My Life is Trying to Kill Me

January was, of course, fun-filled, but on this first day of February I realized not only did I never finish my New Year's post, but I had not posted all January.

So, to explain, I shall give brief summaries of January:

2 January: realized I would NOT be going to church; my stomach was out in open rebellion and I spent all day in sweats.

3 January: Felt better, took eggregious fall on ice, bought books for new semester. Met Hailey, went to mall, went to FHE.

4-31(in no way in chronological order): Went to classes, met new professors, learned to Foxtrot and Cha-Cha, heard from Professor Jorgensen how Microsoft is both the Evil Empire AND the beast described in the Book of Revelation, fell in love with a hideously huge anthology of English Literature, was persuaded to play D&D with Boyfriend & Co., remembered why I used to like science more than Language Arts (grammar! Curse you, Mcom 320!), converted from Jango to Grooveshark, was jaded by a changed book release date, seriously considered switching from Explorer to Chrome, saw Carl Bloch's Exhibit at the MOA, had a horrid allergic reaction to the Bishop's Springer Spaniel, and decided to audition for the Playmill!

Mixed in with all this was a lot of homework. But I promise to post this month, besides today!

Happy New Year!! It Really Is!

I was progressing towards wellness, or at least a semblance of it, as I lay on the couch a few days ago anticipating my fun New Year's Eve with Erin and Sam. It would be fun, and though I was still a little disappointed about missing my usual celebration in Utah, anything is better than staying home on New Year's with parents who still go to bed early. I would know...this is how I spent it before I began regularly attending Mal's New Year's party up in Utah. So it was with an optimistic attitude that I lay down on the couch that day.

And then the Las Vegas News media decided to a package on New Year's kissing. I went into the kitchen to get a drink. My mother asked me why on earth I was so suddenly upset that I wouldn't get a New Year's kiss. I had known for weeks that I wouldn't be with my boyfriend on Christmas and New Year's Eve. Why was I just now getting upset?

To be fair, I had known the aforementioned fact, been perfectly aware of it. But, during finals week, the college brain stops making certain connections that do not directly have to do with testing and survival, the only things which still matter. So while I had known for some time that my boyfriend would not be with me for New Year's Eve, I somehow never made the connection that I would not, thusly, be able to get a New Year's Kiss.

My mother didn't think I should be that upset with the prospect of such an epic party before me. But there is something that she does not know...

...Besides the fact that I have a spot on the Charlie's Angels...

...I have always dreamed of having the perfect New Year's Kiss. I think it started with this episode of Doug where he's planning to kiss--is it Patti? Isn't that the name of the girl he likes?--at the stroke of midnight on New Year's. In the end, he decides the time isn't right and he wants to kiss her when it's perfect. He has this fantasy, which I later recognized was based on the Gone With the Wind movie poster, where he and Patti are dressed in beautiful old clothing and he holds her in his arms, kissing her as a building burns behind them.

I was already a little bit entranced by the old-fashioned, especially when it comes to romantics, with which I was completely bewitched at the tender age of four years. (My only problem with "Little Red riding Hood" is that you never find out who she marries. Ever.) So the idea of that kiss basically took hold of me. I vowed that when I got older and had a boyfriend, like my cousin Shelby with her Kyler, we would kiss at midnight. I pictured the scene from Doug over and over again, adding detail as I went along.

Time passed, and my fascination with ornate, complex Victorian melodrama had only increased, equaling my fascination with romance. I never had a boyfriend over New Year's Eve...over any major holiday, in fact, except for Independence Day. I told myself that waiting would make the kiss even better, and added more melodrama to the vision in my head.

And then, I met my wonderful boyfriend. And we were still together. Over perhaps THE major kissing holiday after Valentine's day. And he was back in Oregon with his family.

I thought I had a tiny right to be disappointed.

I went to Erin's and tried to ignore how much I was missing my man. Erin, Sammy, and I were roped into playing Barbies with Kylee, a young girl Erin's family is adopting. I was adopted at birth, so I was very excited for her, but Kylee is already five, her experience is different. I hadn't seriously played Barbies since I was about 11 years old--Kylee insisted we participate along with her in dressing up the Barbies. Some of our creations, with the assorted 80's-90's Barbie clothes in Kylee's collection, included Thespian Ballerina Barbie, Katy Perry Barbie, Ke$ha Barbie, and Lady Gaga Barbie. It was plain that we older girls had been overexposed to pop culture. But Kylee re-introduced me to the simple pleasure of dressing a Barbie. It helped me feel much better.

