Merry (Albeit Belated) Christmas

Don't you just love Christmas sweaters!

There is more Christmas joy to come soon. Only I have to finish all this ridiculous application/school work nonsense. Who assigns work to be due over Christmas break I ask you, WHO?

Also, calling all NGO, nonprofit, government, etc. organizations: Application deadlines over the holiday break? Really? I mean really?!

Southern Belle

Even though I may live in the Mid-west these days and for the majority of the days of the past five years, I am still at southern girl at heart. I am also a southern girl when I get sleepy or nervous because my accent tends to get thicker in times like these--true story!

Yes, you skeptics back home who have noticed that I now call coke soda instead of coke.

In the South a drink offer goes something like this:

Do you want a coke?

Yes.

What kind?

A sprite.

Does this really make sense? Of course not, but it is the way it is back home.

You also may have noticed I have begun to call supper dinner. And sometimes, heaven forbid, I even accidentally call my cousin Laura Laaaura instead of Lora like it should be pronounced. I mean her name isn't Laaaura. No one calls her that.

However, rest assured I am still Southern! If you still are disinclined to believe me, just check out these pictures of all the purely southern activities from my Thanksgiving break:

I, yes I, climbed up in a tree stand. I also held a gun whilst up there. A RIFLE is you will...even if you won't!
I lit a fire on the side of the bluff. I was also mindful of my good friend Smoky the Bear when I fully extinguished the fire with sand before leaving.
I drove a 4 wheeler out to this bluff. It is beautiful, but unfortunately most of the fall colors are gone by the time Thanksgiving rolls around.

That's right I have a giant metal homemade sign with my name on it hanging on a cabin. Can you get more southern than that?

And just a few more pieces of evidence to prove my case:

I sat on the edge of a bluff and hacked off a branch of holly with an oversized knife to decorate the mantle over the fireplace in our cabin. Did I mention I spent my Thanksgiving vacation in a State Park with no Internet, one television channel, and limited phone service?

I ate copious amounts of chicken and dumplings & biscuits and gravy.

I am also willing to bet that few other people can say they spent more time around long johns or camouflage, carhartt, and thermal clothing this weekend than I did.

And just a little something something that made my break very enjoyable:

Aren't they adorable? And huge!

More Life Lessons (Stress Management Pt. 2)

I'm having sushi for lunch tomorrow and tomorrow night is my turn to cook

darn it! i should have knocked on wood! as hard as i could!

Yes, you should just always be doing that.

keep doin that, mama cat

Why are you obsessed with rhymes?!

they pass the times!
so get in line
and say a rhyme


That is Michael's and my conversation. do you see

what i put up with?

(Excerpt from a conversation I had with Jessica tonight.)

So how often is it that you get to talk to two of your best friends who live nearly 2,000 miles away in one night? Yeah, not so often. But tonight I did! They were both on Facebook at the same time, and I was very happy to talk to them. I was simultaneously carrying on three Facebook conversations, texting three different people, and watching a WWII Doc on The History Channel.

I kept laughing because of things said in the Facebook conversations, but all my roommates saw was the WWII Documentary on T.V. I think they were marginally worried I saw a sadist until I explained why I was really laughing--and it certainly wasn't because of the documentary. I was mostly the poem above, how Michael wants Jessica to name her new VW Jetta Puddlesmacks, and how Michael will randomly show up in D.C. (most likely at the worst possible time like while we're at the pentagon or something) and get dragged off by the security guards while yelling "Fin!" with his free arm outstretched toward me. When my classmates ask if I know him of course I will respond, "No."

We had another amazing lesson in OB class today. We talked about what anger really is and the chemical processes behind it. It is literally possible to be angry for 2-3 days straight if you let yourself get so angry that your adrenaline starts pumping. I don't know about other people, but I can't handle the yucky feeling of being angry for days at a time. No thank you.

Just like stress, we learned it is possible to control anger. When you get that first little pop of anger (this is not adrenaline) you just have to let it go. Don't let it get to that stage where your body is producing anger-fueled adrenaline for days at a time!

We talked about how expressed anger and violence are merely a manifestation of need for control. We even watched a clip from Shindler's List about power.

Truly effective leaders lead by example with love and tolerance. When a king pardons a thief, he likely has created a loyal subject. When he kills the thief he just has a corpse.

(On a lighter note side bar--"And you think killing people will make them like you, but it just makes them dead." Is possibly my favorite quote from A Very Potter Musical said by You-Know-Who himself who incidentally is played by Ralph Fiennes in the movie who also happens to play Amon Goth in Shindler's list.)

