Today was very difficult. I received my scores for some quizzes I took in my behavior class. I called Mom on the way home, and I'm glad she was willing to listen to me. It was a long walk. I'm concerned about school and my grades right now. At least I'd bought some candy so I could still have some on Halloween.
Tuesday, October 31, 2017
Monday, October 30, 2017
Getting Fridged
I met with the TA of my Research Methods class to discuss my literature review today, meaning all the background research I had summarized and included in the massive essay we've been tasked to write this semester. She explained that she was having a hard time understanding what I was doing with my hypothetical research project, and recommended that I set up another appointment to meet with both her and my teacher together.
When I first started working on this essay, it was supposed to be about aggression and commitment levels among teen couples. That didn't work out the way I planned, so I scrapped the research articles I had and chose ten new ones related to flirtation and attractiveness, and started my essay over. Now it looks like I'll be choosing ten new articles and writing about asexuality as a sexual orientation instead. I can do that. Wasn't my original plan, but I can do that.
Every day in fiction writing, we workshop two stories. Everyone in class downloads and reads the stories beforehand and leaves commentary on the Word document via the Track Changes option. We submit one copy online for our teacher, and print out a hardcopy for the writer. One of the pieces we workshopped today was about a food fight that takes place in a cramped box kitchen between a husband coming home from work and a woman who loves to cook and who pulls out random ingredients when she does so (which turned out to be a very clever and important detail later, because it provides plenty of ammunition for the impending food fight). Inevitably, an argument between her and her husband turns to throwing food, and at the end of the piece, you find out it's their anniversary.
There were some lines in this piece that I really liked. The woman checks her make-up in the toaster and is happy that the heat from the oven didn't melt it off. Towards the end of the story, her make-up starts to run due to wet food on her face. When I was doing my Track Changes, I made a comment that said, "No! How dare you? She was so proud her make-up hadn't melted!"
Our fiction writing teacher always tries to be super politically correct. Case in point: Today she called out one girl who said that she liked the way the argument had broken out because she thought "That was a very girl thing to do, that the wife didn't ask him verbally to throw the old and nearly-empty container of cream out of the fridge, but she kept waiting hoping he would, because it's his cream". In the story, the argument about the expired cream in the fridge quickly became a two-way argument about all the many ridiculous habits the other partner has. My favorite part was that the wife always refused to turn off the lights when she was alone in the house, because she was afraid the place was haunted. This understandably annoyed her husband just like him leaving the cream in the fridge annoyed her. It gave her a flaw, and made the fight not a one-sided attack on her husband.
Anyway, our teacher gave us a spiel about how we can't describe behaviors as "male" and "female" when we critique. Okay, sure. We're a class entirely of girls without a single boy around and we are honestly expressing individual opinions and interpretations about what we just read, trying to act like a group of average readers who picked the piece up, but sure. My teacher followed this by explaining how the woman refusing to turn off the lights was "a stereotype" and that the entire fight was, again a stereotype. The writer isn't allowed to talk during critique time, so she just say there, visibly uncomfortable, as our teacher went off about things like this, and about how the image of a breadwinning husband and homemaking wife in the kitchen doesn't appeal to modern readers, and we shouldn't write such stereotypical things.
Finally, my teacher said that one problem with this piece is that at the end, when it's revealed it's the couple's anniversary, the closure comes from them laughing together on the floor and sharing a kiss. She said that them being happy could be offensive to poor people due to the amount of food that is now ruined, and suggested that the writer especially redo the ending to include a sense of waste and loss. After all, some readers might not be able to afford very much food. Probably because they're spending the money they do have to buy luxury items like short story collections.
I don't disagree about including a sense of waste in the rewrite. Bittersweet endings are my favorite, and it does seem like the woman who cooked so much food for so much of the day might be disappointed about it being inedible now. But I felt a bit offended on behalf of the writer. Our teacher was straight-up targeting her for writing about a food fight- and taking time away for the rest of us to offer comments, might I add. Each writer only has 25 minutes to be workshopped. Not to mention, everyone needs to make a comment in order to earn their individual credit during the workshop. We receive a 0 if we don't.
The way I see it, the writer just wanted to write about a food fight. By definition, food fights result in waste. I understand that people from certain backgrounds may read the same piece of writing differently than another person. Some of us happened to be readers who saw the woman's reluctance to throw out her husband's nearly-empty container of cream as a feminine behavior, but it's "wrong" to say that. Well, maybe some people grew up with the background that that's a feminine behavior, just like some people may have grown up with a poorer background that makes them sad to see all that wasted food.
