Week 3 I get a kick out of soccer :D

Okay everyone it’s time. Take this moment to put your life on a short pause to enjoy a moment in someone else’s life: my life. Time to come and put on my shoes or should I say cleats. At this very moment your standing on a soccer field everyone around you is running hard the adrenaline is pumping. You can hear your own heart pumping in your ears. Your breath becomes sharp as the star forward and lead scorer is running down the field; the soccer ball conveniently rolling at his feet. Here comes your worst fear: number 13.

You’re standing on the balls of your feet ready and waiting for anything. He’s crossing center and coming right for you. Your other fullbacks are each defending other players. This one is all up to you. The ball is perfectly rolling around his feet; he’s not missing a beat. Your scared, this game is up to you. So you run at him before he can get any closer to the net. He fakes one way and you fall, as you try to correct yourself your feet slip just a little from underneath you, and thirteen begins going around you.

Lucky for you time is in some kind of stange slow/fast forward and you quickly get your feet back beneath you. With all your energy your rushing to get in-between him and the net again. He’s going for the kick his leg swings behind him, and then swings forward making contact with the ball. However, you get their just in time and you slide in front of the ball and kick it out of the box. Barely saving the ball from heading into the net. Your right forward got control of the ball and is taking it back to the other side as the whistle blows to end the game. Another player is helping you up and cheering you on. Back on your feet your adrenaline speeding wildly out of control you smile as your teammates thank you and congratulate you on your save. The coaches run out to tell you you played awesome!

That is the moment you love. You did something you thought impossible. You saved the game, and you earned a little respect from the guys on your team. Going through the line and shaking hands even number thirteen says, “Hey great save.” However, it’s not the praise from everyone around you that makes it to the top of the list. No, it’s the fact that you did something that made you proud of yourself despite what anyone else had to say. It’s the abyss of satisfaction with yourself that you love.

Week 2 - Texting while hanging out

One of my pet peeves is when people start texting while you are hanging out with them. I believe it bluntly tells the person that they are hanging out with that they would rather be talking to someone else right then. It is obviously rude that you make the effort in hanging out with someone to just watch them talking to someone else. Along with these lines, I find it kind of annoying when people answer a phone call and they go on talking for hours instead of just politely saying that they cannot talk right now. I don't find this quite as annoying, but it would be nice if people just avoid doing that. In both cirucumstances of texting and phone calls, they can be found to be hurtful because you completely ignore the people that they are surrounded with that actually want to hang out with you. There are more oppotunities to text people on your own time rather then in the expense of others time also. I understand that there are some people in this world that get all wild up when they don't instantly get a response from their previous text, but just tell them that you are hanging out with some one else right now.
I believe others are responsible for changing and fixing this behavior because it is very offensive to some people. People need to learn what kind of message they are sending to other people when they are texting while with a group of people, especially on a date. It could be a mindset sort of thing where people don't really mean that when they are texting others, but why not just play it safe and just avoid it; I know people can survive without texting for a little bit. If texting happens to be an emergency, then at least let other people know that you need to do it. I hope people can just be a little bit more sensative towards others, because texting is not the only kind of communication that could be occuring when you do so.

week two... maid in shining armour

He thunders closer, his armour flashing in the sun reflects off his chargers white flanks, his sword slashing through the air as he valiantly races forward to free his Lady from an unspeakable fate. She follows him with her eyes willing him to succeed as he faces the numerous foes separating the two lovers. Men lunge at him from the ground, determined that the two never be reunited. He courageously fights back, killing all that stand in his way. He is outnumbered yet with a victorious shout he slays his last enemy. As he steps from the saddle her heart is overflowing with love; she is a damsel in distress and he her knight in shining armour. She joyously runs to him, he lifts her in the air and they share true loves ki...... OK ENOUGH!!!! Im gonna be sick.

Call me eccentric and strange, but the whole knight in shining armour thing bugs the heck out of me. It just rubs me the wrong way when the ladys are portrayed as being defenceless and helpless and... useless. Yeah, that's basically what they are: useless. I've always considered myself a bit of a tomboy. I love to hunt with my dad and my brother, horseback ride in the hills and brand cows in the spring; so when I hear these stories of useless women it makes me a bit peeved. I don't like how they are portrayed because it makes men think that's how women really are and so they treat them differently, like we can break at any moment or something.

