Saturday, February 26, 2011

Saturday...

Saturdays are full of possibilities. :)
Today I watched the BYU vs. SDSU basketball game. It was the first on I've watched all season and it was great! A close game, really exciting. It was fun. We won 80 to 67. Go Cougars!
So I re-read my poem from the previous post. I am sorry I put you all up to that; it was horrible. Worse than I remembered. Sorry about that.
I have a interview scheduled with people from Aspen Grove; wish me luck!
It is almost March, how weird is that? March means a visit from Emily, one month closer to the end of the semester and home. March means winter should be over, but we all know it won't be. It's also full of birthdays! Jared, Tanner, Heidi, Hunter...in that order. Woohoo!
I was buying cards the other day and they have St. Patrick's Day cards. What? Really? Ok, I guess. That holiday makes no sense to me...
anyways, Have a great day!

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Poetry for Creative Writing

I didn't post my other poem because it was awful. Really awful. But here's my new one. Hopefully you'll find it amusing. (It's all true.)


I walk home briskly,
Ignoring the cold.
My mind is somewhere else,
With a topic that is never old.

I try to hurry,
Because I can’t wait.
I’m like a fish,
And it’s the bait.

It consumes my mind
Even my dreams.
A simple TV show
But oh the happiness it brings.

I hurry to my laptop,
I turn it on quick.
Grab my blanket, a pillow
And a lollipop to lick.

I pull up Hulu on the internet
“Secret Garden” I type.
The Korean faces fill the screen
And I get so psyched.

I sit there and watch
I laugh, I cry, I scream.
I know all the characters
And the background songs they sing.

I read the English subtitles,
Some Korean words I learn.
This love of Korean drama
Is intense like a burn.

I am addicted to Korean dramas,
My friends can’t comprehend.
But I love watching the scenes unfold,
Character’s lives on the mend.

The characters have changed me,
They will never leave my head.
Now at night I wish for
Korean drama dreams in bed.


(Have you noticed I don't title my writings? I need to get better at titling things. Any suggestions for this one?)

Writing Sample for Creative Writing

A Writing Sample is a page of whatever. So I just wrote for this one. That's why there is no ending...or beginning. Enjoy:

He walked off with my ticket, and I felt like I had just given away my last piece of home. I sat back in my seat and stared out the window as the world rushed by in a blur of greens and browns. The rain smacked against the glass, and I pretended the wetness on my cheeks were just raindrops as well.

I pulled out my wallet, and took out the picture. Our house looked so peaceful and still. There was no sign of the disaster that was just a few days away. The apples were pulling down the tree’s branches and the rhododendrons were exploding with red blooms. Julie’s bike was in the front yard, its streamers flapping in the wind. One tear plopped onto the photo and I quickly brushed it away. I stuck the picture back into my wallet; I didn’t want to ruin it.

The train continued to rattle along, making a lot of noise. I tried to fall asleep, but the racket wouldn’t let me. I put my jacket over my face, trying to block out the harsh lighting of the train. I don’t know how long I sat like that, but when I pulled the jacket away, there was a man sitting across from me.

I flinched, and put the jacket back over my face. The tears were still escaping from my eyes, and I didn’t want a stranger asking me if I was fine. I tried to listen past the din of the train and focus on the rain hitting the window. It was a calmer sound, not as angry and chaotic. IO remembered sitting on our porch, listening to the light summer rain pattering against the roof and the leaves. I liked to watch it make rings in the bird bath.

K-Drama, my life.


