5 Lessons Learned from Forget-Me-Nots

I just got out of Relief Society General Conference. It was an amazing experience. The last talk was given by Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf, Second Counselor in the First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. He used the metaphor of the Forget-Me-Not to teach five things we sisters should never forget.

The first was to be patient with yourself. The Lord is fully aware that we are not perfect, and doesn't expect us to be right away. We shouldn't compare our weaknesses to others' strengths. It gives us impossible expectations of ourselves. Eventually, the Lord will help us to turn all our weaknesses into strengths. If we stay on the path of discipleship and keep working towards perfection, one day we will reach that point. He told us to stop punishing ourselves. He commended us for being incredibly patient and compassionate towards others, but he reminded us to be patient and compassionate with ourselves. Our progress, no matter how slight, does not go unnoticed by He who created even the smallest flowers.

He reminded us to remember the difference between a foolish and a good sacrifice. He compared the sacrifice of losing sleep to comfort a small child who was wakened by a nightmare to the sacrifice of staying up all night to create intricate little handouts to distribute in Sunday's lesson. He told us to ask ourselves, "Am I committing my time and energy to the things that matter most?" We must keep an eternal perspective, and our priorities will fall into place.

We must not forget to be happy now. Recall the children's story of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, when only five candy bars around the world had a golden ticket. People forgot about the simple joy of eating a sweet bar of chocolate and only focused on finding a golden ticket. If a candy bar didn't have one, it was a waste and a disappointment. The problem is when we put happiness on hold while we wait for something that we believe will bring us happiness. When you pin your hopes and happiness on one thing and forget to be grateful for the blessings you have, your unmet desires turn into bitterness and anger. If we spend our days waiting, we could miss the tender wonder of the small things in life. The message is not to abandon hope or worthy goals. But we must not close our eyes to each day's wonderful ordinary moments.

We need to remember the Why of the Gospel. Often we make a long list of tasks and turn gospel oriented activities into obligations. We know the what and how, but we forget the why. The gospel of Jesus Christ is a pathway, a pattern for living. When we embrace the eternal fire and majesty of why we should live a gospel-patterned life, it ceases to become a burden and becomes a joy. The what and how marks the way, but the why sanctifies our actions.

The last thing he reminded us was that the Lord loves each and every one of us. I can't really put into words how powerful and true his testimony of this fact was. He emphasized that You are never forgotten. We may feel small and insignificant, but we are precious daughters of the most powerful being in existence. It was a beautiful, sweet reminder that I desperately needed.

The Trouble With Nice People & One of My Greatest Fears

The trouble with nice people is they are nice to everyone and you can't really tell when they are being sincere or if you are special to them. I've been on both sides of this. I try to be a nice person, and I try to treat everyone I meet with kindness and respect. Some people, when I am kind to them and listen to them and take the time to get to know them, mistake my friendship and reaching out for flirting. Then they feel hurt when they realize that I was only trying to befriend them and I had no intention of attracting them romantically. On the flip side, I have also been hurt in this way. It hurts to know that the little niceties and affections you receive do not make you special to someone, but are merely a result of the other person's good nature and desire to be liked. I know how good it feels to make someone feel loved and included, but I also know how much it hurts to know that you're nothing special. That is why one of my goals is to be more sincere with others. I still want to reach out to other people, but I want my actions and motives to be clear so I don't hurt anyone.

One of my greatest fears is disappointing people by not meeting their expectations of me. Today I let my ballroom partner down. I honestly thought he said we were practicing at 9, but he actually said that we were practicing at 8 and we could practice at 9 if we needed to. He waited 40 minutes for me to show up, but I was taking a nap and didn't hear him calling until 8:45. I feel awful, especially because we only practiced for half an hour (due to lack of space, sleep, and patience), and we were going to go through all our routines today. To make up for it, I'm going to get there half an hour early, practice spinning, and go over our routines by myself until he arrives. He deserves better. I also talked to another ballroom friend, who did basically the same thing I did. I think it's because we're all trying to adjust to our new schedules, and we're finding we need more sleep than we could get by on a few weeks ago. We're tired, frustrated, and napping through our commitments. Solution: earlier bedtime and making time to practice more and warm up.