Don't get me wrong, I don't mind having a guy open the door for me or letting me go first in line ( especially when we are waiting to eat) but the moment I am gently pushed aside so that a guy can take my place while moving something heavy( or doing some other 'mans job') I get really defensive. For once I would like to be the one in shining armour... hmmm that sounds pretty good actually. The maid in shining armour.

Week Two-Two of My Pet Peeves

I’m on my way to somewhere very important and so I’m just going down the road thinking that I can make it there in time. That is in fact a lie. Why is that? Someone is in the fast lane going along at a snail like pace. I would be fine with the pace if it was at least the speed limit, but my speed control drops down. First I’m going two under, now five, now I don’t even think I am on the freeway. The people in the lane that are getting off at an exit are going faster and I am trapped in between cars. My parents are from L.A. so driving around the faster side was the way I was brought up, I just can’t help it.

Another pet peeve of mine is feet. I cannot stand when other people’s feet touch me. It is one of the most revolting things on this planet to me. I do not understand why other people can paint their friends toenails, give feet massages, or anything else having to do with feet. Why would anyone want to touch those nasty things?

It is no one’s fault that I despise feet. There really is no solution because I have tried to get over how disgusting they are. I do not freak out any more when someone’s foot creeps into my personal bubble and ends up touching me. I just move away. As far as my pet peeve of others driving too slowly I try to slow things down. I do not get mad, I just get in a different lane or think about how I am in no rush and I can take this time to think or listen to my music without my roommates saying they don’t like the stuff I listen to. My pet peeves are just a matter of self-control.

Week Two-Biggest Pet Peeve

One of my biggest pet peeves is pretty minor, but I say, understandable. Not many more things annoy me than when people type "u" intead of "you", "wut" instead of "what", or anything like that. I know that it's shorter, I know that it's faster, but it makes you seem like a straight up idiot. Do we really not have the time in the world to add one or two extra letters to make ourselves seem much more intelligent? All the new lingo just degrades the human language. Some may call it slang, but I call it dumb.

Also, whenever people can't spell the word "definitely". NO ONE can spell this word. By no one, I mean about half of everyone. There's something about that word that gives people an extreme difficulty. Maybe there was a typo in the teaching manual in elementary school? I don't know. Whenever I see the variances like "definatly" or "defanitaly", or whatever else the brain can confuse it for, it, in a way, makes me feel dumb for them.

Week Two- My Biggest Pet Peeve

My biggest pet peeve is when people change how they act depending on their company. It drives me absolutely insane when someone has a different personality for different people. One second you can be spending time with a friend and having a good time and the next second someone else walks into the room and it's like a whole new person emerges and takes over your friend's body. All you girls know what I am talking about. It makes me so upset when I am with one of my friends just having fun and when a boy shows up they transform into a whole different being. One may ask why this irks me so much. This shift in personalities is so bothersome to me because I am a blunt and matter-of-fact person. I don't waste my time pretending to be things I am not and I won't go out of my way to try to impress others. I just do not see the need to change my personality to suit a group of people. If they don't like me then I don't see the need to be around them. The solution to this problem is to just be you.
So am I the one that needs to change my mindset or are these personality tranformers the ones that need to change? I would definitely have to say that I am not the one that needs to change my way of thinking. I firmly believe that these people with multiple personalities are the ones who need to change. They should pick one personality and stick with it. You should be who you are and you shouldn't have to change who you are in order to impress someone or to make them like you. If someone doesn't like you for who you are then you don't need them in your life. Also, it is quite difficult for the rest of us to try to keep up with your different personalities. It is confusing and I find myself wondering what personality is the individual's true personality. Overall, make it simpler on yourself and us and quit changing personalities all the time!

Week 2:Laughing at my jokes

My main pet peeve is when I say something funny and nobody laughs. I am a funny person. It is a fact. When I say something funny, the least people could do is laugh. I mean when I am trying to be funny and I’m not, then it is totally acceptable for people not to laugh. In fact, I would appreciate if they wouldn’t laugh, because it makes there other laughs not very credible and a lot less rewarding. But when I am obviously funny, people should get off their high horse and laugh. I mean a good sense of humor is very important for a happy life. If they aren’t laughing at the funny stuff I say, then they must be very bitter and unhappy people and they should probably just go away.

