closest friends, I was getting ready to close my life in Rexburg and start a new chapter in Provo, and I was stuck in the dorms where I began praying that there would be people on my trip who I could be friends with that didn’t talk about Britney Spears or contacts for an hour. (The girls I had to live with on campus while we were in class were very different from me.) Luckily, Kristi Meaders, Julie Neish, and Leslie Bardsley were kind enough to take me under their wing and we had a blast tromping around Europe.
Our journey began in London, England. Actually, Salisbury and Stonehenge were first. London was the day after. I had been to London previously on a choir tour in 2001, but this experience was much different. Our schedules were great. The teachers gave us a strict enough schedule so we knew when feeding time was, but other than that and the odd museum tour we had to do as a group, we were free to go wherever we pleased. London was great, but really it was just the preparatory city.
From London we flew to Rome. Rome was everything I’ve ever dreamed of and more. We stayed at a convent with nuns who were the most wonderful people I’ve ever met, except they put coffee in my hot chocolate and it tasted really gross. But the convent was a great experience. Not to mention that it was a 30 second walk from the Piazza Navona and a 5 minute walk from the Pantheon and Trevy Fountain! We took a bus from Rome to Florence. Florence earned my love from when I climbed up the 463 steps of the Duomo and was able to look out at the entire city and hills surrounding it. It was absolutely beautiful, but surprisingly not my favorite city. All you could really do there was shop which I don’t really like in the first place, and when you have a hundred crazy Italians yelling at you to buy their things or to make their babies, you really hate shopping after that.
From Florence we drove to a little hill-top town called Orvietto to spend the afternoon, then up to Venice. We did the Venice experience in 3 hours, record time. It was amazing. After Venice came a town called Velden in Austria. This is where I discovered Austrian teenagers wear see-through swim suits, but they redeemed themselves by singing “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” in English (with thick accents) on the dock. Vienna (very lovely) was next followed by Salzburg (sigh) and then to Nurnburg (very wet) and Koblenz (breathtaking), Germany.
Germany was mostly our passer-by country to get to Amsterdam! No I didn’t go to the Red Light District, yes they have Cannabis seed starter kits everywhere, no I didn’t go to Anne Frank’s house because line ups there are ridiculous so we did the Ten Boom house instead, and yes I went to the Da Vinci Code there which was a huge cultural high of the trip. Europeans have the weirdest senses of humor. Netherlands to Belgium which was gorgeous and very quaint. And then finally we ended up in Paris, France (via Chantilly). I didn't expect to like Paris as much as the other places, but 4 days there changed my view. Paris was so cool! Whew! 7 Countries in 27ish days?? Pretty good wouldn’t you say?

Highlights of the tour include:
- All of the Museums (13) and Cathedrals (25)
- The Colosseum and the Pantheon and th- oh fine, just plain Rome in general
- The Castles (19)
- Michelangelo and Bernini (I could cry just thinking about them)
- The guy who sang “Feelings” in the Metro in Paris
- The Belgian waffle lady in Gent. She deserves a really big waffle award.
- The Commercials at the beginning of the movie in Amsterdam
- Peeing my pants in Germany
- The Cheese and Shoe factory man
- The concerts and the kebabs in Vienna
- Every place we stopped in had a different way to shower and use the toilet. And what is with the Germans and having the biggest buttons for everything?
- Not having to eat Fish Schnitzel

Biggest regrets:
- Not going to the Van Gogh museum (darn me for getting sick and wanting to sleep instead)
- Losing my Les Miserables ticket 5 minutes before the show (don’t worry, I was able to get one of the last seats left)
- Not eating more Gelato when I had the chance

JUNE

I basically spent most of June in my house in Canada recovering from jet lag, doing homework for my trip, and spending time with my family. Oh and shopping for clothes since I had like 4 shirts, 4 underwears, and 2 pants. I could only bring 30 pounds on the plane for Europe so I packed light. Yeah, nothing that exciting happened in this month, except for the end when I moved down here to Provo where I am currently residing. I’ll explain it all below.

JULY (and end of June)

