When you work full time, blogging is harder. 1) You have less time to blog, because you're busy; and 2) The only things going on in your life have to do with work, and nobody cares about that except you.
Ah well.
Having a job is great. I fully appreciate being able to buy groceries without feeling like I'm dangling over shark-infested waters. It keeps me busy, which keeps me happy. I like my job, too, in varying degrees: I like having down-time; I don't like being eaten by mosquitos; I like when I can answer the questions that save a person's trip; I don't like when I have to turn away a family with kids because the beach area is flooded. The good times outweigh the bad, though, and usually I come home from work in a whistling-happy mood.
I have fun times with the customers too: chumming with the regulars, swapping tall tales with the fishermen, getting hit on by the cars full of teenage boys, waving at the little kids in the backs of vans, and being teased by practically everyone. I just respond so well to teasing - with my quick-witted charm, and all - I seem to be a sort of magnet for it. I'm quickly becoming everyone's favorite employee. (Jk, Logan, Alecia, and Becky. *grins*)
And when I'm alone in the booth, I'm plenty good at entertaining myself: I sing the entirety of musicals; I race to beat my best times at finishing crossword puzzles; I play Minesweeper; I turn on the song Jessica by Rick Springfield and dance around the booth.
So, I guess I'm just checking in to say everything is great. :)
And I'm going to San Francisco next week.
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Park Ranger Me
Yup, I started my new job at Utah Lake this week. I'm working ten-hour days, four days a week - which is a lot. Especially for someone who's been bumming around for the last three weeks. -- I'm happy about it, though. It's a great job, with great people. And, of course, it's money.
My job is pretty simple. I run the booth (sometimes with a partner or two, sometimes not). That involves a lot of answering phone calls, taking money, and explaining about Quagga Mussels (Curse them forever! *spits*). The other part of my job is decontaminating all the boats that come through that have been in Quagga-infested waters. Fortunately, there aren't many, so mostly I sit in a chair and play with a cash register.
Most of our customers are great. They're polite and friendly, and they don't cause trouble. Other customers are . . . less encouraging. But I don't think about those ones. A far more acceptable variety of customer is the Nice Guy with Stupid Questions. Only two days into the job, I've already dealt with some of these. And like I said, the people are nice, so I'm not at all irritated with them for asking these questions. The questions just make me pause and stare at them in a "really?" sort of way.
Question 1: "You know down there, with all the water?" (Uh, do you mean . . . the lake, sir?)
Question 2: "What temperature is the water? Don't you guys have a temperature gauge that can tell you what temperature the lake is?" (...It's a LAKE, sir.)
Question 3: "Hey, if the sign at the campsite has a label that says CLOSED on it, does that mean I can't camp there?" (...yes. Yes it does.)
Anyway, it's been good times.
But I will admit one thing that displeases me about the job. It's not a huge deal, but it is Undesirable #1 in my book: the mosquitoes. I have three mosquito bites just on my right hand. There are many more, in far less convenient locations. (How did a mosquito get there anyway?)
Ah well. I shall have to invest in some bug spray.
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Oh! P.S. Check out the new things I put on this blog. That whole column to your left is completely new. I've split the Friends turned Fiancéed thing into two new lists; one for engaged people, and one for actually married people. And the best new thing is - naturally - the countdown clock I have for Russia! (*dances*) Cool, aren't they?
Sunday, June 12, 2011
I'm Yours
These are my hands.
They're not very big.
They aren't pretty or slender, either.
My fingers are stubby, and my knuckles stick out.
I have hangnails all over.
But here they are anyway:
My hands.
These are my feet.
They're really quite squat.
They're callused and a little dirty.
I have a hard time squeezing them into high heels.
I'm not sure they're the right shape.
But here they are anyway:
My feet.
This is my heart.
I know it's not perfect.
It's scared sometimes, and weak.
I don't use it as often as I probably should.
It just looks so small.
