Saturday, May 31, 2008

I couldn't think of how to end this post, but I really think the government should've provided a conclusion for me.

"Quit allowing jobs to be sent overseas," said one. "It's been way too easy to get into debt. We need stricter laws on credit companies and finanacial institutions because almost everyone is struggling finanacially," added another.

This was a quote from some college students from an article talking about how politically involved my generation is. They asked the students what they thought about different issues, and this was two people's responses.
This is what is wrong with the world today! People expect the government to solve all their problems! It's been way too easy to get into debt because people buy things for which they don't have money, not because they government hasn't done enough to prevent that. It's not the government's job to regulate how you manage your money (ok, well sort of...you have to pay taxes and all, but still).
Feminists think that all women should be in the work force (they are insane, but I'll write a post about that later), but this makes raising kids awful hard. Their solution: government funded daycare!! Yeah! Instead of letting moms actually raise their children, let's have the government do it for them! Unemployment's way up? The government should make more jobs. You don't have healthcare? The government should provide it. College tuition's too expensive? The government should make it free!
It's ridiculous. Take responsibility for your own lives already.

Friday, May 30, 2008

Dan in Real Life (it told me to do it)

Well you know, I don't have anything better to do than blog, so here's my second post for the evening: (thanks to an email from Mandy for this)

AMAZING FATE!
1. Put your iTunes, Windows Media Player, MP3 player, etc. on shuffle.
2. For each question, press the next button to get your answer.
3. You must write that song name down no matter how silly it makes you look.
4. Title this email what the answer to your last question is.
5. Take luck and have fun!


IF SOMEONE SAYS 'ARE YOU OKAY' YOU SAY?
The minnow and the trout. (it's a metaphor, ok? and if you can't get it, you don't deserve to know whether I'm ok or not. :P)
HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOURSELF?
Home life
WHAT DO YOU LIKE IN A GUY/GIRL?
true (hey, that actually makes sense kinda...true to me..?)

HOW DO YOU FEEL TODAY?
close your eyes

WHAT IS YOUR LIFE'S PURPOSE?
my love
WHAT DO YOUR FRIENDS THINK OF YOU?
more than useless (hahah)


WHAT DO YOUR PARENTS THINK OF YOU?
umbrella

WHAT DO YOU OFTEN THINK ABOUT?
grey or blue (it's quite the dilemma)
WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
guilty (from Amelie, haha)

WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP?
sowing the seeds of love

WHAT DO YOU THINK WHEN YOU SEE THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
everything you want

WHAT WILL YOU DANCE TO AT YOUR WEDDING?
the secret's in the telling (not too bad of a song, actually)

WHAT WILL THEY PLAY AT YOUR FUNERAL?
city love
WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST FEAR?
scenes from an Italian restaurant (oh, the horror!! stay away from me, spaghetti!)

WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST SECRET?
Adagio in G minor, T Mi 26 (it's in code so you guys can't figure it out)

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR FRIENDS?
higher power

WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO NAME THIS EMAIL [BLOG]?
Dan in Real Life

More Secrets

The music I rattle off as my favorite is not what I generally listen to when I'm by myself (actually, except for John Mayer, I do listen to him when I'm alone). I listen to obscure lyrical music mostly. Ingrid Michaelson's my new obsession.

I nearly faint when I get shots or give blood. I'm not afraid of shots or needles actually, (and that really is the honest truth, thinking about them does not freak me out at all) but my body freaks out and I get light headed and start seeing black spotches everywhere.

I never feel not hungry. Ah, that was awkwardly phrased. I'm always hungry. I can always eat more food if I want to, or if it's sitting there.

I look at the calories and then eat it anyway.

Unpainted toenails (my own, not other people's) bug me. Even if the polished is almost entirely chipped off and all that's left is a teeny speck of pink on my big toe, it's better than nothing at all.

Sometimes I think about my dead grandpa and wonder what he thinks about what I've done with my life.

I tend to not say enough.

I hate turning on the lights when it's really sunny outside. I'd much rather open the blinds because natural light is so much nicer than artificial.

I don't have a problem with silence. If the conversation's slowing, I'll probably let it die.

I love IKEA! Every time I go, I pick out a bunch of things to get and then as I get closer and closer to the checkout, my cart gets emptier and emptier as I think, "Well, I guess I don't really need this..."

Which leads to the next thing. I love getting new things, but I hate spending money. I'm pretty good at talking myself out of purchases.

