The Greenies

Wow...it's been awhile

2008-03-05T07:58:00.004-06:00

So I fully and completely realize I have not posted almost two years! So much has happened...not. Anyway, I feel some background is needed. After LJ decided to leave WI for the Y (BYU) I haven't felt like posting, I kept thinking about it just wasn't the same. I'm sure you all know the feeling but now I'm ready to leave high school socially not academically. I'm tired of the same drama the same people and the same classes, if you ask me it's like my entire class decided it would be a great idea to "review" all of the horrible things we've done to each other over the years. Every argument has been re-argued. Every relationship done over including the cheating and tears and PDA. Every friendship has been renewed and then dropped and then renewed. Some of us can't wait to go and others don't want to leave but everyone has the idea that if we redo it, it will go better.....yeah right. Anyway, stay tuned I promise I'll be back(and not just two years from now)

Biffle.....(snort)

2006-06-11T17:33:00.000-05:00

Being Mormon makes for a lot of weird questions and today I had the honor of getting all 555,343,554 questions at once! Oh lucky me!(that was very sarcastic by the way:) I also had several times where I had to fight laughing my head off. Here's an example:
Them: Is it true that Mormons think chickens shouldn't fly?
Me:....
crickets chirp
Me:(holding back laughter) Umm....no
Them: Oh....really?
Me: Yeah...
Them: Ok, well see ya around
Me:(snort) bye (laughter)

As you can see these questions are not just annoying but are extremely stupid. Whether or not we think chickens should fly is not that important in the grand scheme of things, but I guess I should be thankful that I have this wonderful(cough, not, cough) opportunity(snort) to share the gospel. (Full blown laughter) Well, at least I can do it one chicken at a time. Have a great summer!

Gay Mormons

2006-06-08T00:10:00.000-05:00

There was a segment on Nightline tongiht that was really interesting. It was on gay Mormons, namely: Jay and Daniel who are partners living in SLC -- both gone on missions and raised in "devout LDS families."
Read it
I guess I'm really just...confused about the whole thing. About Happiness vs. Obedience, and Natural vs. Changeable. These guys talked about how they fasted and prayed for years without anything changing. So they finally just gave up...And then there was the group of "gay Mormon fathers" who actually got married and started families before admitting to their wives and ultimately themselves that nothing was changing and that they were gay. That's not fair to their wives or their children either. I don't know what's going on. Do gays get special rules? How do they achieve the celestial kingdom if they don't get married in the temple, and if they do get married in the temple (presumably with someone of the opposite sex) then how is that eternal happiness? Do they suddenly change after death?
I would be very grateful for any enlightening views on this subject -- it is the one that continually perplexes me. I don't tell me it's just black and white, gay=evil either. I've heard that and that...just doesn't make sense. Children can't just be born evil...

Spring Break

2006-03-29T15:32:00.000-06:00

Spring Break is here. That blessedly clean breath-of-fresh-air week between the marathons of third and fourth quarter. I am very glad it is finally here.
This Spring break was a special one -- my dad, bro and I went to New York City and it was truly a...learning experience. I enjoyed it of course, because really who COULDN'T enjoy New York? There's so much going on that eventually something you do will HAVE to be fun. Simple statistics. But I have made three generalizations about our Big (slightly bruised) Apple and they are these:
1. The City Motto is something along the lines of, "Screw Sanitation, the pigeons'll deal with it."
2. The restaurants are completely amazing and if we hadn't left (after four days) I'm quite certain I would be obese by the end of the week.
3. People will always be nice to you when you have money.

There were so many interesting things about New York that were just so foreign when compared to Madison. To give you a taste of what I mean, here's a list of tidbits I picked up from my short experience there. Bon Apetit!
Every night we had dinner around eleven o'clock and that was the NORM. Don't worry though, the restaurants are good enough to keep you awake. Especially the ethnic food -- which is REAL ethnic food not the lame imitation stuff we've created for our American taste buds -- try it whenever possible.
Broadway = love. We only got to see one show (Spamalot) that was actually ON Broadway but we also saw Altar Boyz (off Broadway) and they were both HIL-arious. It was fantastic. We were in the very front row for Altar Boyz and the actors actually addressed us personally several times. Oh my goodness it was so so funny. Unfortunately if I tried to recreate it in print it just wouldn't be the same so I won't try.
People in New York are really nice and really helpful. It's cool.
Everything is overpriced. Everything. Even the fake rolexes. Unbelievable and yet tourists still buy them. suckers.
The buildings are huge. HUGE. I know you're reading this and thinking "well, duh, it's New York." but seriously, Madison looks like a quaint little country village compared to the vast hugeness of these buildings.
There are advertisements of equal hugeness on said buildings. In fact, I believe the billboards of New York are about the size of Madison's buildings...They are also the only color in the city.
Subway walls are frightening things. Get to close to them and you risk not only touching them but smelling them. *shudder*

Returning from Lala land, ain't a piece'o'cake

2006-02-05T16:30:00.000-06:00

Hey all the peeps out there who enjoy reading my wanderings! I feel like I've been in Lala land for the past three weeks as everything has gone so great! But then reality struck me stupid and all I've been able to say are questions this week. I've rated each question according to use and the top five winners are:
5. We're having a test? This..um..clever phrase was used mostly during classes especially in the morning hours and generally followed by faint sobbing, and maybe a groan of agony or two depending on difficulty of test.
4. Really? I was suprised all week but they weren't good suprises so give me a break.
3. Huh? translation: run that by me one more time so I might possibly understand a word that just came out of your mouth at the speed of light. Used mornings, afternoons, evenings and nights!
2. Do you think I'm stupid? This was followed by an awkward pause and then a yes or a yes and then the awkward pause...I can't remember.
1. Why? This was used the most after everyone of the responses to the questions above I'd ask why? in an annoying, high pitched voice. Well, I've got high hopes for the week ahead and maybe a doubt or two but hopefully I'll go back to Lala land and zone everything else out. Have a great week and enjoy life!

