Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Viva La Vida

Coldplay-a band of exquisite talent and musical genius. My favorite band.


Viva La Vida- their most recent album, and the name of their current tour


November 22nd, 2008- the day Coldplay performed in the Energy Solutions Arena, at Salt Lake City


My Birthday Present- going to the Coldplay concert!



Emily and Janneke-
my companions to this amazing display of musical ability


Awesome, epic, incredible, amazing, mind-blowing, super cool, so good- word I have used to describe this concert


Sorry for the poor quality pictures. It is hard to get a good from the third row from the back, in a dark arena. Technically I wasn't even allowed to take a camera in, but I was only one of the thousand who snuck it in. I definitely wasn't allowed to take any videos, so I certainly wouldn't be publishing any on the internet if I had...

Thanks Mom and Dad! And thanks to Janneke's friend who decided she shouldn't spend the money and sold me her ticket.

Friday, November 21, 2008

One Year Older and Wiser, Too


In honor of my birthday which is coming up in a few days, I decided to make a list of the things I have learned about myself in the last year:

  1. I can run a marathon!
  2. I enjoyed training for and running a marathon
  3. I really like outdoor rock-climbing and canyoneering
  4. Teaching Sunday School isn't as scary as I thought it would be
  5. Becoming a dietitian may be scarier than I thought it would be...
  6. I hate hair that is stuck to my couch or clothes
  7. I really, really like quesadillas with enchilada sauce....and enchiladas!
  8. Coldplay is my favorite band
  9. I remember how to play the guitar
  10. I am not very good at playing the guitar
  11. I have really strong bones!
  12. I don't hate bacon as much as I thought I did...I actually like it potato salads and broccoli salad (as long as it isn't overwhelming)
  13. Following a budget is harder for me than I thought it would be...
  14. I like Gilmore Girls, now that I have seen it
  15. I have a lot of useless natural talent, like cutting long baguettes lengthwise evenly, being good at Guitar Hero and Link's Crossbow Training, and catching marshmallows in my mouth. I am sure there are more, but since they aren't talents that have any purpose or relevance in my life, I don't remember very well.
  16. I can use Microsoft Publisher (I can make my own template and everything!)
  17. I am really absent-minded. I am on my 5th BYU ID, and there have been many a forgotten appointment, assignment, etc.
  18. Scooters may not see me, even if I am in a crosswalk and other cars are stopped, and other people are in the crosswalk
  19. I can take someone's blood pressure
  20. I am pretty good at making potato, pasta, and fruit salads. I sure hope the kids at the Cannon Center can appreciate that.
  21. I enjoy cross-stitching, but I find the finished project a little cheesy-a little too relief-society for my taste.
  22. It is by the grace of God that I have gotten to this point in my life (academically, and the fact that I am alive and well)- this may sound fascicious, but it is actually very true. When you take into consideration my absent-mindedness, it is amazing I have done so well in school. And with some of the risks I took during my canyoneering trips, I am actually really lucky that I didn't go away without any broken bones.
I hope you enjoyed this little list of mine (did you notice that there are 22 points. Can you guess how old I am going to be?) For the most part I enjoyed discovering these things about myself. What wonders await me in the next year of my life?


Sunday, November 16, 2008

My Newfound OCD

It is official. I have gone crazy. What is the cause? Hair. "But Katy," you are thinking, "don't you have a head full of flowing, luscious hair?" So let me clarify...Hair not attached to a head has broken me.

It started this summer. I would get up around 5:30 in the morning, quickly change into grubby clothes, throw my hair up in a ponytail, and go make sandwiches for a few hours. At work, I would constantly notice something tickling at my arm. (Girls know what I am talking about. That pesky hair that is stuck to your shirt in just the right spot so that it is constantly rubbing against your arm, but really hard to reach.) But at work I am wearing gloves so I can touch the food. I can't just reach around to pick at the hair that is brushing against my arm. So I just have to bear it.

I started scrutinizing my back and shoulders in the morning and remove every detached hair I could find. It got to the point that if I ever felt a hair accosting my arm, I would have this compulsory need to get rid of it. My roommates can tell you about the night I freaked out during a card game because I would feel the hair, but COULD NOT find it, and neither could they (Hallucinations? Paranoia?)

So when I moved into my new apartment, this illness had already begun. It was stagnant for a while, but then I started to notice the hair that infiltrated the apartment, especially the couches. One day I was looking for the remote, and in stereotypical fashion, I stuck my hand between the couch cushions to feel for it. I shudder even now, thinking about it, but my hand resurfaced from the cushions with quite a bit of hair intertwined between my finger. It really was sickening and horrible. Our remote has a habit of getting lost in the couch, so I have had to dig for it several times since then. Same story every time: a handful of hair.

Another day I was cleaning my room, picking up all my clothes from the floor and putting them in my laundry bag in preparation to do laundry. I noticed that each article of clothing was covered in hair. SICK! Boy was I glad it was laundry day. After all my clothes were picked up, I got out the vacuum and sucked up all the hair in my area in front of the closet. I decided to vacuum a little in front of my bed, so I kind of moved my roommates things to the side. Well, underneath her stuff was more hair. A lot of it. I couldn't take it. I picked up all of her stuff (which was actually quite a bit of stuff. Sorry Katelyn) and put in on her bed, and vacuumed up all that hair.

Fast forward a few weeks, and with each day I am becoming more and more aware of the hair covering the couches. I am not even kidding when I say that on more than three occasions I have sat down and discovered a ball of hair stuck to the couch, or attempting to transfer itself to my pants. Each time, pinching the hairball between my thumb and forefinger and holding it out in front of me, I promptly throw it away. One night my roommate vacuumed the couches. It should have made a difference right? Well our couches have SO much hair that I could barely tell the difference. I was still able to pick off a handful of hair, and that was with just the hair that immediately caught my eye.

