Thursday, February 26, 2009

goin' to the temple and we're gonna get married

ok not really.

So I went to the Draper Temple open house today-- my first temple open house! I went with Caroline and her friends Jon, Steve, and Scott. It was so fun! We took a little bus thingy to get there, then toured around. It was actually a lot smaller than I thought. It looks so big on the outside, you know? I didn't know there were only like 3 rooms of purpose. They were so gorgeous though. Huge chandeliers, so beautiful... I'm really happy I finally got to see the inside of a temple. :) I really can't wait until I get to go in..!!

It was harder to feel the spirit inside I think, just b/c there was lots of talking and crazy little kids running around, but it still felt just good. In the sealing room especially, it just felt... I don't know. I just felt... well I felt something. And it wasn't like.. happy necessarily, but it was just like boom. God is real. That's what it was. I just felt like God was so real. Kinda weird I guess. I don't know. It made me think about my family a lot too, of course, sealing is for families. I miss them a lot.

Anyway. Here are some pics for your viewing pleasure :)

They had some pictures of temples all around the world. And here's the Cochabamba temple! I got to go there twice while I was in Bolivia. It's so gorgeous. :) I miss hearing everything in Spanish..
It's gorgeous!
We are so cool.

Monday, February 23, 2009

The weather was awesome today. Totally reminded me of home, of walking to Newport right after seminary in the dreary cloudy grey day. I miss it. I love it when it's cloudy because it traps all the heat and makes it warm!

"Come What May" --best song evaaaaaahh

Also, "Low" by T-Pain.

Hahaha.

I'm happy. :)

Friday, February 20, 2009

If I wear perfume and mascara for you, it's a big deal.

Monday, February 16, 2009

I'm a selfish jerk but at the moment, I don't really give a.

stones taught me to fly

Well it's a holiday and I am gladly using it to catch up on homework. So I'm at the library. You know what's confusing though? I called the parking people to see if they enforce on holidays and this is what the message said:

"For holidays, parking is enforced in all lots, but parking permits are not enforced."

What the h is that supposed to mean???

So I just parked over at the creamery, in visitor parking. Let's hope I don't get a ticket.

Anyways. So I was just reading my scriptures (finally got through the Isaiah stuff in 2 Nephi... it's probably bad that I don't like that part but I really just don't understand it. And the BOM class I took was kind of fluffy and didn't go over stuff like this, unfortunately, so I still don't understand it.) and I liked what I was reading in 2 Nephi 25. Yesterday's talks were on the commandments and this was talking about the laws of the Lord too.

Verse 27 says "...that our children may know the deadness of the law; and they, by knowing the deadness of the law, may look forward unto that life which is in Christ, and know for what end the law was given..."

What I gather from that is that too often we look at the laws as annoying to follow or we focus on them way too much and lose the big picture. This is telling us that the laws aren't the real focus, Christ is the real focus, life in Christ, the Atonement, and that is the end, the reason the laws are given. So the laws are super important, and they are how we become closer to Christ. Keeping the commandments is it, it's how we get there. But at the same time, we have to remember that Christ is the ultimate goal. So we should focus on Him, the WHY of the laws.

Anyways, that's my food for thought for the day.

Speaking of food... my friend Kristen had a brunch at her house this morning and it was way fun! Delicious food too, blueberry coffee cake and this quiche deliciousness... we went to Smith's to buy eggs for it, and got some super cheap bags of Valentine's Day candy! Bags of snickers were only $1.75!! Happy day... I just want to buy like ten bags of them. But I only got two. One is for a class, don't worry, haha.

Happy President's Day!

Friday, February 13, 2009

I am happy.

