City Science Fun

PICTURES!!!

(Funny cone head people in a store at Rockefeller center)

(The proposal at the ice rink in Rockefeller Center...so cute.)

(Beautiful decorations... this is the building that does the cool light show...)

I took lots of pictures but there just isn't enough time or space to upload them all. We went as a family to the Liberty Science Center which was really fun. It brought me back to my elementary school days when we would go once a year. Good times. This picture will excite some...namely Scott, Dan, and Sarah....

(Yeah I did)

NYC Adventures

We went into the city today for our annual Christmas visit. Though it was after Christmas it was still wonderful and we got to see everything all decked out for the holidays. I absolutely love the smell of the city, well okay most of it. No one like the smell of vomit or feces, but the roasting nuts, pretzels, and hot dogs, combined with the wonderfully toxic car fumes....it's like heaven or at least definitely worth the hour and a half wait to get through the Lincoln Tunnel!

Our most exciting part of the adventure was to witness someone get proposed to on the ice skating rink at Rockefeller Center!! I think it's a good thing she said yes...

We got curious enough today, as to what exactly chestnuts taste like, to try some. In case you haven't ever tried them they're not really worth it. They taste almost like potatoes, no matter how sweet and candy like the vendor tells you they are!!

Tomorrow I might go see Twilight again, probably eat homemade ice cream, and will put up some pictures from our jaunt into NYC today!!

Yes Sizzli List

I got to hang out with my BFF on Friday night which was insanely fun. We stayed up late chatting and then went to Wawa for pancake sizzli's in the morning which was even more fun. Then I got to go to the church to play basketball with my family which was fun beyond fun!! What a fun weekend!!

I was watching David Letterman's Top Ten Lists from this last week and was inspired to write my own similar to the "Top Ten Things Jim Carrey will Always say Yes to" (Yes Man, was a funny movie btw)

Top Ten Things Emily Will Always Say Yes To:
10. Pancake Sizzli's for breakfast
9. Hanging out with friends
8. A real live puppy
7. Stitches finally falling out
6. Several large vats of Western Family strawberry yogurt
5. Hugs and kisses...from people I know resonably well and can trust to stop at hugs and kisses!!
4. An engagement to Jim Carrey
3. Any sort of monetary suppliments or college funding
2. A few million dates with Batman in full Batman get-up
1. On a related note, my very own bat wings preferably actually made out of memory cloth so as to become rigid upon any rapid desent.

Video Giving Joe

Christmas was fantastic. I got a lot of great stuff and got to eat ham for dinner!! Some of the things I got, that I am most grateful for receiving!!
- 3 pans of different sizes
- The Dark Knight DVD
- Batman gloves
- A cutting board
- Hot pads
- Jim Brickman Greatest Hits CD
- "100 Years" by Five for Fighting sheet music
- A sleeve for my lappy
- Batman action figure
- Flarping silly puddy
- Flubber DVD
- And tons of super cute clothes from Santa

My favorite part was giving presents though. I was paired up with Scott and Cassie to buy presents for Sarah and Ben. We got Sarah a "Job Hunting Survival Kit" and a few other things. We got Ben the complete recording of Miss Saigon (he will be playing the part of John in his schools performance), some fun cereal, and hot cocoa mix. I had already gotten my mom and dad the tickets to see Garrison Keillor and Prairie Home Companion in New York a few weeks ago. My very favorite gift though was for Jeff. Alex and I got him a PET FISH!!! He named it Joe.

(Joe in his wonderful home...created lovingly my Alex and myself)

Speaking of Christmas and family and fun you should check out this awesome video my family made about our wonderful thoughts and traditions of Christmas. I dare say it is pretty amazing. You can also get to the video through our family website. There is a link for that on the left side of this page!! Enjoy...

Keeping Me In Stitches

I had quite a scare last night. As yesterday was the first time I could brush and be rough with my stitches, I was feeling around in my mouth and could not find any evidence whatsoever that they had removed my upper two wisdom teeth. So naturally I freaked out and had my mom look in my mouth and she couldn't see anything either.

This morning she called the oral surgeon, who of course had a perfectly good explanation, but not one that could have been explained to me in my previous two visits. Apparently the upper extractions are quite different from the bottom ones. The incision is smaller, the gums are softer, they only have internal dissolving stitches, and can apparently heal completely in a week and a half.

Well I'm off to await Santa's arrival and to lay out my final presents now that certain people have gone to bed....::grins wickedly::

Hearty Holidays

I have just purchased in one day, two of the greatest Christmas gifts ever!! (minus the one we got my mom and dad) It feels great! I promise to tell you all about them after they have been heartily received by their new and grateful owners.

I also sat in traffic for an hour ice was being cleared off of power lines. That did not feel great.

There's no place like New Jersey for the holidays!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YOU!!

Dissolvable Goodbyes

I had a very busy out of the house day today.