Basically, as a leader you want your subordinates to follow you out of respect and love--not fear. Showing mercy and pardoning when someone does something wrong makes one a good leader. Amon Goth was unable to to see the power in mercy and forgiveness and simply continued on in the violence and punishment power he was used to. Needless to say it did not turn out well for him--not at all.

We also talked about how a lot of people shy away from power because they do not want it. We always hear how power corrupts and absolutely power corrupts absolutely. However, we have to learn how to exercise power in this life. God, our ultimate exemplar, is omnipotent. That is to say He is all powerful. If we want to become like him one day, we must have power and use it the right way or how will we ever be ready to assume a position of omnipotence?

Also, the person who said never let a sunset on an argument needs to be kicked in the teeth. Sometimes the best cure for an argument is to step away, calm down, and then rationally discuss the issue when the anger is gone. Trying to address an issue when you are still upset (and consequently irrational) nearly always ends badly.

Now I am certainly not a morning kind of person, but I will admit that things never seem so bad in the morning. Sometimes the best resolution to an argument is to sleep on it. The angry-I am right and you are wrong and that's the way it is mentality from the night before is gone. Chances are if you tried to duke it out when you are in this mentality (not to mention tired on top of it) the situation will only escalate.

Even though we might know all these techniques for coping with anger and stress sometimes things seem completely overwhelming nonetheless, and it is nearly impossible to discern any reason why things are the way they are. In those times, the best thing to do it put things into the eternal perspective. Remember who is really in control of things and put it in His hands.

Only here would I ever learn this in a graduate school organizational behavior class.

Stress Management

I am tired, oh so tired, right now. BUT I feel like I had one of those days where I just need to share what I learned.

The life lessons are just coming at me like whoa right now! It's pretty awesome. It makes me feel wise and mature and whatnot.

Today I learned about stress in my organization behavior class. I can explain to you how your eyes send not one but two signals to your brain. One for your brain to process what you're seeing and the other to your amygdala (yes I now know what an amygdala is) which is part of your emotional response center (limbic system). Basically, the point is that your body reacts to something before your brain really comprehends what is going on. Kind of cool huh?

I also learned our limbic system (emotions) are the first thing to develop after our brain stem. Everything we learn is connected to our emotions. Our frontal lobe (our rationality) does not even fully develop until we are in our 20s! So basically, humans are emotional beings. I suppose that means Bones (one of my favorite shows) is a fallacy, but I guess I'm ok with that.

Basically, we are all cavemen. When we encounter stress we react with our fight or flight gotta run away or kill the deadly saber-tooth tiger response. Our ancient survival instincts still kick in when we are stressed even though the situation is completely different these days. I don't remember the last time I was mauled by a tiger anyways! Instead we have a bombardment of low-grade stresses, but we still have the survival instinct reaction anyways. Stress is only a physical reaction to a (this is important) PERCEIVED loss of control. Rarely when we finally calm down and put things into perspective, was the situation even close to what our reaction was.

And (now this is scientifically proven people) stress makes you unhealthy! It makes you sick, dumb, irrational, achy, tense, etc. Dare I say that stress also makes you completely miserable (in my experience anyways).

Sometimes, as a graduate student I feel guilty about putting aside work I know I should be doing to have fun, exercise, cook, watch a movie, etc. However, today I learned that I need to get over that nonsense. I always knew it was good to set aside time for exercise and eating and the essentials, but I just can't help but beat myself up about doing something fun when I know there is so much school work to be done. Even during the fun I had this weekend, I always kept thinking in the back of my mind that I should be doing homework. But by golly wouldn't you know, my happy fun times were justified in class today.

As a matter of fact, when you are feeling the most stressed is the time when you most need to step away from the situation and gain some perspective. I need to remind myself that while school is important right now, it is not all there is. As a matter of fact, in the long run school is relatively unimportant.

So the point of this:

We can't avoid stress. BUT we can learn to deal with it. As a matter of fact, I think maybe part of our test in this life is to learn to control stress.

(I promise I'll try to think of something more fun to write about soon. Like perhaps how I left my phone on silent this morning and woke up at 7:45 and had to be at school at 8 or how despite the fact Zumba gives me a good workout I don't think I will ever be a good dancer :(, or how I thought I lost my iPod today, or how my team got reamed in front of the entire econ class and I almost lost it in classic Rachel the Big Mouth style, or how I got so upset on Sunday because someone started playing Christmas music that all I could do was stick a pillow over my face at someone else's apartment and be so miserable that I started cracking up and couldn't regain composure for a few minutes and how it was exacerbated by people putting more pillows on my face, or how I now laugh every time I hear the phrase golden arches, or how I booked a hostel 0.3 miles from where I'll be staying next week in D.C. for Saturday night before the rest of the group gets there and how they supposedly provide free walking tours, or how I'm really excited to go get Indian food with my friends from Africa on Thursday night, or how much I love the movie Despicable Me, or my rediscovered love of the Weepies, or how I get to see Anthony Green on Friday night, or how ridiculously excited I am to go home in just less than two weeks . . . well you get the point.)