Kill those stupid FA, LA, LA!

2005-12-27T19:35:00.000-06:00

Yes I know the title seems a bit violent towards fa la la's but I can't stand the fact that after Christmas some radio stations continue to play Christmas songs! I love Christmas songs don't get me wrong but after Christmas and I just freak out!! I also think that whoever thought that making the day after Christmas the day to get the "BEST DEALS" was Jewish. There is no other possible conclusion. Anyway, other than being greatly annoyed at what I just mentioned I had a GREAT Christmas! It was awesome the fact that it was on Sunday made it even better because my family doesn't usually go out of the house on Christmas, so it's hard to actually on Christmas Day wish someone a "Merry Christmas" but I did it! Not only once but a whole ten times!!! I feel like I should get an award for that! In church, we had a special program and almost every group(Young Men,Young Womens, Relief Society,etc)sang a song or did something musical. It really set the mood for a wonderful day spent with family! Well, I hope you're Christmas was as good as mine!

Devotional

2005-12-04T21:31:00.000-06:00

Tonight was the broadcast of the Christmas Devotional with the tabernacle choir. It was nice. Not exactly groundbreaking, but the music was beautiful and I enjoyed elder Monson's talk. He talked about how special this time of year is, and how the Christmas spirit makes us "serve, and forgive, and reach out more than any other time of year." It made me want to...I don't know, go do some random act of service or something. Which is good but a little inprobable on a Sunday night. Thus, I will have to find some other, more convenient time later.
What are you giving this Christmas?

Happy Turkey Day!!!

2005-11-23T18:43:00.000-06:00

Yes, yes, I realize that this is the transition holiday between Halloween and Christmas but I LOVE it!! For 3 years, now I've gone to a movie on Thanksgiving day, at the cheap theater! It's awesome one time we saw Pirates of the Carribbean!!!! Yeah, the eating is fun but it's actually better to be with the cousins who are black sheep, like my family, and don't live in Utah! I hardly ever see them and it's awesome to be together!! As you can tell I'm excited beyond all reason because we have Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday off!!!!!! All that extra sleep helps my mood! Anyway tally hoe I'm off to watch the James Bond Marathon!

Moments

2005-11-04T20:38:00.000-06:00

Sometimes I have this moment, where I'm about to do something and I think, "Why am I right here, I don't like this at all" then I go on and do whatever I just said to myself I hated. This usually happens right before speeches and other great things I do by myself and I just think, "I hate talking in front of people,(to some of my friends this is a suprise because I don't usually shut up) and I hope they stink as bad as I do," and just as I'm going to sit down, it's my turn and I go up and give my speech. Then, once I'm done, I sit back down and say that wasn't sooooo bad. Oh I guess I should say I'm sorry I haven't posted in a while but I've been busy with never sleeping. I feel that sometimes all I want to do is sleep but I then I have parents who tell me I need to spend more time doing stuff and how I'm becoming anti-social. Really all I want to do is just rest but then I'm forced into doing stuff and so I'm grumpy and won't talk and so my friends just ask what's wrong and then I get mad and say Nothing and bite people's heads off. Well I've rambled long enough Goodnight!

Proud member of the Fanatic Fangirl society

2005-09-25T13:27:00.000-05:00

Actually...I just made that up. I've never even heard of anything called the fanatic Fangirl society. I AM however, I fanatic Fangirl. ^_^ One of my worst is for Orlando Bloom. And if you dare tell me you don't know who that is I'm afraid I'll have to duct tape you to a chair and force feed you asparagus for a week. *threatening glances*
But anyway, this morning, I got a letter from one of my mom's friends. Orlando just visited her town for the premiere of Elizabethtown, and SHE GOT AN AUTOGRAPH FOR ME!!! XD *ultimate happiness* It says, "Laura- they are in Eisengard, ~Orli" *squeal*jumps up and down* This was in response to a video called "They're taking the hobbits to Eisengard", which is hilarious, and just now became my favorite online video because Orlando mentioned it to me! ^_^ ehehehe.
Aren't celebrities grand? ^_^ well, no...not all of them. Just Orli.
But now for the serious side of my day. I thought a lot about John Bytheway today. he gave a talk that I went to at EFY called, "Making Church the best three hours of your week" or something along those lines, and it had a big impact on me and how I attend church. He talked about teachers and callings, and how these people are essentially called by God to teach these classes. There's something that they need to teach us and that's why they're there, and if we miss it because we are being disrespectful and irreverent during their lesson...if we don't gain something from what they're trying to teach us...it's our fault. It may be the most boring or repetetive lesson in the book, but it's our responsibility to listen and learn.
I got sort of mad at my brother today because he wasn't listening, and was goofing off and not paying attention to the lesson. And it's not like we have boring teachers either, they're good and they care about what they teach us, so to have him come in and pretend like he didn't give a rat's hoo ha about what they were saying was offensive and embarassing for ME...I can't imagine how it must've been for them.
Sunday is a special day in our week. It's not just another day in the weekend. It's the Holy Sabbath it is our day of rest. Where we can be free from the pressures of the week and enter into our Heavenly Father's presence again. Church is like a kind of portal, a guide in doing that. And by going to church we are coming to him. He deserves our attention, and he deserves our respect. Which is why flip flops, sweatshirts, t-shirts, tennis shoes...casual things have no place there. They aren't EVIL, and we won't be condemned for them, but we should prepare to go and learn the gospel, and we should go because we want to and not for anything else... because if you don't do it willingly, it won't mean anything at all.
Sorry, I don't mean to preach. But I have a testimony of the way the spirit works, and it will never force its way in...
anyway, have a good sunday, this LJ fangirl signing off.
^_^
~Laura

Instructions for Life..By Moi!