Thursday, May 29, 2008

Somewhere in Between

I think I want to cut my hair short, as in shoulder length short. I've got a hair appointment next week, so this is a time-conscious issue. Ideas:Thoughts?

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Sweet Relief!

My audition, nor my tears were featured on my city's audition episode for "So You Think You Can Dance."
I couldn't be happier!
It was actually fun to watch and see people I knew in the background of different shots. You could also see me and Bradley sitting in the background during someone else's audition. haha, that's definitely how I'd prefer it.
It's all over with, and it was totally no big deal after all.
Whew!

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Hallelujah!

I officially have a phone again. (!!!!!!!)
Feel free to call or text me.
Actually, please do because I got a new (well, new for me, but it used to be my neighbor's) phone and since I lost my other one I couldn't transfer my contacts to the new one. Pretty much I don't have anyone's numbers except for ballroom people whose numbers I got off the team list I have. So please, text me your name or something so I can re-add you as a contact.

Also thanks to all of you who commented on my "Let it all out" post. I felt much better after putting that out there, and that was what I needed. I decided to delete it and move on. Thanks though, for the encouragement, y'all are awesome. :)

Monday, May 26, 2008

All who have meditated on the art of governing mankind have been convinced that the fate of empires depends on the education of youth.

The other day we were talking about home school vs. public school during some down time in the lab. It got me thinking, if I were ever to home school my kids, what would I teach them? The result is Katie's own personal [idealized] curriculum:

I would teach them to read by the time they could speak in complete sentences. They'd be on college reading levels by the time most kids were on a 6th grade level. Required reading: The Great Gatsby, The Chosen, Jane Eyre, The Book of Mormon (haha, no separation of church and state with home schooling!), The Giver (while they were still on a lower reading level), Animal Farm, and To Kill a Mockingbird. They'd have to write a paper every month on the topic of their choice, but the genre of my choosing. One month we'd do research papers, the next essays, the next short stories, the next poetry, until I ran out of ideas and then we'd start over again.
Science would be super fun. They wouldn't learn the "electrons orbit the atoms like planets orbit the sun!!" false doctrine, they'd learn about energy levels and quantum mechanics and wave-particle duality. I guess I'd have to go through all the basics with stuff like, "what is matter?" and memorizing the planets and all that stuff, but honestly, if people are just going to change what's a planet anyway, what's the point of learning the solar system song? I think time would be better spent learning Newtonian mechanics and other basics of physics and more basic chemistry and biology things. None of that geology "this is a [insert type of rock that i can't remember anymore since it's useless information] rock!" or the whole "chemical change vs. physical change!!" We'd learn how to balance chemical equations and do stoichiometry and if we felt really ambitious maybe we'd tackle equilibrium problems and thermodynamics. Of course, in order to do thermodynamics properly, we'd need to learn some calculus...which brings me to my next subject: math!
Basic addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division would be mandatory of course. Fractions, decimals, geometry, trigonometry, etc. would have to follow. Extensive algebra would be taught as well as calculus before age twelve. That's right, my kids would be taking derivatives and integrating things before your kids know how to solve for x in 2x+3=5.
For social studies, not only would we cover basic American and world history, we'd actually get caught up to current events! In school, I swear I never once learned about anything post WWII. I'm still not really sure what the Vietnam or Korean Wars were about...also, they'd have to memorize the preamble just because it's so fun to sing the School House Rock song.
As for art and music, we'd take frequent field trips to art museums to learn in a real-life setting. We'd learn about daVinci, Matisse, Monet, Renoir, Picasso, etc etc. For music, we would not only discuss Bach, Mozart, Chopin, etc etc but the Beatles, Billy Joel, Boston, Aerosmith, etc etc would be required listening. Plus they'd have to take piano. It's a tradition.
As for electives, they'd definitely have to learn about computers, and also learn how to type 90+ words a minute. Ballroom dance would be highly encouraged (hehe, but not forced, I promise), but they could pick any activity that they were interested in and I would pay for all lessons, costumes, competitions, gear, etc that their activities entailed.

Whew, it was kinda exhausting trying to come up with all of that, and I know that I left a ton of stuff out. I don't know how parents can actually home school their children...it would take so much time...but you know, I really like the idea of having complete control over my children's education, which makes me sound like I'd be one of those control-freak anal parents, but it's true, it would be nice to pick and choose what they'd learn. Eh, anyway, there's something to think about.