I moved in to my new apartment June 26th, the first day of summer semester. My original plan was to work and take one credit. When I first got accepted I called admissions and explained my entire situation: I’m foreign, I’m a transfer student, I got accepted to start in summer. I asked if it was possible to defer and start in the Fall because I only wanted to work and not take class (I’m really sick of school right now). They discussed it amongst themselves and their superiors and told me that I had to take at least 1 credit and that was it. So I signed up for Martial Arts with Jeff (my brother in-law) and Social Dance. My records didn’t transfer to BYU the day I told them to release them, so I called Idaho and they told me the guy who can only do it is away and wouldn’t be back until the end of the week. I spent the week scared, bored, not seeing my new and only roommate, and sweating from the extreme heat. Friday came around and I called Idaho and Mr. Takes-care-of-transfer-records was there and finally transferred them. I went in to admissions so they could print my visa, they discussed the implications of being international with me, and this is where I found out I had to be a full time student. Well, I had read that before I applied which is why I talked to admissions when I got accepted (the whole 1 credit only thing). They told me they had no idea who told me that and said they would have never said such a thing (whatever), so I had to quickly sign up for 6 credits before the end of the weekend. Plus it’s dumb that that rule should apply to me because it doesn’t for students who’ve been here more than 8 months. I’ve been in college for two years at BYU-Idaho! I think that should count. But whatever, I’ll stop complaining. I wound up taking World Religions and Intro to Guitar along with Social Dance and Martial Arts. Okay, so it’s all simple and easy things (except for Religion) but I was still grumpy because I didn’t even want to be in classes. So because my schedule is all over the place I can’t get a job (not to mention it has to be on-campus which limits my choices anyways) and here I am going to class and well, going to class. I’ve turned to looking at the positive side of my life and realized a cool thing. If a guy gets a little too “close” to me in Social Dance, not only can I now kick his butt with Ju Jitsu, but I can do it while discussing Hinduism and play him a tune at the same time!
So about 2 weeks ago I was studying in the Library. It was 9:00 in the morning, I had a quiz on my reading for World Religions at 12:30, and being a new and eager student to “the Great and Spacious Campus”, I decided to plop myself down on one of the main floor tables. I guess I thought my siblings’ warnings of how the Library is a very social atmosphere were mostly stupid jokes and rumors. I was very wrong. As I was reviewing some Jainism beliefs I saw out of the corner of my eye some legs walking towards me. My first thought was that is was a guy in my ward I had met at FHE the night before just wanting to say hi, but upon looking further up his body I realized I had no recollection of who this boy was. He offered me his hand and told me his name was Jake. I think it was that, I can’t really remember. I stared blankly, “Hi…?” Then he goes, “Um, I’m sorry if this is too forward, but I think you are pretty cute and I want to ask you out.” I was shocked. My first reaction was to say “NOOO!!” but instead to soften the blow I did a shifty eye, shifty eye, “suuure…” He then asked my name and where I was from and put my phone number into his cell phone. He then told me he was here as a visiting student hoping to get in permanently starting winter and that he was from Ogden and he lives in the Spanish housing. His final question was, “So I’m kind of an outdoorsy person, do you think you might want to go on a hike sometime? Yeah, get something to eating?” I told him a sort of yes-maybe answer, and then he did the “have a nice day thing” and left. WHAT THE CRUD?! I resumed studying position for 5 minutes to make sure he had left for good, texted Liz, ran out of the library to call Derek and told him I never wanted to go back there again, and then ran home where I very angrily and confusedly made some pasta. I still can’t fathom what kind of person would do that. Okay, props for courage because that takes a lot of guts, but get everything else right! It was 9:00 in the MORNING. I was STUDYING. You based if you want to go out with me because you saw me from far away and thought I was CUTE? What if I was a total mean person? What if I was a witch? What if I had a deadly disease that shot out of my eyes when I looked at boys named Jake? Unlikely, I know, but I just think it’s weird and superficial and very silly to ask someone out in the library of all places! I wasn’t even in the Periodicals section! I also think that a hike would be the scariest thing I could do with someone I didn’t know. *SHUDDER* Luckily, he hasn’t called.
The other interesting thing of the month was my calling as 2nd Counselor in the Relief Society. The Bishopric member asked me if I would be the Enrichment Counselor, so I assumed I was just one of those people that helped plan Enrichment activities or something. Not until I was being set apart with the Relief Society President and 1st Counselor did I realize I was in the Presidency.
Oh, and Martial Arts is totally kicking my butt, pardon the pun.

Well, I suppose I’ll end this really long entry. Despite the length, it was still a fairly brief summary of my summer.

Life in Song

2006-06-08T08:57:00.000-07:00

Hey guys! I'll probably get around to writing about my Europe trip sometime soon, but for now you can occupy yourselves with this. It made me chuckle a little.

Directions: Put your music player on shuffle.Press forward for each question.Use the song title as the answer to the question. No cheating.

How am I feeling today?
De do do do, De da da da – The Police (Ha!)

Will I get far in life?
The Old Apartment - BNL

How do my friends see me?
Ave Maria – Il Divo (This one is a little sacreligious)

When will I get Married?
Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious – Harry Connick Jr.

What's my theme song?
So Pure – Alanis Morsette (Ha ha ha. Too true, too true)

What is the story of my life?
Pigs, Sheep, Wolves – Paul Simon

How can I get ahead in life?
Geek in the Pink – Jason Mraz (Why does he always sing about himself?)

What is my best feature?
Kiss the Girl – Alan Menken (Ha ha ha)

How is today going to be?
Finale – Stephen Schwartz

What is in store for this weekend?
After Midnight – Eric Clapton

What is my life like at the moment?
Commotion – Creedence Clearwater Revival (If only you knew how true that was)

What song describes my secrets?
Anything but Ordinary – Avril Lavigne (Ha ha ha)

What is my current lover like?
Come, Come ye saints – Rob Gardner (what does this mean??)

What song will they play at my funeral?
At the Stars – Better than Ezra

How does the world see me?
Letting Go – Jekyll and Hyde

Will I have a happy life?
Hell’s Bells – ACDC (Oh crap, not again…)

What do my friends really think of me?
You’re my best friend – Queen (wow!)

Do people secretly lust after me?
Be Our Guest – Beauty and the Beast (It would be funnier if I had Multiple Personality)

Will I accomplish my goals in life?
Come What May – Moulin Rouge (No kidding)

Will I find true love?
Uncle Walter – Ben Folds (Gross!)

How do I treat others?
Stuck in the middle with you – Bob Dylan

2006-03-07T13:00:00.000-07:00

Everybody's got to wear clothes! If you don't, you could get arrested!

