Friday, November 28, 2008

I'm lazy

I've been in California almost a whole week and I haven't blogged.
I feel neglectful.

Well, stories and pictures to come sometime next week.
For now, I'm way too tired.

Friday, November 21, 2008

Para una semana, adios Rexburg!

In five hours I'm going to be leaving Rexburg for a whole week. I am beyond excited. I'm bringing Eryn and Hernan and a girl from my ward here who's from Camarillo home. 14-15 hour drive in one day?

Bring it on.

Thursday, November 20, 2008

Tagged

My sister tagged me.


the rules: fourth photo from your fourth folder. (to clarify, since I was really confused with this, the picture is to come from your Pictures folder on your computer desktop)

I have only a few pictures in my Pictures folder, I keep most of them in an album of pictures from this semester. I'm posting the fourth photo from both folders, since I couldn't choose.



This one is from our FHE activity during the week of Halloween. This is James, our FHE group leader and myself. I carved tiny little pumpkins with a travel sized box cutter and James carved his pumpkin into an eye. Later, we set a tray of lighter fluid in his pumpkin and set it aflame. It was a very boy thing to do.




This is Joe. We were on our way out to the location to film our western dance for the movie and he decided to sleep on the way. He slept the entire way, even when we went offroading through a field and some hills. I was impressed.

I'm tagging: Heather, Eryn, Randi, Melissa, and Hernan

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Can't stop that mambo beat

We're nearing the end of the semester and that means time to prepare for the dance showcase and competition! I've already got my competition partner, Ethan. We're dancing the two-step and we're all over it. We're only competing with our class, since we're the only 281 class, but I'm confidant we will do well.
On the night of the big band formal, our class has to perform a routine of a dance we learned in class. Our teacher, Sister Hess, has decided we've got the rhythm down enough to perform the Mambo. I am in love with this dance. It's a latin dance, which I enjoy a whole lot, so it's tons of fun. We've got hip action, fancy foot pops, and snazzy moves that look amazing when the whole group does it right. I'm so excited to perform.

I love ballroom dance.

Saturday, November 15, 2008

Nostalgic.

One of my ex boyfriends is leaving on his mission this Wednesday. He and I have been texting a little bit, just talking about our lives and things that have been happening recently. We've even talked a little bit about us and how we dated three years ago and how things ended badly, but it wasn't our choice. Talking to him made me want to review things through my own perspective, so I busted out my old journals.
Man, I gushed and gushed. It's pretty juvenile, but it was sincere. It's interesting to look back on the things that happened and then how I handled the aftermath of the relationship. Since then I haven't been able to maintain a relationship because I haven't been quite as happy. I feel silly for judging my relationships now against one from when I was sixteen but at the same time, I was really happy then. I want to be that happy again, with someone else.
Someday I will be.

I also bought the new Anberlin CD today. It's awesome. This song is sort of related to this post, but not really. I still really like it

Retrace
Oh, how I've tried to get you out of my head.
And I lied with broken words I said.
Never thought I'd walk on this street again.
Standing where it all began.

Tried to forget when I left this town,
But it takes me right back when I come back around.

Retrace the steps we took on that long summer night.
I'm back by your side.
Retrace the steps we took when we met worlds away.
Counting backwards while the stars are falling.

Oh, how I find every subtle thing screams your name.
It reminds me of places of times we shared.
Couldn't live locked in these memories.
Now I'm chained to my thoughts again.

And I tried to forget when I left this town,
But I'll take you right back if you come back around.

Retrace the steps we took on that long summer night.
I'm right there by your side.
Retrace the steps we took when we met worlds away.
Counting backwards while the stars are falling.

I need some shelter, I need some safety.
Photographs, they haunt me lately.
Chasing shadows as the evening takes me.
I'm still searching, but the picture's fading.

Retrace the steps we took on that long summer night.
I'm right there by your side.
Retrace the steps we took when we met worlds away.
Counting backwards, still counting backwards.

And no where else has ever felt like home.
And I can't fall asleep when I'm lying here alone.
I replay your voice, it's like you're here.
You move the earth, but now the sky is falling.

Retrace the steps we took on that long summer night.
In my mind, I'm back by your side.
Retrace the steps we took when we met worlds away.
Counting backwards while the stars are falling.

Friday, November 14, 2008

Bite me

The past few years I've become much more sarcastic and, eh, almost mean but it's intended to be playful. Almost everyone gets that. Actually, most everyone throws it right back at me and we have a good time. This is now a part of who I am.
How the heck am I supposed to get the idea that someone is irritated if they play along and act like a friend? It's lame and I feel like a jerk for acting like a jerk but I didn't know he thought I was being a jerk. The whole beating around the bush thing, when things aren't said straight up make me feel like I'm back in high school.
I feel lame and I think this situation is lame.

Sunday, November 9, 2008

Preference 2008

Last year for Preference I went all out and asked Elliott with a note in jello and we dressed up for the theme and it was just oh so adorable but this year was a little different.
I asked one guy, he bailed to go on another date. I asked another guy, he was going out of town. I asked yet another and he said yes, but since I mixed up the dates, he ended up not being able to go. That's when Eryn intervened. She set me up with one of her friends who, oddly enough, is in my home singles ward, but he had some army activity come up so he couldn't go. Eventually, the day before the dance, Eryn set me up with a guy named Anthony from her dance class. I'd met him once before at the Halloween dance lab, so I was okay with going with him. Actually, by that point I was okay with going with anyone.
On Saturday before the dance Eryn and I made pasta and vegetables along with sparkling cider and french bread. Anthony and Hernan came over and we all ate and joked around and experienced exploding pie pans.
The dance itself was really fun. Anthony turned out to be a fantastic dancer and we pretty much owned the floor with our waltz, foxtrot, salsa, and cha cha. Near the end of the dance the DJ finally played a tango and we did really well with that one, too.
I had so much fun. Anthony was a complete gentleman and Hernan and Eryn had a blast together. So fun.