  • Pop music: Chris Brown, Jordin Sparks, Ne-Yo, Jesse McCartney, David Archuleta
  • A clean room. Vacuumed and everything.
  • Finished with homework at least for the next day.
  • Good grades. Feeling smart.
  • New friends. Old friends. Friends and people in general. People. Hanging out. Talking. Laughing. Getting to know each other. Old jokes with old friends. Happy times.
  • Butterscotch and chocolate chip oatmeal cookies.
  • A room with a heater.
  • My laptop.
  • My family. Girly phone calls with my mom. (It doesn't happen very often..)
I just feel so good. I feel so happy. Things are good, I'm good, I'm liking how life is playing out right now. Good times.

Monday, February 9, 2009

I want you to love me

Before I start this list of 25 random things about me, I'd just like to say that I think this shows a huge part of human nature. People either write up this list because they think they're super cool and you should also know how super cool they are, or they are really longing and hoping that someone is going to think they are interesting or important enough to know more about them, so they'll read it. Really. We all just want to be loved and appreciated. We want people to know more about us, to want to know more about us. Interesting, isn't it? So yes, I do too. I want you to love me! Now that that's out... here we go!

1. I don't like washing my hands anymore. I like using antibacterial hand sanitizer. It's more effective in fact, and is less of a hassle. But even though they have them in all the bathrooms on campus now, I only use them when nobody else is there, because I don't want people to think I don't wash my hands. I do! In fact I clean them better than you do, and in the process dry out my hands less and waste no water!

2. I eat yogurt for breakfast every day. I really like vanilla. Mixed berry reminds me of Pam on The Office. White chocolate raspberry is my absolute favorite, but Smith's doesn't carry it, only Macey's does, but it's too far away so I never get it.

3. I wear the same shoes as Gregory House. Running shoes or chuck taylor's.

4. I plan my day out to the tee. Hour by hour. Just ask to see my agenda. I usually use post-its.

5. I am a minimalist when it comes to weird things like saving water. When I wash dishes, there's a certain way I do it to waste the least amount of water. I don't soak pots or pans with just clean water, I'll wash a few dishes and let that run-off sit in the pan. I soap all at once then rinse all at once. I use the run-off rinse water to start rinsing the other dishes. One time I was watching Ted wash the dishes and I finally just took them from him b/c I couldn't stand all the water he was wasting.

In addition to that, I write on every little piece of a scrap paper before I recycle it. I reuse post-its in my agenda to write my schedule on. I save everything.

6. One of my all-time dreams of all dreams is to be the lead singer/guitarist in a band and perform to a huge crowd. Sometimes a certain song will hit these inner voices and I'll totally space out and daydream myself performing. And then I get sad that it'll probably never happen.

7. I play the flute, piano, drums, guitar, and ukulele. But I'm not excellent at any of them, which really sucks. I'm a mediocre musician.

8. I use everything to the last wire. Chapstick, eyeliner, lotion, anything. The last tiny little drop. I really don't like wasting anything...

9. In 6th grade I met a girl named Clil Gross who was from Israel. We became best friends but in 8th grade her family moved back. We wrote each other all the time and would call each other on our birthdays. But we lost touch somewhere in high school and now I have no way of getting in contact with her. I hope she's okay.

10. I love taking pictures. Absolutely love it.

11. I get really really into music. Sometimes it'll just hit me so so so hard and I'll be immobilized. Or just can't even.. I don't know. But I hate how superficial and pretentious that sounds. I think people think I'm just being dumb or making it up or whatever but I'm not. I really really just... there's something it does and I can't describe it or expect anybody to understand but I wish I could. It's what makes me want to lay on the floor in my room all day and just listen to music and let it soak into me, and feel out all the different emotions that can't be written and only felt and just drink it all in. Who does it to me? Damien Rice, Rilo Kiley, Death Cab, among plenty of others. Sometimes it'll even just be a dumb pop song that'll somehow have the right lyrics and the right amount of sadness in the melody that'll do it. I won't like a song without a reason either. There's always a reason why.. so when I make mixes for people I'll write out the track list with the reason why I put it on there for that specific person. It's that important!