My Book List

For Fun

 A River Runs Through It - Norman Maclean
Hunger Games (series) - Suzanne Collins
Fablehaven (series) - Brandon Mull
Wheel of Time (series) - Robert Jordan
Elantris - Brandon Sanderson
Undaunted Courage - Stephen E. Ambrose
Scott Pilgrim - Bryan Lee O’Malley
Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis de Bernieres
Dresden Files - Jim Butcher
I Am Number Four, The Power of Six) - Pittacus LoreThe Life of Sir William Ramsay - Morris Travers

Self Help

How to Win Friends and Influence People - Dale Carnegie
How to Stop Worrying and Start Living - Dale Carnegie
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens - Sean Covey 

Religious

Believing Christ - Stephen E. Robinson
Broken Things to Mend - Jeffrey R. Holland
Miracle of Forgiveness - Spencer W. Kimball
The Infinite Atonement - Tad R. Callister
To the Rescue - Thomas S. Monson

The Power of Six, Jekyll & Hyde

The long weekend was a nice breather after a hectic week of back-to-school insanity. On Monday night, I got to go to the Payson Community Theater's production of "Jekyll and Hyde: The Musical". It was incredible!! There was so much talent. Jekyll/Hyde was a one-man marvel. His voice was flexible and perfectly controlled, whether in the pure tones of Jekyll or the rough growls of Mr. Hyde. And his ability to warm the heart with the character's courage and virtue in one moment and make you feel sick with horror and fear the next was admirable. I had never even heard of this musical before, and I loved it. Even though it was a smaller community production, the talented cast members made it spectacular. The music was beautiful as well. But what made it most powerful was how it really made you think about human nature and the forces of good and evil. I'd love to read the book sometime.

I just finished The Power of Six, the second book in the Lorien Legacies Series by Pittacus Lore. I read it in two days (about 400 pages, mind you, with classes and hw). The series is about the last surviving individuals of a race of good aliens, whose planet was destroyed by a race of bad aliens. The good aliens are trying to survive until they can defend themselves and Earth and return to their planet Lorien to bring it back to life, but the bad aliens are trying to destroy them and Earth. That's a pretty watered down summary, but you get the picture. I read the first book, I Am Number Four during the roadtrip to and from the California ballroom competition this summer. Just for the record, it's a TON better than the movie. The movie makes it look like the kid had no idea what's going on, and his guardian comes across as a jerk. The book is a lot more comprehensive and dramatic, and there are powers and creatures and situations (that are kindof really important) that you never see in the movie. It's a pretty fun series. It makes it better that Number Seven's name is Marina. :)

Sunday Thoughts

(private post on my Tumblr)

Squaw, Cougars, and Settlers

This morning I hiked Squaw with my friends Jace, Rudy and Alex. I knew them all from my Freshman Academy, and they got home a few weeks ago from their missions for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. The last time I hiked Squaw was spring of '09, when there was still 3 feet of snow. I wore my boots, but we had to head back about 5/7ths of the way up to the top, because the boys (in their sneakers) were afraid they were going to get frostbite. So, it was my first time getting to the peak, and what a view! Unfortunately, my camera's display is broken and couldn't tell me that there was no memory card inside. *cries a little* I "took" some pretty sweet shots too...

After a shower and a nice nap, I caught the last 15 mins of the BYU-Ole Miss game. Super intense. 14-13 win against Ole Miss, which means it's our first win on the road as an independent team. Go Cougs!

