Haha-

Facebook is tricky. I just read a message on the top of my profile that said 9 friends from KC think I'm dumb. So it sends you to this quiz, you take it, and at the bottom of the page, it has some nonsense about subscribing to their cell service for $10 a month. At the end of the ten questions- all terribly easy. The questions include how many degrees are in a right angle and what continent is Canada a part of. Then it asks how smart you are and has spaces for your cell number and pin.

Do I look like a complete idiot to you? So I guess it was going to tell me I got all the answers right, but I am a sucker, so now I owe them $10 a month for a stupid cell something or other. Yeah, so I didn't find out how smart I am. Meaning I'm a genius. Pah. Take that facebook makers.

Also, Christmas vacation has been good. I'm getting bored again. So i should prob. call some friends and talk. I haven't visited many people as of yet and there's a New Year's Dance I'm planning to attend Wed. That's about all that's going on with me.

Alright, now there are some pictures on here-

So let me see. The couple pictures I have on here I couldn't figure out how to format, so sorry some of them are sideways. Maybe someone can help me fix them over Christmas. The picture with me and all the dishes is the dog we ate for Thanksgiving and all the rotten foods they gave us to go with it. The picture with me and the statue that's sideways is a mermaid statue we saw in Pusan Korea before we ate the dog.



The characters in a line on the sidewalk were just a photo op. Fake food everywhere in the windows was one of my favorite things..always useful when you don't speak Japanese and want something good to eat. The metal bird was a cool thing we saw in...Hiroshima I think, or Fukuoka. We went all the way there and didn't have time to go inside. We used the toilet right before a busload of school children went through though. We figured the migratory birds were gone for the winter anyway, and I've seen stuffed birds before. Mostly we didn't have time to go through.

I'm going to Tiffanie Player's white elephant party tonight with Jeff and will be bringing a broken bucket with a cd called Moonstruck from the Ward's house. It's a movie starring Cher and Nicholas Cage. Believe me, someone will be excited to watch it. Then they'll be bummed out b/c it's a lame movie. That's about it for now. I am totally excited I've got some pictures. For more, check out facebook.

Candy? I love candy

This post has nothing whatsoever to do with candy, besides the fact that I love candy. As a blog response to all the lovely readers..thank you for posting comments, I love seeing them. I love all my girls, and any boys who may or may not wander in here just to see what I have been up to.

As an updater, this blog has been wonderful, because now I hardly email anyone at all. Turns out my sister deletes my emails without reading them anyway, so not everyone is missing out. Yesterday I curled my hair, bought some Afrost Gatorade mix, and sent my brother in Portugal a Christmas package. I also visited my Aunt Pam, Uncle Gary, and Grandma Enid in SLC. It was a nice visit and my Uncle Gary gave me some good man advice.

I also called Jeff. I've been missing him and regretting my decision to break up with him. I figured we probably couldn't date again, because he went on three dates over the break and because he told me it was probably best if we stayed friends. When I got back from SLC we went bowling.

Turns out I'm still bad at bowling, it may have been the heavy ball I was using, and Jeff doubled my score on both games we played. However, he did manage to forgo getting a turkey- three strikes in a row- despite all my encouragement, or discouragement on that score. I also forgot to bring socks. Well, it would have been forgetting if I had known we were heading to a bowling alley and didn't wear any. Turns out socks with sandals looks dorky and I've tried jumping out of the dork bowl many times.

I decided against the $2 vending machine socks, and almost retched when pulling my foot out almost took out the entire innard section of the shoe. I should have bought the socks. Anyway, any future foot fungus I will blame on Jeff for picking bowling. Everyone else who bowls wears socks and I know they spray them with fungucide after every use. I'll post if my feet start feeling itchy.

We bowled and I lost. Then a guy from Jeff's Bulgarian mission came and bowled next to us. He was a very nice boy and had a mustache. Man, mustaches kill me. Second round, I lost again. On the way out, we decided there isn't much to do in Provo and went to the movies to see the new James Bond movie.

There's something wonderful about the dim lights of theatres and somehow, Jeff ended up holding my hand. I might have helped him a little. It felt wonderful. I have missed him. It was a good flick and gave some closure to the last JB vid.