12. I am the Boggle champion.

13. I ask a lot of questions. I hate being in the dark. I think people should just tell people everything. Ok, almost everything. I just hate playing games. Especially in relationships, just tell me what's going on! And I will tell you! And it doesn't have to be "awkward" or whatever. Go against the norm and just say it like it is, man.

14. I like painting my nails bright orange. And black when I'm feeling emo or reverting back to high school.

15. I want to practice medicine SO badly. I can't wait at all. The body fascinates me. Diagnoses fascinate me. I love it. I love wearing my scrubs. I think I study better in my scrubs too. I'm a phlebotomist (draw blood) and I absolutely love it. I love Thursdays and working at the clinic. I also get to speak Spanish there, which I also love, hence the name of my blog.

16. The lower left quadrant of my back is way sensitive/ticklish. I absolutely love back rubs/back scratching, but that part I have to try soooooo hard not to squirm. Weird huh, I have no idea why it is that way..

17. On the color personality test, I am a blue/red. But I've only ever dated whites/yellows. ???

18. On the love languages test, I'm definitely definitely service/quality time/gifts. Not in a superficial give me all your money type thing at all!!! I just feel like you can be physical with whoever you want and tell people whatever you want, but if you really care about them, you'll take the time to think about what will make them happy, and do it. A note, a little bag of cookies, anything small that shows that you were thinking about them and that you care.

19. My family never played games together. We never had the whole family game night thing. The only board game we own is Monopoly. I figured out that it's because my parents speak English as their second language. I tried playing Taboo with them a few years ago and my mom kept speaking Korean instead so it didn't work very well. And think about it: Boggle, Scattergories, Taboo, so many games involve knowing American pop culture, words, all that type of stuff. So yeah. We never did that. And I was always jealous of the families that would have a whole closet dedicated to games. I think I want that in the future. I'm slowly building up my collection...

20. I love food. I love eating. I eat slow, because I'm a food-savor-er (?). I am in love with food. I reward myself with food, I give myself food when I'm feeling crappy, I love going out to eat and trying new restaurants but also going to old favorites.. If it involves food, I'll be there. So I'm not that picky. I'll eat anything. I just love it. But with that not being picky comes having select favorites in certain categories. I love white hearts in the candy sweethearts. I love pink and strawberry starbursts. I pick out the white chex in chex mix. (This is starting to sound racist..) There are others but I can't recall them. One of my silly wish/dream whatevers is that someone will be like Jack in the Robin Williams movie where he picks out all the red gummy bears for his teacher. Yeah. Something like that...

21. Along with the topic of food, I like eating things in tastes of balance. I like eating mashed potatoes after a bite of meat, to balance out the saltyness. I'll eat a bite of crust on pizza after eating the meat/cheese part. Etc, etc.

22. I'm a romantic. I don't think roses are cliche, I think they're absolutely beautiful. At the same time, if someone ever spent $160 on a flower bouquet for me, they wouldn't know me very well.

23. I study a lot. Like 12 hours per final. I'll break it up and section it off. I use post-its instead of index cards for flashcards because they're cheaper. I memorize everything. I'm a nerd. I blame it on my parents. I was the Asian kid in middle school who would get in trouble for getting an A-. I got my first B in 7th grade and thought my parents were literally going to kill me. Funny thing though is that when I told my mom how scared she made me back then, she denies everything she ever said and did to me for bad grades. She said she and Dad were always so proud that I did well. Weird... did they block it out or was I just a super scared little kid? We'll never know...

24. I did gymnastics when I was younger for 6 years and I was dang good at it. Seriously. My mom made me quit b/c she said it stunted my growth. (Obviously, quitting didn't help much!!) I took the class here at BYU last year and it was AWESOME. I got to do aerials again and it made me sooooo happy..

25. I hate misspelled words. With a passion. I'm sorry, but if you misspell words, I do judge you on it. I can't help it.

That's kind of a dumb one to end on but oh well... I've been compiling this list slowly over the past few weeks b/c I couldn't think of so many things at once. It's about time I post it.