Later that night, after we faked out Kylee and the younger kids that it was midnight, we three gathered on the couch to Facebook creep and watch Easy A and Vampires Suck, celebrating New Year's with Martinelli's and cream soda.

Donovan text-smooched me at the stroke of midnight in Utah, and again at the Pacific Time Midnight.

Erin, Sammy and I were laughing and talking the whole time--it was great to see them again.

If I couldn't spend my New Year's getting the perfect kiss, I think I spent it the next best way possible.

So, despite the fact that this took forever to post because I spent the time from New Year's Day to the start of the semester VERY ill, 2011 started off right. I'll have to wait at least another two years to get my perfect New Year's kiss, yes, but I can do that,  because every day of 2011 since he came back from Oregon, I get to see the man who loves me.

So, here's to you 2011! May you bring random happiness and serendipitous joy!

How To Survive in College if You Get a Cold (Without Killing Yourself)

So, many of you may be in college, or considering going to college, or know someone who is currently attending a college or university. And you may be wondering "If I get a cold (or something like it) how will I get better without ruining my lovely GPA?"

Never fear, friends! I am a BYU student fond of my own GPA, and I recently had to deal with a cold. I'm pretty sure either my boyfriend or roommate is to blame, but since I am well again, there's no point laying blame. Which  leads me to the first point:

1. Don't try to figure out who got you sick. It wastes time and mental energy, which you will need to conserve in order to emerge from this cold with both your sanity and GPA intact.

2. At the beginning of each semester, familiarize yourself with attendance policy and procedure. This way, you know what you absolutely CANNOT miss and which professors would be sympathetic to your situation.

3. Arrange a note-stealing buddy. A note-stealing buddy shares one or more classes with you and with whom you get along well. Someone you friended on Facebook is ideal. This is a symbiotic relationship and it works like this: one of you gets sick, informs the other one of said sickness, and asks to get a copy of the notes or be allowed to copy the notes. It is important that you use a similar medium (both use a laptop or paper) and it really helps if you have similar note-taking styles. Once you've arranged this, tehn sit back and don't think about school until you feel better ( the exception is reading the assigned passages in the tub with aromatherapy and Enya-type-music).

4. Rest. Don't try to honor previous commitments. E-mail your group that you can't attend this meeting because you're sick--you want to be well for the presentation, right? Beg your significant other to apologize to their friend for you, you are in no shape to attend that planetarium show now! Reschedule, postpone, and relax on the couch or your bed. Nap or sleep if possible; your immune system loves those extra ZZZzz's.

5. Eat right. Keep a water bottle full at all times, stock up on Orange juice, eat plenty of fruits and veggies, and make sure you have plenty of chicken soup. No longer just a home remedy, chicken soup has been scientifically proven to fight the viruses that cause a common cold (whether it engages in a duel to the death with the viruses or just boosts your immune system, I'm not sure; but somehow it does).

6. Get the Meds: Find someone who will run to Wal-mart for Zicam, tissues, Vapo-rub, herbal tea, cough drops, or whatever else you need to get you feeling better and up to getting back to class.

7. Play on Sympathy: I promise this helps, though I can't explain why, but find your designated complaint hearer ans moan about how icky you are. Then let them reassure you that you'll get better.

My Big, Christmas plans

Finals week is over, Christmas was great, and now I sit here from (sorta) sunny Las Vegas sniffling myself to death.

I had such plans for the Christmas Holiday. I was going to post on something Christmas-y every day, I was going to re-write the "Chestnuts Roasting" lyrics to express my joy about the end of finals. I was going to write for fun and catharsis, and you were all going to love it.

Problem #1: My wonderful grandmother, with whom I stayed for the first half of the break before Christmas, has no internet. Whatsoever. I realized this halfway through teh drive up to North Ogden after dropping my boyfriend off at the airport. Crap. Not only had I said goodbye to my man for two weeks, but I would not be able to blog for the first four days of the break. I was not in the best frame of mind just then.

I decided I could wait until my Mom and Dad got home. We have internet at our house...I could catch up, right?

Wrong.

Problem #2: When my parents got home, I was dismayed to learn that my father had disabled our super-fast internet connection to save money. The only internet access was on my Mom's laptop...which still uses Windows 98.

I resolved to start up once we got to Vegas.

Problem #3: Daddy accidentally shared his cold with us. Lovely. I am only just pulling slightly out of the tissue fog. I probably won't blog again until I'm over it entirely.

However, I promise to tell of my New Year's celebration and share an adventure a day from now on, as I have always meant to do.