In the morning I went with my mother and father to Kaye Cale's' funeral. I sung "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing", a song she requested, with a very small ward choir. It was a very moving service and I could feel her there with us. RIP Kaye...

After the services we drove my dad to the train, then went to Somerville for my follow up appointment with the oral surgeon. There I found out that my stitches are the dissolvable kind and I am now supposed to brush them to help the the tops loosen and fall out. For some reason they decided that tonight they would be more sore than ever, so I think I will wait to try and brush them until tomorrow.

After my appointment I went to the mall with my mom for some Christmas shopping, and was pretty successful. I have thought of the greatest present for little Jeff....I am very excited. It probably won't top our present to my mom and dad though!! (Tickets to see Garrison Keillor live!!)

Highlight Shopping Fail

As my brothers said this morning, "It looks like you got in a fight with a highlighter and lost!" I did not think my bruises could get any brighter but they did! I also never knew how many moles I had on that side of my face...ew.

Today I finally began tackling my Christmas shopping, right after I realized that it was December 20th. I spent four hours running from store to store only to buy one thing for one person. Epic fail. Alex and Ben were with me though so it was a blast. I'll just have to work harder next week.

Best of luck in your holiday shopping and you've been warned about those highlighters!!

My Terrorist Sleep Spot

I'm sure you are all tired of hearing me complain about how much my face hurts, and my fluorescent bruises, and how even though it has been five days it still hurts, and how I have to try hard to keep food down, so I won't complain...don't worry.

Instead I will discuss the most amazing sleeping spot on m parents couch. It pretty much is where I have spent this entire week. I sit there and in less than fifteen minutes I am asleep. It is simply incredible. At first I thought it was the pain killers, but Alex sat down a while ago and has been knocked out for a good hour. Unless that is where they went!!!

I found today that kids are sponges even after they aren't really kids anymore. I absolutely love Jeff Dunham the ventriloquist, and I have spent a lot of time watching him on youtube since I have been home. Except now my ten year old brother and thirteen year old sister walk around saying things like, "I kill you" and "on a stiiick" and pretending to be Achmed the dead terrorist. What have I done?!? Perhaps I need to alter my means of entertainment...I kill you.

Bruised Jowls And Such

Besides the other grossness on my face you can see that I now am sporting nice green bruising. Dad keeps teasing me about pinching my jowls, maybe he really has been, given their current state.

Today I slept. And that was all I could do, I was all shaky, and nauseous, and drugged up. Hopefully tomorrow will be better, because I promised to babysit at 7. And Christmas is in less than a week and I need to get some shopping done! Hmmm...I also really need to brush my teeth.

Ouch, Ouch, and Ouch

This was me this morning. Yes, I am rather swollen, and yes, it hurts. My teeth ache, the stitches hurt, and everything I eat tastes like poo given the necessary after every meal salt-water mouth rinses. It even managed to ruin a wonderful strawberry milkshake that my mother so lovingly brought home for me. I am in great need of hugs...lot and lots of hugs.

Well I just popped two more vicodin and will be falling asleep in a few minutes as a result...goodnight!!

Wisdom Revealing The Truth

Wow what a day I had yesterday.
- I went in to the oral surgeon at 9:30am.
- The nurse hooked me up to the laughing gas and IV. Then took me off again to wait for the doctor to be finished with another patient.
- Doctor came in and started me again on the laughing gas. After at least a minute I started to feel floaty. It felt like I was fainting. I could feel myself not being able to control my breathing anymore and I could still hear voices. I felt fingers on my arm and heard the nurse say she was putting stuff into my IV to knock me out and I was able to respond. Then she asked me to open my mouth as wide as I could and put Vaseline on my lips and a plastic thing to hold my mouth open.
- My brain did a lot of thinking while I was under. I remember the weirdest loopiest dreamish thing was hearing the doctor say something and having it repeat 5 or 6 times, then the nurse reply (repeating 5 or 6 times), me needing to swallow and starting to (repeating 5 or 6 times), beginning to feel nauseous (repeating 5 or 6 times), me realizing that everything was repeating and starting to laugh only to have it repeat 5 or 6 times.
- I think it was after that craziness that I decided I was thinking too much and really just wanted to sleep. So I stopped thinking and relaxed. And it felt like my body was spinning, like I felt it, it was pretty cool.
- Then the next thing I remember is feeling the nurse touching my arm saying she was putting in more medication to help with the swelling and asking me how I was doing. I could hear myself respond, but couldn't feel my face yet. It was pretty cool as I slowly felt the feeling come back to all the parts of my body.
- After that I was pretty awake...I remember the ride home and chatting with my mom and all...no super loopy revealing of all my deepest darkest secrets or anything.