My teacher straight-up said that you should write to please your audience. Um. Okay. But consider: You can't please everyone. Yes, when you publish, you have to keep your audience in mind, but you should still be writing for yourself and enjoying what you do. For the record, the couple in the piece were living in an apartment rather than some fancy house. They weren't exactly poor, but they weren't on top of the world either.
And yes, there were a lot of gender stereotypes in the story. The wife was cooking at home while the husband was at work. Very stereotypical. But keep in mind that the wife was described as loving to cook, and it was also their anniversary. Doesn't it make sense that she would go all out for this one special day? Maybe she even has a job and used one of her vacation days to stay at home for this. Who knows. Isn't it stereotypical to just assume she didn't have a job just because she wasn't seen working one during the eight pages of this story that had nothing to do with her job?
Anyway. That was fiction writing class. After that, I went to Institute, then came home and cleaned the fridge and other areas of room. I sent this picture of my fridge to Mom:
Most of my food right now doesn't need to be refrigerated. It's weird to live alone sometimes. I don't have anyone to start a food fight with.
When I first started working on this essay, it was supposed to be about aggression and commitment levels among teen couples. That didn't work out the way I planned, so I scrapped the research articles I had and chose ten new ones related to flirtation and attractiveness, and started my essay over. Now it looks like I'll be choosing ten new articles and writing about asexuality as a sexual orientation instead. I can do that. Wasn't my original plan, but I can do that.
Every day in fiction writing, we workshop two stories. Everyone in class downloads and reads the stories beforehand and leaves commentary on the Word document via the Track Changes option. We submit one copy online for our teacher, and print out a hardcopy for the writer. One of the pieces we workshopped today was about a food fight that takes place in a cramped box kitchen between a husband coming home from work and a woman who loves to cook and who pulls out random ingredients when she does so (which turned out to be a very clever and important detail later, because it provides plenty of ammunition for the impending food fight). Inevitably, an argument between her and her husband turns to throwing food, and at the end of the piece, you find out it's their anniversary.
There were some lines in this piece that I really liked. The woman checks her make-up in the toaster and is happy that the heat from the oven didn't melt it off. Towards the end of the story, her make-up starts to run due to wet food on her face. When I was doing my Track Changes, I made a comment that said, "No! How dare you? She was so proud her make-up hadn't melted!"
Our fiction writing teacher always tries to be super politically correct. Case in point: Today she called out one girl who said that she liked the way the argument had broken out because she thought "That was a very girl thing to do, that the wife didn't ask him verbally to throw the old and nearly-empty container of cream out of the fridge, but she kept waiting hoping he would, because it's his cream". In the story, the argument about the expired cream in the fridge quickly became a two-way argument about all the many ridiculous habits the other partner has. My favorite part was that the wife always refused to turn off the lights when she was alone in the house, because she was afraid the place was haunted. This understandably annoyed her husband just like him leaving the cream in the fridge annoyed her. It gave her a flaw, and made the fight not a one-sided attack on her husband.
Anyway, our teacher gave us a spiel about how we can't describe behaviors as "male" and "female" when we critique. Okay, sure. We're a class entirely of girls without a single boy around and we are honestly expressing individual opinions and interpretations about what we just read, trying to act like a group of average readers who picked the piece up, but sure. My teacher followed this by explaining how the woman refusing to turn off the lights was "a stereotype" and that the entire fight was, again a stereotype. The writer isn't allowed to talk during critique time, so she just say there, visibly uncomfortable, as our teacher went off about things like this, and about how the image of a breadwinning husband and homemaking wife in the kitchen doesn't appeal to modern readers, and we shouldn't write such stereotypical things.
Finally, my teacher said that one problem with this piece is that at the end, when it's revealed it's the couple's anniversary, the closure comes from them laughing together on the floor and sharing a kiss. She said that them being happy could be offensive to poor people due to the amount of food that is now ruined, and suggested that the writer especially redo the ending to include a sense of waste and loss. After all, some readers might not be able to afford very much food. Probably because they're spending the money they do have to buy luxury items like short story collections.
I don't disagree about including a sense of waste in the rewrite. Bittersweet endings are my favorite, and it does seem like the woman who cooked so much food for so much of the day might be disappointed about it being inedible now. But I felt a bit offended on behalf of the writer. Our teacher was straight-up targeting her for writing about a food fight- and taking time away for the rest of us to offer comments, might I add. Each writer only has 25 minutes to be workshopped. Not to mention, everyone needs to make a comment in order to earn their individual credit during the workshop. We receive a 0 if we don't.
The way I see it, the writer just wanted to write about a food fight. By definition, food fights result in waste. I understand that people from certain backgrounds may read the same piece of writing differently than another person. Some of us happened to be readers who saw the woman's reluctance to throw out her husband's nearly-empty container of cream as a feminine behavior, but it's "wrong" to say that. Well, maybe some people grew up with the background that that's a feminine behavior, just like some people may have grown up with a poorer background that makes them sad to see all that wasted food.
