Japan Day 2

We went to Nikko today. It`s a little town about two hours north of Tokyo where one of the super powerful Shoguns set up his territory back in the 12th century. Nikko is up in the mountains (hillscompared to our mountains). It was so green and beautiful with ancient shrines (Shinto) and temples (Budhist) tucked in among the trees.

I wish they`d had a few more  English translations, but it was still amazing.

Famous would carving on stable building with monkeys in hear no evil, speak no evil, see no evil positions.

Can`t remember the name of this gate right now, but it is the most elaborate in Japan. They say you could look at it for 400 years before you would see every detail.

I love this guy`s pose and his awesome elephant knee protectors.



It` sacred, people!

Our first real Japanese lunch.

My sister`s lunch. I was very proud of her because she is an extremely picky eater

My tasty lunch. Soba noodles which are made from buck wheat. I`m not sure what the floaty round things were but they were good.

Whew! We Made It

So after 20 something hours of travel (too tired to do the math), we made it to Japan and thanks to my excellent navigation skills we got on the express train and found our hotel without getting lost once.

We did get a little taste of the Japan Rail Station just now while looking for a place to eat, and it makes me a little nervious to start using the mass transit tomorrow. It`s a little crazy.

Here`s a funny story from our flight.

Flight attendants who try to get everyone drunk are very entertaining. Apparently the booze is free on Air Canada and one of the flight attendants kept saying things like, come on it`s a Saturday night or this beer has water in it when some one would ask for just water. I had to tell him I didn`t drink before he would leave me alone.

I had someother witty observations, but I am too tired to remember right now. Gonna go to bed early so we can start exploring Japan tomorrow!


Update

Now that I`ve had some sleep and can actually think again, here are the rest of my witty observations.

Japan represents when it comes to toilets. The first restroom we stopped at in the airport had a bidet (the sign on the outside of the stall had a drawing of two cheeks with a little fountain underneath), a squat toilet and a regular pedestal toilet. I guess they want every one to feel comfortable by offering one stall of each type of toilet. Speaking of toilets, the one in our hotel room is awesome. It has electronics and it`s seat is heated too.

Check out the control panel.

There are instructions on the inside of the lid.

Japan is really really humid. You should have seen my hair by the time we got to the hotel. It was almost to afro proportions. Today I lacquered it down to helmet hardness, and that helped for most of the day.

Big in Japan

Anyone remember Big in Japan by Alphaville? (Aww, the nostalgia. I haven't thought about Alphaville in a long time.)

Last year at the Sundance Film Festival we watched a documentary called Kick In Iran. It was an interesting show about the only female athlete to ever make it to the Olympics from Iran. Sara Khoshjamal-Fekri competed in Taekwondo. Anyways, there was this funny scene where they were listening to the song, Big in Japan, and Sara was very confused. She didn't understand that "Big" meant "Famous".

Well I am headed to Japan today and I fully expect to be "Big" in Japan as in "Large". I am 5' 7 1/2" which is above average for an American woman (5' 4" is the average). The average height for a Japanese woman is about 5'. I'll probably be as tall as the men in Japan. Should be interesting.

By the way, as long as I can find an internet connection, you'll be reading a lot about Japan in the next 10 days.

P.S. I am so exited!

Book Talking vs. Book Suggesting

Why is Book Talking so much funner than Book Suggesting?

Today and tomorrow I get to go to the local junior high and high schools to talk about teen books as a way of promoting all the great authors that are coming to the Library's first ever Teen Book Fest.

I forgot how much I like to talk about books. I love talking about why I liked reading a book and why you should read it too. Sometimes I have to restrain myself when I am in book stores to keep from going up to people and telling them why the book they are looking at is so good.

Book suggesting, however, is not as much fun. It's stressful for a number of reasons when some one comes up to the desk and asks for a good book to read.