Thursday, February 5, 2009

So when you say forever, can't you see? You've already captured me

Oh my--

I'm on the second floor of the library where they're doing the experimental music section. So far it's been a bit of classical, some random West Side Story orchestrated, then some jazz type, and now we're onto Andean music!! Totally the stuff you hear in Bolivia and everything! It's transporting me back, haha.. Oh now it's playing Dvorak! Interesting..

I'm bad. I constantly look for distractions to take me away from my studying. Like blogging for nobody in particular.

I like studying with people, it doesn't matter if we talk or anything, but just having a person there makes me feel like I'm not being a loner in the library, but that I have friends. It helps me concentrate better. Is that weird?

Since I'm sola right now, I'll just try harder to focus.... I might move from this music section though... but everywhere else seems kinda crowded at the moment.

I feel like reading me some Scott Pilgrim. If I had a million dollars..

Celebration of Singledom coming up soon! I'm way super excited!

The Salt Lake City Temple-- I took this picture back in December. Thought it was pretty.

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

good good morning sun

Thoughts of the day:

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/02/bolivia_and_its_new_constituti.html

News/pictures on Bolivia. It makes my heart ache. I'm afraid for them. This all sounds good, but I was in an area that was more Pro-US and they told me how much they hate Evo and all that he's done. So I don't know, I don't know what to think or what's best or what's going to happen.. The pictures just made me miss it like the dickens. I miss it so bad, the people, the places, everything. Sigh.

I really like visiting teaching/home teaching. I think they're great programs. Last month my VTs came over and it was just so nice to have a spiritual message in the middle of the week, kind of to remind me of what's really important, what I really should be working for and such. It made me happy.

I couldn't sleep very well last night. Coughing for a long time, my throat was bothering me like crazy. Then I skipped a class this morning, and work. Slept instead. Blaaah I'm being such a slacker this week..

One of the reason I like Damien Rice's "Dogs" (for those of you who haven't heard it yet... youtube it or something!!!! Stat!!!) is the bridge part when he's singing about the girl, right? And he sings "She's like an angel, man, she burns my eyes." I like that he puts "man" at the end of each phrase, it's like he's telling his guy friends about this amazing girl, so amazing he can tell his guy friends about it, he can't keep it inside. And it just builds and builds until it hits the high and everything crashes down and it's just so amazingly awesome. I want someone to feel like that about me!

Following that note, Jill and I decided that by the end of this school semester we each have to find a boy that will write a song about us. Hahaha. (I decided my name was not song-worthy because.. it just isn't. There are no cool songs about "Jean" the name is too stiff and old-fashioned and short. Booo)

Well I should probably start studying or something, do something useful with my day.

Anita, me, and Sonia-- they worked in lab with me and taught me all about taking samples and such. We became really good friends. I still keep in touch with Anita. I miss her.

Sunday, February 1, 2009

I'm going to try harder this month. I have been inspired and I feel the motivation. Here we go!

While reading in The Book of Mormon just now, I liked these verses:

2 Nephi 9:51-52: Wherefore, do not spend money for that which is of no worth, nor your labor for that which cannot satisfy. Hearken diligently unto me, and remember the words which I have spoken; and come unto the Holy One of Israel, and feast upon that which perisheth not, neither can be corrupted, and let your soul delight in fatness. Behold, my beloved brethren, remember the words of your God; pray unto him continually by day, and give thanks unto his holy name by night. Let your hearts rejoice."

There are lots of good things in this. Don't waste your time or resources on silly things. Feast upon that which perisheth not-- the important things, God, family, relationships with people, education, becoming a better person. I'm constantly working on that, on changing my perspective to an eternal one, focusing on the things that really matter. Refocus!!

And the last part, to pray and give thanks and let your hearts rejoice. Enjoy life! Be happy! Be glad to be here, glad to be doing what you're doing, grateful for all the opportunities that are coming your way. Grateful for the sadness and the problems, everything they teach you. To just enjoy the ride. That is so so so hard to do I think. But it's so important. So let's do it!!!