2006-02-05T20:06:00.000-07:00

I've been getting harassed a lot lately to write on this thing so I thought I'd try to squeeze something out of my brain to interest you all.
Obviously school has started again and classes are good and great. I am taking American Heritage (I figure as long as I'm living down here I might as well learn about the country), Interpersonal Communications, Ceramics, Counseling and Therapy, and Doctrine and Covenants. Almost every time I tell people that they get a puzzled look and ask, "so what is your major?" *Sigh*
But anyways, Communications is a great class. Brother Bean is almost identical to the comedian Brian Reagan which is a very good thing. Doctrine and Covenants is awesome, Counseling is an unusual but good class to be taking, and Ceramics is wonderful and relaxing and cathartic. To sum it all up, I love all the things I am learning this semester. Still a little confused about what I will be doing and where I will be in a few months time, but I'll keep you updated.
So on Saturday I volunteered to work at the Special Olympics which were being held at Targhee (a ski resort in Wyoming). It was wonderful! I had so much fun and the people (both contestants and volunteers) were great! They kept me laughing all day and made me feel like I was really funny. No, I do not need to be around special needs people to feel funny. But anyways, there was a guy named Glen who was a riot. He had this constant energy and always trying to crack jokes. When he won his award for the event he was in he asked if he could speak in the microphone into which he yelled something to the effect of "SPECIAL OLYMPICS IS A-POPPIN'!!!" and ran off giving high-fives to people. He made us all get into a huddle and put both of our hands in the middle, count to three and shout, "WHAT'S HAPPENING!!!" Near the end of the day he came up to me and said, "Did you know that Pocatello is also sometimes called 'The Gate'?" So I said I didn't and then I asked, "Where is the gate??" Like, I seriously wanted to know. He gave me a big slap on the shoulder and started laughing hysterically and went "GOOD ONE!!! You are HILARIOUS!!! AH HA HA HA!" and proceeded to run around telling everyone what I had just said. Oh what fun! I love people!
I also had an interesting experience a few weeks ago in one of the buildings on campus. I was early for class so I went to the main studying area where I found my roommate Ashley. The area is very big and lots of people go there to sit. You can also look up and you'll see a hallway on the second floor going across. Anyways, me and Ashley were having a little conversation and in the middle of it she stopped and said, “Jen, do you see that guy up there? The one in the corner? He’s been staring at us!” I looked up onto the second floor where the clear railing is. At the very end where the glass meets the wall, a guy in a black trenchcoat was creeping from behind and staring down at us. We gave each other confused looks and laughed a little bit. A few minutes later I decided to get up and leave to go to my classroom. As I started to walk away, a voice from a few feet away called out “HEY!” I looked and it was the guy! He was extremely socially awkward and nervous and well, socially awkward. This was our conversation:

“Hi, how are you?”
“Good, how are you?”
“Good…..so….what’s your name?”
“Jen. What’s yours?”
“I’m Josh. Nice to meet you, Jen.” Handshake.
“Cool…”
“So, uh, how are you?? Oh wait, did I already ask you that?”
“Good, uh yeah, maybe. I can't remember, I get asked it a lot everyday.” (I said this to try to not make him feel so nervous!)
“Oh. Okay. Yeah, well, I just saw you from upstairs so I thought I should come say Hi.”
“Oh….alright. Cool. Um, well, Josh, it was really nice to meet you, but I really need to be going to class now. So, I’ll talk to you later okay?”
“Oh...okay, wha-….wha-….,” He then proceeds to make a strange mumbling noise for a few seconds as he closes his eyes. He takes a deep breath in and says, “Let me rephrase that. What class are you going to?”
“Psychology.”
“Oh, neat. Fun. I think. I’m not sure, I’ve never taken a Psychology class. Is it fun?”
“Oh, yeah…well, it’s fun if you like it.”
“Cool.” Long pause.
“Well, Josh, it was really nice to meet you, but like I said, I really need to be going now. I’ll see you later.”
“Oh. Okay. Okay. Well, okay. Bye Jen, nice to meet you!”

What the freak was that??? I was a mixture of feeling really scared/creeped out and really sorry for the guy. Needless to say, it made for an excellent journal entry for my Interpersonal Communications class.

So anyways....hmm, I say that a lot, don't I? Shmeh. So anyways, that's what I've been up to for the last little while. Life is just chuggin along and I'm going with the flow of it. I'll tell you when more exciting moments happen in my life! Have a good week everyone!

(P.S. To make you all green in the face with envy, I get to be in Vienna when they are celebrating Mozart's 250th Birthday. I also get to choose between seeing Phantom of the Opera, Les Miserables, and Mary Poppins in London. I'm going with the latter two.)

Just a little something to think about...

2005-12-17T01:28:00.000-07:00

No man knows how bad he is till he has tried very hard to be good. A silly idea is current that good people do not know what temptation means. This is an obvious lie. Only those who try to resist temptation know how strong it is. After all, you find out the strength of the German army by fighting it, not by giving in. You find out the strength of the wind by trying to walk against it, not by lying down. A man who gives into temptation after five minutes simply does not know what it would have been an hour later. That is why bad people, in one sense, know very little about badness. They have lived a sheltered life by always giving in. We never find out the strength of the evil impulse inside us until we try to fight it: and Christ, because he was the only man who never yielded to temptation, is also the only man who knows to the full what temptation means the only complete realist.
C.S. Lewis

A great quote from New Testament this year.

Merry Christmas everyone!!

Washington D.C.

2005-11-24T19:49:00.000-07:00

Here is my life in Washington D.C./Virginia thus far:

Here I am at the Lincoln Memorial. It stunk 'cause when we got there they were revamping him up so you couldn't really see all his face. I decided to look sad because I couldn't see Abraham Lincoln, but it looks almost as if I'm praying to him. I personally testify here and now that I do not pray to idols. Or old American Presidents for that matter...

This is my favourite picture. It's a lot funnier up close.