Then we went to Jeff's house and played Wii for an hour or so. I am terrible, but still ended up winning a couple tennis rounds, and the overall golf event. Heh. It was fun, we had some good times. Funny, but I missed seeing his roomies too. Guess it is good we all get along.

Since I usually put my relationships into ruination by trying to figure them out, I'm just going to ride this one out. Patience, hmmm. Right now I feel good about it all. Jeff's not going to ask me what we are and I'm certainly not going to ask. Boys, pah.

On a different note, I have gotten an email back from a publisher who wants to buy my book! Hooray! My Dad also said a number of my self addressed envelopes are waiting for me at home and I am excited to read all of the rejection slips when I get there. I guess as long as somebody likes my book I don't care about all the rejection. However, if someone else wants to publish me we'll have to see what kinds of benefits they are willing to offer. It's exciting I've heard from so many so fast! I was expecting it to take months and it has barely been one. Hooray for dreams and aspirations! Now I just need a job to tide me over until I'm a famous authoress...

Looking into my closet you also might note I currently have ten shirts and so many pairs of pants. I also, coincidentally have ten pairs of shoes. Dresses and underwear/socks are a different story. When I go home for Christmas I will be looking into a wardrobe expansion, not huge, just some change.

You may be saddened, or relieved, to find I have given my ninja turtle shirt to DI. I have decided to stop dressing like a ten year old. I believe this goal was made the same day my friend Mike told me he was turning my name in for What not to Wear. I didn't think I was that bad, but I have owned many of my shirts, clothes for close to ten years- not even an exaggeration. It may have coincided with the week my sister told me she was reading a book about how to be a stunner.

Now I'm not willing to wear heels every day of the week, but I am sick of my clothes. I realize certain items of cloth have also given me the look of a chubby four year old when really, I'm not four years old at all. Hmm. So there it is. Bon's pretty excited, but we'll see how far I get. You know I've never been a shopper.

Well then, these posts might be getting longer. I promise, pictures some day will be inputted to enhance this blog. Much love! Merry Christmas!

Hmmph-

I was going to put pictures on my blog today and thought my camera battery was charging all yesterday. I guess it wasn't because the battery is still exhausted. Stupid. So there it is, one day I will get pictures on here. I hope. Also, congratulations to Amy Clay who is having a baby. Woot.

Second, an update on Jeff. Turns out I have been talking with him on the phone because he is in St. George still from Thanksgiving. Our conversations have been good, but he did tell me it's probably best if we are just friends. He also went on quite a few dates over the break. Wow, didn't waste any time. That's cool. So yeah, it is good he's been dating other people and now I can move on, but I hope to stay friends. He's amazing.

I have been watching lots of movies, but also got some books from the library. Reading has always been a nice fallback plan. By the way, I'm never using this lab computer again because all the keys stick and it's driving me insane. Pictures later.

Japan

Yes, I am back from Japan. However, turns out my camera battery is exhausted. It did take a lot of pictures last week, so I will try and get some pictures from Japan on here by the end of this week. We shall see. Mostly, if you really want to see my pictures you can look on facebook.

Japan was awesome. We saw a lot of temples and took a lot of trains and buses. The flight back was 9 hours, a 4 hour layover, and 2 hrs back to SLC from San Francisco, California. The boy I went with, James, got food poisoning from dinner Sunday. That means he was sick for 15 hours of travel. I know, highly unfortunate. At the place we ate, I got chicken curry and he got breaded pork on ramen. The curry was amazing, but he got sick. Really sick. I felt bad for him the whole trip back.

I would like to say, I am greatly relieved to be away from his company, as a week is a long time to be with one person. Especially if you argue with that person a lot. Which I did. He thought it was flirting, but I'm pretty sure we just weren't getting along. Overall it was a fun trip though.

There were a couple times in there I got frustrated b/c we were lost. Well, I like to know where I am and don't like being hungry or tired. I'm like a 4 yr old in that way. Now I'm back and ready to find a job and settle into my life again. Hmmm. Maybe I'll check out some good books.

Guess what-

I friggin ate dog today for Thanksgiving dinner. It was horrendous. The Korean ladies came out with a bowl of soup and a bunch of little dishes with it. The little dishes had black beans, grass, onions, orange fruit, fruity sauce, and rice in them.

