Saturday, April 09, 2005

Spandex- A Privilege, Not a Right

Uffish and I have been playing racquetball on a pretty regular basis lately, and my trips with her down to the RB have caused me to remember some previous reflections.

Why is it that the clothes that you're supposed to work out in only look good on people who are already skinny and athletic? Also, why do gyms cater really only to those who are physically fit?

For example, the advertisements for exercise clothes always seem to say, "If you put on these clothes, you will be happy, hunky, athletic and hot." People like the message they see, and so they buy them...only to put them on and realize they look nothing like the smiling hardened bodies found on the tags they wear. They feel more like a stuffed sausage...

Mmmmm....right?

Same thing happens with the gym. You go to the gym to work out right? To lose weight in some cases, and to get in shape in others. Why do they have so many mirrors around those places? Sure, those people who look really good while working out don't mind. But some people, who aren't at the height of their athletic abilities don't really feel like watching themselves look like a set of Venetian blinds opening and closing as they travail up the treadmill. Who wants the pick-up line they hear to be "Is your daddy a baker? 'Cause you got a nice set of rolls..."

All opposed?

So here's to figuring out some way to find work-out clothes that can actually flatter those who NEED them, and not just those who are already sporting abs that even Mighty Quinn could appreciate, because if people are ashamed of going outside in the clothes, the whole workout cycle is not going to get started...maybe that's why we're supposedly so obese.

Thursday, April 07, 2005

Packing Up, Shipping Out

My room is in complete disarray at this point, owing to the fact that I am getting started on the whole packing thing. Last night Ms. Addison and I started it all...and it was a pretty great adventure.

first, there was the bed. It was up on stilts, and so, of course we had to clear everything out from under it, and then lower it. Well, it being all my stuff, I climbed under it and got it all out, and then we moved Oscar the Couch (my DI chair with high aspirations), and then we moved the fridge. Finally it was time to lower the bed. "What's the best way to do this?" Thought Novel. "Of course! I'll stand up and use my back as the means to hold the bed up while Ms. Addison pulls off the legs!"

Brilliant...

So maybe that wasn't the best of ideas. I mean, it DID work, but...ouch. The springs on our beds are what I had my back pressed to...silly silly Novel.

So after all that fun and excitement, we get to the REAL excitement for the evening-a moth flew into the open window. Now, neither Ms. Addison nor I are really terribly girly girls, and neither one of us was afraid of the moth--it just didn't belong in my room, so we had to get it out.

Well, first things first, all the lights go out, in hopes that he'll head out the open window. Well, THAT doesn't work, mostly because now we can't see where he is. So then there's the turning the light on and off for short periods of time so that we can see where the little bug is. At one point the light comes back on, and the bug flies into the cover of the fluorescent light above my desk...dumb bug. Then, I grab my flashlight, and we try to lead it out to the window by having it follow the light there, while tapping on the cover with a spoon. Well, he follows the light...right towards my hand. At this point, I'm disgusted to say, I squeak and toss the flashlight onto the bed. How utterly embarrassing and female. Ms. Addison is getting a good laugh at me, as I have "just made noises she's never heard from me before." so then we've lost the bug's location again, and we're trying to find it...not working. so then suddenly, he flies into my back-not allowed! Anyway, finally Ms. Addison thinks to use my bright little lamp so he'll fly towards that, and I decide to put it out the window so that he'll fly towards it, AND out the window. Novel efficiency Concept...that's my name. This sounds like a grand idea, until Ms. Addison points out that it might just attract another bug...

oh yeah.

We decide to do it anyway, and it works. The bug hovers closer to the light as we maneuver it over the desk, and then finally, he perches on a piece of paper right by the open window, causing the suspense to escalate. Finally, he flies out the window and starts to fly around the top of the light. I start to wiggle it around in circles because, probably, it'll make the bug dizzy and disoriented. Then, I quickly pull in the light and Ms. Addison shuts the window.

There's such a feeling of triumph when you've outsmarted a square inch insect.

On another note--I slept amazingly well last night, surrounded by boxes, with my bed closer to the floor and such. There's something kind of familiar about it all. All I'm missing is my family to play in them-forts in the garage with the book boxes...now there are some fun times.

Wednesday, April 06, 2005

Monday, April 04, 2005

The Novelty is Wearing Out...

Friends, I'm starting to hit end of the semester burn-out...and this year, it's even worse than last year.

Last year I looked forward to finals. Finals week, sickening as it might be, is actually my favorite week of school...mostly because, once you've gotten there, you've basically "passed the point of no return" as it were. You should know almost everything, papers are done, and all that's left to do are tests...and lots of them. I love the completed feeling I get as a test is finished, because then, the class is done too-it's great!

Anyway, this year I'm just hitting tired. I'm still excited about finals, but I'm just tired...all the time. I sleep, I get full nights sometimes, and I'm still ALWAYS tired.

Mostly, it's my own fault. I've gotten myself sucked into a vicious cycle. This is what happens:

Spend time until all hours of the night playing with/talking to friends and finally crash into bed at an odd hour of the morning.

