Oh Babylon, oh Babylon, we bid thee farewell.

The elders in my singles ward got up and sang "Ye Elders of Israel" in sacrament meeting today. It was awesome. They got to the chorus of "Oh Babylon, oh Babylon, we bid thee farewell. We're going to the mountain of Ephraim to dwell," and it was so loud and so powerful, I couldn't help but grin. haha, there I am sitting in third row from the front (which may as well be the front row since no one ever sits in the first or second rows) trying really hard to stop smiling like an idiot. I love these guys ,though. I think they all really mean well and are trying hard to honor their priesthood. I'm proud of them. *ok about to go off on a tangent that I wasn't actually going to explore because I want this post to head in a different direction, but I can't help but insert this* I'm really glad I came to this ward. It's a nice reminder that not every good person in the world goes to my religious university and that everyone who is not attending here is not somehow less righteous than those of us who did "make that decision to go to a school where spiritual education is just as important as secular" (honestly, I'd like to believe that people aren't like that there, but every so often you'd have someone make a comment along those lines in church or some other group function). Anyway, I love my singles ward.
Back to my original topic:
There was just so much power in all of them standing up there singing this great song. If we could be like that all the time, so unified in doing what's right, we would change the world. I love this quote by Joseph Smith, “The Standard of Truth has been erected; no unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing; persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble, calumny may defame, but the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and independent, till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God shall be accomplished, and the Great Jehovah shall say the work is done.” The work is going to go forward whether you're with it or not. Nothing can stop it! This stone has been cut out of the mountain without hands, and it is going to fill the earth. When the question is asked, "Who's on the Lord's side?" you can bet I'll be answering in the affirmative.
Have a great week everyone. :)

Some things you can't take back

So the Supreme Court ruled that child rape cannot be punishable by death because [rape and other crimes] "may be as devastating in their harm, as here, but 'in terms of moral depravity and of the injury to the person and to the public,' they cannot be compared to murder in their 'severity and irrevocability."'

Right. Because rape isn't irrevocable at all. Why don't you tell that to the eight year old girl who lost her virginity to her step-father? She wishes she had been murdered. Rape destroys people. It rips away something so precious that it can never be replaced. You can't get your virginity back! And to lose it before you're twelve to someone who is supposed to protect you and love you is unspeakably horrific. I...I don't like to make statements like this, but child rapists do not deserve to live. The damage they cause is worse than death. Justice Kennedy says, "the death penalty should not be expanded to instances where the victim's life was not taken." Life not taken?! I would hazard a guess that those who've been raped feel exactly like their life has been taken from them. Not physically, but emotionally. How can you trust anyone? How can you keep going through the motions of everyday life when something like that is eating you up inside?
I'm sorry (actually you know what, I'm not), but I do not agree with the Supreme Court at all in this case.
Doesn't each state decide whether they use the death penalty or not? Why didn't I get to vote on this? And also, isn't the court of a conservative majority now? What the heck happened?

GAH. It just makes me so angry. Glenn Beck was talking about this subject this week on his radio show and a lady called in who had been raped by three different family members. She tried to commit suicide six times. SIX TIMES. Oh, but rape's not "severe" at all.

I echo Rep. Pete Schneider-"When are you going to have the courage to stand up for what's right for all of the people — but especially the children under 12 that have been brutally raped by monsters?"

(all quotes from the Deseret News article "Court bans death penalty for child rape")

Thought for the Day:

"Be glad you are you- not another instead. With all that you're heir to, add some of your own. Contribute. Accomplish. Serve. Excel. Drink deeply of the good things in life and of the spirit. Live that you may one day hand to your children and your children's children the blessing of a heritage even more worthy than your own."
-Elaine Cannon

