I apologize that I promised to post about everything and still haven't. I put my pictures on facebook and will probably get them up here, but I keep thinking of things I want to blog about and then I don't feel like it when I actually sit down. For now, I'm going to sleep, but maybe tomorrow will be a better blogging day. On the bright side though, if I end up in Indiana, I may have found a librarian to live with!

Look Around You

Remember those really crappy science videos? Yeah. This one is like that, but not. I'm not sure it's the funniest one, but it's the first one I saw, and it makes me giggle a lot. Watch for my favorite line, "Water, water, what hast thou donst?" And then you should find the one about Maths.



Also, this is amazing.

Stories from Ann Arbor

So right now I'm in Ann Arbor, MI checking out the grad school here. It's a great school (seriously, great) and I'm pretty impressed with the program and the town overall. However, I'm currently hyperventilating about the money situation, especially because I'm pretty sure that Indiana is not just a little bit less expensive. (If my calculations are correct, it may be close to HALF as much. That's HUGE. How did that not sink in before?)

Anyway, it's been a great weekend, regardless. I got here on Thursday night, and Katherine picked me up from the airport close to midnight. I was lucky to make my connection - I had about 15 minutes between flights because the first one was delayed the the second was on time, but it all worked out very well. I even made some friends in the airport, and they let me read their comics from the newspaper. (The girl said she saves them for times when she has downtime, which I feel is brilliant.)

On Friday morning, Katherine, Kjestin and I got up early and drove to Toronto, which is about a 4-hour drive from Ann Arbor. Our main purpose was to see a Tom Stoppard play, Travesties, that night, but we wanted some time in the city too. 

Our first adventure was crossing the border. Katherine had some yogurt, and while we were waiting for the next available booth, she ate a couple of spoonfuls, and then she put it back down before driving up to the border control man. When we got up to the booth, the guy just sat there staring at us for almost a minute. He finally opened the window and said, "Are you through eating?" Katherine was confused, because she hadn't actually been eating. "Um . . .  yes . .  ." Then he said, "What about the girl in the back? Is she through eating?" Kjestin had just reached for a pita chip and some hummus, and since we couldn't tell whether or not  this guy was serious, she cheerfully said, "Nope! Not through eating!" He started interrogating us, and then when Kjestin reached for another chip (she was in the back, after all) he said, "Okay, I was being sarcastic the first time. STOP FREAKIN' EATING." And then he gave us a lecture on manners that seemed a little unnecessary, since the person had been talking to had not, in fact, been eating at any time while she'd been talking to him, but we drove away feeling a little unsure about Canada.

Despite this greeting, I loved Toronto. I'll be posting some pictures later (when I get back to Utah and my camera cord) but it reminded me a little but of Europe. We ate some kind of Central American food for lunch (tamales and papusas)  and we had some great shawarma and falafel for dinner (along with a gyro pita and some baklava). We wandered all around the city - stopping when something was interesting, snapping pictures of war memorials and beautiful buildings, etc. We especially loved the old Municipal building and the University of Toronto. 

We finally went back to our hotel to change our clothes and head to the Stoppard play. We were staying about half a mile away from the theater, so we walked over there and picked up our tickets, then sat admiring our fantastic view of the stage - front and center in the upper level, which was absolutely perfect.

The play itself was brilliant. It was about a guy who had met James Joyce in Zurich during WWI, but it also seems that he may or may not have known Tzara of the Dada movement, and Lenin. (You know. That Lenin.) The whole play was very ambiguous, which was kind of the point - failure of memory was part of a play that also talked about the value of art, revolution, war, social change, and much of it was worked through the script of The Importance of Being Earnest, because the man telling the story had starred in that play under Joyce during the same time, and the play got all mixed up in the story. (My favorite example of this was when Lenin was talking to the Russians just before the 1917 revolution. "To lose one revolution is a misfortune. To lose two looks like carelessness." Hahahaha. Oh, Aunt Augusta.) 

We drove back the next morning, and Katherine and Kjerstin dropped me off on campus for the campus tour and some orientation talks. I went to a couple of breakout sessions and learned about some different specializations (the School of Information is impressively diverse), and about various aspects of student life. It was pretty entertaining from a BYU perspective to have every coffee shop and brewery pointed out along the way. My favorite moment was when I told the girl I'd been chatting with that I was from Utah. The conversation went something like this.

Her: "Oh, so this must be a bit of a change for you."

Me: "Yeah, but I really like the city. It seems like a cool place."

Pause

Her: "I really love coffee, so I was excited about all of the coffee shops."

Me: "Haha. Good times."

Pause

Her: "Do you drink coffee?

Me: No, I don't, actually.

Her: Oh. I didn't used to but my roommate had me try it one time and the first time I thought it tasted bad, but I just kept drinking it and now I really like it. Never keep drinking something that tastes bad . . ." (etc.)

Me: "Haha. Good times." 

I love the very pointed questioning here - she got exactly what she wanted to know without actually asking the question. 