2005-09-19T20:36:00.000-05:00

Rules:
1. When you are dissing someone behind their back don't pretend to be their friend in front of them, that's stupid because everyone knows you hate them so what's the point.
2. Don't diss people, that's mean and it doesn't get you anywhere.
3. Argue for the sake of arguing is perfectly acceptable behavior if you are friends with the person then it's fun.
4. When you like someone, try not to tell your friends that you hate that person because if they are truly your friends they'll know you like the person.
5. If you feel down don't try to burden your friends a good spot to get some happiness is a journal.

That's it for Now!

Horrible Traditions Should be BANNED!

2005-09-15T16:15:00.000-05:00

Ughhh...Homecoming. What is it with this horribly dumb tradition? Seriously, it's one night and you get all dressed up for one night and then it's over done and you can't wear the dress you wore last year so you have to shell out another 60 to 70 dollars for a dress and those are the cheap ones! AND just to top it off all of my friends got dates and want me to come along with them without a date because I don't date til I'm 16! It's enough to make me hurl so this year I'm not going but I keep getting, Come on! You'll have fun with us, the guys won't mind if there's an extra girl in the group! I'm like sure no one will notice when you guys are pairing off and I'm standing there awkwardly....it's not that I don't want to have a date it's just I'm not going to sacrifice my values, so even if the guy I like asks I'm not going! Anyway, I hope you enjoyed by enraged rant!

WEEKEND!

2005-09-09T20:52:00.000-05:00

^_^ So, as I'm sitting here at home...alone...on the computer...on a Friday night...friendless...pff, whatever.
I decided to go and check out random icons because they're hilarious and generally just make me laugh. This one made me think of seminary. lol. I want to blow it up into a poster and hang it on our door. =)
Anyway, today being the last day of the week, I was really happy today. And then in seminary today we had a "birthday" celebration for one of my friends. I love celebrating birthdays and even though it wasn't technically her real birthday, we pretended. I got to write on the chalkboard and we had breakfast. not to mention the game in the cultural hall. lol, we were asked to split into teams, and since she was over on the other side of the gym, and ran up and jumped into her arms...she actually stayed upright for a couple before she fell and I crushed her. ^_^ don't worry, I didn't crush more than one lung and maybe a couple ribs...but that's it! I swear.
Has anyone ever tried Sudoku? That's the greatest game! I have yet to finish one above the one star level, but I think they're really fun, not to mention addicting. I started printing some out yesterday to take with me. Well, if you haven't tried it webSudoku.com has really easy ones that you can do for free. Otherwise, check your newspaper.
And now comes the weekend, hopefully I'll have something more interesting to post later on, but, for now, good night!

6:30 AM Seminary!

2005-09-07T16:21:00.000-05:00

For those of you who aren't cool, like Wisconsinites, and have Seminary as "Release Time", you don't know what you're missing! Seminary is sooooo sweet because there are a lot of us in a big group and we all know each other and sometimes vistors come too!! Anyway, this morning I got there and was told you don't need your scriptures so I went and sat down next to some friends and we got caught up and what the others had done in the 12 hours I hadn't seen (we have mutual on Tuesday). Then we got food and sat down and were eating it when my friend pulled out a little box and said, "Guess what?" So I said, "What?" and she said look in the box and so I opened it and there were her senior pictures, I was excited because she had picked my favorite picture as one of the wallet sized ones!! So I got to take it to school and the entire day while I had it in my assignment notebook, I kept forgetting to put it into my locker(sigh) it would fall out and some guy would ask, "Who is that? She's hot!" and then want me to tell them her email and phone number(I refused to do both because she might be scared to have some random person email her and say something like I saw your senior picture and thought you were hot!). It was funny because I didn't realize how many guys are dumb enough to ask for someone's email that they don't even know. The day before today(yesterday) I saw the Seminary Comic a friend has been working on, it was sooooo funny because it made fun of everyone in the class including me and the comic writer so I burst out laughing, and everyone just was staring at me wondering what was wrong with me!

Church News!

2005-09-04T15:07:00.000-05:00

Today in Sunday School, we voted for a new class president and the nominations were my brother and a girl who was new to our ward, so first they gave their campaign speeches, then we voted, and as one girl was deciding she hmmmmed and so someone asked her if her phone was vibrating and so we burst out laughing! Then we all started hmmmming so that the other classes could hear us and asked (later) if we were mediating and I said no we weren't. Then every Fast Sunday the young women go with the Relief Society for opening exercises and before they started opening exercises, my mia maid advisor said from now on we had to balance pencils on the top of our lips and say the young women theme. So, me and a friend tried to do it put kept laughing. I have a question for all of you do you know how anyone is helping the victims of Hurricane Katrina? because on the news I hear about how bad it is and how there are a lot of people in the Super Dome but it seems like no one is helping. If you'd be so kind as to keep me posted, that'd would be sweet!

BOM-a-thon!