So after not being able to eat anything all morning, I was finally able to eat some yogurt at 1ish, and ate more for dinner along with some ice cream. Eating was fun since I couldn't feel my bottom lip all day. I wouldn't even feel that there was food on my lip until it dripped all over. Mom then fashioned me a bib out of paper towels. Today I was able to chew food, and spent an hour and a half consuming a bowl of macaroni. It really hurts to swallow, or touch the outside of my face, or chew on my back molars. But the Vicodin helps with the constant pain and also makes me super sleepy.

This is me right after I got home. I hadn't yet gotten around to removing the sticky things that they hooked up to the heart rate monitor. I'm really not very swollen any puffiness is because there is still gauze in my mouth. My lips are still a little bloody too.

My first icing...its only on one side so I could take a picture. I had to ice every half hour for an hour. I think I looked a little silly. But the cold felt so good!

This was taken last night before I went to bed. I was already starting to get a little swollen.

This morning. Not only is my hair a complete mess, but I am pretty swelled up! What makes me sad is that it hurts so much to laugh. Ben says that extraordinarily square jaw line makes me look like John McCain.

Jersey Plane Slicing

I'M IN NEW JERSEY!!!

Wow it's great to be home. I like hugs and I get lots of them here!!

The lack of postage on Friday was due to my being excruciatingly busy. I didn't get a chance to sleep Friday night and was on the shuttle headed to Utah by 3:30am on Saturday. It was snowing pretty heavily and the shuttle ended up an hour late. I managed to still make it to my plane just as they were boarding. My plane got de-iced and into the air, pretty quickly (my plane was probably one of the last few to make it out on time). When my plane got to Newark we were stuck in the air for a good 30min. I then found the train to New Brunswick and met my dad there. Then I went to our ward Christmas party. I was pretty much dead when we got home.

Tomorrow morning I'll go in at 9:30 to get my wisdom removed. I might be a little nervous. I don't very much like the idea of being cut open. We shall see how it goes...you will be updated.

Leaving Christmas Wisdom

I leave tonight/tomorrow morning to head home!! I'm super excited to see the family and give every one big hugs (my hug quota has not been met for about 3 months). Then I get to have my wisdom ripped out on Monday. My first time ever being given anything more than local anesthesia...this should be fun!

On Wednesday my Statistics professor recited "The Night Before Christmas" in Spanglish. It was hilarious, so I am going to share it with you....may it help to ring the Christmas spirit into tú corazon.

'Twas the night before Christmas and all through the casa,
Not a creature was stirring - ¡Caramba! ¿Qué pasa?

Los niños were tucked away in their camas,
Some in long underwear, some in pijamas,
While hanging the stockings with mucho cuidado,
In hopes that old Santa would feel obligado,
To bring all children, both buenos and malos,
A nice batch of dulces and other regalos.

Outside in the yard there arose un gran grito,
and I jumped to my feet like a frightened cabrito.
I ran to the window and looked out afuera,
And who in the world do you think that it era?

Saint Nick in a sleigh and a big red sombrero,
Came dashing along like a loco bombero.
And pulling his sleigh instead of venados,
Were eight little burros approaching volando.

I watched as they came and this quaint little hombre,
Was shouting and whistling and calling by nombre:
"Ay Pancho, ay Pepe, ay Cuco, ay Beto,
ay Chato, ay Chopo, Maruco, y Nieto!"

Then standing erect with his hands on his pecho,
He flew to the top of our very own techo,
With his round little belly like a bowl of jalea,
He struggled to squeeze down our old chiminea.

Then huffing and puffing at last in our sala,
With soot smeared all over his red suit de gala,
He filled all the stockings with lively regalos,
None for the ninos that had been very malos.

Then chuckling aloud, seeming very contento,
He turned like a flash and was gone como el viento,
And I heard him exclaim, y ¡esto es verdad!

Merry Christmas to all, ¡y Feliz Navidad!

A Thunderous Thursday

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAN!!

No time to type anything, so here is another Cyanide and Happiness cartoon. ::smiles::

Cyanide Blanket Books

I couldn't decide which one I liked the best...

Warm like a blanket
Cuddly like a story
You jump up and down
in all of your glory
You whine till we're dead
Then the thought pops in your head
"Where is the nearest crematory"

or...

A blanket sat anxiously upon the grass
Wishing with all its might that it
Could jump up and escape these feet
Even in all its glory it could not get hurt
But it was left to whine about
The ketchup spurt

I have no interesting/exciting news for today other than I am one day closer to being home/getting my wisdom teeth out. I had thought that selling back the books for my friends would be simple but it turns out the off campus buy-backs wont buy back half of the books they left with me. I'll figure out some way to fix this.

Snowy Poetics

I came across the funniest thing today on my computer. In my creative writing class we would do this a lot to get our creative juices running. He would give us random words and ask us to compose a piece of poetry from them. I now do this on my own with hilarious results (usually works best if you ask someone randomly for the words).