Here I am at the World War 2 Memorial. It was a really lovely place and was a lot more solemn than my face expresses, but I was just trying to show how happy I was to be underneath Idaho.

Derek and I at the Lunar Landing model thingy at the Aerospace Smithsonian museum. Hooray for astronauts!

Oscar the Grouch! Not the one on the left, the one on the right. They had a little exhibit of TV things and Oscar was there along with Mr. Roger's sweater, the orginal Snap Crackle and Pop, and a couple other things like from the Romper Room and stuff. They also had that fluffy pirate shirt from the Seinfeld episode, Dorothy's red slippers, and they would have had Kermit the Frog on display but it said he was temporarily taken "for study", whatever that means.

This is my second favourite picture: me at the Whitehouse. White House? Whatever. Ha ha ha, my face!

The End.

Chewbacca your mom

2005-11-16T14:48:00.000-07:00

Whoah whoah whoah. This is a post.
Hi! Just thought I'd say Hi to the world and tell everyone life is good. It's been crazy busy and chuck full of stuff to do. Blah blah geology, blah blah career explorations, blah blah psychology, blah blah new testament. Actually, not blah blah new testament. My New Testament (why did I just change to caps?) class is amazing! It's my favourite class this semester and may possibly be my favourite class of all of college. Brother Baron is so smart it just blows my brains sometimes, metaphorically speaking of course. We keep having these awesome lessons that'll just go all over the place with questions and comments and I've never once seen him fail to back up anything with a scriptural reference which he pulls out of his butt, metaphorically speaking of course. Gosh I love the New Testament!
Aside from all the schoolwork that's been overwhelming me lately, life is doing pretty well. I'm getting closer to finally having a direction in my life, and I'm gradually learning more about myself each day. It's wonderful.
I've been feeling a little lonely lately and I'm not sure why. I think I've just reached a stage in my life where all I can do is trug along doing normal college life kind of things and stop for a little bit and say "Well, now what?" But I know how to keep my chin up and keep truggin' which is the most important thing. It's nice and comforting to know that everything will work out in the end.
Note to self: remember to get quote on blackboard from C.S. Lewis and post it on here. It's one of those things you read in life that makes you yell a resounding "YEAH!" at the end.
Uhhhhhhhgaboshkabob....not remembering what I want to say....doo doo doo da da doo...I get to go to Virginia on Tuesday for Thanksgiving and hang out with Michelle and Derek all week long which will be awesome and fun 'cause they are awesome and fun and so is the east coast! Apparently, I'm not sure since I've never been there, but I'll take other's words for it. AND I get to have lunch with my old roommate Emily who is one of the coolest people alive. I'm so pumped. So pumped in fact that I think I'm going to go make some food and mange it. (manger= to eat in french). Well, I'm off, but enjoy the picture. Ha ha ha, my friends are so cool.

Puff of Smoke

2005-10-22T10:41:00.000-07:00

Okay, so it's been about two months since I've posted. Sorry, when I get back into the school life I kind of stop doing a lot of things I used to do. I pretty much just study and hang out with my roommates all day. Ah the life.
Life is good, for anyone who's wondering. I've been blessed with a few really amazing experiences the last few weeks. Some are personal, some are not. Like I got to go to the Inauguration of our new president, President Clark last week. Wow. That's all I have to say. There are some dang cool people out there, and I am so glad the prophet knows who they are and puts them in positions to lead us. *sigh*.
So last night was a complete....uh....lets just say we all woke up this morning feeling like we were hung over. It was insane! And thanks to Liz's video camera we got some footage of the chaos. It started with Ashley and Anne (my roommates) sitting upside down in a weird position on the couch. I decided I wanted to join them so I hopped over upside down myself. But my face kind of got stuck in between the cushions while my legs were up in the air and my neck felt like it was going to break. This was the beginning of the crazy night of the semester. We decided every semester has to have a crazy night between roommates. Last winter it involved laundry hampers, cats, and hide n' seek. This semester it involved couches, factories, and Jennies. Need I say more?
My roommates are so cool!! That's all. They bring me joy.
Does anybody know where to buy a unicycle?
So I turn 19 tomorrow! Weird? Sort of. I guess I'm still considered a teenager then. 19 seems so young to me. I guess it's because I am young. Not many people are 17 when they come to college. But I was! Da da da. So I'm still young. My brain is turning into a puddle again.
Oh yeah, so for my birthday we are going to hang out today. Ah shoot, "The Tick" starts in ten minutes. Anyways, yeah, we are hanging out today, perhaps go to Wallace and Gromit, then get our free pizza because we get one for being the cleanest room from clean checks. Then we will go to the play "The Guys" which I think is kind of a solemn play about September 11th, but alas we will go anyway. Then we're all going to come home and build a fort in the front room and watch The Neverending Story, Ferngully (haha!), and Once Upon A Forest (hahahaha steph!). I'm so excited. Tomorrow is church and then we are having a roommate dinner with my FHE brothers. At least I think they are coming. I dunno, all I know is that I don't have to cook or clean tomorrow and I think that's a really cool thing.
Well, my internet is stupid so I have to use the complex's computer lab, and that means I am not near my TV to watch the coolest show on the face of the planet. Therefore I needs be going. But I miss all of you who are reading this and I think of you all the time! Have an awesome week everyone! Life is good.

Au Revoir, Canada!

