How Kind of You to Let Me Come

This new blogger posting interface thingy is weird... Why does it look like a page?  This makes me feel like I'm writing something serious and that may be graded.  Not that I only ever wrote papers, but it's been several months since I've worked on anything (like the novel I'm procrastinating on....) so yeah.

Anyway.  Shannon did an award thingy and nominated me.  Am I supposed to thank all the people who got me to this point?  And a nomination... does that always necessarily equal a win?  I guess if I'm unsure if I've won then I don't have to thank anybody harharhar.  Why is the period key so DIFFICULT?  WHY.

Enough of the pointless rambling.  We're moving on to the pointed rambling, if there is such a thing.  I'm tempted to end all my sentences with a comma, since that's way easier to push,

That's seriously bugging you, isn't it?  ;)

TA DA

Anyway, so here are the rules for this major award:

1. Each person awarded must post 11 facts about themselves. (Why 11?  I have no idea.)
2. Answer the 11 questions the nominator has set for them.
3. Choose five bloggers to nominate.
4. Create 11 more questions for the bloggers they will nominate.
5. Let the lucky bloggers know.






My daughter is stinky.  But I'm probably going to finish this before I change her diaper.  I just looked at her and she blinked at me (her verson of winking).  She's fine.

1. I don't care for donuts (unless they're cake donuts, and usually my favorite are the old-fashioned kind or the kind without any topping at all, because they can be dunked into hot chocolate and it is delicious).  I don't like cookies from the store, either.  I went through a brief period where I liked Oreos, but I think I'm over that now.

2. I'm seriously afraid of heights, but for some reason I feel the need to face that fear from time to time.  I feel like my fears should not define who I am, even though right now I'm using one of them as a fact about myself.  Whatever.

3. I wish I was athletic.  I think I'd have a lot more energy and probably accomplish my goal of being a spry 70 year old who could hike Mt. Kilimanjaro if she wanted.


4. I'm afraid to talk to people.  When I think about the wherefores, I can't really come up with any good reason why I shouldn't talk to people, but it still freaks me out.  I believe the people surrounding me are generally pretty nice and would probably handle my awkwardness and sometimes embarrassing or unintentionally rude comments with grace but it's all still a situation I'd prefer to avoid.  Usually after talking to people on the rare occasions that I do, it's not that awkward (with some exceptions - there are times after conversations, especially with strangers, that I find myself shaking for at least 20 minutes).  It is what it is.

5. Sometimes I forget how old I am.

6. I think other cultures and religions are extremely interesting.  As far as religions go, so far I've done some research on Islam, Wicca and Paganism, Catholicism, Judaism, and there's one more that I totally can't think of right now because I have mom brain (and obviously I've researched my own religion as well).  I've also done a very little research on a handful of other religions.  I've done a little research on Atheism too, even though I know that's basically the opposite of religion.  I think it's interesting to note that each one of these religions (and I mean the philosophy held from the beginning, not some of the zealous sects) holds a few similar truths, including the admonition to do good to others.  In my opinion, ignorance is not an excuse.  Once you're aware you're ignorant, you should do something to fix it.  One of my guidelines for myself is that if something makes me feel fear or discomfort, I need to learn more about it.  As a disclaimer, I've done most of this research on the internet.  I start with wikipedia, but I try to get a handful of sites from people who actual belong to these religions to get their side of the story before I decide I'm done reading about a topic.  And now Maya is fussing so I'd better go change her diaper.

7. I usually feel out of step with people, even people I'm really close to, like my family.  When I was a child, I used to think the cure for this was to find a Best Friend.  Someone who was always on the same page as me, and had mostly the same interests as me.  When I was a young teenager I finally realized this was an impossibility and as I grew older I learned to love being alone and get over it when I felt left out.  As an aside, this helped me with my testimony also, when I had a mini-epiphany that church had very little to do with who else was there.  Sure I should serve others where I can, but are friends necessary?  Do they correlate to my reason for attending?  Absolutely not.  They are nice, and fun to have, but I wasn't ever going to stop going just because no one talked to me and I didn't know how to start talking to them.

8. I love tinned sardines.  I love to eat them on Ritz crackers.  I sometimes used to eat them (the sardines and crackers) in a stack with cheddar cheese and boysenberry jam.  I refrain for Jared's sake, but once in a while when he's on a business trip I'll eat them.  Now that I think about it, this might explain the never having had a Best Friend thing.

9. I wish I had hair like the Disney version of Pocahontas.

10. I love languages and figuring out how they work, how they formed from other languages, and how they're similar to one another.  I love marveling at their differences.

11. Like Shannon, I tend to think everything is funny (except when I don't).  Sometimes I laugh even when something's not funny.  Sometimes I don't laugh when it is.


These are Shannon's questions:

1. How do you wake up in the morning?  ie what wakes you up?
Usually Maya wakes me up to tell me her sorrows.  The time she does this varies.

