Catchphrases and A Breach of Personal Comfort

I decided that it is only appropriate to read other blogs if I update mine. My life never seems quite interesting enough for other people to read. Oh well, you can deal with that.
While I was at EFY this summer (I worked 3 weeks as a counselor at a church summer camp- best job ever) I discovered that the youth LOVED every time we had cool catch phrases. So I picked up some that I can't seem to shake. My two favorites are "Deal with that" and "Turns out." Maybe if I use them with a situational example you'll understand better.

ex. 1: (A strange EFY tradition that i never quite liked or even understood is escorting. The youth like to meet at each others dorms in the morning to walk to breakfast together arm in arm.**see below**)While meeting my youth the second week i said: We aren't going to escort the girls to breakfast because they have asked us not to in the mornings so DEAL WITH THAT. It would make us late for breakfast anyway. TURNS OUT it isn't the best idea after all.

ex. 2: (I met my roommates and they asked if I wanted to go play basketball-Why basketball? I don't know- why don't people ever want to play pick-up games of soccer or volleyball?) After playing a game of basketball I said: I was never very good at basketball. TURNS OUT there is nothing you can do about it so DEAL WITH THAT.

So that is it. Catchphrases win friends. I heard from one youth form EFY who told me he has told everyone about my catchphrases- I'm famous.

**A Thought About Escorting: The danger of escorting lies in the awkward moments found while two fourteen-year-olds try to hold conversation.

The art of escorting goes something like this: from the first day all the youth scope out who their
C.O.W. (Crush of the week) will be. the boys find a girl they hope to escort and the girls find a guy they'd like to ask them. then as the week begins as soon as the counselors say 'Find an escort,' the youth pause. All of a sudden the awkwardness of walking arm in arm has hit the boys. Each girl waits anxiously as the boys are coerced into finding an escort 9not because the counselors really care if the youth meet the opposite sex-- but because logistically its easier to keep track of the youth when they walk in a single file line). The girls silently rejoice inside as the right boy asks offers his arm but then they too are struck but the uncomfortable escorting.

Rarely does anyone actually enjoy escorting- it could be because of the tie to the 1500s with nights and ladies, or it could be the inescapable moment when your escort says nothing, or maybe it is just the girl who shaved her arms just before EFY started and is scratching you with stubble. Whatever your reason- you'll discover its weird. Nonetheless EFY youth pretend to LOVE it and Counselors keep enforcing it. If only I had a picture of the awkward-escort-lines to post, then you could more fully imagine the strange intricacies of EFY. Unfortunately this will be a picture-less post.

Today this blog wil be private

As life turns out...I decided that I don't want everyone in the world to read what I write on here. So I decided to make it private. Hopefully this will help me write more often without the fear of who will read this blog. I am currently in class so I wont write a lot.
Peace.

Doing the Dailys

I should be in bed, but I'm not. Some days life is too perfect to stay up late. As if staying up late would tarnish a perfect day. Right now is not one of those days. This is one of those moments where I look for a reason to be happy. I found it. Staring out my window I see the temple. Im going to miss this view. The first time I saw this view was on move in day. I then had plans for this to be the perfect semester, but each difficult class seemed to be followed by a snowstorm and laced with feelings of lonliness and a lack of fulfillment. Sacrament meeting after sacrament meeting seemingly empty promises were made of rewards to the faithful, of comfort to the humble, and of blessings for the deserving. I found myself asking where I lacked. I wondered if I had not been sufficiently humble, or if I was not grateful enough to be blessed. I pondered these questions week after week. My much needed answer arrived in pieces. Part arrived in letters from friends. Another part arrived in new people I found. It finally finished arriving this weekend in a book mom bought me at Deseret Book. It is called "Broken Things to Mend" by Jeffrey R Holland. "Every time we reach out, however feebly, for Him, we discover He has been anxiously trying to reach us. So we step, we strive, we seek and we never yield." He was there all along. The promises were waiting, the blessings were available, the hopes were answerable but yet my hand lay dormant. I ran around for months aimlessly trying to find the hop on my own. I had served a mission and thus I knew where happiness lie. I had tried to give it to so many people that I forgot the simple keys of how to find it personally. As they said in sacrament meeting today, happiness is found in doing "the dailys." (Church, Scriptures, Prayer)

Reconnect

Saturday is a good day to blog. i don't have work, just homework.

I could change the name of this blog to "seeing old friends" but I wont. It seems that is all I do anymore. I do not make new friends, rather i spend my time goign out to lunch with an old friend, watching a movie with an old friend, walking to class with an old friend, or making pizza with an old friend. Reconnecting has a strange sense of familiarity to it with an awkward mix of "Who are you again?" I find now thta meeting up with some people turns out great. Meeting with others is almost unbearable.

To spare the hurt feelings of the innocent I wont share names but yesterday I met up with 3 groups of old friends. The first two were slightly uncomfprtbale, looking for an escape type events. The intial meet ups were more of the second type. looking around for an excuse to leave, after about ten minutes i cannot even concentrate on the topic at hand because i am so uncomfortable in the moment. It brings a sad realization that things as they once were are not the same as things as they will soon be. With a change in life has come a change in sociality.

the last get-together/ reunion was great. Slightly awkward at times, but that happens a lot to me. Im just awkward; my life isnt a movie after all.

Midnight.

Arthur and DW always wanted to know what happens after midnight on new years. Well last nigth i found out for them. the answer? martinellis, a big ball dropping, and banging pots and pans.
happy 2011

Something to Love

I love a clean room but i hate cleaning it. This weeks job has been cleaning my room. Im failing so far. I have moved a pile ofthings from my desk, to the bed, to the floor and now spread throughout the room in different piles. The good news is that everytime it moves it gets a little smaller. im gonna go clean now. Even though I dont want to.

A Secret A Day Keeps the Doctor Away...

Today's secret is this this:
I love onion rings.