The worst is boys who don’t laugh when I say funny stuff. It drives me crazy. I know that what I said was funny and I can tell that they know it too, but they resist the laugh because they think that they are too cool to laugh at me jokes. Well newsflash buddy, people who laugh at people’s jokes are fun people and fun people are cool, so being a jerk and not laughing isn’t cool. It is just mean and makes people like me feel bad, so you should just enjoy life and laugh when funny people like me say stuff.

I guess I could change my mindset and consider the fact, that maybe I am not funny. Trust me, I’ve thought about it. And I’ve realized, the truth is, I am funny. COOL people tell me that I am funny all the time. I guess sometimes I am lazy and not as funny as usual and people expect more from me and that’s why they don’t laugh. Well you know what, that is a lot of pressure.

I guess I should just feel bad for the people who don’t laugh at the funny stuff I say. I mean it would be pretty awful to have no sense of humor and hate life. I will try to be more sympathetic to people who don’t laugh at my jokes than angry.

Week 2 - Pet Peeve

For as long as I can remember, my biggest pet peeve has always been getting grease on my papers; moreover, the main reason for this is because most food leaves disgusting grease stains on paper. Whether it's a paper for a school assignment or an invitation to a party, I absolutely cannot stand to have grease on anything that is mine. When I was in high school, I would often times work on my homework at the dinner table, since it was a fairly large and spacious table. My dad was always the one who came to help me with my homework, yet he had a habit of bringing his dinner with him. Consequently, I regularly asked him to keep his dinner far away from my homework. I, unfortunately, have had way too many experiences where I've gotten grease stains on significant papers and assignments for school.

The root of my irritation is directly related to my constant tendency and desire for cleanliness. Whenever I have gotten grease on a paper, I can't help but feel like a pig. I had the feeling that if I ever turned in an assignment with such poor appearance, my teachers would condescend me and actually believe that I was that careless about the assignment. I know it may sound a little "OCD", but I personally believe that grease should never mix with presentable work.

I do, however, know for a fact that there is a solution for this pet peeve of mine. Ever since I got to college, I really haven't had this issue at all (not that college was the solution). Over the years, I noticed a particular pattern for all the occurrences of grease mixing with my homework - it was always other peoples' grease that got on my belongings. Now that I'm at college, I have infinitely many possibilities on where to study, such as outside or in the library. I have thus learned to keep my assignments entirely separate from any kinds of food and in a clean environment. I think, with this pet peeve, it is mainly up to me to fix the problem. I can't control who gets near my homework or whether someone eats next to it or not. Therefore, I came up with the previously stated solution to personally keep my assignments far, far away from the kitchen.

Week 2: The Golden Rule

I had a really hard time with this assignment. I'm usually a very easy going person. Everyone comes from a different walk of life, and who I am to judge someone for doing something differently from me?

My grandmother prides herself for teaching me my manners. I am the Queen of "please" and "thank you." I never chew with my mouth open and putting my elbows on the table is a sin. But if someone else doesn't do that, oh well. They were probably raised differently and it doesn't bother me. Everyone has different values, different traditions. The only thing I stand firm on is the Golden Rule. No one is above it, and no matter who you are or where you are from, you should abide by it.

"Treat others as you would want to be treated." I'm going to have to say that my biggest pet peeve is when people don't follow this simple rule. Seriously, how hard is it to treat others the way you expect them to treat you? My pet peeve has never seemed so prevalent as it does now. Moving to a different state and being forced to live with people you don't know can be hard. I love all my roommates, we get along great. Our first day here, we sat down together and made up some rules and some chore charts to make the transition into living on our own smoother. It worked great for a few days, until one roommate started taking advantage of it. She started leaving all her dishes for the rest of us to clean. She brings home boys when the rest of us are trying to study or sleep. She takes hours in the bathroom, making the rest of us late to class. I don't mean to complain, just prove a point. She would flip if any of the rest of us did that to her. It's super inconvenient, and super rude.

So to wrap this up, when you ask something of someone, make sure you're willing to do it in return. Be considerate and think about how your actions will make others feel. Follow the Golden Rule.

week 2: Honor your Priesthood, or Don't.

