The Readiness Is All

So today is my last day to be 20, the last day before I'm legal (haha. That's a joke, Mom. Long live NAPC!) For the most part, 20 was a good age for me, so I thought it would be fitting to take a moment and reflect on the age I'm about to lose. The following is a list (don't worry, it won't have a hundred things on it) of firsts and bests of my time as a 2 decade old person. In no particular order:

• The best thing that happened to me was ENGLAND! I got my first passport, left the country for the first time, and played tour guide to my parents. It was a real coming-of-age experience, and when I sent my parents to see the Tower by themselves so I could run over to the British Library, my mom cried. Who would have thought that the little girl who was afraid to make phone calls and go to EFY alone would be running all over London at the age of 20? (Honestly, I wasn't sure I'd ever make it. Getting there was terrifying in a sense - I felt like after that there was nothing I couldn't do.) The rest of England (and France for that matter) was amazing, but doesn't need to be discussed here.
  
• I was Relief Society President for a short time while I was 20. It was overwhelming, but I learned so much and will always be grateful for the friendships I developed with the girls, and especially with my counselors.
• I was more outgoing during the beginning of my 20th year than I have ever been in my life. I'm having a hard time working up the energy here at the end, so I hope I didn't peak early, but maybe there's a renewal when you hit your next age. I hope so.
  
• I went to see The Format twice and also saw Death Cab For Cutie, Jason Mraz and Augustana. I had my first club like concert experience at In The Venue (Club Sound) and hated the first concert there because I didn't like fighting to stay on my feet. I've now learned to navigate dear Club Sound, i.e. I know how far back I have to stand to get out of the mosh pit.
• I sang in April General Conference. Wow.
• I married off my longest standing girl friend, Melissa, and only boyfriend. It was kind of trippy.
• I taught my first lesson in the public schools, which appropriately enough was an introduction to Hamlet. I had fun, and my supervising teacher was very encouraging.

So . . . that's all I can really think of to say (although I might add to this, because I'm pretty sure there were other highlights I haven't remembered yet) but here's to a new year in the life of . . . me. Cheers.

I thought this quote was appropriate as a title since it's a reference to a movie about C.S. Lewis, because today C.S. Lewis justified my existence. If you've read my list of 100 things (or have talked to me just after I've finished an amazing book) you know that I get a little too into most of what I read. My favorite kind of book is the kind that I think about for weeks after I've finished it. (See #48 on aforementioned list.)
So today I was reading C.S. Lewis's An Experiment in Criticism (don't worry, it's for a class) and I wanted to hug him when I got to the following (which was on page 3. The paper on the book is definitely due on Friday. Yes I'm awesome.): "The first reading of some literary work is often, to the literary, an experience so momentous that only experiences of love, religion, or bereavement can furninsh a standard of comparison. Their whole consciousness is changed. They have become what they were not before."
This is how I feel! My favorite books were the ones that completely changed who I am (even if it's just until I read the next book). I know exactly what kind of experience he means! The rest of the book is pretty great too, but I'm glad that my reaction to some books places me among the literary in the eyes of Mr. Lewis.

Okay, this is something my roommate Lili did and I thought it was kind of fun, so I'll give it a stab. As far as I can tell the point of this is just to list 100 things . . . and that's it. I realize that most of you will get bored before you get through all 100, but that's okay. This is for me.
1) Does "give it a stab" make sense? Does stab mean anything if you don't say "take a stab at it?"
2) I hate raisins. It's texture more than taste. I think it feels like eating bugs.
3) True confessions: I have only had 1.5 boyfriends. The first was for over a year and ended badly. The second was for about 2 weeks and only went as far as hand holding, but ended well.
4) I sleep with a stuffed dog named Humphrey. I named him after Humphrey Bogart the night I saw the old version of Sabrina. (My mom and I used to watch the old one and the new one back to back . . . frequently. We should do that again, eh Ma?)
5) I have somewhere around 12 days of music on my computer, gathered from various sources (mostly my brothers). I haven't listened to quite a bit of it, but stuff always seems to come around. I had The Format on my computer for almost 2 years before I started listening to them, and then they became my favorite band.
