26 May 2008

namreh eew-eep

as previously noted, i am terrified of falling down stairs and breaking my teeth. just one of my many quirks. that you love. yes, you love them. yep. but i will admit that my tooth-breaking neurosis is not limited solely to falling down stairs. i am actually pretty nervous about most things that could (even in the most remote possibility) result in teeth breakage.

when i was little, the great american hero rescued me when i broke my front tooth on the playground at the elementary school. before that horrifying event, i had already knocked out one of my teeth in a scandalous skateboard accident that i can relate to you in detail some other time ... probably some time when you really are absolutely and completely bored out of your mind since i am not sure that the tooth-related adventures of a 7-year-old can really be classified as prime-time entertainment.

*any*way ...

so, perhaps because of these traumatic experiences in my formative years -- or perhaps not -- i have a thing about my teeth. and it has held me back from all kinds of things over the years, not the least of which is that i have still never been skiing -- even after all those years living in idaho, utah, and even new york. of course, until today i haven't explicitly admitted that this quirky fear is the reason that i have turned down multiple invitations over the years. so if you are one of the people whose heart i have broken because of my refusal to snowboard or mud wrestle or play frisbee, i apologize and i hope that you now understand a little bit better and stop blaming yourself.

another activity i have avoided since taking my school to state with the 5th-grade spelling bee is riding a bicycle. i think the last bicycle i owned was when i was quite literally half my current size. *that* was a long time ago. and i think i have ridden a bicycle only once since then. when i was at byu, a guy once asked me out to go for a bike ride on a big group date. at the time, i kinda thought that i had spent enough years crippled behind my fear, so i accepted the invitation. i got really nervous, though, the day before the date when my date had me sit on the bike to size it for me. facing your fears is tough! and the day of the date was even worse.

now, i am not afraid of many things (matti, stop laughing), but the things i am afraid of really get to me. and riding bicycles is one of them.

i have to admit that the bike date really wasn't that bad. but i will say 2 things:

  1. i spent the hour-and-a-half ride at the back of the group just trying to keep up and to not run over any of the myriad of small little twiggy things that might potentially send me head first over my handlebars to land in a glorious faceplant on the asphalt with each of my beautiful 32 teeth spread out around me in a sunburst motif. i was successful: i didn't once fall off my bicycle.

  2. my date spent the hour-and-a-half ride leading the pack.

needless to say, we didn't go on any dates after that one.

and as much as i would like to say that i conquered some fear by having a somewhat uneventful -- perhaps even "successful" -- bicycle experience, i didn't: i still stay away from that two-wheeled contraption as much as is possible.

i commented recently concerning my reservations about riding bicycles and my sister remarked that i am like pee-wee herman, but backwards. which would make me "namreh eew-eep", i guess. but i don't think i really understand why ...

at any rate ... so i avoid certain activities in life such as bicycle riding and skiing because of a silly fear. so what? y'know, i actually kinda think it's okay. i mean, i may miss out on some things like chomping ice and professional boxing; i may have to take certain precautions in order to participate in other fun activities like volleyball or stair-climbing ... but i get to fill my life with other interesting activities that don't endanger my teeth. things like, umm, eating beef (though, not doing much of that lately) ... umm, swimming (yeah, that's relatively tooth-safe), skydiving (and thereby decidedly throwing all caution to the wind) ... umm ... hmm ...there's other stuff. really, there is.

23 May 2008

those days

you know those days when it seems like you can't do anything right? like, you don't say things right? you don't do things right? you don't foresee the consequences of what you do? you walk away from conversations with an unsettled feeling? you kinda just have an unsettled feeling all the time? you find yourself waiting to see just how big the explosion is going to be when things finally do explode? and you find yourself laughing at it all because you just don't know what else to do about it?

i think i am on week 3 of those days. i kinda think i shouldn't have gotten out of my bed this morning.

do they let you just get back *in* bed?

