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Thursday, December 13, 2012

I Know How You're Operating

Oh Three Days Grace. You read my mind. 

Three Days Grace - Operate


I know how you’re operating
Only come around when you know that I need it
Cut out my heart and you leave me bleeding
But you’re the only one that brings out the demon

Like pills you make me righteous
Like I can rise above it all
Like pills you leave me lifeless
Shaken in a bathroom stall

Why you wanna do this
Don’t want to see you in my phone
Leave me alone

I know how you’re operating
Only come around when you know that I need it
Cut out my heart and you leave me bleeding
You’re the only one that brings out the demon

You bring it out
You bring it out

Like pills you grab a hold of me
One hit just makes me want you more
Until we’re in a motel room
Locked up behind closed doors

Why you wanna do this
Don’t want to see you in my phone
Leave me alone

I know how you’re operating
Only come around when you know that I need it
Cut out my heart and you leave me bleeding
You’re the only one that brings out the demon

You bring it out
You bring it out

You’re doing it now
You’re doing it now
You’re doing it now

It used to be
You brought out the best in me
Now it seems
You bring out the beast in me

I know how you’re operating
Only come around when you know that I need it
Cut out my heart and you leave me bleeding
You are the only one that brings out the demon

You bring it out
(You bring it out)
You bring it out
(You bring it out)
You bring it out
(You bring it out)



Tuesday, November 20, 2012

The Dragon Fish Without a Name

Today, I purchased a fish :) I am technically not allowed to have pets in my apartment, so instead of getting a cute little beagle puppy I settled for a Beta fish. I wanted some of those freakishly huge awesome fish you can get at the pet store but I can't have an actual tank in my apartment either (harder to hide when the landlords come over) so I settled for a little bowl. Here is my fish :) He looks like a dragon.


He's kinda camera shy. Every time I would try to take a picture he would hide behind the plants. This is the best pic I could get. I had to hide and just slide my phone up and hold still until he got into a good position. It's good practice for when I get to work for National Geographic lol. He's sneaky. I love him already. Only problem is, I can't decide on a name. Any suggestions? 

Thursday, November 15, 2012

Sunny Side Up

Today has been an awful day but also a fantastic day. It started out with me having to go to the dentist and get two fillings replaced. Halfway through the process my dentist decided to step out into the hall and talk to sales reps for 15 minutes while I was tilted upside down with a hole drilled in my tooth. I need a new dentist.

THEN, I barely made it to the gas station before I completely ran out of gas and it cost $45 to fill it up. It's never cost that much. Yay for insanely high gas prices. 

THEN, I went to work and despite my beliefs that work could not get worse than it's been, it did. I'm convinced the owners are going to lay me off cause they're plummeting out of business. They're slowly taking all my responsibilities and giving them to their son and the butt kissing manager without telling me. It was the cherry on top of the crap I put up with there. I've applied at 5 places in the past week and haven't heard from any of them. Job hunting sucks. 

BUT, I found out Three Days Grace released a new album last month. 



They are in my top 5 favorite bands. I can't believe it took me this long to find out they had released a new album but I downloaded it the instant I got home and it's amazing. Here's one of their awesome songs from the new album Transit of Venues. It's called Chalk Outline.


I also finally went grocery shopping after not having food for like 2 weeks. I have my Fanta and fettuccine alfredo :) 

I finally cleaned my room. It is amazing how much better it feels to have a clean room. I got my comic books up on my wall and they look awesome. I only have one more wall left to decorate so it finally feels a little bit like home. 

My day just got a little worse when I had to clean up the whole downstairs of my apartment because my roommate is a disgusting pig. I just found 2 rotting jack-o-lanterns covered in mold sitting in our kitchen. It was nasty. 3 bags of garbage....all from her. She spends all her time making out with her boyfriend so I guess she doesn't have time to clean. 

