Random Facts

::Borrowed from Cheryl::

1) Name something you have in common with all of your siblings?
US Citizens! YA!!!

2) Do you fold your underwear?
No way, what a huge waste of time!

3) Do you like to drink the juice out of freeze pops?
Maybe if I felt like puking.

4) Who is the last person you wrote a letter to on paper?
Max, who else?! Hahah. Actually, it might have been Eric...and I did write a note for Remington last night. Hmm.

5) What was your first job?Lava Beds National Monument!

6) Aside from Driver's Ed, who really taught you how to drive?
Dad!

7) What's the one thing you miss about your Grandma's cooking?
Lol, that's funny.

8) What color is your favorite hoodie?
Grey. I've owned it for nearly 6 years now, gross.

9) Who was like your second Mom?
My boss, Mary, she's pretty motherly.

10) Name a sound that bugs you:My roommates breathing.

11) What's your typical ice cream order at Dairy Queen?
Small Cookie Dough Blizzard! You can add brownie chunks too, if you want. ;)

12) What comes to mind when I say cabbage?Microwave...Se Hui! KIM CHI!

13) What did you do yesterday?
Sleep, eat, church, choir, visit with bishop about missions, talk on phone, visit 3 different apartments of guys, MAJOR socializing, made brownies with Amanda, hung out with Amanda, walked with Amanda, talked with Amanda, fell asleep at my old apartment (until Amanda drove me home at 2am). That was my day.

14) What did you do last night?
Whoa! I alreaday answered that in #13!

[Where is #15?! That's freakin me out...]

16) Are you emotional?
Not particularly, just sympathetic.

17) Have you ever had the same dream more than once?
Yep, yep.

18) Name a song that makes you happy.
"Satellite" by BT. It's about a satellite that comes to take people away. And someone who smells like the sun!

But, I also like jazz. Anything jazz. Miles Davis. Michel Camilo! MINDI ABAIR! And they all start with an "M" and make me happy!

19) Do you use chapstick?
Gotta love Burt's Bees, baby!

20) If you were in an emergency situation and you had to deliver a baby, could you?
I could pretend to.

21) What was the most recent thing you bought?
APPLES!

22) What is on your fridge?
The mail key (it has a piece of magenent on the back of it)

23) Name something you have to do tomorrow?
Baptisms at temple, schedule my missionary exams with a doctor and dentist, work!

24) What was the last movie you watched?
Eagle Eye

25) Do any of your friends have children?
Ya. Even my friend, Mom, has children!

26) Do you prefer regular or chocolate milk?
Carob milk! Jk, I've been drinking only rice milk for 2 and a half years now and it's the way to go!

27) Can you whistle?
Ya. And with practice, I can even whistle on tune!

28) Do you have a trampoline at your house?
I wish!

29) What movie do you know every line to?
A Christmas Story! And Hook!

30) Would you ever want to swim with the sharks?
Ya, if they weren't on the prowl for comida.

31) Do you know how to do a cart-wheel?
Ya.

32) What are you wearing?
Brooke's cute plaid DC shoes, some khaki pants, a sweater, and a cool Russian-like bomberesqe jacket. Pretty boring today...no jewelry even!

33) What was the last thing you ate?
Bradley and I enjoyed organic chocolate chip granola bars not too long ago.

34) Do you take pills of any sort?
Multi-Vitamins, Chinese herbs, B-12, Acid (amino!), stuff like that.

35) When was the last time you did the dishes?
Every day. Fortunately they are very few - I primarily use disposable plastic utensils and dishes! =)

36) How much sleep did you get last night?
7 hours!

37) Do you own any band t-shirts?
Ya, ISIS! Two of them!

38) Last song you sang out loud?
Umm...I think I sang songs with Michael, Amanda, & Alyssa last night? I don't remember! That was a long time ago.

39) When was the last time you slept on the floor?
Huh?! Oh!!! In July! At Brooke & Taylor's house! But I had my memory foam mattress pad and toonns of blankets and stuff, so it wasn't terrible.

40) Who have you talked to today?
Wow. Do you really want me to say? Jourdan, Ariel, Erika, Mary, Rick, Bradley, Emily, Amanda, Danny, I could go on for quite a while; do you want me to? I don't think you do. At least I hope not.

41) What comes to your mind when I say pumpkins?
Prostate health & Halloween. =)

Possible Rain Showers?

I thought the sky looked amazing yesterday!

