It's Here! It's Here! It's Absolutely Here!

The Deathly Hallows trailer!  Or as I like to call it, *FLAIL!!!*





I certainly did NOT expect THAT to be the opening scene of the trailer!

Holy cow... this is like, an end of an era.  Well... I actually considered the publication of book 7 to be the actual end because the movies were never what I wanted them to be (Order of the Phoenix came close, I will give them that).  But still... holy cow! (I am incoherent right now, so do forgive me ^_^)

Well, This Seems Appropriate

I love Hyperbole and a Half.  And this post makes me feel so much better about the way my life is going.  I am never going to be comfortable being an adult-type person.  The day I officially admit I'm grown up is the day the Earth explodes.

That being said (and on a completely different tangent) - I LOVE DOCTOR WHO!!!!  I just got into the series and found a few places I could watch the series from the "beginning" (well, since they revived the show in 2005) and I am so totally hooked!  I even found a LiveJournal community that has everything from icons to wallpapers to videos about DW and - le sigh... I'm trying my darnedest not to get spoiled (so far I think I'm doing okay - the community puts spoilers under cuts, which is a happy thing).  "Doctor Who" is like crack.  And the best part is that he can keep regenerating and they can go to all kinds of places in space and time and it'll never end (shoot, the series was first introduced in 1963, which is like ancient times in terms of a TV show).

I'm right in the middle of season 2, so please don't spoil me!!!  I really, really, REALLY love Rose and the Doctor (David Tennant is just damn adorable - he and Billie Piper play off each other so well, no wonder it's so fun to watch).  Though, I did catch one episode from this new season on BBC America with Matt Smith as the Doctor and he's pretty cool too.  I can't wait until I get all caught up - but at the same time I want to savor the newness of it all.

Movin' On and Movin' Up

Yay! Sports news that has nothing to do with South Africa!!! (a rarity this summer)



It's officially official!  The Utes are saying so long to the Mountain West Conference and saying hello to the PAC-10 (soon to be PAC-12, I'm sure).  This is exciting for a number of reasons, which I shall now enumerate:

1. The Utes can now be recognized as legitimate contenders in the BCS.  Not that they weren't legitimate contenders before, but since the "My crap don't stink" nitwits from the BCS refuse to let anyone get in the way of Ohio State or USC or Florida's red-carpeted road as perennial champions, this is the best for the Utes in terms of ever being able to pull off a national championship.  By way of the Boise State-TCU Fiesta/Baby-Sitters Bowl, the BCS has shown that they're never, ever, ever, ever, EVER going to let the "small fry" teams in, no matter how badly they beat Michigan State (and with USC out of contention in postseason play because of suspension from the NCAA, this is akin to the news of Michael Jordan's retirement after the second Bulls-Jazz NBA Finals.  But this time, there's not a lockout to screw with veteran players' health, thus thwarting any chance the Jazz had at the title).    Like they say, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em.

(By the way, I've been waiting my whole life for a Utah-based team to come away with a national title and so far, I've been given the finger by The Greater Cosmos(tm).  The Jazz had their shots in the '90s, as did the Utes basketball team, but we've always had to settle for second place and it gets pretty tiresome.  I do take great pride in the Fiesta and Sugar Bowl victories, but I want that darn national championship!!  Real Salt Lake's soccer title doesn't count because (a) the game ended in a tie and they won the shoot-out, which is like deciding a World War II on a game of horseshoes (b) if the whole of the European continent says I must love soccer simply because the rest of the world loves soccer, that is immediate grounds for me to hate soccer with a passion unbridled)

2. No more listening to The mtn!!! Or, as I like to call it - Sports Broadcast School Rejects.  It's like they got the UNLV student journalism class to run that stupid station (yes, Otis, I'm sure it looks good on your resume, but I want my football game, dammit!)  If have to listen to them sideline interview the football coach from Timpview High School while the Utes are running a pick-six on BYU one more time, I'm going to slit my wrists with a rusty spoon.