1. My mind immediately goes blank.
2. The patron usually wants something they can take with them right then and all the books I can think of are checked out (or in other words all the good books are usually checked out)
3. In order for me to give a good recommendation, I need to know a little about what kinds of books the patron personally likes to read, but they are usually not very forthcoming.

They always ask for your favorite book. Please take my advice and DON'T ever ask this of a Librarian.

1. When it comes to Book Suggesting (not book talking), it doesn't matter what I like to read. It matters what you like to read. I am trained to be able to find books that will suit your tastes and personality. Please, let me do my job.
2. Most librarians have very eclectic tastes and most people looking for a good book are looking for something a little more mainstream.
3. Most of us DON'T have a favorite book. We have lots of books we like and asking us to name one book is like asking us to choose which is our favorite child.

So I guess Book Talking is better than Book Suggesting because it has all of the fun parts but not of the draw backs.

Incidentally the two books I am talking up to the schools are these to two excellent reads.

More Impromptu Concerts

Last night I went to see James. No, not a person named James but the band. If you were into Alternative music in the 90s then you will probably recognize the song below.



I'm not exactly sure why he decided to look like a cancer patient in this video. His outfit last night was definitely unique too. I've been promised pictures of the lead singer's spastically awesome dancing, but I don't have them yet. I'll post them here later if I do get them.

Anyways, I learned of this concert only a few weeks ago. Until that point, I thought the band had broken up. And apparently they had, but have since reunited and released a new album. I wanted to go to the concert, but hadn't gone to the effort to buy tickets. I was fortunately invited to go last minute. I say fortunately  because I am very glad I didn't miss this concert.

Smaller venues are so much better than large stadium concerts. Yes, stadiums will blow you away with their video and light shows, but in a small concert you are there with people who really care about the band and you are literally 15 feet from the musicians. It just makes for a more personal experience.

Seeing James reminded me of all of this again.

Good News and Bad News

Why do they seem to come in a pair?

Today in the space of about 20 minutes, I received some very bad news and then some good news.

That's all your gettin'.

(Ask me for details.)

Shout Out to My Brother

I would like to take a moment to tell you what an awesome brother I have.  I actually have 4 brothers, and all of them are great, but I have one brother in particular who comes through for me again and again. He's one of those handy men that knows a little about everything and sometimes a lot.

Today while I was driving to do some errands, my "check engine" light came on. Not wanting to ruin my engine, I quickly called my brother and asked him if this was a dire situation or if I could still drive around. I was pretty sure it wasn't, but that's one of the things that's great about my brother is that he always takes my call so I can quickly have the correct answer instead of trying to guess.

Over the phone, my brother suggested something to try and then said he could bring over his handy diagnostics tool that reads what the check engine light means. He is so willing to take time out of his busy schedule (family, work, and school) to help me. He also makes it look so easy. I often times feel silly about how easy something was, but I always seem to second guess myself when it comes to car and home repairs.

Here are some other great examples:

• Helped me when my washing machine hose decided to burst open and spray water everywhere.
• Helped me tile my kitchen and bathroom, repaint the bedrooms, and change the light fixtures.
• Changes the oil in my car.
• Helped me choose which car to buy.
• Helps me get discounts on large electronics and appliances.

Here's to you o'brother of mine!


Don't you wish you had a brother like him?

October Birthdays Party

Tonight we celebrated the October birthdays. Yes, I said Birthdays. 5 to be exact.

In my family your birthday has to occur at the same time as at least two other people or you're pretty much not allowed to be in the family.

We have the January Birthdays (mine is included in this because the January birthdays all fall in the last half of the month)
16 - Aunt
22 - Brother
26 - Brother
30? - Nephew
8 (Feb) - Mine

The April Birthdays
23 - Sister-in-law
24 - Sister
27 - Sister


The October Birthdays
1 - Sister
6 - Niece
7 - Brother
12 - Niece
? - soon-to-be Brother-in-law

Over the years there have been additions and subtractions to the family, but they all seam to fall into one of these clusters. For example, my grandfather was a January birthday and my brother's ex-wife and my dad were both April birthdays. My niece who is turning 2 is a new addition to the October birthdays.