2005-09-03T19:55:00.000-05:00

Hey you guys this will be my offical second blog! Anyway, I have to start by saying I'm now counting down the days until school's over! (178 for those of you in Wisconsin:) Anyway, I just went to a BOM-a-thon which is reading the Book of Mormon in 24 hours but two things weren't so cool about it. 1. My brother never stopped talking and that is coming from a loud mouth I thought that the girls would talk like non-stop but the guys were worse, and 2. We skipped a ton of books but other than that it was great! We ate enough sugar to kill a diabetic person (sorry for those of you who are) and got little exercise and were super hyper it was soooooo sweet!!!! Have a great day!

So another begins

2005-08-30T10:31:00.000-05:00

*sigh* Well, it's August thirtieth. I guess there's no denying it at this point. What with it being so close and all. Schedules and writing utensils flying all over the place. Seminary decorating parties, seminary "introduction" meetings...Plus all those ominous sale signs have been up for awhile now, and it's getting harder and harder to ignore them. Especially with this Thursday looming in the not-so-distant distance. No, there's no denying it any longer.
School is starting.
. . .
In a way I suppose I'm sort of excited...we had our annual before-school belssings last night in family night. Mine was awesome. I guess it crosses some sort of line to brag about blessings, so I won't, but it helped make me not dread starting school so much.
But at the same time it was all about how this is my last year at high school and I should be preparing this year for college, and a mission, and temple marriage...all that good stuff to come. That part sort of freaked me out. I mean, it's one thing to get that lesson in young Womens, but it's completley different to hear it in a blessing. I dunno, maybe that's just me. I have a sort of phobia of responsibility. Which is a little ironic, considering how many I have right now.
Okay, enough about me. There are a couple other important things going on in the world besides my back-to-school anxiety. Hurricane Katrina is tearing up the southern coast of Louisiana. And you know, the only thing I can think of when I see it happening is the scripture in 3 Nephi, "And the great city [New Orleans] was swallowed up into the depths of the sea..." My mom doesn't know if it will be able to last through this. The city is already below sea level and built on SAND...it's just a really scary situation. I'm glad they've gotten so many people out though. Granted half of them were in the Super dome which is being ripped apart, but...still. At least some precautions could be taken for this disaster unlike some of the others we've had lately.
Then, the only slightly less traumatic news of...gas prices still going up. ugh. I've got to get a bike. Save some of our preciuos oil. black gold. hmph. There BETTER be gold in it for how much we're paying...
My seniors are leaving. *sniff* oh, I mean...my FRESHMEN are leaving. I suppose I'm the senior now...but it's very sad all the same.
I love the song "Be my Escape" by Relient K....not that has ANYTHING to with anything I was just talking about, but I need a happy break from all this heavy stuff. *hums*
okay, ttyl
~Laura

2005-08-14T21:15:00.000-05:00

Hello! I'm new to this so I'll just tell you how SED(Fireside w/ Bishop) went. Well, I got there and I was worried that it might be another chasity lesson because we've had chasity lessons for the past YEAR! Anyway, it turned out that we watched Elder John Grober(dude in Other Side of Heaven) and he talked and showed clips of The Other Side of Heaven. It was really good! His wife spoke about writing Dear John letters every week(hardy har har) but besides that lame joke it was very good. The only bad thing that happened was that everyone knew where I was because I wasn't at church! I was a bad girl and was up in the Dells (basically, a giant tourist town w/ lots of waterparks) traveling home w/ non-member friends. I got lots of "you're such a sinner!" jokingly of course....but still I guess in my ward you just can't keep a secret!

Off the Road again

2005-08-07T13:41:00.000-05:00

I'm BACK! ^_^ And it's nice. Wisconsin...the same as ever. humid, empty....dare I say, boring?
Anyway. you know how I was kinda sorta complaining before hand about going camping? Well...*swallows pride* I take it back! I take it all back. Camping at Philmont was one of the best experiences I've ever had. I have never had such an amazing time being dirty and sweaty. It was so much fun. And I felt so empowered afterwards knowing that I'd not only survived and I'd had fun and I'd done well on the trail. Near the end I almost caught myself wishing I could go on for another week. Then afterwards (well...now, actually) I'm actually considering applying there for a job next summer. Crazy, eh? Who would've guessed....
New Mexico is absolutely GORGEOUS, I thought it was going to be a desert type of landscape but there were trees and creeks everywhere! And the mountains are so beautiful! They're all green with trees and foliage and it was incredible to get to the tops and see the views. Just...wow. I wouldn't trade that experience for anything. It was very inspiring, I've never felt so close to nature and been happy at the same time. It helped that there were no mosquitoes, of course, that was always a major issue when I camped before.
There was just such a sense of peace and disassociation from civilization while we were there. I loved the feeling. It was so natural all of a sudden not to need a computer or a cell phone or a shower. We were so independent. I actually kind of miss it.
But even Philmont couldn't compare to my week at EFY. Now THAT'S an experience I will NEVER forget. I absolutely loved it, if I could afford it, I would do it for the entire summer. It was just amazing. The spirit was so strong for the whole week and grew a lot spiritually through the classes, devotionals, and the incredible sense of fellowship that I could share with everyone else there. I'd forgotten how nice it is to be around other Mormons, who don't swear, who don't watch 'R' rated movies, and who I can dance with without having to explain standards or any other such thing. It was absolutely wonderful, and I miss it so much already. My brother and I still randomly break out in EFY cheers and dances. It's awesome. ^_^
I learned a lot too. Completely by chance, I ended up going to a class on Joseph Smith, and that class put him into a new light that I will never forget. It talked about Joseph the person. The man of God who, though by all means was one(if not the) most important tool for bringing the gospel and the priesthood back to the earth, was also someone whos cared for his family. He was someone who shake everyone's hand and talk to children that felt invisible while the adults around them worked. He was kind, compassionate, gentle, majestic. "His manner was easy and familiar, his praise soft as a lamb, and rebuke as fierce as a lion." and even his most bitter enemies were subdued if only he could get their ears. It made it so much more real to me, to see the person he was, to hear the example he set. I've never felt so compelled to sing "Praise to the Man".
Blessed Prophet, we revere
Mighty Servant, chosen seer
With the Father he now stands
Blessed Joseph, praise the man!

