Pressin' On, Move Along, other awesome applicable song titles . . .

The time has finally come. I'm officially leaving the Glenwood next year, and I know where I'm going. Jennie, Miri, and I are signing contracts to live at the Belmont (the crappy old one, not the expensive pretty one) on Wednesday.
The Glenhood is the only place I've ever lived in Provo, and I'm having a bit of an identity crisis, but it is definitely time to move on. I've been really happy here, and there are a lot of people and things that I have loved here. To comfort myself, I thought I'd post a list of Adventures in Maintenance, Etc. For those of you who lived through it with me, feel free to add on in the comment section.

• At the end of my freshman year, Glenwood decided to start remodeling the outside before the end of the school year, so we got to listening to hammering and prying and stomping all day. One day there was a hole in our closet - we could actually see sky. When my roommate Melanie asked the workers about it, one of them said, "Oh, don't worry. We won't make you pay for that." Blink, blink. They brought in a shop vac to clean up the mess but then decided to leave it until they were done since there was just going to be more dirt.
  
• While they were putting new tile in the bathrooms, the Glenwood decided to stick our toilets in our bathtubs. Is this awesome? Y/N
• During the great Ceiling Remodeling Incident, our ceiling started leaking. It was just after midnight the night before my 7am Econ 110 test, and Melanie came in with a flashlight. I tried not to say anything because I knew I'd talk to her all night and I really needed sleep. When she climbed up on a chair I got too curious, so I asked her what was going on. She was putting a bowl under the drip. Great. After we talked for about an hour, I started counting seconds between drips to fall asleep (30 seconds) and I heard another sound. It was faster and not falling into a bowl. I started feeling around on the floor until I found the wet spot, and when I climbed up on the chair to find the spot, the ceiling crumbled and started streaming. I woke up my roommate and pushed her stuff out of the way, and we called emergency maintenance. The emergency man lived 25 miles away, so half an hour later we had a man in our room who poked a pen into the hole. We slept in the living room, and I got 2 hours of sleep before my monster final.
  
• The next day we were in the living room listening to the pounding on the ceiling and wishing we could take a nap when my roommate Candice came running out into the living room. Star and Cara's room was flooding. Water was pouring from the light fixtures, getting all over all of their belongings, which were strewn all over their floor while they packed to move home. We started an assembly line to clear out their stuff, and then we started packing up. We were out. They needed to give us somewhere else to go. When someone yelled at me to come and get my computer out of the living room because it was ALSO flooding, it was a bit too much. We moved to an apartment on the boys' side.
• The morning after we moved into the boy apartment, I went to take a shower and the toilet clogged.
• A week after I moved out, the apartment beneath us also flooded (it's the apartment I live in now.)
• When we came back in the fall, the Hood had repaired the ceiling, and it looked like a patchwork quilt. Beautiful.
• Our bathroom flooded from the pipe above us last year - the light fixture filled with water.
• The girls down the hall had their garbage disposal FALL OFF. They took some awesome pictures while it was dead (i.e. sticking their hands up through while holding a knife.)
• During a party in the lodge, the floor fell through. Really.
• Our bathtub was clogged for about 2 months. Boy, did I ever love waiting 20 minutes for the water to drain, and then waiting another 5 while I waited for the water I used to rinse out the hair to drain.
• One day Miri's sister grabbed the fan chain to turn it off, and the chain came off in her hand . . . with the fan in the on position. We couldn't be in the living room with the light on for about a month because it was too cold.
  
• When they built the ducts for the central air, they decided to put it into the smallest room where it would obstruct the top shelf of my closet. I love it. A lot.
• When they put in the central air they told us we couldn't put anything in our pantry anymore because the central air goods were in there. Um . . . why?
• When we asked for new couches upstairs, they brought us these amazing ones that the BUILT THEMSELVES. Out of WOOD. I almost fell asleep during General Conference, but I was afraid I was going to get a concusion, so I did a few laps around the room to make sure I stayed awake.
• One word: MICE. Not mouse . . . MICE. Mousen.
  

Man. I sure will miss this place.

