I finally uploaded 100+ pictures from my camera onto my computer, which means it's time to blog again!
There was this day in September (on the 3rd, if you want to get specific) where our Taiwanese friend James took us on a little tour of Feng Yuan. We saw this scooter that has Mickey Mouse on it. Adorable.
Then, later that night, Jenny, Kendra, and I went to Costco.
Yes. This is a Christmas tree. In Costco. In September. In Taiwan.
September 12th featured a lovely sunset, as seen below:
On September 17th, the school hosted a late Moon Festival BBQ for us. Very good food, and it was fun to see everyone outside of the norm.
Here is Gabriel. He is one of Heather's students. He has a twin named Caleb, and you can only tell them apart when looking at them by which one has the freckle (Gabriel). I snapped this one while he wasn't paying attention, which was pretty difficult because this kid loves cameras.
Seth and Angelica are Gerald and Francis's kids.
Kendra, Gabriel, and Heather
Christopher is Peggy's baby. Almost every time I see him, he is crying. The other... week, though, I was downstairs making some copies and one of the secretaries was holding him and he was looking at me (not crying), so I started making fish faces at him, and he tried to copy me.
The men doing their manly BBQ-ing thing.
About two weeks ago we had the Relief Society Broadcast (all Church broadcasts occur a week later here due to the time difference and need to translate things into Chinese). We went to Taichung a bit early and stopped at T.G.I.Friday's for dinner. I got the ribs. Delicious? Yes.
The group.
Also, I appear to have hit the picture limit for this post (I don't really know what is going on here), so I'm going to end this one with a video of Kylie eating an oyster at Style a week or so ago.
Something you may or may not know about me: I'm a list maker. I love lists. They make me happy, they make me feel organized, and I think they're fun to make. Whenever there is a list to be made at work, I am the first to volunteer. People think I'm strange for it, but there you go. That's me. I love me my lists.
So, naturally, when Alishka blogged about the Day Zero project, I thought: "Awesome! A really long list! This sounds fun!" It took me a while to come up with 101 goals, but I did it (with some help and suggestions from a variety of different sources (thanks, Sources)), and now, I blog it. Because what's better than a list? A list that I can blog!