3. Speaking of the Zoo... HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! You guys had this wonderful season, even beating the Utes in the grand finale (thank you Maxie-poo) - and YOU GOT SNUBBED!!  The BCS never even sneezed in your direction and the Utes got in twice!  And won - twice!!  And now the Utes are one step closer than you've ever dreamed of being! (your 1984 "title" doesn't count - that was pre-BCS.  In fact, I'm willing to bet it's your fault we have to deal with all this crap).  I think I speak for all Ute fans when I say - See what clean living does for ya?

Enjoy your continued success against UNLV and Wyoming.  No, really, I mean that with all sincerity (it's amazing I can say all that with a straight face ^_^)

Also - Brad Rock chimes in on the news.  I knew he would.  And he's almost as giddy as I am (with a touch more professionalism - eh, whatever).

Whine Time (but things get better!)

...sigh... sometimes, I really really hate Facebook.  A friend of mine from high school recently got married and I stupidly clicked on the pictures on Facebook.  You have to know, I haven't been in touch with this friend for a good number of years and I didn't even go to her wedding.  You know how these things go - who really keeps track of people from high school?  It was a little unnerving to see her married (I have no clue who the guy is) because we were the little tomboys that pointedly avoided dating at all costs.  I know that people change and get older and things... but still, it's really strange.

It's so odd - I see people that I've known all my life getting married and having kids and I'm ... not.  Not that I want to run off and get engaged to the first loser that comes along (one of these days, I should tell you all about the bastard my aunt married - listen to enough about him and you'll be off to the nearest convent), but it's just... bleagh!  You all know what I mean, right?

Luckily for me, I collect things that help me feel better about things like this, particularly music.  I love uplifting lyrics - and they don't even have to be in English!  For example, this song from "Sailor Moon" is amazing.  It's called "Otome no Policy," which translates to (depending on who you ask) "A Lovely Maiden's Policy."  Basically, it's all about being brave on your own even when things are totally going to crap (and if you know anything about the second season of SM, you can tell that it fits the story very well.  At least, I think so).  It's just one of those songs that give me the warm fuzzies and I love it!  Anyway, this video is the full version of it and I've included the English translation.



No matter what pinch I find myself in, I'll never give up
That's right! That's the lovely maiden's policy
For the one so precious to me, who I'll surely meet someday
I'll lift my face up high, and plunge forward.

With a sharp pain, a love is awakening
deep inside my heart.

There is nothing I'm afraid of
A pounding heart is much better
I have big dreams
That's why I go on bravely.

I wait expectantly for more terrible things to happen
I just know they'll be my chance to flap my wings gracefully
Because everyone is so very beautiful when they're serious
Keeping faith in myself, I'll go clearing the hurdles ahead.

The unknown power that rests in me now
Will someday overflow from within me.

I will be what it is I want to be
Those who persevere are great
I may shed tears at times,
But I will still go on bravely.

There is nothing I'm afraid of
A pounding heart is much better
I have big dreams
That's why I go on bravely.

The Squeaky Wheel Gets the Grease

In celebration of Blogger's new template designer (and the fact that I complained about it in my last post), can I just say - THANK YOU BLOGGER!!!  My new blog looks AWESOME!!

I actually got on here to talk about something cool that happened today.  I applied for a job at Snow College in Ephraim, Utah.  Now, I attended Snow and got my Associate's degree from there in 2005 before I went on to Utah State and (now) Emporia State.  Today, I had an interview for this job and it wasn't as long as I originally anticipated (don't know if that's a good or a bad sign), so I stuck around on campus and walked around.

Snow is a 2-year junior college in a small town, which means that Ephraim is pretty dead in the summer.  But there was still plenty going on.  They built a brand new library right behind the Noyes Building - and the new library actually looks like the historic Noyes Building (a bit).  One of the people interviewing me told me I should go walk around the new library before I left, but they were doing landscaping and some touch-up construction work and I felt funny walking inside, so I just walked around the outside.

