Some Poems

So sometimes I get inspired and write poems. It doesnt happen very often, and I like to share the ones I do manage to spit out. These are a couple I wrote about 2 years back.
For this first one, I got the inspiration as I was driving one night to a singles ward activity and had this huge full moon out in front of me the whole way to the church. I thought about it the entire night, even when I came home and went to bed. Suddenly, it came to me; I jumped out of bed and, in the dark, composed the following:

Alone, the moon wanders,
A glowing pearl, as twilight melts
Into velvet blackness.
She paints the land
in deep blues and baleful silvers.
Shadows reign beneath her watchful eye --
And lovers sing to her their lovers' woe.

this other poem is actually a set of three smaller "poem-ettes" that I wrote after a nice nighttime hike up to the "Y" with my friend Steve. The view of the valley from up there is pretty spectacular, especially if your taking in the view upside-down.

At night the sky is an ocean
Amid its still and darkened waters the moon drifts -
A lone and weary mariner.

From where I stand I see,
I can see forever.
The city sprawls beneath me --
It is diamonds and amber thrown across a velvet drape.

I could fall into the sky - I am sure it would swallow me whole;
Then I'd become a star, and watch the Earth from sky forevermore.

I'm trying to do this every day again

I'm going to try to write here everyday again, hopefully a good habit forms.
Other than that announcement, please enjoy this website... it is hilarious.

Dinosaur Comics
www.qwantz.com

Mid-semester sentiments

Well, just thought I'd take a little break from homework to share a little about my week, which has been super busy. But, thankfully a lot of the pressure will be off tomorrow when I give my two big presentations and turn in my Museum Collections Management Project Report.--->

In spite of all the assignments and whatnot that I have had to do this week I realized that I really like being busy. Having a lot of worthwhile assignments to do makes me feel like I'm accomplishing somehting, which I am -- I am getting educated! From time to time troubles may pop up and make me blue (like in my previous post, which I apologize for by the way) but I really am content with life.... and also I have banned myself from writing when I'm like that ever again. Also, I am happy because I have friends and family who love me and because Utah has an awesome music scene that allows me access to shows featuring a lot of my favorite bands. Speaking of, Jaimee and I are going to an epic concert this weekend at the Avalon theatre in Sandy. It's Say Anything, Saves the Day, and Motion City Soundtrack, and I am hella excited. Just the other day, Jaimee and I were listening to the new Say Anything album and I got a song from it stuck in my head. I have listened to "Cemetery" at least 3 times a day since Monday. Actually, I'm listening to it right now!

Listen and enjoy!

Life is a Rollercoaster Sometimes..

Or all the time....

All I know is, right now my life feels like the world's biggest.

So, I have been home from the mission now for about three months, I can hardly believe that its been so short a time. It feels like its been forever, and yet I find myself still entangled in post-mission confusion. Sometimes I feel like this isnt my real life, like I dont know what my purpose is. Sometimes I feel like Im drowning in doubt. Some days I just want to go back to the mission. It was safe there, I knew what i had to be doing every minute of every day. And i knew there was a specific beginning and end to every activity, including the mission as a whole. Out here, in "the World", I don't know when things begin and end, everything's all muddled together. I doubt everything; my ability to get a job, my major, my financial situation, my dating life, the support of my friends- sometimes I feel like I dont have any friends at all.

And I dont know whats wrong with me, because other times I feel just the opposite. I wish that all those bad feelings would just go away.

Crap, I feel really whiny right now, but its good to get stuff off your chest, I guess. And I promise I dont feel like this all the time, just every once in a while. I just had to vent.

Possibly the Funniest Thing. Ever.

I would like to give major kudos to my dear friend Jaimee Kendall today. I was chatting with her on facebook chat and she sent me a link to this blog called "Hyperbole and a Half", telling me it was one of the funniest things she had ever encountered. Piqued curiosity mixed with friendship-based opinion-trust, I clicked the link and...

My life changed forever.

I have never laughed for such a long time before (or rather, so.... seguidamente (man, I wish there were an english equivalent to that word)) the posts are so _______. (insert awesome adjective here (there are too many that apply for me to choose one.)) She also does Microsoft Paint pictures that make me really envious, I want those MS Paint skills!!

If you havent checked it out before, you really need to have a look at this blog...

