Five Question Friday 9/24

It's that time again!

1. Have you ever hit an animal with your vehicle?

I don't think I have personally. I remember being in the car passing through Nevada and hitting a fox or something. Oh. I have. I ran over a dead deer once. Diana and I were driving to Richardson's Grove. We'd been on the road for 15 hours. It was 3 AM. I was tired and driving through a curvy, dark, unfamiliar road and all of a sudden, BUMP BUMP. I ran over a deer. Luckily it was already down and it didn't do any damage to my uninsured not-supposed-to-be-out-of-state rental car. Still. Woke me right up.

2. When you see a string on your clothes do you pull it off or cut it off?

I usually try and pull it off. But carefully: holding on to the garment where the string comes out and ripping it off there so as not to put a run in the thing. If it doesn't come off easily I will usually cut it off. Most likely with a kitchen knife or a nail clippers because I'm that bad at keeping track of scissors.

3. Did you have your own room or share a room when you were young?

Yeah. My parents were pretty slack about room arrangements growing up. I remember living in Massachusetts and having more rooms than girls. We'd switch rooms too often to keep track of. I'd share a room with one sister for a couple of months, then another. Then keep a space of my own for awhile. I think the five of us decided to all share the same room for a (very) little while. Last sister I shared a room with was Nikki in high school. That was fun.

4. Would you rather wear the same thing for the rest of your life or eat the same thing for the rest of your life?

Are we talking the same exact outfit. Like having to strip down and wash it over and over again? Or is it more general? A green polo and khaki shorts sort of thing? How socially acceptable would people find that? I guess I can't change for weddings or church or a day at the amusement park? The more I think about this, the more I'm thinking it's not such a good idea. I think I'll have to eat the same thing. And now I'm going to stop thinking about this.

5. What was your favorite TV show as a child?

I dunno. The same as other kids I suppose. I watched Duck Tails, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and Captain Planet, and the Rescue Rangers. Stuff like that. I liked TV. I still do. Newest favorite: Psych. Pretty funny stuff.

A Couple of Shoutouts!

First off, my amazing sister Sarah opened the Orioles v. Yankees game this last Saturday with her rendition of the national anthem. So this is her!

(Well actually this is just a filler now, cause I can't figure out how to download the video or link to it or whatever....it's coming!)

And secondly, my friend Megan has just started her blog. She is SO much more entertaining to read than me, PLUS her life is about 3x more interesting. So go check out her blog: Hmmm.... (Hasn't finalized the name yet!)

Plans for this weekend:

1. Watch BYU football game
2. Move school supplies to Nikki's
3. Get pedicure?
4. Go on drive with ward
5. Attend mission call opening?
6. DON'T think/dream about work
7. Host game night
8. Eat good food
9. Go grocery shopping
10. Buy the Poll Game

Five Question Friday 9/17

Okay

1. Have you ever visited another country?

The first country I ever visited was...the US! Being born in a foreign country and only living their for a couple of months doesn't count for much...except being able to mention it whenever applicable. So yeah. I was born in Korea. Came to the US. And haven't left since. Almost went to Canada once, but I threw a big enough hissy-fit that we drove on.

2. Where is the strangest place you've ever been?

As well as not liking to pick favorites, I'm a bit weary of "est"s. Strangest? I don't know. Have a ever been to a really strange place? I can't think of anything off the top of my head. But I'll use this opportunity to say I went on a cool vacation once to Gettysburg and stayed in a haunted hotel. Didn't see any signs of a ghosts, but I did properly freak myself out as we were checking out and I was wandering around checking for any items accidentally left behind. ("I swear that shower curtain was closed!")

Another memorable part about that trip. We watched this presentation on Battle of Gettysburg which was basically watching this map with parts of it lighting up synced to a droning voice over that played out the events. But I remember, to differentiate between the different sides of the people fighting they used the terms "Union" and "Confederacy." Seeing as that's what they called themselves back then, and popular terms still used today. See what they did there? Anyway. I had them mixed up, and the Confederacy were doing okay, but then they started losing...and they kept on losing. And I kept waiting for a dramatic turn of events, but it didn't happen. In the end, they lost. The lights came up, people started shuffling out, and I was left pretty confused.

3. What is your favorite season?

The one I'm not in at the moment? If I had to pick one, probably the spring. I like when I can start going out in t-shirts and I'm always honestly surprised to see things start blooming and getting all green.

4. What one song will always cheer me up.

I don't think I listen to music that often. In the car. That's about it. And I don't think I'm much of a music therapy fan. Not for myself anyway. Not that often.

