An Engagement

Hopefully, you have figured this out. I'm getting to the woman I love and moving to Colchester to be a supportive domestic engineer. Wish me luck! And in case you didn't know her name is Kristen Irvine. At least that's what it is at the moment.

Adventures: Green Island

I've decided that since I don't really have anything brand new to blog, I will back track and hopefully cover some more of my Taiwan adventures. At the end of the school year we still had to stay within Taiwan for another two weeks so we could get the full tax break. So the first stop was Green Island.

Let me tell you right now that just getting there was an adventure in itself. We had this crazy guy from South Africa telling us that there wasn't a chance in the world that there would be a typhoon and we shouldn't worry about. He also warned us not to get hurt because there was only one doctor on the whole island and he is drunk most of the time. Turns out he was wrong, as you find out later in our little story. He told us a whole bunch of other stuff to but currently it escapes me.

After the South African dude dropped us off at the bus station we had to take an overnight bus to Tainan so we could catch the ferry to the island. The bus had no airconditioning and we were all convinced that we'd die, at least that is what I wanted to do. It was sticky and nasty but we finally woke up only to get on another bus and then on the vomit barge. I won't name any names but most of the party managed to sacrifice some of their breakfast during the voyage to the island. A kind sacrifice, especially since it wasn't required of me. If my memory serves me right we finally got to the hotel and took a nap for some time in order to recover from our night of misery.

After the napping we went to a BBQ and cooked a whole bunch of meat. Not real sure what I ate but I think it tasted pretty decent. We were then forced to sing in front of the Taiwanese people and I wonder what they thought of a bunch of Americans singing in native English, I bet we sounded pretty bad ourselves.

We couldn't go along of course and so six of us shared the two microphones so we could rock out to the Lion Sleeps Tonight. This was also the same song we had to use for the graduation performance. The teachers were kind enough to let me prance around like a lion and chase them with a jump rope. I made a few kids laugh, made little children cry and I'm sure I made other parents consider taking their children out of our program.

That evening Emily and a few other girls were kind enough to do Joseph's hair for him and what a sight to behold. I'll let him do the explanation though. As a sidenote his head was killing him in the morning when he took out the braids.

We did other cool things on the island too, like scuba diving and hottubing in natural salt hotsprings. Jessica and Sara even got a little adventurous and run into a mountain.

Yes sir, the scooter went crazy and they hit the wall. Sara managed to do this to her eye and brake her left arm. Jessica had a whole bunch of skin scraped off and it still isn't fun to talk about cause I get sick.

A bunch of the teachers say sunrises and sunsets cause they enjoyed getting up early. I really enjoy sleeping so I let them take the pictures. But then I felt guilty since I never made the effort to see nature in all its glory so I deleted the photos. But the island was still beautiful and even now I wish I could end up there once again.

Snow

I think that I have seen about enough of this stuff to last a lifetime. My car doesn't do well in the snow anymore, perhaps I should get a new one but then again if I moved out of the country again, to someplace like Scotland, would I really need a car? Probably not. Even still I wish I could get away with wearing shorts more often. My legs are still a pretty pasty white and both me and my legs would like to see the sun again. But then after about two weeks I'll be wishing it was cool again. But really this snow has got to stop cause I want to see more of this:

I love bugs and I love taking photos of them. It is much easier taking pics of them without snow cause I don't have to freeze. But now I am just rambling and I should be more productive and try to get things done. In fact I think that I'll go ahead and spend some time with:

Well I would but I'm stuck at the institute for a practice and she's at a sewing class. So I'll just finish a book and read my scriptures, or something along those lines.

"Roots"

This is not a blog about the clothing company so I apologize if you have google searched it and ended up at my blog. That being said I thought I would put in a short plug for for book. It was amazing, at least I thought so. It was fascinating hearing about the life of a man brought from freedom in Africa to slavery in America. The story tug at my heartstrings and has made me grateful for what I have and even more grateful for the protection I have been given. I really don't know what else to write in the this review thingy. I am curious to know who has at least heard of the book/mini-series, seen the mini-series, or read the book. So please leave a comment.

My face might have been taken over by kids, but I'm not dead yet

I realize that I haven't blogged in about a decade and I don't really have any good excuses for it, other than the fact that Kristen made me promise to get enough sleep this week so I don't get sick for my performance. She must have been inspired because Thursday morning I woke up with a lump in my throat. Since I had been getting eight hours of sleep since Sunday I still felt pretty good. I got another eight hours of sleep last night and my throat seems to be doing a little better. You see I have this nasty habit of ALWAYS getting sick right before a concert, so long as I have to sing a solo or in a small ensemble. So this week was no different and I am hoping that I make it through the performance and I think that I'll be just fine. Maybe next week when I have Thursdays free once again I will be able to find time to blog or maybe I will just spend more time with the people I love.

It's NOT fun to stay at the YMCA!

On Friday night I went to the gymnastics meet at the Uof U. We got up during half-time and had to sing the YMCA song. The song never brought any feelings to my heart until this past vacation to Ohio/Canada. I had the blessed opportunity to stay at the YMCA and it was not my favorite. It was a little dirty and felt just a bit creepy. Could have been because it felt like we were in the ghetto and we probably were. I had an experience there which I will never forget. I was brushing my teeth in the bathroom and accidentally dropped my toothbrush. I thought maybe I could brush it off or something, you know the 10-second rule. I picked it up and it had black specks all over it. I decided that throwing the thing away was my best bet. So as the song played over the loudspeaker I got to thinking about the places we stayed at while in Thailand and how I would have preferred to be staying there.