2. If you could drive any car without worrying about gas or street regulations or maintenance, what would it be?
I don't know... I don't really think about cars that much.  I have, from time to time, thought it would be handy to have an off-roading vehicle big enough for my family (and maybe a few others) so that if the time came, we could leave easily if necessary and hopefully get far enough away from whatever it was even if the roads were clogged.  I'm thinking impending nuclear explosion, foreign invasion, zombie epidemic, that kind of thing.

3. If you had to pick one feature on your face to be completely hideous, which would it be? (I'm thinking snaggle teeth and warty noses, don't disappoint me, guys)
I always thought it would be kinda cool to have an eye like Mad-Eye Moody, if that counts.

4. Assuming you rule the universe, what would be the first thing you would tell people to stop doing?
Stop hitting yourself.

5.  What is one inside joke you have with a sibling and how did it happen?
Uhhhhrrmmemerrrmmmerrrrrmmm.... I don't know.  I can think of jokes but not how they came about, and I can think of dozens that I only heard about later which I'm not strictly part of.

6.  Tell me a story about a time you ended up in the ER.  Please.
Since you asked so nicely, no thank you.

7.  What are your two guilty pleasures?  Anything.
Hum.  I don't know.  I used to feel embarrassed (but not guilty) about liking vampire stuff, like Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Twilight but I'm mostly over it (actually sometimes I still feel embarrassed about liking Twilight, since it seems everyone loves to hate it).  Do I have another one?  I don't know... Not really, I guess.  Oh, I remember, I sometimes read fanfiction.  I haven't in months, but I have read some seriously great stories that have pretty much nothing to do with the fandom they came from but are amazing anyway.  The first example that comes to mind is a few years ago I read this Twilight fanfic that had Bella and Rosalie being best friends and going to college in Boston.  Edward was a guy Bella sorta knew from afar (and had a massive crush on) in high school.  He went to college in Chicago or something, and got engaged (to Tanya, har har), and then he ended up in this airplane crash and he died.  Bella went back to Forks (ha, they always live in Forks) for the funeral and anyway, long story shortish, Alice was an adopted psychic (okay no change there) who also happened to be about 8 years old (?!) and she realized that Bella could go to the other side in her dreams (and draw things with incredible accuracy while she slept) and there were wolves in her dreams and then there was this crazy bad guy in her dreams (who had a name of one of the Volturi, of course) and at one point in real life she meets up with Jasper, who also knew Edward, and they almost date but then they don't and Bella and Rosalie had this cute tradition of going to Trader Joe's and eating samples for breakfast and the story talked about winter in Boston and how freezing it was and it all sounds totally, completely insane now that I'm writing it out but the writer described things beautifully and the whole mood was incredibly dark and interesting (except for most of the dream sequences, which were like lights in the darkness).  Anyway, it ended ambiguously, which seemed fitting, but then the author did another little bonus chapter that had a happier ending and it was nice.  Anyway, so there's that.  And yes, there's a boat load of crap in the fanfiction world, and you have to be careful because if you look for anything rated K-Teen, it usually reads like it was written by a 12 year old (and very probably was) and if you look in the rated M section, you have to worry about adult situayshonz, but regardless of all that, I've found some diamonds in the rough.  Gah this is so long.  Sorry.

