I’d like to recommend that you read Sophie’s Blog. I wrote a song for her called “Follow Me”, based on the fantastic John Denver, because she so much wants people to follow her blog. So go ahead and read and be inspired. And watch the great Youtube I added. Oh, and she’d love a comment even more.
Author: admin
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Discombobulated: A Meditation on Change
I absolutely can’t stand change. When the winds of change blow, they are sometimes light zephyrs, sometimes modest gales, and occasionally tempestuous typhoons, raging wildly, threatening to suck your entire soul into a whirlwind of destruction. But when I think of change as being like the wind, I realize that it can be a very good thing. I remember running a particularly miserable race last year– it was a pretty hilly course, the temperature was probably somewhere between 100 and 120 degrees, and I happened to be very dehydrated. One of the toughest parts of the course was a ridiculously vast expanse of dry yellow grass that seemed to last forever. But as I turned one of the corners of the field, feeling ready to pass away at any second, a glorious breeze hit me and carried me through the last 800 meters of the race. In that instance, the change was welcome. However, as this absurd Utah weather started to kick in a while later, the previously scorching hot days turned to days of wind and rain. One of our track meets even got canceled halfway through because of the wind. (I’m not complaining.) But at the region track meet, for some odd reason or another, they decided to hold the meet despite multiple tents blowing over. I ran the mile, and I experienced the most horrible, tiring resistance running I’ve ever done. I felt like the wind was working against me in every way, and my time was nearly two minutes slower than usual. Here the wind was my adversary, laughing evilly as it tried to thrust me down into endless misery and woe in the darkest chambers of the Track Black Hole.As I’ve been thinking about the immense changes that are about to happen in my life, I feel that I’m about to be thrust into the heart of a storm, running against the wind as I try to move forward. But last night I realized that even though almost literally everything in my life is about to change, one thing will remain constant: the Savior. He is always near me, though I do not see Him there, and because He loves me dearly, I am in His watchful care. The most important thing in my life will never change, and I know He is what I can hold onto in this incoming tornado of change. He will calm the storms in my life and turn them into testimony-building and faith-promoting experiences as I become more reliant on Him. And as my cousin Josh said in a recent letter about one of their struggling investigators, “my faith is deeper than my fears.”
So really, I guess it’s just the way you look at the wind. It may just be hurling you forward at an uncomfortably fast speed right into a sunny field of peace, later returning to cool the eventual sweaty heat and sunburn. I say full speed ahead. Actually I don’t.
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An Ode to Delicious Food
I love food. I’ve never been on a diet. Well actually, I once went off sugar for 3 hours when I was 12. But I’ve come to conclude that it’s better to be overweight and happy than to always be dieting and worrying about weight. So I’ve written a song* about how it would feel to be on a diet.Closed off from food
I didn’t need the pain!
Once or twice was enough
And it was all in vain
Time starts to pass
Before you know it you’ve given in again.But something happened
For the very first time with you
My taste buds melt into the ground
Found something true
And everyone’s looking round
Thinking I’m going crazy (because of how much I’m suddenly eating)But I don’t care what they say
I’m in love with you
They try to pull me away
But they don’t know the truth
My heart’s crippled by the artery
That I keep on closing
You keep clogging it but IKeep eating
Keep, keep eating more
I keep eating
I keep, keep eating more
Keep eating
Keep, keep eating more
You cloud my skinTrying hard not to think
But my conscience talks so loud
Its piercing sounds fill my ears
Try to fill me with doubt
And I know my initial goal
Was to keep me healthyBut nothing’s greater than the rush that comes with your taste
And in this world of tofu and green drink
I see your plate
Yet everyone around me
Thinks that I’m going crazy, maybe, maybeBut I don’t care what they say
I’m in love with you
They try to pull me away
But they don’t know the truth
My heart’s crippled by the artery
That I keep on closing
You up my fat cell count but IKeep eating
Keep, keep eating more
I keep eating
I keep, keep eating more
Keep eating
Keep, keep eating more
You give me cavitiesAnd your draining all my energy
Oh I find it hard to believe
I’ll be gaining this weight
For everyone to seeI don’t care what they say
I’m in love with you
They try to pull me away
But they don’t know the truth
My heart’s crippled by the artery
That I keep on closing
You raise my heart rate but IKeep eating
Keep, keep eating more
I keep eating
I keep, keep eating more
Keep eating
Keep, keep eating more
You make me need new clothes but IKeep eating
Keep, keep eating more
I keep eating
I keep, keep eating more
Keep eating
Keep, keep eating more
You make good food and I
Keep eating
Keep, keep eating moreSo really. I guess all these consequences are bad. Yes they are. And I do know that it’s best to be healthy. Of course. But to always be restricting yourself and allowing concern of weight to consume your every waking thought is miserable! I absolutely know that we need to take care of the bodies Heavenly Father gave us. But if we exercise and eat as healthy as we can, then I say it’s okay to eat junk food. That is, if it’s HIGH QUALITY. In fact, I wrote a post a while ago called For the Love of Meat, and I concluded that “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” was a good philosophy. But weight is not as important as happiness, and being unhealthy isn’t happy. But over-the-top dieting? I don’t think that’s happy either. I think there’s a difference between a desire to be healthy, and a desire to have a perfect body. So by the time I’ve written this huge rant of a paragraph, I’ve really contradicted myself multiple times. But you know, if you have people like Sis Chris, Sister Eggertsen, and Melissa, what else can you do? So in conclusion: BE HEALTHY. EAT. EAT GOOD FOOD, NOT TOO MUCH, MOSTLY PLANTS. BE HAPPY.