Setting Sunlight vs. Menacing Black Clouds!
Consequently, I snapped this photo on my phone.

Tagged!?

Apparently I've been blog-tagged! I'm not exactly sure how to do this, but I think I'll figure it out.

Here are the tag rules. . .
1. Link your tagger and list these rules on your blog.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
4. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

My tagger was: Cheryl

My 7 Facts:

1. I have the best job in the world working at the little health food store, "Nature's Nook." I am one of 5 employees (2 of them are the owners)! My boss is not an earthly being; I'm convinced she's actually an angel!

2. I am turning my mission papers in soon! Hopefully this month, within the next couple weeks!

3. I grew an inch this year! =)

4. I did a liver cleanse over the past weekend! WOW!

5. After my mission I'm going to Texas to become a certified yoga instructor! Then I'll open my own studio!

6. Favorite breakfast: Rice mixed with semi-raw (or extremely soft-boiled) egg & tamari!

7. I don't have a dishwasher, internet, TV, or a working DVD drive in my apartment. So I read a LOT lately. However, I just ordered a new CD/DVD drive for my laptop, so I'll be able to watch DVDs! The other things, I can live without! I won't have them on the mission anyways, so might as get used to it now!

My 7 tagged:

Brooke
Even though she never bothers to even look at blogs...

Jenny
She is the BEST blogger! And she and her husband are currently building their own house!

Nathan
He's currently a NYC intern.

Krystal
Childhood friend who now has the cutest little family!

Josh
You can ask him questions. He will answer.

Meagan
I like Meagan; she's fun to be with!

Jenni
She's adorable! Devout blogger as well!

In Rexburg Again!

I've been here in Rexburg for 5 days now!  It is waaay great seeing old friends again, and meeting new ones!  I like my new room, but the rest of the apartment isn't as likable.  The kitchen is barely a notch up from what you'd find in a simple motel, lol.  But, my room is bigger than the living room, and I get it all to myself!  I decorated it up the way I like it, and it's all chic and cozy now.  However, I don't have internet at my apartment yet.  I'm still working on that!  I have 2 roommates who would also like internet, so I am borrowing a router from Robby, and once we all have enough money, we'll contract a wireless internet provider!  It's $28/mo, but between the 3 of us, it'd only be $10/mo!  Yippy!

I'm working on getting a job too.  Melaleuca called the other day with a 'hotshot' availabilty, which translates to 4 days a month, and I don't think that'd work for me.  I asked if there was a possibility of accepting that job and then changing to a full-time position once one came up, but they were like "No, if you accepted this job, you'd have to stay as a 'hotshot' for at least 3 months."  Lame!  Also, I talked to Mary at Nature's Nook today (she's one of the bosses) and she's going to drive me to Rick (THE boss) so that I can get an interview.  Apparently he shattered his leg or ankle or something and is still recovering.  Ouch!

I went to FHE tonight too!  I'm in my old ward from when I lived at the Ridge!  Since I live in 'community' housing this fall, they don't have assigned singles' wards, just family wards.  So the managers told me I could pick my own!  It is soooo great being in my old 70th ward again!  And the bishop is super excited about getting my mission stuff going!  I'm super excited!

Well, it's getting kind of late!  I'm at the McKay library right now, using their awesome iMacs!

Also, I think I must have walked anywhere between 10-15 miles today.  Who needs a gym when you don't have a car?!  It's great!

I Almost Saw the Sun Rise Today!

4:10am. My alarm clock begins to beep incessantly. Surprisingly (very surprisingly), I was almost happy about it! I woke up feeling pretty great – not tired, not half-dead, I'm not dreading work! I’m not sure why either, because I remember waking up a couple times during the night, even at 3:18am, and still I managed to get a more restful night than the past week! I think I did get an extra hour of sleep in. It was so nice not having to fight my eyes open and drowsily carry on through work, counting down the moments until I could go home and pass out! In fact, I have yet to feel tired or sleepy one bit today! I think I'll even run on the treadmill!