1. Live in Taiwan
2. Sleep under the stars
3. Fall in love
4. Kiss in the rain
5. Go camping
6. Watch the sunrise and sunset in the same day
7. Find out my blood type
8. Dance in the rain
9. Make a new friend
10. Read 100 books
11. Take a photography class
12. Find a personally inspirational quote and work it into a piece of art or home decor
13. Go to 5 different museums
14. Get a passport
15. Do something that scares me to death
16. Improve my posture
17. Buy a new computer
18. plant a tree
19. Make a birthday cake for someone
20. Make a custom recipe book
21. Do some volunteer work
22. Graduate College
23. Visit Japan
24. Sleep in a hammock
25. Teach English in a foreign country
26. Visit Choco Canyon
27. Attend at least one session in every Utah temple
28. Go to Maui
29. Go Paragliding
30. Tie a note to a balloon and let it go
31. Go ice skating
32. Make a quilt
33. Try a new ethnic food
34. Travel outside of the country
35. walk barefoot on the beach with someone I love
36. Blog something meaningful once a week for a month
37. visit teach my sisters every month for 6 months
38. Feed the ducks
39. build a fort while on a date
40. practice piano half an hour every day for a month
41. learn to say no
42. learn to speak a foreign language fluently
43. Exercise at least 3 times a week for a month (half an hour each time)
44. Become CPR certified
45. Save $25 for every goal I complete
46. Get my own, personal stamp for business
47. enter a photography contest
48. be able to touch my toes
49. Reach out to an old friend
50. Learn how to use photoshop (or some other photo-editing program)
51. Visit Karen in Texas
52. Find a reason to wear a fancy dress
53. Get a job I love
54. Go on an "adventure" at least once a month for a year (0/12)
55. Get some business cards that I LIKE
56. Get up by 9 am every day for a month
57. Save $5,000
58. Don't spend any money for 1 week.
59. Save a dollar a day for a year (0/365)
60. Find someone who will truly love me for who I am
61. Read the Book of Mormon in Japanese
62. Go to the temple at least once a month (0/32)
63. Give someone a gift, just because
64. Sell 5 items on etsy
65. Visit Watkins Glen (again)
66. Explore a cave
67. Journal every day for a month
68. Keep my car clean for a whole month
69. Finish the blanket I'm knitting
70. Organize photo collection
71. Visit a butterfly garden
72. Finish my Terry Pratchett collection
73. Learn a new craft
74. Get a credit card- and pay it off every month
75. Try 5 new foods
76. Make someone else dinner
77. Learn to play at least one song on the guitar
78. Learn to like my smile
79. Go to Niagara Falls (again)
80. Make and actually send Christmas Cards
81. Go to bed every night before midnight for an entire month
82. Make my own bread from scratch
83. Complete my Christmas Advent Calendar
84. Visit a state I've never been to before
85. Learn to change the oil in my car
86. Make a conscious effort not to speed for one day when I'm driving
87. Finish one cross stitch project
88. Make my own quote book with all of my favorite quotes
89. Finish all the initiatories that are waiting to be done
90. Go two weeks without speaking ill of anyone (0/14)
91. Learn to write with my left hand
92. Write a letter to someone I admire
93. Read "Alice in Wonderland"
94. Share my testimony with 3 people outside of church (0/3)
95. Get all of my books on my book shelves
96. Don't spend money on anything unnecessary for one month
97. Make Honey Candy
98. Get all of my dolls out on display
99. Finish Melissa's sculpture before her birthday
100. Visit 3 National Parks
101. Buy a macro lens for my camera
I keep thinking about blogging again, but then I don't. Usually because the internet dies just as I get to the blogger dashboard. IT HASN'T DIED YET TODAY, THOUGH, SO KEEP YOUR FINGERS CROSSED! We may get this post out, yet. (Also, it promises to be very picture heavy. Sorry. Sort of.)
So once upon a time I said something about how I reallyreallyreally want to go to Taiwan next year and teach the English to small chiddlers. Well, there are currently two itty bitty glitches to this plan. 1) I don't have a college degree, despite the fact that I did attend BYU for 4.5 years (don't ask. I don't want to talk about it). and 2) I don't have a passport. I am happy to say that, $35 later, I am doing something about point number uno. Today (actually, more like 5 minutes ago) I applied as a transfer student to the college here in town. I have every intention of getting my AA in 2 semesters (I may hate myself while I'm doing it and want to die, but I don't feel like Town College can be THAT hard. They accept everybody. Seriously.) (also, hello, did you know that I can get an AA in PHOTOGRAPHY?? I did not know this. We'll see if I actually stick to that or just go with the AA in Arts (it might be easier/faster)). I also have found a buddy to hold my hand and take me down to the post office to get my passport picture taken and help me out with the application process. (Hey, Jess, you're still down with this, right? RIGHT? It will make us even, Right?) I am also occasionally looking into other options to get myself to Taiwan, but I mostly really do want to teach the English, and I feel like this is what I'm supposed to be focusing on right now.
Second line of blogging, We went to Florida a few weeks ago! We being my family and me. Stayed on the beach at Fort Meyers and it was pretty awesome. The water was a little cold, but nothing like that Pacific Ocean. It didn't take long to get used to it and it actually felt pretty good after the initial shock. And guess who braved the ocean and ACTUALLY got in it? Past her knees?
Miracle.
We also had this fun time where people at the beach kept talking to us. Which is cool, I guess, but I am not a chatty person. Dad and Sister took over that category for us. We had this preacher dood named Patrick (I think?) start talking to us, though, and he was awesome. He is a priest of a Spanish congregation and has a dog that seriously KNOWS the word "fish" and what it means. He'd say, "Is that a FISH?" and she'd go darting into the ocean to try to find it.
This is Tequila, the Preacher's Chocolate Lab. Love her.
On one of our strolls down the beach, we found this thing. It was squishy and seemingly alive. Found out it was a Sea Slug?! Then Dad threw it into the ocean and it INKED and I thought it was bleeding and dying and was so sad. But it was just ink. And then it came back to shore with the waves and I touched it and tried to make it feel better. I doubt I succeeded, but I felt better for trying to comfort it from it's flying trauma.
