Today I

- Packed many things
- Bought lemonade from a children's lemonade stand
- Watched a documentary on the history of ice cream
- Researched trail running

Currently I am considering cutting my own hair tonight so I will be forced to actually go out and get it fixed. I've been wanting something new since last summer but haven't cared enough to do anything about it. I haven't even had a trim since before my wedding. This entire summer has consisted of me pulling my hair into a bun on the back/top of my head. I've gotten to the point where I can't even find my hairbrush anymore because I haven't bothered brushing my hair in so long. Cave woman Natalie. At least I still wash it.

Concert List.

Thinking about music. Concerts I've been to (in chronological order):

Concert #1: Cynthia Mitchell Woodlands Pavilion, The Woodlands, Texas
- A*Teens (is that how they spelled their name?)
- Britney Spears

I went to this show the summer between 5th and 6th grade. It was a birthday present for Stef, which probably wasn't super necessary since we went to the Philippines that summer and Stef got a huge birthday party complete with charred baby goat. My parents took us (yes, my dad went too, the good sport that he is). Stef and I wore matching shirts.

Concert #2: Cynthia Mitchell Woodlands Pavilion, The Woodlands, Texas
- Thin Lizzy
- Joe Satriani
- Deep Purple

Awesome awesome show. $10 tickets for lawn seats. Got bumped up to regular covered seating because there were tons of extra seats (kinda sad). Only problem: Too many old women in leather.

Concert #3: Cynthia Mitchell Woodlands Pavilion, The Woodlands, Texas
-MAE
-Weezer
-Foo Fighters

Brought my friend, Michelle, to this show. The women seated in front of us swatted at a bee. Bee stung Michelle. We waited to see if she was allergic since this was her first bee sting. Thankfully she wasn't and we were able to enjoy the show. Though the Foo Fighters' front man seemed to be a little drunk. Oh, also, we could smell pot.

Concert #4: Warehouse Live, Houston, Texas
-Jeremy Enigk
-Cursive

I was able to tell Jeremy Enigk I loved him and gave Cursive band members a brief review of the movie Stranger than Fiction ("It was awesome!"). It was my first standing room only concert.

Concert #5: The Hobby Center, Houston, Texas
-OK Go
-Death Cab for Cutie

I met one of my good friends at this concert. My brother came to this concert with me and current boyfriend at the time. Chris spotted someone wearing a BYU cap and went and talked to him. This dude's name was Andrew Salt and he was there with his friend Jay Rainsdon. Apparently they lived in Katy. Chris, former boyfriend, and I went to our remarkably good box seats next to the stage and met up again with Jay and Andrew. They had snuck into our box with someone else that had seats there. After OK Go's act, a security guard came and kicked them out and I didn't see them again. Almost a year later, on my 19th birthday, I introduced myself to a group of people outside the Cannon Center and some guy runs up to me, points his finger in my face, and yells "YOU WERE AT THE OK GO CONCERT!" Jay remembered me.

Concert #6: In the Venue, SLC, Utah
-Glass Candy
-Architecture in Helsinki

I still feel slightly guilty about going to this show. I tricked someone into taking me and Lisa Jones by convincing them they liked Architecture in Helsinki when they'd only heard one song that didn't really reflect the rest of their style. But seriously, is it my fault that they can't recognize the greatness that is Architecture in Helsinki?

Concert #7: In the Venue, SLC, Utah
-MGMT
-of Montreal

We squeezed 6 freshmen in someone's older sister's car for this event. One of the most interesting nights of freshman year. We really enjoyed MGMT's performance though we'd never heard of them before. (It was this tour that probably helped make them popular.) So we bought their t-shirts and CD rather than of Montreal's. There was some other artist that performed with them but not only do I not remember their name but I've tried to block their sad performance from my memory.

Concert #8: Thanksgiving Point, Lehi, Utah
-Tegan and Sara
-Death Cab for Cutie

Again. Probably one of my favorite bands. I want to see them when they play in Georgia this year. It was raining as we were driving to the venue and we were rather concerned since the concert was outdoors. The concert went on and it was spectacular. Vampire Weekend was supposed to share the stage as well but they didn't make it-- that was somewhat disappointing.

Concert #9: Paramount Theatre, Seattle, Washington
-Imogen Heap

I went to this concert with my roommate, my research partner and one of her roommates. We had a pretty decent spot near the stage. Unfortunately for me, our tickets were standing room only and by the end of the concert I couldn't concentrate on the music because my back was aching so much.