2005-08-21T22:13:00.000-07:00

Well, this is it! The moment you've all been waiting for! I'm leaving this beatiful country of mine and headed down south for the winter! Now if only I could sprout wings and fly down with my fellow Canadian Geese. Oh well, a car with a brother and music is much more suited to me :)
I'm extremely excited but extremely nervous to go back. I'm heading out to Utah with Derek tomorrow morning at 5:00 (blagh I know), then we drop my stuff off in Rexburg (taking as little time there as possible) and then heading to Utah so we can get there at about 9:00 at night. It'll be fun! I get to stay with Carolyn and Jeff and I haven't seen them since their wedding a little over a year ago so it'll be so nice. And Michelle is moving from good ol' San Diego to Virginia and on the way, stopping in Utah for two nights. We are all sleeping at Carolyn and Jeff's place too, so it'll be way fun and way cramped. I just feel bad 'cause Steph can't be with us. We'll miss her but we'll call her. Like I said though, I'm really excited to see everyone again, but I'm not sure I'm just ready yet so I think I'm going to avoid my urge to run around town and find everyone I know tomorrow. My brother is forbidding me to anyways because we are on a tight schedule. I'll be ready by Friday hopefully, when I return to the 'burg. Gah I'm so scared.

This is a note to Steph because she is at Shushwap or however you spell it (it's a lake). You may ignore this if you wish:
Just wanted to know what's up other than the sky? Your learners is on that weird mirror thing in the bathroom. I was going to clean your room today but packing took priority. You are messy. Oh, and I found the vest you bum. Nice try at hiding it. Also I'm taking your slip which is actually my slip because it has my initials on it. Mom said she'll buy you another one. Also, I give you permission to look through my drawers and closet for clothes if you wish, though you probably won't find anything you want because you've already looked at them and we've already laughed at the awkwardness and ugliness before. Oh, also, can you or mom wash my sheets for me? I know, sick, but I didn't have time. Aaaaaand....I can't remember what else. You better pass your driver's test this time or else you really will shame our family. Have fun and come home safely. Miss you! Drop me a line! Where's my gavel?

Dum dee dum...well...I think I'm done writing. Have a good week everyone! Can't wait to see ya!

Mawiage. Mawiage is what bwings us togeva, today.

2005-08-11T14:07:00.000-07:00

HELLO-O! Woild Wide Travel! We send you anywhere!
Okay okay, I'm posting. Now you guys don't have to look at that disgustingly strange picture anymore. I can't help but laugh every time I look at it. I love watching people's reactions when I show it to them, and when asked who she thought it was, my 4-year old cousin Emily replied it was her little 2-year old brother. Which makes it even funnier to me.
So a couple weeks ago I was browsing through the online version of The Scroll, my school's newspaper. Apparently someone had written an article about being married and there were a bunch of letters to the editor about it, yadda yadda. I personally thought it was quite funny and some of the letters were funny too, but in the other way...if you get my drift. Anyways, it just got me thinking about how I'm going to be thrust back into the "single student" category in couple of weeks and what kinds of problems that presents. Then I thought of the article on marriage and the interesting things the author had to say. So, here we go with some thoughts of mine:
It's interesting being back out of "the bubble" and into "the real world" because I really get a chance to see the differences and similarities between the two, now that I've experienced both. For some reason it's easier to do that after I've had a year at school, and wasn't as easy to during that year at school. I think the bubble got to me or something. Anyways, HOLY COW! I had no idea how much just the idea of marriage influences the people at that school (and I mean both the BYU's too). Everything from people exclaiming things like "Gosh, I just wish I was married" to ward gatherings with slogans like "Don't miss out on your opportunity to meet your future wife!" and things like that. I don't know if any of that made sense, but whatever, the point is that the talk of marriage is everywhere. At the present time I have 3 friends who are married (one with a child), another friend who is engaged, and another friend who was going to get married a month ago but broke it off. All of these girls are my age. MY AGE! What is this? I realize that it is a totally personal matter and when you know it’s right and feel ready, go for it. But it just seems fishy to me how many girls at the wee age of 18 are getting’ hitched! But it’s not even just the age thing. I just get the sense that a lot of people use it as a quick and easy way out. They may be afraid of never finding another person that will like them as much as their significant other so they grab ‘em while they got the chance, or they may think married life is glorious and a way out of the single muddlekafump stuff. Which it is, but both single and married have their ups and downs and problems and wonderful times, and you can’t compare them. (side note: I can’t believe I’m giving advice on marriage.) Uhhh…oh yeah…If there is one thing I absolutely despise, it is dating. I confess to wishing that I was married to get out of this stupid dating mess, but then I calm down and say “Hey Jen, patience. You are still young and have years to get married and raise a family and do all that kind of thing. You have so much to learn and so much to experience still.” I guess essentially all I’m saying is don’t rush things people. Some people think by taking a diet pill they can lose weight in a snap. The outcome is most likely never a good and healthy one. Exercise and eating right is the way to do it, but those things take time. And just as those things take time and patience and endurance, so does marriage.
I was just going to ask myself why on earth I just spent that much time talking about marriage on a blog, but besides random thoughts like that one that go through my head all day, all I think about are reservoir engineers, staplers and fax machines. And believe me, they aren’t interesting in the least.
On another note about dating though, I was reading Elder Oaks’ talk from the CES broadcast a couple months ago and I’m not sure I agree with some of the stuff he says. He encourages one-on-one dating and says that it encourages conversation, allows you to see how you treat others and how you are treated in a one-on one situation, and gives opportunities to learn how to initiate and sustain a mature relationship. I could say the exact same things about group dating and hanging-out. Well, not as much the last part, but I think hanging out with a group helps you get to know others well and how they interact and then branching off to being one-on-one is great. I dunno, he had a lot of valid points I guess and I really liked most of what he said and still think he is one of the world's wisest of men. What do you guys think? Blechaghm, I hate dating and my brain all of a sudden feels like a brick pushing on my eyes.

