Morning Meditation

Sometimes I like to ponder on how certain words or phrases came into existence.  For example, as I was scrambling some eggs for myself this morning, I contemplated the phrase, "Guess what?!"  (I'm always unsure how to punctuate that...is it a question or a command?)  Think about it.  That phrase just doesn't make sense without some context.  Who first thought to tell someone to guess "what"? I must say, the conversations I imagined that might have led to this phrase while cooking this morning are incredibly cute:

A young man and woman living in some early American city enjoy frequent conversations with one another. Their usual repartee goes something like this:

Virginia:  How are you today Edgar?
Edgar: Quite fine, quite fine.  And you Virginia?
Virginia: Splendid Edgar, just splendid.  Something extraordinary happened today.
Edgar: Truly? What?
Virginia (coyly): Guess what.
Edgar (chuckling): Oh, ho. You discovered a new bread recipe?
Virginia: Precisely Edgar!

These kind of conversations occur often: one of the two reveals that something excited has occurred, the other questions "what" and the first cutely tells the other to "guess what."  Then, one day, Edgar rushes in with some over-the-top news to share with Virginia.  About to begin the usual amorous conversation, Virginia says, "How are you--" but is cut off short as Edgar is so eager to share his news that he skips ahead in the conversation:

Edgar (excitedely): Guess what!
Virginia: Umm... You've decided to become a poet?
Edgar: Yes, but, more importantly, I've just decided we're getting married!
Virginia: Sweet!

What started out as a cute endearing game of "I want you to guess my exciting news" soon became a common expression used to tell someone you have something to share with them: "Guess what!"

Or, at least, that's what I imagined happened as I was cooking this morning.  I kind of have an overactive imagination.  When I think about words/phrases too long or too closely and realize that they make no grammatical sense, I like to hypothesize explanations for how those words/phrases came to be.  This may be heavily tied to the fact that I'm taking an introduction linguistics class this semester and it's making me overly conscious of how words are used and said.  Now that you've all realized I'm a complete /krezi/ person....

"Why don't we just let this BEAUTIFUL person go in front of us..."

Today is the 21st birthday of my best friend in the entire universe, Emily Darling.  Let me just start by saying, her last name is the epitome of fitting. 

AAHS, Spring 2006- End of Freshman Year

New at Air Academy, having just moved to Colorado Springs, by some stroke of luck I ended up being welcomed into a rather eclectic, but also rather exciting, group of friends.  Three of the girls in this group ended up being my best friends throughout high school, and are to this day, some of my closest friends.  They helped me feel at home in a new place, comforted me when I was feeling inadequate, lost, confused, rejected, angry, and an infinite number of teenage-angsty-hormones.  They laughed with me, they laughed at me.  They cried with me, they probably cried because of me at times...the point is, these girls mean a lot to me, and I can't even begin to thank them for being such awesome friends.  One of these girls, of course, is Emily Darling.

During one of my first lunches at Air Academy I met Emily Darling-- a gorgeous, braces-clad, eccentric swimmer, with a boisterous personality. We became lunch-group friends the end of that semester, but it wasn't until sophomore year that our friendship really blossomed.

Sophomore Year- Senior Year

 I can't even begin to describe to you the number of sleepovers, football games, powder puff practices, movie nights, and Halloween parties we spent together these three years of high school, but let me tell you, they were numerous. I don't think that we became the best friends that we are on one particular occasion, where we just realized that we have so much in common and get along so well.  Rather, I think it was all of these random activities that we did together that brought us together over a long period of time that helped form our rock-solid relationship.

between all the  sleepovers...

 

and homecoming...

and prom....

 ....Emily and I grew closer than best friends.  We became sisters.  Being at Emily's house on the weekend became a given.  When it came time to go away to college- me in Utah, Emily in Washington- it just seemed inevitable that we'd stay close despite the distance.  

College

Over the years of college, Emily and I have grown so much individually.  It's crazy to think back on the crazy 15-year-olds that we once were.  Hearing Emily say "Ms. Rena, I like to ride dirty" during a sleepover game of truth or dare seems so long ago!  ( bahaha...love ya em, but I couldn't resist. ) Now, we're both only semesters away from being college graduates! I can't even fathom it! Once zany teenage girls, we are now strong, independent women, ready to face the world.  But reaching this phase of our lives hasn't come easy.  We've both overcome a myriad of obstacles that have helped us grow into the people we are today.  