My teacher straight-up said that you should write to please your audience. Um. Okay. But consider: You can't please everyone. Yes, when you publish, you have to keep your audience in mind, but you should still be writing for yourself and enjoying what you do. For the record, the couple in the piece were living in an apartment rather than some fancy house. They weren't exactly poor, but they weren't on top of the world either.
And yes, there were a lot of gender stereotypes in the story. The wife was cooking at home while the husband was at work. Very stereotypical. But keep in mind that the wife was described as loving to cook, and it was also their anniversary. Doesn't it make sense that she would go all out for this one special day? Maybe she even has a job and used one of her vacation days to stay at home for this. Who knows. Isn't it stereotypical to just assume she didn't have a job just because she wasn't seen working one during the eight pages of this story that had nothing to do with her job?
Anyway. That was fiction writing class. After that, I went to Institute, then came home and cleaned the fridge and other areas of room. I sent this picture of my fridge to Mom:
Most of my food right now doesn't need to be refrigerated. It's weird to live alone sometimes. I don't have anyone to start a food fight with.
Sunday, October 29, 2017
Riding With Emily
We had stake conference at the tabernacle today. The relief society president, Shailey, was going early so that she could join the choir there. I hadn't finished eating breakfast by that point, so I didn't join her. Instead, I rode there with the first counselor, Emily.
We picked up her boyfriend on the way over. That was sort of interesting to me, just thinking about how she's a freshman in her first semester, and she has a car and a boyfriend too. It's interesting sometimes to realize that even though we were both in the same presidency in the same ward and were close to the same age, our lives were very different in little ways. It's great to see her work so hard in the relief society, as well as juggling the pressures of a first semester in college and all her other commitments too.
We picked up her boyfriend on the way over. That was sort of interesting to me, just thinking about how she's a freshman in her first semester, and she has a car and a boyfriend too. It's interesting sometimes to realize that even though we were both in the same presidency in the same ward and were close to the same age, our lives were very different in little ways. It's great to see her work so hard in the relief society, as well as juggling the pressures of a first semester in college and all her other commitments too.
Saturday, October 28, 2017
Boo at the Zoo
Well, today I volunteered at the Boo at the Zoo event. The first thing I was assigned to do was man the fishing booth with a partner. I sat behind the curtain and hooked little rubbery plastic fish onto the lines that children flung over, while my partner handed them their fishing poles.
That was a pretty awesome task to earn volunteer hours for. I should have known I couldn't get away with it all day, though. After an hour or so, the volunteers were switched around the booths. I served my next hour working at a Frankenstein monster-themed booth, where children were supposed to stick their hand up the monster's nose, and I would drop a small sucker into their hands. It was amusing to see how many children were too scared or grossed-out to do so.
After an hour or so at that activity, I was switched off to the Tic-Tac-Toe station, where kids tossed small beanbags into wooden boxes divided into nine sections. There weren't any prizes to hand out, just a lot of beanbag fetching to do. There were 12 beanbags - 6 in each of 2 colors - so that was a lot of hurrying around to pick them up and hand them off to the next kid, all without getting hit by the kid currently throwing.
It started to get hot, and I needed to get some food. I took the time to record my usual observations of animal behavior before I left, though. It was nice to be there on Saturday. I saw some animals awake that usually aren't in the morning, and paid a visit to the lynx and bobcat, which are so far down their path that I haven't seen them much while I'm working. I grabbed a tasty cookie on my way out, regretting that I hadn't taken the chance to pet the reindeer before starting work at the Tic-Tac-Toe activity. Oh well. Maybe I'll have the chance tomorrow.
Friday, October 27, 2017
Pumpkin Enrichment
The Halloween spirit reached even the zoo today. The zoo hosts fun Halloween games and events for kids every year. I spoke with the zoo director in advance and was granted permission to stay for an extra two hours longer than normal so I could help set some things up.
We had received a delivery of tons of pumpkins, for some reason or another. I was instructed to use them to provide enrichment for the animals, by slicing off the "lids" and filling the insides with food. The lynx and the bobcat got pumpkins filled with chopped up fish and other meat, the monkeys were given pumpkins stuffed with all kinds of vegetables, and the birds received millets and seeds. I was even permitted to step inside the outdoor monkey enclosure and set the two pumpkins out for them. That was pretty neat.