Word list- china, gymnastics, unprofessionally, stupid, ungrateful

She was ungrateful
If anyone could be
She practiced her gymnastics
But always ignored me
China was her goal
But all her tricks were stupid
And she danced unprofessionally
While the air was putrid

Word List- poo, chunky, carefully, squeeze, pen, hard

The pen lays across the chunky paper
Which reads "squeeze here"
Picking it up carefully
I feel its hard back against my fingers
As the ink slides slowly onto the paper like poo

Please note that I am not responsible for the immature nature of the word lists as it was others who came up with them. Feel free to give me a word list and see what kind of a poem I come up with!!

Oh, and it snowed today!!

Odd Telepathy Weekend

Wow...the weekend went way too fast.

Odd Realizations:
- When I am walking outside in the bitter cold I sometimes forget to breathe.
- Next semester I won't be woken up in the middle of the night my my roomie laughing in her sleep.
- I weigh as much now as I did in the sixth grade (I have lost 25lbs, since graduating high school).
- Saying X-mas is not as sacrilegious as I thought (the X coming from the greek letter "chi" symbolizing the first letters of Christ's name.
- I'm home in less than a week.
- Freud had a really good relationship with his mother
- An article entitled "Telepathy, Physical Research, and Modern Psychology" can have absolutely nothing to do with telepathy.
- I am updating my blog to put off doing home work on Sunday...one more hour to go!!

**UPDATE...antibiotics started working and I shant be stuck with a dead roommate finals week!!

The Infection Continued

UPDATE!!

I got home from working on a Stat project yesterday to find my roommate sitting in our kitchen with a tube coming out of her arm and black sharpie dots up and down her arm. Her doctor had apparently sent her to the hospital, where they did not try to drain the infection, but put her on an IV with a much stronger dose of antibiotic. They sent her home with a portable IV that would continue to pump the antibiotic into her all night. The sharpie up and down her arm was outlining where the infection had spread at that point in time.

A few hours after I got home she started noticing that there was more red up past her elbow and spreading outside of the doctors lines. After a frantic call to her doctor (who said to wait it out), we remembered that we were in the middle of mormonville and should probably get her a blessing. Our home teachers, and FHE brothers were not answering their phones, but we did finally get some friends of an old roommate to come over. After the blessing and a quick photo shoot (for her mother), I sent her to bed.

The infection has spread a little more this morning, but we shall see what the doctors say, as she has an appointment at the hospital in a few hours. Since this is the most exciting thing that has happened in my life since Thanksgiving and since she said I could...here are some pictures.

(the red spot on the end of her finger is where it all began.)

(The black sharpie is where the infection had spread when she was at the hospital, the red sharpie is where it had spread after more than 6hrs on the IV.)

(A nice shot of her antibiotic grenade/liahona/christmas ornament...it looks so silly. They even gave her a fanny pack)

**Disclaimer...yes I know that this is a serious situation she is in, but for her sake and mine I am trying to make everything funny and keep her happy and not worried sick. Please keep her in your prayers!!

Statistically Infected Grossness

The weekend is here!!

Only one more week to go and I will be home! I could not be more excited...seriously.

My roommate got this really gross infection on her finger. It looked like in ingrown fingernail, except it didn't go away. It grew until her whole hand hurt and she couldn't bend her finger all the way. She went to the doctor yesterday and it turns out the infection had progressed to the point that it was close to spreading through her blood stream. They gave her a shot in the tush and a prescription as well. She went in today to have it drained. I think that is the most disgusting thing ever, and that would be the reason I shared it with you!

I shall also share a statistics joke. Did you hear about the statistician who got thrown in jail? He has zero degrees of freedom!!

Ah man, I am such a dork....

Caroling Work Embarrassment

A rough outline of all the work I have to do before heading home:
- Finish Stat project due tm
- Psychology annotation due by midnight tm
- Take Communications Exam
- Write Presentation Memo for English
- Write note sheet for Psychology test
- Study for English Final
- Revise Psychology paper
- Start and finish Communications paper
- Come up with 20 service hours
- Find article for other Stat project
- Write paper about the article
- Work on Psychology take home final
- Work on Sociology take home final
-Not to mention packing and cleaning

A most embarrassing thing happened to me the other day, and I fear my being raised in New Jersey had a lot to do with it. I was going caroling with a small group from my communications class and in between houses we were singing Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer. I, and a few others, had chosen to sing the echo lines. All went well until we got to the line "Then one foggy Christmas eve, Santa came say..." I loudly sang as I had been taught, "IN HIS UNDERWEAR" while the others sang, "HO HO HO." Then they all stopped and looked at me like I was stupid. "What?!? Didn't you guys learn it that way?" Indeed they had not...it's a good thing we got that worked out before singing it at anyone's front door.

A nice lady gave us all Reece's Peanut butter cups. YUM!