Anyway, that night, instead of going on the night excursions (which were all to bars and coffee shops) I went with Katherine to a ward activity to get a feel for that. (All kinds of stuff was going on today, so I knew I wasn't going to get to check out the ward in church.) They were doing a photo scavenger hunt, which made me laugh, but was oddly comforting. The institute, by the way, was converted from what probably used to be a sorority or fraternity, which I thought was kind of funny.

We came back that night and looked up some things we'd been talking about all day - about Stoppard's play and signs we'd seen on the road and other questions that just came up - and then went to bed.

This morning I went to the bulk of the orientation - talks about the different areas of SI, lunch with faculty members, seminars about financial aid, career placement, and student life. It was all really great - except for the financial aid seminar, which mostly just freaked me out. Honestly, unless I can get funding, I can't see any way to justify going into debt that much to be a librarian, and I think this place is more than some. 

As a final note, I got a letter from UT the other day, and apparently something about my application wasn't complete. I have no idea what, because I thought I checked it pretty thoroughly. Whatever it was, though, they didn't say anything and I didn't check, so they sent me a letter that said they'd cancelled my application. 

Awesome. 

I wasn't completely set on anywhere, but it's really frustrating to not even have that option anymore, to not even be considered for it. I don't know what happened, but it's icky, and I felt a little sick about the whole thing. I keep wondering how many things I'm missing because I'm just not being very on top of things, you know? It's one of the main fears with this whole financial aid issue too. What am I missing that could fund all of this? I don't even know. 

I'm here through tomorrow, where there will be a networking fair and a display of student projects, after which I'm going to spend some time in the used bookstores and the very High Fideity-esque record store that I passed. (I'm half expecting John Cusack to be behind the counter when I go in. It's that cool-looking.) I'll post pictures and anything else after I get back. 

Drunken Lullabies

In case you're at a loss as to what to listen to this St. Patrick's Day (i.e. you're tired of the Irish Rovers and the Proclaimers) here's my shortlist of great Irish (or Irish-ish) bands:

• Flogging Molly
• The Young Dubliners
• The Pogues
• Glen Hansard/The Frames/The Swell Season
• Damien Rice
• Lisa Hannigan
• U2 (but mostly songs like "Van Diemen's Land" and "Sunday Bloody Sunday")
• Snow Patrol
• The Decemberists - not actually Irish, but they sing about the Irish and their music steals enough from Irish music that you can get away with it. At least "Shankill Butchers.")

What else are you listening to this fine St. Paddy's Day?

Don Quixote

A couple of things that are significant, since I haven't blogged in a bit.

This was an eventful weekend. Not only did Amanda get engaged to my friend James (yes, I will be taking credit for that one), but Miri found out she's pregnant, and I was accepted to the Bloomington campus of the University of Indiana. Crazy-exciting times, no?

On Saturday night I hit the opera with Whitney, Tiffany and Mallory, and discovered that it is possible to have a crush on a Mozart character. (Who knew? And how ridiculous is that, just by the way?) Anyway, I'm now in love with Figaro (and his cape, even though I'm still not advocating their reintroduction into society), and the opera was truly fantastic. I don't know what it is, but just knowing that such lovely sounds can exist makes the whole world seem a little brighter, even if the story is essentially about a lecherous count trying to seduce his servant's fiance. (Yay for Susanna, incidentally. She is awesome.)

I got some good cuddling from my baby nephews and from Jake and Cole yesterday, so I'm feeling ready to go for the week. This weekend, I'm flying to Michigan to check out the SI program at Ann Arbor. I'm going to stay with Katherine, which will be exciting. Hopefully my mad Priceline skills will work out well the day of (because they sure seemed to be awesome when I got my cheap tickets, but I always stress that somehow I did something wrong. At least it was Priceline, which is endorsed by William Shatner and therefore must be legit.)
I'll leave you with this amazing comic.

Hey, wanna join my group?

I love this, even though I'm guilty of many of these things. (Sorry.) I can think of a few more that I'd add, but I shan't. Yet.  Thank you Travis and Travis's mom for acting most of this out for me before I actually saw it. 




Also this, which is especially awesome because it's British.

Time to move to Arizona

Okay, I'm done with Daylight Savings Time. Ick.
Yesterday, I woke up with plenty of time to get to church. I got out of the shower at 7:40, which would give me about 45 minutes to get dry and get dressed. Then I looked at my phone and it said it was 8:40 - five minutes before church started.
Pardon?
I don't know whose brilliant idea it was to change the week when we switch from the convenient first Sunday in April (which was extra convenient because they always reminded me to change it at General Conference to the hard-to-remember second Sunday in March, but I really want to know why they didn't just go back a whole month - or just get rid of it altogether? I know I wasn't the only one who missed Sacrament Meeting yesterday (we went to James's ward instead, which was funny - James walking in with his girlfriend and all of her roommates), and I know I'm not the only one who is dying this morning because it feels like I got up in the middle of the night.
On the bright side, it was otherwise a great weekend - Hunger Banquet and Dr. Horrible on Friday, IC on Saturday, cookie-making party last night after ward prayer (where I got a copy of the Constitution from another member of the Constitution party. I've now met two) good chats with my parents and Treb, and lots of using Clark's projector until I take it back. :) (Not until I watch Station Agent, Clark. I want to see Finbar full size.)
And finally, I'm getting really excited to see The Marriage of Figaro with Whitney and Tiffany and Mallory. Hurray for cheap balcony seats and for there being super titles this time around, because when I saw it in London a couple of years ago I didn't know what they were saying. Although I think I would go anyway, because Mozart is glorious, especially in opera form.

