Music and Mayhem

I really need to be better about keeping up with my blog. It seems that time just flies and I have every intention of saying something, but then I get caught up in everything else that I am doing and it just doesn't happen...
That's really no excuse, but it helps me sleep at night :) So, today started off as a normal Saturday: sleep in, Gizmo wakes me up, start doing absolutely nothing . . . (Left - Jon Schmidt in a crazy red wig while playing at a concert) Ok, I did laundry after my landlord came and fixed our dryer. But then I actually did something. That's right, I forced myself to sit down and do some homework. Truth be told, I really needed to get a lot more done than I actually did, but what can you do.
Later, a friend of mine called to see if I wanted to go to a concert with her. She said that she wanted to go with someone fun, so somehow she thought of me. I admit, I can be fun sometimes, but I don't think I'm usually the first person who comes to mind when the word fun is spoken. But in any event, I figured I needed a break and decided to go with her.
We went to see Jon Schmidt. I didn't really know who he was (sheepish grin) but after I looked him up online, I realized that I had heard his music before. (Right - Aimee, Jon Schmidt, and me. I don't know if you can tell from this picture, but Jon and I both have bandaids on our thumb and pointer finger on our left hand. We aren't calling you a loser, don't worry). Now, that is definitely saying something if people who don't even know of the artist have heard their music enough that it is familiar. For those of you, like me, who aren't clear about who he is, he is an incredible pianist, a nice guy, and an entertaining performer. He did lots of crazy things, like playing upside down, playing with his toes and even his face at different parts of the concert. He also put on a red wig during one song. It was great and very enjoyable.
Afterwards, my friend and I got our picture with Jon Schmidt. It was interesting because it turned out that Jon and I both had band-aids on the exact same fingers! Of course, mine aren't from playing a piano, but that doesn't really matter, now does it.
It was a great time, and although I am now utterly exhausted, I'm glad that I went.

Pumpkin's are evil

I don't really think pumpkins are evil, I just had a heck of a time tonight with one. I've had a pumpkin sitting on my counter since, well, Halloween. I've been telling myself that I was going to cook it and we would have fresh pumpkin, but it just kept sitting there. So, tonight, I decided to cut it open and cook its flesh (See left). That was much tougher than I thought. It wouldn't have been so bad if I had some kind of steamer, but I had to boil it, and to do that I needed to remove the outer shell.
Well, I slipped a couple of times while I was cutting the pumpkin open. One time I sliced off a huge chunk of skin. It started bleeding profusely. I put on a bandage, but soon realized that one just wasn't going to cut it (ha ha, really bad pun) when I noticed that blood was leaking through the pores. I didn't know band-aids could bleed... (see below). Well, the pain didn't stop there. I also cut a couple of times into the tip of my thumb. I'm lucky I didn't cut my finger off, and if I ever decide to have a fresh pumpkin again, I'm going to get a steamer so I can just steam it in its shell.
That was only one of my adventures for the day. Besides that, Sara and I went grocery shopping. A new store just opened up here in Provo called Buy Low Market. Sara got a part-time job there, so she brought home their ad. I was happy to see that they were having a sale on chicken for $.99/lb! And that was for boneless, skinless chicken breasts. Unfortunately, we had to buy a 40 lb box to get that price. I didn't really know how much 40lbs of chicken was until I saw the box. When we got it home, we started separating it to put in our freezer. We got half-way through when I decided that we could not handle 40lbs of chicken. I had already planned to offer some to my cousin's family (Adam and Betsy) but now I really hoped that they would want some, so I called them up. To my great delight, not only did they want some, but they were willing to take half! They even went and bought a 40lb box for other family members (Josh and Catie, my other cousins, are sharing a box with Jim and Carla, my aunt and uncle). Between us all, a lot of chickens had to die.