Umm...yeah, so like, this is my post....tehehe, giggle giggle giggle

I decided that I do not speak very intelligently. I throw in way too many "like"s, "totally"s, "definitely"s, etc etc. Have you ever had an experience where you're listening to yourself talking and you're thinking, "Oh my gosh. What am I saying? I sound like a complete idiot," but you're already too far into the thought to just drop it right there and there are just words tumbling out of your mouth like some horrible proverbial flood (now there's a smart word for you).
Also, I think I have different personalities for different situations. People who only know me in one situation would be so surprised to meet me in another. Example: peppy Katie, pleaser Katie, Katie who loves everyone and everything, who goes out of her way to avoid offending anyone. People who meet this Katie are always surprised I'm a chem major. What, cheerleader type personalities can't major in something "hard"? But the ballroom dancer is easy enough to believe.There's also serious, focused, studious Katie whose tone of voice is very different from peppy Katie; she gets right down to business and zeros in on the task at hand. Definitely (there's that word again) chem major material. Then there's awkward, shy Katie who makes an appearance at all of the worst possible moments (missionary night, ward prayer, meeting new people, a lot of ballroom events, etc). Crazy, psycho Katie turns up on Saturday nights and dances. Insecure and contemplative Katie is there for the long quiet drives in the car or on weekday nights in her room typing blogs at midnight.
But somehow they all come together, and they're all me. It has always bugged me a little when people say things like, "They don't act like themselves around them." The fact that they act differently is part of who they are. That says something about them. That's what I think anyway...
Remind me to post about the supreme court deciding not to give the death penalty to child rapists (anger, anger, anger).

If I play the girl, will you play the guy?

(I typed this up last night, but my internet timed out when I tried to post it, so I'm posting it today.)

Plug for my girl Ingrid:

Everyone should go see Ingrid Michaelson in concert in a city near you. Basically, she's amazing and my new favorite artist for which I can actually attend a concert (Kate Nash, the Chili Peppers, and Flight of the Conchords are probably all a little too sketchy to go to an actual concert). She writes songs with kinda quirky lyrics like OH MY GOODNESS MY INTERNET IS BEING SO FREAKING SLOW TODAY!!! GAHHHHHHHHHHHHh *not her lyrics, just my uncontrollable outburst* And by slow, it's still about a million times faster than when we had dial up about a thousand years ago, but still! I am used to a quicker speed here, you darn network you! AND IT REALLY MAKES ME ANGRY WHEN IT TAKES 6 MINUTES TO LOAD FACEBOOK. GRrrrrRRRrrrr.
Anyway, the page of Ingrid's lyrics finished loading, so I'll continue with my previous train of thought.

Quirky lyrics:
I woke up this morning with a funny taste in my head.
Spackled some butter over my whole grain bread.

I'm just a stranger, even to myself.
A re-arranger of the proverbial bookshelf.

I want to change the world...instead I sleep.

I'd buy you Rogaine if you start losing all your hair.
Sew on patches to all you tear.

Medicinal tongue in my ear.

And we are so fragile,
And our cracking bones make noise,
And we are just,
Breakable, breakable, breakable girls and boys.

But as strong as I seem to think I am my distressing damsel,
She comes out at night when the moon's filled up and your eyes are
bright, then I think I simply aught to

Fall over, fall over, fall overboard, overboard.
Fall overboard just so you can catch me.
You can catch me.

Anyway, you all should go to imeem and listen to some of her songs because they are awesome. That's all I have to say about that.

What has changed in that year of college

I don't travel in a pack. As much.

Walking "long distances" no longer means parking 50 yards away from the entrance to Target. Walking "long distances" means walking from the Mariott Center to the Elms.

I know how to cook raw meat, even if I still think it's incredibly gross and I always wonder what possessed the first person to eat it.

I understand what a credit hour means. (haha, I don't know why that was so confusing to me, my mom kept trying to explain it to me and I kept thinking, "oh my gosh, this is so complicated!")

Wards without children don't seem too quiet anymore.

I can find anything in the library (except for those dang chemical journals that they claim they have on their website and then really only have issues from 1967 to 1979).

I like to cook.

I know what it's like to fail a test, and I mean the dictionary definition of fail, not the Katie Andrus "anything below a B+" kind of fail.

I feel pretty comfortable in my own skin.

Violet Hill

About an hour after I'd written that post, what do you know but I get a phone call from Mike asking me if I'd found anything to do yet. He so kindly offered to take me to a dollar movie. My Saturday evening was therefore saved from becoming completely uneventful. Thanks Mike!

I have two confessions to make:

1. I accidentally stole the key to the p chem lab today. I put it in my pocket when I was running a tga, and I forgot about it until I got home. Also, I accidentally took home the SnO2 sample I'd just taken out of the XRD. Whoops.

2. I feel so much older than all of the graduating seniors who just got moved up into the singles ward. It's completely irrational and really stupid, but that's how I feel. I don't even know why, I know a lot of them, and I like them. I just get kinda annoyed because they seem so young. Does a year of college make that big of a difference? I'm inclined to say yes, but...I don't know. Meh.

So if you read this tonight...and you're not doing anything...you could call me or something...