Lauda

At our choir concert this week we sang a baroque set, complete with baroque organ (tuned down) and cello. I didn't think I really liked "Lauda Jerusalem," partially because it was ridiculous trying to memorize the words. However, I changed my mind after we heard the story on Thursday.
If you are a history buff, forgive me, because I'm just going by what I heard from Ruth, our organist. Apparently, "Lauda Jerusalem" was written for an orphanage for girls in Italy, an orphanage established specifically for girls who were the product of their fathers' philanderings. (Good word, eh? If that's not a euphemism...) Anyway, at the door of this orphanage there was a drawer, and the mothers of these illegitimate girls could just drop them off and push in the drawer. Naturally, the orphanage was only for girls, because the fathers were willing to endure a little shame to claim their strapping boys. (Sorry, the feminist in me shudders.)
So the thing is, they taught these girls to sing, and some of the best composers in Europe wrote for them. It was better than the Italian opera, and the girls sang like angels, but no one ever saw them because there was a metal grate between the girls and the audience. Once Rousseau visited and asked why no one ever got to see the girls. It seemed to him to be the perfect opportunity for them to find husbands and get out of the orphanage. He was invited to eat dinner there and meet the girls.
The first girl came in and she was hideous, horribly disfigured. The next was missing an eye, and another's face was covered with pockmarks. Nearly every girl had been abused and bore the scars of her past, but Rousseau talked to them, and he said that when he left he was nearly in love with all of them.
The girl telling the story asked us all to think about these girls as we sang, we, the girls of the 21st century who get to go to college, hold jobs, live our lives. Suddenly, "Lauda Jerusalem" became a more beautiful song, and I sang for those girls who never had a chance. I do.

Edward, Time Capsules, and From-Behind Hugging

In honor of the amazing book, Angus, Thongs, and Full-Frontal Snogging, I'm considering writing my own book about my love life, which will also be completely blown out of proportion (since that's what I'm doing anyway). The title of this post is the title that Carrie suggested for my narrative, with one change, inspired by my brother. ("Meg, you can totally use this. You make a time capsule. You write about how you feel about this kid, and then when you break up with this other one you tell the first one that it was him you liked all along. When he doesn't believe you, you take him out and dig up the time capsule, and as you open it and the steam rises . . ." Only Ty would think of this as an option for fixing my love life.)What say ye?
I've decided that I'm making my life WAY more dramatic than it needs to be, which is probably because I REALLY need to get out of the Glenwood. There comes a point where having history with half of the boys in the ward (whether they know it or not) is ridiculous and annoying rather than funny. Ugh.
So here will be what's on the back of my book:
Edward: A fictional vampire, but boy do I ever wish he were real. If only the problem was just that the guy has a teensy-weensy desire to suck my blood. . .
Time Capsules: Those dumb things you bury in the back yard with a newspaper clipping and a list of what you ate for lunch. Also my brother's idea for how I can get the man of my dreams to declare his love. Long story.
From-Behind Hugging: A really cute way of showing affection that not only scares me to death, but also leaves me without a clue how to respond. What do I say . . . I missed you too?
Okay, it needs some work, and I'm not British. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but soon . . .
As you can probably tell, I don't have much to say at the moment . . . I just want to put off my homework. And the picture has nothing to do with anything . . . unless you want to think about how I have too much to chew right now. Ha.

Book Tag

Rules of the Game:
1. Find the nearest book to you.
2. Name the book and author.
3. Turn to page 123.
4. Go to the fifth sentence on the page.
5. Copy out the next 3 sentences and post to your blog.
6. Tag three other people.

The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde

After that they made up a few verses of their own and converted the result into binary. Lakes! Daffodils!
For the record, this is a weird book. And as for the tagging, I'm going to say Janssen, Katherine, and Lili. Have fun, kids.

The Compromise

I saw this on Lindsey's blog and it looked like fun, so indulge me.