Where I did go inside was the old humanities building, which hasn't changed a bit since those long nights at The Snowdrift.  The room numbering is still as weird as ever and there's still that one brick in the connecting hallway that isn't as shiny as the rest.  But they moved The Snowdrift office - the old newspaper production classroom  hidden off in the corner is... just a plain old regular classroom!  Sad day! :(  And I couldn't find where the newspaper office is now (though the Department of Communication got some nifty new signage.  Meh).  Oh well... I guess you really can't go home again (yet the student radio station is exactly where it used to be).

I want to take this opportunity to poke fun at something I've always found funny about college recruitment.  While I was wandering the humanities building, I walked past a campus tour group that was checking out the Writing Lab.  Now, I figure all campus tours are about the same - they show you where the library is, where the cafeteria is, the writing lab, the science building, highlight any historic buildings and also talk about all the cool stuff there is to do in and around town (most of what's cool about Ephraim is outdoorsy stuff - hiking, mountain climbing, camping.  Actually, I've noticed that holds true for all the colleges in Utah).  Maybe it was just the way that I decided where to go to school, but not once did I have to weigh my decision based on the location, the size of campus or anything like that.  I just said "I'm going to Snow and then to Utah State - end of story."  I couldn't even really tell you how I arrived at that decision.  Utah State's Aggie Ice Cream didn't have anything to do with it - but in high school, there was no way I was turning down the free ice cream the recruiters brought to College Day.  Anyway, campus tours and visits - funny things.

Speaking of college - an email just popped into my inbox from the American Library Association (ALA) regretting to inform me that I was not awarded a scholarship that I had applied for.  Well, I applied for this months ago and hadn't heard a thing, so I figured I wasn't getting it.  But this'll make you laugh - at the end of the email, after the sender's contact info and stuff, it has this quote: "Experience is what you get when you don't get what you want."

If that doesn't make you giggle - what's wrong with you?

Blogger, Backgrounds and Disappearing Links

I wish I was internet-savvy enough to make my own functional-yet-pretty Blogspot template. Just when I find one that I think looks like it could be titled "cj's notebook," I find something wrong with it, but I don't know how to change it. Maybe I don't like the font or I want something bigger or the fact that there are no links in the sidebar unless you hover your mouse over them - which is really stupid. Who wants to be wondering where their links are? And then you have to "happen" upon them? Mo-RONS!! I want to see the darn things!

sigh... I just want a decent Blogger template that'll show my YouTube videos without cutting them off and that looks like something I would write on. LiveJournal really spoiled me, you know.

While I'm on the subject of berating technology, I have some grievances to air against Microsoft Word. Why in the name of all that is good and holy did you feel the need to "fix" Word 2007? I mean, why do you have such stupid default line spacing so I have to change it every time I go to type up something as simple as a list? I don't WANT multiple line spacing when I first open up a Word document. I want to have single-line default spacing and if I need something else, I will change it. Why-oh-why am I forced to view my documents in a 2-page side-by-side view if I want to see them at 100%? And then, navigating between pages is a bitch because I have to hit the left arrow if I want to go up! Who did you take design tips from? Steve Jobs? (I have these problems in the Mac version of Word because I have my fingers trained to type on a PC keyboard and it drives me insane when I use a Mac, thus the jab at Apple). And don't even get me STARTED on the confusion that is the lack of pull-down menus. I had those babies down pat and now I have to relearn EVERYTHING I already knew about Word!

Bottom Line - Don't fix what isn't broken. Stop doing my thinking for me. It gets on my nerves. You're worse than elitist liberals who think everyone in flyover country is an ill-informed rube that clings to guns and religion (come to think of it, Bill Gates probably really does think that. Huh... I just answered my own question).

Ain't Nothin' Like the Summer!

I know that's from a song, but can I remember which one? Of course not!