6) I've seen Simon and Garfunkle, Jack Johnson, Ben Harper, Blues Traveler, U2, The Format, Death Cab for Cutie, Jason Mraz, Augustana, They Might Be Giants, The Beach Boys, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, Chicago, Chanticleer, The King's Singers, and Brian Regan in concert, and I'm going to see The Shins in February for my birthday. Huzzah! I've also see tons of local artists, Gordan Lightfoot and Roger Whittaker, but we won't go into that. I love live music, and sometimes even enjoy music that I wouldn't normally if it's live. Adrenaline is the key. And build. And Nate Ruess telling everyone to stop moshing and hug that person that they are pushing. OH! And Jason Mraz saying the following: "You've got to rock. You've got to rock at what you do. You've got to rock (dramatic pause) at being you."
7) I actually stay in touch with some of my friends from high school. We've had pretty much the same New Year's Eve party for the last 4 years, and it always includes Little Smokies.
8) I've married off 7 roommates - 5 from my freshman year, 2 from my sophomore year. You'd think I gave off some weird chemical that induces marriage, but if so it's wearing off.
9) I've lost track of the number of roommates I currently have. Simon Blake was the original unofficial roommate, but when he got married (died) we lost track. Lindsey Patten, Jonathan Judd, and Todd Frandsen are still official, but there are a lot of fluctuations. It's confusing.
10) I want to go back to England SO much. If I were better at math and such, I would invent a teleportation device that went straight to Stratford.
11) My favorite thing in my apartment is the quote wall. Well, walls now. We write directly on them with Sharpies. Most of the quotes are about how hot we are . . . or how dissatisfied we are with the way we look.
12) Goal: I'd like to see every Shakespeare play live. So far I've seen The Tempest, Twelfth Night (twice), Much Ado About Nothing (twice), Henry IV Part 1, The Winter's Tale, Romeo and Juliet (twice, even though it's my least favorite), Love's Labours Lost, The Taming of the Shrew (twice), A Midsummer Night's Dream (twice), Hamlet (twice, plus at least 4 movie versions), As You Like It, Antony and Cleopatra, Coriolanus, Titus Andronicus, Macbeth, The Merry Wives of Windsor, The Merchant of Venice, and The Two Gentlemen of Verona. So . . . I'm not quite halfway there. But I should be seeing King Lear this summer, and Othello is coming to PTC in a couple of weeks here. The play I most want to see live is Henry V.
13) When I was in high school, Gregory Peck died and we had a memorial. We watched The Guns of Navarone. The next day I rented 3 movies I hadn't seen and watched those as well. I thought it was nice of my friends to humor me by sitting through the very long movie. I also found out that I love the movie On the Beach, but it is incredibly depressing.
14) I love toe socks.
15) My favorite place to eat in England was called Gregg's. We liked it because it was cheap, close, and because they sold amazing chocolate chip cookies. Also, I loved the Indian restaurant Kahn's, which is why my roommates and I are going to The Bombay House for my birthday.
16) When I was in 5th grade I listened to a cassette tape of Simon and Garfunkle's Greatest Hits every night while I was "falling asleep." I mouthed the words while they sang, and when I got to the end of the tape I turned it over and listened to the other side. The only song I didn't like was "For Emily, Whenever I May Find Her." My favorite at the time was "The Boxer," or maybe "Scarborough Fair." Now it's "Kathy's Song." Seeing them in concert was one of the high points of my life.
17) I solemnly believe that Toaster Strudel is a perfectly viable means of practicing voodoo, especially on members of the opposite sex who have stomped on your heart.
18) Jane Eyre is my favorite book. I've seen 4 movie versions of it and two plays (one musical, one not) since I read it. When I read it I felt like Jane. I don't really feel like that these days, but it was one of my first loves in literature, and true love lasts forever.
19) I have a crush on Orson Welles's voice. I realize that Orson Welles himself was (later in life) obese and ornery, but that voice . . .
20) Speaking of irrational crushes, I have several. My top few are as follows: Edward Rochester, Edward Ferras, Edward Scissorhands, and Edward Cullen, Kenneth Branagh and Gregory Peck, Hawkeye Pierce, The Format's Nate Ruess, Richard Armitage's portrayal of John Thornton, Gene Kelly and/or Donald O'Connor, Laurence Olivier, Lawrence of Arabia, Laurie from Little Women, Gilbert Blythe, and Captain Mallory from Alistair MacLean's The Guns of Navarone.
21) I read critical essays. For fun.