8.  Why did you choose the post-high school career/education/family/whatever path that you did?
Why?  I'm not sure, I don't feel like I specifically made one choice, or even just a couple.  I feel like it was a succession of choices that lead me to where I am.  So here we go:  It was spring of 2003, high school was almost over and I had almost nothing to show for it.  I had an extremely average GPA and hadn't bothered applying anywhere because I knew I wouldn't get in and I didn't see the point of doing all that work only to get expected rejection letters.  At some point I toyed with the idea of going to a college in Seattle, but I thought it would be pretty expensive and I didn't know anyone there.  Well there was a cousin there but it's not like I was going to see her every day and we're not super-duper close anyway, though it would be nice to be.  Anyway, that wasn't going to happen, mostly because of the expense, I figured.  Then I thought about Southern Virginia, which I *think* I could have gotten into, and I even got so far as imagining where I'd apply for jobs (I had my eye on a Chinese restaurant, of course) but then I talked to my cousin Katie (or my mom talked to her mom, I can't remember) and Katie was going to BYU, and Carly was moving out there too, and did I want to come along?  I'm not sure if there was a specific offer, actually, but I thought about it for a week or so and decided I'd try to go to Utah Valley State College (which is now a university).  So even though it was similar to a community college with admissions, I still wasn't sure I'd get in, but I did.  I didn't declare a major in anything, I just took random classes, like Russian, Environmental Studies, Business 101, and some normal classes to get me necessary credits.  Anyway, at some point before school started, a ward started meeting and I was so glad I was with Katie since I didn't know anyone else.  I met Jared at church but neither of us remembers it very well since I looked at him to say hi for approximately 1/4 of a second.  We met that evening though, I think, and did some awkward but funny swing dancing.  I liked him but figured there was no chance someone like him would like someone like me and I figured if he ever found out I liked him he'd start to dislike me so I tried to keep my distance so we could keep the relationship neutral instead of negative.  Turns out he did like me, though.  He just didn't ask me out at first because he thought I was too young.  So we hung out a couple of times, played chess a couple of times (why?) and then toward the end of October he asked me out.  Oh I guess we're on our 9th anniversary of our first date then, hehe.  Skipping time, skipping time.... We didn't talk seriously a lot (well, about our relationship, we talked about life and spiritual things from time to time, though).  Around February Jared thought about breaking up with me since I always talked about not getting married for years and stuff like that.  In March we told each other we loved each other.  I remember a couple of people being surprised about that, probably because we were always laughing and goofing off.  We talked about marriage a few times, and one of those times was when we were walking around the Provo temple.  I remember getting a spiritual witness then that I could marry Jared and it would be alright, because he was a good choice.  We got engaged at the end of July, right before I went with him to meet his family in Indiana.  Then we got married in November 2004.  So that's how that happened.  Oh, but going back in time, the late spring before we got engaged, Jared helped me get a job.  I could walk into businesses and ask for applications, fine, but when it came to places where I really wanted to work, I always figured they weren't hiring because I couldn't imagine actually getting hired and I didn't want to take the rejection if I didn't.  So I got a job at a bookstore because Jared kept telling me there was no harm in asking.  I liked it and didn't like it.  There are always pros and cons to every job.  I mention this job, though, because it has to do with books, which I like.  Oh golly I'm boring myself, I'm sure I'm boring you... I'm sorry this is so long!!!  Anyway, the summer after we got married we talked about having kids.  Then in January of 2006 we got pregnant with Nathan, and it was exciting.  I was still in school at the time, but I stopped going after that semester.  I really wanted to stay home with Nathan and raise him myself, and Jared's job was good enough that we could afford to, so that's what we did.  A couple of years after that came Rylie, then a few years later Maya was born.  At some point in the future I plan on going to back to school (for who knows what) and getting a job doing something, but I'm not worried about it right now.  See, like I said, it wasn't all one choice.  It was a seemingly meandering line of choices and events that lead to where we all are today.  Kinda like those kids in that comic strip.  I can't think of the specific one.

9.  What is the most adventurous thing you've ever done?
Umm... I can think of a few things.  In chronological order: rappelling, moving away from my family, choosing to marry Jared, having kids, and zip lining.  Haha I guess I think big life decisions and jumping from great heights are equatable in my mind.

10.  What is one thing about yourself or your accomplishments that you are very proud of?
Any from the above answer, I guess, hehe.

11.  What is your favorite children's book?
I have so manyyyyy.  I guess right now I'll say East of the Sun, West of the Moon.  I like that the main character, the heroine, seems so real.  She decides things impetuously, makes a bad decision that doesn't seem bad at first but then gets so much worse, and then actually does a ton of work to make up for it.  She saves the day and the prince and lives happily ever after.  Me gusta.  It's actually pretty similar to this Russian fairytale, called Fenist the Falcon, by the way.

If you read all that, I'm proud of you.  If you didn't, that's fine, I totally don't blame you!  Anyway, I'm going to nominate people but I don't know if they'll have time to do it.  This thing took me forever because I had to keep stopping and starting for various responsibilities so if you don't do it that's fine, but if you do I'll be pleased because I'm nosy and like to read other people's business!

I'm nominating:
1.  Kelly and Zach (You guys can do it together, or just one of you can, or maybe Evangeline can, or none of the above, whatever you fancy - honestly I don't know if you both write the blog or if just Kelly does!)
2.  Katie
3.  Marlyse (um, do you read my blog still?)
4.  Emily
5.  Kristin

And here are your 11 questions.  Feel free to skip any that you find offensive or uninteresting.  Also, if you're not nominated, feel free to answer these questions anyway, either in the comments or in an email or on your blog.

1.  What's the scariest thing you've ever done?

2.  Name a book you've read that you hated.  Then name one you loved.

3.  Tell me your favorite food, then tell me a food you hate.

4.  If you could go back in time and tell anyone (or any group of people) one sentence or question (and receive an answer, probably), what would it be?

5.  Would you rather have to dress like a princess or a lumberjack for the rest of your life?

6.  Tell me about a favorite vacation.

7.  What time do you usually go to bed?

8.  If you lived in a post-apocalyptic world, would you rather live in orderly society (but under the thumb of a tyrannical reigning dictator) or live in the ungoverned wild, fending for yourself and your family with no guarantee of stability?  Note: there are no zombies in this scenario, but sometimes vigilantes are worse.  Actually, they're always worse, since zombies aren't real.

9.  Singing or dancing?

10.  Train A left the coastal station at 8 am and is going 25 miles an hour.  On the same track, Train B left the mountain station at 9 am but is going 50 miles an hour.  How long will it take for you to bring me more rice pudding from my kitchen downstairs?

11.  Tell me a story, please.  It can be real or made-up.

BONUS:  The rain in Spain rains mainly in the _____.