It's official. The bike of my upbringing has finally gone belly up.
This has been my horse, my cruiser, my motorcycle. So many memories. All the sweat and soreness, all the struggles up the BYU hill, all the trips to the library. Learning to let go, adjust the brakes (hate that chore), take the tires off, adjust the seat height, and change inner tubes. Crashing outside J Dawgs. Granted, I'm not totally broken up about it, but this bike has been a part of many parts of my life for quite a while.
The problem becomes: what do I do with it now? Sentimentality says to keep it. Practicality says to dispose of it. Frugality says to break it down and keep the parts worth keeping. We don't have a garage. It doesn't seem very sightly to just leave it outside, exposed to the elements, though it would be an interesting observation experiment to watch it rust and degrade back to the elements. Suggestions?
I had an interesting experience at a certain nursing home yesterday. Seeing as I am considering entering the field of geriatric research (read: I'm mucking around on an Alzheimer's project my mentor was kind enough to let me join in on), I figured I should probably get over my aversion to the elderly. Hence the nursing home excursion in the first place. But I digress. While we were there visiting with a real peppy lady, a group of young adults came in to sing Christmas hymns. Mind you, they were stressing the hymn part pretty strongly; they were not there to carol. At least, this was the sentiment expressed by the spokesman. I found his attitude rather amusing, and apparently so did this lady, because when asked what hymn she would like them to sing, she went with "Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Let it Snow!" The leader fellow was obviously a little put out, but the rest of his troop promptly burst into such an energetic intro that our recipient had to turn down her hearing aid. Having finished, this fellow again asked if there was a hymn she'd like to hear. Her response: "Over the river and through the woods." Again, the poor fellow was disappointed, but the group was evidently tired of the same 5 hymns in every room and so again obliged. However, as the song progressed, more and more dropped out. By the end, it was my roommate and I who triumphantly brought in the end of the song. Needless to say, we only did one verse of that one.
Which brings me to my point. I was really surprised that people didn't know this little gem of a song. It's pretty short (especially if you only do one verse) and it's pretty simple. Admittedly, it is a little antiquated and, according to Wikipedia, was originally written as a Thanksgiving song, which explains why it isn't often sung. But I was still taken aback to find such a small percentage who knew it. So, being the inquiring scientific mind that I am, I deigned to design a study (read: I asked the people I interacted with today whether they knew the song). The results: no one, apart from my roommate in the original instance, could actually sing the song through one verse.
[Note to the reader: the next paragraph is dripping with sarcasm and hyperbole.]
Although I know you will agree that this study embodies the essence of good science, some caveats do exist (my statistics professor ought to be so proud). I will admit that my sample size is dismally small (n=a dozen and a half or so - I know, real precise) and was selected in a rather biased manner, i.e. only my roommates and academic friends were considered. Nevertheless, I must conclude that I am one of the few left in the population in possession of this knowledge, granted I could only sing one verse with confidence. Thus, I thought I would take it upon myself to disseminate this valuable piece of Americana and enrich your holiday season. I have fond memories of listening to this on a Disney sing-along cassette tape during my childhood and would be miserly of me if I didn't let you in on the creation of your own fond memories.
For those of you unfamiliar with this relic. ♫Hurrah for old techno toys!♪
Tell me this doesn't make you smile?
In other news, despite my above animation, I am looking forward to the termination of my statistics course with great anticipation. Only one more hurdle - the final, which, fortunately but unfortunately, has been divided into 3 parts. Wish me luck!
I realized the other day that there are several things I take for granted. I watched Anne of Green Gables over Christmas and it got me thinking about friendship. I've always wished I had a bosom friend, to take a phrase from Anne, but as yet haven't found a kindred spirit. I've also wished that I had a really good group of chums upon whom I can call and with whom I can have all kinds of adventures. Just as I was thinking this, Samantha came to mind; however, I immediately pushed the idea aside. She doesn't count, I thought. She's my sister, she's supposed to like me. She's supposed to be my friend.
But as I thought about it more, I had to chastise myself a little bit. As far as a group of friends, I realized that I can find that in my immediate family. The funnest times, my favorite times, are whenever I just hang out and play with my family. It doesn't matter what we do, it is never draining and always enjoyable. I can laugh really loudly, be goofy, and say dumb things and they will always love and accept me. I realized that there are lots of people who are not very close to their family at all; some have little, if any, contact with them for one reason or another. Then again, some people have quite a bit of conflict in their home and contend with differences of opinion, personality, and values. Samantha and I have never been enemies. Sure, we've quarreled or had frustrations about this or that, but other than those small squabbles we have been the best of friends for as long as I can remember. We played together as little girls, cooperated as young denarians, and now that we've gotten older, we confide and share in our experiences together as we learn about life. We have similar interests and temperaments which really give us a unique understanding of each other. One thing that has been really important to me is that we share goals and a strong work ethic. Doing well in school and challenging myself academically is very important to me and Samantha helps me with that by sharing that passion and pursuit of excellence.