5. What Disney character do you resemble most?

None. Um...Belle is a brunette like me....but in personality, probably some villain. I'm not always the nicest person. Maybe the wicked witch in Snow White. She's has a bit of a jealousy problem. And I do too. Or maybe Ursala. Kinda greedy.

Some positivity for you!

I know that most of my posts have a sort of negative tone to them. It's not that I'm really a terribly negative person. That's just what comes to mind when I'm writing. Anyway--sometimes things just turn out perfectly. Like scheduling lately. I somehow managed to get a Saturday off, which is amazing. I wasn't too too surprised though, in that it was my turn to work on Sunday, so I figured they were giving me a break. BUT--inventory is on Tuesday, and so instead of pulling workers from the scheduled Sunday rotation (everyone works once Sun every four weeks), they just halted the rotation for the week and pulled who they wanted.

Which means I will get to go on the Alpine Loop drive this Sunday, which I was SO bummed to be missing out on. AND I will work next Sunday, which means I will get two weekdays off which is PERFECT because Sarah flies in Monday night and I won't have to pull too many strings to get a couple of days just to spend with her. Oh. And I get a two day weekend now. It makes me so happy it's actually a little sad.

Love it.

(my "Love it." face)

Shoes

I like shoes. I think they add such a nice finishing touch to a nice outfit. When I'm in a nice pair of shoes I feel prettier, and and more confident, and all those things that aren't really rational. But I have an issue that makes certain I will never have a shoe fetish: fat feet.

It's true. I go try on shoes and I can usually squeeze into the toes without too much of an issue. And that part of the shoes is most structured so it doesn't alter it's shape too much. And the heel doesn't give me much of a problem either. But the middle. Oh the middle. Just bulges out the sides like...like...what bulges out in the middle? There's probably a perfect simile that I'm missing here. Oh well. My inability to find shoes that don't draw attention to my fat feet will prevent me from hoarding shoes if my lack of money and time won't.

P.S. I thought I should add something about flip flops here since I love them so much, but I don't know what to say. Except that I love them SO much.

Blah.

I have to get this work thing figured out. So I'm pretty sure I've been made shoes associate at work which means a full time position. And I'm now being "prepped" for the next level. It doesn't really mean anything, except that if I do well I suppose, and there is a need, then maybe they'll consider promoting me sometime in the not-so-near future.

But the schedule has been beating me up. I work from 2-10p five days a week. That's not super bad except that I miss pretty much anything social. Blah. But on top of that, I'm not sleeping very well. I can't go to bed right after work or else I dream about it all night, but that means I don't get things done or see people in the morning, and then at night I'm unproductive and again, being anti-social. I don't love this schedule. On a happier note, today was payday. The check reminds me why I'm happy to be working.

Yay!

Someone (not me) was just asked out by someone else (also not me). Makes me very happy!

FHE FTW!

Today for FHE a meditation teacher came and told us a bit about her personal history with meditating and proposed some ways in which in can help us in our lives, particularly in relation to the gospel. From the get-go, I could see how some people could find it useful, but knew that I probably wouldn't use it (mainly from never seeing the necessity).

We cleared our minds while saying a mantra. We cleared our minds while counting. We cleared our minds of our normal thoughts while climbing on a mountain. Some of it was weird to me. The mantra, for example was, "Our Lord Jesus, have mercy." I was so distracted by it, that I certainly wasn't able to clear my mind. BUT I had some respect for the woman, what she did, and how she has found benefit in it. Not for me, but that's okay too.

After each exercise our instructor selected a few people to share how they felt during the exercise. This provided another distraction for me, since I had to think about what I would say if she called on me (when I wasn't supposed to be thinking about anything). Anyway, that was all a lot of background for this: So when she called on one particular girl, she flat out said, "I don't really believe in all this stuff. I don't think it's really possible or reasonable to clear your mind of all thoughts." All in a very holier-than-thou sort of attitude. They had a small discussion where she remained firm that it was all a bunch of hullabaloo. Now I'm not condemning the thought. I'm pretty sure she was really voicing the opinion of a full third of the people there. But I also felt that she could have shown a LOT more tact. When we all went around and shared one word about how she felt she emphasized her earlier statement by saying "skeptical."

I applaud people for being themselves and being honest, but to have that and lose sensitivity, diplomacy, and good taste....I don't know. Not worth it to me.

Thought I didn't have Discovery Channel...but I do!

Today I watched a program on the Discovery Channel called "Before the Dinosaurs" or something like that. It was really interesting, and certainly more informative than yesterday's Iron Chef marathon that took up my evening. They kept doing this one thing though, that I couldn't get over. I get bothered by the silliest things sometimes (recognizing this is the first step, right?).

