Christmas Eve

My family humors me.

Mom gave me charge of planning our Christmas Eve activities, giving me free reign. She might have regretted that when I decided we were going to dress up to read the Luke account of the Savior's birth...

Mom was Mary, Tickle Me Cookie Monster was the baby Jesus (I used to have a doll, but it's gone the way of all my old toys: my niece has it!) Grandpa was Joseph/a shepherd, Daddy was a wise man and I was the narrator--obviously. My costume has to give it away...

Home

Corbin and I had fun together today. We colored, played a game, watched Murder She Wrote, etc...

I got him to eat his dinner. Struggle, to say the least. The "who can chew the fastest" game helped me out there; a shout-out to Eric for helping me develop my face scrunching skills so I could make eating seem more exciting than he seemed to find it.

Today as I was about to head out from my apartment, I realized I'd forgotten something inside. I ran to get it and hit a patch of ice and fell to the ground. Hard core. I hurt so bad. I don't know if I've ever had pain that bad. I almost passed out on my kitchen floor (luckily I made it up the stairs before shock wore off and I really started feeling anything). So I'm recovering today. My mom and Corbin took good care of me.

I know this was all so exciting, but it was my life today. And it's better than having to write about school.

I hate finals

I wish there were a way for professors to just scan my brain and measure how much of the material I know. Multiple choice tests have always been a weakness of mine, and here I am in the thick of a week replete with blobs of pencil lead determining my GPA.

Blob. Blah.

Dear Eric,

You're taking your final right now. I should be writing one of many essays. I hope you do well on your test, but I'll still like you even if you don't.

This weekend you get to meet people from my past. If you feel uncomfortable it's ok, because I probably will too.

I wish we didn't have to worry about school. I wish we could just sit together and laugh. I want to drive somewhere, some unknown destination--the end of the drive will be the first place we come to that looks fun. We'll get out and throw snow at each other and build a snowman and maybe we can dance under the stars. Or maybe it will be snowing and we can dance in the snow.

You give me something to look forward to in the drudgery of my days. And even though I wish we didn't have school to get in our way, I'm sure glad I have you to get in the way of school.

Yours Truly,
Cindy

Student Ratings

I want professors to do professor ratings. I would benefit from my instructors telling me what I did well as a student and where I could improve. I know grades kind of reflect that, and you can even go in and visit with your professor.

But the reason they have us do student ratings online is so we have no reservations about being honest.

Throw away your inhibitions, professor. Tell me what you hated about having me as a student.

Oh, and throw in some nice stuff, too, so I don't cry for too long.

What I get for...being human.

Do you ever feel like you did something wrong, but you don't know what? And you would do whatever necessary to rectify it, but since you don't know what you did in the first place, you're left with this empty feeling. I just make mistakes left and right.

I should be working on homework or sleeping or something, but instead I'm running through every encounter in my head, and wondering if I just didn't know you well enough to understand what I could or couldn't say safely.

To anyone I've hurt with a careless comment or the like, I am sorry. I try to live my life in a way that shows the people in my life that I love and care about them. Sometimes I mess up.

Books!

So I just bought a gift for Alan and Jessica; I am so excited for them to get it. I got them a book--I want it myself. I might go back to the bookstore and buy another one. I'm still going to get a few children's books to stick in the package for the girls. After Christmas I'll tell you about the book, but I can't tell you now because it might ruin the surprise for them :o)

Eric and I read together on Saturday. It was a book he's reading for his Russian literature class. I liked it. It had beautiful imagery.

We're going to read a book together next semester, which I'm excited about.

I haven't read much lately, unless you count text books... Although I have been working through a book about POWs in the Phillipeans during WWII. Really interesting. I'm not really a fan of the writing; it was coauthored and one of the authors was a PI lawyer. Not exactly a seasoned writer. He uses lots of cliches and such. But the material makes up for his authorial deficiencies. I had no idea about the Death March there and the atrocities of the Japanese military against their POWs.

I'll tell you more about it once I've finished it. I hope to get through it during Christmas break, but we'll see.

The benefits of going to BYU

I don't have to write for The Daily Utah Chronicle.

Their "Note from the Editor" in their Rivalry Guide = case and point.

So kill us--we don't want planned parenthood, night clubs and beer advertised in a publication being distributed on our campus and in our stadium.

The planned parenthood ad was one they tried to slip in last year. This year we were certainly avoiding some bad advertising.

But even more important, heavens, have you read the stuff they write for their Rivalry Guide? Or any of the editorials they write? They have no regard for journalistic integrity. I don't care that it's opinion--things you assert as fact must still, surprise, be fact.

The quality of the writing here is just better. It's under supervision of faculty, yes, and for good reason.

Their proud statement is "The University of Utah's Independent Voice since 1890." Independent of what? Accountability?

The administrative oversight at The Daily Universe, more often than not, just protects us as journalists from making big time mistakes.

"These 36 pages feature the work of the best journalists and designers the University of Utah has to offer," the note said.

If that's the best they have to offer, I fear for the future of journalism--at least at the U.

Ridiculous.

Guess who Sudan has as their humanitarian affairs minister?

Read and be amazed at how corrupt people in this world can be...

Love and Laughter

This semester has had me thinking a lot about human nature. A study of several human nature theories may have had something to do with this...

I don't believe we can figure out a true state of human nature, individuals in a state unaffected by societal interactions. Adam and Eve started out together.

But I do believe there are some things that are simply part of who we are from our simple beginnings. I watched some video clips on my sister's blog of her twins laughing. These babies can't communicate in an advanced way. edited :o)

But these little ones, without any instruction, laugh. Beautiful, isn't it?

Elvin magic.

This is a little something a few of my best friends and I put together. Enjoy.

Christmas!

Some kind of connected, kind of disconnected thoughts

I had a dream a couple nights ago that my Grandpa Lemon died. He's probably the only grandparent I've ever felt really close to. It was sad.

Losing loved ones to death is probably one of my greatest fears. I know I have the knowledge of the gospel to help me along, but that doesn't stop the void in your life. President Hinckley, who probably understands the concept of eternity better than any man living, still aches with the absence of his wife.

Avoiding homework = reading Time magazine, the Nov. 23 and Dec. 3 editions. Here are some things I learned about:

People who get their toddlers tutors. The article said they do it to help their kids get an "academic edge." The article also had quotes from an expert who explained this is detrimental to children because children aren't actually ready to read before age 5, and that identifying a flash card at an early age isn't actually reading, it's called paired-associate learning and a pigeon could do it. Let children be children--that's my credo.

Atheist Sunday School. What kills me about this is that any atheist I have ever known has accused me of blindly following what my parents taught me. Here in this Sunday School in California, atheist children are instructed on how to resist pressure to "believe." Yeah, you're really helping your children make their own decisions--as long as they conform to your disbelief.

Bus drivers are happier in their careers than journalists (the closest Time came to PR).

Eco-anxiety is a real condition. I think I might be developing it after watching "An Inconvenient Truth." I've started only using one paper towel to dry my hands, and I'm developing a nervous twitch...