But isn't life wonderful?!

Can't Go Back Now

This weekend was good. It was so good.

It was yet again another one of those weekends where you expect nothing much to happen, and then so much does happen. I end up realizing that life is actually pretty wonderful and I have friends that love me.

Pretty awesome stuff huh?

I would be lying if I didn't admit that sometimes when I'm in Provo I feel a bit cut off. I have no family here. My reliable, wonderful, go-to friends are just as far away as my family. I will also admit that making friends is not always the easiest thing for me to do. I think it's the awkward period where you almost feel like you're inviting yourself to stuff and you're not sure that you're wanted period that gets me. Sometimes I would rather just sit at home alone that subject myself to that.

Anyways, I digress.

On Friday I went to Park City . . . all by my lonesome. I drove through the canyon after finishing work and the day was gorgeous. I'm not much of a driver, but something about driving through the mountains on a sunny day with unusually warm weather for a November was pretty spectacular.

(I took this picture en route to PC, possibly a little dangerous but it was too beautiful outside to resist.)

I drove to PC with the intention of revamping my business clothes wardrobe. I think I did a pretty good job, and would prefer not to admit how much money I spent. I will say I have absolutely no buyers remorse. It felt good to go into store, pick out what I wanted, and just buy it!

I find spending productive alone time rather empowering. My drive back through the canyon that night with a chocolate banana vivanno smootie and some great music playing in the background was just pure happiness.

Then the night took me in a pretty unexpected direction. I went to a birthday party at 8:30 with the intention of staying for an hour, and then going home to get work done. When I finally got home at 2 a.m. that morning I felt even better about life though slightly more exhausted than earlier in the day.

Saturday consisted of early morning homework I had procrastinated. Then 1st row (that's right I said 1st row) tickets to the football game where BYU decimated UNLV. Oh, and I got a free shirt. How cool is that?

Then I ate more sushi than any one girl should ever eat in one sitting. It was delicious!

By this time I was sleep-deprived, full of food, and ready to crash hard. I assumed my weekend fun was over when I headed home with a fuzzy head and heavy eyelids. I promptly passed out after getting home around 6.

And then wouldn't you know it, but the next thing I know I'm hanging up the phone from a conversation I barely remember having. I was out of it asleep at this point so I had to check and make sure I really did get a phone call and that I wasn't just dreaming. It was almost like texting in my sleep all over again! In retrospect, even though I felt like poo when I rolled out of bed and inspected the damage of my early evening nap (crazy crumpled bangs and red lines from the sheets all over my chin and neck), I'm glad I did it. Another fun evening.

Then came a wonderful Sunday with an uplifting church meeting, an impromptu dinner that didn't turn out half bad, a fireside, games, and some completely ridiculous nonsense (which is my very favorite kind).

But don't you love to laugh? I got my fill of it this weekend. It was definitely one of those hey Rachel, your life is really pretty great kind of weekends. Even though I am far away from my family and I have wonderful friends at home, I know some pretty great people out here, too. Next time I'm feeling a little down I will tell myself this.

I love that I've reached the point in my life where a lot of my insecurities are dissipating. I realize that most of them were pretty irrational in the first place. Maybe I'm not the most well liked person around (I'm sure I'm not because sometimes I think I can probably be a complete pain), but I don't need to be that person. Sure, being the outgoing person will never really be my thing, but I certainly shouldn't be afraid of putting myself out there sometimes. Showing up at a party where you don't know very many people can be a really great thing sometimes! Great people are all around us, and I should never shy away from getting out there and getting to know them.

On the flip side, learning to do things on your own is a different kind of wonderful. I really didn't want to go all the way to Park City by myself, but I am sure glad I did. There was something nice about knowing that I was doing something alone because I wanted to--not because I didn't have any other choice. There is a BIG difference between being alone and being lonely, and that is a pretty empowering idea!

I love this song. And I love The Weepies.

Running the Numbers

Hello friends!

Happy happy day! I showed up to work and guess what?

Cancelled!

That's right . . . cancelled for parent-teacher conferences!