22) The only way to read Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway is straight through. In Regent's Park. Watch out for Septimus. I think he went back there after he died. Also, tell Evans not to come. But it's totally worth it.
23) One of my favorite memories of high school (the actual school part) is the day my World History teacher read Yeats's "The Second Coming" to us. When he got to the part at the end about the monster slouching toward Bethlehem to be born, he smiled and said, "Merry Christmas." I've loved that poem and Yeats ever since.
24) I don't like making comments in class unless I feel really confident with the subject matter and comfortable with the teacher. I did participate a good deal in the discussions in Dr. Benfell's Shakespeare class, especially when we studied Hamlet. I've studied Hamlet 3 times now, so it wasn't much of an accomplishment.
25) I'm one half of the entity known as m&m. Actually this has happened a few times. My best friend growing up was Melissa Marsden, so we got the title, then I dated a guy named Matt, so it sort of happened again, and my freshman year I had a roommate named Melanie. However, now I share the title with my roommate Miri, who really is the other half of my head. Sometimes we expand it to our roommate Mandy, at which point we become mmm good.
26) My mom's lemon chicken has been my favorite food for as long as I can remember. Ice cream is a close second.
27) I have this really morbid curiosity about certain weird subjects, WWI and the Holocaust included. Wilfred Owen and Sigfried Sassoon are incredible as far as I'm concerned, and I'm seriously considering breaking my rule about not watching rated R movies to see Schindler's List. Actually, I don't know if "morbid curiosity" is the right phrase for it, but that's how it seems to some people. And I've just decided not to try to explain.
28) A Tale of Two Cities was the first classic I truly loved. Reading it got me out of the endless Wheel of Time series and into Wuthering Heights. You can probably blame Dickens for my English major status.
29) Actually, you can't just blame Dickens. You could also blame my brother Treb for giving me Oscar Wilde when I was 8 and my mom for reading Little Women and Tom Sawyer to me when I was 7. And my dad for reading The Wizard of Oz to me when I was I don't even know how old. And I guess you could blame Clark for getting me to read The Hobbit. Good times.
30) As long as we're passing blame, my brother Ty is the reason I'm a music nut. He feeds the fire by throwing stuff my way. My brother Spence is getting in on the action lately - last night I actually liked the Foo Fighters song I made him send to me. He also gets full credit for my love of U2. Treb gets credit for Ella Fitzgerald.
31) I have a catapult. (Well, a trebuchet.) Give me all of your money or I will fling a large rock at your head. (Thanks to Dain Hubley for the picture . . . and the trebuchet.)
32) I believe that John Mayer's music is grounded in eternal truths. See "3x5," "Split Screen Sadness," and "The Heart of Life" for proof. Disregard "Your Body Is a Wonderland."
33) I can't pick a favorite song, but there are always a few at the top. At the moment the song I go back and listen to again on my iPod is "The Sound of Pulling Heaven Down" by Blue October. I absolutely love "Janet" by The Format. My standing answer to the question has always been "The Longest Time" by Billy Joel, and if someone were going to propose to me with a song (assuming he didn't write it himself) I would want it to be Bright Eyes's "The First Day of My Life," Death Cab for Cutie's "I Will Follow You Into the Dark," or (if he played the piano instead of the guitar) "The Luckiest" by Ben Folds. My favorite angry song is "Cheers Darlin'" by Damien Rice, and my favorite song for expressing joy in spite of circumstances and to sing in the shower is "The World You Love" by Jimmy Eat World. However, this doesn't even begin to cover the songs that have deeply and sincerely entered into the depths of my SOUL. Not to mention the ones that are just fun to sing in the car.
34) My favorite cold cereal is Cinnamon Toast Crunch, hands down.
35) I have a blanket with sleeves.
36) I love poetry, but even more than that I love poetry books. I like seeing them on my shelf. It makes me feel intellectual.
37) I have a Transcendentalist corner in my room. It used to have my Walden calendar and a bunch of Thoreau quotes and a picture of me at Walden Pond, but it's kind of in transition right now. Still, I like to read Whitman out loud and feel like I'm beginning to understand the universe. It makes me want to go outside and experience life. Maybe tomorrow.
38) I love road trips. You can stick me in the back seat and never talk to me again as long as I've got a book and some good music. My mom yells at me for not looking at the scenery. Hey, you enjoy your vacation your way, I'll enjoy it mine. Besides, I do look up . . . when I get car sick.
