Hodge Podge

Of all the infernal, immoral, heinous, maddening things: this.

Great quote from PBS's science show, Nova: "I wouldn't say that Carbon is promiscuous, but it's really friendly."

So I'm sitting outside ward prayer in the Manavu chapel's foyer, writing scandalous honey pot notes when a girl in our ward mentioned that she had recently buried a bird underneath the apple tree at Pinegar. Immediately I said, rather shocked, "What??!!" She looked at me equally shocked. I continued, "You buried a dead bird in our garden?" "Garden? There's not garden there, only weeds." "Wait, do you mean the apple tree next to the Pinegar parking lot? There's a garden there." "No there's not." "Yes there is," I said, frustrated. "I planted it with Gretchen and Kathy."
So our garden had a dead bird planted in it. I called Gretchen in Laramie to ask her just how big of a problem this was. She was much displeased at this news. I walked with some people from the ward to see if there was a bird buried in our garden. She'd interestingly marked the sparrow's grave with a potato label, so it was easily found, right next to our planted potatoes. She didn't mean any malice, and I know it was a mistake. But it's quite the situation. I am nervous about the fact that the potato plant on the left of the picture is now wilted. But that could just be because it's hot.
So I went out on Tuesday to dig up the bird. I couldn't find it. I kept digging deeper and deeper and widening the digging circle. Nothing. The bird has resurrected, I guess. I couldn't find it. There was no apparent feline intervention, either, because the grave marker was intact. I'm gonna have to ask the girl in the ward. I don't want to, because I don't want her to think that I'm hating on her. But I want to protect my garden.
Speaking of, here are some more pictures.

I finally saw the 5th Harry Potter movie tonight. It seemed really quick to me, lots of short clips and an effort to get thru as much as possible so that they could get to the Ministry of Magic. Anyone else feel that way. It was like, boom, boom, boom, Ministry!!
Ahh, and we're so close to the 7th book.

I have something to admit. Some of you may already know this, but have probably kept it under wraps because of how embarrassing it must be in knowing such taboo info about me. But I've decided to let it out in the open.
I really like Tina Turner's music. I just added 500MB of her music: 8 albums. I also really like a lot of Whitney Houston's music.
Those who know this about me are usually shocked. Is this really that shocking? How can you not enjoy "What's love got to do with it?" Such a great song.
My sister Laurel was playing with my iPod and was stunned to find "Love can build a bridge" by the Judds on the iPod. Really, is it that bizarre?

Garden update and anniversaries

The garden's growing nicely. Here are some photos for you to enjoy.

I entered the MTC 7 years ago today. Yep this time 7 years ago I was done "meeting" my branch president (my friend's dad) and was headed back to my room for my first night in the MTC. That's when I met Sister Pierce and Sister Kikumori. That was a great day. I blubbered like crazy when I said goodbye to my family. Yes. I am a crier. Shocking, I know.

And at this very moment next Thursday I'll be flying over the Atlantic on my way to Portugal. In fact I'm one week and five hours from Lisbon right now. :D

A couple of questions

How does one quantify the quality of a good lesson at church?
I mean this from the view of the teacher as well as the ward member listening?

How about how much milk is too much to drink in 6 days? Is two gallons okay? Because I certainly enjoyed them. Got one late Wednesday night, another on Saturday after going 8 hours sans milk, then just bought another one tonight.

Kathy's most ubiquitous nickname is Stick (she used to be stick thin). Gretchen's most common nickname in her family and around here is Newt (long story). Sometimes when they think they're being so funny, Gretchen calls Kathy "Stick-er." Kathy responds in kind by calling Gretchen "Newt-er." Say both of those out loud. Yeah, they think they're so funny.

Oh, the garden's growing. Here are some pictures here, here and here.
I'll get some more garden updates soon with more pictures.

A few anecdotes

On Friday night we were writing out runner's bibs. I had a couple of bags of Jelly Bellies in my cargo pants pocket. I wanted a juicy bear Jelly Belly, but accidentally grabbed an advil liqui-gel and popped that instead. I crunched it and the gel exploded into my mouth. Oh my laws, it tasted uber nasty. Then my mouth went numb and I had a hard time controlling my lips for a few minutes. It was dang funny.
At church on Sunday I tried to convince Gretchen and Kathy to intro me as their *non-member* roommate. Gretchen refused. But then she proceeded to share her scriptures with me, holding them for me and pointing to where we were on the page. She did the same for the Spencer W Kimball manual. She thinks she's so funny.
Tonight we had a softball game. There was one inning where I couldn't field the ball to save my life. Anyway, one of the outfielders threw me the ball and I tried to get it on the hop. It took a mad leap and went right off of my mitt and hit me on the crown of my nose. It was great. I wandered around the field for a bit after I tossed the ball into the infield. Good thing I don't get nosebleeds. Or bruises. The nice thing is that after I get hurt or dinged I usually play a little bit better. I smacked a nice hit the next inning right into the center fielder's mitt. It was a pretty hit. The center fielder barely had to move.
I had another sandwich.
I can't stop eating LifeSavers Fruit Tarts.
The garden's looking pretty. It's got some sprouts. I'll post a picture.
Those are today's anecdotes.
How many of you think that Portuguese is a weird language? I'm taking a poll.

Random concoction

I really like to paint--not the artsy stuff, but the house painting stuff. Julie Rae and Brian have bought a condo in WJordan and Scottie and I went up to help them paint. I also really, really like applying the blue tape. I find it extremely satisfying.
Tomorrow I'm going to get two tickets to Lisbon. Clark and I are going on a whirlwind of Iberia. My excuse is the conference in Braga. Oh, Clark is my dad. I'll do my best at keeping you all updating, and perhaps slightly jealous, about my Iberian trip.
The weird music at the end of the FHE video posted a few days ago is by this quirky music group from Utah called SHAKE YOUR PEACE!. My friend MO gave me the crazy song Juss a Little Bit Mo.

The garden's going strong, I'm sure. But it hasn't done anything yet. Gardens teach patience.

Also, since posting 8:47 I have not woken up at 8:47.

Lunch at 1:45...am

Working on the thesis today for hours and hours, without moving that much meant that I had no desire to eat. Clearly instead of eating dinner tonight it was MUCH more important to watch the great Jazz game. By the time it was 12:30 in the morning I realized that I should probably go get something to eat.
Wendy's has this really funny guy who works nights at the drive-up window. I know this because I went thru a Frostie phase a couple of weeks ago. Anyway, he's great. He's always got a green bandanna under his Wendy's cap. He's a lot of fun. Kathy and I have enjoyed going to Wendy's and having him help us. Those of you that live around here (being Provo) should go to the Wendy's down the hill from the Y late one night. He really is funny.
And I don't think I'd dare wink at royalty--unless of course this is the princess in question.
And one last thing. Have you heard Mason Jennings? Dan introed me to him while we were in Brazil. I'm up to 10 hours of his music now. But the best news ever is his tour. Guess who will be here on the 2nd of June??!!!
Oh, I lied, there's one more thing. We planted a garden out back tonight under the tree at the corner of the parking lot. I'm really happy. G&K said that we could plant one if I behaved and went to a ward activity last week. I'll keep you all updated on the garden.