I'm really grateful that Heavenly Father decided to give me such a great family and such a great friend who also doubles as a sister. I know I'll always have her in my life and we'll always be friends forever. Yeah, forever. :)
My wonderfully gorgeous, intelligent, talented sister graduated! Now she can come have fun with me in college! Here are some of her incredible accomplishments.
Music
As everyone knows, Samantha was a member of the American Fork Marching Band and participated as a bearer of a big stick (aka clarinet for those who don't know the band lingo). She always did a great job, and I always loved going to watch her competitions.
Art
She was chosen as the American Fork Sterling Scholar for Visual Arts, and she got all the way to the finals- don't know why they didn't pick her, but we aren't bitter or anything.
Samantha is an incredible artist! So I thought I would put up some of her portfolio.
Self Portraits
This one makes me giggle because I can just see the attitude seething. This was a school assignment and she was obviously not too thrilled about it. :)
I love her eyes in this one.
Tiger Love
This blows my mind. Pointillism. Millions of dots. Those are all dots! Needless to say, she was working on this for quite a while.
Close-up of the eye
Milo the Guinea Pig
Since the moment he was born, he was Samantha's baby. He and his siblings were born on 9/11. He's the second one from the front with the white stripe on his nose. He was a great pet, & Samantha really loved him.
AragornThis is something called a lino-cut. She carved out a piece of linoleum (that's really hard, by the way), then rolled ink on it and stamped it on paper. She didn't really like doing it and wasn't super thrilled with how it came out, but I still think it's a cool design.
Eiffel Cat
I'm proud to say I helped inspire this one. Ok, so it's only because the Tower is my picture that happened to be sitting on my floor behind Ralph, but still. :) This is white pencil on black paper, which is more difficult that one would think. Instead of concentrating on creating the shape, you focus on the highlights. Neat.
Fruits of "Pear"adise
She submitted this one to the Reflections contest where it won second place on the district level. It's kind of a funny story, because it was a last-minute submission, so she didn't actually title it; her teacher did. It was done in prismacolor colored pencil and has stripes of solarization.
Dad
This is a favorite picture of our father, taken for a faculty picture at BYU. We think it's got lots of character.
Baudelaire
This is a French poet with one of his poems about death along with a red anemone, symbolizing death and a withering almond blossom, symbolizing hope, or rather a lack of it. It's incredible to me how piercing his gaze is, despite the pastel with which he was created.
Old Tractor in a Wheat FieldThis is a collection of pictures my dad took on his mission that Samantha did in acrylics. I like the colors and the way the medium adds to the rustic feel.
London ManAnother of my dad's photos, one he took on a band tour in England. This one has been chosen to hang in the Covey Center until August.
Hanashi-Banashi (chit-chat in Japanese)
Again, a mission picture from Japan- just a bunch of old ladies waiting for the bus. It's terrific!
Tea Time
This is Samantha's first watercolor. It's absolutely incredible, looks just like the photograph. In fact many people think it is a photo when they first see it.
So there you have it, just a few of Samantha's masterpieces. Be sure to look for her name in famous museums 10 years from now! :)
I simply adore my lovely roommate Nina and I have been so blessed to have her in my life. She never ceases to amaze me with her wisdom and insight, far exceeding her years. Last night we had a marvelous chat session. We talked about school and friends and boys (but only a little bit, cause we're both kind of anti at the moment, so it was more of that aspect than the traditional girls-talking-about-boys stereotype). But mostly we talked about life. Our wishes for life, its hardships, the treasures that make it all worth it. And goals. She makes me want to go out and conquer the world, but mostly myself. She is helping me conquer myself. One flaw at a time, and she is so good at it. She just has a way of pointing out what needs to be worked on without making it personal or judgmental and giving me the motivation to actually accomplish it. But what's great about it is that for all of our polar opposites (and there are a surprising number of them; exactly, completely opposite), we are so similar in so many other facets, so I don't feel like I have to do it alone or that she is dictating from on high. We're a team, a self-betterment team. Friends. Love you oodles, Nines!