First off, the big bowl of soup was ok, but not terribly appetizing. The lady brought out carves pieces of dog, that looked kind of like ham pieces. There was a lot of fat on them. Then she mixed our sauces and leaves and stuff for us. So we dipped the dog meat and went to it.

We also had metal chopsticks, which is difficult when you are eating steamy food b/c it slips off. I guess I figured all Asian people just eat with wooden ones all the time.

The dog soup was pretty sick and when I first partook of the meat chunks, I gagged. It was gamey and I felt like I was watching the untold version of Old Yeller- the part after he dies. That's all I could think of and it reminded me of the movie "How to lose a guy in ten days". You know the part, when the boyfriend brings out lamb and she gags. Yeah, that's how I felt.

So I tried the little bowls...some of each, and every individual bowl tasted individually rotten and individually moldy. Ehhh. It was repulsive. No offense to anyone who reads this and eats Korean food. Then I tried just sliding it down my throat, that worked ok. The fat made it easier. It was a gamey taste and pretty, overall, unpleasant.

The stuff that wasn't completely repulsive was pretty spicey, so I settled for spicey. It rained today and we saw the Sea of Japan. I got some amazing shells. I packed them in tissues and put them in a cookie box. I hope they make it back to the States ok.

So there it is. My Thanksgiving experience of eating dog. Worse than goat burgers and I've never eaten goat burgers. Also, the hostel we are staying in is a block away from the apartment building we were dropped off at by the cab driver. It has the same address and the same floors and everything. Except we were staying in 2909 and that complex didn't have that apt. number. It was confusing.

Happy Thanksgiving! Love!

I'm in Tokyo Japan!

The first thing I noticed on the streets of Tokyo, is most people have potted plants, or small trees in front of their shops. Also, around 7:30 p.m., the streets are quite deserted. That's when we went walking around after we had arrived.

We have walked through much of the city and everyone is clean and supremely nice. Since there is almost no crime here there are bikes all over the place and they're not chained to anything. It is a pretty weird feeling, like living in a space city.

The hostel where we are staying has a lot of nice traveler people and they took us on the town our first night. Well, James went to sleep, so they took me. It's kind of hard finding karaoke and dancing places when you can't read Japanese, but eventually we found one. I didn't end up doing karaoke, I split off with some people and ended up getting lost in Tokyo. We also miscalculated our trip and midway through our subway journey the lines stopped...it was about 1 a.m.

We walked back, but we walked a ton that night. I think my time's up. Love and kisses.

Impending Japan

I am leaving for Japan in two days. Tonight Emily Ward and I go to see Mama Mia and eat dinner. It will be a girl date. Those are nice. No stress there. Woot. Then, when we get home about 9ish, Emily will be going to sleep and I will be figuring what 4 shirts to pack for Japan.

I checked the weather for where I am going, and it will be snowing in Provo, but a balmy 60 degrees in Japan. Very nice Thanksgiving weather. It might also rain, but better rain than snow in November. Can't go wrong with that.

I also hope to find a huge backpack someplace. I was going to borrow Jeff's, but I am an idiot and broke up with him, so ruining my plans. My little brother Canute had a dinky backpack when I checked it out, and dang Gina, mine is small too.

I will be rummaging through my mind looking for people to ask about that in the next 2 days. I might just be traveling light, light. I will be smelly, but my back won't hurt as much as it could.

I sent out the query letters as promised and finished reading a book called Lorna Doone. It was ok, but not as riveting as I would have liked it to be. I need a life. I also picked up a rider from the ride board for Christmas. Funny, he knows Canute, so that will be a non awkward trip. Nice.

I played Dodge ball for FHE Monday and my right side hurts- even though I didn't get anyone out by throwing balls at them. I stink at power throwing. Oh well. Something to work on in future dead months.

I feel like I tripped someone last week or something interesting like that, but I can't place what I did. I remember it being interesting and reportable. However, it could just be ripple effects from breaking up with Jeff, which was like tripping him, but longer lasting.

I feel a distinct ache somewhere deep within myself. I'm not sure if it's because I miss Jeff or if I am stressed about it. That ache could be a stress ache couldn't it? Anyway, I don't like it. I should definitely not be in charge of my romantic affairs. I often put them in fiasco disarray. I should be learning important lessons from this I suppose. Don't date boys and if you do, don't freak out and break up with them after just a month.