I think I have officially gone crazy from boredom.

I am completely out of things to do. I stayed up until 4:30 last night reading The Host (I highly recommend it), and I therefore slept in until noonish. So you'd think since my day was already so much shorter than usual, I would have plenty of things to keep me busy. Not true. I've already folded all my laundry, burned CDs for Steph, taken a stab at editing the music video we filmed last night, read bits of The Chocolate War and A Sweet Far Thing, did worksheets out of my old French textbook and reviewed all the tenses, read my organic chemistry textbook for next semester, went to the mall and bought a politically charged T-shirt and a bracelet, wrote a blog post (see below), played Zoo Tycoon, made myself lunch, swept my floor, cleaned my bathroom, put away all the aforementioned laundry, made my bed, checked up on my finances, took a short nap and listened to not one, but TWO Bill O'Reilly podcasts.
And then I ended up dancing around my room like a psycho because I honestly cannot think of anything else to do. Given a choice between being so busy I'm stressed and having absolutely nothing in the world to do, I'll take the stress.

I think I'll go get a redbox dvd and watch it by myself. :P

Do I dare disturb the universe?

I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.
-Henry David Thoreau

I could not, at any age, be content to take my place by the fireside and simply look on. Life was meant to be lived. Curiosity must be kept alive. One must never, for whatever reason, turn his back on life.
-Eleanor Roosevelt

What lies behind us and what lies ahead of us are tiny matters compared to what lives within us.
-Henry David Thoreau

To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.
-Oscar Wilde

		Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
		I took the one less traveled by,
		And that has made all the difference.

-Robert Frost

All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better.
-Ralph Waldo Emerson

I am here to live out loud.
-Emile Zola


Me too, Zola. Me too.

If you'd just realized what I just realized...

...you'd be freaked out too.

I am taking French 321 in the fall, and it just hit me that that will be with all of the returned missionaries who've been speaking it for the past two years. Ahhhh ahhh ahh ahhhhh

Il faut que je parle (ah, subjunctive? don't remember endings for that...?) francais pendant le reste de l'ete afin que je peux parler avec les etudiants dans ma classe.

(Desole, je ne suis pas certaine comment on peut faire les accents...?)

On chemistry and why I happen to enjoy it so very much

Why chemistry?

Lots of people have asked me that question since I picked it as my major. I think that people often think it's because of my dad, but it really isn't. I found chemistry on my own. I chose to take it in high school- not because my dad suggested it (he didn't even mention it), but because I thought it would be kinda fun. I've loved it ever since. My dad has never pushed me toward chemistry in any way. I think it makes him happy that this is what I've chosen to study, but he wouldn't have any problem with it if I switched to Jewish studies or something random like that. Anyway, when people ask me that I usually rattle off a peppy response (because I'm not about to rattle off the response at the end of this post, that would freak people out a little, read on, you'll see) like, "It's really fun!!" or "I just like it a lot!!" but you know what, that's not really why I study chemistry....
Every time I look at the sky at night, I think how beautiful is it that things like the stars and moon exist? And how amazing is it that we as small and seemingly insignificant humans can learn about them and try to make some sense out of it all? I remember one night in particular I was standing on my back porch in the middle of the summer at night under a full moon, and that feeling, that awe of the universe just confirmed why I love chemistry. I knew I wanted to study them-the world-atoms, why things are and what they're made of.

I study chemistry because I am human, because I am curious, because I want to know how the world works. I study chemistry because I like knowing that at the most fundamental level, the universe is ordered. There are rules, and things fit into place. I study chemistry because it challenges me. I study chemistry because I enjoy seeing people's reactions when I tell them my major (make of that what you will :)). I study chemistry because I feel like I'm learning how God put together this world (as dramatic as that may seem). I like that. I like being able to look at a colored solution and know why it's colored the way it is. I like being able to touch a cold metal pole and know that it's not really "cold," it's a good conductor of heat. I like being able to look at the stars and know of which elements they're made. And I don't expect to make any sort of grand discovery or anything. I'm content to learn what's out there first, to spend lots of hours in the lab doing nothing but reading Gopal (I swear I'll never figure out how to spell his name), running XRDs, and all the other little things. I don't mind that at all-in fact, I love it. I love being in the lab, I love learning how things go in real research (instead of whatever they try to get you to believe in 113), sometimes I even like cleaning out mortars with acid. Whatever it takes to be in there. As foreign and distasteful as it may be to some of you, dear readers, I love chemistry. Yes, it's hard. But I have to believe that it's worth it.