I'm pretty lucky in the sense that my pet peeve isn't as existent here as it is back home. Maybe it is, but I don't feel like actively seeking it out since I have plenty of pet peeves and I'm sure that many are very prevalent here and I really don't feel like finding out the dastardly deeds that go on behind the scenes at BYU. All in all, I really think this peeve of mine is the most serious of them all and that possibly some people can relate to me. I absolutely hate it when guys don't honor their priesthood, but pretend they are. More specifically, when I see them bless the sacrament and then I get home and see the pictures posted from a party they went to the night before. It is one thing to dishonor your priesthood, but a completely different thing when you perform sacred duties when your heart is no where in it.

Some might point a scornful finger at me, telling me not to judge and whatnot, but I think I am somewhat justified in this. I am not condemning them to the Telestial Kingdom or anything. I just feel personally disrespected when I know that a priesthood holder is dishonoring that power, or even taking it too lightly. I don't think that it is something I need to change about myself necessarily. I could probably try to not let it anger me so much, but really, its in everybody's best interest for the committer of the crime to change his ways.

Yes, getting a tattoo or piercing your ears doesn't keep you from getting a temple recommend, but where is your heart? If you aren't going to take this holy power as seriously as it should be taken, then don't pretend you are when Sunday rolls around. You may be fooling all the little old ladies and nursery kids, but your peers know what's up, and so does God. So really, what's the point? Thanks to agency, there is no mass solution to this problem. It is individual for each priesthood holder. But in the end, the girls like me who share this pet peeve, end up with the good men who honor their priesthood. Everyone gets their just desserts.

Week 2- It's a Twin Thing

Although in life many things can be found annoying, there are some things that just cannot be tolerated. It seems in my life there are many of these things. But one thing in particular stands out in my mind as the most intolerable thing on the earth. This pet peeve is not a common one and has particularly to do with my unique identity.

To explain what I mean, I will give an example. Imagine you are walking around the halls when suddenly you find yourself being introduced to someone new. This is not unusual. But in my case it is. I am normally walking around with my identical twin sister. This in particular comes to the point of my pet peeve. Because I am with my twin, the first few questions asked are pretty normal. “Are you guys related?” Response: “Yah, we’re twins!” This is where the issue begins. “How can I tell you guys apart?” In response to this question, my twin and I have come up with an answer to appease their fears of not being able to tell us apart. The person normally accepts this response. But some do not. They want to know more. People begin prying for more differences. They find the most random things to tell us apart. The only problem is, is this prying begins to feel like I am in a contest being judged and examined to find my flaws. They say things such as, “Your face is longer,” or, “Your eyes are bigger.” Nobody likes to be told their face is big or their chin is pointy.

It’s these types of things that get to my very bones. Just because I am a twin does not give people the right to judge and examine me like I am some pie in the State Fair being tested for good taste. I understand that it is very natural for people to try and find these differences, but they could be discrete about it and keep it to themselves instead of flaunting what they have found to the world. I am not trying to say that people are not allowed to find those differences, I am only pleading that people keep them to themselves. It can be their own little secret and joy to know that they can tell us apart. I know that I also must change my views. Because I know that this will happen for the rest of my life, I know I must accept it and learn to live with it.

On top of all this, I am sure that people will understand my plight. I am not a pie in the State Fair, I am a person, one who has individual traits and characteristics that I am sure people will notice. But I do not want these to become the focus on me. I want people to like me for who I am, not for what I look like. So I conclude with the hope that people will take what I have to say seriously, and know that I too can change by realizing that this is will happen for the rest of my life and I must learn to live with it.

Week 2 - No Such Thing as a Stupid Question

Pet peeves are an inextricable part of a person’s personality: they’re human. For my fashion and individual spotlight conscious best friend spotting someone with the same shirt or article of clothing is particularly infuriating. My mom can’t stand it when we correct small mispronunciations that are easily overlooked. And my supervisor at work is very particular about having the money in the cash register all facing heads up and the organized in the same direction. Me? I get super irritated when someone tells me not to ask questions or uses the even more aggravating alternative, “Because I said so.”

We learn about our world by asking questions and seeking answers - it has even been proven that inquisitiveness is akin to intelligence. So, if questions are so essential to our survival and purpose here on Earth (to learn and grow) then what right does another fellow human being, especially a friend or family member, have to deny you the right to ask them? I hate the patronizing tone often used or implied, particularly when a male friends says something like, “Don’t ask questions, woman!” Excuse me? It makes me grit my teeth every time, and I either quit the conversation or continue asking in an annoying manner.