I'm not gonna let it ruin my day. I'm gonna watch The Office and Park's and Rec while eating my yummy dinner and then listen to Transit of Venues all the way through :) 


Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Flatbacks and Paper Cases

I am still in Bookbinding and I am LOVING IT. Some people think it sounds lame, but that is only because they don't know how freakin fun it is. At least to me. And every single other person who has ever taken the class. Here are my latest projects:


Flatback Binding
This book has cloth on the spine and paper for the rest of the cover. This is the most common kind of book, and is also my favorite one to make so far. I will probably make a lot more with this style of binding. 


It has handmade paper stuck on endbands. 


Paper Case Binding
This book was the most expensive to make so far. The cover paper was almost $10 for one sheet that is about 24"x? something. It's called St. Armand paper and it's handmade, which is why it's so expensive. Plus the seashell pendants for the front, the leather, the beads, the special thread for the sewn on endband shown in the last picture, plus all the text paper on the inside. It also took the most time to make this book compared to all the other ones. 


The leather wraps from the back cover around the shells in kind of like an 8 pattern to keep the book shut. 


This is a sewn on endband. I'm not happy with the color of it but I bought the thread without having the paper in front of me so I didn't realize how badly it didn't match. Hand sewn endbands are not nearly as common as stuck on endbands and they add value to the book. 




All my books are completely handmade, other than the closures (leather, seashells, beads) used on the paper case book. I am in love with making books and will probably keep making them for a long time. I have started a shop on Etsy and will start selling books when I have made more. I am too attached to the ones I've made so far since they're the first ones I've made. I have a feeling it's going to be really hard for me to let go of books I make, but all artists have to come to terms with letting go of their creations at one point or another. 

Monday, November 12, 2012

You're The Man

This is exactly how I feel right now.


Rev Theory
"Falling Down"
Goddamn, you're the man
Higher than the world around
Goddamn, you're the man
Watch him as he holds you down
Black pants tailored man
All your words are so profound
Black pants superman
With the self-inflicted smile
Stream line so refined
Fell into yourself and drowned
Walk tall, no remorse
I'm about to lose it

Take your money
Take your empty dreams
Break the cycle
Cut the cord that feeds
I'm out here standin' on the
Edge of insanity
So take your money
Take your empty dreams
Cause I'm falling down
Falling down
Cause I'm falling down
Falling down

Goddamn, you're the man
Higher than the world around
Goddamn hypocrite
Acting like you feel concerned
Neck tie, inside's
Darker than the desk you ride
I can't understand
Why you let them do this

Take your money
Take your empty dreams
Break the cycle
Cut the cord that feeds
I'm out here standin' on the
Edge of insanity
So take your money
Take your empty dreams
Cause I'm falling down
Falling down
Cause I'm falling down
Falling down

It's the blow back
It's the premonition
It's the contact
It's the termination
It's the blow back
It's the premonition
It's the contact

Only if you breathe
Only if you breathe

It's the blow back
It's the premonition
It's the contact (Only if you breathe)
It's the termination
It's the blow back
It's the premonition
It's the contact

Take your money
Take your empty dreams
Break the cycle
Cut the cord that feeds
I'm out here standin' on the
Edge of insanity
So take your money
Take your empty dreams
Cause I'm falling down
Falling down
Cause I'm falling down
Falling down

Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Election Day 2012

This is how I'm going to feel if Obama wins the election:


I had that exact reaction when I found out one of my friends was dating her ex again. And when I got home to find my little sister had gotten hot pocket cheese and muffin crumbs all over the carpet. It's been a Toby-comes-back-from-Costa-Rica kind of day. Go Mitt Romney.


Wednesday, October 24, 2012

2+2=......5?

It's funny how one little mathematical mistake can change your life. I miscounted the number of classes I have left to take before I graduate. Instead of 9, it's actually 7. Since I'm registering for 3 tonight at midnight, that means after April of 2013, I will only have 4 classes left. I'm freaking out a little bit. 


When you're little, all you think about is the next grade you are going to go into. Then once you're in junior high you think about going into high school. Then in high school you think about going into college. Then once you're in college you think about graduating. What comes next? The real world. Careers. The time where you put everything you've been working towards for the past 20+ years of your life to work. No pressure. 