I must say Thursday is my least favorite day of the four days I teach, and it was a nice little surprise to get some unexpected free time (well free time to do homework). I am working on a decision analysis for one of my classes, and I have found some rather exciting information regarding the possibility of a short, after Christmas trip for the posh.

Here goes (these costs are for three people):

NYC:

Roundtrip gas: $45/person

Hostel: $20/night/person with breakfast, wi-fi and lockers (in Upper Manhattan)

Broadway shows: approx. $50 w/ student discounts on day of

Orlando:

Roundtrip gas: $38.20/person

Hotel: $13.33/person/night

Combo Universal Studio/Islands of Adventure (WWHP) for two days: $134.99

Think on that please! We will discuss is come Thanksgiving (in about 2 1/2 weeeeeeeks!!!)

I love this song: The Observer by Chris Chavez (it's the first song on the list . . . just hit play)

Wand

A wand (a mascara wand that is) was the start of my troubles today. In the morning I am hardly coherent, and putting on mascara is definitely not the safest thing for me to in that impaired state. However, I must do what must be done. I braved the danger and put the mascara on anyways. Alas, it was fated to be an unsuccessful attempt. I proceeded towards my eyelashes with the brush and then I proceeded a bit too far.

You got it.

I poked the darn thing right into my eye (with no contacts if you please). My eye has not been the same since . . . who knows it may never be.

Ok . . . it will be.

On a bright note though, I did score well on my quiz. 22 out of 24--my best yet.

Oh, and my favorite new winter food:

A cup of Stephen's Milk Chocolate Cocoa with one spoonful of Stephen's Pumpkin Spice

and (here's the kicker so get ready for it)

Thin mints.

You use them as straws! You bit a bit off of one side and then another bit off the opposite side. Then you suck the hot cocoa through the cookie. The cookie gets soft and then you eat it (all at once or it will fall apart and get messy). It is like melted minty chocolaty heaven in your mouth.

It will certainly make your bad day better. I promise!

So will this song:

And hopefully this picture:

Nasty

but it's that just a strange word. Say it a few times . . . go on!

Nasty

Nasty

Nasty

Nasty

It sounds ridiculous now doesn't it? In econ class today my teacher was talking about how if people acted amoral (like econ is supposed to be) it would create nasty individuals and nasty businesses. Then I just started saying the word nasty in my head. After about 4 times, it no longer sounded like a real word.

Like the word fork . . . or bleachers. (I mean who even comes up with this nonsense?)

On another note, I experienced homelessness for about 50 minutes today. I have decided I do not like it one little bit. After coming home from the gym, I decided that it was high time to take the rapidly decomposing pumpkin that had started to leak some unknown substance all over the ground to the garbage. After finishing the deed, I returned to my front door only to find that it was locked. LOCKED! I was wearing only my gym clothes (shorts, t-shirt, tennis shoes) and luckily a jacket I had decided to put on at the last second. No keys, phone or iPod. In fact, the only thing I had apart from my clothes was my gym pass which was of absolutely no use to me.

First I tried the windows. I have been successful in the past at finding a random unlocked window and crawling through (in a skirt no less) (through the smallest window in the house) (into the bathtub). But no such luck for me today. I was locked out for reals.

Then I decided to sit on the steps. Surely someone would be home soon. Or at the very least some friend would come by and take pity on me. Once again no such luck. Then I started getting cold. It is November in Utah after all. So I got up and started walking around. This didn't really help and I just got colder. To make matters worse, I also started to get hungry.

When I started to feel really homeless was when I finally resorted to standing next to our neighbors laundry vent to keep my legs warm. The warm air that smelled like clean laundry felt really good on my legs that had been exposed to the elements for the past 40 minutes.

It was finally time to go to FHE, and upon my return an hour later I was no longer homeless. The door was thankfully unlocked and I could resume my life as a person with a home.

It felt terrible today to be completely cut off from communicating with people and to not even be able to go inside. Even the laundry room and lounge of my apartment complex are kept locked. I cannot even imagine what it must feel like to spend days, weeks or even moths at a time living like this. My brief, fairly lame experience helped remind me why I want to get an MPA degree, and I reflected on all the good I will hopefully be able to do in the world someday. Being locked out of your house, stranded in Salt Lake City or living in a developing country definitely helps develop empathy in a person. Because to some miniscule degree I understand what people are going through, my desire to help them is increased. I think that is a VERY good thing.

I am officially obsessed:

Sunday Bloody Sunday

Ok . . . so that title was way too overdramatic. It just popped into my head and I went with it.

It has been quite a long day though. You know those days that just don't seem to ever end? It's not a bad day or anything just a ridiculously long and boring one and you keep thinking that it has to be later than it really is and every minute seems to take about five and when it is going to be bedtime already days . . . oh you know!