And the dancing hampster is a symbol for...

2005-07-10T21:01:00.000-05:00

Well, tonight was SED. That stands for Sunday Evening Discussion, for those of you who don't know. It was very entertaining. Tonight the Bishop and the Young Men's president told all of us youth to bring in a "loved item" that they would somehow link to a gospel principle. We had some pretty interesting stories and it was really fun to see all the different things they came up with. Some were easy like a weight= the burden of sin, or a bouncy ball= bouncing back from adversity. But some had a little bit of a stretch to them. Like the camera. There were two in the grab bag of stuff that we brought, so two stories had to be told. The Young Men's president talked about pictures and how we should never be standing still, and then the Bishop modified the camera a bit, pretending that it was one of the older ones that had to be brought into focus, saying that we should always stay focussed on the goal ahead and not be distracted or discouraged by the little things that are going on around us. I brought a singing, dancing hampster named 'Whitey'. He's dressed in a metalically yellow-striped disco shirt with shdaes and flared pants. Then he sings "Play that funky music white boy". lol. I thought it would be pretty hard, but the Bishop thought it was easy. He said there's a time and season for everything and that even though right now the shades and music is cool, in the future there may be a time that we are more interested in our kid's homework projects or piano lessons than anything else. I guess that works, it's too bad though. I tried so hard to get something that would stump them. lol.
It's great being back in America, minus the sweltering heat. our air conditioner isn't working now so we're basically living in the basement because it's so much cooler down there. Unfortunately my bedroom is on the upper level making it ridiculously difficult to get any sleep because of the heat. blech. this is why spring is my favorite. warm, but not so much that I sweat through all of my shirts by noon...anyway, it's still good to be back. Now we buy milk by the gallon instead of pint, and we have a dishwasher! Thank the heavens! Plus, there's actually something on tv besides lame tv shows that didn't make it anywhere else so Sweden picked them up. lol. Ahh, no 80% taxes either*sighs happily*...America's wonderful.
In other news: THE TOUR DE FRANCE HAS STARTED!! Actually, it started over a week ago but today was the first mountain stage. Ironically, it was also the day Lance LOST the yellow jersey. How crazy is that? He's not too bad though. Only 2:18 behind, he'll gain it back no problem. Zabriskie dropped out today too, though. Poor thing. He was doing so well. Plus he was from Utah...he wasn't a Mormon, but we were cheering for him anyway. ^_^
Anyway, life in summer is good. I'm enjoying the freedom. I guess I have to though, I'm being carted away next week to go camping in New Mexico with a bunch of boy scouts so I have to live it up while I can. *sighs* By the end of going a full week without a shower I will intimately relate to the phrase "endure to the end". Wish me luck.
See you August!
~Laura

Okay then, skip spring...

2005-06-06T22:19:00.000-05:00

Well, summer certainly got here in a hurry. That was definitely the weirdest spring season I'VE ever seen...oh well, at least the weather has finally made a decision. But now that it's finally here, humidity is flourishing, and exams are plentiful in the land of Middleton. Fortunately for me, mine end tomorrow. Then two days later I'll be on a plane flying over the Atlantic ocean and becoming violently irritable because of a) a lack of sleep and b) a lack of fluids, probably...so much to look forward to. *sighs* Okay, so I'm in a little bit of a bad mood already, I'm actually very grateful for the opportunity to go to Sweden, I just hate the traveling aspect of the whole ordeal. Heck if I could just apparate there and back and be bouncing off the walls with excitement. But if I could apparate, that would also mean that I could just come back briefly to America for the release of Harry Potter 6, and Girl's camp...unfortunately, I can't. Let's hope I can stand the wait before I have that precious sixth book in my hands...*daydreams reverantly*
Anyway, now I have an excuse not to post again for another month. hehe.
tata, see you in approximately three and a half weeks.

It's cough "Springtime"

2005-03-21T12:36:00.000-06:00

Well...according to the calender and the Sunday comics, yesterday was the official beginning of spring. This is also the week of our Spring break...which would make sense since it's mid-march, the sun is starting to come out, the temperature is supposed to be going up...I have only one qualm...
THERE'S SNOW!! EVERYWHERE! I read a comic yesterday about a bunch of men who were bon-firing their snow shovels. My brother just finished shoveling off our deck, no chance he's going to burn OUR'S yet. So while the rest of the country frolics through budding fields of clover and daisies, Wisconsin is stuck wallowing in eternal winter. *sigh* Lucky us.
But aside from those grumblings, I have little to complain about. I'm on break. ^_^ And that's never bad.