After a time, I wouldn't even look for the remote anymore. I would just sit in front of the TV, changing channels, rather than touch the couch cushions with my hands. One day, during a two hour period set aside for studying before a test, I lost it and spent 45 minutes vacuuming and removing hair from ONE couch cushion. See, the vacuuming wasn't really working, so I got a comb and started scraping the couch cushion. It helped, but not that much. While I was on my hands and knees in front of the couch, I was able to see close up just how much hair is on the couches. Seriously, as I was looking along the front of the couch, you could see the MANY individual strands sticking out from the front of each cushion. Lets not even talk about the hair that dwells in the area where heads actually touch or come close to the couch. It is actually better if I don't think about it much.

But really, what is up with these couches? When was the last time they were vacuumed? Did the girls before us vacuum it? What about the girls before them? All I know is that unless one of my roommates sheds an inhuman amount of hair, there is waaaay too much hair on those couch eseven for 6 girls in a 3 month period. We were on the list to get new couches, but apparently there was not enough couches for our apartment, so I am stuck with the couches who have pushed me over the edge of sanity.

It's my theory that all the hair has mutated the couch so that it now grows hair of its own.

Anyway, I think I will be permanently OCD about hair for the rest of my life. Maybe I should consider therapy...

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Katy and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

So today was definitely one of those days. I got sick on Saturday, but with a whole lot of homework due Monday and Tuesday I have been staying up late and getting up early and in general ignoring my health. Last night I stayed up late completing several assignments and getting a few prepared for the next day. I got up early today, but didn't get on to campus quite as early as I had hoped. I printed off my assignments that were due, went to buy a poster board for an english project due at 1:35, but didn't have time to print off my color pictures. My english project was a collage of pictures that I have taken over the last few years.

I went to class, met with a group after class to plan a presentation. I thought I had just enough time to print off my pictures before my next group meeting. But I remembered as I walked to the computer lab that it would be close because of devotional. So I just went back to the Eyring Science Center, met with my group, and was heading up to the library to find an open computer and a color printer around 11:30. Now don't get me wrong. I love devotional. In the past. However, today it was a BIG frustration. You see, all stores and computer labs on campus shut down during devotional. So I wandered around the library to those computers that were still open, but there wasn't an available computer. I ended up waiting in line for a computer for 15 minutes. While I was standing in line with 10 other people, I thought of all the nasty things I would say to that guy who surfing Facebook and that girl who wasn't even logged into the computer, but was using the desk to do other homework (you know, because the library is really sparse on tables without computers). Eventually, with no help from the jerks I already mentioned, I get to a computer, pull up my picture files and try to print them. Apparently trying to print so many pictures at once made the printer freak out. First the file didn't even show up at the kiosk. I resent it, went back to the kiosk and this time it showed up twice. I stood at the printer for a 5 minutes, but it never printed. I decided to go downstairs to a different printer, thinking that a printing area that wasn't so busy might print it faster. It didn't. I waited, and it didn't print. On my way out of the library, I stopped by the first printer to see that two of my eight pages had actually printed, but it was taking too long, and the prints didn't even look good. (This fiasco at the library cost me about 6 dollars, with only two pages of low quality prints to show for it)

At this point, I decided to go to Cougar Creations and print it there, because those printers are much more expensive, and maybe won't breakdown on me. At that time, it was about 12:05 (meaning my project was due in exactly 1.5 hours). Turns out Cougar Creations doesn't open until 12:15. In the meantime, I walked to the bookstore and bought some glue (because I was an idiot and forgot to bring glue with me that morning). After this point, things finally started to work for me. My pictures printed, somewhat slowly, but they looked nice. I arranged and glued them to my poster board, wrote my project summary, printed off a few scriptures for my presentation (because, again, I was an idiot and forgot to bring my scriptures) and arrived at my class at 1:37.


As I was going about my day, trying to think of as many negative adjectives as I could, I was reminded of a book I read as a child called "Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day."

My teacher liked my presentation, so it all barely worked out in the end. So I guess the day wasn't quite as horrible and terrible after all.


Thank you for listening to me complain.


Monday, November 3, 2008

Happy November!

Reasons why November is a great month:
  1. Thanksgiving: Who doesn't love homemade rolls with real butter, yams with so much brown sugar and marshmallows it is almost criminal, cranberry and walnut sauce over perfectly roasted turkey, creamy mashed potatoes with gravy made from real turkey drippings (not from a can or packet), Martinelli's, and various delectable pies. (Disclaimer: I have never attended a Thanksgiving dinner that was as ridiculously coordinated as the one pictured at the right. There are no Martha Stewarts in my family.)
  2. Snow, if you live somewhere where it snows. During November, snow is new again. The full impact of a dreary and monochromatic winter hasn't hit yet. It still exciting to see a veritable winter wonderland out the window while you are wrapped in a blanket drinking hot chocolate.
  3. There is still two months left to get Christmas shopping done!
  4. Pretty much the day after Thanksgiving, Christmas decorations and lights go up.
  5. Trees still have some of their beautiful red and yellow leaves. The ones that have fallen color the ground. Plus, we can walk on the leaves and hear them crunch.
  6. You can start wearing your winter clothes, which you haven't worn in 8 months, so it is like having a new wardrobe!
  7. Last, but absolutely not least, in the month of November, we celebrate the birth of my sister Donna, my nephew Jacob, and, of course, ME. That is right, happy birthday to me, this month. This year, my birthday is the day before Thanksgiving. Next year, my birthday will be on Thanksgiving! So, in thinking about all the things you are thankful for, don't forget about ME! (I really hope that is the most shamefully self-promoting statement I ever make on this blog)