Since my day has been so unbearably long I figured I might as well be productive and blog for the first time in . . . well way too long.

First of all (and unfortunately I have no pictures to post for this thought) I love my job. I most certainly do! In might be one of the few places here in Provo where I really, really feel like I'm needed and appreciated. Of course, it does not take too much to win the admiration of 1st graders but they make you feel like what you're doing is worthwhile.

We played kickball on Wednesday and it went so well. It was without contestation the best day we've had in sports class so far. I will credit myself with a rather fantastic ability to wing it. It was supposed to be bocce ball day but due to unforeseen circumstances (all the music stands had been moved into the equipment room) I had to use only what I could reach from the doorway. We played Kickball, Jr. . . a sport I invented as we went.

Rules:

Every member of the kicking team got to kick once.

If you're in the field get the ball to the pitcher.

If you're running, run until the pitcher gets the ball.

The End.

It was a fun time.

We made salsa with my K-3 health class on Thursday. It was so much fun to see the kids get so excited about cooking (something that I love too!) They kept calling the ingredients recipes and it was adorable.

"Hey teacher are there more recipes to put in?"

"Can I stir in the next recipe?"

We made salsa. Surprisingly enough, only 1 of the 15ish kids didn't eat it. That's pretty amazing considering how picky children that age are and the fact this recipe had raw onions, avocado, green onions and red pepper in it.

On Friday, we launched rockets in my space science class. I will admit I was more than a little nervous about how this was going to go. I personally have only launched one model rocket in my entire life and I barely remember it. Luckily, it went awesome. It was a fun activity and I love seeing the kids get so excited about learning. One of the smartest and most interested in science kids in my class is also one of the youngest. He is only in 3rd grade. His rocket for some reason unbeknownst to me (I am not a scientist you know) veered off course and landed on the roof. I could see the crushed look on his face and he was trying hard to be brave and hold back his tears. I felt so bad for him and just wanted to give him a hug (he looked so darn sad), but of course that's not allowed. I did, however, assure him we would take every possible measure to get his rocket back. He still looked like he had just lost his very best friend. It really is tough to be a kid. Everything is so dramatic.

Even though I have been much to busy to blog lately, I squeezed some time in for cooking. Not a ton . . . but some. Here are some of my new delicious favorites:

Carrot Ginger Soup : I tweaked this recipe a bit. I used skim milk instead of cream, powered ginger and I didn't use any butternut squash. I think it turned out just fine. Delicious really!

Chocolate Chip Cookies (with coconut oil):

Pizza: Homemade pizza is so much fun because you have to follow the recipe on the crust but you can do whatever in the world you want with the toppings (within reason of course) and it is still delicious. I made three different ones but my favorite was definitely the BBQ chicken with gouda cheese and red onions.

Apple Cake: This may be my favorite so far. It's not too sweet and just tastes like fall in cake form! YUM!

Ok last topic change I promise:

Halloween! I went to a pretty rocking dance party on Friday night. It was slightly more exciting because we crashed a stake dance that wasn't ours. I am blown away by some people's creativity when it comes to Halloween costumes. There was a Quail Man there. That's all I'm saying! JulieAnn and I looked pretty fantastic too.

Happy Halloween dear friends . . . and family! and strangers and random blog stalkers!

My happy song these days:

Reconciling

So I had an assignment this week where I was required to interview a person who has an opinion diametrically opposed to my own. I ended up interviewing someone who has written a short book about an LDS perspective on homosexuality. Come to find out we agreed on many of the aspects--there were just a few main points we did not agree on.

Don't worry this blog is not to discuss my opinion on the subject. I just want to put it out there that it has been something on my mind ever since Elder Packer's talk this General Conference and the subsequent backlash resulting from it. Trying to reconcile what seems fair with what has been commanded is a somewhat difficult thing. But shouldn't it be? When has doing what is right ever really been what was easy? There are always grey areas and uncertainties. We wouldn't need faith if these didn't exist.

That being said, all I really wanted to do was point out a few parts of a press release issued by the LDS Church that I think pretty much sums up exactly what I feel:

· We join our voice with others in unreserved condemnation of acts of cruelty or attempts to belittle or mock any group or individual that is different – whether those differences arise from race, religion, mental challenges, social status, sexual orientation or for any other reason. Such actions simply have no place in our society.

Our parents, young adults, teens and children should therefore, of all people, be especially sensitive to the vulnerable in society and be willing to speak out against bullying or intimidation whenever it occurs.

Each Latter-day Saint family and individual should carefully consider whether their attitudes and actions toward others properly reflect Jesus Christ’s second great commandment - to love one another.