39) My two favorite restaurants are greasy spoons in Bountiful, UT: Pace's Dairy Ann and Nielsen's Frozen Custard. If you ever go to Pace's you should get a rainbow (I like peach and lime) and at Nielsen's you have to get a concrete.
40) I have a Jane Austen action figure. She came with a tiny copy of Pride and Prejudice and a writing desk. She has a quill in her hand . . . which kind of looks like a knife.
41) I love journals. I like to buy them, so sometimes I have to think up a reason to have a new one. Like, this one will be my poetry journal, and this is my journal for deep thoughts, and this is the one I take to church. I especially love my giant journal, because although I'm lousy at the whole art thing, it's really theraputic to get out your inner aggression with paint.
42) Mozart and Beethoven, while somewhat cliche, are definitely not overrated. Beethoven's 5th is a particularly lovely piece of sturm and drang. (Thanks, Dr. Howard.)
43) When I was little, I really wanted to be an artist when I grew up. Then I realized that I couldn't draw.
44) I have a tendency to reject things because they are popular. Sometimes this gets me into trouble - I very nearly didn't read Harry Potter because of the hype, which would have been tragic. Still, I don't feel that I've really missed out by ignoring the Backstreet Boys and High School Musical. Sorry kids.
45) The first song I learned to play on the guitar was "Good Riddance" by Greenday. I can't play it any more. The first song I taught myself to play was "A Mess to Be Made" by The Format, which I play and sing often.
46) The only pets I've ever owned were named after literary characters. I had a dog named Bilbo (he had hairy toes) and a hamster (Siberian dwarf) named Atticus. If I ever owned a cat I would name him Simon (after Paul Simon or I Capture the Castle's Simon Cotton) and I would love to name a dog Prospero or Emerson. If I ever owned a pet who was black, I'd name it Heathcliff. Grey - Gandalf.
47) My favorite thing to eat on campus is rottini (sp?)with alfredo sauce and a bread stick at Tomassito's. Rottini is the short curly noodle, which I pick because it's easier to eat. Any other pasta would require my full attention if I were to manage to keep it off my face and clothes, and I like to read while I eat. It's completely tragic when they run out of alfredo.
48) Sometimes when I finish a really good book I have a hard time reading a new one because I miss the characters I just finished reading about and I want more time to think about them. I get a little too involved in a good story. Sometimes I feel like I just lost my best friend, like there's something missing in my life. Not real, not real . . .
49) I have only received one bouquet of flowers in my life. They were yellow roses, and the boy who gave them to me mostly complained about how the smell made him sick when he had them in the car on the way to my house. Romantic.
50) I love Trivial Pursuit a lot, but no one likes to play with me, so I frequently settle for Cranium.
51) Oscar Wilde is my hero. If he weren't gay he'd be among my literary crushes. Same with Walt Whitman. (Thanks for this one, Mandy.)
52) Last night my roommates and I had a sleepover in the living room. Sleeping on the floor used to be a lot more fun . . .
53) When I was little I used to love to sleep on the trampoline. My friend and I also used to set up a tent and then make my brother sleep on the tramp to protect us. He had our dog sleep with him . . . to protect him I suppose. One time I woke up in the middle of the night to, "Meeeeggg, Bilbo's hogging all the blankets . . ."
54) My favorite thing to cook is chicken cordon bleu, mostly because you get to beat the chicken with a rubber mallet.
55) I am really good at cutting avocados, especially gooey ones. My favorite part is getting the pit out. I'll be glad to give you a demonstration, but I'd rather not explain it. It's complicated.
56) I used to play the viola. I wasn't very good at it, but I was first chair in orchestra . . . because I was the only one who played the viola.
57) When I was little my mom and I used to rearrange my room every 6 months when we rearranged the living room. I always wanted to try to create little empty corners so that I could have a secret place to read.
58) I always wanted a window seat, and I got one . . . when I was 17. I took the room with the window seat even though it was right across the hall from my parents and the room downstairs was giant. I've never regretted it.