Friday, May 23, 2008

Not much to say, but a whole lot to think

This is getting to be ridiculous. Gas just keeps going up and it's never going to come down. People cannot keep paying $4+ a gallon. Something's gotta give. And to anyone who says, "Well people in Europe pay $6+ a gallon!" this is my response: Europe actually has public transportation. There are trains, buses, subway stations, etc. They don't need to drive cars! People in Utah can't live like that! There are no trains or metros here! The sad truth is you need a car to get places. And yet we still can't drill in Alaska. We're heading toward a crisis, but oh no, we need to save the lemmings or whatever the heck lives there. Gah, stupid environmentalists.
Honestly though, with all the technology we have nowadays, you'd think we could come up with a solution to this problem. Here's your conspiracy theory for the day: I bet someone's paying off the scientists who've already discovered it. Ok, not really, but it is a little frustrating. The best thing we can come up with is fuel from corn, which apparently creates another problem in and of itself? There's got to be something better out there.
Think about it, think, think about it. :)

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Vienna

I hate money. I hate money. I hate money.

Why couldn't I just have stuck it out? It was almost over anyway. Every time I walk past the computer lab I see people from my class working on homework or lab reports, and all I can think is how I should be in there too. It has never crossed my mind how lucky I should feel to not have to do that...I'm just going to have to do it all again anyway.

GAH.

And I'm still missing my phone. If you need to get a hold of me, you'll have to call my home phone or facebook message me. MEh.

:|

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Foux de Fa Fa

Why is it in car chases in movies no one ever shoots the car tires of the vehicle they're trying to stop? Come on, if you're holding a gun in your hand and shooting aimlessly at the driver because you want to apprehend them, wouldn't it just be easier to shoot the tires? Wouldn't that stop the car so you could get the person you're chasing, or is there some weird thing about puncturing tires that I don't know about that somehow makes that impossible?

Also, I am missing my phone. It feels more like I'm missing my right hand.
Stupid, I know, but I was going to make an important phone call tonight, but now I can't because I don't have the number...ok, I guess I could find the number on the team directory, but I don't remember where I put it...

And Flight of the Conchords are hilarious. If you haven't already, go to youtube and watch the following videos by them:
The Issues/Think About It
Bowie's in Space
Sello Tape
I'm Not Crying
Frodo, Don't Wear the Ring
Rhymnocerous vs. the Hiphopapotamus
The Humans are Dead
Foux de Fa Fa

Anyway, I had some sort of great idea for a post subject, but I seem to have forgotten it, so enjoy this for now until I remember. Good night!

Saturday, May 17, 2008

Plans

Dropping out of spring term has yet to give me the relief I sought because the burden of homework and tests has been replaced by the fear that I will never find a more convenient time to take chem 227. Oh well, what's done is done. To help forget that I may have just made a huge mistake, I need to keep myself busy, so here's what I'm going to be doing with my life this summer:

I want to wake up every morning and go running. Anyone care to join me? I went this morning and you know what, the junior high is not as far away from my house as I remember. Going to college and walking everywhere has greatly changed my definition of "far away."

I'm going to spend way more time in the lab. Instead of a couple hours every day, I want to be in there at least 6.

I'm going to keep TAing for Brent twice a week. It'll be good to get up early a couple every now and then.

I think I'm going to either go to institute or keep up with my New Testament reading as if I were still in the class.

I want to practice cabaret every day (hope that's ok with you Eddie!) and by myself every day as well. I also want to go sign up for conditioning or pilates in the dance training room, plus alternate taking lessons with Brent and Kirstyn by myself every other week.

I should do something to keep up my chemistry and my French...not quite sure how I'll do that, but I'll come up with something.

I'm going to take vacations. I'm going to California with my family and then on a California/Mexico short cruise. I'm also planning a bit of a road trip to California with my friends. Plus, I might be going to Lake Powell....? Maybe...

Anyway, there you have it folks. Voici l'ete que je desire. (blogging in French! hmm, there's an idea...) This summer is going to be awesome, and I am going to forgive myself for being rash and lazy. :)

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Click

Goodbye classes, homework, and stress.

See you in September.

:D

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

First Pancake

*first pancake
[fûrst pān'kāk'] noun

The oldest child who usually lacks social skills that their younger siblings have. Taken from saying that the first pancake cooked generally doesn't turn out because the griddle is still heating up. A first pancake doesn't have an older sibling to watch go through the basic firsts of life and instead must figure them out for his or herself, leaving him or her in many awkward, scary situations. They feel behind compared to most of their peers in areas such as dating, never really figuring out what exactly is wrong with them.