However, the cash office wasn’t as pleasant as waking up this morning. Actually, to begin with, I was 4 minutes late to work. The cause: a train that would have lost a race to a snail. I was on my last 5 min of the commute when I arrived to the railroad crossing (Southside Expressway just before Altamont!) There were 2 vehicles in front of me, and the guards lowered and the train was barely moving! We all sat there for 10 min or so, and I secretly hoped my manager was caught up waiting as well. And then moving on to better stories: "Cash Office." Well, it was all right. Just a few complications! First of all, one of the tills from yesterday came up $7.02 short, and there was no explanation or clues as to why. Then as I was preparing the cash deposit, the deposit total was $38 OVER what it should have been! I was so confused, because in theory that really should never happen. So I counted out the safe, it was exactly what it should be. Then I went through all the money bags, and they were right on as well. I am still bewildered by how $38 extra dollars came up in the cash deposit! I called in the manager, explained my predicament, and he did the same and counted out the safe and money bags. Same result; he didn’t know what to do. So I ended up just adding the $38 to the deposit. But, I just don’t get it! There were no loan-ins yesterday, the safe was even, the money bags were correct. How? Why?! It had to come from somewhere! Maybe tomorrow I’ll find out...

I also had to order a bunch of extra dollars since Monday is a holiday. Even though we have like hundreds and hundreds in 1s and 5s, I ordered $200 of each, just to be safe.

Then I went out and got the mail. On my way back, I noticed something that has been pretty relentless in its permanency. An abandoned backpack, sitting out in the parking lot (where the employees usually park). It’s been there for a few days now, and I finally went over to examine it. This is what I found:

That's the backpack.

I didn’t dare touch it, so I kind of kicked it. It didn’t blow up, so at least it wasn’t full of impact-sensitive explosives. But at the same time, I discovered it very well could be empty (or almost empty). It wasn’t very resilient, in fact, it seems quite lightweight. So, I don’t know. There is also a single flip-flop out in the parking lot. It’s been there for 3 days.

After cash office, I went out and helped open the store and waited for customers. There was one customer that left around 8:45am. I told her to have a good day as she was leaving. She responded with a gracious “Good night!!!” Hahaha. =)

We also got some more infamous Cheese Balls in stock. Those things sell faster than any other item in the store! At $5.99 per jar (and they are HUGE jars!) you can enjoy the orange, cheese-flavored puffed foam, and the best part – You have an awesome container to keep after they’re gone!!! I had to convince a guy that they weren’t worth it. He almost bought them. He was excited about them, but even more excited about (you guessed it): the container they came in! He kept on stating “WOW! The container alone is worth more than that price!” Eww, no! My coworkers and I often muse at how quickly they sell out (I can almost guarantee they’ll be gone by the weekend!). One states that they are the most disgusting product in the store, another says they’re made out of crack (that would explain the crazed ‘addiction’...right?)

This is our display of Cheese Balls

Also! The District Manager of our Staples was there today!!! (Scary big-deal for managers!) And he came and talked to me, and he kept on calling me “Amity” or something! He must of thought that was my name. He shook my hand and said “So, Amity! I hear you’re going back to school?” And one of the managers timidly added “Her name is Alexis.” And I’m like “Ya, I’m moving in a couple of weeks!” And he’s like “Well, it’s nice to meet you, Amity! That’s great!” And another manager in the background asked “Aren’t you just working in Idaho until you leave for your mission?” I concurred with the latter statement. “Oh, you’re moving to IDAHO?! Well Amity, take care!” He left after that. He was strange indeed.

Later on a funny Lebanese lady came to the counter and asked me a genuine question concerning a product. She held up a small packet and asked: “These are pens, right?” With one quick glace, and the obvious erasers on them, I informed her that they were actually pencils. She was bummed out. She came back moments later with some snazzy pens! We talked about Lebanon and how much she loves it there! She says it’s so beautiful and like paradise. I think her name was Nhih or something. She also wanted to by binder clips individually.

Then the Nightfire people came in to get school stuff! And they remembered me! Yay! One of the kids was really cracking me up – she was leaping around like a frog and made many animal noises.

Oh! I think I just realized why I had such a good restful night last night! As I was just panning my eyes over my room, I noticed I have a used mug on my desk. I had this delicioso blueberry herbal tea last night! It totally made my night! However, I need to get rid of this gross mug.

Mom has been getting her photo entries all prepared to take in tomorrow!!! A lot of her pictures are outstanding! She takes such neat photos! They all look great! I still need to print mine out.

Earlier this week I printed off some new piano music from a sheet music database! I printed off all 3 gymnopedies by Erik Satie, and I have been obsessing over that piece all week! I play it every day, and every day I love it more and more! Hurrah for Satie! I like impressionistic music. It is undoubtedly my favorite musical era (for piano).

Erik Satie

Case File: Alexis vs. Klamath Falls

AKA: Why I am Moving back to Rexburg!