59) Lots of my most potent memories are connected to music: singing John Denver's "Calypso" at the top of my lungs on family vacations; cleaning the room while singing "You Don't Own Me" in London; driving around New England listening to "Valley Winter Song" by Fountains of Wayne ("The snow is coming down on our New England town, and it's been falling all day long . . ."); dancing in my living room to Paul Simon's Graceland album every time my parents left me home alone when I was in 6th grade; cleaning my apartment with my roommate Melanie and listening to Relient K telling us to "never underestimate my Jesus;" sitting in the twins' room listening to U2's version of "Helter Skelter;" driving around at night just after I broke up with my high school boyfriend listening to Coldplay's "The Scientist," "Comfortable" by John Mayer, and "Humble Me," by Norah Jones ("What do you say when it's all gone away? Baby I didn't mean to hurt you . . ."). You get the idea, even if I didn't know how to format that list.
60) I've seen The Princess Bride at least 20 times, mostly on a tape that we had recorded from TV. I watched it about every two weeks when I was 12 or 13 with a bag of popcorn and a bottle of V8 Splash (tropical). At one time I could have quoted the whole movie to you, but now it's probably closer to 3/4.
61) I know all of the words to Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start the Fire." It took forever for me to get them all straight ("Harry Truman, Doris Day, Red China, Johnny Ray . . .") but to make it easier I made my parents tell me what everything was, like "children of thalidomide" and "Bay of Pigs invasion." What really made me happy was being in the car with two different brothers on two separate occasions and finding out that they'd learned all the words too.
62) My family calls me "stone heart" because I don't cry. Well, I didn't. Now I do. Not a fan.
63) I went to the midnight showing of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire twice. My roommate and I already had tickets to the real midnight showing, but then she started working at the theater and we got to go to the special employee screening the night before. I slept through parts of it the second time.
64) I love Robin Hood. One of my favorite books is The Outlaws of Sherwood because Robin McKinley's Robin (wow, that sounds funnier than I meant it to sound) is very human, and his Merry Men have personalities. However, that didn't stop me from watching and reading several other versions. When I was in England we saw Prince of Thieves at least 2 or 3 times, and the last time David Grover gave us a lecture on it before - Robin Hood 101. I've driven past the part of Hadrian's Wall that they're on at the beginning.
65) My first date ever was Senior Ball when I was a sophomore. For our day activity we built and launched rockets. Mine was a little gooey in the fins region.
66) Peanut Butter, as far as I'm concerned, is a staple of life. I especially love it on french toast and apples.
67) My iPod's name is Will. My computer's name is Trogdor. I named my car Miss Daisy. Wait for it . . .
68) I don't really like soup, unless it's tomato, and then only with a LOT of saltine crackers. (I recently discovered that Club crackers are also pretty fantastic in it.) Tomato soup made with milk is infinitely superior to that made with water. I don't really like rice in it (my mom likes to put it in sometimes), but the other kind of soup I will actually request is chicken with wild rice from Cutler's Cookies and Sandwiches. Most soups are edible if the cracker principle is applied. I like to have at least half a sleeve on hand for a whole can of soup.
69) I have a little book angel on my wall that says "She is too fond of books, and it has addled her brain." Louisa May Alcott, friends. I'm afraid I'm in the same boat.
70) I usually hit my snooze button at least 4 times every morning. If I don't get to hit snooze more than once I feel cheated.
71) I've finally decided on a favorite hymn among the many that I love. (Drum roll please.) I absolutely love "When Faith Endures" (128). "I will not doubt, I will not fear; God's love and strength are always near." I don't know what could be more beautiful than that. "Lead Kindly Light" is a close second.
72) I can't draw, so I don't really doodle. It gets boring drawing the same rear ends of elephants over and over again. I write other people's song lyrics instead. I pick a song that matches my mood and cram it into the margins without punctuation until I run out of space or words that I know. It's not very aesthetically pleasing, but it gets the job done.
73) I love my niece and nephews a lot, but the only one who consistently likes me is Jake. The others like me just fine when their parents or grandparents aren't around, but I'm dead last on the family favorites list right now. I plan to be the cool aunt when they're old enough to care.74) I didn't really like Barbies when I was growing up, I think because I didn't get to be part of the story unless I was a giant. I loved dolls because I could pretend they were my daughters or little sisters. I did play with action figures quite a bit, because all of my friends until I was about 4 were boys, and I still liked them after I had girl friends.
75) My favorite Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle is Donatello.
76) I'm completely opposed to the idea of stuffed crust pizza. Who on earth wants to eat their pizza backwards? And the pizza is already full of cheese - why would you want to go and spoil the crust (the best part!) by making it like the rest of the pizza?