Then I was invited to a barbecue (chicken cooked by the grille of death and delicious wild rice with butter, chives and golden raisins). We played Settlers of Cataan as teams, and got our butts whooped by the newbies. And the only thing better than fresh squeezed, chilled watermelon juice is sparkling lemonade with watermelon ice cubes. *happy place* 

Let the Weekend Begin

School is still going swimmingly. It's nice to have my schedule set. It feel so good to have a plan for the day and to be able to fit little things in between so cleanly. It makes my life so much less stressful. And when I don't stress and get things done as they need to be, inspiration comes to me quicker than I can write it down.

I love making friends and keeping them. It's a wonderful feeling to be walking between classes and see a friend from two years ago and still be interested in each others' lives. Many of my guy friends got back from their missions a few weeks ago, and it's so wonderful to know that they are the same people I knew, but stronger and wiser. I'm so grateful to have friends that exemplify the values they believe in. It's such an affirmation of my own faith, and it gives me hope that I too can be strong and incredible.

Team is going to be awesome. Betsy, our 2 O'Clock Team coach, is going to be choreographing the new Lindy-Hop for the Homecoming Parade in October. The routine hasn't been changed since 2005, so this will be fun. I'm so flippin excited for this year! And my ballroom partner and I got a new Cha Cha routine from Brent. It's crazy, but fantastic. Like our samba routine.

I finally saw Kung Fu Panda 2 and drooled a little bit at the gorgeousness of it all. The character design...and the colors...and the action sequences...and the animation... *speechless*

Watermelon Juice

My goodness I love microbiology. We prepared agar plates today - it's like nerdy cooking class, except it's food for bacteria. And I learned that my professor used to live in Zimbabwe. He's white, older, and has that awesome South African accent. He asked me where in Scotland my family is from and I was blown away! No one I've met knows that the spelling of my last name is Scottish. Apparently he had some friends in Zimbabwe that moved there from Scotland who had my same last name. Genealogy time!

Among other awesome things we discussed, he brought up Schrodiger's Riddle: What is Life? and the interesting fact that just as Adam was commanded to name all the creatures he could find, we are still naming living organisms today (just in a highly organized, latin-based way).

Tonight were the ballroom auditions for the BYU Ballroom Dance Company. I went to help out and dance with the guys auditioning. Thankfully, both the guys I danced with got called back, so at least my shaky memory of social dance steps didn't hurt their chances! I'm really excited to see who got put on our team tomorrow :) Several of my friends from Summer Team got on. I think this will be a fantastic year.

I should mention that fresh-squeezed, chilled watermelon juice is an excellent beverage.

Goals

+ to find a part-time job
+ to attack school with a tenacious fervor
+ to be sincere and reach out to those around me
+ to start a website for my art
+ to create 3 portfolio-quality works of art by the end of this year
+ to write a personal missions statement
+ to keep a journal-blog regularly starting August 29th
+ to learn and memorize names for ballroom steps
+ to no longer be a people-pleaser (be honest, keep promises, be realistic, keep priorities)

Today I had my first car accident. I was on University Parkway on the hill towards I-15, and the girl in front of me slammed on her brakes. It was all I could do to slam on my breaks, but I have an older car and the hill didn't help. She called the police and filed a police report. The only damage was an imprint next to her license plate of a screw from my license plate mount. My Shelly was unscathed (the tremendous dents in the front left are from my dear blind grandmother). I felt incredibly idiotic, fumbling around and apologizing. I just hope her husband doesn't ask $600 for the scratch.

But random visits from people I adore at eleven at night make everything better. :3

Also, Emmy Cicierega answered a question I asked her on Tumblr. My life is complete.

College is Hard

Another busy "first day" of school. I had another MMBio class this morning. It's an intro to Mircobiology class, but there are mostly seniors in it. I love the teacher so far - he says he's a big softie when it comes to grading, but his main objective is to get us to think and discuss things. I love that. It excites me when teachers want students to really stretch their necks out and go deeper.
But my Chem 107 class, a lab, is terribly disorganized. Two of the TA's don't speak very good English and for the first fifteen minutes, my labmates and I just stared at each other and our tables like "what do we do now?" So frustrating, but I'll do what I can to make it less complicated for myself.