The subject for tonight's lecture is rhythm...the beat

As of tonight I'm the proud owner of the World Super Star Latin 2006 DVD. Now I don't have to depend on youtube for my fill of Max and Yulia, Slavik and Elena, and Michael and Joanna, which is a major relief seeing as the quality is so terrible that I can barely make out Yulia's perfectly pointed feet.

In the process of getting this fabulous DVD, I found myself with 2 extra copies of the World Super Star Latin 2004 DVD. If you'd like one...you know where to find me ;)

Happy dancing everyone!

Ward Prayer Nightmare

So my new calling in my singles ward (not sure how to punctuate that phrase: single's ward? singles' ward?) is being on the ward prayer committee. Apparently it makes me more anxious than I thought...
Last night I had a dream that I went to ward prayer and had forgotten to assignment anyone to do anything, so I had to come up with a spiritual thought. I asked the people who host it if I could use the set of nice leather scriptures to come up with a thought and the lady was like, "No, I don't think so," and then she went off to find some scriptures that were crappy enough for me to use. Twenty minutes later she comes back without any scriptures and starts rummaging around in the entertainment center where I'd found the leather scriptures. She pulls out a piece of paper with some quotes on it and says, "Here, why don't you use this?" I don't see how I have any other choice so I start reading off this quote by some guy who I'm not even sure is LDS because he's talking about how we're more important than bubble gum. I glance down and the quote below it is by Christina Aguilera. Anyway, I'm trying my best to tie this into the gospel, but she keeps chiming in with her own insight about the quote. Finally it's over with and I have someone say the prayer and everyone can leave. Oh, except for the hosts' creepy son (they don't actually have a son who lives with them...I made him up in my dream) who's wearing a guitar around his back and won't let me back away from the refreshment table (the neck of the guitar is in the way). I finally push through, but he pulls me back with that stupid guitar, smiling like an idiot, probably thinking, "heh heh, I'm so good with girls." He puts the guitar on me, and I'm like, "ok, I'm getting out of here." So I go to leave and my car is gone, but my mom is there to walk me home. That was it. Oh and Becky and Jeff were there for some reason, and they wouldn't pay attention so I was really mad at them. And then Kim was like, "Katie, are you ok? You look like you're going to cry." And I felt like I was going to cry.
It was super bizarre. And I actually like being ward prayer coordinator. The people who host it are really nice and would never forbid me from using their scriptures to give a spiritual thought...at least I hope so...I've never actually asked them if I could...

Il pleut

Today I went through all of my photos from freshman year. I had forgotten all of the crazy things we did...it made me sad.
I miss my roommates.
I miss living near campus. It sucks driving there everyday. I have to fill up on gas just about every week now. I miss having my own kitchen. I miss buying my own food (weird as that sounds). I miss sharing a room with someone who puts their clothes away (love you manda :)). I miss dancing with an actual partner instead of by myself. I miss having team every other morning. I [almost] miss having class. I think my brain is atrophying. I miss my friends from school who are now at home in other states. I miss sitting in a kitchen and having people to talk who are my own age. If I sit in my kitchen now and expect to talk to someone, I'm going to get one word answers from my brother, nonsense from my little little sisters, and "I'm in a hurry to go have a social life" from my younger sister. Gah, I'm actually looking forward to September.

I had a sudden realization the other day, but I have to give you some background first to appreciate it. Chem 113 was an awful experience. I dreaded Tuesdays and Thursdays (days I actually got to sleep in even!) because I had that lab class for three hours. Every class I was frantically flipping through the instructions that I had barely glanced over the night before (totally my fault, I know) trying to figure out what the heck I was supposed to do for the day's experiment. By the end of the semester, I nursed a growing hatred for lab work. Recently I got this job though, working in one of my professor's labs, and I've really been enjoying it. The other day I realized that I love being in the lab. Thinking about filtering used to be a sure-fire way to suddenly induce anxiety, but you know what, I don't mind it at all anymore. Thinking about going to a lab class sounds fun again. I don't hate lab work anymore, and it's a darn good thing because I'm going to have to take a million more classes full of them. Yay for chemistry!

Vent and Tag

Before I fill out the little survey thing Suzy tagged me for, I must vent immediately about "So You Think You Can Dance." (oh, this is such a lovely preview for the months to come.)