Sayanara!

Can you do this???

2005-08-03T20:23:00.000-07:00

HA HA HA HA HA HA!! So disgusting yet funny.

Little Boy Blue. . . . UP!!!

2005-08-02T20:24:00.000-07:00

HAPPY 50TH BIRTHDAY TO MY TOTALLY AWESOME PATHER IN THE WHOLE WORLD! OHHHHH YEAH!!!

Man, I can't believe he's 50! It seems so old. But I guess he's actually pretty young seeing as he has 5 children between the ages of 26 and 16. He'll always be 44 in my mind. We celebrated last night with a small hike around Moose Mountain and then dined at an extremely nice Italian restaurant. Dang it was good. Today we just had our regular go-to-work day and came home to a really lovely dinner my mom prepared. Too bad I hate fish. But me old man loves it which is all that matters. After that my mom and I tried to be discreet and make a scavenger hunt for him to find his presents. Well, our discreetness was a joke but I don't think he caught on because he was reading the newspaper and my dad could read the newspaper in a house burning on fire with dogs nipping at his heels and sharks and tigers swimming around him roaring and snapping their jaws and he wouldn't even notice. Whoo. Yeah. So I made a scavenger hunt in about 2 minutes tops. I used to make them for Steph when she was little and try to make up clever rhymes that would lead her to some soup and toast at the end. This time I didn't have time to make them rhyme so they just said things like "You have totally awesome children! Go to the Family Room!" or "Dad likes to eat a lot of stuff I don't! Go to the Den!"And instead of soup he got a golf bag. Ah, the evolutionary processes within a family.

Speaking of Golf, I went a few weeks ago. I don't know what to laugh at more, how much I completely sucked, or the fact that my Dad told me afterwards that he thinks I'm a natural athlete. HA HA! Out of me, Derek, and my Dad we lost a total of I think 10 balls. Basically we came back with more mosquito bites than balls. We would have ended up with only 2 at the end if we hadn't have found other people's lost balls along the way. It was sort of fun (mostly 'cause I got to laugh at myself for 2 hours), but it would have been funner if I had someone else there at my skill level who I could have laughed with. Oh well.

Yeah, so the Kool-Aid man is a childhood hero of mine. You all neeeeeed to see our Kool-Aid Wacky Zany video. It's right up there with Mr. T's Be Somebody. Mmmmm, well, it's hard to compare, but we'll say they are tied. IT'S FABULOUS! And I think they should play it in theatres. Hahahaha I love Liz's impression of the Kool-Aid man. What was the story with that, you guys used to do that in High School somethingerotherthingamajigimishmaff.

3 more weeks 'till school, 3 more weeks 'till school, yay yay yay ah ah ah 3 more weeks 'till school! Note to self: figure out that stuff.

Well, uh, I'm going to go now. There are books to be read! I love you guys so much! Have a great week and remember: if you were in dog years, you'd be dead! Ciao!

Someone once gave me a cow poster for a present and I cried for days!

2005-07-27T09:51:00.000-07:00

I love my mother. Nobody in this world compares to her.
I've decided for this entry to just jot down a few thoughts and things I've had this past summer. I'm going to try to not go very in depth in some areas because that would be a tinge too personal for my liking. This will also be in a completely disorganized manner.
I have lost about 15 pounds since I've been home. This is due to many reasons, and some of those same reasons happen to also influence my brain patterns and growth. One outcome of this is that I can't remember a freakin' thing. I had to go into a 5 minute explanation to my dad the other day describing what a crosswalk was because I couldn't remember the word in the middle of my story. I know I've always been lacking in the speech and linguistics area, but this was ridiculous! It probably goes back to my childhood where I had a speech impediment. Come to think of it, it probably doesn't because my speech impediment was a lisp. But anyways, my memory sucks more than the leading vacuum!! Dave even told my Dad how I can't string a sentence together to save my life. *sigh*
After having lived away from home for a year and then returning home, I realized that there is nothing I cherish more than my family. Yes, they are even above lime sorbet. When I first got to college it was a thrilling adventure! Independence, different people, mormon town, small town, new classes, no car, different country even! It was spectacular! I got so caught up in the hype of it all I didn't think much about my home except when I spoke to a family member on the phone once a week. Then it grew into this never wanting to think about home because of the bad feelings and memories it bore (I had a rough time in High School). I can't really tell you when this odd change in thought happened, but it really bogged me down and I dreaded going home, as my roommates can attest to :) So far coming home from all of that with that certain mindset has proved two things. #1- I haven't the faintest clue as to who I am. (That's sort of a lie because #2 is a clue, but it is only 1 clue and I need more.) #2- I need my family as much as I need say, water. It is a basic necessity for my survival.
(Yesterday me and my Dad saw the coolest looking woman ever! I think she was a witch.)
If you were the only person on the earth and there were no other people on it, there would be no point in living. I had this strange thought a few weeks ago while I was walking amongst a crowd. It may seem very simple and common knowledge, but it just kind of struck me. I kept thinking of scriptures, for example, King Benjamin's speech on service. If you were the only person on earth there would be nobody to serve! There would be nobody to help, or teach, or help you learn and grow, or befriend, or mate with (hahahahaha I can't believe I just said mate..."wanna breeeed?"), and consequently there would be no way you could sin (I guess there could be, so we'll say mostly), and there would be nobody to use your talents and abilities on and....well, it just keeps kind of going from there. What would be the point?
I love the weather for this reason: it is the only thing on this earth that cannot be controlled by humans. Now I guess you could say we do control it in a way because of the CO2 we let into the air and all that kind of jazz, but that is more contributing rather than controlling. (Contributing is not always a positive thing either). Anyways yeah, I like my weather thought because it makes us humans inferior in a world where we think we are so superior. Cool.
Trials don't always come to us when our lives are busy and complex and confusing because there's so much going on and so much to think about and figure out. When you are alone with absolutely nothing to think about and nothing pressuring you, when you have nobody to present a challenge for you to overcome and you are left sitting in the same position staring blankly at the wall for a significantly large amount of time, when you feel like you are Tabula Rasa, that, my friend, can be one of the greatest trials of all.
I never realized how much BYUI (and just plain BYU as well) and the people in it are influenced by the goal of marriage. In fact, I may dedicate a whole blog entry to this subject later. Same with Harry Potter. A Harry Potter post. Wah.
Here is my last thought: Making the fairies in A Midsummer Night's Dream dress like 80's punks and dance to ACDC and Madonna is the coolest thing to ever watch. Especially when the guy who plays Puck looking like Rufio. BANG-A-RANG RUFIO!