Pinewood Derby

2005-02-22T21:14:00.000-06:00

Tonight was my brother's pinewood derby. It was...very entertaining...at least in the first five minutes before I stopped watching and wandered around the church.
There were good cookies there, though. I came back at what I can only suppose was some sort of half-time break, and there was food set out. That's always good. Food is always good.
In other news, our youth temple trip has been delayed (yet again) and now it's really starting to bug me. I HATE it when church activities are cancelled. I hate NOT being able to go. Seriously, if it were an option I was just go to church 24/7. I love it that much. Of course, I 'd have to have the rest of the youth there too. I love them only slightly less...or maybe more, it's a bit hard to tell. anyway, they still haven't rescheduled our stake activity either! The one that was cancelled for snow...in JANUARY. \=( That makes me sad, I was really looking forward to that activity too, and then they cancelled it and I was crushed.
Wow I am such a freak. Oh well. I'm happy here. ^_^
Heather came back to seminary this morning! She moved away from us last year, and has only been back for an odd visit here and there, but it was interesting having her back in class. Travis is so much hyper-er when she's here. Not that that's a bad thing....only he tried to steal Melissa's money, and she got offended and then Sister Ahlstrom had an even harder time than usual trying to get us all back on track. *shakes head* I don't think I've ever seen such an easily side-tracked youth group. lol. It's great. ^_^
Otherwise...it's February now...hooray. Actually, February's almost over now, but I've got tons of fun packed into the last few days so don't worry. I shouldn't have a problem filling my amusement quota. *rolls eyes*
I think that's my cue. I have officially run out of things interesting to talk about.
good night.

2005-01-31T18:29:00.000-06:00

The pauses between these "updates" seem to be getting farther and farther apart.
Not that I have anything very interesting to say anyway...
I don't think I'm very good at this blog thing. I apologize to those of you who thought this was going to be insightful...or something like it.
But that's beside the point.
At my school right now, some of us students have formed a "Philospohy Club" and currently it is one of my favorites. The conversations sparked by topics brought up never cease to amaze and amuse me. Today we were talking about stereotypes. My friends brought in a book that really made her mad and we all talked about it. The book (as far as I can tell) is about a 5' 7" wanna-be model, who's slowly developing an eating disorder because she belives herself to be fat when she begins to retain water because of her allergy medication. The passage Alex (my friend) read to us, talked about her in the bathroom helping an overweight girl dry off her homecoming dress after water was spilled on it. I specifically remember her description, of the girl as she said, "all I could think about as held the wet fabric under the air nozzle was how anyone could allow themselves to look like that."
It was pretty sad to think that some people are so shallow that all they care about, and all they think everyone else cares about is how they look. But I suppose she was write, because in the end of the book when she really is obese, all her friends leave her and her life starts to fall apart. How sad to think that our self-worth could be determined so shallowly. I mean, it's nice to be fit, and healthy and all, but if all of my friends became obese, difigured mutants, I would still love them. At the risk of sounding cliche, the world places too much value outward appearances, and not enough on inner beauty, which is the most valuable part.
...beauty is only skin deep, after all.
Next week's topic is "good and evil" just in case you're wondering. Should be interesting -- we have a Harry Potter addict in our midst (besides me...) who actually said she was going to go home and take notes before next week's meeting. hehe. This should be fun.

Exams

2005-01-20T21:57:00.000-06:00

*sighs* i hate exam week. It's aboslutely HORRIBLE.
That was what this past week was though, whether I gave my consent to it, or not, and every single day I had to endure coutnless of hours of fretting over multiple choice tests on scantrons, tearing apart every shred of composure I have...had...in order to try and get the right stuff out on the paper. *sighs* The worst part is...I can never seem to do my best. Take, for example, Physics. That was my very first exam. WEll, I knew the test was going to be horrendously difficult, given our teacher, and the class, but I never expected this. I studied for the etnire time given before the test, and condensed my notes, and then condensed them even more onto the tiny notecard he gave us! I thought I knew what I was doing! How could I be so confident while taking that test, and then produce results so....contrary to those I was expecting! Why did I work so hard, if it was only for that!? I thought you were supposed to get out what you put into something. I've never studied so hard for a test in my LIFE....*sigh* I'm confused.
On another note: I just rented "Napoleon Dynamite"...that has to be one of the STUPIDEST movies I've ever seen...actually, there are a lot of stupid movies out there, so maybe that's not true, but this was just so...RANDOM! *Shakes head* Must've been cheap though...and it wasn't completely boring. We did get quite a few laughs out of it.
Hmm, that's really all I have to say. Good night.

2005-01-08T15:00:00.000-06:00

Okay, it's been long enough. I'm starting to feel bad after not updating in so long.
So...what should we talk about?
...Well, I finally got an opinion on stem cell research. Turns out I'm pro. The way I see it, the research is so young anyways, that by the time they actually DO start doing BAD stuff with it...I'll be dead. Or old enough to be wise and switch my opinion and just not tell anyone that I used to be pro. Riiiiight.
So anyway, now that all the big holidays are over we're going into "exam mode" at school. That being: all the teachers pile on as much homework as they can during the last two weeks of the semester, in order to feel as if they've "taught us" everything we need to know. = \ yeah it stinks. And it's very detrimental to my sleep patterns. *Sighs*
I'm so excited that we have church this Sunday! Granted, it'll mean I have to get up EXTRA earlier cuz we've gone on to the earlier time now, but I missed it! Last week it was cancelled because of all the snow and ice, and...the days just didn't feel complete. *sighs* I'm such a nerd. oh well.
Wow, I really have nothing to say. That's a shocker. Maybe I can do more later, but I have the feeling that this update is already boring...okay, bye.

New Year's Eve

2004-12-31T15:23:00.000-06:00

Well that's...fitting. My last post was on Christmas Eve, this one on New Year's Eve...exactly one week apart.
*sigh* This is both a sad and happy day. Sad because we have to go back to school this Monday, and this is our last day without it, and happy because...well, come on, it's New Year's Eve. Of course it's happy. Anyway, I always like this time of year because of the resolutions. I think they're a lot of fun. Sort of your go ahead to change anything you want about yourself and have it encouraged...as long as it's for the better. Any other time of year it's just sort of dismissed and ignored, but the New Year puts everybody on level ground again. I like that. Plus, with the leftover Christmas spirit floating around most people really do WANT to change for the better, which makes the New Year twice as good! ^_^ So! To the New Year! May all be happy in whatever trials come your way! *holds up pina colada(nonalcoholic of course. -_^)* Cheers.