A Fun Game for Finals Week Stress Relief

So I'm in college and, as many of you may realize/be experiencing, finals week (or two) is upon we, the college students of America. I am currently running on five hours of sleep, will be doing two papers tomorrow, and I have a headache.

So, I have really nothing I can do on campus for a while. To make myself feel better, I started thinking about all the good things in my life lately, and it has now turned into a game. Therefore, I am now going to play a few rounds of fun-funner-funnest. Not all real words, btu they work for my purposes.

So, here goes:

Fun: Getting free food

Funner: getting free food handed out to you at the Wilkinson student center

Funnest: Getting a free food buffet involving three kinds of chocolate chip cookies handed out to you in advanced writing.

And again:

Fun: going to Book of Mormon with an archaelogist, like Brother Davis Johnson, as your teacher

Funner: Going and not falling asleep because of how truly RIDICULOUSLY EARLY that class is--8 AM is not my friend

Funnest: Going and realizing that your final paper is not, in fact, due until Friday of finals week AND there will be one lass thing on the test than the study guide said!


Fun: commenting on a friend's status on facebook

Funner: Writing on a friend's wall about cloning Tom Felton three time so that a three-way dibs call may be honored/suggesting plans to hang out the next time you're down in Vegas

Funnest: Realizing your New Year's Eve, despite missing your bestie's party for the first time ever, may not be the boring evening at home you had imagined.


Fun: Singing "Do As I'm Doing" in primary

Funner: Singing it in high school for the Seminary opening hymn and still doing the actions

Funnest: Watching Steven Jones--a.k.a. the new spice guy--scat to it with a live jazz band at the Wilkinson student center!!!


Fun: Eating great food

Funner: Eating great southern food

Funnest: Eating great southern food in Vegas--this will happen over break but I'm putting it in anyway.


Fun: Earmuffs that do their job!

Funner: Earmuffs that do their job without detracting from one's hairstyle

Funnest: Earmuffs that are stinking cute because they resemble hot pink oversize marigolds yet do their job!!!


Fun: Scarves

Funner: Ruched, Ruffle-y scarves

Funnest: VELVET Ruched, ruffle-y scarves


Fun: Writing

Funner: Writing something that does not make one feel like a cheese grater is being scraped against one's brain.

Funnest: Writing what one really wants to, be it stories, poems, or blogs, or whatever


Fun: Going home for Christmas

Funner: Seeing Family and friends over Christmas break

Funnest: Staying with my Grandma, near my friend who I haven't seen since August, for Christmas break until my parents return from Hawaii (jealous? so am I)!


Wasn't this fun?

The Most Dangerous Man In America

We were supposed to turn in a hard copy of a study guide of The Most Dangerous Man in America but a few things happened which prevented me from doing that:

• My printer freaks out every time I use it now because, apparently what little I've printed has already run through the black ink.
• The Wyview printer was broken for a profuse amount of time
• I was scatterbrained and forgot my flash drive, plus I have no idea where the on-campus printing stations are because, again, scatterbrains!
• I was scatterbrained because I learned that the reason my father wouldn't call me all day yesterday was because he is in the hospital being tested. Hospitals terrify me. It's probably blood pressure, but that has only been determined this morning. Needless to say, I was unusually worried.

So, I thought about my options, and realized that this was the perfect solution. I needed to answer the study guide, and I loved the movie so much, why not blog about it?

As a brief overview, for those of you who have not seen it, The Most Dangerous Man in America is a documentary about Daniel Ellsberg narrated by the man himself. Ellsberg worked as a startegist at The Pentagon during the Vietnam War years. During part of it, he actiually served in Vietnam and witnessed the war firsthand, as few at the Pentagon or its RAND Corporation, for whom Ellsberg worked by assignment.

Eventually, Ellsberg began to doubt what the US government was doing. So, he read and eventually Xeroxed a top-secret government study, now called the Pentagon Papers, which revealed truths about America's involvement in Vietnam that the public at large had no idea of. Ellsberg leaked the study to the New York Times, which was slapped with the government by a prior restraint lawsuit, as was The Washington Post after Ellsberg leaked the study to them. Eventually Ellsberg himself was sued for breaking his security clearance.

The legacy left by the government's actions in regard to the pentagon papers is complex. The legacy the government leaves behind for itself is one of fear--the same overwhelming fear of communism and its spread that had motivated McCarthy's witch-hunts in the senate twenty years earlier. The Pentagon Papers, combined with Watergate, led to a mistrust of government by both the media and the public at large. It probably shook the public's faith in the democratic system--these sort of things weren't supposed to happen when the constitution was followed, yet here they were happening.