So, I know that statistically there are more people born in June-July-August because it was cold 9 months before that and I guess there wasn't much else to do, but our cluster birthdays don't work with that. So why?

On the plus side, it does make it easier to plan birthday parties. You get them all in one giant birthday bash.

Sasha and Max

I would like to introduce you to two very cute and very hilarious cats.

Sasha and Max

Sasha is a beautiful part Siamese, part Calico (brown, black, and white spots), part Tabby (striped) mix and Max is a very, extremely, humongously fat orange Tabby (think Garfield).

I would like it noted right here at the beginning that I am not one of those crazy cat ladies who thinks of her pets as children and says things like, "Mommy needs you to be a good baby tonight and eat your food."

That being said, I do enjoy having pets (for the most part). My cats are very snuggly and I enjoy watching TV curled up next to a purring, furry body. They also do the funniest things (at least my cats do).

I sometimes call her Princess Sasha because she acts like one

How is this a comfortable way to sit?

The bad parts are when you come home to something like what is depicted below. Yes, I know who the culprit is and it's not Max, the one who usually gets into trouble.

The other thing I don't like is cat fur everywhere. It takes a lot of energy to keep the amount of fur floating around to a minimum. But recently I discovered a new tool that has helped immensely.

It is called the Fur Fighter by Scotch (although I think there are other brands out there as well). And it is the best thing I have used so far for cleaning up cat fur from my couch. Keep in mind that nothing is 100% effective, but this little tool has the best effort vs. results ratio I have found so far.

Librarians Have an Aura (or Something)

I was running out of the Library the other day to catch my flight to Las Vegas. I had already changed into jeans and was rushing out the door. As I was quickly walking out, I noticed an elderly couple standing near the stairs looking lost. Normally, whether I was actually on the clock or not I would have stopped and asked if they needed help, but I was kinda late so I didn't want to take the time. Instead I tried to rush past them without making eye contact but was stopped by the man for help anyways. He asked if I worked at the Library because they were trying to locate one of the meeting rooms.

So I have this theory that librarians have this aura or something that says, "Ask Me. I'm someone who is trained to help people." Now, granted I was the only person in the nearby vicinity, but why would he specifically ask if I worked at the Library when I didn't have a name tag on, wasn't dressed properly, and was specifically trying to avoid helping them, if there wasn't something about me that implied I will have the answer to his question?

This phenomenon doesn't just happen at the Library. I get asked for directions and other informational help all over town. Even in Las Vegas, KK and I got stopped by some tourists for directions to an outlet mall in a place where it should have been clear that we were just tourists as well.

Here's the other thing, you will probably get the best answer possible if you are lucky enough to ask me or other librarians for help when you see us outside of the library. Without even thinking about it I always try to give people the best answer I can with as many details as possible. Something that in my experience doesn't always happen when you ask random people for help. I guess I just can't turn the Librarian thing me in me off.

Vegas Does Something Right

Say what you want about Vegas, but man do they know how to put on a good show. We saw Vampire Weekend at the Palms Hotel Pearl theater. There isn't a bad seat in the house. They also have tons of helpful ushers to guide you to your seat. And don't get me started on the restrooms. They were several notches up from your normal concert venue.

Vampire Weekend was great in concert. It's always fun to see bands live but some bands are just better. Vampire Weekend definitely falls into the latter category.

We also got to see my favorite free show. The Bellagio fountains. I always forget how amazing they are.

So if you ever have the opportunity to see a show in Vegas I would definitely recommend it. I haven't been disappointed yet.

See, I can be spontaneous!

I mentioned a few weeks ago how sad I was that I missed Vampire Weekend in concert. Well, I get to see them after all.