I will try to put pictures on this piece blog, but am kind of challenged when it comes to blog pictures apparently. We'll see. Just so you remember what I look like and all. Love and kisses for reading this blog.

Kick stands-

When I go biking, which is not often, I struggle getting out the kickstand. I also struggle with the biking part of biking, as Amy McVey can attest to. I haven't gone biking since that fateful day last spring, but the scars and memories will be with me always.

I am going on a trip to Japan for a week and a half and am leaving Friday. This Friday, at 2:30 in the morning, I am going to start my journey. I will be taking lots of pictures and making millions of memories. I am going with a boy named James I met in Alaska. When I broke up with Jeff, his only question was whether the break up had to do with James or not. I answered in the negative and hopefully put any qualms he had to rest.

I am going to send out query letters this week. I've been saying it for weeks, but really, I don't have anything else to do, so it is happening THIS WEEK. That emphasis was mostly for myself so I'll stop procrastinating and just do it.

It will not be difficult, I just need to get my little buns in gear and do it. My buns in gearing, may not be so little. But I have restarted running, which I need to stay in the habit of doing, but sometimes struggle with. I usually run on days when I do nothing else, so when I tell people I went running that day it sounds like my life is in order, but really it just means I went an uphill mile and did nothing else that day.

I have braids in my hair today and the room I'm typing in is frigid. I therefore am wearing a knitted blanket and look for all the world like Heidi Hockinsmith. She was nice, but yes, it's nice to type in the hidden comfort of one's lodgings.

Tonight at FHE we play dodgeball. I am not very good at dodgeball, but am wearing my running shoes and should therefore improve exponentially in my sports expertise. I also ate dinner at the Bishop's house yesterday. They also had Blake over. Blake is a boy I was kind of interested in who lives in the ward.

He sat by me at dinner and kept nudging me and such. It felt weird. That means I thought I could have a dating break, but really it might be too weird for me and I have foiled my own plans. It's good to know I can't just drop out on life and start from scratch whenever I want, but I didn't know that applied to boys until yesterday. I've never tried it before and now know it is not possible when you still like the boy you broke up with.

I'm sure Jeffy will be relieved to find that out, if I end up telling him, which I prob. will b/c I am not very good at keeping good secrets like that. Especially my own secrets.

I am going to the Polar Express with Blake Thursday and James, but we'll see how that goes. You would think I would be wiser than asking two boys on a date on the same night, but I didn't really consider that a date until my mom told me it was. Blast and double blast. So yes, my plans may be more complicated than I originally planned them to be.

I broke up with Jeff-

Go ahead, ask me why. I did it because I am a crazy person. I like Jeff but. That's why I did it. I did it yesterday and I feel sad today. I feel sad because I like him and because I broke up with him, but I still feel right about doing it. I told him I don't know what I want and I still want to date other people.

He didn't say much and I felt really bad about doing it. I still really like him, I just don't feel right about dating him at this point. Maybe I just have issues. I do have issues. We still went on a date yesterday with my roomie Emily and a boy she has just canceled. It was slightly awkward. We are also going on a date tonight to a play- Oklahoma. We are taking a break until I get back from Japan, then we will see.

So that is what I have been up to. I went running yesterday and today. I am going to the temple today and that play. I will also be working on book submission queries. Checking my email and working to keep my mind off boys. Boys, always a source of drama for me. Woot. I just love dating.

Newest possible November news

Here's the thing. It has been a while since I've done anything terribly exciting. So I'll just tell what I've been doing and you can decide for yourselves what is exciting. I went miniature golfing Saturday with Jeff and his friend Tyler Young. Tyler brought Marta, a girl who likes Spartans, on the date. The story behind that is he dressed up as a Spartan and attended her stake Halloween party. She got a picture with him and he got her phone number. Win-win.

We went to Trafalga and played a delightful indoor golf course as teams. I got three holes in one and still got a lower score than Jeff, who is consistent. That only happened because on the last hole it took me 9 hits to get the ball in. It was a hard one! Our team still won. Then we went go-carting and experienced the joy of the batting cages- we got the deluxe pass which gets you golfing, g0-carting, batting cages, 8 tokens, and 2 bowls of dippin dots for 3 dollars more a person. Who knew?