I know it doesn't look like much, but it really was pretty cool. Clicking HERE will take you to a picture of a Sea Slug in the Ocean instead of on the Beach. Also, Googling "Sea Slug" brings up some really cool images. You should try it! They come in many awesome colors.
Other forms of wildlife we saw on the beach include:
a Sand Dollar (alive!) (OK, admittedly, we found this IN THE OCEAN, but we brought it to the beach to show the Parents, then took it back to approximately where we found it)
Snails (We found many) (This was all in an attempt to find the most awesome sea shells. All the good ones, unfortunately, were taken. Those snails. So "shelfish." Jerks.)
Starfishies (This one was huge and bigger than my head, I am pretty sure.)
And also hermit crabs, but I didn't get any good pictures of them. I do have a video or two, but am not loading that to the internet at this time.
Dad and I took a trip out to Naples to go on a Manatee Boat Tour (No See, No Pay! Thank you Barry's Boat Tours! We saw, we payed, and it was worth EVERY PENNY, if only because I got to see...
A mommy and baby! They are so cute. I kind of love them a lot. Someday I would like to feed one and be in the water with one. You would not have wanted to be in the water with these ones, though, if only because of this guy and his many friends:
Other things we saw and did include going to a botanical garden
To the Thomas Edison and Henry Ford estates
(And if you follow me on Twitter, then you have probably already seen this picture of the Partially Eaten Dead Fish)
And we also went to the Shell Factory (no pictures of that) where I got many dollars worth of sea shells that I have no idea what to do with, but they are cool and therefore worth the money.
So that's been my life lately! Now it is back to working and the real world.
I just want you all to know that, while my weekend was a crazy, busy, whirl-wind of happenings, I enjoyed every second of it.
But now it is Monday. The dentist was evil to me, but not as evil as I expected him to be. My tooth is a little tender, though I have to say that at least he didn't go sticking any needles in my gums. That would not have been cool.
Meanwhile, I am now sort of preparing for tomorrow when I go and visit Dr. Kroger. This means going to work earlier than usual (especially since I only worked like... 2 hours today. Maybe 3) which means I really should sleep tonight since last night really didn't have a lot of sleeping involved, and, unlike someone else I know, I won't get to go home from work if I face-plant into my keyboard.
So, here's me, sort of signing out for the evening. Catch y'all later.
Yesterday around 4:30 the power went out. And stayed out. And stayed out some more. This was a county-wide power outage. It got really hot inside, and was even hotter outside. I was beginning to contemplate jumping in my car and driving back up north, however there was also a very large accident in town that would have prevented me from getting very far very. Not to mention that I really don't have much gas in my car at the moment and I'm not sure if I could make it to the next county northward. It would not have been cool to be stranded on the freeway in the dead of summer (pun intended).
And then, miracle of miracles! But it started to rain. As soon as I realized what was going on, I darted outside and just stood in it (so much for straight hair, but it was totally worth it). I'm pretty sure some more fires were started due to the lightning; you could smell it in the air, the smoke mixed in with the rain. (Needless to say, I did not try catching raindrops in my mouth this time around. That could have tasted rather disgusting and I'm really not much of a person to go around enjoying the taste of ash and/dust.)
Anyway, the power was out for more than 4 hours and made for one heck of a hot evening until the AC really kicked into high gear and cooled the house down. It's sort of hard to sleep when you're dying of heat, especially when you've got a fur coat that has draped himself over your legs and won't budge.
So, today I am most appreciative of the pioneers who lived in this hot house without air conditioner or electricity. I am also most grateful for those wonderful inventors of our time. And for the internet, because it didn't start working again until this morning and I felt rather cut-off from the world all last night.
My mother and I went out to lunch last Tuesday, and, as people are wont to do when they get together, we had a little discussion on life and blah-dee-blah-dee-blah. (By the way, "want" and "wont" are weird words, too.)
Somehow we got on the topic of me and the way I view life. Or something. This is how my mother described it: "It's like you've planned everything out to the last detail. As far as you are concerned, it's already happened and you're just waiting for life to catch up to you. When it doesn't go exactly as you planned, you don't know what to do or how to deal with the situation. You've been that way your whole life. If we said we were going to leave at 9 for something and ended up being late, you'd start to get really anxious. If we said we were going to go somewhere or do something and ended up canceling, you'd be agitated and upset. Am I getting close?"