I had one pumpkin left, and the director suggested I "chuck it over the fence for the yak", because he would like it. A little surprised, I did as he asked. The yak is blind. It was very interesting to watch him react to the sound of the pumpkin hitting the ground. He walked over to it, and slowed his pace as he neared. It took him a while to find it, but he finally knocked into it with his hoof. He kept himself entertained for a long time, pushing it around and knocking it into trees and the fence.
Someone brought in Little Caeser's pizza, and we all took a break for lunch. I ate a lot of it, as well as some sugar cookies that had been provided, and then we went about setting things up for the events that would take place in the afternoon. I'll be going back tomorrow to spend several hours running the activities. But for now, I had to go back to school.
We had received a delivery of tons of pumpkins, for some reason or another. I was instructed to use them to provide enrichment for the animals, by slicing off the "lids" and filling the insides with food. The lynx and the bobcat got pumpkins filled with chopped up fish and other meat, the monkeys were given pumpkins stuffed with all kinds of vegetables, and the birds received millets and seeds. I was even permitted to step inside the outdoor monkey enclosure and set the two pumpkins out for them. That was pretty neat.
Stepped into this outdoor bird enclosure to set down a pumpkin
I had one pumpkin left, and the director suggested I "chuck it over the fence for the yak", because he would like it. A little surprised, I did as he asked. The yak is blind. It was very interesting to watch him react to the sound of the pumpkin hitting the ground. He walked over to it, and slowed his pace as he neared. It took him a while to find it, but he finally knocked into it with his hoof. He kept himself entertained for a long time, pushing it around and knocking it into trees and the fence.
Someone brought in Little Caeser's pizza, and we all took a break for lunch. I ate a lot of it, as well as some sugar cookies that had been provided, and then we went about setting things up for the events that would take place in the afternoon. I'll be going back tomorrow to spend several hours running the activities. But for now, I had to go back to school.
A guest speaker came to visit us in fiction writing class today.
Thursday, October 26, 2017
Younger Than a Stuffed Dog
My sister Jorja turned 15 today. That's crazy to think about. I've had my stuffed dog, Heart, longer than my sister has been alive. I kind of wish I could have been there to see it. When we're all grown and moved out, I wonder if we'll live close enough to see each other and join in the birthday celebrations every once in awhile. We'll have to go out for lunch and cake sometimes. I wonder what the future holds?
Wednesday, October 25, 2017
Tuesday, October 24, 2017
Commentary
My ghost story rewrite is due on Friday, and I haven't started it yet. I've been poring over the stacks of commentary I received from my peers in class. The downside of writing a 20-page piece is, I sure have a lot of marked-up drafts to sift through and mull over. Perhaps I put a little more time into writing this piece than I should have, and that time would have been put to better use conquering all the assignments I've had to work on over the last few weeks.
Nah.
Nah.
Monday, October 23, 2017
All of the Due Dates
I had tons of stuff to turn in today. Basically all by due dates for all my classes fell on this day. It was difficult, but I managed to get everything submitted in time and with quality. I don't believe I've missed a deadline yet, and I'm glad I've been able to keep on top of things as much as I have.
Sunday, October 22, 2017
Walking Down the Street
It can be a little lonely living in the apartment by myself. It was nice to be able to walk to church with Demetria. Now I walk by myself. I'm grateful that it isn't very far, and the weather has been so pleasant.
Saturday, October 21, 2017
Rewrite Another Day
I got lots of work done this weekend. My plan was to get my ghost story rewritten as soon as possible, so I don't put it off until it's due two weeks from now. Instead, I found myself swamped in work from my other classes. I managed to get a lot done, though, so I'll put my rewrite off for another day. It's good to let the critiques I heard in class sink in, though. I'm not sure I'd know where to begin if I'd started trying to make changes today.
Friday, October 20, 2017
Owa Tagu Siam
I've been hounded by these three nene geese at the zoo lately. The male in particular enjoys jabbing his head through the links in the fence and trying to bite me while I'm taking notes on animal behavior.
Here's a nice picture of leaves, also:
After I had finished filling out my ethograms today, I was tasked with providing an enrichment activity to several birds. I took some plastic Easter eggs and filled them with millet and seeds for them to eat, and had one of the workers set them up inside the diamond dove enclosure so they were only open a tiny bit.
One was open a little more than the others, and several of the diamond doves enjoyed picking at it. None of them bothered much with the other eggs that I saw. I guess they were too shut. Oh well. I hope they got into them later after I was gone.
One was open a little more than the others, and several of the diamond doves enjoyed picking at it. None of them bothered much with the other eggs that I saw. I guess they were too shut. Oh well. I hope they got into them later after I was gone.
Thursday, October 19, 2017
Freedom Flier
I've been into Mexican free-tailed bats lately. Bats are probably my favorite animal, and Mexican free-tails are the ones that currently have my interest. I saw this Halloween decoration hanging from the ceiling of a building on campus today.