Concert #10: Triple Door, Seattle, Washington
-Stars

This concert was the day after Imogen Heap's concert and I went with the same group minus my roommate. I waited outside the venue all afternoon in downtown Seattle for tickets to this show. Not completely necessary but we got standing room tickets that were bumped up to booth tickets once we got inside and people didn't show up. Pretty nifty. One of the singers seemed to have had too much to drink before the show and grabbed one of the audience member's food and threw it at the wall, yelling, "YOU DON'T BRING A DOGGIE BAG TO A ROCK CONCERT!" I remember thinking that I would have never classified Stars' music as rock music. The guy kept bringing up the incident throughout the show. It was annoying. Their music was good though and they performed their newest album which had yet to be released at the time. I just can't listen to the dude's soft vocals on their CDs without thinking about what a jerk he is in person.

Upcoming Show:
-Iron & Wine in Austin, Texas this Friday.

Going with Brenden, Chris, and Chris's friend Sydney. Super excited. I love Austin, Texas and hopefully will get to spend some of the afternoon there too.

Groups I want to see perform before I die:
Radiohead (Seeing Radiohead perform live is seriously at the top of my bucket list. I want this to happen so badly.)
Sigur Ros (Loved their music the first time I heard it. LOVE their documentary Heima, which Brenden so kindly got me for Christmas. Now I want to see them live, surrounded by mountains in Iceland while I wear an awesome Icelandic sweater.)

Google image search!

I feel like I've been waiting my whole life for Google image search.  I'm excited!

Google announces Search by Image and Voice Search for desktop, revamped mobile search

Quote

"I was living my life sideways. I did not act on what I wanted, I did not say the things I thought, and being so stifled and clamped all the time left me exhausted; no matter what I was doing, I was always imagining something else. Grades felt peripheral, but the real problem was, everything felt peripheral."

from the book Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld

Holy Crap

I have been grading papers all day long. I cannot believe how many grammar, spelling, and punctuation errors I have read today. Seriously, guys, "there" is not "their." You attend a college not a collage. Please figure this stuff out. Also, apostrophes are usually quite handy. Start using them and use them appropriately. PLEASE.

\\

I am so glad to not be TA-ing for almost 400 students again this semester. I gave an exam review session tonight and it was in a regular-sized classroom that had desks. I forgot the powerpoint I had prepared but it was all good because there weren't a million pairs of eyes on me. It's great when I have to grade assignments for both classes I TA for and I only get 140 instead 380. It's wonderful. And there is no sarcasm in that statement.

Last semester Dr. Dyer figured out that for his class alone (not including Dr. Roper's class I TA for) there were over 5,700 papers, quizzes, and exams his TAs had to keep track of. Granted I had help from other TAs (a whopping total of 4), I am still incredibly impressed I maintained sanity last semester.

Early bedtime for me and Brenden tonight. Both of us have some really horrible stomach bug and we have no idea where it came from. We'll see if I go to my gymnastics class in the morning. I really don't want to throw up on someone after flipping around on the uneven bars. (Which really isn't that likely since I can barely flip around the uneven bars.) After tomorrow and Thursday morning/early afternoon I will be on a flight to Texas where it will still be way too cold. But it will be Texas. So still better.

Tired

It's totally not fair to be exhausted with schoolwork by the end of January. Totally not fair.

Research papers

I always dread writing my research papers.  And yet when I finally get to the point where I have to write them or fail my classes, I realize how awesome they are.  Not my papers in particular but the topics I'm researching.  I realize that the reason I chose my topics was because they were interesting to me.  It's always sad when I'm finally cramming to finish my papers before they're due and I'm just thinking, "I want to read more!  I want to find more!  I want to write about more!"  Because I can't.  Well, at least not for the paper.  I can always do more on my own later.  Except I don't.  Because as soon as the paper is done I think reading research is boring again.

Right now I'm working on a paper studying the role of religiosity on older adults' mental health.  It's cool stuff!

But my paper is due Monday and I have other papers due Monday that I have yet to finish/start.  So I'm barreling through this one.  And that makes me sad.

Hanukkah

Every year Hanukkah comes and goes without me realizing it.  EXCEPT THIS YEAR.  Yesterday was the first day of Hanukkah.  I really want to buy a menorah but I have no idea where I would get one in Utah.  I found out you can order them online from Target but that wouldn't get to me in time to celebrate.  Also, stupid renting rules say I can't have lit candles in my apartment anyway.  Booooo.

BUT I really want to make latkes and sufganiyot.  And I want to do it for Hanukkah.  Unfortunately I don't think I'll have time until classes end.  Fortunately classes end on the last day of Hanukkah.  (Although if Hanukkah technically ends at sundown, then it will be too late for an actual Hanukkah celebration by the time I can make anything anyway. Oh well!)

I really just want a legitimate reason to make cool pancakes and jelly-filled doughnuts.  (Even though celebrating Hanukkah might not count as a legitimate reason since I'm not Jewish...)

Sometimes I really do just love the holiday season.  Sometimes I don't.  Right now I do.