Statistics: The Musical

Things my Statistics class has taught me that I probably will never need to know again:
- How to find the P-value of a given population distribution
- That Dilbert really is the stupidest cartoon ever created (no offense Dilbert fans)
- How to use my calculator to find Chi Squared
- That Chrysler had the most air-bag related deaths in minivans because it was producing the most minivans
- Y1? Because that's where we told the calculator to store it.
- Performing a 1-PropZtest on your calculator will get you not only the z-score but also the P-value
- That no mere man can withstand the powers of weapons of math instruction

Things my Statistics class has taught me that I probably use again in the near future:
- Never take another math class...ever

I saw a funny video today online entitled Prop 8: The Musical. It was funny, but my disclaimer is that it is not in support of the proposition and has Jack Black playing the role of Jesus, still funny though. (And Barney from the show How I met your Mother is in it too.)

Awesome Tails Lived

Today's post is for all the awesome things in the world...cue list...

Things That Are Awesome In Emily's World:
- Nissin Chicken flavored Chow Mein
- Gummy bears with unexpected tails

- Caroling on the December 2nd
- A rapidly approaching Christmas break
- Discovering the perfect gift
- Florescent cherry pie pictures

- Promised life long friendships
- Knowing a life has been lived well

***Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin, perfect example of a life lived well, and a personal inspiration. My prayers go out to his family.

Mashed Worry Potatoes

Sorry about the lack of posts, I have either been on the road or a little busy in some other way.

I feel like these next two weeks are going to be crazy busy. I sat in each of my classes today and kept remembering all of the assignment I have to finish before embarking on my wonderful journey home. As I wittingly remarked during our wonderful Thanksgiving feast, "I wish life was like today, when all you have to worry about is whether or not to have seconds of mashed potatoes." Forget homework and jobs and whether or not you will get to see family at Christmas. Forget about graduation and money and finding a guy who chews with his mouth closed. Just worry about one thing...

...mashed potatoes...

...just mashed potatoes.

(If you haven't looked at my last few posts you definitely should, because they are full of wonderful pictures of Vegas and turkey and fun.)

Stripping In Vegas

Sarah and I went to the strip today and did all the classic touristy things. Aside from a few too many poke-her jokes and being offered a million cards with naked women on them, we had a blast.

We took so many pictures though...so I put them in a photobucket album. Please take a look it will be way worth your while!!

http://s267.photobucket.com/albums/ii317/tarzanschicca/Vegas/?albumview=slideshow

Slurpy Lurky Turkey

HAPPY TURKEY DAY!!

I know you all are just dying to see pictures of our magnificent feast so here we go...

(The pie we made this morning. We had hoped that adding shortening and water would help the rolling out process but it didn't.)

( This is our Tom pre-cooked. Please note the disgusting tube-ish thing in his chest cavity. I accidentally grabbed it in the thawing process and threw up a little in my mouth.)

(Sarah broke skin on the potato peeler and I burned myself (surprise) on Tom's pan.)

(Can you say YUM!!)

(Yes, Sarah made sure that our feast was aesthetically pleasing.)

(Home made rolls, mashed potatoes not from a box, real live vegetables!)

(It was like my birthday in November. Don't you love our wannabe champagne (best if pronounced sham-pog-nay)? Martenelli's is so much better!)

(Yeah we did)

Silly Town Pie

Last night was super fun! Not only did I get to see Twilight but I went to a casino for the very first time! Edward by the way is so unattractive that I laughed when he was shown for the first time.

(Our movie theater/casino)

When Sarah got home from work today we went to Town Square, an outdoor mall, with some of her roomies. It had been rainy all day and was still drizzling but it was still fun. given that it is nearly Christmas time, all the palm tress were decked out in Christmas lights.

(Sorry if this picture makes you dizzy but I love it!)

(Decorated palm trees, silly and yet elegant)

Our second adventure of the night was pie making. I think I probably made the crust wrong, because it just would not roll out. Or maybe it was the fact that it was 10 at night. Long story short we could not get a good top rolled out so we did strips, and it looks delicious!

(Oh, did I forget to mention Sarah's beautiful counters didn't help either?)

(My expert trimming skills, and our expert pie)

Grand Twilight Indeed

I thought that I would give you a grand tour of Sarah's place. It is indeed grand.

Sarah's bedroom (minus her desk and compy). Yes, the two of us have been sleeping on that bed. I think we're awesome or something.

Sarah's huge kitchen. Well, it's huge compared to mine. everything is really nice...Sarah loves the cupboards.

The living room is fab. Two couches, one love sac, a tv, and Edward (a rediculously huge teddy bear next to one of the couches) what more can a girl ask for?!?

When Sarah showed me her backyard I laughed. Now you can too.

Tonight we plan to go see Twilight when Sarah gets off work and then go play volleyball with all her peeps. Tomorrow we get to make pies...and vegetable dip...only the beginnings of our masterful feast!

Alone Nothing Burger

Dear Diary,
Today Emily did nothing. And God saw that it was good.