But here it is anyway:
My heart.
God,
it's hard not to feel like
I'm not very much.
Your power is so great,
and I'm only a tiny piece
of everything.
But I love you, and I know that -
incredibly -
you love me.
So I trust you.
Take them.
Take my hands.
Use them to reach people who need you.
Let them lift spirits and carry burdens.
Make them strong enough to do your will.
They're yours.
Take my feet.
Use them to get your gospel moving.
Let them guide me on the path of righteousness.
Make them quick enough to run to my brother's aid.
They're yours.
Take my heart.
Use it to find your children in their sorrows.
Let it show love to those who need it most.
Make it soft enough to hear when you whisper.
It's yours.
I give you all that I have,
all that I am.
I may not be much,
but
I'm yours.
They're not very big.
They aren't pretty or slender, either.
My fingers are stubby, and my knuckles stick out.
I have hangnails all over.
But here they are anyway:
My hands.
These are my feet.
They're really quite squat.
They're callused and a little dirty.
I have a hard time squeezing them into high heels.
I'm not sure they're the right shape.
But here they are anyway:
My feet.
This is my heart.
I know it's not perfect.
It's scared sometimes, and weak.
I don't use it as often as I probably should.
It just looks so small.
But here it is anyway:
My heart.
God,
it's hard not to feel like
I'm not very much.
Your power is so great,
and I'm only a tiny piece
of everything.
But I love you, and I know that -
incredibly -
you love me.
So I trust you.
Take them.
Take my hands.
Use them to reach people who need you.
Let them lift spirits and carry burdens.
Make them strong enough to do your will.
They're yours.
Take my feet.
Use them to get your gospel moving.
Let them guide me on the path of righteousness.
Make them quick enough to run to my brother's aid.
They're yours.
Take my heart.
Use it to find your children in their sorrows.
Let it show love to those who need it most.
Make it soft enough to hear when you whisper.
It's yours.
I give you all that I have,
all that I am.
I may not be much,
but
I'm yours.
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Strangely Productive
It's getting late, and I have a hot air balloon rising to go to tomorrow morning, so I'll have to make this quick. It's just that I've been actually doing things this week, and since most of my blog makes me out to be a lazy slob, I wanted to make sure that my instances of go-getting were recorded as well.
First of all, I finally checked my grades from Winter semester. I'm always too scared to check them right after finals; I have to put a few weeks between those classes and myself before I can chance it - and this was a particularly rough semester, involving many research papers, as you may recall. Anyway, I checked my grades because I figured it would be important for me to know if I was on academic probation and was going to lose my scholarship. Instead, GOOD NEWS! They were the best grades I've had since starting at BYU! My GPA actually went up this semester, and my scholarship is still firmly in hand.
(*nerd dancing*)
Next, I started my application to the English Teaching program. (To avoid confusion, let it be known that this has nothing to do with my trip to Russia. Russia = ILP. English Teaching program = BYU.) I have to write a bunch of papers, some autobiographical, some analyses of professional journals. Then I have to write a ten minute lesson plan and film myself teaching it to a room full of "students." I'll try to submit the application some time in July, even though the due date isn't until September, because I want to make sure they'll have time to interview me before I leave for Russia. If I'm accepted into the program, I'll officially be an English Teaching major! Then I can stop taking literary criticism classes (yuck!) and start taking classes like ENGL 420 - Literature for Adolescents.
On the note of I'm-actually-working-toward-a-lifetime-career-and-not-just-banging-my-head-on-textbooks-for-fun, I was finally able to report my AP test scores to BYU. (Yes, I took the AP tests in my junior year of high school, three years ago. It's taken me a while to get this done, okay?) The amazing thing about AP test scores is that they can count for college credit - a fact I did not really appreciate in high school, mostly because I didn't know what "college credit" was. Long story short, the scores have now been reported, and they are worth 22 credits! For those of you who don't get the credit system either, that means an entire semester's worth of classes that I no longer have to take because I did so well in high school.