I can't think about that right now cause it's making me crazy lol. Too much at one time. All I'm gonna focus on is the heinous midterm I have on Friday. Wish me luck :)

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Stuff in the Works

Today, I waited in line with a bunch of old people for about an hour to vote for the future president of the United States :) I felt all grown up. I got the "I Voted" sticker and everything. Best part was a really cute old guy telling me I didn't look old enough to vote lol. Glad I don't look like an old maid yet. 

Also today, I got the glasses for my Dwight costume for Halloween :) 


They are amazingly perfect. Only problem is, I can't get the lenses to pop out. I bought reading glasses from Walgreens, so they're prescription, and I need to get them out. If anyone knows how to pop them out without breaking the frame let me know :) The rest of my costume should be coming in the mail tomorrow or the next day so I'm stoked. 

Since I really want to go to Ireland, I was looking on Groupon to see if they had any good deals. I found an AMAZING deal for a six-night trip for $999, which includes hotels, rental car, and air fare. I couldn't believe it. I don't have the money for it now, but maybe they'll have another deal like that when I can go :) It would be awesome. 

My roommate is hysterically laughing and screeching in the next room, and has been for the past 3 hours straight. I think I should be worried. That's all :) 

Sunday, October 21, 2012

Luck O' The Irish

Not many people know that the popular saying, "luck o' the Irish" is an ironic phrase. Since I'm part Irish, that's probably where my sarcasm comes from. "Luck o' the Irish" means bad luck, not good. It comes from history where bad luck kept falling on the Irish people. I have really bad luck with Utah men. I only realized today that every time I see a really, really attractive man on tv or in movies and I look him up, it turns out he's Irish! It's happened enough times to make me realize it's probably not a coincidence. My Irish heritage is probably where this uncontrollable attraction to Irish men comes from. Here are some of their beautiful faces. 

Exhibit A:

Alex O'Loughlin

He was born in Australia, but the name "O'Loughlin" comes from Ireland, so he is of Irish descent. (The Australian doesn't hurt either, they're super attractive too.) 

 He has dark hair and beautiful eyes, plus a gorgeous smile. What more could a girl want?

Exhibit B: 

Colin O'Donoghue

Born and raised in Ireland :) Pictured on the left as playing Captain Hook on the tv show Once Upon a Time. 

Beautiful eyes, beautiful hair, beautiful face. 
Probably a beautiful personality too lol.
Then there are the more well known ones like:

Colin Farrell

Also born and raised in Ireland.  

 I wouldn't mind if my future husband looked like this :) 


And the older ones like

                      Pierce Brosnan

and
                                                                 Liam Neeson


Apparently Ireland just produces a lot of really attractive men. So I have come to a conclusion. After I graduate, which is sooner than I thought it was going to be, I am going to go to Ireland. I have wanted to go for years, so I'm gonna go. I will go and photograph the beautiful landscape and experience the awesome culture and admire the locals lol. Sounds like a pretty good graduation present to myself. And who knows, maybe I'll find a handsome Irish man to marry in a castle :) Only time will tell. 

Saturday, October 20, 2012

Foxes and Fleece

If I could make it Fall all year round, I probably would. I love it for so many reasons. Jackets, pretty leaves, hot chocolate, perfect temperatures, delicious smells, bonfires, pumpkin flavored things, the list goes on and on. One of these things causes a huge problem for me. That would be the jackets. I am a little obsessed. With some girls, it's shoes or purses. With me it's jackets. I LOVE THEM. Especially from PacSun. I want almost every single one they have and it takes every shred of self control I have to not load up my credit card with jacket purchases. Today I failed. I figured, I get paid on Monday, and if I just buy one now I will be satisfied so I at least have one new one. But guess what. They were having a BOGO sale. OF COURSE. They know how to suck you in. So I got two. I will not buy another jacket for the next........two months. I don't think I can realistically commit to anything longer than that. But we will see :) Here's what I got:



I love Fox. I think half my shirts and jackets are from them. I should just go work for them and try to get free stuff. Haha cause that's realistic. Anyways, my name is Jennie and I'm a jacket-aholic. I'll see you at the meetings lol. 