I got into Gold I Standard Ballroom! I'm so excited, I haven't been in a standard class for two years. Since my latin partner has a particular love of standard and smooth, and my team coach does as well, I figured I would return to standard and brush up on the technique. I do love quickstep and tango :D

I also had my first meeting with my new bishop. I'm gonna love this ward! More details next week.

Aaaaand I decided to join a fresh produce food co-op with some people from Blues. I am SO excited, you have no idea. You only have to pay once, and the cost is split between us. Basically, tons of fresh, delicious fruits and veggies and meat every other week for the rest of the season. My mind is swirling with tasty dinner ideas. [nomnom]

Wisdom from Ira Glass

Ira Glass on Storytelling from David Shiyang Liu on Vimeo.

I've been doing research on goal setting and how to maintain the drive to work hard. This was very inspiring to me, both as a hard-working college student and an aspiring artist.

Back into the Fray

This summer has been a marvelous experience for me. I took Spring and Summer terms at BYU which kept me delightfully busy. I now have a Latin Ballroom competition partner, and we've been having fun practicing, competing, and having various adventures (like breaking down in Vegas). My family got to visit Utah last week, and it was so wonderful to see and be with them! We went to Bear Lake and went tubing and soaked up some sunshine. I also got to go to several fantastic concerts this summer (Owl City, We the Kings, Ludo among others). Lots of my friends from freshman year just got back from their missions. Just so much awesome packed in to four months.

I have made some rather exciting personal discoveries. My mom brought me my copy of 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens from when I was in high school. I love that book. Maybe someday I'll read the grown-up version that Sean Covey's dad wrote. But it has so much good advice and uplifting, motivational stories. The friends that I have surrounded myself with this summer have been amazing; just being with them and watching them live their lives encourages me to be more than I am, that I can be more.I am living for the pure joy of life. It's hard work, but that makes it better. I have more confidence in myself and my ability to accomplish what I set out to do. It is such an empowering feeling.

First day of classes at BYU went well. I'm a Microbiology major for good. I had my first MMBio class today and Pearl of Great Price, as well as plenty of ballroom class auditions. I'll know tomorrow at 4 which ones I got into (crosses fingers). Probably doing Betsy's team again this year. Can't wait for homecoming! The Lindy Hop routine we do around campus is so much fun.

And here's a crazy, beautiful song by Imogen Heap that just makes me want to skip around

Propeller Seeds by imogenheap

Better-Than-Sex Cupcakes

So my very good friend Mike Dymond who I've known since I started dancing blues gave me a link to the Best Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting Ever. The blog it's from is called Cupcake Project. On perusing the blog, I found this epic recipe for BTS cupcakes. They're very similar to the raspberry chocolate ones I like to make, so I decided to try it.

I adapted the recipe to my own taste and available ingredients. The batter was deadly rich - chocolatey batter with mini semi-sweet chips. I didn't like the recipe provided, so I improvised my own - heavy whipping cream infused with some nutella and cocoa powder, squirted into the center of the cupcake. Then normal dark chocolate ganache and some white chocolate drizzles. They are so adorable, and all three dozen were eaten by the end of the night.

Critique: I don't know how to compensate for the dryness of Utah, so they came out a little dry and crunchy. Best eaten with a sip of milk. But Mike said that it was a nice texture contrast; the inside was moist and fluffy but the outside had a nice crunch. It also probably had to do with the fact that I made mini ones instead of full size ones.

Mile High Blues Extravaganza!

This weekend was absolutely wonderful! To preface, I have had this planned since the end of January. I am allowed three absences in my classes. I planned on using two for this trip, but since I got the flu, I could only afford one. It was like a fake spring vacation (since we at BYU don't get one, we get out early in April). It was just for fun, but it was also hard work. The workshops were extremely educational, and I learned a lot about lead-follow technique. I've found that since doing blues, I am so much better at following and maintaining my connection in ballroom. About 25 of us from the Salt Lake City and Provo areas of Utah went over. Everything was meticulously organized. We had vans and switched off driving, and no one got lost. It all went perfectly smoothly. We had schedules written up with the car piles, stops, who needed to be where and when.