I'm Pretty Lame at Writing Right Now

So I was looking at these note posts I put up on facebook a couple years ago and it made me really excited to write again, which is probably a good thing, since technically if you have a blog you should write in it/ I'm going back to school and I need to practice because writing is a big part of college life. (I don't know if it's just me but I feel like after having learned spanish, my english grammar has gone downhill... should there be more commas, are there any run-on sentences? I'm not sure anymore; if anyone cares to comment, feel free to take a virtual red pen and make all necesary corrections. I won't be mad.)
So my mom just sauntered in and is now sitting on the couch close to where I am writing.... I hope she doesn't see that I am writing about her/ isn't offended by the word "saunter". My mom is very glad that I am home from the mission, it seems and therefore doesnt want me out of her sight until the last possible second; which, in a way, I can understand. I'm one of her younger children, in a few tears, she may just be an empty-nester and I heard that that can be a rough adjustment. So, she comes to my room alot to ask me stuff, wants to play yahtzee; and now is seated not too far away, listening to the sound of the keys typing, or thinking about what to make for dinner, maybe wondering when and to whom I will be married....or something to that effect.
I hope I dont sound ungrateful, I love my mom and I'm extremely grateful for everything she has done for me. Shes done more than I can imagine, I'm sure... which erminds me of a time when I was in the MTC (Missionary Training Center) and my zone president got my district together and told us to describe our mothers to him. As we reflected on thier quirks and stories about how they met our dads, I believe that a realization of the sacrifices they make for us began to dawn on us collectively. It became very emotional very fast. Halfway through my turn I was a blubbering mess and president decided to move on to the next missionary.
Have you ever thought about what your mother has done for you? Have you ever tried to imagine the sacrifices shes made so thet you can be happy and never want? In the past, my mom has gone without buying clothes for herself (for years sometimes) so we could get new ones at the beginning of every schoolyear. I actually remember seeing her in pants that had big holes in them and battered old shoes, but never put two and two together until later. Just think about all she had to go through: the terrible twos, helping with homework, dealing with the melodrama of surly teenagers. Shes had it rough. Why dont you go thank her? Tell her shes wonderful, shes beautiful, that you love her?
Thats an excellent suggestion, I think I will.

The last days of the mission

well im back finally from my year-and-a-half long mission among the chilean people. It was an experiance that words cannot even begin to describe, something that changed my life for good and helped me to progress as a person like i had never been able to before.

On his occasion i wanted to describe a little about the last few days of my mission, and my coming to grips with the fact that it actually was over.

First of all, going to the mission office the last time with my hija (greenie) was fun, as going to the office usually is, the only pain was draggin my two large suitcases with us. I told Hna. Monge that the best way to ttravel with luggage is on the micro (small bus) because its funer. We got to the office, i dropped off my luggage and me and my comp made our way over to president's house. I had my interview with President Gillespie in the which he asked me about my plansfor the future, gave me some advice and dating tips, and then asked me how the mission had changed me, or rather, how i had become a better person because of the mission. Really, I would ask myself how it had not helped me.

the mission has helped me in so many ways, apart from having become more responsable and organized, and learning to work with a schelule and to plan and set goals- apart from meetong and seeing the points of view of so many diverse and wonderful people and really beginning to see the complexity and,at the same time,simplicity of nations-apart from all thast, it has helped me to find nourish and strengthen my convictions and faith in my Savior Jesus Christ; and Im talking real faith- the thing that makes you walk the walk instead of just talking the talk. The patterns i have established during my mission are a foundation on whcih i can keep edifying myself until I reach heaven. For that, I am eternally and deeply grateful to my Heavenly Father for the chance He gave me to serve him for this year and a half. It may not have been a long time (though for some it would seem that way) but it has truly been a formative and quintasential period in my life up to this point.

i wish i had been able to sum it up as well for my mission President, but I think he got the gist of it.

Afterward, I had to wait for Hna. Rivas (the other sister missionary returning home with me) to have her interview with President, during the which time i had some breakfast with Hermana Gillespie. Then Hna. Rivas and I went to read and answer our last emails of the mission... that was a heartwrenching experience for me... i felt like there was a hole opening up in me. Then we went to weigh our luggage, moved some things around, and Hna. Rivas had to take and english test. I suppose it went well for her... i wasnt too sure because i took a nap on Presidents deep and incredibly comfy couches.

When all the returning missionaries got to the house, we began the "closing ceremonies", if you will. It consisted of a dinner, then a testimony meeting. Each and every missionary had the opportuniy to stand and say something about how they felt/what they had learned from the mission. Personally i couldnt stop bawling, to see so much change in people's live, its awe-inspiring. Somehting that Hna. Rivas said taught me a lot about the influence a missionary has without knowing it:

In Belloto 2, the Hna.s had an old man named Jorge Luis as an investgator. They shared with him and he lied what they taught but never really kept his commitments. One day we went to his house (we were in a trio at that time) and we found him watering outside. He told us that he wasnt very interested in listening anymore. (heres the interesting part... but also the part i dont remember) Hna Rivas was about to accept that he didnt want to listen anymore, but turns out that I piped up and insisted that he let us talk to him for a few minutes, saying that the message we had was of utmost importance. Well, he let us in and we talked to him about prayer, i think. He had never prayed. That was the only time I had the opportunity to teach Jorge Luis, but I heard that he got baptized and is currently active in the church, and that he has a beautiful testimony.

You never know what kind of infulence you will have on the people around you.