Premise: Over the past couple of weeks, I have been considering various options involving living somewhere else. For a little while I was thinking it would be way fun to live in the SLC area and be able to visit my BYU-I friends occasionally. But, for some reason or another, I just never really felt like it was a good idea. So I thought, “why not live in Rexburg?!” I love it there, I have TONS of friends, I can walk anywhere in town, so while at work I generated a “Pros & Cons” for staying here vs. moving to Rexburg. Here’s how it went:

Tulelake

Pros:

☼ I have no living expenses here, other than gas.

☼ I have a job at Staples.

☼ I can always be around Mom & Dad!

☼ GOOD FOOD!

Cons:

₪ The gas is killing my bank account!

₪ I spend a lot of time commuting back and forth to work.

₪ The people here are gross and grouchy. That makes me sad.

₪ There is nothing to do here and no one to hang out with.

₪ The occasional getting home from work at 10:30pm, then waking up at 4:00am to go back to work makes me feel like a corpse. It can’t be healthy, lol.

Staples @ unnatural hours of the morning.

Rexburg

Pros:

☼ #1 Pro is the Rexburg Temple is right there - I can go all the time!

☼ I have a job available there.

☼ I’ll be around thousands of young LDS people! Yay!

☼ I have friends there and there are fun things to do.

☼ Once I’m there, I’ll essentially have zero transportation expenses!

Con:

₪ I’ll have to be self-sustaining, pay rent, food, utilities, and any other expenses.

So, as soon as I situate a place to live, and finish out my scheduled hours at Staples (I handed in my memo of notification this morning), I’ll be moving! Hurrah! I might spend a day or so in Utah on the way back up there. I like Utah! And I love my sisters who live there!!!

Has anyone been watching the Democratic National Convention stuff?! What do you think about Joe Biden! Will he help or hurt Obama’s campaign? I certainly don’t think he can be considered an asset, in my opinion. But that’s good in relation to my point of view!

I probably have to go to bed soon-ish. I was sooo tired this morning! I was so unbelievably happy when I got to go home! This was my 9^th day in a row or working without a day off in between. And I’ll continue to work every day until Sunday! Twelve consecutive days of non-stop work! Is that legal?! Jk!

Brooke and Taylor apparently had a heart-wrenching anxiety yesterday! They tell me that their kitten “Hector” is turning into a teenager and prefers to spend time out with his neighborhood cat friends instead of at home! In fact, last night he stayed out ALL NIGHT, causing Brooke and Taylor unbelievable distress and grief! They were soooo concerned! I think they probably secretly cried about it. They walked around the neighborhood for HOURS, calling his name and jingling his cat toy, but no sign of his presence! They hoped that he wasn’t stuck in a tree or found by people who wanted a new pet...lol. Taylor even got up at 4:00am and walked all the way to the Trax station, searching desperately for their missing pet, and still no sign! They were so distraught, they couldn’t sleep, they couldn’t stop worrying about their beloved cat! Then Taylor had to get ready for work, he looked outside – still no Hector. This must have been the saddest day of their lives up to this point! Then Taylor came back moments later, with none other than Hector in his arms! Brooke exuberantly shouted his name and held him in her arms! No words could possibly describe the feelings that attended their reunion! But Brooke says “he’s sooo grounded! No playing outside anymore unless I’m out with him!” Poor cat. They treat him like a human. Did you know that he sleeps in their bed with them almost every night?! And uses a pillow with them and sometimes the covers!

So, enough about Hector. He’s just a spoiled cat anyways.

Tonight we had a delicious dinner (as always!) Mom made some awesome salad with tomatoes from the garden! AND fermented carrot stuff! It was lacto-something, preserved with salt, whey, and ginger! It was good! And gingery! Dad and I got to make fun of Michelle Obama too (no offense to Obama supporters). But, it’s inevitable, she does a very strange thing with her mouth ALL the time! Especially when she’s unhappy about something. I tried to find a picture of it, but none sufficiently depicted the true essence of that priceless expression of hers! If you’ve seen her on TV for any amount of time, you know what I’m talking about!!!

Peace out!

No Pear-Picking For Me (today)

I didn't get out of bed in time, so I wasn't ready to go to Medford when Mom and Dad were. But, that's probably good, because my stomach really hurts right now - I'm kind of way lactose intolerant and I drank a tall glass of chocolate milk before I went to bed last night. You know how sometimes you think somehow it won't affect you for one reason or another, only to discover a friendly: "Yes, you are STILL lactose intolerant. What were you thinking?!"