A little over a week ago, I decided to look up if they had any concerts nearby. The West is not at all like back East where you can drive through 2 states in about 2 1/2 hours. It takes somewhere between 6-9 hours to get to a large city in any of the surrounding states. So I was hoping Vampire Weekend would be performing in Denver or Las Vegas. Well I got lucky and they do have a show in Vegas.

Here's the best part. I found a deal on a flight and hotel package so I don't even have to drive. It only takes about 45 minutes to fly to Vegas from SLC. I talked KK into going with me on my crazy quick trip to Vegas, and tomorrow we'll be off for a fun day in Sin City.

If Librarians Could Talk Back

Sometimes I really wish I could say these things to patrons at the library. Ok maybe I've actually said a few of them.

Disclaimer: These are just thoughts when I get frustrated. Customer service can often be a challenge. As a general rule I love helping people.

• Lack of preparation on your part does not constitute an emergency on mine.
• We are not an office supply store.
• No, I won't loan you some batteries. Why would you even think I would?
• Grow up.
• I am not your slave.
• No, I will not do your homework for you.
• Your child is a crazy monster who was climbing the shelves over there. If you were paying any attention at all, you would have seen this.
• Just because we are a nonprofit organization does not mean that you only have to follow the rules you want. Nor do I have to do everything you say.
• No, I am not just a volunteer I actually have to have a degree to work here.
• No, I cannot help you with that online game that you have been playing for the last 4 hours. I actually have work to do. Unlike you, obviously.
• What part of this is a library and therefore should be quiet is so hard to understand?
• Just because I am a woman does not mean you don't have to listen to me.
• No, I do not want to hear about how eating lunch meat can kill you.
• No, I do not want to hear about how we should ban all Muslems from immigrating to the US.
• No, I do not want to hear that stupid joke about getting a free internet pass EVERY time you come to the desk
• I am a human being. Please do not throw your money or library card at me.
• We DO have a list of all the DVDs owned by the Library. It's called the catalog. 
• We are not your free babysitters.
• I'm sorry you didn't get that COURTESY reminder email when your books were due but you still have to pay the late fees.
• Yes, I know how to spell Dan Brown's last name.
• I don't know what rock you were living under but the rest of the world has known about The Hunger Games for a while and therefore there is a waiting list.
• Your tax dollars do NOT pay for my salary. You don't even own a home here.
• I know you didn't know there was a no cell phone policy on the 2nd floor. That's why I am telling you about it.

Being White Trash is Hard

This summer my friends and I decided that since we live in Utah we should embrace the culture and go see all the big White Trash events. We had plans to go see a rodeo, monster truck rally, demolition derby, and roller derby.

Well summer is now over and we only made it to the demolition derby. Apparently you have to actually work to be White Trizzash. So after our failure during the summer we decided to extend it into to fall. Last night we went to see a roller derby. Salt Lake has a derby league called the Salt City Derby Girls that compete at the Salt Palace. If you've seen the movie Whip-it then you'll know what I'm talking about. Tough chicks dressed up in micro mini skirts with fish-net tights bash each other around as their team skates to get the most points.

Salt Lake's  Sisters of No Mercy vs. Ogden's Junction City Roller Dolls

I was not expecting the game to be so confusing. You really have to pay attention and know the rules to understand what is going on. Also, I thought the audience would be screaming and yelling, but everyone seemed very calm. Maybe it's just Utah. Still a fun and unique experience.

We're now thinking about a whole White Trash year just to get it right.

Fall Hiking

Now that it is officially Fall, I decided I needed to go on a hike to see all the beautiful Fall colors. I went to Battle Creek Canyon in Pleasant Grove. You have to hike up a ways to get to the the trees that are starting to change color, but it is beautiful once you get up there.

Bragging moment: I hiked all the way from the trailhead to the top of Battle Creek Falls without stopping once. That last bit before you reach the top is brutal. I also hiked it in under 15 minutes. It is a little less that a mile to get above the waterfall.