77) I love making collections of music. Someday you'll probably see me on an infomercial. When I got my first boom box in 7th grade (which I still have) I made a whole set of tapes with my favorite music on them and gave mixes as gifts to everyone I knew. The CD burner was the greatest invention of my lifetime, and 90% of what I listen to in the car is mixes I've made. I have at least 4 playlists in progress right now - themed, of course.
78) I am proud to say that I have skedaddled up the Champs Elysees. I also bought a skirt there, and nearly got killed running across the street to L'Arc de Triomphe. (There was an underground pedestrian subway. Yeah, we're smart.)
79) I've been to Fenway Park. It's fantastic, but neither Neil Diamond nor my dad's rally cap could get the Sox a victory against the Devil Rays.
80) I have two copies of Shakepeare's complete works, but I don't read out of either one of them. If I actually want to read a play I get a Dover Thrift copy.
81) I like to pronounce acronyms. I instead of a.k.a. I say aka. I have most of my classes in the JFSB which I pronounce "Jufuzba." Until recently I was the Rusp (RSP) and every Monday night I go to FHE, which I say "feheeuh."
82) I'm the biggest pansy ever, but I like to be a little scared in the right context. Every October I break out the Edgar Allan Poe. The story "Hop-Frog" made me so scared that I had to read my scriptures for 20 minutes before I could go to sleep. When I saw Jaws my friend Melissa fell asleep and I watched the last hour by myself and my heart started racing whenever the shark jumped up on the boat. When it was over I got up to turn out the light, laid back down on the couch, and realized that I had to go to the bathroom. Not awesome.
83) I hate hardback books unless they're the pretty kind you don't really read. Two reasons: 1) They're usually heavy, so you can't carry them in your backpack or purse. 2) I do about 50% of my reading in the bath tub. Reading hardbacks in the bath tub is NOT a good idea, especially if they are expensive. Or heavy.
84) I alphabetize my movies. Also my CDs. It's mostly because they're easier to find that way, but it's also because . . . I love to alphabetize. I don't alphabetize my books, but I do categorize them. Hardbacks all go on the same shelf. I color coordinate my closet, but I'm not very consistent with it.
85) I like window shopping. I can walk around the BYU bookstore for an hour just looking at things. I don't like spending money, so it's really easy to talk myself out of most things.
86) Contrary to popular belief, I don't actually wish that I could marry Shakespeare. I absolutely love his writings, but as far as home life . . . I'd rather not get the second best bed in the will. Anne Hathaway can have him with my blessing.
87) Nutella is one of the greatest things ever created. Chocolate sandwiches? Brilliance. Especially if you put it with peanut butter.
88) I have a thing for fedoras. Also capes.
89) I love planting things. I'm a big fan of getting lots of dirt under my fingernails, and there's just something about taking little plants out of those nasty plastic things and putting them in the nice warm ground. Holy cheesy moment Batman. I'm not as much a fan of getting the dirt out from under my fingernails. Less romantic at that point.
90) I like to put lemon pepper on my Macaroni and Cheese. My family puts ketchup on it. I actually don't put ketchup on anything but hamburgers, which could be why I'm not really that big a fan of french fries.
91) I once lived with a girl from Mali, a girl from Russia, and a girl from Mongolia at the same time. I've also lived with 2 Koreans. Korean food is better than African cow tongue.
92) I've eaten seaweed, octopus, squid, and moose. I'm pretty sure that there are other things that are exciting, but I can't remember them right now. Moose is good, octopus not so much.
93) Orange is my least favorite color. Blue is my favorite, but I really like to wear green because I'm excited about having green eyes. While we're on the subject, I LOVE the song "Green Eyes" by Coldplay.
94) When I was in 9th grade I was on the NAL team (National Academic League). We went to the nationals and got a giant trophy. I think it was the only trophy my junior high ever had.
95) When I watch the St. Crispian's Day speech in Henry V, I really want to be a British man and go off to war. It gives me chills every time.
96) I very frequently sacrifice sleep to read, but not for homework. If I look tired and I wasn't writing a paper, I probably hit a really exciting part sometime around 1am.
97) My favorite TV show of all time is M*A*S*H. I used to get up and watch it every morning during the summer, and if it was on late at night I watched it then too. Now I mostly just watch The Office because I don't know when M*A*S*H is on. I also like Jeopardy.