Really though I spent my whole day hanging around at Sarah's apartment waiting for her to get home from work. she did eventually, then we went to purchase our Thanksgiving feast and I went to In-and-Out Burger for the very first time!

We watched Home Alone 1 and 2 last night and tonight. I had forgotten how funny they were. Good clean humor.

"Keep the change you filthy animal..."

Love it.

Spoon Casino News

Emily's bits of Good News:

- Alex Johnson was a girl

- She didn't die in the car with a 17 year old driving for 8 hours

- She managed to direct Sarah to a random Pachangas in St. George

- They found a Spoon Me in St. George before departing

- She is now in Lost Wages, more commonly known as Las Vegas

Vegas is so different from anywhere I have been and remember being before. We came in on I-15 and coming out of the mountains this is what we saw.

The sea of lights. Well, my camera's beast attempt at replicating it. It was amazing. We drove right by the Mirage, Bellagio, Caesars Palace, and about a million other Casinos. And I saw real live palm trees. Simply incredible.

Breakifying Trip Gender

Well, I'm all ready to go and I'm just waiting for the driver whose gender is still unknown. Correction, unknown to me, I'm sure they know.

I just finished breakifying our apartment. Breakifying? Why, what does that entail oh wise Emily?

Breakifying your apartment:
- Before each roommate leaves make sure they wash all of their dishes. (Tiff did leave one cookie sheet unwashed)
- Remove as much garbage as possible. (I definitely just walked out to the dumpsters with 5 plastic grocery bags and one kitchen bag full of garbage and one empty milk carton)
- Lock all windows...well the ones that have locks on them. (Yes, I discovered that the locking devices on the windows in our bedrooms is extremely inadequate. Perhaps the disgusting state of the glass will deter anyone thinking of snooping)
- Make sure the heat is off.
- Leave one light on in the middle of the apartment (to trick people into thinking someone is home!)

Road trip here we come!!

Good luck at the open house today Mom and everyone else!!

Thankful Lappy Pirates

Did anyone else not realize that there were still people in the world who call themselves pirates and do "pirat-ish" things?

(This is a ship that is "in the hands of Somali Pirates" Guard your vessels!)

I saw on Google News yesterday the following headline "Islamic militants join hunt for pirates in Somalia." Pirates?!? Really?!? Anyhow, along with the price of gas, the war in Iraq, and who can marry who, I now will worry about pirate attacks. Thanks Google News for feeding my paranoia, thanks.

In better news I am leaving tomorrow morning for St George, Utah! There I will meet up with the intelligent and beautiful sister of mine, and drive to VEGAS! It is so much fun telling people where I am going for Thanksgiving.

Them: "So what are you doing for Thanksgiving?"
Me: "Going to Vegas."
Them: "Oh, I see"
Me: "To visit my sister."
Them: "OH! I see!"

I really am way excited. Cooking turkey, eating to our hearts content, watching ridiculous amounts of Law and Order, being with someone who knows who Boney Legs is, and laughing a lot. That will be my week. Have no fear, you will not be left in the dark, Lappy shall be accompanying me on this journey (as well as one Alex Johnson)!!

The Uncomfortable Coolness

My presentation went amazing today! I was really sad that my professor sent a stand in for class though. She was at some convention in San Diego. Everything went as planned and the class really got into it with us! Woot!

I have for you today another list...be excited its a good one.

Things That Make Emily Uncomfortable:
- IBC guys on campus telling her about their carriage ride business, just as she is exiting the restroom.
- Having people she doesn't know very well touch her.
- Minor wardrobe malfunctions in public places.
- Watching other people eat.
- When she's talking out loud and her voice goes all weird.
- Unbreakable silences
- Seeing her professors outside of class.
- Being expected to give a compliment.
- Being present when either a guy or girl is flirting with someone who is clueless of their endeavors.
- Writing a list of things that make her uncomfortable.

Guess what...I'm...

Interesting Dinner Indicators

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALEX AND BEN!!

My big presentation is tomorrow morning and I should be sleeping right now and I'm not. I'm procrastinating the inevitable. No really, I should sleep.

I spent all day today trying to finish this research paper on the impact of Freud's sexual theories, but I only sort of finished it. It's a good thing we can revise it and turn it in again at the end of the semester. As of right now my paper isn't really all that great. It needs some serious work.

I had dinner tonight with Scott, Cassie , Dan , and Heather which was way fun. It was a pleasant mid week surprise! Dinner was also more than welcomed into my digestive system given that it had had nothing to munch on since 9 this morning. Thanks for dinner you guys!!

I noticed today that I can see little marks on some of the keys on my computer. I'm thinking those are the keys I use the most. If my assumption is correct then I use most often a,s,e,r,t,f,g,h,b,n,i,o,., and the space bar. Interesting. Did you notice that all the letters in the word "interesting" are on that list...interesting...

Okay, I'm going to sleep now.

