Wednesday, May 21, 2008

The song that helped bring things around...

During this last semester there were a few weeks where I was really down all the time. I had a hard time getting up on time to go to class, I had no motivation to do homework, and I felt really sad and lonely all the time. I couldn't really pin down any real cause for this state except maybe I had what some people call the "winter blues." I'll admit I really did not like the snow very much...at all.

One morning I went to my 8am physical science lecture and we had a substitute. As I walked in, a very familiar song was playing over the sound system of the auditorium-like classroom. The lecture that day was on sound waves and properties of light so our sub thought it would be appropriate to play Coldplay's "The Speed of Sound" before class started. Being a die-hard Coldplay fan, I had heard the song before. However, when I heard it that morning it was like I was listening to it for the first time. I don't know if it was lyrics, the music, the imagery, or the fact that I was simply tired of being depressed, but I walked out of that lecture determined to be happier. I also realized that familiar songs sound so much better on good sound systems. This song became one of my most-listened-to, and I am not sick of it yet. My roommates (the good sports that they are) even allowed me to write phrases from it on our mirror.
Click the song title to hear it.

Speed of Sound

Coldplay

How long before I get in?
Before it starts, before I begin?
How long before you decide?
Before I know what it feels like?
Where To, where do I go?
If you never try, then you'll never know.
How long do I have to climb,
Up on the side of this mountain of mine?

Look up, I look up at night,Planets are moving at the speed of light.
Climb up, up in the trees,
every chance that you get,is a chance you seize.
How long am I gonna stand,
with my head stuck under the sand?
I'll start before I can stop,before I see things the right way up.
All that noise, and all that sound,
All those places I got found.

And birds go flying at the speed of sound,
to show you how it all began.
Birds came flying from the underground,
if you could see it then you'd understand?

Ideas that you'll never find,
All the inventors could never design.
The buildings that you put up,
Japan and China all lit up.
The sign that I couldn't read,
or a light that I couldn't see,
some things you have to believe,
but others are puzzles, puzzling me.

All that noise, and all that sound,
All those places I got found.
And birds go flying at the speed of sound,
to show you how it all began.
Birds came flying from the underground,
if you could see it then you'd understand,
ah when you see it then you'll understand?

All those signs,
I knew what they meant.
Some things you can invent.
Some get made, and some get sent,
Birds go flying at the speed of sound,
to show you how it all began.

Birds came flying from the underground,
if you could see it then you'd understand,
ah, when you see it then you'll understand?

Sunday, May 18, 2008

Graduation!

Congrats to Loretta and David who graduated this last Saturday. We're so proud of them!



The fam.



Hanging out before the graduation.




A very poor quality picture of David in line. We were in the balcony so it was a long way.

Sydney

I felt like taking some pictures of around the house and Syd happened to be the object of attention at the moment. Enjoy~


Mama's sunglasses (with a toy stuck on them).


Watching "Princess of Horrors."


On the way to the Orchestra Concert.

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

"Too Much Time on My Hands"



For those of you that don’t know (and honestly, you probably all know because my complaints reach to the end of the world) I am currently working at the Southern Nevada Water Systems water treatment plant near Lake Mead. It is a pretty boring job since I am almost done with the projects that were supposed to last me all summer, and that’s going as slow as I can! Anyway, I heard this song on the radio when I was driving home the other day and I was laughing so hard because I couldn’t believe how appropriate it was to my situation. I only posted an excerpt of the lyrics; it's a pretty good song if you want to look it up. However, there are some swear words - I'm sorry, I didn't write it. The above picture is the band Styx, just for the sake of having a picture.

Too Much Time on My Hands
Styx

Is it any wonder Im not crazy?
is it any wonder Im sane at all
Well Im so tired of losing-
I got nothing to do and all day to do it
I go out cruisin but Ive no place to go and all night to get there
Is it any wonder Im not a criminal?
Is it any wonder Im not in jail?
Is it any wonder Ive got

Too much time on my hands, its ticking away with my sanity
Ive got too much time on my hands,
its hard to believe such a calamity
Ive got too much time on my hands and its ticking away from me
Too much time on my hands, too much time on my hands
Too much time on my hands

.....you've got to love such clever lyrics...

Sunday, April 27, 2008

Home! (and packing)

I finally made it home yesterday. I guess finally is not the right word but the drive seemed really long this time even though it really wasn't that long. Maybe it was because I was alone and tired. Good thing I had some bumsty tunes to listen to.



It's good to be home. I even had a "Welcome Home, Amy" sign in my room. However, I think it's ironic that I've only been home for 2 days and it looks like my stuff exploded everywhere. The only bad thing is that I can't find 3 boxes (the clothes and shoes box) and I lost my keys.