Pick a favorite band and answer using only that band's song titles.
Band: The Format
Are you male or female? She Doesn't Get It
Describe yourself: I Am Ready, I Am
How do some people feel about you? A Mess To Be Made
How do you feel about yourself? I'm Actual
Describe your girlfriend/boyfriend/interest: Give It Up (or Dead End. It's a toss up)
Where would you rather be? On Your Porch
Describe what you want to be: Even Better Yet
Describe how you live: If Work Permits
Describe how you love: Wait, Wait, Wait
Share a few words of wisdom: Let's Make This Moment a Crime

Sleeping Lessons

Sadly, this isn't a post about sleeping lessons (which I probably need, since I can't seem to accomplish it by myself). Rather, I thought I'd say a few words about the awesome concerts of this week, Ben Kweller on Tuesday and The Shins last night. (If you are still confused, "Sleeping Lessons" is the name of a Shins song - the opening song at the concert last night.)
They were great.
Ben Kweller was a complete spur of the moment - Sydney came over on Monday, distressed because she hadn't known about the Shins concert until it was too late - and mentioned that Ben Kweller was coming. When she found out I had a car we both dropped everything to go. The first opening band was promising . . . until the lead singer opened his mouth. I'm not sure why they elected him singer, but as dumb as their lyrics were I'm not sure if it would have mattered. Thankfully, the second band, a local group called The Brobecks, was basically fantastic. They had some rhythms that sounded almost like the 50s (sort of like Greenday sounds a little 60s at times) and they were all kinds of fun. The semi-morbid murder-mysteryesque song "Goodnight Socialite" was my favorite.
Ben Kweller looks about 15, and the girl shirt he was wearing under his plaid flannel one didn't help much, but he sounded great, and singing "HEY! I need you Baaaaaaaaack" was all kinds of fun. He played FOREVER (it probably seemed longer because I was hungry and my feet hurt after standing through The Brobecks and Automatic Body, but it was still a long show) and our ears were ringing a little after, but it was great. The highlight was when Ben couldn't find his harmonica headgear and had a guy from the audience play the harmonica part. The guy was good and we all loved it. I'm sure it was the guy's dream come true, especially since he got to keep the harmonica. Also, he played Roger Miller's "Chug-a-lug" which made my heart happy, because I'm pretty sure I was one of the few people who knew it was Roger Miller and not a milk chug commercial. My dad would have been proud.
The opening band for the Shins got stuck somewhere due to "weather," (whatever that means) so we just jumped right into the real show.
They were AMAZING.
My ears didn't hurt when they were done (yay for The Shins being just as chill in concert as they are on their CDs), but all of the lyrics I'd never quite understood before suddenly seemed very profound, and "A Comet Appears" gave me goosebumps. They played most of my favorite songs, including "Saint Simon," "Kissing the Lipless," "Turn on Me," and "So Says I" for an encore. "Kissing the Lipless" was the first Shins song I ever heard because my brother put in on a CD of "college music" that he made when I graduated from high school. I was actually almost surprised when they started playing it because I had somehow disconnected it from them in my head and it no longer seems like a Shins song to me.
Next up will probably be Snow Patrol in March, because I'm basically a concert junkie at this point. I keep talking to people who don't understand why I like going so much, but there's some kind of adrenaline rush that can't really be explained to someone who isn't a music freak, and I'm still just a little bit star struck when I hear the same sounds I've loved for so long coming out of real people.
Speaking of music freaks, I discovered this week that there is this funny connection between people who like this crazy indie music (I don't even know how to categorize what I listen to, but the kids who also listen to it know what I mean just based on the bands I talked about in this post). The other day I turned around in my English class and saw a Shins sticker on the binder of the girl who sits behind me. I don't even know her name, but when I asked if she was going to the concert we became immediate friends and started talking about all of our bands. It's a really funny phenomenon. I like it.

Uh-oh . . .

My friends, this is a dark day.

T-shirts I WANT

I want these t-shirts. Also, the one I found the other day that says "Good Grammar is Hot." But for today, yay for Toothpaste for Dinner!