(*another nerd dance party*)
Of course, it doesn't really mean I'll graduate any earlier than expected, probably. I still have a bunch of classes required for my major that I still need to take (ENGL 329 - Teaching Grammar and Usage in Secondary School, for example). But it's still nice to have that large helping of free credits, if only for this one thing:
Those 22 credits, added to my 69.5 credits from BYU, put me at having earned more than 90 college credits. Which means . . .
I am now a senior in college.
O_o
And to think I was a junior just last week! How's that for productive?
First of all, I finally checked my grades from Winter semester. I'm always too scared to check them right after finals; I have to put a few weeks between those classes and myself before I can chance it - and this was a particularly rough semester, involving many research papers, as you may recall. Anyway, I checked my grades because I figured it would be important for me to know if I was on academic probation and was going to lose my scholarship. Instead, GOOD NEWS! They were the best grades I've had since starting at BYU! My GPA actually went up this semester, and my scholarship is still firmly in hand.
(*nerd dancing*)
Next, I started my application to the English Teaching program. (To avoid confusion, let it be known that this has nothing to do with my trip to Russia. Russia = ILP. English Teaching program = BYU.) I have to write a bunch of papers, some autobiographical, some analyses of professional journals. Then I have to write a ten minute lesson plan and film myself teaching it to a room full of "students." I'll try to submit the application some time in July, even though the due date isn't until September, because I want to make sure they'll have time to interview me before I leave for Russia. If I'm accepted into the program, I'll officially be an English Teaching major! Then I can stop taking literary criticism classes (yuck!) and start taking classes like ENGL 420 - Literature for Adolescents.
On the note of I'm-actually-working-toward-a-lifetime-career-and-not-just-banging-my-head-on-textbooks-for-fun, I was finally able to report my AP test scores to BYU. (Yes, I took the AP tests in my junior year of high school, three years ago. It's taken me a while to get this done, okay?) The amazing thing about AP test scores is that they can count for college credit - a fact I did not really appreciate in high school, mostly because I didn't know what "college credit" was. Long story short, the scores have now been reported, and they are worth 22 credits! For those of you who don't get the credit system either, that means an entire semester's worth of classes that I no longer have to take because I did so well in high school.
(*another nerd dance party*)
Of course, it doesn't really mean I'll graduate any earlier than expected, probably. I still have a bunch of classes required for my major that I still need to take (ENGL 329 - Teaching Grammar and Usage in Secondary School, for example). But it's still nice to have that large helping of free credits, if only for this one thing:
Those 22 credits, added to my 69.5 credits from BYU, put me at having earned more than 90 college credits. Which means . . .
I am now a senior in college.
O_o
And to think I was a junior just last week! How's that for productive?
Sunday, June 5, 2011
Tenth Avenue North - You Are More
I love Sundays. :)
My heart is so full of the gospel today, I couldn't possibly share all of it. And I find myself strangely inadequate at using words to describe religious emotion. Music is much better.
So here's another of my favorite songs from radio station KLove. I hope it communicates better than I can that God loves you for who you are, and nothing you can do will ever make Him stop loving you.
Good Sabbath, readers.
My heart is so full of the gospel today, I couldn't possibly share all of it. And I find myself strangely inadequate at using words to describe religious emotion. Music is much better.
So here's another of my favorite songs from radio station KLove. I hope it communicates better than I can that God loves you for who you are, and nothing you can do will ever make Him stop loving you.
Good Sabbath, readers.
Friday, June 3, 2011
BYU Singles Wards
I have made fun of singles wards a lot in my time. It always seemed to turn church into high school, with all the gossip and dating and goofing around. And it made me feel like a horse in some sort of breeding compound. I didn't like singles wards at all.