Gaza

Most people who know me and/or have read my blog know how I feel about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. With what has been going on in Gaza, I've been thinking a lot more about the situation over there. It is all very sad to me because I've been there. I've met Israelis, I've met Palestinians and I can see and understand both sides of the conflict. Sometimes I wonder if peace is even possible when so many wrongs have been perpetrated by both sides. However, I tend to lean towards the Palestinian side. I guess its because I am the kind of person who supports the underdog. I'm the kind of person who watches a fictional movie and when someone has mean pranks played on them say, "How horrible! That's so mean!" And that isn't even real! I once had someone say that I am a champion for the underdog, and I think that is true. But, that is not the point of my entry tonight.
A few of my fellow BYU-JC students got together tonight to watch a documentary called Promises. It is a documentary of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as shown from the eyes of children, both Israelis and Palestinians. There was a rather diverse group of kids, from Palestinian extremists to Jewish extremists, and then some in between. I think it showed the broad spectrum of the conflict. There are so many people in this world who believe in stereotypes. In this case, the Israelis are the good guys and the Palestinians are the bad guys. What they don't see is that there are Israelis who are good guys and Israelis who are bad guys just as there are Palestinians who are good guys and Palestinians who are bad guys.
After the documentary, we had a discussion. There were a couple people there who haven't been to Jerusalem. They didn't say much so I'm not sure how their views differed, but talking with my fellow JC-ers, I realized how much the experience of living there changed my perception. My views are very different from the majority of the students at BYU, or even from the majority of Americans and I think that is because I have a perspective that you can only get from living there. However, you can come very close through this documentary.
Is there hope for peace? I think there is, but only, as several of the kids pointed out in the documentary, if Israelis and Palestinians get together and have dialog. Without that interaction, there is no hope for peace because neither side will ever be able to understand the other.
Anyway, I found a song about Gaza that I really like. Check it out on youtube if you like.
It was written by an American named Michael Heart, who manages to give voice to a people who really have no voice in the West.

Happy New Years!!

Happy New Years!! Welcome to 2009! It is weird, each year seems to go by faster and faster. I remember exactly what was going on around this time last year. Lots, actually, especially since I was getting ready to go to Jerusalem. (Left - playing Nerts. Around the circle you'll see Brittany, Adam, Sara, Elizabeth, Betsy, Catie, and Josh) I almost wish something exciting like that was happened right now. But, I'll take what I can get.
Sara, Elizabeth, and I went over to Adam and Betsy's house tonight (as in for New Years Eve). Josh and Catie came down from West Jordan and Brittany came down from Brigham City. (Right - Brittany holding Daniel). It was a lot of fun. We played games, had lots of good snacks, and pretty much just had a great time. We played Nerts, which was a big hit, and I also taught them to play Bang! I don't think they enjoyed that one as much, but I sure liked it.
By the time we were done, everyone was exhausted. (See left). I really would like to do more things like this, especially since we have family so close. (This last picture is me and Gizmo since we hadn't been photographed for New Years yet).

Finals!

Well, finals are over! I am so happy to be done with everything! Now I get a short little break before school begins again . . . but I won't think about that.
I haven't written in awhile. Nothing too exciting has been happening. Wait a second, I lied. I did get a scholarship for next semester, so that helps out financially! I also found out that I passed the FSOT!!! (Foreign Service Officer Test - to become a Foreign Service Officer in the State Department). Of course, that means very little right now. All it means is that I could possibly go on to the Oral Assessment, but I won't even find out until March . . . That's a long wait. What they will do now is give my exam results and my application to the QEP (Qualifications Evaluation Panel) who will give me a ranking that will determine if I go on to the Oral Assessment. Once that is over, if I go on to the Oral Assessment, that isn't even the end of the process! Even if I pass the Oral Assessment, I am not guaranteed a job. It is quite a lengthy and involved process, but I am excited nonetheless. We shall see what happens. And, in about a month I am supposed to get the breakdown of my exam results. That may help me to know how big of a chance I have to go on to the Oral Assessment.
Also, I am in the Relief Society Presidency in my ward. As a member of the presidency, we had to do a skit at the Ward Christmas Party. It was quite fun. I wish I had the video to post on here. Maybe I can get it and then I will post it. There are 5 of us in the presidency. 1 was the narrator (Cheri), 2 were the arms (Rachel-not me and Jessica), and the other 2 were the faces/feet (me and Gina). If that doesn't make sense, imagine one of those skits that they do on Who's Line is it Anyway? where one person stands behind the other and sticks their arms through as if the back person's arms were the front person's arms. Then imagine them kneeling down and the front person's arms become the legs so you have a very short person with very short arms but a normal sized head. I am told that it was hilarious. Plus, people started laughing before we even started our skit. The narrator read the Night Before Christmas while the two short people "acted" it out. We just used our arms and our "legs" to do it, but it was a lot of fun, and we had several people laughing hysterically in the audience. It was great.
As for what is coming up, I will be working through the holidays (hurrah). My good friend Kalia invited Sara and me to do some activities with them during the holidays, so we will be doing that. Tonight we are going to Thanksgiving Point with her and her family. Sunday we are going to Brigham City to spend time with my mom's family. I'm not sure what is going on next week, but on Christmas Day, Sara and I are going to West Jordan to spend Christmas with Becky and my dad's sister's family.
I'm pretty excited. I just hope I don't go crazy at work with nothing to do . . .