THEN

My alarm goes off at a reasonable hour the next morning, as I have class, but the hour seems entirely unreasonable because I stayed up until all hours the night before. Consequently, I drag myself to class ("at least I'm going" justifies my brain), and then take notes and struggle to participate with half of my mental capacities functioning.

OR

I sleep away half the morning in an attempt to catch up on sleep, and still feel like I need a nap that afternoon...causing myself to be utterly unproductive and lazy.

THEN

Because of the fact that I've been either a walking zombie or because I've napped in the afternoon, I can't seem to get myself to sleep before those odd hours of the morning again...and the cycle repeats itself. Over, and over, and over, and over...

Now, I do these things because I enjoy them. It's fun to go walking at night, to talk to people, to do things. I had an early bedtime until we moved to Fairfield CA, and then I started to stay up real late...like 11. The ability to stay up late and do things until like...2-that was a novel concept for me (please don't moan too loudly). I like my friends, I like talking to them, and I enjoy feeling a connection and doing fun stuff....

There was a but statement if ever one was coming...

BUT...Can't we do things during daylight hours? Is there any reason that we can't socialize while it's still actually that same day, and not the early hours of the next? I actually like the way that most of you look-I've had the rare occasion to see you in the daylight, and you're all perfectly acceptable to gaze upon...is there something about the sun that we hate? I understand that odd hours of the night often facilitate open communication blah blah blah...but can't we try and practice some of that while the sun shines? This isn't to say that I don't ever want to go out and do things later...but not EVERYTHING has to be done at night. I'm just afraid the novelty of it all is beginning to wear off, and the Novel is beginning to wear out.

One with the Refuse...

I've a confession to make...

I don't have the balance of an elephant on a beach ball...it's really very sad.

Today I was sitting on my bed and attempting to push the trash down, because it was getting kind of full. So I lean over like so:



And somehow, I end up completely in the trash can, like so:



Now, I'm not entirely sure how this happened, especially since I'd think that it'd be pretty difficult, what with my trashcan being just a regular, knee-high trash can. Oh well. It's too bad you guys can't flip-book the pictures...it's even funnier to watch as a pseudo cartoon.

What a nerd.

Sunday, April 03, 2005

I Belong

Do you ever have moments where you finally catch some of the vision of the Church? Times where you seem to understand exactly where things are going? I got one of those today, and it makes me so happy...just ask Uffish, BAWB, BamaBeau, or Wafflewitz...they were all there.

I got to attend two sessions of conference today. It was really fun going to the morning one, though I was a bit tired. I'm running on 7 hours of sleep for the past two nights...not the best way to do conference. The Saturday afternoon session is the one that made me really excited though, and here's why.

I've always wanted to go to the Saturday Afternoon session, because that's the one that you sustain everyone in. I know you can sit at home and do it, and I always do, but it's exciting to think about doing it there, where they can actually see you, surrounded by thousands of other people doing the exact same thing. It's incredible! Sustaining is one of my favorite parts of church, especially when it's in general conference. For me, raising your right arm is almost poetic, in that you have the opportunity to say so much with a single action. It used to bother me that it was done so en masse...but you know what? It's not like we're voting on whether or not everything that's going on with callings is right-the Lord doesn't ever require our stamp of approval on anything. Sure, we can raise our hands in opposition if necessary, but that rarely happens. I think that raising your hand is really for you. It lets you say: "I have a testimony of this church, of the process of revelation and callings, of the fact that God speaks to us today, and I will support his choices of servants and do all I can to help them."

What power in a single action! Every time you raise your arm, you're throwing your support towards the side of the Lord (a.k.a. the winning side). You're standing with Nephi, Moroni, Alma, Peter, James, John the Baptist, Moses, Isaiah, all of the prophets and saints past and present, and even Christ himself.

Sounds like the best kind of company to be in.

And that's what makes me so excited about the Church. It's over 12 million people who, in theory, are united in a grand purpose, to bring the kingdom of God onto the earth. We are part of something amazing, something that is doing good, and working to do the will of God. Sure, people are imperfect, and bad things happen, but the Gospel itself is not the people who teach it. The Gospel is true, completely, totally, and amazingly. The Lord is at its head, and he's the one who guides it. It's incredible to see where we've come from, and what we've become. From 1830-now...it's amazing.

Joseph Smith said to a group of brethren in Zion's Camp: "Brethren I have been very much edified and instructed in your testimonies here tonight, but I wan to say to you before the Lord that you know no more concerning the destinies of this Church and kingdom than a babe upon its mother's lap. You don't comprehend it...It is only a little handful of Priesthood you see here tonight, but this Church will fill North and South America--it will fill the world." (in Conference Report, Apr. 1891, 57)

Guys…that is US! We are the fulfillment of prophecy. THIS is THAT church, and I can't help but think that we now still can't comprehend what the Church may yet become. Take a second to look beyond the faults of the members, and just feel what exactly it is that you are a part of. Look past what people are at this moment, and love them for a second for what they can become because of what we have. If you do, perhaps you too will have some desire to sing hymns of praise for all that we have. This Gospel is true, and it's going to keep moving forward, with or without us. We are a part of something great, and I belong here...

...and that's a wonderful feeling.