I don't know for sure if it's a Mexican free-tailed bat, but those ears seem to match up, and so does the infamous long tail. It was a small thing, but it was pretty cool to see.
Wednesday, October 18, 2017
Ghost In the Workshop
Wednesdays aren't as difficult as Tuesdays and Thursdays. In fact, they're the easiest days, since I don't have either my Apprenticeship class or the zoo. Just creative writing and Institute.
I was the first one to have my short story workshopped. I titled it "Something Borrowed", and because we have an odd number of people, I was able to have today all to myself. I lot of people said that they liked my story. They were horrified at first when it looked like the girl was trying to hit on the main character, but once the plot twist kicked in and it came to light that he was a ghost and she was encouraging him to possess her body so that she could take him to her family's facility, a sort of foster home for ghosts, they were more okay with it.
As expected, my teacher didn't like it very much, though. The critique she handed back to me was covered in comments about how she wanted to know my narrator was a ghost straight off instead of several pages in, and that my story was chock-full of "Meaningless chit-chat".
Well, sure. The point of this story was to deliberately make it look like this was going to lead to romantic escapades, but then reveal that there wasn't going to be anything of the kind. The dialogue was chosen specifically so that it either looks like Cathleen is flirting with Andrew, or that she's offering herself as a vessel for him to slip into, being a ghost and all, depending on what you know going in. The point is that the beginning was intended to make the reader a little uncomfortable. It doesn't have an uncomfortable ending. That's the joke.
To me, it was hilarious, but my teacher didn't seem to think the set-up was necessary. She wanted me to cut almost all the dialogue, and have Cathleen basically walk in, get Andrew out of his house, and walk out. I don't think we were on the same page. I can understand that she's trying to make my story the best that it can be (and ensure it's appropriate enough for the younger crowd that it could be published, I suppose), but I just wanted to have fun with this. Oh well. Now I need to do my rewrite and my summary report about why I made the changes that I did. That will probably be fun, although it's really a story you can only get the punch and plot twist out of once.
My teacher also said that she wanted me to change the title "Something Borrowed" to "Borrowed Bodies". I didn't agree with this decision. First of all, it either tips the reader off to the idea that there is going to be a body possession or switch of some kind, or it sounds incredibly creepy if you go into this thinking there's romance going on here. I like "Something Borrowed" because it feels sort of vague, poetic, and mystical. It's also part of the couplet, "Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue", which I found appropriate since the first line of this piece is, "She was blue like him, but in a different way."
It was just a small critique, but it surprised me to see my teacher so vehement about it. I'm glad that many of my classmates enjoyed the story, although they were all disappointed with the ending, which involved Andrew having a breakdown after learning what became of his son after his death. My peers all expressed disappointment over the fact that Andrew didn't make it to the "ghost foster home", and some were even upset that I had included their destination at all, saying it was "pointless" to include mention of it if Andrew and Cathleen only made it halfway there before Andrew's son, Jake, attacked them in the spooky woods.
For clarification, it's revealed at the end of the story that Jake has been harassing Cathleen for some time, and she was hoping she could convince Andrew to talk some sense into him. My teacher said that it didn't make logical sense for Cathleen to be so opposed to Jake's unsolicited advances when she was perfectly fine giving her consent to Andrew when she invited him to possess her body. Hmm.
As expected, my teacher didn't like it very much, though. The critique she handed back to me was covered in comments about how she wanted to know my narrator was a ghost straight off instead of several pages in, and that my story was chock-full of "Meaningless chit-chat".
Well, sure. The point of this story was to deliberately make it look like this was going to lead to romantic escapades, but then reveal that there wasn't going to be anything of the kind. The dialogue was chosen specifically so that it either looks like Cathleen is flirting with Andrew, or that she's offering herself as a vessel for him to slip into, being a ghost and all, depending on what you know going in. The point is that the beginning was intended to make the reader a little uncomfortable. It doesn't have an uncomfortable ending. That's the joke.
To me, it was hilarious, but my teacher didn't seem to think the set-up was necessary. She wanted me to cut almost all the dialogue, and have Cathleen basically walk in, get Andrew out of his house, and walk out. I don't think we were on the same page. I can understand that she's trying to make my story the best that it can be (and ensure it's appropriate enough for the younger crowd that it could be published, I suppose), but I just wanted to have fun with this. Oh well. Now I need to do my rewrite and my summary report about why I made the changes that I did. That will probably be fun, although it's really a story you can only get the punch and plot twist out of once.