*Special thanks to Leona Lewis. I fear I have a great dislike of the particular song this one is based off of, so I thought it needed new words. 🙂
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My Amortentia
Before my surgery I was contemplating what side-effects I could most easily tolerate. (As though I’d be able to choose…) Unbeknownst to me, certain potentials were already in place, such as loss of peripheral vision, memory loss, a permanently weakened/ sore right side of my face, paralysis, brain spasms/ twinges, dizziness, loss of musicality, DEATH, etc. Anyway, I decided that the “best” sense to lose would be my sense of smell. And the olfactory lobe just happened to be right near the surgical point, so I allowed myself to picture the doctor tarnishing it. But then I remembered that my Aunt Genie got in a really terrible bike accident, and ended up losing her sense of smell for some odd reason. And now she can’t really taste, and it seems like a lot of joy must have been sucked away. (I imagine she’s dealt with it in a very positive way.) But I got to thinking about my favorite smells, and how much I’d miss them if they were lost. They are…
Seaside Escape (Bath and Body Works)
Sensual Amber (Bath and Body Works, disregard the name)
Homemade bread
RAIN
Anything on Fast Sunday 🙂
New running shoes
Sizzling Bacon
Charcoal
Wet Paint
Gasoline
um, yeah
Popcorn
New mown grass
Vanilla
Gingerbread (and other Christmasy smells)“It’s supposed to smell differently to each of us, according to what attracts us, and I can smell freshly mown grass and new parchment and–“
“They chose the one nearest a gold-colored cauldron that was emitting on of the most seductive scents Harry had ever inhaled: Somehow it reminded him simultaneously of treacle tart, the woody smell of a broomstick handle, and something flowery he thought he might have smelled at the Burrow. He found that he was breathing very slowly and deeply and that the potion’s fumes seemed to be filling him up like a drink. A great contentment stole over him; he grinned across at Ron, who grinned lazily back.”
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To the Right
On my own, pretending he’s inside me,
all alone I “think” with him ’til morning.
Without him, I don’t even feel a gap in my head.
And when I lose my way, I close my eyes and remember that directions were his dormant job.In the rain, the pavement shines like silver
and I can’t see it as well because he also couldn’t govern visuals like he was supposed to, so all the lights are misty in the river. Without him, nothing even changes,
and all I see is him in a lab forever and forever.And I know he’s no longer in my mind,
and I’m talking with the Left and not with him.
And although I know that he’s always been blind,
still I say there was never a way for us.(No, I don’t love him.)
And when the night is over, he is gone, the gap is just a gap.
Without him, the world around me doesn’t even change because he wasn’t even doing his job before he left.(No, I don’t love him.)
And everyday I’m learning that all my life, I’ve only been pretending that I can do math or have any sense of direction.
Without me, he is terminated for life,
a world that’s full of other brain parts that I have never known.I don’t love him,
and I’m not even on my own anymore, becuase I still have the Left.P.S.
Oh False One, you have deceived me!
It’s too late to apologize.
I can live with or without you.
Gotta get you outa my life!
So long, Farewell, auf Wiedersehen, adieu.
Adios, Muchaco.
I can last the rest of my life without you.
Can’t you see that you don’t belong with me?P.P.S
Okay fine. God be with you ’til we meet again. -
Quote of the day
“The miracle isn’t that I finished. The miracle is that I had the courage to start.” -John Bingham
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Guaranteed Time Wasters!
Do you find yourself struggling to find ways to spend your time? If you’re looking to waste time, here are some helpful ideas that are guaranteed to leave you saying, “I honestly can’t believe I just wasted part of my life doing that!” In fact, we are so certain that these “activities” will leave you with a less-than-satisfied feeling that if you feel even remotely satisfied, we’ll offer a complete refund for the time you spent reading these time-wasting options. (undefined amount of time, may involve a time machine)
1. Watch the same movie trailers/ youtube videos over and over again
2. Redesign your blog multiple times
3. Read very low-quality, low-substance books
4. Watch very low-quality, low-substance movies
5. Sit on your couch gazing off into space
6. Go on facebook
7. Repeatedly walk into your kitchen, each time opening the fridge, realizing you have no food, then walking out again
8. Play Yahtzee with yourself
9. Simply decide to just stay in your bed for hours at a time
10. Go to despair.com and read all of the demotivators for the 100th timeOf course, I haven’t done any of these things this summer. I just came up this list of what someone really dumb and boring might do if they happened to have some extra time on their hands. After all, if you’re bored, you’re a boring person. (p.s. I hope the hint of sarcasm was evident…)
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Hu
I would first like to say that I am so glad to not be starting school today. So glad. At the beginning of this whole Going to College business, I accidentally applied for Summer term. Yes. But then after a long chain of various events, I have wound up defering my enrollment until Fall. Thank Heavens. This is of course partially/ completely due to surgery, but at least right now, surgery seems a