I. Can. Not. Believe. There. Is. Not. A. Single. Ballroom. Guy. In. The. Top. Twenty.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
GAHHHh I'm so disappointed. Granted, there are some fabulous contemporary and hiphop guys, but come on, we're not going to get a single decent samba, rhumba, samba, chacha, paso, or jive this season from the guys! That makes me so angry! It's all up to Chelsie to represent ballroom now...

Anyway, on to the survey:
A. The rules of the game are posted at the beginning.
B. Each player answers the questions about themselves.
C. At the end of the game the player tags 5 people, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment letting them know they've been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

Where were you 10 years ago: It was a year after I'd moved here, and I was just starting to settle in...I think that was when I started taking dance in Jaylee's basement too.

Five things (that were) on my to-do list today:
1. Go to work. (check)
2. Watch "So You Think You Can Dance." (checkish...will watchall of it again with Jody and Kim later)
3. Put away clothes. (should go do that right now)
4. Mail a check to Andrea.
5. Get "Freakonomics" from the library (done, I even finished reading it this afternoon, I'd highly recommended if you want something intellingent and entertaining to read.)

Five snacks I enjoy:
1. yoplait light harvest peach yogurt
2. those swiss miss 3 layer chocolate puddings
3. pretzels with pink frosting (yay Bowen girls!)
4. fruit and nut granola bars
5. croissants

What would I do if I were suddenly a billionaire: Go to France for a month. Pay for my parents' home and buy one of my own. Furnish my newly purchased house with Pottery Barn furniture. Buy ballroom costumes, fly pros out for lessons every week, and get new shoes, lots of new shoes (ballroom, that is).

Four of my bad habits:
1. Like Suzy, I also have to check my blog, facebook, email, and all of my friends' blogs before I can get anything done on a computer.
2. blowing bubbles when I chew gum
3. cracking my knuckles
4. whining about things...like SYTYCD....or plane tickets...sorry girls :)

Five jobs that I have had:
1. Research assistant!!! Yeah!!!
2. Sales associate at Macy's
3. Nanny
4. Dance teacher
5. Babysitter

Five things people don't know about me:
(some of these might be repeats from my multiple secrets posts...I'll try to come up with something original...)
1. I have scoliosis and as a result one of my legs is longer than the other. And it also makes my hips slightly asymmetrical, hehe.
2. I don't really like excessively muscley guys. Ew.
3. I just got new favorite baby names from "Freakonomics." They are Ansel, Asher, and Liam for a boy, and Quinn and Pascale for a girl.
4. I love going to art museums. Sometimes I walk through the performing arts building just to look at the mini exhibits they have set up in the lobby.
5. I love flying. I don't even mind airports or sitting on airplanes for extended periods of time (granted, the farthest I've flown is to NYC/DC, so you know...I've yet to really experience a 12 hour flight or anything).


5 people I'm tagging
1. Amanda (haha now you're double tagged)
2. Alyssa
3. Jody
4. Ashlan
5. Ashley

I have to touch statues of lions on their paws.

I am sitting in science computer section of the library on the second floor, and it is dead silent...except for me, laughing out loud. Why?

This site.

I think I might have to submit one of my own, although I'm not sure if I'm that neurotic...

Overboard

I have written five posts in the past two days, and I have posted none of them. Frustrations. I keep having little slivers of ideas of topics to write about and then they end up going nowhere. I think though, that this one might turn into something...

I was reminded yet again last night that you really cannot judge people, that you have no idea what their life is really like and what kinds of things they've been through. I think I tend to believe that everyone's lives are as happy and easy as mine. I have an amazing family, great friends, a fabulous job, a good chunk of money in savings, etc, etc. I take it for granted sometimes that my parents actually love each other and get along. I take it for granted that my dad is a great, moral person and doesn't abuse me or my siblings. I take it for granted that my parents have never made me feel not good enough or unaccepted. I take it for granted that I'm healthy both body and mind. I take it for granted that the biggest problems I'm dealing right now are so small and so insignificant compared to others around me.
It just breaks my heart to see people I know and respect go through difficult trials and then blame themselves. I wish they could see the way I see them, and how God sees them, how incredible they truly are. GAhhh. Like this one time when Chino* hadn't done well at an audition at NYCDA and was just feeling awful about her dancing and herself in general and Piper* was texting me telling me what was going on, I couldn't help but cry. I hate to see the people I love in so much pain. I'm sorry to those of you who are dealing with hard things, and I'm proud of those of you who are getting through it. Love you all. :)

*names have been changed, in case you couldn't tell...haha