Blind Date Billy . . . Again

(Picture taken by Dain Hubley - hope you don't mind, Dain. It was just too perfect.)
Okay, I lied about not having anything to talk about. This weekend I'm going on a blind date, and I've been wondering about my sanity, because honestly, my luck with blind dates has been . . . special. Let's take a survey, shall we?
First, there was the kid my DAD set me up with because we both got the same scholarship. He took me to see Napoleon Dynamite (a movie I already knew I detested) and then to a park to play croquet in the dark and to swing dance. He flipped me upside down, which was . . . thrilling, but oddly enough, not the basis for an enduring relationship.
The blind date I'm going on this weekend is the third setup from my brother, Spence. The first one was a nice enough kid - we doubled with my roommate and his friend - and he was actually creative. We went to a place called Color Me Mine and painted some pottery. His friend was a little overconfident (obnoxiously so) and they kept speaking in Hmong (word to the wise, boys. This is not charming or impressive. You may bring up mission stories if they are ABSOLUTELY applicable, but don't work it into the conversation because you want to let it be known you went on a mission, and DON'T start talking in your language in front of your date unless you have to in order to communicate with the waiter (like, maybe you're on a date in Mexico). It's rude. Rant concluded.) but other than that it was okay. I saw him one more time . . . when he asked me to edit his poly sci paper and practically write his works cited page for him. Awesome.
The second setup was over before it even happened. My brother's brother-in-law had a friend, and when we couldn't get the date to work out, we arranged a meeting at the football game. He said after that we could "decide whether or not we want to go out."
Um . . . holy awkward situation, Batman.
So we met up so he could see if I was good enough to waste a few bucks on, and of course it was weird and awkward (probably more so for him, because I was there with all of my friends) and when he left at halftime to get food my friend Spencer Houtz threatened to put his arm around me when the kid got back. When he did get back, my friend Travis asked him who he was (Travis missed the first half) and the kid hmmed and haaed so much that I thought I should help him out, so I said, "Oh, just tell him! It's funny!"
He told him. In the most awkward way imaginable.
"Well, I've been home from my mission for about 5 years now, and my friends have decided it's about time for me to get married."
Hello? I'm standing right here . . .
We never actually went out.
I did have one good blind date experience - we went out 3 times and then decided we knew everything we needed to and weren't interested anymore. But it was a nice self-esteem boost when he asked for my number after the first date.
And now here I am preparing to subject myself to it again, but I've decided to glory in the awkwardness. What difference does it make if we like each other? I'm beginning to think that a lot of this business of love is luck anyway, which means that until you run into a person you click with you may as well have a little fun laughing at all of the ones that don't work at all. So here's to finding true love in a world in which I really wonder how anyone EVER gets together. Wish me luck.

Best Invention EVER

As promised, here is my ode to the Egg and Muffin toaster. I'm not kidding when I say this thing is the greatest appliance of our century. What could be better than toast and eggs which are finished at the SAME TIME?? I almost got two of these little gems, and really, it wouldn't have been so bad. There is very little that is more glorious than something that looks just like an Egg McMuffin but is made with fresh ingredients and plastic cheese. I make myself egg and cheese sandwiches for every meal (although very rarely for breakfast. Curse my lack of morning-person-ness.)
Sorry for the lameness of the posts lately - I'll try to think of something funny to say soon.