I was also excited because I finally found the connector trail to Dry Canyon. I've looked at maps and I know these two trails connect, but the only time I've tried was from the Dry Canyon side. I ended up on a cliff high above Battle Creek Canyon and I couldn't figure out where the trail went down into the canyon. Now that I know where the connection is in Battle Creek, I can follow it from there. I really wanted to do it today, but I just didn't have time. In fact, I was so short on time that I did one of my favorite things to do which is to run back down the canyon. I love that feeling of being out of control running down the mountain, but you have to be careful and not get too out of control. I'm pretty good at doing this.

What I am not good at is traversing log bridges. Something about crossing over water on uneven or wobbly bridges always gets me into trouble. Yes, I had a little mishap today. On the bright side, the water felt great.

Big Day

Today was a big day for me. I closed on my condo refinance. Yay for me!

You want to know what is really awkward? Asking a friend for a recommendation on a mortgage loan officer, then having to call that person with no introduction and explain to them how you got their name, and then that person not knowing who your friend is. Yeah, I'm already not a fan of calling people I don't know and talking to them about stuff I don't know anything about, but it's even worse when they have no idea how you got their cell phone number.

Now on to the good news! Once all the number crunching was done, and after I signed about a billion papers, my monthly payment came in at about  $170 a month cheaper than it was. Wow that's some amazing savings!

Strangely enough I felt really depressed after closing. I think it's just hard to see how much money your committing to pay over the next 30 years.

I decided to reward myself with a fideo from Cafe Rio. Fideo is a Mexican pasta. It's kinda a strange meal, but I love it. So 1300 calories later (well maybe not since I couldn't eat the whole thing) I am one satisfied girl and not feeling as depressed as I was earlier.

"My Cat Can Eat a Whole Watermelon"

Writing about A Hard Days Night got me thinking about other cult films I used to watch. There is of course the ubiquitous Monty Python and the Holy Grail. I actually own the collector's edition which has some pretty entertaining extras. Like these awesome scenes below where the film was dubbed into Japanese and then translated back. What the Knights of Ni want in the Japanese version is almost better than the English version.



Here's one that not many of you will know about. Rubin and Ed filmed right here in our very own Utah. The film stars Crispin Glover, who is probably most famous for playing George McFly in Back to the Future. Here is the plot summary from IMDB.com.

Reclusive Rubin Farr teams up with vocal but unsuccessful multi-level salesman Ed Tuttle on a quest to bury Rubin's dead cat in the "perfect spot." Their trip takes them across Utah's desert where they have run-ins with Ed's ex-wife Rula and an elusive Andy Warhol critic.


I mean, come on. Doesn't that sound like the best film ever? Below is Rubin's dream sequence where he fantasizes that his cat can water ski. It is one of the best scenes of the movie and has the best line from the whole film.



There are so many other great cult films out there. Here are some others I used to watch all the time.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show
Better Off Dead
The Princess Bride
Real Genius
And Now for Something Completely Different
This is Spinal Tap

What films did you watch over and over again?

I'm a Mocker

The other day I was flipping channels and I noticed The Beatles mockumentary, A Hard Days Night, was on TV.

If you've never seen this or the Beatles' other films, you absolutely must! Watching it again brought back such nostalgic feelings. My friend's parents, who were in a band, had recorded all of them. We used to go over to his house and watch them all the time.

The basic gist of the film is that the Beatles, along with their managers, and Paul McCartney's (fake) grandfather are headed from Liverpool to London for a show. The film follows them through all the crazy things they get up to along the way.

John, Paul, Ringo and George make fun of pretty much everyone, including themselves and their fame. This film is very much about how different the young generation was from the stayed old fuddy-duddies of the older generations. Watching it again I was struck by the genius of it. It is definitely worthy of it's cult classic status.