Christmas Eve

2004-12-24T18:13:00.000-06:00

Yeah! It's CHRISTMAS!!! Well, technically, it's Christmas Eve, but I consider virtually everything after we get out of school to be "Christmas."

So, I suppose I should have a lot deep stuff to talk about right about now, but actually ... I don't. But I love Christmas time. All the shopping and food are nice, but Christmas overall, I think, just puts everyone in a good mood. Unless they're under extreme stress. That's the only bad thing, but I did all my duties early so I don't have to deal with that now. =)

Isn't Christmas music great? I don't think it would feel like Christmastime at all if it weren't for the music. It's so ... inspired. Especially Handel's "Messiah." That has some great Christmassy stuff, that does. I love it, and the ironic thing is it's even more fun to sing. Granted, it always sounds horrible unless you have a really great voice, but this past family night we sang it with some people in our ward and it was absolutely ... reverberating! ^_^ Something about singing it just lifts the soul. I know that sounds cheesy, but I don't really know of any other way to say it. But you know what the weird thing is? Handel was actually depressed when he wrote it. I find that extremely strange. He was declining in health, and also pretty old, and yet he wrote this amazing piece of music that's endured for generations. I mean, that's inspiring in itself. Sort of gives us no excuse to unproductive though--he could do that in his pits of despair, I can hardly stand it when I get a bad grade. It's all relative, I suppose. Oh well, Merry Christmas everyone! 'Tis the season.

Play

2004-12-19T20:46:00.000-06:00

So, this last Saturday was our Ward Christmas party, just your basic potluck dinner and show ... the only catch was that I was in charge of the show ... oh my word. Allow me to tell you this lovely story ...

A couple weeks ago, our Young Women's President announced that Sister Baron (from primary) wanted to put together a Christmas play with all the Primary children. She said she had a script, and that if we wanted to help this could be counted as one of our value projects. Well, since I only had one left, I eagerly, and naively agreed. That was before Thanksgiving -- when we had plenty of time. Two and a half weeks later, I got the script, and a half-week after THAT, we introduced it to the Primary ... that left me with one whopping week to throw this entire thing together. What a colossal lack of planning THAT was.

We basically told the kids that if they came to the party, they got a part, then we realized that that wouldn't work with the script, and so I had to write a new one ... the morning of the performance. Not that it mattered much, since no one had practiced anway, but oh my goodness. Sister Baron wasn' t even AT the ward Christmas party, and it turned out that we were the ONLY entertainment of the entire night. It was so stressful, I can't even express it. *sighs* Needless to say, the play semi-bombed, and even though everyone said it was great ... well, I couldn't tell if they were just being nice or not.

So the moral of the story is, if you want to get into the Christmas spirit, don't volunteer to head a play. Well, that's MY moral anyway. And the other moral is: if you DO volunteer to head a play, PRACTICE it before you put it on.

Okay that is all. Good night.

Controversy

2004-12-17T22:57:00.000-06:00

Things would be so much easier without the "natural man".
So, the past few weeks in advanced comp. We've been researching different controversial topics to write papers on. I chose stem cell research. blah. I thought I knew what my opinion was BEFORE I started to do this paper, but now I'm completely lost. On the one hand, I want bad, painful diseases to be cured and eliminated, but on the other hand, I don't know if it's really man's place to eliminate these things. I mean, anitbiotics are one thing, but stem cells are basically the fountain of youth if we get enough progress on them, and I don't think that's really man's place...to play God like that. *rubs eyes* Why does this have to happen!? Can God PLEASE just crush us now? I really don't like dealing with these controversies. >=(
*sighs* Science...we have a very love-hate relationship.

Bytheway

2004-12-12T20:42:00.000-06:00

Tonight was SED. (stands for Sunday Evening Discussion) We watched this awesome DVD by John Bytheway, about standards and how we live in a "43-page world" (in reference to our Strength of Youth Pamphlets(43 pgs) vs. the 1960's Strength of the Youth Pamphlets (16 pgs)) It was SOOOO good. I recommend to everyone and anyone who cares anything about my recommendations. There were some good examples too...like a basketball standard. Because, a basketball hoop is ten feet high, and that never changes. Everyone shoots on the same standard height, and everyone is expected to modify themselves to fit the standard not the other way around. Then he talked about "the line". Of what's BAD, and what's GOOD ENOUGH and how we should ignore BOTH of those lines and just try to get as far on the good side of the line as possible. Quite moving, actually, I feel inspired. =) He also mentioned something about getting together with your friends for a scripture party, where instead of sharing ghost stories, you talk about scriptures that scared you and such. lol. I wonder if any of my friends would be up to that...hehe.

Piercings

2004-12-09T16:13:00.000-06:00

You know what really bugs me? On my favorite radio station there are all these commercials for some place that does tattoos and piercings. the latest one starts out with, "We've all got 'em... hiding under or clothes; fleshhy parts of skin, wouldn't you like to enhance those features...blah blah blah." I was so annoyed I turned the station at that point. I really hate the fact that this guy can tell people that they need to be changed in order to be beutiful. That they need unnatural holes and marks on their body to be special. It really gets on my nerves.