While in Chiang Mia we stayed in a hilltop village with wooden floors raised up on stilts and a bathroom that, well you can see for yourself. I was prepared for what awaited me and I didn't expect first class service so I wasn't disappointed. I even slept like a log and then breakfast was waiting for me when I woke up. So I would rather stay at the top of a mountain instead of the YMCA.

After traveling down the mountain we made it back to our 83 Baht or $2.5o hostel. It had plenty of room and we were happy to have warm water once again. It might have been a little cramped but it's a foreign country and it only cost two and a half bucks. We were pleased with the situation.

While in Krabi we went all out and spend $30 for two nights in our own private suites. The bathrooms were crawling with ants but that is what the spray thingy was for. So the moral of the story is don't spend $20 a night for a room at the YMCA. It isn't worth it. And never let me book your hotel room because this time it was all my fault.

Free time? What's that?

Somehow when I graduated from college I expected my life to get a lot less crowded. I figured that since I did not have homework and school related activities I would somehow have extra time. Turns out I was woefully wrong. It seems that since I have graduated everyone else thought I would have free time and so they have taken the liberty of filling up my time for me. So let us begin with my responsibilities:

One of my old buddies asked if I would chair one of the selection committees for the Crystal Crest Awards. It consists of a few meetings, interviews and free meals. I consented thinking it would be a good way to network. Not sure what I was thinking because my co-chair is in the art department and I have no interest in furthering my employment in the art field.

I saw one of my friends from an Institute Council that I serve on a few years ago and she is now in the dental hygienics program up here at Weber State. She asked if I would be willing to come in and let her work on my teeth. Seeing as I don't have dental insurance I thought it would be a wonderful plan. The visit ended up having to be extended from one Wednesday morning to two. But the good news is that no cavities were found so I don't have to go out and find a dentist to fix my problems.

I am still singing with the Choarlaires everyday during the week and it has helped me to keep my head on straight. It is only an hour everyday and since I've got to drive up to Ogden to work I figure that it isn't anything that I can't handle. It has been nice keeping up old friendships and attempting to make new friends. I addition to just singing in class I recently auditioned and made a small ensemble. We have practices at 7 a.m. Tuesday morning and it is almost enough to kill me. I haven't had to get up that early in a long time. To top it all off I was invited to tour with the choir for a week in May if I can arrange my life to fit it in. We would be trekking off to Nevada and a few other places that Bro. Simon was mentioning while I was talking to somebody else.

And do you remember when I use to work at the library? Apparently the employees at the library think I still work there and have done all in their power to keep me involved. I have done a number of story times and the latest event will have me dressed up as a Leprechaun reading stories to little kiddies. I have already made an appearance as a pirate, elf and then last night I got to model a tuxedo. My high school friend called me up and asked me if I'd be a model. I had a free hour between work and rehearsals so I consented. I must admit that the tux was not my favorite, but then again I didn't have to rent it so it wasn't all bad.

So I sing in the institute choir and then I have a few other singing projects on top of that. If you remember from a previous blog I was asked to play the part of Thomas in "The Savior of the World: Act II." It has been a lot of fun learning how to act and getting to sing in a new style. I have enjoyed the experience quite a bit and hope that everyone can make it to the one night performance on March 29th at 6:30p.m. I've got three songs and a bunch of lines that haven't quite been memorized. In addition to this musical I was also asked to sing for Senior Night at the Institute. Every year the seniors from Davis and Weber county are invited for a fun night of music on the WSU campus. I and another girl get to open for Ryan Shupe and the Rubber Band. It should be quite the experience but it won't happen til May.

And of course I am still working at the YMCA, learning how to be a better parent by practicing on other people's children. I still enjoy this job and it is fun to see the kids learn and have a good time just playing with each other. A few weeks ago when the snow was still on the ground we built snow creations. I told the kids that when it was time to go inside the other naughty children in the neighborhood would probably destroy the snow stuff. So I encouraged them to destroy it because it would be fun and it wouldn't give the other kids the privilege to doing it themselves. They thought it a good idea and went ahead with it.

Hanging out with family is another popular activity. Kristen and I went up to Logan this past weekend and hung out with my sisters and their husbands. We played a few games, went to the temple and a few other things. I have been quite proud of my attempts at visiting my family this last year. I have been up to Logan more in the past six months than the previous four years. It is nice having family so close.

Just a few other things and then I'll warp up. I still manage to spend quite a bit of time reading, usually about four or five books at once. I have gone on a classics kick recently and have finished two of Dumases novels and I am working on Oliver Twist at the moment. I have only read about ten books this year but I am hope this is the year I break the one book per week threshold, wish me luck!

And of course I spend quite a lot of time with a certain young lady. Kristen manages to come with me on most of my excursions since she is no longer down at BYU. We have a great time together and she manages to put up with all of my running around and foolish faces. Thank goodness.

So my life is pretty busy but I try to slow down sometimes and enjoy some of the things that go on, such as watching the flowers grow. And of course I have to document all of my life just in case I happen to miss some details. So life is crazy and I'm sure I have left out a few of the things that keep me busy, such as the fact that I have two wedding receptions this weekend and two family parties on Sunday. But I'll just keep breathing and see how far I can get.