My teacher also said that she wanted me to change the title "Something Borrowed" to "Borrowed Bodies". I didn't agree with this decision. First of all, it either tips the reader off to the idea that there is going to be a body possession or switch of some kind, or it sounds incredibly creepy if you go into this thinking there's romance going on here. I like "Something Borrowed" because it feels sort of vague, poetic, and mystical. It's also part of the couplet, "Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue", which I found appropriate since the first line of this piece is, "She was blue like him, but in a different way."
It was just a small critique, but it surprised me to see my teacher so vehement about it. I'm glad that many of my classmates enjoyed the story, although they were all disappointed with the ending, which involved Andrew having a breakdown after learning what became of his son after his death. My peers all expressed disappointment over the fact that Andrew didn't make it to the "ghost foster home", and some were even upset that I had included their destination at all, saying it was "pointless" to include mention of it if Andrew and Cathleen only made it halfway there before Andrew's son, Jake, attacked them in the spooky woods.
For clarification, it's revealed at the end of the story that Jake has been harassing Cathleen for some time, and she was hoping she could convince Andrew to talk some sense into him. My teacher said that it didn't make logical sense for Cathleen to be so opposed to Jake's unsolicited advances when she was perfectly fine giving her consent to Andrew when she invited him to possess her body. Hmm.
Tuesday, October 17, 2017
Difficult Semester Mantra
I'm not really enjoying Research Methods... or Psychological Measurements and Test Theory... or my Behavior class... but it has to be done.
Monday, October 16, 2017
What's Tonight? Pizza Night!
I attended the Home Evening activity tonight. It was a pizza-making activity, so I was pretty excited. I met up with the Relief Society first counselor, Emily, and her boyfriend, and we sat at an empty table. Gradually, the room began to fill. No one seemed interested in sitting with us, until finally one girl did. It's always funny when that sort of thing happens. Eight people filled every other table in the room, but there were only four people at ours
Guess which section is mine
The pizza was great, and I'm glad I went. Plus, I was able to talk to Melissa Fowler, who's in charge of the Home Evening activities, and ask her to email me the activity schedule. This way, since I'm Relief Society secretary, I'll be able to add those activities to a calendar and print them out along with my announcements page this Sunday. Since I have a three-ring hole puncher, I'll be able to make it all nice.
Sunday, October 15, 2017
Tithing or No Tithing
I went in to see the bishop for tithing settlement today. I brought with me tithing to pay on the birthday money I received from my grandpas. It's the only money I've earned this last year, and I talked to the bishop about why that was. I didn't have a paying job over the summer. I'm attending college on scholarship. I have enough money on my debit card to allow me to pay for food and things. Even though I'm technically working at the zoo now, I'm only volunteering.
So I haven't earned any money this year, and I felt a little awkward discussing that with the bishop, because I was afraid he wouldn't believe me. But he was understanding, and I was able to give him the tithing on my birthday money. That was pretty nice.
So I haven't earned any money this year, and I felt a little awkward discussing that with the bishop, because I was afraid he wouldn't believe me. But he was understanding, and I was able to give him the tithing on my birthday money. That was pretty nice.
Saturday, October 14, 2017
Alone With Benefits
I got a lot of work done today. It's nice to be alone in my apartment, eating when I want, making the food I want, and not having to worry about ignoring or entertaining anyone else. This semester has been very busy, so it's always nice when you can catch a little breather.
Friday, October 13, 2017
Leaves at the Zoo
The leaves at the zoo were falling like crazy. It was a blizzard of leaves, every single second. I was absolutely surrounded by them. I tried to take a picture, but it doesn't capture the effect. Oh well. It's still pretty.
Thursday, October 12, 2017
Pitifully Failed Cake
I didn't have a cake on my birthday, so I decided to make one today. It did not go well. I must not have used the correct amount of Pam spray, because a large chunk of my cake stuck to the bottom of my cake pan when I tried to take the cake out. The inside of the cake was rather runny. I couldn't frost the cake in that condition, so I decided I'd have to eat around it. At least I enjoy yellow cake.
Wednesday, October 11, 2017
Tuesday, October 10, 2017
20s Questions
I had a birthday today! First, I celebrated by cleaning the bathroom. Not having a roommate makes it easy for my family to come up and visit me, and I wanted to make sure my place was clean for tonight.
I attended my classes as usual, although I decided to stop by the Arist's Block Cafe in the Fine Arts building and see if there were any special treats I might be interested in splurging on (I knew my family were planning to take me out for dinner, and I didn't want to stuff myself in the Marketplace). Nothing much caught my eye, but I finally selected a large chocolate chip muffin. It wasn't a cupcake, but it would do. Of course, as the girl behind the counter was ringing it up, I got a better look at it and realized that it was pumpkin flavored. Oh well. It wasn't the best, but it still made for a nice birthday treat.