Now, perhaps many parents would assert their right to use the phrase “Because I said so” since they are more experienced. But I think they underestimate their child’s level of understanding and overestimate their obligation of blind obedience. Why not take the time to explain the situation on the child’s unique level and avoid their unavoidable resentment or disobedience. Every time a child asks a question parents have the responsibility to take the opportunity to educate, rather than disregard them as an untimely disruption.

In short, the refusal to answer questions denotes cowardly laziness. It is almost never the asker’s fault, but falls on the shoulders of the won’t be answerer. “I don’t know” or “let’s find out” are perfectly acceptable answers - at least they are making a purely honest effort. And that’s all I’m asking: that people don’t ignore or brush off questions, but do their best to answer them in a way that would similarly satisfy them had they asked. It’s a common courtesy and horribly rude to ignore or patronize someone because one feels superior or won’t take the time. Anyway, that’s my pet peeve.

Week 2--Pet Peeves

For those reading all posts on this blog, I find myself in much the same situation as Karen. In her post she detailed her lack of pet peeves and goal to maintain (or regain, perhaps) that status. I find that the actions of others do not usually bother me unless they interfere with my abilities to choose and act freely. And so it became a quest throughout the day to find something that bothers me. Seemingly a contrary quest, as typically I strive to be unencumbered by the actions of others and to have a cheerful and content disposition despite any obstacles. So, discarding my usual goal, I became hyper-aware of all that went on around me. The slouching boy next to me in class, the alarming leg-jiggling of the girl two seats down that shook the entire row, the frequent sniffles of the unknown person behind me, and various incidental actions that I tried desperately to escalate into a three-hundred fifty word pet peeve. Throughout the day I discovered some things that made me uncomfortable, distracted, and even mildly irritated, but nothing seemed worthy of the title "pet peeve."

Although finding a pet peeve proved more difficult than I initially suspected, I only had to return home to find the answer. In recent years, our society has passed through a "cell-phone mania"--our citizens are obsessed with their phones. Young children, old children, teens, young adults, old adults--all are constantly checking for new messages, typing frantically no matter the situation. In one case, a girl in a public bathroom turned on the faucet to wash her hands, received a text message and replied to it before her hands were clean. In other situations, people disregard common courtesy and text while talking to friends (and strangers) or on a date.

Answering a text message should never take priority over cleanliness (especially in a bathroom, that's just gross) or the feelings of other people. As the years progress and the addiction to cell phones and texting grows more and more serious, I have a feeling I will no longer have difficulty naming an irritation worthy of the label "pet peeve."

Week 2 - My Lame Pet Peeve

I do not know about you, but to me it seems like asking someone about their pet peeves is the ultimate survey question. Not even kidding, I swear this question has been on every single “get to know you” worksheet I have ever had to fill out in my life. Truthfully, I never have anything intelligent to say about my pet peeves either, because I can rarely think of any! I guess you could say I am fairly easy going and not much can get under my skin, but for the sake of having nothing to say, I have come up with something. No it is not something like liars, cheaters, or suck ups, although people like that do irritate me slightly. My pet peeve is much lamer, and frankly kind of strange. I would guess you all know the sound, though. Ice Chewers! You know the sound, that annoying crunching and breaking sound as someone chows down on a piece of frozen water. Disgusting. I hate the sound, and more especially I hate the goose bumps that travel through my entire body when I even just think about someone chewing ice. Yes, that is my pet peeve.

I think this pet peeve developed throughout my high school years, because it has not been something that has bothered me my whole life. Actually, I even blame a certain person for causing me to have this pet peeve. I have this friend, and she LOVES to chew ice. On our school basketball and volleyball trips she would always have a huge bucket of ice with her just chomping away in our hotel room after a hard game. It got to the point where I had to leave the room when she was chewing ice. It is not pleasant to be in the same room with a person who sounds like a cow (don’t get me wrong I love my friend to pieces, but sometimes, she can be a cow). You are probably all thinking that this is the lamest pet peeve ever, and I would totally agree that is, but hey, have you ever heard someone chew ice? If you have not I would bet that you would change your mind after you have. Trust me.