Examples:
Wow, she's never had a relationship, she must be a first pancake.
He's so naive, I bet he's a first pancake.

See guinea pig, experiment child.

I play an ever-expanding game of twister

What was I thinking? I don't even need this, I don't even want this.

I just want to spend my days evenly split between the new studio and the lab. I hate taking classes. I can't focus and I just feel stupid and fat. I need to be moving, running, dancing, anything, I can feel it in my body. I'm sick of sitting! I'm sick of thinking!

The drop deadline isn't until Thursday. With one click I can walk away and pretend that chem 227 and new testament never happened.

Monday, May 12, 2008

Secrets

I really liked Ashlan's post about secrets, so here are some of mine.
Disclaimer: no earth shattering things will be revealed (mostly because I don't have any earth shattering secrets), just some random things you may not know about me.

I am deathly afraid of grasshoppers. Yes, I am perfectly aware that this is a completely irrational fear, but I am afraid nonetheless. Do not mock me. :P

I tend to keep what I think to myself, not because I don't want people to hear my opinions or anything, but because it takes me a while to decide what I think about things. I'm too easily swayed by both sides and can usually see why both sides could be correct.

I don't think people take me seriously sometimes, but I don't mind it so much so long as I'm able to prove their initial assumptions about me wrong.

I wonder sometimes what life would have been like if I'd done that Center Stage jazz team with Becky years and years ago instead of doing ballroom.

I hate eggs and milk. I even tried eating an omelet a couple weeks ago. I really did try it, and you know what, I didn't like it. Too eggy, too nasty of a texture.

I'm a first pancake. Maybe I'll get over it. (tehe Jody and Alyssa)

I don't really know what to do with myself. I know I posted that cynical post about how there are some things I will never be able to do, but for the most part I still believe I can do anything. And therefore, I can do nothing because I have a million possibilities.

I keep waiting for someone in the chemistry department to say, "Just kidding! You really aren't that good at this! You just keep getting all these things because your dad works here!" Now that I've typed that out it sounds completely ridiculous, but sometimes that's how I feel.

I don't read as much as I used to and it scares me a little. Like I'm not the same person I was a year ago, which I guess is true, you can't go through your freshman year of college and not change a little, but still...why don't I read all the time?

I tend to only learn enough about things to get by in casual conversations (that's as much as I really know about politics, fooled you all, huh?) and ace a test. I can feel myself losing momentum academically, and I hate it.

I take fast showers. I can soap down, shampoo and condition my hair, and shave my legs in about 3 song lengths (approximately nine minutes).

I used to do weird things like picture sidewalk sections as blocks and then picture myself jumping every other one. I used to climb stairs two at a time so that it would even out and the last step I'd be on the next floor instead of having to take one extra step.

Eh, that's enough for now. Thanks for venturing into the abysses (did not know that was actually a word, but it's not underlined in red, so I guess it is) of my mind. :)

Wednesday, May 7, 2008

I believe, help thou mine unbelief.

My lab this morning was going really badly. It took us forever to calculate the amount of FEDS we needed for our solution and then we made it up with the wrong solvent, then we spilled the FEDS when we started over and had to start over again...3 volumetric flasks later we had a correct solution to put in the sonicator, except I was stupid and forgot to try to dissolve the FEDS first (just smile and nod, sorry this is all gibberish :)) and supposedly FEDS is not all that soluble so I was afraid we were going to have to start over again. I said this super desperate quick prayer in my head that the solution would dissolve and we'd be able to get going on our lab (two hours of class had already gone by). The next time I checked the solution, it was all dissolved. Whew! Thank you Heavenly Father! Three hours later I'm working on my lab report in excel, and it freezes. I hadn't saved it recently and it's due tonight so I was freaking out that I'd have to redo a bunch of stuff for that too. But you know what, it worked out just fine because it unfroze itself and I was able to go back to working on it. I don't know why I always freak out about things like that. If I'd just relax and try to work through the problem things work out. They always do. I know this is kind of a stupid little example, but the principle involved is true. God doesn't abandon you ever, so if you just keep trying, it'll be okay.

Why is it so hard to remember that sometimes?