Ending Fed Extra

So after putting in all that work last night on my presentation, I got up at 7am only to get my professors email saying that class today day was optional and that she was not going to make it. What are the chances!!

(One of the amazing slides from my part of the presentation.)

Yesterday, the Fed Ex guy knocks on our door and has in his hand this package for one of my roommates. This package was seriously mangled. It was nearly covered in tape trying to hold what was left of the box together, and I could see inside. The package was her new phone. The screen was broken and Fed Ex will be paying for the second new one!

We have a meeting for white gloves tonight, which is pretty indicative of the end of the semester drawing nearer and nearer. Our apartment is pretty clean but still...lots of work to do! Professors are starting to give out take home finals and we are reading the last few chapters in our texts. While it is such a feeling of relief at the same time it makes me anxious and nervous and busier than ever!

Insane Presentation Maan

The week before Thanksgiving break = Insane amounts of work

But I suppose it is all worth it...for an entire week of freedom!

Today I spent an insane number of hours working on a presentation for communications tomorrow on communications climates. I think it is going to be the most amazing presentation in the entire world. 45 min of pure intelligence, charisma, and verbose recitations of every definition in chapter 10.

Definite winna maan!!

Funny Brother Mail

This is an email conversation I had with my wonderful 10 year old brother a few months back, and I thought I would share it with you as it is hilarious. I didn't change the spelling or fix any grammar, I copied and pasted straight from my email. I wonder if he even remembers this...or realizes why it is so funny...

Jeff to Me:
"hey waze up i want to tell you that there will be a delay on the pic's"

Me to Jeff:
"not acceptable i must have the pictures and i must have them now. what are these pics of again....oh wait....the ones of the the doors?!? btw who wrote this bec or jeff? and why dont you two email or call me?!??!? Love ya, ek"

Jeff to Me:
"the ones of my leg and stiches"

Me to Jeff:
"I highly suggest that you consider using more words in your emails. A seven word email is not acceptable. You need to kick becky or alex or ben off the computer and tell them that you are trying to write a lovingly long email to your long lost sister. Hoping to talk to you soon...ek"

Jeff to Me:
"okay"

(The culprit aka the cutest kid in the world!!)

Oh, Ant Rings

I have discussed previously our ant issues. But today they got a little more interesting.

Yesterday afternoon, old Maintenance Guy, came and brought us nifty little ant baits. They sit the corners and the ants come and eat their delicious poison and bring it back to their colony and they all die. We were excited to finally have a solution. This morning when I woke up I decided to check on them...this is what I found.

(The bait is a caramel color so yes those are all ants in there. The black speckles seen along the baseboard are also ants...YUM)

There are four of these in our apartment. One behind our toilet, by the bathroom garbage, behind the kitchen garbage, and under the lamp table in our living room. All of them are covered in ants, and now nearly all the bait is gone in all of them, and there are still ants crawling around...alive. Now what oh wise Maintenance Guy?!?

The Lord of the Rings Marathon was so fun!! I got to spend all day with the coolest people in all of Rexburg! I also rediscovered my love for Smeagol, but only in the second movie, and pretzels. But now I am pretty exhausted.

Friday Marathon Headache

IT'S FRIDAY!!

Wow can you believe it?!? Another week has come and gone. I am so not ready for finals.

I had the worst headache all day today. It was one of those monthly headaches I get that doesn't go away with pill popping either. Men have it so easy. Even though it hurt so bad it was making me nauseous, I still spent all day writing another note sheet for a psych test today, and then taking that psychology test (I got an 83% on the multiple choice). My attempted power nap trying to rid myself of my pain, was foiled by not only the pain itself, but also the fly stuck between my window and blinds and the ant I found crawling in my bed.

Yes, my head is still throbbing, but I think at this point I'm just getting used to it. I hope it stops hurting by tomorrow though. Scott and Cassie are going to be hosting the long awaited Lord of The Rings marathon at their apartment. We are going to start at 9am and end whenever!! I am way excited. I even bought pretzel sticks for us to munch on!!

Well, I shall now try to sleep. I think the fly may have either given up its plight or died, and I know that ant is dead, so we will see how it goes!

Love Albeit Verification

Today I learned, the hard way, what the word "albeit" really means. I had thought, up until a few minutes ago, that it meant except or unless. BUT it really means although. Yes, quite the opposite. So in my teachers syllabus when he said, "Annotations not meeting the 500 word minimum (albeit just one word short) will automatically be deducted 10 points," he meant that even if it was just 499 words you would still get the 10 points deducted. I wrote a perfect annotation, but it was 499 words not 500. Bummer.

I've been keeping track recently of the weird things that "word verification's" have made me spell. There is one that really sticks out to me. I was having a particularly rough day and while commenting on someones blog, the verification word was "dying". I guess every once and a while it spits out real words. Here are some others I have had:

Craziest Things Word Verification's has Made me Spell:
- dying
- valley
- crops
- clanface
- gently
- mysit
- slayin
- lance

Today is the second annual To Write Love on Her Arm Event, to promote awareness of teen suicide, self injury, and depression. To find out more visit www.twloha.com. This hits a little close to home, and so I am joining in the festivities.