Even though I find ice chewers annoying, I would have to say it is totally me who has the problem. If someone wants to chew ice, by all means go ahead and do it. It is not like I can stop them. I am the one responsible for what bothers me and what does not. One of my goals for this year is to overcome my pet peeve of people who chew ice. If I succeed in doing just that, I think I will be virtually pet peeve-less once again, and who doesn’t want that?

Week 1-Movie watching pet peeves!

I have two really big pet peeves that have to do with the same things. The first one is when the lights are on during a movie. That drives me crazy! There are many reasons why it bothers me so much when someone leaves the lights on during a movie. For one, it’s so much harder to see the screen when the lights are shining a glare on the TV. Another reason is that if you’re watching the movie with someone you like, for example your boyfriend or girlfriend, it is extremely awkward when everyone can clearly see the two of you cuddling. And if the lights are off, it’s a lot more discrete. Also when I watch movies, I just like the feeling of being in the dark because it allows me to be able to zone in on the movie more and be able to focus. And aside from that, I just love being in the dark because it’s relaxing.

My other big pet peeve is when somebody turns the lights on right after the movie ends. It’s very irritating to me, and everyone I think, when your eyes are adjusted to the room being dark, and then all of the sudden the lights go on and you’re practically blinded! Also, a lot of times when it is late at night and I am really tired, I fall asleep while watching a movie. So I don’t want to be woken up by the light being turned on. I came to discover these pet peeves because my dad is guilty of both of them, especially turning the light on right after a movie ends. But some times, I yell “don’t turn the lights on!” to remind him. For the most part, I think people agree with how annoying both of these pet peeves are, so they don’t do them. But occasionally someone will leave the lights on and I just get up and turn them off because it bothers me that much! Or like I said I’ll just yell to keep the lights off. So those are my two big movie watching pet peeves.

Week 2- No! Don't make me do it...

You all know the feeling. The moment when one of your pet peeve is occurring around you. Time freezes. Your palms feel clammy. A cold shiver runs down your spine; altogether, making you appear to have a slight twitch. All of this and more occurs to me when I open the dishwasher and grab the first glass cup. Now don’t think you have my pet peeve all figured out just yet—there’s more.

It’s a rather normal day maybe slightly cold. Your hands are cool not hot or cold just cool, and your mom hears the dish washer shut off. She looks at you, and time freezes. Oh no, you know what’s coming. “Karlee, can you empty the dishwasher?,” she says calmly not understanding the imminent fear in your hands, yet you face it anyway. Quite simply, because she said so. So you open the dishwasher and the steam streams out like a harbinger.

Staring, glaring, and cringing you reach for the first glass cup. It’s the warm sticky feeling of the warm glass as it touches my fingertips, causing that slight irritation to course through me. Once inside my mind it begins getting blown up out of proportion. I can’t help it though that little irritation or sticky feeling the glass has just makes me cringe all over. It’s as though the warm glass takes on an adhesive form that clings to your fingertips. Clinging. Sqeaking. I can’t think of how else to describe it. Simply that warm dry sensation annoying each finger like the sound of nails running down a chalkboard, but instead right at your fingertips. An explosion of awareness right at each little curve, twist, and curl on the end of your philanges.

Is there a solution to this problem? Yes! I discovered it not to long after I realized my strong dislike of the feeling of warm clingy glass. It’s called.... wash by hand... as in old school. To some this may sound appauling. You think, “You have a dishwasher and you’re not using it!” Nevertheless, I would much rather enjoy the feeling of soup, warm water, and bubbles any given day! So I’m avoiding the problem; however, I find it works.

Week 2 - Getting Old

It is an interesting thought that only five years ago I was JUST entering into my freshman year of high school and I had so many expectations for what the future would be like. The future for me then was filled with great expectations and although my life is amazing how it is, those moments never really happened the way I foresaw them to be.

One of my initial thoughts was that I would have my life plan already mapped out for me. I believed it would just suddenly become apparent to me what I wanted to do for the rest of my life and let me tell you, that is not the case at all. Becoming a car designer was my fantasy job back then and now it is not. I have no idea what I truly want to become and that is a little upsetting as well as discomforting. It does not help at all that schooling now is optional and to attain more of it requires holes to be placed in my wallet that look as if they will never patch themselves. I have to try even harder now to get good grades so that I may prove to my teachers and future employers I am a worthy option. Someone should have prepped me for this a little more.

