good

"Be not overcome of evil, but 

overcome evil with good."
~Romans 12:21

I think I will.  :)

another favorite

One of my favorite things at BYU {apart from Sugar N' Spice} is the International Cinema. I love this place!

I love going to movies at the IC. Every week they show three new movies. In general, they are supposed to be more at the cinematic masterpiece level, but quite often they are just bad movies from different countries. Sometimes they are just older movies from the United States, but they show movies from all over the world in tons of different languages, which I think is pretty fun. The only problem is that it is a hard place to bring people. You never really know what to expect from these movies. Sometimes they are really very awful. It's sort of like those boxes of gamble chocolates. You might have a lucky pick and get a yummy one, or you might choose one with a nasty filling. It's a gamble. 

For example, the week before Halloween was "Vampire Week" and they showed three vampire movies. One of these was a german one, from the 1970s I believe, called Nosferatu. My brother and I thought this would be a fun movie to go to. We invited Kelsey, Heather and Mitch to come with us. Well, guess what! Nosferatu was quite probably the worst movie I have ever seen. It's kind of embarrassing to face your friends after inviting them to come see the most terrible movie on the planet. You can't invite people to the IC unless you know for sure that it's a good movie. 

Last week was "Oscar's Week" and one of the movies playing was Slumdog Millionaire. Having watched this one before with Chelsea, I knew it was fabulous and invited people to come. Parker and I went to see Man on Wire first and save seats. We knew it would be crowded, but we had no idea the insanity that happened when they began letting people in for Slumdog. Heather and Mitch came an hour early to wait, and Kelsey was early too. Hoards of people came rushing in when they opened the theatre. There weren't nearly enough seats for everyone. People were fighting and it was insane. During the madness I commented that they should make everyone who had never been to the IC leave. Parker said, "Yeah, you have to sit through a couple Nosferatus to be able to see this one." What a true statement. You can't just show up for the good one! Anyway, I was glad to have redeemed myself after the Vampire Week disaster. Slumdog Millionaire was fabulous. 

So tonight Parker and I went to the IC again. This time we saw a Russian movie called The Return. We had seen it before and thought it was really stupid. We hoped maybe this time we would be able to figure it out. Parker took a film class last semester, surely he would now be able to discern the meaning of this weird movie. But alas! It was not to be. The movie ended. I still had no clue what the point of the "award winning" film was. Parker looked at me and said, 

"Well, that was terrible . . . again." 

Oh, International Cinema, how I love you! You bring me such fun adventures. 

customer service

Welcome to my favorite place at BYU:

I'm a little bit obsessed with this place. They know me at Sugar N' Spice. The delicious BYU Creamery ice cream often draws me in,  but my primary obsession is the brownies. I can't resist them. 

Everything always looks so good! The sugar calls to me. 

Ok, so maybe I have a little bit of a sweet tooth, and maybe it is actually a large problem that will one day cause me to weigh 300 lbs, but there is something other than sugar that makes me love Sugar N' Spice. 

It's a little thing called customer service. 

Let me start with a comparison: Subway. Sure, Subway isn't the greatest place to work, but give me a break people! Have a little love for your sandwich-making! I'll tell you what, when I worked at Subway I made a beautiful sandwich. I had a little passion, and at our Subway our sandwich-making was an art. When Parker and I eat at BYU's Subway we always sit down with our sloppily-made sandwiches, look at each other, shake our heads, and say "No love." This was exactly the case when we went to Subway on Friday night. They weren't very friendly, and our sandwiches were very messy. My meat was just hanging off the end. Sheesh! I ate at Subway nearly everyday Freshman year and no one ever showed even a glimmer of recognition. 

On the other hand, Sugar N' Spice has some really great people working there right now. The girls know my brother, Parker, and I because we are frequent flyers at the brownie counter. My favorite girl is named Elizabeth. She always lets us choose which brownies we want, or finds the biggest middle pieces for us. She even knows our names now. She's always very pleasant and happy; I love when she is working. When Parker and I went on Friday night {after having gone to Subway} she said, "This might sound kind of weird, but you are so beautiful!" She is so sweet and cute. Everyone who works there is great. 

I love Sugar N' Spice. Right now I really feel like I need a brownie . . . YUM!! 

I don't know if I would survive school without this place.