Over the summer my friend Val started talking about a Korean drama show she was watching, Boys Before Flowers. Well, it sounded really interesting, and it WAS summer, so I decided to try it out. And I got hooked.
After finishing Boys Before Flowers, I didn't really know what to do with my free time. Just kidding, I had tons of good ideas, but it was weird not having my show to watch anymore. Then in January, I felt like watching a new show again. So I tried out Playful Kiss, another Korean drama. LOVED IT. And then I asked Val for more suggestions. She told me she really liked Secret Garden. So I clicked on the first episode of Secret Garden.
It has now been a few weeks, and I have watched all 20 episodes of Secret Garden. It was the best thing I have ever watched. I adore that show and I am so bummed that it's over. It was so good! Let me explain a few reasons why I love Korean drama so much now:
1. It's clean. Yes, it's drama, but it's not all about who's sleeping with who and drugs and parties and all the junk you see in American TV. No, it is clean and I love that.
2. It's in Korean. Yes, I know, you're going, "but you don't speak Korean." Yes, that's a fact. During Korean dramas, I read English subtitles. So why do I like it so much? Because I now know a few words in Korean. I can say hello, mom, dad, thank you (in 2 ways), sorry, and "what to do?". I love it.
So those are random details that make it so great. Secret Garden is my favorite but I love all of the three I've watched so far. They are a bit cheesy, but you can't help loving it. So, do you want to be cultured? Or do you have some free time? Or do you just want to watch something amazing? Then try these Korean dramas. They will change your TV watching experience! haha! I watch them all on Hulu, but there's other online sites where they're posted as well. If you try them out, let me know what you think!
감사합니다

Friday, February 18, 2011

Book Review: Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones

Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones was a novel that I was assigned to read for a literature class. As their home becomes unsafe, Mr. Watts, the only white man on the island of Bougainville, reads Great Expectations by Charales Dickens to the kids of the island. They learn to escape to a world they have never even come close to seeing. Matilda, the main character, feels that she has become friends with Pip and she often imagines his life to take a break from hers. But the rebels and the "redskins" don't let Matilda's home stay peaceful and easy, and Matilda is forced to face circumstances that no child should ever have to experience.
I enjoyed this book. It was odd to read a novel about another novel, but I thought it was very well done. It makes the readers realize how powerful literature can be. Something that Mr. Watts teaches his students is that everyone's individual "voice [is] special, and we should remember this whenever we used it, and remember that whatever else happened to us in our lives our voice could never be taken away from us" (256). This quote applies to my Creative Writing class so perfectly; we've been talking about authors having their own unique voice. I have never read Great Expectations, but because of this novel, I plan to.

Thursday, February 17, 2011

Mother Knows Best

I love the Disney movie Tangled. I can easily say Rapunzel is my favorite Disney princess. I bought the soundtrack after seeing the movie for the second time. I can't wait until it comes out on DVD! Anyways, I listen to the soundtrack as I get ready in the morning. There's a song called Mother Knows Best that the evil witch lady sings (oops, sorry - Spoiler Alert!). It gets stuck in my head a lot. But I've decided that mother really does know best (maybe not in Rapunzel's case, but certainly in mine). My mom told me to wear my apron while cooking hamburger because I got grease on my shirt the last time. Well, the other day I was cooking hamburger. I thought, "I should wear my apron." But did I go get it? Nope. And did hamburger grease get on my shirt? Of course it did. Luckily, it was just a free BYU t-shirt but it was my first day wearing it, so I was annoyed. Hopefully the grease will come out. But I have decided that mother really does know best.

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Valentines Day

I do not like Valentines Day. And no, not because I do not have a "significant other." I dislike Valentines Day because you should appreciate your loved ones every day of the year, not just on February 14th. It's really only fun for the elementary schoolers; for everyone else it's just annoying. Anyways, on Valentines Day I have made it a tradition to wear a black shirt. But this year it was even better! I had to work between classes which meant I'd be wearing black pants, shoes, and socks to class! So I was wearing solid black while on campus during the pinkest day of the year! I saw my friend and she was wearing pink so I said, "you're so festive." And she looks at me a goes, "and you're so...death..." Haha!
For that evening some friends and I had planned an anti-Valentines day party. It didn't really turn out that way, but it was still fun. We made sugar cookies in heart shapes and the original plan had been to frost them black, but there was no black food coloring. And we were going to break the hearts, but they were to cute. So mostly we just had fun frosting a bunch of cookies!

