Anyway, the bats were metal and rattled our bones every time we got a hit. Which was often because obviously we all rock at baseball. Then we played air hockey and I dominated. Well, on one of the two games we played. It only went to 7 points, and I'm positive the stupid board was only keeping track of every other point. Stupid table... and I also found out dippin' dots are only good to eat in the summer, when it's hot outside. When it's cold, the dots just hang onto your tongue like alien riders out for a good time.

Oh, and you may be wondering who is Jeff? Well, since he doesn't know the address of my blog, and now he's on facebook, I will fill you in on my latest intrigues with him here.

Jeff is a boy I met at my friend Nathan Pickett's house during the lunch break of this year's Sunday session of General Conference. He was an attractive man and I was interested, but he never got my phone number. So I told Nathan to give him my number the following Thursday and he called me.

It was the first time I've ever given my phone number to a stranger and actually wanted him to call me. We went to dinner and a haunted house and he held my hand. Very sneaky. The next day we watched a BYU game and he sat by me on the luv sac at his house, after some encouragement from me- he sat on another couch and we went to get slushies. At the door before going inside I asked him if he was going to sit on the couch again or if he was going to sit by me. He sat by me.

The next week we went hiking and spending some time together. He kissed me on the hike- our third date- and that was that. That weekend I went with him to St. George, which is where his family is from, and we went wake boarding. I did pretty well for my first time. His family was terribly friendly and I found out they are all madly in love with football. Well, I can support that.

We spend most days together, meaning probably 5 days a week, which is a lot of time. However, since I'm not going to school or working it sometimes tosses me over my personal time limitations. Meaning, I should probably spend some time for myself so I don't get overwhelmed with all the boy time. It's hard to get used to, this boyfriend business. You know?

I'm currently working on figuring out where to send my book and editing the bezees out of it. It has a little way to go, but I feel the closeness of its completion like a light breeze upon my eyelids. The goal is to start sending it out to publishers before Christmas because I'm looking for jobs after Christmas and have lots of time to do it right now. The reason I don't have a job yet; I'm going to Japan for 10 days over Thanksgiving and didn't want to ask my new employers for all that time off at the beginning of my work streak.

Therefore, I am going on a trip in two weeks, watch a lot of movies, and am trying to figure myself out. That is where I stand. I like long walks on the beach and reading benign romance novels and science fiction.

My book's working title is Memoirs of a Playa and is a collection of awkward dating and life stories. I have most of the stories I need, but since I am not quite finished, and am always looking for a good story, if you would like to send me one, I would be delighted to read it and maybe add it in. That last sentence was a long one, wheww.

Yesterday I went to my Uncle Layne's house with my boyfriend Jeff and brother Canute. We had some lasagne and delicious cookies. I also found out my young cousin Alex and Jeff are both Wii pros. Turns out Jeff is extremely competitive. However, he did end up winning his Wii fencing match against Alex, so we left in a happy state.

I am also living in Heber until after Christmas, which is a 40 min drive from Provo. Most days I drive up with my roomie Emily Ward. She is a music teacher at Juaquin Elementary School. We get up at 6 am most days. Turns out it is not a bad time to get up, but most nights I'm exhausted by 10 pm. After Christmas I move back to Provo and will be looking for a job in the recreation field. If I can't find one of those I am moving to Portugal, where my brother Grant is currently serving a full-time mission. Or I might move to Germany, where I have some cousins I could live with.

If none of those things pan out, I suppose I can always go back to school and get my master's in something. Right now I'm doing ok. I don't know what I'm doing next summer, but I'm sure something will come up. It is kind of nice to have a boyfriend. As you all know, I've always been boy crazy and go through guys pretty fast. So I am trying to not be anxious about this one and taking my time with my personal emotional roller coaster. Meaning I'm still on it, but I try to keep most of those emotions to myself. It may not be healthy, but I have a lot of emotions and I don't want to overwhelm anybody else. It's quite enough I share them with myself.

Oh my gosh this is a long blog update. I will make a guess and suppose this is the longest they will get, but I'm pretty long winded, so no promises. Hope you enjoyed it.

New Beginnings

Thank you for visiting my new blog slipperysandals. I decided to start one because everyone else in the world has a blog.