Next Semester

I feel like such a bum dropping my gerontology minor.  I already dropped my psych minor.  But hey, the point of the gerontology minor was because I wanted to work specifically with the older adult population.  I'm not so sure I want to do that anymore AND even if I did, I don't need the minor to do that, I've already taken all but one of the classes for the minor.  I still need to an internship which I won't have the time to complete before April graduation.  I could extend graduation to August but if Brenden will be graduating in April then I'd prefer to be done as well so we can move wherever we'll be moving to, get settled, find jobs, etc.  Eep.  That's an interesting idea.

Also, by dropping my gerontology minor I will be able to work on more research next semester- an option I am very interested in.  This research will be with one of the professors I TA for right now.  I will also be taking one of his courses next semester.  Plus, I'll still be working as his TA.  I will really get to know Dr. Dyer.  All I'll need to do is meet his family and maybe babysit his kids and we've got all bases covered.

Next semester shouldn't be too difficult.  *crosses fingers*  I saved a few of my GEs for the very end and I don't anticipate them being too bad.  I won't even be working as many hours (which is actually really unfortunate since I'll probably really need the money).

Here's my tentative schedule with commentary:

EXSC 136: Beginning Gymnastics  (0.5)
In third grade, I wrote a paper on how I was going to be on the USA Olympic Gymnastics team by the time I was 15.  I didn't realize that was ridiculous.  I thought 15 was SO OLD and I'd have enough time to learn everything.  Also, I didn't realize I sucked at gymnastics.  Obviously that dream never came true.  However, I figure I owe it to myself to learn how to do that back handspring that has been so elusive to me for so many years.  Plus, the balance beam is one of my most favorite things ever.  I'm a little wary of the vault (running full speed at stationary objects is something I've avoided doing most of my life) but think it will be really cool if I could do anything on it.  And the uneven bars, oh uneven bars- just let me not fall off and die and we'll be good friends.

ENGL 315: Writing in the Social Sciences (3.0)
I can't put this class off any longer.  I'm sure it's going to be one of those classes where I'm like, "This would've been so helpful had I taken it sooner."  Will I regret not having taken it sooner?  Probably not.  Since high school, I've doubted in my abilities to write well (THANK YOU MR. CROCKER) and though this doubt hasn't been reinforced in college I still do not look forward to having to take a writing class.  Yes, yes, good writing is necessary for success in college, graduate school, life, eternity, whatever.  This knowledge doesn't make me any more excited to take this class.

HUM 202: Western Humanities 2 (3.0)
I've avoided this class for many of the same reasons I avoided ENGL 315- I figured it would be much like an English class where I would need to write and then have my writing abilities graded.  I'm currently taking HUM 201 from the same professor I'll be taking this from next semester and I've found I really enjoy the subject matter.  I am glad I'm taking it now rather than earlier though because it's one of those classes I don't really need to stress about.  Easy peasy. 

RELA 212: New Testament (2.0)
I needed more credit hours.  I figured a good way to fulfill this requirement would be through studying the scriptures.  Hey, I'll be doing it anyway, right?  Also, I miss taking BYU religion classes.  I haven't taken any since last fall.  Some people complain about them but I really, really enjoy them.  (I think it's dumb when people complain about religion classes being too difficult, not because they aren't difficult but because people assume they should be easy.  Come on people- you're studying the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  I think you can afford to put some effort into it.)

ANTHR 108R: Anthro Films (1.0)
Originally I added this class because I needed more credit hours.  Since I've added the research class, I don't actually need this credit hour.  However, I'm still planning on taking the class because it sounds like it will be very interesting.  It's just once a week and all we do is watch ethnographic films to study different cultures and ethnographic filmmaking.  I'm really curious as to what the coursework actually entails.    

SFL 460: Advanced Family Processes (3.0)
I will be taking this class with Dr. Dyer.  I took the introductory family processes course last summer (2009) from a graduate student and feel like I missed a lot by doing that.  Right now, I'm a TA for the introductory course and I've really enjoyed going to the classes and studying the material (in order to present it to students).  While I hate grading, it's reinforced my knowledge of the material.  Hopefully, I'll do okay in this class.  I was going to take it this semester but dropped it the second week of classes because it looked like way more work than I wanted to put into it this semester.

SFL 403R: Research/Creative Works Practicum (3.0)
This class is for the research I'll be doing with Dr. Dyer next semester.  We'll be studying incarcerated fathers and their family relationships.  I didn't realize how interesting this subject matter was to me until recently while working on a research paper for another class about African-American mother-headed households.  Did you know that 10% of African-American children have at least one incarcerated parent, usually the father?  Anyway, I'm excited for this.  A lot.

Well, I've reached the end of my blog post.  I can no longer procrastinate my homework for the evening.  Especially if I want enough time to make pancakes.  Oh man, I want some pancakes.  Go go motivation!