The people we borrowed the cookie cutters from had a mitten cookie cutter in the bag as well! Of course I couldn't pass up the chance to make a mitten cookie! :)

Saturday, February 12, 2011

Dear Dr. Love

Every Valentines Day, the Daily Universe (BYU's campus newspaper) has someone take on the roll of Dr. Love. Anyone can send letters in to Dr. Love and few days before Valentines Day, the letters with their answers appear in the Daily Universe. This year, my Creative Writing professor sent us all an email telling us that he knows the girl being Dr. Love this year and that she had received no letters so far. So he challenged us to write a letter; it didn't matter, write a funny one. So I did. And it was published on page six of the Daily Universe. Here is my letter and Dr. Love's answer. Go ahead and Laugh!

Dr. Love,
Help! I am in love with the most perfect man. He is impossibly beautiful - he basically looks like a Greek god. He is tall and buff. He has a flawless face: a strong chin, straight nose, full and luscious lips. I want to kiss those lips so bad! His hair is a unique bronze color and I wish I could run my fingers through it all day. I get sucked into his topaz eyes and can't stop looking at them. He is the ideal gentleman; he is charming, polite, courteous, thoughtful, gracious, charismatic...sigh. I am unconditionally and irrevocably in love. He doesn't know I exist. What do I do?

Sincerely,
Girl who wants to say it out loud.

Girl Who Wants to Say it Out Loud,
Be careful. Vampires bite.
MD Dr. Love

hahahaha! I am so glad she got my Twilight references! Otherwise, that would've been a GIANT flop. I even Wikepedia'd "Edward Cullen" to be reminded of the sappy descriptions. :)
WOOHOO to something I wrote being in print!

Thursday, February 10, 2011

and yet another short story for Creative Writing

“AH!” I held the screeching baby as far away from me as possible. His face was redder than I thought anyone’s face could ever get. He had sticky snot streaming out of his button nose, and drool was dripping of his chin. His shirt was soaked with sweat, and his hair was plastered to his head and face. He had been screaming and crying like this for at least an hour! Okay, not really, but that’s what it felt like to me.

Frustrated with the kid and myself, I held him close again. I was past caring about how I looked; let him drip and drool all over me. I started to pace, cringing every time a murderous shriek entered my ear.

I felt like I had tried everything. I ran through a mental checklist again. I had checked his diaper, it was clean. I had tried to feed him; his food was now the kitchen’s decorations. He didn’t want water or milk or juice. He didn’t want to rock in the rocking chair or bounce on the yoga ball. I had even tried taking him outside, but it didn’t seem to help and I didn’t want calls from the neighbors. He was supposed to be asleep but every time I laid him back down in his crib, he howled even louder.

I stomped my foot in anger. I hated that I was so clueless. I babysat all the time! I was a pro! But this obnoxious child wouldn’t shut up! I felt tears forming in my eyes and that made me angrier. At this point, I was debating calling the parents. I never liked to call them; it made me feel like a failure. But I just couldn’t handle this kid anymore.

I was heading down the stairs with the wailing kid when I had a new idea. “Okay,” I said to myself. “Try this one more thing. If it doesn’t work, call.”

I turned around and went back to his room. I stood by his crib, holding him close, and I started to rock back and forth on my tired feet. Softly, I stared to sing. “I’m trying to be like Jesus, I’m following in his ways. I’m trying to love as He did, in all that I do and say…” His screams were miraculously quieting down. “At times I am tempted to make a wrong choice, but I try to listen as the still, small voice whispers…” He was now just sniffling and breathing heavily. “Love one another as Jesus loves you, try to show kindness in all that you do. Be gentle and loving in deed and in thought, for these are the things Jesus taught.” I looked at him. He was quiet, and his puffy eyes were drooping shut. Smiling, I set him down in his crib and covered him with his blanket. I tiptoed out, sighing as I silently closed the door.

1st Poem for Creative Writing

I grab the golden ticket key,
And if I’m at home
I hurry up the street.
And if I’m at school
I hurry down the stairs
To check that box of possibilities.

At home, I dash along the sidewalk,
With my dog at my feet.
In Utah I dash down the hall,
Sometimes with no shoes.
But in both states
I’m rushing to check that box.

Will there be anything?
A crisp, white square of happiness
With my name in the center?
Or a picture with “miss you”
Scrawled on the back?
Something from someone important?

I jam the key into the lock.
It turns, opens and
I look with expectations,
So many hopeful expectations,
…at nothing
Just a black hole of despair.