For me, I can easily say that Emily has been a crucial part in helping me climb over those mountains as they have come into my life.  Emily's been there through it all: through the countless hours on the phone spent crying and laughing over all of life's crazy moments.  She was the shoulder I needed when my parents went through their divorce.  She was the ear that listened to all of my rants and confusion as I came to terms with my dad getting remarried and was forced to stretch and grow in ways I didn't think possible.  She helped me carry on as I struggled with the news of close family 
members being diagnosed with cancer.  And...she also laughed with me over awkward dates and terrible haircuts.  She's empathized with me about the woes of dating...or lack thereof.  She's shared my excitement about holiday breaks and good grades, and shared my fears and nervousness about graduating, moving on, and having to find real jobs. 

Through my best and my worst, Emily's been there for it all.  She knows me inside and out.  At times, it's even like she knows me better than myself, as she always knows just what to say, especially at those times when I'm just a hot mess.  She's been the understanding soul as I've gone through struggles with religion.  We've talked about boys, and celebrities, and fashion and high school drama, and we've also philosophized about life, religion, the universe, politics, friendships, and just about everything in between.  Emily's my go-to girl for everything.  When I need an honest-to-goodness, no beating-around-the-bush, opinion, I know right where to turn.  Emily's casa es my casa.  Literally, I have a toothbrush with my name at her house.  It's pretty awesome.  And, let's not forget another totally awesome coincidence:  We both happen to be just about virtually the same size, so sharing clothes= duh! AND, we both are incredibly cool because we loooove country music and attractive men...so basically...we're not just sisters...we're twins!

Emily Darling is seriously the most amazing, down-to-earth, head-on-her-shoulders, going-to-do-great-things-in-life, difference-maker, gorgeous individuals that I know and I'm so lucky and proud to call her friend! Also, did I mention she's in Ireland right now, living my dream??? Seriously. Coolest. Person. Ever. I can't begin to express how grateful I am that Emily is my homeslice.  I don't know what I'd do without her.  All I can say is, I'm so glad that she was born! 

Happy 21st birthday best friend!!!  :) I miss you!

25 Things That Made Me Smile Today

“We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures.” — Thornton Wilder

1.  Listening to my brother's favorite song 6 times in a row, just because it reminds me of him.
2. Wearing my BYU-Hawaii shirt. :]
3. Listening to "Party Rock" while walking to class and suddenly imagining what it would be like if everyone around me started shuffling.  Best. Mental. Image. Ever.
4.  Having a cute boy open a door for me, smile real big and simply ask, "How are you doing today?"
5. Being in the library. I'm kind of addicted to it.
6. Telling a friend from Fiji "bula vinaka" because I remembered learning that it meant hello when I was a kid.
7. Waking up semi-early, even though I went to bed late, and feeling ready to go.
8. Being able to eat cereal for breakfast because Kristina shared her milk with me.
9. Remembering that tonight is institute and getting excited for what's bound to be another hilariously      interesting lesson on marriage.
10. Realizing I don't have to cook myself dinner tonight because they'll have it at institute!
11. Having time to blog during my breaks between classes because I finished all of my homework yesterday.
12. Reflecting on the many hours I spent these last few days reading "The Help" and feeling that it was so worth it.  Reading a good book inspires me to just go forth and do good things. 
13. Knowing that Swedish is my last class today. It's my favorite class.
14. Wearing my green, yellow, and blue plastic watch.  I still love it, even if my friends are right and it is dorky.
15. The smell of clean laundry every time I open my closet.
16.  Mishearing my professor in my Elang class and thinking he said, "next we're going to talk about africans" instead of "affricates."
17. Reading my best friend Emily's blog about her adventures in Northern Ireland for a study abroad program and living vicariously through her.
18. Not being cold because Utah's decided to have a mild winter.
19. Still thinking that the mountains are absolutely incredible every time I see them because I can't get over how big they are (in comparison with Hawaii's mountains).
20. Remembering the cashew and fruit granola bar in my backpack that I'll get to eat later.
21. Knowing that even though things are challenging right now, everything is going to be okay.
22. Listening to Modest Mouse and Mumford and Sons on my iPod.
23. Using my candy-flavored Chapstick and thinking of my mom because she gave it to me.
24.  Reading my brother's post on Facebook about getting his "green-laser pointer" in the mail and being so excited about it.  He's cute!
25. Seeing that I have so much to be grateful for, and that even the simplest things can make me smile.