As a church, our doctrinal position is clear: any sexual activity outside of marriage is wrong, and we define marriage as between a man and a woman. However, that should never, ever be used as justification for unkindness. Jesus Christ, whom we follow, was clear in His condemnation of sexual immorality, but never cruel. His interest was always to lift the individual, never to tear down.

There is no question that this is difficult, but Church leaders and members are available to help lift, support and encourage fellow members who wish to follow Church doctrine. Their struggle is our struggle.

Why I have the best friends in the world

Please note the advertisements on the side! This brightened by day considerably--not that it was a bad day of course. It was actually a rather good day. There is always room for improvement though.

I am so happy and grateful and thankful that I have stayed friends with such amazing people for so long!

Michael, did you know we had our first class together in fall of 2001!!!! 2001! (or possibly winter of 2002) Who can remember that far back anyways? And let's be honest, who doesn't try to block out freshman physical education?! I am still to this day thankful that I got my braces on during slideshow day! Oh, that makes it fall of 2001 for sure!

And Jessica we started swim team together that same fall!

And Wewe . . . we roomed together on the 8th grade field trip in Spring of 2001 and swam together that whole preceding year! We're talking about 10ish years of friendship here!

That's pretty extraordinary in my opinion.

(Click on the image to make it large enough to read.)

One month to HP 7 everyone! Can I get a "Somebody Scream"?

Anyone?

In Bronco We Trust

Saturday was one of those good days. You know, one of those good days that was extra good because you weren't even expecting it to be anything at all.

I had planned on attending the HELP reunion in the morning and then spending the day studying and doing things that are important albeit boring.

Instead, I spent the entire day with my favorite friends from Africa (that I lived with in Africa . . . they are not African). We ate pizza, talked about our favorite African memories including (but not limited to) squeeze yourselves, fierce (but really parasite) Pierce and Blurry Flurry our favorite Irish friends, the goat pee incident and Edith's reenact of said incident, the joys of wearing eyeliner and squeezing four people on one small boda boda.

Then, for the first time this season, I went to the football game. Can you say 8th row right behind the goal? I can:

Oh, yeah . . . and BYU won. About time, huh?

New favorite artist: Ray LaMontagne

I will carefully choose my favorite song and post it soon. I haven't picked one quite yet.

Yesterday's Feelings

I don't know if I've mentioned it yet, but I'm working at the elementary school again. Mostly, it's wonderful . . . per usual.

However,

yesterday happened.

Yesterday was BAD.

It was raining and it was sports day. Never a good sign.

So we had to stay inside and halved half of the gym with the 3-6 grade sports class (yes halved half . . . 1/4 of the gym for 18 running, screaming, antsy, short attention-spanned K-2 graders).

Before we even made it over to the other half of the gym two girls got in a fight. Not a verbal fight, a physical one. There were tears and time outs and apologies.

While calling role one girl stepped on another girl (whether intentional or not I have been unable to determine). There were more tears and another apology.

Then we played dodgeball. One boy got hit with the ball and a combination of that and his disgust with dodgeball because he got out so soon made him cry . . . more tears. The same kid got quite disgruntled later when he had difficulty with bowling. It resulted in him throwing a ball at me, having to apologize and getting sent to time out.

Things went smoothly for a bit until I was informed that two girls had stolen gum from my backpack. I was slightly confused because my backpack was clear on the other side of the gym. Turns out, it was one of the volunteers' backpacks and incidentally it was his first day. Some impression he must have got of us. I had been screaming myself hoarse half the class and then he gets his stuff stolen.

But what he must've thought of us unruly heathens!

There were two more apologies and some chewed gym spit into my hand. I momentarily forgot that while that's ok with Gage it probably isn't the best idea with a student who is not related to me.

Then we took a water/bathroom break. Two of my girls pushed each other's faces into the water fountain. Two more sets of tears, apologies and time outs.

(Side note: When I was in 5th grade I pushed a boy named James' face into a water fountain when he cut me in line on a field trip to Sandy Springs Park. I felt slightly inclined to laugh when this situation arose yesterday because I had been there and done that before. I am sure if I told the kids about it they would either promptly disbelieve that I was ever a child or lose all respect for me so I decided to just keep it to myself.)

As if it could get any worse, things got even more out of hand. I finally decided to mandate that anyone I saw not keeping their hands to themselves was out for the rest of the day. I ended up sending 6 kids to time out.

Whew . . . that hour went on for far too long.