Just smile! =)

2004-12-08T20:41:00.000-06:00

Today is Wednesday...*sighs* unfortunately that means we're only HALF way through the week. darn. I woke up in a pretty bad mood this morning. Really bad mood, actually, thus, I was drinking a cup of hot chocolate, and knitting through school. So to cheer myself up, after school I went shopping, and spent all my money on Christmas presents. It was fun ... for the most part.

But there was something I noticed. I was walking down the main hall of one mall after coming out of book store, and right then I was actually feeling pretty good. Not ecstatic, but not nearly as grumpy as I had been before school. So, in the spirit of my being so generous and spending my money on other people, I just started smiling at people as they walked by. You should've seen the looks I got! Most people just looked away or pretended not to see me, and the Policeman actually GLARED at me *quiver* And that got me thinking. Why are we so afraid to be friendly? Humans as a species are psychologically dispositioned to notice smiles and kind gestures. (Just learned that in Psychology.) So why do we exert so much effort to ignore them? And I suppose, I'm not innocent, either, I don't habitually make eye contact with strangers, so I'm guilty too. But I don't understand why it has to be that way. I mean, yeah there are serial killers and weirdos out there ... and maybe you really SHOULDN'T make eye contact with them, but I think that maybe if we were just all friendlier in general, we'd be able to start solving those other problems as well. There are so many lonely unhappy people in the world. It's quite tragic really. Reminds me of a song by Cherie Call, "I try to find a reason why when there is more than enough love to go around, that there are so many people who just don't know where it's found. And not enough eyes that see every single need for love when all the while there was more than enough."

Hmmm, just something to think about.
~LJ

P.S. Oh And thank you to everyone who commented! ^_^ I appreciate the feedback, and the responses, they were very interesting reads. thanks!

Orientation

2004-12-05T22:16:00.000-06:00

I've been thinking a lot about homosexuality lately. Mostly because my friends gave me a book that they all loved and told me to read it. It was all about the love triangle/ coming-out struggles of these three boys in...oh I forget, but I want to say New Hampshire or New York or something. Anyway, I was quite troubled by this book mainly because it was just so...out of sync with the gospel. Obviously there was the homosexuality issue, but there was also the fact that not one person was a virgin by the end of the book(Dad, if your reading this, don't worry I skipped the bad parts) and then the fact no one in the book seemed to view homosexuality as a choice, or even a sin! Well, I suppose there was one person, but he was portrayed as a lonely old fool who was being close-minded and stupid. That really bothered me. And now I'm trying to think of how to explain to my friends that I thought the book was completely wrong. The thing is, they're all for homosexuality being completely accepted. They think they're being new and open-minded, and I don't know how to explain to them (since they're unreligious) how homosexuality and premarital sex in general is just bad for you. This book isn't helping any. I couldn't even tell you how many times the main character said, "It's not a choice, and I can't change, so just...deal with it." Well what if I don't want to deal with it, darn it! At risk of sounding like my mother, there are three degrees to accepting sin. First you abhor it, then you tolerate it, and then you embrace it. I believe that. Mainly because there's just so much evidence. That's why I can't listen to music with swear words in it. If I'm embracing that music, I'm embracing its message, which means I embrace its language too. Homosexuality is just so...I don't know. There is no word to describe, but it's a very clever ploy that Old Nick has concoted. Very clever indeed. In fact I think there may only be one defense to this kind of trickery. "Hate the sin, love the sinner." Homosexuals aren't bad people. They're just lost. All that's left to do is bring them back..."*sighs* easier said than done though, I'm afraid. Guess that means we'd best get crackin'! Oh I feel much better now, thanks for letting me get that off my chest. =)

P.S. just fyi-- "Old Nick" was a term our Stake president brought up in stake conference today. It's just another key word for the devil. I thought that was sort of interesting, and a little less scary than saying "satan" He seems much more conquerable as "old nick". Sheesh, he's gotta be at least 4 billion years old, I bet he has a cane, and a limp, and age spots, and no hair...and probably those fake teeth too. No wonder he didn't get a body, he'd be a pushover. lol, plus it might kill him if we ever raked his yard or something. I don't think he likes service very much. ;)

Woohoo!

2004-12-04T23:49:00.000-06:00

My dad just installed site meter onto this site, isn't that exciting? ^_^ Well...I think so. We even have our first visitor! Hooray! Of course since that's just me, maybe I shouldn't say "we" yet. Oh well. But just in case anyone else visits, you can see what number visitor you are by loking a the green number right above the "I power Blogger" sign. Can you tell I'm out of things to say? Alright, I'll stop. Have a good day of rest. ^_^

Pharisees

2004-12-03T18:39:00.000-06:00

Okay, today in seminary we were talking about the Pharisees...about how they saw Jesus raise Lazarus from the dead, and then finally got together and decided to kill him...at least that's what our teacher said. Then Jesus went to Jerusalem because they were the only people wicked enough to kill him. But why would the Pharisees want to kill him after that! They'd finally realized that he was the Messiah and then they kill him? Did I miss something? He was the one they were waiting for all this time. I mean, I could SORT OF understand them wanting to kill him if they thought he just impersonating the real Messiah, and they thought he was of the devil, but really! Where's the logic in this?

Hello! And Welcome to tonight's edition of...

2004-12-01T20:53:00.000-06:00

THE GREENIES!
Okay so it's a dumb name, we couldn't think of anything better okay? Right, so anyway. This is the new and (improved?) site for LDS Teens! Now, it may seem empty right now, but within a few days this place will be swarming with activity. (Swarming being a relative term, of course) So welcome to any and all who are visiting, and please see me for guest-posting rights. I'll be happy to oblige as long as what your talking about is appropriate and...well-mannered. Alright, then. Thank you and good night.