smell my mango

i went to the international cinema again last night and saw "the scent of green papaya," a vietnamese movie. it was really strange. i guess i'm used to hollywood, because whatever this was, it wasn't that. it was one of those movies where you're just supposed to relax and listen, and look, and feel. but after a day like yesterday i really wasn't ready for that. the end was satisfying enough...a little abrupt, but happy which is always nice.

substitutes and stepsisters

i had a substitute in art history today. it was really annoying. i had to sit through two and a half hours of annoying. she totally reminded me of one of cinderella's evil stepsisters! she had red hair, and wore a head band with a feathers on one side. it confused me. she had pale skin and pointy shoes. her nose was turned up, pointy and long. did i not just describe evil stepsister number one? after i figured out what she reminded me of, i couldn't help but think that she was mean too. but then i realized i was being irrational and got over it.

amazing grace

i was walking back from campus tonight and heard some bagpipes playing in the distance. i looked up and there was a man in a kilt playing amazing grace in front of the hinckley alumni building. i really love that song, especially when played on the bagpipes.
my dad bought himself a chanter and is trying to learn how to play it. i can't wait until he can play that song! have you figured out how to make noise yet dad?

FIRE!

i was woken up this morning by a fire alarm...it was really annoying. it kind of screwed up my whole day...everything was just a little off. let me tell you, fire alarms are much more annoying than alarm clocks (which used to be the most annoying things to me). the worst part about it was that i had to evacuate the building. need i remind you that it is actually below freezing in utah? i rolled out of bed, put on some crocs and a coat and walked outside. we were waiting for the fire department to show up (they took their precious time) only to tell us that a furnace in the hallway was broken and it was ok to go back in. so i just rolled back in bed and waited for my friend, the alarm clack, to wake me up.

this one's for you, utah!

(click to enlarge)

international cinema

my new favorite thing to do is go watch the movies playing at the international cinema on campus! last weekend i saw amelie and volver. i highly recommend amelie, it was really good, and funny. last night i went and saw shall we dance? the original, mind you. it's much better than the american remake. everyone shoudl go to these international movies! it's like you're reading, but you get to watch the movie at the same time! best of both worlds...

what's wrong with this picture?

proportions

i wasn't planning on writing about this, mainly because it means i have to publicly admit (and announce) how disproportional my body is, but due to recent events, i just have to get it off my chest.
over christmas, my family got into a discussion about how the length of you arms is supposed to be equal to that of your height. we decided to see if this was the case. of course, lindsey was perfect. but she was the only one. my grandpa's arms were way longer and so were mine. but, on top of the lengths being off, i also have another huge problem. as most of you know, i am only 5'2''. but my legs are as long as my brother's (who is 5'9''). to compensate for this fact, i have an unusually small torso.
now that you've got the background, let me tell you what happened today. in my humanities class, we are studying ancient egypt. we were discussing a statue of the pharaoh chephren , you may recognize him as the commissioner of the sphinx.
my teacher was saying that the artist made chephren disproportional in order to better preserve it. does it look disproportionate to you? apparently his upper arms are elongated so that his lower arms could rest on his legs and not get damaged over time. she asked us all to try having our arms lay flat on our legs. i sat up straight and put my arms down, and guess what, i was the spitting image of chephren. the combination of having longer arms than a normal person and a shorter torso sealed the deal. so i make this suggestion; maybe i'm not the only one in the world who is disproportional. couldn't chephren have been the same?

water for elephants

i finished this book tonight! it was really good. i definitely recommend it. it's about the circus! at first i didn't know what to think because i wasn't really expecting much out of a book about the circus. but i'm happy to report that i was very pleased. so read it! enjoy it!

jelly belly jelly beans

perhaps i had a few too many jelly belly jelly beans tonight. me and a few others dumped all of them out and tried to follow the recipes and make yummy creations in our mouths! it was all going well until i made "mud pie" and accidentally mistook a dr. pepper flavored bean for a chocolate pudding. let's just say it tasted a little worse than mud...