Thursday, we left around 2. It's an 8 hour drive, and it was me, Laura, Scott and Josh. We were totally prepared with road-trip-worthy snacks, an excellent music selection, and conversations all about dancing. We got to Kat's house around midnight. Kat's parents were amazing, and let us all stay at their gorgeous mansion about an hour from Denver. They are a lovely Mormon family, and had a big old golden retriever. They even made us french toast and eggs for breakfast and sloppy joe's for dinner. Mmmmm :3

So the next day we had some time before registration, so a van of us went adventuring. We saw the sculpture garden, ate at a hippy-organic place called the Rainbow Cafe at CSU (had a dish just like the Big Fresh Special mmmm) and went shopping in downtown Fort Collins. We tried on old fashioned clothes at an antique store, perused the White Balcony, looked around a thrift store, and ran around a puppet-and-games kids store (I bought a mini art kit complete with a mannequin). We finished off by trying on dresses at Cira and getting the boys' opinions. I loved this one flowy black Monroe-style dress, and I would have bought it but it was $100.

Friday night was the first dance - everyone is in casual clothes. It was really fun having a live band, but they tended to do longer, faster songs, which wore me out quick. We all had a marvelous time. The finals for the social dance competition were held. A few of us left around 2 because we were tired.

Saturday - we got up early to go to the workshops. Next year I'm definitely auditioning for the advanced level. We had lessons with Dexter about how to dance with anyone, tips on social conduct etc. Chris and Campbell (so much loooove, saw them when they came to Boston) did a lesson on "Flomentum." They talked about how to match the momentum of your partner and how to control it, and flowing from one figure to another (lots of fun spins and turns, and elastic connections). They are my favorite by far. Another reason why I love Chris and Campbell: Campbell went to Stanford, and Chris studied Aerospace Engineering at Georgia Tech. Nerdy dancers are the best. Here's a clip of their beautiful dancing.

Then Scott organized a group private with Joe and Nell, and we worked on drag blues. It's a different connection that's more based on copying your partner rather than following, and it looks like you're dragging each other around, resulting in a very grounded effect. I consider Scott an excellent dancer, and I felt really proud that he was complimenting me on my dancing. I used to be really intimidated by him. I haven't danced with him since September. Kat is a gorgeous blues dancer and I love watching and learning from her. Mike, Laura and Josh were also in the group, members of the Provo Blues Ambassadors. Then we ordered lunch from Noodles & Co, rested for a bit, went to dinner, and then got ready for the next dance.

We all gussied up in our very best. It was amazing because we had met so many fabulous dancers earlier at the workshops, and I had fantastic dances, every single one. The two guys that posted on my wall were a couple of my favorite leads at the dance. Erik goes to the Air Force Academy, apparently there's a sweet blues scene there. He was super fun to dance with, we played off the music really well. There were a lot of people from Boston, which made me happy. I miss the Blues Union group from the summer. I didn't get to dance with everyone I wanted to though... I couldn't make it through to the end of the Late Night dance. I left at 3.
And then Sunday we got up, most people went to church, and those who wanted to went to more workshops and dances, but about six of us took a nap and then drove home through the sun and snow.

It was a truly inspiring weekend, and now I'm back in Provo with a body aching to dance.