I'm kind of sad now though! But, I don't imagine picking pears in the hot weather would be very fun with my stomach upset the way it is, along with my allergies which are already being super obnoxious. But, now that I'm up, I think I'll finish my book, play the piano, write letters maybe, walk on the treadmill, stuff like that. And clean my room!

Oh! Last night as I was going to bed, a moth totally attacked me! Its loud, fluttering wings collided into my head! It was intense. Hahaha.

Living in Tulelake

So I've been living here at home for about 3 weeks now and working at Staples for about the same amount of time (2.5 weeks). I'm only working part-time though. But the general manager told me today that they'll probably be adding quite a few hours to my schedule for the next 2-3 weeks. Hours are good!
Tomorrow we're getting up super early to pick pears at the church orchard in Medford! We'll be leaving the house around 6am, pick pears once we get there until noon, and then go to Costco. That'll be fun, other than the forecast of 100°+! But, hopefully we'll beat most of the heat by being there early in the morning!
There is a super-exciting social at the branch this evening! Lol. We're bringing a Papa Murphy's pizza. They'll LOVE that - Everyone loves pizza.
Well, I'm going to read now! Brooke is always trying to tell me I 'need' to read all those Twilight books before I go on a mission! We'll see though, because I have a LOT of books I want to read!
Has anyone been keeping up on the Olympics? How are we doing?! Fill me in!

Story of a Self-Portrait

It first originated as a simple sketch.

Then I added some colored pencil effects.

And now the watercolors!

And figuring out a 'backdrop.'

Added solidarity.

Completed Self-Portrait!

Hope you enjoyed my storyboard!

Oh ya, I'm going to the beach for the weekend!!!

Last Day of School - Completed

So I just took my last final this afternoon!  I am officially done with school until I get back from my mission!  I feel so free now!

Tomorrow I'll be leaving for Utah.  I'll be there for a couple of days then I'll be moving back home!

I am feeling kind of sad and scared about leaving though.  I might never go back to school here!  I most likely will never see the majority of my friends here again!  That makes me feel kind of apprehensive.  But, I am so excited about going home for a few months, working, and leaving on a mission!  Hopefully in December or January!

Tonight Hannah, Savannah, and I are having a slumber party!  We're going to watch movies and snack before we all say goodbye tomorrow.  I also have to clean half of the kitchen and my room.  Most of my room is already packed up and in my car!

Oh, I sold a few of my textbooks this week!  The day before yesterday I sold 2 books - a Russian workbook from a few semesters back (it only got $11 back, sad!) and my Microbiology textbook.  That one returned $96!  Nice!  I also had my Chinese Literature and Culture books, but I didn't get them from the bookstore, so they would get lower buy-back prices ($10 and $5 - NO THANKS!)  But they told me to check back in a couple days, and if they still hadn't received their book quota for them, the prices would go up (supply/demand cycle in action!)  So I went today with my 2 Chinese books, and I also brought a cool Social Problems book that I got online last January.  Actually I got all 3 of them from Amazon.com for pretty low prices.  I MADE MONEY today!!!  I think I might have gotten just as much, if not more for what I paid for the Chinese books ($25 and $23), and the best one is the Social Problems one!  It is in extremely good condition, almost brand new (although condition doesn't really matter with the buy-backs), but I found it on amazon.com last winter for $6!!!  And about $6 shipping and handling, so I'm pretty sure I didn't spend more than $15 on that pristine textbook, and the university bought it back for $30!  Although, if you buy the book from the bookstore, it's not less than $60-70, depending on whether you get it used or not.  If I had purchased the book from the bookstore, I probably would have only gotten $40 or so back.  But  I got mine for less than $15 and got $30!  Wow!  And now the expenses for my trek home are all covered! 

AND Jolene, the manager of our house, is giving our deposits back as we leave!!!  That'll be an additional $100 of instant cash!  So this week I'll have gotten about $250+ in cash!  This would be the perfect weekend to get mugged.

Well, I'm probably going to head back to my house now and get cleaning.  And I'm really hungry too.  I'm going to fix something to eat, then clean, then go swimming at Rigby Lake with friends!  I really wish I could see the new Batman movie tonight, but the tickets sold out by yesterday morning!!!  I've been chilling at the Clarke computer lab ever since I walked out of the testing center (also located in the Clarke!)  I love iMacs!