Tuesday is my more difficult day for classes, unfortunately, and it was a relief when they were over. After my classes, I returned to my apartment to do a few cleaning touch-ups. And soon, my family texted me saying they had arrived.
They brought me presents, like some Andes Mints and Candy Legos. Preston gave me some 3D-printed purple and green tentacles from the computer game Day of the Tentacle. Stockton had ordered me Mario and Luigi Superstar Saga + Bowser's Minions- a new remake of the Gameboy game that I can play on my 3DS. Plus, it comes with a new storyline. The game just came out a few days ago. I didn't even know it existed, so I was thrilled.
After presents, we went out to dinner at Angie's, then did some grocery shopping while I was able to load up the car, and finally stopped by Cold Stone for ice cream. Mom even bought me a carton of cake batter- my favorite.
Jorja wasn't able to make the trip up, but that's her loss if she couldn't hang out with her favorite sister. I enjoyed my evening, and even though they had to drive a few hours up here and then a few hours home, I'm glad my family were able to travel safely and celebrate my birthday with me. It was certainly a less lonely day than it could have been.
I attended my classes as usual, although I decided to stop by the Arist's Block Cafe in the Fine Arts building and see if there were any special treats I might be interested in splurging on (I knew my family were planning to take me out for dinner, and I didn't want to stuff myself in the Marketplace). Nothing much caught my eye, but I finally selected a large chocolate chip muffin. It wasn't a cupcake, but it would do. Of course, as the girl behind the counter was ringing it up, I got a better look at it and realized that it was pumpkin flavored. Oh well. It wasn't the best, but it still made for a nice birthday treat.
Tuesday is my more difficult day for classes, unfortunately, and it was a relief when they were over. After my classes, I returned to my apartment to do a few cleaning touch-ups. And soon, my family texted me saying they had arrived.
They brought me presents, like some Andes Mints and Candy Legos. Preston gave me some 3D-printed purple and green tentacles from the computer game Day of the Tentacle. Stockton had ordered me Mario and Luigi Superstar Saga + Bowser's Minions- a new remake of the Gameboy game that I can play on my 3DS. Plus, it comes with a new storyline. The game just came out a few days ago. I didn't even know it existed, so I was thrilled.
After presents, we went out to dinner at Angie's, then did some grocery shopping while I was able to load up the car, and finally stopped by Cold Stone for ice cream. Mom even bought me a carton of cake batter- my favorite.
Mom
Dad
Stockton
Preston
Jorja wasn't able to make the trip up, but that's her loss if she couldn't hang out with her favorite sister. I enjoyed my evening, and even though they had to drive a few hours up here and then a few hours home, I'm glad my family were able to travel safely and celebrate my birthday with me. It was certainly a less lonely day than it could have been.
Monday, October 9, 2017
Sunday, October 8, 2017
Leftover Macaroni
I ate the rest of the macaroni today. If you pour a little bit of milk in before you heat it in the microwave, it tastes pretty good. Good to know.
Saturday, October 7, 2017
Instant Macaroni
Awhile ago, Mom gave me a blue bowl with a sort of rubbery or plastic texture to it. Supposedly, it's able to make macaroni and cheese in just five minutes. It uses all the same ingredients as regular macaroni; the only difference is, it's cooked in the microwave instead of on the stove.
So, I decided to make some for dinner today. It worked very well! The taste wasn't perfect, but it was enjoyable, and it was nice not to have to spend ten minutes heating water on the stove, and then eight more to cook it. I was able to eat some immediately. It made a lot though, so I saved some in the fridge for tomorrow. I'll have to make more again sometime.
So, I decided to make some for dinner today. It worked very well! The taste wasn't perfect, but it was enjoyable, and it was nice not to have to spend ten minutes heating water on the stove, and then eight more to cook it. I was able to eat some immediately. It made a lot though, so I saved some in the fridge for tomorrow. I'll have to make more again sometime.
Friday, October 6, 2017
Ghost Story
Today I put the finishing touches on my short story and turned it in. Two years ago, I came up with a concept about a girl who sells her body, but she isn't a prostitute. Instead, she sells her body for ghosts to possess. The concept changed a bit as I was writing it; instead of just being in this deal for money, she wants protection to get through the sketchy part of town. Also, I now have her approaching the ghost instead of my original idea of him approaching her.
The idea here is that at first, the dialogue makes it sound like she's asking him out on a date. In actuality, she's asking him if he wants to possess her body, while he at first rejects her. The reader doesn't know he's a ghost until the opening conversation is almost over and the possession is about to occur, though I did slip in several cues. For example, the ghost drifts from one room to another instead of walks. He lacks the ability to interact with certain objects, like his glasses, and so is forced to ignore the mess the irritating girl is making of his kitchen even though there are hints that he is OCD and longs to clean up after her. He even mentions that his skin is blue.