MirrorMask

I watched MirrorMask on Valentine's day - rather appropriate considering one of the main characters is named Valentine. :P A beautifully artistic, kindof trippy in an Alice In Wonderland kind of way. It's a collaboration between Neil Gaiman, Dave McKean and Jim Henson. The story is about a girl whose parents run a circus. She hates her life and spends her free time drawing and making up fanciful stories. She gets into a fight with her mom, who then falls ill. After visiting her one night, she falls asleep and seems to be transported to a world where everyone wears masks. The world is a compilation of all the drawings and creations she's ever dreamed up. Throughout her journey, she realizes that a darker, more vicious version of her has stolen her place in the real world. Throughout her adventures, she meets many of her creations, the good and the very very bad. The movie is filled with incredible creatures. My favorites were the creepy, slightly evil sphinxes.

they like to eat books

King's Speech

Saturday night on February 12th, I saw The King's Speech. It has an amazing cast: Colin Firth as Bertie aka King George VI (Mr. Darcy from the BBC Pride & Prejudice), Helena Bonham Carter as Queen Elizabeth (Bellatrix in Harry Potter and Mrs. Lovett in Sweeney Todd), Geoffrey Rush as Lionel Logue the speech therapist (Captain Barbossa in Pirates of the Caribbean), Jennifer Ehle as Mrs. Logue (Elizabeth Bennett from the BBC Pride & Prejudice), Michael Gambon as King George V (Dumbledore in Harry Potter), Guy Pearce as King Edward VIII (Count Mondego in The Count of Monte Cristo), and Timothy Spall as Winston Churchill (Wormtail in Harry Potter and countless other roles in my favorite movies). The reason why I listed all those actors is because they're wonderful actors from some of my very favorite movies. And King's Speech was also an amazing film. The first part builds up a lot of pressure and then you're taken completely off-guard by Logue's humor. Helena Bonham Carter is amazing as the queen; she is usually cast as a super crazy lady (ex: Bellatrix, the Red Queen, Mrs. Lovett) so this was a much different role for her.

The film as a whole was very well done - the cinematography and script were presented in such a way that it emphasized the little comedic moments in a time of great stress and seriousness. You could also see very clearly the contrast of English class and how each of them attempts to alleviate the pressures of responsibility and respectability.

It was rated R, not for sexuality or violence, but for language. Which was hilarious. The king stammers, a huge problem when you are an important public figure. In his therapy sessions, he discovers that he doesn't stammer when he is angry and/or swearing, so he goes on a cussing rampage. It's kindof refreshing for him (just going off and not having to be restrained to respectability) and for the viewer (seeing him let go of his tension and gain confidence).

It's also a great glimpse into history. King George V dies, and Bertie's brother is next in line, but he marries a divorced woman and steps down. This leaves Bertie to become the next King - right before World War II. He is thrown into the responsibility of kingship with a serious speech impediment. It's a really inspiring and heartwarming movie. I love the dry British humor and the personal look at history.

Also, I still love Colin Firth.

On Dreams and Sleep Deprivation

Haven't been sleeping well for the past couple of weeks. Having young, spunky roommates who like to party late, get up early for jobs, and can still get by on a few hours of sleep can do that to ya. But other than being really anxious and fatigued, I've gotten some crazy dreams.

I was in our old house in Plymouth. We were in my parents' bedroom packing everything up to move. I picked up a broken umbrella. i was handing it to my dad when the umbrella got struck by lightning. Apparently this is how zombies are made. So, zombies started crawling all over our house and swarming us. But the zombies were celebrities and characters from movies. Either way, they still wanted our brains. So, my dad was being epic and using an ax to chop down any that came in the room. My mom had a rifle, Sasha had a pistol, and Lise had a mini chainsaw. But I couldn't find a weapon. After I tried in vain to keep the doors and windows closed, I found the broken umbrella again. I picked it up and tried stabbing the closest zombie. Amazingly, all the zombies collapsed and disintegrated. It sounds like a fast and unimpressive dream, but I was terrified for what seemed like hours as we struggled to keep from being brain-burritos.