Back up the street
Or back up the stairs
No longer hurrying,
Rushing, anticipating.
I hate it when that box
Holds absolutely nothing.

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

For FrEEEEEE?

For any of you who know where that title comes from, you win a pat on the back. So reach back there and pat it.

A few weeks ago, I got a ad on Facebook that was advertising Garnet earrings for free. Well, since I am a college student and really big on sales, I LOVE free stuff! So I clicked on it. It said the jewelry company was giving away these normally $89 earrings for free - all I had to do was pay shipping and handling. Well, first I thought it was a scam. But I did my research - looked further into the company and their products - and it ended up seeming pretty legit. So I decided to order those earrings.
After entering all my information and paying for shipping/handling, it told me the earrings would come within 5 to 7 business days. So I figured the middle of the following week. Well a couple weeks went by and still no earrings. I came to terms with myself that it was a scam and I had just lost $7 and should probably pay close attention to my bank account. But then...they showed up in my mailbox! Hooray! So today I am wearing some beautiful red garnet heart-shaped earrings that I got for super cheap!
(please excuse the blurriness of the picture; my camera couldn't figure out what I wanted it to focus on.)

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Canada

My freshman year at BYU I became friends with 2 guys from Calgary, Canada. My best friend Emily is half Canadian, so I knew a bit about Canada and Canadian-ness. Basically, I had experienced the goodness of Wunderbars before I met these Canadians. Well, one of the Canadians came to visit Provo last week and he brought me a Wunderbar! And it was a double one too! SO EXCITING!
My group of friends sort of became obsessed with Canada, so if you would like to enjoy it as well watch "I know that you want to be Canadian" on youtube.

Sunday, February 6, 2011

Do I have to have a title?

Stowaway Magazine (stowawaymag.com) is having a photo contest. The winners will have their photos in the summer or fall 2011 issues. The themes are Colors of the World and Fairs & Festivals. I entered this picture under the title of "Northwest Haven" for the Colors of the World category.













I took it in Pacific City on the Oregon Coast a little over a year ago. We climbed up the giant sand dune there and the view was spectacular. Here's a few more from the sand dune:


Thursday, February 3, 2011

Short Memoir #2 for Creative Writing

“C’mon, Megan. It’ll be fun.”

“No way.” My friend Lauren was trying to convince me to go on a roller coaster called Top Gun at Great America – an amusement park in the Bay Area of California. We were on a band trip and got to spend the majority of the day riding rides and hanging out. Top Gun did look like an exciting roller coaster, and I liked roller coasters…as long as they didn’t go upside down.

Way back in third grade, I was playing on the bars by myself at recess. I hung from the lowest bar (the only one I could reach) by my knees. The next thing I remember, I was lying on the ground and my head hurt a lot. I had fallen off the bar and hit my head hard enough that it knocked me out for a few moments. But since I was only eight years old, that experience was really scary. I decided to never go upside down again. And that included upside-down roller coasters.

Later in the day at Great America I was walking around with my friend Amanda, who was also nervous about the roller coasters, and my mom (she chaperoned that trip). We ended up in front of a roller coaster with absolutely no line. We checked it out. It did go upside-down; it had three loops. I was feeling bummed out for not having as much fun as my friends were since upside-down roller coasters seemed to be the majority at Great America. “Look guys, no line,” said my mom. Over the next few minutes, she convinced me to go on the roller coaster and once I was convinced, we worked together to persuade Amanda. A few short seconds later, we were strapped in and the cars were on their way.

The fist loop came up and I squeezed my eyes shut tight, held on for dear life, and screamed in fear. I stayed in that position for the rest of the ride. We came back to the dock, and the employee said, “There’s still no line. Want to go again?” Amanda and I looked at each other. We had already ridden it once, so why not do it again?

The second run, I still held on tightly and screamed like crazy, but I was able to succeed with squinting my eyes rather than shutting them completely. When we arrived at the end, the guy said the same thing: “still no line.” We went again.

The third time was different; I now knew there was nothing to be scared of. The loops came, and I stared them in the face. I left my eyes wide open, threw my hands in the air, and this time my voice came out in an odd laughter and screaming-for-fun blend.