Thursday, September 27, 2012

Books, Books, Nothing But Books

I love bookbinding. Some people think it's lame, but I love it. I recently learned how to make books using the Coptic Binding. We only had to make one book for the assignment but I made two :) The first one took me a while but the second one only took me about 6 or 7 hours total, from scratch. I am proud of myself lol. Here are some pics:

Here's the front of both of them. The first one I made is on the left, the second one is on the right.


This is the side view


This is the back


This is the front inside cover


This is the back inside cover


The next kind of book we are learning how to make is called the Flat Back binding, which is how most books are made. I can't wait :)

Thursday, September 20, 2012

You Get What You Pay For......Or Do You?

I am in disbelief right now. As I am trying to force myself for the third day in a row to study for the Contemporary Art midterm I have tomorrow, I am stuck focusing on one thing: my Contemporary Art teacher is a moron. 

I don't say this to be mean. I am stating it as a fact. My teacher is a first year teacher at BYU. She's never taught before, but she teaches three different subjects. She's young, and the more I'm around her I realize she has no idea what the hell she's talking about (excuse my french). Here are some examples:

1. She said Machu Picchu is in Mexico. False. It's in Peru. 
2. She referred to "Gumbi" as "gumbo". False again. Gumbi is a stretchy man and gumbo is a Southern stew or soup.
3. She was teaching us about one of Rene Magritte's paintings that says "Ceci n'est pas une pipe" underneath an image of a pipe and told us it translated to "This is not a penis." 



HUGE FALSE. It translates to "This is not a pipe", which plays off Magritte's idea of no matter how realistic a painting looks, it is not actually the object it is depicting. It looks like a pipe, but it isn't an actual pipe. I don't know how she got to teach at BYU without knowing this BASIC concept from one of the most famous artists there were during the 20th century.  He did a whole series of images based on this idea of "Ceci n'est pas.....". She's a moron. 

If she has gotten all of these things wrong in the 3 times we've had class, I can't imagine what else she has taught us that has been wrong that I haven't caught. What makes me even more mad is that I was signed up for this class for last semester with a teacher I had already had before and really liked, but the time it was conflicted with the class you have to go to before you go on a study abroad. I was gonna do that study abroad in the spring but then ended up not having enough money so I ended up having dropped it for no reason. Then this semester there was only one teacher available for this class so I signed up for it. And now I'm mad at myself, even though I had no way of knowing that my teacher would be such a moron. She is completely unorganized, scatterbrained, rude, and full of herself. She is making me hate learning about art, when normally art history classes are some of my favorite classes. I can't believe I'm paying to learn from her when all she's doing is teaching us false information. I guess this is why I'm so worried about my midterm tomorrow. I could get all the facts right but she might not know they're right so I could get a bad grade haha. But seriously. I'm having such a hard time focusing and studying cause she has given us no real direction of what to study and what is expected of us. I hate this. 

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

100 Ways to Get Rid of An Obnoxious Roommate

To all of my facebook friends who may be reading this.....you probably know by now that my sister and I DESPISE our roommate. I nicknamed her FON the first week we lived together (stands for Freak of Nature). The list of freakishly obnoxious things she has done grow longer and longer by the minute. 

FIRST OF ALL.....she is dating the definition of a hipster and he is at the apartment more than my sister is. He sleeps over on almost a daily basis. They giggle and talk late into the night while taking over the whole first floor, which consists of our kitchen and living room. Leann and I have to stay in our rooms to avoid the awkwardness. I can constantly hear them while I'm trying to sleep and it makes me so frustrated and mad that I want to run down there and force feed her gluten until her irritable bowel syndrome acts up and turns her intestines into Old Faithful. 

SECOND OF ALL.....she thinks she's God's gift to this world and acts like the princess of our castle. She clips her toenails in the living room and leaves the clippings all over. She leaves her billions of dirty dishes around the kitchen along with her mountain of garbage. She leaves all the lights on in the apartment all the time and doesn't care because her parents pay for everything for her. She isn't in school right now so all she does is work 5 hours a day and then hang out in our living room with her stupid boy toy ALL THE TIME. When Leann and I have friends over, FON hovers with her boyfriend, awkwardly standing in the doorway, until we vacate the premises because of how awkward it is. The list of obnoxious things she does goes ON AND ON. 