Umm... Yeah. I think she nailed it on the head. Funny, though. I've never been able to put words to it before. It's no wonder I put such value in having a set schedule.
So, thanks, Mom, for helping me to see life the way I ...er... see life.
I've succeeded in scaring Baby. She came into the kitchen a short while ago to find me freaking out at the light because it wouldn't stop flickering. She said something along the lines as "Isn't that giving you a headache?" "No." *flicking switch on and off* "It would give me a headache!" *still flicking the switch* "Oh, it won't give me a headache. It's just going to drive me insane. By the way, I have an OCD." And here she proceeded to look at me like "Oh, no. I'm living with a maniac that's going to come after me in my sleep!"
And, of course, SF was laughing her head off the whole time.
So, you can see how long that hiatus lasted. Oh, well.
I've been thinking a lot about current events in my life. Some of you have had a very detailed explaining of this and the rest of you have just gotten the vague-eties that I post here (do you like how I make up words?). Anyway, the details of my life don't really matter here. But I can't believe how stupid I have been. Let me demonstrate my stupidity to you:
Me: "What should I believe? The things that God tells me or what he (the other individual involved in recent circumstances) tells me?"
Duh. I can't believe I'd even have to ask that question. I am sooo dense and stupid and not even worth trying to teach sometimes. Oh. My. Gosh.
I still don't know that my original question has been fully answered (this one wasn't it, in case you were wondering), but I have just got to stop doubting the Lord so much. Hello. Note to self. The Lord is God. He can do all things. You can't. Get over your stinkin' pride and accept the fact that you can't do everything yourself.
I had another somewhat disturbing dream last night or possibly two nights ago. It was about my Grandmother. You know, the dead one. And also about my Grandfather (her husband). I went with my cousins to visit him and he was really... struggling. And then Grandma showed up to take care of him, but she was still dead as ever and I knew it.
I guess, in a way, it was also rather a comforting dream. Funny how that works out. My most disturbing dreams really are comforting.
My K, I just have to say again how much I love you and that I want everyone to know how incredibly awesome you are, especially for giving me Jack Sparrow as a consolation present for being an old maid.
Yes, I have seen Pirates 3. Yes, I love it. Yes, I still like the first one best.
And, as another note, my internet works! Of course, that could have something to do with the fact that I am back home.
Also, I have died. I can barely move. Getting out of my car after being in it for 4 hours just about killed me a second time. I have now been told that I remind someone of their grandmother and that I move like a duck. I'm wondering what insult will be thrown at me next.
So, here's the thing. SL popped by sort of unexpectedly Saturday and announced that we were going hiking before we ran the planned errands. We went with a small group of people to Bridal Veil Falls and, instead of taking the path, hiked straight up the fall. Of course, they fail to even tell me that there is a path until we're almost all the way back down the fall. And now my legs are sore and my shoulders ache from pulling myself up onto various rocks. Not to mention that my foot has been bugging me quite often lately (I damaged it like... ohmigosh 10 years ago), and I'm not too sure hiking and running around campus shortly thereafter was such a good thing for it. Oh, well. I had fun, anyway. I guess that's all that matters, right?
And I'm still really, really rather confused about him, you know, but I am beginning to have faith that things will turn out well in one way or another. Still, I just have to say this. 12 hours was not enough. This summer is really going to try me.
I've discovered that I quickly run out of things to talk about when I'm conversing with someone of the opposite gender. My life, as exciting as it may seem to me, isn't exactly a life full of interesting stories to tell. And as much as I ask the opposing individual questions, I feel like I'm basically talking to myself and carrying the whole conversation on my own, so I get bored and lose interest (which is a bad thing). Yet at the same time, this loss of interest only occurs in the online world, so I guess I'll never try this Internet Dating thing that people talk about. I wouldn't be very good at it.
So, what does one talk about when one is trying to build a friendship? (If you've been keeping yourself up-to-date and reading between the lines a bit, you probably know what I'm talking about here.) As much as I want to trust this individual right now, I don't trust him enough to talk about really important stuff, and I don't know that he'd trust me that much just yet, either (you see what I mean?) There's so much that I'd like to say, you know, but I can't. Not yet.
Long distance relationships of any sort are the pits. Just so you know.