law and order?

so my econ professor looks exactly like sam waterston, probably better known as A.D.A Jack McCoy from Law and Order. it was bugging me so much today in class and i wasn't able to pay attention until i figured it out! luckily, i watch enough law and order in my spare time that i was able to come up with the resemblance quickly and listen to another lecture about opportunity cost.

so-cal

in humanities the other day, this guy in front of me had a jacket on that said "so-cal" in big gold letters. i didn't know we did that. i know if you're from northern california, everyone knows it because its written across your shirt, you have a bumper sticker on the back of your car and if you have a tattoo, chances are it says "norcal" but so-cal? i'd never seen it before. i guess it's a new fad that i'm not aware of because i don't live there anymore?

folk dancing

i decided on a whim to try out for the folk dancing team at byu. random right? but i spent my wednesday night auditioning and found out it's a lot harder to do than it looks! or maybe i'm just out of shape...but i made it! i'm a folk dancer now! i think it'll be a lot of fun and a good thing to keep me busy with. it's not like anything i've ever done before which is good. i hope you come see me perform!

right to read

i've started to read again. if you didn't already noticed, i added my shelfari list to my blog. now everyone can see every book i've ever read (except for the ones i can't remember). so, if you have any suggestions of what i should read next, let me know! favorite books, recent books, books that make you laugh, books that make you cry, anything!

100th post!

this is my 100th post! if i were oprah, you would all get a new car or something!

the town of danville

i spent what was left of my vacation in danville, ca. it's a pretty cute little town if you ask me. i went and saw national treasure, watched a million episodes of monk, saw pride and predjudice, sense and sensibilty, and gone with the wind. i explored shopping opportunities in pleasonton and dublin and got my make up done at the clinique counter just for fun.
i also went to the jelly belly factory in fairfield. it was pretty interesting. it smelled like sour apple when we drove up. i learned all about how jelly beans are made and even got a free bag of jelly bellys! i had to prove that i had gone, so i bought a jar of assorted flavors and a bag of belly flops ("irregulars"). its been fun making all the recipes on the side of the bag and inventing a few of my own.
ARF was another incredibly memorable event that i attended in walnut creek. i can't believe i went, in fact. ARF stands for the animal resuce foundation and was founded by Tony LaRussa (manager for the Cardinals). people are giving thousands of dollars a year to benefit other people's pets. the whole time i was there, i not only felt like the poorest person, but also that these rich people should be spending their time and money on something else, like saving poeple? now maybe i'm a little biased (since i wouldn't say animals are my favorite thing in the world) but really? this benefit made me laugh quite a few times.
performing at it was; Aja Vu (Steely Dan tribute band), Brian Copeland (not a genuine black man), Craig Chaquico (really good guitar player from Jefferson Starship and he stood on the seat next to my mom and started playing with his teeth), random dancers (only in the show because it was Tony LaRussa's daughter), ZO2 (random band from brooklyn), Marty Casey and the Lovehammers (who i had actually heard of before), Dana Glover (who no one has ever heard of before but was quite talented), Rob Schneider (my favorite part of the night, but was totally unprepared which probably made it a lot funnier) and Kevin Cronin and Dave Amato (former members of REO Speedwagon). It was a memorable show to say the least. i don't think i'll be going next year, but i hope Tony LaRussa's dogs continue to live more comfortable lives than most people in Africa...

i-town

i made a trip to irvine for new years! i drove melissa down to visit her friends and thought i would visit mine too!
what i did while in orange county:
stayed with lindsey in corona del mar
ate at wingstop
shopped at south coast plaza
witnessed some beautiful sunsets
hit up the OC swap meet
went to lindsey's birthday party
celebrated new years eve
ate at in-n-out
...and a million other random things...

it was way fun, and i'm glad i got to see a bunch of people i haven't seen in such a long time. but, i think next time, you all should drive up to danville and we can have a san fransisco adventure!