Happy October 27th

I sure hope everyone got enough summer/ fall because here come WINTER! This means cold, snow, ice, dark, and beautiful loveliness. I am probably the only person in Provo who loves snow. This is a gift just for me (sorry that everyone else has to suffer for my benefit, but thanks!)
This also means Christmas is coming up and I'm ready for it. I've been listening to Christmas music secretly on my ipod for weeks now.
I'll be staying in Utah this year, but at least this way I know I'll get a white Christmas!

I have a blog?!

Friends, readers, mom,

I forgot I had this blog. I was so caught up with the cycling blog (or so caught up with neglecting the cycling blog) that this one kind of slipped from my radar. But I'm back with all sorts of false promises about keeping up with it and entertaining you with anecdotes from my daily life. The first of which is a complaint:

BYU registration for classes
subcategory: Theater and Media Arts

I went to sign up for classes today (because I forgot last night) and was accosted with this message no less than three times:

"This class requires departmental approval"

C'mon!!! I'm a senior, this is my last semester, I'm a film major, I've taken all the pre-requs, I. Just. Want. To. Register. But no, that would be far too easy. Now I have to go to campus, talk to the secretary who doesn't know anything, and try to get these classes added to my schedule. Yay. Thanks, BYU, for making this so complicated. I'm trying to help YOU out by graduating and moving on but you're making it very difficult.

Let's work on this, eh?

My Summer

The road trip was so long ago, I don't really remember much. As it comes to me, I promise I'll post. (but probably not, so be prepared for that). More importantly? MY SUMMER!

Many things have happened. I have had three jobs. The first was temporary, the second was SUPPOSED to be great but ended up sucking the life and good happy feelings out of me so I had to get job number three which is AWESOME! I work M-F 11-2:30 and everyone is so nice. It's a quaint little sub shop where the owners are there everyday and they remember you and what you order no matter how long it's been since you've been in. It's the perfect fit. Also, it gives me evenings to have fun and it's late enough in the morning that I don't really have to worry about waking up! Yay Georgia's Sub and Deli.

Even better than that, though, is my involvement with "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee." My high school had an all-alumni performance this summer to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Theater in the school and I was fortunate enough to be a part of it. It was a little rough at the beginning but I had job number two at the time and was missing rehearsals a lot. Once I was finally FREE however, I had the best few weeks EVER! It's been way too long since I was on stage and it felt pretty good. And on top of that, I finally made some friends this summer so I can quit whining about that.

Look at some of the fun we had:
25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee
Cribs: Glass Theatre Style

We had our last performance tonight and I'm having a hard time accepting the fact that it's over.

ROAD TRIP!!!! Part one

We've been saying that we would and planning a grand cross-country road trip for three years and these past couple weeks have finally seen this dream become a reality. You didn't think we would actually do it, did you? It's OK, neither did I. But it happened and we got to see some pretty amazing things.

Day one

We drove from Provo to Las Cruces, New Mexico where Lauren's dad had pulled some strings and procured us a free hotel. The stay included a massage chair, a coffee/hot chocolate machine that was too fancy to work, and being hit on by 6th graders (boy is THAT a story for another time...).

I have no pictures. :(

Day two

A quick-ish drive from New Mexico all the way over to New Braunfels, Texas where we stayed with Lauren's family (which was just her mom because her dad was in Chicago... :/). We had a lovely dinner waiting for us on their fancy dining room table and were very grateful for food that wasn't wrapped in plastic and purchased from Wal-mart the day before. We also rode a tandem bike and got attacked by fire ants. Overall, a successful evening.

Again, no pictures. But I will eventually have video!

Day three

A relaxing morning, and then we headed off to the Guadalupe River (correctly pronounced "gwa-duh-loop" if you're in Texas) with our inter-tubes for a nice float. Unfortunately, a lazy drunk had left his beer can on the side of the river and I got a huge gash in my foot. Don't worry, I still went in the river. And it was worth it. We floated past the biggest water park in the Continental US (it was closed) and Desiree even got hit on by some EMS trainees.

Lauren took us to her favorite Barbecue place and then we all cleaned up and napped. We spent the evening walking around Greune... Greene...Grune... something like that. But it's pronounced "Green" and it's the cutest little town. We ate at a delicious Mexican place and ending the evening with my first ever viewing of "Saturday's Warriors." For those who don't know, it's a terrible Mormon musical that was unfortunately filmed. It's kind of become a joke and I had never seen it. Desiree and Lauren felt it was their responsibility to save me and forced me to watch it. It was bad.