The return of Johnny Cake

So remember Jonathan Cake?

Well, I don't know how many of you watch Chuck (I don't) but this week, dear old Johnny Cake was on it as the MI6 agent.  (And while I was trying to find a picture to post, I found out that it was a recurring role. Uh-oh.)

So for me, it was worth watching it, even though I had no idea what was going on. Oh, Johnny Cake - it's been so long since our magical moments in the Globe. I've missed you so. 

Five Star and the Blustery Day

Today was the day of adventures with wind.

I'd noticed it was a little windy when I went to lunch and had to hold on to my door really tight so that it didn't blow into the car next to me, but I didn't think much of it - our building has always seemed to be in kind of a windy spot to me, and it is March, after all.

So after lunch, I was getting ready to make some calls for our franchisee in Columbus, and the phone wouldn't dial out. Just as I was about to try again, Eunice called me and asked if I could call out of the office, so it wasn't a fluke. We also tried dialing our number from our cell phones and got one ring and a busy signal. 

Sweet.

Shortly after that, our internet went out - there goes about 90% of our job.  At first we were blaming the guys who had installed our new printer/copier, but after Alex made a few calls, it seemed like it was "bigger than us." (Yes, that's what Alex said. As if the phones going down were an idealistic cause.)

So we all started cleaning up the office and scanning things and doing other exciting, non-internet/phone related work, and then we went to take large quantities of garbage to the dumpster. (Our sister office hadn't taken out their garbage for a long time - they'd just been letting it pile up in an empty cubicle. It made me think of Alice's restaurant - you know, the church where the pews used to be.) Anyway, I tried to secure the big box I took out in the full dumpster, but a few minutes after we came back, Matt had me come in his office to see the box tumbling across the field.

When Amanda (not roommate Amanda - the other one) went to get the mail, the wind blew some of it out of her hand and she had to chase it down in her car. Our mailbox is out on the road, so we usually get it when we're going to or coming back from lunch. She got it eventually, but it was trying to get away.

And then Eunice went to Arby's for lunch, and the glass cover of the menu blew open and hit her car, scratching the paint and breaking her side mirror. Seriously? How does that even happen?

By the time I left, I'd scanned about a thousand pages (not an exaggeration)  and the phones and interwebs were still down. 

Who'd have thought that the wind could disrupt our nice, quiet office so completely? 

Do what is right, because it is right.

Tonight I went to see Letters from Iwo Jima at International Cinema (and introduced Torie to the IC in the process). I really like war movies, which is funny, because they always remind me of how much I hate the entire concept of taking little patches of ground by killing all of the people occupying it. (Side note: Dain already had a major objection to this statement, which I admit is a big fat oversimplification. I wrote a comment to that effect in response to him, but please know that I'm not saying that's all war is - I just think that sometimes people don't really know why they have to run out into the line of fire shooting. This was one of the big things in the movie - people who had to follow orders, sometimes conflicting orders, because someone's concept of honor or duty compelled them to go and take back a ridge that they never could without reinforcements. It was certainly hyperbolic for me to say it that way, but it's the way I was seeing it. Note the part below where I already apologized for my thoughts possibly seeming like garbage.) I understand the concept of protecting one's country, one's family, one's rights, but it hit me again today that it is completely horrifying how much of the objective seems to be killing as many people as possible before they kill you. I'm not explaining my thoughts about this very well at all, and I apologize if it seems like garbage. I have all kinds of respect for people who fight for their country - I just hate the way that it happens, or maybe just the fact that it seems to need to so often.

The thing that really stuck out to me in this movie - probably because it was in Japanese but directed by an American (so maybe I was getting the Japanese perspective with a somewhat American point of view) - was how much of the tragedy of war seems to come from people who can't understand each other. I know that I was struggling to understand why many of the officers in the Japanese army believed the only option left to them after losing one of the areas was suicide, because it was the only honorable option. To me it seemed much more logical to keep supporting your already outnumbered army, but I had to remind myself that they have hundreds of years of completely different trains of thought behind them, and that I had no business saying they were right or wrong. (Not to mention the fact that the battle didn't seem logical to me in the first place, so why was I trying to put some into it?) There was a really interesting part where an officer who had been to America made the Japanese medic treat an American soldier, and after the solider died, the officer read a letter that the soldier's mother had written to him. There was this really beautiful moment where a Japanese soldier talked about how he'd believed that the Americans were savages, but the letter was no different from some of his own mother's letters. (This was followed up by something that clouded the whole concept, but that moment was a beautiful one.)

In any case, I will probably continue to love and be horrified by war movies and books, and I will probably continue to be unable to explain why, and I'll probably keep trying to explain it anyway.

Good night.