Celebrating Legality

As promised, here is the full (sort of) story of my birthday festivities for those who want to know (mostly my mom).
I woke up to streamers around my door and a mirror full of reasons why I'm amazing and "heaven help us, she's legal." My mom came down in the morning so that we could go to lunch together. She brought me 21 red roses, which were gorgeous and caused a good deal of curiosity among my friends. We went to the Olive Garden and played at the mall for awhile, and I definitely didn't go to class (lest you judge, I missed Social Dance and Women's Chorus. Wouldn't you?) She brought me a Little Debbie cake and stuck a candle in it so she could sing to me properly, which was fantastic.
When Mom left I played the guitar for awhile and talked to my brother Treb (I haven't talked to him in a couple of months, so it was quite a treat) and then the roommates and I headed out to The Bombay House for dinner. Indian food is fantastic. My roommates spoiled me rotten - Jennie gave me a Shakespeare notebook/journal (the quintessential Megan present - perfect) and Lili gave me a fuzzy jacket and a frame for the picture she is still working on for me (see previous post). Mandy gave me a hardback copy of Twilight with a pretty Thoreau bookmark inside. Miri gave me the egg and muffin toaster, and if you don't know what that is, watch for future posts, because I'm pretty sure there will be one about it someday. A-mazing.
We had just enough time to grab some food for our guests and get back in time for the party (we didn't have to make Simon open the door this time while we waited for the check) with 5 minutes to spare for vacuuming. The girls next door had decorated our apartment with balloons and streamers and a big poster signed by some of my friends and with markers hanging beside it so other people could sign it.
Michael Lundwall (who is not dead, surprisingly enough) was the first to arrive, and he brought a vinyl sign for me - my name in big pink letters. Brad Riching brought a fantastic apple pie and apple beer (you've got to have the appearance at least, right?) and Lili's mom sent some good cookie/brownie things. Mmm.
My friends are funny, I've decided. In addition to the hilarity of the Edward action figure, my friend Katherine brought me a book called You Can Conquer Rejection with some of the more profound passages marked (which was one of the hits of the party) and a page-a-day calendar called "Where Are They Buried and How Did They Die" that made a lot of people a little nervous about her. When we were in England together I bought a booklet called Where Are They Buried? from Westminster Abbey because I wanted to know who was actually there and who just had a memorial, so it was just too funny for her to pass up the calendar. Jonathan and Shalise brought bagels and cheese to go with the egg and muffin toaster (I'll be trying that out Saturday at the lastest, although I have a break between classes today, so it might be lunch), and Curt brought a card addressed to "Miss America" (long story). Andrew brought me his best guitar pick (his only guitar pick) because he was my first guitar teacher. Aw. On more serious notes, Todd gave me October Sky (which, based on my high school friends, may as well be the story of my life) and my roommate Seungah gave me some cute bookmarks and a really sweet card. I also got a whole lot of hugs, which was fantastic, and I really appreciated all of the people who showed up. I feel very blessed to have such amazing friends.
I heard from all of my brothers on the phone (Spence called late while I was watching "The Office" - apt. 194's gift to me since I missed it whilst dining and buying treats - and Ty texted me first thing in the morning and last thing at night. Clark called to play the Beatles' "Birthday," which has been a tradition for at least as long as he's lived away from home, and I talked to Treb for close to an hour while he was driving from work to his haircut appointment.)
So thank you to everyone who conspired to give me such a fabulous day. (I hope I didn't forget anything amazing - everyone who showed up = amazing, as do those who called or e-mailed even though they couldn't.) I felt very loved.

Happy Edward Birthday?

I promise that I'm going to write a real post about my birthday, but this was just too good to wait on until tomorrow.
Thanks to my roommates, Edward Cullen (of Stephenie Meyer's Twilight) appeared in birthday greetings throughout the day. On the mirror there was a top 10 list of reasons why they think I'm amazing - number 2 was that I introduced them to Edward. Lili drew him into my birthday card and her actual present to me is an awesome picture of me with Edward. (The sketch is here, which I hope is okay with Lili, and she's still working on the color version.)Mandy gave me a hardback copy of Twilight because I know that I won't be able to wait for the paperbacks when the new books come out, so why fight it? (Besides, the waiting list for my book is long, so I can loan out the paperback forever and keep the new one on hand for reference.)
But what may have been the greatest thing ever came from Jeff Ribeira and Drew Mackay, who went to great lengths to create an Edward action figure. Since they couldn't find a vampire action figure, they made their own - Batman's Robin with some extra special accessories, like "mind reading goggles!" and "heat/blood sensing binoculars!" not to mention the "cape!" made of toilet paper with a "V" on the back. They'd very carefully covered up the batman symbol and replaced it with "Edward" and they'd opened it to include everything that they felt was missing. Besides the hair color, he looks quite a lot like our Edward. :)
We found him a friend when the party was over - my other action figure. We decided since Bella loves Jane Austen, she'd approve. Now Edward is wearing his toilet paper cape and holding Jane's hand. Awesome.
More to come on the real birthday festivities.