PS This is my 50th post. Happy 50th post on Katie's blog day everyone! :)

Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Busy, Buzzing, Bumbling Bee

I thought when winter semester was over I could take a little bit of a break. I am just as busy now as I was then...
Schedule: (ok, copying Jody and Alyssa, but it seemed like a fun idea)

Monday
8-12 Lab class
12 Group meeting
1-3 New Testament
3-6ish Work
Go home and do homework, go to FHE at 7?

Tuesday
8-9 TA for bronze latin
9-11 Lab lecture
12-6ish Work

Wednesday
8-12 Lab class
1-3 New Testament
3-6 Work

Thursday
8-9 TA for bronze latin
9-11 Lab lecture
12-6ish Work

Friday
8-12 Lab class
1-6ish Work

Friday, May 2, 2008

I hate the phone, but I wish you'd call.


I don't even know what to say in this post. I'm bored. I'm tired. I should read something or study something or go run errands or something, but I can't dredge up the necessary motivation. I feel stuck. I'm still waiting, and I'm getting sick of it.

Today my little sister asked my mom when I was going to get married. Possibly never, I'm thinking to myself considering that requires having a relationship first. I swear, I feel like I'm so behind, I'm so inexperienced that if I ever do meet someone I really, really like I'll just screw it all up because I have no idea what I'm doing. People have to be very persistent if they want to get to know me, you know. I am not a very open person, and I don't really go out of my way to get what I want when it involves other people. Academics? Yeah, I do whatever it takes to get that A. Guys I like? Nope, I just wait for them to make the first move. And the second. And the third. I just...meh. I don't know what I want.

Ok, I take that back. "I want Ken Rilings to come in here and say, 'Pam Shorts' broken both her legs, and I wanna dance with you."

That's what I want. Where's my Ken Rilings? Where the heck is my ballroom dance king? (preferably not a scumbag drunk, but at this point even that I could possibly put up with)

P.S. Go watch "Strictly Ballroom" if that quote didn't make any sense :P

Thursday, May 1, 2008

First impressions

I started my spring term a couple of days ago. It's always interesting to compare what I thought at the beginning of the term to what I think at the end, so here's what I currently think of:

Chem 227: Has only 30 kids in it, compared to the 100+ there were in 113. That makes it much quieter and more roomy. Dr. Austin seems really cool, except for I think I started off on the wrong foot with him...I had to send him an email telling him I'd be gone the first day of class because of Lake Powell and I don't know, I just get the feeling he thinks I'm a dumb blonde...sigh...every semester, every new class I feel like I have to start over proving I'm smart. It's like nothing I've done in the past counts for anything. You're only as good as your last performance, right? Well none of my new professors know what my last performance was, so I have to prove it all over again. It's exhausting. I just wish I didn't have to try so hard.

Anyway, enough of that. On with the first impressions.

New Testament: Is taught in a building which I do not like at all because of its 80's feel and dark rooms, but I think I'll like the class a lot. My professor had some interesting insights on each of the four gospels. Matthew: written for the Jews as evidenced by more quotes from Old Testament prophets and all of the begats..all of that is Jewish heritage stuff...Mark: written by Mark who was writing for Peter which you can see by the fast pace of the narrative. Luke: written to the poor and meek as evidenced by all of the stories of poor, seemingly insignificant people. John: written for members of church, calling people who already know about the gospel to come higher up and further in. Anyway, he said a lot of other good things to support all of those ideas, but I just liked being able to think about the authors of the gospels as real people writing to specific audiences. Very cool.

TAing for Brent: K, I did not expect to learn anything from TAing a bronze latin class, but you know what, I totally did today. As I was demonstrating with Brent I had to really think about exactly what my body was doing so that I didn't lead the students astray or anything...I did not even realize that I always lift my heels off the ground when I do cucarachas (ahh, spelling? I am not a Spaniard.) but when Brent was teaching them how to do cucarachas I noticed that I definitely do...will fix that. Anyway, it'll be good just to be able to dance twice a week seeing as I still do not have a partner...

Working in Dr. Woodfield's Lab: The people who work in there are so cool; I think I'm going to like it a lot. I'm still in the figure-out-what-the-heck-is-going-on phase, and I expect to be in that phase for a good part of the summer...but, I did grind up a tin II oxide nanoparticle sample today. It was really cool actually. You measure out two off white powders, pour in a little bit of water, and then grind with a mortar and pestle for 15ish minutes and the powders bubble for a while until the mixture becomes a brown paste...who would've thought?

Continuing my education through spring is going to be a bit of a drag, but at least I won't be bored. Hope everyone's summer vacations are going well! Enjoy your break from school....:)