Today was a breaking point. After her boy toy constantly being here and her doing all the obnoxious things she does, Leann and I finally decided to do something about it. So we are currently blasting rock and metal from the top of the stairs hoping it will force their anything-but-folk-music-intolerance to act up and leave so we can actually go downstairs. If that doesn't work, I guess Leann will just have to confront her since I am completely non confrontational and get anxiety at the very thought of having to deal with that awkward situation. OR.........we could try any number of the 100 Ways to Annoy Your Roommate that we found while googling how to get make her move out!

Here are some of my favorites:
  1. Get some hair. Disperse it around your roommate's head while he/she is asleep. Keep a pair of scissors by your bed. Snicker at your roommate every morning. 
  2. Every time your roommate walks in yell, "Hooray! You're back!" as loud as you can and dance around the room for 5 minutes. Afterwards keep looking at your watch and saying, "Shouldn't you be going somewhere?"
  3. Every time you see your roommate yell, "You son of a..." and kick him/her in the stomach. Then buy him/her some ice cream.
  4. Set your roommate's bed on fire. Apologize and explain that you've been watching too much Beavis and Butthead. Do it again. Tell him/her that your not sorry because this time they deserved it.
  5. Eat lots of Lucky Charms. Pick out all the yellow moons and stockpile them in the closet. If your roommate inquires, explain that visitors are coming, but you can't say anything more, or you'll have to face the consequences.
  6. Draw a tiny, black spot on your arm. Make it bigger every day. Look at it and say, "It's spreading, it's spreading!"
  7. Buy a Jack-In-The-Box. Every day, turn the handle until the clown pops out. Scream continuously for twenty minutes.
  8. Buy some knives. Sharpen them every night. While you're doing so, look at your roommate and mutter, "Soon, soon..."
  9. If your roommate comes home after midnight, hit him/her on the head with a rolling pin. Immediately go to bed, muttering, "Ungrateful little..."
  10. While your roommate is out, glue your shoes to the ceiling. When your roommate walks in, sit on the floor, hold your head, and moan.
  11. Make a sandwich. Don't eat it, leave it on the floor. Ignore the sandwich. Wait until your roommate gets rid of it, and then say, "Hey, where the hell is my sandwich!?" Complain loudly that you are hungry.
  12. Collect potatoes. Paint faces on them and give them names. Name one after your roommate. Separate your roommate's potato from the others. Wait a few days, and then bake your roommate's potato and eat it. Explain to your roommate, "He just didn't belong."
  13. Cover your bed with a tent. Live inside it for a week. If your roommate asks, explain that "It's a jungle out there." Get your roommate to bring you food and water.
  14. Talk back to your Rice Krispies. All of a sudden, act offended, throw the bowl on the floor and kick it. Refuse to clean it up, explaining, "No, I want to watch them suffer."
  15. Sign your roommate up for various activities. (Campus tour guide, blood donor, organ donor)
  16. Hit your roommate on the head with a brick. Claim that you were trying to kill a mosquito.
  17. Instead of turning off the light switch, smash the light bulb with a hammer. Put a new bulb in the next day. Complain often about the cost of lightbulbs.
  18. When you walk into the room, look at the roommate in disgust and yell, "Oh you're here!" Walk away yelling and cursing.
  19. Buy a watermelon. Draw a face on it and give it a name. Ask your roommate if the watermelon can sleep in his/her bed. If your roommate says no, drop the watermelon out the window. Make it look like a suicide. Say nasty things about your roommate at the funeral.
  20. Drink a cup of coffee every morning. When you finish it, gnaw on the mug for about ten minutes. Then look at your roommate, immediately put the mug away, and quickly leave the room.
  21. Hold a raffle, offering your roommate as first prize. If he/she protests, tell him/her that it's all for charity.
  22. Watch "Psycho" every day for a month. Then act excited every time your roommate goes to take a shower.
  23. Go through your roommate's textbooks with a red pen, changing things and making random corrections. If your roommate protests, tell him/her that you just couldn't take it anymore.
  24. As soon as your roommate turns off the light at night, begin singing famous operas as loud as you can. When your roommate turns on the light, look around and pretend to be confused.
  25. Late at night, start conversations that begin with, "Remember the good old days, when we used to..." and make up stories involving you and your roommate.
  26. Sit and stare at your roommate for hours. Bring others in to join you. Eat peanuts, throwing a few at your roommate. Then say, "Boy, these zoos just aren't what they used to be."
  27. Buy a lobster. Pretend to play cards with it. Complain to your roommate that the lobster is making up his own rules.
  28. Make pancakes every morning, but don't eat them. Draw faces on them, and toss them in the closet. Watch them for several hours each day. Complain to your roommate that your "pancake farm" isn't evolving into a self-sufficient community. Confide to your roommate that you think the king of the pancakes has been taking bribes
And this one I just want to do for fun :)

