Amusing Campus Moments...

Fall is in the air. When I walk out to my car the windshield is covered in leaves. We're well enough into the semester that students are locked into a routine. We have even enjoyed some midterms already. But with the new semester comes a new series of moments - big, small, awkward, sweet, funny - and all of them campus moments...

I recently paid a visit to the Bean Wildlife Museum because I had a few extra minutes before I needed to be at work and the museum is on the way. Fortunately, I happened to arrive just as 2-3 school buses pulled up, full of elementary children of all ages. The usually quiet and rather small Bean Museum was teeming with kids running around trying to find Russian black bears, "the real king of the jungle," and a deer with tusks. I sat down to do my homework and I happened to be sitting right across from the infamous deer with tusks (the Musk deer - very strange). A couple of 5th graders walked by. The girl was in that somewhat annoying I-really-like-this-boy-so-I'm-going-to-hog-all-his-attention phrase.

Girl (looking at a very small deer and saying in a high-pitched voice): Devin, Devin! Aww, look how CUTE it is!!
Devin (looking bored and disinterested): Yeah. But this one has tusks.

Another group of three girls (a little younger, maybe 3rd grade) walked by the bears:
Girl #1: Oh, how CUTE! This bear is so cute!
Girl #2: Cute? Lady, that's flippin' huge.

Ah, little kids. I miss the funny things they say.

Baba Yaga

Just a little interesting tid-bit of information. I am currently reading the book Enchantment by Orson Scott Card - the story is that of a modern day fairytale scholar that gets sent to medieval Russia and becomes the hero of the root story for several fairytales including Sleeping Beauty and Baba Yaga.

Naturally I had to start listening to Mussorgsky's song Hut on Fowl's Legs again because Baba Yaga is the antagonist in the book. For those of you who don't know, Baba Yaga is a witch from Russian and Slavic folklore that kidnapped and ate children. She lived in a hut without a door that walked around on chicken legs in the woods. I was reading up a bit on her character on wikipedia and I found this picture of a grain storehouse in Sweden. It is obvious where the tale comes from, isn't it? I thought this picture was really cool. What an odd sight.

(Warning: The book Enchantment is not for everyone. Unless you've read other Orson Scott Card books (Ender's Game not included) and like them a lot, please speak to me before you read this book)

TAG: The Five

10 years ago I:
1. was a ballerina
2. had really long hair
3. had 3 CDs - Enya, Star Wars Soundtrack, The Chieftans
4. was probably playing the role of Bumble Gum Bart
5. wanted to play the penny whistle

5 things on today's "to do" list:
1. wash car
2. Karate class
3. shop for Tuesday's dinner
4. eat something
5. get ink cartridge for printer

5 snacks I enjoy:
1. cucumbers
2. peanut butter
3. airpopped popcorn
4. wheat thins
5. dark chocolate chips

5 things I would do if I were a billionaire:
1. travel
2. buy a house and decorate it!
3. go to lots of concerts
4. travel some more
5. give the rest to my family

5 places I have lived:
1. Midway, Utah
2. Boulder City, Nevada
3 Provo, Utah
4. Heber City, Utah
5. a tour bus for one month while traveling around the USA

5 jobs I have had:
1. Jetco Construction personal assistant (haha)
2. babysitter
3. receptionist Southern Nevada Water Systems
4. BYU laundry
5. full time student....which doesn't really count I guess

Taal Yatra

Saturday was a good day. Karate was awesome because there were about 20 people there today (about 12 more than usual) and after karate I hung out with Abby and we watched movies while eating junk food (and crazy salad concoctions on my part) and studying for my map test in Geography. We watched such classics as Win a Date With Tad Hamilton, Freaky Friday, and Jaws 2. Good times...

In the evening Sam and I went to a concert on campus of a group called Taal Yatra. It's an Indian ensemble that plays north-Indian classical music and it was amazing! There were two drummers playing the tabla drums, one vocalist, and one man playing the harmonium (an instrument that I have never seen before - look it up, it's cool). From the very beginning of the performance I was entranced. The vocalist had such a beautiful voice and the leader of the ensemble, Pandit Suresh Talwalkar, was absolutely incredible. He was very charismatic and had one of the most expressive faces I have ever seen in my life. I wish I could have gotten a recording of it because it was amazing. Afterward, Sam and I were really craving curry but since it was 10pm by the time the performance was over we couldn't do anything about it.

After the performance I played a heated game of Canasta Caliente with Grandma S. and Aunt Joy. Grandma won of course and I lost by about 1,000 points but whatever - it's a fabulous game. All in all it was a fabulous weekend. :)

The 13 Clocks

I'm pretty sure that everyone will label me as a nerdy loser after this post but I figured that I should share it anyway.

So, this last Friday I was really bored and decided to go somewhere like a park or the library to read (call me a loser, whatev). I was going to head over to a park but I remembered that I lost my sunglasses and since it's been unusually bright here in Happy Valley I decided to go to the Provo library with the intention of finding a corner to sit and read.

First, because I was bored, I explored the old section of the building then went down to the children's section in the hopes that the chairs would be softer and more comfortable (again, call me a loser - I can handle it). I wondered around listening to little kids run around and parents chasing after them. One little family was especially fun to watch and listen to as they were really loud and speaking Korean or something. I looked around the shelves to see if any books caught my eye.

And one did.

The 13 Clocks by James Thurber (author of Many Moons for those of you in my family) is such a good book. I picked it up, read the back, then read the first few words of the introduction and was hooked. I think I read the whole first chapter while standing there in the stacks before I finally went to find my corner and sat down. Yes, it's a children's book and is very short but quite enjoyable. The illustrations and wonderful and look like those Disneyland ads from the 50s if you have ever seen those.

There were passages that I had to read aloud to myself because of their poetic quality and several sections where I laughed outloud (much to the frustration of the guy studying a few chairs over, I'm sure). I didn't leave the library until two and a half hours after I entered. I didn't even check out the book, but sat and read until the story was over. Neil Gaiman, who wrote the introduction, said that once a friend was complaining to him about her problems with her boyfriend and her family, how she hated her job, and to top it off her dog was in the hospital. Everything Gaiman said to try and help her just made it worse so finally he picked up a copy of The 13 Clocks and started reading it. He said that soon the girl was laughing and smiling and they read the entire book together. I liked Neil Gaiman's point that this is a feel-good book - one in which to escape reality for a bit and enter the world which such characters as the Todal, a minstral Prince, the Golux, and an evil Duke that believes he has slain time.

Anyway, call me a nerdy loser for spending my Friday night alone in a library but this book was excellent. :D

Here's a little fun project from Allyson. This is what you do:

First you go to www.flickr.com/search. In the search box you put your answers to the questions below. Once you have chosen your fave pic, copy and paste the URL to the mosaic maker found at www.bighugelabs.com

1. First Name
2. Favorite Food
3. Your School
4. Favorite Color
5. Who is your Celebrity Crush
6. Favorite Drink
7. Dream Vacation
8. Favorite Dessert
9. What you want to be when you grow up
10. What you love most in life
11. One word to describe you12. Your Nickname

Trust me to fudge it up though. For some reason I omitted what I love most in life (family of course) and have two number nines. Oh well - you get the idea anyway...hopefully.