I think it's a pretty cool short story, and it's nice to finally have it done. I hope my classmates get a kick out of it too.
The idea here is that at first, the dialogue makes it sound like she's asking him out on a date. In actuality, she's asking him if he wants to possess her body, while he at first rejects her. The reader doesn't know he's a ghost until the opening conversation is almost over and the possession is about to occur, though I did slip in several cues. For example, the ghost drifts from one room to another instead of walks. He lacks the ability to interact with certain objects, like his glasses, and so is forced to ignore the mess the irritating girl is making of his kitchen even though there are hints that he is OCD and longs to clean up after her. He even mentions that his skin is blue.
I think it's a pretty cool short story, and it's nice to finally have it done. I hope my classmates get a kick out of it too.
Thursday, October 5, 2017
Wednesday, October 4, 2017
Sorting Out Visiting Teaching
Our first short stories were originally intended to be due in fiction writing today, but our teacher gave everyone a deadline extension. That was pretty nice, since I hadn't finished mine.
The reason they weren't due today is because instead of going to class as usual, we instead attended a poetry reading by someone named David Baker. It was... not my thing. He didn't introduce himself or give the title of his first poem, and his poems were quite strange, going from talking about drawing deer to ADHD and then back to deer. It was an incredibly long poem that took him at least five minutes to read, and I'd assumed he'd switched to a second poem in the middle. There weren't any rhymes, and I couldn't detect a beat pattern. He was just saying sentences, and not in a voice that particularly captured my imagination.
I stayed up until it was time for me to leave for Institute and snuck out. I guess I just don't get the point of poetry readings. It did make me realize that I could probably be successful if I would actually finish a small project instead of dragging all my novels out for 600,000+ words. One of these days I'll decide that breaking into the publishing world is more important to me than the details of character development across the lifespan and needlessly complex worldbuilding, but not for a little while longer.
The reason they weren't due today is because instead of going to class as usual, we instead attended a poetry reading by someone named David Baker. It was... not my thing. He didn't introduce himself or give the title of his first poem, and his poems were quite strange, going from talking about drawing deer to ADHD and then back to deer. It was an incredibly long poem that took him at least five minutes to read, and I'd assumed he'd switched to a second poem in the middle. There weren't any rhymes, and I couldn't detect a beat pattern. He was just saying sentences, and not in a voice that particularly captured my imagination.
I stayed up until it was time for me to leave for Institute and snuck out. I guess I just don't get the point of poetry readings. It did make me realize that I could probably be successful if I would actually finish a small project instead of dragging all my novels out for 600,000+ words. One of these days I'll decide that breaking into the publishing world is more important to me than the details of character development across the lifespan and needlessly complex worldbuilding, but not for a little while longer.
The relief society presidency got together to sort out visiting teaching slips from 7 until 9.
We might have gone on longer, but I was getting really tired, and I had homework that needed to be finished. We were able to pair up a lot of people, though. Now it'll just be a few days of contemplation and prayer to as everything get finalized.
Truthfully, I am a little worried. There are so many records in the ward, but only about a third of the people whose records are here come to church. Hopefully everything works out well.
We might have gone on longer, but I was getting really tired, and I had homework that needed to be finished. We were able to pair up a lot of people, though. Now it'll just be a few days of contemplation and prayer to as everything get finalized.
Truthfully, I am a little worried. There are so many records in the ward, but only about a third of the people whose records are here come to church. Hopefully everything works out well.
Tuesday, October 3, 2017
This Is School
Today was a rather simple day of attending my research methods, measurements, and behavior classes. Just some basic school stuff.
Monday, October 2, 2017
Day After Conference
We talked about General Conference in Institute today, of course. There was a story told in Conference about a girl who was on a tour bus and saw her brother while he was out serving his mission. The bus stopped for her, and she ran out to see him. Apparently, that girl attends Institute here, and her friend had recorded the exchange. We got to watch it. It was pretty cool to see the video rather than just the still images from Conference. It just helps the stories come to life a little bit more.
Sunday, October 1, 2017
Even More Conference
Another day of enjoying General Conference. I ate a little better today. Not so much candy. Always good.
It's always sad when Conference ends. There were some good talks this year, although it's so bizarre not to have Thomas S. Monson attend. I suppose that's what happens sometimes when prophets get old. It should be interesting to see how things play out from here.
It's always sad when Conference ends. There were some good talks this year, although it's so bizarre not to have Thomas S. Monson attend. I suppose that's what happens sometimes when prophets get old. It should be interesting to see how things play out from here.
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