This is a picture of an artist's bathroom floor:

2005-07-16T11:27:00.000-07:00

FREAKY!!!!

Emerge, naked, from a maple-syrup-filled coffin in the middle of campus.

2005-07-15T09:29:00.000-07:00

As some of you may recall, Liz recently discovered a wonderful site called ehow.com. Sitting at a computer for 8 hours of the day brings you to boredom and hence mindless searching. So I thought I'd share some of my favourite How-To's from the site!

http://www.ehow.com/how_8959_tell-neighbor-musics.html

http://www.ehow.com/how_13953_avoid-eating-all.html

http://www.ehow.com/how_8641_become-tree-mascot.html

http://www.ehow.com/how_12446_knock-judge-judy.html

Wow they are hilarious. I'll post a more interesting thing later...right now my mind is becoming duller with the continuous noise of that same blasted line dancing music outside my window.

I want a feast! I want a bean feast!

2005-07-09T20:07:00.000-07:00

I've been feeling really nature loverish lately. Lately as in the past 18.5 years. Anyways, I've been spending a lot of time on my deck looking at the view or sitting in the trees and communing with nature. In lieu of that (and also because none of you have been to my house), I thought I'd post these pictures up of where I live.

This first one was taken on top of the bum hill (the hill I live on in the shape of a bum, hence the name). My brother took it a few years ago. It was in May so it is still all brownish and ugly and the mountains blend in with the sky, but it was a cool view.

This second picture is of a Lake in the Rockies about an hour or two from my house. It's beautiful.

This is of downtown Calgary. The Calgary Tower (which you can see in the background), and the Saddledome (which is the big building that looks like a saddle) are some of our more famous...uh...architectures. :)

This is the back of my house in the middle of May a few years ago. This is the kind of thing that gives others the idea that Canada is full of igloos and dogsleds. Well, it isn't true. However we do have strange weather and large amounts of snow at the most random times of the year. Cool, I can see my blinds from this picture.

This is a beautiful Springbank sunset taken from my deck. It's pictures like this that remind me how much I love colours!

Here is my favourite picture. First off I'd like to say that the sign is actually brown. Something happened when I took the picture with the light reflection. Anyways, so me and my dad pass this sign everday on our way to work in the morning. It took me about a month to notice it, and when I did we both had a good laugh about it. I'm still not sure what it means, but I have 2 guesses. One: Confusion Ahead. Maybe it's talking about downtown, or maybe it's talking about Staples. I dunno Liz, is Staples really that confusing? Two: We don't really know what's up there, but you just keep going. The funny part about this is that the road is one-way, so it kind of brings the humour into it. I'd expect more signs up ahead saying Beware or Turn Back Now and things like that you see in haunted houses. What do you guys think? Well, those are some pictures for your enjoyment. Enjoy!

2005-07-04T13:43:00.000-07:00

How do I put a picture up in my profile?

Testing 1 2 3...

2005-07-04T13:28:00.000-07:00

What's the difference between Green?

2005-07-04T13:22:00.000-07:00

Here is a link to information about umbilical cords in animals and things like that! Yay for placentas!

http://www.madsci.org/posts/archives/sep2000/967827843.Zo.r.html

HAPPY CANADA DAY!!!