Another thought I had about being older is I would feel older and become bigger in stature. While some of this holds true, drastic changes have not occurred. I pictured myself over six feet tall at this age, yet I have grown a few inches. I imagined myself to exhibit mature decision making skills however I still buy things when I shouldn’t spend cash. While physically I have changed a bit, internally I feel the same age. Playing capture the flag, watching Disney movies and doing anything else childish still is fun for me. All those seniors I used to think were so old and wise in high school are still that, old and wise. I have moved up in age physically but mentally I am still the same Alex. It is a weird concept but I am pretty sure that it is one that everyone is going through.

Growing older seemed like such a big event at one time of my life but now that I am passing those age milestones the allure has been lost a bit. Turning eighteen definitely came without the pomp and circumstance I once believed it would give me but that is okay. Living life where things change constantly it is good to know that I will stay the same no matter what happens.

Grandmas Funeral, Week 1

My family moved to Virginia from Utah about 9 years ago. In Utah I saw my relatives relatively often. I have many memories of playing with my cousins doing random awesome stuff that little kids do. In Virginia, things were pretty different. Most of my relatives lived about 2000 miles away. Even my sisters didn't live close since they were older than me, because they all moved out when they went to BYU. Finally the time came when I was moving out myself. It was June 2010 and I was moving out two days after graduation to start the summer term. A week earlier my grandma had died. So the rest of my family actually came out around the same time for that as well. This event really opened my eyes to what I was missing.
It was a great day, with great weather. I was loving the high altitude and the warm sunlight I remembered from precious summers visiting relatives in Utah. All 55 of the relatives on my moms side had gotten together for my grandmothers funeral, with the exception of 3 missionaries. It was kind of awkward at first, seeing people I had'nt seen for 5-10 years. ONe of cousins really broke the ice pointing out that we were all friends on Facebook. After a short time we were all back to normal having a great time just like when we were little kids. Something about family, you may not have communicated in years, but no matter what, you've always got this connection that makes you really close. I got updated on everyone's lives and we all so happy to be together. We stayed there for the weekend and I loved being back on the my grandpas farm. This farm was the same farm that my mom grew up on. The same place where she would get up early to milk the cows or feed the chickens, along with her 8 siblings. Since then 3 more houses have been built on that land since some of my uncles still live right there with their families. This place is like a home for everyone in the family where we can always stay, and family will always be. In this place, I always have somewhere to go back to, somewhere I will always have family ready to accept me no matter what.
My grandmas funeral was to remember what she accomplished and to the legacy she left behind. Spending time that weekend with her 9 children, 41 grand children, and 9 great grandchildren, I saw something really great. Something that can't be measured in monetary terms but something that will last forever. If that isn't something to be proud of, I don't know what is.

Week 1- Do Your DISHES!

If there is one thing that I hate the very most, it is when people do not clean up after themselves. I have never really considered myself an extremely tidy person, but I noticed that when people leave out their messes for others to clean up, it literally makes me want to scream. It is so lazy to leave dirty dishes in the sink, when putting them in the dishwasher would literally take two more seconds out of the day. Leaving clothes on the floor or shoving them under the bed makes absolutely no sense to me when putting them into the appropriate drawer doesn’t take any longer than finding a place under the bed to shove them. I am glad that my roommate here at BYU is just as tidy as me, because if she wasn’t I would get along with her nearly as well.

Although I have always been a pretty tidy person, I never really realized it until I came to BYU, and most people around me are not tidy. It seems like in this day and age, students come to college, not knowing how to clean the bathroom, do their own dishes or laundry, or mop the floor because their mother did it all for them back home. If you ask me that is really bad parenting on the mother’s part, because doing everything for their own child isn’t going to teach the child how they can be independent and succeed on their own. It is really hard to tell a person to change their own behavior’s to match yours, because it usually comes out as being selfish and “nit-picky.” But I think that, sometimes, a polite conversation with somebody about their habits can most definitely be worth it in the end. I know that I am not perfect, so I hope that if I do anything that irritates others, they would tell just as readily as I would tell them.

Fortunately, learning to be neat and tidy is something that is fairly easy to learn. Even children who have been spoiled by their parents their entire lives can still learn how to clean their own bedroom, and wash their own dishes. As long as there is some motivation for learning how to stay tidy, it can be easily learned and engrained into a person’s own habits and lifestyle. It is just getting to that point that can sometimes be the problem.