Then I came to this new ward (YSA 181st). It's been fantastic. Everyone is really open and accepting of others, and it's so much more laid back than most of the wards I've been in. Going to church with these guys is great, because everyone is so excited about the gospel and just wants to talk about it. In this ward, I feel a lot more like a member of the army of Helaman - we're going to go out there with our gospel knowledge and kick Satan's tail!
So I have come to re-appreciate singles wards. That said, I ran into my friend Jimmy on campus the other day, and he had quite the stories to tell about his singles ward. I thought it was hilarious, so I'm sharing it with you.
Jimmy said his ward was like most singles wards, at first: very date-happy. Nothing new there. But a few weeks ago, the bishopric took it a few steps further - they called and set apart a Dating Council.
No, really.
The members of this Dating Council are in charge of getting people together. Any member of the ward can report to the Dating Council a couple that they think should be set up. The Dating Council, with funds from the ward, will then arrange the date for said couple. It's completely voluntary (aka, you can NOT go on the date if you don't want to) but I imagine it would be embarrassing to back out of a date the entire ward knew was going on.
Then again, I can't see any way this whole process isn't just embarrassing for everyone involved.
But it seems to be working for Jimmy's ward. And I'm sure they're all living happily ever after.
:)
I love my singles ward. But you can understand why the concept still makes me smirk.
Then I came to this new ward (YSA 181st). It's been fantastic. Everyone is really open and accepting of others, and it's so much more laid back than most of the wards I've been in. Going to church with these guys is great, because everyone is so excited about the gospel and just wants to talk about it. In this ward, I feel a lot more like a member of the army of Helaman - we're going to go out there with our gospel knowledge and kick Satan's tail!
So I have come to re-appreciate singles wards. That said, I ran into my friend Jimmy on campus the other day, and he had quite the stories to tell about his singles ward. I thought it was hilarious, so I'm sharing it with you.
Jimmy said his ward was like most singles wards, at first: very date-happy. Nothing new there. But a few weeks ago, the bishopric took it a few steps further - they called and set apart a Dating Council.
No, really.
The members of this Dating Council are in charge of getting people together. Any member of the ward can report to the Dating Council a couple that they think should be set up. The Dating Council, with funds from the ward, will then arrange the date for said couple. It's completely voluntary (aka, you can NOT go on the date if you don't want to) but I imagine it would be embarrassing to back out of a date the entire ward knew was going on.
Then again, I can't see any way this whole process isn't just embarrassing for everyone involved.
But it seems to be working for Jimmy's ward. And I'm sure they're all living happily ever after.
:)
I love my singles ward. But you can understand why the concept still makes me smirk.
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Hired!
Actually, it IS pretty great. Having a job at ALL is pretty great, and this one happens to have many up-sides: 1) It's a full-time job (seasonal, but 40 hrs a week) which means I should be able to make enough to cover my Russia trip; 2) A bunch of my friends from high school work there; and 3) I get to be outside a lot of the time! Hurray for summer!
Also, I am very glad that it is not raining today. (*broad grin*)
I have to wait for my paperwork to muddle its way through the bureaucracy of the state, so I won't actually be starting my job until somewhere around June 13th. That's not so great as far as money is concerned, but it does mean that I've got a wide open schedule and lots of time to go on crazy adventures. (Like finishing more paperwork for the ILP.)
However, I am also dealing with a sudden surge of people-trying-to-set-me-up. I blame my just-graduated sister for that. Before she hooked up with Braden, nobody seemed to care that I didn't have a boyfriend. Now that my little sister has one, my lack of a love life has become REALLY obvious. My roommate's sister is trying to set me up with some guy she works with (all I know about him is that he's got his hair in cornrows, preparing to donate it to Locks of Love) and my little brother is trying to set me up with his EFY counselor.
So, yeah. My prospects seem pretty much the same as ever.
Life is good for me, as I hope it is for all of you. I leave you with a sampling from the website "Better Book Titles" (in which a blogger re-titles books to summarize the contents), and I wish you all a Happy June!
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