I just finished reading "Enchantment" by Orson Scott Card. And can I just say, that was one of the cutest darn stories I've read in a long time! (Obligatory Spoiler Alert!!!) I think I really started to like it when Katerina and Ivan went to Ivan's time and Katerina got to meet his parents (and Ruthie, but I never liked her anyway). That first go-round in Taina was kind of annoying - mostly because Ivan and Katerina were both being twerpy about everything and the townspeople mostly failed at life (with the possible exception of Sergei). But it was cute how Ivan was kind and understanding toward Katerina when she first came through to his time, even though she wasn't when he first came to her time. Anyway, cute story - definitely going on my list of favorites!

I also had my class weekend - I think it's just because I had a pretty stressful week leading up to it, but I didn't enjoy class as much as I usually do. Some of it was fun, but I've kind of been grumpy lately about a whole slew of things that have nothing to do with school. Maybe The Greater Cosmos(tm) just decided I needed to have a downer week for no good reason. Wish TGC(tm) would give me some notice about these things.

But church was wonderful today. There was a lot about being patient and remembering that life works on the Lord's timetable, not mine. And adversity makes us tougher. Oh, and we had a Relief Society presidency meeting this morning and we got our first activity planned and started on getting Visiting Teaching going. And I'm going to be getting a blog set up for our Relief Society so the girls can get online and see what activities are going on. Anyway, church came at just the right moment. I love my calling!

Summertime has officially begun. Which means that I will be seeking out the darkest, most air-conditioned basement to hole up in until September. I hate the hot weather. Since coming home from Florida, I've especially grown to hate the hot dry weather (which, incidentally I grew up in - I don't know why 18 months in humid Florida would make that big of a difference). I like spring and fall weather the best because it's that middle-of-the-road cool/warm. I hate being sticky and sweaty, even worse than I hate freezing. At least when I'm freezing I can put another pair of socks on.

Oh, here's a funny story from the weekend - when I go up for my classes, I stay with my friend, K. A month or so ago, our cat had kittens and K said she wanted one to help keep the gopher population down in her yard. So, over this weekend, I took one of the kittens up to K. Now, I had a box to put the kitten in while I drove up. Most of my trip was out of radio range, so I listened to Glenn Beck's "Arguing with Idiots" audiobook on my iPod. But when I came to a point where I had radio reception, I decided to switch because my friend Sean Hannity was on. Now, up until this point, the kitten was happy and content in his box. But when I switched the radio from Beck to Hannity, the kitten climbed out of his box and demanded that I pay attention to him. He even climbed up to the front seat and under the pedals (did I mention I was trying to drive the freeway at the time?) Anyway, Hannity's show got over and Glenn Beck's radio show came on and I swear, the minute Glenn came on, the kitten calmed down and went back to the back seat and fell asleep. It was the weirdest thing ever. I told K about it (she's a Glenn Beck fan) and she said that we picked the perfect kitty for her (and yes, she named the cat Glenn).

ETA: I am going to be re-vamping this blog because I finally figured out how to play nice with Blogger. So, the boring white space behind this will not be permanent. Just to let ya know.

Baby Picture Time! o_O

For my class this weekend, we're supposed to bring 5 childhood photographs. So, I've been looking through some pictures of me from when I was a baby up through high school. As fun as it is to reminisce and squee over all the memories, it's also a little depressing because I was a really, really adorable child (blonde pigtails, baby fat and everything!) Then I look through all my high school pictures and either I just didn't know how to do my hair (and I still don't) or just something went weird because I don't look as cute as when I was little (frankly, there are some that never should see the light of day ever again!) Granted, I've gotten better since then, but it's so

Oh, and then there's the picture of me when I was 16 - and I freaking look like I'm 10! What the crap? Sixteen's supposed to be this wonderful age where you're all grown-up and an adult and you can drive and have a job and date ... and in this picture I look like I should still be sitting at the kiddie table! It's just unnerving because all this time I thought I was pretty mature in high school, but I don't look like I am in the pictures. ... sigh... it was just weird seeing that, is all.