The title of my post makes reference to an interview with Ringo. A lady asks him if he considers himself a mod or a rocker, and he replies, "Uh, no, I'm a mocker."  I love it!

You can find the whole show broken into pieces on YouTube. This part has the "mocker" line at the very end of it.

Are We BYU?

Today at the Library a tiny toddler was walking around chanting BYU, BYU, over and over again. It was pretty adorable, but it kinda depressed me at the same time.

For the last month or so there have been street lamp banners up on parts of University Ave that read “We are BYU.” The banners were not put up by the university but by the Utah Valley Visitors Bureau. Now as I understand it, this year’s theme for BYU Football is “We are BYU Football.” But I have a real problem with the Utah Valley Visitor’s Center proclaiming “We are BYU.” Yes, BYU is a big part of Provo, but to say, “We are BYU” implies that we are ONLY BYU and that is just not the case.

Take it from someone who has lived in Utah Valley nearly her whole life. You can live perfectly happily here without ever stepping foot on BYU campus. I do of course visit BYU from time to time. I appreciate their art museum and dramatic productions, but how about we focus on what else makes Provo great instead of the thing we already all know.

How unobservant can I be?

Apparently a lot.

I went to the gym this morning and after I finished my jog I was looking down at my feet and for the first time noticed that I was wearing two different running shoes. I've heard of people wearing one black sock and one blue sock before, but I've never actually seen any one wearing different shoes.

To be fair to myself, the shoes are pretty similar. One is light gray with purple trim and the other is white with purple trim (pink and purple trim are pretty much your choices for women's running shoes). But I thought I would have been able to feel the difference. After all, my old shoes gave me shin splints a few months back because they had lost all their cushion. So now I'm wondering if new shoes fixing my shin splints problem was all just in me head.

I guess if I'd read Born to Run, I would already know this.

Piranha Zwei

When I took German in high school. There was a section in our text book that represented a typical conversation between two young Germans. It went something like this...(translated, of course)

"Hello friend. What did you do last night?"
"I went to see a movie."
"A movie. What did you see?"
"I saw Piranha Zwei (two)."
"Piranha Zwei! I love that movie!"

My friends and I thought this was hilarious that 1) the text book writers were obviously trying to appeal to Americans by picking an American film (a really bad and really outdated American film), and 2) that they translated the title into German which only involved changing two to zwei. It became something of a joke for those of us in the class.

On Saturday, I babysat my nephew. It only took being with him a few minutes before I discovered that he has recently become obsessed with fish, especially piranha. He told me all about how you have to have a special permit to own a piranha or you could be fined $1000 and sent to prison for a minimum of 16 days (yes, he very seriously explained to me that that was the minimum sentence).

So naturally I decided we needed to visit the aquarium. I discovered many years ago that while babysitting young boys it is best to take them somewhere where they can be thoroughly entertained. Otherwise, they exhaust you.

Sandy is home to the Living Planet Aquarium. I had never been there before, but was very pleased with it. It's a little small for the price ($9 adult, $7 child), but as mentioned above, what price can you put on preventing a child from running you ragged?

We saw many different types of fresh and sea water fish. Some of which my nephew could tell me about before I even read the sign. And yes, we did get to see piranhas. This guy is just under a foot tall and in a tank with 20 or so of his friends. According to the information plate, piranha can only take down large mammals in schools like this. I really wanted to see their razor sharp teeth, but alas no such luck.

?!?? Flamingo

The new Brandon Flowers solo album, Flamingo, came out on Tuesday. I had already listened to his single, Crossfire that came out about a month ago. I liked the song (didn't love it). It is very catchy, plus the music video is hilarious. Brandon Flowers keeps getting captured by ninjas who want to torture him for some reason and Charlize Theron, with bad-ass skills, has to keep saving him which she seems none too pleased about.



Anyways, I couldn't wait for the library to purchase the album (my way of previewing albums before I decide if I like them enough to buy). So I bought the MP3 from Amazon. I love instant gratification.