   29.  Buy some turtles. Paint numbers on their backs. Race them down the hall.

I'm hoping the blasting music thing doesn't work just so we can try some of these things.

Wish us luck with expelling the spawn of Satan!

Monday, September 3, 2012

Sometimes You Just Need a Little Home


These lyrics couldn't be more spot on. Being sick for a month gets you down. And all I want is my family, my home, and my puppy. Luckily that's only a half hour away for me. These past few days with my mom and sisters have been exactly what I needed. Sometimes you just need a little home. 

Monday, August 13, 2012

This Sucks

You know what sucks? Being sick. Know what sucks more? Being sick for over two weeks and not knowing what the heck is wrong. Know what sucks even more? Going to the doctor and them not being helpful AT ALL, on top of having a really attractive male nurse come in and you have to tell him in detail all your symptoms. Yeah. That sucks. I just wanna get better and have life stop sucking. 

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

So This Is What Adulthood Looks Like


Oh geez. Facebook is getting kind of obnoxious. Every other day, and sometimes every day, another person posts that they are engaged, or married, or pregnant, or things related to these subjects. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against marriage or pregnancy, but when that is what almost EVERY SINGLE POST on my news feed is about, it gets kind of old. Especially when I am nowhere close to relating to any of those things. Don't get me wrong, I really am happy for all of them. I'm not bitter about it or gonna go cry that I'm not married, I'm just in a different stage of life. I'm sure that once I get engaged, married, and pregnant I'll post all about it all the time too. But it's weird being one of the last ones of my friends not married. Now I gotta make all new friends, cause for whatever reason, married people don't hang out with single people that much. Probably cause like I said, we're in a different stage of life. Oh well. 

I did, however, make a grown up move today. I finally signed the lease to my new apartment after trying to get ahold of the landlord for over a week. 16 days till I move with my sissy poo to good ol' Provo. I'm excited :) But nervous to see what random person gets put in the apartment with us. I'm hoping for either a really weird person or a really cool person. Either way it will be entertaining. And school starts in exactly 3 weeks. Super weird cause it feels like I haven't gone to school in forever. But I'm excited for that too. Finally doing something productive other than working. So now I get to pay for school and rent on top of my car and insurance and all that crap. Yay for being a responsible adult :) I'm glad I can take care of myself. Thanks, Mom, for raising me that way :) 

Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Being Mormon in Happy Valley

The current presidential race has shone a lot of light on Mormons, due to the fact that candidate Mitt Romney is a Mormon. While the light has been shone, it hasn't all shown truths. I really don't understand what it is about the world and media that devotes almost all of its energy on tearing other people and beliefs down, whether the stuff they are saying is true or not. Most of the time it's not. What blows my mind the most is that people don't see the hypocrisy of it all. If a Mormon is around a group of non-mormons who are drinking, more often than not, they will be asked why they aren't drinking. They give their answer. And then they get harassed about it (not all the time, I'm not generalizing, but a lot of the time). Think about if the roles were reversed. That Mormon, being around a group of non-mormons drinking could ask them why the ARE drinking, and then harass them about it. They could shove their point of view down the non-mormons' throats all night long. And guess what. That Mormon would be considered arrogant, preachy, judgmental, etc. So how come it doesn't go both ways? How come people who aren't Mormons can harass Mormons about their beliefs, openly and harshly, but nobody says anything? Why is it ok for people to shove their anti-religious beliefs down Mormons throats, but when Mormons try and say what they believe they are being judgmental, un-accepting, and arrogant? I really don't get it. The hypocrisy is ridiculous. 