The lesson which may be learned from the Pentagon Papers is that the American people cannot be complacent with government. My Dad always used to tell me "Trust, but verify," and that is what Americans must do. Even though the President has been elected by the voice of the people, we must be ever on alert to ensure he does not betray the trust we have put in him--and that actually goes for any government official but the President especially. That is why journalists are so important. We feed the information to the people so they know if something is wrong (I almost put if something Bad is happening, but I've done far too many obscure Wicked references in already, so no).

The Media brought great publicity to Ellsberg and what he was trying to accomplish even though it took awhile. The government could possibly have downplayed what had happened with Ellsberg's leak if the media had not jumped on the story as they did. Ellsberg was interviewed before trial, surrounded by reporters every time he left the courthouse; the media ate it up, bringing enormous attention to Ellsberg and his cause. The way in which it was covered--the leak of major US intelligence documents during major US military action--is reminding me very much of the current WikiLeaks controversy. I still need to read more about that controversy to get the minute details, but the idea is similar; some guy leaked secret government documents and is facing prosecution. The Pentagon Papers have made the media more aggressively suspicious of the government. The Media grew from near-lapdogs to Watchdogs as a result of this and other scandals of the Nixon Administration.

Journalists, in my opinion, should reveal classified information under the both (not merely either) of the following circumstances:

• When the American people have been lied to in a way that negatively affects their life/liberty/pursuit of happiness by the government they have voted into office and trusted as the "guards [of] their future security" (that's from the Declaration of Independence).
• When doing so will not endanger American operatives or citizens

Only when the second condition is not met, and publishing classified information will truly endanger Amercian citizens, particularly our soldiers and operatives who are trying to protect our freedoms, would the government have the right to censor through prior restraint were a newspaper foolish enough to publish something which would do that.

If the Supreme Court had ruled in favor of the Nixon Administration, or if an Espionage Act suit had been undertaken, we would not have a true free press. The press would be scared to go against the government even when necessary for the public good. I think that may have been part of the motivation behind the court's decision.

I believe that, were major media outlets handed documents like the Pentagon Papers, they would make them public. In the first, just today the New York Times published internal US memos about Russia. In the second place, hello, sales and ratings!!! Classified documents that fulfill journalism's watchdog role are a win-win situation for media companies.

It's an amazing movie that I recommend everyone watch, especially if you're interested in media or history.

Journalism and Faith

I wasn't exceptionally worried about my faith interfering with my career when I thought about becoming a journalist--it never did at the Standard-Examiner. But eventually it began to creep into the back of my mind and just sit there, making itself known only only occasionally.

"Hey...what if something happens which encroaches upon your faith...? Just a thought..."

It began to worry me a little more each--I'll say week or so--and then we learned about faith and journalism.

The Presentation was great, FYI.

However, I'm glad to learn that there are many journalists who hold deep religious beliefs and that there are religious organizations for Christian journalists.  I liked that there is an association that trains religious newswriters, because some religious news needs to be handled delicately, and all religious news should be handled in a tasteful, informed way. That's why I was pleasantly surprised when Newsweek asked the LDS girl working for them to handle the feature on Joseph Smith's Birthday--it is good for publications to recognize that members of a particular religion are the ones who will understand the most about that religion and be able to report with taste and context.

A good reporter should not, of course, let their beliefs taint the facts of a story; a Catholic should not smudge facts on a story about child abuse by a priest. But a person of a certain religion will know more about their own religion than someone of another faith.

I'm also glad to see that secularism in secular newsrooms isn't as hostile towards individual reporters with deep beliefs as some portray it. I'm glad to see that ethical considerations can and should be voiced.

And while the book said religion and journalism isn't necessarily most about the religion beat, I like the idea of reporters from one religion being able to "check [their] beliefs at the door" and report honestly and openly about another religion. I'd like to be able to think that we as journalists could focus in that coverage, as the book indicates, on what impact that religion has in teh lives of its members. I think the faith beats could be used to promote greater understanding, stamping out the ignorance that leads to acts motivated by intolerance. This site, http://www.religionwriters.com/tools-resources/reporting-on-religion-a-primer-on-journalisms-best-beat, shown in class, seems like a great resource. I especially like the calendar showing the holidays of multiple faiths on the same calendar. I like the idea that we all have holidays that occur on the same days as other faiths and we can all experience our own Holidays on the same days other faiths have theirs and everyone is ok with it. It is that respect of other faiths that defines freedom of religion in America, and I believe that same respect should define the way journalists deal with faith. There's a owrd for it, we say it at the end of yoga:

"Namaste"

"The Divine light in me honors the Divine light in you."