5 for 14- #5 Find a four-leaf clover

Okay, so I actually found a four-leaf clover sometime in July, I've just been really forgetful lately (and by lately I mean since July) and am just now getting around to writing about it.

Part of me, however, is grateful that I have put this off for so long.  I now have experiences I can tell about this four-leaf clover of mine.  I can now declare that four-leaf clovers really are as lucky as people claim they are.  Since finding this simple little clover, I have won tickets to see a live taping of Studio C, to attend the Homecoming Spectacular (a fine arts performance done every year at my school for homecoming), and for the 2014 Mormon Tabernacle Christmas concert coming up in December.

So, to all my college friends out there who are much like me, completely penniless, if you are looking for fun, free dates- go out and find yourself a four-leaf clover and then enter all the "free ticket giveaways" you can find.

My Life is Routine

School started...like a month ago...can you tell? Life has been busy.

I am a terrible journal keeper.  I remember to write in it about once a month.  My initial purpose behind my blog was to motivate me to write something, however random or spur of the moment, so that key events in my life are at least recorded somewhere since they never make it to my journal.  We can see I don't do much better with my blog.  I am finally starting to understand why.

My life is routine.  Especially during the school year.  I go to school and I go to work, not always in that order.  I do homework while sitting at the same table as my boyfriend so that we both feel like we are spending quality time together.  This time is either not particularly "quality time" or not particularly productive in regards to homework.  And I sleep.  Every now and then I even remember to eat.  Day after day, my life follows this same basic pattern.  If I ever find time to break routine and do something totally crazy, it lasts for ten to fifteen minutes and then I get back to what I ought to be doing and slowly forget it.

I sat down once a week or two ago with the intent of discovering something exciting I had done that week.  I went through each day...Monday- school and work. Tuesday- more of the same.  Day after day I could recall nothing terribly interesting or out of routine.  Ready to give up and proclaim my week dull and boring, my boyfriend reminded me of the particularly delicious veggie lasagna I had made for dinner.  There it was- the highlight, the pinnacle moment of my week...a veggie lasagna.  On that note, I declared my week dull, boring, and delicious.

Fortunately, not every week is this monotonous.  Last weekend was General Conference, a bi-annual meeting of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in which modern prophets and apostles speak.  That was wonderful.  Just yesterday I won tickets to the "Homecoming Spectacular," a combined performance of the school's performing groups and a few guest performers.  And, on the thrill of my successful veggie lasagna experiment, I made a scrumptious squash bisque.

4 for 14- #1 Drive Somewhere New

My boyfriend and I were in an exploratory mood, so we drove out to Midway and wandered around to see what there is to see.  By the time I got home I was a bit to tired to shamelessly take pictures like a tourist, but that part was optional anyways.  I did, however, take pictures of Midway while I was out there.

A little cafe we stopped at for lunch. Incredible Pizza!

We wandered about the antique shops 

and found this cool door.

A memorial to all the veterans in the county.

PS- this is my 200th post! I feel so accomplished

Writer's Aversion

While taking a creative writing class during winter semester, I read Anne Lamott's opinion on writer's block in her book, Bird by Bird.  Her theory was that writer's don't really get blocked.  She felt the term "blocked" sounded like constipation, like you are filled up with something that you can't get out.  She believed instead that writers get emptied out, worn out from pouring themselves constantly into the things that they write.  We get what I shall call writer's void, an emptiness inside ourselves from which there is nothing to give.  Her solution was to step away from that which you pour yourself into and recharge.  Go on a walk, take a vacation, experience life so that you are filled again and have something to give to your work.

I think I had this "writer's void" about a month ago, maybe two.  I have since spent a great deal of time away from my computer, having fun experiences, going on several vacations, and filling myself back up.  Unfortunately, I spent a little too much time away from my writing.  I no longer have writer's void, nor do I have writer's block, I have writer's aversion.  I am so behind on experiences that need to be written about that I don't want to sit down and write.