98) I've only had stitches once - 6 of them. I was playing soccer in 6th grade and I was wearing glasses . . . Yeah. I got kicked in the face.
99) (Almost done!) My favorite kitchen appliance/utensil (no idea what to call this) is the salad spinner. I can't even believe how much fun it is to wash lettuce!
100) I am the hottest thing since soup. Or at least I'm 1/6th of it. But 1/6th of the hottest is still the hottest, yes? I think so.
So, hurray! That was fun. If you made it all the way to the end, I commend you.

I realize that this is my third post today, but the novelty hasn't worn off yet, and it's Saturday.
A few months ago my roommates and I conducted a little survey. We decided to try to find out why some girls are date magnets and others are perpetually "good friends." Our survey was, unfortunately, inconclusive. Apparently the only difference between the girl you ask out and the girl you ask for advice is a nebulous "x factor," and apparently some girls have got it and some girls don't. It isn't always a matter of looks or common interests or personality (maybe it's smell, eh, Lili?) but something makes some girls the stuff that dreams are made of while my beautiful roommates and I are the BFFs (that is, until the boys get married, at which point we become invisible.)
The thing is, we have a LOT of guy friends. Last winter we had to hide in our rooms for awhile because we got tired of the constant flow of men in our living room. Most of us had a few guys after us during most of the semester (that semester. The current state of events doesn't seem to be quite so favorable . . . but I'll get to that), or at least so I've been told. Why, then, do so many of us remain so firmly single (and largely dateless)? As far as I'm concerned, my roommates are beautiful and hilarious (we are the hottest thing since soup, and see our quote wall for evidence of our witty tongues). Are we, as some seemed to think, so amazing that we are intimidating? Doubtful, unless every boy we know is a pansy. Are we unappreciated because we are ever-present and our glory has been dimmed? (Sorry for that bit of sarcasm.) Could it be that someone is unaware of just how single we are? Do they think that because we are so single we are incapable of having relationships? (How do we know if no one will try us?) I'd attibute it to our feminist tendencies, but that shouldn't hurt anyone but Miri and me, and Miri has a boyfriend now.
This may go down as one of the great mysteries of BYU, so if you want to be a detective, now is your chance.

I feel that I should explain a few mentions of a certain book that has been causing me to pull my head into my shell like a turtle in order to more fully enjoy its glory. (That's a metaphor for the way I've been living in my room. Half the time people come over and my roommates tell them I'm not here because they haven't heard a peep for hours.) For my Adolescent Literature class I decided to read a vampire book. I'd heard about it from a few trusted sources, and hey, I liked Robin McKinley's Sunshine (or at least the copy that Sam edited with Disney Princess post-its) so I figured this best-selling set of vampire romances might be right up my alley.
I've never been so glad or sorry that I was right.
I read both Twilight and New Moon in the space of four days. I started Twilight after class on the first day of school and finished it the following Wednesday after class (following the most agonizing day of Women's Chorus I have ever experienced. I finished a chapter just before I went to class and left Bella lying (bleeding, unconscious) in a pile of glass with a hungry vampire just a few feet away. The suspense very nearly killed me) and started New Moon the same night. I finished it the following day at about 3am, bringining my total pages for the week to somewhere around 1100. It sure didn't take that many pages for me to fall head over heels in love with the vampire Edward Cullen though. I have never been so jealous of a fictional female as I am of Bella Swan.
I've now read almost all of the supplemental material on the authors website and the main fan website, I've collected about 30 songs from the playlists the author has created to go along with the book (Blue October's "The Sound of Pulling Heaven Down" is fantastic) and I have never felt more ridiculous in my life. However, it is comforting to know that I'm not alone. I brought most of my roommates down with me, and Jennie just started Twilight, so soon it will be all of my roommates who speak English. I'll leave it to my roommate Lili to describe our latest and most ridiculous scheme (there's a link to Lili's blog under my links), but I will say this: falling in love with fictional characters is unhealthy . . . and wonderful. Bring on the bite.

I've decided to set up camp in my room. Let's face it, socialization is a lot of work and yields very few results, whereas sitting in my room ploughing through the endless list of books that I have to read takes nearly no effort at all, especially when there's a box of Crispix in my closet. Anyway, welcome to my blog, which may become my only connection to the outside world if I do shut myself away from the world.