(Taking this picture has made me acutely aware of how much I dislike my arms)
(click on the picture for a better view of my arm hair)

Minor Morning Mush

I was up until 1am last night fighting over classes with every other sophomore. I was mostly successful. As of right now these are the classes I will be taking...

- Advanced Research and Literature
- Old Testament (Part 1)
- Natural Disasters
- Geology Lab
- Sensation and Perception
- FA 100 (no credits a waste of time, but required to graduate)
**Hoping to add: Research Methods (currently on the waiting list) or Old Testament (Part 2)

I am pretty excited about these classes even though it is only 13 credits, and if I get into the Research Methods class I will be even more excited!! I cannot wait until I have enough credits under my belt that I am the first one to sign up for classes, and can take the ones that I really want to take.

Anniversary Money Saver

HAPPY 28th ANNIVERSARY MOM AND DAD!!

On such a glorious day as today I thought I would share another list with you. This one however needs to be added to, so I'm looking for a little help here...

Emily's Fool Proof Ways to Save Time and Money:
- Pee in the shower. (Saves on water, toilet paper, and the few second it takes you to pop a squat)
- Acquire a taste for leaves, grass, bugs, and snow, enabling me to eat meals on the way to class. (Saves on cost of food, time is takes to eat and prepare a meal, as well as time of bowel movements as they will be moving faster)
- Install bars of soap between my thighs creating an impromptu shower on the way to class. (Saves on water and shower time)
- Rub pine needles under my arms instead of deodorant. (Saves money and time as it now can be applied on the way to class as well)
- Live off condiments from McDonald's or Domino's or Burger King. (Saves money and tastes yummy!)

Add to my list!

Disgusting Evidence of Complaints

I complain a lot about my roommates, and their inherent messiness. But really I think that I have good reason to complain. Here is some pictorial evidence to show you just how gross it can be to live with them.

1. Never rinsing out their dishes before putting them in the sink. We don't have a garbage disposal, so this lettuce will sit in our pipes until it (and who knows what else) back s up enough in our pipes that our apartment explodes into gooey grossness.
2. Toothpaste spatter on the mirror. This is probably one of those things I could deal with, if I wasn't the only one who ever cleaned the mirror. It is gross and disgusting and I make sure to always use the other sink.
3. Hair in the shower. I do not know how this possibly happens without one simply smearing their hair on the walls, but every time I get in the shower I spend the first 2 or 3 minutes plashing water on the walls to get rid of the nasty hairs.

Please note that these pictures were not staged, I walked around my apartment this morning and took them. I think perhaps I need to live alone, to postpone any development of a more severe form of OCD.

Sunday Full Pricelessness

I really love my Sunday posts. Most days I'm too busy to think before hand about what I'm going to write, but Sundays I have all the time in the world.

I realized from some of the recent comments that I got so caught up inn reporting news about Danie and I hanging out, that I forgot to mention finding a ride down to Vegas! Well first here is a more detailed outline of my aforementioned plan B...

Emily's Plan B:
1. Take a shuttle down to Salt Lake- $42 each way
2. Take TRAX down to Murray- $5 each way
4. Meet another shuttle that will take me to St. George- $45 each way
5. Meet Sarah in St. George and drive to Vegas- $0 (for me)
6. Spend time in Vegas with Sarah- priceless

Emily's Plan A:
1. Drive down to St. George with one, Alex Johnson, who I believe is a female- $30 round trip
2. Meet up with Sarah in St. George and drive to Vegas- $0 (for me)

Plan A is my personal favorite as long as it doesn't fall through like the last one did. Oh, and it's a little easier on the pocket!

This week is going to be extremely full of school for me. I have three test to take this week and I need to get started on my research paper that is due before Thanksgiving break. ::sigh:: I can't wait for Christmas.

Long Driving Hindquarters

I spent from 8am to 5pm in a car today. It was at least a nice car, but still my hindquarters are yelling at me.

So Danie was heading home this morning, and I joined her, Arli, and Jake on the 4 hour drive down to the airport in Salt Lake. We drove down in his parents Escalade. I wanted to make the trip in one of the two gorgeous corvettes also at his home, but we decided we might be a little too cramped. On the way home Arli missed the signs to stay on 15 North, so we ended up on 84 East.
You can see on the map where the high way splits at Tremonton, and how if you take 84 up to 86 and then over to Rexburg, you've gone quite out of your way! Instead of getting back into Rexburg at around 3pm we got in a little before 5pm.

It was a fun trip nontheless, this whole week has been fun. It went way to fast. I can't believe there are only 5 weeks until I'm home for Christmas!