Unfortunately, I need to write an essay for a scholarship application.  In attempting to do so, I've discovered just how rusty and reluctant I am to write.  So here I am instead, partly using my blog to get the writing juices flowing again and in more part because I'm avoiding getting back to my scholarship essay.

A Boy Who Brought Me Plums

I found myself up well past midnight, two hours since everyone else had gone to bed.   While they had been off dreaming, I had spent the last two hours grading lab reports, dozens of identical reports on obnoxiously blue paper, scattered data and conclusions which simultaneously display the students meager knowledge and, usually, even smaller interest in physics.  Hungry and tired, I started digging around my shelves for something quick and easy to eat before getting ready for bed.  My hand rested upon a plum, the last of three that I had received a week before.  I rinsed it off and bit in.  The plum was perfect, it's flesh was soft and sweet, yet it's skin was still tight enough to hold the fruit together, preventing the juices from running down my arms while I ate it.  Enjoying my late night snack, I reflected back on the day I received the plums...

It was just a week before.  I had been sitting at the kitchen table, working on homework, when there was a knock on the door.  I shouted, "Come In!" and a young man entered, grinning with excitement, one hand held behind his back.

"I have a surprise for you," he said.  The joy I saw in his eyes made me wonder if it was possible to make him any happier.  I held out my hands to receive my gift and was surprised when he revealed a bag of plums.  It was still spring, so I hadn't seen fresh plums for several months.  His grin grew wider, probably in response to the look of shock I'm sure spread across my face. "I saw them at the store, and remembered that they were your favorite, so..." he shrugged and gestured to the plums in my hand.  I got up, grabbed a knife, and we shared the first of my three plums.

A week later, finishing off the last of my gift, I wondered if all his joy and excitement from that night was simply in anticipation of making me happy.  And sitting alone on the kitchen counter eating fruit I felt loved, all because of a boy who brought me plums.

3 for 14- #14 Make a Cake from Scratch

Once again, this is getting posted long after it originally occurred.  Fortunately, I'm only 2 weeks late in my updates instead of 4 weeks late.  2 weeks ago, precisely, I made a cake from scratch.  My friends and I decided to make a spice cake.  For a first attempt at making a spice cake from scratch, it was quite delicious.  We only made one mistake in the process of making our cake... we accidentally doubled the recipe for the frosting.  It's been two weeks and I'm pretty sure we still have frosting in our fridge.

So, why did I pick precisely two weeks ago to make a cake?  I felt like celebrating May 16th, which is the same day I returned to America from the Philippines, two years ago.  And still, two years after ending my mission, two years after coming home, I still see daily the influence my time in the Philippines has had on my life.  For example, I still think in Hiligaynon and I still feel cold inside of buildings that have air conditioning.  But on a more serious note, each day is made fuller, richer, and happier by the knowledge of God's love for me and the testimony of His restored gospel, both of which were strengthened by those months spent in the Philippines helping others find this same knowledge.

2 for 14- #13 Climb a Tree!

Okay, so I probably did this, like, 4 weeks ago, but I've been too busy having crazy adventures with my roommates to get around to writing about it.  So- here it is! I have climbed a tree.  As a little kid, I recall climbing into the sort of tree that practically grows horizontally so you really just walk into it, but I had never truly climbed up into a normal tree; you know, the sort of tree that would require climbing.

So, back to 4 weeks ago, I was sitting at the kitchen table, studying for finals.  I had been studying for several hours and was starting to feel burnt out.  I still had my two hardest finals ahead of me.  My study buddy had finished reviewing the material for a final he anticipated being fairly simple and straight forward.  The idea of continuing to study by myself seemed dismal.  We both put away our study material and headed out to find a tree to climb; it seemed like a great alternative to studying.  We headed out to a nearby park, found a tree, got ourselves up into it, and sat there for another hour or so talking.  It's a wonderful way to waste time when you should be studying. I think I shall do it again.