The second dream was even more terrifying. I was walking around some sort of dance studio with two other girls. At the end of a hallway was this creepy little girl in a blue frilly dress, collapsed on the floor, the dress billowing out around her. We felt funny leaving her all alone in the studio. As we approached, her eyes unfocused, her smile got toothy and lopsided, and she ripped off the dress to reveal a tattered, yellowed dress and two saw-like appendages for arms. She used them like a pair of insect jaws, and the sawblade-like teeth were like shark teeth, jagged and overlapping. So she started running at us and we screamed and ran around the studio. One of my friends got sliced by one of her "arms," and my friend's arm started getting similar spines coming out of her arm. We all ran into a dance classroom and shut the doors. The injured girl started shaking and screaming and transforming. I struggled to hold the door closed, but the creepy jaw-armed girl was so much stronger (even though she didn't have hands...?). As she started chopping at the door, one of my fingers got cut off and my arm burned as it started changing. I struggled to keep her out, but the pain got so overwhelming that I stumbled back. I battled her with my one saw-arm and somehow got her to fall. As she/it hissed and spat, I pinned her down with my foot and tried to chop her head off with my arm. It only left little dents in her scaly skin. I fainted before I saw any other effect. When I came to, my friends and my arm were normal again and the saw-armed creature was grey and dead.

Freaky stuff.

GUSTER

So Saturday night, I went to see Guster at In the Venue in Salt Lake City with my friend Sam. She had never been to a concert before, so I invited her to this one. I've loved Guster ever since my friend introduced me to their music my freshman year of high school. They're originally from the Boston area; the members met at Tufts. Their latest album came out late last year. I got the CD for Christmas, so I made sure I knew all the lyrics. Here's how the concert went.

Set list:

- Barrel of a Gun

- What You Call Love

- Demons

- Center of Attention (one of my personal favorites)

- Stay With Me Jesus

- Do You Love Me

- Then the audience called for Bury Me, and then Ryan was like "Okay, but Luke has to sing it". Luke is their new addition, and has neither played nor heard the song. so he was just screaming "BURY MEEEEEE"

- Beginning of the End

- I Spy

- Satellite

- Airport Song (disco version) - At the end of this track, the only sound is a ping pong ball bouncing back and forth, so a lot of fans bring ping pong balls and throw them at the band at the end of the song. The fans were prepared.

- Manifest Destiny (another favorite)

- At this point Ryan said that they had just had the best effing tacos in their entire lives just half a mile from the venue. I'm gonna have to go check out them tacos.

- Hang On, combined with Billy Joel's "My Life." and he started crawling onto the audience's shoulders. He came back to the stage and was like, "well. that was weird."

- Backyard

- On the Ocean

- Come Downstairs and Say Hello

- Bad Bad World

- Homecoming King (with Chariots of Fire outro)

- This Could All Be Yours

Encore 1:

- Diane (two cute boys from Ogden we were standing next to asked us to dance ^_^)

- Architects and Engineers

- The Captain

- Happier (another favorite of mine)

Encore 2:

- The band came out again, Brian the drummer was like "I got this" and they started playing "Under the Bridge" by Red Hot Chili Peppers. His voice was totally shot, and hoarse, and cracked several times, much to our amusement.

Encore 3:

- Their final offering to appease the ravenous fans was a lovely acoustic version of Jesus on the Radio, with the audience harmonizing quite well. Then we finally let the band go rest.

Amazing fans, amazing band, amazing atmosphere. One of the best concerts I've ever been to.

So This Is the New Year...

I actually do have some resolutions. Each New Year's, our family has a tradition where we give each other goals and resolutions. Here are mine:

- study in the library at least 5 times a week, and keep in contact with academic advising (from Mom)

- get more organized (from Gramma)

- call when I need motivation (from Dad)

- go to bed at 11 PM on weekdays, 1 AM on weekends (from Lise)

- turn off the internet when doing homework (from Sasha)

and

- break one boy's heart every week, at least (from Dad of course)

Pretty serious stuff from my family, no fun ones this year. For myself, I aim to blog at least once a week, and eat breakfast every day. The thing about all these resolutions is that they'll undoubtedly make me a happier and healthier person.

Today was the first day of school. I've been running around trying to make my schedule fit, always a stressful process. I can't wait to have it set in stone so I can schedule other things. The break was very much needed, and it was really wonderful. Pictures and stories coming soon.