19 May 2008

just a peak

okay, sometimes i wake up with songs in my head. this morning?

"ab-cdef-ghi-jkl-mnop-qr-stu-vwxyz"

and i don't mean the standard "abc song" that we learn in kindergarten.

one day on sesame street when i was little, big bird sang the alphabet as if it were one word. *that's* what was in my head when i woke up today.

i wanted to let y'all take a peak into my head. but just a peak. don't want to scare you away.

18 May 2008

surprise!

my youngest sister matti and i decided earlier this year that we wanted to go to new york -- well, she wanted me to take her to new york and to be her tour guide. swell.

but then we found out that sibling #5 is expecting her first baby! (yea!) so we changed our destination to something a little further south -- houston -- and i abdicated from the tour guide throne.

so matti talked it out with #5 and decided on the end of may. then matti talked it out with me and decided on mid-may ... and we decided not to tell #5. heh heh heh. we did tell #5's husband, though. and he was more than excited about the tricksy plan. mwah ha ha ha.

matti and i were extra careful to make sure our plan wasn't discovered so we carefully instructed mom to not let it slip. and actually, i am kinda impressed that we were able to pull it off. i even called #5 from the houston airport after i arrived and was waiting for matti's plane to land -- called "just to chat" and i thought it would then make for an even better surprise when we showed up at her house in the middle of the night. heh heh heh.

oh, and it was a *good* surprise! i have seriously never heard #5 scream in terror like she screamed in terror that night.

my only regret is that we didn't get it on film.

i am quite happy that she didn't go into premature labor, though. for the record. (thanks for that, inge.)

so yeah. then we just had so much fun, a week full of fun. and we didn't even wait to get started. having arrived at inge's apartment at 230 am, we promptly sat down and played mario kart for about an hour before heading to bed -- it's so much fun to be sisters when mom isn't there enforce bedtime! :D

the next day we gabbed like sisters. well, we *are* sisters, so there's that. and we planned all the fun stuff we wanted to do while we were there. here's what we came up with:



thursday 5/8:

hang out at the house and plan the week
play mario kart and guitar hero III
dinner at whataburger (mmm! it was vacation so i declared the whole darn week to be beef day)
watch the new episode of the office



friday 5/9:

go to the houston space center
dinner at jack-in-the-box for matti's sake since there aren't any in utah
take a ferry ride from galveston to the bolivar peninsula
walk half-way to this cool park (it was tooo far)
take a ferry ride back to galveston



saturday 5/10:

stay home because the baby was upset that we did too much yesterday
play more mario kart, guitar hero, ... and tanks!
pizza from all-star pizza
watch some episodes of firefly (oh my goodness, i love this show!)



sunday 5/11: mother's day!

go to church
take naps
make chicken bundles for dinner (way yummy, inge!)
play games



monday 5/12: inge's birthday!

open birthday presents
play in the gulf of mexico
get sunburned
play miniature golf
dinner at el toro
eat birthday cake at home



tuesday 5/13: girls day!

watch enchanted
pedicures
facials
make-up
dinner at brian's texas barbecue (mmm ...)
play parcheesi
swim at the rec center and play on the spiral water slide



wednesday 5/14:

pack/clean up
visit gordon at the sea center texas
learn that gordo is not a jewfish; he's a grouper
lunch at jack-in-the-box, again for matti's sake since there aren't any in utah
go to the airport
fly home



... thanks, inge & jared -- i had a fabulous time! matti probably did, too. :P

it was so much fun to visit you again.

oh. and i just *had* to take this picture:

16 May 2008

a decade?

so ... my 10-year high school reunion is coming up this summer ... in about 2 months, actually.

should i go?

and actually -- i just found out that my other high school is having a reunion, too. hmmm. this could be a fun summer.