To sum it up:

Kids in tears: 6

Thieves: 2

Time outs: 10

Apologies: 7

ABC gum in my hand: 1

On the bright side, the class did eventually end. And as far as I can tell not a single one of those kids remembered the slightest thing about how bad yesterday was.

Here are some pictures from happier days of my 3-6 graders doing abstract art a la Jackson Pollock a few weeks ago:

And this happy little bug was there to greet me when I got school today. It was like it was saying,

"Be happy Rachel, Friday is nearly here and one of those great thunderstorms you love is coming tonight. Now give me a smile!"

For all you kids of the 90s out there

Entertain yourself. I'm sure you'll enjoy this:

90s Nickelodeon Shows Quiz.

Remember this one:

General Conference 180

I love general conference. It is just a spiritually filled, faith reaffirming kind of weekend. Not to mention the french toast and the whole calories don't count thing.

Once again thanks to my connected former roommate and current friend, I was able to attend Sunday afternoon session. There is something exciting and moving about sitting with 20,000+ people listing to the counsel of our church leaders. And singing with that many people is rather incredible too.

I know because I took copious notes of nearly every single one of the wonderful talks.

There is always an overriding theme to Conference, and this year's theme (for me anyways) was agency. There was a strong message of our individual worth, accountability, personal progression, and access to forgiveness (which is a privilege we should take full advantage of). We are all free to act and make our own choices. This is a powerful responsibility that comes with obligations because, as we were counseled, we do not have the power to choose our consequences.

I enjoyed the story about the cow in the wheat field. The fences were placed for it's protection yet it went through the fence anyway and died as a result from consuming too much wheat. "You stupid cow" the speaker said. Our Heavenly Father loves us and always, always wants what is best for us. Sometimes in our short-sightedness we fail to see why there are proverbial fences placed around us that seem to restrict our freedoms and easily forget that God always has our best interests at heart. It is a wise person indeed who truly understands how obedience does in fact lead to freedom. Freedom from addictions, freedom from despair and the terrible consequences of wrong choices. The reward of obedience is peace and joy (of course in life trouble will come but you'll have the strength and faith to make it through). And let's be honest, who doesn't want peace and joy?

That seems a much better reward than any temporary happiness I can think of.

As per usual, Elder Holland gave one of my very favorite talks. Listen to it please!

It was a little more mellow than usual but insightful and uplifting nonetheless.

Basically, remember to always be thankful and do your best to serve others in any way possible (even if it is in a seemingly insignificant way) and you'll get the gist of it.

In the words of Elder Holland, "No one of you is insignificant."

crushcrushcrush

I watched A Street Car Named Desire tonight. While he was a complete jerk in the movie, I must say I have a big, big crush on Marlon Brando. I just can't help it. Look at the guy:

Of course he did get old and all godfatherie and was born in the 1920s but nonetheless he was a stud in his youth.

But don't you agree?

There has been some exciting cooking going on in my place lately, and I'll be sure to post both pics and recipes soon. Two words to get you excited in the interim:

Pizza

Pumpkin

Enough Said.

Postcards from the Pledge

This made my day. Got to love comedic truths:

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/thu-september-23-2010/postcards-from-the-pledge

Some Uganda Fun

I'm on youtube:

We had a reunion party last night, and it was really nice to remember how fun this past summer was.

Party Time Part Deux commences Saturday evening with a rousing BANG! tournament. I'm sure complete chaos will ensue.

30 Seconds

I went to a concert tonight. I forgot how much I like them. For reals it kind of gives you a high. I enjoy being smushed into a whole bunch of people who are all there because they love music.

Of course, it has its downsides, too. People also tend to forget all sense of common decency and push, shove, hit, bite, scratch, etc. their way towards to front because for some reason unbeknownst to me everyone seems to think that they deserve to be at the front more than anyone else. Not sure why people think that, doesn't make much sense in my opinion.

I got really sweaty. Like soaking wet. I'm talking had to go buy myself a new shirt at Wal-Mart before going to eat sweaty here. It was legit sweatiness. And if I do say so myself, the hastily acquired shirt looks rather good on me really.

Despite my extreme sweatiness, I was so tired by the time I made it home from my late night Denny's omelet I very nearly skipped the shower tonight. That would have been rather disgusting. Luckily for me, I made myself do it because let's be honest I would be the only one who suffered from me not taking a shower tonight.

I'm already showing some fabulous bruises on my arms and feet from tonight's ridiculousness. As it turns out, hardcore looking boy in commando boots responsible from aforementioned bruises on my feet was not nearly as tough as he looked, as evidenced when he was pulled out of the crowd sweating more profusely than me and half-conscious. Just because you put on all black and paint your fingernails doesn't mean you're hardcore I suppose.