I'm not exactly sure what to think about the album. I just can't pinpoint what I don't like. There are a lot of ballad like songs which isn't necessarily a bad thing (The Killers have some ballads). The album is definitely more pop/main stream than The Killers, but this isn't always a bad thing. The album kinda reminds me of Erasure (there is a lot of synth). I like synth. And from what I've read, Flamingo's been getting decent reviews. So why don't I like it more?

This is obviously Flowers' ode to his home town, Las Vegas. The first song is in fact called Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas. And it is the perfect example of how I feel about the album. Which is that one minute I love it and am marveling over Flowers' vocals and the next I am cringing over his vocals.

The songs I like the best are:

Only the Young
Magdalena
Crossfire
Swallow It

Thursday is Must See TV

Do you remember NBC's Must See TV? Seinfeld and Friends were the ones I watched. I was never much in to ER.

Well, my sister and I have started our own Thursday night Must See TV. Basically we wanted a reason to hang out together and since my other sister was always going on about how much she loved Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and neither of us had ever watched the series before, we decided to get the DVDs and watch every Thursday.

Buffy, however, started a precedent that I don't think we realized when we began. Namely, the shows we watch need to be cheesy, overly dramatic, or take themselves too seriously. This leads to making fun of the shows we watch. Which is a form of entertainment in itself.

Here is what we've watched so far:

Buffy the Vampire Slayer

BBC Robin Hood (my suggestion)

Firefly and Serenity (sister's suggestion)

The Legend of the Seeker (sister's suggestion)

Alias (my suggestion)











We're on the last season of Alias and then we are planning to watch the new Doctor Who. As you can tell from this list, both my sister and I like the Sci-Fi/Fantasy stuff the most. Any suggestions on what else we should watch?

Climb More Trees

"If I could do it all again. I would climb more trees and eat more wild blackberries."

This is a line from a Bloc Party song and I was thinking about it the other day. At first I thought the line was talking about what you regret in your past that you wish you could do over (not the big things but the little things). But today I decided that for me it's more about how we should be more spontaneous. After all, when do you ever sit in your house and make plans to go outside and climb a tree.

Spontaneity  is something I definitely wish I was better at. I have a friend that used to ask me to go camping or river rafting at a moment's notice. I would never go with him even if I was free because it was just too spontaneous for me.

I think it's especially hard when you are an introverted person like me because you need that down-time each day to rejuvenate yourself. Unfortunately, this usually turns into the whole evening, and before you know it, it's a habit to never go out unless it's planned, never call anyone unless you need something, etc.

For me what I want to be more spontaneous about it going outside and enjoying nature more (even just taking a walk around the neighborhood) and calling friends and family just to see how they are.

Teaching an Old Dog New Tricks

Yes, in this scenario I am the old dog.

The other day, out of no where, I suddenly wanted to learn how to play the guitar. I have never before in my life felt this desire. I played the flute and the piccolo through middle school, junior high, and high school and loved every minute of it, but I was kinda burnt out after that. So I'm not exactly sure where this desire came from.

The last time I tried to learn something new it was a embarrassing mess. A few years ago I wanted to learn how to swim properly. I have never been afraid of the water and actually love to go swimming, but I was never taught how to swim laps and I wanted to know how to do this. So after looking around, I discovered that the Provo Rec offers adult swimming lessons. This seemed perfect for me until I got to the pool the first day and discovered that not only was I the only "adult" that had signed up, but my teacher was a fresh out of high school young man. I had to show up in a bathing suit once a week for two months and try to learn several different swimming strokes by a boy who clearly did not know how to teach an adult. It was utterly humiliating and I am sad to say that I did not progress at the rate I or my "teacher" had hoped for.

That horrific experience aside, I think it is important to keep learning new things and experiencing new things. You just have to be prepared that you might be embarrassed along the way. So maybe if I can find a guitar I will try to learn.