Edit:: I am in love with that last picture. It was an accident.

Saturday, November 8, 2008

I'd blog more, since I feel like venting and blogging is a certain form of release, but the only thing I want to blog about is Proposition 8 and I know the only thing that I'm going to get out of expressing my frustration is even more frustration and sadness because of those who don't agree with my views.

I am, however, going to include some facts about the LDS Church's involvement in the vote so maybe then people might start to realize that it wasn't our church that caused the proposition to pass. It was the majority of California.

The facts:

1. Mormons make up less than 2% of the population of California. There are approximately 800,000 LDS out of a total population of approximately 34 million.

2. Mormon voters were less than 5% of the yes vote. If one estimates that 250,000 LDS are registered voters (the rest being children), then LDS voters made up 4.6% of the Yes vote and 2.4% of the total Proposition 8 vote.

3. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) donated no money to the Yes on 8 campaign. Individual members of the Church were encouraged to support the Yes on 8 efforts and, exercising their constitutional right to free speech, donated whatever they felt like donating.

4. The No on 8 campaign raised more money than the Yes on 8 campaign. Unofficial estimates put No on 8 at $38 million and Yes on 8 at $32 million, making it the most expensive non-presidential election in the country.

5. Advertising messages for the Yes on 8 campaign are based on case law and real-life situations. The No on 8 supporters have insisted that the Yes on 8 messaging is based on lies. Every Yes on 8 claim is supported.

6. The majority of our friends and neighbors voted Yes on 8. Los Angeles County voted in favor of Yes on 8. Ventura County voted in favor of Yes on 8.

7. African Americans overwhelmingly supported Yes on 8. Exit polls show that 70% of Black voters chose Yes on 8. This was interesting because the majority of these voters voted for President-elect Obama. No on 8 supporters had assumed that Obama voters would vote No on 8.

8. The majority of Latino voters voted Yes on 8. Exit polls show that the majority of Latinos supported Yes on 8 and cited religious beliefs (assumed to be primarily Catholic).

9. The Yes on 8 coalition was a broad spectrum of religious organizations. Catholics, Evangelicals, Protestants, Orthodox Jews, Muslims - all supported Yes on 8. It is estimated that there are 10 million Catholics and 10 million Protestants in California. Mormons were a tiny fraction of the population represented by Yes on 8 coalition members.

10. Not all Mormons voted in favor of Proposition 8. Our faith accords that each person be allowed to choose for him or her self. Church leaders have asked members to treat other members with "civility, respect and love," despite their differing views.

11. The Church did not violate the principal of separation of church and state. This principle is derived from the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, which reads, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof . . ." The phrase "separation of church and state", which does not appear in the Constitution itself, is generally traced to an 1802 letter by Thomas Jefferson, although it has since been quoted in several opinions handed down by the United States Supreme Court in recent years. The LDS Church is under no obligation to refrain from participating in the political process, to the extent permitted by law. U.S. election law is very clear that Churches may not endorse candidates, but may support issues. The Church as always been very careful on this matter and occasionally (not often) chooses to support causes that it feels to be of a moral nature.

12. Supporters of Proposition 8 did exactly what the Constitution provides for all citizens: they exercised their First Amendment rights to speak out on an issue that concerned them, make contributions to a cause that they support, and then vote in the regular electoral process. For the most part, this seems to have been done in an open, fair, and civil way. Opponents of 8 have accused supporters of being bigots, liars, and worse. The fact is, we simply did what Americans do - we spoke up, we campaigned, and we voted.


EDIT:: Comments in opposition to this post that are presented in a hostile manner will be deleted (and I will be the judge of what is hostile and what is not). I'm sick of attacks and people only seeing their view as the only possible view that is right. We have different opinions and different views on what is moral and what is not. This does not mean we have the right to be rude to one another.

Thursday, November 6, 2008

Beyond ready

The elections are over. I'm so ready for everything to end. I'm sick of the divisions wedging people farther and farther away from each other. I want to be able to be happy with my friends and have them all be happy with me. I don't want the country hating each other based on how we voted. I'm sick of the LDS Church being attacked and slandered. Everything needs to just settle down.
It's sad to see everyone turning against each other. There are some people that I want to just talk to, but I'm so afraid the election will come up and we'll butt heads because of our different views so I just don't talk to them. There have been several things said that I've wanted to respond to, or that have been very offensive to me, but I just don't want to stir up anything or cause contention.
Let's just stop.
I'm tired of it.
Yuck.

Saturday, November 1, 2008

Half Birthday Festivities

Today is my half birthday, not that it's significant at all, just that I'm surprised how quickly time has been going. It really doesn't seem that long ago that I was celebrating my birthday with Randi and everyone else. I almost miss that. Summer semester was so so much fun and everything was pretty great.

To continue, we did get pizza from Craigo's in honor of my half birthday and it was delicious. We're now watching 10th Kingdom for the second time this semester. Except that I've never finished it.

p.s. I'm still alive in the assassin game. Bomb!