I read a post on the internet that said "Mormons are arrogant". Come on. Really? You're going to stereotype every single Mormon on the planet because maybe you met a handful of arrogant Mormons? I have lived in Utah Valley my whole life, so I have obviously been around my fair share of Mormons. Are some Mormons arrogant? Yes. Are all Mormons arrogant? No. Generalizations and stereotypes are ridiculous. Try not to be in the high school mentality, okay? Realize that not all people are what ONE person is. That's like saying all Hispanic people are illegal, or all Black people are criminals, or all White people are racist, etc, etc, etc. It's ridiculous. There are endless amounts of stereotypes and generalizations that are completely FALSE. 


I've heard people say that being a non-mormon in Utah sucks. Well guess what. Being a Mormon in Utah sucks too. I can imagine what it would be like to be the minority somewhere. I've grown up in an environment where the majority of the people around me have the same beliefs. It's a weird way to grow up, considering that most of the other places in the US aren't like that. Except in the South maybe....anyway. I can understand why it would be hard for non-mormons to try and fit in in Utah. Mormonism isn't just a religion in Utah, it's a culture too, because it's so condensed. I'll tell you a secret. It's hard for Mormons to fit in in Utah too. The Mormon culture is definitely unique. There are a lot of desserts involved, along with a lot of overly friendly people and pot luck dinners. There's a lot of pressure. A lot of insecurities. But most Mormons really are just trying to be good people. Sometimes Mormons might come off arrogant, because they ARE overly friendly and cheerful. It might come off fake or condescending. But guess what. Every single person in this world is just trying to live life the best way they know how. Nobodies opinions and beliefs are exactly the same. Mormons try to be friendly because the religion focuses on service and helping the people around them. Cue the enormous amounts of food. And crafts. Some Mormons ARE self righteous. But a lot aren't. 


I don't understand why people have so many negative things to say about Mormons anyway. The religion promotes lots of service, families, education, travel, morality, health, ethics, etc. None of those things sound bad to me. When there are natural disasters, Mormons are usually a huge part of the people who volunteer to help. When people are moving, Mormons usually stop by to help whether they know the person or not. If your neighbor is a Mormon and they see your sidewalk covered in snow, they usually come shovel it. Mormons donate to charity. They visit old people. They travel to 3rd world countries and try to help the people there. I'm not saying all Mormons are good people, cause some aren't. But nobody is perfect. Mormons aren't polygamists. They don't wear weird clothes or eat weird food. They don't live on compounds. They are regular people. 


I have been a Mormon my whole life, and will always be a Mormon. I am sick of people telling me that I let other people make my decisions and think for me, BECAUSE I'm Mormon. Just cause I've grown up being Mormon doesn't mean it's always been easy to be one. We all go through stages where we try to figure out what we personally believe. We question things and try to make sense of the world around us. I questioned a lot of stuff. I studied scriptures, read articles, prayed, soul searched, you know the drill. I came to believe, BY MYSELF, that I believe in the LDS church (aka Mormonism). Nobody forced me to believe it or brainwashed me. I make my own choices. I'm not saying that I don't still wonder about stuff and question stuff, but everyone does. We are all just trying to find a belief system that works for us. I am not a lemming who just follows along with everyone else. So people, STOP SAYING MORMONS DON'T MAKE THEIR OWN DECISIONS. We are normal freakin people like everyone else. We just believe in stuff that maybe you don't. Big deal. You can go smoke, drink until you puke, sleep around, steal, do whatever, and I don't care. I seriously don't judge. It's your life. I don't want people judging me for what I do, so I'm not going to judge anyone for what they do. It's their life, and their decisions, and if they decide to believe in Buddha, Ra, nobody, the cult leader down the street, GO FOR IT. More power to ya. I'm not going to force my beliefs on anyone, but if anyone wants to actually have an open, intellectual, respectful discussion about religion or just beliefs in general I'm completely open to it. Just don't come bash my religion and beliefs when you wouldn't want me to do that to you. Simple enough concept, I think. 