We went to bed pretty early to prepare for the trying day ahead of us. (that's foreshadowing)

(Part two coming soon...)

Riding Bikes is Super Fun!

Here it is, like I promised a LONG time ago. A link to my Cycling blog. Support me in my somewhat crazy goal of cycling across the entire state! C'mon, it'll be fun.

Just click HERE!

Teaching

So friends, here's the deal: I want to be a teacher.

I'm obviously in it for the money. Hey, don't judge me! No one frowns on a doctor* but honestly who REALLY wants to sit around looking in people's mouths and then telling them to drink orange juice and charging them for that? Sounds grueling.

This decision was made in installments. When I was little I liked to play school and I loved being the teacher. I wanted to be an actress more, though, so I didn't recognize the early signs.

Then in high school I graded my mom's papers. (hope that's not against the rules and someone is reading this that will punish her for it. Because my blog is super popular with my mom's co-workers...) I thought I was in it for the money but maybe I found a sick pleasure in using a red pen.

Then, last semester I took the prep class for Hands on a Camera (this awesome program where we as college students go to high schools and teach them about documentary making and film making and storytelling) and we learned about teaching.

Now this semester I am participating in Hands on a Camera and once a week I teach high school-ers which is so rewarding because they actually like this subject. AND I mentor a kindergarten-er on Fridays and we work on our alphabet AND I'm taking the prep class to be a TA for intro to film and in that class we actually teach a college class once or twice a week. So even if I didn't think I wanted to it seems that I am drawn to teaching.

Now the concern is: I have (or WILL have next April) my bachelor's in Media Arts. So how do I go about becoming a teacher? Anyone? Grad school? Certification programs? Do career counselors know this stuff? Anyone, anyone? Bueller?

____________________
*disclaimer: doctors are hard-working, well-educated people. I'm not hating. Heck, I plan on marrying one. I'm not stupid, I know what a high school teacher makes.

The start

School is back in a big way. Classes = mostly awesome. I'm taking horror which is, surprisingly, horrifying. I'm scared to get in my car every Wednesday night thinking there's a crazy witch in the back seat. Yes, that's right, we watched "Drag me to Hell." which leads me to an apology: I promised my own personal movie reviews and I have not given any in a super duper long time. To make amends I give you...

"Drag Me to Hell"
- scary. But I'm easily scared. The suspense was good, the gross stuff was really gross, and there were intentionally funny moments. I wouldn't recommend it, though. Mostly because I don't like scary movies. But the types of people who do like to be scared probably won't be by this one.

"Sherlock Holmes"
- Surprisingly entertaining. I went in with low expectations and a bit of a snobby attitude. "Holmes is not an action star, he's a boring old British man." thought I. How very wrong I was. The story was intriguing, the acting was well-done, and c'mon people: Jude Law is hot. It wasn't incredibly deep or thought-provoking but very entertaining. I suggest you see it. Whoever "you" are.

"Princess and the Frog"
- I am reminded of "The Little Mermaid" and "Aladdin" when I watch this which, in case you are wondering, is a very good thing. The story was so fun, the music was catchy and classic, the 2-D animation was very nostalgic for me. The characters were the best part, though. They threatened to be over-done, cheesy, etc. but they weren't. Every character was voiced well and the story made them likable. I saw it with my family and Hannah was the youngest one in the group (17). You do NOT have to have kids to go see it. In fact, I think its better without kids squirming and dropping their popcorn and having to go to the bathroom.

"The Blind Side"
- I love Sandra Bullock. Mostly because I love "While You Were Sleeping" but also because I think she's just cute. She was not the normal Sandy in this film, however. Enough of her came through the character so that it was still her, essentially, but I think she deserves the Golden Globe nod. The story was very inspiring. Nothing too new but I'm a sucker for underdog stories. Also for Southern accents. Also, Tim McGraw. All of these elements wrapped up in one package = a must see. I've heard it called "the feel good movie of the year" and that's so true. You can't help but feel better about life after seeing this film.

"Up In the Air"
- I saw this one for two reasons: it's nominated for like, a billion awards. And George Clooney. Don't see it because its nominated, see it for Georgie because you may like it more than I did. I went in thinking it would make me think and send my world into chaos which it tried to do, but ultimately didn't. It was well-made and a good story idea, I just didn't think it was executed in the best way. I came away from the theater angry which, I'm pretty sure, was not the emotion others felt. Even though I can see why others liked it so much, I wasn't a fan. If you see it, try explaining it to me. I'm afraid I just didn't get it.

Other than that, I'm debating what to see next. "Avatar"? "It's Complicated"? "Leap Year"? Let me know if you have any suggestions.