On an unrelated note: A boy told me on Saturday that I have "nice broad shoulders." He's right, I do have broad shoulders; but was that supposed to be a compliment? Boys are weird. {See post below}

spring in provo

Springtime in Provo. Love is in the air.
Birds are chirping and the sun is shining, right?
I'm sorry to admit that I don't mind the surprise snow too much, because at least that means I don't have to see the couples cuddling on their little blankets in all the nice, grassy areas. People can't seem to keep their hands to themselves in the library, and don't even get me started on the WILK. I find this environment rather exhausting at times. I feel, like Rihanna, that "the lovers need to clear the road."

I am a junior and approaching age 21, with no prospects in the marriage department.
I should be concerned, right?

I should be spending lots of time dating and looking for my eternal companion, right?

Well . . . 

What if I would prefer to hang out with my friends?

What if I would prefer staying home alone and reading to going out?

Heavens, what if I would prefer to study?

I'm not concerned about my lack of dating. At all. In fact, right now I think it's kind of awesome. I can do whatever I want! To quote the Dixie Chicks {I know, I know} I feel "ready to run; all I'm ready to do is have some fun. What's all this talk about love?" I just feel that, at age 20, I don't want to be concerned about dating and marriage. When I meet people I would like them to perhaps ask about my plans after graduation, rather than whether or not I'm dating anyone. I am very much uniterested in any involvement with the male species in the dating capacity. Maybe I will encounter someone who makes me change my mind about that, but it's not looking probable.

I recognize that I have had minimal contact with the strange and alien world that is dating. I understand that dating is an experience, one that I could potentially benefit from. I'm supposed to go out and try on lots of different shoes, or hats {wait, I think that is a career metaphor}, or lids, or flavors, or whichever metaphor you choose. Trying all of these is supposed to help me find out which I like best. Going on lots of dates with lots of different people is supposed to be a good thing, an opportunity for learning and growth.

I'm just not interested. I'm thinking about instituting a new policy. It's called "Just Say NO . . . To Dating." Here's the thing . . .

I don't want to waste a bunch of time with a bunch of frogs. When I look around, most of the guys I see are wicked lame. I'm sure there are good ones out there somewhere; I just wonder where they are hiding. Sure, you shouldn't judge a book by its cover and you should give everyone a shot. However, if I'm just really uninterested in ever dating you, why should I waste your money and our time? I have gone on pointless dates in the past simply because I felt I was strangely obligated to go. I used to say, "Well, it could be a good story."

Some of you will remember Duck Boy, the wildlife TA. For those of you who never heard about him, the first day I met him he was wearing a camo hat, a Ducks Unlimited shirt, cargo pants, and camo Crocs. He even has a camo cell phone cover and camo seat covers in his car. {I'm sure those come in very handy while hunting} He's a very nice person, but I could have told you from my first five minutes talking to him that this wasn't going anywhere. So I went out with him one time. It was short, no harm done, decent story. But still, pretty much just a waste.

I guess this is how it often goes. We date some major frogs, we date some nice, charming young men that just aren't the ones for us, and then someday that prince charming, Mr. Right, comes along.

Is it bad that I am just so not interested in dealing with all that? I would prefer for my wonderful man with Patrick Dempsey's hair and Taylor Lautner's muscles, who likes art and music and literature and has a passion for traveling but is still okay with watching lame TV shows and eating McDonald's, who likes yearbooks and ice cream and Thai food, who doesn't expect me to be a fabulous cook, and who shares my dreams to just come along when I am ready for him. I will meet him and say, "Oh, here you are!" and I will avoid negative dating experiences until then. Too bad life doesn't work that way, huh?

Now, as a disclaimer: I'm not really as bitter or cynical as this may sound. I have a lot of things I want to do before I get involved in dating. I'm not very interested right now, but I do have a hope of finding a good man someday. It's not that I don't believe in love or marriage. Of course I do. I love weddings and happy couples {as long as they can stop touching each other for a few minutes} and wedding blogs. I like seeing my married friends and their sweet husbands.

Love is a many-splendored thing and I hope I will someday find my love and live happily ever after . . .

I just don't want to deal with it right now.

I want to get through my killer semesters 

of Spanish and Chemistry,

and get into PA school. 

fluoride funnies

Note: I am in full support of fluoridated water, and my brother doesn't really think it is a communist plot. Utah should jump on the fluoridation band-wagon. Come on, all the cool states are doing it!