If you come to Utah, don't automatically assume everyone is judging you if you're not Mormon. Or that they're judging you BECAUSE you are Mormon and you might not live up to their standards or expectations or whatever. Live your life however it makes you happy. Don't judge other people. We are all human beings on planet earth and that is one thing that ties us all together. You know the saying "I'm only human"? Well it means we all make mistakes. We all have things we need to learn. So stop judging people because of the ways they are different from you, and try to focus on what is the same. We can all learn from each other if we just try. 


And that is the end of this rant. It didn't quite go where I was expecting it to go since I just winged it, but you get what I'm trying to say. I hope. 

Saturday, July 28, 2012

China Doesn't Deserve All the Credit

Made in China. That's what's printed, etched, stickered, etc. onto almost EVERYTHING.



While I was peeling off the Made in China sticker off the inside of my Converse I realized something. China isn't as smart as everyone thinks. While everything may be made in China, it doesn't all originate there. Countries all over the world send their ideas and products to China to be manufactured. China has tons of people, which means cheap labor. That means thousands of Chinese people see millions of products and ideas from countries all over the world. They are exposed to ideas from the entire planet. China isn't the smartest or most advanced. They simply have the most resources. They see everyone's great ideas and products, manufacture them, and in turn they know how everything works. Sometimes they use that knowledge to expand on already created products or it leads to new products, but that doesn't make them smarter than all the other countries in the world. It just appears that way. Who woulda thought? Maybe China won't take over the world after all.

Monday, July 23, 2012

It's Surreal That I'm Starting to Love Surrealism

Pinterest is awesome. I have found some really cool artists on there. Yesterday, there were a couple of amazing photographers I found. Their style is really cool. One of them is Martin Stranka, and the other is Lissy Elle. They both do surreal photography. I am really NOT into surreal paintings, but for some reason I really like these photos. I guess I like it for the same reason I like Tim Burton. It's different.

Martin Stranka









Lissy Elle








Friday, July 20, 2012

Live for Today

This post is officially my 100th post. Most people write something exciting or post awesome pictures to "celebrate" their 100th post. In light of what happened last night, I decided to write something a little different.

Last night I went to see the midnight showing of The Dark Knight Rises. My sister had an extra ticket so I went with her. Little did I know that about 500 miles away in Aurora, Colorado an entire theater, much like the one I was in, was in the middle of a massacre. When all those people arrived at the theater they were probably excited. They were going to see Batman. Some people brought their kids. Their significant other. Their friends. Family. Maybe they thought they were lucky to get to be some of the first people to see the movie. They had no way of knowing a cold, evil, psychopath was going to do the unimaginable. He just walked into the theater, calmly stood there, and then unleashed a wave of tear gas and bullets. 70 people injured. 12 people killed. And for what? This mindless act has ruined the lives of so many people, and for no reason at all. Just because a satanic man wanted to feel powerful and cause pain. I will never be able to understand what leads a person to do something like that. Especially how someone can be completely calm while harming so many innocent people. 

When things like this happen it really makes me think about how fragile we all are. God can have us taken at any time. There were two soldiers in that audience. They survived being soldiers, only to be shot in a movie theater in Colorado. It just goes to show that life is short, and you might not get tomorrow. All you can do is live your life to the best of your ability and try to make the best of everything. We are alive. That means we are extremely lucky and we shouldn't waste a second of our lives hanging on to anger, jealousy, hate, or any kind of negativity because every second is precious. We should live our lives feeling grateful and happy just to have today. 

The people who are the best at being happy and enjoying life, even during the bad times, are children. They are pure and innocent. I saw this video today and it made me laugh. These kids are very happy and their happiness is contagious. At least to me. 


Bad things happen all the time. A lot of the time they are senseless. We just have to do our best to try and make the world a better place and try to make the most of the time we have. It's all we can do.