15 May 2008

a to z tag

a: attached or single: single

b: best friend: ___ (fill in your name if you want to be this)

c: cake or pie: cake

d: day of choice: birthday

e: essential item: chocolate

f: favorite color: red

g: greatest accomplishment: hope i haven’t already done that

h: hometown: right now, los angeles

i: indulgences: beef

j: january or july: january

k: kids: someday

l: life is incomplete without: friends

m: marriage date: a gosto do Senhor

n: number of siblings: 5

o: oranges or apples: apples, sliced

p: phobias or fears: falling down the stairs and breaking my teeth

q: quote: "treat a man as he is and he will remain as he is. treat a man as he can and ought to be, and he will become as he can and ought to be." -- goethe

r: reason to smile: everything. anything. why not?

s: season: spring. and winter. but not snow. unless i am just playing or hanging out in it. then snow is okay. oh, and summer. and probably fall, too.

t: tag five friends: ___, ___, ___, ___, ___ (fill in your name if you want to do this)

u: unknown fact about me: i used to name all my dolls "lolly". and my dad’s car was "lolly", too. and the flowers by the fence in the backyard. and i think i even called my brother "lolly" at one point ... okay, i used to name everything "lolly".

v: very favorite store: h&m

w: worst habit: biting my fingernails (yeah, mom, i still do that)

x: x-ray or ultrasound: x-ray

y: your favorite food: chocolate

z: zodiac: capricorn

11 May 2008

harping

i started taking harp lessons in high school. there was a lady in my ward that played and she taught me, in exchange for babysitting. and it was especially perfect because whenever i babysat, i would get to practice my songs. though ... it also meant that she knew *exactly* how much i was practicing ... hmmm ...

right before my senior year, though, we moved from the bay area to idaho. and my harp teacher did not move with us.

then i graduated from high school. then i went to college. then i graduated from college. then i went on a mission. then i went back to college. and i decided to try harp again. i took one semester of class at byu my last semester and loved it.

so when i moved to l.a., i really wanted to continue. i found a teacher, found a harp to rent, and got started.

so now it's been about 1½ years and i still love it. we just finished my first cd (don't get too excited; my teacher records my songs when i "pass them off". we did a cassette tape first, then a cd.) so because my cd is now full, my teacher gave it to me and i have burned some of my songs to post here soon. hope you'll like them! don't expect too much, i'm still a beginner.

oh -- last week was my harp recital, too. that was a lot of fun. i screwed up a lot -- in ways i have never screwed up before -- but had a good time. thanks, eden & clint, for coming. :)

(you can thank my harp recital for these pics. well, and you can thank eden & clint, too. i guess.)

10 May 2008

reminisce

we watched the opening theme songs for like 170 old cartoons today. man, saudades. why don't they make cartoons like these anymore?

how many of these do you remember? (okay, and yeah -- this is really long.)

02 May 2008

stimulated

i got my tax rebate check/direct deposit. yea! $600. this is definitely gonna fix the economy.

01 May 2008

didn't wait long enough

you will recall my traumatic grocery experience from a few months ago. i think i was too ambitious last night when i decided enough time had passed so i could once again return to the hallowed halls of my neighborhood ralph's.

innocently enough, i just stopped in to quickly grab some milk and some toothpaste (very quickly: i had mcdonald's calling my name from the car).

so as to not let my fries get too cold without me, i followed a very efficient route inside the store, spending a total of about 5 minutes in there. mom would have been proud. so, with my goods in hand and ready to check-out, i noted only one cashier on duty: grocery guy. hmmm. but ... there's always the self-checkout registers ... so i headed there, quickly rang myself up, and started toward the door.

i had to cross the front of the store, though, right past grocery guy. and at the very moment i was passing his cash wrap, he turned around and saw me. he smiled with a smooth, "hey gorgeous, is tax season over?"

  1. i don't do taxes.
  2. [whimper] i just want to do my grocery shopping in peace ... [whimper, whimper]

i smiled, because i always smile and i really don't want to be mean. then i answered with a simple "yes" and kept walking, to which he responded, "good. well, then maybe we'll see more of you now."

[whimper ...]