Anywho, as yet another piece of evidence to the fact that new media is taking over the world (I have a rant about this I might discuss at some latter yet to be determined date), here is a picture Jared Leto took and posted from the concert tonight:

Kings and Queens of UVU. I circled myself in pink so you can find me easily!

You're welcome!

Onions

The is not what you think.

Have yourself a good laugh today by going here.

I know I did this morning . . . 5 minutes ago . . . in class.

Yes, I am a graduate student. Why do you ask?

Wonderflonium

Do not bounce.

My new favorite thing. Check it out!

Books I've Enjoyed

I read a whole slew of new books this summer, and the time has come to share them.

The Moon is Down by John Steinbeck.

This book was anti-WWII propaganda that was banned by the Nazis. It's nice and short.

Angus, Thongs and Full-frontal Snogging by Louise Rennison.

Yeah, it's a teen novel. But it's worth it's weight in laughs.

Oh, and my newest favorite waste of time:

sporcle.com

It is an oh so wonderful waste of time!

My Humble Abode

Just last night I finally got around to hanging up the last of my posters. I also got the painting I bought in Jinja up after a couple near disastrous incidents involving hanging a picture by standing on my squishy bed and a rather unfortunate fight with a crooked command hook that was determined to remain affixed to the wall.

Anyways, I finally got it up. I was more than a little nervous that the whole thing might come tumbling down right onto my head during the night because you know that would happen to me. Luckily, it seems to be perfectly happy where it is hanging on the wall right above where my head goes at night. Let's hope we keep it that way!

Also, I have this awesome bookshelf. I am absolutely in love with it. I especially like it because I have lots of books to fill it up with.

Here goes:

Oh, and one last thing . . .

Happy Birthday to Me! (don't know why this came out blue . . . and I also don't know how to fix it . . . le sigh)

What my age again?

Nobody likes you when you're 23 . . . or so the Blink 182 song says.

I have been more than a little surprised by how many people had never heard of this song. Also, I did not post the real video because the run around naked the whole time . . . ew.

Luckily, I now know that isn't true. Clearly, the copious facebook messages, texts and calls indicate otherwise. Oh, the surprise birthday party my roommates threw me tonight and the planned dinner and laser tag with my friends tomorrow isn't too bad either!

Happy late birthday to myself! It goes to show that grad school is already kicking my butt because I didn't even have time to write my birthday post until the night after my actual birtday.

Thank you everyone! I love you all a whole big bunch!

Group hug!

My Personality

Really, I took a test:

I'm a O76-C35-E53-A50-N11 Big Five!!

What aspects of personality does this tell me about?

There has been much research on how people describe others, and five major dimensions of human personality have been found. They are often referred to as the OCEAN model of personality, because of the acronym from the names of the five dimensions.

Openness to Experience/Intellect
	High scorers tend to be original, creative, curious, complex; Low scorers tend to be conventional, down to earth, narrow interests, uncreative.
		You are relatively open to new experiences.	(Your percentile: 76)
Conscientiousness
	High scorers tend to be reliable, well-organized, self-disciplined, careful; Low scorers tend to be disorganized, undependable, negligent.
		You tend to do things somewhat haphazardly.	(Your percentile: 35)
Extraversion
	High scorers tend to be sociable, friendly, fun loving, talkative; Low scorers tend to be introverted, reserved, inhibited, quiet.
		You are neither particularly social or reserved.	(Your percentile: 53)
Agreeableness
	High scorers tend to be good natured, sympathetic, forgiving, courteous; Low scorers tend to be critical, rude, harsh, callous.
		You are neither extremely forgiving nor irritable.	(Your percentile: 50)
Neuroticism
	High scorers tend to be nervous, high-strung, insecure, worrying; Low scorers tend to be calm, relaxed, secure, hardy.
		You probably remain calm, even in tense situations.	(Your percentile: 11)

What do the scores tell me?

In order to provide you with a meaningful comparison, the scores you received have been converted to "percentile scores." This means that your personality score can be directly compared to another group of people who have also taken this personality test.

The percentile scores show you where you score on the five personality dimensions relative to the comparison sample of other people who have taken this test on-line. In other words, your percentile scores indicate the percentage of people who score less than you on each dimension. For example, your Extraversion percentile score is 53, which means that about 53 percent of the people in our comparison sample are less extraverted than you -- in other words, you are neither introverted or extroverted. Keep in mind that these percentile scores are relative to our particular sample of people. Thus, your percentile scores may differ if you were compared to another sample (e.g., elderly British people).

Try it out: www.outofservice.com/bigfive/