Stalling

I'm done with all my homework, and I haven't eaten all day, and I'm super tired, and I want to get home to hang out with my awesome roommates in my amazing apartment.  But for some completely mental reason, I'm just hanging out in the library to postpone the walk home because baby, IT'S COLD OUTSIDE! Only the thought of warm food and my heated-mattress pad will be able to sustain me through the treacherous promenade home.

This post has been brought to you by the letters B, and R:  Brrrrrrr!!!

Random Comic Strip of the Day:

Story of my life.

WilderWHAT?

             It was the second day of classes back at BYU Provo.  I headed to my English 317 class: Writing Creative Nonfiction.  I took my seat and class began as our grey-haired professor had us move our desks into a circle and face one another.  Things commenced with the usual "go-around-the-circle-and-say-something-interesting-about-yourself" bit, and interesting facts were learned about everyone as we tried to share things about ourselves that no one else had in common.  We laughed as a girl admitted to having tried a grasshopper taco, oohed as a boy revealed that he had been on the Tonight Show for starting the sport  "Extreme Wheel-barreling", and squirmed uncomfortably in our seats as our professor shared that he had once peed in Coke bottle while driving on a motor-way in London.  After becoming barely acquainted with one another, we moved on to the official-first-day-of-class business and discussed some basic information about what this class would entail.  Our professor stressed that we would be mostly writing and journaling, and learning how to fine-tune our abilities to write creatively about our own thoughts and experiences.  At one point our professor threw in the word, "backpacking", but nearly everyone passed it off as some kind of miscommunication.  Then, after about 20 minutes into the class, a boy raised his hand and said, "I'm sorry, but I'm confused.  I heard you say backpacking.  I'm registered for regular English 317, but I did notice a Wilderness section.  Did I sign up for the wrong section by accident?" Our professor chuckled, "Yes, you must have.  Everyone's here for Wilderness Writing, right?" and turned to look at 15 bewildered faces.  Becoming confused himself, our professor straightened up in his seat and said, "Okay. How many of you know that this is Wilderness Writing?"  Two out of 17 people raised their hands.  Let's just say, I've never been more surprised when going over the syllabus for a new class. 

"Yes class. This is Wilderness Writing.  We will be snowshoeing, cross-country skiing, and taking several overnight trips into the Uinta Mountains where we will cross-country ski and dig snow caves. And then, we will use these wilderness trips to bond with one another and write about our experiences, because actual experience is the best material for writing! Aren't you all excited???" 

          15 shocked faces blinked back at the professor.  Expecting an ordinary creative writing class, of course we were all surprised by this shocking twist.  After the initial perplexity wore off, excitement filled the room.  Then, we learned that in order to take this class and go on all these trips we'd also have to be registered for a 2 credit course called  "Wilderness Survival". This was just the "Wilderness" part of "Wilderness Writing" in which we'd actually do all these outdoor winter activities. Surprisingly, only the kid who raised his hand to ask about the class mix-up dropped the class and left.  The rest of us spent the rest of the hour trying to figure out how to make this adventure-of-a-class fit into our schedules.  
     
As it turns out, their was a huge error with registration for English 317.  On Route Y it said, "Section 2 is Wilderness Writing and anyone registered for Section 2 of English 317 will be required to also register for Recreation Management and Youth Life 223."  Seeing this notice, the 15 of us who were confused upon learning that the class was Wilderness Writing had promptly registered for Section 3.  Unbeknownst to us, the notice was incorrect and it was actually Section 3 that was Wilderness Writing.  I still don't understand how the other 2 people who actually wanted to sign up for this class knew to register for Section 3, but kudos to them, I guess.  So.... I guess I'm taking Wilderness Writing! I think it'd be way cool, and there's only an extra cost of 20$ which covers all of the snowshoeing, skiing, and backpacking equipment.  But, I still have to figure out if I can afford to miss 4 days of my other class for the overnight trips, and if I'll be able to handle taking 17 credits instead of 15, not to mention the extra time that will be taken away from doing homework for my other classes.  Plus, I wanted to get a job...and if I want to take Wilderness Writing, that could be a problem.  So....yeah.  This semester is starting out in an unusually interesting way.  I'm excited for this semester no matter what I decide, but it could turn out to extra-exciting! :)