Here are the packing pictures that I forgot to post:







I didn't really want to take pictures of the unpacking because for one thing - that's just silly, and for another, I've only been here 2 days and my room is a disaster. So here is a picture of Tyler, Aubrey, and Sydney playing "night, night" (it obviously didn't go over too well).

Friday, April 25, 2008

Packing

Well, it's all packed. And it's a miracle that everything fit in my car because I was shocked at how much stuff I have accumulated in the last 8 months. Packing was quite the process but luckily my roommate Aleks and I were packing at the same time so we had fun together. I took pictures of the process but unfortunately my camera got packed away somewhere. The only problem is that I don't have room for one thing - my cello. Maybe I should rethink my packing skills...

Friday, April 18, 2008

Update...

I figured that it was time for a new post, even though things aren't too exciting around here...ok well maybe they are. These past two days have been "reading days" where we don't have any classes and we're encouraged to study for our upcoming finals. So, I've been studying and being a bum. I got to go out to dinner with the Duncans because Elisabeth and Jared were leaving for their new life in Texas. We went to Asuka's and I tried sashimi (raw fish). It wasn't really that bad.

Other than that, nothing much going on. Kaylee, Aleks, and I decided to release some tension (and burn cookie calories) by going out for a midnight stroll. However, we didn't get very far and ended up playing soccer in the street. Then the sprinklers came on behind our building so we decided to run through. It was so freezing that I couldn't even turn the handle of the door to come back inside. Good times, though. However, it's time to haul it through the weekend because my first exam is tomorrow - Spanish. Shouldn't be too bad...

Monday, April 7, 2008

Munna Bhai, M.B.B.S.


We watched another Hindi movie on Saturday night - Munna Bhai, M.B.B.S. I think out of all the Hindi/Bollywood movies I've seen (and I've probably seen more than the average caucasian American) this one was my favorite. It was hilarious! I definitely recommend it to anyone that is not afraid to read subtitles.

Friday, April 4, 2008

Hiking the Y!

I finally hiked the Y! For all of you who don't know, it's the trail that leads to the Y on the mountain by BYU campus. I had heard that the climb was pretty strenuous but I think all the stairs on campus have conditioned me enough so it wasn't that bad. It was steep though and the trees weren't very pretty but the view was spectacular! I only wished that we had a pair of binoculars. The hike took us about an hour but we hardly noticed the time because we were having so much fun.




The awesome view. Some of it at least.





Kapil Lamichhane and Anil Dhungel, our friends from Nepal. They live in Wyview and hang out with us sometimes. I've watched some Hindi movies with them and they took me to an Indian restaurant that was amazing! These guys are the coolest around.


Kaylee and Anil striking a pose.


We finally made it!


We tried to run up the length of the Y but we were so exausted. Anil wasn't smiling so we made some snide comment about his attitude and he laughed. Pretty good timing, I must say.

Sunday, March 30, 2008

I hate Utah weather...


Sunday morning greetings....argg.

Holi (Festival of Colors)

Yesterday, we spent a good part of our day pretending that we were Indian again. The Hindu festival of colors (or Holi) was celebrated at the Krishna Temple in Spanish Fork. It is a celebration of the coming of Spring by throwing scented colored powder at each other. A bunch of us from our ward got together before we left and had a potluck Indian lunch. Then we all piled into the cars and drove down to Spanish Fork and waited in an eterni-line to buy our bags of powder. But after waiting in line for an hour and a half we were frozen stiff from the cold and the wind (what happened to Spring?) so we hurried inside the temple and defrosted while our friend Kapil told us the story of Holi and the names of the statues inside. Finally, the much anticipated moment had arrived - the lighting of the bonfire and the signal to start throwing powder. We quickly hurried down to the crowd (about 3 thousand people) and all of a sudden we were transported to what looked like the inside of a rainbow. It was the craziest thing I'd ever seen.


Here we are waiting in line and before the colors (obviously). Notice the clean air, the distinct faces...



After the colors (obviously). Notice the hazy air, how everyone looks the same...


From left: Allison, Amanda, Kapil, Ben (the tall one), Amy, Aleks, Anil.

Thursday, March 27, 2008

Some funny stuff...

Don't ask me how I find these (seriously, not my kind of movie) but the first video on here is pretty funny.

http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/channel/preserve-our-planet/film-fest/film.html

And here's something for all you Lemony Snicket fans out there:

http://www.lemonysnicket.com/vilevideos/ (the 3rd video that says "don't watch please")

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Around Campus, part II

So, this really wasn't on campus; I was driving home from the library and I saw these two girls playing on the sidewalk, probably about 7 or 8 years old. They were so cute running down the street, racing or something. Then all of a sudden the smaller girl tripped and fell. The older one stopped, reached down to pull her friend up, and promptly proceeded to put her arm around her and they bothed walked down the street together. It sounds corny, but it was the sweetest thing I've seen in a long time.