2005-07-04T12:38:00.001-07:00

Okay, so Canada Day was on Friday, but Happy Canada Day anyway. Oh, and Happy Independence Day, or whatever you Americans say. I hope you are all good and patriotic today. All I did to celebrate the making of my country was watch Zoboomafoo with Derek (and like I said to Alexis yesterday, don't even begin to ask why), then I bummed around and went to a movie with Steph. (It was Bewitched and it was amusing and I vow to never sit beside a short fat kid eating popcorn in a movie theatre again.) I really need to work on my celebration skills. It was an excellent weekend needless to say. I didn't have to work Friday and I don't have to work today. That's always nice, especially because right now all I have to do is shred an entire tupperware bin thing of resumes. They are confidential so they can't just be recycled. It is ridiculous and will probably take a couple weeks to finish. The good thing is that I've made friends with the paper shredder. His name is Fellowes and if I feed him too much he gets hot and has to rest. Poor Fellowes, you hard working shredmeister. (I was going to say Shredder, but that's a rat. No no, I mean a bad guy. Blast, I always get Splinter and Shredder mixed up. Hahahaha-- "Spli-nter")
Oh yeah, weekend. I don't really remember what happened. I remember that Stephanie and my Mom left to Utah on Saturday which was very sad. It meant that half of my friends left me. Now it's just Derek and Dad to hang out with, which would usually be great except that we all work. I also remember riding home from church with Derek and taking turns making up verses to "Good King Wenceleses." I have no idea how to spell that, but we made up verses the entire way home about superheroes and things. Anyways, after they left Derek and I went to visit my Uncle Dennis up in Innisfail. Oh mercy. If there is one person you all need to meet, it is my Uncle Dennis. I can't even begin to explain him on this blog, but to get a sort of impression, he's about 300 pounds, he's a retired Elvis and Santa Clause impersonator and the biggest pack rat I've ever met in my life. I hadn't seen him in a year and Derek hadn't in 3 so we thought we should pay him a visit. Him and his common-law wife are obsessed with their birds now. Well, that's the end of that story.
Yesterday was my third Sunday at our Single's Ward. There is a HUGE difference between a Single's Ward and a Student Ward. For one, you live beside the people in your Student Ward and see them everyday (which presents more possibilities to become friends). For another, it's really weird to be in a ward with a bunch of people that grew up with your 26 and 24 year-old sisters. I feel young and I know oh, maybe 5 people including my brother. The saddest part is that I don't really care that much to get to be friends with a lot of people there because I'm going to be gone in 2 months. Also there's about a 4-6 year difference in age between me and the majority of the ward, aaaaand...well, that's basically it. For some reason age is no matter at school, but here it's like, blasphemy.
Okay, so I decided the other day that Barenaked Ladies are so my favourite band right now. I say right now because my favourites tend to change over time, and then when I say "oh this is my favourite" someone always makes sure to say "what? no they aren't, this is your favourite" and then it bugs me because things CHANGE people! Anyways, they are awesome and fun and feel-good and really really funny. And I love how not all of their songs are about love and that riff-raff. Like, a song about postcards with Chimpanzees. Or a song about being a Celebrity. Brilliant!
I keep going through these weird fazes that are unexplainable. Ha, how unusual, Jen. But seriously! For example, about 3 weeks ago men were the most disgusting thing to me! I was walking around downtown at lunch and looked around at the people around me, and all of a sudden the men were the most sweaty and slimy and ugly things ever. It lasted an entire week! I'm over it now, but geesh, what was with that?
Speaking of men, Calgary was flooded but now it's nice outside! There's also an epidemic (well, to me it is) of Monarch Butterflies out here in Springbank. It's just lovely!
I'm going to climb the Bum Hill, maybe even today, and take a picture of where I live and try to post it up here. It is the most beautiful place on earth (to me anyway)! Everyday when I come home, there's this rad part where you are covered in trees, and then they open as you go down this hill and you see a perfect range of the mountains and the foothills and the sun is getting low and it just reminds me of my own Happy Valley! I just need a magical harp-woman.
My apologies for no interesting/random/spontaneous/weird stories. There just isn't any! My exciting juices have run out temporarily. I love hearing from all of you though, and your interesting lives.
Oh Liz, I think I'm going to buy More Cowbell. I want it sooooo bad. That or the hungry hungry hippo one. Those T-Shirts were magnificent! Bah!
Wow, my hair smells nice. Well, there's an update of my life. As in, the stuff you just read. I'll try to post a more exciting post next time. That or a few life lessons I've learned this summer. Whatever! Now I will go and... AH! I'm going to go buy some Lime Sorbet! It is so Lime Sorbet time. You guys are all cool and I love you tons! Ciao Ciao!!

One more thing...

2005-06-28T10:31:00.000-07:00

CANADIAN ACCENTS ARE HILARIOUS!!! I used to deny there even were such a thing, not for the Easterners, but like where I'm from I would. What? I hope you understand that. But seriously! Haha! They are wonderful.

If the moon were made of ribs, would you eat it?

2005-06-28T10:28:00.000-07:00

Well, I guess I should write something in this so called blog if people are going to put mine on their blogs. I also really hope that sentence made sense, because I'm a bit too tired to read it over.
I guess I'll start by introducing myself in case some poor unfortunate souls stumble upon this blog. The name's Jennifer Lora Lee, the game's...uhhh....balderdash. Born and raised in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. I have 3 sisters, and 1 brother smack dab in the middle of all of us. My parents are Gary and Judi, and my pets are all deceased fish named Nephi, King Noah, and Mohonri Moriancumr. I enjoy colours, african things, music, animals, avacado, laughing, comfortable things, reading, and roller coasters.
Okay now onto interesting stuff!
So I'm at work and my boss is way cool--probably because he's a Lee :). That looks weird to put a period after a smily face. Oh oh, I know, he's sticking his tongue out at us!
Hey guess what? It's Canada Day on Friday! Which means day off for Jen! Which means patriotism here I come! Which means absolutely nothing in this country! Okay, I'm kidding. We are patriotic, but you probably don't see it as much unless you live here. And as sad as it is, it's our beer commercials and slogans that unite the patriotism all over this country. Okay enough.
Hahaha my co-worker just asked me if I was good at telling if people are gay are not.
So because my work is well...relaxed, I decided every day I will search on the internet for a new thing to learn about. Today it's Mozart and Elephants. Not "Mozart and Elephants" together, but "Mozart" and "Elephants." Any suggestions on what I should learn about tomorrow?
Yay for cool people! I love you all and wish the best for your day and week and month and life! Hugs to all!