So, being about our world millions of years ago, it was almost completely computer generated. Maybe some computer generated animals added into some stock film. Anyway, the key idea being: not real. I'm okay with that. And I appreciate the effort they made in making it interesting to watch, and as realistic as they know how. But they kept having the non-existant animals interact with the non-existant camera. I don't get that.

If you're having trouble understand what I'm saying here are some examples... At one point a giant scorpion "attacks" the "camera" and "breaks" it (I'll lose the quotation marks now, but you get the point). Then a fish swims by and it coming so close, shakes the camera. A poor computer generated animal's blood spatters the lens, and another animal fogs it up when getting too close. The most eyebrow raising one occurred when a curious lizard sniffed at the camera.

I think this is weird. More than that though, it was very distracting which a program like this probably isn't striving for. Maybe the animators were just having some fun? Anyone else with an opinion on this?

Five Question Friday 8/27

Okay, so to help me along in my blog rut, I'm doing this Five Question Friday. At least today. I make no promises to write another blog post ever. That promise (or rather lack of one) is true after every entry. Really. I'm no good at this commitment stuff.

Anyway here are they questions (not written by me):

1. Do you have any nicknames, and if so, how did it come about?

Um....yeah. I guess. But they're all just variations on my name. People call me Sam. I don't quite get when I introduce myself as Samantha, and they go ahead and call me Sam. If I guy told me his name was Matthew (David, Phillip, Samuel, Timothy, Bradley) I wouldn't call him Matt (Dave, Phil, Sam, Tim, Brad). But I don't actually care. Sam is fine. My family calls me Sammi. And when I was younger I had a slew of 'em. Sammi-Sue, Sarmi, Sam-bam. All things like that.

I would also like to add in here that as much as I love my parents, original nicknames are not their forte. Nicknames for all of my siblings: Melissa-bis, Sammi-bam, Sarah-bear, Nikki-bic, Emmy-bem. Anyone else seeing pattern?

2. What is your birth order amongst your siblings.

Five sisters, I'm second. I like to think that makes me the Elizabeth Bennett.

3. In a movie of your life, who would play your significant other?

Let's say he will play himself. Will that guy please show up for auditions? I'm taking appointments now.

4. What is currently your favorite song?

I have the hardest time with favorites. Have I mentioned this already? They seem so final. When I was younger I read some article in a magazine directed at young impressionable girls (like me) that said you needed strong favorites, because if you didn't it showed a lack of personality. So you've probably heard me claim favorites, but my heart doesn't believe them. Anyway, I don't care to answer this question. I'm too tired.

5. Are you saving your money for anything right now? Big or small purchase?

I'm saving my money for a lot of things right now. I'm broke. I've been broke for a long time. I want a car, a computer, some good shoes for work, a road trip, clothes, etc. But when I said I was saving up money I suppose that was a bit of a lie. All my money is going into essentials right now. Rent, utilities, food, etc. One day I'll be able to save.

LHLAS!

Nikki is back in Provo...sans boyfriend! Yay! I'm excited. While it doesn't mean that she won't have a life, and while finding time to spend together may still be difficult, she won't have a life that revolves around him. So that's happy news.

I was able to surprise her at the airport. I was scheduled to work but when I arrived for my shift I saw a post-it note that someone put up offering to take Wed/Thurs night shifts. I called her on my break, she came in 45 min later, and I was able to drive to the airport. Megan had been going to pick her up and when Nikki called her to day she'd landed, Megan reportedly put on a good show. When Nikki and I got to the car (so after she was happily surprised to see me) she was still confused not to find Megan waiting there for us.

Today we got some back to school shopping done. Clothes, books, school supplies. All knocked out. Tomorrow's another day and that girl gets me up early! Since we're both working until late tomorrow night I convinced her to let me sleep in a bit.

Update on life inspired by Aunt Jen!

I've been at my new job for three weeks now. This week I'm trying out the shoes/accessories position. It's one of their five full-time positions and I could use the hours! So hopefully I like it and they like me in it. Right now it's a little hard to judge the job/store because for the last three weeks its been "back to school" time! Crazy crazy stuff so I hear.

Real mother's will probably roll their eyes at this, but I feel like a mom at work. I go around the store for 8 hours, picking up, putting things where they belong, and I come back a couple hours later and the section's a disaster again! Worst section, understandably: toys. I can just imagine the scene. Kid picks up toy, carries it around. "Hey mom, can I have this? Please!" "No! Put it back!" (kid throws the toy where ever). It also seems to be a parents idea of a cheap babysitter while they go shop elsewhere in the store.

Another item of note: my forth person living in my apartment moved in today. I met her briefly when I heard some weird noises in the apartment and peeked my head out...in my towel. Haven't seen her since for a more proper introduction. Aren't I great at first impressions?