I was walking behind a couple and happened to hear some of their conversation. I didn't hear what the girl said but the boy answered timidly, "Well, you know, the Underground Railroad wasn't really a railroad." The girl gasped in astonishment and said, "No way! No way! My childhoood is ruined, I can't believe it...So, what is it then?" She was so loud in her response that I couldn't help choking back a snort, and the boy looked around in embarassment to see if anyone had been listening. Luckily, I don't think he saw me. Underground Railroad...and to think that girl got accepted to BYU...

Saturday, March 15, 2008

Friday Night

Last night I went with a bunch of friends from our building for a girls night out. We ate dinner at Gloria's Italian Cafe in Provo. It's a very authentic hole-in-the-wall restaurant that serves "Mormon" tiramisu - I almost died from excitment :D So, after dinner we went to the BYU planetarium for the Zodiac show. It was pretty awesome, even if the host was a little dry. However, the best part of the night was when we wandered up to the observatory (which we thought was off-limits) and discovered Jeremy the lone astronomer who showed us the moon and some star clusters through the mega-telescope. It was probably one of the coolest experiences ever. Except for the part when it was my turn to look and there was about 4 inches of space between my eyes and the eye-piece, even with my heels on. Luckily, there were some movable steps just for that purpose (because, as Jeremy put it, "No offense, but you're kinda short.")

After the nerd-fest at the Planetarium we all came back and finished the night with Dan in Real Life, which is a pretty good movie if you haven't seen it yet. That's about it though. Not quite a spring break, but a good Friday night break from school, I think.

Friday, February 29, 2008

A Night Well Spent


A girl in our building put together an Indian party and we had it tonight. Several of us dressed in our Indian garb and we ate basmati rice and curry and naan bread while listening to Indian music. Then we watched the best movie I've seen in a long time - Lagaan. It was basically the Indian version of the Mighty Ducks or Remember the Titans but with singing and dancing and it was an epic. The best part was that our friend Ben brought his two friends from Nepal, Kapil and Anil. They both speak Hindi, they both like Lagaan, and they know how to play cricket (a huge part of the movie). It was a really entertaining night because they explained the game of cricket to us so that we could better understant the movie. Now we all have a new favorite sport, singing songs that we don't know the words to, and we learned the phrase "Chale chalo!" All in all, it was a night well spent.

Thursday, February 28, 2008

Tengo un lugar para vivir el proximo semestre!

So, I officially have a place to live next Fall/Winter. I got in to the Foreign Language Student Residence program (let's be honest, it wasn't that hard). I'll be living with 5 other girls and at least one of them will be a native Spanish speaker. We are only allowed to speak Spanish and watch movies in Spanish in our apartment. Sundays through Thursdays we have dinner together with other apartments and we'll have assigned days to cook for everyone. I'm pretty excited!

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Presidents' Day vacation

This last weekend, my roommates and I went to Boulder City for a much needed vacation/roadtrip. Aleks and Kaylee had never been to Las Vegas before so we went to see some of the sites. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera when we were on the Strip but we did end up going to Hoover Dam. I love that place. However, you can see that my pictures were somewhat focused on other things :)







What a classic Syd face:)

Wednesday, February 6, 2008

Asher's Blessing

This last Sunday was Asher's blessing. It was such a fun experience. He looked so cute in his crocheted blessing clothes and us "gringos" had a good time sitting in the back and trying to look as inconspicious as possible in a Spanish speaking ward. It was cool though because those who wanted some could wear headphones and listen to a translation of the meeting. Ellie was sitting next to me on the bench and found the headphones fascinating. In the middle of the meeting she turned to me and said, "I want to make myself one of these things, and then I can undertand any Spanish that I hear!" I couldn't help laughing.

The Coolest Job

My religion teacher, a Professor of Mesoamerican Archaology, is a crack-up. He's really animated, very into the subject, and puts pictures of viking action figures next to Mayan paintings in his slides. He also likes to spout random phrases in Mayan and then talk about their correlation to what we're studying. However, my favorite parts of class are when he says things like this:

"I just love BYU because you're generally surrounded by good people all the time. It's such a different animal than any other campus I've ever been to. Yeah, so the other day I was driving to Salt Lake and there's this billboard that has like a power-ranger battling Godzilla or something and it says, 'Is your job this cool?' and I was like...*shrug* yeah."

Friday, February 1, 2008

Funny Moments Around Campus

A boy on crutches and a girl on crutches both turned to enter a building. Both were injured in the same foot. Boy: "Okay, what happened."

A guy coming out of the science buidling glances furtively around as he whispers into his phone, "I would sing for you Grandma, but I'm on compus now."

I was crossing a parking lot and about to hop over a harmless looking puddle when a guy said, "Don't try it! It doesn't look bad but that is a lake my friend - like four feet deep."